When He Immigrated, Math Was the Only Language He Understood. Now He's Built That Knowledge Into a Franchise Making $30 Million a Year.

Mo Khalil worked successful sales, but he had nan entrepreneurial bug. In 2003, he moved to Florida and opened a Verizon Wireless franchise, which he grew to aggregate locations. But erstwhile his boy was born, he says, "I started reasoning astir bequest and really overmuch I loved kids." And he thought backmost to his ain puerility — when, astatine property 11, he and his parents immigrated from Egypt to nan Bronx. "Math was honestly nan only agleam constituent successful nan time until I learned English," he says. That passion for mathematics remained.

Khalil sold his Verizon stores and opened his first Mathnasium successful January 2011. Today, he owns 70 successful 7 states, and has been Mathnasium's apical franchisee for 10 years, pinch an yearly gross of much than $30 million. Here, he shares his strategy for success.

Related: After Being Laid Off Twice successful 2 Years, He Realized He Could 'Be Brave,' aliases 'Fail to Attain My Potential.' Now His Business Makes Over $1 Million a Year.

1. Location is everything.

"A brand-new franchise proprietor typically goes aft nan lowest [lease] investment," Khalil says. "I do nan opposite. I look for nan highest rent. I'm serving nan precocious mediate class, truthful you person to beryllium wherever they are. At postulation lights, group are sitting for 3 aliases 4 minutes staring astatine your sign. You can't bargain that galore impressions for truthful small money."

2. Get successful nan room pinch your customers.

"A batch of group subordinate nan Chamber of Commerce, arsenic if doing only that will make a difference. But you person to spell wherever your customer is. Mine are astatine schools, truthful I'm going to PTA meetings to understand what each schoolhouse needs, and supply it. They each typically person 3 fundraisers a year, and I'm progressive pinch each of them."

3. Hire unit based connected halfway values.

"We're looking for personification who sees family arsenic a halfway value. Those group are going to enactment pinch you longer, and they're much trainable. In interviews, inquire for multiples: Tell maine astir 3 aliases 4 of your halfway values. What guides you each day? We time off that open-ended and past drill successful from there."

Related: 10 Traits of nan Most Successful Franchise Owners

Bonus Tip

Mathnasium CEO Mike Davis says that 1 of Khalil's top strengths is really accelerated his income chimney is. "A batch of times, parents are calling america successful distress," Davis says. "The kid conscionable sewage a bad grade. The parents conscionable had a conflict astatine nan room array astir really to do algebra. When they call, [Khalil] is fantabulous astir getting them into nan halfway to get an assessment, and past getting them thief quickly. That's because of his architecture. He has his ain telephone center. He ever has readiness for assessments. The delta betwixt bully and awesome present is that Mo does it successful a matter of 3 aliases 4 days, while nan mean is 5 to six days."