Today we’d like to introduce you to Aileen Yu
Aileen, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I came to Austin 3 years and fell in love with it. I didn’t come to Austin due to a job, or a family or have any friends. But it was a very attractive city for me. Now I call Austin a home, I have a business, many friends, and I’m part of my community in Southeast Austin. When I first moved to Austin, I had a remote job working in the corp world. I did not like it. Entrepreneurship came into my mind and I am so glad that I have chosen this path. I now own a franchise location for Mathnasium, it’s a math after school program for kids from elementary to high school. We teach them how to breakdown the numbers, to make it easy and fun. And t through the execises, they build so much confidence in math and in school. We see their smiles and our parents are so happy that their children start liking math. It’s a very fulfilling calling and I’ve built a community around there and I know every name of my students and I am proud of that.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being a small business owner, there are always challenges everyday. I’ve learned to calm myself and truly assess and keep it moving rather than being a firefighter mode all the time stressing myself. I only started open my Mathnasium Aug 2024, but I’ve signed my franchise agreement in Dec 2023. So at first, the challenge was looking for the right location and neogitation the lease terms. I had to fight for reducing the terms from 10 to 7 years because they had an unreasonable clause of making me responsible for the new tenant’s rent if I were to sell the business. Then it was finding a construction team and getting renovation permit from the city. Every process has at least one major challenge just like how I failed my fire department inspection 3 times, which I later learned is the average. Setting up furniture and putting up all the wall graphics, those tidious tasks that took days, now they seem like a joke but was a pain along the way. But a friend once said, these are just a one-time things that you need to get through in order to open your business, once it’s open and your journey truly starts. Those will be a blurb. I have about 50 students now after 6 months, which is a great achievement. But it was a really slow growth in the beginning that I felt like my marketing expenses is just a needle in a haystack. New customers trickle in and many came and did not sign up. The center was quiet for a long well and I’ve only got two instructors who are not busy at all. But then I lost an instructor before I even got busier, and I was scrambling like an ants in a hot pot, I don’t have much students but I cannot have no instructor to teach them! So now hiring has been my highest priority even when I’m fully staffed because you never know who leaves when. And marketing is always the hardest, for your prospects to know you and to come to you and even after they come, to have them trust you. But once you’ve gone over that bump, now the center is buzzing with children’s energy and I’ve got parents word of mouth trusting us. The business is booming.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Mathnasium of Southpark Meadows?
Mathnasium of Southpark Meadows is a franchise brand, we have over 1000 centers in US. Mathnasium has its very own methodology to teach kids math so that the kids think math is easy and fun and they build confidence along the way in school. We provide individualized learning plans for every kid so they learn at their own pace. Whether your student is trying to catch up or get ahead of math, we have a solution for them. My center is in an upcoming neighborhood with many opportunities to help the students. Since we’ve opened, our NPS score (a popular method to see how loyal your customers are) is 100%! Our parents love us and we’ve built a true community around our students and love of learning math. Our kids want to come to our center to learn math and have fun. I’ve got a parent who told me that her daughter wanted to leave Dave & Buster early just to get to my center on time to learn math!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mathnasium.com/southparkmeadows
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mathnasiumofsouthpark/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558842697501
