Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Fingerpaints to Franchises: Amber Jayne's Colorful Childcare Canvas | Childcare Series

Transcript

Fingerpaints to Franchises: Amber Jayne's Colorful Childcare Canvas | Childcare Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories, where leaders
0:07
share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
0:10
how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
0:13
they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
0:18
the Inspired Stories podcast, where leaders share their
0:21
experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired
0:24
by how they've overcome adversity.
0:26
My name is Anthony Kotaspodi, and today's guest is Amber Jane,
0:30
founder of the Loving Start learning Center, a daycare with
0:33
two locations just outside of Sacramento and Cameron Park in
0:37
Auburn, CA. They take care of kids from
0:40
infant through kindergarten, and they'll soon be offering
0:42
franchise opportunities for their daycare.
0:45
Their website is Loving Start learningcenter.com.
0:48
She has written a book called The ABC's of Preschool, where
0:51
she equips preschool educators to find their own success.
0:54
She has a podcast by the same name, The AB CS, a Preschool
0:58
podcast where she covers all things from parenting to
1:01
childcare and how to not just survive, but to thrive in the
1:04
early years. And she runs an Academy where
1:07
she provides a variety of courses to parents, educators,
1:10
directors and owners. Information about this Academy
1:13
can be found at the Loving startway.com.
1:16
Before we get into all that good stuff, today's episode is
1:19
brought to you by my company, Add Back Benefits Agency, where
1:22
we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that
1:25
are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your
1:28
bottom line. One recent client was able to
1:30
add over $900 per employee per year in extra cash flow by
1:34
implementing one of our proprietary programs.
1:36
Results vary for each company, and some organizations may not
1:39
be eligible. To find out if your company
1:41
qualifies, contact us today at Add Back benefitsagency.com.
1:45
Now back to our guest today, the CEO and Founder of The Loving
1:49
Start Way. Amber, I appreciate you making
1:51
the time to Share your story today.
1:53
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
1:55
OK, so let's go back to the very beginning.
1:58
How did you first get started in the early education space?
2:01
What's the origin story here? I always loved kids.
2:04
I was the neighborhood babysitter.
2:06
I was that 10 year old with like Flyers and I would babysit kids
2:10
in the neighborhood. And I got married young at 19.
2:14
And so I just got into the career.
2:15
I started teaching preschool when I was 19 years old and got
2:21
married at 19. And I had my first son at 22 and
2:26
thought I was going to be this stay at home mom and I was going
2:30
to bake cupcakes and just love it being a homemaker and it's
2:36
not cut out for everybody. And so my whole dream of staying
2:39
at home kind of went out the window in about four months.
2:43
I loved my son, but I just knew I needed more.
2:46
And so that's where the idea came of opening my own.
2:49
But I've always loved kids. And I knew, you know, having
2:53
kids, teaching kids was my future.
2:56
I'm curious, when you were going through that period of the first
3:00
four months of being the stay at home mom that you thought you
3:02
always wanted to be, and then realizing that maybe that wasn't
3:06
exactly how you were wired, that you were going to need something
3:09
else, something in addition to that, Was this a difficult
3:12
transition? I remember when my wife first
3:15
stayed home with our first son, she had a lot of feelings of
3:18
guilt that she wanted to go back to work.
3:21
I'm curious what your personal experience was like.
3:23
Yeah, it was really tough for me.
3:25
I, you know, for years had this vision of myself as a full time
3:31
stay at home mom and I was a really great mom, but I just, I,
3:36
I didn't like doing all the things every day the same.
3:39
And so, yeah, I had a really big transition, but I think I just
3:43
accepted it. I'm glad I accepted that sooner
3:46
than later, that that was part of me, that I just wasn't as
3:49
fulfilled. So I mean, I just went to work
3:52
at like a part time daycare and I got to bring my son with me.
3:55
So I always incorporated my job, my work, opening up my own
4:00
school so I could have my kids with me.
4:03
A part of, you know, I was still being mom and I still got to
4:08
work. And I think that was like the
4:09
best of both worlds for me. And I think as women in general,
4:14
and it's really unfortunate, but I think a lot of times you have
4:17
either the working moms or the stay at home moms and we need to
4:20
like break that cycle because everybody has to just do life
4:25
the best way for them, you know, and it's okay, Either is fine
4:29
and our kids are going to be great and survive.
4:32
If whether you're a working parent or a stay at home parent,
4:35
you know it's all a personal choice.
4:37
Yeah, that was one of the things that was a challenge for me to
4:40
try to help my wife through was this doesn't make you a bad
4:43
mother, doesn't make you a bad person, just means that you
4:46
understand what you want in life, which is fantastic.
4:49
And so, you know, go for that. And fortunately, we have great
4:53
child care centers around us that, you know, allowed for her
4:56
to go back to work and have our kids be taken care of, you know,
5:00
during their early years when when we needed that.
5:02
So OK, so you you have sort of this difficult sort of
5:06
transition, but then you go into and you're working at a child
5:10
care center, you're able to take your child with you.
5:13
And so how did it progress from there into opening your own
5:16
center? I always say it's like a little
5:19
seed of an idea. I, I taught preschool for four
5:23
years prior to that and I liked a lot of stuff about it, but I
5:28
really didn't like the management stuff.
5:30
I didn't like how schools, the schools I worked at were
5:33
handled. I didn't like how leadership
5:35
treated people. I don't know when this idea came
5:39
into my brain, but I was like, I'm going to start my own
5:41
school. And I didn't have hundreds of
5:43
thousands of dollars. You know, I'm 22 at this point.
5:47
And my husband was like, you know, 24.
5:49
So we took a home equity line out of our house.
5:55
We did own our own home. And I wanted to build a
5:58
classroom onto my house. I didn't want a home daycare.
6:02
I didn't want like, kids running around my house.
6:04
I didn't want toys everywhere. I already had my own son.
6:07
I was pregnant with my second and so I had this idea of
6:12
building a classroom onto our house and starting a preschool.
6:16
And I remember sitting at the kitchen table just crunching
6:19
numbers. And it took me a couple years to
6:21
get to those numbers. But just something inside me
6:25
said I could do this. I didn't know what
6:27
entrepreneurship was. I didn't even know like, even
6:30
under the understand concepts of even owning your own business
6:33
because that's not how I was raised.
6:34
I was raised with a dad who worked at a chemical plant, you
6:39
know, four days on, four days off and worked for a company.
6:43
And so I just didn't know anything about owning my own
6:45
business. But I knew I loved kids.
6:48
I knew I loved teaching preschool and I knew I wanted my
6:51
kids to be near me. And so that's where this idea
6:54
came. Loving start came about.
6:58
And I actually started it right after 911.
7:03
It was crazy. 9/11 happened and I had an open house.
7:08
I started October 1st of that year.
7:11
So it was so you know, life was crazy then.
7:14
It was very uncertain and I remember while the classroom was
7:18
billing being built, I had this little mini classroom.
7:21
I had bulletin boards, tables and chairs.
7:23
I mean it was a school. I had curriculum, all of it and
7:28
there were four little families there.
7:30
I had two kids who were paying and two kids who were free
7:33
because you can't start a school with two kids.
7:37
And so you just wanted to help fill it up, make it?
7:39
Look, yeah, I needed to fill it up and.
7:42
But by spring, that was October. So by April, I had 48 students
7:46
and the classroom was built. Yeah.
7:49
And I had two. In the classroom that you built
7:51
onto your home. Total, So I had like a Monday,
7:54
Wednesday, Friday program, a Tuesday, Thursday.
7:57
I had morning and afternoon classes going on and I had my
8:00
first two employees so and I was like pregnant with my second.
8:05
So I was 20, four, 2323 1/2, yeah.
8:09
So for somebody with no entrepreneurial background, it
8:12
sounds like nobody to kind of model yourself after you just
8:15
jumped in with two feet. I totally did.
8:17
And you know, the Internet wasn't really, It was just
8:20
beginning way back there. I'm aging myself.
8:23
But yeah, it's a lot of trial and error and you know, it's
8:26
going with your passion. Like I was just passionate about
8:30
creating a high quality childcare.
8:32
I just, I wanted to create a school that I wanted my kids to
8:35
attend. And so that's how I rolled.
8:39
I just wanted cooking and art and music.
8:41
And so that was my little beginnings.
8:44
And I never would have imagined it would, you know, 24, almost
8:48
24 years later, we like today was one of my school's first day
8:52
of school. I think it's the 24th year,
8:55
yeah, of loving Start learning centers.
8:56
So yeah. So what was it that you were
9:00
committed to doing differently than the experiences that you
9:03
had seen prior? I wanted to be a really good
9:08
boss. I didn't understand the impact
9:10
yet that I could make for other people's lives.
9:12
Like I was just learning as I went, but I really wanted to
9:17
make a huge impact on other women.
9:20
And I think that's been one of my biggest.
9:24
I'm the most proud of I've been able to be there for a lot of my
9:29
staff over the years and created a lot of jobs and my program
9:34
itself. I wanted to be different in this
9:36
sense where here I am a new mom, but I think all the philosophies
9:41
in early childhood education are amazing and I now have 4 kids.
9:45
They are all adults now. My youngest just turned 18 in
9:48
June. And each of them learn
9:51
differently and experience the world differently.
9:53
And so I wanted to create a program to that celebrates every
9:58
child's uniqueness. And I throw in all the different
10:02
philosophies, all the different ways of teaching and learning
10:05
because not all children are Montessori based or not all, you
10:10
know, kids need play based. So those are just some of the
10:13
ways I wanted to be different. And it's it's worked.
10:17
It's worked really, really well. And we want to meet the needs
10:19
for every student. So yeah.
10:22
Say more about how you wanted to be a really good boss.
10:26
Yeah. For your employees.
10:28
I was not cheated, treated very well.
10:31
I remember one of my jobs, one of my last teaching jobs for
10:35
someone else, the the manager, the director was just really
10:40
rude, really mean, very disrespectful.
10:44
I wanted to change that and I wanted to be, you know, this
10:48
field is predominantly, it's probably 98% women and I wanted
10:53
to be able to try to switch up a pattern and I wanted to be a
10:58
transparent person for women who I wanted to be a person who
11:02
lifts people up. So that has been like at the
11:04
core of our schools lifting each other up.
11:08
If there's issues talking to each other face to face.
11:12
And I am a firm believer. I tell this to all my clients
11:16
who come in and two or my school, my staff comes first,
11:20
then my clients, because if my teachers are not happy, if
11:24
they're not fulfilled, if they're not waking up with joy
11:27
in their heart in the morning and excited, I know we all don't
11:30
want to work. We can all all just want to lay
11:32
on a beach, right? But we all have jobs.
11:35
So I want them to wake up loving their job and just little things
11:39
like every month we do, I do gift bags at the the first day
11:44
of every month just to celebrate the new theme, the new month.
11:47
We do lots of staff socials. We do wine like the wine bus at
11:51
the end of the year cause preschools teachers we love our
11:54
wine. Everybody needs a good release.
11:58
Yeah, so it's really about community and and culture of a
12:03
family. Like I truly believe they're an
12:05
extension of family. That's terrific.
12:08
Yeah. You know, one of the favorite
12:10
questions I like to ask on this podcast is it's a tight labor
12:13
market. You know, it's hard to retain
12:15
and recruit good folks. And, you know, what do you do?
12:18
And you just, you know, rattle off a, you know, a nice list of
12:21
things there that you do to make folks feel welcome and part of
12:25
the family and staff first, clients 2nd.
12:28
Absolutely. And and this business too,
12:30
there's so much turnover. There is a high amount of
12:34
turnover and there's, you know, with preschool and daycare,
12:38
there's I just, I had a pep talk with my staff today.
12:41
We were at my other school, we were doing our kickoff breakfast
12:44
and there's always a ceiling in childcare because we can't
12:49
enroll, you know, 300 kids. We there's only a certain amount
12:52
of space. There's only a certain amount of
12:55
kids that we can enroll. So there's always kind of like a
12:58
ceiling in this business, a cap. And so it's really important to
13:03
treat, you know, your team with kindness and grace.
13:08
And so we give a lot of time off to a lot of them.
13:11
Our moms, you know, they have their own kids, their own
13:13
family. So, you know, even for my child
13:16
care centers, we we follow the school district.
13:19
So when this the normal public schools are closed, we're closed
13:23
too. So my girls are getting time
13:25
off. Yeah.
13:25
So they get they almost, it's about 28 days from August
13:31
through May that we have closure days that they have time off.
13:35
And then I have loyalty bonuses. So I have people 14 years with
13:39
me, 1312, yeah, like a really, really long time.
13:44
So most of my team members stay when they're when I have the
13:48
right team. Like I opened a new school a
13:51
year ago and it takes about eight months, nine months to
13:54
like, you know, people come in, you throw people out.
13:57
They're not your brand. They're not, you know, they're
14:00
just not the right fit. But once I find my team, I try
14:03
to, they hold on to them. Usually they leave when they get
14:06
pregnant, OK. And they start their own
14:09
families. So that's a typical thing, you
14:12
know, or And they might come back in a couple years when
14:14
their little ones are old enough to be at our school.
14:16
So. Yeah.
14:18
Lots of good stuff there. I'm curious to hear more about
14:23
the franchising opportunities that are coming.
14:25
Yeah, I'm really excited. I had this guy pursue me for
14:30
eight years. He has begged me to franchise
14:32
for eight years. He's flown out to see me
14:34
multiple times. But I went through a really
14:36
horrible divorce and just wasn't time in my life.
14:39
And I had brain surgery two years ago, which is crazy in
14:43
itself. Yeah.
14:44
And I woke up and first thought was I'm alive, thank goodness.
14:49
And then I just realized it's time for me to pursue these
14:56
bigger dreams, right? Anytime we start a business or
14:59
anytime we change a job or anything new in life, it's
15:02
scary. It's taking a chance.
15:04
So I've had these really big dreams of going nationwide for a
15:08
really long time. And again, I it falls back to
15:11
high quality child care. I just think we need more
15:16
loving, kind, amazing early childhood educators out there
15:20
and we need more high quality child care centers.
15:24
And I think we also need people talking more about early
15:27
childhood. So yes, I've been working for
15:30
the last almost two years. We are on our final document.
15:35
It will be filed with the state of California probably the next
15:38
three weeks and then we'll be ready to roll.
15:41
So I've literally created a whole platform.
15:45
This is going to be the first time ever that a child care
15:50
franchise. I have three different models
15:52
because I want it to be obtainable for anyone and
15:56
everyone. You know, I was this stay at
15:58
home mom who wanted to start providing for my family and who
16:02
wanted a job. And it turned into something so
16:04
beautiful for me that, you know, to be honest, I was able to
16:10
leave almost a 20 year marriage that was very unhealthy for me.
16:14
But I got to leave and I got to stand on my own 2 feet.
16:17
I got to buy my own house because of my business.
16:20
So I, I am so excited. We're going to be doing a home
16:25
model franchise version. So if, you know, like a stay
16:29
first stay at home moms or people that maybe not like they
16:31
don't like their job, we're going to do a home version
16:33
because I ran very successful for nine years from my home and
16:39
that's moving to different cities.
16:40
Like I moved around and I always just bought a house where I
16:45
could see the vision of a classroom.
16:46
And so we're going to have a home version, a small school
16:49
version and then like the big commercial version.
16:51
So I'm really, I'm so excited about it.
16:55
I just like helping other people, you know, get to their
16:59
dreams too. So yeah.
17:02
So why was this person pursuing you for so long to to franchise?
17:06
What? What did he see?
17:08
He saw something in me, and he keeps telling me he's like, you
17:13
just have no idea what's about to come.
17:15
So I don't know. He didn't give up.
17:17
And, you know, two weeks after I had my surgery, when I decided
17:19
in my head, I didn't say anything.
17:21
Of course, his name is Harry. I get an e-mail from Harry
17:26
again, and he's like, hey there, Are you ready?
17:30
And I was like, yes, He's like what I said, I, I it's it's
17:35
time. And it was eight years of just
17:38
little nudges along the way. And he just, he's believed in me
17:43
and saw something and saw my schools.
17:47
Yeah. I was on the phone with him
17:48
today. We, we, we meet weekly.
17:50
So yeah, we're just really excited.
17:53
Yeah. So here.
17:54
We are Harry has experience in franchising different concepts
17:58
and so. I mean, I 30 some years he's
18:03
extraordinary, yeah. And his whole team has been
18:06
extraordinary. And yeah, so here we go.
18:11
And tell me what is the difference between the small
18:13
school version and the commercial version?
18:15
Like for context, do you have a small school or do you have a
18:19
commercial? Version, yeah.
18:20
So we'll have the home version which will be in home.
18:25
And then model B&C really are commercial, both are commercial.
18:29
We just have like, so for me right now, I have a school in
18:33
Auburn, CA that is a large, pretty large center.
18:36
We have about 100 and some kids every day on site.
18:41
And then I have a school in Cameron Park, CA which is really
18:44
small. We have about 45 kids.
18:46
So but both are commercial. So anytime someone wants to open
18:51
up a childcare center, it it is commercial unless it's in your
18:54
home. And so it's different, you know,
18:57
restrictions and qualifications for for both, but when it's in
19:00
your home, it's way more lenient in a way of the qualifications
19:06
for the your state. It's an easier way to get
19:09
started. You're it's an easier starting a
19:10
small. Business for the first time
19:12
there's. Less.
19:13
Capital less. Overhead less.
19:14
Risk less risk. And the beautiful thing is, you
19:19
know, a lot of big box companies are so rigid, right?
19:23
Like, and I, I was telling Harry this whole time, I'm like, I
19:26
don't want to be like all the normal big box childcare centers
19:30
where they just hand curriculum to their teachers.
19:33
Everything's printed. It feels cold.
19:35
So each site we're going to have an outline of like the vibe, how
19:39
it looks, how you run it overall.
19:42
But you know, we really want people to have the freedom.
19:44
If they really like science or if they're really into
19:47
gardening, go for that, you know, like that's your
19:49
specialty. So we're just laying the
19:51
foundation for everybody and all the things that have worked.
19:56
You know, I had to took me years to figure out so much, right?
19:59
And now I just took it out all out of my brain with the book
20:03
and the program that we're about to launch.
20:05
And you know, we're just excited to come alongside people and
20:08
support them. That's exciting.
20:11
Where can people go to find out more information or to know when
20:15
this will actually be available? Yeah, they can keep going to the
20:17
Loving startway.com. The Loving startway.com is kind
20:21
of like we have our schools, but this is the kind of like the
20:24
national brand that we're moving towards.
20:27
There's just a small blurb because legally I can't quite
20:32
start marketing it. So but the loving startway.com
20:36
will have information. There is like a, there is like
20:39
you can get information now like, hey, I might be
20:42
interested. And then when it's legal, you
20:45
know, my lawyers, it's almost there.
20:48
So we're almost there ready to be able to like really say here
20:52
it is. Terrific.
20:53
Well, I look forward to hearing more updates about that.
20:56
But if you're comfortable talking about I'd, I'd like to
20:59
hear more about some of these challenges that you went through
21:03
that got you to this point going through a, a rough divorce, you
21:07
know, getting out of an unhealthy relationship and you
21:10
had brain surgery. And I don't know sort of the,
21:13
yeah, the chronology of those, but those are two pretty huge
21:17
life events. I also had breast cancer at 31.
21:19
Oh, my goodness. Yeah.
21:21
So here's another. Yeah.
21:22
I like to always say this to any human right.
21:26
We It's so easy for us to get on the hamster wheel of work.
21:31
It's so easy for us to work, work, work over schedule
21:36
ourselves. I think part of my learning for
21:40
the first decade of running my own schools and being a mom and
21:44
I wanted to be the best mom and the volunteer and I, you know, I
21:48
wanted to do everything. Yet there was a lot of things
21:51
going on behind the scenes. I think a lot of us wear a mask.
21:55
A lot of times we wear this mask and everything is just perfect.
21:59
But on the inside, I was struggling with perfectionism.
22:03
I was struggling in a really unhealthy marriage.
22:05
People didn't see holes in the walls that were in my bedroom.
22:10
And I think that stress, I truly believe the stress of all of it.
22:16
And my coping mechanism was never like a drinker.
22:20
My coping mechanism was to be busy because that's how I felt
22:24
love and if I could stay busy and if I could accomplish this.
22:28
And I loved hearing like, I don't know how you do it all.
22:30
You run your schools, you have your kids and you're
22:32
volunteering and you're at the school auction and you're doing
22:35
logistics. I loved hearing all of that, but
22:38
I was so burnt out. So at 31, I was diagnosed with
22:41
breast cancer, which was super hard.
22:45
Obviously I had no family history.
22:49
So I've had multiple health things along the way.
22:53
And so I've really had to learn I life is too short, right?
22:58
And so sometimes we have to pause and think like, what are
23:01
our goals, our goals to work non-stop?
23:03
And so we're just exhausted and, and why, why is that?
23:07
So I left my marriage finally at, you know, almost 20 years.
23:12
I took a sabbatical. So I work on my business, not in
23:15
my business anymore. I have an amazing team.
23:20
And yeah, so with the divorce and the brain was just a random
23:26
that just happened two years ago.
23:28
I was having these really weird symptoms and it wasn't like I
23:30
was stressed or anything. I I'm a very, everything is
23:33
very, I take a lot of vacation now.
23:36
I take a lot of breaks. I'm happily remarried, very,
23:42
very happy and to a pilot. So we travel the world pretty
23:46
much like we try to work three weeks and then take a week off.
23:49
But the brain was just a weird one.
23:52
I was just all of a sudden having migraines, like really
23:54
weird migraines. I was dizzy.
23:56
I couldn't barely walk through an airport.
23:58
I it was just really weird. And so they found I had like a
24:02
cyst. Well, like a benign tumor on my
24:04
pineal gland, which is in the middle of your brain.
24:07
Here's another thing is like when you know something's wrong,
24:10
like when I was 31, I knew something was wrong.
24:12
Actually, when I was 30, I found my first lump.
24:17
No doctor would hear me. No, I mean, they missed my
24:20
ultrasound, but if I did not listen to my intuition, I just
24:23
knew something was wrong. And it took me doing my research
24:27
and pursuing it to get a biopsy. And same thing with my brain.
24:33
They gave me an MRI. They're like, nothing's wrong.
24:35
There's this little thing here, but that's fine.
24:37
And I just didn't sit right with me.
24:39
My for a year and a half I was having extreme like major
24:44
cognitive issues. Found a surgeon that was like
24:46
leading the way in pineal gland issues and I went to South
24:50
Carolina and he did a craniotomy and it was scary as hell.
24:55
But and a craniotomy is. Where they cut you?
24:58
Oh, they. Cut your skull.
24:59
Yeah, Yeah. The pineal gland is like way in
25:02
the middle of your brain, this tiny, tiny gland.
25:05
And so he removed it and he removed the whole gland.
25:10
He did. He took.
25:10
The whole thing, yeah. And which, I don't know, I
25:16
wasn't even sleep. I wasn't sleeping.
25:17
I mean, there was so many issues.
25:18
And it's just really changed my life.
25:20
I feel amazing now. Yeah.
25:22
So who would have known? But, you know, we have to be our
25:24
own advocate on things. When we feel like something's
25:27
not right, we have to push until we have the right answer.
25:31
Well, that was. Quite the trifecta of life
25:35
hurdles that you went through. Breast cancer, divorce, brain
25:40
surgery and you've come out the other side happier, healthier,
25:46
better pace, better priorities, healthy marriage to a pilot.
25:50
Now you get to travel to rural. I know every.
25:52
Month I know just yeah I I that's I think that's why I'm so
25:59
passionate about this next phase with the franchise and coaching
26:02
is because I'm still here you know a lot of people that I had
26:08
cancer with are not here and so sometimes I struggle with the
26:12
why me but it's a beautiful blessing and so now I'm just
26:17
really excited to be like there's a reason why I'm still
26:19
here and I want to I I'm so passionate I want to start you
26:24
know helping others get financial freedom and just you
26:27
know pursuing their dreams so now you.
26:30
Said it's one of the reasons why you're excited about the
26:32
franchising and the coaching. Is the coaching something
26:35
separate that's available? Yeah, the.
26:37
Loving start way, yeah. Just coaching people, you know,
26:41
if they have their own school already, a lot of people have
26:44
their own schools. They have childcare centers,
26:45
they have home daycares. But they're struggling, right?
26:48
Maybe they're not getting clients.
26:50
They don't know how to market. You know, marketing changes so
26:52
fast. And you know, the technology
26:54
now, the algorithms of Instagram and SEO, it's like all changes
26:59
so rapidly. So, yeah, we've, I've created a
27:03
lot of things that, you know, just through video coaching,
27:06
one-on-one coaching, go on site to go check out their school to
27:11
see what we would say, hey, if you change this, this and this,
27:14
you know, so, yeah, that's just, I'm, I'm getting excited.
27:19
Yeah, I'm kind of launching it all.
27:21
I've been, I spent the last year and a half kind of laying the
27:24
foundation of everything that's about.
27:26
So it's all it's launched. It's launch time now.
27:29
Awesome. Fun stuff.
27:31
So tell me about the book The AB CS Preschool.
27:35
First of all, where can people find it?
27:37
Yeah, it's on. Amazon Audible, Yeah, if you
27:40
like to listen, it's there. Yeah, I started it when I was
27:44
40. I'm 46 now, so it took me a
27:47
minute. Yeah, it's basically all my
27:51
successes and all my failures too.
27:53
And it's a lot of my personal stories as well.
27:56
I try to be very transparent. This is not an easy business to
28:00
be in. There's a lot of challenges in
28:03
this business, but there I think the reward outshines any of the
28:08
hard any day. So the book really goes through
28:13
with through like with the AB CS, like A is for adventure, B
28:16
is for buildings. It talks and literally it's like
28:19
a road map of here is how you open up your own childcare
28:22
center from hiring to marketing to staffing to curriculum to
28:27
philosophy, all of it. It's it's in there.
28:31
So just everything that I've learned over like, you know,
28:35
I've been in the field almost 30 years now.
28:37
It's kind of crazy, you know, You probably have a.
28:40
Unique perspective on this question, Amber, because I like
28:44
to ask this one of my guests as well.
28:46
You know, as business owners, we've always got our eye on the
28:49
bottom line, right? We're looking at the profit and
28:51
loss statement and you know there's two levers that we've
28:53
got to pull. One is to increase sales and one
28:56
is to lower expenses. And I'm curious especially not
29:01
somebody who's, you know, opened the several daycares yourself
29:04
and you've coached other people on how to do this.
29:07
What are some interesting or creative things that you've come
29:11
up with to move one or both of those levers?
29:15
That's an interesting question. Well, I think anytime we have
29:19
our own business, I'm not ACPA, you know, it is a tricky thing,
29:24
right. I actually am working with the
29:26
last piece of the document that we need is, is P&L stuff and it
29:30
is the categorizing of everything on the P and LS,
29:35
right. It's really hard as a business
29:36
owner because. You don't.
29:40
Want to be super taxed at the end of the year, right?
29:42
You know what I mean? So it is.
29:45
I don't know. How do you balance all that?
29:47
It's a little bit of a it's a tricky question.
29:51
It is a balancing. Act it's a tricky thing, but I
29:53
think when you own your own business there's a lot to write
29:55
off right? There's a lot of things that you
29:56
get to put in through the business.
29:59
It depends on too, like if you're an entrepreneur and maybe
30:02
you want more money maybe you're saying you're like OK I really
30:05
want to make more money. Is there like staffing where you
30:07
can look at staffing and say, well, maybe I don't need all
30:10
these? This team member, you know, I
30:12
think too, it also is like. Where are you in?
30:16
Your business, are you about to sell a business right then you
30:19
have to put the throttles up to like show a ton of profit right?
30:23
If you I don't even know if this is really what you're asking me,
30:27
but it's it's a tricky thing. I think it's a like for me right
30:32
now. I don't want to work in the
30:34
business. I don't want to, I, I don't
30:35
work. So I have a full team and I, I
30:37
don't make as much money, right. But that's where I'm at in life.
30:41
So I think work with your CPA. But it is, it's a tricky thing.
30:47
It's a very tricky thing keeping that up and down.
30:49
I don't know. I don't know if I'm answering it
30:51
the right way for you. The right way was exactly.
30:53
The way that you answered it, Amber, I, I wanted to, it was
30:55
like. Dancing, kind of dancing around
30:57
a lot of things. But you know, that's all right.
31:00
That's all right. We'll read between the lines.
31:02
So we talked about the book. You got a podcast by the same
31:07
name. Is it pretty much the same
31:10
content? Who, who are your guests?
31:11
What's What's the constant there?
31:13
I have just a few guests. The content really is anything
31:18
in the early years. So if you are a parent, if
31:20
you're a mom, a grandparent, if you are in the child care
31:23
profession. I talk about all of it from like
31:27
dating your partner with kids, like anything and everything is
31:31
on the table. Just for those, you know,
31:34
infants that are going to kindergarten, how to prep your
31:36
kids to kindergarten, potty training, sleep training.
31:39
Yeah, I talk about all of it like I'm about to record after
31:43
this. And we're going to talk about
31:44
hard conversations, how to have hard conversations with your
31:46
your team members, you know, and when they're not in the right,
31:50
they're not in the right job. So yeah, I talk about
31:54
entrepreneurship. So just pretty much anything.
31:57
Health, self-care. Let's pick one.
32:00
Let's. Pick one topic that you think
32:03
most of the listeners might want to hear about.
32:05
Maybe something related to, Yeah, dealing with a challenging
32:09
child. Oh.
32:11
Yeah, dealing with it. I like positive reinforcement.
32:14
So if there's a negative child, if you have a child right now,
32:18
it's like they are just acting out all the time.
32:21
I had one of those and I'm all about positive reinforcement.
32:26
So it sounds kind of weird, but they want your attention and
32:30
they're doing the negative behavior because that's how
32:32
they're getting the attention. So if you can ignore that
32:36
negative, literally ignore it and you can look in the like,
32:41
look at the ceiling and you can say, Oh, I hope little Johnny
32:45
can calm down. You're not giving them eye
32:47
contact, right? But you when they're doing
32:50
something good, like if they're sitting and eating really
32:53
nicely, if they're watching you go over the top with the
32:56
positive. And I mean, you might sound like
32:58
a, a, a broken record, but I love how you're sitting there.
33:02
You're sitting there so nicely. Oh, I love how you're eating
33:05
breakfast like over the top. I don't care if they're just
33:08
walking. Oh my gosh, look how you're
33:10
walking. It's so nice.
33:12
They start to learn like that is way better attention than the
33:15
negative. So just a little tip for you.
33:18
No eye contact with the negative.
33:20
So do you think that? Works with my 8 and 10 year old
33:23
boys. I don't know if it'll.
33:25
Work with your 8 and 10 year olds, but it might.
33:29
It might. I did.
33:29
That for a long we've used it in the schools.
33:34
They're a little older, but you know every but you know, here's
33:37
the thing about growing kids are gonna kids are gonna act out
33:40
kid. That's our job.
33:41
Their job is to our their job sometimes is to get on our
33:46
nerves and it's lessons for us right.
33:48
It's they are really teaching us.
33:52
They are. They are, and it's such a joy
33:55
and honestly, it goes so fast. Everybody would tell me that it
33:58
goes so fast. All of my kids are adults now.
34:01
And yeah, it, it's enjoy it. I mean the hard even in the
34:06
hard, enjoy it so. Tell me, what would a day in the
34:13
life of one of your students look like?
34:14
What are they experiencing there at your schools?
34:17
Yeah, so they. Get dropped off, they put their
34:19
little backpack in their cubby, their lunch and their water
34:22
bottle. And we have learning stations.
34:25
I call them learning stations. So at the tables there's
34:28
activities, there's paint going on, there's free play.
34:31
Then we have circle time where we go over the calendar, we do
34:35
music and movement, They do little games, learning games.
34:39
Then they'll do maybe an academic project back at the
34:42
tables and art project sensory bins and they go outside, they
34:47
have snack. Then we do another circle time
34:49
that says goodbye and then some stay home, stay for nap time.
34:54
So that's kind of like a typical day.
34:56
They're pretty busy throughout the whole day.
34:59
But our, our job really is we want to teach them a love of
35:03
learning early, right? We want them to come to school
35:06
excited, so we really believe in a lot of play too, like outside
35:10
play. We try to do half inside and
35:12
half outdoors. So there's a lot of learning
35:15
going on and you might not think it, but there's a lot of
35:19
learning going on in nature with gardening and outside now you
35:24
mentioned. Before that, you wanted to
35:26
create an environment where students don't have to learn by
35:30
one specific model, that there's different avenues available to
35:35
them. How are you?
35:37
How are your teachers sort of evaluating, you know, little
35:40
Johnny needs this model. Little Susie needs this one.
35:43
Oh, yeah. It's.
35:45
Really easy, Yeah. I mean, I think all these
35:49
philosophies are so beautiful. They're really amazing, but some
35:53
kids can't sit down to do a Montessori job for 1/2 hour.
35:58
That's just not in their DNA, right?
36:00
Some children just like us as adults, we all learn
36:03
differently. We all interpret, interpret
36:06
information differently. So we have a lot of music, we
36:09
have a lot of art. Some our kids are really hands
36:12
on. They need to build with Legos,
36:13
they need to create things. So it's really just offering all
36:18
of it to our kids and they will gravitate.
36:21
You know, we have a schedule, it's not chaos, but they
36:24
gravitate to what they really, really need and open-ended
36:29
things too. You know, there's a lot of kids
36:30
with ADHD, there's a lot of kids on the spectrum.
36:33
And so it's just really important to not put our kids
36:37
into boxes. I'm really, I talk about this a
36:41
lot in our education system. You know, when they get to the
36:43
public school, they're going to be put into a box.
36:46
And for those kids that do not fit into that box, they go
36:49
through their whole learning career feeling like a failure.
36:54
And it's not them that are the failure.
36:55
It's our system, the box. So I just feel like it's really
36:59
important to not have a box. Can you share a particular?
37:03
Success story, maybe one of your kids along the way who was going
37:07
through a challenge or they were challenging themselves and a way
37:11
that you and your teachers were able to help them through that.
37:14
Yeah. I don't know if I can think of.
37:18
Any specific? Ones, but it's sometimes the
37:21
kids with the hardest challenges that come into the year that are
37:28
the most difficult is the one sometimes you pour your heart
37:31
into the most and you love on them.
37:35
There's a lot of kids. That come from.
37:39
Family, you never know what's going on in families.
37:41
You never know what's going on behind the scenes.
37:44
And so sometimes we've realized the kids with the hardest issues
37:49
need the most love. So I can't really think of like
37:53
one specific at the moment, but I've seen that transformation
37:56
happen over and over and over again.
37:59
And I think as early childhood educators.
38:03
You know it should be the. Very, very last resort.
38:06
And it should be a resort where if there is just like other kids
38:10
are being harmed, but no child should be turned away.
38:13
Like every child, especially the zero to five, needs someone to
38:17
love them, to take care of them and to tell them that they are
38:22
loved. That's wonderful.
38:24
Is transitional kindergarten becoming a challenge where you
38:28
are? Yeah.
38:30
Yeah. It's really interesting because
38:32
now we've got really like downsized.
38:33
We used to offer lots of transitional kindergarten
38:35
programs, but now that the public school is has it.
38:38
So we've kind of downsized our program, but.
38:43
We still have a lot. Of kids that come to us with for
38:45
transitional kindergarten because they don't get in or
38:48
they don't like their public school.
38:51
So and it's you know it's just changes.
38:54
It used to be pre-K junior K now we call it transitional
38:57
kindergarten. But yeah, I mean it's still
39:00
happening in around. We just don't have as many as we
39:04
used to because of the public school.
39:05
But we still have a good we have an amazing program, but it's
39:09
it's tough. I hear I hear both sides of it.
39:12
You know, with the public school, like a lot of people
39:14
like it and a lot of people do not like the public school
39:16
transitional K So it's great that you're.
39:18
Still able to offer it for those folks who.
39:20
Want something different? Yeah.
39:22
Exactly. Now I see.
39:24
You have something called the Academy.
39:26
Is that the coaching for the daycare owners that we talked
39:31
about before or is this something else?
39:34
Yeah, so I have the. Academy where I created so I
39:37
have like actually training videos.
39:39
So like for childcare center owners and what do you have new
39:42
staff coming in? I have like teacher training
39:44
videos, director training videos, owner training videos
39:49
that will be there too for my new franchises, but also for
39:53
private clients as well. Just just getting everything out
40:00
of my brain, like actually in a format.
40:02
So yeah, it's, it's called the Academy.
40:05
And I noticed a lot of people need help with that.
40:07
You know, it's just you're, you're trying to run your
40:09
business. A lot of people, especially.
40:11
Owner operators, they're, they're working 12 to 13 hour
40:14
days, you know, so I put together a lot of videos,
40:17
one-on-one coaching just to get your time freedom back.
40:20
And that's probably one of the biggest things I talk about is
40:23
time freedom. Because if you're going to run
40:25
yourself, then you're not. I don't want you to be like me.
40:28
You know, you don't have to have a cancer diagnosis, right?
40:31
To wake up to realize you need to slow down and change some
40:34
things up. Is there also coaching or
40:42
training available for parents or is it more towards it's more?
40:47
Towards educators, maybe eventually.
40:50
I have like a little free course for Mamas.
40:52
Like new Mamas, new paintings, something like that.
40:54
Yeah. It's called Mama Love.
40:56
It's just like, you've got this, you know, and it's free and it's
41:01
just, it's just to give some love.
41:03
And, you know, it's, it's a new role.
41:05
When you're a new, new parent, it's sometimes like, Oh my gosh,
41:08
you don't realize how overwhelming it could be.
41:11
Well, if you ever decide to. Come out with something for a
41:13
father of an 8 and 10 year old boy.
41:15
Please let me know. I could do some extra coaching
41:18
there, I. Will just go let them go wrestle
41:21
on the lawn a lot of times that's what they.
41:24
Do I have three boys? And a girl in the yard.
41:27
And so it ends up happening. In the house, coming down the
41:30
stairs. Oh yeah, sometimes on top of my
41:33
wife it's it's like so. Normal.
41:36
It's so I have three boys and then my daughter is the youngest
41:39
and I don't think people realize if they just have one boy, like
41:43
when you have multiple sons, it's just how it is.
41:47
I mean, it's just how it is. So they've got to get that
41:50
energy out and they need to get a lot of energy out.
41:54
We took them. To a water park yesterday, and
41:56
my wife had one, I had the other.
41:58
We were kind of off in different areas.
42:00
And then at some point we came back together and within seconds
42:03
they were pounding on each other, yelling at each other.
42:07
Both of our blood pressure went through the roof.
42:09
Oh, I know. I know it's just that's how it
42:12
is, but you know, they grow out of it.
42:13
My boys now are like just such good friends.
42:16
They're like they they'll grow out of it.
42:19
I went through a similar. Phase with one of my brothers
42:21
and we couldn't be closer now. So yeah, I I have a Good Hope
42:25
for them too. Yeah, exactly.
42:27
I'm curious to. Hear, you know, you probably get
42:29
a lot of parents who are touring your facility.
42:31
They're touring other facilities.
42:33
They're trying to make the decision on, you know, where
42:35
they want to bring their child. You know, the most precious
42:38
thing to them What what advice can you give to a parent who's
42:42
going through that thought process?
42:45
Yeah. If you are looking, if you're
42:47
starting to look for a school, I call it the four senses, really
42:51
use your senses. So if you're going to go tour a
42:54
school, obviously sight you want to really like as soon as you
42:59
walk in, you're going to like look at the school.
43:01
Is it clean? Is it organized?
43:02
Is it cute? Is it like not very cluttery?
43:06
How does the school smell? That's a really big one.
43:09
You go into a lot of child care centers and they don't smell
43:13
good. And my team knows your classroom
43:16
better smell good. We have essential oils going on
43:19
and in the preschool world, obviously there's there's
43:22
diapers, there's things like that.
43:24
But it should smell good. It should smell clean and it
43:27
smell it should smell really good.
43:29
How does it sound? Are kids engaged?
43:32
Are they laughing? Are the teachers talking to the
43:36
kids with respect and kindness? And then lastly, how does it
43:40
feel like you should have those goose bumpies, right?
43:42
You should have those warm fuzzies like this is the school,
43:46
this is the child care center I want my little one to go to.
43:49
So I call it the four census rule.
43:52
A lot of people like to go, oh, there is the school and
43:56
everybody wants to get to the school.
43:58
But I would really caution everybody about that.
44:01
And it's awesome that there is the school.
44:03
I know I'm one of those schools, but you have to think of your
44:07
child 1st and their learning style and how they will succeed.
44:12
Because in one of the areas I, when I took over a school about
44:17
a year ago, we were, it was a Montessori school and I took it
44:20
over and transitioned into my philosophy.
44:22
But that whole town was all trying to get their kids into
44:25
the Montessori school. And I would say half the kids I
44:28
had were just, they, they wouldn't thrive in that
44:31
environment. So you always want to think
44:33
about how, where will your child thrive?
44:35
And it may not be at the school. Amber, what's something you?
44:39
Wish you could teach a younger version of yourself.
44:47
Grace, I think, well, I think this would be the biggest one.
44:51
You do not have to do an accomplish for love like you
44:57
should, just like we should just love ourselves, right?
44:59
Like we don't have to go, go, go, go, go, accomplish,
45:04
accomplish, accomplish to be loved or feel that in our head.
45:09
So I think that would be the biggest is it's OK to sit on the
45:13
couch and do nothing. It took me a long time to get to
45:17
that point where I could just sit on the couch and I could
45:19
just journal and not feel guilty.
45:21
And I think that's what I would tell myself if I could have
45:25
figured this out earlier, I think that would have been a
45:27
beautiful thing. How do you think you?
45:29
Got there. Do you think it took going
45:31
through some of those Uber challenging experiences that we
45:35
talked about before? Yeah, I.
45:37
Think I had to come to Jesus moment really like cancer.
45:42
Well, my divorce was probably the hardest thing I've ever been
45:45
through 100 times harder. It was such a dark period of my
45:50
life. I mean I was full time mom until
45:52
now you're splitting kids and you know with boys they want to
45:56
be by their dad. It was just a very probably four
46:00
years of really darkness, like I bathroom floor crumbled up on
46:05
the floor thinking, I don't know if I can go another day.
46:08
And I just knew something had to give.
46:11
And so I made that call. Yeah, over five years ago.
46:15
I just did a lot of therapy. I did a lot of just being quiet.
46:21
When you're going through a divorce, you lose a lot of
46:23
friends. You know, it's just life starts
46:26
to be kind of quiet and different.
46:29
And so I had to really look inwards and find my
46:32
responsibility of why, why I was doing all this.
46:36
Why, why I was coping in the way I was coping of taking on more
46:40
and more and more. So I just had to recognize all
46:43
of that and I wanted different. I wanted a different life.
46:46
I didn't want to go down that rabbit hole again.
46:48
I didn't want to go on the hamster wheel.
46:51
I will never get back on a hamster wheel.
46:53
I will never work myself to the ground again ever.
46:57
Even if it's busy, right? You know, I, I Tuesdays, it's my
47:00
husband. We're both type A, He's an
47:03
entrepreneur. I'm at, you know, we have
47:04
Tuesdays blocked off now. Like we don't do any work.
47:07
Like that is our date day. So I think it's I just had to
47:11
learn to schedule my rest, the things that bring me joy, and
47:16
then schedule work all around that.
47:19
Did getting to. That point feel like bunch of
47:23
work, bunch of work, bunch of work and then the flip of a
47:25
switch. Or do you look back and does it
47:28
feel like it was sort of a gradual release?
47:32
It was probably a. Gradual, Yeah, it was a gradual
47:36
and it was just stepping stones of maybe like some therapy,
47:40
looking inwards and then truly deciding.
47:45
I think we have to have a ment. We have to decide mentally what
47:49
does your life, what do you want your life to look like?
47:51
And I made like 5 1/2 years ago, I started writing it down and I
47:56
would say it every day of how I wanted my life to look like it
48:00
was not happening that way. It was not going.
48:03
What I was saying was definitely not happening.
48:06
But someone told me you just start saying it, you start
48:08
believing it and you start feeling it.
48:11
And within like five months later, it just started all kind
48:14
of falling into place. It was crazy.
48:16
But I, I, I really live in with intention now.
48:20
I don't want life to happen to me.
48:22
Of course we're going to have circumstances that are going to
48:25
come our way that are out of our control, right?
48:27
Like my mom passed away suddenly five years ago.
48:30
You can't control things like that.
48:32
But you can't control how your day-to-day life is right.
48:35
And if you want peace and if you want time off and you want some
48:39
stillness and calmness, you, you can decide that.
48:42
So I always say I live a very intentional life now with my
48:46
goals, with my expectations. And I mean, I never would have
48:51
imagined I have this life now ever.
48:53
What were the? Things that you were saying and
48:55
writing down your life was in chaos.
48:58
It wasn't what you were saying. What were those things?
49:01
What what was the the vision that you were creating?
49:03
I. Wanted financial freedom leaving
49:06
my my ex-husband was not good with money and so left me really
49:12
when I left the marriage in financial ruin basically I had
49:15
to start from over a financial freedom I wanted the love of my
49:19
life I wanted a really close relationship with one of my sons
49:25
it was really strained from just.
49:28
Things that were being. Said just things were going on.
49:33
And I think the house part, I wanted my own house was on
49:37
there. So there was just four or five.
49:40
Financial freedom was on there for sure.
49:43
So there was like four or five things that I would just say
49:45
every single day. I think I wrote that list in
49:48
April. I met my husband in June.
49:52
Isn't that crazy? Yeah.
49:53
My son came back. My oldest son came back in my
49:56
life right around there, too. We have the best relationship.
50:00
Like, Oh my gosh, he's a little entrepreneur too.
50:03
He is almost 24. He's like runs like 40
50:07
employees. He's amazing.
50:09
And we talk all the time. We have these long breakfasts
50:12
like the best relationship, financial freedom.
50:15
I worked really hard. I got to buy my own house.
50:17
I am debt free. Like I worked really hard for
50:21
that. So I've got financial freedom.
50:22
So but it was really taking steps of seeing it and believing
50:27
it. And I'm doing it now even
50:29
because like now I'm like, I have such this big dream that
50:32
sometimes it feels like, can I do this?
50:35
Like who am I to like see this really big thing?
50:38
And every morning, man, I'm back to it.
50:40
I have my little journal and you know, my grateful is what I am
50:45
thankful for, but where I'm heading and what I see and I
50:47
believe so. So you do a.
50:49
Gratitude part of your journal and then you go into here's
50:52
like. Manifestations, basically.
50:55
I know that sounds woo woo to some, but I really believe it.
50:57
I I've seen it absolutely work in my life.
51:01
And one of my, one of the things I say now is I am healthy and
51:05
I'm strong because for a long time, for years since my cancer,
51:10
I think I had a story in my head that I'm just the sick girl.
51:13
I'm just gonna have the sick weird things like that's just
51:15
me. And so this past year I became a
51:18
Walker. I walk, I took gluten out.
51:21
And I just say I am strong and I am healthy.
51:24
I am strong and I am healthy and I believe it.
51:26
And so it's funny, it's this is probably the first year in 15
51:31
years. I, I don't think I even went to
51:32
the doctor once, so that's fantastic.
51:36
I know, curled up. Crying in the bathroom floor,
51:39
like I don't think I've got another day in me to.
51:42
Yeah, look at you now. Yeah, exactly.
51:45
Yeah, I appreciate you. Sharing all of that, yeah.
51:51
What's a fun fact? Most people wouldn't know about
51:53
you, Amber. I love to throw.
51:56
Parties I and the happiest when I have a house full of people
52:01
like I love. I am a really good entertainer.
52:05
I throw really good parties and I just love it.
52:08
I I've loved it since I was 19 when I first had my first house
52:12
I bought to now I just my heart is the happiest when there's a
52:16
house full of people. Any.
52:20
Particular books or mentors you'd like to call out that have
52:24
been helpful to you in your path?
52:27
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now was definitely a pivotal book
52:34
for me of just starting to let go of that coping, this coping
52:37
mechanism of being busy and always thinking like just really
52:42
trying to just be present like here and now.
52:46
I Brené Brown, I really like her.
52:49
I'm, I'm listening to her leadership book now.
52:51
I'm one that I like to have books on all the time in the car
52:55
audiobooks. So I don't know anymore.
52:57
But yeah, I would say the Eckhart Tolle is probably one of
53:00
my biggest ones that have just really taught me to slow it all
53:04
down. Amber, I just have one.
53:07
More question for you, but before I ask it, I want to do 2
53:10
things. First, for those listening, if
53:12
you like today's content, please hit the subscribe, like or share
53:15
button on your favorite podcast app.
53:18
Amber, I want to tell people the best way to get in touch with
53:21
you. And there's so many reasons for
53:23
it, right? Maybe they've got a child in,
53:25
you know, the Sacramento area that's looking for daycare.
53:28
Maybe they're interested in the franchise opportunity.
53:31
Maybe they've got a daycare. They're looking for some
53:33
coaching. I don't what?
53:34
What did I miss? That's pretty good.
53:37
OK. So.
53:38
Of all of those things, what's for for all those things, what's
53:40
the best way for folks to get in touch with you?
53:42
Yeah, they could probably go. To my website
53:44
thelovingstartway.com and just say contact if you're on social
53:47
media. I am everywhere on social media
53:50
at the loving start way at the loving start way.
53:53
So I'm all over. Yeah, last.
53:56
Question for you, Amber, how do you see the daycare industry,
54:00
childcare industry evolving in the next five years?
54:03
What do you think the big changes are that are coming?
54:06
I think. One of the biggest changes is
54:08
there's less there are less early childhood educators, less
54:12
people are going into this field, which is concerning for
54:16
me. I think that is the biggest
54:19
impact that's going to face our our schools.
54:23
I think there's still going to be a lot of which actually I.
54:28
I don't know. But I think that's the biggest
54:30
impact that we're going to see with early childcare centers is
54:33
less and less people are becoming early childhood
54:37
educators, which we'll have to see how that unfolds.
54:42
Yeah, hopefully we can turn it around.
54:43
I mean, I'm hoping I I want to turn that around.
54:46
And we saw. You know, a lot of daycare
54:49
centers close going through COVID is a topic we didn't even
54:52
touch on, and it, yeah, largely hasn't improved a whole lot
54:56
coming out the other side. I heard a stat.
54:59
I was at an early childhood conference maybe like almost two
55:02
years ago that there was over a million women in the workforce
55:08
before COVID, but have not gone back to work.
55:12
There's so many women that haven't gone back.
55:15
And I know I'm seeing that in our field.
55:18
You know, I'm seeing. So we're definitely a shift with
55:23
team members. I think not even just in my
55:25
field too. I think in business in general,
55:27
we're seeing maybe a lot more harder people, you know, harder
55:31
to get really good employees. But yeah, COVID definitely.
55:36
There's a lot of childcare centers that closed that ended
55:38
up not being able to survive so well and hopefully.
55:42
You'll be able to communicate the sort of the passion and the
55:46
love that you have for your staff and how to teach that to
55:50
your franchisees. So that'll be something that can
55:54
create some momentum in other parts of the country.
55:56
Yeah, because when you. Do have your team, you want to
55:58
keep them. Do not take them for granted.
56:01
So we want to treat them right so they stay along for the long
56:03
haul. Yeah.
56:05
Well, Amber, I want to. Be the first one to thank you
56:07
for sharing both your time and your story with us today.
56:10
I really appreciate it. Yeah.
56:11
Thanks so much. For having me folks, that's a
56:14
wrap on. Another episode of the Inspired
56:15
Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us
56:18
today.