Keeping It One-on-One with Sam Mahmoody

sam-mahmoody-course-lab-part-1_full_length oct 4, Wed, Oct 04, 2023 6:33AM • 28:29 SUMMARY KEYWORDS tutoring, students, french, teaching, started, offer, courses, questions, corporations, people, liberty, kids, service, programs, class, undergrad, teach, approach, logistically, concepts SPEAKERS Ari Iny, Sam M., Abe Crystal Ari Iny 00:03 All right, awesome. So I will kick off with our intro. Hello and welcome to course Lab. I'm Eric Eenie, the director of growth at Mira see, and I'm here with my co host, a crystal, the co founder of resu. Hey, Ari. Abe Crystal 00:15 Today when you're up there, Ari Iny 00:18 you did not. I think we're good. Jeff, are we good to just continue? I, I, yes. Okay. Thumbs up art. Today, we welcome Simon moody to the show. Sound moody is the founder and president of liberty tutoring a one on one tutoring program. Thanks for joining us today, Sam. Sam M. 00:38 Thanks for having me, Ari. And thanks so much. Ari Iny 00:42 So to kick us off, can you give us kind of a 30,000 foot view of kind of how you came to? Of course, well, first of all, what you do, how you came to online courses and kind of delivering teaching in general? Sam M. 00:57 Sure, sure. It's funny, because I'm also preparing a presentation that I'm going to deliver to another group next week. And it's pretty much about the story of liberty, tutoring, and how it all started. So the timing is interesting. Yeah, it's like, it's already top of mind. Yeah, exactly, as I was working on the presentation, this morning, and it's not done yet. But so I mean, let me start from the like, at the very, very, very starting point, and then I guess I'll walk you through and stop me, you know, if I'm, if I'm being gay, you know, if it's too long. It all started at McGill University when I was doing my undergrad engineering degree, and had taken a course in my third year. And then I did really well have done really well in the course. And then the professor approached me in my last year of undergrad, and asked me to be his teaching assistant. And I accepted the offer, and I needed the money at that time. And that was a good opportunity, I accepted the offer. And when I get into what to expect, as a teaching assistant, you know, you're responsible for basically reviewing what the instructor is teaching during the class time during a tutorial session to the class with the class and reviewing the concepts, and reinforcing the concepts by extending also doing more sample problems. And I remember so it was the first session and I was freaking out nervous about going it was, it was a large auditorium, and going in teaching front of the class, but the moment I started the class, it everything changed. I was I was filling, happy, calm, and in my own elements. And, and it was there that I realized my my passion for teaching and coaching. And, and I remember how I was really enjoying my interaction with the students. And, and when they, they would come to me to ask for help with their questions and assignments. I was really enjoying guiding them I would never give given the answer. My approach was, you know, to help them understand on their own and, and it would give me a like a lot of joy seeing you know, the joy of success understanding in the inner eyes. And so when I finished my undergrad and grad and graduated, I moved to Calgary to work as an engineer in oil and gas. But on the side, I was doing tutoring on my own just for the, for the joy of it. That's it. And, and I remember I when I noticed that my students were there, there were smart kids, really smart kids. They just they were not taught the concepts properly. Or they they never learned how to solve problems systematically. And and that's what I really focused with my students and I remember this student, I was teaching him mechanics and really, really focused on his problem solving skills. And I still remember the joy that I got when he called me after his final exam saying that you know somebody Solway my exam. Can you teach me again for the next course that's coming up next semester. So So gradually, I this idea came to mind running starting a tutoring company with the concept of students helping students. Because I always felt that no students would be better to connect with younger kids or the, you know, the same age range. And, and, and really help these students tap into their potential and realize, you know, their capabilities to help them become independent, so they will be able to continue on. And that's that's how, you know, I started deliberately the tutoring company back in 2004, when I moved back to Montreux to do my masters. And initially, it was under the name PDK tutoring, which stood for passion for teaching dedication towards students and knowledge to teach. And it was a part time thing, you know, along side by my masters. And when I finished my master's in 2007, then I started to focus on on the children business full time. And in 2009, it was renamed Liberty tutoring, because it really resonated with what we wanted to do really help our students to give them the liberty to succeed on their own. And I always tell my tutors, for us, the best news that we can get is, is when parents call us and tell us that, you know, we don't need your service anymore, because my or my kids are doing so well that. So, and, and then how we got into the online aspect of it. It was sort of like, by accident, you know, one of our students was leaving on vacation, and asked us whether they could continue, you know, being tutored online, and back then it was a Skype and we accepted and we said sure, and we started doing Skype tutoring, and then one became true. And then and then we noticed, gradually, you know, we were getting, there were signs that people are, you know, enjoying online tutoring. And then we started really promoting our online service. And, and, and then when you know, COVID hit infrastructure in place, it was an easy switch for us. And since then we haven't switched back on to in person, it's all online at the moment. Okay. And currently, we we serve students in Ontario and Quebec, high school and living in adjustments. We also recently launched a new service French as a Second Language, where, which is for all ages, you know, from cane, kindergarten kids to all the way to adult business owners and corporations. And that's being offered pretty much across Canada right now. And, and again, it's online and, and it's basically for those who want to learn French. So so that's it in a nutshell about, you know, our story. And you know, where we are right now, where we start from? Ari Iny 08:08 Thank you. So just to confirm, so currently, all of the teaching that you're doing, and it sounds like the duration of kind of the lifetime of liberty tutoring, it's all being one on one, or do you also do group? Sam M. 08:21 Yeah, we it's been mainly one on one recently with the French a second language program that we launched. We are we also offer the option of group programs to corporations. And recently, we had we had a company that basically used our savings for friends a second language, and for them, it was a group of 11 students. That's the only case where we offer group programs. Otherwise, it's all one on one private, personalized classes. Ari Iny 08:51 And that's really interesting, because, you know, often in online courses, and especially once people hear that there's the option of moving online, you don't have to bring lots of people into the same room. Like maybe I can expand, I can, you know, for the same hour that I'm teaching, I can instead of make only off of one student I can make off of multiple so what was the thought process around kind of keeping it? Only one on one? 09:16 Yeah, good question. I guess I'd say the, again, going back to that philosophy of like every student is different and learns at a different pace. That's pretty much the whole thing that you know, got me into this one on one tutoring in first place. And we just wanted to keep the same philosophy and concept and for corporations Of course, it's a different ballgame. And for them logistically, having one on one classes would be impossible. So so that's what we make that exception for corporations. Otherwise you know, we feel that we can have a much larger impact, you know, in a one on one environment. And, you know, that being said, we're always open to, you know, new ideas, new changes, you know, things may change in the future. But for now, that's that's our, that's our primary focus. Ari Iny 10:18 And you were mentioning that your focus is on, you know, now you're you've developed, there's a new program for adults, but generally, it's elementary or high school kids, I'm assuming that those kids are not the people paying for the tutoring or for the work. And so how have you found kind of that process of selling essentially, both to the parent and the kid? And kind of getting the kid on board? Like, how do you handle that? Sam M. 10:47 Very good question. Good question. I mean, our approach is, and when it comes to that sales is very consultative, and at the end of the day, we want to be able to offer what's best for the kid. And, and so, and, and I think the reason that we've been fairly successful in our sales is that parents like the way that, you know, we ask questions to get to know the kids, because, you know, an elementary kid, they can they can talk to on the phone, and, you know, tell you, in most cases, I would say at least 90% of the cases, what their problems are, usually parents handle those. And similarly, same case with high school students, and usually most cases, parents handle those cases. And, you know, we just asked questions after questions, and really trying to learn what the root of the problem is, sometimes, in fact, parents come to us and call us and tell us, you know, what, we need a tutor for my child. For example, one case that I can remember for essay, writing skills, for example, and then four, and then for English. And after, after asking questions and digging deeper, we realize that the reason that this kid cannot write, in fact, he was very good in English, he didn't really need much help with English, but he was also suffering with French. And the reason that he was not able to write essays in French, was not because he didn't know how to write essays, he just didn't have the vocabulary. So so then the whole thing switched. And then we say, You know what, I guess your your kid needs more French, and really focus on his vocabulary. And I, it was, I remember, I spoke with their mother and I encouraged her to encourage her to read more books in French. And so so that's how we approach it, you know, we really try to find the root of the problem and offer a solution that really fits the what they're looking for. Ari Iny 13:21 So my last question before I pass it on to a is more around the. So it sounds like from what you're saying, the teaching process is very individualized to the student. Yeah. Yep. Do you provide your tutors with a curriculum to take the students through? Or is it up to the tutors to kind of come up with it themselves? Because I would assume there's a certain level of training that either should or shouldn't happen with the tutor. So like, how do you approach that? Sam M. 13:52 Yeah, very good. I mean, first thing is that it it all starts from our hiring process. First, we want to make sure that we hire those who are specialized in what they teach. Our tutors are specialized. Our tutors and teachers specialize in what they teach, for example, our French as a Second Language teachers are either certified in teaching French as a Second Language, or have extensive experience with teaching versus a second language. Okay? We don't even hire someone who's a high school French teacher, because they're good in teaching that high school core French, but they may not be the best candidate for teaching French as a Second Language to a non French speaking person. So that's how that's how detail oriented we are going to be when it when it's when it comes to hiring our instructors. And same thing with a math tutor science students. And you want to make sure that they know they're, they're really knowledgeable in what they teach. And they're knowledgeable also with the curriculum and the content that they are that are being taught in Quebec or Ontario, or let's say teaching French a second language And then once they hire, we have a dedicated tutors manager who's there to constantly support them, mentor them, and provide them with resources. And we have a fairly large database of materials that we provide to our tutors. And it's a collection of 19 years of materials that we've covered and we collected and, and so there, they have their initial training, of course, but then they're constantly being mentored and guided by by the manager. But when it comes to teaching, and designing the lesson plans, then our tutors will design the lesson plans according to the assessment of the students needs, and because we trust them that you know, they, they know their student needs better than anybody else in the team. So we will let them design the lesson plans accordingly. Ari Iny 15:55 Awesome. EB any questions, anything you want to dig into? Abe Crystal 16:02 Well, one thing we can talk about a little bit more about is kind of on the business side, you know, a lot of people listening to your course have are very interested in courses, obviously, and specifically may come, you know, to this podcast, but to other trainings about courses with the idea that like, Oh, I just need to build a course. Right? Everybody's talking about courses, like, the first thing I need you to do is build a course. And it sounds like the way that you approach things was more focusing on offering services first. And so I was wondering if you could, you know, talk a little bit for people who are wanting to start kind of an education or expertise based business, you know, where should they start with courses or with services? How do they know where to start? Or, you know, how did you approach the, the strategy that you came up with, in terms of building your business? Sure, sure. Sam M. 16:56 I think at the end of the day, it all comes down to, you know, what you are passionate about, and you know, as, as I already mentioned, you know, building courses and, and offering them online, and, you know, offering group programs would be probably be more profitable, and also logistically much easier to rearrange compared to like, one on one classes. But, you know, for us, it's been, it's been just, you know, the way we want it to be, that's, that's been our passion and, and we want to be able to offer that sort of like mentorship kind of program to our, to our to our students in a one on one setting. Now, that being said, like, we, we are planning, for example, to put together workshops for our students to complement what we offer one on one, for example, problem solving workshop is something that we're planning to work on this year, to add to our value package. So you know, when you sign up with us with this, you know, one of my classes, you also get these workshops alongside because it's an it's a, you know, lots of students really struggle with math problem solving. And so, you know, for those who are looking into this idea of starting an education business, I guess the first question they need to answer is that exactly what they really want to get out of it. And what is it that they're passionate about? And then and then the rest of it will fall into place? Abe Crystal 18:54 Well, what was that just curious, what, what did that look like for you? You know, what was kind of the, the spark that got you started? 19:02 This blog was, as I said earlier, for me, the spark was first of all realism, realizing my, my passion for for teaching, and the the joy that I was getting from helping my students when I was being tutoring myself. And it was just like, priceless. And you know, I was, as I said, I was working as an engineer, and I didn't, I didn't need the money. I just was doing it, because I just loved it. And the more I was doing it, the more was falling in love with this coaching and then I realized that I really enjoy coaching and teaching and guiding people. And and that was the spot and that was basically what started with this whole idea of the children business. Ari Iny 19:56 And so just to kind of follow up a bit on that As part of the conversation just around. I mean, it sounds like part of the decision that you made around keeping it only one on one or mostly one on one, especially with the kids was around a certain level of you know, this is the level of quality. And this is a level of support we want to be able to give, and so we have to keep it one on one. So is it a plate? Like, have you tested and tried it in small groups, and it just wasn't as successful? Or is it something that you feel like, it's just not possible to get this level of support and this level of outcome for these kids without it being one on one? Sam M. 20:43 I mean, I think because, you know, to get that, like, let me give you an example. I don't want to mention names here. But you know, there's this company, you know, one of our competitors, and they do they do small group tutoring. And, and they don't, the students who are in the group, in most cases are not at the same level, sometimes even the another the same, the same grade. And we do get quite a few clients coming from them to us. Because they don't, they see that it's not, it's not providing results, okay? You know, order to be able to really have that impact at work, it's nearly that impact that you have in a one on one setting, you want to make sure that all the students in the group are at the same level in terms of challenges and needs. Okay. And, and, and it's, it's, you know, because we want to be able to really have the impact on our students academic lives, and mostly the students who come to us, or those who are struggling with their, you know, math and sciences, or those who are coming to us with French, for example, or those who are struggling, will have little or no knowledge of French. So everyone comes to us with a different learning needs and learning pace. And for us to put them in a in a group, we feel it would not be fair to them, in a sense that one student may pick up the information faster than the other one. And it's going to be another classroom environment for them that they already get in school with, with no result. So that's why, you know, we're, you know, we're focusing on on one on one. And, you know, we always we are looking into ways to see whether we can maybe provide this even smaller groups, and for the student for those students who are at the same level of challenges, but it's work in progress. And that's where we're looking into our math workshops. So maybe, for example, alongside our one on one programs, we can put together math workshops, that can be available to larger group and can benefit from, for example, which is going to be which are going to be like recorded courses that they've subscribed to or the pay for, and they get those they get those math problems and workshops, for example. Ari Iny 23:26 Awesome. Yeah, I really appreciate how, because I'm sure, as you said earlier, and you know, there are additional logistical challenges that come with having a lot of people doing one on one kind of managing all of those people. And I'm sure that your services are slightly more expensive, because it's one on one not group. And so some parents might have some difficulty with that. But you're essentially saying, Well, this is what we need in order to achieve this level of excellence, provide this level of service. And you've decided, like, this is what we have to do. And so that's what we're doing. Exactly, exactly, there's a minimum level that you're willing to do. Sam M. 24:04 Exactly, exactly. I mean, we want to be able to offer that quality experience to our, to our clients. And, I mean, it's, it's, it's probably it's not the right fit for everybody, but you know, those who appreciate, you know, the quality and the experience, then we will be we help them. Ari Iny 24:29 And so my last question is, again, kind of in this vein of have you had times when you're thinking like, okay, maybe we should just, you know, do a group because it's difficult to find the people that will buy one on one or because I'm assuming that in some ways it's harder to sell. Or, you know, there is the price difference. So kind of just I'm curious about your experience there and what kind of caused you to stick to like no This is how we're doing it. Because you were saying we're starting to look at it. But but this is the baseline of service we have. Sam M. 25:05 Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, I mean, this is basically the core of our service. Alright, so and, and, and we want to be able to also expand and scale. So, and that's why right now we're looking, let's say, for example, for corporations, we offer those two programs, because the students who, let's say, those employees who need our help for French don't have the same level of French, basically is your level of French. So it makes it easier for us to put them in one class and help them grow at the same time. And, and also, logistically is much easier for you know, for the clients, for the corporation. And one thing that, as I said, we are looking into is, through those courses that we're building, like math problems, or workshops, or let's say, for example, with French, lots of students struggle with grammar like conjugation, for example, we also plan to put together the workshop or, or courses for those. And these are like when it's a workshop, that they're not going to be like, a live workshop that we deliver these courses that they subscribe to, or the or the bar. So the students can, you know, review them or view them at their own pace. And that's, that's how we're planning to offer those courses that can be available to a large number of clients. But we want to we still want to keep our one on one. Okay. That's that's our that's our core business at the moment. Ari Iny 26:53 Awesome. Any additional questions? No, Abe Crystal 26:58 that was great. Thank you. Is there anything else you want to add or anything else that you think? Sam M. 27:01 No, no, it was just great. Thanks so much for having me again. And it was a pleasure meeting. You see me again. And also you Arey. And do you have any questions? Anything else? Ari Iny 27:18 So we have just kind of the end the readout. So we'll do that just a moment. Let me find it on the script. So again, thank you so much, Sam. Where can our audience go to learn more about you and liberty? Tutoring? Sam M. 27:34 Yes, Liberty children got ca that's our website. So they can they can go there and you know, learn more about what we offer and and more but me and my wife that was also my partner in the business and and also when I was 14. Abe Crystal 27:52 And can you say your name for me? One more time? Because I'm gonna do a readout for you as well. Sam M. 27:58 Sure. It's Liberty. tutoring.ca. Abe Crystal 28:01 No, sorry. This your your full name. Sure announcing it correctly. 28:06 Yeah, Sam, would Abe Crystal 28:07 you say that my buddy. Okay. Yes. Sam moody is the founder and president of liberty tutoring. To find out more about him and their upcoming programs, head on over to Liberty tutoring.ca That's Liberty tutoring.ca. Ari Iny 28:22 Awesome. Thanks, Sam. Sam M. 28:24 All right, dad. Thanks so much again for having me. And