306: Are You Ready to Kickstart Your 2026 with Confidence in Childcare Leadership?

In this episode of Child Care Conversations, Kate and Carrie chat about kicking off 2026 with a fresh mindset for childcare leaders. They share practical tips on setting micro-goals (no vision board required!), finding the right mentors or coaches, and building a supportive network. Whether you’re facing enrollment challenges or just need a confidence boost, they’ve got you covered. The big takeaway? Focus on what brings you joy and remember—you’re not alone in this journey. Here’s to a confident, joyful year ahead in your center!

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Transcript

Kate Young (00:51)
Happy New Year!

Carrie Casey (00:52)
We're so glad that you are here with us to experience 2026. I hope it's going to be one full of joy and expansion and not necessarily expansion as far as more schools or more kids, but expansion in your skillset, expansion in your joy of doing this job, of caring for the kids.

If you want to expand your program by adding more classrooms or having a second school, that's great, but it needs to be what you want to do because it meets your goals. So Kate, how should we give them some advice on how to start the foot off, start the foot off, start the year off, start off on the right foot, there we go, ⁓ and be getting along the way they want to go on? What are some things they could do?

Kate Young (01:34)
you

First of all, I want to say don't feel pressured to do goal setting only in the first of January or the end of December. Don't feel that you have to have a vision board. Don't feel that you have to have, I don't know, the word of the year. I mean, all of these things are great if that's what works for you, but if that doesn't work for you and it's uncomfortable and it's not going to bring you joy, joy, joy, joy, joy.

Carrie Casey (02:13)
bring you joy.

Kate Young (02:14)
Joy, Dan,

Carrie Casey (02:15)
Joy, joy, joy, joy, joy.

Kate Young (02:18)
in the heart. Okay, so if it's not going to bring you joy and it's going to stress you out because I will tell you as somebody who the concept of coming up with a word for the year or a vision board as a not very creative human, both of those things kind of stress me out because

also want to try to figure out the KPIs. How do I know if that word really did what I wanted it to do and what does that mean? So I know that there are some great coaches and consultants out there that this is the thing that they are very passionate about, that they think everybody needs that. ⁓ I am totally on board with that you need a map. You can't get to a destination without knowing where you're going. So

Even if those are micro goals. So for you, you might be one of those people that are like, I can't think to December. I can get to February. ⁓ So great. Let's start with what do you want to do over the next four weeks? And so these can be with, you know, real coaches and mentors, or they can be with virtual coaches and mentors. Carrie, I know that a lot of times,

If somebody asked you who might've had influence on you, you might talk about people who you've actually never met. What does that mean to you?

Carrie Casey (03:41)
So for me, I have coaches and mentors that I have read their books, that I have taken their courses, that I've been part of their masterminds. And I've never been in the same space and breathed the same air as them. Tony Robbins, Neil Graciosi, I know for you Mel Robbins, like these are people who aren't in the industry, but that have been mentors and coaches to us. And in the...

coaching and mentoring space. Like I had the true blessing of doing student teaching under Bev Boss, who was an amazing influence in early childhood education. And so she's one of my mentors for the early stage in my career. If you don't have somebody who's talked to you about how to market play-based learning, go read some Bev Boss.

She will help you.

But if you need that one-on-one or one-on-a-few, find yourself a mastermind or a coaching cohort that works in your schedule and that mastermind leader or that coach matches with your brain. Just so you know, you probably match with either Kate or I, or maybe both of us, because you keep listening to us.

Kate Young (05:07)
hahahaha ⁓

Carrie Casey (05:07)
We do have masterminds

and coaching. We don't talk about it very often on the podcast and I'm sure our business coach would be horrified if she knew how rarely we talked about it. But if you need to get in a mastermind or you need some individual or small group coaching, we do that. You can go to childcare conversations. You can get information about that childcareconversations.com.

But if you want somebody local, go find somebody local. I like the online because I don't have to worry about what I look like. And a lot of that where.

Kate Young (05:50)
You mean you can get away with not putting

pants on?

Carrie Casey (05:54)
pants, they're just very stretchy. So, you know, find yourself those mentors and coaches and whether again, it is a book, it is a class, it is one on one or small group coaching, or it is a mastermind. Do that. Sure.

Kate Young (06:12)
Can I say something? Can

I say something? Hey, so also those coaches don't have to be forever. They can be for one thing. So a lot of folks, if you are struggling with something in your program, you can find a coach who's going to coach you through that issue. Now, if you want somebody to do it, I just need, I need to do a vocabulary check here for you. If you want somebody to tell you what to do,

and they give you a list in the checklist, that's a consultant. That is not a coach. A coach is going to force you to think about it, force you to come up with your own plan and help you be accountable. So coaches, if you think about big professional coaches that you know their names, and I'm sure Carrie could rattle off some sports coaches, ⁓ but a sports coach and a business coach,

Carrie Casey (07:02)
Yes, I can.

Kate Young (07:06)
the same thing okay so in other words they're coaching you to be a better person or version of you and sometimes some people like coaches that are specific so I might want a life coach ⁓ I've had grief coaches I've had I've had lots of coaches ⁓

Carrie Casey (07:28)
She's

had a fashion coach, is that what you would call Linda?

Kate Young (07:34)
say more of a confidence coach, but yes, there was a time, there was, there was a definite time, ⁓ in the last five years, I think in the last five years, I've had over a dozen coaches. ⁓ and in my case, I liked specialty coaches, but I've also been asked by people in our industry to help them through life issues, not just business issues, because they bonded with me or they, they connected with me as a coach.

Carrie Casey (07:36)
Okay, confidence coach.

Kate Young (08:00)
which meant that they were comfortable with me coaching all different aspects of their life, not just what they thought they wanted me to help with, which was generally business.

Carrie Casey (08:11)
And again, you can have a specialty coach in the industry. If you are having enrollment issues because of increased competition from the school districts, from charter schools, from large programs coming into your area, get an enrollment coach. If you need a coach to support you with HR and building your team and building your authority within your team.

then get a coach that specializes in that. If you want an exit plan.

Get a coach for that. Kate is great at the exit plan. That's one of her areas. If you want to open another location, that's a Carrie thing. Carrie loves, I love to walk you through all the things to open another location or open your first, right? And again, Kate is an amazing enrollment coach. I have a tendency to do more of the HR, but find somebody.

Kate Young (09:01)
Open your first!

Carrie Casey (09:14)
to support you because leading a program can be one of the loneliest jobs. I would say it is the loneliest job in the industry. ⁓ It's not in the whole world. Of course, there's underwater welders. They probably are lonelier than people leading programs in the industry. They do, but.

Kate Young (09:35)
Yeah, but they get paid really well.

Carrie Casey (09:39)
In the industry, I think running a school is frequently one of the loneliest jobs. All of your frontline teachers have each other. The owners have groups that the owners get together. So find yourself some support so that you don't feel so alone and so overwhelmed. You've got this. We know you can do this. You just need a little bit of support and it shouldn't just be from the people who are

paying the bills. It should not be just from the owner or just from the board of directors. Or if you're the owner, it shouldn't just be your spouse or significant other. So please reach out, find some mentors, coaches, whatever the word is that works for you or the type of support you need. That's what I think your first goal for the year is, is to figure out what kind of support and mentorship you need.

Kate Young (10:20)
you

Carrie Casey (10:36)
And if it's that confidence coach, find a confidence coach. If you don't know where you could even find coaches for these different things, text the show, go into the show notes. The first, there's a red line, you can click it. It says, text the show, text us and we will help you to find those coaches and mentors based on what you need. It does not have to be us because you might need a mentor or a coach.

on how to make over your menu at your school, because you've realized you are hemorrhaging money in the food department. Cool, we can find you a coach for that. Okay, have a great year guys.

Kate Young (11:20)
Absolutely, and don't forget to find your joy and if you are struggling and you just feel pressure for a word, I'm gonna go with joy ⁓ because we want you to make sure that you remember that this is a job where you get to play all day.

Carrie Casey (11:36)
Well, you get to play every day, maybe not all day.

Kate Young (11:40)
They could play all day, but they probably got some work to do.

Carrie Casey (11:43)
Yep. Okay guys, have

a great year and we will see you in a few days and share the show with someone who needs to know.