Today we’d like to introduce you to Annmarie Hatfield.
Hi Annmarie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My mom was in public education for 35 years, so I have a heart for teachers and education. When I was younger, I wanted to be a high school counselor, but my mom didn’t think I had the patience to be a teacher (which you had to do before being a counselor) and my life took a different turn.
Years later, I was asked to help a friend develop a sales department at an Educational Services company, where I met my business partner. He and I decided to partner up and turn a small side hustle Educational Consultant agency into the company that College Inroads today …14 years later! Interestingly enough, I feel like my life has come full circle since a majority of what we do is counsel parents and their high school kids!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We started our business from scratch with ONE referral. The 1st years were VERY stressful and we hustled! In the beginning, we got all of our clients from doing in-person seminars. We would decide on a date and a place (usually a library which was free!), get a list of the parents of high school students in one area, print and mail our own postcards and hope and pray that people would show up. I would then call and email the people who attended to set up a free initial consult, schedule and run those meetings and hold my breath to see if they would sign-up with us. Times were so tight that both my business partner and I got other jobs in our industry to help make ends meet while still growing the business.
Around year 3 or 4, we realized that most of our business now was coming through referral, we started focusing on other marketing channels and we left other jobs to focus solely on our business. Year 6, we hired our 1st employee and I was able to start networking and serving on boards to help grow the business. Year 14, we hit our 1st $1M year, work with students all over the world and have 39 employees now 🙂
Our struggles changed over the years from worrying about how to pay the bills to making sure that we were hiring people who would serve our clients the way that we did and had similar moral, values and ethics that we did. Our biggest struggle now is scaling and digging deeper to be as efficient and effective as possible.
Never in a million years would I have thought I would be a business owner, but it really is the best thing to ever happen to me 🙂
We’ve been impressed with College Inroads, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
College Inroads is an Independent Education Consultant firm that helps high school students figure out what to major in, where to apply, how to apply and how to pay less for college. We have served more than 1400 students over the past 14 years.
Our goal is to make the project of getting into college as stress-free as possible. We have a proven process that lends structure to this complex undertaking that includes:
– Career Search
– Educational Resume
– Extensive College Search
– College Reseach
– SAT/ACT prep (online and self-paced)
– Scholarship Search (online and self-paced)
– College Essay Brainstorming and Critique
– College Application Completion
– Financial Aid Forms Filing
– Financial Aid Awards Analysis
The system we offer is comprehensive and customizable for each of our students.
Although we are “generalists” who help all kinds of kids, we do have specialists who help kids with Learning Difference, Recruited Athletes and the Arts, to name a few.
We work with clients all over the world (thanks to Google Meets!) We work with the kids at the top of their class, the bottom of their class and all kids in between. Our kids have gotten into Ivy League schools, upper tier private schools and state schools in 49 of our states (still waiting on a kid who wants to go to school in AK!) …there really is a college for everyone.
We also help current college students transfer into different universities and are beta-testing medical school admissions as well. We hope to be helping college graduates get into graduate schools next year.
Roughly 75% of our business comes through referral which is the thing about which I am most proud for our business …if we weren’t doing a good job, people wouldn’t come back or refer us to their friends and family. We are so grateful for our clients and our amazing staff who serve them!
Let us help you save time, stress and money on the crazy road to college!
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I lived in Austin in college (in the ’80s) and moved back in 2005. Austin is home to me 🙂 I love the feeling of Austin …the openness and friendliness of our people, the beautiful rolling hills, the vibrant nightlife, the spectacular lakes, the invigorating tech and business climate, the booming music and movie business ….so many things to love!!
What I like least about our area:
– Cedar!
– Traffic!
– Lowering lake levels due to drought!
– Homelessness
Contact Info:
- Website: https://collegeinroads.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/collegeinroads/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CollegeInroads
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/college-inroads
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoeoX322r10-5yo5_saWNoQ
