Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in education but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Hannah Romero, Founder of Tutoring With No Limits, located in Santa Fe Springs, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

"Tutoring With No Limits" provides tutoring services to all and every learner alike. Just this past year, we have also added our mental wellness sessions for our student-athletes, as well as mental wellness workshops for all our students to utilize and enjoy. While our tutoring services revolve around general education subjects, STEM, university coursework, test prep, and peer editing, our Mental Wellness services focus on mental skills, how to deviate from stress & anxiety, and how to live a happier and healthier life.

Right now, due to our services being offered virtually and in-person (opening back up very soon), we actually provide services to those in the Greater Los Angeles Area and all across the U.S. We pride ourselves on our learners' well-being and safety, as well as, making it a must to prioritize our students physical, emotional and mental health. All of our sessions are individually created and specialized to benefit our learners and their academic, occupational, and livelihood goals. And our overall goal is to create a safe and fun learning space while also creating a foundation to break down academic barriers, tutoring pejoratives, and mental health hurdles. Our motto is "'C' your way to an 'A,'" and for us, our learners are ALL Ways first.

Tell us about yourself

I am the proud Founder and Lead Academic Tutor of "Tutoring With No Limits." I am also one of two writers for our "Note to Self..." blog and blog stories that center around mental wellness. Aside from myself being a huge advocate for Wellness and Mental Health, tutoring has become something that I've known for my whole life. This idea of helping, especially in the realm of academics, is something that I've always loved. I've always had a magnetic pull toward academic rigor and a thrill for academic success, and I think that once that was all taken away from me (when I got my B.A.), I fell into a pool of loss. "Tutoring With No Limits" was something that helped give me that love back, and more than that, it gave me that love in a way that I can now share with the current and future generations to come.

During the pandemic is when I knew I could help as many learners as I could. I started with a few and then started building from there until I eventually had my own business officially brewing. Today, though I feel I am not at my peak just yet, I am more determined than ever to go after my overall goal and help as many people as I can. From hiring current community college students who dream of being an educator someday and are looking for experience and a bit of pay, to helping learners with their school subjects, to just trying to be there for students, parents, and guardians in general, this... this is The Dream.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

The biggest accomplishment I have as a business owner is just the faces and smiles that our students have. Those faces of recognition of 'wow, I actually understand this now,' or 'wow, I feel so much better about this.' It's just those small moments when our students see how far they've come or see that they really can solve that Algebra 2 problem, comprehend that Shakespeare line, or remember how to balance a Chemistry equation that makes everything feel like one big accomplishment in itself. The students are the true accomplishment when it comes to TWNL because they are the reasons why we all love what we do and why we are so motivated to continue to do what we love—helping them see how great they already are.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

For me, in all honesty, it's telling students and parents 'no.' We've resided on the philosophy that learners are ALL ways first, so when the time comes when we have a student and/or parent trying to pay set-price for a session during a week that has already begun, we have to tell them that we can't take them and that their payment will instead be used as a credit for the following week. For business purposes, we have a set payment deadline that tells the TWNL office who is set to come in for sessions during the week and who isn't. Meaning, that if a payment is not sent in by that set day/time, then they, unfortunately, won't be secured for a session until the following week.

Another difficulty (especially when I had first started TWNL) was asking for payments. As I've reiterated and made sure to also tagline with TWNL, this business was created to simply help, not because I had to, but because I wanted to, so having to ask for payment in return for my service that never felt (and to this day, feels) like a job, was so hard to do. With time, however, I kind of reconciled with the idea that in order to be able to help more students, I have to ask and receive those payments, and sooner than later, our payment system was established just like everything else in TWNL was too.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Always "Dream Big," and in that, "remember 'The Small.'" Think about things that need to be accomplished prior to achieving your overall goal and set them as standards in order to achieve that larger goal of owning and running your own business someday.
  2. Stay Passionate! There has to be something or someone that has ultimately led you to this goal, so hang onto that, hang onto that WHY of yours, and be sure to make it your drive to continue striving for that overall goal.
  3. Never Lose Sight of Yourself! No matter what happens, always remember who you are. Sometimes you get tested as a business owner, and in those particular moments, you want to just always be reminded of who you are and what you sought to accomplish to begin with.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://tutoringwithnolimits.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tutoringwnolimits/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tutoringwnolimits/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tutoring-with-no-limits/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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