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Business Success and Challenges
Words by Caroline Popoola
Mother, Author, Coach, and CEO of the UK’s leading childcare provider with over 12 successful childcare settings, Caroline Popoola reveals her business successes and challenges that she has experienced throughout her journey of establishing nurseries all around the UK. Caroline tells us the values that will set you apart and truly make you a leader in business.
As a result of the virus there are lots of uncertainties and challenges around unemployment, jobs. I have my team asking me, are we getting paid? It's a tough one. I asked my team yesterday, and I love them to bits but it's alright everyone asking are we going to get paid but I can't remember anyone asking me how are you Caroline? How do we think the business is going to do after the virus? That is for you as a leader to think about, that is your cross to bear. You chose to open a business, you chose to be leader and that is your cross to bear. I love my team and that's for me to figure out. Whilst you are trying to make everyone happy and you are trying to make sure you can give them answers, even when you do not have answers. At the same time you go home and put your head on the pillow and think… alright are we actually going to survive this!
As many childcare businesses may have experienced, especially during the lockdown is that during issues you are not on your own or you know that someone has already experienced something similar to you. But the fun part is that you are not on your own and you know every business is going through this. Amidst all the uncertainty, of aspects such as finance and what is going to happen next, you are monitoring performances, you're looking at regulations and not to mention compliances. With childcare, we have ofsted which is very very important because if you fail an ofsted because of incompetence or not doing the right thing they could close you down. At the moment ofsted is not coming around because they do not want to spread the virus, so that is some sort of peace of mind.
Success
How do you remain successful? How do you keep afloat with all of the things going on? You need to think about your customer service - that is what I think about. I had to think about how I break the news to my parents during the lockdown. If they are supposed to pay me £1,500 a month and their child is not attending for the next few weeks how do I say to them… mum and dad you still have to pay me every month? But your child is not allowed to come in. It is difficult to do, for anyone who has listened to her podcasts she tells us that she has over 500 people in her settings.
Communication
The primary aspect to focus on is on your customers and to focus on your team. You understand what your problem is and try to solve it. Yes, there are no answers to all of them but how much do you know and what can you do? Again that goes back to having time out for yourself and having a clear mindset and being able to make decisions, it is important that you are able to make decisions you need to be able to communicate at every level to everyone at all levels. You need to speak their language and let them know, with your stakeholders which is your parents and your team. That is imperative. It is also beneficial to get into the mind of your parents and your team. What is it they want to hear? How do you think you can meet their needs? How can you make it work for them and work for the whole team.
Find Solutions
You need to make it a win win - not everyone will be happy with the solution but you have to try and find an amicable way that will work with everyone. You have to look at multiple solutions because one way does not fit all. For example, if I ask my parents to pay it is not fair on them because I want to pay my team well and stay afloat. At the same time if I ask my parents not to pay then my team are not getting paid, then we may not be able to stay afloat. Always look at one way to solve it, there is not one way to solve it. What I had to do was look at what my insurance covered. That is the first point of call. What does your insurance cover you for? What is it you do, what is your insurance saying? Once you know what your insurance is saying then you work backwards. That is when you can go to your staff and your parents and say my insurance does this, or I can do this because you know what you can do. It is important that you are looking for multiple solutions on how to solve the problem.
Trust
You need a bright team around you to always bounce around ideas. With everything about life you need a good set of people who you can trust. Trust is a keyword. You need those that you know are for you and they care about you. They are sold out to the business, they care about you and the business. Not just for what they get because if you turn round and say ‘Guess what guys you are not getting paid’ and they turn against you that is not what you want, you want people that are totally sold out to you. So they are not just there for the money.
Support System
Having a strong support system is one of her key pillars to success. I have those around me that I can bounce ideas around with and I know they mean well and that they will come out with positive stuff that we can move our heads together because they have to believe in you. Are you trustworthy enough for your team to know that they can totally rely on you? You have to be trustworthy enough, to know that your word is your bond. When you say its black its black and when you say its green its green. They do not have to doubt you or think oh my gosh, what is she talking about? or no I don't believe maybe what she said she is just lying. You need to have that team around you that believes in you.
Challenges
Being a woman of faith it has always helped me to calm my nerves. Being calm in the midst of Chaos is where I rely and depends on my faith. My faith has really helped. When you face challenges it is a time to reflect and understand your value and what you really stand for. Regardless of what you do, challenges will always come - that is definite. That's something you need to know, challenges will always come. It is how you deal with the challenge that will make you know whether you will sink or whether you will stand out. Where do you belong? Are you sinking because you have challenges or are you standing out amidst all the challenges. That is the question you need to ask yourself.
Leadership
We should always remember that if we do not challenge ourselves we never know what we can become. There is something in proverbs that actually says smooth seas does not make skillful sailors. So where do you belong? Where do you stand? Are you the sailor that wants a smooth sea? And if so how do we know how skillful you are? If you do not face the waves in the sea, how do we know how good you are, that will stay afloat in the sea? How do we know what a strong leader you are if you do not face challenges? Or every single challenge you grumble or people do not believe in you that you will see us through this. Challenges make life interesting, challenges make life interesting and overcoming challenges makes life meaningful.
