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Uplift: Explores how she created a network of childcare centers in Maryland. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald, our host this weekly Money Making
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  Speaker 1: Conversation Master Class show. The interviews and information that this
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  Speaker 1: show provides off for everyone. It's time to start reading
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  Speaker 1: other people's success stories and start living your own. I'm
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  Speaker 1: talking about you. If you want to be a guest
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  Speaker 1: on my show, please visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com
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  Speaker 1: and click to be a guest. But if you are
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  Speaker 1: a small business owner, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, influencer, or a
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  Speaker 1: nonprofit now let's get this show started. My guess is
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  Speaker 1: a visionary, a risk taker, and a fierce, fearless entrepreneur
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  Speaker 1: in the childcare industry. She is the founder and chief
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  Speaker 1: executive officer of Sandbridge Early Learning Center, a network of
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  Speaker 1: early childcare facilities in Maryland. As a teenager, she assisted
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  Speaker 1: of her grandmother, a family childcare provider, which sparked her
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  Speaker 1: love for children and youth development. Please welcome to Money
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  Speaker 1: Making Conversation Master Class, Miss Keanna Sanders HOI doing this Kea?
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  Speaker 2: Hello?
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  Speaker 1: How are you pretty good? Pretty good? I'm happy to
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  Speaker 1: have you on my show. Now, you say you was
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  Speaker 1: inspired as a youth, you know, now, how old were
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  Speaker 1: you being around people, your kids, your age that inspired you?
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  Speaker 1: After watching this thirteen thirteen, so thirteen and the ages
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  Speaker 1: of the children you are around.
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  Speaker 3: Were how old baby so? Infants to about twelve years old?
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so what inspired you? Because I'm always interested when
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  Speaker 1: I hear people see things at the early age and
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  Speaker 1: it drives their dreams for their future.
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  Speaker 3: Talk to me, So what actually inspired me? I was
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  Speaker 3: always around children. I was baby setting children at an
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  Speaker 3: early age, maybe twelve thirteen, fourteen years old.
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  Speaker 2: I babysat my little cousins.
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  Speaker 3: I babysat the neighbors' children, baby set different family members, aunts, uncles.
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  Speaker 3: I had everybody's child right so, and then also with
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  Speaker 3: my grandmother being in home provided I was always around children.
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  Speaker 3: My grandmother had a lot of single mom clienteles, so
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  Speaker 3: those children would stay day and night. And with those
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  Speaker 3: children staying day and night, like I said, constantly around them,
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  Speaker 3: and it gave me, I guess, the opportunity and gave
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  Speaker 3: and helped me acquire the love of children. Being in
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  Speaker 3: a church, being in a Bible study, being on different
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  Speaker 3: different boards, and being around children by babies.
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  Speaker 1: Really, you know you are a child at thirteen?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I love I love the babies.
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  Speaker 1: Right right, baby, the infants, you know, changing diaper age and.
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  Speaker 2: About four year four years, four year old?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, okay, so crawling around, you know, you know, doing
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  Speaker 1: not really understanding English and really really those formative years. Correct.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah they say the terrible too with that. Okay, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so the form of the babies to age of four.
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  Speaker 1: Now it's a business for you.
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  Speaker 2: Now, correct it is?
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  Speaker 1: How did that happen? And let's talk about your education
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  Speaker 1: through high school through college? Was that the motivation for
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  Speaker 1: your education approach? Would you went to college? And where
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  Speaker 1: did you go to college?
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  Speaker 2: Well?
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  Speaker 3: I actually went to college for fashion merchandising.
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  Speaker 1: See right there, right up the baby, yeah, the baby.
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  Speaker 3: So I went to college for fashion merchandising, mined in business.
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  Speaker 3: I attended University of Maryland Eastern Shore and did a
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  Speaker 3: dual dual degree program at Fashion Institute of Technology. So
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  Speaker 3: what actually got me into the childcare industry is because
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  Speaker 3: of my grandmother and then doing my breaks. So you
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  Speaker 3: know how you have summer breaks and then you had
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  Speaker 3: winter breaks. I actually worked with children during my summer
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  Speaker 3: and winter breaks. So with that said, I said, let
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  Speaker 3: me just go and get my certifications. So I went
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  Speaker 3: and got my certifications in childcare so I can make
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  Speaker 3: a little extra coins now.
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  Speaker 1: So because you knew, I love people who know their story,
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  Speaker 1: just be talking like everybody know what the certification is.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what that is and what and where
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  Speaker 1: did you get the certification? What at? Okay?
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  Speaker 3: So the certifications were in childcare, so like you would
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  Speaker 3: get your forty five hours working with infinite toddlers, or
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  Speaker 3: you would get your ninety hours working for preschool, or
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  Speaker 3: like your forty five hours working with.
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  Speaker 2: School age children.
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  Speaker 3: So those were your certifications that you got through the
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  Speaker 3: Office of Childcare. In order for you to be a
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  Speaker 3: qualified teacher, you have to have certifications in childcare or
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  Speaker 3: have to have a degree. So while I was attending
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  Speaker 3: high school, when I was in high school and when
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  Speaker 3: I was in college, I was working on those certifications
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  Speaker 3: along with majoring and my and my you know, having
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  Speaker 3: my concentration major as well.
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  Speaker 1: So just asking questions here, Okay, these are certifications. These
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  Speaker 1: certifications allow you to work at a daycare.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, they did in the state of Maryland. You have
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  Speaker 3: to have the certifications to be a to be a
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  Speaker 3: qualified teacher. Now you don't have to have certifications if
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  Speaker 3: you are an aid like a teacher's assistant. You don't
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  Speaker 3: have to have qualifications, but to be an actual childcare teacher,
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  Speaker 3: you do have to have a host of certifications.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, cool, I'm talking to miss Keana Sanders. She's in
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  Speaker 1: the Maryland Era. You know she has an I guess
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  Speaker 1: childcare education is what we're talking about. Now, what age
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  Speaker 1: is your business? You fell in love with babies? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: Now what age are you dealing with now in your
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  Speaker 1: business format?
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  Speaker 3: Six weeks to twelve years old? But my favorite room
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  Speaker 3: is the infant room? Still, uh huh?
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  Speaker 1: Okay, but that's a lot going on now, you know, yes,
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  Speaker 1: it is. I have I only want child And boy,
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  Speaker 1: I used to hate dropping my child off and you
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  Speaker 1: look over there and a baby gouts, sniffles, are cold
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  Speaker 1: because I knew my baby gonna come back with sniffles
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  Speaker 1: or cold. How do you work that out? When you
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  Speaker 1: see children who are feeling ill or looking ill.
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  Speaker 3: So when you see children that are feeling ill are
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  Speaker 3: looking at ill. What we do at our centers well
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  Speaker 3: was mandated through the Office of Childcare that we sanitize.
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  Speaker 3: We wipe wipe down with bleach and water, and so
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  Speaker 3: we sanitize periodically throughout the day. So in order to
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  Speaker 3: have a cleansy center, that's what should be happening. So
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  Speaker 3: if you continue to do that every day to cut
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  Speaker 3: down on germs and different diseases. And we wear gloves
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  Speaker 3: as well. We do diaper changes with gloves. We make
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  Speaker 3: sure we take the children's temperature. You know, if we
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  Speaker 3: see a children that has a that's maybe feeling ill,
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  Speaker 3: we call the time immediately. We advise the parent that
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  Speaker 3: you know, come pick that child up and take that
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  Speaker 3: child to the doctors. And they can't bring that child
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  Speaker 3: back unless they have a doctor's note eating that the
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  Speaker 3: child can return.
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  Speaker 1: Bob.
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  Speaker 3: They know them kids are sick to be dropping them off, Yes,
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  Speaker 3: we get it all the time. They'll bring their children
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  Speaker 3: and sick. And if we see symptoms and we notice that,
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  Speaker 3: we call a parent immediately. We say hello, you know,
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  Speaker 3: little Bobby is irritable. He's having these symptoms. You know,
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  Speaker 3: especially like if a child has had symptoms of like diarrhea,
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  Speaker 3: if there are like three diarrheas, then we definitely have
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  Speaker 3: to call a parent because it falls under the Communical
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  Speaker 3: Disease Act and we have to call the parent and
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  Speaker 3: notify them and tell them them come pick that child up.
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  Speaker 3: So we are big on making sure that children don't
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  Speaker 3: come in the facility set.
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  Speaker 1: What is Kean? What inspired you to Great sad Bridge
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  Speaker 1: Early Learning Center?
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  Speaker 3: Well to create it again? Like I said, the love
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  Speaker 3: of children.
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  Speaker 1: And all that love with children. You know, it was
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  Speaker 1: the business model tied to this stuff. I got the love.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, like I said, I want to do
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  Speaker 1: stand up comment. I love but with the money I saw,
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  Speaker 1: there's fame I saw in it that drove me to
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  Speaker 1: my love and my passion. YEAHU this is money making conversation.
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  Speaker 1: We got the love. It was inspired, you know, looking
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  Speaker 1: at these babies. You're thirteen years old in high school,
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  Speaker 1: you got a certificate and all that. What inspired you
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  Speaker 1: to create it though?
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  Speaker 3: So what inspired me to create it was? I knew
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  Speaker 3: that I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
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  Speaker 2: There you go, But I didn't.
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  Speaker 3: At that time, when I was sixteen and seventeen, I
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  Speaker 3: wasn't sure of what an entrepreneur was. I just knew
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  Speaker 3: I wanted to work. I didn't want to work in
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  Speaker 3: nine to five.
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  Speaker 2: I knew that I.
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  Speaker 3: Wanted to travel. I knew that I wanted to be
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  Speaker 3: able to make my own schedule. I've always been. I
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  Speaker 3: have so many ideas that go through my mind that
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  Speaker 3: still this day, right that I'll just stir at a
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  Speaker 3: wall and different things are going through my mind. So
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  Speaker 3: at that time when I figured out, I was like,
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  Speaker 3: oh my gosh, I know what I want.
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  Speaker 1: Beat.
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  Speaker 3: My light bulb just went up. I want to be
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  Speaker 3: an entrepreneur. I want to be a business owner, as
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  Speaker 3: they say now, a boss. Right, that's what the young
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  Speaker 3: people say, right.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm looking at a young person. Continue.
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  Speaker 3: So with stephan Is said, I said, okay, I want
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  Speaker 3: to be an entrepreneur. So it was so many things
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  Speaker 3: that I wanted to do. Like I told you before,
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  Speaker 3: I went to school for fashion.
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  Speaker 1: You know I nails fashionable. You have not lost a
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  Speaker 1: fashion and stink.
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  Speaker 2: No.
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  Speaker 3: Fashion is definitely one of my first loves. So fashion
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  Speaker 3: and I love children. Then I had a hobby of cars.
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  Speaker 3: I had a car dealership. I've done I've been in
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  Speaker 3: different industries. So with that band said, I was like,
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  Speaker 3: you need I'm a boss.
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  Speaker 2: I'm an entrepreneur. Yeah, I like money.
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  Speaker 1: You can't throw out the word called deally chill stay
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  Speaker 1: on the childcare conversation. I've interviews seventeen hundred people on
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  Speaker 1: this show. Now one person come on my show, will
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  Speaker 1: go you know what car dealership on a lot of cars. Now,
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  Speaker 1: before we get back to the job here, you've shown
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  Speaker 1: that you are a serial entrepreneur. Yes, in this path
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  Speaker 1: become to becoming and building out Sandbridge Early Learning Center.
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  Speaker 1: Talk about this car ownership dealer ownership experience and how
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  Speaker 1: did you get into that and then how you transition out.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I got into it because I had a love
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  Speaker 3: for cars, and at the time, I kept saying to myself,
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  Speaker 3: what else is it can I do? Now? I had
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  Speaker 3: the car business before I opened up the childcare for
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  Speaker 3: so I know, I know trending motors.
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  Speaker 2: So when trending motors trend.
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  Speaker 3: Motors big match the fashion, I know something else.
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  Speaker 1: I love this conversation.
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  Speaker 3: So when I when I at an early age, I
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  Speaker 3: had to become care girl of my grandparents because they
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  Speaker 3: found where he thick with cancer. So I had to
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  Speaker 3: find out what it was that I wanted to do.
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  Speaker 3: I had inherited a little bit of money ran through it.
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  Speaker 3: So I sold my S four thirty and that was
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  Speaker 3: my first car that I bought on my own, two
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  Speaker 3: thousand and one asked for thirty mescegsman and.
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  Speaker 2: I sold it.
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  Speaker 3: I said, you know what, I'm going to take this
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  Speaker 3: business and start a car business.
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  Speaker 2: Because I was so in love with that car.
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  Speaker 3: So I took the money from selling a car, I
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  Speaker 3: started trending motors. And when I started in trenting modes,
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  Speaker 3: I was so successful. I had clients that I had
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  Speaker 3: got cars for on special orders. And I was so
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  Speaker 3: successful at doing the business that I opened up a
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  Speaker 3: tag entitle along with it, and I took that money
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  Speaker 3: and I raised the funds and I got aloan from
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  Speaker 3: the bank, and that's how I actually got started with
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  Speaker 3: Sandbridge Early Learning Center.
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  Speaker 1: Now that's a great story. That's a story of resilience,
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  Speaker 1: a story of taking a love and turn it into
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  Speaker 1: a business. That's why I wanted to talk about, you know,
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  Speaker 1: not the fact that you could love something, but that
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  Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily mean that you can earn a living off
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  Speaker 1: of what you love. That's correct, you are doing it.
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  Speaker 1: You know, trendy, trendy automotive. I love that, you know.
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  Speaker 1: N She goes to the sophisticated Sandbridge Early Learning Center.
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  Speaker 1: Now Sandbridge means.
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  Speaker 3: What sandbridge, So Sandbridge means bridge bridging the gap between
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  Speaker 3: parents and kids. With my last name being Sanders, I
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  Speaker 3: kept saying, what what can I name my school? So
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  Speaker 3: first I was going to name it bridged in School,
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  Speaker 3: but then I wanted to incorporate my last name minute,
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  Speaker 3: so I took Sanders and I bridged it, and I
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  Speaker 3: took Sandbridge, and I said, well, Sanders is bridging the
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  Speaker 3: gap between parents and kids.
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  Speaker 2: So that's how I came up with Sandbridge.
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  Speaker 1: Awesome, congratulations on that idea. One thing I come on
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  Speaker 1: my conversation with you so far, you seem very creative,
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  Speaker 1: and you seem to be very confident in your approach
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  Speaker 1: to being creative. Do you have any mentors or individuals
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  Speaker 1: that you bounce ideas off of? Or you just a
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  Speaker 1: person that is so confident in what you are doing
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  Speaker 1: and what you believe you just just battle those narratives
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  Speaker 1: and waterways by yourself.
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  Speaker 3: I would say it's a combination of both. Okay, So
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  Speaker 3: I'm very strong headed, and yes I do come up
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  Speaker 3: with the ideas, but I do ask for my leaders
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  Speaker 3: and mentors. I might ask that advice of what they think,
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  Speaker 3: so I do get a second opinion.
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  Speaker 1: Now, you know, when you start talking about Learning Center
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  Speaker 1: and is there a curriculum.
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: Talking to Keana Sanders, she owns the sam Bridge saying
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  Speaker 1: as part of her last name, last name is Sanders
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  Speaker 1: and Bridge is bridging the gap early Learning Center. And
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  Speaker 1: we've discussed her personality. That personnelity is very outgoing. She
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  Speaker 1: calls usself old because she says young people, but she's
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  Speaker 1: not old, which I really appreciate people who get their
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  Speaker 1: idea and follow through at such a young age. I
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  Speaker 1: always respect that because I wasn't one of those people. Ken.
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  Speaker 1: I was going through life using words like you know,
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  Speaker 1: right place at the right time, lucky, you know, being
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  Speaker 1: you know, terms that did not suit my ability or
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  Speaker 1: recognize my talents were creating these success stories. And you
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  Speaker 1: you're clearly understanding that you have talents and you turn
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  Speaker 1: those talents to success stories, but you confidently build upon that. Now.
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  Speaker 1: So what is the future for Sandbridge Learning Center? Wow?
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  Speaker 3: Wow? The future for Sandbridge Early Learning Center is to
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  Speaker 3: be to develop a franchise. I'm working on franchise in
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  Speaker 3: my business right now.
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  Speaker 1: You have right now one, I.
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  Speaker 2: Have six six, so I have three full sight.
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  Speaker 1: Questions and you I knew you had. I'm talking to
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  Speaker 1: the trendy autumn meals are trended. You know six locations.
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  Speaker 3: Six locations, so three of those locations are Full Sight
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  Speaker 3: centers and the other three are before and aftercare programs
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  Speaker 3: and the Prince George's County Public Schools.
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  Speaker 1: Stay with us. More money Making Conversation Master Lass coming
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  Speaker 1: up next. Welcome back to Money Making Conversation Master Lass
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  Speaker 1: with me Rashaun McDonald. And can I ask how many
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  Speaker 1: students or children do you care for within your system?
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  Speaker 2: I would say are most four hundred.
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  Speaker 1: And so in one of your care centers because you
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  Speaker 1: know these are baby You have spaces that you know
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  Speaker 1: you got to set aside, so it's not like you
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  Speaker 1: just push a bunch of kids in the room. So
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  Speaker 1: and four hundreds is a large number. So what are
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  Speaker 1: the principles or the curriculum for making because you said learning,
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  Speaker 1: you know what do you are? You each location has
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  Speaker 1: a different curriculum and what are you trying to teach?
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  Speaker 1: What lessons do you tell the parents who drop off
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  Speaker 1: their kids, why should they bring their kids to Sandbridge?
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  Speaker 3: Well, we have a career use one curriculum for the
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  Speaker 3: three full Sight centers. That curriculum is our Frog Street curriculum,
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  Speaker 3: so that is ages infants from infants to five years old.
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  Speaker 2: So with that curriculum, oh gosh.
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  Speaker 3: They it comes with themes and it actually comes with
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  Speaker 3: a guide to help the teacher do their lesson plans.
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  Speaker 3: Every teacher is responsible for doing that lesson plans, like
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  Speaker 3: for the infants and toddless the infants and toddlers have
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  Speaker 3: tummy time, and so with tummy time they're doing like
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  Speaker 3: tummy activities or physical activities with the children reading books.
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  Speaker 3: I have a curriculum specialist that rotates through all of
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  Speaker 3: my sites to make sure that the curriculum is being followed.
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  Speaker 3: And then we also have the pre K program in
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  Speaker 3: which I employ a Baltimore County or Prince George's County,
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  Speaker 3: a public school teacher to come into my facilities and
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  Speaker 3: teach the children. So the same teachers that work in
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  Speaker 3: a public school system, I get a grant and I'm
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  Speaker 3: able to have them come into my facilities and teach
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  Speaker 3: the children the same material so that they can be
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  Speaker 3: ready for elementary school.
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  Speaker 1: And the bottom line is about the families, yes, and
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  Speaker 1: your role in being able to because like I said,
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  Speaker 1: my child only have one child, daughter, and we used
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  Speaker 1: to put in these early learning centers type setups, but
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  Speaker 1: I never felt like they incorporated us as the family
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  Speaker 1: just took our child, did what they were supposed to.
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  Speaker 1: Our child was safe and it was rich, and my
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  Speaker 1: daughter's returned to us safe every day. Do you incorporate
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  Speaker 1: families in the format that you created Sandbridge?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, we had family engagement activities and family engagement nights
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  Speaker 3: when the family and families actually come out and participant
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  Speaker 3: in our activities in the evening. Some of those programs
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  Speaker 3: are required by the grant as well. It's wonderful programs
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  Speaker 3: because we have programs like Black History Month where the
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  Speaker 3: children will have festivals and they sing and they dance.
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  Speaker 3: We have pta meetings back the school night where the
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  Speaker 3: families come in. We have a lot of different festivals
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  Speaker 3: in the summertime that a family engagement where we have
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: community come in and then we have people outside in
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: the community come in. We offer activities like cony rides
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: for the children, pumpkin patches. We take the children on
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: educational field trips like to the aquarium based off of
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: what they are learning for that week, whatever that lesson
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: plan is for that week pertaining to the curriculum. We
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: do a lot of family engagement activities, and when we do,
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: we eat as a family, starve refreshments, we reserve, reserve snags,
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: We have a wonderful time.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm talking to my guests. If you've been listening
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: to this interview, she's a visionary. She had six locations
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: in the Maryland Baltimore area on the East Coast. If
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: you listen to this interview, you know she's fearless because
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: she didn't start out in childcare. She thought she's gonna
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: be a big time fashion designer because she went up
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: New York came down to Maryland's sure remember what her
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: grandma showed her when she was a kid that inspired
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: her Number one life because I always tell people between
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: the ages of eighteen and twenty two, it's what you
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: really want to be. Like when you get past that
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: age is when you can shift out and either take
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: a job you don't want or get married. But if
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: you really confused about your life, what direction you wanted
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: to be, who you wanted to be, go back to
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: that period and that's what you've just done right now.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: You may have wanted to go to school to be
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: a fashion designer, but in that little window it started
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: earlier than eighteen. This is what you always wanted to do.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: I know I've kind of asked this question, but what
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: got you back on this direction to say, you know,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to be trendy. I'm not going to
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: be the next fashion designer. I'm not going to New
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: York Fashion Week. I'm going to be Keana Sanders, you know,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: educated for the young, turning lives and making families hold
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Talk to me.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: Well, one, I had all these certifications and I wasn't
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: using them i got there. And two, the fact that
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: I just knew that I think I had a change
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: of life, Like I just had a different call. And
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: I'm like I say, after my grandparents passed and I
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: was care kevin of them, It's like my life took
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: a shift and I had my own child. At that time,
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: my child might have been maybe to one or two
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: years old, and I was working part time in a
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: child care facility, and I saw the.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: Need for or to do a lot more.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: I won't say the name of the facility, but some
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: of the things that I was saying wasn't I said
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: it wasn't conducive. I'll say it wasn't condescive. To the environment,
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: and I wanted to be the one to make a change.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: I wanted to be the one to have that child
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: care facility where I could help the parents, where I
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: could be aide to them. Not only not only was
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: it just about the money, but it was just about
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: being able to make sure that the children had the
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: resources that they need. I see a lot of times
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: in our in our communities that our children don't get
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: the help that they deserve, and I wanted to be
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: the one to be able to change that around and
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: just be the leading childcare provider for people to know
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: that it's more. It's not about the money, It's not
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: about what you can get. It's also about what you
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: can do for the communities. And I have impacted a
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: lot of families and a lot of people lives. And
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: I think that's what really really settles within me, knowing
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: that I'm doing something for a greater cause.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Now that's really interesting. And you say that I'm talking
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: to Keanu Saunders. You know, she's the founder, chief executive
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: owner a Sandbridge Early Learning Center, a network of early
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: childcare facilities in the Maryland area. Right now, she has
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: six locations. And then you said the word franchise, yes,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: which means you know, quality control be the same standards.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Talk to us because we're dealing with the not Hamburgers.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: We're dealing with These are young lives insurance. This is
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: a lot of protocols that have to be put in place.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: So is there a distance that you were franchised to
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: kind of maintain quality control? Talk about what you what
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: you mean when you say the word franchise.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: Well, what I mean when I say franchise is having
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: a sandbridge right now in every state if I could,
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: if well not, if I can do it, I will
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: do it.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: I want to say.
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: That that is what I mean by franchise. I want
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: to be able to like right now. I renovated a
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: lot of my centers to all look the same, all
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: being sank. For instance, will you Subway, will McDonald's right
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: to fill at all of their all of their franchises
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: look the same. So we started working on that. I
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: just finished with My last center was making sure that
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: all those.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Locations with food places right, so all your places, so
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: you your learning centers look like food places.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: My learning centers don look like.
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: How they.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Places want something to eat and kids coming out, wait,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: do they mamas and daddy's. I was just messing with you.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: But you are brandy. That's what's called brandy.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: I'm branding.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: We drive by if you if your brand and your
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: colors are yellow, your colors are gray and the letters,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: it stands out because I know what Chick fil A
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: looks like. I know what the Big m is, I
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: know what the Burger King looks like. These are branding.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I know what Subway looks like. You know these are
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: brandings that are consistent to our mind. I know what
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: the Google looks like. All these brands carry a certain model,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: and these models because legendary because they've become legendary because
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: they've been branded in So from a marketing standpoint, now
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: let's slide back a little bit again. Fashion institute, you're
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: in childcare, you're entrepreneur. Now you're talking about marketing. Are
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: these naturally learned skills that you picked up on through
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: education and you know, trial and error?
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: Naturally learned skills and trial and I'm not going to
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: say education, because what you learn in school is completely
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: different than when you when.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: You get out there in the real world.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: Right, So education might have had some part, but I
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: would say natural and through try and trial or definitely how.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Do you get back to the community. You know, because
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: you're in six locations, so I think the community, you're
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: dealing with, families, you're dealing with small kids, So it
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: has to be and we always say that the holistic
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: relationship you have with families. Do you employ a need
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: within your company's mantra to get back to the community.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: Yes, we definitely get back to the community. My discount
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: a lot of my childcare fees. When I know that
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: parents just can't afford it or can't afford tuition, we
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: will definitely work with the parents and you know as
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: to what can you afford, how can we help you,
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: what can we do with what can we do for you?
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: We go an extra mile and even help it's a
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: freeze on a vouch the scholarship application right now in Maryland,
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: scholarship applications are vouchers, subsidy vouchures that you can receive
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: from the state. So we go as far as even
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: helping the families with their application process, doing the application
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: with them, you know, helping them with getting the resources
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: that they need. So we definitely go above and beyond.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: And like I said, if they're when my families had
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: financial situations. Sometimes I'll wave the fees, you know. Sometimes
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: I'll tell them not to worry about it. Some of
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: the families we provide free lunch to you for the children,
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: you know, and that's that's a cost that's coming out
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: of my pocket. So we're able to feed the feed
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: the children as well free of costs. So those are
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: things that we do to you know, to help our
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: families out, especially if they're going through any type of hardships.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Now you mentioned the word grant. I got to ask
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: that question because whenever we're here to work grant. Is
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: that a five oh one c are nonprofit you own?
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Are you run? Are you founded? Or is this a
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: corporation that qualified for a grant?
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: This is a corporation that qualifies for a grant that
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: we get. It's called the pre K Expansion grant or
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: and also the blueprint for grant and that allows three
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: and four year olds to come to you to your
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: program for free, so the state will pay for them
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: to come for free as long as they meet the
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: income qualifications.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: I asked that because you know, as a minority, you know,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I welcome everybody. Now, does your business qualify because it's
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: a minority business and you're offering a service that is
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: often limited to the community of color. All your platform
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: is for everybody, all races, all individuals of color to
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: come in and allow their child, our children to have
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: care at your learning center.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: My platform is for everyone. It's not based off of minority.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Just to just stop right. They didn't even add to
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: that that you you know, just it's for everybody. That's
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: how you're gonna do. Miss out. You've been storm and
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: you just throughout one sentence, it's for everybody. It just
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: looked at me, don't play with me, son, which is
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: important because I would tell you something as a as
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: a black person, you know, we want to make all
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: the money, and I hate to get stereotyped. You know,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: I'm in business because I'm black, And some black people
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: don't want to let people know they own a black
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: business because they don't want people to think that they
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: have a certain amount of reports. You know, because sometimes
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: minority owners can get stereotype that they're going to deliver
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: inferior service, in ferial quality, the warranties don't exist. How
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: do you overcome that and how have you overcome that
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: in building your brand? Which is now in six locations.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that In the beginning, I used to
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: be like that.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: I would say, and I I'm just asking because I
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: think that you already you said earlier you've learned from
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: your mistakes.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: Yes, I've learned from my mistakes. I'm gonna be honest.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: In the beginning, I didn't want anybody to know that
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: I was the owner. I mean because I was scared.
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: And this goes into a whole different conversation, but sometimes
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: your own people, you know, don't want to see you
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: su see or your own people will block your blessings,
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: and I didn't want to I experienced that a little bit,
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: and so I was like, I didn't want anyone to
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: know that I was the owner. I actually thought by
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: having a different face in front of it would be
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: better for my business. But then as I got old
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: and wise, I had to really think about that and
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: really kind of pivot that to say, you know, you
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: didn't work this hard.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: You know you deserve to be recognized.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: You know, you deserve everyone deserves to know who you are,
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: what you're doing in the community.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: Everyone deserves to know.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: You know, how many lives that you've changed, how much
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: you've been an impact on a community. So with that
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: being said, I you know, decided to kind of change
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: my model. Also was speaking to some of my mentors
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: that you know, we're doing a lot better than me
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: and that I continue to still look up to this day.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: I seek advice from them, and just having good people
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: and people that really want to see you win and
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: a good support system helped me, you know, kind of
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: change that mindset.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm happy you said that because, like I said,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: I know when the George Floyd incident had and you know,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: I remember I was contacted by Google and they wanted
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: to know what's our black owned business. If you go
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: to our Google page or whatever, it still has checked
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: and I'm a black owned business. And that was the
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: first time I was in a position to say yes
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: or no, and of course I proudly said yes. But
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: when you're an inspiring entrepreneur, what advice would you give
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: looking at your journey, you know, fashion automotive dealership, you know,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: starting to learn and center and denial of your ownership
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: because of the color of your skin. That's a journey.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: And you're still young. What does the future hold for
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: you as a young entrepreneur? Because I'm gonn keep saying
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: she's young, because anybody tell me that, you know those
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: she looked like you're thirteen on TV here and we
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: know she's not, but she's but she's a person that
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: is highly skilled at what you do. Advice, please, I
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: would say to.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: Anyone to just make sure that you say, be consistent
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: and persistent in everything that you do.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: That's my number one advice. I would say to always.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: Think about where you want to be, think about what
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: your goals are.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: Create a vision board.
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: You know, once you create a vision board, and you
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: start a vision board, you start putting things on your
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: vision board and crossing the mouth.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Well, actually your vision board grows.
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: But as you as you cross the mouth, just continue
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: to jot things down. You're only going to be as
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: good as you think you are. So with that band said,
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: I would just advise anyone that wants to get into
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: entrepreneurship or to just stay focused, disguise the limit. And
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: my terminology that I always use, yeah, you can do
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: all things through Christ. That strengthens you right, Biblical first,
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: and so I keep that embedded in my mind all
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: the time. And I feel like that if you just
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: stay strong and be consistent at whatever it is that
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: you want. You can accomplish anything, especially if you're a
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: resk taker. You're not if you're scared to do something right.
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: If you're scared to do these things and you hold back,
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: you're never going to get it done. So in order
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: for you to get where you want to be, you
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: have to take rest. It's always going to be certain
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: rests that are involved. And if you if you're too
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: scared to ever find out, then you're going to be
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: sitting in a chair for the rest of your life.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: So if you're a risk taker and you say, hey,
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: you know, I'm ready to I'm ready to do it,
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: just go forward, just put just just give it your
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: best shot.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: As they say you might be. It's out of out.
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: Of ten nose, you're going to get one yes right
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: out of five people, it's always one superstar, So you
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: never know.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: So you're not going to get there if you don't
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: take the rest.
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: So I just tell everyone, be consistent, be persistent, have faith, pray,
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: lean on God, and as much as you lean on God,
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: he'll never forsaking. So and have a plan and have
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: a plan. That's right, that's the key.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: Have a plan, don't jump out there with no plan
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: and understand your budget. You understand this. It was really
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: a joy talking to you and I wish you luck.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: You know, enfranchising will happen. You already got six locations
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: in the Maryland area and with that being said, your
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: future is bright. And thank you for sharing your story
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: on Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank you to our guests
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: on the show today, and thank you our listening audience. Now.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: If you want to listen to any episode or want
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: to register to be a guest on my show, visit
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversations.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: Join us next week and remember to always leave with
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: your gifts. Keep winning. Eight