Time Management: Essential Tips from a Self-Employed Online Tutor

New Year, New Me? I’m not usually one to set New Year’s resolutions, but lately I’ve been thinking it might be time to shake things up – especially when it comes to how I work and how much I take on as a self-employed online tutor. This post dives into what led me to that realization: the wild number of hours I clocked in each month throughout 2024.

You know how I usually come up with ideas for my blog posts? Well, this time was no different. In class, one of my self-employed students shared how he keeps his work-life balance in check and tracks his working hours each day. He mentioned a site called Toggl that lets you log your hours and break them down by the type of work you’re doing. So, I thought I’d give it a shot and see just how much time I’m actually putting in daily, weekly, and monthly.

Not every month is the same, so I decided to pick the busiest time for me – when I had regular weekly classes and didn’t deal with too many bank holidays. Plus, it was when I didn’t take any time off for travel or illness. I focused on the period from October 14th to November 15th 2024, which gives me about a month of data to work with. Let’s check out the monthly working hours of a self-employed online English tutor.

Track Your Time: How I Collected My Data

Hours were being tracked pretty seriously throughout the day. The Toggl app stayed open at all times. I even downloaded it on my phone just in case I was away from my desk or forgot to stop the timer (which happened a couple of times 🤦🏽‍♀️). Tracking my teaching time was a breeze. I’d start the timer right before I logged into the classroom and stop it as soon as I left.

Lesson planning was similar; I’d start the timer before I opened up any files. But the homework checking and communication part was different. Every time I needed to send someone’s work, check homework, or shoot someone a message or email, I had to remember to turn on the timer. Even if it was just for a few minutes. A few times I forgot about it and had to estimate the time I had spent communicating with my students. By the end of the week, I’d get a breakdown that looked like this:

Looking at my working hours like this really made me realize how much I was piling on myself. All those green boxes mean I was teaching online. That meant a ton of uninterrupted screen time and a lot of intense listening and correcting. By the end of the day, I was usually worn out. There were times I still had to head back to my desk to prep for the next day. I just hadn’t found the time during the week. But then again, there are days like Fridays that totally make up for the craziness of the week!

Work Smarter: My Daily and Weekly Breakdown

I started tracking all my hours in Excel to get a look at my months. It turns out there’s a pretty obvious pattern, as you can see below.

The heaviest workload typically falls between Monday and Friday, with hours gradually decreasing as the week progresses. Weekend teaching is generally avoided, though the occasional class gets added when a student is keen to maintain their weekly routine. Some time is also dedicated to lesson planning – most often on Sunday evenings, which seems to be the most practical moment to prepare for the upcoming week.

You can spot my weekend work hours on the days I highlighted in red. I was a bit surprised, though, that the time I spent checking homework and communicating (the orange line) was pretty minimal. That can change a lot depending on the time of year. I tend to spend a lot more time on exam checking right before Christmas and summer break. This obviously isn’t shown on this graph. Overall, I felt pretty good about my working hours since they seem pretty similar to a full-time job.

What’s the Average?: Time per Task

Every day is a bit unique for me. I figured that the best way to track my working hours is by checking the average time I spend on three main things. These are teaching, checking homework, and planning lessons.

From the start, it was clear that I spend most of my working hours teaching and marking – about 87%, which breaks down to around 5 hours and 21 minutes a day, including weekends. If you count just Monday to Friday, that increases to about 6 hours and 18 minutes. I also noticed that I dedicate a significant chunk – around 11% – to lesson planning, which comes out to about 38 minutes and 25 seconds a day. I decided to count weekends for this part since that’s when I usually do most of my planning. Checking homework and chatting with students outside of class only takes up about 2% of my time, roughly 8 minutes and 46 seconds a day. Luckily, a lot of the communication is handled through Preply. Students can book, reschedule, or cancel lessons without needing to interact with me beforehand.

All in all, I put in about 6 hours and 7 minutes a day, which includes weekends, adding up to around 42 hours a week – pretty much a full-time job (+ 2 hours! 😫). Since I get paid based on teaching hours, that means about 13% of my time is unpaid. This is something to consider if you’re thinking about getting into teaching.

Reality Check: Is It Really Worth It?

Anyone thinking about getting into teaching, whether it’s in person or online, should really consider a bunch of different things. First off, finding students and filling your schedule isn’t exactly a walk in the park. But once you start to find your groove, remember it’s totally okay to say no and know your limits. I can laugh about it now, but I definitely took on more than I could handle at one point!

Just a heads up, you’re going to need to gear up for some long work hours. Some days are super chill, giving you plenty of time to do stuff around the house. However, there are those days where you’re completely exhausted by the end. I’ve had days where I clocked in up to 9 hours, and while sometimes a little hustle is necessary, making it a habit can backfire. The paycheck at the end of the month looks great. But is it really worth the grind? If you want to find out more about my online earnings, check out my financial report breaking down how much money I made on Preply in 2024.

Be Prepared: Why Planning Matters

Before jumping in, it’s super important to think about how much time you’ll spend on lesson planning, especially if you’re going the self-employed online tutor route. Whether you’re using a coursebook, hunting for plans online, or coming up with your own, being prepared is key. Students can totally tell when you’re just winging it or buying time. Honestly, this is probably why a lot of them stick with me. I always come ready to roll with interesting topics, pictures, videos, and so on. It really shows that you care about your students and their needs before you enter the virtual classroom.

For me, it just means it’s time to chill a bit and focus on myself. I’ll still be teaching, but I really want to dive into what I love most – content creation. To kick things off, I’ve set an easy little challenge for myself: I’m going to spend more time outside and snap pics of the things that make me happy, then share them on my neglected Instagram profile, joannasesl. If you want to see how it’s going, check it out and give me a follow!

Challenge Yourself!: Have You Got What It Takes?

If you think you’ve got what it takes to become a self-employed online tutor, there are plenty of ways to get started. You can look for your own students, team up with academies (I do that too!), or join online learning platforms like Preply. Just sign up and become a Preply tutor through the affiliate link.

How much time do you dedicate to online (or in-person) tutoring? Have you set any exciting resolutions for this year?