The Why of ChildCareOwner
Earlier this year, I celebrated 29 years in the child care industry. My story and journey are different from most, as I have never worked in child care—at least not in the traditional way of providing care and education for young children.
My story began in 1995 when I founded a general business brokerage firm to help people buy and sell small businesses of all types. I sold restaurants, manufacturers, retail stores, and distribution businesses. I sold my first child care business listing in 1997. During the many months I worked to put and keep the transaction together, I said to myself, “Never, Ever, Ever, Never will I try to sell another one of these child care businesses.” Well, as they say, “Never say Never.”
My first experience working with child care businesses was not unique; I have had the same experience hundreds of times over the years. It usually begins with a call from a child care business owner wanting to discuss my helping them sell their child care business. The child care business owner is pensive, guarded, and often under much distress. The conversation starts with, “I am considering selling my child care business.” After some gentle questioning and listening, the discussion evolves into the child care owner sharing how child care has always been their dream; they still love working with children – however, their business is having financial problems – making little profits or losing substantial funds. Most have tried to improve the financial performance of their child care business. However, like most child care business owners, they lack the necessary financial training or knowledge to turn their child care business around. The child care business owner sees selling as their only option – they have chewed through their savings, maybe even cashed in retirement accounts to help fund the business – they are financially and emotionally tapped out.
At their lowest point, when they thought things could not get worse, I had to deliver the bad news—I would most likely not be able to sell their child care business! Child care business buyers, individuals, or investor-backed groups buy child care businesses to make a profit. Turning around financially underperforming child care businesses can be difficult and take considerable time and cash infusions. Individual buyers often will not have the cash or be able to obtain a loan, no matter how much they would love to buy the child care business – banks are hesitant to loan on underperforming businesses. Also, larger child care chain operators and investor-backed groups seek an immediate investment return. Rarely will they have the in-house staffing – or knowledge necessary to quickly turn around a child care business from losing money to making their desired return on investment. They pass on underperforming child care businesses and focus on acquiring financially healthy businesses. Should we get lucky and find a buyer – the offer would likely be far less than the owner could financially or emotionally accept.
Over time, I realized and understood that I would need to help the owners improve the business’s financial performance to have a chance of selling the child care business. As is often the case, it took me a while to see this as an opportunity to expand my child care business knowledge and be of the most help to child care business owners. Over the years, I began to understand the opportunity before me; I diligently worked to increase my knowledge of child care businesses’ workings – from a financial perspective. As my knowledge and skills increased, so did my ability to provide genuine help to the owners of child care businesses.
So, back to the point of telling this story – “The Why of ChildCareOwner.” I found I thrived on helping child care owners improve their businesses. Although the successes were fantastic, they were limited to working with only a handful of business owners each year. I dreamed of having a more significant impact – finding a way to help more child care owners. To that end, ChildCareOwner was born!
It started small: writing articles, offering simple courses, and presenting workshops at any state association or organization that would let me. In the early years, I found that most folks’ interest in and reception to discussions about training that focused on the financial management of child care businesses was minimal. Owners and others in the industry often reminded me that we care for children – and the business’s financial aspects of delivering care were not seen as important. Fast forward three decades, and more and more child care business owners and others in the industry are starting to understand the importance of financial management and creating sustainable child care businesses, which, in turn, will lead to the long-term sustainability of the child care industry.
Timing is everything! The upheaval of the child care industry associated with the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in high inflation and slowing economic conditions, and more child care business owners than ever found themselves struggling to manage their businesses financially. Multiple federal and state rounds of grant programs provided much-needed funds to help stabilize child care businesses in the short term. However, most grant programs have ceased, and child care business owners are again struggling with low financial performance.
Grant funds were a blessing to most, but were not a long-term solution. To use a familiar analogy, “Give a person a fish, and they will eat for a day. Teach a person to fish, and they will eat for life.” Grant funds allowed child care business owners to continue to operate for a short time; however, the funds did not provide child care owners with the knowledge and skills to manage their child care business financially, providing lifelong business stability.
Hence, the next chapter of ChildCareOwner is the release of the ChildCareOwner CEO Certification Course. Our goal is to
“teach child care business owners to fish” to provide the financial management training and skills necessary to allow them to create a financially viable, healthy business today and continue to operate at financially consistent levels in the future – sustainability. With the input and expertise of many very experienced individuals in the child care industry, the ChildCareOwner CEO Certification Course will include 60+ hours of training focused on the business and financial management aspects.
We are excited about conducting our first in-person session in 2025 and are committed to making it the best! It will all focus on results, helping child care business owners acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to create a financially healthy and sustainable business.
Be sure to visit our website often for more detailed information and sign up to be notified when registration begins. Be part of the continuation of the Why!
