Brian Bowen
Company Name:
Canadian Academic Success School
Website:
www.CanadianAcademicSuccess.com
Location:
5308A Yonge Street, about 2 blocks north of North York Centre
How do you help people?
The Canadian Academic Success School helps recent immigrants to Canada achieve success at school or in their careers by matching qualified, experienced tutors and ESL instructors to their needs.
Our services include:
- Tutoring for all grades (1-12) & subjects, including math, sciences, French, & English, following the Ontario Ministry of Education Curriculum Guidelines
- Ontario high school independent-study credits
- Homework & Essay Writing Help
- Test & Entrance Exam Preparation
- Study Skills Training
- ESL
- Business English & Presentation Skills
Who do you help?
Most of the Canadian Academic Success School’s customers are recent immigrants from non-English speaking countries who are concerned about their children’s academic success because of the language barrier their children face at school in Canada. Many of them are also frustrated by the lack of opportunity in their professions because of poor English skills. We have the training, the experience and, most importantly, the compassion to help them achieve the success they came to this country to find.
What makes you unique?
Because the Canadian Academic Success School offers a complete range of courses and caters to a multicultural market, it can successfully compete with other tutoring and private ESL schools in North York. We offer services following the Ontario Ministry of Education guidelines and use qualified experienced teachers who are sensitive to the language problems and cultural needs of recent immigrants to Canada.
Why did you decide to start a school?
When I looked into the many tutoring schools in North York in the summer of 2007, I was shocked at the lack of educational knowledge and concern most of these schools demonstrated. I quickly recognized the need for a school which could truly serve the educational and ESL requirements of recent immigrants by putting the needs of students first.
With that in mind, I used my 21 years of teaching experience—including 10 years as head of a high-school English department, and 18 years teaching ESL to adults at Seneca College—to found the Canadian Academic Success School.
What’s the best part of being an entrepreneur?
As an educator, I have always had a love of learning, and starting a business has definitely been a learning experience. I now look at the way other businesses are run and marketed with a fresh perspective. Every day I discover new ways to improve the day to day operations of the Canadian Academic Success School, and serve our customers better.
What’s the worst part of being and entrepreneur?
Competition can be cutthroat, and there’s a lot of competition in the tutoring business. The North York Yellow Pages lists 71 tutoring schools, and that is by no means a complete list. A small percentage of these schools, perhaps unable to compete on the own merits, resort to more aggressive tactics.
How long have you been in business?
The Canadian Academic Success School opened its doors on New Year’s Day, 2008 with a party attended by over 60 teachers and students.
How did you raise the start-up cash?
There is a very low overhead for tutoring and ESL services, so the Canadian Academic Success School was fully funded through the owner’s assets.
What have you learned as an entrepreneur?
I’ve learned the importance of being organized. Trying to co-ordinate the needs of students with the skills and availability of tutors isn’t easy, but luckily we were able to create a database program which made this much easier. Still, trying to organize classes with students and teachers, while also teaching myself, and doing the bookkeeping, and managing all the marketing (not to mention the general maintenance of the school building!) has been quite a task. I find that I have to schedule everything now—not only my classes, but when I’ll post ads online or when I’ll sort through the week’s receipts. Every morning I review my schedule and add or delete items for the next couple of days as necessary.
What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur?
Carefully planning is the key to a successful business. An idea can be great, but unless you sit down and think through how you will turn that idea into a viable business, it won’t pay the bills. Imagine deciding that you want to go to Mexico and just jumping into the car and driving—without any thought of how you’re going to get there, how you’ll pay for gas, where you’ll stay, or what travel documents you need. If you’re lucky, you may eventually get to Mexico, but it won’t be easy.
What are your goals and plans for the future?
Right now the Canadian Academic Success School is very focused on its full-time summer classes in math and English. We’re offering two levels for each subject: one for grades 7-9, and the other for grades 10-12. Each class is 3 hours a day from Monday to Friday.
Also in the next couple of months, we will begin offering classes to students in China using high-definition video calling. We think this cutting edge technology will finally take us to that world where students from all over the world can study together, linked to one another in a virtual classroom.
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