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• 0:00:06 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 child care rock star.
• 0:00:32 Kris Murray: Now, let’s go.
• 0:00:36 Kris Murray: This is Cha Oke Rockstar Radio episode 219 featuring Kylie Tolman and Keaton Ross. Hey folks, it’s Kris Murray back in the saddle here in the podcast studio in the mountains of Colorado. And we are into mid to late January as this episode releases. I can’t wait for you to meet my guests today. Kylie and Keaton to amazing women from rural southeast Oklahoma. And today’s episode is titled why Having a Seat at the Right Table Is Everything.
• 0:01:11 Kris Murray: So mentorship, coaching and masterminding is the thing that will get your business to the next level. Period. The end. And I am a living, breathing example of just that. And in today’s episode, you’re going to hear why being in the room is the thing that’s going to take your business to the next level. Being in the room with people that are smarter than you, that have done it and are willing to share the journey and share the mistakes that they’ve made so that you can avoid them.
• 0:01:44 Kris Murray: It’s just an incredible experience to say yes to that. And so Kylie and Keaton are going to also share with you some new fun things. I mean, I’m into episode 219, right? You would think that here on the podcast I’ve pretty much uncovered all the cool ideas that are out there in the world of early learning leadership. Not the case. We’re going to hear some really cool ideas about what you can do in your staff meetings, in your team meetings and in your culture to make it just that extra level of fun and engagement.
• 0:02:19 Kris Murray: And I’m not going to reveal it because I want you to listen to the episode. It’s some really cool stuff that these ladies are doing and developing an intentionally beautiful culture with a focus on right person, right seat, and core values. And staff meetings where the team members all just stick around and visit. They don’t leave when the meeting is done. So if that’s something that you want for your culture, this is a must listen to episode or must watch.
• 0:02:51 Kris Murray: So with that, I don’t think there’s anything else. Oh, I wanted just to also share with you that it’s such a close knit culture that the Leadership team all got matching tattoos, so you might not want to do that. But if you want that vibe in your program, and who doesn’t? Because in today’s world, you know, our young leaders, those are the kinds of things that they’re looking for in mentorship and in a culture that they can stay with and grow with over time.
• 0:03:20 Kris Murray: So the, the benefits of that are financial and energetic and they impact the children. And so that’s, that’s the kind of stuff that we’re trying to bring to the podcast because we want everything that we do as leaders to flow through to the families and to those babies. So without any further ado, let’s dive in and meet Kylie and Keaton here on Child Care Rockstar Radio. Enjoy it. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. I’m very excited today to introduce you to my guests, Kylie Tolman and Keaton Ross.
• 0:04:04 Kris Murray: Ladies, how are you today? Hi.
• 0:04:06 Kyleigh Tolman: We’re doing well.
• 0:04:07 Keaton Ross: Good, good.
• 0:04:09 Kris Murray: These ladies are co owners of their school and sisters. So we’re very excited to hear about your story. Tell us more about your program and why you started your business.
• 0:04:20 Kyleigh Tolman: Okay, so we started in, well, I started Clever Kids Academy. We’re proud owners of Clever Kids Academy. In 2011, Keaton joined me. In 2023, we opened a school about 30 minutes away. DHS, our licensing agency, came to us and asked us to open another school in our area that was much needed. And then this past summer, we opened another school that was going to close and our town needed child care. So.
• 0:05:01 Kris Murray: Wow.
• 0:05:03 Kyleigh Tolman: We have three locations now.
• 0:05:05 Kris Murray: Okay, awesome. Congratulations. And where are you located?
• 0:05:10 Kyleigh Tolman: We’re located in rural southeastern Oklahoma, McAllister. We have two schools in McAllister, Oklahoma, and one school in Wilburton, Oklahoma. Total license capacity of all three is 290 children. And right now it’s a 74% FTE. This has been the first year that I’ve had. We’ve, we’ve had to pretty much fight for enrollment.
• 0:05:41 Kris Murray: Right.
• 0:05:41 Kyleigh Tolman: We’ve had 100% enrollment up until this school year. It’s. It’s been kind of a hard, challenging time, but we’re pushing through, right? Yeah.
• 0:05:54 Kris Murray: Okay. Thanks for sharing that.
• 0:05:56 Kyleigh Tolman: Yeah.
• 0:05:57 Kris Murray: And we’re gonna.
• 0:05:58 Kyleigh Tolman: I think that’s pretty standard right now in the industry.
• 0:06:04 Kris Murray: It is, yeah. It’s an unusual time and we can dig into that more. I love that your licensing body came to you and it’s definitely sounds like a community collaboration with you, so that is amazing. And how do you guys divide your responsibilities of how you work together as sisters?
• 0:06:36 Kyleigh Tolman: Okay, so I’M probably more the visionary leader in our company. You’re probably more the integrator.
• 0:06:47 Kris Murray: Yeah, she’s more organized. She’s. She’s the checklist one. She’s the operations.
• 0:06:51 Kyleigh Tolman: Yeah, yeah, she’s operations.
• 0:06:53 Kris Murray: Gotcha. Gotcha. So, Keaton, you started with the. With this, the business in 2023.
• 0:07:00 Keaton Ross: Yes.
• 0:07:01 Kris Murray: So you’ve been in it for two, almost three years. Ish.
• 0:07:04 Keaton Ross: But before that, I was a public school teacher for eight years.
• 0:07:08 Kris Murray: Okay.
• 0:07:08 Keaton Ross: I taught every grade from preschool to fourth grade, and then I also did special ed and special ed director for a few years. So, I mean, I’ve been in the industry, but it was just in a different way.
• 0:07:22 Kris Murray: Yeah. Different capacity. And that’s always helpful to bring that special ed background.
• 0:07:26 Keaton Ross: Yes, yes.
• 0:07:28 Kyleigh Tolman: That’s been very helpful for behavior challenges that we’re seeing right now. Yeah, very helpful.
• 0:07:36 Kris Murray: Awesome. And Keaton, congratulations. You’re a new mom.
• 0:07:39 Kyleigh Tolman: Thank you.
• 0:07:40 Kris Murray: Right. So you have a two week old baby. That’s your first baby?
• 0:07:43 Keaton Ross: Yes. Yep. He was born November 7th.
• 0:07:47 Kris Murray: Oh, that’s one day after my birthday.
• 0:07:49 Keaton Ross: Oh, really?
• 0:07:50 Kris Murray: Yeah.
• 0:07:51 Keaton Ross: Birthday too.
• 0:07:52 Kris Murray: Thank you. Happy birthday to your baby. So, Kylie, why Clever Kids Academy? Why did you start this business? What was your why or what was your. Your vision?
• 0:08:08 Kyleigh Tolman: Okay, well, my husband’s family, his Grandma was the 10th licensed child care center in Oklahoma back in the 80s, but she was located in Oklahoma City, but we’re in southeast Oklahoma. One of. In 2011, we were experiencing a large center closing, and I was a public school teacher at the time, and I just wasn’t. It wasn’t. I don’t know, it wasn’t fulfilling my, My, my aspirations. So.
• 0:08:44 Kris Murray: Right.
• 0:08:46 Kyleigh Tolman: I, I was like, I, I want to, I want to do my own preschool. I want to do my own thing. And so that’s, that’s kind of how we got started.
• 0:08:56 Kris Murray: Awesome. Yeah. Did you experience some challenges that you didn’t realize you were going to experience in your first year or was it pretty smooth sailing?
• 0:09:06 Kyleigh Tolman: No, I experienced a lot of challenges, like staffing. I was thinking, oh, you just opened a preschool. I was a public school teacher. I know. You know, and I was only 24 years old, so I’ve learned a lot. You don’t just open a preschool that you have to have the. I’ve learned a lot through ccsa. Started as a growth member. Now we’re Empire members and learned how to properly.
• 0:09:38 Keaton Ross: Or.
• 0:09:39 Kyleigh Tolman: Yeah. Properly run a business. Like. Yeah, you didn’t have the business mindset. Cool.
• 0:09:48 Kris Murray: Well, we’ll dive into that too. So tell us more yeah. Tell me more about your home life, Kylie. Do you have children? And. Go ahead.
• 0:09:56 Kyleigh Tolman: Sorry.
• 0:09:57 Kris Murray: That’s okay.
• 0:09:58 Kyleigh Tolman: And I have my husband, Jeremy. I think you’ve met him. He works as a highway patrolman. He’s actually a lieutenant for highway patrol. He’s in the executive security branch. So he’s with our lieutenant governor and governor every day. Um, and then I have. We have a six year old daughter, Charlie, and she’s into everything, so she’s in kindergarten.
• 0:10:30 Keaton Ross: She.
• 0:10:31 Kyleigh Tolman: She’s in AAU sparring with taekwondo.
• 0:10:37 Kris Murray: Wow.
• 0:10:38 Kyleigh Tolman: She competes that way. She’s in piano and she keeps us busy.
• 0:10:46 Kris Murray: Yeah.
• 0:10:47 Kyleigh Tolman: Oh, and tumbling, cheerleading. She keeps us busy.
• 0:10:51 Kris Murray: She’s multi talented. I love the name Charlie for a girl. And I love the age of six. It’s probably my favorite age. I mean, I love all the ages, but six is special.
• 0:11:01 Kyleigh Tolman: Yes.
• 0:11:01 Kris Murray: Enjoy it. Yeah. Cool. Love, love, love it. What is a fun fact about each of you that you can share that not that many people know?
• 0:11:15 Kyleigh Tolman: So at the Chicago Mastermind, we, with a couple of our leadership team, we randomly went and got heart shaped tap heart shaped tattoos on our left foot or Chicago Summit.
• 0:11:37 Kris Murray: Sorry, Chicago Summit. Cool. And so that was with your directors. You guys all got them?
• 0:11:44 Kyleigh Tolman: Yes. Yes.
• 0:11:46 Kris Murray: Cool.
• 0:11:47 Kyleigh Tolman: Heart shaped tattoos because we lead with heart. So that was our inspiration. But I love that tattoo. And probably our only tattoo is right on a whim.
• 0:11:56 Keaton Ross: But.
• 0:11:56 Kyleigh Tolman: Yeah.
• 0:11:57 Kris Murray: Did it hurt?
• 0:11:59 Keaton Ross: Yes.
• 0:12:00 Kyleigh Tolman: No.
• 0:12:01 Kris Murray: No. Oh. So Kylie has a higher tolerance of pain than Keaton does. We’ve learned that they say that the foot is one of the most sensitive places to get a tattoo. So good for you. I don’t have any. I don’t have any. I don’t know if I’ll ever get one.
• 0:12:18 Kyleigh Tolman: But we could care less to get another one.
• 0:12:21 Kris Murray: Yeah. Fun. Love that. Awesome. Let’s talk a little bit about your culture in your program. And as you’ve grown to three locations, it’s one thing to have one school and then to expand to two more schools over the last two or three years is a big expansion of scaling. So talk about how you scaled your leadership team. What has worked for you, and maybe what are some things that didn’t work so well when you were scaling up and how you overcame those things.
• 0:13:04 Kyleigh Tolman: So we always try to make sure we have the right people in the right seat. Like our school this summer that we just recently purchased. We had to have a change in director, which was our choice on our end. I mean, not everybody has, you know, not everybody’s in the right seat or sees the vision or the why Intentional leadership and being a close knit family. I’d say we are really a close knit leadership team.
• 0:13:40 Kyleigh Tolman: We’re, we are like a family and then we are intentional about. And that’s one of our core values as well. And we’re always incorporating our core values and making sure our, our leadership team is instilling those core values into our staff. Whether it’s sitting down and having one on one staff meetings with them and just checking in with them. Whether it’s personal or about our business or good or bad, just building those relationships and connections with the people.
• 0:14:21 Kyleigh Tolman: We always, we talk about, you know, there’s a triangle and there’s leadership at the top. Normally people at the bottom. Well, let’s flip this triangle and put our people here at the top and us at the bottom and being a servant to our people.
• 0:14:40 Kris Murray: So more of a servant leadership model.
• 0:14:42 Kyleigh Tolman: More of a servant leadership model. At our staff meetings, I stand at the door, I try to make it to every location staff meeting. It’s hard sometimes to do that, but I try to and I stand at the door and I give them all hugs and tell them how much we care about them at the end of each staff meeting.
• 0:15:07 Kris Murray: Nice.
• 0:15:07 Kyleigh Tolman: Yes.
• 0:15:09 Kris Murray: That’s great. I’ve, I think that’s a huge one because I’ve seen so many staff meetings that are lackluster. They’re not. There’s no energy in the room. It’s people that can’t wait to get out of there fast enough. So not see that.
• 0:15:27 Kyleigh Tolman: Like at our, our last staff meeting at, at, at all three centers actually the staff meeting was over and we.
• 0:15:37 Keaton Ross: Were like, stick around.
• 0:15:38 Kyleigh Tolman: They all stick around and we’re like, hey, the staff meeting’s over, you guys.
• 0:15:44 Kris Murray: Yeah.
• 0:15:44 Keaton Ross: And they all stick around and visit and, and at one of our locations we had a baby shower at one of our stuff. Celebrate. Yeah.
• 0:15:52 Kyleigh Tolman: We’re like, hey guys, the baby shower’s over. It’s time to go home, close the doors and turn the lights off.
• 0:16:02 Kris Murray: Do you guys do themes or what other kind of fun things do you bring into the meetings?
• 0:16:06 Kyleigh Tolman: Sometimes we do themes like we’ll have. Okay, so we had a baby shower for one of our staff members. We, we try to have fun.
• 0:16:19 Keaton Ross: I think at one of them I went and bought weird candy at 5 below and we all tried it and rated it 1 through 10. They loved that we made the candy salad.
• 0:16:29 Kyleigh Tolman: Yeah. Sometimes we’ll have snacks or meals. Sometimes we’ll have. Okay, so like this one of our staff meetings, we had pie because it’s Thanksgiving time. So we had different kinds of pie. So.
• 0:16:48 Kris Murray: Right.
• 0:16:48 Kyleigh Tolman: We try to incorporate fun and.
• 0:16:52 Kris Murray: Cool. Yeah. One thing that you can do with the pie is you can have a pie party and you could have two different categories, savory and sweet, and you can rate the pie and, like, somebody wins. You can do prizes.
• 0:17:06 Kyleigh Tolman: Good idea.
• 0:17:07 Kris Murray: So there you go. There’s my little tip.
• 0:17:09 Kyleigh Tolman: Thank you.
• 0:17:10 Kris Murray: You’re welcome. We actually do that with friends. Every year we have friends that host a pie party. And, you know, I’m engaged to a chef, so he’s very competitive with his pie. So anyway, just so you know, so you can use that for future staff. Anybody listening to this episode is kind of fun, but anything like that. I love the weird candy. That’s awesome. Like, candy that you wouldn’t even normally taste or whatever. And rating it from 1 to 10. That’s fun.
• 0:17:40 Kris Murray: So, yeah, I think this is key. People listening who have lackluster team meetings. Definitely a place where you can pretty quickly make a big difference in your culture. So I love that. What about taking. So you’ve took your leaders to the Chicago Academy meeting or the Chicago summit, which is fantastic. Got tattoos. What other, like, things have you got? Have you done anything else where you’ve taken them somewhere or you do retreats with them or anything else like that?
• 0:18:16 Kyleigh Tolman: So, yes, we try to. We try to plan, like, through the year professional development days and have different. Have different themes. So, like, we had a western themed professional development day. Like, back to school. We had a cookie decorator come in with the fondant. She’s actually my neighbor. She. She’s great. And I learned that I’m not very good at decorating cookies. I was the worst one there. She even told me I was the worst one there.
• 0:18:58 Kyleigh Tolman: But.
• 0:19:00 Keaton Ross: It was pretty bad.
• 0:19:01 Kyleigh Tolman: It was pretty bad. But our staff, like, they love. They love things like that. They love coming together. They love. They just love the family connection. They love being together. I think in our world today, they don’t get much of that. So we are. We are their family. We are that. That connection they’re looking for.
• 0:19:27 Kris Murray: Love that.
• 0:19:28 Keaton Ross: And then something in, like, kind of unique in Oklahoma is we have contracts with, like, tribal.
• 0:19:34 Kyleigh Tolman: Oh, yeah.
• 0:19:37 Keaton Ross: So we have a license with Choctaw Nation, and they always have a conference. And so we get to go to the casino resort about an hour and a half away from here. And they love that concert.
• 0:19:51 Kyleigh Tolman: We usually stay the night all together and go. They have bowling and casino games and drinks. And we usually all go out to dinner and have fun. The Night before. And then we all get up and go to the conference the next day. But we all have so much fun doing that.
• 0:20:07 Keaton Ross: Yeah.
• 0:20:07 Kris Murray: Nice.
• 0:20:08 Kyleigh Tolman: That builds us together too.
• 0:20:10 Kris Murray: Yeah. So I actually went to the Oklahoma Child Care association meeting in 2013. Okay. Late 2012, early 2013. And I spoke.
• 0:20:25 Kyleigh Tolman: Okay.
• 0:20:25 Kris Murray: Did you, Did I meet you there? Were you there? Do you remember? Okay, okay.
• 0:20:31 Kyleigh Tolman: But Cindy with Cindy Lindhoff, maybe.
• 0:20:34 Kris Murray: Was she there? Huh? Cindy was there.
• 0:20:36 Kyleigh Tolman: Kathy Cromiller.
• 0:20:37 Kris Murray: Uhhuh. Yeah. Kathy Cron Miller.
• 0:20:39 Kyleigh Tolman: Rachel proper’s mom.
• 0:20:41 Kris Murray: Yes, yes.
• 0:20:43 Kyleigh Tolman: Rachel’s one of my good friends.
• 0:20:45 Kris Murray: Yeah. Cool. So Rachel’s in our academy as well with these ladies. And Rachel is Kathy Cronemiller’s daughter. And yeah, these. Kathy’s a big contributor. She’s passed away, but she was a big leader in the early childhood arena in Oklahoma. So love that.
• 0:21:05 Kyleigh Tolman: And Rachel is carrying on her legacy.
• 0:21:07 Kris Murray: Yes.
• 0:21:08 Kyleigh Tolman: Yes. Love Rachel.
• 0:21:09 Kris Murray: Well, shout out to those ladies and Cindy Lenhoff. Love that. Yeah. Let’s talk a little bit about your mindset. How has it shifted, grown, changed? How have you built confidence as a company founder, specifically? Kylie, I’ll shoot this one to you. What has really helped you with your mindset? Maybe there’s some books or some practices or things that you’ve learned over the years that you have used to really help grow your mindset.
• 0:21:46 Kyleigh Tolman: Establishing routine in my day, so I get up at 5am every morning. I did not do this before the academy. I think I. I listen to how Ed Rod Hell. Elrod.
• 0:22:01 Kris Murray: Uhhuh.
• 0:22:02 Kyleigh Tolman: A miracle morning. So I get up and I do a miracle morning every morning.
• 0:22:06 Kris Murray: Wow. Okay.
• 0:22:08 Kyleigh Tolman: I’m pretty consistent with it use. And I read my daily devotional, I journal exercise, whether it’s 10 minutes or 30 minutes, whatever time I have. But that has really shifted my mindset. Also my staff, if I do not send something positive out in the morning, they’re like, what is wrong with Kylie? Where is she? Why is she not sending this out? So they expect that, you know, that positivity in the morning, every morning.
• 0:22:49 Kyleigh Tolman: So I, I make sure I have something set to send out just to get their day started. And then it makes my day too, that they, they expect that.
• 0:23:02 Kris Murray: Nice. Keaton, how about you? Anything that you want to add to that for yourself?
• 0:23:09 Keaton Ross: Yeah, I’ve read, I like to read books and so I primarily like all go to our location. That’s the 30, 45 minute drive away. So I’ll listen to like a podcast or I listen to audiobooks on my way there and on my way back Just because it just keeps me motivated.
• 0:23:29 Kyleigh Tolman: And um.
• 0:23:31 Keaton Ross: Yeah.
• 0:23:33 Kyleigh Tolman: The one book that I’m reading right now is the Power of Positivity by John Gordon.
• 0:23:40 Kris Murray: Awesome.
• 0:23:41 Kyleigh Tolman: So I don’t know, really enjoy that one right now.
• 0:23:45 Kris Murray: Good.
• 0:23:47 Kyleigh Tolman: Well, your book I recognize.
• 0:23:49 Kris Murray: Thank you.
• 0:23:50 Kyleigh Tolman: Yes.
• 0:23:50 Kris Murray: The Antidote to Fear. I actually am working right now on the audiobook version. So that’ll be out shortly.
• 0:23:56 Keaton Ross: Yeah.
• 0:23:57 Kris Murray: For people that aren’t like classic readers, but they love to. So many people love listening to books. Audiobooks is like a huge thing. So got to get that done. I will be reading it. My own book. Yes, I will be.
• 0:24:10 Kyleigh Tolman: So anyway, I love that.
• 0:24:12 Kris Murray: It’s kind of fun. Great. So let’s talk a little bit about the enrollment challenge. Let’s talk about what you’ve had to do to dive in with marketing and what is your feeling or your opinion about what is happening in your market that has taken you from 100% full to 74% full. It could be behavioral shifts of parents. It could be something going on in your market with competition. It could be pricing with inflationary pressures.
• 0:24:46 Kris Murray: What do you think are the main causes of what’s going on?
• 0:24:50 Kyleigh Tolman: So I think inflation with. And lower birth rates. I think lower birth rates. We’ve seen that a lot of people are staying home with their children or having grandparents stay home, I think.
• 0:25:07 Keaton Ross: And then like early Head Start.
• 0:25:08 Kyleigh Tolman: Yeah, I think universal Pre K is part of it as well. But we, we have, we’ve been using postcards and snail mail to, to promote our business.
• 0:25:26 Kris Murray: Cool.
• 0:25:27 Kyleigh Tolman: We’ve. We’re the only ones in our area or in our region that have a website. So some calls that we get are. Because we have the website. We have four and a half plus Google reviews.
• 0:25:48 Keaton Ross: So and then on our website there’s a box that they can fill out and then it goes straight to our email. Our directors can call them from there. And I feel like we get a lot of leads from there.
• 0:25:59 Kyleigh Tolman: We get a lot of leads from there. And from Intella Kids we use Intellicids. So I think a lot of leads from there.
• 0:26:10 Keaton Ross: And then something we’ve recently started doing that’s helped is our parent or teacher referral program. Do you want to.
• 0:26:17 Kyleigh Tolman: Yeah, parent referral. So if you, if a parent refers a family and they stay for 30 days, then they’re getting a hundred dollar gift card, Visa gift card. So we’ve had some luck with that. Those are just a few things that we’ve. That we’ve used our social media. We’re pretty active in our communities. Like tonight There’s a Christmas tree lighting and we our kids decorated ornaments for a downtown Christmas tree.
• 0:27:00 Kyleigh Tolman: Just actively being involved in our community. Always am always doing that. I’m on the chamber board with our local chamber.
• 0:27:11 Kris Murray: Great.
• 0:27:12 Kyleigh Tolman: So I think that that helps as well.
• 0:27:17 Kris Murray: Cool. Well, I love the fact that you’re. It feels like it’s. A lot of it is back to basics stuff that I was teaching during the recession when we first started the business in 2010, 2011. Doing the enrollment boot camps and getting people to do things that were out of the box, like doing snail mail or postcards. Even like teaching people how to do lumpy mail, which is sending silly, fun stuff in the mail along with a letter that goes along with the thing that you’re doing in that campaign.
• 0:27:50 Kris Murray: So it gets opened because it’s lumpy. And so it has to be on the top of the pile because people, and people curiosity, they’re like, what did, what did this preschool send me that’s lumpy? Or what did Kylie and Keaton send me that is lumpy? You know, so you can even do it where it’s more your personality.
• 0:28:09 Kyleigh Tolman: Also implemented like every Friday, one of our, our administrative assistant, she’s been taking, what, doing muffin runs and taking donuts or muffins or just some little treat to a local business with cards and brochures and swag or whatever. So.
• 0:28:33 Kris Murray: Yeah, yeah. So community marketing and of course, parent referral program. Are you. And then staff also get that hundred dollar Visa gift card.
• 0:28:41 Kyleigh Tolman: Yes.
• 0:28:42 Kris Murray: Awesome. Yeah, love it. So in your snail mail, what are some things that you feature in there? Are you sending them your newsletter or what are you sending?
• 0:28:54 Kyleigh Tolman: So far we’ve just done little postcards and we’re offering, we’re offering a waived registration fee.
• 0:29:06 Kris Murray: Okay.
• 0:29:07 Kyleigh Tolman: Yeah, we’re waiving our enrollment fee.
• 0:29:09 Kris Murray: Okay, awesome. So, yeah, I think the overall message here, guys, is to the audience, people are staying home more. We’re having this kind of interesting return with today’s millennials and Gen Z to wanting to have children home more and save money. Moms are making the decision to leave the workforce or work part time and keep kids home. And Universal Pre K is having an impact, of course, but if you combine that with the lower birth rates and then grandparent care and all of those things, it’s making a difference. I mean, it’s kind of hurt. It’s hurting. It’s definitely hurting. And so you’re going back to basics with some of these tried and true community marketing muffin runs, parent referral program, postcards Snail mail. All of this stuff are things that we’ve been teaching for a long time, but I think we haven’t really had to rely on those things. Kind of got. Maybe the industry got a little lazy.
• 0:30:12 Kyleigh Tolman: Yes, I’m. I’m guilty of that. Sure of that. Because we haven’t had to. We haven’t had to really fight this hard time for enrollment. But. But yeah, we’re gonna back out of it.
• 0:30:29 Kris Murray: Yeah, you’re gonna get through it 100%. The Intellakids is a CRM, so you guys have to use CRM to make sure you never lose a lead, because each. The importance of each lead is that much more valuable today than it was. So never lose a lead. Use either IKS or line leader. We recommend anything else. Anything that you’re doing in your phone or tour that’s different and unique and trying to pop that out a little bit more.
• 0:31:01 Kyleigh Tolman: No, I think we use. I mean, we use tour bags. Our. Our kids love little tour bags that have little gifts and swag in them.
• 0:31:10 Kris Murray: Huh.
• 0:31:10 Kyleigh Tolman: I think we’re probably the only one in our area that does that.
• 0:31:14 Kris Murray: Right.
• 0:31:15 Keaton Ross: Started doing a parent survival kit.
• 0:31:17 Kyleigh Tolman: A parent survival kit. So on the first day the child shows up, they get a little bag that has a little coffee shop gift card, a handwritten note that tells them how much we appreciate them trusting us with their child. And I think there’s like a tea. A tea. A little tea bag, and. And a granola bar and just a little survival kit to help them with their.
• 0:31:44 Kris Murray: So love that. So, yeah, these are then retention strategies, because then every retention is that much more valuable to keep people with you so you don’t have to market so much for new enrollment. So you guys are doing all the things. Way to go.
• 0:31:58 Keaton Ross: Yes.
• 0:31:59 Kyleigh Tolman: Yes.
• 0:32:00 Kris Murray: But we.
• 0:32:00 Kyleigh Tolman: We wouldn’t know all these things without you. Thank you.
• 0:32:05 Kris Murray: You’re welcome. You’re welcome.
• 0:32:08 Kyleigh Tolman: And without coach Donna and coach Steve.
• 0:32:10 Kris Murray: Yes. We love our coaches. I love Donna and Steve and all of the amazing coaches that we have. Chantelle and Jody, they’re all great marketers. Tamina. They have had to market hard their schools as well. And I love when Donna teaches the go back to enrollment boot camp and pull out those gems.
• 0:32:31 Kyleigh Tolman: We’ve done that too, lately, so.
• 0:32:34 Kris Murray: Yeah. Yeah, great. Love that. It’s fun because I mean, a lot of these things we talk about on the podcast and going back and in my book, I talk about the inspiration and what I’ve learned from my original marketing mentor, which was Dan Kennedy, and these lumpy mail and offers and Parent referral and parent survival kit. And all of these things are things that I learned from following him. So. And I was the one that brought him to the child care industry. So I, I love that you guys are using it.
• 0:33:10 Kris Murray: So thinking about where you were before you started this school, these schools and the industry, we are having new people come to the industry. I actually just saw a stat yesterday from child care awareness that 2 or 3% of the child care programs in existence are brand new, maybe more. So we do have new growth coming in. So what is your message to new owners or aspiring owners, people that maybe are with? Because we have also a lot of family, childcare, home, daycare, people that listen to this podcast.
• 0:33:50 Kris Murray: So for somebody listening to this in their home with six or eight children and they want to own a center someday or maybe three centers, they’re a dreamer. They want to do it. What, what is your advice to them?
• 0:34:06 Keaton Ross: My advice is to build a relationship with your licensing worker.
• 0:34:12 Kris Murray: Great, great advice. Go ahead.
• 0:34:15 Kyleigh Tolman: You have a great relationship with their licensing, but my advice is find a tribe and, and sit at tables with people that are smarter than you.
• 0:34:27 Keaton Ross: Yes.
• 0:34:29 Kyleigh Tolman: Because I’d probably still be sitting on this hamster wheel going round and round and round if I did not find a tribe. I didn’t find a tribe. And we, I mean, we connect and have a text thread. I have an empire text thread, but I also have my, my old freedom text thread that goes on and we just help each other out all the time and be like, hey, what’s your win for the week? And they keep us motivated and just. Yeah. Sitting in rooms with people smarter than you as well, so you can learn too much.
• 0:35:16 Kris Murray: Yeah, that’s fantastic. What’s that?
• 0:35:22 Keaton Ross: I said just finding people to help you and keep you accountable.
• 0:35:28 Kris Murray: Yeah, I mean, the nature of life. And we’re going to talk about this more in the Hawaii retreat when Kylie’s coming to Maui and being with us with our Ladies Hawaii retreat. The nature of life is that it goes up and down that positive and negative are always at play. Because life is as a human is duality so hot, cold, positive, negative. It’s always this. There’s the seesaw that’s happening all the time and the tribe or the community of the academy or whatever you choose as your community.
• 0:36:01 Kris Murray: This table that you sit at is help there to help you in times when. Because there is going to be times when life is challenging. Like right now, enrollment is challenging. But looking at it with the right lens and with the right mind frame, which we get that help from our friends that are in our tribe with us to remind us, you know, that this is just a season. It’s not bleak. It’s not going to be dark and bleak forever. And then there’s something else that’s, like, really amazing, that’s super positive. That’s, you know, so that’s. So there’s this.
• 0:36:37 Kris Murray: This duality. And I think. I love that you shared that because it’s an ongoing journey, and as long as you’re on the journey, you might as well have fun and you might as well with people with. Be with people that are rocking it, that are, you know, on the same path as you, and then maybe they’re even further along the path in you and they can help give you that boost. Yes, I agree. Yeah. So I shared that.
• 0:37:06 Kris Murray: I think after kind of reading my book, after I wrote it, I kind of just perused it, and I realized that the biggest takeaway for me as the. As the author was that I was standing on the shoulders of giants. I was modeling people that had already been where I wanted to go and just kept implementing to get to seven figures and to get to high seven. I just kept implementing. And so, you know, I think that is just a huge, huge, huge writer downer. It’s not a secret.
• 0:37:41 Kris Murray: It’s just align yourself with the right people and then implement as fast as you can without burning out.
• 0:37:51 Kyleigh Tolman: The hard one. But it is possible.
• 0:37:53 Kris Murray: Yeah, for sure. For sure. So thank you guys for sharing that. I love also, you know, building a great relationship with your licensing rep because, like, I think a lot of people have relationships with those folks that maybe aren’t very positive and maybe are at odds and feel like they’re being attacked. So if we can start out on that right positive foot and figure out how to have. And build that great relationship. And I think just making that a focus.
• 0:38:29 Kris Murray: Have you done anything specifically to that end to try to meet them where they are and build that great relationship? Are there things that. I mean, do you take them to lunch or. I don’t know if that’s allowed. But what do you do to try to build on that relationship? Specifically?
• 0:38:45 Kyleigh Tolman: Just being vulnerable with her and being open and honest and acting with integrity. I mean, if. If we mess up, we are, you know, we’re gonna tell her. If we had something happen with a parent or with a staff member, we just openly, honestly call her and tell her. And we call her all the time. We call her all the time. So we’re like, on a frequent.
• 0:39:10 Keaton Ross: And she tells us to like any little questions, just give a caller and we do so.
• 0:39:16 Kris Murray: Right.
• 0:39:17 Keaton Ross: Yeah.
• 0:39:17 Kyleigh Tolman: Just having that open communication line of communication and feedback. So cool.
• 0:39:27 Kris Murray: All right, ladies, well, we are towards the end of our time together. Any final thoughts that you want to share with the audience? And also if you could please give your contact information in case people want to check out your socials or whatnot.
• 0:39:39 Kyleigh Tolman: Okay. Well.
• 0:39:43 Kris Murray: Just.
• 0:39:43 Kyleigh Tolman: If you are looking for a tribe, I highly recommend the Child Care Success Academy. I mean, I. We wouldn’t be sitting here today if it wasn’t for CCSA.
• 0:39:57 Kris Murray: Well, thank you.
• 0:40:00 Kyleigh Tolman: Our contact information is clever kids okay.com and that’s our website and then it’s contact clever kids. Okay.com is our email and our social. We just. We just recently created a tik tok and our staff are. Are working towards that, but it’s Clever Kids Academy Academy Oklahoma, I believe.
• 0:40:34 Kris Murray: Okay.
• 0:40:34 Kyleigh Tolman: Because I think there’s another Clever Kids in Georgia, so we had to.
• 0:40:38 Kris Murray: Okay. Okay.
• 0:40:40 Kyleigh Tolman: That’s why we have okay or Oklahoma at the end of everything.
• 0:40:43 Kris Murray: Right.
• 0:40:44 Kyleigh Tolman: But yeah, so that’s where you can find us.
• 0:40:48 Kris Murray: Nice. Love that. Well, thank you, ladies. I love where you’re going and I love your mindsets. The fact that you’re a sister act doing this together is amazing and inspiring.
• 0:41:06 Kyleigh Tolman: Thank you.
• 0:41:11 Kris Murray: Well, thank you so much for being here. Kylie and Keaton, thank you from Clever Kids Academy of Oklahoma. And we will see everybody next time here on the podcast at Childcare Rockstar Radio. Thanks for tuning in once again. This was a great episode and we’ll see you next time. Take care and God bless.
• 0:41:28 Kyleigh Tolman: Bye.
• 0:41:29 Kris Murray: Bye. Bye. I hope you liked this episode of.
• 0:41:33 Kris Murray: Child Care Rockstar Radio.
• 0:41:35 Kris Murray: 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. 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.
• 0:42:01 Kris Murray: To watch my new video, just go to www.fixmyschool.com. that’s fixmyschool.com thanks. Take care and God bless.