When Ashley Mulcahy took a part-time tutoring job to earn a little extra money at university, she had no idea just how it would change her life. In fact, within a year, Mulcahy had taken on a number of administrative duties, including education consultant,where she would use her experience as a teacher-in-training to meet with parents and teachers to determine the best curriculum for their child to follow.

Her help was invaluable to Tutor Doctor franchise owner, Alexandra Wilcox and, by the end of her first year, Wilcox’s tutoring franchise won the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award. Mulcahy had caught the education franchise bug.

After completion of her degree, she decided to buy the profitable tutoring business from Wilcox and now owns a top education franchise that employs over 100 tutors and operates in 20 cities: “Running a business wasn’t what I planned or signed up for in the beginning, but there came a point where I was making a lot more money doing this than I would ever see as a teacher. I never thought I’d have this much control over my income,” Mulcahy says.

She attributes her success to an open mind and a willingness to work hard. She is also appreciative of the Tutor Doctor franchise model which avoids all of the overheads of having a shopfront by promoting at-home businesses.

She also encourages prospective education franchise owners to engage with customers in a meaningful way: “We send quick notes by email to parents asking how their child did on a test. Or, if we know a mom is active in an autism support group, we might send her an interesting article and say we were thinking of her when we read it.”

It’s this engaged, caring and forward-thinking approach that not only sets young Tutor Doctor franchise owners apart, it resonates with families and drives their success.