by admin | Oct 22, 2020 | Blog, Uncategorized
This week I’m zoning in on why it’s super important for you as a childcare business owner to “know thy staff”. You might think you know them a little already – because you hired them – right? But how well do you really know them? And what do you do to ensure you’re getting the very best out of every single member of your team?
Over the many years that I’ve been running and growing my daycare centers, I am constantly learning that it is a vital part of my role as a business owner. I need to be appreciating the variety of my team members’ backgrounds and embracing all their quirks! Celebrating their unique approach to their work, and supporting them where they need to up their game.
None of this is easy, but I highly recommend taking more notice of your staff. Get to know them and help them flourish! I’m going to explain a bit more about why you need to do this to grow your business, but also how you can do this!
One size doesn’t fit all
When you carry out your interviews for team members, I bet that you look for specific skills, don’t you? You’re not looking for a cookie-cutter childcare worker. You’re hoping to find the team member with the abilities your team are currently missing. So what happens once you’ve found that person? Do you hire them and expect them to be like everyone else?
I implore you to take a look at the staff you’ve recently employed. What training have you offered them? Was it generic training – a one size fits all approach – or did you tailor it to suit their individual needs? This would be a great opportunity to do a skills audit and find out where the gaps are. Professional development is only useful and worth the time and money if there’s learning taking place!
(I just want to point out that it’s funny really, because – as childcare and education specialists – we pride ourselves on our ability to differentiate the learning for the babies in our care…but when it comes to our staff, we rarely do the same. Interesting to note, isn’t it? We should be paving the way for other industries, not doing what they all do!)
All walks of life
I bet that your team are as varied as the plants in your local park! Have you taken time to truly appreciate their backgrounds and unique experiences? Perhaps you could look back over their applications and resumes, or have an informal chat with each team member to figure out how best you can accommodate their needs and demonstrate an appreciation of their individual pathways into childcare.
Get to know your staff and really show them that variety is the spice of life and that you embrace it all! Be inclusive and ensure everyone feels welcome and supported in their journey with you in your business. Valuing your team members for where they’ve come from shows that you truly care about them, and those things shine through to families interested in your services.
Know thy staff to help them
Once you’ve made an effort to get to know your staff you can then help them more. This could be in the simplest form of training opportunities. For example, if you have staff that also happen to be parents, you might want to consider ways you can help them in order that they can be both brilliant parents but also a superstar childcare practitioner in your daycare. What adjustments can you make to help them, which in turn will help you.
Something simple and easily achieved is that you could look into putting all your trainings online. By creating digital training videos, you are saying to those team members with kids (or other caring responsibilities) that you appreciate that they’ve got priorities outside your facility, and that you care, but that you also want to help them grow their skill set. And by making things easier for them to access from home, you’re signalling this to them! They can watch at home, but still ask questions via an app like Slack to clarify things. It truly is the little things that make a difference.
So get to know them, take time to observe them. Be open and flexible. You want them to do their job better, but they won’t get there if you don’t notice what they need first.
Tools for getting the best from your staff
When it comes to enabling your team to their best, there’s three things that immediately pop into my head.
- The directions and instruction they need to get the job done. This is where your leadership matters. Steering your team along the right path, but knowing when to back off and let them shine. Trust is a huge factor here too.
- The physical resources that they need to perform their role well. For example, something as simple as crayons or curriculum sheets, or perhaps iPads for recording observations and notes, or play equipment.
- The soul – how you relate to your teams. Build a reciprocal and valuable relationship with staff.
This third point matters a lot. Because the way we deliver criticism is important. This in itself is a really useful tool. And just like any tool from your garage, you need to utilize it in a way that will get the job done well!
So, when you’re offering a critique, do it in a useful and constructive way so that they can learn from their mistakes. For example, I would point out something they’ve done well first, before highlighting something that needs work. And then cushion the blow with another positive. So you’ve given them a learning point but haven’t totally demoralized them in the process.
You want them to come away from your correction feeling like they understand the point you’re making. It’s all about encouraging and making learning a positive experience – just like we do with the kids, right?! Staff should be able to receive your critique and feel empowered to move forward, not like they should pack up their things and leave.
Finally, by knowing your staff really well, you can really support them in their journey to becoming the rock stars they’re destined to be in your childcare business! And a rock star team = customers who rave about your business! And that’s what we’re all aiming for, right?! When you know thy staff, you can grow your business into the successful vision you know it can be.
I hope you’ve found this blog super helpful. If you have, share it with a friend!
Also, if you liked this, I wonder whether you’ve found the Childcare Ninja Facebook group yet? 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! And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!
by admin | Sep 17, 2020 | Blog
Marketing your childcare business in this day and age is pretty overwhelming. If you’re new to all this, where do you even start? There’s so many places to be interacting…should you be on all of the platforms? Just digital or print too? And who are you talking to? You’d better make sure you’re marketing to moms!
I’ve been in this arena for a long time, and marketing has changed dramatically since I first started out. It was mostly word of mouth and flyers through doors to spread the word. But now you’ve got other ways to reach the moms and dads you want to work with.
So how do you figure out what to do with your marketing?
Here’s some of my top tips for nailing your marketing strategy when it comes to getting your childcare business seen and heard.
Client Perspective – marketing to moms
As childcare business owners we tend to lead from the front all the time…but on this occasion I want you to take a step back. There’s an important reason for doing this, because – believe it or not – you don’t always know the answers. We so often assume we’re doing a good job and are too busy to do things another way, or can’t see that there’s need for another perspective.
So take a step back from being the leader and take off your Childcare Ninja hat. Put on a parent one instead. Try and see the world through their eyes and at their angles. Doing this will make your offerings more relevant and give you an opportunity to visualize things differently.
Freshen up
Now you’re wearing their hat, I want you to imagine you’re looking for a daycare center for your child. Head to your website with these fresh new eyes. Without berating yourself, look at your childcare business site and consider if it’s what you’d be looking for if you needed somewhere to send your babies right now? Would you buy from you?
It’s time to get real. Be honest with yourself. Is it good enough? Does it need an update? Is it all linked up to your social media channels? Could you be adding content to help your marketing? Blogs are an easy, engaging and fun way to do this.
Have you listed all the features that they might want to know about? Do you explain how you’re different from other childcare providers in your area? What are the benefits of booking into your childcare provision – how will they feel? Focus on the freedom that knowing their kids are safe gives them. Reassure them!
Where do your moms hang out?
Now you’ve freshened up your website, it’s time to think about where your moms hang out. Depending on where you are in the world, or the demographics of your area, it might be different for you to where mine meet up online! Social media is so huge now! Some moms are all over Facebook and Twitter, others are dancing all over TikTok and networking on Instagram. And there’ll even be some on LinkedIn.
Look at who your moms follow and share content by online. You can piggy back off this by creating similar – but childcare related – content. Read the ads and blogs they’re seeing on the daily, and build your marketing around similar topics that your moms will find engaging.
Also take time to view what activities they do with their kids. Where are they frequently visiting? Do they mix up their day trips or are they creatures of habit? List potential future collaborations or places you could advertise while you’re doing this research.
Being useful in your marketing to moms
When it comes to marketing to your audience it’s not just about selling. Much of what you’re sharing online ought to be useful. Factor this into your content planning. If, for example, you’re in an area where the schools are currently closed due to lock down, why not share some play ideas or some free printables to keep small people busy and entertained. Parents will remember how helpful you were when they were stressed out!
Again, this is about switching hats. What would you have found useful as a mom now? Some recipe ideas? Top ten educational movies? 5 best books for toddlers? Some freebie word searches or puzzles? These things will get shared among your online community, wherever they hang out! Create a buzz around your brand by supporting potential future clients now.
Non-mom Childcare Business Owners
I haven’t forgotten you, you awesome bunch of humans! If you’re struggling to take your biz hat off and put on a mom one, make the most of any mom friends you’ve got. They might not be able to join you at happy hour any more, or pull all night dance sessions like they used to, but they sure as heck know where moms hang out online for advice, a moan, and to have virtual fun!
So ask ’em! They’ll be super happy you asked them for ideas and will hold a plethora of information, so don’t be afraid of tapping into their knowledge! Marketing to moms is pretty key to your business, so find out how to captivate them!
Wanna know more about marketing?
If you’d like to learn more about marketing and how to grow your childcare business, I’ve got a coaching program that is perfect for you! We’re diving into all elements of getting the word out about your business, including how to market effectively. “The Simple Childcare Ownership Program“ starts in October.
It’s a 10 week program that offers you so much! Join like-minded women in a private, exclusive community where you can share experiences and support each other to grow. In creating this especially for you, we’ve taken great care to ensure that the program is content-centered, offers you results-driven experiences that will inspire and motivate you to challenge yourself and grow into who you were born to be! Find out more here.
If you’d like to see more like this and chat with other childcare business owners, I wonder whether you’d like to head over here: Childcare Ninja Facebook group! Join us for more tips on how to make your childcare business the success it deserves to be!
While you’re here, are you in the Childcare Ninja membership yet? 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! It’s full of exclusive resources and support to help you grow your Childcare Business.
by admin | Aug 21, 2020 | Blog, Uncategorized
Being a childcare boss isn’t for everyone. So how do you know if you’ve got what it takes?
I’ve been in the business for a long time and I have seen people come and go. Sometimes, they think running a childcare is easy and they have a shock when they realize that it’s quite different from other types of businesses. For one, there’s tiny people to think about, not just the profit margins!
Other times, they’ve got no experience running a business at all and despite a huge love of working with children, it becomes overwhelming and they’ve given up.
Just as you don’t start on the line of a marathon without hours of training, you also have to begin the race with the right mindset. And the same goes with being a childcare business boss. We’ve got to be prepared and in the right head space to be successful.
Anyway, here are a few things I’ve learned about whether you know that being a childcare boss is right for you and how to get into the childcare boss mindset…
So have you got what it takes?
Truth of the matter is, only you can answer this question honestly. This is an opportunity for you to think about your why. What motivates you to run a childcare business? Why do you want to be a childcare boss?
However, you just need to take some time to meditate over and contemplate these questions. Lean into the fear. Is there anything holding you back? How do you prepare for challenges you face? Is there a pattern? How could you bring that to being a childcare boss?
Achieving what you put your mind to
In my experience people have the ability to do whatever they set their minds to. Therefore, if your mindset is ready, you’re ready!
Think about the people you know who’ve run marathons – they start preparing months in advance. They train hard, and most of them will tell you that it’s not about the physical prep, it’s about breaking the mental barriers. Once you’re able to show your brain that you can run 18 miles, it doesn’t take much to convince it that another 6 miles will be okay.
Same goes for mountaineers. Months of preparation and the right gear, but at the end of the day, it’s ultimately down to their mindset.
Another example is Paralympic athletes. They compete in the face of adversity. Some of them have lost legs in battle, yet they come out fighting! It is all about mindset.
Getting into the right mindset
Hopefully you’re getting the idea that so much of this is down to having the right mindset! So how’s yours?
First, check how your mindset is towards being a childcare boss. And once you’ve looked at that, it’s time to begin taking steps towards creating or
growing your childcare business.
Journal about your fears around leadership, your motivations for running a childcare business, think about your soul goals and where you see yourself in five years. Really get to grips with where you feel you’re at in mindset terms.
I hope this blog has got you thinking about whether this is right for you, and I hope the answer is, “For sure, Ms. Nyckie!” I know you’ve got what it takes.
I have a 3 day challenge coming up that dives into this. Taking part in the challenge will allow you to gain freedom from your fears of childcare ownership. You’ll be given simple steps to reignite your fire & make you the passionate and proud childcare boss you know you can be. This challenge is going to get you laser focused and give you the clarity you need to move your childcare business from bleak to booming!
Click here to register and get my FREE tool to help you get into the right mindset!
And if you’re not already over in the Childcare Ninja Facebook group, come and say hi! We’d love to welcome you into the space and find out how you’re getting on. 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! If you’re 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! And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!
by admin | Jul 14, 2020 | Blog, Uncategorized
Recently our industry has been recognized as essential due to the pandemic. The need for emergency service staff, food store workers and other “essential” workers to place their children in care with us while they deal with the Covid-19 crisis has been a core part of this. This has been an interesting thing for me to observe, and I was wondering how you’re feeling about it?
As a childcare business owner of multiple spaces, with a large number of staff, I have been watching things unfold with attentiveness. I know that the majority of our parents have always thought of us as essential, but that isn’t always the case, so the realization by the wider public and government feels quite significant.
So this led me to pondering about our mindsets as founders in this business. I’d love to hear your thoughts once you’ve read this blog…
How essential did you feel before?
It’s a funny one isn’t it? Before the outbreak here in the USA I, personally, considered the offerings of my business to be absolutely essential. I heard it from parents all the time. Being there to pick up the pieces when a treasured little human is finding separation anxiety tough, or when we can offer care to cover a night shift for someone whose shifts change last minute…I’d consider those things pretty essential, right? When you get feedback from clients like, “I don’t know what I’d do without you!” Or “You’re a God-send” you feel like they couldn’t do without your business. Or at least that’s what I have always felt like.
But I know that a few other childcare business owners feel like their services aren’t that important. That they’re considered casual or they don’t feel they’re needed – maybe the moms aren’t working and get their hair done while you watch their kids. Some have told me they’re not treated as professional by some of their clients or people in their communities – they’re “just childcare”. From where I’m standing, there’s no “just”! But I do understand that being told constantly that your an afterthought – sometimes even a frivolous expense – must be difficult to hear when the job feels so demanding and is all-consuming.
Which camp did you sit in and how do you feel now?
It’s not all fun and games
One thing I’ve noticed is that people posting on social media have changed their tone. They’ve gone from joking about how easy our jobs are and how we get paid too much for “just playing”, to acknowledging the challenges that childcare business comes with. Apparently they’ve realized that childcare is more than just fun and games!
And it’s dawned on people that trying to work while having a kid in tow is pretty tough…so I saw clients who initially tried to work from home with the children at home, but couldn’t get enough done. Which led to them booking their kids into daycare instead of relying on screens to mind them. Instead they get engaging activities and entertainment in a safe environment that doesn’t disturb mom and dad’s conference calls! And we now get grateful parents who thank us for something they’d taken for granted before.
Has the pandemic changed your business mindset?
The pandemic has hit us all in different ways, depending on where you are and how severe the lock down in your state has been. Here, in Pennsylvania, my business has pretty much carried on as before.
Has your mindset as a business owner changed since we’re now acknowledged as “essential”? Or did you always consider you and your team as indispensable? Are you cheering “FINALLY!” at the top of your lungs? I am so intrigued, because it definitely feels different hearing us being officially described as essential workers.
Perhaps you’re grateful for recognition? Is it like a badge of honor that we can now be held up as our healthcare workers and first responders are? After decades of providing care for thousands of children, we are now being given this accolade – it’s a little strange to think that it’s only just happened.
Where do we go from here?
It is certainly a strange time for many business owners, and I know some childcare owners have struggled – particularly outside the US where lock down has been stricter in some countries. But the change in attitude from the government and the wider public surely means that we have a general appreciation now, and perhaps we can see ourselves in a different light too.
Has it changed the way you look at yourself as a professional? Do you feel more professional than casual? I know that many of the parents I work with have a new found view on us, and I think I’m probably walking a little taller! I feel even more proud of the support we’ve given during the crisis to emergency workers, but in helping families maintain some sort of normality. We’ve been a safe haven for a lot of kids.
Now that we’re officially “essential” will this change the way you approach your work and customer interactions? Have you noticed any difference in you or your team?
I know this isn’t the usual kind of blog post I share with you, Ninjas, but I had to find out from you if y’all are feeling like this too?! Let me know your thoughts in the comments, or drop me an email! I love hearing from you, and these times we’re living in are pretty strange. Don’t be afraid to reach out.
Keep on keepin’ on!
I’m going to open this discussion up on the Facebook group too, so come on over and join in the chat! It’s THE place to meet like-minded childcare business owners, to keep up to date and in the loop about all things early education and daycare related, and to hang out!
And if you’d like to find out more about becoming a Childcare Ninja, don’t hesitate to get in touch. 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!
by admin | Jul 13, 2020 | Uncategorized
Trust. It’s one of those reciprocal things in life isn’t it? We’ve got to give it to receive it. Often, as childcare owners, we think about the trust parents give us when they leave their babies in our care. They entrust us with their most precious ones and then when they leave us testimonials, that builds the confidence in our business within the community.
In this blog, however, I want to focus on the trust we have in our childcare employees, not just the customers. It’s a huge area to dive into, but one we have got to truly understand if we want to grow our businesses!
And you can’t build confidence in your business and expect them employees to have faith in you and your leadership if you don’t totally trust the team you’re working with. So how can we, as childcare business owners, develop our capacity to trust? How can we create a culture in the workplace that encourages trust? I hope this article will help you find some answers…
Watch out for kids playing your team
Recently, one of the children came up to me when I came out of my office and asked me to go to the bathroom, despite there being 3 other adults in the room. I looked around. They were all there, all available. So I asked her, “why are you asking me, there’s three other teacher in here?” The little girl looked me in the eye and said, “because you’re the boss.” I was honestly quite shocked but I told her, “honey, you need to go and ask one of the other teachers because they are in charge of this room right now.” So she did…
But this got me thinking. If I had said “yes, go on”, I could have easily undermined the other adults in the room who may have already said no. Perhaps the child in question had already been several times and was playing around with the taps. Or this could be an issue their parents are concerned about and my staff know more specifics around the issue at this moment…but whatever it is, I trust my team.
Whatever the kids try and sneak around, it’s always good to remind them that the other adults who care for them are important and they deserve respect.
Parents jumping the authority line
And the same goes if there’s an issue with parents. Encourage families to stay within the chain of command, per se, and not skip straight to you as the owner. Going straight to the top – that presumptuous “I want to see your manager” superiority – seems like something that is becoming more prevalent in society, and that’s dripping into the kids attitudes as well.
Let’s work together with our teams to do things systematically, because actually your team have got the creativity and problem solving skills to cope. They just need the opportunity to flex that muscle! Demonstrate your trust in your team. Politely point out that the staff are well-qualified to support their needs. Unless there is a problem beyond their capabilities, you have confidence in your team to do their best for your business and the families you work with.
Undermining your team members is a way to build distrust and a bad atmosphere in your childcare business. You want to create a morale within your team, to build them up. Show them appreciation and respect by pointing out their skills and directing children (and parents!) to them as figures of authority.
Build trust with your team
You’re trying to grow your business, but to do this it’s incredibly important that you build trust with your team. This can come in various forms! Some of which I can briefly cover here: responsibility, giving feedback, providing support, offering training, communication.
Making other people aware of the responsibilities and delegation you’re giving to individual team members is essential. It shows how much you trust them, and it models to other staff that there’s something to aim for. It keeps them accountable but also helps remind you that you’ve got a fantastic team around you to lean on!
Trust comes from being honest and open, so ensure that you give constructive feedback to your team when you’ve given them a new responsibility or challenge. Tell them how impressed you are with aspects of it, and ask them if they can suggest ways of doing better next time. Put the onus for change on them. You know where they went wrong, so do they. We can all learn here.
Offer support and training wherever you can. Doing in-house professional development training in areas you have expertise, but then getting in a guest expert for other things so you can participate too demonstrates trust on another level.
Be a role model
I’ve previously talked about how I communicate with my teams, we use Slack and WhatsApp to keep us all in the loop, and to motivate each other. Communication is super important.
Part of communication – particularly as educators – is modelling making mistakes and being resilient. This builds trust too. When I own up to something I’ve done wrong – for example if I’ve lost something and blame someone else for tidying it away…then later find it’s actually me who moved it; or if an order went in late and I’m annoyed at the delivery guy…because it’s actually still sat in my outbox because the internet blipped! Whatever it is – I take ownership of my hiccups and I tell the team about them. What have I learned here? (Put things in their place, breathe before getting annoyed, etc…)
The benefits that come with this are that your team feel they can own up to mistakes they might make and know that you’re a safe person to talk to. They can trust you to help them. So I urge you to be a good role model. Don’t put yourself on a pedestal or patronize them. Show them you respect and value them!
How do you build trust with your team?
Over the years, I’ve learned the ins and outs of running a childcare business and I love what I do. I love it so much that I’ve developed a program to support other childcare business owners in building their empires! Women supporting other women is so powerful! And we ought to be raising each other up, right? Sound good? Come and join us over on the Facebook group!
And if you’d like to find out more about becoming a Childcare Ninja, don’t hesitate to get in touch. 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!
