Jaime Rechkemmer is the founder of Aim4Impact Consulting and her work in early childhood education includes helping child care centers with QRIS, compliance, professional development, curriculum, assessments, technology and more. She has worked at some of the largest child care organizations in the country, and she chairs the AI and Machine Learning Advisory Board at Watch Me Grow. In this episode, Jamie shares her tips for how ECE leaders can build loyalty among families. And that includes staf...
Jul 09, 2025•36 min
Heather White is a multi-site owner who is part of The PREP Schools franchise, and she’s a licensed director and speaker. Finding ways to help fellow child care leaders find joy in their jobs and lives is a huge passion of hers. In this podcast, Heather shares her six professional pillars of child care success and delves into how each matters in being successful in early childhood education and in being happy leading a program. Those pillars are: mindset, team, systems, marketing, financial and ...
Jun 16, 2025•47 min•Season 5Ep. 7
In this episode, Kelly Matthews and Paula Drew of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association describe how to create a family handbook for your child care center. This handbook is key to your bottom line, your reputation and ultimately, your business. They give the following writing tips: Use a consistent font and formatting throughout. Review carefully for correct spelling and grammar. Write in plain language that is easy to understand. Do you serve families who speak languages other than English...
May 19, 2025•50 min•Season 5Ep. 6
Mr. Ty, the Childcare Whisperer , has the answers to your child care questions! Among the questions he answers in this podcast: How can you encourage middle management to not be friends or overly friendly, causing a divide between teachers? How can I encourage staff to take initiative and feel empowered in their roles while maintaining consistency in classroom practices? As a new owner taking over a center that has a tarnished reputation and frustrated staff, how can I get community and staff bu...
May 09, 2025•53 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Dr. Nermeen Dashoush is the chief learning officer of MarcoPolo Learning, the award-winning global developer of educational products and instructional resources, and she's also a clinical associate professor of early childhood education at Boston University. In this episode, she shares her insights about how early childhood education programs can use videos in their classroom to supplement lesson plans. She explains the appropriate length for videos in classrooms, as well as the importance of sh...
Apr 21, 2025•41 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Michele Schmitt is the senior director of government relations and business development for Procare Solutions. In this role, she meets with legislators and other stakeholders in early childhood education to advocate for the industry and stay on top of what's happening in government, both at the federal and local levels, in policy and proposals. In this episode, Michele breaks down a recent visit to Capitol Hill and gives an update of what child care center leaders and families should be paying a...
Apr 07, 2025•38 min
In this important episode, Jon Pollock, chief product officer at Procare Solutions, and Kathlyn McHenry, director of state policy and government relations at the Early Care & Education Consortium, share their expert insights on the latest business trends and legislative updates. Many of their insights draw on the findings of the 2025 Procare Child Care Business Trends Report. Jon and Kathlyn discuss important trends in ECE in areas including enrollment, staffing, software and what's happenin...
Mar 14, 2025•53 min•Season 5Ep. 2
"You cannot be a director if you don't have a vision," says Mr. Ty, the Childcare Whisperer who is the president of The Childcare Agency, a popular motivational/keynote speaker and an early childhood education teams coach. In this podcast, Mr. Ty shares his tips from his years of experience working in ECE, including what he sees as problems that must be fixed. On that list: Putting a Band-Aid over a problem instead of looking at a long-term effect, we put a bandaid over things instead of looking...
Jan 02, 2025•33 min•Season 5Ep. 1
The Child Development Associate CDA credential, better known as the CDA, is the most widely recognized credential in early childhood education. It is an important part of career advancement in the field, but many talented teachers do not have the certification. In this podcast, Sammantha Boyle, a curriculum manager at Procare Solutions, breaks down step-by-step what the CDA is and how to earn it. She also describes how child care center directors and owners can support their staff as they work t...
Nov 25, 2024•28 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Samantha Phillips is an insurance broker who specializes in insuring child care centers, a job that is especially tough this days as ECE businesses struggle to find and keep insurance. Costs are soaring. Samantha said she has a client in Massachusetts whose insurance DOUBLED, from $25,000 a year to $50,000 a year .. and the client had never filed a claim. And paying that amount was the client's only option. That's just one example Samantha shares during this podcast. She also gives examples of c...
Oct 24, 2024•35 min•Season 4Ep. 10
Molly Hichens is a second-generation owner at Bright Beginnings Preschool, which has three locations in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is about to celebrate 40 years in business! She’s also an accomplished child care consultant and speaker. In this episode, Molly breaks down some tips for how child care center leaders can attract new families! Those tips include: Highlighting three to five unique selling points, also known as value propositions Make the tours special for prospective families (an...
Sep 06, 2024•52 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Kathe Petchel began her education career working as a public school teacher before opening her own preschool center in 1984. She now owns three sites serving more than 300 families in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 2017, Kathe joined HINGE Advisors, where she now works in business development. In this podcast, she shares her tips on using creative leadership and assessments to train child care center staff. Among the topics she discusses: How to "gamify" staff assessments Tips for compliance chec...
Aug 20, 2024•47 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Beth Cannon is the owner of 13 Stretch-N-Grow child enrichment franchises and is an expert in early childhood education working as a speaker, trainer and coach. One of her talents is teaching child care center leaders how to develop talent from within their current staff, which is especially important as owners and directors struggle to retain high quality staff. In this podcast, Beth shares her tips for identifying staff who are ready for more responsibilities as well as the importance of job t...
Jul 26, 2024•44 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Are you ready to take your child care center to the next level? Whether you're a seasoned child care professional or just starting out, the tips from Caroline Jens shared in this podcast will help you grow and succeed in the competitive world of early childhood education and management! Caroline is the owner and co-founder of Child Care Biz Help and has dedicated nearly 20 years to child care. She is an expert in business development, leadership, finance, web development, internet marketing and ...
Jun 25, 2024•52 min•Season 4Ep. 6
"We've gone down this path of expecting little humans to sit when they're not developmentally made to sit this long. Brains don't learn like this," says Prerna Richards, founder of Together We Grow. In this episode, Prerna walks us through how to use developmentally appropriate practices to de-stress teachers and children. Prerna says early childhood education programs are seeing aggressive behaviors and shares how child care staff can use DAP to take the stress out of learning to create a bette...
Jun 10, 2024•45 min
As early childhood education providers, your jobs including serving many people, including children and families. But too often, you don't pour enough back into yourselves ... and that's where burnout comes from, says Anisha Angella, founder of the The Early Childhood Coach. In this podcast, Anisha walks us through the roots of burnout and gives tips on how to stop teacher burnout from starting. She explains there are 12 steps that happen before burnout in ece begins and how to recognize the fir...
May 14, 2024•40 min
Kathy Ligon is the founder & CEO of HINGE Advisors. Trained as a public accountant, Kathy has more than 35 years of experience in educational operations. During that time, she has found there are five pillars to the success of a child care business: occupancy, tuition rates, discounting practices, salary costs and rent-cost management. Listen as Kathy walks us through each of these pillars in detail to learn how you can grow your child care business! To learn more about Kathy and her company...
Apr 23, 2024•27 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Procare Solutions recently released our 2024 Child Care Management Software Industry Trends Report , which provides a comprehensive look at the current state of the child care industry’s use of technology as well as challenges that early childhood education programs must adapt to, and overcome, to thrive. But the findings detailed in this report go deeper than software. In compiling this data, the goal was to better understand the obstacles being faced by child care providers. To provide more co...
Mar 15, 2024•59 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Technology scares people, and that's true for child care employees. "Easing them into it helps, and really slowing it down and teaching them," says LaToya Riggins, vice president of professional development of CRAFT by Better Futures. Proper training and guidance is key, and so is showing employees how they'll benefit from using technology ... and that you're ready to help them. "Don't be afraid. Technology is a beautiful thing when used correctly. Give it a chance," she says. In this podcast, L...
Feb 27, 2024•39 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Tuition collection can be a breeze when families can easily pay you on time and with their preferred method of payment. And for today’s parents, their preferred method overwhelmingly is digital, whether through autopay from their checking accounts or by debit cards and credit cards. The perks of accepting digital payments at your child care program are many, for both you and them! In this podcast, you'll learn more how your center will benefit with streamlined financial processes, and how famili...
Dec 15, 2023•21 min•Season 3Ep. 9
A tour of your child care center should be your Super Bowl, says Molly Hichens. Are you doing enough to wow families who tour your daycare or preschool? Molly is a second-generation owner at Bright Beginnings Preschool, which has three locations in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is about to celebrate 40 years in business! She’s also an accomplished child care consultant and speaker. And when it comes to giving tours to prospective families, she has a lot of great ideas to share, including: Setti...
Oct 27, 2023•45 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Beginning September 30, 2023, states could be forced to deal with the loss of billions of dollars in federal funding, which will lead to a mass disruption in the child care landscape. The $24 billion that went to child cares was part of a pandemic program, and has been the largest investment in child care in history. Without that funding, 3.2 million children could lose spots in child cares and more than 70,000 centers could close, according to a Century Foundation report . In this podcast, Cind...
Sep 13, 2023•49 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Allyx Schiavone had intended to start a new elementary school in New Haven, Connecticut, until she listened to her community and saw the need for an early childhood education center. In this episode, she talks about partnering with local Quakers to form the Friends Center for Children. Allyx is the executive director of the center, which is supported by a comprehensive emotional wellbeing program and made accessible with sliding scale tuition. Allyx also serves as the co-chair of the Child Care ...
Jul 24, 2023•54 min
Think about going to a restaurant. That's an experience you have. It's true in other businesses too, from a coffee shop to a doctor's office to a hardware store. So why shouldn't that apply to a child care center? That's the message of Better Beans Branding in Duluth, Georgia. This company does branding, design, signs and construction and their clients include child care centers, which Better Beans helps to reach their goals and convey their values in their spaces. In this podcast, Neel Sengupta...
Jun 22, 2023•45 min
Today's millennial and Gen Z workers are mission driven, tech savvy and they expect to be onboarded and given professional development and coaching, says Kris Murray. Kris is the founder and president and founder of The Child Care Success Company and a leading child care business expert. In this podcast, she talks about how to help child care staff grow within your organization and the importance of professional development to make that happen. Her tips for successfully onboarding and retaining ...
May 25, 2023•53 min
AJ Crabill has strong opinions about early childhood education and he's quick to dispel any notion that it should start around preschool. He is a champion of ECE, and his education experience includes chairing the Kansas City School Board and serving as the deputy commissioner of the Texas Education Agency where he helped spearhead statewide incentives for school districts to expand their pre-K offerings outcomes statewide. He's now a conservator with the DeSoto Independent School District and h...
Apr 10, 2023•44 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Dr. Rosemarie Allen has served as an educational leader for over 30 years and her life’s work is centered on ensuring all children have access to high-quality early childhood programs that are developmentally and culturally appropriate. She’s an associate professor in the school of education at Metropolitan State University in Denver, and other career highlights include serving as Colorado’s director of the division of early learning, and she oversaw the state’s licensing program. She also helpe...
Mar 22, 2023•52 min
The child care industry is at a crossroads. Many programs are resisting technology to help educate the children in their care and simplify running their businesses. That's why Procare Solutions surveyed over 100,000 stakeholders to gain a deeper understanding of their child care management software usage, as well as other technologies in place for their business operations. The results of the survey comprise the 2023 Child Care Management Software Industry Trends Report. In this episode, Procare...
Feb 21, 2023•46 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Child care centers are seeing five generations of employees working together: traditionalists, boomers, generation X, millennials and now generation Z, who are ages 10 to 24 years old. As this group becomes a larger part of the workforce, it’s important to understand how they’re different from other age groups, says Kathe Petchel. She has been in early childhood education for more than 30 years, both as a teacher and a center owner, and is an expert on hiring and training staff, as well as staff...
Jan 11, 2023•57 min•Season 2Ep. 14
The story of Procare Solutions begins with a dad who saw a child care center needed help. That dad was Jeff Blum, and he remembers dropping off his 2-year-old son and watching the center’s owners struggle with their accounting system. So he wrote them a computer program to help. That program — limited, yes, but incredibly innovative for its time — can lay claim to being the very first version of what eventually would become Procare Solutions. Procare Solutions is celebrating its 30th anniversary...
Dec 12, 2022•47 min
