Sylvan Learning Franchisee Chris Pittner Explains Why Franchising is More than Just Self Employment

Chris Pittner and his brother, Jano, grew up watching their dad go the extra mile to ensure his student’s success in school. Whether that meant meeting up with students after school at the local coffee shop or library to tutor them, the math teacher of 47 years believed that students will be successful if they enjoy learning.

“He was all about mastering skills and not so much about the grades,” said Pittner. “The grades will come if the kids really enjoy learning.”

When looking for a new career path, it was an easy bridge for Pittner to look into franchising with Sylvan Learning, which holds similar goals for their students. With 750 locations throughout the country, Sylvan Learning’s goal is to transform how students learn and inspire them to succeed in school and in life. The brand is the leading provider of personal learning for students in grades K-12. Sylvan also leads the way with Sylvan EDGE—STEM and accelerated courses and Sylvan Prep —college and test prep courses.

After working with Blockbuster Movies for 15 years as a regional director, Pittner was searching for a new career path and was interested in franchising since having been exposed to it through Blockbuster Movies. Franchising allows individuals to be self-employed while still having a strong support system to ensure success and profitability, but it offered Pitter much more than he ever thought.

“Franchising challenges you every day, you are constantly learning about yourself and the business,” said Pittner. “As a franchisee, you wear many hats. Although you are working in a system that has a proven structure, you have to be creative and smart to ensure your own location’s success by choosing the right employees and connecting with your customers and the community.”

A typical day for franchisees can often vary depending on the type and size of the franchise. Pittner owns 13 Sylvan locations in Texas, so most of his time is spent working with the different locations’ center director of operations.

“I talk with the different directors of operations on how to improve the results within their centers.  I do a lot of coaching and strategic planning for marketing tactics or how to help students be successful,” said Pittner.

Pittner believes that in order to be a successful franchisee you must seek a challenge, rather than run away from it, be in constant search for exceptional people to help further your business and put the time and effort to develop a team that can perform and be happy doing it. For the six years that Pittner has been a franchisee, he has been on Sylvan’s Honor Roll--an award given to the top performing franchises across the county.

“Since we have been around for a few years now, we are able to see the results our hard work has made on our students. The best part about my job is at the end of the day I can look back and say I did a good job and had fun doing it,” said Pittner.