chelseydavidson

[chelseydavidson]

Week #13 Progress

What is working?

Honestly, at this point, I dare say that my business is working…

Let’s break it down a bit: I have – count ‘em – TWO MORE CLIENTS!!!

Last week, I got a text from a post-secondary student – let’s call her Tina Turista – who was looking for “remedial Spanish” (this is how she described it via text message). I responded that I could help and eventually we spoke on the phone to clarify exactly what she was looking to achieve. She explained to me that she is going to Spain for an internship this summer and wants to brush up on her Spanish (just conversational, not technical jargon for her job) for the next six weeks before she heads out in July. I scheduled some time with her and actually went for the first hour-long session with Tina yesterday. (A quick sidenote: Tina is actually outside of the prescribed geographic region, but only slightly as an Oshawa resident living pretty much on the borderline between there and Whitby, so I felt it was more than fair to make an exception.)

Tina is actually an anomaly in which she is both the student and the paying client, as opposed to the parents I’ve become accustomed to dealing with. This first session went well, in my opinion, in that the client seemed to engage with me (less of a surprise on account of her being the person paying) and ultimately was extremely pleased with her progress. It almost felt like she was looking for a hitting partner to try out her Spanish backhand.

Tina also mentioned the fact that it was difficult to find a Spanish tutor in such a short timeframe and that my prices were insanely low. Like everything, feedback is always golden, so I may consider increasing my rates for Spanish tutoring on a small scale next time, or perhaps at minimum doing more research on the going rate for a Spanish tutor in the area. 

In case we were in danger of forgetting, shall I remind you that I secured two clients this week? Yes, I have lined up client #4 in my list. I received a phone call today from someone I’ll call Exam Sam. Sam was interested in scheduling me for the second week of June to do a bit of a longer tutoring session than the norm to prepare her child for grade 9 final exams, specifically English and French. As a result, I am booked for June 9 for three straight hours with Sam Jr. While I am excited for the opportunity to have a fourth client, I do recognize that this client might not have longevity in mind, so this might be a one-time deal. All the same, a customer is a customer, so I will do my level best to exceed expectations.

Oh, and let’s not forget my little world of existing clients! It feels like a very busy week. I saw Johnny Appleseed for French tutoring last Wednesday (and will also see him again tomorrow, since Mrs. Appleseed has increased sessions to twice a week as we head into his final exam period); I also saw both Jan and Marcia Brady last Friday for math tutoring. Progress is continuing at a similar pace, so clients (and by that, I mean parents) are happy and students seem to be proud of their accomplishments, too. 

Since this will be my last post regarding this venture, I will likely go into further detail in my final report and presentation with a roundup of my schedule for the next few weeks to best capture the total number of hours accomplished so far and other such details. All the same, the business model seems to be working in my opinion, with a meagre but steady flow of clientele (an amount that I alone can sustain). 

What is not working?

Did I mention how tired I am? 

Running a business is positively exhausting. I constantly feel like I’m running behind, even though I do seem to be keeping pace. I am reminding myself of marathoner thoughts with reminders that any sprinting bursts forward will just tire me out even more in the long run. A lot of tortoise and hare parables have been slinking around my brain as of late. 

In other areas that I’m less than pleased with, my marketing plans obviously didn’t pan out the way I planned. (More about this will come in my final report and presentation – I can assure you.) My digital game never really clicked in, and I’ve frankly been too tired with operating the business to run another canvassing campaign with the remainder of the printed flyers. That being said, at some point, I suspect a lull of some kind will appear and I’ll seize the chance to do a little extra marketing. 

At the same time, though, I am also well aware that the result of effective marketing is – gasp! – more clients. At this stage, do I want them yet? Sometimes fast growth is not the right move; sustainability is. So, I am kind of making peace with the fact that my organic marketing aspirations fell flat because it turned out that I didn’t quite need them as much as I thought. (I do think a great deal was luck, but I’m also just going to blindly take the credit.)

How do you feel the project is coming?

Is it obnoxious to say I’m proud of myself?

I am perpetually in shock that this is working and frankly feel like a fraudster. (I'm no stranger to impostor syndrome, but this is next level.)

That being said, a wise woman once said, "And it's fine to fake it 'til you make it / 'Til you do, 'til it's true." (She actually said it again recently, in fact.)

All right, fine, I just quoted Taylor Swift lyrics, but she was Person of the Year, catapulted her way into the top of Forbes list and last month managed to break onto Forbes Billionaire List, so I think she’s fair game for a blog about entrepreneurship, don’t you?

What are you learning about running a business?

The more I do it, the more I’m learning that it’s kind of like having a baby. There is a lot of advice that people want to give you, but ultimately you decide what’s going to work for you. You feel completely unprepared and it comes with no manual,so you just have to figure it out as you go. You are so freaking tired, but you actually love every second of it, so the lack of sleep feels a little euphoric. Short of officially registering its name (something I didn't do operating under my legal name), it’s pretty darn close in terms of experiences, in my humble opinion. 

What are you learning about yourself?

I have a few little pearls to add to the necklace, some of which are just reinforcing reminders of what I’ve been learning this entire time.

Marketing does not come naturally to me – not at all. I can read every social psychology book available (and honestly, I think I just might have), but it’s just not quite the same as doing it. I will never be the female version of Don Draper. (Wait, was Peggy the female version of Don Draper?)

I am still Type-A, even if it doesn’t always do me any good. I think that it is just entrenched in my soul and I’m okay with that. 

I am learning to recognize why limits are good. No, I might not be able to grow exponentially, but if I don’t have the capacity to handle that much in terms of operations right this moment, why would I want to? In short, I am learning how to pace myself. I have always been good at time management and project management, but learning to be better at expectation management is turning out to be a fantastic little addition for me. 

Last but not least, by the dictionary definition, I am an entrepreneur.

[chelseydavidson]

Week #12 Progress

What is working?

Working is working. The fact that I have clients, that I can go out and work, is definitely a good thing in my books. Last Friday, on May 17, I did more sessions with Jan and Marcia Brady. The sessions actually went much better this time than last. Jan was not acting like she was preparing for her last meal and focused so much better on her tables of values than the kitchen table. Marcia also had a markedly more positive attitude, as well, and we began working through word problems, which she self-identified as giving her the most grief. We developed a step-by-step approach to translating a wordy problem into the essential pieces to turn it back into a math problem, by identifying the given information and the question in more numerical terms. She seems to be picking up on it quickly and was able to independently apply this method before the hour was over. 

Carol Brady was very happy and let me know that, since Carol was involved in some end-of-school year event coming up, she had some one-on-one time with Marcia’s teacher. The teacher told Carol that Marcia was already improving in her attitude in class and that it reflected on her last test. I was impressed that results would show this quickly, but I appreciated the feedback. Carol booked more sessions with me, as well. 

What is not working?

I don’t know whether to say that canvassing has been helpful to the business or not. I’ll let the pessimistic side of myself take the reins for now, though, and say, for the reasons I’m about to outline below, I should be out. 

I was initially considering just going to houses around schools and knocking door-to-door. So, I did an ounce of research. While the majority of articles on the topic relate to the real estate industry, where knocking on doors can be more effective than any other means of advertising, there was some interesting factoids about how canvassing is still getting your name out to the community throughout this method (even if the answer is no) and a sense of how often it leads to interest (about 4% of the time).

However, there were a couple of issues there - one, there is no guarantee that the person inside has children; but, more importantly, my timing was off on account of the long weekend sending the majority of people out of town to enjoy the time off for Victoria Day. 

Another article discussed cold-calling as a type of canvassing, but offered some interesting approach advice, particularly on prequalifying your target prospects to make them a little warmer to your proposal. I adapted these tips to my idea to hand out flyers to the public. While places like grocery store parking lots may have ample volume, it may not necessarily have parents with disposable income who may want to use some of that money on their children’s education. My target customer, though, might be taking their child to dance class or karate or gymnastics, to help improve their child’s character and well-being. These classes are not cheap, either, so it’s feasible to assume that they have enough money to afford tutoring, should the need arise. 

So, I created my flyer and printed out 100 copies.

Then, I headed out Saturday morning to do my bidding. I checked out some online schedules and found that classes were running at a karate and martial arts academy and gymnastics and circus school, so I started there. I spent roughly 2.5 hours combined there, aligning myself to be present in the parking lot after the first set of classes ended. My reason for doing so was that the parents should theoretically be less rushed picking up their child as opposed to dropping them off, and therefore, may have more time to talk to me. There was tons of opportunity, as well - let me say that much - in that dozens of parents came in and out of both locations. While I did speak to 4 people who had more of an interest (or were just overall more nice about my business and thus engaged in conversation), I haven’t received any inquiries yet about my service. So, for now, I’m going to call this effort a bust. 

I still have lots of copies of my flyer left, so I may give it another go at a dance school or sports centre in Ajax or Pickering (I have my eye on a few locations that seem to be high-volume opportunities), but I must say it is exhausting. 

How do you feel the project is coming?

I am going to try to be objective about the business and cold hard numbers may, at times, be the best way to assess whether a venture is going well or not. 

So, let's start with the obvious: the business is making money. There are paying clients, so that's a clear win. 

Secondly, revenue is coming in and there have been no issues with the payment channels that would cause delays in customers paying invoices. No complaints and dollars coming in means that I am on the right track here.

Thirdly, the venture is turning a profit. I've managed to keep the amount of overhead low for the business and the amount of money coming in is greater than that going out. Therefore, I am lucky enough to say that the business is profitable, something not all businesses can say within their first two to three years.

Is the business model working? This one is a little bit more objective, but with results showing already and no concerns from the existing clientele, the business model is working. I'm still looking for lost opportunities, but, considering I wanted to use the one-on-one in-person at-home approach for its effectiveness as opposed to the virtual tutoring model that boasts a lower success rate in supporting learning, then the venture is doing well at capturing the opportunities that come along and generating revenue without compromising the style of tutoring offered.

Finally, I want to look at my rate of growth. The business is definitely growing, what with adding new clients. I am still stunned at this fact – it is not turning into a mundane fact any time soon – and I think that the growth is a positive trend. However, I do hope that it is still trending upward and not plateauing at two clients. That is the thing that makes me nervous. I want sustainable growth, not a rapid burst that peters out. I don’t want it to be the microbusiness version of a dead cat bounce.

So, all in all, I think it’s fair to say the project is going all right and I need to lay off (of myself). If I let my Type A personality have its way and monitor my venture too closely for every dip, I’d be in danger of becoming as ridiculously obsessive as Monica the stock investor.

What are you learning about running a business?

I’m learning to handle the sting of rejection. Oftentimes, it is just being ignored, and sometimes it is a loud “no” in your face, but whatever form it comes in, business is full of rejection. I have become quite good at remembering that it’s not personal, it’s strictly business. (Whoa, Godfather much?) 

Learning from rejection has been helpful. Whatever I can extract from the “no” will help guide the business. A lot of the “no” I received when handing out flyers was actually parents saying, “It’s summer. Maybe in September.” There is definitely a seasonal impact on my business, in that parents just do not see the value of tutoring in the summer months during a break from school. 

I wasn’t blind to this and even incorporated it into my online showcase, so I am quick to bring up summer learning loss and how they can prevent it by continuing tutoring sessions through the summer break. It’s like anything in that the habits define the outcome. Good students are often those who make it a habit to learn and study, consistently and stably over the long term. 

What are you learning about yourself?

I am learning that I am definitely an introvert. At times, considering the work I’ve done in the past, I have appeared to be so out of my shell that the notion of ever having been a turtle was out the window. I have had colleagues assume I am an extrovert because of my ability to talk extemporaneously and pitch ideas without any sense of shyness.

However, the fact that my inner battery was wiped after talking to what was basically just four people when I was handing out flyers and that I just needed some time to myself to reenergize speaks volumes. When I got home and sat down after only a few hours of being out amongst the masses, I was so relieved. The dopamine receptors in my brain must’ve had a warm glow looking at the couch and a blanket.

I don't think this is a bad thing, though. A lot of successful entrepreneurs, like Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Warren Buffett are identifiable introverts. Introverts have a lot of good qualities that lend themself to running a business, including great listening skills, comfort working independently with the drive to do so, more rational thinking that tends to lead to more preparation and logical decision-making, powerful sense of observation, and capacity to coexist with other types of personalities, including the larger-than-life ones.

So, I think I’ll count myself in good company.

[chelseydavidson]

Week #11 Progress

What is working?

So far, I almost feel like I'm falling upwards. I've just come home from what will be the third session with the Appleseed family. Johnny is definitely improving with his French. He's honestly a pleasure to tutor and his mum seems to be impressed, especially with what she describes as his change in attitude. 

More importantly, and most fortunately, I have my second client! Cue the victory dances and fanfare. 

I am overjoyed and, lo and behold, the client is an acquaintance of Mrs. Appleseed. Just to be fun, let's call them the Brady bunch. Why? Because I am tutoring two different students for one client, back-to-back. Even though the sessions are doubled in length and revenue, I still only deem this one additional client because, at the end of the day, the client is Mama Bear, not the two Baby Bears. (I'm starting to mix my metaphors. I suppose my client is then Carol, as opposed to Marcia and Jan.)

I am tutoring Grade 6 and Grade 9 mathematics to each of her daughters, respectively. I had my first session last week Friday, May 10, and found that it went moderately well, but not as productive as I'd hoped. It was pretty surface-level and I found that Jan was much more interested in having a snack than focusing on her textbook. Our tutoring environment was not the best at their kitchen table, as Jan was prone to distraction. She seems to understand most of the material. She just seems to lack focus.

Marcia was somewhat better at staying on task, but I sensed she felt the idea of having a tutor was somehow immature. Nonetheless, we had a conversation about what she's struggling with, and from what I gather, it's predominantly linear equations, but considering how the curriculum builds on itself throughout the semester, I made a mental note that she should have contacted a tutor sooner. I mentioned in a subtle way to Carol that Marcia might benefit from tutoring during the summer months to get her up to speed before heading into next week.

Carol Brady has scheduled another two-hour session for this Friday, May 17, so I'll continue to assess and report back here weekly.

What is not working?

Honestly, I haven't had the time to do any marketing. I have planned it out, but with the slight upswing in clients, I've had less time to dedicate to selling the business to the public in the way I intended. I've also given up on the notion of a digital marketing plan. I am starting to see how oversaturated this niche is with endless social media ads and targeted campaigns through Meta and Google that I receive, purely because of the research I did on this company before starting operations.

Also, I feel like I'm coming down with something, with difficulty swallowing and a sore throat. I did a strep test at my doctor's office today to rule it out before heading to the Appleseeds, but I was carrying a low-grade fever and have been asked to monitor symptoms all the same. I truly hope it's something innocuous, like a bad allergic response to a high pollen count, because I don't want to give up this momentum.

How do you feel the project is coming?

I honestly cannot believe my luck. I'm hitting milestones sooner than expected and it feels seemingly out of nowhere, since I've struggled so much with the marketing piece. 

I still feel adamant that I must do something but, with two clients currently, it becomes a question of when. With only so many hours in the day, in between prepping for the session and actually going and performing the work, it's no wonder I haven't paid enough mind to it. It's not an excuse, though. Marketing has to become a higher priority.

What are you learning about running a business?

I am learning firsthand the power of word of mouth. It took one client to get the cogs turning and now I have two. I've been absorbing every piece of feedback I receive (mostly implicit) from the Appleseeds and now the Bradys. The business model does seem to be viable. 

I also cannot overstate the power of a business card. It may seem silly, but I gave the Bradys a handful of cards, too, and asked them to share with anyone who might need tutoring. 

I also watched this video that focuses on how entrepreneurs who are successful are out to solve unhappiness. 

Anything that leads to frustration or dissatisfaction can offer an opportunity to fill a market gap. I particularly liked that one of the many listed frustrations was educating children, which made me feel like I am doing something profoundly helpful for my clients by reducing just one small burden of daily life for them. I like the framing of this idea; even if it is something I already knew, there is added clarity in pronouncing it correctly.

What are you learning about yourself?

I am learning I'm not seventeen anymore.

Running a business is exhausting.

As someone who enjoys a sense of organisation and control, it has been tough to let the reins go and just hope I don't fall off the horse. Still, I don't have much option, as I'm bone-tired at the end of the day and cannot spend a moment fretting over the next thing. 

I wonder if Ariana Huffington’s nap room is available.

[chelseydavidson]

Week # 10 Business Progress

What is working?

My first "sales transaction" went rather well.

Last week, on May 2, I had my first session with a student whom, for the sake of anonymity, I will call Johnny Appleseed. Little Johnny has an upcoming exam for grade 10 French and, while his class is working on an ISU currently, his mother is concerned that he's forgetting all of the tenses he has learned earlier this year. It turns out that Johnny does see the value in being bilingual (members of his extended family are bilingual, for one, but he also sees it as a marketable skill from a career perspective, which is a mature way of thinking for a boy of 15). His issue is more along the lines of spoken French vs. written French. Johnny feels that learning within the classroom is stunting his ability to speak French because he's "just more inclined to speak it than everyone else seems to be." I acknowledged the value of conversational French, but asked him to consider the importance of knowing how to read and write it clearly and for him to self-assess his capacity to do so.

I think that helped because, by asking him not to tell me but to evaluate himself and to be brutally honest in that regard, he felt more empowered than the top-down experience in which he's been enmeshed. I think the relationship has been quite tense between parent and child over this particular point, but Johnny does not outright hate French so much as having frustrations about the pedagogy surrounding it at his school.

I count this as a win, because the problem is not with learning French. The problem is more complex than that and involves appreciating the need to understand and communicate with the written word. We reviewed using the past and present tense, including using negatives, for reflexive reciprocal verbs, which he self-identified as an area of trouble. Again, allowing him to tell me his weaker areas seemed to have an empowering effect where he felt more in control of his educational pursuit.

Over the next few weeks, we will move through each part of the curriculum; I will be able to then evaluate areas of strength and weakness and provide added support where I can see it is most needed.

The client, Mrs. Appleseed, thanked me profusely when we chatted after the session. Her gratitude was very kind and I gave Mrs. Appleseed a few business cards to “refer me to your friends.” (You have to try, right?)

She also mentioned in a week or two ramping up the number of sessions as we enter into his final exam period. We scheduled again, this time for tomorrow, Wednesday, May 8, another hour-long session. She e-transferred the funds for the first session immediately as well.

In an Excel spreadsheet, I am keeping track of all of the financials of the business, including cash flow, to ensure I am meeting my intended objectives. Like I mentioned last week, I’m also trying to absorb as much intel as I can from the Appleseeds, so I can understand best about what works well and what doesn’t with my current business model, and whether there are adjustments I can make to improve the business viability. 

What is not working?

More clients would be nice. Diversifying my clientele seems like a more sustainable way to move forward. I don’t want to put too many eggs in one basket. 

If bad news is your thing, though, then marketing will interest you. I am still getting absolutely nowhere with Facebook. My frustration with social media is insane right now. (Not that I would feel much better by getting set up to properly engage with it. But I digress.)

I did spend some money on business cards (and less than I'd budgeted, thanks to a coupon code), so I am relying, unfortunately, a little too heavily on passing these cards around wherever I can. I know word-of-mouth is absolute gold, especially in the tutoring industry, for netting more clients, but I am feeling a little desperate to supplement it with some social media or other kinds of marketing. (More on canvassing with flyers below.)

I truly expected the marketing process to be more organic than it has been, so I am genuinely surprised at the number of speed bumps I’ve faced along the way here. My goal by next week is to have something more concrete figured out, even if it means switching gears entirely and seeking out another paid marketing campaign option outside of Facebook. 

How do you feel the project is coming?

Can't complain.

Based on my metrics, I’ve met my goals so far. My natural personality doesn’t gel well with the “let it be” mantra I’m force-feeding myself, but I am trying to learn to let go a little and not try to jump the gun on my milestones.

There’s still much room for progress, but I also need to give it room to progress.  

What are you learning about running a business? 

It should come as no surprise that I have learned that I would really like to be able to afford the services of a marketing firm. The ability to know my weaknesses and pain points and being able to offload them to someone with the expertise and connections to get it done right the first time – what a blissful dream. 

Honestly, I'm starting to understand why Don Draper was such a big deal.

In the world of regulations and bylaws, I also made some strides in learning where I can hand out flyers. A terrific municipal law enforcement officer got back to me on April 29 stating that, in Ajax, no municipal bylaw exists prohibiting me from handing out flyers in public. However, I cannot hand out flyers or any other promotional materials on Town of Ajax property, any property classified as a park, and any Town of Ajax recreational facilities. By virtue of that, I might consider handing out flyers later this week; the weather is pretty nice right now and the foot traffic is increasing, so it might be wise to do that for a few hours. 

What are you learning about yourself?

I am learning a lot of four-letter words, but one of the most important ones has been “calm”... oh, here’s two more: “Slow down”.

Being as Type-A as I am, I have to learn to pace myself for a marathon, not a sprint. I have managed to seemingly get the most steps forward when I’ve stopped and smelled the roses. So, I am aiming to keep doing that, in spite of myself.

Quite honestly, rewiring that part of my brain would not necessarily be a bad thing. I understand there’s a difference between eustress (the good kind of stress that keeps us alert and alive) and distress (the debilitating kind that brings us to our knees and wreaks havoc on productivity and wellbeing), but I cannot always tell the difference between grit and grind.

In my experience, when you’re in it, you can’t see the forest for the trees. So, if nothing else, if this startup venture is an abject failure, I will walk away from it with a better sense of calmness. Nothing is ever a total loss, if we can learn or change for the better due to it.

[chelseydavidson]

Week #9 Progress

What is working?

I got my first client! (Way to bury the lead, Chelsey.)

First session will be later this week for an hour to prepare for an upcoming French exam. The student is in grade 10 and the client, his mother, just wants her son to pass French. He’s very apathetic about French, according to the client, seeing as he’s passed the minimum requirements (that being, the mandatory grade 9 course) and doesn’t see the point in being bilingual. It will be interesting to see how he himself describes his feelings toward the subject; based on past experiences, not all parents catch all the nuances of why their child does or does not enjoy learning a particular topic.

Regardless, I am feeling relieved. I hope what they say is true about the first client being the most difficult to acquire, but so incredibly valuable. I plan to lean in hard on any feedback I receive and use that to lay the foundation of my business model. What I said that the business is and what it does will only ever work if people want it, if there’s a demand large enough to sustain it, and the fact that there’s at least one person out there that chose my business means that this can work and, yes, people want the service. But what exactly do they want? How much? How often? And how many more of them are there? Honestly, these folks are not just paying customers. They're guinea pigs. They're my Wall-E, but they're going to get me to Eve. (Hey, Wall-E saves the planet, so let’s not knock it.)

My attention is truly going to be zoned in on what I am going to call the Laura Ingalls Wilder of my client list. (She's a pioneer, this one.) At this point, I’m really figuring out who this customer segment is. I’ll refine my business plan, of course, because, hey, it’s a living document, so it should change and evolve with the business. I might have been totally wrong about certain facets of my customer persona, so reassessing who I think my client will be and who they really are is absolutely vital. Most importantly, I am going to do everything in my power to bend over backwards for these folks. They don’t know just how valuable they are to me.

That being said, I still want to keep scouting out those influential key connectors that spread the word. Maybe my first client has a fabulous network who trusts their advice dearly and with which they share recommendations  … or maybe they don’t. But that’s mine to find out. So, this part of the plan is still critical. It’s never bad practice to keep looking for the tipping point.

What is not working?

Have I told you today how much I detest marketing? Don’t get me wrong; I love reading about marketing or listening to talks or podcasts or even in-person accounts of their marketing. That is fascinating to me. I’m here with the snaps for any of those stories. However, I hate actually doing the marketing.

My free and organic ad campaign is not going well, if you haven't guessed as much by now. Facebook Marketplace does not allow services to be posted, according to their policy, so I had to take down my ad. It may be time to finally pivot to that paid campaign. I am glad I had the foresight of a contingency plan to do so in my budget. Facebook’s Tech Support still has not returned my messages about not allowing my student email address to open an account; “utterly disappointed” is an understatement.

I will have to strategize this week just on how I want to spend this marketing money, since I might not be able to do what I intended over the Meta platform if Facebook won’t help me develop an account using my student email address. 

How do you feel the project is coming?

It is definitely moving slower than I hoped. As this just goes against the grain of my personality so much, most days I am oscillating between pain and panic.

But, hey, I’ve got a client. So, let the good times roll.

What are you learning about running a business and yourself?

I feel like these are two separate questions -- the business vs. myself -- only in theory, but one entirely intertwined question in practice. First and foremost, I am learning that you can plan your heart out, but you cannot control all the little moving parts that make a business possible. This is also true in life. Granted, knowing this will not stop me from continuing to plan like Martha Stewart the night before Christmas, but I am doing my level best not to fall into the fetal position every single time the timing of my plan is off. I just have to shift the workback schedule, keep my chin high, and carry on. 

On that note, pivoting is essential.

Truly, embrace the idea of a quick pivot. This whole marketing strategy has gone to hell in a handbasket, so I am doing my best to take a deep breath and try something new. Every week, a new disaster strikes, but every week, I come up with a new idea. (I am shocked by my own resilience; I am not shocked by my own frustration.) 

I am also learning more about SEO, because I think I am near-to-impossible to find in an inundated e-market, which is no bueno. (Hey, it worked for Rotten Tomatoes; it can work for me.)

I still haven’t been able to try out my other plan to more physically canvas directly to parents in this geographic area, which was the idea of printing and distributing a flyer near a few different recreational locations, like minor league sporting events, community centres, and children’s dance studios. I have already contacted the Town of Ajax’s Bylaw Services department to verify if there are any restrictions on me doing so. I need to remember that social media is a massive pool – an international ocean, frankly – where I’m just a tiny little guppie. Standing in front of my intended target audience while they’re waiting for their little one to finish up practice, I might as well be Jaws.

[chelseydavidson]

My Progress - Week 8

What is working?

Frankly, not much – I’m getting a bit pessimistic, if I’m being entirely honest.

I’ll chalk the Facebook groups I joined as a pseudo-win (more on that below), but not too much else – while the Facebook groups haven’t netted any leads as of yet, they do have my target audience, so I’m holding onto some hope. I’m also preparing to pivot to a paid digital marketing strategy.

I also looked into setting up a Craigslist account, which will cost me $5 to run for 30 days. I’m a little nervous because I heard about Craigslist being a bit of a sketchy platform with scammers and stalkers and setups (oh, my), so I’m a little reticent about using my credit card on a platform with that kind of reputation. However, Craigslist is very much committed to local focus, which could be helpful for generating concentrated interest strictly in Durham Region. 

What is not working?

Pretty much everything else.

So, I received absolutely no word from the Unschooling Association, despite BCCing all the leading members of the board and the specific representatives for my area. 

My local library doesn't do any promotion of small businesses to support them -- only for not-for-profits and other free services. So, that’s a dead end. (That includes the Pickering, Ajax, and Whitby systems.)

My Kijiji ad was taken down this week. There was an issue with the category I placed it in and they want me to resubmit in a different category and pay a fee to repost it. I’m on the fence about Kijiji’s effectiveness as it is, and the fact that I couldn’t test it out organically before opting in for a paid option, makes me quite nervous. I’ll need to do more research before I sink money into it. 

Facebook got back to me the same day saying that they are “not the channel to deal with this issue. Please troubleshoot using the website.” I only contacted them because the website didn’t offer support setting up an account when the email address isn't being recognized as valid (my guess is the domain name is confusing it, but who's to say?). The website support only stems from already being a user. This would be, in my opinion, an absolute failure in customer service, but I don’t see Facebook hurting none. In a fit of frustration, I used my existing personal Facebook profile to post a Facebook Marketplace ad. It looks pretty much like the Kijiji ad did, but so far, it's managed to stay up. No bites, but still fishing.  

I also joined two Facebook groups - a Durham Region Bulletin Board group and a Toronto Tutors group (which covers the GTA as well) - and posted in the discussion to potentially generate interest. Unfortunately, no one has contacted me from the groups yet. Since I did this recently, I’ll leave a little time to see if this effort gains any traction. 

How do you feel the project is coming?

I’m in full-on Debbie Downer mode.

Despite feeling deflated, it hasn’t stopped me from continuously exploring more opportunities. I’m also actively researching ways to advertise best to parents online, because I am definitely leaning towards paid options. I have considered printing flyers as well and distributing them at children-focused events as they crop up now we're in the springtime or handing them out near or at locations that cater to providing lessons for children. 

I’m getting increasingly nervous about how close we’re getting to summer break. The end of June is just around the corner (and for many post-secondary students, their programs have ended until the fall) and parents can lose the same commitment heading into the break that they may carry during the schoolyear, making it a rough season for tutoring businesses. 

What are you learning about running a business?

Tenacity is what I am learning, above all else. If at first you don’t succeed, try again. And again. The key to that perseverance is to try something new, though. Sometimes it feels like throwing darts at the wall to see what sticks. Nonetheless, I’ll keep whipping darts. 

I have spoken with my husband, who’s been an entrepreneur for over three decades, and he reminds me that, in a word-of-mouth business like tutoring, the greatest hurdle is getting the first client. If you do right by that first client, the word will get out eventually and more clients will come. I keep reminding myself of this when I feel epically discouraged.

What are you learning about yourself?

I wish could tell you that I was learning I am a marketing extraordinaire that could sell honey to a bee, but alas, no, I am still honing that skill.

I am learning instead that there are limits to my optimism. I like to think that I have a can-do attitude, but I also like control. Getting customers is not something I can control and it does eat away at my normal level of bubbliness. I definitely experienced a bit of a Unikitty moment. 

I am also learning that, in spite of having no control over getting that first critical customer, I am a persevering person. I will stick with it, even if it’s sticking it to me. Here’s to not giving up!

[chelseydavidson]

My Progress - Week 7

What is working?

So far, it’s too soon to say.

I have only just started to reach out to community organizations and to begin setting up organic social media channels to potentially spread the word to engage potential clients. I also decided to branch out and speak to educational organizations off the beaten path, such as Unschooling Canada Association, which focuses on homeschooling and alternative education paths, to see if there are any opportunities to promote my service to their members.

In addition, I reached out to my local library for additional resources, especially as tutoring supports may pertain to the library’s youth services department. I am hoping to be included in some e-newsletters shortly to extend my reach, while still geographically targeting clients within Durham Region.

I also created my first Kijiji ad online. 

Visually it’s very simple at this time, but I will start to add graphics and more detail, especially tailoring it as I receive feedback and can gauge its effectiveness. At this point, though, I just wanted to start getting the word out.

What is not working?

Just as I confess it’s too soon to say what’s working, it may be too soon, in turn, to say what isn’t.

However, I can identify an initial setback in my progress (specifically focusing on marketing) thus far. And it's never what you think it will be.

In what I thought would be a simple fillable form sign-up process, Facebook is rejecting my school email address. I am not sure why that’s happening and it definitely poses a challenge, as I would like to use tutoring-focused and region-specific Facebook groups, along with Facebook Marketplace, to advertise.

I tried troubleshooting the sign-up process myself, but it sent me into an endless loop of error messages and requests to try again.

After spending the better part of an hour trying to figure out the issue, I submitted an email to Facebook and requested their help. I am still waiting on their response, but the sooner I can overcome this obstacle, the better. 

How do you feel the project is coming?

I am hopeful and optimistic at this point, but I have very little data or evidence to assess how the project is actually going from an objective perspective.

I feel I have done a lot of planning in preparation and now the primary goal is to secure clients. I am working hard on coming up with new but cost-effective ways to spread the word and raise the profile of my tutoring startup venture. 

From a pecuniary perspective, everything is still going well as I have not spent outside of the proposed budget, but at this stage, I feel that I must wait and see whether my actions are taking a hold or if I will need to pivot to alternative methods.

What are you learning about running a business?

I have read extensively about the entrepreneurship journeys of others. One of the most interesting differences amongst them, though, is their philosophy on marketing. (Not to mention all the different strategies they swear by.) Some are hands-on and think it is the end-all-be-all, while others are much more laidback akin to Kevin Costner’s famous Field of Dreams attitude: “If you build it, they will come.” 

I feel like I am definitely comfortable in the middle, where I feel adamant that I must do something to reach my audience where they are (how else are they going to find me?), but I also feel that breaking the bank on marketing might backfire and can even capsize the business by acquiring too many clients too soon before I can handle the load. One has to walk before they can run. By pacing the marketing to align with the growth rate of the venture, I think I am doing the best for my business. Whether that means speeding up or gearing down, only time will tell.

Then, again, it is only week 7 and I am clientless, so what do I know? Once I engage with my first lead, I will likely have so much more to discuss in what to do (and what not to do). 

What are you learning about yourself?

I am learning that I am a textbook Type-A personality. I feel the time tick-tick-ticking and I'm ready to compete. Put me in, coach!

Interestingly, I am learning that I am an anxious, risk-averse person. No, let me restate that: I am relearning how much of an anxious, risk-averse person I am.

I already knew this to some extent and have had events in the past that prove this much to me. Entrepreneurship mindsets usually calculate and embrace risk, but I continue to define myself as someone who avoids it or, at the bare minimum, mitigates it. I am the type to try to hedge my bets, keeping everything as safe and steady and stable as possible. If your typical bigshot CEO is hunting for Moby Dick, I'd be whistling calmly in my little fishing boat with my nets out, satisfied with my steady supply of herring. Sure, I want to compete, but I'm not going to be harpooning any whales. No, I go for the sure thing every time.

The anxious part of me is that, despite knowing it is only week 7, I am firmly aware that I have no clients. In fear of placating myself too much into becoming the empress with no clothes, I am reminding myself continuously of timelines and objectives and milestones.

I keep nagging myself to determine alternative strategies in preparation for the need to pivot. Maybe I've just read a little too much Malcolm Gladwell because I find myself overanalyzing where the tipping point will be and how to get there (and then consistently redefining what the "tipping point" actually is, within my context, sending me to reassess all over again).  

I have also learned that I am an impatient person, which stimulates the overanalyzing part of me mentioned above. I want this business to get there already. This is a classic type-A tendency: a sense of time urgency all the time. Do you remember Marisa Tomei's little outburst in My Cousin Vinny, stomping on the porch? That's what it feels like to live in my head.

Yet, it is week 7. I repeat, it is only week 7. This is the starting line. I am just coming out of the gate. So, I must remind myself to live in the presence of these humble beginnings. 

Now where did I put my time machine? Maybe I can set us 7 weeks into the future and see how this whole thing turns out!

[chelseydavidson]

Financial Sources: Where Will I Get The Money?

I am fortunate. With minimal overhead, bootstrapping (otherwise known as personal investment) may be the best avenue in which I would fund my business. In other cases, that may simply not be the case. However, for me, I can say that with a modicum of confidence. The benefits are glaring: I will not have to consider interest payments and I have a better sense of control. Ideally, and hopefully, revenues grow and eventually provide the funds needed to expand the business. It is prudent to ensure I have that kind of money before considering growth, as I will need to be able to continue to sustain the business without getting, as they say, "too big for my britches."

While that puts a lower ceiling on my funding capacity, I do not need as much financing as other ventures might. Furthermore, if (and presumably when) I seek out additional financing sources, the fact that I have “skin in the game” will make me a more attractive prospect to potential funders.

That being said, if I was ever in a major growth phase and deeply considering financing from other sources, I would look to fair and regulated small business loans from banks; grant funding from municipal, provincial, and federal levels of government; financing and other opportunities from incubators and accelerators; angel investors who could additionally impart their entrepreneurial or sector-specific knowledge on top of early-stage financing; pitch competitions and other competitions for startups; and equity financing, in which I would sell shares of the business to investors in exchange for capital (knowing that this type of investor not only shares ownership but also control over business decisions made).

One source of financing that I would not consider would be “patient capital”, or money from friends and family who expect it to be paid back eventually when profits increase. This "love money" sounds too good to be true, and, in my opinion, it can hold a heavier weight than debt financing. The emotional dimension of doing business with friends and family is something that I do not want to add to the balance, as business and family, in my view, simply do not mix well and can lead to strained relationships. For this reason, “patient capital” will not be part of my financing plan, regardless of its benefits. I accept the limitations that will pose for me, especially in the startup phase where the diversity of my financing options will be significantly more finite than after two to three years of operation. I am also aware that my business is, from a sector perspective, not of particular interest to venture capitalists; unless I suddenly became tech-driven in some facet, it is unlikely that my business would ever be on their radar.

Therefore, I have an idea of the many opportunities for funding that I do have, just as much as those that are not available to me, by choice or otherwise. When the time comes for an influx of capital to grow my business, I will know that it's the right time by monitoring my financial performance and knowing where to go to seek that financing.

[chelseydavidson]

Business Operations Plan

My business operations plan is fairly simple and consists of 5 key steps: 

Be organized and prompt and ready to support the client’s (and, in turn, the student's) needs.

Provide exceptional service that also delivers reasonable results.

Generate positive feedback from each transaction that translates into word-of-mouth marketing, supplemented by organic social media and geographically and psychometrically aligned free marketing via newsletters and the like.

Generate more clients via these positive referrals and other marketing tactics. 

Rinse and repeat. 

As a startup with a service offering, very few resources are needed beyond my own foundation of knowledge (which I keep sharp and well practiced through active subject-specific research and review of the Ontario curriculum) and a genuine love of helping others. This statement is not universally applicable, and for that, I thank my lucky stars to be entering into a venture that does not demand a lot of costs and expenses to operate. Through a combination of skill and passion (and a little gas money to get to the homes of the clients), I do not need much beyond that. A notebook and a pen will be nice, or maybe some printed worksheets to practice. (The focus, though, isn't on the nice-to-have; it's the need-to-have when you're starting out.) Since an entire month’s gas fee is covered through the revenue generated by a single hourly session, I feel confident that my business operations plan (and pricing strategy) is financially sound in that this level of cashflow more than adequately covers expenses. Any additional profit can then be saved for growth opportunities, including more extensive and paid marketing.

In terms of structure and hierarchy, this venture would be a sole proprietorship with an interest in using my own name as opposed to registering a business name or, alternatively, incorporating. 

No licences or permits are needed for this business to operate. I am only required to register for a business number via the CRA and charge and remit HST payments once I reach the $30,000 revenue threshold.

During business operations, I should be considerate of cybersecurity best practices and PIPEDA to protect the private information of my clients. I should also be cautious when developing any learning materials to be cognizant of adherence to copyright law. Fortunately, due to previous work experience, I am familiar with the amount I can reasonably use without veering into copyright infringement .

Examples:

10% or 1000 words [whichever is less] of a text-based work

10% or 3 minutes [whichever is less] from a work from a video medium

10% or 30 seconds [whichever is less] of a musical work or podcast

If I continue to be vigilant, I feel that I can be confident that I won't run into issues of a legal nature regarding matters like consumer privacy laws or copyright infringement.

With low overhead and even fewer regulatory requirements to consider, I am immensely fortunate in that I need very little to launch my business and start selling.

[chelseydavidson]

Creative Advertising Exercise

As suggested by Kyle Gracey, I decided to partake in this good, simple, basic creative concept exercise for advertising students. It, for sure, got the juices flowing. To see the original exercise, please visit the Quora thread here. 

Step One: The Long List

Here are my 30 ways to use this precarious little device that is definitely, 100% NOT a safety pin:

Socks clips for laundry

Keychain

Single-lady dress zipper-upper

Punk-rock style earring/nose ring/lip ring

Eyelash separator 

Static cling remover (wearable)

Fishing hook

Crud remover (for those hard to reach places)

Antitheft device for zippered purses or backpacks

Body piercing tool

Splinter remover

Clothespin

Spare button holder 

Paper clip holder

Earrings holder

Bandage pin

Fidget tool

Finger muscle strengthening device 

Curtain closer

Temporary clothes tailoring device (holds your cuffs and hems in place)

Lockpick

Blackhead remover

Diaper pin

Drawstring rethreader

Lottery card scratcher

Fine-line tattooing tool

Mitten-to-coat sleeve securing device 

Precision low-depth engraver

Cleaner for Elmer's glue dispenser

Braid strand/section holder

Step Two: Narrowing Down

After much deliberation and the establishment of a shortlist, my friend chose:

Single-lady dress zipper-upper

Step Three: The Product in a Nutshell

- Start by giving it a name: 

GotYaBack

Up And At ‘Em

HoneyCanU

Reach Plus

Lift Queen

Wardrobe Wiz

Flexi-Fastener

Bendy Buddy

Flip the Zip

Self Zip

Teeth Chief

Solo Zip

Fast Fastener

Close-It Helper

Together Pin

Rise Guys

Back Buddy

Princess Reach

Seam Queen

Lady Lift

Clothes Pro

Contort Clip

Seam Team

Behind the Seams

Dress SOS

Zipper Rescue

Spine Saver

Dress Reach

Zippy Top

Easy Zip

- Write 2-3 paragraphs about why I should buy your device:

According to Statistics Canada, as of 2016, single-person households became the status quo for the first time in Canada's 150-year history. That's a lot of women struggling to reach that dress zipper and drag it all the way up. Have you ever felt the snag? Zipper stuck midway up that only a contortionist could reach? We've GotYaBack™ – literally.

Next time you're getting ready for that hot date or important business meeting, let's get you ready without separated shoulders or pinched nerves. Just attach GotYaBack to your zipper and loop the string through it, give it a steady yank up over your shoulder and above your head, and your zipper will slide up to salute you the way it should. So, next time, don't wait for your shoulders to start clicking with your hands behind your back like a common criminal – use GotYaBack, your new best friend.

- Now, create a one sentence headline that captures the idea: 

When your zipper's stuck midway up that only a contortionist could reach, we've GotYaBack™ – literally.

Step Four: Lay it out!

[chelseydavidson]

Customer Persona

Let's look at my client and really get to know them. As a B2C venture, my marketing persona will look a little different than the one Aaron Beashel proposed on Buffer. Nonetheless, I have adopted a similar approach. 

Combining my research and notes, please see below my customer persona to better understand the key segment of my target market: 

Busy Mum Beyza

About Them – Beyza Murat, a professional in Ajax, Ontario, struggles to balance her career and parenting duties for her 9-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter. She makes just over $60K per year. Despite working from home, she often faces scheduling conflicts and struggles to find time to help her children with their schoolwork. With her husband working away from home, it's challenging to juggle parental responsibilities.

Use Case – Beyza uses private in-home tutoring for her children. Each week, the tutor meets with her children in a distraction-free den, allowing them to focus on school challenges. Beyza is always present at home during the sessions but can continue her work on her own schedule. She also monitors her children's academic progress and communicates with their teachers, sharing updates with the tutor.

Previous Solutions & Pain Points – Before private in-home tutoring, Beyza struggled to balance her own work and her children's education. She wanted them to succeed academically and gain confidence and skills for the future. However, finding time and energy to support their educational goals was difficult. Taking them to a learning center and using virtual tutoring services proved somewhat helpful but not effective enough. Now, Beyza has opted for in-person at-home tutoring for each child to address their specific needs and provide flexibility in her schedule.

Benefits – Beyza gets the following benefits:

1. Peace of mind;

2. Work simultaneously (no commute or unnecessary rushing); 

3. High satisfaction with the quality of tutoring and appropriate learning environment for her children; 

4. Personalized attention for her children;

5. Results showing improved academic performance; 

6. Increased self-esteem for her children.

Buying Trigger – A number of events triggered Beyza's decision to seek out a private home tutor. 

1. Both children brought home midterm report cards that showed unsatisfactory grades.

2. Beyza received a recommendation from teachers to spend more time with her children reviewing the concepts in class (which Beyza does not have enough time to do consistently).

3. Her daughter came home upset because she feels like she is falling behind. Her self-confidence has been shaken. At the same time, her son has experienced teasing by a classmate for his poor performance on his English tests. Like his sister, his self-confidence had also been shaken.

Buying Process – The buying process started with a Google search. She looked at the top three search engine results, one of which was our tutoring service.

She then started to shoot the breeze with some other parents with children in the same grades as hers during drop-off at school. One mentioned hiring a private tutor; Beyza dropped a few names and one of the parents vouched for our services as being helpful to her eldest child in the past, now in university.

Beyza thought about it all day and, when her husband came home from work, she spoke with him about how valuable she thought it might be to try private in-home tutoring. While he mentioned the lacklustre experiences in the past, he agreed that it was worth a try, so Beyza emailed us the next day for more information on how to start.

Choice Factors – The top three things Beyza is looking for in our service is: 

1. Convenience and flexibility, since she and her children do not have to leave the home; 

2. Peace of mind in knowing that she is helping her children; and,

3. ROI (specifically, Beyza wants her investment in private in-person tutoring to translate into improved academic performance for both of her children).

[chelseydavidson]

Local Competition

Main Competitors:

There is definitely a heavily saturated market when it comes to tutoring. Considering my startup venture will be focused on the niche of in-person private home tutoring wih a personalized, I will consider in-person private tutoring services that come to the client's home (as opposed to virtual tutoring or a tutoring centre) as my direct competitors and all other variations that still offer tutoring service in some way to my target market as my indirect competitors. 

Two direct private in-person tutoring businesses that provide custom and personalized support are The Tutoring Expert and Tutorax. I think it is important to consider the possibility of indirect competitors as main competitors in my circumstance, though, as their services may not necessarily be identical but they may provide an alternative to satisfy the same client need. Two indirect competitors I will focus on then are Beyond the Classroom and Kumon Math and Reading Centre; more specifically, as a franchised business, there are several Kumon branches throughout my target region, but I will focus on the one branch of the four who responded when I inquired, which was the Ajax-Taunton Kumon branch.

Using the information from this local competitive analysis, I can gain a better understanding of the opportunities for my businesses to fill a market gap or overcome a weakness from one of my competitors. In this way, this information is invaluable to the development of my startup venture.

Website Experience: 

The Tutoring Expert’s website provides a decent user experience in that it is intuitively designed. The contact sidebar has a frozen navigation header with clearly worded subpages, contact information and logo. While their website does not feature any promotions currently, it does have an appealing graphic interface that draws attention to the key features of their business's value and model via service descriptions, such as one-on-one sessions, tutor experience, tutor match guarantee within 48 hours,  and weekly dedicated sessions with a free introductory session. The images are a combination of stock still photography and cute cartoonish images that were clearly commissioned for the purpose of the website as the artistic design is consistent and not a hodge-podge of different styles. Methods of contact include an email form, phone number, and fax number. There is also a call to action button that states "request a call back" on the right side of the page that continues to loom prominently as you scroll, frozen to the scroll bar. Lastly, their website does feature a blog, but it is outdated with the most recent blog postings from late 2018. According to builtwith.com, The Tutoring Expert has on average a technological spend of $100 per month with approximately 10 brand followers of their website. 

Tutorax’s website has a header, but the header is not frozen on the page. The navigation is intuitive with simple categories like "services", "apply", and "contact." There is a red exclamation point icon that draws the eye and alerts to the availability of tutoring services in-home and online; there is also a yellow call-to-action button in the header that reads, "Get Started," and also draws the eye of the user offset against the neutral white background. In addition to service descriptions, the website also features a rotating gallery of testimonials, an FAQ, and a logo wall of strategic partners. They also have a blog on their page in both English and French that discusses various mathematical concepts, as well as other topics about learning. The blog features regular posts (once every two weeks to a month) from March 30, 2020, to February 28, 2024.  More slim on photography than The Tutoring Expert's website with only a single photo on the landing page,  the blue, yellow, and white theme nonetheless provides a consistent visual branding across the page. There are no banners or promotions on the page. In the footer and FAQ, there is a live chat button, a phone number, an email address, an email contact form, and two physical addresses listed (one in Laval, Quebec, and one in Toronto, Ontario). I was unable to view Tutorax’s website using builtwith.com to assess their technological spend; it was inaccessible.

Beyond the Classroom’s website has a navigation header bar that is frozen no matter where you scroll. Again, it is an intuitive experience with clearly stated categories, like "Resources for Parents", "Reviews", and "Tutoring Positions''. The page has a consistent theme in terms of colours and design used uniformly throughout and with the logo displayed in the upper left corner at all times. The photography appears to be stock images with a few sections of the website focusing on the founder with a talking-head-style YouTube videoclip prominently displayed on the webpage and a link to a Reader's Digest profile of the founder. There are no banners and promotions currently on the page. There is a link in the footer to sign up for a newsletter, which I did subscribe to using the Mailchimp form. (I have yet to receive an edition, though, so I cannot comment on the newsletter content.) Just as with the other websites, there are service descriptions on the landing page with subpages devoted to online tutoring and in-home tutoring albeit for select locations (none of which are in my target region). There are also static testimonials just above the footer of the page, wherein the email address lies. There is an email contact form on a subpage when the user clicks on "Contact Us'' in the upper right corner. There is also a blog on this page, but not in the traditional sense; the content is evergreen with no dates of posting (so the user cannot discern if the content is recent or old) and is more of a collection of resources on student relationships and learning. According to builtwith.com, Beyond the Classroom has on average a technological spend of $50 per month with no brand followers of their website.

The website for Kumon Math and Learning Centre of Ajax-Taunton is sparse but clearly defined. It is important to point out that it is a barebone template compared to the other competitors’ websites. I use the word "template" because each franchise’s website looks identical to each other with only slight changes for name and contact information. It is highly likely that the franchisor dictates the web design and content, and simply adds a new subpage specific to each local centre. The photography is a single still photo. The branding is consistent with Kumon’s corporate branding, including the logo and colour scheme. There is a prominent call to action with a brightly coloured "Book Your Child's Free Assessment" text box and a button to "Schedule Today" with the contact phone number, physical address, and email address prominently displayed. The website lists the operating hours and a promotion for tablet study available at the centre; it is not a discount so much as a new service, called Kumon Connect. There is a service description of what Kumon does. There is also another action button to "Book Appointment" close to the footer. The navigational bar lists clearly worded subpages, such as "About the Centre", "About the Instructor" (which is the Kumon branded name for the franchise owner), "Success Stories", and a link to a downloadable brochure. Kumon Math and Learning Centre of Ajax-Taunton could not be assessed using builtwith.com, but it redirects to the Kumon head office information (that being Kumon North America, Inc., from Rutherford, New Jersey, in the United States). Kumon North America, Inc., as the franchisor, has on average a technological spend of $1000 per month with approximately 500 brand followers of their website. In addition, it has 1,289 referring subnets and 1,708 referring IPs, which is unsurprising considering that it is the larger parent company, but all of this helps to drive online traffic and grow Kumon’s web presence. 

Since I am unlikely to receive the marketing support from which franchisees benefit, I will have to focus on my digital marketing for the benefit of my startup venture. A strong web presence strengthens a business because it generates more traffic, which leads to more sales and revenue overall, I would ensure that I reinvest some of my earnings back into the business’s website design to optimize the user experience (at least $100 a month on technological spend, once the business stablizes), ensuring I hit upon the common trends and improve my search engine optimization to drive traffic to my website.

Market Positioning: 

Each competitor tries to give a different spin on what they are selling, despite the great degree of commonalities. 

The Tutoring Expert touts its recommendations and high standards in terms of fast, efficient, and personalized service for grades K to 12 and beyond. They also tout their status as a Toronto-based business. However, it is difficult to trust the credibility of The Tutoring Expert's claims considering they are often blanket statements with no evidence to support them, such as "being the most highly referred tutoring services in Toronto". It has that sense of generality that is hard to pin down; think of pizzerias that claim they have "the world's best pizza" – equally difficult to disprove as it is to prove.

Tutorax focuses more on being accessible to everyone, no matter the school subject or the grade level. They also seem to be originally based in Quebec as most of their strategic partners are Quebecois organizations, so their focus is somewhat on the community they built there, despite wanting to sell themselves as a business that can support key cities in other provinces, like Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, and Toronto, mostly via their online tutoring options. 

Beyond the Classroom sells the fact that their tutors are education professionals, including but not entirely limited to certified teachers. Beyond the Classroom focuses on a values-based education in which they have a holistic view of the child during the tutoring experience. They are focused less on academic performance and more on connection and care with the child to generate a more positive learning experience; they also seem especially family-focused. Beyond the Classroom also lists prominently that they are a proudly Canadian company; arguably, this last feature is not a distinction as both the Tutoring Expert and Tutorax also highlighted their connection to Canada or parts therein. In addition, when I received an email from Beyond the Classroom, it displayed in its e-signature that they had won a platinum reader's choice award in Oakville in 2023 and a gold reader's choice award in Burlington in 2022; while the other businesses stated they are award-winning, Beyond the Classroom is the first to distinguish what awards their business had won. 

Kumon follows a distinct methodology compared to the other businesses mentioned, in that they neither provide private tutoring nor customized support. They have a specific curriculum in which they require students to come to their centre to follow their patented methodology in their math and reading programs, whereby students will receive daily homework to develop strong study habits. The focus is a one-size-fits-all model to transform children into better students overall, focused on math and reading as key skills to improve. (However, they do not offer support in other subjects, such as science or foreign languages, as they believe that building stronger students will eliminate learning struggles overall.)

As all of these competitors show, being unique is important, but raising the profile of what makes one unique is even more significant. I will try to evoke pathos, ethos, and logos in my market positioning. I will try to appeal to the emotional aspect of a positive learning experience, which speaks to a parental instinct. I will then provide the logical reasoning of the benefits of in-person personalized private tutoring over its alternatives in terms of academic improvement, citing research as needed to back my claims. Lastly, I will nod to my credibility by outlining my professional history in this field and perhaps gather favourable testimonials speaking to the customer experiences to further my position in this market. 

Reviews: 

All of the competitors all feature so-called reviews on their websites, which boil down to carefully curated testimonials that read like another form of advertising. I chose instead to look at a more level playing field, that being Google reviews.

Tutorax has 171 Google reviews. As someone who believes in the law of large numbers, I deem a greater number of reviews to be a more accurate sentiment in the overall ranking. The reviews are overwhelmingly positive with 4.9 stars out of 5. The one bad review I could find cited that the company was inefficient and cancelled on them, but also had some elitist comments, too, so the snobbery witnessed by the commenter makes me question the validity of the complaint without hearing Tutorax's side of things. If the reviews are anything to go by, replicating this level of service quality is an ideal state of being. 

The Tutoring Expert has far fewer Google reviews with only 45, but again, they hold a 4.9 star rating. Their lowest review cited concerns about professionalism and capability as the tutor appeared unprepared and inexperienced. They ultimately stated that it was a waste of money for them and presumably they discontinued their use of the service. Therefore, this is an opportunity to blow the competition out of the water by being as prepared as humanly possible for each new client. It is important to remember that the client is ultimately the parent/guardian, not the child being tutored, in these cases, and therefore, it is essential to impress the parent/guardian as much, if not more, than the child that I am tutoring. 

The Kumon Math and Reading Centre of Ajax-Taunton holds 53 reviews with an overall 4.3 stars. Students and parents alike reported positive experiences via Google reviews and, equally important, the owner responded to the reviews left via Google reviews. This engagement, which I was unable to see through social media as it is managed by the franchisor and not the franchisee, was interesting and provides more insight on how this particular Centre operates. There are a number of reviews criticizing the Kumon methodology as simply "giving homework sheets" and not actually providing improvements to the student's performance. Some complaints are more personal, citing aggravation with consistent administrative errors and a general sense of disorganization. This complaint, since it is recurring in these reviews, offers ample opportunity for my startup venture to make a good impression. I could, for one, ensure I am organized; much like the previous comment regarding lack of preparation at The Tutoring Expert, being organized and prepared to provide peace of mind to the customer is paramount. Focusing on the personal service is important, too, providing an acknowledgement wherever I can that the supports are custom to the student. Alongside this way of doing business, avoiding any administrative errors is also important; when they are made, fixing them efficiently and apologizing for the mistake in the first place could make a huge difference to the customer relationship. 

Due to the fact that there were no local Beyond the Classroom locations, I could not find any Google reviews from within the target region. I did not feel it was fair to judge based on the testimonials posted on their website, while relying on potentially harsher judgments from Google reviews for the other competitors. Therefore, I can judge only based on my limited experience when I submitted an inquiry, which was favourable albeit bland. They did not stand out in particular to me, so I would rank the transaction as fairly average. 

Pricing: 

Each of these businesses offers a distinct service, so it is hard to compare tit for tat in these circumstances. Clearly, it is impossible to isolate all the variables. Since the offering is unequal, the pricing also fluctuates. Looking closely at the in-person tutoring services from direct competitors, the Tutoring Expert offers their basic service (with no detail as to what the basic service entails) for $45 per hour. Tutorax, meanwhile, offers their services at two price points within a similar range: $45 per hour for elementary and secondary students, as well as $47 per hour for post-secondary students.

Beyond the Classroom is an indirect competitor as they do not provide in-home tutoring in Whitby, Pickering, and Ajax. However, they do provide one-on-one customized online tutoring using their own platform, as well as providing options to use Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meetings. Their hourly rate is $55 (tax included), paid by Visa, Mastercard, and etransfer. They provide support for math, English, French, Spanish, and post-secondary support.

For Kumon, the cost is not an hourly rate. It is a monthly fee paid with automatic debit payment. The fee is $150 per month per subject; if the student is taking both the math and reading programs, the client would then pay a total of $300 per month. In addition, Kumon focuses on word-of-mouth marketing through recommendations and referrals. In fact, built into their pricing structure, Kumon offers a referral program in which the client giving the referral receives a $25 gift card and the referred client also receives a discount of $25 off the registration fee. (Please note that the initial registration fee for this particular branch is not publicly disclosed; presumably it exceeds the $25 discount amount.) I also asked my sister, who previously worked at a different Kumon Learning Centre, who confirmed that the initial registration fee was approximately $80, and that students can come either twice a week for 30 minutes or once a week for 60 minutes. This means, on average, that the students who use Kumon Learning Centre would receive tutoring on average 4 hours per month per subject. 

Therefore, when it comes to pricing, folks are willing to pay approximately $45 to $55 per hour for tutoring. However, they are willing to pay more in a lump sum for a monthly fee than for a weekly fee; however, with sessions scheduled at an hour per week, the monthly fee actually works out cheaper to the client based on a per unit rate (i.e. $150 divided by average 4 sessions per month = $37.50 per session) – almost $10 less than the low-end of the tutoring services that charge hourly rates. However, it is important to understand the distinction again between the service offerings. This monthly fee pertains to Kumon, where the tutor is providing previously designed materials (rather than creating custom ones) and serving multiple clients simultaneously in a small group (rather than one on one). Therefore, from an efficiency perspective, one tutor can serve far more clients and thus generate far more revenue in the long run using this model. Lastly, all businesses express quality, efficiency, and speed in their services, so those are all factors to consider that the client is paying for as part of their fee, whether it be hourly or monthly. I will need to ensure that my pricing fits within this average range while also ensuring I express how my startup venture provides quality, efficiency, and speed in service delivery. 

Delivery of Service: 

In terms of delivery of service, I reached out to each of these companies under the pretense that I was looking as a family member for tutoring services for three children (in various grades, for French, Spanish, English, math, and post-secondary supports in writing essays and performing research). The customer experience differed massively. 

First of all, my direct competitors, The Tutoring Expert and Tutorax were both contacted by email on March 9 and neither have responded to me after 5 days. This experience is very telling from a consumer’s perspective on how the delivery of service may go if the initial customer service experience fares so poorly. 

However, both of my indirect competitors responded. Beyond the Classroom responded relatively quickly, in that I emailed them the evening of March 9 and received a reply by 4:30 p.m. on March 11; I also received an automatic email reply immediately that confirmed that, a) my email had been received, and b) I should expect a response within 48 hours. They met that standard and responded to all questions in my email, so I was impressed by their customer service delivery in that regard, especially when comparing to the other three competitors. 

Kumon of Ajax-Taunton’s responsiveness was similar to Beyond the Classroom in that I received a response within 48 hours; considering that both the Whitby Kumon branches and the other Ajax branch did not respond, this particular centre should be deemed considerably better in their customer service standards than the other franchises of the same business. Equally, Kumon of Ajax-Taunton responded with a clear email message that answered all my queries. The only reason I would give the competitive edge to Beyond the Classroom is that their email is clearly set to automatically respond with a confirmation message to let you know of their customer service standard. Considering that Kumon is a larger company, I was surprised that their email system lacked that feature; I would arguably want to include something similar with my business venture as it can help set expectations and keep customers satisfied if they have a reasonable timeline for when to expect communications.

Social Media: 

Aside from their websites, all four competitors have Facebook and Instagram profiles. The Tutoring Expert also has an X profile; Tutorax has a LinkedIn page; and Beyond the Classroom has a YouTube channel. Three out of the four competitors show these social media handles on their website using recognizable icons; oddly, Kumon Math and Reading Centre of Ajax-Taunton does not post any social media handles on their page, but arguably their lack of display is likely because they are a franchisee and the social media accounts are run by Kumon North America (the franchisor). None of the four competitors provide a mobile app. 

I will examine The Tutoring Expert first. The Tutoring Expert posts once or twice a year -- and not at all since 2022 on Facebook. Their Instagram is even worse, wildly inconsistent in their posting patterns with droughts and deluges; currently, we must be in a drought as they have not posted since January 7, 2019. Their posts are visually appealing and focused on inspirational information, heavy on quotes and mantras. They also featured “tutor tips of the week” albeit not posted weekly. Of my main competitors, The Tutoring Expert posts the least about their business on their social media at approximately 20%. Their Instagram following is the lowest of all of the competitors at only 51 followers. Doing a temperature check based on their social media, The Tutoring Expert is a cold, dead fish. There are next to no reposts, shares, and mentions. For my startup venture, this business’s social media strategy is a lesson in what not to do.

Next, Tutorax posts every two to four days on Instagram and Facebook. Their posts have very professional and promotional tones in contrast to The Tutoring Expert; Tutorax is heavy on buzzwords and key phrases that speak to their performance. Their posts largely drive traffic to their blog and speak to educational activities, if not the business itself and the services they provide. Some are testimonials about their business, while others are more general in their focus on youth well-being, such as students getting enough sleep. A sparse few are centred on the significance of a particular holiday or day’s events, such as a recent post about International Women’s Day celebrating their female staff members. Arguably, 90 percent of the social media posts are about the business directly. They have a miniscule following (for example, they have only 84 followers on their Instagram; for comparison, I have 142 on my personal profile and I am not actively working on it). Using Social-Searcher.com, Tutorax garnered 18 mentions from 9 distinct users with an overall sentiment of 6.0. This indicates a far less favourable sentiment from social media users and a more diminished presence overall; this does not fare well for Tutorax’s business.

I investigated Beyond the Classroom’s social media presence third. About 60 to 70 percent of their content is focused on their business: their services, their values, their capacity to help during exams or back-to-school periods, their founder's press or inspirational quotes. They are focused on their business, but they also have some pleasantries in their posts, such as wishing a happy March break or Valentine's Day or Black History Month, to name a recent few. They post at a weekly frequency, more or less, and have a decent but not massive following (567 followers on Instagram). Their posts are slightly wordier and contain two to three hashtags each. They are professional and well written – focusing on good grammar, of course, but also focusing on kindness in their tone of voice – but they do not receive a lot of comments. I will draw more on this point with Kumon’s posts in a moment and the conclusion I drew from this weakness in the social media sphere. Something unique about Beyond the Classroom is that they have a YouTube channel, which I found intriguing; however, it is hardly ever updated and contains a lot of older content, which was disappointing. The engagement is not any stronger via YouTube than any of the other social media channels Beyond the Classroom uses. With little engagement, it is hard to assess how they would respond to inquiries via social media comments and the like. Using Social-Searcher.com, Beyond the Classroom garnered 438 mentions from 292 distinct users with an overall sentiment of 9.1. While the sentiment is the same, the reach is further for Beyond the Classroom than for The Tutoring Expert. I think it is important to note that, while not all mentions are related to the specific business called Beyond the Classroom that I am discussing, the mentions in social media could still accidentally bring a user to find this business. Whether intentional or not, a prospective client could still stumble upon Beyond the Classroom through social media amplification. 

Finally, Kumon North America – the franchisor who handles all of the marketing facets for the company at large, including but certainly not limited to the Ajax-Taunton location –  posts almost daily on its channels. Brevity is the focus of their posts with few words; very concise and to the point, they state what they want you to know either immediately or through the accompanying visual. Almost every post reads like an ad for their business, whether it be a testimonial, a promotional post, a “fun fact” about their patented methodology, or an appeal to the adorableness of a smart child seen at work with the Kumon logo somewhere in the background of the photo but prominent enough not to be missed. I would argue that Kumon’s social media is as close as one gets to 100% talking about their business. Their following is massive comparatively, with 27.5 thousand followers. However, there is a large disparity between the number of likes from followers opposed to the number of comments on the post, indicating a more passive than active engagement with the followers. They do not appear to respond to any inquiries via social media; perhaps the incentive is to contact your local Centre to learn more, rather than through the corporate franchisor. The hashtags seem to be more calculated and consistent, so that they actually generate a following of a specific hashtag, rather than wantonly adding them to posts. While Kumon does a lot of things right, a more active engagement in which Kumon responds directly to comments left on social media might encourage a discussion and gain more traction, an opportunity I would consider for my venture. In fact, using Social-Searcher.com, Kumon garnered 490 mentions from 315 distinct users with an overall sentiment of 4.1. From the search results netted from Kumon as a keyword, I received an ample number of tweets and posts in different languages, which leads me to suspect (from what I could discern) that “kumon” may mean something in another language. As a business owner, I would want to know if that is leading to a diminished sentiment due to bad connotations and associations with the brand due to other factors, or if it is reflective of the business itself.  

In short, I believe it would be wise to imitate Kumon’s social media strategy overall as it clearly gains the best results. However, I would take Kumon’s weakness as an opportunity to focus more on responding to comments with the hope to generate conversations over social media.

Other Considerations: 

There are also some key considerations beyond the information above that could sway a consumer one direction or the other. 

For one, clients may look at the longevity of the business. For some, long-standing businesses are a selling point as their business practices have a sense of sustainability. Looking at the age of the business, three of the four competitors openly state some form of establishment date on their public-facing interfaces, including their website. The Kumon of Ajax-Taunton does not provide information on their specific franchise, but they do provide information on the history of the Kumon Math and Reading Centre in general, stating that it was established more than sixty years ago. Beyond the Classroom has been around the next longest, more than a quarter-century of business operations since 1998. The Tutoring Expert has also been established for a lengthy span of time: more than two decades (founded in 2001). Lastly, despite not providing a date of establishment, Tutorax declares that, in their history, they have served more than ten thousand students, which implies a longer business life cycle without explicitly stating how long that lifespan actually is.

Hiring is often indicative of business growth and expansion, so businesses that are hiring must be doing enough business to warrant the need for additional employees. The Tutoring Expert states on their website that they have ongoing recruitment of experienced teachers who are able to commit to either part-time or full-time tutoring. They do not state that they are actively recruiting, so much as passively looking at any resumes received. There is no clear indication that they are hiring. Conversely, Tutorax appears to be more actively recruiting. Tutorax claims to have more than a thousand tutors, but, nonetheless, is actively hiring tutors across Canada. Their focus is on candidates with specific educational backgrounds, such as Bachelor's degrees in psychology, linguistics, psychoeducation, and primary and/or secondary education; Master's degrees in speech therapy or in educational psychology; and, a Baccalaurate or Certificate in Special Education. They also provide a more appealing list of benefits to attract this talent, offering flexible hours and other benefits. 

Beyond the Classroom also claims that they are hiring. Similar to The Tutoring Expert, they are hiring teachers who hold a Bachelor of Education, as well as students currently enrolled in teachers' college. Unlike The Tutoring Expert, it appears that they are trying to fill positions based on the active language used on their website. Beyond the educational requirements listed for job candidates, Beyond the Classroom is more focused on their core corporate values and is looking for candidates that embody these values, too. They also must be able to drive to one of the communities they serve in-person (all of which are outside my target region). One area of distinction is that Beyond the Classroom also posts testimonials from previous employees, which is a distinctive element in the experience for those seeking employment compared to the other competitors.

Lastly, Kumon Math and Reading Centre of Ajax-Taunton is actively hiring. They are looking for Centre Assistants, according to the website; the skills they require from their recruits is a strong proficiency in high school math and English, flexibility in scheduling and tasks they are willing to perform, punctuality, good collaboration and communication skills, and a love of learning. Their educational requirements are far less demanding, considering they serve students from a far-younger demographic starting at three years old. It is fair to assess that this particular centre (the Ajax-Taunton location) is particularly doing well as the website explicitly states that Kumon franchisees hire, not Kumon as the franchisor, thus implying this specific branch is experiencing business growth. 

Finally, businesses that rely on other organizations for funding may be experiencing challenges. Businesses that can depend on a predictable and steady flow of revenues often do not need to seek other forms of financing. Tutorax has a number of partnering organizations in Quebec, along with companies who seem to be more aligned with sponsorship. They also appear to be actively looking for more strategic partnerships, which might indicate funding issues. Beyond the Classroom funds itself to some extent through franchises with initial franchise fees of $24 thousand plus tax, with a 6% royalty payment on gross sales each month for a decade (the term of the franchise agreement). In addition, they have a $2000 fee for their training program. As a franchise, Kumon of Ajax-Taunton must be generating enough revenue to sustain itself. (An interesting note is that Kumon's corporate website claims that franchise owners must have $70 thousand in liquid capital to start their own location.) The Tutoring Expert does not provide any information related to any potential sources of funding.

In conclusion, if my startup venture is successful long-term, I will want to showcase this longevity in some way on my website. If I am in a position of growth where I can hire others, I would certainly want to provide a means to recruit qualified candidates through my online presence, as my competitors have done so. Last but not least, if I do experience setbacks where I need to seek financing through partnerships, I would either choose not to disclose it – which may be the case with the other businesses as I have no impression that they are seeking additional financing elsewhere beyond their revenues – or frame it in a positive light ȧ la Tutorax. Overall, through the various lenses through which to examine my competitors, I have learned a lot about how to shape my own startup venture to gain an edge.

[chelseydavidson]

Message Map

This exercise allows me to consider the aspects of a business pitch with the second tier of the map pointing to three key facets that would allow me to sum up one of my favourite businesses and brands, Toyota, in a mere 15-second pitch. The third tier notes details that would serve a longer pitch more rich with examples and statistics to back up my statements.

[chelseydavidson]

Strengths and Weaknesses

When assessing my entrepreneurial skills, I recognize both strengths and weaknesses. I certainly excel in Excel, adeptly handling number crunching and financial planning. I heavily rely on those spreadsheets, spitting pivot tables out left and right to assess budgets almost daily. Secondly, my mindset is that of a quick and constant learner; when confronted with new software, skills, or ways of thinking, I readily embrace them instead of clinging to outdated methods. Another strength of mine is effective people management, whereby my experience overseeing medium to large teams has led to successful coordination of functional groups up to the double, even triple digits. However, I am equally comfortable in smaller-scale projects, collaborating with three to five subject matter experts. Lastly, I would be remiss not to mention how much I thrive in competitive settings. Look no further than taking me on in Trivial Pursuit. (On second thought, maybe you shouldn't.)

In contrast, I would never call myself a social butterfly. Building rapport and initiating connections networking or negotiation situations often takes longer for me. Face-to-face encounters with total strangers pose a challenge as I struggle to find suitable icebreakers. Nonetheless, I am actively working on learning the art of schmoozing by merely approaching interactions with a handshake, fist bump, or friendly greeting. I suppose this weakness is natural as I'm human and therefore suffer from the occasional bout of self-doubt and shaken confidence. Alas, we can't all suffer from unwaveringly high self-esteem of the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, can we?