Inspiring Conversations with Stephen Johnson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Johnson.

Hi Stephen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
First of all, it’s an honor to tell my story. I grew up in the inner city of Los Angeles and was raised by my mother and grandmother. I’m the eldest of four siblings and early on, we moved around a lot! I’ve lived in Long Beach, Compton, Inglewood, South LA and Panorama City in the San Fernando Valley amongst other areas of Los Angeles. In short, we were poor financially. The greatest gift of my upbringing, however, was the cultural and spiritual richness that I received from my community. In spite of the many challenges in my environment, I never felt like achieving my goals in life was unattainable. This attitude has served me well throughout my life and I am grateful to my parents for instilling it in me at an early age.

Education was a big deal in my household growing up and I was eager to rise to the high standard that was set. I skipped a grade in elementary school and graduated from high school at the age of 16. Soon after graduating, I started tutoring students in my community in math and science as well as teaching in the classroom. Little did I know, at the time, that those experiences were a preview into the life I have lived over the last decade. Two years after graduating from high school, I enrolled at West LA College where I earned an AA degree in biology followed by transferring to UCLA to study microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics. Throughout my college years, however, I continued to find ways to teach and work with students as a tutor. I felt like it was the best way for me to give back to my community and help others achieve the academic success I was experiencing. While at UCLA I worked in a gene therapy research lab and then went on to work in a pre-clinical research lab at Cedars Sinai Medical Center post-graduation. There was no doubt in mind, at that time, that I’d go on to earn an MD/PhD and build a career at the cutting edge of clinical research. That was definitely the plan……until it wasn’t.

In retrospect, I had been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug as a senior in college and just hadn’t taken it seriously. I started my first business, SAJ Catering, while I was still in college. Becoming a scientist, however, was really the only dream I had allowed myself to believe in up until that point. I didn’t know what entrepreneurship was. I didn’t know how to start a business or how to gain clients. So I did what I knew how to do best: push forward on multiple fronts until I gained clarity and peace of mind. For a period of time, I was running a research project in my lab at Cedars, running a tutoring company, and running the catering company simultaneously! This experience really caused me to define what I wanted for my life and eventually led to stepping away from my childhood dream of working in the science field and taking a leap of faith into entrepreneurship. I absolutely loved working with students as a tutor and seeing the impact that was having on families. And so I started a new business, Bright Minds Tutoring, where I worked with students K-12 in math and science and recruited other tutors to work with students throughout Los Angeles. Bright Minds Tutoring proved to provide just the life I sought to create for myself – and I haven’t looked back since. I feel fortunate to have helped thousands of students to achieve their academic goals through my practice over the last two decades and I remain excited for the next phase of my journey as I pivot the business into an educational media company and focus my attention on producing useful academic content that is accessible to students around the world.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Well, the greatest challenges I have faced as an entrepreneur involve perspective. Remember, I’m a trained scientist. I was taught that the scientific method is how to process observations. As an entrepreneur, you have to master the ability to move at different speeds, be adaptable, and pivot quickly when necessary. Also, as a solopreneur, it is very easy to get stuck in the day to day operations and other business challenges and not take the time to think of how the big picture reasons for starting a business evolve over time. I’ve been a private tutor for almost 20 years and I continue to learn so much about myself through the process of running a business. Obvious things like accounting, marketing, and advertising were all foreign to me when I started and had to be learned quickly – but also things like figuring out who you can trust, managing contractors and employees, and assigning value to my services were just some of the unexpected challenges along the way that I am still figuring out.

Overall, though, I must highlight the observation that it is my personal mindset that is always the deciding element in business. The lessons I learned as a child, growing up with very few resources taught me to be resilient and persistent. Two characteristics that have also been major contributors to my success as an entrepreneur.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I love the work that I get to do with students around the world. Whether it’s one-on-one, small or large groups, or the online content I produce – my passion is for removing the barriers to my students’ academic aspirations. I believe that the world is a better place when people live the lives they desire to live and I am well aware that standardized tests have historically served as major obstacles for many people. I have prepped students for the ACT, SAT, CBEST, GMAT, MCAT, and GRE exams. For the ACT and SAT, I am grateful to have become one of the best tutors in the country with the vast majority of my students scoring in the top 3% nationally. The work I do is focused on competence and confidence. The combination of which truly has no bounds! The students I work with leave our interaction with greater self-confidence, a test score they can be proud of, and, most importantly, the understanding of a process for getting the best out of themselves in the future!

When I meet with a student and their family for the first time – my only goal is to listen and gain a clear understanding of their goals. Once understood, I map out a plan of attack that, if followed, ensures the student’s success. One of my favorite sayings is that – “You don’t get to choose where you start, but you can choose where you finish!” – the students who have leaned in to this ideal and trusted the process have not only earned test scores beyond what they could initially imagine but have also learned a life lesson that will serve them moving forward.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I believe that the world of education is changing. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of technology as a primary source of education, and for the first time on a mass scale, adoption of this technology was universally accepted. I advise, and have invested in, a few educational technology companies over the last year and wholeheartedly believe that the benefit of technology to teachers and schools will drive the change that the previous decade of student-centric and classroom management technologies was not able to significantly change. I believe that we will see the best schools and the best teachers become more akin to media companies in their focus on content production and mass distribution as a model for teaching students across district, state, and even country lines. I also see the rise of more fully accredited niche academic course offerings online for high schoolers as a way to differentiate students as they compete for college admission. Lastly, I believe that the college landscape will expand as historically relevant institutions expand their online degree programs and certifications programs and as alternative colleges offer highly specialized programs that lead directly to careers.

My particular expertise in standardized test prep will definitely be impacted by this as well. Many colleges have already done away with testing requirements for admission and no doubt many other schools are considering it. As the world changes, however, it is important to consider the viable alternatives to test scores for equitable admissions. While I believe there will be continued debates on the topic and that the tests we use will evolve – I also believe that some version of testing will remain of value to colleges and graduate programs for the foreseeable future.

Contact Info:

• Email: prep@stephenajohnson.com
• Website: www.stephenajohnson.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sajtestprep/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephenajohnsontestprep/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/stjohn007
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeiIInTAFun7emKMC9I36RA
• Other: https://youtube.com/c/TheSATMathGuy and https://youtube.com/c/TheACTMathGuy