Excited, scared, nervous… those are just a few words to describe our journey over the past six months. If someone told us a year ago that we would be Tutor Doctor franchise owners, we would have said something like, “Tutor Doctor who?” The desire to build an incredible future for ourselves was something that we thought about often, yet no opportunity had knocked on our door the way Tutor Doctor did.
We were both comfortable in our careers, however, I had an urge to do something more. I began realizing more each day that someone else was benefiting from my hard work. In the blink of an eye we were 36 years old with a 6 year-old and 3 year-old looking at each other asking, “What’s next?” We had three goals in mind; provide an amazing future for our family, doing something that we love and, most importantly, doing something to help others.
We began entertaining several business options and quickly realized that we did not want to incur the overhead costs that come with a brick-and-mortar location. I started researching work-from-home business opportunities which led us to a list of top franchises. We would ask ourselves, “Is this something that we want to do for the long haul?” Franchise after franchise were marked off of the list until we saw Tutor Doctor. Both intrigued, we did some quick research and requested information.
Next thing I know an extremely enthusiastic Matt Woodcock was on the other end of my phone. He got us very excited about the opportunity of owning our own business. I was ready to sign the paperwork after my first call with Matt, but Shauna (the realist in our relationship) pumped the breaks. After several conversations with Matt and many long conversations with each other, we began to build our dream of owning a Tutor Doctor Franchise. We have never been tutoring business owners and had no clue what was in store for us. Matt walked us through every step of the way.
We started researching the local marketplace, spoke to teachers and began our due diligence which included speaking with other Tutor Doctor franchisees. Everyone had only good things to say about Tutor Doctor. We decided that we were ready to take the Tutor Doctor plunge but we needed financing. The financing aspect was stressful. Matt checked on us constantly and was great at reassuring us that we were on the path to being business owners.
Once we closed on our loan and paid our franchise fee the Tutor Doctor training began. The training completely prepared us for launching our business when we returned home. I have been to several sales trainings in the past and Tutor Doctor has the best training system that I have ever been a part of.
On October 22, 2015 we launched Tutor Doctor in Brevard County, Florida. We have gotten an overwhelmingly positive response. After 50 days of being in business we have signed up 11 students and hired 10 tutors. During this time Shauna and I are continuing to work our full-time jobs. We feel that the possibilities are endless which pushes us towards success and walking away from our full-time jobs. With the unwavering support from the Tutor Doctor home office, we know that our future is brighter than ever.