Class 101 college planning franchise owners come from many careers and have a wide variety of education and job backgrounds. They are passionate about impacting students while building generational wealth for themselves and their families. One such example is Randy and Kim Stegemoller, who own three Class 101 franchise locations. Below, in their own words, Randy and Kim share their experiences and explain the “why” behind her decision to franchise with Class 101.
Background
KIM
“I’m an Indiana native, and I earned my computer science degree from Purdue University. I studied computer database management, robotics, engineering, and AI. At the start of my career, I moved to the east coast and began working for a couple of software developers. That’s when I met my husband, Randy, who is also from Indiana. We met at a wedding and three years later, we were married. We have three children and for the next 18 years, I was a stay-at-home mom. I ended up working a couple of years as an editor at a publishing company and it was right about this time that our paths crossed with Class 101.”
RANDY
“I went to school in the Midwest – originally, I had wanted to go to medical school, but I found out that wasn’t what I really wanted to do. I chose business instead and after graduating, I began what would become a 23-year career in pharmaceutical sales. Along the way, many of the largest corporations like mine were doing away with pensions and I knew I needed a new plan for retirement – and fast. Kim and I talked about starting a business and this was right about the time our oldest daughter was going through college prep.”
On Choosing an Entrepreneurial Future
KIM
“We’ve kind of always been entrepreneurial. Together, we ran a small fundraising business before we had kids, so we definitely had some experience. Our own Class 101 story actually goes back to when my oldest daughter was planning to go to college. We didn’t know it at the time, but had she scored just a bit higher on her SAT, she would have qualified for tens of thousands of dollars more in scholarship money. But we just didn’t know what we didn’t know about things like this at the time. We met with her guidance counselor at the high school, who shared that they’re responsible for hundreds of students. After our experience, I began to tell everyone I knew that there was a lot more to college planning. About this same time, my brother in Kentucky had met Tom Pabin (owner of Class 101). He introduced us and everything just fell into place. We became the second franchisees for Class 101.”
What Attracted You to the Class 101 Opportunity?
KIM
“After what we’d gone through with our oldest daughter, many other people began asking me to help their kids with college prep. But we lacked any system for how to go about it or what to charge. That’s right about when we were introduced to Tom [Pabin]. He explained the Class 101 opportunity and it was exactly what we were looking for – literally on a silver platter with a red bow on top.”
RANDY
“Class 101 was an amazing concept, but I think very few people at the time had the skills or entrepreneurial spirit to make this business work. Because it was a franchise, we finally had a structure for helping high school students prep for college.”
Tell Us About Getting Started With Class 101
KIM
“When we first started out, we had the infrastructure of a business, but many of our systems and processes needed some refinement. Nothing was automated, and it was very time-consuming to locate the resources we needed to help people find the best college planning solutions. We were really doing things the hard way. But at the same time, I had a background in this area. My knowledge of computing, automation, and systems paid off, and we were instrumental in creating the first franchise advisory board for Class 101. Randy and I put a lot of hard work into developing the systems and operations that help clients locate the schools, majors, scholarships, and other critical components of college planning. And this is an industry where change is constant. It takes a lot of effort to keep up with the times. We’ve now grown to two Class 101 locations in Indiana and a third in Brandon, Florida.”
RANDY
“We kicked everything off in January 2012 and our first full month was February. We used to do all of our consulting remotely, but in April 2016, we established our first brick-and-mortar presence. And that coincided with me resigning my full-time pharmaceutical sales career to work with Class 101 full time. After widening our territorial reach, we opened a second satellite office in Indianapolis. Our third location, in Florida, was a Class 101 franchise that we bought from an existing owner in July 2021.”
Why Do You Think You Were a Fit for Class 101?
KIM
“Our backgrounds and personal experiences really lent themselves to the concept of Class 101. We’ve put in a lot of hard work and thanks to some of these efforts, it’s so much easier to train and support the newer franchisees coming into the system.”
RANDY
“I think Class 101 really fits our lifestyles. Our children all had to prep for college, so we certainly understood that this was an underserved area of the market. But the flexibility of the business model makes us a great fit for this franchise.”
“What Has This Business Opportunity Afforded You That You Wouldn’t Have Had Otherwise?”
RANDY
“I think the most obvious aspect is that it has given us the freedom to design our own schedule - to plan family events and vacation time first, followed by our business needs. That freedom comes with a lot of responsibility, but it’s definitely been worth it.”
What Does the Future Hold for You?
KIM
“We’ve really grown over the years, and I think it’s a credit to how well we work together as a team. We really complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We’ve helped thousands of high school kids through our Class 101 business and we’re averaging more than 100 seniors each year as clients. We’ve received a lot of awards and still hold a lot of company records, but we’re beginning to think about the future and what it holds for us. Our children have gotten married and we’re getting to the age where we don’t have to hustle as hard and can just enjoy life a little bit more. To that end, our grown daughter has begun to work with us and take over more of the day-to-day responsibilities. She started with us back during Covid and is just a natural at helping these students plan for college. She’s currently running our Carmel, Indiana location.”
RANDY
“We’re in our 60s now and beginning to think about things like an exit strategy. That’s what makes Class 101 the perfect business to own when you’re thinking about retirement. You can stay as involved as you like, and you get to work with these high school kids – it keeps us young! We may throttle back and make it a little more fun, even if it’s a smaller business. It’s been a great opportunity for us and our family.”