Tips for starting your own school

The WiFi was a little weak in 1890, but real estate was easier to come by. (Cloyne and District Historical Society)

Ever get introduced to someone via email?

One friend generously connects you to another, then fades out of the conversation.

In my case, such an introduction often precedes a request from the new friend to “pick my brain.” And the thing they want to pick my brain about is how I started my school.

If you’ve ever been curious about how you might undertake such a project, I’ll save you an email and a coffee date. Here’s what I can share based on what’s worked for me.

Eclectic Music’s Virginia-Highland location, Atlanta, 2013.

Fund yourself. Also known as bootstrapping, a self-funded enterprise forces you to begin with what is essential. In my case, I started by teaching music lessons, starting with just one student. I called myself Eclectic Music, but everyone just called me Casey. As the word spread, my business grew. A few years later, I was receiving enough referrals to add more teachers and expand to an adorable neighborhood retail space — and then another, and another.

Now Eclectic Music has a few hundred students, a couple dozen teachers, and a full admin team. They run amazing summer day camps without me.

It’s not the most profitable business in the world, but it’s mine. There are no loans and no investors. If I had tried to launch a full-fledged music school back in the beginning (with no reputation and no cash), I would have put myself in a high-risk, high-stress position that I don’t think would have paid off — but I would have had to be “paying it off” for the next decade.

Grow slow. As a matter of fact, if I had it to do over again, I would have grown even more slowly and deliberately. I would have been more picky about hiring and obsessive about training.

For my second school, The Little Middle School, I decided to create something that would stay small. I wanted to slowly perfect the philosophy, the team, and the curriculum. I wanted to get better instead of bigger. Seven years later, that’s still our focus. And we have the breathing room to make refinements because we’re not constantly recruiting. Just a few new kids each year is enough to keep us going, and they come to us.

Start with what you have. Even though we are still refining The Little Middle School model, we didn’t wait until it was “finished'“ to launch. We went from concept to execution in less than four months, starting with twelve brave families who were wiling to give it a shot. We had folding tables and chairs, a handful of books, and a globe (because how can you have a school without a globe?).

LMS students assembling a greenhouse, 2013.

We knew that people weren’t joining us for our pristine athletic fields, state-of-the-art tech, and robust arts programs. There was no way we could compete with the schools who had all that stuff, so we didn’t try. Instead, we relied on what we did have: passion, vision, flexibility, and creativity. With these elements, along with good timing and good luck, we managed to carve out a niche that has allowed us to thrive even as other schools closed their doors.

Share your idea. Now, in a way, I was “cheating” when I started LMS. Having grown a massive network through Eclectic Music, I was well positioned to bring a new school into the world. I called a handful of families and gave them a brief pitch, followed by, “Let me know if you know someone who might be interested.” It was very soft-sell — I was just putting my paper boat out onto the water and seeing if the wind would take it. No pushing or forcing.

To my surprise, almost every family said, “We would be interested!” Just a few weeks later, we had nine families committed for the following school year. That was the minimum viable audience that we needed in order to proceed.

If I had expected to spend two years in development, I probably would have chickened out completely. Instead, I started testing the idea from day one to see how people reacted. It was easy because I had nothing invested — no money, no time, no ego. However, when the idea gained traction, I began to feel a sense of responsibility — I couldn’t let these people down! Because I was brave enough to put my wild idea out there to everyone I knew and reach out individually to as many people as I could, the thing actually happened, and happened fast.

Focus on what matters. Not everyone will want to start small, especially if you have a team of founders to feed. But no matter what size school you intend to launch, don’t let yourself get distracted by the logo or the website or the name or even the mission statement. What matters is being really, really good. Can you make authentic connections with the students you serve? Can you attract incredible people to your team? Can you change someone’s life for the better? No one will care what color paint is on your wall if you are able to make incredible learning experiences happen. Eschew perfection, but cultivate excellence.

I hope you find this advice practical in your school-building journey. It might not match your glamorous daydream, but there’s plenty of time to build to that.

These days, I’m taking the lessons learned from my first two schools and starting a third: The Rulerless School, a custom online school for families who value entrepreneurial thinking, creativity, and freedom. We’ve started with just two students, and that’s enough. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

The world is full of students you can help. The exact mechanics of how are up to you. There are always rules and regs to follow and requirements to satisfy, but beyond that, your school can be what you want it to be, according to your vision. What do you want to create, and where can you begin today to make it a reality?