How This Tutoring Entrepreneur and Mom of 3 Brought in a Million Dollars in 5 Years
Chelsea Arns set out to create a successful tutoring business, and by the fifth year, she hit her goal of bringing in a million dollars in revenue, all while raising three little ones. Here are her best tips for creating and succeeding in a business that ultimately works for you.
Growing up, Chelsea Arns’ family was on a tight budget. After immigrating to Canada, her mom worked as a health care aide and her dad was a janitor at a hospital. They had enough to get by, but splurging wasn’t an option.
When Arns was 9, she started babysitting, kicking off a lifetime of entrepreneurship. “I was very much under the mindset that if I wanted to achieve things, I have to work really hard for them,” she recalls, noting that led to her developing a hustler mentality that has served her well to this day. “I took responsibility upon myself from a really young age.”
At one point, Arns found herself struggling with her physics class and hired a tutor. “When I was taught it at a different pace and in a different way… all of a sudden it was like, ‘Oh my God, I can be smart, and I can get good grades,” she recalls.
That moment served as the impetus for tutoring other students. “I heard about this opportunity to start a tutoring company citywide and across provinces, and I knew that it was the right fit for me,” says Arns. “It allowed me to give back in a way that I know is actually helping people.”
To begin her tutoring business, Arns took out several lines of credit with banks in order to cover the cost of supplies and a franchise fee. “Within our first year of business, we were able to match that in revenue sales,” she notes. “And then, we were able to use that money toward paying off that initial loan to get it started.”
Her ultimate goal: to make a million dollars a year by year five. “Those goals really didn’t change when I became a mom,” says Arns, who welcomed three children after starting her tutoring business. “Just because you’re starting a family doesn’t mean that you need to shrink your goals down.”
In fact, upon hitting the five-year goal, her husband was able to quit his job and pursue his dream career.
The experience led Arns to creating the Aligned Planner & Journal, a planner that helps you to work on personal development skills, map out yearly goals, and work on executing them daily. The journal tied into Arns becoming a mindset, goals, and accountability mentor.
Looking back on her entrepreneurial journey, Arns feels like she worked all the time. “I sacrificed a lot of friendships, a lot of relationships, a lot of vacations, and a lot of time to be able to bring my business to where it is today,” she notes. “But one of the most rewarding things is that now my business essentially works for me.”
These days, she gets to wake up and have breakfast with her family. “We are not running out the door,” says Arns. “I’m not running off to get them to daycare. I get to pick them up from school. I can essentially take a vacation whenever I want. I can work when I want, from where I want. And it was a lot of hustle at the beginning, but building my business, a team, and sustainable structures has now allowed me freedom to do what I want to do with my time and to start other ventures up, which has been just so much fun.”
Now, it’s not even about the hustle for Arns. She explains, “It’s just about having fun and seeing what I can accomplish.”
Here are three of Arns’ best tips for parents looking to follow their own entrepreneurial dreams.
Take a Conservative Approach
If you want to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, save whenever possible and never spend above your means, advises Arns.
She also advises paying your credit cards off on time to avoid paying interest and being open to bank loans, private investors, and any other help along the way.
Set a Five-year Goal Plan
“Before I had started my business, I actually sat down with myself and I had said, ‘OK, in five years, where do I want to be? What are my five-year goal plans?'” says Arns. “And I looked at everything that I wanted to have in my life financially.”
She also broke it all down into one-year goal plans as well. “So every year, I would reassess where I was in terms of my goals and achieving them and I would adjust accordingly,” says Arns.
That’s why she advises that everyone create their own five-year goal plan to help stay on track.
Be Open To Change To Reach Your Goals
“Whether that is your financial goal plan or a certain amount of money in savings, know what it is you want to have,” advises Arns. “Know what you need to do every single day and every single week in order to get there.”
She recommends putting yourself in the position of your future self who has already achieved your goals. “What would you be doing today, and how would you be acting to get there?” she asks. “Would you be disciplined? Would you be committed? Would you be visible on social media?”
The reason: “What we are currently doing in our life has only gotten us to where we are at this point. In order to achieve something greater, we need to act differently.”
