First, let's define what a 'niche' is. In Biology, there are several different types of niches - fundamental niche and realized niche (among others):
A 'fundamental niche' is the full range of environmental conditions and resources an organism can occupy and use, especially when limiting factors are absent in its habitat. This includes its role in the environment, how it eats, what it eats, what eats it, when it's awake, when it sleeps, and how it dies. For example, a mouse in a field of grain has a fundamental niche consisting of eating grains and insects, being awake at night, sleeping during the day, and being eaten by snakes.
For you, that means your fundamental niche is one in which you can tutor all courses that you feel you are qualified in without worrying about limiting factors. If you did a degree in Life Sciences, you could pretty much tutor any of the sciences: Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Ecology, etc You could tutor them any time of the day, charge whatever you want, and take on as many students as you want.
That sounds like the perfect scenario. But, it isn't real life. In real life, all organisms have something called the 'realized niche.' A realized niche is the section of the fundamental niche that an organism must occupy due to limiting factors. So, in our field mouse analogy, it's realized niche is a much smaller part of its fundamental niche due the presence of limiting factors such as competition (for resources and mating) from many other mice and constant danger from barn owls and snakes.
For you, that means your realized niche will be the one where you factor in things like how much competition you have in your geographic area, what they are charging, how many students you can handle, the time and day the student wants to be tutored, whether you want to offer 3 hours of tutoring a week or 10, etc. This could translate into you only being able to offer a course that isn't offered by too many other tutors in your area. Or it could mean that you would have to lower what you charge in order to be more competitive.
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This may seem a little confusing, so here is an example:
Let's say I have a degree in Biology & Zoology. I know that I can tutor the following subjects: Biology, Zoology, Physiology, Vertebrate Anatomy, Human Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Chemistry. I also know that I want to charge $35/hr because I feel that is a fair price for the excellent quality of my tutoring. I want to tutor only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 4 pm to 10 pm. And I want a student who will want to be tutored at least 4 hours a week otherwise it's not worth my time and effort. This would be my fundamental niche (my role in the tutoring business without any limiting factors).
After doing thorough research, I realize that in my area code there are 2 other tutoring businesses that offer courses at the university level - some that are the same as what I want to offer. I also realize that there are several other tutoring businesses in the surrounding area codes who also offer tutoring for most of these subjects. They have price quotes of about $25/hr for some courses and more for others. Also, after being contacted by some students, I realize that a lot of students have time constraints due to work and school - so I will have to be able to meet them at other times than Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This will conflict with my own timetable. So, in response to all of this, I will think about only offering Vertebrate Anatomy, Human Anatomy, and Physiology for the time being, seeing as these courses are not being offered by any of my competition. If I decide to offer the same courses as them, I will have to lower my price to $25/hr and possibly more since I am new and need to build my reputation. This is my realized niche.
So, why did I mention the concept of niche? Because too often I see tutors offering every subject possible - from Grade 5 Math to University Chemistry. This gives a warning sign to parents that a) You are desperate for client business, and b) You lack expertise in any one subject. For example, if I were a parent, I'd much rather hire the tutor who has a Bachelors in Chemistry and only offers tutoring in Chemistry than the tutor who has a Bachelors in Science and offers tutoring services in everything. This is especially crucial when you are just beginning your tutoring service. You should focus on just a few areas and make sure you are the best at it. Then once you have solidified a reputation, you can expand and offer more.
A 'fundamental niche' is the full range of environmental conditions and resources an organism can occupy and use, especially when limiting factors are absent in its habitat. This includes its role in the environment, how it eats, what it eats, what eats it, when it's awake, when it sleeps, and how it dies. For example, a mouse in a field of grain has a fundamental niche consisting of eating grains and insects, being awake at night, sleeping during the day, and being eaten by snakes.
For you, that means your fundamental niche is one in which you can tutor all courses that you feel you are qualified in without worrying about limiting factors. If you did a degree in Life Sciences, you could pretty much tutor any of the sciences: Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Ecology, etc You could tutor them any time of the day, charge whatever you want, and take on as many students as you want.
That sounds like the perfect scenario. But, it isn't real life. In real life, all organisms have something called the 'realized niche.' A realized niche is the section of the fundamental niche that an organism must occupy due to limiting factors. So, in our field mouse analogy, it's realized niche is a much smaller part of its fundamental niche due the presence of limiting factors such as competition (for resources and mating) from many other mice and constant danger from barn owls and snakes.
For you, that means your realized niche will be the one where you factor in things like how much competition you have in your geographic area, what they are charging, how many students you can handle, the time and day the student wants to be tutored, whether you want to offer 3 hours of tutoring a week or 10, etc. This could translate into you only being able to offer a course that isn't offered by too many other tutors in your area. Or it could mean that you would have to lower what you charge in order to be more competitive.
NICHE.png
This may seem a little confusing, so here is an example:
Let's say I have a degree in Biology & Zoology. I know that I can tutor the following subjects: Biology, Zoology, Physiology, Vertebrate Anatomy, Human Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Chemistry. I also know that I want to charge $35/hr because I feel that is a fair price for the excellent quality of my tutoring. I want to tutor only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 4 pm to 10 pm. And I want a student who will want to be tutored at least 4 hours a week otherwise it's not worth my time and effort. This would be my fundamental niche (my role in the tutoring business without any limiting factors).
After doing thorough research, I realize that in my area code there are 2 other tutoring businesses that offer courses at the university level - some that are the same as what I want to offer. I also realize that there are several other tutoring businesses in the surrounding area codes who also offer tutoring for most of these subjects. They have price quotes of about $25/hr for some courses and more for others. Also, after being contacted by some students, I realize that a lot of students have time constraints due to work and school - so I will have to be able to meet them at other times than Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This will conflict with my own timetable. So, in response to all of this, I will think about only offering Vertebrate Anatomy, Human Anatomy, and Physiology for the time being, seeing as these courses are not being offered by any of my competition. If I decide to offer the same courses as them, I will have to lower my price to $25/hr and possibly more since I am new and need to build my reputation. This is my realized niche.
So, why did I mention the concept of niche? Because too often I see tutors offering every subject possible - from Grade 5 Math to University Chemistry. This gives a warning sign to parents that a) You are desperate for client business, and b) You lack expertise in any one subject. For example, if I were a parent, I'd much rather hire the tutor who has a Bachelors in Chemistry and only offers tutoring in Chemistry than the tutor who has a Bachelors in Science and offers tutoring services in everything. This is especially crucial when you are just beginning your tutoring service. You should focus on just a few areas and make sure you are the best at it. Then once you have solidified a reputation, you can expand and offer more.
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