Home Business - Personal Computer Tuition

Everyone is not technically minded like some others, children pick up things quicker than anyone.  Seniors have the most trouble picking up on new ideas.  If you have never had anything to do with computers it is hard to suddenly work out what bytes and bits are.  Technical jargon is like a foreign language to a senior person.

You say well there are plenty of books out there on the subject.  Why don’t you buy one of those Internet for Dummies books? It’s all in there on how to turn it on and start searching the web. Just follow the simple steps.  That’s ok for the younger people that have heard the language from school or college.

I had a phone call from a frustrated man once, saying he did what the book said and it would not work.  I asked him what he was having trouble with. He said, “It said in the book, to put your mouse on the start button and press the left button. That is what I did.”

“Exactly how did you do that sir?” I asked.

 “Simple, I picked the mouse up and put it on the start button on the screen.” He sighed.

It was hard but I restrained myself from laughing.  Can you see what I mean?  People that write books know what they are doing.  They do not write the full instructions for the novice who cannot see inside the writers head.

This is where personal tuition is very handy for older people  

Seniors are keen to learn and appreciate the help given to them preferably on a one on one basis.  They cannot hope to keep up with a room full of people of all ages.  The young ones fly through the examples, the in betweens cope, while the seniors just get left behind and feel embarrassed and virtually useless.  To be honest, they just cannot wait to get out of the classroom. And more often than not the teachers cannot be bothered with them.

I gave my clients the choice of Personal computer tuition in their own home, for both husband and wife.  By teaching both, it helped if one forgot how to do something the other could help out. Or they could come to my home.  The majority chose to have me go to their home.  As you can imagine everyone did not have the same programs on their computers.  If you are starting to think I can do this, then read on for more information.

• Good working Computer on the Internet
• Dual booted with both the two main programs of the time. XP, Vista or Seven. As you can appreciate, everyone will not have the latest programs. By having you computer dual booted you can use the program they have on their one at home.
• Printer
• Printed material explaining the lesson you have given them that day for them to read through, this will reinforce it in their memory, or to use as a backup
• Business cards –You can print these up on your own computer. Write this on them – Friendly personal tuition - Learn at your own pace.
• Reliable vehicle and phone connection or mobile phone.
• Be understanding, patient, and considerate of their age.
• To start advertise on your local notice boards or at the seniors clubs, churches, halls, or even bowling clubs.

They will tell you what they need, although you need to let them know what programs you can offer to teach them. Some may need to learn the basic windows first.

• How to open and shut programs
• How to create folders and save work
• How to find My documents and pictures etc

Most are keen to use the internet

• Email – how to open, send, reply, forward and add attachments.
• Internet – how to navigate around a page, search, add favorites, and how to highlight something and print it without printing the whole forty pages or more.
• Understand how the virus checker works.  This is very important. Most know they have one and do not know it has to be updated regularly.

Microsoft Works, Word or similar

• They need to know how to write something, change the text to bold, etc. Save the file and print it.

• They need to learn how to put a CD/DVD in and open it and how to burn something onto the disk. Explain that they can listen to music while working on the computer if they wish.  Some enjoy this as it will relax them.
• How to copy photos from their camera. Save them into the computer and burn them to a disk. Show them how to resize, improve image and save photos.

Can you do all that?

Then what are you waiting for, print up some business cards, print your lessons out giving step by step instructions for each program. If you prefer you could save the lessons onto a disk and copy them onto their computer.  Make sure that your virus checker is up to date first.  You do not want to give them a virus, on your first lesson.

Note- Never tell a client that you know how to do something if you do not.  You will not only be wasting their time but your own.  You cannot charge for something if you cannot teach it.

Beware: Keep in mind that you may have your computer set up different to theirs.  It can be confusing at first if this is the case, especially if you are not confident.

Computer Repairs

This is another option.  If you or your husband/wife builds computers you can add this into the business.  This will increase your income.