Click here to listen to more episodes of Child Care Rockstar Radio™ with Kris Murray!

Below you can read the full episode:

• 0:00:08 Kris Murray: Welcome to Child Care Rockstar Radio. I am your host, Kris Murray. Child care leaders around the globe are breaking through challenges, leading the way in innovation, testing new best practices and impacting children and families in a much more powerful and positive way than ever before. Each week, join me for interviews with early childhood leaders and experts that will leave you inspired to become the next childcare rock star.

• 0:00:34 Kris Murray: Now, let’s go. This is episode 204 of Child Care Rockstar Radio featuring Whitney Burkman. Okay, Whitney Burkman is really something else. She is young, talented and just lovely. And you’re going to love meeting her here on the podcast today. Hey folks, I’m Kris Murray, your host of Child Care Rockstar Radio. Welcome back. And we are smack dab in the middle of summer ish when this episode releases. And if you’re with me live, I hope that you are just enjoying the summer of 2025. There’s a lot of uncertainty out there and it can feel very quicksand like in our world right now.

   

• 0:01:23 Kris Murray: So if you’re feeling stressed and anxious from all the uncertainty, I want to come alongside you and give you a big hug and let you know that it’s going to be okay. No matter what you’re going through, the universe is here for you and here to support you. It might not feel like that sometimes, but want to thank you for tuning in and taking a chunk of time to be with me today in this possibly chaotic world of yours. And so Whitney Burkman is going to feel really good for this episode to you if you’re in a place of chaos because she’s very calming.

   

• 0:02:09 Kris Murray: She is one of the youngest guests I’ve ever had on an episode here on the podcast. She’s a, I will say, Gen Z childcare center owner out of Payson, Utah at Magnolia Academy and she has full enrollment, she’s extremely successful, started in her home and so if you’re looking for a model of someone who is a young go getter, but also just bringing her creative energy and her beauty and her calmness to the creation of playing a bigger game. From an in home center to a beautiful school with 125 children fully enrolled to capacity and she opened her center in 2022.

   

• 0:03:05 Kris Murray: So you’re going to learn all about her journey and I’m sure you’re going to be quite inspired. She is a young inspiration to our industry and I can’t wait for you to meet her. Personally, I am kind of relaxing into the middle summer dog days of summer and just enjoying this Colorado vibe that we got going on here up in the mountains, Live music, spending time in my garden, fresh flowers in the house.

   

• 0:03:42 Kris Murray: I’ve got some behind me and from the garden and enjoying time with my family. My mother’s coming to visit, my son is turning 23 and enjoying my kids, enjoying all the love that I have around me and enjoying you. So hopefully everything is going well in your world and you’re enjoying some travel, some time off and then getting ready for planning your fall enrollment. It’s never too early to start advertising for your fall enrollment and especially if you start school back in August, as many states do, it’s time to pull up the old bootstraps, as it were, and you’re going to get some really cool inspiration from this podcast on your marketing.

   

• 0:04:35 Kris Murray: How to stay full. How to get full. How much should you be investing? Specific tools that you can be using and software and strategies and all the things in terms of your advertising. So got to be advertising and using social media to stay full and really being out there in front of parents in new, unique, fun, creative, innovative ways and to capture their attention and their imagination and their business.

   

• 0:05:06 Kris Murray: So without any further ado, all of those topics will be discussed right here right now with Ms. Whitney Burkman. Let’s go. Welcome back, folks. Very excited to introduce you to my guest today here on the podcast is Whitney Burkman. Whitney, how are you?

   

• 0:05:30 Whitney Burkman: I’m doing great. Finally. Summer.

   

• 0:05:34 Kris Murray: Yep. Reviving the beginning of summer.

   

• 0:05:36 Whitney Burkman: Yes.

   

• 0:05:37 Kris Murray: Where are you right now, physically?

   

• 0:05:39 Whitney Burkman: I. Yes, I’m in my home in Utah. So beautiful summer right now. Super green. Love it.

   

• 0:05:48 Kris Murray: Awesome. And where in Utah are you?

   

• 0:05:51 Whitney Burkman: So I’m about an hour south of Salt Lake, so I’m in a little small town called Payson, Utah.

   

• 0:05:58 Kris Murray: Payson. Yeah, yeah, I’m familiar with Payson. You’re only about a five hour drive from me right now.

   

• 0:06:06 Whitney Burkman: Oh, yeah, you’re in Den Denver.

   

• 0:06:08 Kris Murray: I’m in Glenwood Springs.

   

• 0:06:09 Whitney Burkman: Oh, okay. Well, yeah. You’re not too far then?

   

• 0:06:12 Kris Murray: Oh, not at all. In fact, we’re coming your direction in about three weeks. My boyfriend and I are going to Salmon, Idaho in the third week of June to go raft the middle fork of the Salmon River.

   

• 0:06:30 Whitney Burkman: So fun. Oh my gosh, so fun. I’ve never done that. But Idaho is beautiful. So we have family that live there, so we love Idaho.

   

• 0:06:38 Kris Murray: I’m excited. Tell us more about your business, the name of it and the size. How’s your enrollment? Anything you want us to know? Facts or figures about your business?

   

• 0:06:52 Whitney Burkman: Yeah. So we are Magnolia Academy Child Care Center. We are located in. We’re just outside of Salt Lake City, so we’re in Sandy, Utah. We are licensed for 125. And the name, I really. I’ve. Flowers are just kind of like my thing. And so I really. I really didn’t have like a whole lot of inspiration behind the name, but I knew I wanted to be different just because I feel like in today’s world, we’re not really marketing for children, we’re marketing towards parents. So I really wanted to grab like the modern name to help me market.

   

• 0:07:38 Whitney Burkman: So that’s kind of. Yeah, I just. Magnolia just kind of came to mind. So no inspiration there. We actually are at 122 enrollments. So we are. We do hit 125 and then like, we’ll have like we had two people move or somebody who isn’t going to come for the summer. So I feel like we’re always bouncing right between that 120, 125 number, so.

   

• 0:08:04 Kris Murray: Well, that’s amazing. That’s an incredibly healthy place to be.

   

• 0:08:07 Whitney Burkman: Yes.

   

• 0:08:08 Kris Murray: Yeah.

   

• 0:08:10 Whitney Burkman: Not easy getting there, but I’m super happy with the outcome, so.

   

• 0:08:14 Kris Murray: Awesome. And how long have you owned your school?

   

• 0:08:18 Whitney Burkman: Yeah, so we. We are brand new, so we opened in 2020. Oh, wait, sorry. I had my in home. Okay, so backstory. I started as an in home provider, but I got my center in 2022.

   

• 0:08:36 Kris Murray: Okay, cool. And how did you do as an in home provider during COVID where did you still stay operational or did you should close for a while?

   

• 0:08:48 Whitney Burkman: No, I stayed open. I feel like during COVID Utah was probably one of the least restricted states. I feel like you could still go out. I feel like not a whole lot of things closed and so I stayed open. I had a lot of. I was in a town right next to Payson at the time, and we had a lot of like lawyers and doctors, so we still had those parents who had to go to work and so stayed open.

   

• 0:09:20 Kris Murray: Cool. Yeah. When you opened your center in 2022, what was the driving force? I mean, obviously, you know, maybe make more money, serve more children, you know, go bigger, play a bigger game.

   

• 0:09:36 Whitney Burkman: Right.

   

• 0:09:37 Kris Murray: What were some of the things that were driving you to open a school of 125 capacity?

   

• 0:09:44 Whitney Burkman: Right. So really there was no financial motivation behind it. I think the biggest factor was I wanted to get my business out of my home. At the time, I had three children, and so we were looking for different commercial buildings. I just was tired of working and living in my home and so. And also I. I felt like I really got down being an in home provider. Like it wasn’t serving me anymore. We were full every single day and we. I created like a wait list of over 30 children and I was like, wow, I need to.

   

• 0:10:24 Whitney Burkman: I need to get a bigger space. So. So, yeah, nothing.

   

• 0:10:30 Kris Murray: A lot of kids in a home. 30 kids.

   

• 0:10:33 Whitney Burkman: So I was licensed for 16. The, the nice part about my in home was my living spaces were separate. So I did my in home in the basement and I lived upstairs. But still, you know, it was just like, even if I wasn’t working and I was upstairs, I could still hear children down there. So I. I could never separate it.

   

• 0:10:54 Kris Murray: Right, Cool. Well, sounds like you’re doing amazing things in the industry with Magnolia Academy, and I’m sure Utah is very appreciative to have you. When did you actually start in the early learning field?

   

• 0:11:12 Whitney Burkman: So my background in. So I went to college out in Nebraska. I went there on a softball scholarship and my whole plan was to go into special education. That’s kind of where I. I knew I was going to be. I was going to be a teacher. When I got out to college all the way in Nebraska, I actually got super homesick and so I stopped attending and I came home for a little bit trying to figure out. I just worked and tried to figure out what I wanted to do.

   

• 0:11:47 Whitney Burkman: And then I got into actually aesthetics field and I loved it, but it really, it didn’t really serve me. I felt like it wasn’t really I was meant to do in life. And so then I got married and I had a baby and I was like, wow. I, you know, I feel like. I don’t know, my desire just was to always work with children once I got into high school. And so, yeah, I feel like I just kind of went from there when I became a mom. So. Yeah.

   

• 0:12:25 Kris Murray: Mm. So you opened up your in home childcare program when you had a baby and all been an amazing journey since then.

   

• 0:12:34 Whitney Burkman: Yeah, so it’s been great. It’s provided a lot for our family and I think really, most importantly, it’s allowed me to stay home and really be with my children as they’re young. And I. I think that’s like the part I appreciated the most out of it. I was really lucky to be able to work with my children, but also provide an income for my family at that time.

   

• 0:12:58 Kris Murray: Awesome. And what are some of the things that you feel set your business apart? How is Magnolia Academy different from its competitors?

   

• 0:13:10 Whitney Burkman: Great question. I feel like that it’s really hard because we do follow these state. We have to all follow the same state regulations. I feel like it, it is a little bit trickier to be different. But one thing I’ve really been diving into the last few months is. Well, I should say. Hold on, I’m going to back up for a second. I feel like I’ve really been able to pull in that in home feel into my center, which makes us stand out a lot.

   

• 0:13:42 Whitney Burkman: But also I’ve really been trying to get my teacher’s head set and mindset into not being babysitters or nannies or even teachers. We are creating the next generation and so really making them be leaders. I feel like that’s really shaped our center to who it is or yeah, who we are today is creating, you know, this next generation of children and ensuring they have a safe place. So our communication and our relationships with our parents is what really set us apart.

   

• 0:14:24 Kris Murray: Cool. What is the size of your team? How many employees do you have?

   

• 0:14:30 Whitney Burkman: So we have, I feel like it kind of fluctuates. Right now we’re at our highest, so we’re at 22. So I have 22 employees. We have a cleaner, we have a cook, and then we have, I have three admin teams. So I have my director, my assistant director, and then I have an office manager and then the rest are teachers.

   

• 0:14:53 Kris Murray: So how much time are you spending in the. In physically in the business on a typical week.

   

• 0:15:00 Whitney Burkman: So luckily the last this summer I was a full time. I felt like full time site owner. The first three years of starting this center has been, it is not easy, it’s not for the week and so I was there so much full time every day. But at the end of April, I wasn’t really looking for an assistant director to kind of take my spot and we ended up pulling one of our lead teachers up to the admin spot to kind of do my role.

   

• 0:15:41 Whitney Burkman: And so as of the end of April, I am an off site owner. So I am so happy with that because I’ve been working so hard to get to this point.

   

• 0:15:53 Kris Murray: Well, huge congratulations.

   

• 0:15:55 Whitney Burkman: Thank you.

   

• 0:15:55 Kris Murray: That’s amazing. Tell me about the shifts that you’ve had to make in your habits or in your mindset with regard to when you went from being an in home owner to actual center owner. And there’s a ton of people who listen to this podcast that are in your exact same shoes that are still actually in their homes or these have a dream and a vision to shift to a center and, and expand. So what does it take in terms of like, how did you, how did you.

   

• 0:16:33 Kris Murray: You know, I’m sure you’ve had the struggles and challenges, but what are the, the key things that have enabled you to make that shift?

   

• 0:16:40 Whitney Burkman: I think one of the things that I struggled with so bad at the beginning was I, like, I’m such a personal person. Like, I take everything to heart. I’m super sensitive. And so coming from my in home where I had full control of everything, my, like, my parents were like my friends, our kids all played together and we never had like any complaint or it was just like the most. It was like a dream, you know.

   

• 0:17:17 Whitney Burkman: And so when I went to a center, I had like a huge kind of wake up call. It was like, I’m serving 125 children. I can’t be friends with all these people and family and my kids aren’t, you know. So I think one of the things that I really had to change was not take anything so personal. And it’s not me. Like, yes, my business is me, but this is like Magnolia. So I had to really separate myself to the business, Run a business. I’m not, I’m not marketing myself, I’m marketing my business.

   

• 0:17:52 Whitney Burkman: And so I think that is probably the biggest thing is I had to put my feelings and my personal life aside and really just like, this is a business.

   

• 0:18:03 Kris Murray: Yeah, for sure. That identity piece of identifying yourself as the business is huge. And then developing a thicker skin so that if people do criticize the business that you don’t take it personally. Yes, that’s a, that’s a huge one. I had definitely, you know, the business was built around me, so I definitely. Even people would call it Chris Murray coaching instead of academy coaching.

   

• 0:18:37 Whitney Burkman: So.

   

• 0:18:37 Kris Murray: So yeah, when it’s criticized, it’s definitely hard sometimes.

   

• 0:18:42 Whitney Burkman: Yeah. You’re not going to have every single family that walks in the door that loves you. That’s why there’s different centers around us and that’s why there’s different, you know, child care centers. And it was really hard for me to remove. Okay. Not everybody is going to love me because maybe I don’t offer something that they’re looking for and that’s okay. And so that was really hard for me to swallow, like, just to get over that.

   

• 0:19:10 Kris Murray: Well, that’s a good lesson to learn. And I think that now that you’re off site, it’ll help too, to just create that boundary or that separation or just setting it up more like a business.

   

• 0:19:25 Whitney Burkman: Yes. And I actually feel like everything has been running so much better without me there. And I mean it’s my life, so it makes sense why I take everything so personal and I want everything to be, like, my way, but I needed to really be open to, you know, what my directors say and what my office managers say. And so kind of removing myself from, like, not taking control of everything has really. I feel like our program has just far exceeded just giving trust into my teachers and my directors and letting them do what they’re supposed to do.

   

• 0:20:05 Kris Murray: Awesome. Why don’t you share with us what you got going on in your home life in terms of ages of your child or children, what you and your hubby, I’m assuming you’re married, are into interests, hobbies, anything that you want to share about yourself.

   

• 0:20:22 Whitney Burkman: Yeah. Our life is super chaotic, but in the most lovey happy way. So we have four boys, we have a nine year old, and then we have twin six year olds, and then we have a 19 month old. So we are in the thick of it and we love it, but it’s definitely not easy. We. My husband actually has his own business as well. He actually opened three months. Three or four months before I opened Magnolia the center. And so our life has been pure chaos.

   

• 0:21:05 Whitney Burkman: In the best way, though.

   

• 0:21:07 Kris Murray: Yeah.

   

• 0:21:08 Whitney Burkman: I wouldn’t trade it for anything. We’re not working. You’ll find us at the track. Our oldest son races motocross, and so we’re there or we’re home getting them. Getting him to training or we’re, you know, feeding. Trying to feed everybody. It’s just.

   

• 0:21:26 Kris Murray: Yeah.

   

• 0:21:27 Whitney Burkman: This.

   

• 0:21:28 Kris Murray: And he’s nine years old and races motocross.

   

• 0:21:31 Whitney Burkman: Yes. Yes. So fun.

   

• 0:21:34 Kris Murray: Oh, my God. I had no idea that 9 year olds did that.

   

• 0:21:38 Whitney Burkman: Yeah. I think they can start. I want to say three years old. Three or four years old.

   

• 0:21:42 Kris Murray: Really?

   

• 0:21:43 Whitney Burkman: Yes. So you’ll. It’s the best thing to watch hilarious 4 year olds get on these dirt bikes and race. Fun. Yeah.

   

• 0:21:53 Kris Murray: Okay. Wow. So I asked Whitney before we went live with the camera if that was her fake background or her real background, because her home is so beautiful. As you guys can see, we’re watching it on YouTube. And so I also have to give you major props that you have such a beautiful home with four boys. Four young boys. So way to go.

   

• 0:22:17 Whitney Burkman: Thank you. It doesn’t always look like this.

   

• 0:22:19 Kris Murray: Yeah, I’m sure.

   

• 0:22:23 Whitney Burkman: But I feel like I’m a pretty strict mom in a good way. We have rules, we have expectations. We don’t get to run around. We don’t get to eat in the living room. And I feel like you don’t see that as much anymore, sadly.

   

• 0:22:37 Kris Murray: Right.

   

• 0:22:37 Whitney Burkman: And so. Yeah.

   

• 0:22:39 Kris Murray: Yeah. Well, that’s good that you’re providing structure and that. That is really good. That will make your parenting journey easier and it will also hopefully save your beautiful furniture from spills. And also it will help your boys be raised where they can be great husbands to their wives.

   

• 0:22:59 Whitney Burkman: Yes. I mean, when you have four boys, it’s all on me, Right? How they grow up, that’s how I. How they’re shaped, who they become, that’s on me. So we got to put some structure into the home.

   

• 0:23:12 Kris Murray: Oh, love it. Let’s talk about what you’re doing for your marketing. And anything that you either have put into place over the last year or two, obviously you’re fully enrolled, so your school might just speak for itself and doesn’t need a lot of marketing. Or you might be using a CRM or you might be doing email, or you might be doing, I don’t know, whatever you’re doing. You might be doing local community stuff to get your name out there. So just talk a little bit more about what you’re doing that helps your branding.

   

• 0:23:45 Whitney Burkman: Yes. So the biggest marketing we use is gyc. I’ve been using them for quite some time, actually. I can’t put a date on it, unfortunately, but they have been doing my marketing for a while. And funny story, I. A couple months ago, GYC is expensive. There’s a reason why they’re expensive, though. And I was like, okay, where can I cut back? My marketing is kind of high, like, little bit higher than most. I actually went onto the Academy Group Facebook page and was like, what’s everybody’s percentage for marketing? And mine was just so high. I was like, oh, my gosh.

   

• 0:24:27 Whitney Burkman: So I was like, I’m going to cut gyc. I’m going to hire somebody to do my marketing, and I’m going to be able to save there. Honestly, it freaked me out. I was like, it’s working. Why would I change what’s working? Not very many centers around me can save. They’re at full capacity. So what am I doing? So I. I cut back a little bit and obviously in other ways to continue using gyc, but so I use them.

   

• 0:24:58 Whitney Burkman: And then I also use Instagram. We don’t get a whole lot of enrollments from Instagram and Facebook, but we have. It’s kind of free. It’s kind of a free tool. Um, and we have a pretty large following on our Instagram, so that’s helped a little bit. But then also just so for our CRMs, we use Intellakids, but I feel like once we get them in the door, that’s kind of where we can sell them on. I feel like we’ve really been able to market in our center to make us stand out a little bit different.

   

• 0:25:38 Kris Murray: So. Yeah. So let’s dig into some of this. This is. I love, Whitney, that you brought this up, because on the leadership team over at Grow youw Center, gyc, there’s me looking at a lot of the clients who have been having money struggles and have financial issues with grant money drying up or spending all their grant money and then getting into that oh, no moment or whatever.

   

• 0:26:07 Whitney Burkman: Right.

   

• 0:26:07 Kris Murray: Or questioning that they are spending a good chunk of money on their marketing and keeping their leads flowing so that they can compete and stay full or even get to 80 or 90% full. So one thing that I love that you said is that you, first of all, you questioned it. You looked at your percentage of what you’re spending, and then you’re full. So what we’re seeing people do that I call is a huge. No, no.

   

• 0:26:36 Kris Murray: It’s just when you get full, you cut all of your marketing and advertising dollars because you’re like, oh, I’m full. I don’t need to spend that money anymore. And then things dry up, right? You turn off the spigot of leads, and then you realize after you didn’t really look at it for a couple months because you went on vacation to celebrate how full you are, and you’re like, oh, Now I’m down 20 kids again.

   

• 0:27:01 Whitney Burkman: Right.

   

• 0:27:01 Kris Murray: And it’s always cyclical. So enrollment and staffing is always cyclical. So we believe in, you know. And yes, I do believe you can cut your budget a little bit on your ad spend because you’re full. But, you know, to take it off completely would be not a smart business decision. And so I tried to coach and counsel people so much on what you’re talking about. And so I just give you major props for having your business owner’s hat on and really realizing you need to keep your money picked up off your table.

   

• 0:27:35 Kris Murray: Why would you put it back on your table?

   

• 0:27:37 Whitney Burkman: Right, exactly. And we were running a lot of ads, too, and a lot of campaigns. And so I was like, well, we don’t need to run as many. And so we did cut back in that way. So now we are at a percentage where we are fine and we are still getting tours and we’re still getting enrollments. And so I feel like. And yeah, you’re right. You do fluctuate it’s one of probably the most, probably the biggest business in the world that fluctuates.

   

• 0:28:06 Whitney Burkman: It’s never guaranteed. And so I was so worried to turn it off and come back from, you know, not being on site. And I’m like down how many enrollments, you know, so it made me a little worried to do that.

   

• 0:28:20 Kris Murray: Yeah. And that’s normal. Like people leave childcare sometimes they lose their job or they move or they decide to take a break or whatever.

   

• 0:28:30 Whitney Burkman: Yeah.

   

• 0:28:33 Kris Murray: So that’s great. I love that you’re using Instagram and Facebook and you’re using. It sounds like you’re just the organic content posting which is great for your branding. Even though it might not feel like you’re getting a lot of enrollments from it people, you have a following. So people are following, seeing your content and you’re in the back of their head, you know, like a constant little drip. It’s not like you’re being salesy over there, but you’re just, you’re showing off your branding and all the cool things you’re doing in your school.

   

• 0:29:02 Whitney Burkman: Right.

   

• 0:29:04 Kris Murray: When people are looking for a referral or recommendation or they are talking to a friend or they are, they’ll just kind of, they might not tell you the reason why they’re in a fur to his Instagram, but it, it’s like back there in their subconscious.

   

• 0:29:18 Whitney Burkman: Right. And we do use it for family engagement as well. It’s a lot of families at our center use it and they love it. They love seeing we’ve been a little. We haven’t been using it as much because it is a full time job. But when we do use it, they love engaging in the photos and they love just seeing their children, you know, interact so big time.

   

• 0:29:44 Kris Murray: That’s like a parent’s biggest joy is getting either a daily pick on the app, the parent communication app, or video or just hearing about their day or all of it. So good, so good. Awesome. Love that. Let’s talk about your team. So you became a much. You stepped into a bigger leadership role. Much more. When you shifted and opened your center and had to build a team of 20 plus people. What have you learned in your. In that journey? What are maybe some of the biggest either challenges you faced or lessons you’ve learned in your leadership?

   

• 0:30:30 Whitney Burkman: Oh, I love this. Okay. So I think one of the biggest challenges that I have faced and honestly every now and then still face is you can’t make everybody happy. It’s kind of a. Child care has always kind of had like a weird, sorry you’re gonna hear construction downstairs. Okay.

   

• 0:30:57 Kris Murray: Might have to walk out. No problem. I really can’t hear much.

   

• 0:31:03 Whitney Burkman: Okay. You can’t? Okay, sorry. I’m trying to get my office downstairs, so they’re. They’re building me an office down there so I can love it. So, yeah, I really learned that you really can’t make every teacher happy. But I think one of the biggest things is really trying not to make it okay. For example, when we have teachers come to us and, you know, they don’t like this or they don’t like that or they want to change their shift, really trying to redirect them that. Like, we understand your frustrations, we understand this, but this is, you know, this is a business, and these families and these parents count on you.

   

• 0:31:48 Whitney Burkman: This is what we need to do for state licensing or whatever it may be. And instead of making it so personal, trying to really switch the narrative and switch their mindset that it’s, you know, at the end of the day, this is a business and these children and these parents count on you. So trying to make everybody happy has probably been one of the biggest challenges. We recently had a meeting. We do monthly staff meetings.

   

• 0:32:17 Whitney Burkman: And this staff meeting, I really wanted to come in as and make it more about leadership and how you can be leaders. And so we. Sorry. One thing we have done is, I guess in the past we’ve had a lot of. We get a lot of threats, like teachers, well, if I don’t do it this way or you don’t do it this way, or my co teacher doesn’t do it this way, I’m gonna quit. And so, you know, kind of getting the threats of quits, I. I feel like that has been the biggest problem for us.

   

• 0:32:55 Whitney Burkman: And so during this staff meeting, coming in and really trying to change their minds of, you know, if you don’t like something, that’s okay, but you can. We can work together as a team. Whether it’s your co teacher or if it’s something on the admin, you can go straight to the person and you can work it out and you can be a leader and you can, you know, solve the problem without making a threat to quit.

   

• 0:33:22 Whitney Burkman: And I think that’s really helped us a lot. One of the things I told them is, you know, you’re going to go to any job. If you don’t like this job and you go to the next job, there’s going to be a job down the road open. So yes, you can take it. But guess what? There’s going to be something about that job or that business that you don’t like. For me, as a business owner, there’s things I have to do that I don’t like.

   

• 0:33:47 Whitney Burkman: Any job is going to have just something that you don’t like about it or you don’t agree with. But you can have a really good attitude and you can work together with admin or co teacher, whatever it might be to maybe change it or have a different perspective in what you’d like to change. So I think that’s really what we’re trying to create is having that communication with our teachers that they can come to us if there’s something that they don’t like, they don’t have to threaten to quit.

   

• 0:34:20 Kris Murray: Yes. That’s great. I love sharing that. Being part of your team is there’s going to sometimes be things that we don’t always agree.

   

• 0:34:33 Whitney Burkman: Right.

   

• 0:34:34 Kris Murray: But this is how we as a team behave with regards to when we have issues, we just work together to resolve them. And if we can’t, then we’ll cross that road. But we always, you know, 80, 90% of the time we can resolve.

   

• 0:34:50 Whitney Burkman: Literally, like 98% of the time we can figure something out. Whether we get you a new co teacher or maybe you’re having an issue with a child, maybe we can move them to a different classroom. There’s always, there’s always something we can fix.

   

• 0:35:04 Kris Murray: So, yeah, cool. Love that. I think what you said about feeling like you had to please everyone is just something that we need. You know, at the podcast here, so many of our guests who are childcare owners are natural born people pleasers. So that’s okay. Like, I think knowing that we have this people pleasing aspect, but that in some, you know, a lot of cases, like we’re never going to please everyone.

   

• 0:35:40 Kris Murray: And so kind of laying that down and shifting into a new way of leading, just pleasing everyone is not necessarily to their. It’s not going to serve them. If we just continue to please everyone, that’s going to, first of all, you’re going to be exhausted.

   

• 0:36:00 Whitney Burkman: Yeah.

   

• 0:36:00 Kris Murray: You’re going to burn out.

   

• 0:36:01 Whitney Burkman: Right.

   

• 0:36:02 Kris Murray: And then you’re going to be good to no one, including your family and your children. And then it’s. It’s not really good for the employee to also just be pleased. It’s the. What we want to do as leaders is we want to actually help people become the next best version of themselves.

   

• 0:36:19 Whitney Burkman: Right.

   

• 0:36:20 Kris Murray: So when we just please everyone to try to get it to smooth over and get them not to quit, that is actually the opposite of what you Want to do you want to lovingly challenge, have those hard conversations, get people to empower each other, you know, help them solve their own problems, help them step into their next best, stronger version, Help them feel more confident. So that’s where the really work. When you said in the beginning it’s not for the faint of heart.

   

• 0:36:45 Whitney Burkman: Right.

   

• 0:36:46 Kris Murray: To me, that’s leadership is not for the faint of heart. Is. It’s not easy to do all those things. It’s much easier just to smooth it over or pretend like everything’s fine and shut your door.

   

• 0:36:57 Whitney Burkman: Yes.

   

• 0:36:58 Kris Murray: But that’s not really serving people.

   

• 0:37:00 Whitney Burkman: No. And I feel like for me, it’s really hard too, because I’m young. I’m really young. And so a lot of my teachers are older than me. And so it’s been really hard and a huge challenge for me to not give in and not say yes to everything and it’s okay to say no and they might be upset. I, I have a teacher. I, I truly love her. She’s been with me since I’ve opened, so she just hit her three year mark and me and her just are always like. And like, we have just really gone at it in a professional way and it’s been really hard to say no. And she really wanted this schedule.

   

• 0:37:48 Whitney Burkman: No. And, well, I’m going to quit. And it’s like, okay, if you want to quit, you can. And so it’s been, it’s been really humbling to really see myself say no to these teachers who are older than me. I think that has been. Now that you say that, I think that has definitely been the biggest challenge is I’m young. Yeah.

   

• 0:38:10 Kris Murray: Are you in your late 20s?

   

• 0:38:12 Whitney Burkman: Well, I just hit 30, so when I opened. Yeah. I mean, I’ve been doing this since 2016 and so I feel like I’m a really young owner. I know there’s more young owners, but I feel like in my area especially, I’m very young.

   

• 0:38:31 Kris Murray: Yes. Child Care Success Academy are definitely one of our youngest.

   

• 0:38:36 Whitney Burkman: Okay. See? Yeah. So I’m, I’m just a baby, but I might just be a baby, but I feel like I’m really wise and I make like really great decisions. And so.

   

• 0:38:48 Kris Murray: Yeah. And you’re going on a decade of professional experience. And so it’s not, you know, it’s not like you’ve only been in the field for two years. Like you’ve been around. So.

   

• 0:38:58 Whitney Burkman: Yeah.

   

• 0:38:59 Kris Murray: Just own it.

   

• 0:39:01 Whitney Burkman: Right. No, I’m like, I can either look at this as like an intimidating thing or I can be an example to people like, oh my gosh, look like an inspiration towards them. She’s so young and look what she’s doing. And she has four kids. And so I’m really trying to. It takes a lot of therapy, but I’m really trying, like imposter syndrome a little bit. You know, like, I’m. This is my life. I get to do this.

   

• 0:39:30 Kris Murray: And so yeah, yeah, imposter syndrome is very normal. I had it for sure when I started my company and it can be very debilitating and very like get into your whole fear based mindset and like, it can really kind of be difficult, but just keep powering through it and keep. I would say it’s great that you’re in the academy because you’re around all of these amazing humans that are going to help you even grow your confidence and your skills even more.

   

• 0:40:05 Kris Murray: And then as you, you may or may not eventually want to scale to another location. Is that in your desires and dreams?

   

• 0:40:13 Whitney Burkman: Oh, right now at this moment, I couldn’t tell you. I’m super content and I’m super happy. The first three years are so brutal. Just be very transparent and vulnerable. It’s. The first three years are brutal in this industry and a lot of learning and growing, but at the moment I’m pretty content. I think it’s just because my life, my personal life is, you know, kind of not necessarily holding me back, but I just, I don’t want to grow too fast.

   

• 0:40:48 Whitney Burkman: So.

   

• 0:40:49 Kris Murray: Yeah, that’s good. I think that’s smart. Well, your enrollment’s stable, you’re full, you’re doing great and you’re learning a lot in leadership. You’re working on your leadership skills and strength. What’s ahead for you in the rest of 2025 and beyond. Just kind of trying to deal with the chaos of the four boys and enjoy every day or anything beyond that.

   

• 0:41:20 Whitney Burkman: Well, we’re coming to Georgia, right? It’s. Yeah, in Atlanta. So we’re taking. For the first time I’m able to take my team off site. And so I’m really excited for that Fun fact. I actually came to the conference in Las Vegas as an in home provider.

   

• 0:41:40 Kris Murray: Oh, wow.

   

• 0:41:41 Whitney Burkman: And so I was not obviously in the academy, but I can’t even remember at the time I was taking my twins to a center down the road and he had kind of told me about it and so I got my hands on some tickets and I ended up going and I learned a lot, actually. I feel like that kind of is what motivated me to go into a center. But yeah, I Just went to Phoenix at the Mastermind and that was. I loved that. I took my office manager and now in October, taking my team and I’m also bringing my husband.

   

• 0:42:23 Kris Murray: Cool.

   

• 0:42:23 Whitney Burkman: He has nothing. He’s not really involved in the center. He does all the handyman stuff. I need the snow plowed or I need this fixed or. So he does those things kind of behind scenes. And so I’m excited to take him.

   

• 0:42:39 Kris Murray: Yeah, it’s going to be great. We’re going to Atlanta for the Childcare Success Summit 25. I’ll give it a shout out that we’re going to all be together and I’m excited to hang out with you, Whitney, and meet your team and your hubby. We are in a brand new, beautiful hotel and so it’s going to be sparkling and it’s going to be great. So I’m really excited. We haven’t been to Atlanta with the summit since 2013.

   

• 0:43:07 Whitney Burkman: Oh, wow.

   

• 0:43:08 Kris Murray: So that is a long time. That was only the second summit ever.

   

• 0:43:12 Whitney Burkman: Oh, wow. Yeah. So how, how many summits is this?

   

• 0:43:16 Kris Murray: This is, I think 14. Let’s see. It started in 12, 16, 18, 19, 21, 14.

   

• 0:43:25 Whitney Burkman: Wow, cool. I love that.

   

• 0:43:27 Kris Murray: And then of course, 2020 was virtual, but we still did do one, so that was great. Lots of people attended that one because everybody was home and they were like, wanted to do something like feel more community oriented. So that was cool. But I’m really glad you came to Vegas. That was a great summit. It was Marshall Goldsmith as a, a keynote and then Stedman Graham and Andre Norman and that was. We raised a bunch of money for Andre’s cause and so that was a very, very good one.

   

• 0:43:56 Kris Murray: And I’m glad that you came. As an in home, we definitely have a good, like, I would say 20 or 30 family childcare providers usually come to the summit. We’d love to have more.

   

• 0:44:08 Whitney Burkman: Yes. Yeah.

   

• 0:44:11 Kris Murray: You learned a ton. That’s good. And I’m really glad that you’re with us in the academy. So have you. Did you come. So you didn’t come to Chicago? Did you join in? When? I guess. How long have you been in the academy?

   

• 0:44:24 Whitney Burkman: So I recently just joined the academy, I think in December in the middle of this. So everybody, the grant money ended. So Utah’s grant money ended in September and I was not even close to full capacity and I was stressing and I was, oh, I was like, how am I going to do this? And I also had just, you know, had a baby and so actually, what’s his name who used to do My marketing. Stephen. Stefan.

   

• 0:45:00 Kris Murray: Yeah.

   

• 0:45:00 Whitney Burkman: Remember? Yeah. He had mentioned the Academy and I was like, I’m just going to do it. Like, what do I have to lose? Like, I don’t have. I’m like, I’m not even. I’m not like 65, 70% full. I technically shouldn’t be doing this and paying for this, but we’re just going to do it. And I was like, I can’t borrow money every month just to make this work. And so I just went for it. And it’s been truly life changing. Honestly, it has changed my mindset in so many ways.

   

• 0:45:34 Whitney Burkman: I feel like in this industry, it’s really, really easy to get discouraged and only think about negative. And then when you think about negative, it’s just negative after negative after negative. And so I really needed something to just kind of pull me out of that. And I feel like the Academy saved me from that. And then once I was able to change my mindset, then just everything else fell into place. My enrollments, my staffing, just everything. It’s just weird how it works.

   

• 0:46:01 Whitney Burkman: So.

   

• 0:46:03 Kris Murray: Yeah, it works. Stefan from Grow youw Center referred you in.

   

• 0:46:08 Whitney Burkman: Yes. Yes. I don’t. He doesn’t do my marketing anymore. I think you guys were. You guys had to do a little switch or he was on a different. He was on east coast. And so, yeah, I loved him.

   

• 0:46:19 Kris Murray: Yeah, we. Well, so the Grow youw Center team, we all do everybody’s marketing together but you. Every. Every client is paired with a account manager, an mc.

   

• 0:46:28 Whitney Burkman: Right.

   

• 0:46:29 Kris Murray: Marketing consultant. So Stefan was your mc, and now you have a different mc. But. Yeah. So I love that. So shout out to Stefan. I love him. He’s hilarious. And he’s. He always wins our fun. We have Core Value Awards and he always wins the Core Value for fun because he’s in a. He’s in a band, He’s a musician.

   

• 0:46:47 Whitney Burkman: Oh.

   

• 0:46:48 Kris Murray: And he’s super fun. So.

   

• 0:46:51 Whitney Burkman: Yeah, he was. Yeah, I was. I really liked him and I liked my new marketer who got. Yeah, you guys call him. I really like him too, but he’s so fun to have.

   

• 0:47:02 Kris Murray: So love it. Yeah, we have a great team over there. All right, is there any final thoughts that you want to share? First of all, I want to say thank you so much for coming on and being with me on this podcast and spending time with myself and our audience. I’m sure everybody has really enjoyed this from a perspective of a young, up and coming child care owner that is doing amazing things in her community. That’s how I really see you and you’re making an impact in the world and I love everything that you’re doing. I think you’re definitely focused on growing your capabilities, your mindset and going to your next version, your next level, playing a bigger game, living your best life. So I definitely see all of that in you and I just want to give you all the props.

   

• 0:48:02 Whitney Burkman: Thank you.

   

• 0:48:03 Kris Murray: And the kudos for that. Yeah.

   

• 0:48:05 Whitney Burkman: Thank you. Yeah.

   

• 0:48:06 Kris Murray: Anything ahead for you or any final thoughts you want to share?

   

• 0:48:10 Whitney Burkman: No, no, I’m just excited to see where all the things I learned from the academy and I’m excited to see what this next year, what we’re able to do at Magnolia. And. And yeah, it’s been. It’s been really fun. It’s been a good year. I’m like, I finally deserve this. I finally deserve the good year. So. Yeah.

   

• 0:48:33 Kris Murray: Yeah. Well, I want your deservingness to keep increasing and expanding, and that’s something that we are continuing to work on. And coaching is helping all of our members tap into a higher level of deservingness. So keep it. Keep that in your mindfulness. And there was. Oh, how can people find out more about Magnolia Academy and. Or Whitney?

   

• 0:49:01 Whitney Burkman: Yes. So go to our Instagram magnoliacademy Child care. You can follow along. We haven’t been super active. I’m. I’m kind of wanting to. We’re more educational and kind of like a dive into our teachers and all of that. And so you can find us on Instagram there if you want to follow along. My personal life, I’m W Dot Berkman. I don’t. I don’t have a big following or anything. I just post a lot about my life.

   

• 0:49:30 Whitney Burkman: So if you are curious about what I do with business and my four boys and my husband, then you can follow me.

   

• 0:49:36 Kris Murray: But when being a mother of twins, I’m sure you’re friends with other mothers of twins. That seems to be a thing.

   

• 0:49:43 Whitney Burkman: Yes. I wish I was more extroverted. I am not an extrovert, so. Which is kind of funny because people are like, oh, I always like, I would see you as an extrovert. So I don’t make a lot of friends. But that’s okay.

   

• 0:50:00 Kris Murray: That’s good.

   

• 0:50:00 Whitney Burkman: My kids are really extroverted. They make all the friends. So no twin friends yet, but we’ll get there.

   

• 0:50:06 Kris Murray: Yeah, you definitely will. Well, Whitney Berkman, thank you so much for being here today on the podcast. It’s been a pleasure and thanks everybody for tuning in once again to child care Rockstar Radio. Take care and God bless. See you next time. I hope you liked this episode of Child Care Rockstar Radio. If you did, please leave a review and share it with someone you know to help spread the word to friends in our industry and on social media.

   

• 0:50:34 Kris Murray: Child care business success is my passion and I’m honored to be on this journey with you. As a thank you for listening, I’ve got a new video training that shows you how to add six figures or more of new revenue to your program in the next 60 days by improving your hiring and your enrollment systems. To watch my new video, just just go to www.fixmyschool. com. That’s FixMySchool. Com. Thanks. Take care and God bless.