Owner: Cathy Holmes
Location: Nanaimo, BC
The Business
Right Choice Ed provides English tutoring classes and enhancement programs for anyone requiring English language support. Students of Right Choice Ed get help mastering a variety of university preparatory exams, including the English 12 Provincial Exams, LPI, Toefl and SAT.
Classes cover essay skills, writing skills, and practical conversation skills, and teach ‘application language’, or vocabulary required to perform specific tasks. These tasks may include learning a sport or becoming comfortable in social situations. Support programs for international students are also available.
The Founder
Cathy Holmes started Right Choice Ed after witnessing a heartbreaking struggle. She befriended a Chinese woman who had been helping with her housework, and soon discovered that the woman’s family was being split apart because her husband found it too difficult to adapt to life in Canada. Due to the unbearable stress of speaking very little English and not being able to find work, he ended up leaving his wife and their two boys to return to Hong Kong. Seeing the woman’s devastation inspired Cathy to offer her English tutoring in exchange for housework services, and soon Right Choice Ed had a full roster of students.
The Small Business BC Connection
Cathy recently made the decision to move Right Choice Ed from Coquitlam, BC, to Nanaimo, BC. She decided that after nearly 20 years in business, she should refresh some of her skills to prepare herself for conducting business in an unknown territory.
The seminars and workshops Cathy took allowed her to consider marketing and networking opportunities she had previously overlooked. She learned how to analyze her current needs and to augment her programs to suit the underdeveloped market on Vancouver Island, while utilizing the latest trends in marketing, social networking and facilitation.
Entrepreneurial Advice
Although the number of international students is decreasing, Cathy believes there is plenty of opportunity for private tutoring and educational programs geared toward international students. With international schools closing rapidly as more students opt for private instruction, there is an untapped opportunity for anyone interested in offering such services.