Today we’d like to introduce you to Sabah Khan.
Sabah, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I consider myself a third culture millennial, although my roots are Indian, I was raised in a tiny archipelago of islands called Bahrain, this place will always be my hometown since I spent my childhood and early adulthood there.
Growing up in the middle east is a unique life experience, it is a melting pot of cultures and I am glad to have received this exposure from a very young age.
My fondest memory as a child is spending our weekends by the corniche. The sun, sand and sea were never too far away and it made my childhood very special.
I hold a bachelor’s of science in Banking and Finance and took up a corporate job right after graduation. My early career days started with an internship at JP Morgan & Chase and consequently ended up working in investment banking for a few years.
I married in 2010 and joined my husband in San Antonio, TX. In May 2011, we moved to Austin and called this place home ever since.
During my initial years here in Austin, I worked in the financial industry and was a SAHM in between. I never could have imagined working in the field of education but life surprises you when you least expect it.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
At the expense of sounding cliched, it’s been a rollercoaster ride.
In April 2019, I stumbled upon the opportunity to buy a franchise for a tutoring service. As someone who did not come from a background of teaching or tutoring experience, it felt challenging yet a novel chance to try something different and exciting. My husband encouraged me to tread down this path. We always hoped to own a business someday and this seemed like a great fit!
In the next few months, nothing could have prepared me for the challenges that came with running your own business. I was a novice in the world of entrepreneurship and learning the ropes of this new venture took some time. Being a mom of two young children, while trying to build a business added to the rigmarole of our daily lives.
The first step was to establish credibility and goodwill in our customer base since there was no awareness about this service in the Austin area. I reached out to the local schools and educational institutions to develop relationships with the faculty and administrators. From struggling to land our first client and recruiting the right tutors to relationship building with schools and PTO groups, all of it warranted for a mammoth effort. We began to see growth in the Spring semester 2020 and that’s when everything came to a standstill.
With the pandemic starting in the first year of our tutoring venture, we suffered significant financial losses as majority of our clients dropped off. We were paying our fixed expenses/fees while operating with zero to insignificant revenues.
The pandemic proved to be a great eye-opener. Everything I learned about running this business suddenly changed and took on a new meaning. We struggled to find students and tutors alike.
On one hand, students struggled with a steep learning gap that was created due to virtual schooling and on the other hand, parents became inconsistent in their tutoring requests where they couldn’t not see the “value” added from getting their children tutored. Furthermore, the final grades were not being taken into account and students were promoted into the following school year without any proper evaluation.
The situation became worse when students started school in Fall 2021 and discovered how far behind, they had fallen in rudimentary subjects like math which is essentially building block concepts.
The acute impact of the “COVID learning slide” was evident and eventually, parents became serious about re-enrolling their students in 1:1 tutoring.
Our worst hit category of students is made up of elementary level grades and many times they are lagging behind by at least two grades in their level of understanding in any given subject. Playing catch up has been one of the toughest tasks for our young students and helping them get up to speed for our tutors.
I believe it was a very defining period for our service, post-COVID we were hit hard with shortages of reliable and solid resources. My focus is to hire great tutors for our students who will prove to be their mentor; and not just limited to the role of a tutor.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Club Z! Tutoring & Test Prep Services?
Our model is simple 1:1 in home tutoring services for all ages and all subjects.
In general, people confuse us with center-based learning establishments and I clarify this to many of them, that it is a service where the tutor goes to the student and helps them out in the comfort of their home. The parents do not have the hassle of driving their kids to a certain location and can take care of their work at home while the tutor helps their child.
A significant aspect of our tutoring service is to help children who suffer from various learning difficulties such as ADHD, Dyslexia, dysgraphia, mood anxiety disorders and the list goes on. Club Z! is also a vendor with Class Wallet. It is a platform which helps families with learning disabled children use their government-allocated grants or funds towards tutoring services like ours.
Club Z! Tutoring’s USP is based on tutor match guarantee. We assure our students that at any given point if they don’t find the tutor to their liking, we replace the existing tutor until the student finds the right fit. Also, our tutors are thoroughly vetted and background checked before they meet our students and families.
In addition to 1:1 remedial tutoring, we also offer enrichment courses such as a study skills program, Pre-K readiness programs, STEM courses, Reading, Writing as well as Test prep services for various SSAT, ISEE, PSAT, SAT, ACT, GED, GMAT and GRE.
Our accomplishments as a tutoring service became apparent when Special education students began to thrive due to the 1:1 attention they received from their tutors.
During the course of the past three years, we participated as sponsors with various PTO groups, hosted a free SAT mock test at a local library and vendor booth at the HOCO parade in Lake Travis High school.
We received a tremendous and encouraging response from our partnerships and students/families we were able to help during this journey!
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Integrity and grit are the two most important things that matter to me.
These two components are crucial to succeeding at life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.clubztutoringsouthwestaustin.com/
- Instagram: @clubzaustin
- Facebook: @clubzaustin
