Out of a Need to Protect Children, Taxi Mom's Yolanda Stevenson Built a Growing Franchise

Yolanda Stevenson founded Taxi Mom — a unique school transportation service — out of necessity. After witnessing the dangers her son faced walking to school, she saw a gap in the market for safe, reliable transportation to and from school for children. This realization led to the birth of Taxi Mom in 2004, a business that has now been serving its local communities for 20 years.

“When you live within a two-mile radius of the schools, you get no transportation, so my son had to walk across a major intersection every day,” Stevenson told 1851 Franchise Founder and Publisher Nick Powills on his “Meet the Zor” podcast. “When I traveled and his dad was working, that was just nerve-wracking. So, I started to really look into it and do my deep dive. Then I came home, introduced the idea to my family and kids, and they helped me pick out the name. We started service in August of 2004, and we’re just now celebrating 20 years.”

Despite personal challenges, including the loss of her husband, Stevenson remained dedicated to her dream of franchising Taxi Mom. Today, with 17 franchisees, she continues to refine and expand her business model, focusing on the importance of safety, personalized service and community connection. 

A summarized transcript of Stevenson’s interview with Powills has been included below. It has been edited for clarity, brevity and style.

Nick Powills: You are the Taxi Mom. Usually, I say we’re going to start with your story, not the brand story, but it’s one and the same. So, Yolanda, thanks for doing this. Start off by telling me your franchise story. How did you accidentally fall into franchising?

Yolanda Stevenson: Well, I’ve always known that I wanted to franchise; I just didn’t know how to franchise or what to expect when it came to franchising. When I stumbled across the need, I really needed the service, and I couldn’t find anybody locally to help me because I used to travel — I worked in corporate for 17 years. 

When you live within a two-mile radius of the schools, you get no transportation, so my son had to walk across a major intersection every day. When I traveled and his dad was working, that was just nerve-wracking. So, I started to really look into it and do my deep dive. Then I came home, introduced the idea to my family and kids, and they helped me pick out the name. We started service in August of 2004, and we’re just now celebrating 20 years.

Powills: That’s great. When did you decide to franchise?

Stevenson: I decided to franchise during that time. But what happened was my husband passed away in 2011, so I went into autopilot mode. It was so unexpected, and I was just like — during 2015, maybe — one of my oldest sons said, “Mom, your dream has always been franchising. Why are you not doing it?” And I had to step back and really think, “Why am I not doing this?” When you’re faced with adversity and a challenge like that, you just kind of go into this autopilot mode of — not really survival, but you really want to take care of your family, your kids. 

He died on a Monday. We buried him on a Friday. The following Monday, I was in an office doing an intake to make sure my kids were going to be okay, and we started therapy sessions. So, we went through years of therapy, and then my son said, “Mom, you gotta do it.” And I said, “You know what? You’re right. I need to.” 

So, that’s when I started looking into it. I went to iFranchise. I had my sisters move from Waco to Dallas. We started these little micro-areas and built those up, so we already had the proof of concept. It was just the money that it takes to franchise. But then nobody really talks about the money that it takes to scale.

Powills: Yeah, lots to unpack there. Before I do, how many franchisees do you have today?

Stevenson: We have 17.

Powills: In your gut, how do you feel about that?

Stevenson: Well, I’ve definitely made mistakes along the way, but in my gut, I feel really good because I do know that it works, and I do know that there’s such a need out there.

Powills: I’ve thought about becoming a franchisor many times. I even considered booking an Uber Black to take my kid to school, but I’d be uncomfortable sending him in a stranger’s car, so we drive our kids to school. When we lived in Atlanta, it took 15 minutes to get to school and 15 minutes back. The other one was an hour there and an hour back, so that’s a lot of drive time. How can you solve that for working parents?

Second, I think about audiences like the Goddard Schools and Primrose — this could be a supplemental business for them and a lead generation source if they offered it in their community.

I also think about what Uber has done, with driver percentages going down. Every Uber driver I talk to mentions how their earnings have decreased. Greed is taking over a category that was supposed to be valuable for those in the profession. Considering these areas, there’s a pathway here to get franchisees. Does that connect? Have any of the 17 come from either of those directions?

Stevenson: No, no. They’ve actually come from moms who are looking for this service and want to bring it to their community. What makes us different from Uber is that we’re not an on-demand service; we are a subscription-based service, so that’s a very big difference. 

We do have competitors like Kid Caboo and HopSkipDrive, which cater to kids. But again, you don’t know your driver. All of our drivers are W2 employees and they get the same driver over and over again, so that makes it very helpful for the parent to make that decision. Here in July, there was a parent who ordered an Uber medical for their 12-year-old daughter. Unfortunately, she was sexually attacked by this driver. It’s been all over the news. It just breaks my heart. 

I never put judgment on a parent because when you are in a situation where you have no idea what you’re going to do, and when they find us, they — I mean, today, I had a conversation with a parent in an area we don’t even service, but we did it over the summer and they were just so grateful. Helping that person and that parent is super important to us because we know the importance of safety, especially when it comes to kids. It’s such a big liability.

Powills: What’s the cost to get into the business?

Stevenson: It does range. What I did was I looked at the student population. We start at $42,000, $52,000 and $62,000, based on the population. If it’s 30,000 students, that starts you off at $62,000. If it’s 10,000 students, it starts at $42,000.

Powills: Is that all in, or is that just the franchise fee?

Stevenson: That’s just the franchise fee, with a $12,000 fee set for marketing for one year.

Powills: Okay, and what’s the all-in investment?

Stevenson: The all-in can range anywhere from $78,000 up to $113,000.

Powills: Are you making an earnings claim in Item 19?

Stevenson: I’m going to be honest with you — this is all new to me and I’m just learning, so yes, we do have an Item 19, but it’s not the full-blown one because we’re still trying to figure out our KPIs since we’re so new to everything.

Powills: What are you reporting as gross?

Stevenson: On our AUV [average unit value], we did over — I think it was like $1.3 million system-wide sales.

Powills: Got it, and then it was like $100,000, I believe.

Stevenson: Yes, per territory.

Powills: The last thing I’ll say — and then I just want your comments. It’s funny, I was looking at the first video on your website, and you’re picking up kids and putting a thermometer on their foreheads. I was like, “Wow, that video has aged so fast. That’s crazy.” So, great new video there. But I think you’re in a very interesting category, especially if you look at grit and hustle and figure out a way to show scale in a different light. It can be a tremendous business opportunity.

Stevenson: Yes. When I’m looking at a franchise owner, I look at their grit — what it takes to really get out and hustle. This is definitely not something you can come into and not be an owner-operator. You have to know this business. And I always ask, “How do you feel about owning a fleet of 12?”

Powills: Great question.

Stevenson: We want them to own a fleet of 12 to 15 passenger vans. We normally put 25 to 32 kids in those vans because of the stacked timing, so it’s super important to me that they know their area, they live in their area, and they understand the stacked timing and what it will take to build it.

Powills: I typically look at a business and see all the pieces — sometimes a slight rescrambling of it could make a big difference — but I started by asking if you’re happy with the 17, and you said you are happy, but I’m sure you have dreams of making this much larger too.

Stevenson: Oh, absolutely. I mean, being five years in, I think this past year I took a step back just to reevaluate which direction I wanted to go as far as scaling the business. Because anytime you go to any of these IFA events or any kind of event, everybody’s talking about quick, quick, quick. You’ve got to hurry up and do this. I got into that spin of, “Oh my gosh, I’ve got to hurry up and do this.” But when you do that, you make the mistake of bringing in the wrong people. That’s when I sat back and said, “Okay, no, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do it this way. This doesn’t feel like me.” Because feeling like me, I like to go at my own pace. What am I in a hurry for?

Powills: So, let’s say a candidate has been watching us to this point. What else do you want them to know about the business?

Stevenson: You have to really love kids. Getting into the business, you have to have the right reasons, and your reasons have to be the right reasons for wanting to be involved in any company at all. If you’re not passionate about kids, you’re not going to be passionate about this job. I love what I do every single day. I still drive from time to time. This summer, I took on a job, and the parents — they’re both doctors — came out and talked to me this morning. Just that gratitude you see in their eyes, like, “Thank you so much for just taking that time.” 

Second quarter for me has been about communication with my parents because I feel like I kind of lost that touch. Customer service goes a long way — a very long way. We’ve gotten back to the basics of talking to the customer, giving them all the information they need. You have to be willing to talk to people and not be afraid. You have to be willing to go out and network your business.

Powills: Out of curiosity, so there are these down hours after the last morning drop-off. How many hours are off?

Stevenson: Five.

Powills: Okay, I’m going to throw this out there. I don’t know if this thought has crossed your mind, but there’s another audience that can use transportation help during that time. Your mission connects with me well, which is our aging population. Have you ever looked at offering that as an option?

Stevenson: Yes. We actually have done several senior citizens in our community. They just want to go and get their hair done. I had this gentleman named Ralph, a World War II veteran who couldn’t drive anymore, and he would ask me to go every Friday. So, I’d go every Friday at 10 o’clock, and he would want to go to the grocery store. But he wanted to get out and do his own shopping, so he’d make a list, and I’d go in there with him, and we would shop together. 

Yes, those are things we are working on to add extra streams of revenue. We are also working on contracts with schools because of the bus driver shortage, bidding those jobs, and doing that type of stuff. I’m always thinking about the next stages of Taxi Mom. We’re constantly going and rolling. I always tell my franchise owners — because they come in with other ideas, which is great — focus on the kids. This is your core business. As we roll out different things, then we can introduce them at that time.

Powills: Yeah, I love it. Well, look, I love what you’re doing. I see the gap that you’re filling. Kudos to you. Seventeen — you should still be very proud of that. Just your mindset of making this better. I can tell you’re trying to figure this thing out. So, I appreciate your story. Thanks for sharing some of it with us.

Watch the full interview above or on YouTube.