Jamie Lee, 25, is from Sydney, Australia. She started her education business, Kids at SWiTCH, in 2012. Kids at Switch is a unique, financial literacy education program, revolutionizing the way children learn. Designed for primary school children, this modern day fun and educative ‘playschool’ provides a unique platform for children to collaborate with peers and solve real- life problems within an interactive and stimulating environment.
Starting the Business
Q: Where did the idea for your business come from? Where were you in your life and career?
A: My dream, Kids at SWiTCH, came to me while completing my Education Degree at Macquarie University. Before my eyes, I saw proof of an old maxim: success breeds success, and the rich get richer. Financial inadequateness, I realised, didn’t just stem from a lack of support and motivation, but also a lack of financial knowledge. My mission was (and is) to not only foster financial literacy in each of my “kids”, but also do so in a way that translates their instinctual passion and sense of play into a sense of unshakeable purpose.
Q: What was the biggest challenge you faced when starting out?
A: Wow these questions actually bring back some of the scariest memories. For instance, I didn’t have enough money to pay for the bills and I had to ask my family for help. My personal credit card was nearly maxed out and there was the pressure of having to constantly put myself out here.
What was more frightening though, was that given all the press Kids at SWiTCH has received and our bold declaration that we are changing education through fearless innovation, I felt as though I was being watched closely by all the people around me and a failure would have been public.
But no matter how scared I was, I remembered to live my story. I went back to my core question: “Why am I doing this?” When I went back to my intrinsic motivation, my fears somehow disappeared. It’s been said that there’s nothing more dangerous than someone who has nothing to lose – and I think that’s true of businesses too.
Q: What is the one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started the business?
A: When I started the business I was intimidated by the question, “Is Kids at Switch the best idea you could come up with?” But I’ve leant along the way that of course a good idea is a great start; but the success of most ventures actually lies in the execution.
Q: What would you consider your first big success in the business?
A: I had only three students in our first term and I loved every minute of it. As time went on my customer base grew, and I started to receive positive responses from diverse audiences alongside subsequent franchising requests from all corners of the world. But for me, the most rewarding experience is not the success or acclaim – it’s becoming friends with the parents as well as the kids. I was asked to host a birthday party; I had kids inviting me to attend their church; I had a boy emailing me to ask for an additional lesson; and often I’d go out with the kids and their mums for lunch after ”class.” Kids at SWiTCH has become a place which kids don’t think of as a school; it’s now a place of innovation, creation and contribution, one which they yearn to visit every day.
Q: What is the toughest thing about getting to the top / staying on top in your industry specifically?
A: If you want to stay on top in the education industry you must be patient in building your team and business. There are lots of other easier ways to make money, but you have to love what you’re doing because education is not the fastest moving or simplest market.
The Future
Q: Where do you see your industry heading in the next 5 years?
A: Nowadays young people with degrees are often heading home to play videos games, because their degrees are no longer sufficient to meet market demand. In order to get the best out of our children; we must re-educate our teachers. I believe young children can no longer be fed information. They need to learn from inspiring teachers how to be leaders – equipped with the appetite and cross-disciplinary skills to solve unknown problems ultimately create currently inexistent jobs.
Q: What do you plan on doing / changing in order to keep growing in this time period?
A: Kids at Switch strikes an emotional chord with people. Many of our students’ parents will drive more than 45 minutes to invest in their child’s financial literacy education. And Jenna, I cannot tell you how much these young children have surprised us with their imagination, intelligence and compassion.
Within two years, our six-year-old Adeline has co-authored the picture book Little by Little; eight-year-old Divyesh has designed his own website and E-Book Above the Fold to sell and nine-year-old Kade has computer coded a financial literacy game with his project partner James.
I gradually realized that maybe I could reinvent the system and duplicate it so we could spread the significance of financial literacy education to millions of other kids. So I hope that over the next ten years, with a team of smart and experienced managers, we can build Kids at Switch from a local business into a national one.
Q: What does ultimate success look like to you? How will you know when you’ve achieved it?
A: I actually placed this poem on my table and I think it sums up really well what success means to me.
Success
To laugh often and love much
To win the respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
Endure the betrayal of false friends
To appreciate beauty
To find the best in others
To leave the world a bit better
Whether by a health child,
A garden patch, or a redeemed social condition
To know even one life has breathed easier
Because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Q: What do you think will be the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs in the near future?
A: Thinking too big. I’m not saying thinking big is a bad idea but it’s a common mistake shared by lots of entrepreneurs who are starting a business. I started Kids at SWiTCH with just 3 students – that’s it. I didn’t quit my part-time job immediately. I didn’t invest tens of thousands of dollars or seek funding. I just created a few lessons plans and tried to teach them. I believe by starting small, you can work through your story, try out your idea and test your mettle. Once you’ve discover the passion behind your side project, you can then take the next step knowing much more than if you started blind, even if you still have much to learn.
Q: What one piece of advice would you give to someone just starting out in your industry and wanting to make it to the top?
A: The one requirement for success in any industry that you want to start out in is effort. Either you make the commitment to make it to the top and get results, or you don’t.
Also, it’s important to learn to delegate – which is something I found really hard to do. In the past, I would have taken on anything and everything that I thought I could add value to. But now I’m slowly learning to hire people in whom I can build trust, and let them take the ball and run with it.