I Just Got Married!
8/31/2017
All right... hold the applause. But seriously - after being together for five years, it's good to be married. And although we're not having kids (I know, I know), we do plan on adding to our animal family very soon. (Our cat voted "no" on the issue, but he was outnumbered).
We had the wedding at Stone Brewery in Liberty Station (pictured above). Honeymoon-wise, we went to Vancouver for a long weekend in July and then recently got back from a trip to Europe, which included Prague and Geneva.
One of my favorite memories of Prague has to be sitting in a beer garden on a hill, drinking cold, bitter Czech pilsner (only $1.25) and watching the sunset's golden light illuminate the Gothic spires of the city. (I bet you were poetic when you described your honeymoon, too.)
In the spirit of giving you more personal details about me, I want to give you a few about my company. Secret details. Well, at least details you probably wouldn't know unless I told you.
Before I begin, there are five of us now, at a nice range of experience levels (check out our bios here). And I'm doing a few things differently with my tutors that I think are interesting.
1. (At the risk of sounding gauche) I pay well. Really well. My tutors make nearly all of what they charge in year one, and in year two, the percentage goes up so high that I'm effectively breaking even.
Am I crazy? I don't think so. If I don't pay people well, they'll eventually leave. Most tutoring companies have a lot of turnover, and I don't plan to. My goal is to have tutors stick around (becoming better and better at what they do), which will ultimately help build the business more than if I took a bigger cut of their earnings.
2. I trust my tutors. Their phone numbers are right there on my website. I'm pretty sure I'm the only company in San Diego doing this.
Again, it is possible that I'm crazy. But I'd prefer to only hire people I trust and then prove it by making it possible for customers to contact them directly without me knowing about it.
3. We admit we're still learning. Tutoring isn't an exact science. We meet regularly to not only do training, but to talk through problems (we all experience them) and help each other out.
The Bottom Line
I was a shy kid. But the more transparent and forthcoming I become as an adult, the better my relationships seem to get. And I think being transparent about my business and how we operate leads to more and better clients.
Questions For Discussion
1. Am I crazy? Any feedback would be appreciated.
2. Where'd you go on your honeymoon? (Bonus points for pictures)
3. What's the transparency level like in your business?