Business Coaching for a Children's Nursery: An Honest Review

"Our friends said we were mad!"

Find out how daughter Jenna helped the family business to quadruple the profit margin over the last 10 years.

Ray and Glenda Mitchell launched The Day Nursery in 2008 after their daughter Jenna was struggling to find a nursery for her little girl. The business quickly started to dominate their lives. And, with little business acumen to lean on, it soon became clear that Jenna and her parents needed guidance in their mission to become the next centre of excellence. After Glenda became ill in 2021, Jenna took over as Company Manager.

Having won the BizX award for CEO of the Year in 2022 and almost quadrupling the nursery’s profit margin over the last 10 years, Jenna is making strides in helping to fulfil her family’s mission.

So, what helped Jenna elevate her family business to new heights?

Launching a nursery during the financial crisis

“We opened our doors at the beginning of September 2008 – right in the middle of a financial crisis. Our friends said we were mad, not just for starting a business during this turbulent time, but because my parents were at retirement age.

"Despite people’s doubts, we persevered, and the whole family got stuck in with getting the nursery to the point where we could open our doors, including everything from gardening to writing safeguarding policies. I think I was quite naïve at the time – I thought we would open our doors on the 1st of September and we’d be full, but we’d not advertised the nursery and had no online presence. It soon became clear that we needed some guidance on this mammoth task we had undertaken.

“A couple of years after we launched, we received a call from our local Action Coach. My stepdad, who’s usually not interested in any kind of business offer, answered and was keen to hear what this unique coach had to say. After he had introduced himself, he sent us some information about ActionCOACH - we all became really excited about what they could do for us, from the financial mastery to having a life outside of our business.”

After a complimentary coaching session with their business coach in October 2011, the family invested in weekly group coaching sessions.

How Has Business Coaching Helped a Children’s Nursery?

“Before working with our business coach, we had no idea about business strategy or what it took to run a successful company. My background was in catering, my dad worked in IT, and although my mum was a Year 2 teacher and had the experience of working with kids, none of us had any business ownership experience. When we first opened our doors, it was just my daughter Molly who attended the nursery because we weren’t working smartly - our systems weren’t fully embedded or working, and yet we were here at the crack of dawn and were the last ones out of our team to leave at night. I thought if we weren’t physically there, something would go wrong, which meant none of us had any time for ourselves. My parents put all their money into the nursery, mortgaging everything they could to fund it. We didn’t think to look into grants, so we ended up buying every single Lego brick and paint pot ourselves.

"In our first business coaching session, our business coach asked us to write down what our dreams were – not just in business, but in life. My mum wrote down that she dreamt of moving house, buying a new car and going on a family holiday – things I never knew she wanted. For the first time, someone was asking us what we wanted out of the business and really got us thinking. During the first few sessions, I felt out of my depth – I was helping with the creative side of the business, buying supplies and teaching the children, so I didn’t understand everything we were talking about.

"Now, 10 years later, I’m so glad they involved me from the very beginning because it really helped me to flourish as a business owner. The initial work with our business coach involved a lot of testing and measuring, finding out what worked and what we could improve on, allowing us to plan how we could proactively react to future challenges. He also introduced us to the idea of systemisation, implementing procedures that helped propel the nursery forwards, such as documenting and budgeting finances. This helped us and our business no end – we had a better work-life balance. Our business was thriving, which meant the children had access to full, engaging sessions".

Business Coaching provides a lifeline for The Day Nursery

Despite The Day Nursery excelling, the company has faced issues over the last few years, including the pandemic and the ongoing struggle in the childcare sector.

“ActionCOACH helped us look at the government support that was available to us and focused on coaching us around finances so we felt as prepared as we could be with the uncertainty of the lockdowns. We talked about business and personal reserves, and our business coach taught us how to forecast, using his personal experience with money management to help us.”

In 2021, Jenna’s mum became sick – it was now up to Jenna to continue The Day Nursery’s legacy as she began one-to-one coaching sessions.

“The childcare sector has been on its knees since the pandemic, but our business coach has helped myself and my team become imaginative in our approach to the business. We’ve learnt to search for teachers rather than waiting for them to come to us - as a childcare practitioner, you must have the necessary teaching and safeguarding certifications, but our business coach has helped us to attract team members even though we are bound by red tape."

The Day Nursery results from business coaching 

“After the last few years, we’ve found stability. Currently, we have 29 members in our team and always have people who want to work and train with us as we make our mark on the map."

Although we’ve faced issues – as an industry, as a business and as a family – we’ve still managed to increase our profit margin from 5.26% in 2012 to 20.19% in the latest financial year.

Jenna has now been coached for over a decade. “Most of the things we’ve achieved might have been possible without an Action Coach, but there is no way we would’ve celebrated so much in the last 10 years without our business coach. As a businesswoman and person, I feel unrecognisable – my priority has changed from my income to my work-life balance, and my business knowledge has flourished – but I’m always willing to learn more!

“Thanks to the confidence business coaching has given me, I even have plans to one day open another nursery. I’m so proud to be fulfilling my family’s dream of building a centre of excellence, and I hope to continue growing their legacy for years to come.”

Are you ready for Business Coaching?

Has reading Jenna’s story inspired you to think about your own business and where you could be heading? It’s okay to feel sceptical about business coaching, change is hard, especially when it comes to you and your business. 

We understand you’ve worked hard and put in a lot of time to get your business to where it is today, which is why we want to showcase the stories of business owners who have been in your shoes and decided they were ready for business coaching.

If you're contemplating whether business coaching is right for you, book a discovery call with one of our advisors to see how business coaching can help you achieve your dreams and navigate the complexities of entrepreneurship.

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