Meet John Kim of National Study Academy (NSA)

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Kim.

Hi John, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
While working in the corporate world, I volunteered at my community church teaching math. From there, it blossomed. I sent out 200 flyers out to a community residence area by hand and received two students. From these two students, I expanded my business to about 1,000 families over the course of 18 years. In 2008, I started working exclusively with high school students only in math. Although I occasionally tutor middle school students, I love working with high school or college students that are either struggling or want that edge in mathematics. I formally started this business on August 15, 2002 with little seed money and assistance from my church. I think that there are several factors that contribute to my success in this field: teaching with passion, passing down knowledge to the students, and making sure that every student leaves with the satisfaction of learning new material.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
For the first six years, I had no business plan. I had one thing and that was the passion to teach. I love explaining things but had to figure out how to make the greatest impact on my students and my business. There were times when I slept at the office thinking about marketing, as well as what worked and didn’t. It was always the “Goldilocks” story for my business. I had to improvise a variety of novel ideas and ways to teach. I also heard that 90% of businesses fail the first year. I didn’t want to be that statistic. Fear can be a fantastic motivator for success. It took over 18 years, slowly building by word of mouth, to reach about 1,000 families. After six years of experience, a natural transformation occurred. I felt comfortable with high school students; it was a natural fit for me because my major was in the field of applied mathematics, namely economics. I just naturally gravitated towards high school math as my tutoring field and never looked back. Not many tutors can say that they have a niche market. The demands are strong in so many different areas of pedagogy, especially for high school students since they are preparing for higher education. In 2008, I decided to hone my skill sets to two areas of specialty, namely SAT/ACT math and high school math. With my experiences in math, I would like to teach as a substitute teacher to high school students. I put on a show every day that I teach, so why not for a classroom? I think I can mesmerize the students with my magic, magnetic personality, and math magic. I can showcase my abilities, exude my passion towards teaching, and expand my impact on students.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about National Study Academy (NSA)?
Successful tutors specialize in niche markets that cater towards the needs of their clientele, namely success of their child in academics. I specialize in private one-on-one tutoring for high school students in the field of mathematics. I work with students in creating better study habits and study skills that are required for success in higher education. The competition in this field is saturated, but with my niche market and over 12 years of experience with just high school students, I can teach with efficiency and precision. Because in graduate school, all subject matter was complicated applied statistics or Calculus, I naturally gravitated towards higher-level math. I also knew that there weren’t much demand for Economics tutors and so the natural fit was high school mathematics. While teaching a group of students earlier in my career, I had an epiphany that revolutionized my world. I wanted to teach with positivity and create fun for the students as they learn. The transfer of knowledge is under the radar while I try to make it fun and enriching.

For example, my students think I’m “punny” and tell a good anecdote, but the real goal is to transfer knowledge to the student and push the limits of the student’s learning potential. As rewards, I have a variety of magic tricks up my sleeve! Quality is so much more important than quantity! Although I am one of the most expensive private tutors in Ventura County, I offer a variety of partial scholarships including a sliding scale and discounts for veterans and teachers. My high price offsets the scholarships set aside for students in need. During our initial consultation, I like to get to know the students and see what their interests are. I want to know where our relationship takes us in terms of a common academic setting, but to be caring about their dreams and aspirations.

What were you like growing up?
I grew up in the hood in Compton. My father had a fast-food chain in Compton for about 18 years, and although I lived in different cities, I started working there when I was about 11 years old. I mostly worked during the summers and weekends. You could say I grew up there. Growing up in a competitive environment, I played tennis, was in the math club, did a lot of math competitions in high school, got perfect scores on the math portion of the SAT and was bestowed the highest honors from the Math department. Although I didn’t like studying in high school, I decided to give it a go and really focused when I got to college at University of Washington. In fact, my college GPA was higher than that of high school. It was good enough for a full scholarship to Washington State University in the department of Economics for graduate school.

Pricing:

• Full Price: $140 per hour

Contact Info:

• Email: jkstudyacademy@gmail.com
• Website: NSATutor.com

Image Credits
Catlin Smith