Grinds business

Mingdingss

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I'm a fourth year maths science student and have been giving grinds for the last few years. I've recently been thinking of setting up a grinds service /business once I graduate and was looking for some opinions on this.

I would like to offer maths and statistics grinds to second level and third level pupils. I know the junior cert and leaving cert syllabi very well. I was thinking of running crash courses for second levels pupils around Christmas and Easter as well.

I would pay tax on my income but I'm not sure whether there is enough demand for maths grinds all year around .

Any opinions would be much appreciated.
 
Yes, first point is that it is a seasonal business.

I know a retired teacher doing 10 per week now, but demand is practically zero in June/July/Aug, and low in Sep/Oct.
 
Parents will always want the best for their kids, so underlying demand is there.

I see the Mill street Study centre in Galway city seems busy.

Also Yeats College in Galway has 350 pupils paying 6,000 each, that's 2.1m in revenue.
 
Hi Mingdingss,

I see you mention statistics. Have you thought about offering stats help for people planning research projects and clinical trials? It would be worthwhile considering offering a paid consultancy service for health professionals who need basic stats advice. If you price it right it could be a nice earner.

Healthcare professionals can find stats challenging and are often faced with MSc/MD/PhD project data with no clue how to analyse other than making an Excel chart and Googling t tests!
 
Yes, first point is that it is a seasonal business.

I know a retired teacher doing 10 per week now, but demand is practically zero in June/July/Aug, and low in Sep/Oct.

Well I was thinking there would be demand at third levels with people repeating maths exams because it tends to be part of a lot of courses.
 
Hi Mingdingss,

I see you mention statistics. Have you thought about offering stats help for people planning research projects and clinical trials? It would be worthwhile considering offering a paid consultancy service for health professionals who need basic stats advice. If you price it right it could be a nice earner.

Healthcare professionals can find stats challenging and are often faced with MSc/MD/PhD project data with no clue how to analyse other than making an Excel chart and Googling t tests!

I never actually considered that but I see potential in that. We have covered a lot of that stuff year and seems straight forward to teach !
 
In my experience, researchers often don't want to (or don't have the time to) do courses in stats beyond the very basics - even if the courses are free and online. I know several people who have done courses and promptly forgot what they've learned. Some of us are just awful at numbers. Certainly some people will opt for a course and will benefit, but many others will gladly pay for a good statistician who can not only do the stats but can also give detailed advice when planning studies.

I did a stats course with friends a few years ago, just 1 day, and I think we paid around €200 each. I can't speak for 2014, but back then there were very few such courses available. We did it as a one-off and later we all agreed that we would have liked to be able to get ad-hoc advice from them again, but they didn't offer that service.

RainyDay's post actually puts in mind another possibility - what about a short course in stats for those who would like to do it themselves? If you offered it at specific times of the year (e.g. around the intake period for MSc/MD/PhD students) you could charge a reasonable amount and get a nice bit of cash for 1-2 days of work. You could then offer a refresher course or offer them a special deal when they need help with stats later, so you could have repeat business. You could also consider targetting research labs, hospitals, and medical schools - they may have arrangements with in-house statisticians, but if they don't you could possibly get a regular gig.

That's enough suggestions from me. Best of luck!
 
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