How to Get Unstuck in Your Childcare Business and Grow Beyond Your Limits

Today’s proven management solution is all about helping you get unstuck.

If you’ve reached a point in your business where you feel ready to grow—but something keeps holding you back—you’re in the right place.

Maybe your staff isn’t on board with your vision.
Maybe your classrooms aren’t as organized as they should be.
Maybe your leadership team is telling you, “We can grow, but we’ve got to fix things here first.”

If that sounds familiar, the problem isn’t your teachers. It’s your systems.

Why Systems, Not People, Are the Key

As a CEO, you need a standardized way of organizing your classrooms.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a small preschool room or an after-school program—standards keep everything running smoothly. In our classrooms, we use what I call the Jumpstart Your Day setup. This means everything a teacher needs to run the classroom is right there—no guessing, no scrambling, no excuses.

But here’s the thing: if you haven’t created videos that match your systems, you can’t expect your staff to follow them correctly. Without clear training, it’s not that your teachers “don’t care”—it’s that you haven’t set them up for success.

My Wake-Up Call: The Employee Who Told Me the Truth

When I first tried to take my business to the next level, I hired a highly qualified teacher. She had the credentials, the experience, and she could manage the classroom.

But three months in, she said something I’ll never forget:

“I don’t have to give your business much. I could give very little and still get by.”

At first, I was shocked—and honestly, offended. But then it hit me… she was right.

I had never set expectations. I didn’t have a growth path for my staff. I had no ascension program that showed them, “Here’s where you start, and here’s how you grow in this company.”

Without expectations, my staff was operating at the bare minimum. The truth was, I was the reason we were stuck.

The Ascension Program That Changed Everything

That’s when I created our Teacher Training Program, a color-coded system to visually track each staff member’s growth:

Red Apron: 0–90 days. Still in training. Limited responsibilities.
Blue Apron: Completed red criteria plus new skills and certifications.
Green Apron: Completed red and blue requirements. Fully trained.
Yellow Apron: Master level. Eligible for leadership roles.
No Apron: Leadership team—trusted to run operations and communicate with parents.

This system wasn’t just for us—it also communicated with parents. They instantly knew who could answer important questions and who was still in training.

Result? Higher accountability, better communication, and a culture of growth.

The Second Sticking Point: No Standards

Many owners can run their business just fine as long as they’re physically present. But what happens when you want to step back, scale, or open a second location?

Without standards, your growth will only multiply the chaos.

For me, the breaking point came when I hit 50 students. Staff schedules crumbled. Morale dropped. Productivity tanked. And it wasn’t because of “bad employees”—it was because my systems were only designed to work while I was there.

The Solution: Training + Support Roles

I implemented a Staff Quarterly Agenda that outlined exactly what to train and when. No guessing, no winging it.

I also hired a Curriculum Specialist—someone whose role was to make sure classrooms were set up correctly, teachers had what they needed, and standards were upheld.

With training, support, and clear policies in place, I was able to:

Run a full day shift and night shift
Open another childcare location
Launch a nanny agency
Write books and travel to coach other childcare business owners

And most importantly… my business ran without me.

From Stuck to Scaling

Looking back, I can say this with 100% certainty:
Getting unstuck is about systems, not staffing.

If you want to grow, you must:

Set clear expectations through an ascension program.
Standardize your classrooms so they run smoothly without you.
Train consistently using a structured agenda.
Support your team with dedicated roles like a curriculum specialist.

When you do these things, you create a childcare business that thrives—even when you’re not there.

If you’re ready to implement these systems in your center, you have options:

Book a call so I can personally walk you through it.
Grab my digital downloads to start building your own systems.
Visit the School of Systems for hands-on training.

Because when you manage the childcare business you love, you’ll love the childcare business you manage.