Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Mike Bergin, President, and Owner of Chariot Learning, located in Rochester, NY, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
My primary business is education, specifically serving high schoolers to prepare for college. Our mission at Chariot Learning is to help prepare students for tests, school, and life. To that end, we specialize in expert, individualized SAT and ACT preparation in classes and 1-1 settings. While Chariot Learning is proudly based in Rochester, NY, we are fortunate to work with highly motivated teens across the United States and beyond.
My secondary business also encompasses education in its myriad forms. I, along with my friend and colleague Amy Seeley, co-host of the Tests and the Rest: The College Admissions Industry Podcast. This podcast shares high-value insights into testing, education, learning, or admissions with parents, educators, school and admissions counselors, and students. I'm also proud to be the founding President of the Board of Directors of the National Test Prep Association, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the highest ethical standards and best practices in the test prep industry while advocating for the appropriate administration and use of standardized tests for admissions and assessment purposes. I write Tutor: The Newsletter, the weekly motivator for educators. I've created the SAT/ACT TestFlip program, the free testing and admissions answer site TestBright, and the Facebook industry group for test prep professionals, Test Prep Tribe. Lastly, I'm the co-author of the Amazon bestseller Crash and Learn: Lessons in Business. Basically, I'm privileged to explore as many aspects of teaching, learning, and business as I can find time in a day!
Tell us about yourself
I've always been interested in helping others, which has translated to a long career in an underappreciated sector of education. While I began my career as a teacher and tutor, I found opportunities to develop expertise in all of the sales, marketing, operations, product development, and management aspects of the business of education in roles with some of the biggest players in test prep. However, frustrations with some of the compromises inherent in a commodity education structure motivated me to explore the potential for greater personalization of small tutoring practice. I founded Chariot Learning in 2009 and have never looked back.
At heart, I'm an educational entrepreneur who wants to find faster, better and more efficient ways to help every stakeholder in the learning process, from students to teachers to administrators and other business owners, reach their most ambitious goals. I love finding new ways to fuse educational research, economic innovations, and coaching fundamentals to elevate myself, my team, my students, and my extended professional network in pursuit of better outcomes and results.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Small businesses are the lifeblood of any economy, yet launching a small business is an uncertain endeavor. When I started Chariot Learning in 2009, I had a long-term plan for growth that depended on reaching several benchmarks with no guarantee of success. The fact that I managed to quickly build a clientele in a community I'd only recently moved to still strikes me as very lucky. Surviving all of the chaos of American education, along with the inevitable vicissitudes of staffing and buying cycles, also feels like a great accomplishment, one I'm happy to share with so many outstanding business owners in the test prep and tutoring space.
My biggest accomplishment, however, may be the steps I've taken over the years to build communities that didn't previously exist in my industry and use those networks to drive greater professional development, better and more ethical practices, and a sense of control and direction towards greater success in both learning outcomes and economic achievement. Business is a team sport, but most of us in the for-profit education space worked in private, parallel lanes for too long. We're all feeling the benefits of collaboration with colleagues in a competitive environment.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
Business owners need to be very thick-skinned. We are never guaranteed success, and even our greatest victories don't endure. Success in business requires a willingness to put in work every day according to a carefully designed plan that may fail despite best efforts. That is to say; we must always be marketing, selling, delivering, training, and executing at a high level whether the phones are ringing or not. Almost anyone can feel confident when cash flow and client testimonials are at their peak, but true business success stays strong in a downturn and steady until conditions improve. That thick skin also comes in handy as a leader. Whether managing staff or contributing to your business community, you must operate from a place of generosity and foresight, seeking the best outcomes rather than constant praise.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
Has starting a business ever been as easy as it is today? Building a strong business that delivers personal satisfaction and a sustainable lifestyle can be one of the smartest and most satisfying endeavors in any professional career. That dream depends on a few critical first steps:
- Find that intersection of professional satisfaction and success.
Making millions in a business you hate is almost as bad as going broke trying to do what you love. Many of us have found business models that pay off both economically and emotionally every day. Don't give up until you've found your path too. - Start with a long-term plan.
Success, you may have heard, is where preparation and opportunity meet. Effort is not enough. Inspiration is not enough. Personal brilliance is certainly not enough. Every successful enterprise is built on a plan with short, intermediate, and long-term milestones. Begin with an end in mind, but don't hesitate to recalibrate if the market wants you to go in a different direction. - Always be willing to blow up your business.
Nothing lasts forever, especially in today's dynamic business environment. In my own business, we've transitioned from in-home tutoring to in-person classes at our office to an almost entirely remote instructional environment. Those are some of the most superficial changes to our model over the years. Great business owners focus on capitalizing on opportunities in the present while scanning the horizon for future threats and innovations in the hunt for enduring success. Never grow complacent if you are in this for the long term.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.chariotlearning.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.bergin1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chariotlearning/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TutorNewsletter
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-bergin-7a350342/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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