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The Mag  

Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast CEO with Code Wiz Miss. Ruth Agbaji. Hello, how are you?


Ruth Agbaji

I am doing fantastic. Thank you so much for having me on your show.


The Mag  

Well, Ruth, before we get too far into things tell us about Code Wiz. Talk about that experience from the user standpoint. Who would go to Code Wiz like, what group do you serve? Locally.


Ruth Agbaji

So, we are primarily serving kids ages 7 to 17. So, we offer coding classes, robotics classes, 3d printing classes, and camps as well. So, we have a lot of kids who are interested in tech, or their parents know that tech is a really good field to get into. Those are the kids that come into our classes, and we operate on a subscription-based model. So, they keep coming from month to month, to sign up for various classes, they work on their robots, we participate in competitions. It's all really wrapped in like a fun layer. But underneath all of that they're learning about then learning about problem solving, creativity, and all of that good stuff.


The Mag

Now I'm here in Atlanta, we talk a lot with the Women in Technology folks, there's an organization here. And they say at some point that like girls’ kind of self-select out of being involved in the STEM programs, does this help keep girls’ kind of engaged a little longer?


Ruth Agbaji

Absolutely, I think one of the biggest things for girls is being able to be a role model, somebody that kind of looks like them act like them, you know, feminine. And when they have that they do tend to stick longer with the program. So, we always try to make sure we have a female coach that the girl can work with, and they can look up to, we try to craft our programs to not be too much going to have a feminine side. And then we always make sure that they work together. 

That's another thing to really love working together being a group. So, once you have like 50 girls in the group, they tend to stick it out, they become best friends, they have playdates outside the center. And we have found that the little things like that really helped with retaining the girl. I believe that we have 40% of all our students are girls right now, which is huge.


The Mag

Wow, congratulations. I mean, that's an extraordinary success. I mean, that's, that's an amazing stat. Now, talk to me about what happens, like what's happening in my house that I think you know what, maybe I should have my child kind of go-to Code Wiz and check it out.


Ruth Agbaji

Sorry, I missed the question.


The Mag 

Like, what is happening? Like what, like, this is an activity that I'm going to have my child do Is it because my typically because I think this is going to help them in their careers. It's going to be a fun, extra, you know, like some people put their kid in soccer or, you know, and in Kumaon, or some of these kinds of tutoring things like what is the situation happening in my house where I'm like, you know, what maybe Code Wiz is the right place for an extracurricular.


Ruth Agbaji   

Okay, so it's two ways, we've seen two ways. It was gonna happen two ways. We have a lot of kids that come in because they're naturally drawn to technology, you know, you give them a piece of meat and pieces of Legos, and they build this whole extraordinary structure out of it. And so those kids are the ones that you know, drive the marketing, they're pestering their parents, they want to come in, they want to come in. And then on the other side, we have parents who are in the tech field software engineers, and they know that this is really good, and this is the future, and they want to give their kids a leg up in life and so they bring them in Sometimes we see some kids coming in reluctantly. But a lot of times we're able to convert them into believers and they don't want to ever leave.


The Mag

Now, how did you start code was how did it begin?


Ruth Agbaji  

So, I was a software engineer for a few years, and I've always loved intrapreneurship always wanted to own my own business. And so, I was kind of tired of the commute, I needed a lot of flexibility in my life because I had two little kids. And I, but I wanted to do something that use my coding background, and something that was impactful that made a lasting impact in the next generation. And so, I thought, hey, there was no coding school around us at that time. And so, it's like, I could do this, you know, let's just start it and see how it goes. And it just blew right open.


The Mag  

So now, you just started this kind of on your own, and like, what was the initial structure? What was the kind of the classes about early on?


Ruth Agbaji

So initially, we started with just super basic classes, scratch where the kids just come learn about creative animations, and simple games, and super simple robotics. But after a few months of that with her, it's and notices that a lot of the kids were like, grabbing on understanding the content really quickly, and we needed to start developing more advanced, more advanced curriculum for them. So now we have like 10-year-olds that are doing Java 10 year run Python, and these are programming languages that are used in the industry. So, it's really exciting to see how even at such a young age, their minds are able to grasp and understand such complex concepts. And then we started to do competitions, going out of our local area for participating in robotics competitions around the state, which has been really cool.


The Mag 

Now, do you partner with any other technology firms? Because I would think that some of those firms would love to have some of these older kids as interns.


Ruth Agbaji  

Yeah, right, you would think so I think a lot of times, a lot of them are concerned about liability and all of that. So, we don't have that too much. But we have been fortunate to partner with Google and they have let us come see their workspaces. And their offices, which really helped the kids have been like, oh my god, I want to work for you. Yeah, that's


The Mag

A good one.


Ruth Agbaji  

And they're so focused and motivated. So yeah, but it would be awesome honestly if we could have like a tech company that allows us to just send some of our kids to them even if it's like an intern for a day it would be so cool.


The Mag

Like even job shadowing or just you know, follow me around or something now and go ahead.


Ruth Agbaji 

No, I was just gonna add that the parents are really interested in such programs I think it just is just the company just really needs to want to be able to do this because there's a lot of work involved for them, but it would be great at some point if somebody was open to that.


The Mag

Now at what point did you say you know what, this is working so well here? Maybe we should franchise this How did that kind of come about because of being a franchisee? Now that's a second business, right? There's one thing about running a Code Wiz but then there's another thing of running up being a franchise or?


Ruth Agbaji

You can say that again. So, when we started, people would come in and say, oh, are you part of a franchise? You know, your brand is so strong, the face looks great. And you know, like Mills is just me. And at this point, the dream big, hairy, audacious goal, at that time was to have like five locations in Massachusetts, and I would feel accomplished, but people can't you know, asking and I would see some people come in, I would have some people come in rather, you know, leaving their cars, let me know when you turn into a franchise, I would totally invest. 


But I think the biggest thing was when the demand started to outweigh the supply, we would have people calling us from two hours away, three hours away asking us to come run classes for their kids. And we just we were stretching ourselves too thin to meet that demand. And so, we said okay, I said, you know unless this is jumping to the franchising ship, I know it's a whole different business. But let's see what happens. And it's been great. We started this year; we have two locations up and running two franchise locations up and running. And they're doing well they're crushing it in their markets. So, it's, it was a good decision, I think.


The Mag 

So now bye. How did you even go about the beginning steps of learning about how to franchise and you know, getting your business because it was a business for you at some point and then all of a sudden now you gotta I gotta write stuff down I gotta you know, make a manual, I gotta make stuff now.


Ruth Agbaji

So the lucky thing for us was when I started the business my little voice heard before we were ill and so I had to quickly hire a manager for my center and to help her out I was doing a lot of documentation that was already written a lot of how to do this how to do that this is what we do here and I was making her do a lot of that so once we made a decision to or once I made a decision to the franchise we had a lot of documents that were like you know, all put together but at least we had a good starting point and I did a lot of googling I think that's usually the first place everybody goes to now is you first of all Google How do I franchise my business? 


And I partnered with a few people who have really helped us to get to where we are I worked with FMB partners to see Vigo man in Pennsylvania have worked with Eric check them in a FranNet we've been just fabulous mentors. I've worked with a really great law firm, and you know, our sales are outsourced to Pinnacle developments I've really tried to surround myself with people that really know what they're doing in the franchise world. I didn't start out that way I started out with just using a bunch of random people and very quickly I realized that was a horrible decision. So now we have I have a lot of strong people around me before you do


The Mag

and that's a good lesson for people out there. You know your team is really important. So, choose wisely, right?


Ruth Agbaji 

Yes, I think that a lot of times of business owners you when you're starting out you have your way through many things like because I was on the tech side, I did the website myself, you know the some of the graphic design myself. But I found that in franchising, you just can't hack your way through it. You just need to get it right from the beginning and spend that money put, you know, great people on your team from the get-go. Just so you can have a solid foundation.


The Mag

Now, do you remember signing your first franchisee?


Ruth Agbaji

Yes, yes, that was such an emotional moment. It actually happened that two of them signed on the same day. So that was really cool. It was very nice to see that, you know, all the work and all the pain and the money, you know, is starting to bear fruit. So yeah, that was pretty exciting.


The Mag 

And then did you have to kiss a lot of frogs to get that franchisee because I would imagine that they're the right fit is important to be successful, right?


Ruth Agbaji

Yeah, yeah. We were really blessed honestly, with our first few. For the first guy, he, his kid had been attending Code Wiz since we opened. So, he'd been taking classes there. I knew here familiar with the family. His wife is a friend. And they were moving they were relocating to New Jersey. And he wanted to go corporate world at that time because he said I really love kids I love my phone has loved this program. And I want to own my own business. Can I take Code Wiz New Jersey? And I was like Sure, let's do this. And the second guy was just walking by the center, Taylor was just passing by, and stopping he was like what is this? it looks like it's cool and she's software he's on the software side. And he, you know, he saw the flyer and he read his talk to his wife was like this is so good. We had more conversations it looked like we were aligned. And he opened he and his partner opened a center close to us 30 minutes away from us, so we lucked out it was such a terrible experience.


The Mag 

So now what kind of in your mind who is that perfect ideal candidate for opening a Code Wiz franchise like how would you kind of describe them? Or is it is like your this a woman-owned kind of woman-led endeavor should it should an ideal person be a woman or is it something that I have to be there every day or is this I can be an absentee? Like who's the profile?


Ruth Agbaji  

Okay, so ideally, the first thing that I look out for is somebody who wants to impact their community. Because this, this, this business, in particular, has a lot of highs and lows, and you kind of do those highs and lows, but when you're working in the kids business, you really can't be in it because you think you're good to make a billion dollars, you know, you are there to make money you're gonna make, depending on how hard you work, you know, you will make a lot of money, but you need to be really driven by the fact that you are going to be impacting the next generation. 


So that's a big one for us. At this stage, because we're so new, we're also looking for people that have a lot of drive, people that are fairly intrapreneurial, you know, because we're still figuring out some stuff, we figured out a lot. But you know, as with any new system, there are still kinks to be worked out. So, we need somebody who can just take what we have, and just run with it. And you don't have to have a tech background, you just need to be willing to be able to understand how we approach teaching our kids and be willing to work with that. I think those are the three big things that we look out for you don't have to be a woman, I would love to see more women do this. But you don't have to be a woman.


The Mag

Now, is the opportunity for like individual locations. Are you selling these kinds of in blocks? Like, are you looking for multi-unit people?


Ruth Agbaji

So, we are open to multi-unit deals, we believe that we can run that people can run this business and be absentee that's the way I run it right now. I'm not in the center all the time, I have a full-time director that takes care of all day-to-day activities. So, this can certainly be a semi-absentee. And definitely, multi-unit deals are possible, we just asked that you know, the owners, just be involved to some level, we don't want it to be a completely passive investment, where you just put money and forget about it. We do want you to be involved in the community. But you can certainly keep your day job if you want to.


The Mag

Now in a given market, I know coding is hard and robotics is hard. How are you competing locally against, you know, the after-school program at some of you know, elementary schools or middle schools or high schools?


Ruth Agbaji

The demand honestly, is just so, so high, that it really hasn't been too much of an issue. And we have also found that because we are a center and we offer a bunch of things every single day, parents do tend to come to us because there are different options that they can pick from a lot of times of elementary and middle schools. You know, after school programs, they might have like coding for one hour a week. But it's just one particular course that is being offered. And everybody has to take that on. Another cool thing that we do is every student's path is personalized. 


So, you're not stuck with the class. You don't have to progress at the pace of the class. If you're a fast learner, you move fast. If you're a slower learner, you move at your own pace. But we class structures, the teacher always has to cater to the average kid. So, the faster ones are bored, the slower ones are frustrated, but we structure very differently where everyone's at their own pace and I think that's a big draw for parents.


Stone Payton

If you're just now joining us, you're listening to Franchise Marketing Radio. Our guest today is the CEO with Code Wiz Miss Ruth Agbaji. Ruth, Stone Payton here got a question for you in terms of the marketing approaches, tools that you're using, what tools or approaches email, direct mail, pay per click social, are you finding the most effective for you when it comes to getting the word out about the franchise opportunity to potential candidates for that.


Ruth Agbaji

So, we are finding we have a lot of organically, but we are also finding that pay per click works. Facebook has been our biggest source of leads so far. With Google coming in second. We invest very heavily in SEO. So, our SEO has also brought in a lot of organic leads for us, and we partner with FranNET that were in the broker network there and they have also been sending us a ton of leads to


The Mag

Now, what has been your biggest challenge? Did you have more challenges when you were starting out and it was just you and you were trying to figure it out or now the challenges of growing a franchise networking in attracting franchisees? Now more of your challenges.


Ruth Agbaji

I think that supporting the franchisees is the biggest challenge right now. Because I'm finding that what works in one market doesn't necessarily work. In another market, what works in the suburban market doesn't work in a market that is densely populated. So, you always have to come up with a different strategy for approaching marketing for each individual franchisee. 


And I think that that's the challenge that we have making sure that everybody is successful and profitable in the market that they're in. So, understanding that markets have cooled in resources to be able to help the franchisees be able to be everything that they can be in their markets. That is the biggest challenge right now.


The Mag

And what's been the most rewarding part? Do you have kind of a success story? Or maybe it's a kid that went through the program, or I know that you're relatively new with franchisees? But do you have a kind of story that stands out that kind of illustrates that the impact that Code Wiz has on the community or an individual?


Ruth Agbaji

Yeah. So, we had this young lady, she came in and was learning how to do the video game. And as part of learning that she needed to learn about the coordinate system, the x, and y-axis. And so, her coach took us to the board explained to her what the x and y-axis were. And, you know, she seemed like she got it. The very next day, her mom sends us an email and said, she has to go for some testing. I'm not sure what, what exactly she has been tested for. But she has to go for some cognitive testing. 


And one of the questions that she was asked was on the x and y-axis, and she just the girl just started screaming, I know this, I know this, I learned that that Code Wiz. And so, because of what she learned, she was able to pass that test. And that was, that was really, really, really, really cool. Because that's all we want, you know, for them to be able to take what they're learning that applies to other aspects of their lives. And this is a one out of, you know, so many, we have a lot of kids because we tend to attract kids that, you know, might not really fit in sports. They're more than nerdy type. And so, they come to Code Wiz, and they find their tribe. And they're so happy. We see moms come in and they're crying that their son finally has a place that he feels accepted. Yeah, stories like that could go on and on forever.


The Mag

Well, this must be such rewarding work for you, and congratulations on all your success. If somebody wants to learn more about Code Wiz and maybe get started in their community, what are the coordinates?


Ruth Agbaji

So, the very first thing is to visit our website. www.thecodewiz.com/franchising, and read the information that's on there, fill out the form, our sales Development Director of Development Kim, she's fantastic. She'll get in touch, and she'll describe more, you know, talk more about what we do the opportunities, see if it's right for you, right for us. We're really not about just trying to sell so we don't just pick everyone that gives us a check. We tried to make sure that it's a good fit for the person and a good fit for us. Just so we grow a stronger brand together.


The Mag 

Good stuff, Ruth. Well, that's thecodewiz w i z .com. To learn more. Thank you so much for sharing your story today.

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