Kings Tutors as interviewed by Hatchlings Club

Today Hatchlings Club meets Emily, the founder of Kings Tutors. The British tutoring industry is a lucrative one, generating £6.5 billion annually. Read on to find out how Emily cracked into this market!

The Service

Hatchlings Club: Tell us about your tutoring company. 

Emily Jack: Kings Tutors provides private academic tuition to children and young adults. We do this in person and also through online tuition too. Our principle objective is to help our tutees reach their full potential academically and this is achieved by tailoring our high level of tuition to suit every individual’s needs.

Hatchlings Club: Where do your clients come from?

The majority of our clients are based in London, however, we do have a small office in Edinburgh too so a number of our clients live in Scotland too. Lots of our tutors go abroad to stay with families during school holidays too – one tutor, for example, retuned from the Bahamas today having been there fore three weeks.

The recent launch of our online tutoring services has meant that our clients live across the globe and anyone with access to a computer and wifi can arrange tuition.

Hatchlings Club: Who are your target customers? 

Anyone who is struggling with their school studies! That is quite a broad answer but our clients are typically those looking for a little bit of extra support when preparing for entrance exams to top British schools or needing assistance with GCSEs, the International Baccalaureate and their A Levels.

The Start-up Story

Hatchlings Club: What drove you to set up the company? 

Emily Jack: I have always loved working with children having been a tutor and nanny throughout university. When working as a tutor though, I realised that children are now put under greater pressure than ever before when applying for limited school places and sitting their exams. This is something that is very close to my heart and something I hope Kings Tutors can help with – we aim to ease the stress children may feel.

The idea of working for myself has also always appealed – both my parents have their own companies so I think this might have something to do with it!

What were you doing before you set up your company?

I was working at a payment processing company in London.

Did your previous experience help prepare you for setting up your business?

Absolutely! I definitely learnt some worthwhile skills at this company to then help me to set up my own company. Working in Relationship Management at the payment processing company has helped me enormously when thinking about Kings Tutors’ customer service. This is a crucial part of our business as we offer a very personalised and bespoke service.

I also attended Quest Professional straight after university for their three month graduate business course – this gave me a brilliant grounding in doing my own accounts and also learning about how to market a business.

How long did it take to start up? 

I set Kings Tutors up at the very end of 2012 but we did not start trading until April 2013. There was a lot more to do then I initially thought when it came to setting up a website, recruiting tutors and also thinking about the support our tutors would need to ensure they always do a good job.

How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Lots of our tutors at the start had studied at Kings College London so it seemed like a suitable name. I did not realise though at the start that, when applying to be a Limited company, royal consent would be needed to use the name ‘Kings’ – luckily all was ok though!

What is the best decision you have made?

Taking the decision to leave my job and focus on Kings Tutors full time – it was something I really wanted to do yet, at the same time, the uncertainty of making this move was quite daunting. I am so pleased I did do it though!

What do you enjoy the most?

I love meeting lots of new people, both tutors and clients, the whole time. It is also always brilliant to learn how our tutors have had an enormous impact on tutees’ studies and their self-confidence too. Kings Tutors is a very personal service so we are in constant contact with families and tailoring our services to meet each tutees’ requirements.

How many people work at the company now? 

We have a hundred and fifty tutors on our books but it is just me doing the general day to day running and administration of the business.

Quick Fire Questions!

Favourite city: London or Edinburgh. I really do love being in the countryside though too.

Favourite meal: Steak and chips!

Favourite book: I read a lot so it is quite hard to just pick one! I have just finished The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh

Favourite animal: My dog Bovril – one of my favourite things to do is going on walks with her.

Favourite person: I don’t think I can pick just one person. My family and then my friends are undoubtedly the most important people to me though. I also am a huge fan of Bear Grylls (I am currently reading his book ‘Mud, Sweat and Tears’) and Rafael Nadal!

Best piece of advice: Just go for it! Don’t let your nerves get in the way!