We recently connected with Melissa McKinney and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Melissa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
I founded Creative Minds Tutoring during the Covid-era when most of the world was shut-down and isolated. I had the idea and vision, and I just started with nothing but a few very small tools in my pocket. I began as a mobile tutor, driving to homes to meet with students. This was good for a little while, until the wear & tear of travel on my vehicle started to become a big issue, as well as travel time. I was limited by how many students I could take on and help, as I had to factor in travel time to homes. It was a limited business model with no chance to grow unless I had some type of office/building to work out of and have students come to me.
I took a risk in Sept. 2021 when I found a downtown office space that would allow me to work from 1 central location. It was more money than I dreamed of paying and which at first I did not know how I would afford. At the time, I had just started working with a business coach, and she helped me see how I could budget to afford the space with the expectation of bringing on more students.
It was a risk to go from paying no more than gas $ for travel to hundreds of $, but I dove in. Sure enough, within the first month, I had already almost doubled my client base and my business! It quickly grew to the point, where within 3 months, I had to begin hiring other tutors.
I am getting ready to take another big risk as we move into a larger building and again, the rent will be higher than I’ve ever paid. Risk is worth the reward when you know you have the right model to scale and grow.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Hi- I am Melissa McKinney. I have been a teacher in multiple arenas of education for over 13 years. I have always loved teaching, even from a young age. I grew up in an area where education was highly valued, and my parents saw to it that I received a high degree of education. I have always enjoyed learning new things and sharing information in hopes to help others. My love for 1-on-1 teaching was bred out of the years I spent homeschooling my children. Teaching them to read, and watching their love for learning become enhanced, brought me great joy.
I was teaching full-time in the public school system when Covid hit and shut the world down. I could foresee the problems online learning was already creating and would continue to create for students. I knew that many children would need help in a 1-on-1 setting to ensure they were receiving proper instruction and help for reading, and writing. Since I have always loved 1-on-1 teaching, I decided to open my tutoring business. We solve a child’s struggles and parents worries by giving children the proper skills they need to read, write, compute math and become confident lifelong learners. We work with students with IEP’s, 504 plans, and varying learning challenges/diagnoses.
I am most proud of the “a-ha” moments where a concept clicks for a child and the road to reading makes sense and becomes clear. I am so proud of the incredible value that is given to a child through this process because their confidence soars, and we are able to give them the gift of losing the struggle with learning to read, write, or do math.
Our brand is a team of highly experienced educators who are exceptional at what they do. We want to exceed beyond children improving academically and allow them to feel seen, heard, and valued for who they are.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My journey to being a business owner begins with some immensely difficult personal trials. Upon emerging out of the worst time in my life, I became a single mom. I was faced with decisions on how to best survive financially and provide for myself and my kids. I returned to school as a single mom to finish my education degree, while working for the school district. During this time, I was dragged through an intense custody battle within the courts. All the while I was healing from my past and moving on with my life, I was now a full-time student thrown in the midst of a situation I did not ask for and could not control.
Pushing through all of this personal turmoil with a determined plan to finish my degree, graduate, and become a more educated teacher is an example of resiliency that rose up within in me. I completed my degree, taught full-time, and then opened my tutoring business.
I also was able to apply this to my personal life as well, as I finally learned to trust a man again, and found the love of my life, who I married in April 2023!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Growing my social media presence has been life changing for my business. I chose to hire a business coach and worked with her for several months. She laid out specific markers for what to post on social media, and each week we worked on content and a schedule for when to post. One of the best pieces of advice I received about social media is to connect with your audience. You have to think of what your ideal client is seeking – a pain point for them – and give them a solution. Ask yourself how can I/we solve this problem?
I am not sure the reason for this, but I remember 1 pinnacle moment where I posted 1 video on my IG page, and overnight it went viral. I grew from just over 300-something followers to over 3,000. I still don’t fully know the reason, but I do know: write content that resonates with your target audience. You want to mix it up as well, so you aren’t always posting the same content.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://creativeminds-tutoring.com/
- Instagram: creativemindstutoring
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100060283699174
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-mckinney-561020175/
- Youtube: @melissamckinney1021
Image Credits
Brandi Daw Fugate