Ideas Unleashed

New NumberWorks’nWords franchisee finds satisfaction after following her passion for education

My timing was terrible,’ says Leanne Stewart with a wry smile about her first ever venture into business ownership. After 23 years teaching, and more recently a vice principal, Leanne opened NumberWorks’nWords in Rotorua at the beginning of the 2020 school year. Through her belief in NumberWorks’nWords programmes and her strong network among the Rotorua community, Leanne quickly went from zero to 40 students. As usual, she employed high school and university students as tutors. ‘After all, little kids need big kids to look up to, and big kids remember what it’s like to learn,’ she says.

Next minute – lockdown! ‘We literally dropped to 20 students overnight,’ explains Leanne. ‘However, our brilliant franchise office staff were ready and had put in place ways for tutors to communicate with students using Zoom and remote assistance software. Obviously, there were some hiccups – not all students had computers and some wi-fi speeds were very slow – but we persevered, we were there for everyone and we made it work.’

And, rather than letting the pandemic bring a premature end to her dream of achieving a better life-work balance while pursuing her passion for children’s education, it inspired Leanne to discover marketing and promotional talents she never knew she had. By early November, she had 84 students on her roll, and numbers are growing all the time.

From NZ to the world

Founded in New Zealand in 1984, NumberWorks’nWords franchised tutoring centres deliver more than 120,000 after-school maths and English extension and remediation lessons each term. Part of the New Zealandestablished and now international Crimson Group, NumberWorks’nWords is also in Australia and England.

It was putting all that combined experience to use on a local basis that paid off for Leanne. ‘There was lots of communication with fellow franchisees everywhere. Besides looking out for each other, we started feeding in ideas and working with the franchise to share them.

‘We used Facebook to cheer up school kids in lockdown, with competitions where prizes ranged from free NumberWorks’nWords tuition vouchers to jellybeans and Freddo frogs. Then I went live with a ‘Locals helping Locals’ project on our own Rotorua Facebook page with a tag and share competition for a $25 voucher to a different Rotorua café each week.’ Leanne also sponsored Rotomaths, a problem-solving competition for pupils from Year 5 to Year 8. And to boost referrals from schools, she introduced ‘Learn to Earn’ where 10 percent of a student’s fee goes to the school – along with chocolates personally delivered by Leanne.

Leanne’s initiatives have undoubtedly paid off for NumberWorks’nWords Rotorua, and by early November she was busy making plans to expand into unused space. She gives kudos for this to the experienced and forward-thinking franchise team who convinced her to lease space with capacity for rapidly increasing student numbers. ‘After we came out of lockdown, how right they were,’ laughs Leanne.

Oh, and with the input of franchisees all over the world, the franchise has developed a robust future-proofing strategy to ensure that, should online tutoring ever be required again, it will be reliable and easy to turn on at short notice.

Far better work-life balance

NumberWorks’nWords has franchise opportunities throughout the country for an investment of $80,000 +gst. This covers an exclusive territory, teaching and business software, furniture, fitting out premises and computers, as well as full training in everything from business management and teaching programmes aligned to the New Zealand curriculum, to tutor recruitment assistance and opening marketing.

With income now building, Leanne happily shares that she has also achieved a far better life-work balance allowing her to be more of a mum and wife – and have time for morning gym sessions, too. Having discovered her marketing and promotion talents, Leanne says her aim is to keep working on getting NumberWorks’nWords Rotorua known for community involvement and making a real difference.

‘I have teaching experience, but it’s not necessary to become a NumberWorks’nWords franchisee,’ says Leanne. ‘What is necessary is a genuine passion for the educational outcome of children. I can’t speak highly enough about the franchise team – they are so supportive, positive and caring towards all us franchisees. To anyone looking for a fun and rewarding opportunity, my advice is call NumberWorks’nWords now and find out more.’

Advertiser Info

NumberWorks’nWords

Contact Sarah Simons

P 0-9-522 0800

nzho@numberworks.com

www.numberworksnwords.com