Ideas for an Instructor

J

jetx.ceo

Well-Known Member
So....

Recently started instructing for what I thought would be just a few hours a week at a flying club. This grew quickly after I started a website for myself. All the students are members of the flying club. Now I am flying a bunch, I need another instructor to come and help. The issue is I put some decent money into advertising and website building. This led to more people joining the flying club after meeting me and flying for an intro flight. Is it greedy to try and get a small cut from another instructor for the students I give them after the work I had to put in to get them? Is there even a way to do it!? I really have no idea what to do. Not looking to take advantage but I haven't heard of this situation before.
 
adk said:
Don't worry about getting a cut. I would, however, get him to agree in writing to not undercut you on hourly rate.
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I could be off-base (I really don't know for sure), but isn't that pretty much illegal?

-Fox
 
Isn't this how most part 61 schools operate? Charge X amount per hour to the student and then pay the instructor a subset of X as a contractor.
 
Have you considered just having instructors pay you a monthly rate to be on your platform?

Essentially, the barber chair model...
 
It's all about "the brand". It's been that way forever.

You want to position yourself as the uber-competent "go - to" guy. Guys (and gals) like that don't need to do any advertising. They get all the business they need via word of mouth. Those guys in my neck of the woods are pinging $75/hr and are as busy as they can stand. Even then, that's still short of what most other "professionals" are getting (tennis pro, golf pro, gun pro, etc) around here.

You can certainly move into the "management" end of it, as there is money there. But you need to make sure the juice is worth the squeeze, and in line with your ultimate career goals.

Richman
 
Richman said:
It's all about "the brand". It's been that way forever.

You want to position yourself as the uber-competent "go - to" guy. Guys (and gals) like that don't need to do any advertising. They get all the business they need via word of mouth. Those guys in my neck of the woods are pinging $75/hr and are as busy as they can stand. Even then, that's still short of what most other "professionals" are getting (tennis pro, golf pro, gun pro, etc) around here.

You can certainly move into the "management" end of it, as there is money there. But you need to make sure the juice is worth the squeeze, and in line with your ultimate career goals.

Richman
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The high end free lance CFI in my area is $90-$100 per hour and its very difficult to get on their schedule
 
uncreative said:
Isn't this how most part 61 schools operate? Charge X amount per hour to the student and then pay the instructor a subset of X as a contractor.
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Yes. Not sure about most but it is definitely how a lot of Part 61 flight schools operate. It's a model that makes a lot of sense. The business creator is taking a number of financial risks.
jetx.ceo said:
So basically, it isn't illegal but just be careful on who I let come in?
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Basically. There's certainly nothing from an FAA standpoint. But there can be other business issues once yo bring someone else in. Not the least of these is how aggressive your state labor department is on the employee vs. contractor question. Most states follow some version of the IRS guidelines on the issue but there is a wide disparity in how they are enforced. Being wrong has consequences.

That's not meant to scare you way. Practically speaking, an operation like you are describing might well be small enough to fall below the radar. But I still think it makes sense to at least get an opinion of relative risk and how to keep on the right side of the question. The FAR is easy in comparison.

Just noticed: the employee vs contractor question is being discussed in another thread
 
jetx.ceo said:
So....

Recently started instructing for what I thought would be just a few hours a week at a flying club. This grew quickly after I started a website for myself. All the students are members of the flying club. Now I am flying a bunch, I need another instructor to come and help. The issue is I put some decent money into advertising and website building. This led to more people joining the flying club after meeting me and flying for an intro flight. Is it greedy to try and get a small cut from another instructor for the students I give them after the work I had to put in to get them? Is there even a way to do it!? I really have no idea what to do. Not looking to take advantage but I haven't heard of this situation before.
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Once again I quote Aviation Week and Space Technology: "No airline ever suffered from under capacity."

Demand having far exceeded supply, you are now in the driver's seat when it comes to setting a price for your services. Why undermine that? Instead of starting a second instructor, start a waiting list.
 
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