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• 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 the next Child Care Rockstar.
• 0:00:34 Kris Murray: Now, let’s go. This is Child Care Rockstar Radio Episode 211 featuring the Gens. You might be wondering, what do I mean by the Gens? Well, let me tell you. In today’s episode, you’re going to beat two amazing women. They both have the name Jennifer or Jen. Jennifer House and Jenny Grunder, their partners at Children’s Choice Preschool in Southern California. And they are affectionately referred to as the Gens by myself and others in our world. And I can’t wait for you to meet them.
• 0:01:11 Kris Murray: The name of their episode is Chasing Cows and Building dreams into a 12 center empire. And we have a lot to cover. We get kind of silly and wacky and tell funny stories on this one too. So you’re going to be entertained and you’re also going to be enlightened with a lot of knowledge about how to grow an empire if that’s something that you’re into. I am Chris Murray and I’m here with you as always, at the helm of this podcast and very excited to share with you that I have two amazing companies that are friends of our podcast today and I want to tell you a little bit about each of them.
• 0:01:51 Kris Murray: The first one is Local IQ and they are a sponsor of today’s podcast. Their platform helps businesses like yours grow smarter and faster through industry leading education, digital marketing solutions that drive enrollment. And just for our podcast listeners, they have put together a brand new Early Childhood Education Benchmarks report full of fresh data and tips to help you scale your centers with confidence.
• 0:02:20 Kris Murray: Grab your free copy today of the benchmark report@localiq.com ecebenchmarks that’s localiq.com ecebenchmarks and if you’re heading to the Child Care Success Summit in October, which I certainly hope that you are, be sure to stop by local IQ’s booth and say hi. Today’s podcast is also sponsored in part by Trainual. Running your child care center shouldn’t feel like a full time game of telephone. You’re constantly reinventing the wheel, babysitting your staff instead of leading them.
• 0:02:58 Kris Murray: A never ending onboarding cycle. And you’re the only one who knows how anything works. If that sounds familiar. You’ve got to reach out and have a chat with the folks at Trainual. It’s the all in one operations platform that keeps your center running smoothly without the chaos. With Trainual, it’s easier than ever to document, organize and train your staff. Learn more and start streamlining and make onboarding a breeze@trainual.com
• 0:03:26 Kris Murray: and be sure to mention child care success attendee. All right folks, I am really excited to have you meet the gens. I’ve been working with these incredible ladies and their teams for the last six or seven years, maybe eight years. We talk about it in the meat of the episode coming up. Our journey has been vast and they have over 300 staff. They have a total of enrollment of almost 1300 kids. Guys. They’re at 91% full across 12 locations. And these locations are a mix of nonprofit and for profit.
• 0:04:11 Kris Murray: And in fact part of that journey and that vision of having a blend of nonprofit and for profit came to Jennifer House, the founder, when she was with me at a Mastermind meeting and I was taking her through her vivid vision or painting her three year vision. And she had a vision of bringing in animals and having a more of a farm like experience for the children as well as this combination for profit and nonprofit dream. And so they have just been going after it and doing all the things to beautifully market their programs, get to very close to full enrollment.
• 0:04:55 Kris Murray: They feature low ratios in their classrooms, they focus on parent engagement and family engagement and they do amazingly fun community events and they also do really cool stuff for their teams with inspirational motivational leadership events and events for their entire staff. So very, very cool things going on over at Children’s Choice Preschool and I can’t wait for you to hear all about that. We are quickly counting down. We are only 18 days away from the kickoff of the 2025 Child Care Success Summit in Atlanta.
• 0:05:32 Kris Murray: At the time that I am recording this podcast, I am working on my sessions. I am very excited to see you all there and I will give you a sneak peek to something that I’m just over the moon about which is I finally got my book done.
• 0:05:48 Jennifer House: All.
• 0:05:49 Kris Murray: And I will be doing book signings and featuring content from my book which is my my story, my story of founding a company companies to walk into this incredible eight figure empire that I have built and how I started out tiny, tiny, tiny and how I baby stepped into it along the way. And that story is shared inside of the forthcoming book the Antidote to Fear, my new book. So that will be released and launched in Atlanta. And I hope that you’re there so I can sign a copy for you and spend time with you.
• 0:06:37 Kris Murray: We are full. We’re getting very full to a close to a full ballroom at the summit. And if you still don’t have your tickets and you’re still on the fence and you’re listening to this podcast Real Time, which would be on September 25th, you have just a handful of days to see if you can get a ticket@ChildCareSuccessSummit.com and then get yourself to Atlanta. And I can’t wait to see you there. So it’s never too late to see if you can reach out, score a ticket and get there. It’s going to be an incredible show featuring Ron Clark and Gigi Schweickart as industry experts, leaders and incredible speakers. Two of the best, two of the funniest and most inspiring speakers that are incredibly knowledgeable about the fields of education and early education with decades of experience.
• 0:07:30 Kris Murray: So there’s no place better to be on the planet October 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th than Atlanta at the Child Care Success Summit. Let’s dive in. I want you to meet the Gens and have some fun with us here on Child Care Rockstar Radio. Let’s go. Welcome back to the podcast, everybody. I am very excited to introduce two amazing friends and clients lovingly known as the Gens, Jennifer House and Jenny Gravender. How are you ladies today?
• 0:08:08 Jenni Grawvunder: We’re great. Good, good.
• 0:08:11 Kris Murray: Where are you right now?
• 0:08:14 Jennifer House: We are in San Diego, California. Cool, sunny, awesome. Excited. Yeah, we love living here.
• 0:08:22 Kris Murray: Yes. Best weather in the country, in my opinion.
• 0:08:24 Jenni Grawvunder: Yep, absolutely.
• 0:08:26 Kris Murray: And I’m sensing some, like, quiet energy all of a sudden, which is not your norm. Are you guys nervous?
• 0:08:34 Jennifer House: Yes.
• 0:08:35 Jenni Grawvunder: Yes.
• 0:08:36 Jennifer House: Okay. You know, I don’t, I don’t like to. I don’t like to talk about, I don’t know, about myself to other people, I guess. I know I don’t post online. I don’t do any of that. I’m not social media. That’s not me.
• 0:08:47 Kris Murray: Yes.
• 0:08:48 Jennifer House: Behind the scenes person, I guess I don’t know well.
• 0:08:51 Kris Murray: And because of that, it has taken me a while to bring you on the podcast because I knew that that was your natural mode, but I wanted to have you shine your light and share your story with the audience. So thanks for being here. Tell us a little bit about your journey and the. The start of Children’s Choice preschool. I guess if. I don’t know, Jen House, if you want to go and just talk a little bit about your Vision for starting the school and how you guys have worked together over the last few years.
• 0:09:24 Jennifer House: Yeah. So I started in 1998 at Children’s Choice with 25 kids and it was a non profit and I didn’t know any different. And I just kept going and growing. And so I started with 25 kids. I left there with 76 kids and went to another location and just kind of grew from there. I love the passion. It’s been 29 years now for me and 11, almost 12 schools later and we’re still going.
• 0:09:56 Kris Murray: And so you have 12 total locations?
• 0:09:59 Jennifer House: 11. And I’m in escrow right now for 12. Yeah.
• 0:10:02 Kris Murray: Okay. Wow. Did you ever think that you would scale to such a size?
• 0:10:07 Jennifer House: No. It’s funny. I found a paper for my instructor because the first school that I took over, my college teacher that I took administration from, it was her office. And I found my paper in her desk and it was a reflection and it was, where do you want to be in five years? And I said, well, I would love to own three schools. And I found the paper in my storage years later and it was exactly. I had three schools. And it was just.
• 0:10:37 Jennifer House: It was just, wow. Like, you know, that’s something when you’re writing like, oh, I want to own three schools someday. And like, you know, you just write it and you never think it’s going to happen. It wasn’t like, you know, how you teach us to write your dreams and make it happen. That was back when I was 19 years old. I didn’t think I would really own three schools. It was just a dream I had.
• 0:10:52 Jenni Grawvunder: Sure.
• 0:10:53 Jennifer House: Now I have too many. Three was a great number.
• 0:10:59 Kris Murray: But yet you’re in escrow for the 12th.
• 0:11:02 Jenni Grawvunder: I know.
• 0:11:02 Jennifer House: And I got five more calls last week and I’m just like, stop, stop. Uncomfortable. I need to stop.
• 0:11:08 Kris Murray: Wow, that’s an amazing success story. And then, Jenny G, how did you come on the scene? When did you join?
• 0:11:15 Jenni Grawvunder: I joined Children’s Choice at the bottom in 20 2008, and I worked my way all the way up to the top.
• 0:11:24 Kris Murray: Wow.
• 0:11:24 Jenni Grawvunder: I worked every position. I told her when I interviewed with her the first day, I said, I’m going to run one of your schools one day, and here I am.
• 0:11:34 Jennifer House: Okay, but. Okay, but to be fair, I have to share your story. Oh, my God. Her and four entourage come in for an interview. She had these four men with dark hair behind her, and I’m like, what is she, some high security princess? Well, we all know Jenny. Yes, she’s a princess. I’m not sure what country, but she’s a princess from somewhere. She had her entourage. Well, she came from Wisconsin and they were nervous because San Diego, we don’t know anybody and who knows who they are? So they came to protect her.
• 0:12:02 Jennifer House: And now I’m thinking if, man, if somebody came in with four people, I’d turn them around right out the door. Like, this is. You’re weird and she is weird, but we’re both weird in a good way. So that’s how we get along.
• 0:12:14 Kris Murray: Yeah. Yeah, I love that. That’s a great story.
• 0:12:16 Jennifer House: You found me in the yellow pages.
• 0:12:18 Jenni Grawvunder: Yeah, yeah. Back when there was yellow pages, I just started calling. My sister in law had made me mad and I just started calling every child care. I made it to the seas.
• 0:12:28 Kris Murray: Nice.
• 0:12:29 Jennifer House: Good thing I didn’t start with an S or something.
• 0:12:30 Kris Murray: I would have never called her. Right, Absolutely.
• 0:12:34 Jennifer House: Yeah.
• 0:12:35 Kris Murray: So you were just calling because you wanted a job in early learning and you what, what role did you, what you took? Were you a floater or what were you?
• 0:12:44 Jenni Grawvunder: I had already worked in early childhood in Wisconsin and I just moved out here.
• 0:12:49 Kris Murray: Okay.
• 0:12:49 Jenni Grawvunder: In, in May. And I would have took in anything. That’s the kind of person I am. Like, I’ll work for anything. She’s like, well, I can start you out as an aide for $9 an hour. I’m like, okay, I’ll take it.
• 0:13:03 Jennifer House: But only you, not the other four, right?
• 0:13:06 Kris Murray: Not the dudes.
• 0:13:07 Jenni Grawvunder: Yeah.
• 0:13:10 Kris Murray: Awesome. Well, I love that. That’s. Those stories are fantastic. So how many total children and teachers do you serve or do you have under your umbrella now?
• 0:13:21 Jennifer House: So we are have enrolled 1912, 92 is our capacity. We’re 91% enrolled, which is, you know, we have lots of pre K moving on and two new schools. So that’s pretty good, right?
• 0:13:36 Kris Murray: That’s really good.
• 0:13:37 Jennifer House: About 300 plus staff members now. I started with four.
• 0:13:42 Kris Murray: Yeah.
• 0:13:42 Jennifer House: And I was just thinking like, we’re struggling right now. Look, this is real, right? It seems like, yeah, 12 preschools. Great. No, I don’t have payroll for next week. That’s where we’re at today. And I’m in escrow. And I remember when I had four teachers with the 25 kids, I couldn’t come up with $700 for my payroll. I’m thinking, God, I wish I could sell something for $700 right now, but I need 500,000 for payroll next week. I don’t know where that’s going to come from.
• 0:14:09 Kris Murray: Wow.
• 0:14:09 Jennifer House: So there’s, you know, it’s fun on both sides.
• 0:14:12 Kris Murray: That’s a big payroll cycle, right?
• 0:14:14 Jenni Grawvunder: Yeah.
• 0:14:15 Kris Murray: Yeah. All right, well, we’re going to dig into that a little bit. I want to know about your pet mascots. More importantly, tell me about all the animals that you have under your schools. Under the roofs or in the fields?
• 0:14:30 Jennifer House: Yeah, both. So in all of our classrooms, we have animals. So even on the playgrounds, we have giant tortoises and we have guinea pigs and lizards and we kind of the teacher. Yeah. Bearded dragons. Whatever their vibe is. If a vibe is not a lizard, then that’s fine. You can have a guinea pig, whatever.
• 0:14:47 Jenni Grawvunder: Chickens.
• 0:14:48 Jennifer House: Yep.
• 0:14:48 Jenni Grawvunder: At every school.
• 0:14:50 Jennifer House: Yep. We have chickies. We let them hatch so they get to see them hatch. So that’s really fun. And then when they’re roosters, we re gift them to the world.
• 0:14:59 Kris Murray: Okay, that’s cool. Do you let the kids determine who their pet mascot’s going to be?
• 0:15:05 Jennifer House: Well, they have multiple at each school. Okay. So there’s lots of animals at each location.
• 0:15:10 Kris Murray: Okay.
• 0:15:10 Jennifer House: And then we have somebody. We hire somebody now to take care of the animals. Because it’s a lot for teachers. I mean, you know, it’s a lot for teachers to come to work on time and do other things. So we want to take away the animal. So we’ve started hiring somebody to come and do the animals, like three days a week just to clean out the cage is really good. And do the extra.
• 0:15:29 Kris Murray: And whose vision was that? Whose idea was that to have such an animal rich animal situation in the classrooms?
• 0:15:39 Jennifer House: That’s me.
• 0:15:40 Kris Murray: Yeah.
• 0:15:41 Jenni Grawvunder: How do you remember that mastermind we were at?
• 0:15:46 Jennifer House: Yeah, we were in her office. Oh.
• 0:15:48 Jenni Grawvunder: It was when we went to the Empire in Carbondale. She’s like, I’m gonna get my animals back. And I said, let’s make it happen.
• 0:15:57 Jennifer House: And Jenny just went on a Gilligan’s island three hour tour to Kentucky with my mom to get some animals for me. And it was an event. We had a runaway cow.
• 0:16:10 Jenni Grawvunder: Chris. I ran that day probably three miles.
• 0:16:13 Kris Murray: Wow.
• 0:16:14 Jennifer House: The whole town was looking for my missing baby cow. It ran out of the van.
• 0:16:18 Jenni Grawvunder: We may have gotten escorted by flashing lights to the state line and the state troopers.
• 0:16:24 Jennifer House: Right. You got a tick?
• 0:16:26 Jenni Grawvunder: Yes. Two with two ticks.
• 0:16:28 Jennifer House: Whoa. But we found the baby cow. It’s so safe.
• 0:16:33 Jenni Grawvunder: It’s scared of everybody and everything.
• 0:16:35 Jennifer House: Rachel. Rachel Davis was super nice and housed my mom and my best friend for me and my animals in her barn.
• 0:16:43 Kris Murray: Wow.
• 0:16:43 Jenni Grawvunder: For a week.
• 0:16:44 Jennifer House: Yeah. Was that Albuquerque?
• 0:16:45 Jenni Grawvunder: Yeah.
• 0:16:46 Jennifer House: Okay.
• 0:16:46 Jenni Grawvunder: Edgewood.
• 0:16:47 Kris Murray: Yeah. True Mastermind friends.
• 0:16:51 Jennifer House: Yeah. So now I have a mini horse and it’s new baby. It’s two and a half month old baby horse.
• 0:16:57 Jenni Grawvunder: Oh my gosh, they’re so soft.
• 0:17:01 Kris Murray: So when you were with us in Carbondale at the Empire Mastermind, I think what probably inspired you to get your animals back is the vivid vision exercise. And I took you through that and then you had this whole epiphany of oh my gosh, that’s part of my important vision. And we’re gonna go back and do that. So here we are.
• 0:17:19 Jennifer House: Yeah.
• 0:17:19 Kris Murray: Very cool.
• 0:17:20 Jenni Grawvunder: Just a few years later, we have what, two donkeys, seven or nine goats?
• 0:17:27 Jennifer House: 10.
• 0:17:28 Jenni Grawvunder: 10 goats.
• 0:17:28 Jennifer House: Somebody brought me back a surprise goat. I had nine. I said no more goats. Here’s a new baby goat. I mean, you can’t turn down a baby.
• 0:17:35 Jenni Grawvunder: So cute. It was on a baby bubble. So 10 goats, donkeys, couple horses.
• 0:17:43 Jennifer House: Yeah.
• 0:17:43 Kris Murray: Wow. So what else in the community are you known for besides the pet menagerie?
• 0:17:50 Jennifer House: Definitely lower ratios.
• 0:17:53 Kris Murray: Okay.
• 0:17:53 Jennifer House: Your events, Our events, like parent engagement, community events.
• 0:17:58 Jenni Grawvunder: You know, her parties, they’re always top notch. Kind of like yours. Like.
• 0:18:02 Kris Murray: Yes.
• 0:18:03 Jenni Grawvunder: They’re over the top.
• 0:18:04 Jennifer House: Parties are fun. Yeah. So lots of community events. You know, I started. Now I’m skipping ahead. But you know, marketing, it was always my thing. Right. So. Yeah, I’m still doing it. You know, we, I always did all the events that I could find in the neighborhood and I’m still doing it because you can’t stop ever. You have to be 100. 100. Do. Do all the things. You can’t just do one thing. So we’re still doing all the things.
• 0:18:27 Jennifer House: But that’s where an engagement and community events.
• 0:18:30 Kris Murray: Yeah. That’s why you’re 91% full.
• 0:18:33 Jennifer House: Yeah.
• 0:18:34 Kris Murray: And you’re going to continue to get. Yeah.
• 0:18:36 Jennifer House: I mean it’s, it’s August. Everybody’s. We’re getting ready to fill up again so.
• 0:18:39 Kris Murray: Right.
• 0:18:40 Jennifer House: We’ll be over full by the end of September.
• 0:18:44 Kris Murray: But you don’t love being the face in the social media. But do you have your team support you in those efforts or how do you.
• 0:18:53 Jennifer House: I have your team support me in those. We have.
• 0:18:58 Kris Murray: Excellent.
• 0:18:59 Jennifer House: Yeah. So we have, we have a rockstar page for teachers.
• 0:19:03 Kris Murray: Okay.
• 0:19:04 Jennifer House: And I have a teacher advocate that she posts and directors post and. Yeah. So each of our schools have do their social media and then your center gets all of our pictures, you know, off of those pages. So. Yeah, absolutely.
• 0:19:18 Jenni Grawvunder: We love grow your center.
• 0:19:20 Kris Murray: Yay. That makes me super happy. I love them too. Being the co founder and your guys’s website, just to give it a quick shout out ischildren’s choice preschool.com and that is a grow your center developed website. And that’s it.
• 0:19:40 Jenni Grawvunder: And we also have childrenschoiceacademy.net.
• 0:19:43 Kris Murray: Okay. And that’s what I wanted to bring up because I noticed that the Children’s Choice preschool had I think five locations connected to it.
• 0:19:50 Jennifer House: That’s our nonprofit.
• 0:19:52 Kris Murray: Okay, so you’re a blend of a nonprofit and a for profit.
• 0:19:57 Jennifer House: Well, you don’t blend because we don’t commingle. Okay. It’s completely separate.
• 0:20:00 Kris Murray: Right. So two completely different businesses.
• 0:20:02 Jennifer House: Yes, of course. So we have Children’s Choice Learning Connection.
• 0:20:06 Kris Murray: Okay.
• 0:20:06 Jennifer House: Dba, Children’s Choice and then we have Children’s Choice Academy.
• 0:20:10 Kris Murray: Okay, Right.
• 0:20:11 Jennifer House: So when is our nonprofit started? Nonprofit. Just kept going nonprofit. Didn’t know any different.
• 0:20:16 Kris Murray: Right.
• 0:20:16 Jennifer House: And I met these people that are like, what are you gonna do when you get older and you sell your school? And I said, what do you mean get older and sell my school? I’m gonna do this forever. But these, this wise woman told me that I’m gonna have a legacy and I should like build wealth and sell my schools. And so then I started doing for profits. So now six of my locations are for profit. I love that.
• 0:20:37 Jennifer House: I mean it really should be the non profit because I did just tell you I’m in the hole. But, but we’re gonna be okay because we always.
• 0:20:45 Kris Murray: Yeah, yeah. You’re, you’re, you’re not going to be in lack around that money story because the money’s going to show up for your payment.
• 0:20:51 Jennifer House: And we just ramped up this last year. A huge program and it super low ratios, extra teachers in the classrooms. And it’s expensive to have teachers and paying top dollar to get teachers, you know.
• 0:21:03 Kris Murray: Yes.
• 0:21:03 Jennifer House: A lot of people are paying minimum wage and we’re paying, you know, almost double that because it’s important, but it’s costing.
• 0:21:09 Jenni Grawvunder: And the benefits, you know the benefits we offer insurance. They get a paid cruise after two weeks. I learned that from they get Christmas week paid off. Like all these benefits they’re getting, you know, that all adds up.
• 0:21:22 Jennifer House: You know, these people saw this stuff and it’s real expensive.
• 0:21:25 Jenni Grawvunder: We should send them the bill.
• 0:21:26 Jennifer House: I know.
• 0:21:29 Kris Murray: I’ll give you my address. Send me the bill. So you learned a lot of these strategies from being in the academy? I’m assuming that’s what you’re referring to.
• 0:21:39 Jennifer House: Absolutely.
• 0:21:40 Kris Murray: You guys have been academy members for since 2019.
• 0:21:44 Jennifer House: She’s my number gal.
• 0:21:45 Kris Murray: I was going to say six years. Nice. We love having you in there. You’re always A hoot. One of the things that you’re known for in the academy is winning the costume contests.
• 0:21:58 Jennifer House: I’m the dancing queen also, in case you didn’t know. Yeah, that’s true.
• 0:22:02 Kris Murray: Yeah.
• 0:22:02 Jennifer House: But I’ll tell you so I, I had back surgery. They took out two of my bones a year ago, but I can still dance. I just pay for it the next day. It’s fine. Yeah, you just keep going.
• 0:22:15 Kris Murray: You just keep going.
• 0:22:16 Jennifer House: Yeah.
• 0:22:17 Kris Murray: Tell us about your team culture. You guys are obviously having a great time and you have, you know, 300 plus staff. You’ve grown by leaps and bounds. You’ve expanded over and over again and scaled your team. How do you keep it fresh? How do you keep it? How do you keep people from burning out? Or I guess a natural part of the job could be burnout. But what do you do when that happens? Just give us some tips about how you keep your culture going.
• 0:22:43 Jennifer House: I mean, it’s learning, growth. And as we learned yesterday in one of our trainings, we did an all day director’s training is grace. That’s what we’re working on now is giving grace. But you know, you say give grace, but we also have to hold accountability. So it is a revolving dart. A lot of times I have staff that have been with me over 20 years and you know, but we’re always hiring and we’re also always trying to up level.
• 0:23:06 Jennifer House: So I don’t have the magic answer for that, you know, and as soon as somebody gives it, you know, we’ll all be better off. But we’re just, we just keep going, Right. Supporting lots of trainings, more trainings. Not being stuck in, I guess, doing things. Because you’ve always done it that way.
• 0:23:25 Kris Murray: Evolving.
• 0:23:26 Jennifer House: Yeah.
• 0:23:27 Jenni Grawvunder: With the changes. Right.
• 0:23:28 Jennifer House: Yeah. And that’s why we’re still here and that’s why we’re still growing. Because I don’t set myself in. Well, I’ve always done it this way. You know, you have to adapt and learn and change and grow and then when it doesn’t work, then you just do it all over. Cool.
• 0:23:43 Kris Murray: How do you guys separate your responsibilities and duties?
• 0:23:47 Jennifer House: Do you.
• 0:23:47 Kris Murray: What are the hats that you’re wearing and do you separate it by schools, by region or what are your hands like?
• 0:23:54 Jenni Grawvunder: The visionary. Right up. And I more the implementer. I more come in and help her.
• 0:24:01 Jennifer House: Yep.
• 0:24:02 Kris Murray: Right.
• 0:24:02 Jennifer House: Absolutely.
• 0:24:04 Jenni Grawvunder: I’m the numbers. I’m the.
• 0:24:06 Jennifer House: She’s my memory.
• 0:24:07 Jenni Grawvunder: Yeah, let’s do it. You know, this is where we’re at. And she’s like, I could have just Used it a guesstimate. I’m like, no, that’s not true.
• 0:24:13 Jennifer House: You know, okay, well, how much. You know, what is. What is the budget or whatever we’re talking about? And she wants to tell me, and. 3 cents. I don’t freaking care about 3 cents. Just. We’re talking about $120,000. Right. You know, but. Oh, no, but it. She goes, no, it wasn’t $120,000. It was 119 and 87. Yeah. So she’s. She’s the exact. And I’m the. Just give me the roundabout. So we definitely compliment each other, but we also have an amazing team.
• 0:24:42 Jennifer House: You know, it was. It was me for a lot of years doing receipts and billing and marketing and advertising and driving the bus and.
• 0:24:49 Jenni Grawvunder: You know, cooking, janitoring.
• 0:24:51 Jennifer House: Yeah. And now I have a great team. And on top of that, I have a great corporate staff. I have a great corporate office that I’m blessed to have. But again, if numbers don’t work, that goes away and we go back to what we have to do. I was just talking to my loan officer, and that’s the question I always get, you know, what are you going to do if your funds get cut? What are you going to do with this? I’m like, you mean like we did during COVID and we opened more schools? You mean like we did in, you know, the Depression or what? The depression felt like a depression. Tell me you didn’t say that.
• 0:25:24 Jennifer House: But, you know, it’s.
• 0:25:26 Kris Murray: You just.
• 0:25:26 Jennifer House: You cut back, you start over, and you keep going. Like, you just.
• 0:25:30 Kris Murray: We evolve. Right.
• 0:25:31 Jenni Grawvunder: So go down to your roots. Right?
• 0:25:33 Jennifer House: My roots? Yeah, your roots. I tried to have gray roots. I didn’t like it. Yeah. I don’t want to go that. That far back.
• 0:25:40 Kris Murray: Well, what you just talked about is. Speaks to a very strong, positive mindset, a growth mindset. So tell us how your mindset has changed over the last six years or even longer. I mean, what have been the. Because especially during COVID and you grew during that phase. Everybody grew during that phase because we had to be, you know, we had to pivot. The ultimate pivot. So just talk a little bit about each of you. Your mindset shifts that you’ve maybe talk about a situation that you encountered where you had to grow or something that makes you think about, oh, yeah, this is a really big struggle for me, and this is how I overcame it.
• 0:26:22 Jenni Grawvunder: Mine is easy. Covid was hard for Jen. She went through a very personal.
• 0:26:28 Jennifer House: Well, you can tell them I’m at.
• 0:26:30 Jenni Grawvunder: That time her uncle passed Away unexpectedly, unfortunately, right away. And I remember getting the phone call. She’s like, I just, I can’t. You have to. You just have. You got it. I just can’t. And that was a big, that was a big turning point for me because I, I always hid behind her, like, and I didn’t have her to hide behind. I did my pants.
• 0:26:58 Jennifer House: It was gonna be me cussing on this podcast.
• 0:27:02 Jenni Grawvunder: I did really not do. I. I really was scared and apprehensive. You know, she’s like, you got to stay out of the schools. Which was very hard at that time. I loved to go to the schools every day and I couldn’t. She’s like, you got to stay out of the schools because you could carry things around and we could have to shut down a lot. And then she’s like, basically she was peace out for a little bit. And it was scary, but it was definitely her faith in me knowing that that was a pivotal time that I could have sunk her ship.
• 0:27:37 Jennifer House: You know, you would never sink friendship.
• 0:27:39 Jenni Grawvunder: But you get what I’m saying.
• 0:27:39 Jennifer House: You’re my booby.
• 0:27:42 Jenni Grawvunder: But it was, it was there was that, that turned it to for me, like, I can get through anything. Like, yeah.
• 0:27:50 Kris Murray: Thank you for sharing that. Jen House. How about you?
• 0:27:56 Jennifer House: I don’t know if there’s one, one thing.
• 0:27:59 Kris Murray: Yeah. But just like, how has your mindset shifted over the years? How do you feel different?
• 0:28:06 Jennifer House: You know, for me it’s not over the years. For me it’s week by week. I mean, going to, you know, meeting you definitely shifted my mindset. I always thought non profit, serving the community. So I guess that would be a big mind. Right? A mind shift is serve your community. Non profit. I was told, you know, oh, you can’t drive that car because you have a non profit and somebody will think like you’re spending so much money and they’ll have these opinions. And I’m thinking, you know, after working 17 hour days seven days a week for 29 years, I’m going to drive the damn car, you know. And so that came from you as well, learning that it’s okay to get rewarded for what you’ve done.
• 0:28:50 Jennifer House: I guess I’ve always brought up very humbled and you know, my parents, we always had three jobs. You know, my dad’s in the Marine Corps, my mom had a job and then my dad did side jobs and we did the drug dare T shirts and we printed them in our garage and I would get 25 cents a shirt. I mean we were always hustling, right. It Was like, we’re the Hustle family. We always worked, worked, worked. And, you know, you just put your head down and work and you don’t talk about success.
• 0:29:16 Jennifer House: That’s not. I mean, I don’t know, we just. Life is life. But I guess learning that it’s okay to reward yourself sometimes and not worry about what other people think. Of course, we also worry about what people think. So I don’t know. Just do you and keep going.
• 0:29:37 Kris Murray: Yeah. Okay. You mentioned your marketing strength and you mentioned Grow youw Center. Is there anything else that you want to share with the audience about what you’ve learned about marketing your schools? Or do you market your for profit differently than your non? Or do you do anything that’s working for you right now that you want to share?
• 0:30:02 Jennifer House: Yeah. So I know a lot of young people don’t know what a Penny Saver is, but it was like a little paper magazine we’d get in the mail and it was little advertisements, right?
• 0:30:12 Jenni Grawvunder: Coupons.
• 0:30:13 Jennifer House: Yeah, you clip the coupons to go to the restaurant and that’s what you would get. So when I had my 25 kids in my first school, I did the back cover of the Penny Saver because it was $100 for the back cover and 400 for the front cover. And so I was marketing before anybody knew what marketing was. Right. And then I had my daughter and opened the Infant Center. And so of course, I put her little face on the front cover of the Penny Saver. And I still have that. It’s so cute.
• 0:30:41 Jennifer House: So I was marketing before anybody. Right. So I was doing the Penny Saver, which I was able to finally get up to the $400 a week. And again, you know, my payroll is 700. So that’s a big. Right. That’s a big expense when you look at percentage.
• 0:30:53 Kris Murray: Yes.
• 0:30:54 Jennifer House: And, you know, if you look at that today, that’s 50% of your, you know, your. Yeah, 50% of your payroll and putting towards marketing. But I will say that when I. When I do go online and look at that, is people just say, well, I can’t afford marketing. I can’t afford marketing. You can’t afford to not have marketing people. Marketing is what is what brings you the everything. Right. And you can’t just do one marketing thing.
• 0:31:18 Jennifer House: So, you know, I was doing the Penny Saver. I was doing the events. I was doing the parent referrals. Back before everybody knew what a parent referral was. I was making little coupons out of cut and paste glue and photocopy. Right. And glitter. I Always had glitter. I’m sure I put glitter on those postcards before I mailed them out.
• 0:31:34 Jenni Grawvunder: Sure you did.
• 0:31:34 Jennifer House: And I handed them out right door to door, all the things. So yeah, I was, I was always. I’ve never stopped doing that. So I still. We still do community events. We still do parent events, you know, because when you do the parent events, then the parents refer people and they bring their friends and.
• 0:31:52 Jenni Grawvunder: Yep.
• 0:31:53 Jennifer House: So you just, you can’t stop. You always have to put up the banners. Even though the town tells you can’t do the banners.
• 0:31:58 Jenni Grawvunder: You know, you do it till they say you can.
• 0:32:00 Jennifer House: No. Then they tell you it’s only $50 a day. That’s freaking pretty cheap for advertising. I’ll pay A$50 a fine per day.
• 0:32:08 Jenni Grawvunder: You’re gonna get a fine for $50.
• 0:32:11 Jennifer House: I’m like, that’s pretty good. Do that. We do that for five days. Shoot. That’s not expensive.
• 0:32:18 Jenni Grawvunder: But you still do like the penny saver. We still send out those little postcards.
• 0:32:23 Jennifer House: Postcard mania. Sometimes, you know, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But you can’t. You have to do it. All you have to do.
• 0:32:30 Kris Murray: That’s right.
• 0:32:31 Jennifer House: And even when you’re full, that’s when you still do it.
• 0:32:34 Kris Murray: Yes. 100.
• 0:32:36 Jennifer House: Because five minutes later your whole class leaves or whatever and they get deployed.
• 0:32:40 Jenni Grawvunder: Because we have all military in one of our centers basically. And when the ships leave, the parents.
• 0:32:46 Jennifer House: Leave and we’re like, ah, yeah, but you’re always marking.
• 0:32:48 Jenni Grawvunder: They just keep coming.
• 0:32:50 Kris Murray: So do you guys have an enrollment specialist for each group of schools or how do you know we did do that?
• 0:33:00 Jennifer House: Yeah, we’ve tried it all. That didn’t work for us because we just had a disconnect from the director and the enrollment specialist. So the directors do it. But we do have a CRM. We do have somebody that looks over that and make sure that they’re following up and following up on the calls. We have somebody that follows up on it. Yeah, for sure.
• 0:33:19 Kris Murray: Yes.
• 0:33:20 Jennifer House: That’s a lot of leads. It’s more personal with the directors. That’s how. That’s what we found. And again, it doesn’t always work for everybody.
• 0:33:26 Kris Murray: But yes, everybody has their own unique thing. And you, the flavor, the culture of your schools is, you know, definitely community oriented. You know, that, that non profit feeling pervades across all of them.
• 0:33:43 Jennifer House: Yeah. We’re in the same demographics in all of our. Right, right.
• 0:33:49 Kris Murray: So what are each of you’s. Lesson learned? What’s something that you, if you maybe if you could Go back in a magic time machine and change something or just a lesson that was a big aha for you, that you actually value the lesson. It might have been something hard, but.
• 0:34:09 Jennifer House: You.
• 0:34:11 Kris Murray: See it as being supportive in your journey.
• 0:34:17 Jennifer House: Want me to go?
• 0:34:18 Jenni Grawvunder: Yeah.
• 0:34:19 Jennifer House: Because I’m still thinking I wouldn’t change anything. I definitely. I don’t even say I screwed up. I wrote down I screw up in present tense. Because I do. Right.
• 0:34:32 Kris Murray: It’s just.
• 0:34:33 Jennifer House: Is what it is. And we’re human. And. Yeah. I mean, everything that we do, we learn from, we grow from. And who I am today is because of the things that I went through. Where I’m at today is because of the things. Things I went through I could have never dreamt of. Like I said, my. My biggest vision was owning three schools. That would just be the. The crim of the creme. And oh, my gosh, if I could just own three schools, it would just be amazing. And Now I’m at 12, and I’m like, what am I doing?
• 0:35:01 Jennifer House: If I could just own three schools, maybe that was it. I should have. It was great.
• 0:35:07 Jenni Grawvunder: But own.
• 0:35:08 Jennifer House: I do. But it is great. It is great. And. And everything that I’ve done and it’s. I wouldn’t change it.
• 0:35:13 Kris Murray: It’s.
• 0:35:15 Jennifer House: It’s amazing. I’m so blessed to have. I wouldn’t have the team that I have today if I didn’t have 11 schools. I didn’t have that at three schools. I didn’t have that@ four schools. You know, I couldn’t do that until later. And it’s.
• 0:35:28 Jenni Grawvunder: We just did it two years ago.
• 0:35:30 Jennifer House: Yeah, it’s great to have that. It just brings a different perspective, a different level, a different. You know, it’s just up. Leveling. Everything is having the support and help and team that I have. So I would. I wouldn’t change it. Cool.
• 0:35:47 Kris Murray: I love that answer, Jenny.
• 0:35:49 Jenni Grawvunder: You know, I think. I think a lot the same, right. Like, when I got divorced, it would have been easy to go back to Wisconsin. I had all my family there. Right. It would have been easy to just go. That would not have been easy.
• 0:36:04 Jennifer House: Snow there too.
• 0:36:06 Jenni Grawvunder: But I stayed and I tapped it out. It was hard at the beginning, but. But look where I am today. Even my family’s like, yeah, there’s no way you could have come back. You did unimaginable things that we only imagine here that you’re doing out there.
• 0:36:21 Jennifer House: So that’s my lesson. Your mommy would be proud.
• 0:36:26 Jenni Grawvunder: She still is.
• 0:36:27 Jennifer House: Yeah.
• 0:36:31 Kris Murray: What’s next for you ladies? It sounds like the 12 vacation. A vacation?
• 0:36:36 Jennifer House: No. What are you talking about? We have a new. No. Next is we’re gonna rent motorhome because our new location is an hour away and I don’t like to drive and I like to work all day, and then I can’t move because my back hurts. So I’m gonna need a rest.
• 0:36:50 Kris Murray: Right.
• 0:36:51 Jennifer House: We need to stay in the trailer for about a month.
• 0:36:53 Jenni Grawvunder: Yeah.
• 0:36:53 Jennifer House: The new school going with last two.
• 0:36:55 Jenni Grawvunder: Schools that we opened. We had apartment.
• 0:36:58 Jennifer House: Yeah, it was nice. Wow.
• 0:36:59 Jenni Grawvunder: We just stayed at the apartment.
• 0:37:01 Jennifer House: We were like living our.
• 0:37:02 Jenni Grawvunder: We were college.
• 0:37:02 Jennifer House: Yeah. We never got to go to college and do that. That whole thing. So we thought we were like, college and we’re eating like pizza pockets and crap. Well, you weren’t.
• 0:37:11 Jenni Grawvunder: No, you like.
• 0:37:12 Kris Murray: I was.
• 0:37:16 Jenni Grawvunder: Our apartment looked like college.
• 0:37:18 Jennifer House: Yeah.
• 0:37:19 Jenni Grawvunder: We didn’t have time.
• 0:37:20 Jennifer House: Yeah.
• 0:37:21 Kris Murray: So you’re gonna rent an RV and then go get the next center up and going in the rv.
• 0:37:26 Jennifer House: It’s got.
• 0:37:26 Jenni Grawvunder: We might buy one under the children choice umbrella. We might need it again. Oh, yeah.
• 0:37:31 Jennifer House: Tax write off.
• 0:37:32 Jenni Grawvunder: Yes.
• 0:37:32 Jennifer House: Okay. That’s.
• 0:37:33 Kris Murray: I like that idea.
• 0:37:35 Jennifer House: Mark it on the side. Of course.
• 0:37:36 Jenni Grawvunder: Just make children’s choice on the side.
• 0:37:38 Jennifer House: Yeah.
• 0:37:40 Kris Murray: And I know you guys have shared a lot of really fun things about yourselves and stories, but I’m gonna finish and with a fun fact. So I need each of you guys to share with me something that not that many people know about you.
• 0:37:53 Jenni Grawvunder: I chased a cow through Kentucky at 200 pounds. I myself am 200 pounds and chasing.
• 0:38:01 Jennifer House: Not the cow.
• 0:38:02 Jenni Grawvunder: I got into a car with a.
• 0:38:04 Jennifer House: Stranger that if you guys do not know. Jenny. Jenny has stranger danger and germaphobe. Yes.
• 0:38:12 Kris Murray: Like, okay, you’re a German.
• 0:38:14 Jenni Grawvunder: I was in the back, Chris. It was like I was in your town. Like there was woods and. And you had to crawl through the woods and stuff. And I was. Huh.
• 0:38:24 Kris Murray: Is this when you got the tick?
• 0:38:26 Jenni Grawvunder: Yes. Yeah. Because I was crawling in all these bushes and stuff. Chasing a cow. That one come to us. Her name. So I’m gonna say that is my one thing not many people know. Because when they see me, they’re like, there is no way.
• 0:38:39 Jennifer House: This is clearly the princess. Remember we stated that already.
• 0:38:43 Jenni Grawvunder: They’re like, there’s no way this lady. But I did. And I didn’t have a phone or nothing. So I’m like screaming to people, no phone. My nana’s at the gas station.
• 0:38:52 Jennifer House: How did you get to the gas station without a phone? I walked through the woods, uphill, both ways, barefoot, in the snow with the ticks.
• 0:39:02 Kris Murray: I Have another. I have a follow on question. What were you. What were you wearing on your feet when this was happening?
• 0:39:07 Jennifer House: I didn’t even tell her.
• 0:39:09 Jenni Grawvunder: Oh, you. Tory Burch.
• 0:39:12 Kris Murray: Tory Burch sandals.
• 0:39:14 Jennifer House: Tory Burch flip flops. Right.
• 0:39:16 Kris Murray: And running. You got a tick running in her Tory Burches. I love it. This is fantastic.
• 0:39:21 Jennifer House: And Michael Kors gear.
• 0:39:22 Jenni Grawvunder: I’m sure I did have a Michael Kors shirt. Well, I had to take it off because it was so kind to priest. No, I have a tank top down, so I’m running.
• 0:39:32 Jennifer House: But it’s just no wonder that cops were called. And you were escorted to the state line. You took your clothes off. No, it was ourselves. I know, I know.
• 0:39:43 Kris Murray: This is a riot. As I knew it would be. And Jen house, what’s a fun fact about you?
• 0:39:47 Jennifer House: Okay, so I was thinking about this. So my mom and I used to make jewelry when I was a kid. And of course I had to sell it at the community center because I apparently was always an entrepreneur. Didn’t know it at the time, you know, so we’d sell like for a dollar, little Christmas tree, earrings and ornaments. And then when I was 19 and I worked at my first preschool, of course, you know, I was like, oh, this school, I can make it look better. Can I paint it on the weekend for free and volunteer?
• 0:40:13 Jennifer House: Of course you can. Let’s do it. I’ll buy the paint. What’s wrong with me?
• 0:40:17 Kris Murray: Yeah.
• 0:40:18 Jennifer House: So and then I started making, you know, puppets and flannel board stories. So of course I needed a precious puppets plus business, which I still get paperwork for today. So of course. And so then I had to sell my puppets and flannel board stories. And that was when I was a teacher and I didn’t know about owning a school back then.
• 0:40:38 Kris Murray: Right.
• 0:40:39 Jennifer House: So yeah, I just apparently was always an entrepreneur.
• 0:40:42 Jenni Grawvunder: There you go.
• 0:40:42 Jennifer House: Even though it. But yeah, precious puppets plus, she’s going.
• 0:40:45 Jenni Grawvunder: To look it up now. Talking in the website.
• 0:40:50 Jennifer House: And I made it legal. I registered and I paid my taxes because my dad was in the Marine corps, taught me that’s what you do. My mom was an accountant. Probably paid A$50.
• 0:41:00 Kris Murray: That sounds like a somewhat structured upbringing. A marine and an accountant.
• 0:41:04 Jennifer House: That’s why my kids have no structure. I went the opposite.
• 0:41:08 Kris Murray: Right.
• 0:41:09 Jennifer House: But I’ll tell those parents how to structure their kids. Right.
• 0:41:14 Jenni Grawvunder: I’ll tell you what your child needs.
• 0:41:16 Kris Murray: I think your relationship with your kids seems pretty darn good. Your son meetings and I love your son and it’s just wonderful to see you. You guys flourishing in the multi generational thing that you’re doing. So I love it.
• 0:41:32 Jennifer House: Yeah. And my mom, she’s been there since day one painting those schools with me on the ladders. And.
• 0:41:37 Kris Murray: Yeah, three generations.
• 0:41:38 Jenni Grawvunder: She’s still helping. Well, no, she drove the van.
• 0:41:42 Kris Murray: I love this.
• 0:41:43 Jenni Grawvunder: Somebody had to watch the kids. A guy left with us.
• 0:41:47 Kris Murray: What I want to say is, I want to say, normally I would ask, what is your definition of child care rock star? But obviously from this conversation and all of your stories that you just shared, both of you are the epitome of child care rock stars and your passion and the hard work and the dedication that you and the impact that you’ve made. And I want to thank you on behalf of all the California families and others that you’ve impacted.
• 0:42:14 Kris Murray: Thank you guys for being child care rock stars.
• 0:42:17 Jenni Grawvunder: Thank you.
• 0:42:18 Kris Murray: You’re welcome. And thanks for being here on the podcast today.
• 0:42:21 Jennifer House: Thank you.
• 0:42:21 Jenni Grawvunder: Thank you.
• 0:42:22 Kris Murray: Thoroughly enjoyed it and I know the audience has. Again, this has been quite the hoot with the gents. Jennifer House and Jenny Gravender from Children’s Choice preschool in Southern California. Ladies, thank you so much and thanks to the audience. Is there anything else final that you would like to say or should we just.
• 0:42:42 Jennifer House: Thank you.
• 0:42:43 Kris Murray: Call it a wrap. All right, thanks, everybody. So much for tuning in and we’ll see you all next time. Take care and God bless. Bye. Bye. 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. Child care business success is my passion and I’m honored to be on this journey with you.
• 0:43:08 Kris Murray: As a thank you. 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 go to www.fixmyschool.com. that’s fixmyschool.com. thanks. Take care and God bless.