Success Tutoring has made its mark as a fast-growing franchise group in the education and tutoring sector, thanks in part to a new approach its founder and CEO Michael Black is making in franchising.
Black’s approach involves a flat structure in franchising, which he refers to as “flat franchising”. Since its launch in 2017, Success Tutoring‘s franchise network has grown to 35 centres located throughout the country and has a launch schedule to open a further 80 centres nationally before the end of 2026.
“For many who join traditional franchise groups, what they find is that once they become a franchisee, they then have to report to a franchisor known as a regional manager, a divisional franchisor, who owns the entire division, and then a franchise group CEO. They end up working in the same multi-level manager environment that they opted to get away from when leaving traditional employment. This is an old style of franchising. Gen Zs and millennials want more control over their own life and many don’t want to work for a boss,” Black explained.
Black added that the flat franchising model that he espouses is empowering every franchisee to operate as their own boss.
“They do not report to a regional or divisional franchisor. They are supported by our head office which lives to assist them to succeed in their business,” he expounded.
Black also emphasised that the flat franchising approach has helped attract many people to his franchise group, especially millennials who want to combine their love of education with business and enjoy the flexibility that comes with it. The business also developed systems, tools, resources, and other support mechanisms to ensure that it is capable of scaling as the number of Success Tutoring centres increase while maintaining the currentness of materials and delivering fast and high-quality support to franchisees.
“We want franchisees who are going to grow with us. Millennials find our model very attractive. They respect and value their own agency as an entrepreneur and they want to be more in control of their own life and career,” he said.
Black added that he is focused on building Success Tutoring differently. He said, “We are a franchise model but we are very different to other franchise groups. Most people who choose to start a business whether it be by themselves or within a franchise system, are usually very entrepreneurial and want to be their own boss.”
