The Child Care Business Podcast

Kathy Ligon is the founder & CEO of HINGE Advisors. Trained as a public accountant, Kathy has more than 35 years of experience in educational operations. During that time, she has found there are five pillars to the success of a child care business: occupancy, tuition rates, discounting practices, salary costs and rent-cost management. Listen as Kathy walks us through each of these pillars in detail to learn how you can grow your child care business! To learn more about Kathy and her company, visit hingeadvisors.com. And check out Framework by Hinge, which is an easy-to-use app that helps you maximize your school’s value and position it for financial success!

Procare Solutions recently released our 2024 Child Care Management Software Industry Trends Report, which provides a comprehensive look at the current state of the child care industry’s use of technology as well as challenges that early childhood education programs must adapt to, and overcome, to thrive. But the findings detailed in this report go deeper than software. In compiling this data, the goal was to better understand the obstacles being faced by child care providers. To provide more context to the findings, we partnered with experts in several areas of early childhood education. Listen in as these experts — Beth Cannon, Caroline Jens, Prerna Richards as well as Kathy Ligon and Kathe Petchel of HINGE Early Education Advisors — discuss topics including enrollment strategies, curriculum and much more! This podcast was recorded during a recent webinar in which all were panelists.

Technology scares people, and that's true for child care employees. "Easing them into it helps, and really slowing it down and teaching them," says LaToya Riggins, vice president of professional development of CRAFT by Better Futures. Proper training and guidance is key, and so is showing employees how they'll benefit from using technology ... and that you're ready to help them. "Don't be afraid. Technology is a beautiful thing when used correctly. Give it a chance," she says. In this podcast, LaToya shares her tips for how to get your staff on board with using technology in their classrooms and for running other parts of the business, including using QR codes for check-ins and getting rid of paper documentation that is prone to errors and takes so much time to complete manually. One such tip is to break staff into small groups so nobody gets lost or is afraid to answer questions. And she has a lot more to share. "One thing about technology is that it's very forgiving. Everything has an undo button," she says. To reach LaToya, email her at lriggins@betterfuturesdc.com or visit www.betterfuturesdc.com!

Tuition collection can be a breeze when families can easily pay you on time and with their preferred method of payment. And for today’s parents, their preferred method overwhelmingly is digital, whether through autopay from their checking accounts or by debit cards and credit cards. The perks of accepting digital payments at your child care program are many, for both you and them! In this podcast, you'll learn more how your center will benefit with streamlined financial processes, and how families can reap the benefits of using their credit cards, such as flights or cashback offers!

A tour of your child care center should be your Super Bowl, says Molly Hichens. Are you doing enough to wow families who tour your daycare or preschool? Molly is a second-generation owner at Bright Beginnings Preschool, which has three locations in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is about to celebrate 40 years in business! She’s also an accomplished child care consultant and speaker. And when it comes to giving tours to prospective families, she has a lot of great ideas to share, including: Molly's areas of expertise include leadership, intergenerational workplaces, business expansion and increasing revenue while streamlining systems. Visit mollyhichens.com to learn how she helps child care businesses stand out from the crowd!

Beginning September 30, 2023, states could be forced to deal with the loss of billions of dollars in federal funding, which will lead to a mass disruption in the child care landscape. The $24 billion that went to child cares was part of a pandemic program, and has been the largest investment in child care in history. Without that funding, 3.2 million children could lose spots in child cares and more than 70,000 centers could close, according to a Century Foundation report. In this podcast, Cindy Lehnhoff, the director of the National Child Care Association, explains what's happening and what measures are being taken to save at least some of the funding. She also discusses the consequences of losing the funding — on centers, staffing, families and the economy — and what some states are doing. Learn more about the NCCA and its work.

Allyx Schiavone had intended to start a new elementary school in New Haven, Connecticut, until she listened to her community and saw the need for an early childhood education center. In this episode, she talks about partnering with local Quakers to form the Friends Center for Children. Allyx is the executive director of the center, which is supported by a comprehensive emotional wellbeing program and made accessible with sliding scale tuition. Allyx also serves as the co-chair of the Child Care for Connecticut’s Future Coalition, representing partners working to increase public funding for early care and education across the state. She has 30 years of experience as a teacher and administrator in Connecticut and New York. In this episode, she shares her expertise on government incentives in child care and talks about some big things she’s doing, including providing housing to her child care center's employees. To learn more about Allyx and the work she's doing, visit friendscenterforchildren.org or just Google her name!

Think about going to a restaurant. That's an experience you have. It's true in other businesses too, from a coffee shop to a doctor's office to a hardware store. So why shouldn't that apply to a child care center? That's the message of Better Beans Branding in Duluth, Georgia. This company does branding, design, signs and construction and their clients include child care centers, which Better Beans helps to reach their goals and convey their values in their spaces. In this podcast, Neel Sengupta, the company’s chief operating officer and managing partner, and Lyndsey Ward, a Better Beans graphic designer, talk about the importance of design in child care centers and how their work creates positive environments for young learners. They share the questions they ask before a project begins, including thinking about how adding space could mean additional revenue. And they describe the trend of parent-interaction areas in child care centers ... because what parents see in your lobby or common space is all they typically see, so you'd better make it interactive and experiential! To learn more about Better Beans Branding, visit its website and its Facebook and Instagram pages. You also can email info@betterbeansbranding.com.

Today's millennial and Gen Z workers are mission driven, tech savvy and they expect to be onboarded and given professional development and coaching, says Kris Murray. Kris is the founder and president and founder of The Child Care Success Company and a leading child care business expert. In this podcast, she talks about how to help child care staff grow within your organization and the importance of professional development to make that happen. Her tips for successfully onboarding and retaining employees include: To learn more about Kris and her company, and the services she offers, check out her company's website. She also offers the a free Empowered Educators training course to help teachers align with their school’s mission and goals.

AJ Crabill has strong opinions about early childhood education and he's quick to dispel any notion that it should start around preschool. He is a champion of ECE, and his education experience includes chairing the Kansas City School Board and serving as the deputy commissioner of the Texas Education Agency where he helped spearhead statewide incentives for school districts to expand their pre-K offerings outcomes statewide. He's now a conservator with the DeSoto Independent School District and he coaches school systems nationwide to get clear about what they want for their students. In this podcast, he talks about why ECE needs to begin WAY earlier than many believe and about the the importance of supporting families and students to help children accelerate when they start kindergarten. To learn more about AJ and the work he's doing, or to contact him, visit www.ajc7.com.

Dr. Rosemarie Allen has served as an educational leader for over 30 years and her life’s work is centered on ensuring all children have access to high-quality early childhood programs that are developmentally and culturally appropriate. She’s an associate professor in the school of education at Metropolitan State University in Denver, and other career highlights include serving as Colorado’s director of the division of early learning, and she oversaw the state’s licensing program. She also helped implement the state’s professional development plan and helped create its early learning guidelines. In this podcast, she talks about how she got into early childhood education, why educators can't keep doing the same things just because that's the way they've always been done (think having children stand in lines!) and she shares her insights about what her ECE students want in a career (and no, it's not a typical 9-5 job with no flexibility). To learn more about Dr. Allen and to reach her, visit her website!

The child care industry is at a crossroads. Many programs are resisting technology to help educate the children in their care and simplify running their businesses. That's why Procare Solutions surveyed over 100,000 stakeholders to gain a deeper understanding of their child care management software usage, as well as other technologies in place for their business operations. The results of the survey comprise the 2023 Child Care Management Software Industry Trends Report. In this episode, Procare Solutions Chief Product Officer Jon Pollock gives his insight into the report. He also discusses solutions to challenges that respondents cited including finding and keeping staff as well as with curriculum — challenges that exist across the child care industry, in programs large and small. To learn more about the report, join Jon on March 2 for a free live webinar and have your questions ready! Save your spot here.

Child care centers are seeing five generations of employees working together: traditionalists, boomers, generation X, millennials and now generation Z, who are ages 10 to 24 years old. As this group becomes a larger part of the workforce, it’s important to understand how they’re different from other age groups, says Kathe Petchel. She has been in early childhood education for more than 30 years, both as a teacher and a center owner, and is an expert on hiring and training staff, as well as staff development and onboarding. Kathe also is the head of business development at Hinge Advisors. In this podcast, Kathe walks us through several key things that center owners and directors must understand about the newest generation in the workplace, including: Learn more about Kathe here and she can be reached at kpetchel@hingeadvisors.com!

The story of Procare Solutions begins with a dad who saw a child care center needed help. That dad was Jeff Blum, and he remembers dropping off his 2-year-old son and watching the center’s owners struggle with their accounting system. So he wrote them a computer program to help. That program — limited, yes, but incredibly innovative for its time — can lay claim to being the very first version of what eventually would become Procare Solutions. Procare Solutions is celebrating its 30th anniversary, so we invited Jeff to share his memories of those early days. In his podcast, he recounts how Procare got its start and the changes that came before his retirement. He’s joined by Carol Levins, who owned many child care centers and is among the first of Procare’s customers. Her feedback helped Jeff shape the software to fit the needs of early childhood educators. Listen as Jeff and Carol discuss the evolution of Procare from its origins on a computer with two floppy disk drives but no hard drives, to its growth to today, when Procare Solutions is the largest providers of child care management software and provides much more than just accounting help!

Ty’Heim Clark, perhaps better known as Mr. Ty, is the founder of The Childcare Whisperer, a consulting business that works with child care center directors to help them meet their goals and take their centers to the next level. His experience in early childhood education started when he was a child and he helped his mother at her child care center. Since then, he has worked as a pre-kindergarten teacher, an assistant center director, director of curriculum and he has managed centers with enrollments ranging from 80 to 200 children. In this podcast, he shares five tips to improve your success as a child care center director, including how to lead when it's difficult to find staff. You can find out more about Ty on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. His website is www.thechildcarewhisperer.com and his email address is admin@thechildcarewhisperer.com.

As child care centers struggle to find and keep good teachers and other staff, building resilience is key. In this podcast, Donna Skea joins us from Quebec to share some tips on doing just that! Donna is the founder of The Infinite Educator, which provides workshops on all aspects of early childhood education, including on building resiliency in the childcare workforce, which is what she’ll be discussing with us today. She also is an early childhood education professor at Vanier College. Listen as Donna talks about getting back to the basics of why we love child care and early childhood educationand the importance of building community and offering professional development, as well as more! Check Donna's Facebook page if you'd like to learn more about her services, as well as her page on LinkedIn! You also can email her at donna@theinfiniteeducator.ca.

Aliya Johnson-Roberts, an education and business consultant who leads Consulting with AJR, is the executive director of the Bustleton Learning Center and Pratt Street Learning Center in Philadelphia, serving more than 250 children. Her mother was an in-home child care provider, and Aliya went into the fashion industry before realizing her passion is early childhood education. Aliya has a master’s degree in early childhood education and educational leadership from Arcadia University and is a PhD candidate in educational leadership. And she’s preparing to expand Bustleton’s Learning Center’s services to include kindergarten through the third grade. In this podcast, Aliya shares some useful tips to help prepare your child care center for back-to-school season, which is something we traditionally think of as happening in a school setting like elementary school and in older grades. But it's vital for child care providers too! Learn more about Aliya's consulting business at consultingwithajr.com and search her name on the social media channels you follow!

In this podcast, Nicole Riehl, president and CEO of Colorado Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (better known as EPIC), discusses a new Colorado law that will pay for 10 hours a week of preschool for all 4-year-olds, and what that means for child care providers and families. Nicole was an early childhood teacher for five years and her background includes extensive work with Denver’s preschool programs as well as coordinating various early childhood quality improvement events, resource, and activities across Colorado. She was the CEO of Denver’s Early Childhood Council before taking over the helm of EPIC in 2019. She discusses how this new state law was designed for flexibility to allow parents to choose what preschool their children can attend and still be eligible for those 10 hours of preschool, as well as the importance of making the program accessible and easy to use for providers and families. To learn more about Colorado Epic, visits its website: www.coloradoepic.org.

In this podcast, Jacob Stewart, director of state government relations at the Early Care and Education Consortium, describes what individual states are doing to combat staffing shortages in child care. Massachusetts, for example, launched a general, statewide workforce bonus for which child care providers are eligible to receive $4,000 per new employee hired and retained for 60 days. Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania have offered multiple bonuses ranging between $300 and $1,200 per worker. Other states are offering wage enhancements, internship programs, a refundable tax credit, financial support to obtain credentials that are state required as well as enabling employees to leverage their experience to move up career ladders and more! These findings are part of a data-packed report his organization recently put out titled "The Child Care Workforce Shortage: Solutions from Around the Country." As of February 2022, two-thirds of providers reported a staffing shortage that affected their ability to serve families; of those, 52% were forced to serve fewer children while 37% had a longer waiting list, according to the report. Read the full report here! Listen as Jacob delves into the findings of this report ... and he describes negotiations that are happening for legislation that could help the child care industry despite the demise of the Build Back Better plan.

Chanie Wilschanski is known as the "school culture doctor" because she can diagnose the root cause of the struggle in a child care center in less that 10 minutes. She's an early childhood leadership coach and the CEO of Schools of Excellence, and in this podcast she discusses what she sees in those 10 minutes and much more. " You need to understand where you're spending your time," Chanie says. "And then you can hit your goals." She talks about making sure you're setting appropriate expectations for your staff while maintaining high standards and staying true to your values. Chanie also describes how to connect with your teachers, which is so vital as early childhood education leaders struggle to find and retain staff, as well as the importance of taking care of yourself. Her goals are: Learn more about Chanie's work at her Schools of Excellence website and you can find her own podcast series here!