Lacey Frank and Alison Parker Bring Years of Teaching Experience to Tutor Doctor

In February of 2015, Lacey Frank and Alison Parker, school teachers who taught together in the same second-grade classroom in Panama City, Florida, decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship and open their first Tutor Doctor franchise. Three years later, their operation has grown to include more than 100 tutors servicing more than 300 families in the Panama City-Lynn Haven area.

Parker and Frank did not originally set out to find a franchise opportunity. Parker says they only considered Tutor Doctor after learning it shared the same philosophy that they were hoping to establish in their own independent venture.

“As teachers, we saw firsthand the need for tutors in our community and we thought it was something we could provide,” said Parker. “Once we started doing some research, we came across Tutor Doctor and saw that their core values aligned with what we wanted to do.”

The Tutor Doctor principle that Frank and Parker found most appealing was the brand’s commitment to community relationships, something Parker says she and Frank strived to build as teachers.

“What really sold us on Tutor Doctor was the brand’s philosophy of building relationships between the franchise owners, tutors, students and families,” Parker said. “That’s something we always tried to do in our classroom. Building those strong, trusting relationships is so important for education, and we were excited to find a tutoring service that understood that.”

Settled on Tutor Doctor, Parker and Frank got to work training. It didn’t take long for the pair to get acclimated with the brand’s operational model, and they were able to open their doors for service just a couple of months after applying for their territory.

“Between the two of us, we had more than 25 years of teaching experience, but we knew nothing about running a business, so we didn’t know what to expect,” Parker said. “The level of support and training Tutor Doctor gives to its franchisees — it was amazing. Everything was laid out for us and made manageable. Even three years in, we have the full support of the team at Tutor Doctor, so we are never fully on our own.”

Once their Tutor Doctor franchise was open for business, Parker and Lacy set about fulfilling that promise that had driven them to the brand in the first place: building relationships. The pair volunteered at charitable events, participated in community programs and established a number of marketing initiatives targeted at local schools.

One of those initiatives, a “Spread Love, Not the Flu” campaign, sent buckets with cleaning supplies to more than 90 schools during flu season. Another campaign called “Stock the Fridge” offered a contest for teachers to enter to win snacks and drinks for their staff rooms. Frank says those campaigns and others went a long way to build buzz about Tutor Doctor and attract referrals.

“Our relationship with schools made a huge impact on the business,” Frank said. “They showed that we were more than just another for-profit company and that we cared about local teachers and students. A large portion of our business comes from teacher referrals, so building those relationships was key.”

Parker and Frank’s creative marketing initiatives also caught the attention of Tutor Doctor’s corporate team, who point to the pair as prime examples of how Tutor Doctor franchisees should approach the business.

“Alison and Lacey are both very passionate about helping kids succeed,” said Dennis Campbell, Tutor Doctor’s franchise development director. “They are great leaders, both with their tutors and within the community, and they embody the ingenuity of Tutor Doctor. They are committed franchise owners who embrace our system and add their own creativity and innovative touch. Their ‘Spread Love, Not the Flu’ campaign with the local schools was the perfect example of this. We are lucky to have them in our system."

Three years in, Tutor Doctor has not only allowed Park and Frank to bring the tutoring services to their community they felt was missing, it has also provided them the financial upside and personal freedom that they were aiming for when they decided to open their own business.

“We came into this business with three goals,” Parker said. “Replace our teaching salaries, spend more time with our families and find more flexibility with our schedules. We met and exceeded each of those goals. We love teaching, and with Tutor Doctor, we are able to find the fulfillment we get from teaching while maintaining a level of control over our lives we never had working for a school. A bad day working for Tutor Doctor is better than a good day teaching at a school or sitting at a desk. If we have any regret, it’s that we didn’t make the jump earlier.”