April 8, 2025 • 20 mins
The shocking truth about childcare business longevity will make you rethink your entire approach to ownership. Did you know that a mere 9% of childcare programs survive beyond the 10-year mark? Even more alarming, 41% close before completing their first year, and a staggering 80% shutter before hitting the two-year milestone. These statistics represent real businesses, real dreams, and real investments that vanished—leaving their owners with nothing to show for years of hard work.
What separates the successful 9% from the rest? After nearly two decades in business, I've identified three critical factors that determine whether your childcare center becomes a valuable, sellable asset or just another statistic. First is tenacity—that unwavering determination to continue despite challenges. When facing an eviction notice or personal tragedy, the ability to keep pushing forward becomes your lifeline. The successful few possess this "never give up" mentality that carries them through inevitable rough patches.
The second crucial element is financial literacy. You must intimately know your numbers, from conversion rates on tours to profitability breakdowns by classroom. Even as someone who "would rather have a root canal" than review financial statements, I've learned that delegating this responsibility isn't enough—you need accountability systems that force regular engagement with your metrics. Without this knowledge, you're flying blind, potentially raising rates too high (stopping enrollment) or keeping them too low (bleeding resources).
Perhaps most important is being future-focused. The childcare owners who succeed develop concrete plans extending years into the future, then reverse-engineer these visions into actionable steps. Even dedicating just 15 minutes daily to strategic goals accumulates to 62 hours annually—time that compounds into meaningful progress. This structured approach transforms vague "someday" dreams into tangible achievements.
Your childcare center should function as your retirement program—a valuable asset you can eventually sell, not just a job that ends with nothing to show for your efforts. This perspective shift from survival mode to strategic growth makes all the difference between the 9% who thrive and the 91% who struggle.
Ready to position yourself among the successful few? Join us at the Child Care Business Summit this June, where we'll dive deep into these success strategies. The time to commit to your future is now—because your childcare center deserves to be more than just a statistic.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
So hello and welcome to the Child Care Business Coach
podcast.
Today we are talking aboutsomething extremely important.
If you want to be a survival ofa business owner, or even if
you have a nonprofit, it doesnot matter.
Did you know that only 9% 9% ofall child care programs make it
(00:23):
past 10-year mark?
Is that crazy?
41% close down before theirfirst year in business and 80%
will be gone before they evenhit the two-year mark.
That's crazy, right, and that'spretty much for businesses in
general.
But what I was really surprisedto see is that 91% of all
(00:49):
businesses period do not make itpast the 10-year mark.
That one just blew my mind, tobe honest.
I was really surprised to hearthat so many businesses go out
of business.
It was actually quite shockingto me that so many businesses
fail within the first nine yearsand I was kind of excited
(01:12):
because I am one of the 9%.
I'm going to be approaching my18th year in business, so that
is pretty exciting and I'm sorryI have my cat snuck in my
office when I didn't see.
So this is what happens whenyou do things, live right and
again say hello as you join.
But it's just a crazy statisticand there are things we can do
(01:35):
to make sure that we are not oneof those 91% that go out of
business and we are the 9%.
Something else I want you guysto think about.
Some of you might be thinkingwell, I don't want to be a
business owner that long, butmost of you probably do want to
be able to scale right, at leastsell your company.
None of us open a business tohave nothing at the end of the
(01:59):
day, do we?
Not a single one of us do this.
All of us open with hopes ofhaving an income, doing
something better and having atangible asset we can sell.
For many of us who are businessowners and for you directors,
this is really going to be apodcast episode.
That is, for the owners outthere, but you directors, this
(02:21):
is important for a couplereasons.
You may want to become an ownereventually and you also can
understand a little bit aboutwhat your owner is going through
and help them to make sure thisisn't that you guys just don't
become another statistic.
So this is important for ownersand directors.
But what is it that we do that'sso wrong?
(02:46):
Right and honestly, we don'thave 401ks and all the other
things right as an owner,depending on how you have your
company structured.
There's so many things that weneed to think about.
So how can you make sure thatyou have a tangible asset?
Right?
I have a whole training I do.
That's called CYA cover yourasset and it's all about making
(03:08):
sure you have a tangible,sellable asset when you're ready
to call it quits, instead offacing bankruptcy and instead of
having this option of nothaving anything left right.
That is such an important thing.
We all want something, at theend of the day, to be able to
sell.
Who wants to shut down theirbusiness with nothing to show
(03:31):
for it?
Right?
We put so much into ourcompanies, and not just the
money.
It's the time, the energy, theexhaustion that goes into it.
So there's a few things.
The number one well, maybe I'llgo backwards.
One of the most important thingsthat people who succeed and who
(03:55):
make it past that nine, 10 yearmark, who make it past the two
year mark, have is that they'retenacious.
They have this tenacity andthis fortitude to fight.
There's this thing inside ofthem that they just can't give
up, right, and they just keepgoing, keep going, keep going.
I can tell you that is me, as Iwas doing this study and this
(04:17):
is something I've been studyingfor a couple months now I found
that I don't have all of thethings that it takes to make it
long-term right.
I will always be transparentand honest with you guys.
I don't have all of the thingsthat it takes to make it
long-term right.
I will always be transparentand honest with you guys.
I don't.
I have a lot to work on.
I don't have a couple of thethings in place, but the ones I
do have are the reason I've madeit, and my tenacity is one of
(04:41):
them.
I will not give up.
When I had an eviction noticeon the door of my center, I
didn't give up.
When my husband died, I didn'tgive up.
That is one of the biggestthings that people make it
through.
Now I'm going to go throughthis super quick.
I'm going to just show you whatthey are, but I have a whole
(05:02):
training series that I do onthis subject and it's really not
going to be able to fit into a10 to 20 minute podcast episode.
However, this is going to be themain focus of the Child Care
Business Summit.
This year that's going to behappening June 19th, 20th and
21st, and this year we're goingto be focusing on the owner and
(05:26):
the directors, so make sure youget your tickets before they
sell out.
We still have early birdpricing.
Early bird pricing won't be formuch longer, so please make
sure you get your tickets.
You don't want to miss out,because we're going to show you
how to be one of the 9%.
I don't want to be 91%, butmost of you listening right now
will be Between all theplatforms that I'm on.
(05:47):
Right now.
I have a little over a hundredpeople watching us live right
now.
Right, that means that out ofall of us, only nine of us are
going to be here.
Nine of us will make it.
Think about that, you guys, whenyou go to these conferences,
look around.
Only 9% are going to make itright, and it takes tenacity.
(06:08):
It takes a few things.
The next thing is knowing yournumbers.
You have to know your numbers.
You have to know your metrics.
This is my weakest point.
I do not like numbers.
I'm not a math person.
It's kind of funny my oldestson actually has degrees in math
and advanced degrees, and I'mnot a math person.
(06:32):
So what do I do?
First of all, I did have toeducate myself on the literacy
of understanding what am Ilooking for?
Looking at my metrics, keepingup with them, knowing exactly
when I hit this.
I need to either raise my ratesor I need to enroll all the
things I don't like doing it.
So normally I always make surethat I hire somebody to come in
(06:55):
and kind of keep me on track,because this is my weakest point
, and when I told you guys thatI don't have all of them, this
is the one I am not good at.
I know it's super important.
I literally, you guys, I wouldrather have a root canal right.
And so what have I done tocorrect that problem in me?
Well, we schedule weeklymeetings so that I have to look
(07:18):
at it, and I have my bookkeeperwhoever's the person in my life
at the time that's helping mewith my financials.
They're on a call with me oncea week and we talk about it.
Right, it's that accountabilityand that's really.
Can I do it?
Yes, do I know how to do it?
Yes, I don't like to do it.
And one of the things I knowlike, especially with my ADHD
(07:40):
brain.
If you have ADHD, this is a bigdeal and we don't really put
enough stock into this, but ADHDis a disease of executive brain
function.
Right, and a lot of times wherethings are difficult like this
for us, it's even harder for youIf you have ADHD.
It's even actually harder forus with ADHD to really be able
(08:06):
to, I guess, follow throughright with the executive brain
functions.
So if you find that you have areally hard time doing your
books and keeping up with yournumbers and knowing your metrics
, get an accountability partner.
If you don't know how to readthis stuff, if you don't even
know what a KPI is or a P&L or abalance sheet, or you can't
(08:30):
tell me what your gross salesare and you need someone to help
you learn financial literacy,message me.
That is something we can helpyou with at Child Care Business
Professionals and I know many ofyou have wanted to become a
member but it's been tooexpensive During this economic
time.
We hear you.
We hear you.
So we have a new option for youthat is much, much cheaper, so
(08:54):
that you can get the educationthat you need and have a
prosperous center and be one ofthe 9%.
My passion is for saving theearly childhood field and I'm
going to make sure I makepathways to help you to save
your center.
That is my one of my biggestthings, right, and of course,
it's because the childrendeserve it.
(09:15):
Children deserve high qualityprograms, which means they
deserve for you to know yournumbers and to stick with it.
For me, it's my biggestweakness.
I lost my uh last year andthings started to fall apart for
me because I I don't likelooking, I don't.
So I didn't have thataccountability person in my life
(09:35):
for a little bit and I noticedthat I just would put it off.
I'm like, oh, not doing ittoday, not doing it today, not
doing it today.
Well, suddenly a month goes byand then another month, right,
and it's like, oh crap, and andthe basics were happening, like
the books were being kept and Iwasn't doing the deep dives,
right, I wasn't doing the.
What are my ratios looking like?
(10:01):
Am I breaking even on my in myinfant room?
Is all of this working as itshould, right?
What do my indicators look likeright now?
Do I need to raise my rates?
Maybe I raised them too much,which is actually what I did
last year.
I raised them too much, so Ididn't know my metrics, I didn't
know that nobody was enrollingat the new rates, right.
So before I lowered them, I hadto.
(10:22):
I have to know, you've got toknow these things.
Are you tracking those kinds ofthings?
Do you know the ratio of toursthat you're giving based on your
conversion rate?
Do you even know what the wordconversion rate means?
Right, if you don't message me?
You need to know these thingsIf you're going to be part of
the 9%.
That doesn't fail, and I really, really, really want you guys
(10:46):
to understand that.
Failure also means that youmight make it to 10 years, but
you've closed your doors insteadof selling your business.
Right?
If you do not have a sellable,tangible asset by the time
you're done and you're ready toretire, then you have failed.
(11:06):
I know that sounds harsh, butit's the reality and we need to
make sure we set ourselves up.
Your childcare center should beyour retirement program.
You didn't do this and putyears of effort and the money
you've put into it just to fail,did you?
So I like to keep these shortand sweet.
I do like to respect your timeand also you guys.
(11:28):
Let me know in the chat whatyou're feeling through all of
this.
Are you ready?
Do you know your financials?
Do you have everything in tact,like you're supposed to.
Are you really prepared andpoised to be one of the 9%?
And let me know, where are younot hitting it and where are you
(11:49):
getting there?
But the number one thing, themost important thing, in order
to make sure that you are one ofthe 9%, is you have to be
future focused and, thank God,this is my superpower.
I live in the future and, asI've been doing the study and,
(12:09):
by the way, you guys, there's somany more indicators in there
I'm just going over the likethree of the most important ones
and the ones that I see throughmy own clients that are lacking
Right, and so, again, I amfocusing my entire child care
business summit on this subject.
So get your tickets.
But being future focused, thisis probably the biggest weakness
(12:36):
I see, and there has to be abalance of being present and
future.
But I live in the future.
Literally, I always have a10-year plan going.
How many years am I?
I think I'm six years into my10 year plan right now.
So I create a 10 year plan andI do something that's called
reverse engineering, and this issomething that I help every
(12:57):
single one of my clients with.
Um, we are going to figure outwhat is your goal and how are we
going to get you there throughreverse engineering, right, even
if your goal is to exit andsell a profitable business.
We're going to figure out okay,how long is it going to take us
to have some good P&Ls that aresellable, right, so that your
childcare center is actually atangible asset that you can sell
(13:20):
.
And then we're going to reverseengineer.
This is where we are.
So, for me, this is what I do.
I look at this is my 10 yeargoal, right?
And then I say, okay, in 10years, this is where I want to
be.
So then I break things down andI look at in the next five
years, what do I need to do toget there, to get 50% of my 10
(13:43):
year goal met?
And then every year and this issomething again I lead my
clients Every December, myclients, we have a group meeting
and we go through this entiresystem every year.
But every year we figure outokay, what do we want for this
year?
What do we need to accomplishto get to that five-year mark?
(14:06):
That's going to get us to the10-year mark, right, and some of
you guys aren't quite there yetto be able to think 10 years
into the future.
So I may only lead you twoyears into the future, but
that's okay, we're still gettingthere.
We're training your brain right.
We're training your brain tothink the way it needs to think
for you to succeed and to get toyour goals.
(14:27):
So at the 10-year mark or, I'msorry, at that one-year mark we
reverse engineer and say what dowe need to do to get us here?
And then every quarter we'regoing to look at what do we need
to focus on this quarter toachieve these goals?
That'll get us to our year-endgoal.
And every month we're going tosit down and look at what do we
(14:49):
need to do this month to get usto that goal.
And then every week we're goingto do the same thing.
And then, every single day,you're going to pick three
targeted action steps that aregoing to get you to your goal.
Three achievable action stepsto get you to your goal.
Three achievable action steps.
Now, many of you just go to workright.
(15:10):
You have no plan, you have noprocess.
You are just kind of flowingevery day through life.
So five years from now you'regoing to be in the same place
you are today.
But now imagine if you justpick three things, and let me
tell you, it does not have to bethree huge things, right?
It does not have to.
(15:30):
It could literally be threethings that take you five
minutes to do.
Right, that's it.
It doesn't have to be huge.
Imagine if you just work on yourgoals for 15 to 30 minutes a
day after an entire year, evenif you're only looking at five
days a week, right.
And let's say you take twoweeks off and we're only looking
(15:51):
at 50.
I'm going to need my calculatorfor this.
I'm starting to do somecalculations here and my brain
will be too slow for it.
So we're going to look at,let's say we do five days a week
, times, and I'm going to giveyou guys two weeks off, 50 weeks
out of the year, which is 250,right.
And now let's multiply that byjust 15 minutes a day.
(16:13):
You've now worked towards yourgoals 3,750 minutes.
Now, if we divide that, you'vejust put 62 hours.
62 hours, but just focusing onyour long-term goal for 15
minutes, 62 hours in a year.
Now, let's say, five years fromnow, where are we?
(16:34):
312 hours, right?
So how many of you guys aredoing that?
Most of you aren't doinganything, period.
So for me, when I hear 312hours, my brain goes to that's
not nearly enough to mastersomething.
So for me, when I hear 312hours, my brain goes to that's
not nearly enough to mastersomething.
It takes 10,000 hours, right,and I do put a lot more time
into mine, but to start, that isstill more than what you're
(16:56):
doing now.
And if you guys look, I wantyou to think back on your life a
year ago, two years ago, fiveyears ago.
How much has your life changed?
How much momentum have yougotten?
All of those things that youtalk about, the one days, the
one day I'll do this.
One day I'll do this when areyou in that today?
(17:19):
Where are you today in your oneday I will do this or that,
right, right, if you look inyour past five years, many of
them are probably still a oneday.
Many of you can probably look20 years back and your one days
(17:40):
still haven't happened.
So why not give 15 minutes?
And yes, you do have 15 minutes.
I was once an owner director.
I had two centers.
I was an owner director and Ihad two centers.
I was an owner director and Ithought I had no time I
convinced myself that I had zerotime and there was no time to
work out.
There was no time for this,there was no time for that,
right, and my husband got verysick Right, and my deceased
(18:05):
husband was terminally ill and Ihad to become his full-time
nurse.
Well, during that process, Ihad to learn some time
management.
I had no choice.
And what I discovered is I hadso much more time.
I just didn't know how tomanage my time.
I didn't know what I was doingwith my time.
(18:25):
And that is what happens with90% of my clients.
The first thing I do is take youthrough time management because
I know you're not going to besuccessful if you don't have the
time right.
So I teach you how to have thetime and it's amazing what
happens when I teach you how tohave the time Suddenly, you have
more than 15 minutes, you havean hour.
(18:46):
Shalyn is probably my starstudent on this, shalyn
Mansfield.
Shalyn is probably my starstudent on this, shalyn
Mansfield, but she's amazing.
She went from working 50something hours a week to not
having to work at all when shelearned the time management
techniques that I taught her,when she really transformed her
center and she went from a 3,000square foot center to a 20,000
(19:07):
square foot center and she stillhad a lot of time on her hands.
It's just learning how to takecontrol of your time and when
you do, you will have time to doall these things.
You will have time to focus onyour future and start reverse
engineering right.
So my challenge to you today,just to get started.
I have two challenges for youtoday to get started on your
(19:29):
path to becoming one of the 9%.
My first challenge is to startfocusing on your future.
Do what it takes.
That means you're going toinvest in the things that you
need to invest in, both time andmoney, because it's not going
to happen.
I want you to ask yourselfhow's what I'm doing now working
(19:50):
out for me?
And if it's not going to happen, I want you to ask yourself
how's what I'm doing now workingout for me, and if it's not,
then it's time to make a change.
My second challenge to you isget your ticket to the Child
Care Business Summit now.
Everyone who goes always comesback and tells me how much it
has absolutely changed theirlife, their life.
I make sure that I'm bringingso much value to you that you're
(20:12):
going to change your life, notjust your business.
So invest in yourself.
Make the time if you want to beone of the 9%, because you can.
I hope everybody has awonderful rest of your leave.
Please subscribe If you haven'talready, like I'm subscribed to
this video and you can alsofind the Child Care Business
(20:33):
Coach podcast on all of thepodcast channels out there.
We're everywhere Apple Podcast,oh my gosh, all of them.
I'm forgetting the big onesiHeart Radio, I'm even on Alexa.
We're everywhere.
So make sure you guys subscribeand listen on the podcast as
well.
Have a great rest of your day,everybody.
So hello and welcome to the Child Care Business Coach
podcast.
Today we are talking aboutsomething extremely important.
If you want to be a survival ofa business owner, or even if
you have a nonprofit, it doesnot matter.
Did you know that only 9% 9% ofall child care programs make it
(00:23):
past 10-year mark?
Is that crazy?
41% close down before theirfirst year in business and 80%
will be gone before they evenhit the two-year mark.
That's crazy, right, and that'spretty much for businesses in
general.
But what I was really surprisedto see is that 91% of all
(00:49):
businesses period do not make itpast the 10-year mark.
That one just blew my mind, tobe honest.
I was really surprised to hearthat so many businesses go out
of business.
It was actually quite shockingto me that so many businesses
fail within the first nine yearsand I was kind of excited
(01:12):
because I am one of the 9%.
I'm going to be approaching my18th year in business, so that
is pretty exciting and I'm sorryI have my cat snuck in my
office when I didn't see.
So this is what happens whenyou do things, live right and
again say hello as you join.
But it's just a crazy statisticand there are things we can do
(01:35):
to make sure that we are not oneof those 91% that go out of
business and we are the 9%.
Something else I want you guysto think about.
Some of you might be thinkingwell, I don't want to be a
business owner that long, butmost of you probably do want to
be able to scale right, at leastsell your company.
None of us open a business tohave nothing at the end of the
(01:59):
day, do we?
Not a single one of us do this.
All of us open with hopes ofhaving an income, doing
something better and having atangible asset we can sell.
For many of us who are businessowners and for you directors,
this is really going to be apodcast episode.
That is, for the owners outthere, but you directors, this
(02:21):
is important for a couplereasons.
You may want to become an ownereventually and you also can
understand a little bit aboutwhat your owner is going through
and help them to make sure thisisn't that you guys just don't
become another statistic.
So this is important for ownersand directors.
But what is it that we do that'sso wrong?
(02:46):
Right and honestly, we don'thave 401ks and all the other
things right as an owner,depending on how you have your
company structured.
There's so many things that weneed to think about.
So how can you make sure thatyou have a tangible asset?
Right?
I have a whole training I do.
That's called CYA cover yourasset and it's all about making
(03:08):
sure you have a tangible,sellable asset when you're ready
to call it quits, instead offacing bankruptcy and instead of
having this option of nothaving anything left right.
That is such an important thing.
We all want something, at theend of the day, to be able to
sell.
Who wants to shut down theirbusiness with nothing to show
(03:31):
for it?
Right?
We put so much into ourcompanies, and not just the
money.
It's the time, the energy, theexhaustion that goes into it.
So there's a few things.
The number one well, maybe I'llgo backwards.
One of the most important thingsthat people who succeed and who
(03:55):
make it past that nine, 10 yearmark, who make it past the two
year mark, have is that they'retenacious.
They have this tenacity andthis fortitude to fight.
There's this thing inside ofthem that they just can't give
up, right, and they just keepgoing, keep going, keep going.
I can tell you that is me, as Iwas doing this study and this
(04:17):
is something I've been studyingfor a couple months now I found
that I don't have all of thethings that it takes to make it
long-term right.
I will always be transparentand honest with you guys.
I don't have all of the thingsthat it takes to make it
long-term right.
I will always be transparentand honest with you guys.
I don't.
I have a lot to work on.
I don't have a couple of thethings in place, but the ones I
do have are the reason I've madeit, and my tenacity is one of
(04:41):
them.
I will not give up.
When I had an eviction noticeon the door of my center, I
didn't give up.
When my husband died, I didn'tgive up.
That is one of the biggestthings that people make it
through.
Now I'm going to go throughthis super quick.
I'm going to just show you whatthey are, but I have a whole
(05:02):
training series that I do onthis subject and it's really not
going to be able to fit into a10 to 20 minute podcast episode.
However, this is going to be themain focus of the Child Care
Business Summit.
This year that's going to behappening June 19th, 20th and
21st, and this year we're goingto be focusing on the owner and
(05:26):
the directors, so make sure youget your tickets before they
sell out.
We still have early birdpricing.
Early bird pricing won't be formuch longer, so please make
sure you get your tickets.
You don't want to miss out,because we're going to show you
how to be one of the 9%.
I don't want to be 91%, butmost of you listening right now
will be Between all theplatforms that I'm on.
(05:47):
Right now.
I have a little over a hundredpeople watching us live right
now.
Right, that means that out ofall of us, only nine of us are
going to be here.
Nine of us will make it.
Think about that, you guys, whenyou go to these conferences,
look around.
Only 9% are going to make itright, and it takes tenacity.
(06:08):
It takes a few things.
The next thing is knowing yournumbers.
You have to know your numbers.
You have to know your metrics.
This is my weakest point.
I do not like numbers.
I'm not a math person.
It's kind of funny my oldestson actually has degrees in math
and advanced degrees, and I'mnot a math person.
(06:32):
So what do I do?
First of all, I did have toeducate myself on the literacy
of understanding what am Ilooking for?
Looking at my metrics, keepingup with them, knowing exactly
when I hit this.
I need to either raise my ratesor I need to enroll all the
things I don't like doing it.
So normally I always make surethat I hire somebody to come in
(06:55):
and kind of keep me on track,because this is my weakest point
, and when I told you guys thatI don't have all of them, this
is the one I am not good at.
I know it's super important.
I literally, you guys, I wouldrather have a root canal right.
And so what have I done tocorrect that problem in me?
Well, we schedule weeklymeetings so that I have to look
(07:18):
at it, and I have my bookkeeperwhoever's the person in my life
at the time that's helping mewith my financials.
They're on a call with me oncea week and we talk about it.
Right, it's that accountabilityand that's really.
Can I do it?
Yes, do I know how to do it?
Yes, I don't like to do it.
And one of the things I knowlike, especially with my ADHD
(07:40):
brain.
If you have ADHD, this is a bigdeal and we don't really put
enough stock into this, but ADHDis a disease of executive brain
function.
Right, and a lot of times wherethings are difficult like this
for us, it's even harder for youIf you have ADHD.
It's even actually harder forus with ADHD to really be able
(08:06):
to, I guess, follow throughright with the executive brain
functions.
So if you find that you have areally hard time doing your
books and keeping up with yournumbers and knowing your metrics
, get an accountability partner.
If you don't know how to readthis stuff, if you don't even
know what a KPI is or a P&L or abalance sheet, or you can't
(08:30):
tell me what your gross salesare and you need someone to help
you learn financial literacy,message me.
That is something we can helpyou with at Child Care Business
Professionals and I know many ofyou have wanted to become a
member but it's been tooexpensive During this economic
time.
We hear you.
We hear you.
So we have a new option for youthat is much, much cheaper, so
(08:54):
that you can get the educationthat you need and have a
prosperous center and be one ofthe 9%.
My passion is for saving theearly childhood field and I'm
going to make sure I makepathways to help you to save
your center.
That is my one of my biggestthings, right, and of course,
it's because the childrendeserve it.
(09:15):
Children deserve high qualityprograms, which means they
deserve for you to know yournumbers and to stick with it.
For me, it's my biggestweakness.
I lost my uh last year andthings started to fall apart for
me because I I don't likelooking, I don't.
So I didn't have thataccountability person in my life
(09:35):
for a little bit and I noticedthat I just would put it off.
I'm like, oh, not doing ittoday, not doing it today, not
doing it today.
Well, suddenly a month goes byand then another month, right,
and it's like, oh crap, and andthe basics were happening, like
the books were being kept and Iwasn't doing the deep dives,
right, I wasn't doing the.
What are my ratios looking like?
(10:01):
Am I breaking even on my in myinfant room?
Is all of this working as itshould, right?
What do my indicators look likeright now?
Do I need to raise my rates?
Maybe I raised them too much,which is actually what I did
last year.
I raised them too much, so Ididn't know my metrics, I didn't
know that nobody was enrollingat the new rates, right.
So before I lowered them, I hadto.
(10:22):
I have to know, you've got toknow these things.
Are you tracking those kinds ofthings?
Do you know the ratio of toursthat you're giving based on your
conversion rate?
Do you even know what the wordconversion rate means?
Right, if you don't message me?
You need to know these thingsIf you're going to be part of
the 9%.
That doesn't fail, and I really, really, really want you guys
(10:46):
to understand that.
Failure also means that youmight make it to 10 years, but
you've closed your doors insteadof selling your business.
Right?
If you do not have a sellable,tangible asset by the time
you're done and you're ready toretire, then you have failed.
(11:06):
I know that sounds harsh, butit's the reality and we need to
make sure we set ourselves up.
Your childcare center should beyour retirement program.
You didn't do this and putyears of effort and the money
you've put into it just to fail,did you?
So I like to keep these shortand sweet.
I do like to respect your timeand also you guys.
(11:28):
Let me know in the chat whatyou're feeling through all of
this.
Are you ready?
Do you know your financials?
Do you have everything in tact,like you're supposed to.
Are you really prepared andpoised to be one of the 9%?
And let me know, where are younot hitting it and where are you
(11:49):
getting there?
But the number one thing, themost important thing, in order
to make sure that you are one ofthe 9%, is you have to be
future focused and, thank God,this is my superpower.
I live in the future and, asI've been doing the study and,
(12:09):
by the way, you guys, there's somany more indicators in there
I'm just going over the likethree of the most important ones
and the ones that I see throughmy own clients that are lacking
Right, and so, again, I amfocusing my entire child care
business summit on this subject.
So get your tickets.
But being future focused, thisis probably the biggest weakness
(12:36):
I see, and there has to be abalance of being present and
future.
But I live in the future.
Literally, I always have a10-year plan going.
How many years am I?
I think I'm six years into my10 year plan right now.
So I create a 10 year plan andI do something that's called
reverse engineering, and this issomething that I help every
(12:57):
single one of my clients with.
Um, we are going to figure outwhat is your goal and how are we
going to get you there throughreverse engineering, right, even
if your goal is to exit andsell a profitable business.
We're going to figure out okay,how long is it going to take us
to have some good P&Ls that aresellable, right, so that your
childcare center is actually atangible asset that you can sell
(13:20):
.
And then we're going to reverseengineer.
This is where we are.
So, for me, this is what I do.
I look at this is my 10 yeargoal, right?
And then I say, okay, in 10years, this is where I want to
be.
So then I break things down andI look at in the next five
years, what do I need to do toget there, to get 50% of my 10
(13:43):
year goal met?
And then every year and this issomething again I lead my
clients Every December, myclients, we have a group meeting
and we go through this entiresystem every year.
But every year we figure outokay, what do we want for this
year?
What do we need to accomplishto get to that five-year mark?
(14:06):
That's going to get us to the10-year mark, right, and some of
you guys aren't quite there yetto be able to think 10 years
into the future.
So I may only lead you twoyears into the future, but
that's okay, we're still gettingthere.
We're training your brain right.
We're training your brain tothink the way it needs to think
for you to succeed and to get toyour goals.
(14:27):
So at the 10-year mark or, I'msorry, at that one-year mark we
reverse engineer and say what dowe need to do to get us here?
And then every quarter we'regoing to look at what do we need
to focus on this quarter toachieve these goals?
That'll get us to our year-endgoal.
And every month we're going tosit down and look at what do we
(14:49):
need to do this month to get usto that goal.
And then every week we're goingto do the same thing.
And then, every single day,you're going to pick three
targeted action steps that aregoing to get you to your goal.
Three achievable action stepsto get you to your goal.
Three achievable action steps.
Now, many of you just go to workright.
(15:10):
You have no plan, you have noprocess.
You are just kind of flowingevery day through life.
So five years from now you'regoing to be in the same place
you are today.
But now imagine if you justpick three things, and let me
tell you, it does not have to bethree huge things, right?
It does not have to.
(15:30):
It could literally be threethings that take you five
minutes to do.
Right, that's it.
It doesn't have to be huge.
Imagine if you just work on yourgoals for 15 to 30 minutes a
day after an entire year, evenif you're only looking at five
days a week, right.
And let's say you take twoweeks off and we're only looking
(15:51):
at 50.
I'm going to need my calculatorfor this.
I'm starting to do somecalculations here and my brain
will be too slow for it.
So we're going to look at,let's say we do five days a week
, times, and I'm going to giveyou guys two weeks off, 50 weeks
out of the year, which is 250,right.
And now let's multiply that byjust 15 minutes a day.
(16:13):
You've now worked towards yourgoals 3,750 minutes.
Now, if we divide that, you'vejust put 62 hours.
62 hours, but just focusing onyour long-term goal for 15
minutes, 62 hours in a year.
Now, let's say, five years fromnow, where are we?
(16:34):
312 hours, right?
So how many of you guys aredoing that?
Most of you aren't doinganything, period.
So for me, when I hear 312hours, my brain goes to that's
not nearly enough to mastersomething.
So for me, when I hear 312hours, my brain goes to that's
not nearly enough to mastersomething.
It takes 10,000 hours, right,and I do put a lot more time
into mine, but to start, that isstill more than what you're
(16:56):
doing now.
And if you guys look, I wantyou to think back on your life a
year ago, two years ago, fiveyears ago.
How much has your life changed?
How much momentum have yougotten?
All of those things that youtalk about, the one days, the
one day I'll do this.
One day I'll do this when areyou in that today?
(17:19):
Where are you today in your oneday I will do this or that,
right, right, if you look inyour past five years, many of
them are probably still a oneday.
Many of you can probably look20 years back and your one days
(17:40):
still haven't happened.
So why not give 15 minutes?
And yes, you do have 15 minutes.
I was once an owner director.
I had two centers.
I was an owner director and Ihad two centers.
I was an owner director and Ithought I had no time I
convinced myself that I had zerotime and there was no time to
work out.
There was no time for this,there was no time for that,
right, and my husband got verysick Right, and my deceased
(18:05):
husband was terminally ill and Ihad to become his full-time
nurse.
Well, during that process, Ihad to learn some time
management.
I had no choice.
And what I discovered is I hadso much more time.
I just didn't know how tomanage my time.
I didn't know what I was doingwith my time.
(18:25):
And that is what happens with90% of my clients.
The first thing I do is take youthrough time management because
I know you're not going to besuccessful if you don't have the
time right.
So I teach you how to have thetime and it's amazing what
happens when I teach you how tohave the time Suddenly, you have
more than 15 minutes, you havean hour.
(18:46):
Shalyn is probably my starstudent on this, shalyn
Mansfield.
Shalyn is probably my starstudent on this, shalyn
Mansfield, but she's amazing.
She went from working 50something hours a week to not
having to work at all when shelearned the time management
techniques that I taught her,when she really transformed her
center and she went from a 3,000square foot center to a 20,000
(19:07):
square foot center and she stillhad a lot of time on her hands.
It's just learning how to takecontrol of your time and when
you do, you will have time to doall these things.
You will have time to focus onyour future and start reverse
engineering right.
So my challenge to you today,just to get started.
I have two challenges for youtoday to get started on your
(19:29):
path to becoming one of the 9%.
My first challenge is to startfocusing on your future.
Do what it takes.
That means you're going toinvest in the things that you
need to invest in, both time andmoney, because it's not going
to happen.
I want you to ask yourselfhow's what I'm doing now working
(19:50):
out for me?
And if it's not going to happen, I want you to ask yourself
how's what I'm doing now workingout for me, and if it's not,
then it's time to make a change.
My second challenge to you isget your ticket to the Child
Care Business Summit now.
Everyone who goes always comesback and tells me how much it
has absolutely changed theirlife, their life.
I make sure that I'm bringingso much value to you that you're
(20:12):
going to change your life, notjust your business.
So invest in yourself.
Make the time if you want to beone of the 9%, because you can.
I hope everybody has awonderful rest of your leave.
Please subscribe If you haven'talready, like I'm subscribed to
this video and you can alsofind the Child Care Business
(20:33):
Coach podcast on all of thepodcast channels out there.
We're everywhere Apple Podcast,oh my gosh, all of them.
I'm forgetting the big onesiHeart Radio, I'm even on Alexa.
We're everywhere.
So make sure you guys subscribeand listen on the podcast as
well.
Have a great rest of your day,everybody.
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