Talent always triumphs, and the story of Oksana Franchising International, Inc. is no less. Oksana® Kolesnikova has set up an enterprise that has no bounds and empowers people around the globe to follow their passion. Oksana Franchising provides best-in-class franchising opportunities, but most importantly a platform for enabling the artists of tomorrow. They are dedicated to equipping students with all the knowledge and help they require to pursue their life’s dream.
Be it one-on-one tutoring for K-12 subjects, a wide range of programs including music, languages, academic, etc. All this ensures that a student has all the support and guidance from the very best, and also gets to learn all the intricate details, with support from the very best coaches, and that too at the comfort of their homes.
Inspirational and visionary, the elegant Russian-born American, Oksana® Kolesnikova, is an internationally renowned pianist and composer, educator, innovative music, and personal mentor to the business franchise owners of Oksana® Enrichment Programs. She is the CEO of three companies: Oksana® Franchising International, Inc. (OMG, Inc.), Oksana® Enrichment Programs, and Oksana® Foundation.
In 2019, she launched franchising opportunities for her tutoring and arts-focused business, which was already successfully operating with a large roster of tutors and was established in numerous schools. Born from her love of music performances, composing, and teaching music and languages to students, she sought to provide a quality-based resource for student enrichment beyond what her high-demand, one-on-one lessons would allow. All these factors make Oksana Franchising international, Inc. one of the best franchises to open in 2021.
The Company, The Journey: Oksana® Franchising International
Oksana currently owns and operates three companies: Oksana Franchising International (www.OksanaEnrichment.com), Oksana Franchising International, Inc. (www.OksanaManagementGroup.com), and the 501 c 3 non-profit Oksana Foundation (www.OksanaFoundation.org). Having grown up in a family of educators, teaching has always been in her blood, and to say that she is passionate about this industry would be something of a gross understatement.
Oksana has been in education and performing arts for over 20 years, launching her first company, Oksana Franchising International, in 2010.
Every entrepreneur has to go through a series of hurdles and challenges, for Oksana it was no less. She withered through everything thrown at the company, with an unwavering spirit and true leadership. Opening your first business can, of course, be a frightening and overwhelming venture, and Oksana faced numerous challenges when initially launching Oksana Franchising International – from lack of funding and economic downturn to stiff competition and lack of guidance and experience about running, operating, and marketing our services and that’s just to name a few.
They made a lot of costly mistakes in the beginning, but learned and persevered; in funding the entire endeavor themselves and being driven by a passion for success, they made the conscious decision to never give up on their dream.
Looking back, I wouldn’t have it any other way, as all the mistakes I made and lessons I learned in this industry can now be passed to my franchisees, so they don’t have to experience them
Oksana says
How has the company changed since the foundation, and what makes Oksana Franchising International, Inc. so successful?
Based on Oksana’s background as a performing music artist who has toured the world and an “educator to the stars”, she initially started her business focusing solely on music education.
Eventually, she identified a demand for other services, even hinted at by way of her existing client base, being a trilingual speaker herself, and always showing an interest in foreign languages (while traveling to different countries on tour and fortifying international connections expanding her appreciation for different cultures and languages), she decided to branch out and include languages as part of the management entity. This proved to be the right move, as they received a lot of interest from the market.
Years later, when she became a mother and her son started grade school, she identified another need that she subsequently fulfilled through the efforts of her company, and that was offering a third branch: academic tutoring and test prep offerings for all subjects on a K through 12 levels.
As for the factors invoking the success of the company, it was a myriad of factors: Perseverance, passion, hard work, willingness to improve, great customer service, thinking “outside of the box,” strategic planning, execution/analysis, and careful selection of hired team members. In addition to this, there was motivation, leading and inspiring the team, having faith in their abilities while taking calculated risks, fostering the ability to find a way to benefit from setbacks, and learning constructive lessons.
The business model of Oksana Franchising International proved to be successful and ultimately withstood the test of time, and even recent challenges – such as the Covid-19 pandemic – did not shut their doors. They decided to introduce a national franchise system wholly based on the success of their business model, and it was just a natural progression for scaling and expanding the brand while giving other entrepreneurs opportunities to work in this exciting field.
Services offered by Oksana Franchising Inc. and New Additions
Oksana Enrichment (www.OksanaEnrichment.com) provides franchising opportunities to entrepreneurs who are interested in working in the exciting fields of education, tutoring, after-school enrichment, local community classes/programs for youth/adults/seniors, and servicing an online community. They offer a myriad of programs to not only private, one-on-one students, but also to the public, private and charter schools; districts; municipalities, and counties.
Their programs include, but are not limited to, music (piano, voice, guitar, singing, and more); foreign languages (Spanish, Italian, French, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Hebrew, Farsi among others); K through 12 academic tutorings and test prep in all subjects; art (drawing and painting); acting and drama; fitness/yoga; cooking classes; martial arts; summer camps; STEAM curriculum and more.
Oksana is a “hands-on” type of business owner, and such is the team of Oksana Franchising International, Inc., offering ongoing support and intense training to their franchisees. Furthermore, Oksana takes their franchisees “under her wing” and guide them through anything business-related; indeed, since she has been in this industry for so long and has encountered (and was able to overcome) many obstacles, challenges, and issues, she is more than capable to guide franchisees in such a way to help them avoid, prevent and resolve most issues that may arise.
She believes in paving the road for these new-to-franchising folks, so to speak, which allows for a reduced learning curve so that in just a few weeks, they absorb what would normally have taken them decades. She is greatly vested in the success of the franchisees. If they succeed, we succeed!, Oksana adds.
They are relentlessly working on improving their services and are working day in and out to provide nothing less than excellence. They recently partnered with the Italian company LikeItaliansDo.com, headed by fellow entrepreneur Maria Catya Caradonna, whose main goal is to “bring Italy to your home” utilizing fun and engaging live cooking show broadcast directly from Italy (an import-export activity for authentic Italian products not available on Amazon or anywhere else online).
All this is in addition to a one-of-a-kind USA-Italy travel support agency promising participants an opportunity to visit places and live experiences that are normally available only to the locals. The first “Italy Dream Vacation,” as it’s being billed, will take place next summer and, given its exclusivity, will be by invitation only.
Italy has a very special place in Oksana’s heart, given that her husband hails from there. More details can be found at www.SerataItaliana.club/Italy.
Leading Lady, Oksana
After falling in love with the piano at five years old, Oksana® began classical piano lessons when her family moved from Siberia to Kazakhstan Russia. Inspired and focused on developing her talent, she began winning music competitions only four years later. Blessed with parents who were educators who sought more opportunities for their children, Oksana® emigrated with her family to the U.S. after the Soviet Union dissolved. They settled in St. Petersburg Florida.
While enrolled in what is now St. Petersburg College, Oksana® won the Florida State Young Artists Symposium Competition as a junior. This honor secured her a scholarship to the School of Music at Florida State University, where she graduated with honors in 2001. Her entrepreneurial spirit and her skills in marketing and branding took root as she began booking piano performances to showcase her talent across Florida. She had a growing fan base, and her gigs included charitable and business galas, private events, and a recurring booking on the Home Shopping Network (HSN).
In 2003, Oksana® became the first Russian-American female pianist to travel overseas to entertain the U.S. Troops. She made two world tours on behalf of the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) Department of the U.S. Navy. She made a solo tour to entertain the U.S. Troops in September 2003, stopping in Italy, Spain, and Greece. In February of 2004, she went to Asia, including stops in Guam, Korea, Japan, Okinawa, and Singapore with Navy MWR. She also was invited to perform for U.N. officials in New York City.
2006 was a pivotal year. She proudly received her U.S. citizenship and also performed in Italy at the Salento International Film Festival on opening night. Looking to relocate into the center of the entertainment world, Oksana® moved with Alex, her husband to Beverly Hills, California. There, she landed the prestigious position of a pianist at The Polo Lounge, the legendary 5-star restaurant, and bar in The Beverly Hills Hotel.
Oksana® performed there every week from 2006 to 2013, entertaining an ongoing celebrity roster of who’s who in the world of entertainment and business. During that time, a growing demand began for her to perform at private parties and charitable galas, as well as to teach piano lessons to adults and children in the Los Angeles region. She especially loves working with children and met these new opportunities with ambition and grace, building an expansive and well-connected list of clients.
Her fan base continued to grow online. During her tenure at The Polo Lounge, she performed straight through her pregnancy, bringing her cherished son into their family in 2009.
Skillfully utilizing her business experience and relationships in Los Angeles, she sought to meet needs expressed by schools and parents and to cultivate her brand. She established Oksana® Franchising International, Inc. (OMG). Her company was awarded the 2014 Best of Beverly Hills Award. Her stellar reputation translated into the company becoming the main choice of celebrities who sought lessons for themselves or loved ones.
To meet logistical issues, she began incorporating lessons through Skype when appropriate, enabling her to teach out of town and international students. Pursuing cross-promotions, mutually beneficial collaborations, and endorsement arrangements, Oksana® studied the business practices of highly successful companies and carefully began partnering. Her focus and theme, which underpin her business, have always been to work only with people and companies with whom she has a deep respect and a friendship.
Oksana® and Alex decided to move to the Santa Clarita area in 2016 to create a comfortable home. These moves enabled Oksana® to partner with local organizations to lead networking events, build her private lessons in music, languages, and tutoring, and grow her establishment of after-school enrichment programs in the region. She increased her roster of tutors and further developed her relationships with schools, school districts, and municipalities to offer arts and tutoring.
By 2019, Oksana® Franchising International, Inc, encompassed dozens of tutors, countless students, and relationships with many schools in Southern California and beyond. Maintaining her focus on quality and integrity, she chose to personally select her tutors. A second-generation educator, Oksana® sought to bring a range of programs to meet rising student and school needs.
Her company offers private, one-on-one lessons in the areas of music, foreign languages, and academic tutoring in all subjects, K through 12, with potential for additional subjects such as voice/choir, art, acting/drama, martial arts, and foreign languages, as well as tutoring and test preparation.
Working for a year with a franchise specialist, Oksana® launched an official franchise opportunity for her scholastic and arts youth education platform in October of 2019 by opening Oksana Franchising International, DBA Oksana Enrichment. This step has enabled the expansion of her scalable, innovative programs both nationally and internationally.
She also founded in 2020 Oksana® Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit whose goal is to provide extracurricular education to underprivileged families. She also organizes networking events to help others with business development. She continues to mentor a limited roster of piano protegees, business consulting, compose original music, and perform Live concerts for special events, especially fundraisers for her Foundation.
In early 2020, Oksana® was presented with an Award of Excellence in Education at a pre-Grammy Awards party at the Los Angeles Chargers penthouse headquarters, where she also performed some of her original compositions.
Oksana® has recorded eight CDs of original, classical, and popular music and her instructional video for students of piano. Her “Free Floating” CD won the 2010 Best Classical Album of the Year on SoloPiano.com. She has collaborated with other international musical artists for recordings, and her original compositions have been chosen by international artists to record on their CDs. Her CD, “Best of Two Worlds,” evolved from a collaboration with notable fine artist Jim Warren. “Oksanabella,” her YouTube channel featuring her performances, has nearly 3 million upload views from all over the world.
The Team of Oksana Franchising International
When it comes to the franchise arm of Oksana Enrichment, the team is always excited about scaling and growing their venture. They are currently selling franchises in 35 states, but expect to grow into all 50 states in the next five to seven years, at which point they will also expand their offerings to international markets. They are thrilled to serve in a billion-dollar industry, especially knowing the demand for educational services extends across the globe – indeed, not even the COVID pandemic negatively affected this niche. They are also excited to keep creating and bringing new programs to their customers.
Oksana feels projecting yourself and putting yourself in someone else’s shoes does wonders when it comes to understanding others; after all, she has handpicked the team that surrounds her every day. She looks for similar characteristics to her own when searching for a new team member. All of the team players have the same passion for the vision and mission of the company, and they believe in its legacy of doing good and trying to make this world a better place. All these factors make the team a close-knit family.
You fall, you rise, you make mistakes, you live, you learn. You’re human, not perfect. You’ve been hurt, but you’re alive. Think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive- to breathe, to think, to enjoy, and to chase the things you love. Sometimes there is sadness in our journey, but there is also lots of beauty. We must keep putting one foot in front of the other even when we hurt, for we will never know what is waiting for us just around the bend.
Unknown
