Challenge Presents Opportunity

“From a young age, I had no doubt that I was going to be working for myself. I had no idea in what capacity, or what I was going to be doing, but it was a given.”

Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, it only made sense that Dave Serwitz saw himself following in their footsteps. You could say he was a natural born entrepreneur, highly influenced by the success of his grandfather—who at the time owned and operated one of the largest cardboard box manufacturing and distribution companies in the United States, which was ultimately taken over by David’s Father before being sold. He set his sights on Cal Poly State University, and his persistence and dedication to achieving that goal paid off—but then came his business calculus class.

“It was pretty obvious right away that I was going to need a tutor, and I was just very frustrated with the tutoring options.” After approaching the math department, and making what seemed like a million phone calls over the course of two weeks, he finally had a stroke of luck and connected with a tutor who fulfilled his needs and aligned with his goals. That’s when the idea hit him—if he had such a struggle with school and finding the right tutor, there must be other students with similar issues. That was the conception of Grade Potential.
 
“I didn’t think I was going to be doing this full time. It was just like, let’s just do this, because, why not?” The first year he used his knowledge and business instincts to develop the plan and strategize his processes. Along with his original tutor, he began interviewing and assessing applicants who were interested in becoming tutors through Grade Potential. “A huge part of our value is that we do all the leg work.”

But don’t misunderstand—the quality of the service he provides goes far beyond after school homework help. Grade potential tutors are not only educators, but also mentors. Each one is specifically matched to the right client, which maximizes the value and experience. In fact, the parents of one past client credited their daughter’s tutor with helping to build her self-confidence! And Dave truly knows his clients, as not so long ago he was his ideal client. His passion to see others succeed and reach their goals is what drives him.

“Part of my challenge in the beginning was, I just didn’t even like school.” Though he connected to his service, because he disliked school, he felt like he really didn’t love his product. So he changed the way he looked at his business, and realized it wasn’t about school, it was about helping his clients achieve their goals. He related his service to how much he wanted to attend Cal Poly. He thought about all the work he did to get a wrestling scholarship to earn his entrance into the university he dreamed of attending.  

“I remember realizing that I probably wouldn’t get to go to Cal Poly if it wasn’t for wrestling. I still don’t like school, I never did, I probably never will, but I do like helping people achieve their goals, and I think that’s one of the reasons we’re successful. We’re in touch with the needs of our customers.”

Dave became involved with Collaboration the year after he graduated from Cal Poly and started focusing on growing his business. A self-proclaimed “hard sell,” he was leery at first. After speaking to past clients, he decided to move forward and he began a 6-month consulting engagement.

“I was looking for an opportunity to learn and do the best we could.” His vision for Grade Potential included big plans for growth, and he understood early on that if he was going to achieve that goal, he needed to establish a foundation with processes as a model for that vision. Through working with Collaboration, he learned the importance of creating a “funneling structure” for everything he wanted to do, and how to make sure he and his team were taking responsibility for projects and getting things done. They’ve expanded beyond San Luis Obispo and now have offices in Santa Barbara and San Diego as well. As they continue to grow, Dave looks ahead to the future of Grade Potential.

“Our greatest accomplishments are yet to come! I feel all we’ve done is built a foundation. And that’s all we’re still working on. Our goals are to find people that are passionate, that want to work hard, have lots of energy, are committed, want to be in business for themselves, but really don’t know where to put the first step. And that’s where we’re going to come in, team up and kick some butt! I will judge our accomplishments based on the accomplishments of our other offices.”

Dave sees the big picture of Grade Potential, and in the spirit of a true entrepreneur, he is building a sustainable and profitable business from what was once an idea in the mind of a college sophomore with a three-ring binder, tortured by business calculus.