Anybody own one?

I have Mathnasium Franchise's so I can give you some thoughts from the prospective of a learning center owner.

hey thanks! i just have a couple of questions...how much hands-on work do you have to actually do? from what i understand, the instructors kind of take care of the day-to-day stuff (teaching, scheduling, etc) and you handle the finances. i don't want to quit my current job. also, how important is the location? do you generally do better in more influential areas (ie...more money, better schools, etc) ? how accurate is the take home they list on their website? kumon says the average franchise owner nets around 4k per month per franchise. i'm not sure if this includes instructor expenses. thanks again!

I typed out a reply and ended up on a phone call and it timed out and deleted it all... I'll reply again later.

FIND X. Very interested in well your insight!

DSAg44 said:

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hey thanks! i just have a couple of questions...how much hands-on work do you have to actually do? from what i understand, the instructors kind of take care of the day-to-day stuff (teaching, scheduling, etc) and you handle the finances. i don't want to quit my current job. also, how important is the location? do you generally do better in more influential areas (ie...more money, better schools, etc) ? how accurate is the take home they list on their website? kumon says the average franchise owner nets around 4k per month per franchise. i'm not sure if this includes instructor expenses. thanks again!

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I know Mathnasium and Kumon are very different in terms of business model, royalties, & philosophy... but it's a learning center and there are some similarities. I honestly don't think you will be able to run a center effectively while working full time. Yes, I know that it's an after school program and hours of ops are 3-8ish but with what you have invested to open the doors and get to profitability - I wouldn't trust someone else to do it.

I have 3 locations and my first one was very hands on. We weren't working all day but it was extremely consuming. I also have an advertising business and work closely with several hundred other center owners and there are a couple dozen or so that work full time while running their center. All but one are struggling, failing, or selling. The one that is doing ok - is just doing "ok" and would do so much better if he went full time in his business. The fact is - this is a customer service business dealing with peoples kids and you have to give it 100% of yourself... Instructors run the learn floor but that is only one small segment. Important but small.
Hiring - training - PR - Advertising - Marketing - Back Office - Billing - Sales - Assessments - phone calls etc.. You have to be all of this, delegate, or hire it out. The key components that need to be done by you can eventually be trained away so you can work your way out of the center - but it requires a LOT of systems building and processes. It is a franchise and they give you a road map, but there is still a lot that you have to figure out on your own.

We've gotten to the point of being an owner and not a owner/operator but it took over 4 years.

Take home is going to vary wildly and depend on your expenses. Low expenses = good margins but if you lower them too much your quality drops and so does your retention and revenue. So you have to find a balance. I was very aggressive and got to break even in 5 months but that is not the norm.

Location is critical. Low rent means you're hidden and surrounded by people that don't share your demographics. That means you have to spend a fortune to generate leads and get them to find you. Getting the right location can offset advertising cost by leaning on the traffic and adv efforts of the businesses around you. If adding $2k a month to your rent will equal $5k a month in ad cost for the same exposure >> Then it's a great investment.

If I am being honest - if I could expect the avg and it was only $4k a month with all the commitment, risk and investment it takes to get there - I'd just keep a job.

Some people thing about build a business as an investment you could sell.. But think about it - How many assets will you have? Maybe $5-10k and the rest is memberships that will expire. So if you should decide to sell, it's real value is the cost it would take someone to get to where you are. Franchise fee - build out - staffing & memberships.

Now if you get it built up so that it's running well and generating $10-12k a month (profit) and you open a few of them with directors running them and a solid system and process to maintain them - you can just let them run like a money printer.

Thanks for the info! The Kumon my kid goes to is only open 2 days a week for 3 hours each day. It's basically run by one lady and 2 other people. She teaches the math and a college student teaches the reading. The other person just grades. It's always packed. It doesn't look like a full time gig but after reading your info, maybe there's a lot more to it. There was a mathnasium across the street that recently closed. It was a much better location. Not sure why it didn't work out. I've never been to it. The Kumon lady has a pretty good reputation in our area though. Thanks again!

These kinds of business attract a lot of educators that love to teach but don't like the "System". So they open a learning center to do what they love doing. When they realize that there is much more to running a business than showing up to teach kids and they aren't willing to do the parts that are necessary to be successful - they end up closing or selling.
It's good for owners like looking to expand that have a proven process and systems - The main parts of the investment are done and they already have a location, instructors, and students so the whole process of start up in compressed into a short time frame.

Being open 6 hours a week isn't much time - I can see why it would be packed, they aren't open enough hours to spread out the volume. In that case it could possibly be a part time gig, but the entrepreneur in me asks why limit it? I guess this is why they are located in areas that are kind of hidden. Getting #1 location cost a lot and they often require you to be open at least 5 days.