By Tobin Slaven, Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Foundation for Economic Education
By focusing on your mission, building a strong community, embracing an iterative mindset, practicing financial discipline, and communicating with clarity, you will develop crucial habits that form the foundation of your own entrepreneurial success.
Ever wonder what makes some school startups soar while others struggle to get off the ground? Spoiler alert: It’s not just about having a great curriculum or a fancy building.
The real magic happens when founders cultivate daily habits that transform their passion into thriving learning communities. Let’s dive into the five key habits that’ll set your school up for success!
Habit 1: Relentless Focus on Mission & Values
You know that feeling when you’re so excited about your school’s mission that you could talk about it for hours? That’s exactly the energy you need!
At Acton, we discovered early on that having a crystal-clear mission wasn’t just nice to have—it was our secret weapon. It guides every decision we continue to make.
The secret ingredient to a thriving school startup isn’t just having a vision—it’s about crystallizing that vision into a beacon that draws others toward it. Founders must craft a functional ethos that permeates every aspect of their schools.
At Acton Academy, our mission to “believe every child and parent deserves to find a calling that will change the world” isn’t just a lofty ideal—it’s the lighthouse guiding every decision. This clarity of purpose helps learners, parents, and staff navigate toward a shared destination.
For those on this journey, Simon Sinek’s Start With Why offers a framework to articulate your purpose in a way that resonates with your community. If you visit any Acton Academy (start with our Fort Lauderdale campus), you’ll see a consistent set of beliefs, a compelling mission, and clear boundaries—all contributing to a cohesive worldview. This language isn’t mandated; it’s a shared philosophy embraced and adopted by each local owner.
By establishing a clear mission, you’re not just starting a school—you’re igniting a movement that attracts families and partners who share your vision for education.
Habit 2: Community-Centric Leadership
Here’s the rub: great schools aren’t built in a vacuum. They’re living, breathing ecosystems that thrive on community involvement.
Great school founders know it’s not about curriculum or facilities—it’s about the families we serve. The most successful schools engage right-fit families, recognizing that one model won’t suit everyone.
Our success at Acton Academy Fort Lauderdale stems from how we connect, inspire, and equip our community of learners, parents, or partners.
Community-centric leadership means regularly sharing your mission and values to attract like-minded families while creating opportunities for connection that foster ownership and belonging. It involves encouraging diverse perspectives within aligned core values, meaningfully involving parents beyond traditional volunteering, and engaging local businesses and experts to deepen community ties and expand learning opportunities.
We replaced traditional parent-teacher conferences with learner-led “Journey Meetings.” Even as early as age 7, learners start to host these meetings with their parents, discussing their own progress and learning plans. They are acting out the learner-driven philosophy.
Remember, building a community-centric school isn’t about pleasing everyone; it’s about cultivating a culture that attracts the right families and partners.
Habit 3: Embracing the Iterative Mindset
Confession time. We didn’t get everything right on day one at Acton. Shocking, I know! But here’s another secret: we didn’t expect to. Instead, we approached our school like an ongoing experiment, always ready to tweak and improve.
Founders with thriving schools view their vision as adaptable, able to grow with real-world feedback. They see their school as an adapting entity, evolving through iterative processes.
At our Acton, we’ve found that our most significant improvements come from embracing feedback. We actively involve our community in refining our practices, leading to continuous enhancement of the learning environment.
This mindset begins with regular reflection on what works, involving the community in the process, and rapid prototyping of new ideas with quick feedback loops. It also means celebrating “failures” by viewing setbacks as valuable learning opportunities that fuel growth and innovation.
Our “Hero Planner” tool for time management evolved through this approach. We started with a simple planner for tracking goals and progress with our younger learners. The process then transitions into sophisticated software for older learners. This iterative development not only improved time management, but also fostered self-reflection and peer-to-peer learning.
Embracing an iterative mindset doesn’t mean constantly changing direction; it’s about small, continuous improvements that empower learners.
Habit 4: Financial Discipline & Sustainability
A thriving school needs a healthy bank account, and that doesn’t happen by accident. While passion drives innovation, financial discipline ensures longevity. Balancing visionary ideas with operational prudence has been key at Acton Academy Fort Lauderdale. As a visionary, I’m often exploring “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” opportunities. My co-founder Martina, with her knack for financial discipline, often says “no” or “not yet,” to many ideas, thus ensuring sustainable growth.
For solo edupreneurs, I recommend focusing on Who, Not How by Drs. Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy. Seek the right people to complement your skills, whether you need a visionary or operational partner.
Buckminster Fuller once noted that to change how people think, you must provide them with a new tool. For financial management, you could try Wave (WaveApps.com/accounting), a free and user-friendly alternative to QuickBooks.
Remember, financial discipline isn’t about stifling creativity—it’s about creating a sustainable foundation for your vision to thrive.
Habit 5: Clear & Consistent Communication
At our school, we live by two mantras: “Clear is kind” and “If it isn’t on a checklist, it doesn’t exist.” While warmth and spontaneity are valued in education, we’ve found that clarity and structure in communication form the backbone of a strong community.
Clear, consistent communication is your ticket to building trust, attracting awesome families, and creating a buzz in your community.
Clear communication isn’t just about sharing information—it’s about setting expectations, defining boundaries, and creating shared language that aligns your community with your mission.
For us, this means being upfront about our learner-driven model, expectations around parent involvement, plus the rewards and challenges of our approach. This clarity attracts right-fit families who commit long-term to growing with our community.
Starting a school goes beyond just opening doors to learners. It’s about cultivating habits that transform your bigger vision into firm reality. By focusing on your mission, building a strong community, embracing an iterative mindset, practicing financial discipline, and communicating with clarity, you will develop crucial habits that form the foundation of your own entrepreneurial success.
Habits are like muscles—they grow stronger with repetition. Wherever you are in your journey, these five habits will guide you. The future of learning awaits your unique contribution.
This article originally was originally published at Foundation for Economic Education.
Tobin Slaven is an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at FEE’s Education Entrepreneurship Lab. He is the co-founder of Acton Academy Fort Lauderdale with his wife Martina, blending education and entrepreneurship.
