Eric Franzen’s commitment to education led him to start his own school.
What’s your story?
After a career of about 15 years as a building administrator and teacher, my business partner and I built Ideal School. We did not know how innovative it was. I had an inspiring moment that caused us to take the leap to transition from a six-figure stable career to becoming an employer. This inspiration came one year prior to Covid 19. As it turned out, it was perfect timing. After incredible challenges, we have now built an internationally-accredited private school that is innovative and amazing. I had to use all the lessons learned from a career to do it.
What excites you most about your industry?
Very simply, I get excited to speak to new families from around the world and give them hope that there is an alternative way to look at K-12 education. I wake up early each day with enthusiasm to help our growing team of professionals and to provide a very high-level of international education. I see so much potential to reach thousands of families around the globe, as the world continues to sink into uncertainty. Education is the most important industry because society depends on it. It is a great industry to be in because of the potential.
What drives you in your career to push beyond what other people consider normal?
The wonderful collaborative team we have built inspires and pushes me. They have adopted our vision and mission and they support me through their love for what we are doing. There are very difficult days and without the positive team around me, it would much harder to overcome those struggles. Also, the pursuit of serving as many families as possible drives me each day to work harder than the day before.
What have been the most useful skills you have learnt and applied in your journey?
My persistence, resilience, confidence in my intuitions, and my unwavering integrity. I also start each day by creating a check list of “to-dos” on a note pad. I find this to be very critical, as many challenges can come flying at me simultanesouly each day and I need something to focus on. Finally, a Japanese proverb rings in my head constantly, “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.”
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
One of my dear mentors, Cliff Anderson, taught me so much, as I was entering school administration. Amongst many other things he told me one that stands out was, “If it does not makes sense then it is not true.” He was a no-nonsense midwesterner that never lost his sense of honesty and integrity, even though he trudged through a challenging career in public education.
Who inspires you?
My dear mentors, Cliff Anderson, Dr. Doreen Hamilton, Dr. Thu Ament, and Lee Fulfs all taught me the science and art of teaching, and administration. I carry their words of wisdom and examples with me everyday. Also, on an international level, the former president of Uruguay, José Alberto Mujica Cordano, is a true example of servant leadership and humility. I absolutely admire the way President Mujica did not let leadership change who he was or how he lived. He was humble and happy. This is something I think I learned during my two years living in Guatemala as a volunteer.
What have you learnt recently that blew you away?
That the famous line from the ’90s movie, Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.” is in fact true. We took a lot of risk in building our dream school. And after daily labor of love, the families in fact do come to us. Every year since we founded the school in 2018 we have seen growth. We have not gone backward. We are still a small school, but we will become much larger because of my persistence and the leadership we have formed.
If you had your time again, what would you do differently?
I am not sure that I would change anything because I feel that even mistakes form wisdom and improvement. I am glad that I had absolutely no idea how monumentally difficult it was going to be to build what we have today. I do not look backward in my life. I do not even like to look at photos of my family. I like to live for today, then dream and achieve for tomorrow. There is no reason to dredge up the past, in my opinion. Just learn from yesterday but not to live in it.
How do you unwind?
I like playing with our two dogs and our two children. I play the piano and accordion as a form of “unwinding”. I also love to cook with my wife. I also love going to the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii with my family to relax.
What is a major mindset change, belief shift or ‘ah ha’ moment that you’ve experienced in relation to your career?
I have learned to believe in myself more. I grew up in a very abusive family. I did not call it abusive when I was living it, but as I have been away from it for decades, I realize that the way that my parents raised me caused me to be very anxious and not trust in others nor in myself. After years of seeing that things do work out in my career and the business we built in 2018, I can now start to trust in myself and not to be so anxious.
Everyone in business should read this book:
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol S. Dweck
It has taught me how to fulfill my potential in parenting, business, school, and relationships.
Shameless plug for your business or career:
Ideal School is the world’s only two-way dual language immersion online school. We connect students and teachers from around the world so that they can learn core curriculum in both English and Spanish. We are accredited at the highest level offered by Cognia, the world’s most recognized accreditor. We are a registered private school with the Department of Education in Florida. Please contact us to schedule a no-obligation FREE live demo class so you can learn why we might be the ideal school for your family.
How can people connect with you?
They can call 1-888-390-7044 and ask for Eric Franzen, or they can email me at efranzen@idealschool.education or they can visit us at www.idealschool.education
Social Media Links?
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/idealschool.edu
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/idealschool_edu/
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCindQAIsGoP_Ys3NFwC8BDA?view_as=subscriber
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-franzen/
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@idealschool_edu?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/0uy5hb5SDBiVMOqmkANznB
This interview is part of the CallumConnects series.