Ways to spotlight your new childcare business for success

Ways to spotlight your new childcare business for success

by | May 22, 2020 | Blog, Uncategorized

As childcare business owners it is super important that we promote our businesses all the time. We are the business! So we need to learn how to put ourselves and our businesses into the spotlight. This will bring you all the success you’ve been dreaming of.

So how do you get the word out to the neighborhood about your brand new childcare business? What’s the best way to reach the entire community and get a buzz going before you’ve even opened your doors?

Here are 3 tips on how to spotlight for success in your new childcare business:

1. Start sharing before you open

Before you’ve got clients and before you’re anywhere near ready to open the doors to your new childcare business, you need to start spreading the word. You want to build up a buzz. Get people having conversations about your new business.

Talk about your exciting new challenge and share your journey. This is where social media is brilliant. Put up posts saying “Coming Soon” and share some details about what it is you’re doing – highlight the unique and the memorable. Generate some interest through your social network.

When you go to pick up your own children from school, make time to chat to parents and teachers about your new business venture. They’ll take an interest because they know you, and they’ll spread the word for you without any effort.

If you can, get your logo and contact details put on your car. I had mine put on our minivan, and I’d get leads from people who’d seen it parked at the mall, or when it was outside the church. It’s all about visibility! Think outside the box to shine a spotlight on your new biz.

2. Build rapport

It’s time to really put some effort into building rapport with other businesses. These relationships are crucial to building a successful childcare business. Not only do you want to be developing connections with schools, you should reach out to other childcare providers. There’s room for everyone. Do this by sharing your resources – maybe you’ve found a cool website or printables they might find helpful? You can help each other out by offering to send people their way when you’re full (or the client is not a good fit for you) and vice versa.

It’s not only educators that you should build a rapport with. Think about those businesses in the neighborhood who work with parents and families. Stores, libraries, bus drivers…How can you connect with them?

A great personal example is one of my neighbors. He is in real estate. We’re not friends, just acquaintances, but because he’s seen me out and about with my daycare kids, he knows I’m good at what I do. So, when he shows a new family around, he mentions my services. I never asked him to do this, but whenever we’ve met on the street I’m always polite and ask how he and his family are. These personal recommendations are vital!

3. Don’t sleep the old school

Just because we’re in a digital age, doesn’t mean you should only focus on online spotlighting! Don’t discount the old school strategies of promo. There’s a lot to be said for putting a flyer through your neighborhood doors! It reaches the grandparents and elderly relatives who will then pass on the news about your new childcare business opening to their family members who might be in need of help. Social media doesn’t reach this generation, so going door to door, having conversations and sharing the news is a great way of spreading the word!

You can take out adverts or write short articles for your community newsletter or local newspaper. You’ll be surprised how effective this can be. And don’t forget that having business cards is still a thing! They’re cheap to have made and super easy to leave in places that people will see them. I’ve lost count of the number of families who’ve picked up my cards in the bank or at the grocery store and given me a call!

I hope these strategies will help you take action and you’ll now go out and spread the word about your brand new childcare business!

The world needs what you’ve got to offer.

Don’t shy away from the spotlight!

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Interested in becoming a part of the community? Join us for more tips on how to make your childcare business the success it deserves to be! The content you’ll have at your fingertips is unique to childcare businesses, because I was tired of joining groups for advice, but finding it irrelevant to my needs. So here we are! A one-stop shop for Childcare Ninjas!

Have you taken my Childcare Ninja quiz yet? And don’t forget that I also have a free Facebook community for childcare providers. Check it out here.

“Be ye set apart” – preparing your mindset for being a childcare boss!

“Be ye set apart” – preparing your mindset for being a childcare boss!

by | Mar 8, 2020 | Blog, Uncategorized

You might be wondering what the key to conquering your business goals and dreams is, and as someone who’s run a successful childcare business for a number of years I can tell you it’s not as obvious as you’d think. It is all about mindset. Getting your head into the right place so you can grow your business to be as amazing as you dream it can be is absolutely essential.

Here are 3 mindsets that I know will create an incredible shift in the way your run your business, helping you feel more confident, and ultimately more productive and successful.

These 3 mindsets you must change for you to become a successful childcare business owner:

1. Money Mindset

One of the things women are consistently poor at talking about is money. I think this is because we were all brought up to believe that it’s impolite or embarrassing to talk about money. Money also holds an emotional connection for many of us. It’s time for women in business to overcome the money taboo! We need to ask for what we need and embrace what money can do for us! To do this, we need to start talking about money, encouraging conversations about our finances.

Money really can be a fantastic tool to help us reach our goals and without money it can be quite tricky to take care of the people we love. We owe it to ourselves as women to achieve financial success. We owe it to our children to see us earning money and not being ashamed of it. Women can have an extraordinary economic impact on the planet. As Childcare Ninjas, let’s change the way we think, accept that we are worthy of earning money, and let’s start embracing what money can do! 

2. Positive vibes

I have learned this one the hard way! When I began to be successful in my business a few years ago, I had so many negative people around me. They drained my energy, sapping out the hope I had for how my business was going to grow. They wouldn’t allow me to dream big. You know the ones, right?! They eye roll when you’re telling them about something you’ve achieved; they don’t appreciate how hard you’ve got to work to maintain momentum; and they certainly cannot understand why you persevere and don’t just give up.

So the mindset here I want you to try is: get rid of the doubters. Surround yourself with positive people and don’t be afraid to do this sooner rather than later. No more Negative Nellies, protect yourself with Positive Pollies instead!

3. It’s okay to be successful

As women we have a tendency to play down our successes. We’ve an awful habit of putting ourselves down – especially in front of other people. Promoting yourself to others in your business feels so alien doesn’t it? But what’s wrong with wanting people to recognize your achievements? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being successful. When you’ve reached your goals, it enables you to give more generously, and puts you in a position to give back to society.

This mindset fools us into thinking we are “safe”, by playing small, but it’s actually holding us back! So last year I decided to make a change – to stop playing small. I thought long and hard about how i would go about this. I created a vision board and my mantra was “Think bigger”. Every time I caught myself playing small, I repeated my mantra.

And there was this situation last year where I was looking at potential venues for a new daycare facility to add to my portfolio. I found the perfect place. Fantastic location, potential for lots of new clients…but I had this niggling doubt: “I’m not worthy of such an amazing opportunity. Who am I to think this is for me?” So what did I do? Walk away? No! I said “Think BIGGER!” And do you know what I did? I took a leap of faith. I am a Childcare Ninja, after all!

I encourage you to change these mindsets – to actively talk about money, to celebrate our successes and to think about your friendships.

If you’d like to know more, I have created some helpful videos and resources for you in my Childcare Ninja membership, to make your life a little easier, and to enable you to grow your childcare business into your own little empire.

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Are you in the Childcare Ninja Facebook group yet? We are an army of childcare professionals who are sharing ninja-sharp skills to transform our businesses into childcare empires! This is Childcare Ownership all Grownup! Interested in becoming a part of the community? Join us for more tips on how to make your childcare business the success it deserves to be!