The Child Care Business Podcast

The Child Development Associate CDA credential, better known as the CDA, is the most widely recognized credential in early childhood education. It is an important  part of career advancement in the field, but many talented teachers do not have the certification.

In this podcast, Sammantha Boyle, a curriculum manager at Procare Solutions, breaks down step-by-step what the CDA is and how to earn it.

 She also descri...

Samantha Phillips is an insurance broker who specializes in insuring child care centers, a job that is especially tough this days as ECE businesses struggle to find and keep insurance.

Costs are soaring. Samantha said she has a client in Massachusetts whose insurance DOUBLED, from $25,000 a year to $50,000 a year .. and the client had never filed a claim.  And paying that amount was the client's only option.

Molly Hichens 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. 

In this episode, Molly breaks down some tips for how child care center leaders can attract new families!

Those tips include:

• Highlighting three to five unique selling point...

Kathe Petchel began her education career working as a public school teacher before opening her own preschool center in 1984. She now owns three sites serving more than 300 families in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In 2017, Kathe joined HINGE Advisors, where she now works in business development. In this podcast, she shares her tips on using creative leadership and assessments to train child care center staff.

Among the topics ...

Beth Cannon is the owner of 13 Stretch-N-Grow child enrichment franchises and is an expert in early childhood education working as a speaker, trainer and coach. One of her talents is teaching child care center leaders how to develop talent from within their current staff, which is especially important as owners and directors struggle to retain high quality staff.

In this podcast, Beth shares her tips for identifying staff...

Are you ready to take your child care center to the next level? Whether you're a seasoned child care professional or just starting out, the tips from Caroline Jens shared in this podcast will help you grow and succeed in the competitive world of early childhood education and management!

Caroline is the owner and co-founder of Child Care Biz Help and has dedicated nearly 20 years to child care. She is an expert in busi...

"We've gone down this path of expecting little humans to sit when they're not developmentally made to sit this long. Brains don't learn like this," says Prerna Richards, founder of Together We Grow.

In this episode, Prerna walks us through how to use developmentally appropriate practices to de-stress teachers and children. Prerna says early childhood education programs are seeing aggressive behavio...

As early childhood education providers, your jobs including serving many people, including children and families. But too often, you don't pour enough back into yourselves ... and that's where burnout comes from, says Anisha Angella, founder of the The Early Childhood Coach.

In this podcast, Anisha walks us through the roots of burnout and gives tips on how to stop teacher burnout from starting. She explains ther...

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 y...

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 unders...

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.

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 ...

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 pro...

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 co...

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 ...

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 Bean...

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 professi...

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 sta...

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 ea...