Today, we’d like to introduce you to Tara Hollies.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
While I’ve always enjoyed writing and teaching, I did not consider turning these talents into a business until I was about to graduate with my PhD in history in the fall of 2020. If you asked me five years ago if I would ever own or run a company, I would have laughed and admitted that I knew nothing about business (my only business training up to that point had come in the form of questionable advice from Michael G. Scott c. 2005-2011).
But, what I did not realize at that time was that I have spent much of my life learning and honing the necessary skills for operating my own editing and writing tutoring business. Since my early childhood, I have been an avid reader and writer. In fact, most of my earliest memories involve me scribbling a fictional story in one of a dozen notebooks I had lying around the house or racing through the public library to the stacks that held “The New Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley” young detective novels (I think I’ve read every single one).
My interest in reading and writing continued throughout my K-12 education and college years. At St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, I double majored in English and an independent major that I created, African Cultures and Colonialism. For the latter field of study, I took many African history courses, which ultimately led me to pursue my PhD in African history at Michigan State University right after graduating from Olaf. While I offered my editing services to my friends and hockey teammates free of charge during college, it was not until several years later, as I was about to earn my PhD, that I thought about turning this talent into a business.
While I was a graduate student at Michigan State, I worked in the university’s writing center, where I helped college, graduate, and professional students on a wide variety of writing projects. I found that I was adept at this form of teaching (one-on-one with a focus on articulating one’s ideas through writing). But that was only one part of establishing my credibility as an academic-focused editor and writing tutor. Other key elements were the skills and content knowledge I developed by studying history, teaching undergraduate and graduate students, writing research grant applications, conducting research abroad, and writing original scholarship during graduate school. While pursuing my PhD, which I earned in 2020, I honed these transferable skills that have allowed me to fill a niche in academia.
As an experienced editor, grant writer, and dissertation coach–whose own dissertation earned distinction for its research and writing quality–I am able to provide a much-needed service to many graduate students and early-career scholars who are not quite sure what is expected of a MA thesis, a PhD dissertation, scholarly journal articles and monographs, or other forms of academic writing. I have found that many students feel lost during the writing process but do not know where to turn for support. That is one of the areas in which I can assist clients through my work as an editor, writing tutor, and academic coach.
Soon after I successfully defended my dissertation in the fall of 2020, and not having much luck finding academic or academic-adjacent jobs during the pandemic, I decided to control my destiny by creating a business. My dad was the first to tell me that since I’m such a good writer and editor, I should work for myself rather than someone else. That was great advice; I followed it, taking on my first clients that fall and registering Tarastotle Tutoring LLC as an official business in January 2021.
I really enjoy using my grammar, syntactical, and rhetorical writing skills to help clients articulate their thoughts in the clearest and most concise ways. My only regret is that I did not start my business years earlier. Yet, I think the timing was right: the chaos of the pandemic and the confidence I gained from completing my dissertation and the years of teaching and writing consulting in graduate school allowed me to take the next step of establishing my own company.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’m thankful I have not encountered any serious issues with my small business. Since it is a single-member LLC and I provide a service rather than selling products, I do not have complicated finances to manage. I have almost no overhead, and my other expenses are relatively limited.
Since I am a *very* small business (I am my boss and my only employee), I am relatively unknown to consumers. The issue is figuring out how to market myself to the widest audience without spending much on advertisements. Thus, my main challenge–which I imagine is true for many new businesses–has been amassing my client base. This process started slowly, as I expected it would, but I had some initial clients who knew me as their peer or instructor from Michigan State. Then, those first clients referred their friends and colleagues to me, and it began to snowball from there.
During my first year of operation, I received excellent advice from a former boss: I should ask each client to give me a Google review that includes a 5-star rating plus a brief comment about how I was able to support them through my service. Google reviews definitely help demonstrate my credibility and many of my new clients are referrals, which is encouraging since it means my former clients are enthusiastic about the results of my editing or tutoring. The longer I’m in business, the more recognition I get and the larger my pool of returning and new clients becomes.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a one-woman editing and writing tutoring business. While I am able to support clients on a variety of writing projects, I specialize in editing PhD dissertations, MA theses, Fulbright and other research grant proposals, and essays for college or graduate school courses. I can also assist clients in building or revising resumes, CVs, cover letters, and other job application materials.
I have a PhD in African history and a BA in English. Because I earned a Fulbright-IIE grant and a Social Science Research Council/Andrew W. Mellon fellowship (both of which I used to fund my dissertation research in Nigeria in 2018), and because I have led several Fulbright and other grant-writing workshops, courses, and one-on-one advising, I am a great resource for anyone applying for a scholarship, fellowship, or research grant.
Because of my PhD and other academic experience, I am able to provide students and scholars with detailed content-based feedback on their written work as well as edit their documents to improve the grammar, syntax, flow, and clarity. I have a lot of experience teaching undergraduates and graduates in the classroom and supporting students and scholars on an individual level.
Through Tarastotle Tutoring LLC, I offer asynchronous editing (using Track Changes in Microsoft Word or Suggestion Mode in Google Docs) and synchronous tutoring (via Zoom or phone call).
The element of my work that brings me the most satisfaction is my clients’ reactions after using my services. I know that I’m using my talents and experience to truly help people. I’m most proud of my Google reviews, as they allow my clients to share their views of me and my services in their own words.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Beyond the tragic loss of life that it caused, COVID-19 devastated many businesses and industries across the world. But the pandemic–more accurately, the mandated quarantine that governments issued in response to the pandemic–taught a lot of companies how to pivot to virtual work. While this proved difficult for many industries and sectors, including K-12 schools and institutions of higher education, it was beneficial for those whose work was done primarily online. My editing and writing tutoring business falls into the latter category.
I realized that tutoring does not have to happen in person, as Zoom, Google, and other similar platforms allow people to collaborate on a document or project in real time, regardless of the participants’ geographic locations. Before the pandemic, I thought of tutoring only as an in-person activity, as that was how I assisted my peers at Michigan State University when I worked for the school’s writing center as a graduate student. The last semester that I worked for the writing center was in the fall of 2020, when we shifted to virtual consultations.
That was when I realized I could support clients from all over, not just students who attended the same school as I did or who lived in my city. That realization was part of the impetus for creating my own editing and writing tutoring business. Because virtual meetings and email correspondence have replaced a lot of in-person activities over the last four years, people seem open to–and even prefer–online tutoring, which makes it easier for me to reach more potential clients and support more students and professionals in a time-efficient manner. In short, I’ve found that Google Docs and Zoom are huge assets to my small business.
Pricing:
- Prices for asynchronous editing start at $35/1,000 words.
- Prices for synchronous tutoring start at $75/hour.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tarastotletutoring.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tarastotle_tutoring/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tara.reyelts
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarareyelts/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/drtarastotle
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@tarastotle_tutoring
Image Credits
Cory Hollies
