Got Systems for Your EC Business? If Not, Let’s Solve That Today!
While leading a licensed school is emotionally rewarding, it's easy to get overwhelmed if you feel the pressure to always be "on" without having the right systems in place.
Are you looking for ideas to help run your early childhood business on a day-to-day basis?
If so, you're in luck! In this episode of Early Childhood Business Made Easy, we will discuss everything systems and explore ideas you can use to help make your business more efficient.
Ready to learn more?
Let’s dive in!
There are a number of different systems that business owners can use to help them run their businesses on a day-to-day basis.
Today, we will discuss four things you need to address when setting up successful systems that you can use to help them streamline you business operations. We will also provide an overview of a few systems and how they can be used to benefit your business.
How do you organize your day-to-day tasks?
What systems do you use to help you run your business on a day-to-day basis (e.g., CRM, email marketing, etc.)
How effective have these systems been in helping you achieve your business goals?
What are some potential systems you would like to add or change in order to improve your business operations?
Advantages of setting up a system for your EC business
Systems can help you to improve efficiency and productivity, while also reducing costs. In addition, well-designed systems can help to ensure quality control and improve customer satisfaction levels. Finally, systems can also help your business to become more organized and streamlined, making them more effective overall. It is clear that there are many benefits to be gained from setting up and using systems within a business. And, any business that wants to be successful should make sure that they have robust, systems in place.
10 Things you might be doing in your preschool or play cafe and need to build a system around
How do you keep track of your families' information and schedules?
What methods do you use to communicate with parents about their children's progress and activities?
Do you have a system for tracking payments and billing parents for tuition, other fees, parties, etc.?
How do you handle registration, enrollment, party bookings, etc.?
What software or tools do you use to create lesson plans and manage your classroom activities?
How do you organize your day-to-day tasks and activities that you delegate?
What scheduling software do you use to keep track of appointments?
What marketing materials do you create to promote your services (e.g., website, brochures, flyers)?
How do you track your team hours, schedules, payroll, etc.?
How do you track team culture events like birthdays, personal celebrations, anniversaries, etc.?
Here are some helpful systems we use for our EC business
As the owner of boutique preschools and play cafes for more than 18 years now, I am always looking for ways to improve my business operations.
One system that we upgraded a long time ago was our daily check-in and check-out system for parents. This allowed us to keep track of who is coming and going each day, and it gave parents peace of mind knowing that their child is safe.
But instead of having parents sign in and out or using a computer system, we trained our teachers to do this on the attendance sheets as students arrived and left. I realized I did not need the extra steps. BUT, and a big but here… I had to make sure my team was very clear on the system we put into place to ensure the safety of our children and that we met our licensing requirements. Boy does this system save us time, money, and copy paper!!
Something else we did, was we changed our snack system. Instead of having parents sign up to bring in snacks or have everyone bring their child a snack, we charge every family a snack fee twice a year. This helps us to control food waste and ensure that children are getting the nutrition they need. There is a system we follow every year when ensuring we are charging annual and additional fees.
Additionally, we implemented a new communication system between teachers and parents. This allows parents to stay up-to-date on their child's activities and progress, as well as receive timely notifications about school events and closures. The best part… teachers are not using their personal phones or handing out their numbers.
Finally, the best system I think we have created recently is the addition of a parent texting line. Whereby parents can receive updates on their child's progress via text or email. This is a valuable way we keep parents involved while also freeing up some of my time. I have trained my team on our system for texting families individually or all at once for big reminders and events.
These are just a few ideas that I have for improving our business operations; I am always open to new suggestions from my team. But by adding and changing our systems over the years, I believe that my early childhood business will more smoothly and efficiently. These are just a few of the ways we have improved our business operations over the years.
I discuss all of this in more depth in the episode above, so make sure to give it a listen!
Talking Points:
Advantages of setting up a system for your EC business (02:38)
How do you organize your day-to-day tasks and activities for your EC business? (03:31)
What systems do you use to help you run your business on a day-to-day basis? (04:24)
Some helpful systems we use for our preschool and playcafe (04:40)
10 things you might be doing in your preschool or play cafe and need to build a system around. (05:34)
How effective have these systems have been in helping you achieve your business goals? (07:07)
Are there any systems you would like to add or change in order to improve your business operations? (08:13)