I’m a private learning specialist working out of my home office in Concord, California (Bay Area). I have been working with students with LD and others who just learn “out of the box” since I left classroom teaching. I want to expand my hours and connect with more parents who need my services for their children. Any advice on where to advertise and how to network? I am listed with LDA and CHADD resource lists. I have been talking to Psych’s and Ed. Therapists in my area about cross referrals.
What has worked for others? Should I consider a listing in the yellow pages of the phone book? (The deadline is rapidly approaching!) If so, under what heading? “tutoring” is has tons of listings and doesn’t necessarily suggest expertise with LD’s, but the only other listing that makes sense is “educ’l consultants and services”. I wonder if anyone would look there for a learning specialist, or would they just think that is for assessments?
I’m thinking about setting up a website (I’ll need to get help on that if I do it). Wondering if people would “google” it. My husband and I are sharing parenting and working, and I need to bring in about half the income, so I can’t budget a lot of money on advertising.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I love my job and want to be able to make a living at it.
Lisa SP
Re: Private specialists: where do you advertise & network?
Lisa,
If you tutor reading with a method that is accepted for dyslexia, then you might want to get on the International Dyslexia Association’s tutor list. That is usually where I refer parents who need a qualified tutor for reading. I get most of my referrals by word of mouth, and that works because I am not doing it fulltime. I think talking to local psychologists and giving them your cards or brochures is also a great idea. I do get referrals that way, too. I’d probably include pediatricians as well if I wanted to expand my reach. Many parents express concern about learning problems to the doctor, and of course, they really can only make referrals. I think you could get plenty of referrals without a phonebook listing.
I made a simple website myself using godaddy.com. I think it was called Website Tonight. It provided templates and you just insert text and pictures. I think if I could do it, anyone could! My site is very inexpensive for 5 webpages. I don’t think people will access it easily doing a search, but it does serve as a nice online brochure for people who have my card or brochure. If you’d like to take a look, here is the address:
www.readingsolutions.org
Good luck!
Janis
Please see my answer on the parenting board.