AI Tools I Actually Use to Run My Tutoring Business in Calgary, and the Ones I Cut

Last month, while cleaning up my laptop desktop, I discovered nine app shortcuts had piled up that I'd never once opened. They were all tools that would supposedly "boost my productivity." I definitely had a reason when I installed each one, but in the end they were only making me busier. That evening I deleted them all. Five remained. Those five are the only ones that actually keep my tutoring work running.

It's too modest to call a business. I teach high school English and writing part-time in Calgary, mostly online. I usually have around four or five students at any given time. Since the income isn't large, I can't help being sensitive about what I spend on tools. Going over $30 a month makes me uneasy.

What I Kept

Notion. Lesson notes, per-student progress, invoice templates, content ideas: everything goes in this one place. I used to bounce between Google Docs, Trello, and three different note apps. One day I was looking in Trello for a progress report to send a student's parents, couldn't find it, dug through Google Docs, and it turned out to be in the note app all along. After that I consolidated everything into Notion. The free plan is more than enough. It also has AI features, which I occasionally use to draft lesson feedback. The sentences come out a bit stiff, but it's better than starting from a blank page.

ChatGPT. This is what I use most when creating lesson materials. I'll type something like "Give me three prompts for a 16-year-old student to practice persuasive essay structure, topic: urban farming," and I get a decent starting point. I almost never use the output as-is. I always rework it. I was on the free version but upgraded to Plus earlier this year, which runs about $27 CAD per month. That's nearly my entire tool budget. I also upload files to help shape feedback direction on student essays, and it definitely saves time.

Canva. I use it to make lesson worksheets and simple visual materials. Through teaching, I've learned that students respond better to materials with some layout rather than pages packed solid with text. I only use the free plan. I've tried pro features like AI image generation, but they're overkill for tutoring materials.

Calendly. Free plan. I let students and parents book times directly, which eliminated all the back-and-forth over text messages. "Does this time work?" "Oh, that time doesn't work for me." It automatically locks in the Calgary time zone, which is also convenient when coordinating with students in other cities.

Otter.ai. It records online lessons and automatically transcribes them. When students want to review what we covered, I can send them the text. The free plan has a monthly limit, so I can't use it for every lesson. I only turn it on for sessions like writing feedback, where there's a real need to revisit the content later.

What I Cut

The list is long. Grammarly Premium (the free version was plenty), Jasper (I have no marketing copy to write), Midjourney (fun, but Canva handles any images I need for lessons), Zapier (my workflow isn't complex enough to automate), Loom (it took me three months to realize that students never actually watch recorded videos I send them).

The most expensive lesson wasn't the tools themselves. It was the thought, "I might need this tool too." Whenever I feel the urge to add something, I ask myself one question: Is there anything I'm currently doing that genuinely can't be done without this tool? Most of the time, the answer is no.

Fall comes fast in Calgary. The trees outside my window are already turning yellow. As I organize next semester's lesson plans in Notion, I feel good knowing that just five tools will carry me through another season. It's not lavish, but this much is just right.