Here's the fear that keeps most great tutors stuck on marketplace platforms forever: "If I go independent, where on earth do I find students?"
It's a reasonable question. It's also, thankfully, a very solvable one. You don't need a massive social media following, a six-month content strategy, or a nephew who does SEO. You need a plan, a bit of consistency, and — honestly — to stop waiting until everything is perfect before you start.
Here are the exact steps to land your first 10 private English students. No marketplace commission required.
Start With Your Existing Network
Before you do anything else — before you post on LinkedIn, before you build a profile, before you spend three hours choosing a profile photo — message the people who already know you.
This feels uncomfortable. Do it anyway.
Your existing network almost certainly contains people who want to improve their English, know someone who does, or work somewhere that would pay for it. You just haven't told them you're available. Think:
- Former colleagues or managers who've mentioned wanting to sound more confident in English
- Friends or family members who've half-jokingly said "I should really learn English properly"
- Past students, if you've tutored before (even informally)
- People in your community — sports clubs, local groups, church, the parent at school pickup who always apologises for their English
The message doesn't need to be clever. Something like: "Hey, I've just started offering private English lessons. If you or anyone you know is looking for a tutor, I'd love to help — happy to answer any questions."
That's it. You're not cold-calling. You're letting people who already trust you know that you exist as a tutor.
Many independent tutors get their first 3–5 students this way, within the first week or two. And these early students? They tend to stick around, give you honest feedback, and send referrals. Treat them well.
Build a Findable Online Presence
Quick exercise: open an incognito tab and search "English tutor [your city]" or "online English tutor." Go on, I'll wait.
What came up? Probably a few marketplace sites, maybe a local school, and possibly a tutor who has clearly not updated their website since 2014. That's the competition. And it's not as daunting as it looks.
The thing is, most independent tutors don't show up in these searches at all — because they have no findable presence. No profile, no page, nothing for Google to index. If a potential student is searching for you (or someone like you), you're invisible.
This is where a proper tutor profile page changes everything. When you sign up with Tuton, you get a public, SEO-optimised profile page — built to rank on Google for exactly these kinds of searches. No web development degree required.
To make the most of it:
- Mention your location naturally — "based in Barcelona, teaching online and in-person" is pure gold for local search
- Name your specialisms — exam prep (IELTS, TOEFL, Cambridge), business English, conversational fluency, ESL for beginners. Be specific.
- Write a headline that matches how students search — "Certified English Tutor – Business English & IELTS Prep" beats "Passionate Educator" every time
- Add a professional photo — smiling, decent lighting, not cropped from a wedding. Profiles with photos get dramatically more clicks.
You cannot find English tutoring students online if nobody can find you. Fix this first.
Use LinkedIn Strategically
LinkedIn has a reputation as a graveyard of humble-brags and thought leadership content nobody asked for. It's also, if you can stomach it, one of the best places to find private ESL students — specifically professionals who need English for their careers.
These people exist in huge numbers. Non-native speakers who want to give better presentations, write cleaner emails, hold their own in meetings, or just stop Googling "is this sentence correct" before every message. They're on LinkedIn. They're ambitious. And they will pay well for a good tutor.
Tactics that actually work:
- Update your own profile so it's obvious you're an English tutor — add it to your headline, your "About" section, and your services
- Post useful content — common mistakes in professional emails, how to sound more confident in meetings, phrases that work better in business English. Demonstrate expertise rather than advertising it.
- Connect with professionals at international companies — people in cross-border roles who use English daily but weren't born into it
- Search for HR or L&D managers at mid-size companies and pitch corporate English training. One company client could mean 5+ regular students on a recurring contract.
The golden rule: be useful first. Comment on things, share insights, let people see that you know what you're talking about. Then when they need a tutor, they'll already know who to call.
Facebook Groups and Community Forums
Yes, Facebook. Don't be a snob about it — it works.
Facebook groups are full of people actively looking for tutors, sharing recommendations, and asking "does anyone know a good English teacher?" in real time. These are warm leads basically raising their hand.
Groups worth finding:
- Expat communities in your city or region — people living abroad often need English urgently and are willing to pay for it
- Language learning communities — "English Practice Partners," "Learn English Online," and dozens of similar groups with genuinely motivated learners
- Local neighbourhood groups — parents looking for a tutor for their kids, or adults wanting to practice before a big job interview
- Parenting and school groups — English tutoring is one of the most requested subjects for children
The approach that works: join, be helpful for a couple of weeks, then introduce yourself. Answer questions, offer a quick tip, engage with posts. When you do share that you offer lessons, you're not a stranger spamming the group — you're someone who's already contributed. Big difference.
When you spot a post asking for a tutor recommendation? Reply immediately. Those are among the highest-converting leads you'll ever get, and they're free.
Offer a Trial Lesson
The single biggest reason potential students don't book? They're not sure you'll be worth the money. A trial lesson removes that doubt almost entirely.
Three ways to price it:
- Free (20–30 minutes):** Maximum conversion rate, minimum friction. Works well when you're just starting and need to build confidence and reviews. Keep it short and call it an "intro session" — it's a taster, not a full lesson.
- Discounted (50–60% of your normal rate):** The sweet spot for most tutors. Filters out people who aren't serious while still lowering the barrier significantly. "My regular rate is £45 — intro lessons are £25" is a very easy yes.
- Full price with a money-back guarantee:** The boldest option, and arguably the most professional. You're saying: I'm confident enough in my teaching that if you don't love the first lesson, I'll refund you. In practice, almost nobody asks for the refund. And the guarantee alone often closes the booking.
Whatever you choose, make the booking process frictionless. If a student has to DM you, wait for a reply, go back and forth about times, and then figure out how to pay — you've already lost half of them. Have a booking link. Have your availability visible. Make it one click.
Get Your First Review
A single genuine review is worth more than a beautifully designed website with no social proof. People trust people. They don't trust marketing copy — and they've been burned by it enough times to be deeply sceptical.
Ask for a review after the third or fourth lesson, when your student has had a real experience and started to see progress. Keep the ask warm and direct:
- I'm building up my profile and honest reviews really help. Would you be willing to write a sentence or two about what you've found most useful? Even something short would mean a lot."*
The vast majority of happy students will say yes — they just needed to be asked.
- What makes a useful review:**
- Specific — "My IELTS writing improved by a whole band" beats "great teacher!"
- Authentic — sounds like a real person had a real experience, not like a press release
- Brief — two to four sentences is plenty
- Where to put it:**
- Your Tuton profile (public, indexed by Google — this matters)
- Google Business Profile if you have one
- A screenshot to share on LinkedIn or in communities
Three to five genuine reviews and your conversion rate from profile view to booked lesson will jump noticeably. Make getting that first review a priority.
Referrals From Students 1–10
Here's the compounding effect that most new tutors completely miss: your first 10 students can find you your next 20.
Word-of-mouth is the highest-converting marketing channel that exists, and it costs nothing but a decent lesson and the nerve to ask. Happy students want to tell their friends — they just need a nudge.
Build referrals into your rhythm:
- Ask at the 4–6 week mark, when the relationship is warm: "If you know anyone who's been thinking about improving their English, I'd genuinely love an introduction."
- Offer a small incentive — a free lesson for a referral that books, or a discount for both the existing student and the new one. A little goodwill goes a long way.
- Make it easy — give them your booking link or profile URL so they can share it in one tap, not a multi-step explanation
If three of your first ten students each refer one person, you've grown by 30% without spending a penny. Track where new students come from so you can double down on what's working.
What You Need Before You Start
Before you go out finding students, make sure the basics are in place. Potential students make a snap judgment — if booking is confusing, if payment is awkward, or if you look like you're running your business from a spreadsheet and good intentions, they'll quietly move on.
The minimum viable setup:
- A booking link so students can see your availability and book without a back-and-forth email chain
- A payment method that works before the lesson, not three chasing messages after it
- A way to track your students — lesson history, progress notes, upcoming sessions, what they're working on
- A findable public profile that makes you look like a professional, not a person who teaches on the side when they feel like it
Tuton gives you all of this in one place. Your public SEO-optimised profile page, scheduling, invoicing, a student CRM, and a built-in video classroom — without paying commission on every lesson or stitching together five different tools that don't talk to each other.
It's what professional looks like, before you feel professional.
You're Closer Than You Think
Your first 10 private English students aren't waiting passively on a marketplace page. They're in your phone contacts, in Facebook groups, searching on Google, and sitting at desks in companies that would love to offer English training. The tutors who consistently find students aren't necessarily the best marketers — they're the ones who showed up, made it easy to book them, taught great lessons, and asked for the review at the end.
Start today. Message one person you know. Set up your profile. Offer a trial lesson.
By the time you've done all of this for a few weeks, you won't be asking where to find students anymore. You'll be wondering how to fit them all in.
- Ready to look like you've been doing this for years, even if you're just starting?** Create your Tuton profile and get the professional tools every independent tutor needs — from your first student to your fiftieth. Plans start at $29/month.