Multi-Unit Franchisee Finds Her Fit with Mathnasium

When it comes down to it, finding the right fit in the franchise world is the base of the success pyramid. Great things can happen when franchisees and franchisors come together with mutual respect and determination.

Karen Lossing’s first foray into the business world didn’t go as planned. “My husband and I always knew we wanted to be involved in businesses. Way back when, in our 20s, we owned a vending machine business that was super labor-intensive and a bad idea,” the San Diego resident says. “We got our toes wet. We knew we wanted to do it, but we knew that was not the fit.”

They got jobs, had kids, and did “all that kind of stuff,” she says. Lossing went back to school to get a master’s degree and her teaching credentials and started working in education.

When her kids went off to college, Lossing knew she was at a crossroads. “We got to the point where it was like, ‘Are we going to take this next job and relocate? Are we going to stay put? What are we going to do?’” she recalls.

She knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur, but she also knew she wanted to be an educator. The answer seems obvious now but wasn’t then.

“I ran into a middle school best friend who randomly happened to be in Dallas, where I was living at the time,” she says. “I said, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do.’ She’s like, ‘We own two Mathnasiums. You should get involved in Mathnasium.’”

Lossing described that moment as a “click.”

“All of the sudden, I was like, ‘What is Mathnasium?’” she says. “I did my research and loved it. It’s all the things I love about being an educator, and I can just focus on the things I love.”  

She found where she fit. She opened her first Mathnasium in 2013. She now owns 14 Mathnasiums in four states with her husband and children.

Business is hard. Without the right fit, it can be next to impossible. However, putting in the work on the front end can help you get to Lossing’s “click” moment, opening a world of possibilities that might not have been imaginable until then.

“I have a girl who started with us in fifth grade. She’s a senior this year. She said, ‘I grew up here,’” Lossing says. “I realized she was right. A lot of people did. It’s been 10 years, and the guy who serves as a manager was the second kid we signed up when we first opened our doors. It’s amazing to think about how far we’ve come.”