u/tunable_art

For the longest time my setup was a mess. Session notes in one doc, payments tracked in a Google Sheet I'd broken at least twice, scheduling through WhatsApp, and a separate calendar that was never quite in sync with any of it.

Every time I took on a new student I'd think "okay this time I'll keep it organised" and two weeks later I'd be scrolling back through chat history trying to remember if someone had paid or not.

What actually changed things wasn't finding a better tool, it was accepting that I needed something stupidly simple. Not a CRM. Not a full system. Just one place where I could see each student, their next session, whether they'd paid, and any notes I needed before the lesson.

I ended up trying something lightweight that let me set this up in about 10 minutes. Not perfect, but it's the first thing I've actually stuck with consistently.

Curious if anyone else has gone through this, and what finally worked for you. What's your current setup?

Curious what other tutors are actually using to keep track of everything, not what you think you should be using, but what you actually use day to day.

For me it's honestly pretty scattered. Session notes in one place, payment tracking in a Google Sheet I've accidentally broken twice, scheduling through WhatsApp, and a calendar that's always slightly out of sync with everything else.

I keep looking at proper tools but they all feel like overkill for someone with 15 students. And setting them up takes longer than the problem they're supposed to solve.

What's the simplest system that actually works for you?

Started tutoring online about a year ago and I still haven't figured out a good system for this. Someone books a session, we exchange a few messages, then they just go quiet. No confirmation, no cancellation, nothing. I don't know if I should hold the slot, follow up again, or just move on. I've tried sending a confirmation message 24 hours before but maybe 30% of the time I still get no response. Then I'm sitting there 10 minutes into the scheduled time wondering if they're coming.

What do you actually do in this situation? Is there a point where you just stop following up?