We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elyse Dworin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Elyse, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
For as long as I can remember, I knew I wanted to be a teacher and I loved being in the classroom. I was the type of teacher that put my all into my job, and as a result, my work-life-balance was never what one would refer to as balanced. So, once I started having children of my own, I needed to reconsider my options. I quickly came up with the idea of tutoring, but it just didn’t feel like enough. One of the reasons I wanted to teach in the first place was to make a difference (I have always had a save-the-world complex.) and this just didn’t feel impactful in the way I wanted. So I started asking myself what needs I had observed during my years in the classroom that weren’t being met and came up with three that I wanted to focus on: 1) lack of special education trained tutors for students with special needs, 2) parents of children with special needs often lack the training/understanding of how to support their own children, and 3) children who struggle often work with numerous professionals in addition to their school teachers, and those professionals often don’t communicate/collaborate, resulting in disjoined and overwhelming strategies and support programs. These focus areas, combined with my own passion for the mind-body connection informed my business model. When we work with families, we also incorporate helping our students and their families understand the impact that other factors, such as diet, sleep, exercise, and psychological and emotional wellbeing, have on their performance. This integrative approach is something that is very important to me and something I’m very proud of. We collaborate closely with all practitioners working with our students, (teachers, therapists, SLPs, pediatricians, etc.) in order to encourage a unified approach, avoid strategy burnout, and foster faster growth. We also provide referrals to any other professionals that we feel would greatly benefit them. The members of my team work collaboratively as well. Currently, in addition to academic tutoring (both day-to-day support and intensive remediation), we offer executive functioning coaching, intensive interaction, IEP support and advocacy, psychoeducational testing, and ADHD coaching. It is my goal to continue to grow those services, and eventually have an SLP, therapist, and nutritionist on our team as well.
During all my years in the classroom, I can’t tell you how many parents shared their struggles with me and expressed feeling lost. It’s important to me that people see ELS as a personalized family support company. I make an effort to get to know our clients (even those I don’t personally teach) and I never want ELS to be seen as just another impersonal tutoring factory. I want to help provide families a place to go where they feel fully supported.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Sure! I’m originally from New York, but moved to Maryland after college. No matter where I live, I’ll always be a New Yorker at heart though, and I’m a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person. A total straight shooter. I refer to myself as an introverted extrovert, meaning I’m outgoing and feel energized when in social situations, but I’m completely self conscious about those interactions 90% of the time and then need quiet time to recharge. I have ADHD and anxiety, but was lucky to have a mother who, as an educator herself, really understood me and my needs. She started me on the path to learn and care about myself and the type of person I want to be. That exploration is one I actively participate in to this day and I think it, along with my experiences with having ADHD and anxiety, lead me to want to work with struggling students. I am an educator at heart and someone who looks for the best in people. I believe deep down that all people are good souls who want to succeed and, given the right tools, strategies, and support, they can.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I would say the biggest lesson I had to unlearn was to “play the game.” I have always hated social games and drama, and so I was never good at playing the game or fitting the mold. That being said, during my 19 years of working in the school setting, and in various jobs prior to that, I certainly tried my best, but it was never easy for me. It’s just not the type of person I am, so it was really difficult. I have always felt the need to speak up when I felt things weren’t fair or that they were not being done the best way, and I take issue with the saying “that’s just how things are done.” I think common sense is more important than going with the flow. If a certain accommodation helps a student to show what they have learned, why is that not acceptable, just because it’s not on a list of ‘standard accommodations’ for their listed disability? Just because it’s not common for a tutor to communicate with their child’s teachers or therapist, why shouldn’t it be done if we know that the child will benefit from it?
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I have yet to borrow a penny! We relied on my husband’s teaching income and our savings, and we really cut back on our spending for the first couple of years to make it work. I know that doesn’t really address the question, but I chose this question because I think it’s important for others to know that it is possible to start a business without tons of money from the get go. I have taken everything one step at a time and let each stage of growth happen organically, which has helped me avoid going into debt, and has allowed me to grow to Elevated Learning Solutions to what it is today. I may not have been able to grow ELS as fast as I would have been able to with additional capital, I felt that taking my time was important, as I also don’t have a business background and had a lot to learn. Manpower is the kind of capital we struggled with the most at the beginning, though. For the first few years, I took every tutoring job I could to bring in money and get my name out there, which meant I was working many late evenings. So both my husband and I were always on, with minimal breaks, as we have no family in the area that could take our kids. Our neighbors periodically stepped in though. They are wonderful!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.elevatedlearningsolutionsllc.com
- Instagram: @elevatedlearningmd
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElevatedLearningSolutionsllc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elyse-dworin-50999441/