Latest / The Child Care Directors Chair Podcast / 166 - Mastering Modern Child Care: Solutions for Staffing, Compliance, and Financial Resilience

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166 - Mastering Modern Child Care: Solutions for Staffing, Compliance, and Financial Resilience · The Child Care Directors Chair Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Have you ever felt like you were juggling flaming torches while walking on a tightrope?
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Well, if you're a child care director, you know exactly what that's like.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: In today's episode of Navigating the New Norm, we're peeling back the curtain on the top challenges facing child care directors right now and offering real-world solutions to help you stay ahead.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Whether you're grappling with staffing shortages or striving to meet regulatory demands, this episode is your guide to turning obstacles into opportunities.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: So let's start with question number one what are the current trends impacting staff recruitment and retention in child care centers?
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: So there's good news and bad.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: The first is, yes, there is a staffing shortage of educators all throughout the board.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Right, it isn't just early childhood, it's also elementary, also high school.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: People are struggling to have educators stay at their schools.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: This is not just a early childhood issue.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: There is some good news, though.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: We have a little bit more flexibility when it comes to being creative.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: We can certainly hire staff that have great work ethic, great personalities, can understand your vision and your mission, but maybe don't have as much formal education.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Luckily for us, in our fields we're able to build those folks up while they're teaching.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, they don't have those benefits in public schools maybe TAs, but not actual teachers, because teachers have to have degrees and they have to have, you know, licensing and they have to pass practices and you know all the things.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: So we do have a little bit more flexibility when it comes to getting creative around staffing.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Make sure that we are inviting folks to the table that weren't necessarily part of the conversation before then.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: What I mean is male educators.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: What I mean is high school students that are focused in early childhood development.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Maybe they're a senior, maybe senior citizens, maybe they are looking for opportunities to do just a little work part-time.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: You know, love on those babies and be a help and support at your program.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: So get creative.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Now, when it comes to retention, although the federal money is starting to dissipate, there are still some really great programs that offer incentives, like free child care for your staff, and when I say free, I don't mean necessarily free, that you're now, you know, eating that income, but you know the state will pay for teachers, children to attend your program.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Again, that is state by state that's a little different, but a lot of states are doing that right now as part of retention.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: I know a lot of the retention bonuses have kind of gone away.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: But there are lots of other opportunities, like the TEACH program, where people can go back to school and earn higher levels of education.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: So, because the conversation has started on the local and federal levels, there are still some opportunities to tap into resources that don't necessarily come out of your school budget.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: So get creative.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Also, see what grants are available and continue to tap into them before all the money is gone.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Question number two how can child care directors effectively manage tight budgets without compromising quality?
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Well, folks, we've been doing this for a very long time.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: We have been making toys out of cardboard boxes.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: We have been doing things that make it so.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: That way we can still offer wonderful curriculum that is high quality.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: You don't necessarily always have to have the most expensive gadget, gizmo, whatever.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Do you need materials?
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, of course you do, but work with your staff to see what things you can do that can really bring value to your students, help with education, but don't cost a lot of money.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: You can also rotate materials through different classrooms.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Maybe, instead of buying six light tables, maybe you buy three and then you rotate them, so you know as you change out your curriculum.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: We have seasons here, so we're just wrapping up summer and we're gonna be going into the best time of the year, which is fall.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: But you know, maybe you can rotate some different types of materials.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Also, be aware of your staffing and the way that you do staffing.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Are you top heavy and you have too many managers and leaders?
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Do you have too many floats or substitutes?
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: You know, look at your budget, see what you can cut down, and I would never say really on the staffing end.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: But you know, is the?
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Can you get a better deal with your landlord?
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Can you get a better deal with your supply rep?
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Can you get a better deal with where you purchase your food items for your food program?
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Because those are our most valuable assets, for sure at our business.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: But what other places can we effectively make a real impact on our budget?
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Also, thinking about how cost effective or energy efficient, I should say, are your buildings.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Maybe something as simple as changing out the light bulbs throughout your center can save you hundreds and hundreds, which then turn into thousands of dollars at the end of the year.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: So let's think about what things are not necessary, what is necessary, and invest properly without compromising quality.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: And the other thing I would say is I'm speaking from my own personal experience, if you do not have a lockbox on your thermostats, please do so, because you will have.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: I know in my experience I will have people in one classroom that are hot and then the next classroom are cold.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: I've even seen air conditions on and then windows open, or heat in one room and an AC in the other room, and I'm not making that up.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: So put the boxes on there, set it to whatever the compliance temperature is for your center, but I promise you, if you don't have everybody touching your thermostats every five minutes, you will save money and it doesn't impede the quality.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Put right on the box what the temperature range is for your regulations, for your state, because every state's different and of course some states are hotter than others, some are colder.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Put the regulation temp right on the box.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Lock the box, keep it in compliance and keep your electricity and utility bills down.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Here's another question what strategies can you use to stay compliant with ever-changing regulations?
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Well, number one is they're not ever-changing.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Yes, do they change to keep up with the times and best practice, of course, but they're not making new regulations every other week.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: So you, I would say, at a minimum, check in quarterly.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Check in quarterly to see if there's any changes.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Also, stay in connection with your licensing agency and their websites.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Anybody who has regulations over you you need to check in.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: It is your responsibility.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: It's not their responsibility to spoon feed you all of the time.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: It's their responsibility to make sure that the regulations are clear, not to distribute it in a way that's fair and everybody has equal access to.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, it's your responsibility.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: It's your business, whether you own it or you run it.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: It's your responsibility.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I promise you compliance is definitely going to be in your job description if you're a child care director, so I would say that would be.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: One way is make sure that you know the regulations.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Number two make sure you have some type of system.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Now you will hear a thousand coaches tell you a thousand different ways on how to stay compliant.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: The bottom line is find a system that works for you and then you have to work the system.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Plain and simple, right?
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Um, some people like checklists.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Some people, like you, know to have a to-do list.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Uh, on a certain day they do certain things for me.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: That's what works for me.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Others use time blocking.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: If you don't know what those things are, I promise you.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: They are in our library.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Just scroll down and you will find time management, time blocking, how to stay up to date on compliance.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: It's all here in our repertoire of podcast episodes, so hop on in and you and and that you'll get a little bit more in detail.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, just make sure you know your regulations and then have a system to make sure that you stay compliant.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: The question number four was how can directors foster better communication and manage expectations with parents?
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Better communication and manage expectations with parents oh boy, this has been.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: I would say this is more ever-changing than the regulations.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Parents want different things.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: So when you're doing the tour, first of all make sure that you are putting the right people in your center, right?
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Not every program is going to be the right fit for everybody.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Be transparent on what they can expect.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Do not over promise on things that you are not going to deliver.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Also, you have to remember people communicate in different ways.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Some people like text, some people like email, some people like phone calls, some people like written messages.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Some people want you to message them in the app.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Others want to meet with you face to face.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: You have to understand and know your parents.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: You also have to know that you are going to communicate in multiple ways and I would say, think about the best ways that you communicate as well.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: For me, I don't personally love written communication because it can be taken in a different way, because there's no human being there, especially on the apps.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: If there's something that's a touchy thing, I'm not even putting it in an app.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I'm going to call the parent, but do what feels good for you.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: But the more ways that you communicate, the better.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: And as far as managing expectations for parents listen folks, these are their babies, so everything is a big deal to them and whether you think it's valid or not, it doesn't matter, it's still their feelings.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Now you have your program, policies and procedures and so when you all come together during that tour, you make an agreement and they tell you what they need and expect from you.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: And you tell them what you need and expect from them.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Like I don't know getting paid on time.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: You know tuitions due on Monday would be awesome to get paid on Monday and by Wednesday.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: You shouldn't be having to beg and say, hey, you know, I got to add that late fee and can you please pay me?
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: And then Friday you're making another call and say, hey, you know, we've.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: We touch base three times, right?
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: So explaining your expectations and them explaining their expectations during the tour is really important and then communicating that on a regular basis, I don't.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, I just don't think that when it comes to expectations parents have for children in a child care setting, I think you just have to educate them as to what your role is in terms of your center.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Right, we can help with potty train, but that word is help.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: We need the parents to also be potty training, right?
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: We all have to agree on how frequent we'll be bringing the child to the restroom, right?
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: And is that doable in a setting of, you know, 10 or 12 children, right?
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Or are they better suited for, you know, to have a nanny if they, you know they need something really super, super individualized.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: So, again, at the tour is a great place to talk about these things and then after that, just regular communication.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: This is why being an on-site owner sometimes has benefits, because you'll get to really really know your parents.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: You can't just send out an email blast and a newsletter through an app and expect that you're going to be superior in customer service because you're delusionary if you think that's how that works.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: You do need to touch base with your parents, whether it's on phone, whether it's in person, but it's going to be more than just one method of you blasting things at them through an app so that I'll get off my soapbox on that.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: But that's that's another thing that we need to consider in this changing world.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Also, there's another question here how can child care centers support staff in achieving work-life balance?
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Well, lead by example.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: If you keep coming in sick, you expect them to come in sick because you came in sick.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Right, that is not work-life balance.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: If the counts are low, maybe you say, hey, does anybody want to go home?
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Ask them first.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Somebody might want to go home and somebody them first.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Somebody might want to go home and somebody might not.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Somebody might say, no, I'm really going to make my mortgage this month, so no, I prefer to stay at work when someone else might say, hey, you know what, my sister's off today and they were going to go to the beach and I wanted to go with them.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I would love to.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: I would love to leave early, I would love to go right.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: So talk with your staff, see what it is they need, because everybody's work-life balance does not look the same.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: So, understanding your staff, some of them have young children, so maybe getting out a little early to go on a family walk or go see their kid play baseball is the most important thing to them, right, going to the gym might be really important to someone else.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: So making sure that work-life balance is something that's part of your company culture.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: It's in your staff newsletters, it's on the staff board, it's something that you do as part of your staff meetings.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Maybe you have these staff meetings quarterly or monthly, or however you do them.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Maybe there's a little portion in each of your meetings about work-life balance.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Maybe you give one tip, maybe you have an expert come in.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: There's so many different ways to do it.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: The point is anything you do is better than nothing.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: So lead by example, make it part of your work culture, and that's how your child care center can support staff achieving that work-life balance.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Don't forget about yourself.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Do not forget about yourself.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: I'm going to say it again All of my child care owners, all of my child care directors, assistant directors, lead teachers don't forget about yourself.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Question number seven what innovative approaches are being used in curriculum development.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, that's a tough one, because everybody has different teaching philosophies and what they think is important in terms of materials, in terms of the ways that we teach, I think staying attuned and abreast with what best practice is.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Maybe that means you are taking one, you know, college course a year, or maybe you're connecting with the folks at NACI, or maybe you're connecting with, you know, people who develop curriculum on a national level and see if there is different curriculum that you might be interested in, like STEM programming or STEAM programming.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Maybe you've used the same curriculum for the last 12 years and that worked great for you, but now parents have higher expectations.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Now you're competing with state-funded pre-K classrooms, you know, and so how are you making sure that you're upping your game?
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: You know?
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: What are your children leaving with?
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Are they reading?
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Are they writing?
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Are they socially ready?
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Are they ready in character?
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Do they understand what it means to be a good person?
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Do they feel like they are a value and part of their community, right?
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: So curriculum development is really important and I promise you curriculum from 10 years ago is not good enough now, so make sure that you are on top of this.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: This is probably, especially if you're working with the preschool population probably, I would say, in the top four things that parents care about.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: So what curriculum, what's your learning style and how are you implementing it?
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Question number eight how can directors enhance parent engagement and support within their centers?
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Well, how about an invite?
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: How about make them feel welcome?
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: How about provide them opportunities in many different ways?
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: So if I have a new board, I may not have a lot of extra time, or my child goes to bed early, I may not have a lot of extra time, or my child goes to bed early, I may not have a lot of extra time, but maybe I can help to contribute to your newsletter, maybe I write a little parenting piece, or maybe you look at what jobs the parents have and how can they be part of your school community.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: What supports do you have also?
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: So, are you offering parent workshops on site?
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Are you having specialists come in to support your parents?
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Are you doing book fairs, where you know we support parents around the importance of reading to their children and the importance of their children having a library at home?
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: So, directors, you can really enhance that parent engagement by inviting them, making them feel welcome offering a variety of ways for them to become involved.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Again, not everybody has time, but everybody has some type of a talent, so whatever that talent is you want to tap in.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: This is going to sound really, really old school, but I think it's a great idea.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Get a recipe box or index cards and you can put each parent's name on there from each classroom and what skill set those parents have.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Ask them, ask them.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Ask them what are they great at.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Tell them that you're looking for folks to come in Like so.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: I have a parent, her name is Laura and she owns a photography studio and she takes beautiful, gorgeous pictures, right?
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: So maybe we have her come in and take photos inside the school of the kids and the parents and then we do a big family board of the kids and the parents.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: And then we do a big family board.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Maybe we invite her to take pictures for our social media and then promote her business to our families and the greater community.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: There's a thousand ways that you can get the parents to be part of your program, but you have to invite them.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: They're not just gonna knock on your door and say, hey, I have a great idea.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I wanna run this by you.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Now, you might have one or two parents like that, because I actually have a couple like that, but maybe because they feel welcome.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: But if you have a parent advisory board, it's a great place to do this.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: If you do quarterly surveys, great place to find out.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: So when you do that, make sure that once they give you that feedback or their ideas, that you acknowledge it in some way and implement some of them.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: You might not be able to implement all their ideas, but you better implement some, or don't ask them.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: So that's you know.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Those are some ways that I think peer engagement is so important.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: You can do in-person type of events, of course, but I think you know, even beyond the ice cream social, which I'm not hating, on the ice cream social, we have ours coming up in like two weeks.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Last Friday we just did a family movie night where we hired Entertainment Under the Stars.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: They came and put a big, big, big blow up screen and we had a movie night outside under the stars and it was wonderful.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: But that was that's more like I don't know.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, I guess it's parent engagement, but it's not really engagement, like nobody was engaged with each other.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: We were watching a movie.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Nobody was talking because we were watching a movie.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, parents, it's more of a socialization, I guess.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: So you have social events, ice cream events, those kinds of things.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: But parent engagement is a little bit more.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: It's a deeper level, it's a deeper layer.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: I can't talk today.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: It's a deeper level or layer and so I would say those are social events and your engagement would be inviting them in to be part of the program, to guide part of the program.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: You know, maybe you have a parent who is a gardener and you decide that you want to do a community garden at your school.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Let that parent spearhead the project or at least get you started.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: You know, talk with that parent and see what they're comfortable doing, what their time availability is, and go from there and if they don't have time, say, okay, we're gonna do this community garden, but would you mind writing me a blog or something that we can add into the parent letter to let people know how to grow their gardens at home?
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Right, I'm just pulling the stuff out of thin air because it is that easy.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: You just have to be intentional about it.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: I love my families.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: I've been plugging in with my families for 25 years and this is one of the things that drives the success of my child care center.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Question number nine is what role does technology play in modern child care centers and how can it be effectively integrated?
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Oh boy, well, you know, honestly, I'm 54.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: So I'm not super, super tech savvy.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: I mean I do some things around tech, but not a whole lot.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: But we know technology is the future.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: So getting creative on ways that you can implement technology into your program and depending on the ages of the ways that you can implement technology into your program and depending on the ages of the children that you serve, you can really get into quite some detail once you start hitting preschool and school age.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: But I mean we can use technology with families.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: It's a great way to communicate with them as part of all of the rest of your strategies.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Streamlining your business, for sure, the more things you can streamline behind the scenes gives you more time on the floor, more time with the people you love, more time to grow, expand whatever it is on your heart.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Technology certainly can help with that.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: I feel like many of us are using portholes now, like ProCare.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Again, I say ProCare a lot.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: They don't sponsor my show, but maybe they should.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: But ProCare it takes a lot of the billing off of my plate.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: It allows parents to update their kids' files online, where before we had to do that.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: They can upload their own immunization records.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: They can update who can pick up.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: They can update when they change their job.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: There's so many things that we used to have to do as the child care directors that we don't have to do because of technology.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Other things that you can do is when you're doing your marketing, you can pre-plan your content.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Now you can take a Saturday and go in and pre-plan all your content for the whole month, plug it in your social media Facebook and Instagram pages and, you know, create one day and then you have a month of things that are just going out, where you don't have to go in daily and put that in.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: So use technology to get some of your time back.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: That would be what I would say.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Now, of course, there's the cameras.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Families, love, love, love cameras.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: I don't know that there are many centers that don't have cameras.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: At this point, I feel like most of us do, and those on the higher end might be doing the P&J television, which actually met one of the owners at a conference in Texas a couple of weeks ago.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Super, super nice lady.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: I think we'll probably have her come on the show, but I mean that's if anybody really is looking for safety and security and can you know and can afford to add these additional services to their program.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: It definitely seems like that would be something that parents would really feel at ease being able to kind of log in and see their child in the classroom.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: So those are some ways that centers are integrating technology, are integrating technology.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: And number 10, how can child care centers prepare for and adapt to economic fluctuations?
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Well, let me tell you, this is my third economic fluctuation that I am working with right now.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Good news for me is I grew up poor.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Now, good news for me is I grew up poor.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Good news for me is when we opened, we were in the first recession in 2008.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: So I have always been used to working in that type of environment, so I guess I'm so just used to it.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: So there's not a lot of adaption for me.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: It's something I've just always have been used to.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: But I would say you know, work with your accountant, work with any grants that are available in your area, see what you can tap into, any additional resources and you can look to, not just in the field of child care or early education, but look to small business administration, see what available grants are there.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: We'll see what available workshops that are available.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: The SBA is a wonderful resource.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: You don't always have to get all of your training specifically in the field of early childhood education, and actually I feel like you shouldn't.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: I feel like you should become really, really connected with your SBA and the things that they have available.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Here in Rhode Island we have the Center for Women in Enterprise, which really supports women who own their own businesses.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: So I think preparation is the key, because there's always going to be economic fluctuations and so if you're in it for the long haul, you'll prepare in the long haul.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: So when all of that money was getting sent into kind of prop up, the childcare industry, did you put some money away?
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Do you put money in a you know a money market, a high interest account?
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: What other ways are you investing?
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: What other streams of revenue are you bringing into your center besides childcare tuition?
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Are you doing federal food program?
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Are you doing state funded pre-K spots in your center?
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Are you creating materials, workshops, things like that that you can share, or resources that you can make to expand learning outside of your program that are tangible things that you can sell to families.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: So you know, get creative in different ways that you can bring money into your business and get yourself in a place where you can be really business savvy.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: So, if you don't have any background in finance or budgets, those types of things.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Work with your professionals that are on your team.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: See what things you need to learn.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: Look at your reports.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: Make sure you're pulling your reports.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: See what things you need to learn.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Look at your reports.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Make sure you're pulling your reports, your profit and loss, making sure you're looking at your monthly expenses and you know, get some expert help and also make yourself be an expert so you don't always have to rely on other people, and so that's what I would say around that to rely on other people and so that's what I would say around that.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: So that's kind of what the new norm looks like, guys.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: So I hope that you found this episode valuable.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on the latest tips and insights for child care directors and again, share this podcast with your colleagues during our community of professionals dedicated to making a difference in early childhood education.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: So, as always, have a good day and remember it's the small details that make a big impact on the success of your child care business.