We recently connected with Mark Folkmann and have shared our conversation below.

Mark, appreciate you joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

Yes, absolutely! The Kumon program is very different from most educational centers you see in western countries. This is a program that was founded in Japan in 1958 and has successfully grown all over the world with 5 million students worldwide. Many students in the United States seek private tutoring when they are struggling in school, but sadly this is ultimately a band-aid approach to solving academic issues. The Kumon program doesn’t focus on tutoring, it focuses on building independence through mastery. By “mastery,” we mean speed and accuracy combined.

For example, many 3rd and 4th grade students struggle with division. While tutoring may help the child learn the basic concept of division, the Kumon program calls for that child go back previous grade levels and work on memorizing their multiplication tables and building mental calculation skills with addition & subtraction. A student with strong mental calculation skills will have an easier time transitioning to division opposed to a student who needs to use their fingers or other visual aids.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got into this program by accident as I had no idea my life will be led down the road of education. As a child, I was actually a Kumon student myself. Like many children of immigrant parents, education was a huge part of my life and it was held of highest importance. When I was in elementary school, my parents enrolled me into the Kumon program for both math and reading in which I tended to struggle more with math at school. I could see the benefits of Kumon early on in which I excelled beyond my expectations, even increasing my confidence with other subjects.

After college I was contacted by my previous Kumon Instructor who needed someone to help at the center part-time. At first it was just a way to gain extra income on top of my full-time job. But, as time went on, I started to see it less of a job, and more of a journey. It was very rewarding to see students improve and change right before your eyes, and I knew this was something I wanted to make long-term. After going through training, I eventually took over as Director after the original retired and I have been doing this now for the past 5 years. It is a great honor to come back as a Kumon Director years later to help the Kumon students of today their goals in and out of the classroom.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Our business at the end of the day is people, so word-of-mouth is the best and most effective strategy for growing our client base. Since we are an educational service, we are seeing the child grow and mature just as much as the parent is, so essentially our client base is a two-tiered system of both child and parent. We need to make sure both parties are not only happy with their return on investment, but they feel they matter and are cared for. I like to think we strive to be good neighbors to the parents, and good mentors to the kids. When you get to know each one of your families over time, you build a bond that can last for years. It is through this relationship building that word-of-mouth organically occurs. Then you notice that friends, friends of friends, and other family members get interested in what our service is all about.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

We all know Covid changed the world and many industries. Many educational services like Kumon got hit hard in the beginning of the pandemic. One of the things I learned from this experience was to never stay idle or complacent as one never knows what tomorrow will hold. Keep innovating, don’t be afraid to try new things or ideas as one never knows what might stick. The old adage, “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst,” definitely came into fruition in 2020. After the pandemic we had to pivot our business to be more technological. Although the old-fashioned paper format of learning has its merits, we need to evolve with a new generation of children in which technology has its benefits as well. One of the areas Kumon has been innovating and developing is an academic iPad app in which students can complete their homework and classwork assignments remotely or in-person at the center. This is an effective way of parents not only monitoring their child’s academic progress without the need of physical record books, but a protection to other possible pandemics in the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kumon.com/perry-hall
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kumon_perryhall/?hl=en