Sarah Miller, a homeschooling mother, was looking for a school-related franchise opportunity when she discovered Six Pixels Studios. She contemplated being a business owner and had her own business grant writing for five years. By Kelsi Trinidad
Sarah Miller, a homeschooling mother, was looking for a school-related franchise opportunity when she discovered Six Pixels Studios. She contemplated being a business owner and had her own business grant writing for five years. However, when she returned to the corporate world, she quickly realized it was a huge mistake.
Years before, her 7 year-old son had started taking pictures of his LEGO creations and started making stop-motion videos. He had found an app on their tablet in which he could string the pictures together and make his very own film.
“I was looking around in Houston to see if there was a class that he could take that would nurture that talent and there wasn’t anything,” said Miller. “I was really surprised that as big as Houston is, that they didn’t have anything for kids. They had high-school level classes. They had college-level classes, but there wasn’t anything for kids his age.” Six Pixels Studios was the answer Miller was looking for, and she launched her franchise in September 2022.
Miller had a theater background and had always enjoyed moviemaking, but she was never formally trained. When she connected with Six Pixels Studios Founder Kay Hill, and Chief Financial Officer Stefanie Robinson, she found that learning the curriculum was easy. “Editing has been the hardest part to pick up,” said Miller. “They make it easy for a franchisee to be able to absorb it and then be able to teach it back to kids.”
Miller hit the ground running by building brand awareness in her community and doing outreach. “I get lots of excited phone calls from parents saying, ‘Oh, I just found out about you’ and they’re always happy to know that we’re here.” She was able to pitch the Six Pixels Studios program to local schools in Houston, which has proven to be a successful strategy to supplement her regular roster of classes. At launch she landed a partnership with one school, and then grew to four the following semester.
During her first year, Miller was able to work using existing classroom space which eliminated the costs of a physical location. She hopes to acquire her own location to hold her classes eventually, but she’s able to scale her business on her own timeline with a low-cost start to her franchise.
Now, Miller’s son is 13 years old and helps to teach some of her classes and share some of his knowledge with the younger students. “It combines his love for it with my love for it,” explained Miller. For her, it’s a full-circle moment that is fulfilling to watch.
“I’ve always been interested in helping kids, I just wasn’t quite sure what the right fit was,” said Miller. “There’s the gratification of just helping kids cultivate their talents and their interests and seeing them watch the first movie that they made.”
Kelsi Trinidad