What started as a solo tutoring practice quickly grew into a thriving team of educators. Learn how Lynn Brown, M.Ed. of Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center uses TutorBird to streamline administration, create consistency across its team, and focus more time on supporting students.

Results at a Glance

• Moved from spreadsheets to a centralized management system
• Simplified scheduling and invoicing through automation
• Standardized workflows across a growing tutoring team
• Improved access to student records and attendance history
• Spent less time on administration and more time supporting students

About Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center

Founded in 2019 by Lynn Brown, M.Ed., Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center helps students with dyslexia develop the skills and confidence they need to become successful readers. What began as a solo tutoring practice has grown into a team-based business dedicated to providing specialized literacy support for families throughout the region.

Outgrowing Spreadsheets and Manual Processes

As the business grew, the systems Lynn relied on became harder to manage.

Scheduling, billing, student records, and tutor information were spread across multiple spreadsheets and platforms. Keeping everything organized required constant manual effort, and information often lived in different places.

“There was a lot of chaos,” Lynn says. “A lot of spreadsheets, a lot of calendaring.”

The challenge became even greater as demand increased. During the early years of the business, Lynn was managing a growing roster of students while handling every administrative task herself.

“I ended up tutoring a ridiculous number of hours by myself,” she says.

Tracking attendance, managing schedules, and keeping billing records up to date quickly became difficult to maintain.

“It was sloppy, and it was really hard trying to make it all make sense.”

What worked as a solo operation wasn’t built to support a growing team. Lynn needed a system that could bring everything together and create a more sustainable foundation for the future.

Finding a Better Way to Manage the Business

While participating in a business training program, Lynn kept hearing the same recommendation from other tutoring business owners: TutorBird.

She explored several options, but many only solved parts of the problem. Some handled scheduling but not billing. Others required multiple tools working together to accomplish basic administrative tasks.

What stood out about TutorBird was its ability to manage several key parts of the business within a single platform.

“The initial sale was the calendar system,” Lynn says.

Being able to manage tutor schedules while automatically generating invoices from completed lessons immediately caught her attention.

💬 “The time save of just having the calendar that triggers the invoices was huge.”

TutorBird’s billing flexibility was another advantage. Rather than creating individual invoices for every lesson, Lynn could structure billing in a way that better matched how families preferred to pay.

Bringing Scheduling, Billing, and Student Records Together

Today, TutorBird serves as the operational hub for Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center.

Schedules, invoices, attendance records, lesson notes, student files, progress monitoring, and communication are all connected within a single system.

Instead of searching through spreadsheets, email chains, and cloud storage folders, Lynn and her team can quickly access the information they need.

“That’s been a really great way to communicate and know systematically that things are being managed,” she says.

For a tutoring business that works closely with students over long periods of time, having a complete record of each student’s journey is especially valuable.

“If I click on a kid, I can see every tutor they’ve ever had, all their testing data, all their sessions, their attendance history,” Lynn says. “It’s just really nice not having to track that down.”

Parents also benefit from having easier access to information through the Student Portal, helping reduce back-and-forth communication and making it easier to stay informed about their child’s progress.

Creating Consistency Across a Growing Team

As Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center expanded, TutorBird became more than a scheduling tool. It became the system that helped keep everyone on the same page.

The business has grown from a solo tutoring practice into a team of seven tutors. Throughout that growth, TutorBird has provided a centralized place for schedules, student records, attendance history, billing, and communication.

For Lynn, one of the biggest advantages is having a complete view of each student’s history in a single place.

“If I click on a student, I can see every tutor they’ve ever had. I can see all their testing data, all their sessions, and their attendance history.”

Instead of searching through spreadsheets, emails, or separate systems, tutors can quickly access the information they need to support students effectively.

“It’s really nice not having to track that down.”

That visibility helps create consistency across the team while ensuring families receive a more organized and professional experience.

Saving Time Through Automation

Lynn believes administrative work shouldn’t take time away from helping students.

That’s why automation has become such an important part of her business.

“I’m a big fan of automating as much as you can,” she says.

With TutorBird, lesson reminders, attendance tracking, invoicing, payment records, and account management require far less manual effort than they once did.

“The couple of bucks it costs me to have a tutor assigned in TutorBird far outweighs the payroll to have someone managing all of those systems.”

By reducing repetitive administrative work, TutorBird helps the team stay focused on delivering high-quality support to students and families.

A More Organized and Professional Business

While Lynn doesn’t credit TutorBird with creating demand for her services, she does credit it with helping the business manage that demand more effectively.

“It just adds to the professionalism and the consistency across the team.”

That professionalism extends throughout the entire business. Families receive consistent communication, tutors follow standardized processes, and student information is organized and accessible.

The reporting tools also give Lynn greater visibility into business operations, helping her make informed decisions as the organization continues to evolve.

“We are starting to look at some small group options and things like that,” she says. “My business mind has grown a little bit too.”

More Time for What Matters Most

At the heart of Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center is a commitment to helping students become stronger readers.

Administrative work will always be part of running a tutoring business, but it doesn’t have to consume valuable time and energy.

By bringing scheduling, billing, student records, communication, and reporting together in one place, TutorBird has helped Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center create a more organized and efficient operation.

That means less time spent managing systems and more time spent supporting tutors, helping families, and focusing on student success.

Ready to Move Beyond Spreadsheets?

As Willamette Valley Dyslexia Center discovered, the right systems can make it easier to stay organized, create consistency across your team, and spend more time supporting students.

Whether you’re running a solo tutoring business or managing a growing team, TutorBird can help simplify scheduling, billing, communication, and student management in one place.

Ready to learn more? Start a free trial to explore the platform firsthand, book a personalized demo with our team, or contact us with any questions.