The First Gig

[therealcrazy8]

You know when you start a business and you get that one thing that could be a really nice start for you? I think I just got that. Over the last few weeks I have been communicating with a lady for a teaching gig in an adult community ed type setting, and it has just become official that I got the job. I have never taught a small group of adults before, but it might be a good experience for me and will definitely be good exposure for the business. The classes will be right around 10 people and they will be about 1.5 hours long. Since the classes are pretty spread out (about 1 class every 3-4 weeks) this means that I very well could come in contact with roughly 50 unique people.

Taking all of this into account, I have a few awesome things I have been thinking about.
a. I will definitely be making sure that I have business cards and some kind of marketing material to hand out. Right now I am thinking something like giving everyone a business card, a pamphlet showing my services, and something like a pen or thumb drive kind of item.
b. If I do a good enough job, I am hoping they will have me back next year
c. I'm doing 5 classes total so it will be nice to apply those funds into the business to move even further.

If any of you have experience with doing teaching like this, do you have any recommendations or pointers that may help me? I also quoted the lady I have been working with that I would do $150/class (1.5 hours) I came up with that starting with 120/hr then $25/15 minutes after that. Would you agree that's a fair price? Considering I am providing all of the paper work and material for the classes, I'm thinking I could have pushed closer to the $200 mark.

 

[gikstar]

I can't speak to the cost but I can make a few suggestions:
1) have a sign up sheet, one for each person - you want their name, address, email address, type of computer they have operating system they're running, how many computers in their household, how long they have been using their computer, who is their current IT tech (their neighbor or grandson?), any problem they are currently having with their computer
2) hand out a sheet of instructions on what you are covering that day - some senior citizens will forget what went on in class and you don't need them calling you at work with questions regarding what was covered in class --- having their email address will allow you to send them any updates/other things that were covered in class

Hope this helps... but you may have thought of all these already

 

[GTP]

I have done "familiarisation" lessons for Seniors. I start with just general knowledge, like showing them the Start Button, Task Bar, Desktop and Icons etc. Each week we do a different component, like browsing, next week we do email, then skype etc.
I've found that after about 20 minutes some of them are asleep or dozing, some are so bored they cant wait to get away, some are still listening but have no idea what your saying!
It is hard with Seniors, but out of a group of ten you will get two that will pick it up.
I keep the lessons short - about 15 to 20 minutes tops. This seems to be about the limit of their endurance!
I have a Q & A after but don't get asked many questions! They want to get to Bingo or the "Pokies"!

 

[HCHTech]

I did some of this early in my business - what the others have suggested is on point - use a signup sheet, keep the time within reason, leave time for Q&A. I found that an hour class covering about 5 different things was about right. Just enough to whet their appetite. Also, in case it isn't obvious, choose subjects that you know will apply to their demographic. Using pictures, importing them from a camera, adding them to an email or facebook post, making copies on a disk or flash drive, things like that. How to be safe on the internet, how to organize email, setting up an expendable email address on gmail for online shopping, things like that.

Make flyers for them to post a week before the event. Make handouts with bullet list instructions. Definitely have some swag to give out at the end of the series. Mousepads with your business info are always popular. Make sure your business name, logo & contact info is on everything you do.

i did a class in the fall about using Word to print out labels for Christmas cards - I think I got 6 appointments out of that one.

At the end of one series I did, they almost begged for another session - we did a "bonus" class of all Q&A, really well received (although you have to be on your toes about keeping on track and nicely deflecting the nonsense questions).

Good Luck!

 

[therealcrazy8]

Thank you all for the tips. The bigger part of why she accepted my quote was that I am partnered up with a company that offers some (though limited in their own way) material to teach people. With the list I presented her, the below are the ones that she picked and wrote descriptions for. My understanding is that these will be printed in a community flyer for people to signup for. She initially wanted to do a website programming class and a google drive/docs class. She was also the one that decided on an hour and a half classes. You can learn a lot in that time frame so I am hoping I can last that long and still make it interesting. Once I started asking about the demographic and showed her some of the stuff I have access to, we came up with the list we have below. As you can see, this is basic computer user type stuff. I have some ideas on how to keep it interactive as well, and hopefully prevent people from snoring. One of those ways is to bring in actually hardware. Setup an actual wifi network. it wont have an internet connection, but they will actually see how to set it up.

Staying Safe Online

Internet safety is an important topic as more of what we do on a daily basis takes place online. In this class you will learn how to create strong passwords, how to avoid spam and phishing, how to avoid malware, how to shop online safely, and what your browser’s security features are. Know how to stay safe so you can feel more confident exploring the internet!


Google Drive and Docs

Google Drive is a free online office suite that allows users to store files in the cloud, access files across devices, and share files with others. Knowing how to navigate Google Drive is an essential skill in some workplaces and can also be a great tool to use at home for personal files. In this class you will learn all about Google Drive including how to get started, how to create documents, how to upload, manage, and share files, and how to convert and print documents.


Computer Basics: Getting Started

This two session class will cover all of the important computer basics to help you get started working on a computer or laptop. We will discuss what the basic parts of a computer are, including buttons and ports, operating systems and applications, setting up a computer, connecting to the internet, understanding the Cloud, protecting your computer, and basic troubleshooting techniques.


Computer Basics: Personalize Your Computer

Learn how to get started with your first computer! In this class we will discuss how to understand file extensions, downloading and uploading, free software available to you, how to set up a Wi-Fi network, how to update your software, what to do if your computer gets a virus, how to set up a new printer, and how to keep an old computer running smoothly.

 

[trevm999]

Make sure you show lots of examples for "Staying Safe Online" There's a lot of things you can show that will get people interested, and maybe make the importance sink in. Actually send a spoofed email, brute force a password, sniff out credit card information not sent sent over SSL/TLS.

 

[therealcrazy8]

Make sure you show lots of examples for "Staying Safe Online" There's a lot of things you can show that will get people interested, and maybe make the importance sink in. Actually send a spoofed email, brute force a password, sniff out credit card information not sent sent over SSL/TLS.

This stuff is totally up my alley, not sure if it will be up theres to do that much. I have a bachelors in Information System Security/Cyber Security, and have done a fair amount of sniffing, setting up rogue routers, username/password capturing, etc. maybe.....hmmmmm....maybe I could do something where I play the role of a hacker, or a wanabe hacker/script kiddie AKA the teenage punk next door and show them how security plays a role even in there home and why it's so important. i may have to think about that one.

 

[Altster]

By all means, write out your plan(s) for the class and then stick to / with it. And you'll probably do just fine.

 

[gikstar]

You could always add a class on "How to locate safe porn sites"

 

[therealcrazy8]

You could always add a class on "How to locate safe porn sites"

Well since I have partnered up with Covenant Eyes, probably wont be showing them porn sites.