Open your childcare center — and run it like a real business
Step-by-step guidance on licensing, facility design, staffing, enrollment, and financials — built for educators who are ready to own the whole operation, not just work in it.

"I built this school so you can skip the expensive lessons I learned the hard way — and open with your eyes wide open."
— Wanda Holmes

What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Write a complete childcare center business plan with realistic startup cost projections and a break-even timeline
- Navigate your state's licensing and accreditation process step by step without missing a single requirement
- Design a safe, compliant facility layout that meets square-footage, ratio, and health-code standards
- Build and retain a qualified teaching staff — from job postings and interviews to onboarding and performance reviews
- Create an enrollment funnel and tuition pricing strategy that fills your classrooms and sustains healthy margins
- Implement financial controls, payroll systems, and parent-billing workflows that keep the business running smoothly
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
Your AI coach keeps you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
6 modules · 30 lessons

The Childcare Business Blueprint
Lay the strategic and financial foundation of your childcare center by building a complete, investor-ready business plan.
- 1.1Defining Your Vision, Niche, and Center ModelIncluded
- 1.2Market Research and Competitive AnalysisIncluded
- 1.3Startup Cost Projections and Funding SourcesIncluded
- 1.4Break-Even Analysis and Revenue ModelingIncluded
- 1.5Writing Your Complete Business PlanIncluded
Licensing, Compliance, and Accreditation
Navigate every federal, state, and local requirement to open legally and pursue accreditation that builds family trust.
- 2.1How Childcare Licensing Works in Your StateIncluded
- 2.2Pre-Licensing Checklist: Applications, Background Checks, and InspectionsIncluded
- 2.3Health, Safety, and Mandatory Reporting RequirementsIncluded
- 2.4CACFP, Subsidies, and Government Funding ComplianceIncluded
- 2.5Pursuing NAEYC or State Quality Rating AccreditationIncluded
Facility Design and Safe Learning Environments
Design a compliant, child-centered physical space that meets square-footage, ratio, and health-code standards from day one.
- 3.1Site Selection: Zoning, Lease Negotiation, and Space RequirementsIncluded
- 3.2Floor Plan Design and Classroom LayoutIncluded
- 3.3Staff-to-Child Ratios and Group Size RulesIncluded
- 3.4Safety Systems, Accessibility, and ADA ComplianceIncluded
- 3.5Furnishings, Equipment, and Learning Environment StandardsIncluded
Building and Retaining a Qualified Teaching Team
Recruit, hire, onboard, and retain the qualified educators who deliver your program and define your center's culture.
- 4.1Staffing Structure, Job Roles, and Qualification RequirementsIncluded
- 4.2Writing Job Postings and Sourcing Great CandidatesIncluded
- 4.3Interviewing, Reference Checks, and Background ScreeningIncluded
- 4.4Onboarding, Training, and Staff HandbooksIncluded
- 4.5Performance Reviews, Retention Strategies, and Reducing TurnoverIncluded
Enrollment Marketing and Tuition Strategy
Fill your classrooms and sustain healthy margins with a clear enrollment funnel, pricing strategy, and family-facing marketing.
- 5.1Understanding Your Enrollment FunnelIncluded
- 5.2Tuition Pricing, Rate Structures, and Competitive PositioningIncluded
- 5.3Digital Presence: Website, Google Business Profile, and Social MediaIncluded
- 5.4Lead Generation, Tours, and Enrollment ConversionIncluded
- 5.5Waitlists, Retention, and Word-of-Mouth GrowthIncluded
Financial Operations and Business Systems
Implement the financial controls, payroll workflows, and billing systems that keep your center profitable and audit-ready.
- 6.1Setting Up Your Business Entity, Bank Accounts, and BookkeepingIncluded
- 6.2Tuition Billing, Payment Processing, and Late-Payment PoliciesIncluded
- 6.3Payroll Systems, Benefits, and Labor Law ComplianceIncluded
- 6.4Monthly Financial Reporting and Key Performance MetricsIncluded
- 6.5Insurance, Risk Management, and Long-Term Financial PlanningIncluded
Who it's for
Is this you?
Lead teacher going independent
She's spent years in someone else's classroom and is ready to build a center that reflects her values — she needs the business foundation to match her teaching expertise.
Director stepping into ownership
She runs the day-to-day with confidence but is taking over (or launching) a center and needs to own the financial controls, licensing, and business strategy for the first time.
Community-focused founder
She wants to open a culturally responsive center that also serves families using subsidies and CACFP — and needs to navigate the compliance and funding side without guesswork.
Career-changer with startup capital
He's leaving a corporate career to build a purpose-driven business and wants a real operational playbook — not generic entrepreneurship advice he has to translate into childcare.
Home daycare owner scaling up
She's maxed out her home-based license and is ready to lease a dedicated space — she needs to understand center-level licensing, facility design, and staffing ratios before she signs a lease.
Investor-backed center operator
He's opening a center with outside funding and needs airtight financial systems, enrollment projections, and compliance infrastructure to satisfy investors and regulators alike.
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
Wanda Holmes
If you're reading this, I'm guessing you've been thinking about opening a childcare center for a while. Maybe for years. You know what good early childhood care looks like — you've lived it. What you're less sure about is the business part: the licensing maze, the startup costs, the staffing headaches, the tuition pricing you're never quite confident in, the financial reports that feel like a second language.
I've been there. I've sat across from a licensing inspector with a checklist I wasn't fully prepared for. I've hired someone I thought was great and watched it fall apart within sixty days because my onboarding was a mess. I've set tuition rates based on what I thought the market would bear, without actually doing the math to know whether those rates would keep the lights on. Every one of those mistakes was expensive — in money, in time, and in stress.
I built Childcare CEO because I wished something like it had existed when I was starting out. Not a fluffy "follow your passion" course, and not a 400-page policy manual that reads like it was written by a regulator. Something practical. Something that handed you the framework and said: here's the business plan structure, here's the licensing checklist, here's how you set up payroll without getting buried — now customize it for your situation and go.
That's what this school is. We start with your vision and your numbers — market research, startup cost projections, a real break-even model. Then we work through licensing and compliance in plain language, because understanding your state's requirements is not optional, it's the foundation. We cover facility design, staff ratios, ADA rules, and what inspectors actually look for. We build your hiring and retention system from scratch. We build your enrollment funnel and your tuition strategy. And we set up the financial infrastructure — billing, payroll, monthly reporting — that keeps the business running when everything else gets chaotic, because it will.
I want you to open your center with your eyes open: clear on your costs, confident in your compliance, ready to hire and enroll and serve families well. That's the transformation this school is designed to deliver. If you're ready to stop dreaming about it and start building it, let's get to work.
— Wanda Holmes
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- 6 modules, 30 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
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