Is it cheeky to ask to be paid over the holidays?

[Dogswimmingcompetition]

I work as a tutor. I work for three different families.
Over the summer holidays, one family like me to keep working, one family don’t have tutoring at all over the summer, but pay me year round. The final family is the family I work with the most, I’ve taught their child for almost three years. For the first year it was year round, last year they went away last minute for summer (I didn’t realise this was the plan) and I wasn’t paid all summer. I get the majority of my income from them and found it a real struggle for a couple of months.
Their child finishes their exams in a couple of weeks and mentioned something about our last lesson being in a couple of weeks (much earlier than I expected) This will leave me without pay for 3 months, which will set me back a lot.
I’m unable to commit to other families who have asked for tutoring as they would want all the time, not just in the holidays.
Would it be cheeky to put this to the father and ask if there’s any way they can pay me over the holidays and explain the situation?
I enjoy working with this family and would rather stay with them if possible, I know that i’m valued there also as the mum has told me in the past that they’re keen to keep me/continue with me.

Are you very young? You don’t seem very clued up on how self employment works, or how school terms work etc. you must realise your work is both seasonal and time limited, surely? Parents won’t employ you forever.

You should always be looking to add new clients and ideally keep a waiting list. You should also save for periods with no work. This can’t be a surprise, don’t you discuss this with other tutors?

No need to be so patronising, but yes I am pretty young-26

It’s unusual to be paid by a family for the summer - you’re either self-employed or you’re not. If my child’s tutor asked to be paid for the summer I would think it absurd. As a tutor your rate should take into account that you don’t get holiday pay, sick pay etc.

If I were employing a tutor I wouldn’t expect to be paying for the summer unless we were actively working on a subject/ preparation for a big exam in the future. You should have a contract with each client clarifying your T&C, including what happens between school years (eg if they want to ensure a spot for the next school year, they have to pay over summer too). Generally, it’s on you to save over the school year for the summer drop in clients.

I also think there is a settling in period when you're tutoring. 1st year or maybe 2nd year my boundaries were a lot weaker, for what I'd accept. Now, if anyone messes me around, I cancel them. If I get an application for tutoring and they don't turn up for our introductory chat (online), I cancel AND block them. Not bothering with excuses about how they were delayed etc. That is what Whatsapp is for.

Now I'm harsher. Parents (TBH) take the pish. IF you're a good and in demand tutor, you can call the shots. Nicely, and politely of course.

Reputation and word of mouth will get you more work. But I would never rely on one family for most of your income. That is too precarious. And however good you are as a tutor, you are not on their list of priorities unless you put yourself there (with the vague but underlying knowledge that you have a waiting list and their child can be replaced in your timetable at a moments notice!).

It’s usual to have something in the contract about holidays. Normally, this is either a reduced number of minimum sessions or half rate

I wouldn't market it as a retainer. Id say

"I only take x weeks for summer. Hermione mentioned she may finish before then. I will have to charge you until x date, or may have to fill her place.

Really sorry, you understand i can't have an empty space

Of course ill still be available for her session. Online if you prefer".

When you set up as a tutor this all needed to be thought of. So you either asked for a retainer over the summer to keep their slot or had something set up in your contract. If anything summer is the ideal time to take on new students. I would love to find a summer tutor for my kids to help get them up to speed again before the new school term starts. If you would have availability during the day rather than just evening then you could add quite a few new students. Market it as a summer camp so 6 weeks of 1/2 hour lessons.

I would actually think yabu ,if you asked me to pay for sessions I wouldn't use during the holidays unless this was in your contract and pre arranged.

This is all quite unbelievable to me.

literally the whole point of running a business, is that you set your own terms!

you decide your prices and terms, and ‘customers’ decide if they want to pay it or not.

I don’t really understand how you can run a business, and a tutor at that, and not know this.

i think you should take a very simple first guide to running a business op. Do you know how to pay tax etc?

In that case keep in mind retainer fee will need to be deducted from actual lessons. You don’t get that on top.

OP, as a self employed person the most important things you need are a business plan and a contract. Draw them up now.

Everyone is talking about a contract as if she doesn’t already have one with this client - she does. Contracts do not need to be written. Moreover terms can be implied through custom and practice.

She obviously doesn't though. Otherwise she wouldn't be in this situation 3 years down the road.

I think your responses here are rather strange OP. You wanted advice about summer pay, so posters have given you helpful advice on how to achieve the best results in your business, but you haven't responded with any indication that you understand that you have to have a business plan and terms and conditions in place in order to succeed. Instead you came back to the thread to comment on one pupil's desire to achieve high grades, exams and give other irrelevant information. 🤷‍♀️

Your posts show a real lack of awareness of how to run a business. The situation you describe is more like what you'd expect with a casual babysitting job - instead of you being in control, it seems you're just coasting along waiting to see whether parents will want you around for holidays, and tutoring in general. Plus, they just drop you at short notice because you didn't discuss terms and conditions initially. Not what you'd expect from a professional tutor who needs to earn a living from tutoring.

You have to work out what yearly income you need to earn and then work out how many students you need and the price you need to charge to achieve this. Factor in tax, pension, business expenses etc when working out what income you need.
Parents should be made aware at the very start of price, payment dates, what happens during holidays, what happens if they need to cancel (e.g. no refund), that a month's notice is required to end tutoring, whether a deposit is required to secure tutoring after the summer holidays, etc, etc.

As others have mentioned, most parents don't want to pay for holidays so that's why you charge a higher price to account for this and save that extra money to use during the holidays, when you don't have work. It's up to you to budget effectively so that you have this extra money to live on over the summer and other holidays such as Easter and Christmas. Students who sign up for all year tutoring should be charged a discounted rate.

With your current clients, you can tell them you're reviewing your working model and then update them of the new changes.

Of course they do. You don’t understand how contracts are established or work. If you pop into your local shop to pick up some milk you have a contract with the shop when you pay for that milk. A contract just needs an offer, acceptance, consideration, and an intention for this to establish a legal relationship. None of that needs to be in writing. The client could still sue you if you spent the time watching Disney cartoons instead of tutoring the agreed subject.

Of course she could give notice under the old contract and put a new contract in place. It sounds like the implied or verbally agreed terms of the old contract did not require any notice period.

I'm a long term, and successful tutor. I don't have contracts. I rely on word of mouth for my client referrals. I've also only ever had one client who paid late. I ALMOST cancelled her but gave her a 2nd chance. I'm now on my 3rd year with her.

I have a waiting list and have agencies approach me with work. I'm also head hunted for teaching positions.

There is more than one standard way to operate as a tutor. But the best thing for me has been to diversify in what I do. I'm also an examiner for multiple exams/more than 1 exam board. I do online coaching and training of other teacher/tutors (I'm a qualified teacher). I develop materials and resources for websites. The combination of work types is what keeps me successful and also keeps me really up to date with teaching and my subject.

ClawsandEffect we had a tutor with more your way of working. As long as you gave 72 hours notice of cancellation you didn’t have to pay - because he always had a waiting list of people wanting extra sessions or regular slots. On the flip side, he occasionally asked us if we could shift times that week - we couldn’t always but when we could we did. The flexibility all round worked well. Though everything was flung up into the air after exams/over the summer holidays and there was an element of renegotiating slot times every autumn.

Well no, because if there were any kind of contract in place OP wouldn't be confused about what to expect.
Which is why a contract of some description and business plan is essential.

If you are in any type of business then you urgently need to develop a better understanding of contracts.

Yes, that is exactly how I work. And my most reliable and long standing parents (onto 2nd generation for some of my tutees now!) are the ones that get the pick of my time. Others have to fit around what is left.

I'm more flexible with students that are in the run-up to exams and will take them at times / on days I don't usually work.

But mess me around at your peril LOL! Most students need a good tutor a lot more than I need individual students.

We have had a tutor for ds and he worked term time only. If we cancelled a session we paid, if he cancelled we did not. He was very oversubscribed and was good at swapping sessions if needed. We were told all this by him when we started so knew exactly what we were signing up for. As long as you are clear at the start how and when you work then there should be no issues.

No. I can perfectly well understand that any kind of contract the OP may have is woefully inadequate because she doesn't appear to know what it is.

’woefully inadequate’ doesn’t mean there isn’t a contract though. Nor does not understanding the contract you have in place automatically mean it is woefully inadequate. The only thing you can say is the contract she has in place doesn’t currently meet her needs.

OP 26 is quite young to have tutoring as your main source of i income.
Are you a teacher? Did you work for a few years in a school and not like it?