Women Entrepreneurs in Child Care
Mothers Open Day Care Preschool - Combining Career and Family
Before age 30, Jonna Chandler Marsland and Katie Cummings Aschenbach built, ground up, a business that would provide a future for themselves and their families. In the summer of 2001, the women, both in the third trimester of first pregnancies, became entrepreneurial owners of Wee Ones Childcare Inc in Gulfport, MS - and they became general contractors.
Building a Building from Ground Up
Marsland’s father, Dan Chandler, owns an established preschool in Gulfport with his wife Es. After his daughter and Aschenbach purchased land, he designed their building and became their contractor, until surgery temporarily benched him. So the young entrepreneurs rode herd on subcontractors, building permits, zoning variances and other necessaries of commercial construction.
A year earlier, the lifelong friends had discovered a need for childcare and pre-schools in their area.
Taking on a mortgage, a $200,000 annual payroll and an attractive building, they opened their doors in November 2001. They have capacity for 105 children as young as six weeks, and a staff of 15, including three directors. Their educational component, based on High Reach Learning, is polished by staff input.
"We did background work – market studies, a business plan and a thorough search for funding and capital opportunities," Marsland recalls in a 2008 interview. "That’s why it worked for us."
Education and Business Experience
Both these college grads had business backgrounds – Marsland in culinary arts and in her family’s business, Aschenbach in insurance marketing. Their personal bond is so strong they complete each others’ sentences at times. Though they’re driven by serious work ethics, strong love of family creates balance.
How to Succeed in Business
Success formula? Aschenbach responded, "Customer and employee retention. We do the extras. Word of mouth is our best tool. Our team is fantastic – and they stay with us because we make it a good place to work."
The partners hold safety, variety and fun in high regard, so customers don’t mind a waiting list. Security locks, cameras and monitors onsite make parents comfortable. Once in the open classroom area, kids seem challenged and delighted.
For women, the workplace is improving over what the baby boomer generation encountered but there is still a long way to go. Equity of salary between men and women is still not where it needs to be. There is still gender discrimination in some fields. When a woman can carve out an entrepreneurial niche that fulfills her creative and intellectual needs and allows her to raise her family on the job, that’s a gift.
When two very young women can do that on their own successfully, that might be called inspirational.
