There is a version of earning from education that most people picture and nobody enjoys: messaging everyone in your contacts, a rehearsed pitch, following up until people stop replying.
It does not work well with parents, for a plain reason. A parent deciding about their child's schooling is not making a small reversible purchase. They are cautious, they consult their spouse, and they are alert to being sold to. Pressure makes them leave.
The version that does work is closer to what you already do when you tell another parent about a good dentist.
The difference a parent can hear
Recommendations and pitches sound different, and people detect it fast.
- A recommendation includes drawbacks. A pitch does not, which is the first thing that gives it away.
- A recommendation is specific about your own experience. "My daughter uses it for maths, she does not touch the science part."
- A recommendation can end in "this probably is not for you," and means it.
- A recommendation does not need an answer today.
If you have never told anyone that it was not right for them, you are not recommending. You are selling, and parents can hear it.
Why using it yourself is not optional
Three practical reasons, none of them about ethics.
You can answer real questions. A parent will ask what happens if their child gets bored of it, or whether it works for a child in SJKC, or what it looks like for a Form Two student. Someone who uses it answers in ten seconds. Someone who does not gives a vague answer, and the vagueness is noticed.
You know who it does not suit, which is what makes you believable. Being able to say "if your son already revises on his own and you know exactly where his gaps are, he does not need this" is worth more than any positive claim you can make.
And you can say the true sentence. "My child uses this" is the only claim that cannot be argued with, and it is the one that actually moves people.
What the conversation looks like
Usually it is not a conversation you start. Parents raise schooling constantly, at pick-up, in WhatsApp groups, at family gatherings. Someone says their son is struggling with maths, or that tuition has become expensive.
The useful response is to ask about their situation rather than to start describing something. What is actually going wrong. Which subject, which topics, what they have already tried. Most of the time you find out something useful, and reasonably often you find out that what they need is not what you have.
When it does fit, the sentence is small: "we use something for that, do you want me to show you what it looks like?" Then show them, honestly, including the parts that might not suit their child.
Things worth not doing
- Do not message your entire contact list. It converts poorly and it costs you relationships you will still want in five years.
- Do not quote income figures to anyone, including yourself. It is commission-based, it depends on your own activity, and nobody can promise anyone a number.
- Do not promise results for a child. You do not control whether the child uses it, and the parent will remember what you promised.
- Do not argue with a no. A parent who felt respected saying no is a parent who may come back in a year, and who will say something good about you meanwhile.
The long view
Because families stay in education for years and because parents talk to each other constantly, this is a business where your reputation compounds in both directions.
The honest approach is slower at the start. Fewer people say yes in month one. It is the only version with anything left in year three, which is when it starts being worth having done.