We were lucky to catch up with Trevor Szafranski recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Trevor thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

We are changing education with an environment and approach that is unlike any other. Parents walk in and their jaws hit the floor. They always have the same response, “The pictures do not do it justice.” Therefore, you can imagine the response from students when they see our “Google offices meets Chuck-E-Cheese” environment. But, it isn’t all about the facilities. It’s about the connection we make with students and the emphasis we put on their talents. Every student has incredible talents, but some students don’t see their talents on a report card. Therefore, we change that by celebrating creativity, collaboration, innovation, engineering, arts, athletics, kindness, resiliency, and more. We make sure that every student enters in awe and walks out with their head held high. We build these areas while handling all academics so that parents do not have that burden Monday-Friday. We handle homework, test prep, projects, and individualized development/tutoring.

Trevor, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

At R1SE, we give family time back while helping students soar in and out of the classroom. Parents are exhausted at the end of their day. The last thing they want to tackle at the end of their day is 1-3 hours of academics. Therefore, we work with all types of students. We have students that come to us with all As and students who have all Es. We show high flyers that they can reach the stars above and we help struggling students to see that they too may change the world with a boost.

Therefore, our services are two fold. We’re giving hard working parents their evenings back with a sigh of relief. In the meantime, we’re leading all types of students down a path of success and happiness. I am so proud of the fact that my outstanding team of educators are mentoring and developing generations of future leaders and game changers.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We opened our innovative academic business in 2019, just months before the pandemic. We blew away our attendance goals in just the first three months prior to shutdown. Every business obstacle my mentors warned me about was easily handled with meticulous preparation. However, nobody could have predicted schools being shut down for the first time in our country’s history.

I knew it would be a defining moment. The way we handled the most challenging moment in our lives would reveal who we are and what we believe in. I paid directors without any revenue coming in. I provided free daily lessons online for parents struggling with at-home learning. I bought take-out and gifts from restaurants and small businesses that I knew were struggling. In other words, I made the choice to do the right thing and support those who needed it the most. I wiped out any earnings and my own income that year. If given the choice, I would do it all over again. It was an opportunity to not only help others, but truly reveal who I am as a person. Unknowingly, I was showing my heart to the Tri-Cities and that reputation later brought me more business than I ever could have imagined. Once we were able to re-open, my phone rang non-stop. Every parent calling told me they heard about us from others in the community. We doubled our “best case scenario” projection for attendance and it led to our second location. Now, many leaders throughout our state have reached out in an effort to bring R1SE to their community. We are entertaining those opportunities to help others, but it will only happen if it’s build upon those same values that we revealed in 2020.

Any advice for managing a team?

I believe in hiring exceptional people, treating them as such, and giving them freedom to do what they do best. If you feel like you have to micromanage employees, than clearly you aren’t hiring the right people.

Early in our company, we hired Shelby Latty and Alicia Cates. They quickly solidified our belief in hiring the best and trusting them. Shelby and Alicia quickly became my left and my right. They also became the blueprint of what we look for-smart, personable, hard-working, and easy-going. These two leaders, along with my wife Heather, are the reason our company is becoming the trendy, attention grabbing brand in education.

It’s all quite simple really, but many manage to complicate it. Hire great people. Let them know how much you value them as people, beyond their talents. Be a human being and show empathy with your actions, not just words. Pay them well. Lastly, extend every perk you can. If the morale is bad in your company, it’s your fault.

Contact Info:

• Website: r1seup.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/R1SEFreeland
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/XNifuuzM5pI