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196: First Week of Fall: Your Operations Checklist · Early Childhood Business Made Easy

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: The first week of school, well, it sets the tone for everything that follows.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Families who experience a smooth, confident, well-organized first week become your most loyal advocates.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: And team members who execute a first week where systems actually work, well, they arrive at week two with momentum and confidence.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: And the CEO who leads a calm, prepared first week, well, she earns the credibility to lead from strength for the rest of her year.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, none of this happens by accident.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: It happens because someone built a first week operations plan and executed it.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: This episode, my friend, this is that plan delivered in a practical checklist so you can put it into action before the first day begins.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Kelly Peake.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: I've spent the past 26 years growing multiple million dollar early childhood businesses.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm here to help you navigate both the messy and magical seasons of your early childhood business with simple, actionable strategies.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: It is my goal to make your life a little easier working with our most prized possessions in life.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you're ready to control the chaos, ditch the exhausting overwhelm, and keep the joy, then be sure to join us at KellyPeak.com.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well, hey there, CEO.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Early Childhood Business Made Easy Podcast.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: I am your host, Kelly Peak, and I love to help you find more of that time, freedom, lifestyle that you so deserve.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I want to tell you about one of the hardest first weeks of school that I have had in 30 years of owning and operating early childhood businesses.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was a fall, and Peak Academy had just moved to a new location.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: I had just had a new baby.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Everything was new.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: The new building, the new parking situation, the new drop-off flow, new classroom layouts, new birthday party situation, new storage systems.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Stay and play was in a different uh area altogether.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: And we had a handful of new team members who had been onboarded in the final weeks of summer.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: So we had prepared extensively.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: I had so many checklists.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: We had walked through the space.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: We had thought we were ready.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: But what we had not done was run a first week operations plan specific to the realities of that new space.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we had assumed that our existing systems would just transfer.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: And some of them did and some of them did not.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Drop off, well, it was slower than expected because the parking flow, well, that had not been tested with real cars at 8 a.m.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: And three team members, well, they just didn't know where the emergency binders were kept in the new building.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that daily operations rhythm that had worked so seamlessly in the old space, well, it required adjustment in almost every area.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: And by Thursday of that first week, well, we had fixed most of it.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: But Thursday, well, that's not day one.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then so, those some of the families who showed up on Monday and Tuesday, well, they might have experienced a slightly different version of our program.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Our amazing team, they pulled it all off with grace and style.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: And what I learned from that week is something that I have built into every fall back to school since.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: That first week operations checklist, it's not the same as a general operations checklist.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: It is a specific day-by-day execution guide for the highest stakes week of the year.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: So today I'm going to give you that checklist.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to cover number one, why the first week matters more than any other week.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Number two, how to execute a day-to-day first week operations plan.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And number three, what the CEO should actually be doing during that first week of school.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the first week of school is not just the opening of a new season.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Whether you own a play cafe, a preschool, a childcare center, this is the beginning.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's the moment that sets every family's emotional expectation, every team member's confidence, and every system's credibility for the entire year.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Programs that have a smooth first week experience, well, they compound benefits through December.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Programs that have a chaotic first week, well, they spend the first few months rebuilding trust that five well-executed days, well, that could have established.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now, our free resource for this week's episode is the first week of school operations checklist.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to find it at KellyPeak.com, where you're going to find information about podcast episode 196.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: So download it before we get to strategy two, because it is the companion document for everything we're going to cover in this episode.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you were in the back to school challenge this summer, everything you built over the past six weeks, it's going to lead to this this first week.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: And now, if you missed the challenge, today's episode and checklist is going to give you an execution plan regardless.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's the foundation work that needs to get done.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now is the time to lead this back to school season.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Let's make this first week one that you are so proud of.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Now, my friend, here is the thing that I have observed consistently across all the early childhood businesses I have either managed, led, owned, been part of all for 30 years.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: The quality of the first week of school, that back to school season, it's almost never a reflection of the quality of the program.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's a reflection of the quality of the first week plan.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I've seen exceptional programs stumble through their first week because nobody had a documented plan.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody knew what the first day should look like, how drop-off should flow, if you have specific birthday parties during that back to school season, or who was responsible for each specific operational task when the doors open.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I have seen programs that were still building their team in late August.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they executed a confident, organized first week because they had a specific, detailed first week operations checklist that gave every team member a clear role.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the programs that stumble in that first week, well, they almost always say the same thing.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: We thought we were ready.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: And they were in terms of the program.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: The curriculum was ready, the birthday party expectations were ready, the classrooms were ready, that stay and play playground was ready, the team was trained.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: What was not ready was the execution plan for the specific conditions of that first week.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: So new families who did not know the drop-off flow, they did not know the stay and play rules, children who have not yet learned the routines, team members who were performing familiar tasks in an unfamiliar configuration.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now, that first week operations checklist, that's going to solve this problem because it makes the execution of the first week explicit rather than assumed.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, first impression research in service industries, well, it's remarkably consistent and worth knowing.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that customers from lasting quality judgments about service providers within the first two interactions, they form those lasting judgments in the first two interactions.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that, these early impressions, well, those are disappropriately resonant to change even when there's more positive experiences.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: So in an early childhood business, this translates directly.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now, on the team side, research from the Gallup organization on employees' engagement consistently finds that the first week of a new season or a new job has an outsized influence on a team member's perception of the program's leadership.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: So team members who experience a well-organized first week, well, they report higher confidence in their leader and higher commitment to that program through the end of the year.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: So the first week is a leadership credibility moment.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: What you execute publicly in those five days, it's going to communicate more about your operational competence than almost anything else you do all year.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's a child care director that I work with in the Midwest, and she had been operating her center for four years before she built her first formal first week operations checklist.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Every fall, it just worked out eventually, but the first week was always reactive.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Things came up that she had not anticipated.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: The team improvised and she spent the week solving problems rather than leading with intention.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: But the fall that she built and distributed the first week operations checklist to her entire team two weeks before school started, she described that experience as wonderful.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: For the first time, she knew going into Monday morning exactly what every team member's specific responsibilities were for each day of that week.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Drop off was choreographed and efficient from day one.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: The day-end team debriefs that they texted each other.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that took just 15 minutes, and they identified some small adjustments that made that next day, that Tuesday, even smoother.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now, on the Friday of the first week, a parent she had not met before stopped her in the parking lot and said, I just want to tell you that this is the most organized, welcoming school drop-off I have ever experienced.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: My kids have been to four programs, and I've never seen a first week that runs so well.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: She was so excited, so excited.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: She framed that comment, put it on the wall.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because it didn't happen by accident.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: It happened because she planned for it specifically.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I want for you, my friend.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we're going to go over our three CEO strategies, and we're going to start with strategy number one: why the first week is your most important operations week of the year.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: So most managers and directors, well, they think of the first week preparation in terms of getting ready, having the classroom set up, your stay and play area set up, maybe your birthday party area ready to go, the supplies stocked, your team briefed.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: And all of that matters.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: But the first week itself, those five days after the doors open, well, that requires a different kind of operational thinking.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's execution thinking because it's all about what experience are those families going to have their first week.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Now, preparation thinking asks, what do I need to have in place before things start?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: Execution thinking asks, what do we need to actively monitor, adjust, or lead during that first week so the systems that we prepare actually work?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: So the parents have a quality experience.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the difference that is significant.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: A program can be completely prepared and still have a chaotic first week that parents really don't care about because nobody was tracking whether maybe the drop-off flow is actually working, or that new families knew what to do when they arrived, or whether team members felt confident in their roles, or maybe whether the daily rhythm was landing as it designed.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Preparation creates the conditions for a smooth first week.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: Execution planning, well, that's what's going to make it happen.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now, here's what the first week is actually testing that no amount of preparation can fully reveal in advance.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: How your drop-off protocol performs with real families who've never done it before.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: How your team communicates with each other in a live environment of fully enrolled families or a big birthday party or a large group of families during a stand play.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: How your family communication systems work when you are receiving messages from 20 families all at the same time rather than one at a time.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: And how your own leadership presence affects the confidence of every person watching you, your team and your families in those first five days of the season.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Every one of those things, well, they can be anticipated and planned for.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And when they are, that's when your first week becomes the strongest of your year rather than the most stressful week.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the goal is not a perfect first week.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Children, they're gonna cry at drop-off.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: A supply that's gonna be missing from a classroom.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: A birthday party is gonna have things that aren't perfect.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: A family will arrive at the wrong time.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: These are just things that are gonna happen.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: But the goal is that first week is where your systems are gonna catch the issues early.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: And your team, where they're gonna have the protocols for addressing them and the family's experience, they're gonna have one that is responsive, organized, and genuinely glad to see you and be part of your program.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: So your two action steps here.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, before the first day, hold a team operations meeting specifically about the first week execution plan.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you are part of our back to school challenge, you know about this week.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Not a general team meeting.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: This is going to be a first week planning conversation where every team member walks out knowing their specific responsibilities for each day of that first week.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: What are they responsible for at drop-off?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: What is their role in the first day photo or maybe an update?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: What do they do if a child is struggling during that transition?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Document those answers and distribute to them to your team before Monday.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Action step number two, I want you to schedule your day one team debrief before the first day of school.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Put a 20-minute quick team huddle on the calendar, or maybe just make sure you do a text and ask three questions.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: What worked better than expected?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: What needs adjustment before tomorrow?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: And what does one family or team member need specific, maybe some sort of support that they need this week?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: So again, you can do this in a quick text, you can do it in a team huddle, whatever works best for you.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: But a debrief makes Tuesday go smoother than Monday in almost every program that does it.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Strategy number two, your day-to-day first week operations plan.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: So the first week of school operations checklist that I told you about, that free resource, it's at KellyPeak.com.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to organize this first week into five daily focus areas.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: So let me walk you through each one and how it's designed to accomplish different things and why that sequence matters.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: So day one, that's your drop-off experience day.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Everything on the first day is subordinate to the one operational priority.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Your family's leaving their children feeling calm and confident.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, it's not only just the first day of school for your kiddos, it is the first day for your families and parents as well.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Every other system, those administrative tasks, the classroom curriculum, the parent communication updates, that's all secondary to the quality of the morning they experience.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: So you need to have a morning team huddle that should happen at least 15 minutes before the doors open.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Every team member should know their exact position, their exact role.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Drop offs should be choreographed to the point where families encounter a warm, specific greeting from someone who knows their child's name, a clear, guided path to the classroom, and a confident transition that does not require the parent to ask what to do next.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: They have coffee waiting for them.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: There's a photo booth so they can take their own first day photos.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: And at the end of day one, send every new family a personal text with a photo or a brief update showing their child had a wonderful time engaged in your program.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: This is the single most powerful family confidence touch point of the entire year.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now, day two and three, those are your system check days.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: So by Tuesday and Wednesday, you have real data on how your opening systems are performing.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: So the question these days that's designed to answer this What does the team need to adjust in order to execute the rest of the week with confidence?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: So on day two, pay attention to specific things like your extended care operations, your communication system between classrooms and families who maybe seem uncertain or anxious at drop-off.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: So this could also be for those of you running an enrichment program or a stay and play, a play cafe.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: So again, same thing.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: What needs to happen on day two and three to make sure those days go smoother?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now, on day three, confirm that your daily operation rhythm is established.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: So whatever that morning routine is, or your afternoon routine if it's an afternoon stay and play, your transition protocols, your snack and meal procedures if you're a preschool or childcare, your outdoor time structure, that first week checklist that's going to guide you through specific items to review on each of these days.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now, day four and five, those are your stability days.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: By Thursday, the program should be operating with a rhythm it will maintain the rest of the year.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: So your job on day four is to send your first formal family communication of the year, a brief warm note, a letter goes home saying what a wonderful week you had, a newsletter that celebrates the first week.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Share a specific observation or story from the program and set expectations for ongoing communication.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now, day five, complete your enrollment confirmation audit.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Verify that every enrolled family has completed all their paperwork, your attendance rosters are where they need to be.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: If you're staying play, that all of your formal sign-in sheets or policy and procedure agreements are taken care of, that all the systems reflect the correct roster, and that any outstanding items are identified and assigned to a team member for follow-up.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Now, that first week of school, it's going to usually end on a Friday, but the operational momentum that builds it or fails it, that's going to carry into October.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: So a program that finishes its first week with functioning systems, a confident team, and families who feel welcome and informed, well, that has a completely different Q4 than the one that finishes the first week, still making it up as they go.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: So your two action steps number here.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, download the first week of school operations checklist at Kellypeak.com.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Go through it with your team, maybe your assistant, whoever you need to review that with before the first day of school, assign every task to a specific person with a specific day.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now the checklist works as a delegation tool, not just a to-do list.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Every item without a name next to it is an item that will default to you.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Action step number two, set a timer on your phone right now for the opening time that you open on your first day of school.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: Label it team huddle.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: So again, give yourself about 15 minutes.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: So if you open at 7 a.m., 6:45.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: If you open at 9 a.m., 8.45.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: If you do not block out that 10 to 15 minutes now before families arrive for a standing team touch point, the morning is going to start without it.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: That morning huddle takes less time than any of the conversations you will have or try to coordinate in real time once your families are arriving.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Make this worth it.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: It is an investment, but it is worth it.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, on to our final CEO strategy number three, lead from the floor, not from the desk.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is the strategy that most experienced CEOs already know intuitively, but sometimes talk themselves out of as administrative pressure builds in the final weeks before school.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: That first week of fall is not the week to catch up on all that desk work that you deferred through August.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I want to be direct about this because I have seen this pattern over and over.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: An EC business leader has had an intense summer.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: She has been building systems, hiring team members, communicating with families, preparing for fall, all probably while operating a fabulous summer camp.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: By the time the first week of school arrives, there is a real and understandable pull to sit down, close the office door, and work through that administrative backlog that might have accumulated.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: The emails that need answering, the reports that need completing, that billing that needs updated.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: All of those things are true and they are there.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: I get it.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: And none of them are the highest use of your time during the first week of school.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: The first week of school is a data collection opportunity that comes once a year.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: You can sit at a desk and hear about how things went on Monday, or you can be standing at the classroom door on a Monday morning or a Saturday stay and play and you can see it all.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Those are not the same experiences.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: What you learn from being present during that first week is going to give you the information that's going to shape your operational decisions for the next 12 months.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Team members, will they need more support than expected?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Classroom transition protocol, is it working?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Is it not?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Which family arrived nervous and which one arrived overly confident?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: How your team communicates with each other under these real conditions, that is going to really help you understand where you need to support them more and where you can let go.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now, none of that information makes it to a report.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's only available in the moment to the leader who is actually there to observe it.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: The CEO approach to the first week of fall is leadership presence is their primary job.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Administrative tasks, those can be batched into specific time blocks in the afternoon and in the evening.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: The mornings, the drop-offs, the team moments, the family interactions, those belong to the floor, not the desk.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: This shift in priority requires trust in your systems.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: If your systems require your constant involvement to function, those are not systems yet.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: The work you have done over the summer to build, to be prepared, to equip a team and document processes, that's exactly what's going to allow you to lead from the floor that first week without your programming falling apart behind you.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you completed that back to school challenge this summer, you've laid that foundation.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: You are approaching this first week with that preparation.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Today's checklist is going to give you the execution framework that's going to lead you to have those systems that you need to be peaceful and calm.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: And either way, after this week, you're going to have real data about what to build for next year.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: So your two action steps.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Action step number one here, block your calendar for the first week of school right now.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Put leadership presence on your calendar from open to one hour after drop-off closes every morning.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Block your administrative catch-up time for later in the afternoon, maybe nap time.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Protect those blocks.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Your team and your families need you.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: They need your presence in the morning and your administrative responsibilities.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, those can wait until families have left for the day or in the afternoon when everyone is napping and things are more quiet.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: Your action step number two, choose one specific observation focus for each day of the first week.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: So for example, Monday, drop off experience quality.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Tuesday, team communication effectiveness.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Wednesday, transition and execution.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: Thursday, family communication responsiveness.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: Friday, overall systems performance.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Write your observation notes at the end of each day.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: By Friday afternoon, you will have a five-day operational assessment of your program that's worth more than any survey you could send.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: You can apply all of that to the next year, and it'll be even smoother.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: And again, as I always say, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: You are creating things today that will make next year so much smoother.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now, my friend, those three strategies, understanding why the first week sets the tone for the entire year, executing the day-by-day operations plan and leading from the floor with presence and attention, those are your complete first week framework.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: So here are your CEO action steps to do before Monday.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: Download that free resource, the first week of school operations checklist at KellyPeak.com and assign every task to a specific team member.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: Hold your first team operations meeting.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you haven't already had a team meeting, make sure to have one before the first day happens.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, block your leadership presence time on your calendar that first full week.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: Choose your daily observation focus for each of those five days.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Now, again, if you're part of that back to school challenge of the summer, that work you did in those six weeks, it's going to be what makes this first week possible.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: You've built the foundation and this is the week where you see it.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: If you miss the challenge and want a complete back-to-school systems framework for the next year, our preschool business blueprint in our Clarity Collective membership, it's going to include all of that plus the full efficient operations module with everything you need to build this kind of readiness over the year.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: So here's what I want you to remember as you head into your first week.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: You are not just opening a fall season.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: You are setting the expectations, the confidence, and the culture for the next nine months of your program.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: The families who walk through your door on Monday, they are watching to see whether this program is the one that they choose and whether it's organized and calm.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: The team members who show up on Monday morning are watching to see whether you are the leader they signed on for.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: So, my friend, be there.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: Be present.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Lead this week like the confident early childhood operator you have been building toward all summer.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I will see you on the other side of the best first week you have ever had.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Take care.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for tuning into our podcast.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Are you ready to take your early childhood business to the next level?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Then head over to KellyPeak.com to join a community of other early childhood professionals who are ditching the chaos and the overwhelm and creating a business they love.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to see you there.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Bye for now.