Big childcare centers have many resources at their disposal to be able to provide a professional look and feel. You just have to walk into one and you feel small. However, just because you’re small right now, it doesn’t mean you need to operate within that mindset. It’s time to play big!
I’ve learned that thinking big and changing my mindset is at the heart of success, so I’m sharing these here with you. Here’s a few tips to make your childcare business look and run well-groomed.
Put on a big mindset
Stop thinking small and start thinking B. I. G! Making a shift in the way you think is going to help you grow your business. By changing up the way you approach things – even just a little – you’ll feel more confident and be more productive and successful.
Last year I decided to make a change – to stop playing small. I wanted my childcare business to grow and to feel less stressed. I thought long and hard about how I could go about making a change. Reading some inspiring books, watching some motivational speakers and doing some online training was a good start.
In order to get things going, I created a vision board for the future so I can focus on where I wanted to go and I came up with a new mantra for success. My mantra was “Think bigger”. Every time I caught myself playing small, I told myself: Think bigger. Play big. It worked.
What will your mantra be? Have you tried creating a vision board for your childcare business? Read more about how important mindset is to your business here.
Plan big
You don’t have to spend big to plan big! You can do this on a budget, trust me. For every paid idea, app, or software you need to buy to help you run your business, there is usually a free or low cost alternative. Do your research and make sure you find the best deals before throwing your hard-earned money away.
Use your vision board! Get those bigger plans on it. If you want to expand your services, how? Want to employ a bigger, better team? Want to rebrand and refocus? We are Childcare Ninjas! We were born to do this. Plan it out and create the successful business you have been working so hard for. C’mon! Let’s play big!
Here’s a fabulous video from Carrie Green from the Female Entrepreneur Association that shows how to create a vision “dream” board.
Build relationships
It’s all about building genuine relationships. I cannot stress this one enough, fellow ninjas! You’ve got to nurture the relationships with everyone that you meet. Starting with your family – make time for them so they don’t think that your business comes first. Carve time out each week for slowing down and reconnecting with your loved ones.
Then look at your relationships with your team members. How can you strengthen your communication and build on what’s already there? Could you increase the time your door is open for them to come and share problems? Maybe set up an app like Slack that allows your team to converse outside of work and gives you all an opportunity to socialize but also connect professionally. Sometimes we send each other silly memes to break tensions or brighten each others’ days, but we also help each other out with situations and it just means we’re all on the same page.
And, of course, you need to be cultivating the relationships you have with the families that are using your childcare but also the potential future customers too. You can do this in a number of ways, but the key to this is communication (again!). Sending out regular updates, sharing the wonderful things you and your team are doing, asking for continual feedback through questionnaires and quizzes…
Being an approachable and friendly face, and showing empathy is essential in all the relationships you need to foster to build a successful childcare business. People buy from people!
I hope these tips are helpful and you can see the huge impact small changes can make in your business. We can indeed play big with the big dogs!
If you’d like to know more, I’ve filmed some videos and resources that’ll help you in my Childcare Ninja Dojo Club. Joining will make your life a little easier, and enable you to grow your childcare business into your own little empire.
Before you go, have you found 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!
Once in a while, I’ll watch a show on T.V that stands out. And it is rare that I sit down and choose something to watch. I mean, seriously…who has time for that?! But occasionally, I’ll come across something that has a dramatic impact on my life or my business. And this was one of those moments. I hadn’t taken on board the importance of storytelling!
I had my feet up and my phone to hand (in case my day care staff needed me) and I was multi-tasking on my laptop as usual. However this episode caught me by surprise. I was totally drawn in.
This particular episode made me stop and think about how I was running my business. It gave me the impetus, the drive and reignited my passion for my childcare business. Strangely, it wasn’t about a woman running a daycare center. It focused on helping a New Jersey pizza shop. The Profit‘s presenter (Marcus Lemonis) needs to help the owner who is struggling with aesthetic issues and stagnant sales.
While watching their journey, I learned 3 things. I thought I’d share them with you!
Tell your story
The importance of telling your story became abundantly clear from watching this episode of The Profit. Marcus finds out that the owner, Alario, opened his restaurant with money his father received from the federal government after Alario’s mom was killed in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. After listening, Marcus explains that this is a great backstory, and asks how Alario is sharing this with his customers…
But Alario hasn’t been sharing his backstory with anyone — not even his employees know what he’s been through! And Lemonis points out that this is where his business is going wrong. He explains that it’s actually completely natural to bring certain aspects of your personal life into your business.
“I’m a big believer that in business, consumers will rally around a cause or a story or some personal connection that they have,” Lemonis says on the show. “People like to do business with people. It’s OK that you amplify who you are, that’s how I make a connection with you”.
We know deep down that people buy from people. When you share your story, people buy into that. They want to support you and they become your mini-fans, your champions. They want you to succeed.
So, since watching this – and realizing the importance of storytelling – I’ve been shouting my story from the rooftops!
Be known for something
This episode of The Profit, with Alario’s pizza joint, made me think about what my childcare will be known for. I want my business to be memorable for all the right reasons. I’d love for all my clients to rave about how awesome my childcare is and how they recommend me to everyone they know when they find out they’re expecting!
How do you want people to talk about your childcare business? Is there something specific you want to be known for? Make a list and see if you can weave these into your newsletters, your social media posts, your conversations and your practice.
Storytelling to help someone else
Marcus Lemonis makes a great case for why your business needs storytelling and the importance of bringing the personal to your professional! Your story will resonate with people and they’ll find that they want to support you by buying into your business. But it’s about more than just that.
By telling your story, you will no doubt be helping someone else. Your overcoming adversity to build your business is going to give someone else the strength to keep on pushing forward. It’s going to motivate other childcare owners to persevere despite their circumstances. Because they’ll hear that YOU are building a successful childcare business even though you were in a difficult situation once.
You are inspiring!
These connections, these HUMAN connections are vital for our businesses.
What does your story look like for your childcare business?
Find it, share it, and watch your business stand out!
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!
No one wants to send their children to cookie-cutter childcare. Why? Because they’re like little factories and won’t value their kids as individuals. Parents want to feel like their kids are being left with adults who care. Who notice their quirks and love them for it! And that’s what we as Childcare Ninjas need to offer – uniqueness!
But have you taken the time to consider what makes your business unique? And why should you be shouting it out from the rooftops?
This is your chance to sit down with a cup of coffee and really contemplate the uniqueness of your childcare business.
What’s so special about you and your childcare business?
Take some time to note down your strengths as a childcare owner, and what makes you tick. Is it your Masters in child psychology or the way you were raised by an amazing foster mom that inspired you to go into childcare?
Have you got particular skills that make you stand out from the crowd? Perhaps you did Performing Arts at college, or you were once on America’s Got Talent? Or maybe it’s that you were the youngest of 9 siblings and you are the queen of negotiation!
Whatever you bring to your business, make it more obvious. Shine a light on you and why you’re so special.
And when it comes to the business side of things, what is unique about yours? Do your daycare centers have a theme? Maybe you have a Forest School specialty or a world class chef working for you, or you follow a particular educational theory – Reggio Emilia or Steiner?
If you want to survive, be you but be different!
I take pride in the fact that my childcare businesses reflect who I am as a person. And they are unique to me because they go against the grain. I’m not your average business owner, and I want my customers to know that. The reason I’ve lasted so long and been able to survive during economically turbulent times is because I am offering something different to the generic childcare provision seen elsewhere.
So wave your flag wildly, and be the change you want to see. What do you want to be remembered for by the families you work with? You can use customer feedback to help hone this message. Look for why they came to you and really “big-up” that element in all your promotional material.
How unique do you need to be?
Well that’s like asking me, “Hey Nyckie – how long is a piece of string?” If I am totally honest – which I always am! – I’d say you can be as unique as you wanna be.
One thing is for sure: People buy from people. So if you want to make an impression, and build a reputation for being a great childcare provider, the buck stops with you and the relationships you build with your clients. Be unique in your interactions. Show them love and attention and make them feel special. But whatever you do, don’t mimic others. Be authentically you. You’ll shine and they’ll feel valued.
If you’re keen to become a Childcare Ninja and want to join our community find out more here. There’s also the free Facebook group where you can connect with other amazing women and share ideas. Join us for more tips on how to take your childcare business to the next level!
Sometimes when you’re running a business it’s very easy to get lost in the routine and rigmarole. You forget why you’ve even started the business in the first place. So every now and then it’s a good idea to take stock of where you’re at. Maybe it’s time to give your business a reboot.
The day-to-day tasks often drown the passion we feel for our childcare businesses and can lead to burn out, so we need to take opportunities to reflect and recoup!
How do I know? Because I’ve been there!
I started my business as a single mom, trying to figure out a way of balancing parenthood with earning some money to pay our bills. And I was so busy doing the job that I felt like I lost my way. I had to learn to make space and be honest with myself when I was finding it tough.
Here are some ideas to reflect on that’ll give you a chance to pause and reset!
Have you lost your why?
Reconnect with why you started your childcare business in the first place. Take a look through your old diaries, scan through ancient emails and dusty photo albums and try to remember why you began this journey!
Taking a trip down memory lane will re-energize your enthusiasm for your business and rekindle all that passion you have!
There’s a great TED talk by Stacey Abrams on “3 questions to ask yourself about everything you do” and it’s inspired me to think about why I’m doing this job in the first place, and given me impetus to plan for how I’m going to grow. And there’s a few great ones by author of “Start with Why”, Simon Synek.
Define your business by your why! Go and watch these and get the reboot you need!
Did your plans fall by the wayside?
Have you been berating yourself for failing to meet a target or goal? Take it from me that there’s no point in giving yourself a hard time over a stumbling block. If your plans haven’t worked out right this time, it doesn’t mean you need to give up entirely.
Encourage yourself to reboot your mindset to know that a failure simply shines a light on areas that might need a little TLC. Make some space for you to breathe (I wrote you a blog on how to do that here) and be gentle with yourself. You wouldn’t speak to the kids in your daycare like you’re speaking to yourself now, would you?!
Make a new plan; create a vision board; read some of your client testimonials to remind yourself of how awesome you are!
I’ve made you a fun quiz to see where you’re at right now in your business. This is a unique way for you to work out where you are in your journey as a business owner. What systems have you got in place and how are you feeling about the day-to-day running of things? What do you need to do to level up?
Take the quiz now and get the help you need to move to become the next level Ninja! Give it a go ———-> here!
And if you haven’t already joined the free Facebook group, what’s stopping you!? Go go go! I hope you’ll come in and make yourself at home! Connect with other phenomenal women and share ideas to help each other grow.
Take a look at becoming a Founding member of my private Ninja Community and begin your journey to becoming a Childcare Ninja today!
One of the key parts of your childcare business is the people who work for you. The quality of your staff is essential to maintaining a professional and well-run establishment, and most importantly they are taking care of those precious children in your setting.
They’re your representatives and your eyes on the ground, and they’re part of a team, so hiring the right people is a huge decision for your business. You can’t just hire someone based on their résumé, because there’s no guarantee they’ll gel with your other staff members; but nor can you employ a person for their personality and not look at their experience and qualifications. It’s a monumental task! Streamlining this process is going to help you grow your business.
And sometimes it can take up so much of your time, it could almost be a full time job in itself!
But there’s no need for it to be so time consuming. I’ve been in this game for a long time now, so I have learned a few things on the way to becoming a Childcare Ninja, and I want to help you streamline the hiring process.
Here are my ninja tips for a more efficient process for hiring staff for your childcare business.
Automate as much paperwork as possible
Getting your potential employees to fill out an online form will save you time and definitely streamline your hiring process. No more loose bits of paper to peruse, or lose! By having an automated system, you can make the process faster and fairer for everyone.
There are various apps/softwares you can get for each stage of the process. For example, candidate pre-screening tools can rank and grade candidates to pre-qualify those who are a fit to move forward in the hiring process. Or you can just have a simple form, akin to a questionnaire that they can input all their information into.
When the form is filled out online, it means you’ve got a digital version. You can then search the documents for key words much faster, enabling you to rule out people who don’t have the qualifications or strengths you’re looking for, and find the ones who cut the mustard!
Once you’ve shortlisted, it’s time to get them booked in for interview. However, manually scheduling interviews can be exhausting! It might not sound like a time-consuming task, but when you’re going back and forth to check availability for all the different applicants you’d like to meet with you suddenly realize what a drain on your time it is!
I’d highly recommend that you try interview scheduling automation. It’ll save you time and streamlines the interview process, which creates a better experience for candidates and you alike. You might have heard of Calendly, which is an easy to use system for booking in interviews.
Have a central place for your hiring documentation
It’s important that you keep all your paperwork and vital documents for new and potential employees in one place. This is key because if you were to fall ill, then your cover person will know exactly where to find everything they need when it comes to your team. Not only is it for unfortunate scenarios, it’s also fundamental that you’re seen by outside agencies and inspectors to be organized and keeping on top of standards.
Another reason you ought to keep staff documentation all in one central place is it’ll help you find things quickly if there’s any accidents or medical emergencies. Your team members might have an allergy or a disability, and as their employer you have responsibilities for their welfare.
Video training on the go
Create your own training videos for newly hired team members so they can get up to speed quickly. Everyone’s got a smart phone nowadays, and it’s so helpful for building relationships with new staff. Having apps like Slack to connect team members, gives them an opportunity to communicate outside of work and also access information as and when they require it, or when you need them to.
One of the strategies that I’ve found that works for my teams is when I do training on Zoom about specific areas and then I upload the videos and place them in Slack. My staff can then view them when they’re able to – on breaks or during their spare time – and once they’ve watched the training they can sign off that particular task. I can then see exactly who has done which video session, and can remind people gently on the app.
This saves us tons of time trying to coordinate a training meeting that everyone can attend! We’re all busy people, right?!
Streamlining the hiring process is going to save you time and energy, leaving you to focus on getting the right team player for your Childcare Ninja squad!
If you haven’t already, join my free Childcare Ninja Facebook group! We’re 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!
