Nassau Tutor Opens Own Business With Focus On K-12th Grade Students

OCEANSIDE, NY — Julie Schwartz, a lifelong Oceanside resident, has been a tutor for more than a decade. But she is venturing out on her own with her own company —Count On Me Tutoring — which is focused on working with children.

"A lot of these companies, they should be more personalized," Schwartz told Patch. "That's what we aim to do."

Even though Schwartz used the "we" pronoun, for the moment, this startup is all her.

"We recently started the hiring process, and we're expanding very fast," she said. "Within the next month or two, I see myself sending out these tutors to work for the students."

As you can imagine, it's been a whirlwind for Schwartz since launching "Count On Me" in July.

"I've always had the entrepreneurial spirit because I graduated from the School of Management in Binghamton. There, the groundwork was laid, with knowledge about all aspects of running a business at her fingertips.

Schwartz began to spread the word in Facebook groups. She is getting into the neighborhoods as schools open across the island. She'll make appearances on Saturday at the Endless Summer Party in Point Lookout and Sunday, Sept. 14, at the Friedberg JCC Vendor Fair in Oceanside.

"They definitely help our exposure," she said. "We try to raise more community awareness."

Schwartz said there's already a waiting list, as she prepares to bring tutors on board.

"We want more people to come as we're going to get the tutors for them," she said. "We want, by that time, to have a bunch of people who are interested. We really want people who want to grow and are committed to it."

Schwartz initially offered only help with Math and K-8 subjects, but she's expanded with upper-level courses, including English for the SAT exam, science for the G.E.D. exam and Tachs exam (a Catholic High School entrance test). Requests for languages have led to another part of the "Count On Me" experience.

"This will be a company that has every type of subject someone can look for," Schwartz said.

But for now, her main clientele remains kindergarten to grade 12 students.

"It's very rewarding," Schwartz said. "I'm meeting so many new people. I'm learning about different types of people and what they're going through."