4 Business Levels That Require Systems

So the first step in the quadrant is the Employee. When a person has a business that is set up as if they are an employee that means that whatever work they do, that’s how they create the income. So it takes the business owner to be active in their business in order to have income so that means you don’t have anybody else to call on. You are the employee so that model is typically the family home model where you are the caregiver. You are also the person that does all the cleaning, housekeeping, cooking, and anything that children need under your care, you are the person that provides for them.

Then the next sector is Self-employed. This is where you have created your own job basically. So let me explain to you why I say it that way. So that means that you work, and when you work, you pay yourself a check, because if you don’t work this business, nobody else is going to work for you. So that means that you may have a group location where you do have a team of people that work with you, but if you don’t open that group location, you may be in violation because you are the person with the license so you got to be there the majority of the time. Also, it may mean that you’re self-employed, whereas you may have people that work for you, but typically it’s your job to hold certain roles in that business in order for it to work. So that means you are self-employed. And there are systems that you need where you are on the self-employed level because you do have a team of people that still work with you. However, you have to be on the job doing the work alongside that team of people. 

The next level is the Business Owner. The business owner is the person that owns the system, not that you own the building or not that you own the business but that you own the system. So what do I mean by that? It means that you as the business owner have created systems in your childcare program where those systems dictate the activity of your program, and those systems dictate your increase. So if you have the proper systems in place, you may be an off-site owner, and you may not have to go into your daycare every day. You go in when you need to. You go in because you want to, but you never have to find yourself going into the classrooms or working in the office or working in a kitchen and transportation. You rarely ever have to find yourself doing that because you own some type of system. 

Then there’s the fourth level. At this level, these are business owners that operate more on the investment level. You have 3 to 4 locations or more. And it has grown beyond being able to house any position in your organization other than CEO, where you are the person that just makes sure that your systems are in place and that people get paid to manage your business management system. And that’s to go deeper, but each topic could be a full training. But let me just flow with where I am now with those four topics. 

So you may be asking, Well Coach, what type of systems do I need with those four quadrant areas? Well, the first one is if you are looking to grow your business and you’re operating as a family, then you must put in some curriculum systems because curriculum systems are what is what takes up most of your time. You must have clear growth systems and you must have a vision for how big you want your childcare program.

There are more systems but I’m not gonna go through them all because I got something for you. And then the next step is for those of you that are self-employed, you have a team of people, but you have to do the work in order for you to receive any type of income. So in order for you to transition and to level up from that space, you want to have a system for everything, curriculum, kitchen, office, transportation, and automate as much as you possibly can. 

Now when you are a builder, by the time you get to this level you ought to have classroom systems, office systems, marketing systems, money systems, enrollment systems, etc. So that means, if you haven’t developed the level of productivity, where you’re running your business through data, that’s going to prevent you from moving to the next place of an investor. So, those are some basic things that you should have in place on that level. 

And then when you move into the investment level, you should be utilizing profit loss statements, and you should be utilizing performance statements. You should be able to make projections, your accomplishment should be heavily driven by data. It is no more, you know, closing, and then you find out that night, something went wrong. Every night you should have a close-out process. And all of your businesses should be operating the same. So if you have one location, do it this way and in another location, do it that way. You really have the ability to grow a successful, prosperous business, but the way you’re managing it now is hindering you from really exploding and taking your business to the next level.