From Entrepreneur to Educator: The Business of Starting a School | Chris Georgetti

Speaker 1 What is up entrepreneur DNA family? This is another episode with an incredible guest, but as you can see, I am not in the studio right now.

Speaker 1 In fact, my guest has gotten us the privilege to be sitting in Saba Restaurant here at the Evermore Resort down in Orlando. It is incredible.
If you can see it, the Blue Lagoon is phenomenal.

Speaker 1 Thank you to my guests for putting this all together. Now, to my guests, this is an individual who's very dynamic.

Speaker 1 He actually is someone that can help entrepreneurs start real schools, get licensed, get accredited, and make real impact on those who are trying to make impact. Chris Georgetti is in the house.

Speaker 2 Hey, Justin, thanks. I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 My man, I appreciate you. Thank you for this.
This is pretty darn incredible, I tell you.

Speaker 2 Oh, it's a beautiful facility. I mean, I have to say thanks to Rob, the GM here at Saba, for setting us up.

Speaker 2 And honestly, it's just an incredible place. If you could look out there and see that lagoon,

Speaker 2 that's where you want to be today, not in here. Amen.

Speaker 1 Amen. Well, listen, you do something really incredible.
I think there's a lot of us that do want to make impact. I'm an educator myself in the real estate space.

Speaker 1 You know, obviously this podcast creates a lot of value and makes a lot of impact. But talk about what you do.
Cause I actually think what you do, how you do it is actually not even a none.

Speaker 1 It's an unknown resource to the majority of the public.

Speaker 2 Yeah. You know what? Licensing and accreditation is really something to go hand in hand, right?

Speaker 2 A lot of people, when they start a college or a university or even a trade school, they really don't know where to start.

Speaker 2 They may be someone who's a great electrician, someone who's a great nurse, someone who's great in business, and they think, I really want to teach people. I want to teach people what I know.

Speaker 2 But where do I start? Well, the states around the country all say you have to start with us with licensing. You have to be state licensed.

Speaker 2 And, you know, it's not an easy task to take your idea and take it all the way to fruition and get a state license.

Speaker 2 So that's what we really do.

Speaker 2 A lot of our clients are just those. They're entrepreneurs who think, I'm going to start something so I can teach people what I know.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And so who, who, like, obviously as someone, I'm an educator. I'm not a licensed educator.
I'm not accredited.

Speaker 1 But as someone goes into this field or is listening to this episode, like, what should they be thinking? Like, if this is the right voyage, should they be going down the path of being licensed?

Speaker 1 Should they be getting credited? What is the avatar? And who, how would you be talking to the avatar?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think for most people, right, if they have that idea, if they have that drive and that will and desire and the financial backing, yeah, because it's not a cheap venture to start a college or university, no doubt.

Speaker 2 Um, even if you do it full online, it's still not cheap, right? Uh, is to really decide: can I impact others? Can I show people what I know

Speaker 2 well enough by either myself or faculty to be able to be successful in this industry, whatever that industry may be.

Speaker 2 And I really believe that if they have that drive and that wherewithal, they can make it happen.

Speaker 2 But they need someone to teach them how to get licensed. That's the key.

Speaker 1 Are you doing mostly, I would guess, by the way, this is a total guess, mostly virtual colleges at this point?

Speaker 1 Or are people actually starting brick and mortar, going to a classroom, or is the predominant

Speaker 1 clientele that you work with, are they doing more of the virtual type of

Speaker 2 shit? It's probably about a 70-30 split, virtual, full online

Speaker 2 to brick and mortar. No kidding.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 That just seemed...

Speaker 1 I think in today's world, there's so much to be done online. I'm thinking, oh man, because when you talk about the financial costs, I know what it costs to run my education.

Speaker 1 It is all virtual and it's not licensed and not accredited. And I know my cost.

Speaker 1 So for someone to go,

Speaker 1 do they, so let's talk, walk through the brick and mortar. Do they have to have the location already set before they can get licensed?

Speaker 1 Is that something they can work on while getting licensed and accredited?

Speaker 2 Like, what does that look like? So, every state's a little bit different, but let's take Florida for example.

Speaker 2 Sure, Florida has what's called the Commission for Independent Education, and that is the licensing body in Florida that licenses colleges, schools, trade schools, what have you.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 2 Florida has about 26 requirements that are definitely,

Speaker 2 they're,

Speaker 2 how should I put it?

Speaker 2 You don't get to guess. Like you have to know what you're doing in these 26 requirements and demonstrate to the commission that these items are all handled.
Yeah. And

Speaker 2 from a location standpoint, yes, you need that location identified because you have to submit tax IDs, you have to submit COs, you have to submit leases or purchase.

Speaker 2 It all has to be in place when that application is submitted. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then in terms of, and you do this in all 50 states? Yes.

Speaker 2 Around the world. Around the world.
Yeah, we, and you and I have talked about it.

Speaker 1 You've traveled. I mean, you're, you're out there.
You're going.

Speaker 2 Yeah, we have them in Dubai, UAE, Abu Dhabi. I mean, wherever you, wherever there's a ministry of education, If it requires you to be licensed, people call and we get them licensed.

Speaker 1 I think there's something really valuable for all of my entrepreneurs who are educators. I think this is something that you need to find Chris, and I'm happy to make an introduction.

Speaker 1 His information will be here. You're also on Facebook, I'm assuming, and LinkedIn.
Correct. Georgetti is not an easy last name to spell.
So let's get it.

Speaker 2 It's not even easy to say. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 No doubt. So, Chris Georgetti, but how do you spell your last name so everyone can find you?

Speaker 2 George with a T-T-I. There you go.
T-E-O-R-G-E-T-T-I. That's it.

Speaker 1 So make sure to reach out because I think there's a large audience that I have that they do educate.

Speaker 1 And I think this is something that I think most of us would actually look at contemplating because it creates a uniqueness within the education realm.

Speaker 1 So in my world, I'm in the real estate education realm that

Speaker 1 I could get people to understand you're getting an actual, whether it's a certificate or a degree, something from the education, and you have to test through it.

Speaker 1 I think mostly on the online education space in my world, internet marketers, it's here's some videos, here's some documents, watch and learn and go from there.

Speaker 1 There's no tests. There's no proving that you actually understood the concept that you, right?

Speaker 1 And I think there's a big value to that, especially if you care about the success of the student. Let's talk to that because I think that's, that's a

Speaker 1 really big reason for these entrepreneurs to realize like, if you really genuinely care about them learning, then do it that way.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And I would agree with that.
And I would tell you that being being a former campus president and running schools over the years there is no

Speaker 2 there is no better accomplishment than watching a set of graduates walk across that stage yeah that is that is whenever you know that what you have done means something that's right because you hear that family in the audience for a lot of those students That's the only student who ever went to college.

Speaker 2 Yeah. You know, and they're sitting there going, you know what? I did it.
But more importantly, their family's watching him saying, that's my son or daughter. That's right.

Speaker 1 That's a proud moment. And I remember I went to UCLA very much brick and mortar, very much not cheap.
No. But there was that moment, right? You know, your family's there and vice versa.

Speaker 2 You could say, oh, I did that.

Speaker 1 My family's watching. And I think that's a really impactful thing.
And it's a shame that COVID kind of made almost everything virtual. It does sound like there's a quarter.

Speaker 1 of your clientele that actually do a brick and mortar.

Speaker 1 Talk to me how you got into this.

Speaker 2 I think this is a unique space.

Speaker 1 How did you get involved in helping these entrepreneurs become licensed and accredited? How does that origin story start for you?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I started as a faculty member

Speaker 2 way back in 1997 in Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 Just decided that I wanted to teach computer hardware, you know, breakdowns, rebuilds, things like that. And the school was looking for someone just in that space.

Speaker 2 They had a program that was definitely all built around computer hardware. So started there, moved up to be a dean, then eventually a vice president of operations, became a campus president.

Speaker 2 Years after that,

Speaker 2 my old company was bought by a conglomerate and the conglomerate was based in Puerto Rico and Florida.

Speaker 2 And I took over all the Puerto Rican and Florida schools as the vice president of operations.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 just over time, right? You learn it. And And I was fortunate to have amazing mentors.
I really was.

Speaker 1 What's one of the best things that some of your mentors have ever taught you within business, within the vertical that you're in?

Speaker 2 Student comes first. Okay.
Don't ever forget it.

Speaker 2 That's why you're there. I mean, if you're going to create an institution, if you're going to run something that's based around students, remember that they come first.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 And I even go a little bit further. I say they come first, last, and always.
That's it.

Speaker 1 Well, listen, it could be as business oriented and less emotional they're the ones that keep the lights on yes they do it could be more emotional and say i want to make a true impact on someone make sure everything i got goes into that person so i can get them to the next level whatever that is whatever industry they're in whatever they're trying to achieve that heartfelt part all also plays in that's where i lean i i think you know education is an interesting spot because it pays the bills, but it also does a whole lot of good for the individual trying to make it.

Speaker 2 Give me some um example universities that you've you've popped up and got licensed here in the recent i'm i'm sure there's a lot but in the recent you know history yeah we we've done over two with worked with over 200 colleges and universities in 10 years wow um and gotten over 500 license approvals of various types yeah whether it's an annual license a new provisional license program modifications, program changes, new programs, over almost 500.

Speaker 2 There's a lot to this.

Speaker 2 There's a ton. Yeah.
And people don't realize it, right?

Speaker 1 Not at all. When you just said all these different things, I'm like, this is way beyond what I was

Speaker 2 expecting. One of the schools that's

Speaker 2 really a

Speaker 2 school that everybody should see is OCOM, stands for Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine. It's based over here about 20 minutes away from us in Horizon West.
And it is an $86 million

Speaker 2 just juggernaut.

Speaker 2 They teach just osteopathic medicine, doctorate program. And the founding dean, Dr.
Hastie,

Speaker 2 he's incredible. Yeah.
Like the vision that he had to take Dr. Patel, who is the owner, to take his dream of creating this and making it something that has now got its second full class

Speaker 2 with a waiting list of two to three years. to get in a dream turned into reality.
It's been incredible. And that that facilities.

Speaker 1 That college specifically, how big is that? How many students?

Speaker 2 That school's about, it's, it's about 180,000 square feet. Okay.

Speaker 2 Right now, they've, they've taken their second cohort and they can only do by COCA regulation or the accrediting body, by their regulation, they can only put in about 95 students per year. Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 So they only have about 190, right around 200 students in that building. Yeah.
And it is phenomenal. You walk through there, you're just blown away.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. That is incredible.

Speaker 1 And it's a so you said said 85 million is that that was the build no kidding yeah but he buying the buying the land the purchase it was about a 200 million dollar project geez yeah that is some financial uh you definitely gotta hold your finance zach yeah gotta have it so is there you know is there this business side let's talk about the business side of that i mean you gotta have backing i mean that's a very expensive backing but even on the smaller side you gotta have some sort of financial means to be able to really get this going yeah i would tell you that student schools that start with straight online programs if they have about a hundred thousand

Speaker 2 they'll be okay okay you know a hundred thousand in in students or no no

Speaker 2 cash yeah okay that's their backing if they can put a hundred thousand in us in a company bank account very doable it's going to be the institution they can start an online school oh there you go that's that's very doable yeah um online schools what have you seen come through recently that you got accredited and licensed and you have to get licensed before you get accredited, right?

Speaker 2 You were telling me that. Yeah, you have to operate for about two.
Every accreditor is a little different. However, most accreditors have a two-year rule.
Okay.

Speaker 2 Some have a one-year rule, but most have two. So you have to operate for two years, which means, in essence, you have to get your license,

Speaker 2 operate for two years, and then you can apply for accreditation. And that takes you about 18 to 24 months to go through that full process.

Speaker 2 So you're talking about being operational for four to five years before you ever get that accreditation grant. Oh, wow.

Speaker 1 And the accreditation gives what amount of value, right? So if you're a licensed college,

Speaker 1 are you able still to give degrees or what does the accreditation actually give value of?

Speaker 2 So the accreditation is, in my opinion, accreditation is valuable.

Speaker 2 But in all honesty, it's about what you want to do with your school. Okay.
If you want to be able to have access to Title IV funding from the federal government,

Speaker 2 you have to be accredited. You have to be.
Sounds normal. That's the, that's just the way it works, right?

Speaker 2 But if you're happy as a cash pay school,

Speaker 2 you don't ever have to get accredited. There are no rules that say you have to.

Speaker 2 Some states do have a rule where if you want to operate as an institution, you have to get accredited after so many years.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 2 Florida is not one of those.

Speaker 2 There are a couple types of schools, like a medical school, an allied health school, that if you are going to operate that after a period of time, you must be accredited.

Speaker 2 But that's a board of nursing decision. Sure.
It's not a state of Florida decision.

Speaker 1 Are there any schools that I would maybe be aware of in like a traditional education format that go through this type of process? Or is that a

Speaker 2 state schools like a UCLA or a UCF, University of Central Florida? Those are state schools. And my partner, Sam, who

Speaker 2 coincidentally created the Commission for Independent Education 45 years ago and he was the executive director for the first 43 Sam always says to people that want to get into this space because this is for-profit yeah yes it's not not for profit well that's I was thinking about University of Phoenix or I'm sorry grand uh grand canyon grand canyon it's a for-profit right in Phoenix yes yes that's the school in my head I was like this sounds a lot more familiar.

Speaker 1 They would go through this type of thing for-profit.

Speaker 2 In their various states that they operate in. That's right.

Speaker 2 See, with every online institution if you want to recruit students from another state you're supposed to get licensed in that state unless that state does not have a specific rule yeah about online education okay so and if you're going to get accredited they all ask you do you have a license for everywhere where you recruit

Speaker 2 so you know you really have to think about long-term the accreditation and what i really want to get out of this Because if I really want to be able to recruit students from 50 states, that means these accreditors might require that I'm licensed in 50 states.

Speaker 2 Now I'll take 100,000 times 50.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it gets there.

Speaker 1 So would a Grand Canyon be

Speaker 1 accredited?

Speaker 2 They are accredited. They don't have to be, though, technically.
They wouldn't have to if they didn't want to.

Speaker 2 They could get a state license in every state, recruit their students, but they wouldn't have access to Title IV.

Speaker 1 And that's the funding.

Speaker 2 And that's where these schools really start to generate tons of revenue and where some of the bad blood for for-profit education comes from, right? If you have some bad actors like you do in every

Speaker 1 industry, every industry.

Speaker 2 But some of them start to recruit students and they don't give them their money's worth.

Speaker 2 They don't put the student first. That's right.
They put profits first. Yeah.
And, you know, Sam always says, in the for-profit sector, these are taxpayers.

Speaker 2 In the state school systems, those are tax users.

Speaker 2 So the owners of for-profit schools, those are taxpayers. And we need to really be thankful that they pay those taxes.
Amen. Not use the state's money.
Amen. No, I like that.

Speaker 1 All right. So you have a lot of schools right now.
Talk to us about your current schools you currently have. What kind of verticals are they in?

Speaker 1 And talk to us a little bit more about what you guys currently hold.

Speaker 2 Yeah. So

Speaker 2 the key is with like Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine, we call them OCOM for short.

Speaker 2 We have a couple of different schools doing DO programs. We have one that's applying right now in Naples.
We're working on their application, getting it ready for submission to the CIE.

Speaker 2 We have another, Lincoln Memorial University. They're based in Tennessee, but they have a location in Tampa, and they're doing a DO building over in Orange Park

Speaker 2 right around the Jacksonville area. Okay.
Those are going to be enormous schools. They're going to be just like OCOM.
Really?

Speaker 2 Big, you know, big facilities, 150,000, 200,000 square feet. Wow.
Just, and they're top-notch facilities. I mean, really, you think about MD schools,

Speaker 2 these doctor of osteopathic medical schools, to me, they blow them away. Really? Yeah, they do it right.
They really do because osteopathic medicine is much different than an MD. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 So they do it right. They prep the students to take care of patients.

Speaker 1 Is it mostly medical? Is that kind of the book of...

Speaker 2 So we have a lot of nursing, a lot of nursing schools, a lot of allied health schools.

Speaker 2 And then, and it kind of pivots. One school that pivots in the middle is Coastal Technical Institute, which is located down in Palm Bay.

Speaker 2 They came in, the owners came in.

Speaker 2 The prior owner had passed away. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 the school was going to close.

Speaker 2 And these owners came in. I knew them personally.
They're good friends of mine.

Speaker 2 I made the connection for them to look at this school. They bought it.

Speaker 2 And what they've done is take a pivot from nursing when it was Brevard Nursing Academy and they made it Coastal Technical Institute. They bought a brand new building, refurbished the whole thing.

Speaker 2 It's now welding HVAC

Speaker 2 electrical along with the Allied Health. So by rebranding the institution, they've now expanded the institution.
So rebrand equals expand.

Speaker 1 Do they need to do anything when they rebrand? Do you have to go get new licenses or any credit?

Speaker 2 Do you have a new program applications?

Speaker 2 Again, those are some of those you know 500 that we've gotten yeah on those approvals uh yes they got to get new applications in got to get those approved write those new programs before they can ever advertise them like that's a no-no when you yeah some of these schools advertise and they never get the approval from

Speaker 2 and they they get a really really bad slap on the hand from the cie so and so what is the cie

Speaker 2 CIE is the Commission for Independent Education. It is the state licensing body here in Florida.
Okay.

Speaker 1 And then what do you think this, where do you think this is going over the next two years, three years?

Speaker 2 You know, I think you're going to see a lot of blue-collar allied health trade programs start to become the norm of the offerings. Okay.
Because look, those are the entrepreneurs. Yeah.
Right.

Speaker 2 A lot of those people, they understand what they do and they do it really well.

Speaker 2 And they're going to, they're going to try to bring their ideas and their ways of doing things to fruition and teach others.

Speaker 2 And so I think, I think you're going to to see those allied health programs. Truck driving schools are huge now.

Speaker 2 In Florida, we have a lot of CDL schools that are applying and getting approved.

Speaker 2 You know, your regular everyday bachelor, master, doctorate schools, those are always going to be around. We have a lot of those, Arnova University, Schiller International University.

Speaker 2 I could go on Daytona College. I mean, you just keep naming them.
They're clients of ours.

Speaker 2 And we love to work with those people because those people understand education. Yeah.
But we also love to work with the entrepreneurs because they don't understand everything they need to.

Speaker 2 And so they stay on with us for what we call operational guidance. Yeah.
So in those first couple of years after we get them their license, we help them. You hold their hand a little bit longer.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 And we're fortunate because I've done it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 I'll tell you in 2017 when our president reham, she came in, she like took our business and really perfected it because Mike and I were really good at what we did and what we knew, but Rehem put the beauty

Speaker 2 the application. She made everything crystal clear for the regulator to be able to look at, analyze, pick out what they needed, and made the approvals a lot smoother.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 And then in 2023, when Sam retired from the CIE,

Speaker 2 To me, that was my,

Speaker 2 I would call it my shining star moment. Okay.
To have who is widely considered the godfather of education pick up the phone and call you and say, I'm coming to work with you.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 That was my moment. That was my moment where I said,

Speaker 2 I'm done something well. Yeah, I'm doing something.
I'm doing something well because I don't think that man would have ever put his name on a company that he didn't trust.

Speaker 2 And the beauty of it was, We took all those schools in front of Sam for all those years.

Speaker 2 And I am so proud of the fact that all those schools, all those applications, we've never had one single denial. Wow.
We have a 100% perfect record. 100%.
100%.

Speaker 2 That's so shios. It's no bullshit.
It's completely true. We have a 100% success record in Florida.

Speaker 1 Do you ever turn anyone down and say this isn't going to be a good thing? Absolutely.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Absolutely.
And that's one of the reasons we do have 100% success record because we don't just take everybody. That's right.
It's not about the money to us.

Speaker 2 It's about making sure that Sam's reputation, I I mean, he is the godfather. Yeah.
And I do not want to put his reputation, mine, Rehem, Mike, the staff that we have.

Speaker 2 I don't want to put anyone's reputation in jeopardy by taking somebody just to take money. Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's not worth it.

Speaker 1 And so

Speaker 1 yearly, how many applicants come through?

Speaker 2 Usually we'll see 30 to 50.

Speaker 1 It's a lot more than I would have thought.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It's a full-time.
And then out of the 30 to 50, you take on, what, a handful maybe?

Speaker 2 Maybe 15 to 20 of them. Okay.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Number one, we have to analyze, right? Do they have the funding? Do they have the backing? Are they going to be able to go through this process? Due diligence. And once Sam and I know that

Speaker 2 they can do this and they have the wherewithal and the backing, then we say, okay, we can do this for you. Okay.

Speaker 1 And at that point, you have 100% sex ratio. So you are like, this is done.
Give us the time allotted.

Speaker 2 What is the time frame? Two months takes us two months that is it put an application together okay well for the application got it and then four months to get it approved

Speaker 1 still short i'm thinking a year i'm thinking you know but that's why people have to have the facility ready they have to have the various things that are inside of the so you make them get this whole thing ready so that your job is like let me package it let me present it and we're good and then we'll go to that meeting and get your license that's right okay so there's a lot of the work the entrepreneur the the the visionary the person that wants to start this school they got to do a lot of heavy lifting basically prior to you really even submitting the application.

Speaker 2 You help them with the application, but they're going to have to make sure whether they have a brick and mortar, all these other things, they've got to, you know, it comes all the way, Justin, down to zoning and getting a tax ID, right, from the various county or city you're going to be in.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And if you don't even, you know, if you're an entrepreneur and you decide, hey, I have office space.
I just want to open an online institution. Well, that sounds easy, right?

Speaker 2 Get yourself an LMS, get yourself a virtual library, file the business tax ID, and then all of a sudden the city or the county come back and say, oh, your building's not zoned to be an online university.

Speaker 2 Brutal.

Speaker 2 You go, what are you talking about? Nobody's even going to come here. Right.

Speaker 2 The zoning matters.

Speaker 1 Even for an online university. Yes.

Speaker 2 Various,

Speaker 2 there are buildings, there are types of buildings, there are types of locations that will not qualify. Oh, kidding.
Yeah. And it is a, it's a hangout for some people.
Of course.

Speaker 2 They're like, I got to go find another building now. Yeah.
Yeah. But you got to make sure that it's going to pass zoning.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 If it doesn't pass zoning and get you a tax ID, you don't get approved from the CIE. Yeah.
You literally have to go find a facility.

Speaker 2 So you better find a good real estate person that can figure out what buildings qualify. as online universities and will be able to generate a tax ID.
Jeez.

Speaker 1 So the next, you think this is going to become more and more,

Speaker 1 I don't know, popular, I guess is the word I want to use. Like, I just think it's such an unknown, like when you and I first had our conversation, I just said, God, no one knows about this.

Speaker 1 This has got to get out there because I think there's a lot of people that would love to make a bigger effect on whatever industry that they're in. And that there's a real way to do it.

Speaker 1 I think everyone, you know, doesn't know this. Do you think we're going to start to gain some mass attention in this type of vertical?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think so, Justin. And I think the biggest thing is a lot of people do it and they don't even know they have to be licensed.

Speaker 2 Right. There are certain sectors, real estate's one, where you don't have to get a CIE license.
Right. You don't have to get a state license, if you will.

Speaker 2 And so some people just go and they open up a school and they start teaching. And then all of a sudden the CIE finds out about it.
Boom, cease and desist.

Speaker 1 And what happens with the person that is like, like, do you see people's colleges

Speaker 1 fail or fall apart or do anything like that? Or is that very rare, few and far between? Well, once they get licensed, once they get accredited, like

Speaker 2 they're from bad actors, right?

Speaker 2 And right now, Florida just went through a federal raid.

Speaker 2 Nursing schools have gotten a bad rap here in Florida. There are a lot of great nursing schools here in the state, but there are some that probably shouldn't operate.
Sure. And the feds came in.

Speaker 2 They did a raid last year. It was part of what's called a nightingale investigation.

Speaker 2 And they just issued

Speaker 2 a press release that there are about 12 to 15 people in Florida and Pennsylvania that have been operating and taking federal funds, wire fraud, I mean, a lot of things.

Speaker 2 And see, when that breaks, a lot of people go, oh, those for-profit schools are terrible. Right.
Bad actors.

Speaker 2 And instead of going, wait a minute, maybe there's another side to this. What about all those good schools? That's right.
You know, they don't look at that.

Speaker 2 They just read the bad press and they label them. Of course.
But Florida has over 900 licensed institutions in it. Wow.

Speaker 1 And you have two to three. How many of those killed?

Speaker 2 So we've gotten around the world, we've done about over 200.

Speaker 2 And in Florida, right around probably 130, 140

Speaker 2 over the years. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So, Chris, this is incredibly interesting. I think kind of where my mind goes is like,

Speaker 1 same entrepreneur question. What would be the secret sauce to success in the online educational world?

Speaker 2 I think the the first thing is to perform your due diligence. If you're a consultant, when people call you, give them a solid overview.
You know, tell them what's going to be needed.

Speaker 2 Tell them what's expected. Don't give them everything.
You can't, it's just, it's good sales too, right? You don't, you don't give them everything. Yeah.

Speaker 2 But you really do make sure that they understand what's going to be required of them.

Speaker 2 And then once you go through the negotiation phase, you get that contract signed, turn around, hold an immediate kickoff call, and go through every single item in great detail.

Speaker 2 Make sure that those people understand,

Speaker 2 okay, over the next two months, this is what I'm going to have to do.

Speaker 2 And we're going to help you along the way. We're not just going to say, do it all, send it to us, and we package it up.
That's not how we do things.

Speaker 2 We help them with a lot of this. But if they don't understand it,

Speaker 2 they'll never be able to complete it in two months. Once that happens, that kickoff call, set the timelines for each of the items, hold bi-weekly calls with them, hold them accountable.

Speaker 2 Sometimes they need a kick in the ass,

Speaker 2 you know, get things done because they're just, they're busy. Look, I get it.
They're busy with whatever they're doing in their specialty, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 So give them that little boost, give them a push

Speaker 2 gently but firmly.

Speaker 2 And then once you get that license and all those materials ready,

Speaker 2 perfect it. Put it together so that the CIE or whatever regulator is going to review it can quickly go through it and identify the areas that they need to see.

Speaker 1 Make it easy.

Speaker 2 Give it to them. And once they see it, they're always going to come back and ask for something.
Yeah. That's the way it works.

Speaker 2 But give it right back to them quickly.

Speaker 2 And within four or five months, you're going to be on a meeting. You're going to be at the podium.
More importantly, prep them before they get to that podium. Tell them what's expected of them.

Speaker 2 And then when they get that license, celebrate with them.

Speaker 2 That's it. That's the secret sauce.
And you would think that that's an easy thing to comprehend. But I know we're the only people that have done it to perfection.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 So it must not be that easy.

Speaker 1 No, it is not. If it was that easy, everyone would do it.

Speaker 2 I think so.

Speaker 2 That's the thing.

Speaker 1 This has been incredibly informative since the first time we talked. I'm like, dude, this is really incredible.

Speaker 1 Cause I would argue, I don't think there's a lot of people out there listening and watching this that even knows that this exists.

Speaker 1 So again, Chris Giorgetti, Facebook, LinkedIn, George, Eddie, E-T-T-I,

Speaker 1 great guy. We're here at SIBA here at the Evermore Resort because of you.
I really appreciate you coming on this episode and sharing a little bit more and aligning more on

Speaker 1 what can be done in the education space.

Speaker 2 And Justin, I got to tell you, just to wrap it on from my end. There is not a better state to do business in.

Speaker 2 The Commission for Independent Education is probably the best regulatory body out of all 50 states. They just, they understand it.

Speaker 2 Sam built a machine at the CIE, and they have continued to operate at a high level. And we're very fortunate that we're able to take our clients in front of them and give them good schools to approve.

Speaker 1 Chris, I appreciate you, brother. Thanks.
Thank you for coming on. You bet, man.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 Yeah, if this was good and you think there's someone out there that probably should hear this and watch this, please share this with two of your friends.

Speaker 1 We will see you on the next episode of the Entrepreneur DNA.