Congratulations to Karen Lossing—this year’s Mathnasium Family-Owned Franchise Rock Star! Karen, her husband, and two children have built a Mathnasium enterprise! Karen opened her first franchise location in 2013, but with the help and support of her immediate family, they’ve now grown their Mathnasium empire into a 14-territory juggernaut. This includes five North Texas locations, three in California, three in Arizona, and three in Colorado. For someone who initially described the leap into business ownership as “daunting,” Karen Lossing has set an example for many other entrepreneurially minded individuals. This is her, and her family’s, incredible success story…
Doing the Math to Discover a Perfect Match
As Karen Lossing began the franchise investigative process, she wasn’t quite sure what to expect. She didn’t know whether she needed to fall back on her marketing degree or tech and pharmaceutical career experience. Because she’d gone back to school and earned a master’s in educational leadership and mathematics curriculum, she eventually wound up teaching. So many choices. But then the perfect match just…appeared. “We explored a few options, popular food services and fitness mostly, but ultimately, I knew that if I was going to be successful, I needed to walk in the door with a number of skills in hand. The one key attribute we knew was we wanted to feel we made a difference. When I was introduced to Mathnasium, it was an explosive moment of confidence in my decision to move forward.” After signing her franchise agreement, Karen set off to learn the brand’s 700-page operations guide and spent a week of onsite training in Los Angeles. Because she’s been a franchisee for 10 years now, she’s seen the business model, training, and support level consistently improve over time. “Their technology improves all the time. We are math people and love data that assists with decision-making. Currently, I’m a beta tester for improved business intelligence. It is exciting to see how far we have come in measuring growth, efficiencies, and profitability.”
Rapid Mathnasium Expansion and Recurring Recognition
Not surprisingly, Karen Lossing has racked up several performance awards for her franchise ownership acumen with Mathnasium . After beginning with a single unit, she and her husband, Steven, quickly acquired three new locations in San Diego, California. Then, as her grown children began to graduate from college, they entered the family Mathnasium business and helped it grow even further. Daughter Libby was instrumental in setting up three locations in the Phoenix market. Her brother Evan graduated soon after and was put in charge of additional North Texas locations. To manage all 14 territories, each of the Lossings has a specific role to play. Karen handles the education and curriculum components. Her husband, Steve, manages the finances and expansion plans. Daughter Libby is the marketing specialist, and son Evan oversees the human resources. Together, they’ve garnered their fair share of recognition from Mathnasium’s corporate office. Since 2017, they’ve been in the top 10 for ownership portfolio by revenue, and their flagship operation is a perennial top-25 nationwide success story. At the most recent 2022 Mathnasium Convention, the family was credited with a top-five ownership portfolio and top-10 award for locations. When they’re not pulling down awards such as these, Karen and the family somehow find time to participate in Mathnasium’s Advisory Committee. And they also host monthly round tables where they consider seasonal topics and swap innovative ideas with other franchisees in the system.
Adding Up the Rewards
Karen and her family have become successful business owners through the many advantages that the Mathnasium franchise opportunity offers. “I couldn’t be more thrilled to have built a business with my family. The best part was it was entirely organic. My daughter lives in Phoenix, my son lives in Dallas, and we live in San Diego. It’s been a fun and awesome way to stay connected with our kids – even though we’re far apart. We can separate family time from business time. We will have ‘regional meetings’ on Zoom or together, and it is protected time to be 100% focused on business. Other times we say, ‘Today is a no workday,’ and no one is allowed to bother someone with work-related issues. We’ve carved out each of our specific roles in the company, such as HR, marketing, systems, and legal, and they play to each person’s strengths and preferences. I simply couldn’t be happier or prouder of what we’ve accomplished.” With so much family-related success having been achieved, it’s a natural question as to whether or not the Lossing’s Mathnasium empire will be a legacy opportunity for generations to come. “Succession planning is absolutely part of our business plan. We look at our investment in Mathnasium as generational. Someday Steve and I will fully retire, and we want our kids to feel ready and confident they can do everything without us. Honestly, there is so much they do now that impresses me daily, but there are the less glamorous, less frequent parts, such as lease negotiations, benefits packages, wage increases to avoid compression issues, and budgeting. These are all time-consuming yet vital. We recently added both of our children onto our franchise agreements as we’ve renewed them.”
Well, that statement appears to settle the “succession” question for this incredibly successful Mathnasium franchising family!
For more information on the Mathnasium franchise opportunity, visit mathnasiumfranchise.com, email [email protected], or call 888-763-2604.
