For tutors, music and language teachers, coaches, and anyone who runs a class: art, baking, dance, swimming or fitness. Your time is what you sell, and the hours you are not paid for are where the money goes.
A one-hour lesson is rarely one hour. There is the drive there and back, the preparation, the marking, the messages from parents about next week. None of that is on the invoice, but all of it is your time.
That does not mean you charge for every minute. It means you should know what a lesson really pays you per hour, so you can tell a good booking from a busy one.
| One lesson at the student's home | Amount |
|---|---|
| Lesson fee | R250 |
| Petrol, there and back | −R40 |
| What the lesson leaves you | R210 |
The lesson is an hour, but with half an hour's drive each way it takes two. R210 over two hours is R105 an hour. The same lesson at your own table pays R250 an hour.
You do not have to stop travelling. You might charge more for home visits, keep them to one area on the same afternoon, or offer online lessons to students who are far away. The point is to choose knowing the numbers.
A group class has costs that do not care how many people arrive. Start from those.
| A Saturday art class, 8 children | Amount |
|---|---|
| 8 children at R150 | R1,200 |
| Paint, paper and brushes, R20 a child | −R160 |
| Hall hire for the morning | −R300 |
| What the class leaves you | R740 |
With setting up and tidying, the class takes about three hours: roughly R247 an hour.
Each child leaves R130 after their materials, so it takes three children just to pay for the hall. Eight is a good class. Four leaves you R220 for the same Saturday morning. Knowing that number tells you the smallest class worth running, and when to raise the price instead of hoping for more children.
Many tutors are paid a term at a time. Twelve lessons for R2,400 is R200 a lesson against R250 for a single one. That discount is a fair trade for money in hand and fewer missed lessons, as long as you are happy with R200.
Others bill families at the end of the month. That works well, but it is also how money quietly goes missing: a parent pays half, another forgets, and by the third month nobody is sure. Send a proper invoice for each family, note each payment as it comes in, and you can see at a glance who still owes you.
Some costs sit behind every lesson: data for online lessons, printing worksheets, books and music, a venue you hire every week, the petrol to students' homes. Keep a note of them as you pay them. At the end of the month, take them off what your lessons made, and what is left is what you really made.
Both work. Per lesson is simple for parents who come and go. A term paid up front gives you money in hand and fewer missed lessons, and a small discount for paying early is fair. Just make sure the term price still works out to a lesson price you are happy with.
Start from what the session costs you to run: the venue and the materials. Work out how many students cover that, then set a price where a normal-sized class pays you properly for the whole time, including setting up and tidying.
Decide your rule once and tell parents before the first lesson, for example that less than 24 hours' notice is charged in full. A slot cancelled late is usually a slot you cannot fill, so it costs you the same as a lesson you taught.
No. Little-Till records the money: what each family paid, what they still owe and what your lessons earn you. Keep your timetable and lesson register where you keep them now, whether that is a diary, a spreadsheet or a class app.
Little-Till is a small app for one-person businesses. Add your lessons and classes with their price, per lesson, per hour or per term, and what each one uses in materials. Then record a payment in a few taps, send invoices and reminders to parents on WhatsApp, and note what you spend. It keeps what each family owes you and your profit up to date. It is built for a phone, keeps working when the signal drops, and shows amounts in Rand or your own currency.
Note hall hire, petrol, data and printing as expenses, and Reports takes them off what your lessons made, so you see what you really made.
R49 a month or R495 a year, with 14 days free and no card needed to start.
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