There’s no denying that in order to be a great driving instructor, you need to work hard. This can mean putting a lot of effort into growing and developing your driving school, as well as spending hours on the road to increase your profits and cover any business overheads. No one said it was going to be easy, but the good news is that the benefits of being a driving instructor far outweigh the more challenging aspects. There are many advantages to being a driving instructor, including:

• Being Your Own Boss

• If you opt to open your own driving school business, you’ll enjoy all the benefits that come with being your own boss. You’ll be solely in charge of the way your business operates, of your business goals and values, and of your reputation. You can set your own rates depending upon what sort of business you want to be (low cost or ‘exclusive’, for example), and you can decide upon your own marketing strategies to best target local demographics. Work in the vehicles you love best, choose your working radius, and decide when - or even if - you want to expand and grow your business.

• Choosing Your Working Hours

• When you become a driving instructor, the days of ‘9-5’ are well and truly gone. In fact, you may find that your busiest times are early morning before many people begin work, or after the local schools and colleges finish up for the day. Choosing your own working hours can be ideal if you have other commitments - if you’re taking a training course such as c-ADI training, for example, of if you have a family and want to be available for the school run or take time off for important events such as the school sports day. Work when you want, take holidays when you want - what could be better?

• Picking Your Own Clients

• In many professions, clients can be a source of discontent, and it’s no different for driving instructors. Every driving instructor, at some point in their career, will team up with a learner that just isn’t a good fit for them. Whether it’s that you can’t meet their expectations (they imagine they will pass their test much earlier than you do, for example), or they exhibit behaviours that suggest they’re not particularly interested in learning to drive, you’re sure to meet them. The good news for driving instructors is that you’re not obliged to work with anyone - you get to choose who you work with!

• Job Satisfaction

• If you’re passionate about driving, and about teaching a new generation of learners, then becoming a driving instructor can bring huge job satisfaction. A study by the University of Kent actually found that those in a teaching role report being the least bored out of all professions, with 86 percent of those questioned appreciating the interaction with different sorts of people, 81 percent saying the thrill is in the challenge of the role, 81 loving the fact that no two days are the same, and 64 percent happy that they get to express their creativity through their job. Don’t be stuck in a job you don’t like!