When Car Conversations Turn into Business Plans, How a Mother-Daughter Duo Are Helping their Community through Sylvan Learning

Morgan Flottmeier quickly became a center director and grew heavily involved in the business after starting as a part-time tutor at Sylvan Learning. When she began leading two centers, she would call her mother, Suzanne Flottmeier, as she drove between the two.

After hearing Morgan’s passion for her work and discussing the situation with her husband, Suzanne saw an opportunity. She proposed franchising to Morgan, and the pair teamed up to open a Sylvan in their own community. Now, the two are excited to be “a family helping other families” in the Albertville, Minnesota area.

Morgan started working at a Sylvan Learning Center in Delaware. She started as a part-time tutor, and then she was quickly promoted to the center director position for a new center that her franchisee was opening up. Morgan was kind of doing dual duty as a center director for both locations for a little while. She just absolutely fell in love with working with the students and seeing them grow. Seeing how much progress they were making was really rewarding, and it was very fulfilling for her; she just absolutely loved it.

On her commutes between centers, Morgan would call mom and tell her about her day during her 20-minute drive. She would talk about what she thought they might be able to do better in the centers or things they should start instituting. After a while, Suzanne said, “Do you want to open our own? I think we should open our own.” At first, Morgan said, “Are you crazy? And then she thought, “Actually, yes, let’s do it!”

Suzanne was a stay-at-home mom since Morgan was very young — under two. As the children grew older, her husband said, “You have a lot of talents, would you like to do something outside of the home? Why don’t you open up your own business?” But even though they were older, the kids still needed an awful lot. They discussed various options, but none of the ideas they had come up with really appealed to Suzanne.

However, as Morgan talked about her work at Sylvan, it had such an appeal to Suzanne. It's like when you meet your husband or your significant other: How do you know? Well, you just know, and this felt like that to Suzanne. As a stay-at-home mom, her whole life was about helping kids, volunteering at school, and being around her kids and their friends. It seemed like a logical leap from what she had been doing as a mom to helping other kids at Sylvan. Importantly, this was something they could also do together.

Suzanne broached the idea to her husband, and he was 100% on board. She looked into what a franchise opening would entail and made sure it was financially viable for them, and it was, so she went to Morgan with the idea.

• Morgan's real introduction to franchising was when she was working at a Sylvan Learning Center.
• It seemed like her franchisee had a lot of help from Sylvan Corporate.
• They could very easily contact a local marketing team or a franchise business coach if they had questions.
• It didn’t feel like they were a ship sailing all by themselves, and that was appealing to Morgan.

Whatever you think you know, you always know less than you realize. There are always new things to learn. There's always a new task to accomplish. There's always more to do. Go into it pretty humbly because there is a steep learning curve.

• Suzanne had a little familiarity with the idea of franchising.
• Her husband is a financial analyst and CFA and has worked in investments his whole life.
• Due to their combined experience and business contacts, they were able to call on friends to help them navigate the franchise process.
• Their friend who is a lawyer in contract law helped them negotiate their lease.
• Another friend who has been a part of a franchise gave them some advice regarding the model.

Morgan and Suzanne are excited to be “a family helping other families” in the Albertville, Minnesota area. They strive to help as many kids as possible and want to really excel at customer service, making sure that every parent and student who walks through the door is happy at the end of their experience with them.

Suzanne thinks their territory is a fast-growing area that doesn't have anything like Sylvan in it currently. Moreover, they're still experiencing the educational fallout of COVID, and she feels like there's a real need for them here. Suzanne has a strong desire to help children as well as be a part of their local community.

Morgan and Suzanne like to think of themselves as a family helping other families. They want to help as many kids as possible and make sure every parent and student who walks through the door is happy at the end of their experience with them.