She realised her dilemma when she had to put the two younger kids in day care to finish her studies, and it put out to the universe that she wanted good money with good hours, and near the end of her studies the opportunity presented itself to her husband when he was at work one day….”they paid a lady this much to come from Auckland and do learner licence classes, they would pay someone again, I think you should give it a go”.
Because it was more money than she was used to, and it could easily fit it into school hours (child #2 was starting school soon too) she decided it wouldn’t hurt to give it a go—and she would give it 6 months before looking for a ‘real’ job.
She researched what other learner licence courses entailed, and they all basically involved participants sitting in a room for 3-5 days practising scratchy tests. On the last day of class they would all go and sit the test, and even after all that time—not everyone would pass the test.
She thought not passing was a terrible waste of everyone’s time, including her own, so the main goal of her course was to make sure everyone passed the test—she knew what a huge difference a licence would make to some people’s lives, and she didn’t want to waste her time or theirs.
She decided to make her course 2-days long; it was a business and she wanted it to be viable. The first courses were run from Te Whare Kokonga in Melville (Hamilton) and classes were small so she was able to work with everyone and make sure they all passed.
After a few sessions, she saw a way to make things easier to learn and remember and after implementing the changes it became clear that the 2-day course was now too long; the students were bored, and they learnt everything after first day so the 2-day course then became a 1 day course, with the same results.
Business was slow but steady and she was ready to call it quits and go get a real job, but Wally said “I think things will get better, you need to stick it out”. Uncharacteristically Kasmin listened to her husband’s advice this time, and by the end of the first year, business really took off.
The GFC hit New Zealand hard and many people lost their jobs. It just so happened that most employees made having a driver’s licence, a minimum requirement to apply for a job. The effects of this are still felt today as at least 80% of advertised jobs still have this requirement.
Wally also lost his job during the GFC, but because business was burgeoning for Kasmin, he joined the team in 2009 and took charge of running the classes, so Kasmin could focus on growing the business.
A restricted licence class and full licence class was added shortly afterward, and this class included 30 minutes with an instructor and a vehicle for testing—so they could remove all barriers their customers faced when sitting their driving test. Wally eventually became a qualified driving instructor and it was much easier to ensure that the things being taught in class—were also being taught behind the wheel.
Licence to Drive have always made sure they have the most successful outcomes possible. When scratchy tests changed to computerised tests in September 2009, Licence to Drive were able to maintain their 99% pass rate, while the national pass rate plummeted to 42% (it now sits around the 70% mark).
The driving tests were also changed in 2012 and again Licence to Drive were able to maintain their pass rates; which are currently way above average; it’s around 80% for the restricted and over 90% for the full.
Wally and Kasmin are still working in the business today and are still committed to providing the best outcomes for their customers. Wally is now one of the best driving instructors in the country (he once taught a young man to drive in just five 1-hour lessons) and Kasmin is working on making their driver licence courses available for all New Zealanders via online courses.