Out of greed for more money I want (need) privates. I have networked myself through a couple students and friends, and I have a couple possible people who might want to pay for private tutoring. Key word is “might”.
So I was toying with the idea of printing off some business cards soliciting my services. However, I dont know the following:
1.) How dangerous is it to advertise yourself to the general public for tutoring? If it falls into the hands of the police, would they hunt you down?
2.) How effective are business cards for this task of hunting down privates?
3.) Has anyone really had success with business cards?
If you want to advertise without setting yourself up, you can:
Only put your first name on your cards (e.g. Teacher Duck, not Teacher Duck Farm)
Create a new email account on Hotmail or Yahoo just for this and use that as your means of contact
Do not put your phone number on the card
Don’t mention that what you are doing may be illegal. If you are talking to an undercover immigrations officer that would be an admission of guilt
Seriously, I don’t think you would get into much trouble doing this. It would be way too much effort to bust you, and if you just hand out these business cards and don’t go putting them around town indiscriminately it’s unlikely you would attract any unwanted attention.
I wouldn’t worry about passing around some business cards. Exchanging business cards is a local tradition, routinely done when people meet for the first time. It’s a way of saying, “Hi. This is who I am.” There is no way any authorities could/ would try to enforce an illegal work law based on the fact you handed out some cards.
On the whole private teaching thing…It is not something to be worried about. It may be technically illegal, but there is zero enforcement. Practically speaking, how could they? Are they going to start raiding coffee shops and private homes? How do they differentiate between friends hanging out, language exchanges and actual paid classes? Don’t worry about it. I’ve even had foreign affairs police ask me how much I charge.
No need to be paranoid about business cards. You will not get into trouble for handing them out. I’ve probably given out thousands over the years. Just make sure you don’t put on any numbers you want to keep private, or you’ll be stuck doing business 24 hours a day!
As long as you give out a business card that represents your profession, you don’t need to put the fact that you are teaching privates on it, just make it look professional. There won’t be a problem with that.
Then prepare a leaflet for those who are interested in 1-1 classes.
I wouldn’t worry too much about privates with regard to FAP, but DO avoid agents… they will introduce but then don’t offer much support.
I’m with Infidel, I would be interested to know if it actually works. In the past I have never really needed more than a posting at a school to get some privates, and usually word of mouth works just as well. But I’ve heard that the good thing about making business cards in Taiwan js the free networking they do for you. Giving out your card is a way of formally introdicing yourself. Hand out enough of those cards to enough people, you got a nice network, and you never know when one of those cards might land on the desk of a nice principal at a nice school who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows you and is willing to offer you a nice job. I’ve never had time for more than 2 or 3 privates a wekk in the past, so never really looked into this much further, but I have been considering making some cards since I came back.
[quote=“derek1978”]Out of greed for more money I want (need) privates. I have networked myself through a couple students and friends, and I have a couple possible people who might want to pay for private tutoring. Key word is “might”.
So I was toying with the idea of printing off some business cards soliciting my services. However, I dont know the following:
1.) How dangerous is it to advertise yourself to the general public for tutoring? If it falls into the hands of the police, would they hunt you down?
2.) How effective are business cards for this task of hunting down privates?
3.) Has anyone really had success with business cards?[/quote]
Sure try business cards and you may get some, if you want privates you can contact Jane - kindpatience@yahoo.com.tw and she can hook you up, she charges the teacher though, the money you make from the first class goes to her.
I want (need) privates. I have networked myself through a couple students and friends, and I have a couple possible people who might want to pay for private tutoring. Key word is “might”.