In this month’s franchisee feature, we’d like to introduce you to Joel Vance of Knoxville, Tennessee, who has a unique story because he is a college professor and a Tutor Doctor franchisee. Instead of leaving his day job to run his Tutor Doctor franchise, he’s happily doing both.

We learned that Joel teaches a graduate and professional program that is primarily for adults at King University in Bristol, Tennessee. More and more adults these days are going back to school, he explained. “I do have a few traditional students, but most of them are 35 and older,” he says.

He Found Tutoring a Joy

When we asked Joel what drew him to Tutor Doctor initially, he told us the story of how it all began... Before coming across Tutor Doctor, he was a full-time college professor teaching management and statistics, and the university asked him to tutor people in other departments, such as nursing and statistics. He started tutoring and quickly learned that he enjoyed tutoring as much, or even better than teaching.

Joel fondly recalled a time when one of the nursing students had to take statistics, and she put off taking it until her very last course before she graduated. “She was failing, and I tutored her, and she got an A out of the course. She still credits me today,” said Joel. After that experience, Joel was inspired to do more tutoring, and that’s how he found Tutor Doctor.

As a Tutor Doctor franchisee, Joel said while he’s motivated by helping students get into the college of their choice, sometimes it’s just about helping them pass.

The Results...Are the Most Rewarding!

Joel has seen great results while running his Tutor Doctor franchise, and he finds them the most rewarding. “We’re tutoring a young lady in ACT. She needed three points to get a full track scholarship. We tutored her, and she got five points. She not only got the track scholarship, but she got an academic scholarship as well,” he says.

In other cases, he and his tutors have helped students get into the colleges of their choice, or they’ve gone from hating books to being the ones to volunteer to read, he says. 

Don’t Try to Reinvent the Wheel

For those interested in the Tutor Doctor educational franchise opportunity, Joel says leadership skills are critically important, but you also have to be willing to follow the system. “You don’t try to reinvent the wheel,” he says.

If a franchisee doesn’t think they can do something correctly, his advice is to find somebody who can. For example, visiting schools is not Joel’s “cup of tea,” but he still understands the importance of following the system. His solution was to hire a marketing coordinator to visit schools for him. “I could make myself do it, but it’s not in my comfort zone,” he says. His solution is to let someone else handle the school visits while he concentrates on doing what he does best.

According to Joel, Tutor Doctor’s training and support are stellar. “The initial training was some of the best training I’ve been to for anything – it’s excellent. The support is the same thing – every time I ask [the Tutor Doctor team] a question, they get back to me,” he says.

Joel mentioned the growth in Tennessee; when he first came to Tutor Doctor, there were only two in the state. “We doubled in size in the last two years just in Tennessee,” he says. Of course, that was in part due to Joel’s efforts! Joel has done so well growing his tutoring business that he’s not only moving to the executive model, but he’s personally offering his support to fellow franchisees.

Joel’s advice to people considering the Tutor Doctor educational franchise opportunity is to do your due diligence. “Call other Tutor Doctor franchisees and ask them questions, such as: ‘What are your hardships? Is training good? Do you get the support?’” You have to make sure this is right for you, he says.