Libsyn Directory

Ep. 192: Thomas Brawner - Build a Great Team Around You

Release Date: 12/31/2024

Episode 210 with Dominique Gill — When You Love Kids This Much, Success Comes Naturally

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris welcomes Dominique Gill, heart-centered leader and owner of Unique Kids Childcare in Nashville and Smyrna, Tennessee, to share her journey to multi-site child care leader. Dominique opens up about starting as a young mother seeking affordable child care, working in exchange for tuition, and eventually moving from home-based care to two thriving centers. Dominique built her program around love, family, and celebrating every child’s uniqueness. She discusses the challenges of opening during the pandemic, shifting into leadership, raising tuition for the first time, and creating a...

Episode 209 with Tea Shong and Trina Romanowski - A Family Affair! Tales of a Multi-Generational ECE Company

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris sits down with Tea Shong and Trina Romanowski, the powerhouse mother-daughter duo behind a thriving, multi-site early childhood business in Michigan. Winners of the Partnership of the Year Award at the Child Care Success Summit, Tea and Trina share how they scaled from an in-home daycare to three high-quality centers, all rooted in purpose and shared vision. They discuss navigating family dynamics, leading with clarity, embedding nature-based learning, and using creative systems like coaching calls and color-coded lanyards, to keep their team culture strong across every location. Key...

Episode 208 with Rachel Supalla — Creating Leadership Magic In Her Ruby Slippers

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris is joined by longtime friend, business visionary, and rockstar early childhood leader Rachel Supalla. Rachel is the founder of Vision Tree, a TEDx speaker, and the author of The Playful Leader’s Toolkit, a book packed with wisdom on leading with joy, grounding, and energy. With 10 schools across Montana and Utah, Rachel shares how she’s scaled her business while embracing what she calls “ruby slipper leadership.” They talk about managing energy instead of time, why remote teams need tight leadership structures, and how playfulness is more than just dress-up — it’s a strategy...

Episode 207 with Gigi Schweikert — You Can’t Save Your Way to Success

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris welcomes Gigi Schweikert, CEO of Lightbridge Academy, to explore what it takes to lead at scale and stay grounded in the human side of early childhood education. With 85 centers across the U.S., Gigi shares how she thinks about quality, culture, and decision-making at the organizational level, and why trust is still the best metric. They discuss industry trends, mentorship, and the habits that help leaders grow. Gigi also reflects on what she’s learned after publishing 18 books, raising four children, embracing grandmotherhood, and showing up consistently for her team and community....

Episode 206 with Regina Miller - Leadership Lessons in Child Care

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris welcomes the joy-inducing and magnetic Regina Miller, a nationally recognized trainer, author, and owner of Trailblazers Academy in Wichita, Kansas. With nearly five decades in early childhood education and 35 years in leadership, Regina shares fantastic insight into what it really takes to lead a team, stay connected as an owner, and build lasting impact in your center. Regina shares some great takeaways from her new book Leadership Lessons, including how to hire smarter, mentor without ego, and avoid becoming an absentee owner. Kris and Regina also talk about how to stay...

Episode 204 with Whitney Burkman - From Home to Center: Young Leadership in Action

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris welcomes young inspiration and rising leader Whitney Burkman, owner of Magnolia Academy in Payson, Utah. Whitney shares more about her journey from in-home childcare to a full 125-spot center before age 30. She talks about building confidence as a young business owner, gives some great advice for hiring, marketing strategies, leadership challenges, and the critical role of mindset in growing her successful childcare business. Key Takeaways: [4:55] Whitney opened Magnolia in 2022, and they are currently at 122 enrollments. [7:43] Opening a center at age 27 and what inspired...

Episode 203 with Brett Neller — What’s Your Customer Journey? (And Why You Should Care)

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris welcomes Brett Neller, CEO of LineLeader by ChildcareCRM, to explore the real meaning of the customer journey in child care, and why it’s critical for sustainable growth. Brett shares insights from his professional evolution, including how dropping his kids off at care centers helped him deeply understand the needs of operators. He and Kris talk about enrollment challenges, operational bottlenecks, mapping a full customer journey, and how automation can power human connection, not replace it. They also discuss fear-based leadership, what small businesses often get wrong in...

Episode 202 with Adrianne Agulla — A Great Story of Scaling Up and Growth

Child Care Rockstar Radio

In this episode, Adrianne Agulla, CEO of Hamilton Heights Child Development Centers in Nebraska and the true definition of an education entrepreneur, joins Kris. Adrianne shares how she went from working in the corporate world to owning six successful daycares and a catering business called Milton’s Amazing Kitchen. Together, she and Kris talk about growing from three to six locations, empowering a leadership team, using VAs to streamline operations, creating a strong scorecard, and what it really takes to scale with excellence. Adrianne goes through the very real ups and downs of growing...

Episode 201 with Zac Alcampo — Gamification in Parenting AND Business

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Zac Alcampo, Creative Director at Grow Your Center, brings a fresh perspective to leadership, culture, and creativity in early education. With two decades of experience in the gaming industry, Zac is a dynamic entrepreneur and inventive strategist who has helped build immersive digital experiences that merge gamification, artificial intelligence, and user engagement. Now, he’s applying those same ideas to the world of child care — reimagining everything from team collaboration to marketing to parenting itself. In this episode, Zac joins Kris to talk about gamification in...

Episode 200 with Vernon Mason — Every Day Is A Gift

Child Care Rockstar Radio

He’s back! The great Vernon Mason returns as one of the podcast’s most popular guests to help celebrate this milestone 200th episode. He and Kris reflect on leadership, legacy, and what it really means to be present. In this episode, Vernon shares his beautiful wisdom and journey from growing up in an in-home child care program to building and selling a five-site child care business, and now helping grow The Nest into a 52-location powerhouse. Together, he and Kris chat about the realities of leadership today including accountability, toxic positivity, turnover trends, universal...

More Episodes

Kris welcomes Thomas Brawner, Owner and CFO of Alta Schoolhouse, a Montessori-inspired preschool located in Lakeland, Florida. Thomas first talks about his and his wife's journey to Lakeland - his wife had previous experience as a director at a childcare center, while Thomas came from a business background but shared a passion for working with kids. Thomas provides an inspiring glimpse into the strategies he and his wife used to successfully open Alta Schoolhouse, after facing challenges with their first two location attempts, emphasizing the importance of understanding the dynamics of their local market and building a strong, credible team - including hiring a respected architect - as keys to finally launching the school; throughout the conversation, Thomas shares insights into his innovative approaches to marketing, staffing, and growing the new childcare business, demonstrating the rewards that can come from pursuing your vision with the right support system in place.

Key Takeaways:

[5:40] Check out Kris’s new website! https://krismurray.com/

[9:03] Thomas joins the show from Lakeland, Florida.

[9:38] Alta Schoolhouse opened in April 2022, and is a Montessori inspired pre-school.

[11:00] Thomas talks about why he and his wife chose Florida.

[12:50] How he and his wife handle the different roles and responsibilities.

[15:05] Fun fact: Thomas is Argentinian and has a close affinity for the culture…especially soccer!

[16:25] The Montessori inspired component.

[18:25] How Thomas found the Child Care Success Academy.

[22:10] Falling in love with the real estate development side of building Alta Schoolhouse.

[23:25] The two locations that failed before the final Alta location, and what Thomas learned from the process.

[25:15] Investing in the right team at the beginning will save you money and earn you respect down the road.

[27:35] The different types of marketing they utilized, including the power of Mom’s Groups!

[29:47] Fun offerings at tours and open houses.

[32:20] The importance of knowing your market and doing your homework.

[32:35] Staffing and building confidence within leadership.

[35:31] Team retention and finding new members.

[38:17] Alta is a young and vibrant environment.

[41:01] The idea of starting another location in the near future.

[42:02] Thomas talks about managing finances as a self described “spreadsheet fiend” and secret shopping locations before they opened.

[47:18] Thomas’s advice for people looking to get into the industry: go for it!

Quotes:

“The work life balance is truly, truly a gift in this industry.” [14:16] - Thomas
“It's been an absolutely incredible experience ever since joining the community and just the wealth of knowledge that you can get so quickly. It’s pretty invaluable.” [20:08] - Thomas
“The moment that we hired this architect and he walked into the doors of the city hall with us, the city planners and everybody on staff took us seriously. We were no longer two kids that had a dream and were trying to open up school. We were now business professionals with the backing of an architectural firm that was well known in Lakeland and respected in Lakeland. That is what gave us the credibility that we needed to be taken seriously.” [24:53] - Thomas
“We were able to build a wait list and have enough desire for what we were offering, where we were able to be in the green on day one.” [27:11] - Thomas
“They (your team) get confidence from good leadership.” [34:22] - Thomas
“I'm constantly looking at what other centers in our area are paying, and it's my goal to pay more than them.” [35:51] - Thomas
“It’s obviously an income for my family, but it's provided a community and just a sense of fulfillment in creating jobs, creating happiness through, through the kids and students and parents that are under your care. Go for it!” [37:14] - Thomas

TOPICS