First person: Cerebral Palsy hasn't stopped me being a Maths-Whizzer!

Feb. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- Michael Cash has cerebral palsy, a condition so severe that his parents were told it was unlikely he would ever live an independent life. Michael has also had to deal with feed-back referencing the impossibility of him ever making any real money in a customer-facing environment....luckily for both Michael and Whizz Education, none of the above came true!

In his late thirties, Michael lives in a comfortable self-financed flat in Finchley - many years after having completed his honours degree at Leeds Metropolitan University in computing. He is a superb skier and travels widely. After successfully pursuing several career paths, Michael decided that he wanted to combine his passion for computing and education and set about getting himself work that would allow him to do this. He joined Whizz Education in 2005 as a self-employed, commission-only sales person and outstripped virtually everyone in terms of school appointments he made for this burgeoning online tutoring business. His success led to the creation of the first Whizz Education Advisor pilot eighteen months ago. He sells the Maths-Whizz suite of services into teachers, schools and local education authorities. His secret – persistence, tenacity and an absolute belief in what he is doing, Michael goes on to explain:


“A school in Kensal Rise bought Tutoring Plus for 90 pupils along with the related service agreement last March. Many people might think that at that point it was ‘job done’ as, although the bill hadn’t been paid yet all agreements had been signed. I had ensured they had bought a service agreement as well, which reassured me that they would be getting ongoing training as to how to implement Maths-Whizz correctly.  Because a good relationship is at the heart of successful ongoing collaboration, I always check on my schools though. This is how I realised that Maths-Whizz had still not been implemented by the following October. I started phoning to find out what was going on.  After my twentieth attempt or so, I finally got speaking to the Maths Co-ordinator.  Although I do work mainly from home, at this point I was hoping to persuade the new school to allow me in to do another face-to-face presentation.

We met up and I spent another hour going through Maths-Whizz Tutoring Plus with him well as the Headmistress. The problem hadn’t been a lack of enthusiasm; it had been a lack of confidence. I used my time to help build this, in terms of helping them understand how to apply and integrate Maths-Whizz successfully.  I was so successful that the Head gave me a Head’s Sticker for persistence. It made me feel really good! The school has now also renewed for another year.”

Michael goes on to explain why renewals are a vital part of the WEA model:

“People are getting to understand how powerful Maths-Whizz is as a product, that helps drive renewals.  The new and positive developments that are happening all the time have also had a big impact. I know and understand the product. My conviction around these developments means that the training and discussions I have allow me build a positive rapport with teachers and schools. I do believe I am giving something really positive back as well as running a successful business. Renewals now count for 30% of my margins and I’ve been invited to hand out certificates for achievement in Maths-Whizz in assembly in several schools, so I must be doing something right!”  

Michael’s passion, determination and sheer courage has meant that the ownership of the WEA franchise, an embedded Maths-Whizz franchise in his London territory, is reaping real financial rewards as well. He runs a successful business that is delivered entirely online and enjoyed by students and parents alike.

“I have to hit the phones to get speaking to the schools and the teachers. But I have become much smarter about how I do that also. I plan my campaigns and try to link them to what is going on in education at the moment. I do know that that if I had had access to Maths-Whizz as a young person, my life would have been so much easier. My disability means that I can’t write – so I wasn’t able to demonstrate my calculations at school (a big part of the mathematical learning process). In Maths-Whizz, the sophisticated online tutor teaches to each child’s unique ability and that means it supports a child through the process – picking apart ideas on screen until the student has truly understood and can demonstrate this understanding. Just what I could have done with.”

Interestingly enough, despite his hands-on passion for Maths-Whizz and a conviction that he is giving something back to his community, he rarely gets to meet the young people who benefit from the product, so it was a great experience to spend some classroom time last week.

“I was able to tell several classrooms full of young people about my experiences with Maths and why I would have loved it as a child. But they were just joking with me, asking me asked me how old I was and whether I had a girlfriend! They weren’t at all intimidated by having me in their space. “

By using his own experiences he is able to demonstrate practically how Maths-Whizz can raise standards and confidence for every child. Amongst his current challenges Michael lists research around finding out more about funding opportunities available for schools – as they aren’t as clearly defined as they used to be.

And a final word:
“Getting to know the product is crucial, this is at the heart of any good communication and thus sales environment. Because Maths-Whizz is collaborative and user-driven a real understanding of the product and also customer needs is vital. The Whizz training provides study manuals and two days of initial training to help with this. The follow up is one month later.
However, despite the fact that this as well as the ongoing online training is great, being a successful WEA also needs to be backed up with the right kind of personal qualities. For example, the fact that I had a sales/ business background was important, as was my passion for education. I know Whizz do like people to have children of Maths-Whizz age (5-13), but I think that’s more of a desirable than an essential quality.  
In my opinion this franchise is far more built around creating opportunities than hard sales, that’s why I can relax when I’m doing presentations. I also don’t think you should always have to be positive and smiley. Realistically, it is quite good to connect with doubt and fear sometimes, it can help you find a different way of doing things.”


He is sharing his story because he believes that there are many others out there who through life-experience can build a WEA business around inspiring teachers, parents and children with their own stories, experiences and passion.

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