Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue IV, 2015 | Page 34

D OM I N A T O R S
plied Arts and Technology in Toronto.
“I love the strategy of it. It’s like playing
chess: you always have to think a couple
of moves ahead.”
After leaving the e-learning company,
Lui contacted a former colleague of his
late father, who offered him a job managing a Tutor Doctor unit for him. “It was
a new territory, so I started from scratch
and bought it from him six months later,”
says Lui, adding that he saw Tutor Doctor as having low risk and high potential.
In contrast to tutoring models that
were primarily brick-and-mortar centers
with a group learning environment, brands
such as Tutor Doctor, which was founded
in 2000 and began franchising in 2003,
struck a chord with parents who wanted
one-on-one tutoring for their children at
home, says Lui. Tutor Doctor, he says, has
grown into the fastest-growing in-home
private tutoring franchise in the expanding global tutoring industry.
His wife Clarissa, who also has an entrepreneurial bent and had opened her
own business making custom suits for
women, was behind him 100 percent. “She
was extremely supportive. We both had
the desire to create something,” he says.
“She was enjoying her work, but she saw

“Many people have
told me not to
worry so much,
to just take things
one day at a time.”
me struggling with paperwork and helped
me out. Since I needed more and more
help as we grew, we figured we’d focus
on this together.”
The division of duties fell along the
lines of their training and abilities: Clarissa worked in administration on the
back end, and her husband focused on the
front end, dealing with customer service
and marketing. “That was our agreement
and we learned to work together pretty
well,” he says.
“Living in the same house, working
across the desk from each other, couples
are bound to have challenges, but we set
boundaries about work and schedule when
to talk about it. It’s highly regimented, but
what we had to do to attain the lifestyle we
want. On a Saturday, unless it’s an emer-

gency, we don’t talk about work. We save it
for Monday when we have a staff meeting.”
As Jehovah’s Witnesses, the couple spend
their time off volunteering in the community, leading Bible studies, and going door
to door to talk about their church, he says.
Lui’s best advice for potential franchisees? “Many people have told me not to
worry so much, to just take things one day
at a time,” he says. “I’d also add: Don’t be
afraid to ask for help.”
Doing just that has led Lui to where
he is today. When he decided to become
an entrepreneur, he took his late father’s
address book and called everybody in it.
“I started by introducing myself as Mario Lui’s son and wondered if they had a
minute to talk to me about my father and
how they knew him.” That strategy eventually led him to that Tutor Doctor job.
In addition to maintaining a strong
marriage and a profitable business, Lui
says he finds Tutor Doctor’s contributions to improving the lives of students
and their parents to be most rewarding.
“When a family knows someone is helping them address their child’s needs, it
reduces stress and gives them more time
to focus on being a family. That’s what
it’s all about.”

PERSONAL
First job: McDonald’s when I was 14 years old.

Exercise/workout: I work out (weight training) three times a week.

Formative influences/events: My father was always involved in franchising. He worked with Century 21, Prudential, and WSI. This was definitely
a career influence. Also, both parents passed away when I was 21. It was a
difficult time in my life, a time in which I had to grow up fast.

Best advice you ever got: Many people have told me to stop worrying,
to take one day at a time.

Key accomplishments: Being the first (and still the only) Tutor Doctor franchisee to reach $1 million in sales (2013), being named 2014 Franchisee of
the Year, and winning an award every year I have been in business.

How do you balance life and work? I compartmentalize. It comes
down to a schedule. At work, I am working. When I’m not at work, I try not
to work. One way we enjoy making our down time count is by volunteering.
We’re Jehovah’s Witnesses and we’re involved in teaching others about the
Bible.

Biggest current challenge: Optimizing the business, trying to be more efficient. Marketing is always an ongoing challenge as we try to find cost-effective ways to market ourselves and our brand. And I continue to develop myself
as a leader.
Next big goal: Achieving greater profitability.
First turning point in your career: When I realized that I wanted to be
an entrepreneur. This was always something on my mind, but actually making
the decision was huge. Buying the franchise turned the distant thought into a
reality.

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What’s your passion in business? Building something significant that
has an impact on people.

Guilty pleasure: Eating. I love Korean food. (I’m not Korean. My parents
were originally from Hong Kong, and I also have some Portuguese in my background.)
Favorite book: I’m not a b