Mark Van Wye likes to teach. In particular, she loves teaching about teaching.
He once ran a summer program for teens called School School, which revealed the motivations of teachers, administrators, and test takers to assist them achieve higher results.
Van Wye’s first job was teaching computer programming in an adult evening school. He was 11 years old, and a 12 months later he was about to embark on his first entrepreneurial adventure – a two-way marketplace for schools to extend efficiency while reducing friction between students and teachers. For this endeavor, he received an award from the Governor of Florida, which is normally reserved for curators and directors.
In highschool, Van Wye divided his time between working in biomedical research labs and writing educational newsletters on personal finance for Shearson-Lehman. He then received a grant from the Ford Foundation to conduct educational research with Easter seals using recent technologies. This all happened while he was studying neurobiology at Amherst College.
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After college, Van Wye worked in educational television, taught classrooms, and developed educational programs for clients resembling Microsoft, Disney, and Nintendo.
Today, Van Wye has had tremendous success along with his company Zoom Room.
“I understand it sounds a bit metaphorical, but as franchisors we teach franchisees the way to teach their trainers, the way to teach our customers the way to train their dogs,” says Van Wye.
How exactly did the dogs enter the scene?
“The transition from teaching kids to dogs was surprisingly easy,” said Van Wye. “On the business side, there was a billion-dollar market – a chance to have a complete category worldwide, one which had barely seen any innovation. But on the non-public side, I feel it was something else.”
It’s not unusual for CEOs to discuss passion for what they do.
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“The most formative work I’ve done for Zoom Room has been developing curricula for tens of millions of kids through the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. I learned to pilot and evaluate. I learned the way to turn volunteers into qualified teachers. I discovered that essentially the most significant results got here from anything that prompted caregivers to spend more time with their children. I discovered that those children in disenfranchised communities who had a family dog outperformed their peers.”
Sam Van Wye grew up with Snowy, a typical poodle.
“The reality is that not every child has loving parents, but having a dog provides people of all ages – and particularly children – with the right melting pot to experience true, unconditional love,” says Van Wye.
Not surprisingly, Zoom Room staff’s uniform doesn’t even include the name of his company. It reads: “Love. Unconditional.”
The Zoom room is exclusive. You cannot leave the dog. You go to classes along with your dog, but you are a student yourself.
“One time I used to be on the MTV Movie Awards and my Komondor, Clyde, and I were called on stage and asked to explain the Zoom Room. I hesitated a bit and said I used to be there for Zoom Room dog training but, “We don’t train dogs. We train individuals who love them.”
And so the official Zoom Room motto was born.
One of Van Wye’s parallel goals for Zoom Room is to create a platform that celebrates teaching as a occupation while elevating dog training as worthy of a serious profession path.
Van Wye has used a long time of education knowledge to make Zoom Room successful. For example, working with differentiated learning has develop into a famous and lucrative franchise tier system, providing clients with flexible scheduling and the power to go at their very own pace.
“For me, Zoom Room has been a dream come true because it focuses on my long-standing commitment and belief in positive reinforcement. I even raised my son with this philosophy.” Van Wye says.
There isn’t any denying the successful results of Van Wye and Zoom Room. The company entered 2020 with nine locations, and today has 90 franchise deals in 26 states. Van Wye is even the creator of a best-selling dog training book, Puppy training in seven easy steps, in addition to a puppy training book for teenagers. Zoom Room boasts more five-star reviews than another dog trainer within the country, giving the corporate an NPS rating of 90.
“I won’t rest until Zoom Room becomes a real synonym for dog training, not only here within the US, but world wide,” says Van Wye.
Based on the financial success of the model and its dizzying trajectory, Zoom Room is the culmination of Van Wye’s long-standing love of science and teaching.
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