Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Kenisha Carr, founder of English, Math & More, located in Oakland, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

English, Math & More is the official name of my service. I use shame-free private tutoring and test prep that helps adults and teens pass academic courses and high-stakes professional or school entrance exams (e.g., Praxis, CSET, CBEST, GRE, SAT, ACT, HSPT, IELTS, and US Naturalization).

Customers are stretched in unfamiliar ways that help them learn stuff they’ve gotten away without knowing (or unlearning grammatical, mathematical, or pedagogical information and methods that are just straight-up incorrect or harmful). Some customers just want to get ahead of the curve, and that’s okay, too.

I’ve noticed my customers are usually moderate or progressive, pretty cool, and sometimes shy or reserved folks from the East Coast, Midwest, or California. Sometimes, I’m super lucky, and I get a chance to work with folks living outside the United States. They’re willing to work with me online because they either live outside the San Francisco Bay area or they’re near here but understand that I haven’t yet returned to being comfortable working with folks in real life.

Tell us about yourself

Oooh – that story. Well, after leaving full-time teaching in early-2010, I temped at Google for a year, then I took a month-long trip to Dakar, Senegal. Knowing that I’m not a conventional vacationing kind of girl, I decided to spend my time language swapping: I tried learning Wolof and French in exchange for offering English lessons. I never thought it would happen, but I fell in love with teaching again, which shouldn’t be a surprise. As an old acquaintance of mine told me: “[I’ll] always be a teacher. It’s who [I am].” Between that, issues at a niece’s school (such as my eight-year-old niece being dressed by her grandmother, for Halloween, as a member of The Black Panther Party but thinking she’d been a gangbanger for Halloween because her teacher taught her class that members of The Black Panther Party for Self Defense were gangbangers with afros), and being frustrated by some issues occurring at my nephew’s school that could’ve been curbed with extra support at home, I’d entered this space where all I could blab about was learning.

After listening to me whine one-too-many times, an aunt suggested that I “go get a small businessman’s loan and start [my] own education company.” I never applied for an SBA loan, but I did find information about business incubators. In 2011, I joined one. Twelve years later, here I am: teaching in a way that ensures that adults and teens get what they need.

I do what I do because I get tired of people losing, losing academic opportunities, losing financial opportunities, and losing their minds because they’ve been misinformed or they’ve been correctly informed but don’t have effective supplemental support. I like sharing correct information and exchanging ideas. I like being the effective supplemental support. I like creating safe spaces for adults and teens to figure out how they learn best. I like using my skills to help folks build. Besides, I have to make a living, so I may as well make it in a way that allows me to be optimally effective and keeps me away from the shenanigans involved in the soul-crushing world of conventional teaching.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is doing well enough to survive, mainly on customer referrals and repeat business. It may not seem like a big deal, but paying for tutoring is no small order for many folks. We’re not talkin’ about a few dollars spent to figure out how to write a few sentences or solve a math problem real quick. We’re talkin’ about spending low to high four figures on countless hours rewiring brains to take in information folks have been trying to escape, and all from some relatively obscure West Coast chick who markets inconsistently and isn’t interested in doin’ any ol’ thing just to make a dollar or secure an account.

After meeting a serious goal, that customers are happy enough to rehire me to help in other areas (and that they trust me enough to refer me to family and friends) speaks volumes. I’m working to improve my marketing acumen because surviving on referrals is too risky, but I’m still glad that I’ve managed to survive the way I have. I must be doin’ somethin’ right.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Knowing what advice is both good and relevant to me and my business and when to use it has been one of the hardest things to come with being a business owner. It took time to learn the crap from the crepes, but to be honest; the crappy stuff helped me appreciate the real gems. For example, in a business development program in which I’d enrolled, students were taught to use stock photography because it looked more professional. The problem with that advice is that it was given during the time the general public began to appreciate authenticity – when real folks with real stories became more appreciated. If anything, stock photography works for larger, well-established entities, not small-business owners or self-employed persons. The photos of me working with students aren’t the best, but they seem to be better appreciated by my target market than stock photography because they are genuine social proof.

I’ve learned to avoid totally abandoning stock photography. It has its uses. I’ve just learned not to use it in spaces where potential customers would need to get a visual that helps them imagine working with me and meeting their goals.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Get started. The sooner you start, the sooner you begin to figure out what you know, what you don’t, and what you need to learn. This’ll help you figure out what your strengths and weakness are and how, when, and where to apply them.
  2. Be willing to invest financially in digital marketing.
  3. Take Michael C. Bush’s course: “The 8 Factors: Gain Clarity & Grow Your Business”. I learned about this course and took it only after taking some others. It probably would’ve helped me to take this course first. This is a direct, fluff-free course that helped me become clearer about my income model and who I am as a self-employed person, which has helped me better understand my customers and what and how I should serve them.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://englishmathmore.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/English.Math.More
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/english.math.more/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnglishMathMore
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenisha-carr-a7397045/

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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