By: Doruk Gundogdu, owner of School is Easy Langley North
I joined the School is Easy network this past summer because I wanted to do good for my community while pursuing my passion for youth education. With that being said, I knew that truly doing good meant getting involved beyond just the lens of business. So, as soon as I had my feet under me, I started looking for opportunities to do exactly that.
While browsing announcements from our local Chamber of Commerce, I came across a post from the Kinsmen Club of Langley inviting community groups to participate in local events. I reached out to learn more, and that quickly led to my business becoming a participant at Summer Nights in the Township, a series of community events featuring outdoor movie nights, music, games, and other family-oriented activities.
The Kinsmen Club sponsored the events, making them free for local families and businesses like mine to participate. In return, we contributed by providing complimentary popcorn for families to enjoy during the movies, and we created a pop-up stand full of materials explaining exactly who School is Easy Langley North is and how we can support local students.
While serving popcorn, my team and I had the opportunity to meet families from the community and chat about their children’s educational interests and needs. We introduced those same families to our personalised services, and when parents expressed interest, we collected their information so we could stay in touch after the event.
The experience allowed me to accomplish exactly what I set out to do when I joined School is Easy only a few months ago: connect with my community in a meaningful way while providing families with resources that can benefit them. It also proved to me that community involvement can generate valuable business. Simply by having conversations with families passing by, we’ve had eight leads already!
By paying attention to our local community calendar and not being afraid to reach out, the Summer Nights event gave us the perfect opportunity to build relationships at little to no cost.
As I continue to invest myself in School is Easy Langley North, I look forward to finding more ways I can connect with and support local families. I highly encourage other franchise owners like myself to look for similar opportunities in their own communities.
