What skills do I need to start a hybrid school?

What skills make entrepreneurs successful?! The short answer is there isn’t just one set of skills that you need. Vision, discipline, big-picture thinking, the ability to see possibilities on the other side of challenges, ability to manage finances…oh, but it also comes in handy to be able to think of practical details and not be too idealistic and to be a team player… is the answer simple? Not really…

What you do need is to believe in the vision and mission. Then you need to take the time to inventory what you do well and what gaps you might have.

You need to have the discipline to stick it out through the hard parts, the humility to understand you might need others, and the willingness to learn what you need to learn to manage the organization (which doesn’t mean doing it all yourself. In fact the best leaders will surround themselves with gap-fillers!).

Educational entrepreneurs need to start with a heart vision. You need to know why you are doing this!

Then you need to come up with a strategic plan. Next you need to fill your gaps. If you are great at finances, but panic in a room of kids (ahem…guilty), or you are an excellent team player, but struggle with delegation, or you love to work with kids, but aren’t so great at seeing the big picture of the business…all of those things matter far less than does taking an honest inventory of yourself and then fitting yourself in where you will thrive.

Know why you are doing this, have humility, be strategic, and you can do it!

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Hybrid School?

There are now a handful of organizations that will help the budding entrepreneur get started establishing a microschool and few, (besides me!) specialize in hybrid besides NAUMS. They range in price from a few to tens of thousands of dollars. These can be excellent resources, but for some of us, there just isn’t much money to work with…or we just aren’t sure how all this will play out …or we are a bit averse to investing too much…just in case it doesn’t!

When I started out in 2016, the hybrid school idea seemed very much a new one. There were no resources to help that I came across and I’m not sure I would have even considered pouring more than a few hundred into them if there had been. I wasn’t even sure where exactly this experiment was going to go, after all! How blissfully naive I was!

The first thing I did was pay about $60 for a one-hour call to a CPA. Then I paid $125 to PA State to file the Articles of Incorporation and filled those out myself. After that, it was pretty much sweat equity until it was time to purchase some books and some furnishings. I personally paid those first two fees out of pocket. That year, we were running a small cooperative model (one afternoon a week) to try out the books and schedule. We collected a few ($30 a term if I recall correctly) from the families (seven families, I believe it was) and purchased a few books and paid a small rent to the church host.

Once spring rolled around and we were having our informational meeting for the two-class, drop-off program we planned for fall, we pitched together a few hundred to purchase some curricula. Then we asked for donations from our handful of families and purchased used tables and chairs and a couple bookshelves over the summer (our husbands and some willing friends and new families pitched in with trucks and minivans to get those first rooms set up). We collected the first tuition payments in August, which allowed us to pay the church rent in September, set up the payroll system and purchase insurance, and finish purchasing some supplies and books. Once tuition was coming in monthly, we were able to reimburse ourselves the few hundred we had invested.. By the second year, we were able to fundraise just enough to cover the one-time expense of filing for 501c3 status (about $1600 total for CPA and IRS), and while there were certainly some nights I laid awake in a panic those first couple years, we always managed to have tuition cover all expenses.

The filing fee can’t be gotten around and many people may choose to pay someone to help actually fill out the paperwork as well. Getting some initial books and furnishing is also pretty important, (did I mention the rooms were empty 6 weeks before class opened?!). Depending on size, these expenses probably add to about $800-$1200 minimally, before tuition starts coming in. Certainly, more would be really nice, but it CAN be done for roughly a $1000 or less with lots of hard work!

If I had it to do over, I’d still do most of that the same way, but there was, truly, a tremendous amount of time put into figuring stuff out…researching, trial and error, researching…hoping I did it right…and I would DEFINITELY have paid a little more if I could have had someone tell me more about the business structure, organizational structure, budgeting, and Board/nonprofit training! I hope I would have, anyway… Looking back, those are the things that took the longest to learn and were hardest to ‘fix’ and ‘adjust’ when I realized I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

Advising someone new now, I would say, pay the filing fee, talk to either a professional CPA or someone who has done it before, and then learn what you can. Make sure you budget to pay yourself and enough staff so your organization isn’t riding on ‘heart’ for too long, and, assuming you’ve validated your market, your organization should be ready to launch for success!

Shameless plug: Make sure you check out my Strategic Planning Course if you are just thinking about getting started. In it, is pretty much all the stuff I wish I’d known in 2016!

Can I make any money as an educational entrepreneur?

If you are thinking about starting a program of any sort, you probably want to know if you can make a living at it.

Obviously, the answer is going to depend on which sort of program you start and, to an extent, how successful/large it is. But there are some guidelines.

Cooperatives for homeschoolers, by definition, are a cooperative group of volunteers. They are a lot of work for someone to organize and plan, but the whole group is committed to volunteering so the work is generally one of collaboration and exchange. Unless organized as a business with fees or tuition sufficient to pay the director, this model is not one to start if you want an income.

Microschools, on the other hand, can be a very viable option for income. Starting an LLC is pretty simple and with just you and yourself as the staff, you can provide a service just like any childcare provider or tutor does in exchange for payment. A class of ten kids paying 4k per year will bring in $40,000 (minuses expenses such as books, supplies, insurance, and taxes) and a class that size can often be very well-taught in just 20 or so hours per week. Twenty hours with only 10 kids as your own boss isn’t so bad!

Hybrid schools have more complex staffing but look a lot like a private school. As an entrepreneur you may very well end up as the director with plenty to keep you busy without even being a teacher. For example, a well-planned budget for a four-class, two-day program may include a director working about 25 hours per week and teachers working 14 hours. Depending on the length of year and school day, the teachers may make 13k-15k (for 60-70 days) of contractual work and the director may make around 30k. Of course, this depends on the number of classes, size of classes, and tuition, as well as if they continue to grow such that more planning is needed, etc...

These are just very general numbers and there are many other variables to take into account. In short, the answer is that, while you may never make 6 figures as a small program director or teacher, is not at all out of the question to make a reasonable part-time to full-time salary while doing work you love as your own boss. And that counts for something!

Thinking of becoming an Educational Entrepreneur?

I’ve been doing a good deal of research lately into what is available to help educational entrepreneurs start new programs. Starting a new business is pretty much always overwhelming, and I’ve come across quite a range of models and options that help those on the search for support.

I knew about Classical Conversations, which has been around for more than 20 years, has thousands of communities, and offers a very specific curriculum and model geared specifically to homeschoolers. Groups meet once a week for a shortened school year (24 weeks, I believe) and parents can serve as the ‘tutors’ or teachers and the model seems to be a cooperative (parents do not drop the kids off but volunteer in some capacity). Directors are ‘licensed’ and CC is an LLC. As nearly as I can tell, tuition runs between $400 and $800 per year, plus curriculum, and tutors and directors are paid enough to cover the costs of their own children’s tuition plus sometimes a little more.

Many people love the classical aspect, others do not, and its biggest draw seems to be the social community and the fact that parents know exactly what they are getting academically.

On the other end of the spectrum are multiple newer networks and businesses specifically geared toward the founding of microschools. KaiPod, Acton, and Prenda seem to be the businesses with the most traction. They often appeal to teachers looking to continue teaching, but in their own business and on their own terms. Costs to founders range from nothing (families pay fees), to a percentage per child once launched, to an up-front cost and a percentage per child. In exchange, teachers receive training, resources, and other support ranging from curriculum to infrastructure platforms.

The only option I know of specific to the hybrid school model is National Association of University Model Schools. This network has also been around for a couple of decades and specifically is geared toward 2 and 3 day programs. Application and accreditation are required to belong, and the network provides resources and trainings.

When I first started this site in 2023, my goal was to put together some guidance on things I learned along the journey of starting as a lone grassroots program with no network or resources (or money!). I put together stuff I wish I’d known. What would I tell my younger self in 2016 that would have eased the path?

It’s not too shabby for general guidance, but I have learned a lot about course creation since! The new course will be much more robust and will walk users step by step through a 9 month process from 0 to launch day.

am looking for a group to join the Beta launch this summer and fall. I’d love to get 10-20 people willing to walk through launching their program for fall of 2026. Make sure you get on the mailing list for more updates!