A Year in Review: A Founder’s Perspective

I’ll start by opening with the cliché statement that it truly is hard to believe we are already a year in business (I'm a few days early, our actual 1 year is April 4 and we are opening our second location on April 3!). It feels like it has been much shorter, but also much longer in a lot of ways. To say I have been humbled in this process would be an understatement. When a group of my friends and I came together to solve our own childcare problems, we could have never imagined where it would take us.

From the furniture fiasco (where we ordered all of our equipment six months in advance to our shipping company dropping the ball and tracking the wrong shipment to personally calling a lovely lady from Manitouin transport at home while she was putting her kids to bed to save the day — this might have to be it’s own post, because — the trauma), to battling with construction timelines that went way over time and budget, to crying with Interior Health and all of the licensing requirements that were hard to meet (see also: you can’t get a business license without your childcare license, but you can’t get your childcare license without your business license). It’s been a JOURNEY.

Here’s me after literal tears of joy when our furniture and equipment finally arrived from Brampton.

Opening felt like the biggest hurdle, but little did we know that the hurdles just kept coming, and coming, and coming…

Our best friend and business partner was diagnosed with cancer right after we opened (the good news is, he is doing well and scans show positive things ahead).

Navigating government financing was (and still is) for lack of a better word, a nightmare. With now 90% of revenue relying on government input, we’ve had to get creative to make it work every month with our non-negotiable expenses coming out. Not to mention, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, has been more expensive than we thought it would be. Queue the anxiety and questioning it all.

Here is my husband, Chris and I after we just got news that our licensed was approved and we could begin operations.

So as I sit back and reflect on the last year, I realize that there are a few key lessons I’ve learned. Maybe you can relate to these. Maybe this is new for you or can give you some perspective on what it actually takes to get to this point in your business.

Put Your People First

It was a non-negotiable for us when opening ProducKIDvity to ensure that our educators were compensated fairly for their very challenging roles.

We pride ourselves on paying 30-40% higher than any other centre as well as offering benefits that are well-above basic. This includes things like compensated transportation, prescription deliveries to your house, free virtual doctors visits through Maple, discounted meals, and much more.

While it has been positively received by the educator community, to the point that we now have a waitlist for staff, it has not been met with welcoming arms from the childcare community specifically in Kelowna. Competitors are frustrated with us, a well-known childcare resource told us to stop hiring so many staff and reduce our hours (lol), and we understand that breaking the mold can be challenging for everyone involved.

While others are closing down programs or even entire centres, we’ve been able to negate this in our company with this model of people first. Does it impact our bottom line every month? You bet. Its borderline stressful managing high wages and benefits, however, we know that without doing this, we’re going to end up in the same position as everyone else — not having enough staff to run programs.

This problem really stems from the government and their mission to get to $10 a day funding. Without incentivizing or subsidizing educator wages, yet dictating monthly fees, how are centres supposed to operate and make it each month?

Now, the government is only allowing a 3% increase per year, yet, we all know inflation is so much higher than that. See more of my thoughts on this in my interview with Simi Sara from Global News and Kelowna10.

We had Chris Koch present at our Professional Development Day back in September. It was so inspiring and motivating for our staff.

Be Unapologetic with Your Brand

If you’ve Googled us recently, you’ve likely seen the articles and uproar about our fees and we how charge more than other centres. Yes — we do, but we also offer more. To us this seemed like a no brainer, but again, it hasn’t been welcomed by some in the community.

We are premium. This isn’t a space where you take your kids to play all day with no updates. We have heavily invested in our staff, our technology, and our brand to ensure that our childcare centre helps our students thrive by instilling the BC Early Learning Framework in everything we do.

We want to set kids up for the first five years and beyond. We also want to accommodate to families who do not work the traditional 9-5 job who have been neglected for so long when it comes to childcare. Our extended hours including 9pm pick-up times and Saturday care has been a game changer for our first responders, nurses, doctors, and people who just quite frankly, need a minute to themselves to do things like go to Costco alone or catch-up with their spouse over dinner.

As a marketer by trade, I know the theory behind your target audience and positioning. You can’t be for everyone, you can’t possibly service everyone who needs your business, knowing who you are and who your ideal customer is, is so important.

Don’t Take No for an Answer

If I had a dollar for every time a bank, an investor, an IH officer told me no, I could pay off our start-up debt. I’m sure of it. As a business owner, you learn to be tenacious, and maybe a bit frustrating to the traditional rule followers like banks and regulators of the world.

In the words of my daughter’s favourite movie character, Princess Poppy from Trolls, “Hey! I'm not giving up today. There's nothing getting in my way, and if you knock knock me over, I will get back up again.If something goes a little wrong, well you can go ahead and bring it on 'Cause if you knock knock me over, I will get back up again.”

Let me tell you the chokehold this song has on me when I am driving home with my kids after a hard day at the office.

It was incredible to host my alma matter, Royal Roads University for their Kelowna Alumni Mixer.

Surround Yourself with the Right People

One thing that I have found so positive in the year that we have been open is the community we have built around us. I’ve been lucky to work upstairs with many of the parents who have their children in care downstairs. The support that I have received on a personal note has been extremely humbling. When articles have been posted or people have taken to Facebook, I have had countless emails from our families sending me words of encouragement and support.

It has meant a lot — and to those of you who have taken the time, please know that it means more than you could imagine and I am truly grateful.

We have also had the opportunity to contribute to our community. Whether that means hosting a donation box for Mamas for Mamas or the Kelowna Women’s Shelter, or donating our left-over food to the Kelowna Community Fridge, we’ve put community first. Which has also resulted in hosting some very cool events like the Royal Roads University Alumni Mixer or the Wine Women and Wellbeing event back in August.

Team love as we hosted the Wine Women and Well-Being Event in August

Celebrate the Victories — Big and Small

When we’re stuck in a constant state of chaos, it can be hard to take a moment to celebrate the wins. This year, I’ve learned how important that is for not only myself, but my team. Things like Employee of the Month, team Starbucks runs, and Slack appreciation channels go a long way.

That one time we rented a UHaul and drove to Keremeos to buy the equipment of a daycare was closing. Only to arrive and find out nothing was packed. Good times!

I’ve learned a lot this year. A lot about myself, about this business, and about where I see the future of the company. One thing I like to remind myself (and others) is that we aren’t a big corporation. We are real people with real lives and families who depend on us. A quote I’ve lived by, and will continue to live by is:

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better."
— Maya Angelou

We have so much ahead including opening our second location at Sutherland Ave and announcing our third location in the coming weeks. 3 locations in less than 2 years? Can’t say I predicted that!

We are also working hard on the structuring of the business to begin our franchising plans in 2024. I am so excited to see this business grow beyond just Kelowna to help benefit so many other parents who need something different from their childcare.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us, and will continue to support us in the future. Here’s to year two and the journey ahead.

Signing off to head to the next project…

Alex