0:08

Welcome to the childcare business

0:10

podcast brought to you by ProCare

0:12

solutions. This podcast

0:15

is all about giving childcare , preschool,

0:18

daycare , afterschool, and other

0:20

early education professionals, a fun and

0:22

upbeat way to learn about strategies and

0:24

inspiration you can use to thrive. You'll

0:27

hear from a variety of childcare thought leaders,

0:29

including educators, owners, and

0:32

industry experts on ways to innovate, to meet

0:34

the needs of the children you serve from

0:37

practical tips for managing operations,

0:39

to uplifting stories of transformation

0:42

and triumph. This podcast will

0:44

be chalk full of insights. You can use

0:46

to fully realize the potential of your

0:48

childcare business. Let's jump

0:51

in.

0:52

Welcome

0:53

Everyone again to the childcare business podcast.

0:56

Really excited to have you with me. I'm

0:58

Ryan Wal vice president of

1:00

sales , uh, with ProCare software. And

1:03

, uh, today I'm excited again

1:05

about our guest , uh, Aaliyah Johnson

1:08

Roberts , uh, is an education

1:10

and business consultant , uh,

1:12

who leads consulting with AJR. And

1:14

she's the executive director of the Bustleton

1:16

learning center and Pratt street learning center

1:18

in Philadelphia. And she serves those

1:21

centers serve more than 250 children. Um,

1:24

today Alia's gonna talk about preparing

1:26

your childcare center for back to school, which

1:29

is something we traditionally think of as happening in

1:31

a school setting like elementary school and

1:33

an older grades. Uh , but she has some great

1:35

ideas to share and help you prep for the upcoming

1:37

year. Um, little bit about Alia

1:39

. She has a master's degree in early

1:41

childhood education and educational

1:44

leadership from Arcadia university, and

1:46

she's a PhD candidate in educational

1:48

leadership. She's preparing to expand

1:51

Bustle's learning center services to include

1:53

kindergarten through third grade.

1:56

Uh , so I'm excited to chat with her Leahy . Welcome to

1:58

the show.

1:59

Thank you so much. Uh , thank you

2:01

so much for having me, Ryan. I I'm so excited

2:04

to be here.

2:04

Yeah, absolutely. We were just talking before we

2:06

started recording, you know what, let's just jump

2:09

into the week together and, and , and have

2:11

some fun with it. So you, so tell me about

2:13

this. Like, we're gonna talk a little bit about back

2:15

to school and, and kind of what you do with , um,

2:19

AJR but you were talking about

2:21

podcasts. So you've been on podcast before,

2:24

or you and some friends have

2:26

done podcasts, is that right? What's the format of

2:29

the podcast that you've done before.

2:31

So we are a little daring and ours.

2:34

Ours is live, ours is live. And , um,

2:36

we just , so it's called the impact podcast. I

2:39

give you a little history a little bit, but

2:41

I , I believe that I've kind of been behind

2:44

my brand, my , my centers for the

2:46

past 13 years , um,

2:48

and stepping into this space of , uh,

2:51

consulting. I wanted to just be able to

2:53

have different conversations on a different level. So

2:56

creating the podcast and having these conversation with

2:58

some, some fellow , um, early

3:00

childhood education professionals, it

3:03

was just a way to have those conversations

3:05

and kind of step from behind

3:08

the business. So that was the purpose of it. And

3:10

we call it impact podcast, real

3:12

conversations, real people, real resources.

3:15

And we kind of talk about current

3:17

topics. We talk about things that

3:19

are specific to early childhood education,

3:21

but really things that just impact

3:24

all of us. You know, we're mothers, we're

3:27

business owners, we, some of

3:29

us work in education. Uh , the other day

3:31

we just aired. Um, well we recorded

3:33

it live. We were in the poking those , and we were

3:36

like, we're still gonna record. And we

3:38

had , uh, our ch a

3:40

couple of us had our daughters there who are gen

3:42

Zers, and we wanted to bring them

3:44

on the podcast and kind of have the conversation

3:47

of , um, the differences

3:49

between the generations and,

3:51

you know, how we sometimes miss one

3:53

another and how we could better effectively

3:55

communicate. So it was really fun. So,

3:58

you know, we , we try to keep it lively and

4:00

just have real conversations that sometimes,

4:02

you know, we don't get to have in early childhood education

4:05

space.

4:06

Yeah. I love that. So technically, so gen

4:08

Z is, is what ages

4:11

Aaliyah is. So your daughter, how old is your daughter?

4:13

Just outta curiosity? 2021

4:15

. Okay. So that's gen Z that's. So

4:17

that means I have, my kids are 22

4:19

and 20, so I have kids in that same demographic

4:22

then I , I might have to listen to that show

4:24

cuz I'm sure there's some good content in there.

4:26

It honestly, it was , um, it was really mind

4:29

blowing . We learned a lot, even

4:32

I learned from my daughter, just , um,

4:34

some things that they brought to light that I

4:36

think sometimes our generation couldn't

4:38

kind of shoot them sometimes and like, oh,

4:40

here they come. But it was, it was

4:42

a great conversation, please tune there .

4:45

Yeah . What , um, can you share just, I

4:47

know that's not the topic of our podcast today, but

4:49

I'm curious anything stand

4:51

out for you because the reason why this,

4:54

I think is relevant, like same thing with

4:56

my team. Like, you know, at ProCare,

4:58

if I look across our team, you know , we

5:00

hire a lot of young

5:02

professionals in that demographic and

5:04

there are generational

5:06

differences and different approaches to

5:08

work and life. And it's been , um,

5:12

interesting to navigate both how

5:14

we can learn from that generation, but

5:16

also how we can mentor

5:19

and, and coach and, and

5:21

influence. But, so I'm curious, like from your perspective,

5:24

what were there any like main takeaways

5:26

that you're like, oh, a anything you

5:28

can share?

5:28

Absolutely. So of course communication

5:31

was huge, right. I , I know I've been guilty

5:33

of it. It's like, oh my goodness, this generation,

5:35

they are, they can be disrespectful.

5:37

They do not listen. They are difficult

5:40

to work with. So, you know, so

5:42

we , I kind of put it out there to say, you

5:44

know, let's talk about that stigma. What

5:47

do you guys see as the

5:49

differences between the generations and

5:51

how can we do better? And one

5:53

thing that I, I really had never thought

5:55

about , um, it actually was, my daughter

5:57

said that sometimes they try

6:00

to approach us. They try to have, they try to communicate.

6:02

And because there are times where

6:04

we may feel like because they disagree,

6:07

it is disrespectful. Um,

6:09

and we sometimes shut them down, which causes

6:12

mental health issues. Hmm

6:14

. I , I never connected. I'm

6:17

never connected to two. Um, so,

6:19

you know, even in the workplace and I asked specifically

6:22

about the workplace , um, we

6:25

too have, we're very diverse and

6:27

they're at times could feel like friction between the

6:30

generations. And they basically were

6:32

saying that, you know , they're not here to take

6:34

anyone's jobs. They're not here to

6:36

be combative or be the enemy, but they

6:39

sometimes can do things faster. They

6:42

do it differently. And it doesn't mean that it's

6:44

wrong. We do things differently. And

6:46

if we just figure out a way to work together,

6:48

then we could all be better

6:50

and it could compliment , um, the

6:53

business basically is what they were saying.

6:54

Yeah. Isn't that so true. Like, I mean , like

6:57

in , in any stage of life, when you look at that , the

6:59

next group coming, you , you kind of have this mindset, like,

7:01

Hey, we've been there. We understand how things

7:03

work. We're gonna kind of show you the right way to do

7:06

it, but to actually have an open mind

7:08

that , um, we can learn so

7:10

much from, you know,

7:12

that group. I think that's interesting.

7:15

I'll have to check it out for sure. What, what

7:17

about for you Aaliyah , just, you know, to give

7:19

our audience a little context of who Aaliyah

7:22

is and your background. So, so here's a question

7:24

for you 10 year old Aaliyah , if

7:26

you go all the way back to

7:29

when you were a child, how

7:31

would you describe yourself? Like what, what

7:33

were the things that you enjoyed to do? Did you

7:35

always know you wanted to be in

7:37

education? Um, talk

7:39

a little bit about like, just looking back

7:41

in time, description of

7:44

Aaliyah 10 years old, or 12 years old or that young

7:47

girl , uh, kind of stage of life.

7:49

Sure. So I was raised in

7:52

a childcare home, so this is all

7:54

I've, I've known, I've grown up in it and

7:57

growing up in a home. That was,

7:59

I , I , I swear my mom, it

8:02

was not just like a 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM. It

8:04

, it felt it was all day weekends.

8:07

Um, there were always children at our home and

8:10

I definitely did not see myself

8:12

in the industry. I actually have a

8:14

staff member who she worked in

8:17

the home program she's been, so

8:19

she's been around 25

8:22

years and we literally were just

8:24

laughing about it that, you know, I would always,

8:26

you know, come downstairs and

8:28

I would communicate with the staff and

8:30

like interact with children, but I swore,

8:33

and I vowed that I would never be a part of the business

8:35

because this was just not my passion. Um,

8:38

but I definitely remember

8:41

the experiences that I had, even

8:43

though it was my home. And that was my mother. Um,

8:46

she was still miss Linda and there was something about

8:48

her that she just imparted to

8:50

the children and the families that just came

8:52

from so much love. And

8:55

, um, that part I never forgot.

8:58

And, you know, I still remember, you know,

9:00

she would always make hot meals and she always

9:02

had to make soup from scratch. And , um,

9:05

she taught things that were like , um,

9:08

crocheting. I remember learning how to

9:10

do like cook Le um,

9:13

we jacks and it , you know, it

9:15

was just really special to create

9:17

relationships. And , um,

9:19

so I , I definitely remember those moments. I

9:21

definitely did not have a disdain for , um,

9:24

childcare, but I was, I

9:27

was big in fashion. I

9:29

loved fashion and I vowed for that to be my career.

9:32

So, you know, that's kind of where I was, I was

9:34

always creative, but I was a quiet

9:37

child. Um, I had

9:39

one older brother, so, you know,

9:41

he wasn't we're six years apart. So I

9:43

was kind of like in the home by myself, but

9:45

, um, yeah, I went to Catholic school

9:48

neighborhood Catholic school. So, you know, our community,

9:50

the school and the home childcare

9:53

program, it was really one small

9:55

community. Everyone knew one another, the

9:57

school that I went to K through eight, we

9:59

all went together. So we basically

10:01

grew up together. So I know

10:03

the feeling of community. Um,

10:06

and , and that's , that's definitely what I remember. And I , I

10:08

was that kid who was raised in childcare

10:11

.

10:11

Yeah. That's um, so when you talk about

10:14

you swore you weren't gonna get into

10:16

childcare , was that just kind of the natural, like

10:19

every young person's like, I'm not gonna follow the

10:21

path of my parents or did you see your mom struggle

10:23

with that? Like was, was for her,

10:25

was running that home business,

10:27

was it a struggle? And you saw that it's

10:30

like, oh, wow, this is hard on my mom. Or was it just

10:32

you kind of wanting to form your own path?

10:34

Yeah, it was just not a passion that

10:36

I had. Um, my mom loved,

10:39

she loved what she did to my

10:42

mom is at our other site right now. She opens

10:44

up every single day. She loves that's . She

10:47

does , you know, and I'm like, well, mom, so, you know,

10:49

did you wanna start preparing for retirement? And

10:51

she's like, no, I really believe

10:53

that this work brings her joy. Right. She's

10:55

like a lot of people retire and they get sick

10:57

and she's 70 years old, she's

10:59

70 and loves this work. So, no, I

11:02

, I always saw the joy that she

11:04

had for it. Um, she

11:06

definitely had experiences later on,

11:08

she had about four, she had the home program

11:11

and she ended up having three additional

11:13

centers outside of that. Um,

11:16

they did end up all closing

11:18

and I know it was like financial, like taxes

11:20

and things and honesty , a number of

11:22

those issues came from the lack of , uh,

11:25

business systems. I , I know . So

11:27

that was really interesting because when we ended up

11:29

partnering together, I was bringing

11:31

the business side while she had the early

11:33

childhood education background before I formally

11:36

went to school

11:37

For ECE. Got it. So how

11:39

did she finally, maybe she didn't talk you

11:41

into this, but talk about the events cuz I did see,

11:44

I know you mentioned that your background and your

11:46

passion was fashion and fashion merchandising,

11:48

which, you know, isn't the, the most logical

11:51

career pathing into or ECE,

11:53

but you know, it's amazing how things

11:56

over time doors open and

11:58

, and, you know, passions shift. So talk

12:00

a little bit about how that transition

12:02

happened when you started kind of moving this direction.

12:04

Sure, sure. So again, you know, I

12:06

, I knew what I wanted to do when I went to

12:08

high school . I still was very much into,

12:11

you know , creative fashion. That's what

12:13

I love to do. Um, my mom never

12:15

tried to pressure me at all. Um,

12:17

summer summers, I worked, I worked

12:20

in at the summer camp, you know, it was kind of like the

12:22

thing to do. My cousins were there as well.

12:24

That was fine. You know, it wasn't anything

12:26

that I hated. It just

12:28

was like, no, that's not, for me. It

12:31

probably was some of that. Um, you

12:33

know, teenage rebellious that

12:35

I was like, Nope , not gonna do it. Um,

12:38

but so I ended up

12:40

going to, I really had one college choice

12:43

at that time. It's called Philadelphia college of

12:45

textile and science, great Philadelphia

12:47

fashion school. Um, I went there

12:49

for fashion merchandising and um,

12:53

towards my latter years I

12:56

had a daughter, I had a daughter. Um,

12:58

so I took a year. I took time off

13:00

and then I went back to finish my degree

13:03

and , um, I was recruited

13:05

to , uh, urban Outfitters. I , their home

13:07

offices in Philadelphia and I was

13:09

recruited there as an intern and ended up working

13:12

there. So that was my first fashion job. My,

13:14

my plans, they , they went, everything

13:17

went according to plan. So I was doing exactly

13:19

what I wanted to do. I was there for

13:21

about four years and

13:24

uh , my mother was opening up a totally

13:26

different site. It was a brand new

13:28

site and she started asking

13:30

me about no, you know

13:32

what? I was looking to go to LA.

13:35

I was looking to go to LA. I

13:37

fell in love with it. And I was looking at some buying

13:40

positions there. And I

13:42

always say that I felt like her offering

13:45

me to partner in the business was her way of keeping

13:47

me in Philadelphia. And , um, so

13:49

she said , you know, I could really use your help. You do

13:51

the business side. You know, I kind of teach

13:53

you everything on this side and we collaborate. And

13:56

, um, I started

13:58

feeling the pressure of the fashion industry.

14:00

You work long hours. I had a daughter, most,

14:03

most of my colleagues did not. Um,

14:06

so I started considering it and

14:08

at some point I said, okay , um,

14:10

I agreed to do it. And um, because

14:13

I also, I also realized

14:15

now I'm older at this point. So I realized the importance

14:17

of legacy. Um, so

14:20

I definitely was thinking different and, and I

14:22

also had pretty much gotten what

14:24

I wanted out of my system. I

14:26

did exactly what I , I wanted to do. There

14:28

was no pressure. Um, so I

14:30

looked at it differently and I

14:32

was excited to do it. It took some

14:34

time. So the building that we had needed,

14:36

some renovations and licensing,

14:39

it's a whole process in trying to open up a childcare

14:41

center. So in the meantime,

14:43

of course I still have to work. Like I literally have

14:45

salary health , health insurance,

14:48

things like that, that I come to find out

14:50

that it is, is not so in childcare

14:53

. So I was like, wait a minute. So

14:55

I didn't leave right away. I

14:57

remember the same day that we got the license to

14:59

open. I got another offer

15:02

at another buying company. So I had to make

15:04

the decision of what I would do because

15:06

the salary wasn't there. I said, well,

15:09

I'll continue to help on the business side.

15:12

Um, I'll create the handbook. So I started doing

15:14

those things and I wasn't necessarily

15:16

needed in the business. So I would help.

15:18

I went to that , uh, new position

15:20

in 90 days after 90 days,

15:23

they had a new president and they shut down

15:25

the whole department. I was laid off and

15:27

that same day I packed up

15:30

and I went to Pratt street learning center.

15:32

And that was my first day as director,

15:34

literally working in the program. And

15:37

we are 14 years later. Here we

15:39

are today.

15:40

So , wow. That's what I was gonna ask you when , so

15:42

that was, you know, roughly if I'm doing the

15:44

math right. 2008 ish. Yep

15:47

. Um, when you made that transition,

15:49

so, so Pratt street , what do you remember about

15:51

like, so making the transition from what

15:54

call it corporate America into,

15:57

you know, actually working at the center. So

15:59

when you stepped into that fairly new

16:02

to the childcare business, do

16:04

you remember what your initial perceptions were of

16:06

? Like, okay, where am I gonna come in and make an

16:08

impact from an administrative standpoint?

16:10

Or was it early on where you just like, I'm

16:13

just gonna absorb my , myself in the business and learn

16:15

as much as I can. What , what do you remember about

16:17

the early parts of the business side of things?

16:20

I , I , I , I still remember walking into

16:22

the center and it kind of being like, well,

16:24

who is she? Right. I walk in and

16:26

all of a sudden, here's like, you know, here's

16:29

your boss. I remember that moment. Um,

16:32

so I didn't

16:34

really have leadership experience.

16:36

I , I had business experience, but I didn't have leadership

16:38

experience. So , um, I'm

16:41

a lifelong learner. So I signed

16:43

up to go to our community college because

16:46

I was just going to jump in and learn all that I

16:48

could. And that's exactly what I did. Um,

16:50

I ended up going to school

16:53

for my associates, so I already had my bachelor's

16:55

degree. So I really just needed an associate's

16:57

in early childhood education just to get those

17:00

core courses. So I

17:02

, um, yeah, so I , I went full

17:04

time just so I could complete it in a year. And

17:06

I did that. And , you know, while

17:08

I was in school, I was basically

17:11

applying what I learned. It was like on the

17:13

job training basically. Um,

17:15

the program had already really

17:17

been running anyway. Um,

17:21

I didn't, at that time have a full understanding

17:23

of like high quality yet. So

17:26

I really just was like, I'm coming in and I'm just

17:28

creating the business systems and the

17:30

foundation. But the more

17:32

that I went to school, the more that I interacted

17:35

with other , uh, childcare professionals, I

17:37

learned about high quality. So in Pennsylvania,

17:39

we have what they call a stars system

17:41

, um, which is a rating

17:43

system. It goes from one, which is

17:45

, um, you know, if you have a license at this

17:47

point, you get a star one, and then you go up to

17:50

star four based on some particular

17:52

standards. Um, so we went through,

17:54

I , I , I collaborated and I did

17:56

a number of quality initiative programs

17:59

that taught myself, it taught the

18:01

staff, we received resources and

18:03

, um, financial supports and they helped

18:05

us raise the quality of our program. Um,

18:09

so we went from one to two and

18:11

then I literally remember the day that we got

18:13

star two . I said , guys, prepare yourselves.

18:16

We're going to start three. Um, what

18:19

that includes though, that includes

18:21

staff having to go back to school and get their

18:23

degree because a percentage of teachers would

18:26

be required to have a degree. Um,

18:28

and then you would have to have other , um,

18:31

standards that, that you met such as

18:33

, um, family engagement and

18:36

, um, community engagement and,

18:38

and different services that you offered. So,

18:40

you know, we kind of went through that process and that took

18:42

us about that took us about three

18:45

to four years.

18:46

And we just , just cur just curious

18:48

a question about that , um, that

18:51

rating system for you looking at the business

18:53

at the time, cuz I think this is a question that

18:56

is relevant for other providers as well,

18:58

was the motivation of going to

19:00

get higher quality rating? Was that a

19:02

, a business decision in terms of like, Hey, this

19:04

affects our, what we can charge for tuition

19:06

and our reimbursement rates from the state

19:09

, or was it more for you? A motivation

19:11

of like, I wanna deliver the highest quality product

19:13

that I can for my community or maybe

19:16

it was both, but I'm curious the motivation initially.

19:19

Um, what , what was the motivation be be

19:21

behind starting that process?

19:23

It , it definitely was both. So the more that I learned about

19:25

it, the , the higher, the quality, the higher

19:27

the pay rate. Um, so if I'm

19:30

asking staff to , uh, go back

19:32

to school or if I'm trying

19:34

to recruit staff who already have a degree,

19:36

I have to be able to pay them more.

19:39

Um, if you are not a part of the, the

19:42

high quality system at that time, you,

19:44

you know, at that time actually

19:47

they gave like lump sum payments and they also

19:49

gave bonuses to staff based on their education.

19:51

Now , um, our subsidy

19:54

re reimbursement rates, you

19:56

get one and then the higher your equality level,

19:58

if there's an add on . So there's a large

20:01

difference financially. So that was one.

20:03

But the more that I learned about what

20:06

ch like the more that I learned about the

20:08

impact on children, that , um,

20:11

a childcare program had, you

20:14

know, you have children who are there typically eight to 10 hours

20:16

per day. Um, the

20:19

experiences that they had really created

20:21

, uh, a more effective

20:23

trajectory of their lives. And so

20:25

why would we not, if we are here providing this

20:28

service, we're gonna be the best that we could be. So

20:30

, um, it was a little bit of both, and

20:33

I definitely wanted to raise the bar.

20:35

You know, I'm not one who we just settled.

20:37

I , I wanted to do the best that we could. And

20:39

the more we learned, I , I said, okay, oh, they

20:42

have that initiative program. They have that one. What

20:44

I loved about it too, is these programs at

20:47

that time United way had a program called

20:49

success five , six. They didn't

20:51

just require us

20:53

to do particular. Um,

20:56

they didn't require us to just

20:58

follow these standards. They provided technical

21:01

assistance where people came into the program

21:03

and they supported us along the way. So

21:06

we had coaches in the classrooms

21:08

showing teachers and sitting with

21:10

them and interacting with children and,

21:12

and kind of modeling what it looked like. And

21:15

in childcare , when you have a leader, a

21:18

director, or you have , um, we

21:20

have a education specialist now, but that's one person

21:22

that's one person to, in

21:25

this building, we have 25 teachers.

21:27

So, you know, to have additional supports, we

21:29

still have additional supports where we

21:31

could , um, allow the teachers

21:34

to ask questions and to learn and

21:36

to model and to reflect. So

21:38

I wanted them to have the opportunity to do that. And

21:40

I also learned the backend as well. So,

21:43

because I knew business generally,

21:45

I didn't necessarily know

21:47

, um, how to navigate a

21:49

childcare program as effectively as I do

21:51

now. So they were monumental

21:54

to, to , to where I am.

21:56

Yeah. When you look back like

21:58

at, at Aaliyah 2008,

22:00

when you first stepped in versus 2022

22:04

Alia , we'll talk a little bit about back to school, you

22:06

know, here's, we , um, as we continue

22:08

to talk, but anything that stands out, like

22:10

if you were to go back and, and give advice

22:13

to 2008 elite , I know you mentioned,

22:15

Hey, I'd never been a leader before. And I think

22:17

people take for granted that even

22:19

though I think there are those attributes that people carry

22:21

that are innate to them in terms of leadership.

22:24

There's a lot of like development

22:26

and learning. And , and so to think like,

22:28

Hey, I was gonna be like the perfect leader day

22:31

one. Um , not the case

22:33

for most people, anything that you

22:35

look back on and say, man, if I could have given myself

22:38

2022 Alia given my 2008

22:41

Alia , some advice, anything stand out like

22:43

from learnings over time

22:45

that , um, have

22:48

taken time that you wish you would've known, then I

22:50

know it's a hard question, but curious if anything

22:52

stands out,

22:53

You know, I , I'm one of those people who believe

22:56

that, you know , everything that you experience really

22:58

provides the , the background and

23:01

the , um, it allows

23:03

you to learn. And I learned from all

23:05

of it. I mean, you know, I , again, I, I

23:08

had not been a leader. So I had

23:10

staff under me who have been in

23:12

the field for years, that I'm

23:15

coming in. And I , you know, I'm not one

23:17

of those leaders though that I'm just going to , I'm

23:19

going to tell you what to do. Um , and I sit

23:21

in the office and, you know, I'm hands off

23:23

. So I'm, I'm not one of those people,

23:25

I've, I've always come with a level of

23:28

respect. And , um, you

23:30

know, I believe in partnerships and, you know, staff

23:33

or like family, I know a lot of people say that, but

23:35

of course I did not. I definitely

23:37

kept people around longer than I should have.

23:40

Um , from our perspective, you

23:42

know, I learned, you know, I , I had a lot

23:44

of , well, they have a lot of potential, they have

23:47

a lot of potential and, you know, I can , I can

23:49

help , um, that, that

23:52

honesty was one of the, the biggest learning

23:54

experiences that I had was staffing.

23:56

Right? Like the children were easy.

23:59

Yeah.

24:00

It was

24:02

It's the adults. Yeah. Like, we've talked about

24:04

that so much. Like, kids are amazing. They

24:06

make things like, they're so simple and they speak the

24:08

truth and it's like, they're honest. And

24:11

they, like, they don't let life's worries. Get

24:13

in the way of like, let's just have

24:15

fun or let's learn something. Yeah, you're

24:18

right. Adults. Oftentimes we have too

24:20

much perspective. Maybe. I don't know, but we ruin

24:22

things. Huh? I I've heard that from other

24:24

people too. Aaliyah . Just the idea

24:27

of like, when you're building a team

24:29

that you wanna believe in everybody

24:31

that you wanna like , believe that everybody's

24:33

gonna get there and wants the same things that

24:36

you want in terms of what you're building. And

24:38

, um, you hold on too

24:40

long sometimes. And I I've

24:42

heard that from others as well. That's probably a good one to

24:44

point out. What about , um, so have you

24:46

guys always had the two locations or did

24:49

the second location? Cause I think if I read

24:51

the bio correctly, you've got Bustleton,

24:53

but you have Pratt street as well. So were they, did

24:55

they go hand in hand or did you guys expand to

24:57

a second site at some point over the last decade?

25:00

Yep . We expanded. So , um, you know, I

25:02

spoke about going through the high quality

25:05

rating , uh, system. So

25:07

what happened ? They ended up , um,

25:10

they ended up having a grant, a pretty

25:12

hefty grant of $300,000

25:15

to basically , um,

25:18

expand or duplicate if

25:20

you will, high quality programs because

25:22

there weren't enough in the city. So

25:24

, um, if you received this grant, when

25:26

I say, and I told you about the success by six

25:29

program, which provided supports, this

25:31

was next level. I mean, they provided,

25:34

they provided professional services

25:36

that I had never used, like a lease attorney.

25:39

We were looking , we had a realtor, we were looking

25:41

for buildings. I had my own

25:43

personal technical assistant who was like a coach. And,

25:46

you know, they, they , they were not

25:49

from the early childhood education side.

25:51

A lot of the people that we ended up working with, they

25:53

were professionals outside of the industry.

25:55

So we learned so much , um,

25:58

we had an architect, I , I

26:00

literally had to learn how to create

26:03

a building. Like I had to figure

26:05

how many classrooms would you like and how many bathrooms,

26:08

what , what's the height of the toilets ? And I

26:11

was like, wait a minute. Okay. Um,

26:13

so the , the amount, I

26:16

, I think that was a turning point for me as a leader, like

26:18

where I am now in regards to what I teach other

26:21

providers, that was a turning point because sometimes

26:24

in the childcare industry, it could

26:26

feel like a silo, if you will , it's

26:29

there's businesses. And then there's childcare

26:31

Mm-hmm

26:32

<affirmative>. And , and my work now is really to merge

26:34

it too, because we are businesses first, but

26:37

we really operate so much from a

26:39

level of passion. Sometimes that, you

26:42

know, we forget the business side and, you know, we

26:44

, we love what we do, but , um,

26:46

it was monumental. So we received the

26:48

grant, we were awarded the grant and there we're

26:51

looking for a second site . The beauty

26:53

of it was the building that we were

26:55

in, which we still have . Um, we

26:57

had filled it to the capacity. We , the

27:00

reason I had done it also was that my staff,

27:03

even though we had longevity, they,

27:05

they really couldn't grow. I was a

27:08

director, they were teachers, there was nowhere

27:10

for them to go. So I wanted to be able

27:12

to offer this opportunity and

27:14

, um, move into a site that

27:16

really was our wishlist. We, we, we

27:19

had two levels, there weren't a lot of

27:21

windows we had to actually like create

27:24

windows so that we could have sunlight. We

27:26

didn't have a space for like a staff lounge.

27:29

Right . It was a number of things that we wanted. So

27:31

when we look for this second site, we, we

27:33

, we wanted so many things, such

27:36

as an outdoor place space with grass, with

27:38

dirt, like we have a mud kitchen and everything.

27:40

Like we created everything

27:43

that we wanted. Um, so

27:45

this , this opportunity was huge. Not only

27:47

to extend the services

27:49

that we provided to another community, but

27:52

also to allow staff to

27:54

have the opportunity to grow and

27:56

, and have a desire even outside of teachers.

27:58

So,

27:59

Yeah, cause now you're building hierarchy

28:01

and additional roles and, you know, making a

28:03

big, even though there was a grant involved that

28:05

it's also risky, right? Like, I mean, I , I

28:08

like what, what you're saying around

28:10

like easy to maybe settle into like,

28:12

this is where we are and we're comfortable. But I think one

28:14

of the things I'm hearing you share is probably

28:16

something that, you know, other providers and owners

28:18

need to hear too, is it is

28:20

always about constantly learning, constantly

28:23

taking some risks, stepping out

28:26

in faith or whatever. However you

28:28

wanna describe that, cuz I'm sure that

28:30

was part of it too. Right? Like scary to

28:32

go, you know, put yourself in

28:35

that position cuz there's some unknowns.

28:37

Absolutely. And I mean, so our , our

28:39

first building was 5,000 square feet

28:41

and the building, we ended up the

28:43

, the second side 5,000

28:45

square feet. So wow . I mean, and

28:48

I say for a long time I walked

28:50

up to this building and I, I just still

28:52

was in awe. Like, did we really do

28:54

this? And it , it is , it

28:57

is absolutely amazing. All of the

28:59

things that we've been able to offer. Um,

29:01

I, I , I , I think another turning point

29:04

was at my first site , we partnered with our

29:06

, um, local school district. So we had

29:08

a contract for preschool children. And

29:11

again, like we were maxed out, we

29:13

couldn't serve any more children. We

29:15

really couldn't, you know , sorry, this , this is my

29:17

bell ring. Sorry. Um, no problem. <laugh>

29:20

we, you know, we, we just were maxed

29:23

out that , that was it. So , um,

29:26

this , this site, it really again is

29:29

, I wish it's very, this is the other interesting

29:31

part. Um, we planned to

29:34

duplicate exactly what we had and we

29:36

are five minutes away from our other site. The

29:39

demographics are totally different. Like

29:41

we, we were not interesting . Yeah

29:43

. We were, we thought we were just, we're

29:46

just gonna do everything the same. No, not

29:48

at all. So we we've been having to

29:50

even still we're very diverse.

29:53

Um, so we've had to learn how to serve

29:55

other cultures, religions , um,

29:59

speak other languages, recruit

30:01

staff who speak other languages. Um

30:03

, yeah . Provide our

30:06

policies, procedures, our parent meetings

30:08

and other languages, other than English we've

30:11

had to learn to not just send out

30:13

emails and text messages because

30:15

not every family communicates that

30:17

way. So, you know, you had , you have a

30:19

plan. We had a great plan. Um

30:22

<laugh> but we learned so much in the

30:24

transition. Um , you know, and , and I

30:27

think our goal though, our

30:29

goals were met and we've been

30:31

able to further impact the community. We

30:33

serve an additional , um, 200

30:35

children here. And actually it's more because

30:38

we serve preschool children who are like half of

30:40

the day and we really could serve another

30:44

198 after they leave at, at three

30:46

o'clock between three to six. So , um,

30:48

we have a full size gym here. So another

30:51

part, one of our vision, our , our vision

30:53

and mission is also to be a hub in the

30:55

community. So this center outside

30:58

of childcare in the evenings and

31:00

weekends, we rent the space out where

31:02

we host community events, we partner with our

31:04

state reps . So, you know, we've had , um,

31:07

English language, learner classes , um,

31:10

you know , all kinds of other community events. So

31:12

we've really been able to tap into our mission and

31:14

carry on all of the things that I

31:17

remember us doing at , uh, the home childcare

31:19

program with miss Linda. So it

31:22

it's been amazing.

31:23

Yeah. That's yeah, that is amazing.

31:25

Starting in a home environment and,

31:28

and moving to center and now a 25,000

31:30

square foot center with community,

31:32

you know, education classes. And I know

31:34

a lot of centers that would love, I mean, in addition to being

31:37

, uh, uh, a resource for the community, it

31:39

does also, I mean, from a business standpoint, I don't

31:41

know how it works for you, but it

31:43

does also offer other opportunities to,

31:45

to monetize the building that's sitting there

31:47

when, when nobody else is there.

31:50

So there's a, there's a business aspect

31:52

of that too. So good on , good on you guys.

31:54

What are you guys? I , I wanna talk a little bit about

31:56

your consulting business too, cuz I I'm always

31:59

so intrigued. Um, we

32:01

talk with a lot of owners who, you know, have

32:03

been in the trenches and have run centers

32:06

and obviously have a calling and a

32:08

passion for sharing that. And it sounds like you've

32:10

got, you know, some similar work that you're doing, but

32:13

I, but I talk to me a little bit about just

32:15

like in the trenches a little bit tactics about

32:18

back to school stuff, cuz I, you

32:20

know, it's relevant right now just cuz we are it's

32:22

August and I don't know exactly when this

32:24

will air, but you know, the theme

32:26

right now is all

32:28

right , it's the end of summer, you

32:31

know, schools are starting to get ready to make plans

32:33

for back to school. Like for you

32:35

in particular, what does that mean at

32:37

Pratt street and at your other center?

32:40

What, what changes this time of year?

32:42

What kind of preparations are you guys putting in place

32:44

to get ready for? Cuz

32:46

if I'm not mistaken, it also means there's a lot of

32:48

new families that are gonna be starting. So

32:50

what, what does that look like? Any practical things

32:52

that you guys do to prep for the new, for

32:55

the new school year?

32:55

Yes. Oh yes. So the summertime

32:58

is, you know, we have summer camp , um,

33:00

but we also use it as our prep

33:03

for the new year period. Um, our

33:05

admin team they're , they're busy. It , it's

33:07

interesting. We go from end of the year school

33:09

activities and then we jump right

33:12

into summer camp planning. And then right

33:14

after that, we're planning for the school year and

33:17

we, we always start with

33:19

our , um, our goals. So

33:22

no I'll take a step back before the school year ended,

33:24

we had surveys and we had , um,

33:27

reflection meetings with our staff just

33:29

to kind of find out right. We could think everything

33:31

was great, but we needed to hear

33:33

from our staff and our families. So we conducted

33:36

surveys to kind of get a sense of how

33:38

did it go this year? What were we really strong

33:41

at? What could we have done better? Um,

33:43

and get some feedback. And we had, we

33:45

really had a great meeting. Um, Uhhuh

33:51

Question. I, I just, just, cuz I'm curious about

33:53

this cuz this year, I think this past year has

33:55

been unique in some ways around staffing, is

33:58

that survey something that you've done every

34:00

single year and that's a common practice or was this

34:02

the first time you've done it in light of

34:05

how the year went?

34:06

No, we do it, of course each year we

34:08

, we learn other ways to do it. We

34:10

, uh, we did it last year as well. Okay

34:13

. It's just that we were more intentional, right?

34:15

I think each year we learn and , and we, we

34:18

carve, we carve out time

34:20

to actually sit and have conversations.

34:23

Um, so we are really big on core

34:25

values. So we, we actually,

34:28

this whole year we, we

34:31

are , we're always compliant, but

34:34

we really focused on core values this

34:36

year. Um, which a lot of it was

34:39

teamwork and positive work environment and things

34:41

like that because it was such a unique

34:43

year. It was high stress levels. It

34:45

was really difficult. COVID came, it

34:47

went, you know, it was really tough. Um,

34:51

so I did not wanna be that leader. That

34:53

was all just about deadlines and you have to

34:55

do this and you have to do that. And , and putting a

34:57

lot of pressure on staff

34:59

who already were overwhelmed by

35:02

their personal lives and work lives as

35:04

well. So , um, we wanted

35:06

to talk about that. We really did because

35:09

the more that we are learning and you

35:11

know, I , I do consulting, but I

35:13

have consultants that I work with. So

35:16

, um, we had a

35:18

lot of goals that we had and we

35:20

learned more about how

35:22

to have conversations about core

35:24

values and things like that. So I wanted to see

35:27

how well that went when we did our

35:29

staff evaluations. I totally did it different

35:31

this year. I didn't have my three page with all

35:33

of the questions related to the job description.

35:36

They were based on core values. How

35:39

, how did you fare in regards to our core

35:41

values? And um, then

35:43

we have the system, you know, do , do you get the

35:45

job? Do you want it? And do you have

35:47

the capacity to do it? And then they were

35:50

able to write out their strengths as well

35:52

as areas they would like to work on. It was a one

35:54

pager and we were able to have conversations.

35:56

And that's what I really wanted to work on were relationships

36:00

because that is the most important. So

36:02

, um, it was different this

36:05

year in regard to what our focus was and our questions

36:07

that was really the difference. But each year we,

36:09

we kind of hear back from staff and and families.

36:12

Um, so we got that fee . I just

36:14

really think this year they were a lot more

36:17

honest and open and

36:20

interestingly like one , you know, one , I was, I

36:22

was pleasantly surprised to hear, you

36:24

know, one of our teachers said, you know, they thought this

36:26

was the best year yet. So at this site at

36:29

our Buston site, we're five years old, we're

36:31

five years old. And um, okay . We've been growing,

36:33

we've been growing. So , um,

36:35

you know, to kind of hear that during

36:37

a year that we just took a step back and

36:39

focused on something like core values to

36:42

hear that it was a , you know, one of the best

36:44

years I said we're on something. So

36:46

of course a part of how we planned

36:48

out this upcoming year was to, to stay

36:50

there and to strengthen our core values and

36:52

figure out how we could build even stronger

36:55

relationships. We invested in mental health

36:57

supports this past year where I had someone coming

36:59

in and, and they were

37:01

able to call in it , had , it didn't have to have

37:04

anything to do with work. They were able to really unpack

37:06

their, if they could choose to , um,

37:09

they didn't have to. Um, we also

37:11

did things like , um, peer learning

37:13

circles and, and like having conversations

37:15

about things. We really tried to step

37:18

outside of the box this year to make

37:20

sure that we could retain staff

37:23

because the turnover has been like

37:25

really difficult. A lot of people didn't

37:27

return to work, but , um, you

37:30

know, so that really is how we, we started

37:33

planning for the upcoming school year.

37:35

It's based on the reflection that we have . Um,

37:39

yes. And so after

37:41

that, you know, we looked at what our goals were.

37:43

We always have our annual meeting during

37:45

the summer, which says, did you meet your financial

37:48

goals? Did you meet your program goals? And

37:50

we met all of them. We actually exceeded,

37:53

you know, our goals, which was, that was amazing.

37:56

Um, so, so then we create

37:58

our upcoming year goals. So

38:00

we always so their annual goals and

38:02

then we break them down to quarterly that

38:04

way . And do

38:05

You do that, do you do that as a team with

38:07

your staff, when you say you have your annual meeting,

38:09

is that kind of a candid, transparent

38:12

conversation about the business and

38:14

the business' goals and then that kind of trickles

38:16

down to each individual like teacher

38:18

and classroom as well? Yeah , yeah .

38:20

Yep . So again, it starts with the reflection.

38:23

So, you know, we kind of hear from them. So when

38:25

we go, my leadership team is the

38:27

ones that go to the , um, to

38:29

the annual meeting and we kind of do the high level

38:31

goals, but then each person

38:34

in our organization has their own

38:36

goals. They have their own that, that,

38:38

you know, the way that it's supposed to work

38:40

is that it's all related though. You know,

38:42

what is it that you could do to help us reach

38:44

the organization's goals? Um,

38:47

but , um, so when we come back

38:49

that that meeting was just , uh, three

38:51

weeks ago. So when we come

38:54

back for our orientation in two more

38:56

weeks, we'll, we'll share with

38:58

them that we met our goals. This is where we were,

39:00

and here are our goals for

39:02

the upcoming school year. And then by

39:04

the end of our orientation week , they would've

39:06

created their own goals for the first quarter.

39:09

Got it. And so each individual teacher,

39:11

assistant teacher, everybody in your

39:13

organization, you know, has the opportunity

39:16

to list out and lay out , like , what are their personal

39:18

goals? How do those align with your

39:20

core values and the overall goals of the organization?

39:23

And then how do you guys Aleah ? How do you then track

39:25

that throughout your school years

39:27

? So, cuz I love how you guys are really intentional

39:30

about laying those out. Is that an

39:32

ongoing conversation then? Like, do

39:34

you have like a monthly or a quarterly meeting

39:37

with each staff to like track

39:40

attainment to those goals? Or what does that look like for you guys?

39:42

So we have a scorecard and each

39:44

week our , um, so we have a leadership

39:47

team, which is a higher level and then we have a

39:49

admin team, we meet weekly. Um,

39:52

and then our te you know, we tried it

39:54

last year. It was overwhelming for our teachers.

39:56

So we're not meeting weekly with our teachers.

39:58

It was a lot. Um, so

40:00

, uh, we have them every other week

40:02

where, you know, we just kind of get some feedback.

40:04

We also want them to still be able to be creative.

40:07

And then we do check-ins my education specialist

40:09

works a lot more hands on with our teachers. So

40:11

some of their goals really aren't

40:14

necessarily that they have to take all of this time

40:16

out. It's really a reflection as

40:18

well as my education specialist being in the

40:20

classroom and kind of seeing where they are. And

40:23

maybe, you know, maybe this is what we work on for

40:25

the next quarter. Uh , what would you like

40:27

to learn? What professional development

40:29

would you like to take? Is there , um, a

40:31

leadership role that you'd like to work on? So,

40:33

you know, the goals, they're

40:36

not something that, you know, we are telling them that they

40:38

have to do. It's something that they want for themselves.

40:40

And then , um, we don't

40:42

have a score card for their goals. We have

40:44

a score card based on like,

40:46

for example, because we have financial goals,

40:49

we have what we would like

40:51

to have for income for the year. And we have,

40:53

we break that down to a weekly amount.

40:55

So each week, and that score

40:58

card is that number. Uh , we also

41:00

track it's extremely important for us to

41:02

have a healthy and safe environment. We track incident

41:04

reports, right? How many incidences happened this

41:07

week? Um, what was the

41:09

health and safety check like when they go around and

41:11

outlet covers and things like that, like, you know,

41:13

how safe are we? Uh

41:15

, we do meal counts and things like that. So

41:17

we have a , a very specific score

41:19

card by department and we review them each

41:22

week in their higher level.

41:24

Nice. I like that. And then what about like,

41:27

so that's the staff and the administrative side

41:29

and getting the business all tightened up. And I

41:31

, I love how you guys use what

41:33

you learned from the last year to apply

41:36

towards kind of building out plans for this year.

41:38

What about in terms of prepping families

41:41

for the upcoming school year? Is there any specific

41:43

work that goes into like the

41:45

orientation night and how you get new

41:48

families, any, any practical tips on

41:50

making sure that the new school year

41:53

starts off successfully for families who

41:55

Absolutely. So we have our family orientations

41:58

that are sick . Um, and

42:00

we do that in , uh, some , a couple

42:02

of time periods. So over two days

42:04

, um, we have our family orientation

42:06

and so we'll have a , a virtual option.

42:08

We are actually really wanting our families

42:10

to be able to come back in this year. Um

42:12

, yeah , so we'll have face to face opportunities.

42:15

Again, our, our site is pretty large, so we'll,

42:18

we're , we'll stagger them around so that they

42:20

can come in. Um, so initially

42:22

we don't wanna bombard them, but when

42:24

we do our enrollment intake appointments, that's

42:26

when we have our initial family engagement opportunities

42:29

to kind of learn, you know, who

42:31

they are. We have kind of like a, getting to

42:34

know you, if you will, to find out a little information

42:36

about them, the back, their background,

42:39

their , um, children's background,

42:41

you know, kind of it's important to ask was

42:44

the child premature, just to have an understanding,

42:46

you know, do they have any fears? What do they really

42:48

like? Of course we need to know about dietary.

42:51

So that initial intake appointment

42:53

is where our , um, family engagement

42:56

specialist creates that initial relationship.

42:59

Um, and then they meet the teacher. But

43:01

at the beginning of the years, when we have family orientation

43:04

and we're laying out who we are, they're

43:07

, they're re they receive a handbook. Um,

43:09

they get to tour the building. They

43:11

get to understand basic things about

43:14

the class. When you come in, we use , um,

43:16

an electronic sign in system

43:18

and communication system. So

43:20

we make sure that they get connected to that.

43:23

Um, and we share overall policies

43:26

and procedures and make sure that we ask

43:28

question, we also get what's called

43:30

our ages and stages questionnaire done.

43:32

And that is where the family is able to

43:35

tell us about the child, where they are academically,

43:38

as well as social emotional . And

43:40

that's like our initial , um,

43:42

orientation. And then we

43:44

wait , uh, about two months to have our

43:47

back to school night . And that's when we have them come

43:49

back in and they can have more of a comp , they

43:53

can see their children's work, they can tour the

43:55

classrooms. Um, and now we're

43:57

building even more of a , a family , uh,

44:00

family and school relationship, because now

44:02

they have something to go off of. You know, you bring someone

44:04

in the first time and ask if they have question,

44:08

you know , too soon . Yeah , yeah

44:10

. Too soon , too soon . So , um,

44:12

but we also do have monthly family engagement

44:14

meetings. So every month we have a meeting anyway.

44:17

So , um, that is a big

44:19

part of our mission. So , um, we

44:22

prepare them with meetings. Again, we had to

44:24

learn though, we had families who they don't

44:26

speak English, so we're having these meetings

44:28

and we think we're doing a great job, but we

44:31

left some of our families behind, behind.

44:34

Yep . Yep . So we , um, we

44:36

do have, we have a , a , a high , um,

44:39

Spanish speaking , uh, population.

44:41

So we have a separate meeting , um,

44:44

for them. And then honestly, each

44:46

year our demographics change. So we kind

44:48

of have to see if we need to

44:50

provide , um, some other

44:52

, uh, translations as well. And then we'll

44:55

do that also .

44:56

And are those parent engagement

44:58

and family engagement meetings, are those like inclusive

45:01

of the teachers in the classroom with administrative

45:03

staff, or are the engagement meetings more

45:05

the administration and leadership

45:08

with families? What does just practically,

45:10

what does that look like if I'm a parent at your

45:12

school?

45:13

That's actually, so we are required

45:15

. So we have a large head start population. It's

45:17

a federal program, you know, if anyone

45:20

isn't familiar with it, like I love the model. Um,

45:23

whether you officially have head start or not,

45:25

it is a comprehensive service. So

45:27

, um, we actually

45:29

are required to have a , a policy

45:33

council and a parent committee. So

45:35

we have leaders that we

45:37

kind of ask, are there any families who would like to

45:39

take on these roles and you know, really

45:41

their job is to lead it. So it's not

45:43

really a meeting where we're talking at

45:45

the families, we're really finding out

45:48

what kind of workshops could we offer you?

45:50

Who could we invite so they can share some

45:52

information? What questions do you have?

45:54

What would you like to see over the next

45:56

one to three months? So, you know, it's

45:59

not really, we want you to come to this meeting just

46:01

for us to tell you what we

46:03

wanna tell you, or just to give you updates. We can

46:05

send that out in the newsletter. Um, this

46:08

is really about finding out what they

46:10

need and want and, you know, providing

46:12

some fun, you know, we had a Einstein

46:14

nutrition program. They came on, it was

46:17

virtual at that time. But you know,

46:19

I was home too with my children at

46:21

night and we made hummus and, you know,

46:23

so we try to provide them , um,

46:25

opportunities to learn how to

46:27

do things at home with their children. Um,

46:30

so, you know, it's , it's not let

46:33

teachers aren't required to come. We

46:35

are asking this year, we are , um,

46:37

asking for, we're actually asking

46:39

for a room parent that way,

46:42

all , any other families who aren't able to,

46:45

to be at the meeting, they , they get the information

46:47

that they need. Um, but we do at

46:49

least ask for one staff person to be at the

46:51

meetings just to make sure that, you know, no one's

46:54

left out, but we don't require them to be at

46:56

the meetings. It is really about the families and

46:58

we want them to have leadership roles.

47:00

Yeah. That's um , I mean it

47:02

, when I listen to you talk, it's like, amazing. Like

47:05

just like in our business, you know, we're technology

47:07

camp , but it's like, you're constantly learning and

47:09

you're constantly trying to solve new problems.

47:11

And you're , and when I listen to you describe

47:13

like, even since 2008, there's

47:16

never a point where you're like, we've arrived and

47:18

got this thing figured out, because like you said, our demographics

47:21

changed. And then that thing called COVID

47:23

and now we had to learn how to do things virtually,

47:26

and you're constantly, constantly

47:28

trying to get better at,

47:30

you know, what you do and how you serve your community wi

47:33

and I wanna be respectful of time too,

47:35

cuz I know we have a couple more minutes here, but I do wanna

47:37

talk about then how, how that

47:39

transitioned for you personally into this consulting

47:42

business. Cause you know, I , I think that's, that's

47:44

a , that's another one of those things is like , man, that,

47:46

that requires a real step into

47:48

a new direction and putting yourself

47:50

out there, like you mentioned earlier, talk to me about

47:52

, um, the , your consulting

47:55

business and what your vision for it is. And

47:57

you know, maybe how people who are listening

48:00

to this podcast could find you if

48:02

they wanted to tap into a little bit about what

48:04

you're even sharing on the show.

48:06

Sure, sure. So, you know, I started

48:08

being a , a part of a number of different

48:10

organizations. I was , um,

48:12

an alum of the , uh, Goldman Sachs 10,000

48:15

small businesses. And again, it was, it

48:17

was a game changer for me. Um,

48:19

it was not childcare related at all.

48:21

It was business related and we learned

48:23

about a lot about, I mean,

48:25

negotiations, marketing , um,

48:28

so many business systems and, and

48:30

also what I loved about it was networking

48:33

with other business owners. Um,

48:35

and it was so empowering and

48:38

I don't know if any other childcare

48:40

owners could relate, but there was

48:42

a time when, if I was in a room with a

48:44

bunch of different business owners

48:47

there, I , I used to shrink. And

48:49

you know, when someone asked , well , what do you do? It's

48:51

like, I mean, oh , I just, you know , own a childcare

48:54

program. And sometimes people

48:56

don't get it or they just think that you're a babysitter

48:59

and you know, it , it felt like at

49:01

times it wasn't necessarily a respected

49:04

industry, you know, when you're not working at like

49:06

a school district or something like that. So, you

49:08

know, I remember those moments, but it

49:11

was so empowering to be around other business

49:13

owners. And I had to come to the realization,

49:15

I'm a business owner as well, and

49:17

I'm scaling my business. We're a large

49:20

program. We , we have a higher income

49:22

level more than I ever would've thought. Um,

49:25

so I wanted to be able to bring

49:27

the industry in that same direction. So,

49:30

you know, I wanted to encourage other early

49:32

childhood education leaders to do the

49:35

same. Um, sometimes when we go to

49:37

our trainings, most times when we go to our trainings,

49:39

we're talking about, you know, curriculum

49:41

or we're , we're talking about child observations

49:44

and things like that, but not always kind

49:47

of the conversations that we've had such as

49:49

, um, you know, creating like

49:51

a scorecard or annual goals, quarterly

49:54

goals , um, how to be productive

49:56

, um, you know, profit

49:58

margin and you know, not , not to,

50:01

to make it sound stuffy, but these are the

50:03

real things that if we wanna serve our communities,

50:05

our businesses have to be sustainable. And

50:07

, um, you know, I , I , I remember

50:10

when I first came into the industry and we have

50:12

something called the market rate survey and

50:14

they ask, how much are you charging? And

50:17

I remember my mom saying, just put the highest amount

50:19

they have on there. But the truth

50:21

of the matter is, is that's not the actual

50:23

cost of care. So we're be , we're undercutting

50:26

ourselves. So if we're starting there

50:28

by undercutting , um, the amount

50:30

of money that we're receiving to service these children

50:33

and families, then, you know, it's,

50:35

it's a lot harder to reach our financial goals

50:38

or to even be sustainable as a business.

50:40

I don't wanna be that business. I'm

50:42

serving 200 children here today,

50:45

and now we're not around to do this

50:47

work because we, you know, didn't have savvy

50:50

business practices. So that was really

50:52

, um, you know, kind of the motivation

50:54

behind this and because, you

50:56

know, my experience is coming

50:59

from, you know , I grew up, I , I didn't run

51:01

the home home childcare program,

51:03

but because I transitioned into this

51:05

space kind of organically, I

51:07

had a lot of people asking me, you know, how

51:10

did I do it? Or they wanted to tour the center. So,

51:13

you know, I , I just became, because I've always

51:15

loved business. I became intrigued at,

51:17

you know, kind of helping other childcare

51:19

leaders do the same and not just

51:22

locally. I mean, you know , the

51:24

virtual world has opened up.

51:26

So, you know, I had a webinar last

51:29

at the last month , um, talking

51:31

about this very thing, helping providers

51:33

kind of start planning for the year and I

51:36

utilize things that are just not childcare related , but

51:38

they're really fun. Um, they're

51:41

they help me to be sustainable. And I'm also able

51:43

to teach my staff things that

51:45

are kind of cutting edge if you will.

51:48

Um, so, you know, that's, that's really what I wanted to do.

51:50

That's how I got here . Yeah.

51:52

Love , love . And we need, we need in the

51:54

industry. I mean, you kind of hit the nail on the head, at least

51:56

in terms of like my perspective on

51:58

the industry, what we see in here, like

52:01

in order to serve our communities as

52:03

early education providers, we

52:05

have to run sustainable businesses. And there are

52:07

a lot of people that I think

52:09

just have a passion for this and want

52:11

to educate and partner with their communities,

52:13

but maybe don't have the business

52:16

background. And some of the things that, like

52:18

you said, you've learned over the past decade plus.

52:21

Um, so it's exciting for me

52:23

and for us to see people jumping in to,

52:25

to help other providers. So L last

52:27

question, if people did wanna find you Aaliyah

52:30

, I know I'm , I , I mentioned

52:32

AJR consulting. Do you guys, do

52:34

you have a website? Can people find you on, on

52:37

social if somebody did, how would they

52:39

find you ?

52:39

Sure. Um, I am on social

52:41

, uh, Aaliyah Johnson,

52:43

Roberts. You could find me that way. Um,

52:45

also the business name consulting with

52:48

AJR. Um, I'm also on YouTube,

52:50

so I post a lot of those videos there. Um,

52:53

the podcast streams there as well. Um,

52:56

I'm on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook

52:58

, uh, and I'm also gonna

53:01

be starting , uh, a Facebook community

53:03

, uh, really recent

53:05

. I actually started it, but I'm gonna be posting

53:07

a lot of tips and resources and short

53:09

videos where I'm teaching small

53:12

nuggets of these things and I'll be having webinars

53:14

monthly so that I can actually have

53:17

providers in the room. And we, you know, we do this

53:19

work together. I know that our time is pressured

53:21

, so it's not one of those. I wanna talk at

53:23

you. I want us to literally be creating,

53:25

you know, I , I asked everyone to

53:28

bring a calendar. I sent them a calendar, let's

53:30

start writing things in. So , um,

53:32

you know, I kind of wanna change how

53:35

, um, I don't call them trainings at all.

53:37

You know, I kind of wanna change what that

53:39

looks like, so that it's not scary to

53:41

be a business owner. I want it to be , um,

53:43

a sense of pride. I think another turning

53:45

point. Um, I just wanna add that, that

53:48

we are always advocating for additional funding

53:50

and we're always advocating for a level

53:52

of respect for our professionalism business

53:56

owners first. And we were able to communicate

53:58

the impact that we had economically , um,

54:01

in regards to allowing , um, parents

54:03

to go to work so that other businesses

54:05

could survive, or the fact that we

54:08

are, have this large center in the middle of

54:10

a community and my families and

54:12

my staff support the other community

54:14

. So if all of us were business owners

54:16

first and we brought on other business

54:19

owners and we could really advocate for what we

54:21

need and deserve . So , um, you

54:23

know, that , that was another part behind it, but yes,

54:25

I'm all the social media sites,

54:28

Aaliyah Johnson, Roberts. You can find me there , um,

54:30

or consulting with AJ. That's my

54:32

website, as well as consulting with ajr.com

54:35

.

54:35

Nice. And we'll put all of that in

54:37

the show notes to Aaliyah . So, you

54:39

know, as we get the Facebook group and everything, I

54:41

know Leah and our , our marketing team will put it in the show

54:44

notes. And I listen, I, I , I know we're at

54:46

the top of the hour, so I wanna be respectful

54:48

of your time, but it's been an amazing conversation.

54:51

I think exactly what we wanted to talk about.

54:53

Dig into a little bit about the

54:55

new school year and , um, really appreciate

54:57

you taking time to , uh, to share your expertise

55:00

with our audience.

55:01

Thank you. I appreciate it. And I am so

55:03

very honored to have been asked to kind

55:05

of share my story and who I am. So

55:07

thank you so much for inviting me.

55:09

Yeah, absolutely. Have a great week and

55:12

we'll talk to you again soon. Okay.

55:13

All right . Thank you your great day . Bye.

55:17

Thank you for listening to this episode

55:19

of the childcare business podcast, to

55:22

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55:24

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