A chat about tutoring: Who are you?

Who Are You?I've had a song going around in my head recently — Who Are You by The Who.And bizarrely, I've realised it sums up rather well something I've been thinking about with the Clara James franchise.I was on a networking call recently and we got talking about confidence. Particularly that feeling of “Who am I to do this?”Maybe you've been out of the workplace for a few years bringing up children. Maybe you've spent your whole career doing something completely different. Or perhaps you're an experienced teacher, but the thought of actually running a business is terrifying.And it made me think...Who are you?Because that's actually what I want to know when somebody joins Clara James.I don't want to take you and squeeze you into my idea of what a franchisee should look like.I want to know what you're good at. What you're frightened of. What experience you're bringing with you. What you need help with. And what you're actually hoping to achieve.Because that's exactly what we do with children.The Clara James Approach isn't about looking at a child's age, diagnosis or attainment level and deciding we already know how they should learn.We get to know the child sitting in front of us.Then we adapt.And I'm beginning to realise that if I genuinely believe in that philosophy, it can't stop with the children we tutor.It has to run through the whole business.One franchisee might need lots of support with marketing. Another might need help with SEND. Someone else might know exactly how they want to grow their business but need somebody beside them giving them the confidence to actually do it.There will obviously be standards and systems within Clara James. That's part of what joining a franchise gives you.But within those foundations, I want people to remain themselves.So perhaps before we start asking, “What do you need to do?”, we should ask a much more important question:Who are you?Because once I know that, I can start helping you work out where you want to go next.And if you're listening to this thinking, “Actually, I'm not quite sure who I am in this next chapter yet”, that's okay too because I think that relates to a lot of us.And perhaps that's where the conversation starts.