Tutors Unlimited started when (Danek) Danny Gayle's neighbour asked him if he could teach their daughter English. The student, hearing impaired and new to the country, would be Tutors Unlimited's first client. At first Gayle wasn’t sure if he could do it, but thought he'd give it a try. Not having any materials, he worked with her ESL textbook. He quickly noticed that her high school had just placed her in a class without considering her level, and that she was unprepared. He didn’t know where to begin with her. Through one-on-one tutoring, he put together some exercises he thought would help her catch up and they worked.

A few weeks later, he was approached by a friend of his student, who also wanted a tutor. As Gayle's experience grew, so did his student base. At a certain point he realized that the educational system didn’t always provide enough, and that students wanted to get an edge, or simply catch up.

By the summer, he was constantly gaining new students and teaching ten to eleven hours a day! The money was great, but Gayle felt he was taking on too much. "I would wake up at about six, go to Toronto, teach a restaurant owner’s wife, take a subway and then a street car to Main Street, teach two sisters for a couple hours, then their cousin. By about three o’ clock, I was back downtown with another student, then I'd get on the GO train to Missisauga to do more lessons. After eight the trains stopped running, and I’d walk twenty minutes to the bus, wait half an hour, then go back to Kipling station for another class. On some nights I would meet my last student at 11:30pm! I wasn’t crazy about getting home at 2 in the morning!".

The other problem was that as new students wanted Gayle to tutor them, there was a one or two month waiting list before he was able to start!

At that point, He started asking friends to take prospective clients until he was ready. As he remembered: "I would put my friends through a little training course to make sure they knew their stuff, then watch their first few classes".

One of the benefits of teaching was also the friendships that developed over the years. "When they had a problem I was there for them, I helped them, drove them back to the airport when they left, and it was also nice to know that whenever a friend or myself would travel, we had friends in any country."

After more experience, Gayle noticed similar mistakes that students made, and how each language also had unique problems. He decided to develop a specific system to fix these and created the first T.U. textbook.

The book was able to take a student who didn't speak a word of English, and teach them how to use the subway, shop, and go to a restaurant alone ---in one month! Since then he's developed books for different levels, in different languages, cassettes, CDs and a video series. Teachers from Tutors Unlimited all have access to these materials.

Another turning point for Danny was when he was asked for help with a business proposal. Having a bit of experience, he helped, not realizing the effect it had until he was approached in a restaurant a few months later by his student beaming, “I got it!”

By this point Gayle was running around everywhere, his friends were busy, and he thought it was time to incorporate. It was then that Tutors Unlimited was officially established!

Story of My Life Part 2 - The Danny Gayle Story!

With roots from Europe, Danny Gayle (or his Russian name, Danek) comes from a family that knew what it was like to be in a new country and to face adversity. In his own words: "I was never the smartest, strongest or wittiest kid in the playground. What my classmates would learn easily, took me days to comprehend. My advantage however, was that once I learnt something, it was solid and I knew it inside out." Unknown to him, this would later form the Tutors Unlimited philosophy. He felt that if a teacher spent some extra time with a student, and had incredible patience, the results would be amazing. He would struggle throughout public school and university.

Not having the chance to go to a French school, Danny remembers his first tutor: "She was a woman my mother hired to teach me to read for a cultural event. I used to dread her arrival every Sunday. Not because she was unkind, but because I knew it would be a lot of hard work, and there was nothing fun about it". Being eleven and not having a choice, he eventually learnt how to read, write, and perform in front of a large audience.

Tested at thirteen years old, Gayle had a university level of English and a much higher IQ than his peers, but during his teen years, he found himself in a situation with five bullies. Like any kid, the experience led him to a self-defense gym. He would stay at white belt for over a year, struggling with the patterns needed to get to the next level. A nice, but strict instructor started to push him. At first, Gayle wanted to quit, but the instructor knew how to work the right buttons. Within years, Gayle was competing, had a part in an action movie, and later went on to teach and train with Olympic and professional athletes.

With the lowest math grades in class at 10 years old, he went on to open and run a nightclub before he was 19! Gayle has lectured at schools, performed on national television, reads and writes in different languages, and helped pass a new law. In 2004, his second movie "Never Say Good-luck!" will open in North America. To this day, he still feels his learning curve is slow, but he improves it with the help of his tutors!

There are certain areas that Gayle excels in, but he doesn’t feel that he qualifies to teach them. This is where Tutors Unlimited comes into play. He teaches English, advocacy, self-defense, and of course his favorite class, “How to Drive a Lamborghini!” His clients have included international students, professors, lawyers, artists, writers, and other professionals, but as this teacher concludes in his own words: "Yes, there are people who have more years of teaching English than me, more experience in law, an Olympic medal, or a nicer car, but there are also aspects I was able to teach these same people… and they paid me to do it! Story of my life."