Our Why
We know when child care businesses and the professionals who run them have the tools to thrive, children, families, child care staff, and entire communities are better for it. The foundation for “Build It Strong” started when Paula and Kelly were discussing all the concepts they wished they knew before they had each led child care businesses. To that list, they added everything they were lucky enough to know before they opened or stepped into a leadership position because of generous mentors who gave them the inside scoop of what they would need to know to not only keep the doors open but also be really successful as business and program leaders.
The Build It Strong: Child Care Business Foundations training series came first. It was created to connect prospective providers with resources, expertise, lived experience, and a roadmap to understand the child care systems at play. While it was created to support prospective providers and directors before they opened, it became evident that even seasoned early childhood professionals found the course useful.
Paula and Kelly realized it might be nice for participants to have a workbook to keep their notes, calculations, dreams, and plans all in one place as they progressed through the multi-session training. But, after talking with a trusted advisor, Amy Friedlander, the group decided it wasn’t a workbook that was needed but rather a book that would meet a national need in early care and education.
Enter the idea for the book, Build It Strong! How to Make Your Child Care Business Thrive from Start-up to Retirement, which came to life in partnership with Opportunities Exchange. Made stronger through lessons and feedback learned while leading Wisconsin Early Childhood Association’s shared services network, Kelly and Paula credit Wisconsin Early Education Shared Services Network, and all the providers and child care business coaches who have been a part of it, for their commitment, influence, and insights that have made WEESSN a national leader in early education-focused shared services.