Michael Black is the founder and CEO of Success Tutoring, the nation’s fastest growing franchise group in the education and tutoring sector.
Black is pioneering a new approach to franchising that involves a flat structure. He refers to it as flat franchising. Launching in 2017, the franchise group has already grown to 35 centres which are located throughout the country and has a launch schedule to open a further 80 centres nationally before the end of 2026.
“My approach to tutoring is simple. I want to provide Australia and the rest of the world with a tutoring service that is based on foundational concepts including academic achievement and motivational learning, but I also want to help young people to build their sense of self and personal confidence,” Black said.
“That is what learning should all be about, helping young people to grow and develop so that they can enjoy life and their endeavours at their own speed and in their own unique way with confidence and pride. At Success Tutoring we help our students to achieve this.”
Black is also focused on building Success Tutoring differently.
“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,” Black said.
“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.
“This is where Success Tutoring comes to the fore. Our model is flat franchising. We boast a flat structure that enables every franchisee in our group 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.”
Black emphasised that the flat franchising approach is helping to 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.
“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,” Black said.
“We have invested heavily in our resources to ensure that we are able to provide our students with the best educational materials. These have been developed in such a way that enable flexibility and for learning plans to be tailored to the individual needs of every student.
“By providing a customised approach for each student, we ensure that children not only learn while they are with us, but they develop foundation skills that support a life-long love of learning. This is critical.”
Black explained that the Success Tutoring head office has developed cutting edge systems, tools, resources and supports to ensure that it is capable of scaling as the number of Success Tutoring centres increase, while also maintaining the currentness of materials and delivering fast and high-quality support to franchisees.
