Mo Khalil worked in sales, but he had the entrepreneurial bug. In 2003, he moved to Florida and opened a Verizon Wireless franchise, which he grew to multiple locations. But when his son was born, he says: “I started thinking about the legacy and how much I loved my children.” And he thought back to his childhood—when, at age 11, he and his parents immigrated from Egypt to the Bronx. “Math was honestly the only bright spot in the day until I learned English,” he says. That passion for mathematics remained.

Khalili sold his Verizon stores and opened the first Matnasium in January 2011. Today, it owns 70 in seven states and has been Mathnasium's master franchisee for 10 years, with annual revenue of more than $30 million. Here, he shares his strategy for success.

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1. Location is everything.

“A new franchise owner can go after the lowest investment (rent),” says Khalil. “I do the opposite. I ask for the highest rent. I'm serving the upper middle class, so you have to be where they are. At traffic lights people are sitting for three or four minutes staring at your sign. I don't buy so much impression for so little money.”

2. Enter the room with your customers.

“A lot of people join the Chamber of Commerce as if that's the only thing that's going to make a difference. But you also have to go where your customer is. Mine are in schools, so I'll go to PTA meetings to find out what each school Needs, and provide them, each usually has three fundraisers a year, and I'm involved with all of them.

3. Hire staff based on core values.

“We're looking for someone who sees family as a core value. These people will stay with you longer and are more trainable. In interviews, look for multiple: Tell me about three or four of your core values. What guides you every day? We leave it open and then drill from there.”

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Bonus tips

Mathnasium CEO Mike Davis says one of Khalil's greatest strengths is how fast his sales funnel is. “A lot of times, parents call us in distress,” Davis says. “The kid just got a bad grade. The parents just fought at the kitchen table about how to do algebra. When they call, (Khalil) is great about getting them into the center to get an assessment and then 'was helped. Quickly because of his architecture He has always available for evaluations.