bothering you.”
“It’s just that I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ve never run a business. Hell, I’ve never even worked in a daycare center.” Talking herself down to a potential investor was stupid, but she couldn’t lie to him. Chris deserved better.
“I’ve been thinking about your lack of experience,” he said, eyeing her up and down. “It’s not that I question whether you can pull this off; I know you can. But if we put the right team in place, you could take the time to get comfortable in your new role and figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, reaching for the bottle of water she’d ordered when his receptionist offered to do a deli run so they could work through lunch.
“If we go with the smaller space, it would be you, twenty kids, and an assistant.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, but think about this.” He pulled up the spreadsheet he’d compiled for the larger space. “If we go with this building, we’d have ten classrooms, so at least a hundred and fifty students.”
The thought of being responsible for that many kids made Katie break out in a cold sweat. Even twenty seemed overwhelming. “I don’t know if—”
“Just hear me out,” Chris said, raising his hand. “We could hire an administrator, someone with a lot of experience in private schools. Not to mention an administrative assistant and nine other teachers. You could take one classroom, and you’d only have about fifteen students in each class.”
That sounded perfect. It was almost eerie how Chris seemed to know what she needed even before she did. “Go on.”
“You would be the school’s director, in addition to being a teacher. The other staff would answer to you and be responsible for initiatives to make the school better. How does that sound so far?”
“Expensive,” she said, thinking about how much it would cost Chris to pull that off.
He laughed. “Fortunately, my pockets are pretty deep. I see this as a sound investment, especially after researching the market. There are several of these schools in Nashville, but none in our neighborhood. Since a lot of parents are already paying for daycare for kids in this age group, it wouldn’t be a stretch to ask them to pay a little more for a program that would give their children a solid foundation when they’re ready to move on.”
“Speaking of programs,” Katie said, feeling her uncertainty growing, “my courses gave me a good understanding of how to implement pre-school programs, but building one from the ground up? I’m not sure I could do that.” She felt foolish. She should have done more research before talking to Chris or anyone else about her idea.
“I’ve thought about that too.” Chris scrolled down his spreadsheet. “I’ve built into the budget a salary for a senior teacher/consultant. I’d like someone who could help us build these programs. The administrator would have been a pre-school teacher herself before she was promoted to that role, and she could help as well.” Everything he said made sense, so why was Katie still so afraid? “Let’s talk salaries. I’ve done some research into salary expectations for these various roles, and here’s what I’ve come up with.” He scrolled across his screen so she could see the salary projections for the staff members.
Katie had never earned that much money in her life. As a new pre-school teacher, she knew she would be making one-third of that. “Chris, that’s too much. I couldn’t draw that kind of salary from the business in the beginning. Maybe in a few years.” When she felt she’d earned it.
“That’s open for negotiation, but I think that salary is in line with the amount of work you would have to do to get this business to the point necessary to meet our five-year projection.”
“Our five-year projection?”
He scrolled across the screen. “I spoke to Cynthia this morning, and her
“It’s just that I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ve never run a business. Hell, I’ve never even worked in a daycare center.” Talking herself down to a potential investor was stupid, but she couldn’t lie to him. Chris deserved better.
“I’ve been thinking about your lack of experience,” he said, eyeing her up and down. “It’s not that I question whether you can pull this off; I know you can. But if we put the right team in place, you could take the time to get comfortable in your new role and figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, reaching for the bottle of water she’d ordered when his receptionist offered to do a deli run so they could work through lunch.
“If we go with the smaller space, it would be you, twenty kids, and an assistant.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, but think about this.” He pulled up the spreadsheet he’d compiled for the larger space. “If we go with this building, we’d have ten classrooms, so at least a hundred and fifty students.”
The thought of being responsible for that many kids made Katie break out in a cold sweat. Even twenty seemed overwhelming. “I don’t know if—”
“Just hear me out,” Chris said, raising his hand. “We could hire an administrator, someone with a lot of experience in private schools. Not to mention an administrative assistant and nine other teachers. You could take one classroom, and you’d only have about fifteen students in each class.”
That sounded perfect. It was almost eerie how Chris seemed to know what she needed even before she did. “Go on.”
“You would be the school’s director, in addition to being a teacher. The other staff would answer to you and be responsible for initiatives to make the school better. How does that sound so far?”
“Expensive,” she said, thinking about how much it would cost Chris to pull that off.
He laughed. “Fortunately, my pockets are pretty deep. I see this as a sound investment, especially after researching the market. There are several of these schools in Nashville, but none in our neighborhood. Since a lot of parents are already paying for daycare for kids in this age group, it wouldn’t be a stretch to ask them to pay a little more for a program that would give their children a solid foundation when they’re ready to move on.”
“Speaking of programs,” Katie said, feeling her uncertainty growing, “my courses gave me a good understanding of how to implement pre-school programs, but building one from the ground up? I’m not sure I could do that.” She felt foolish. She should have done more research before talking to Chris or anyone else about her idea.
“I’ve thought about that too.” Chris scrolled down his spreadsheet. “I’ve built into the budget a salary for a senior teacher/consultant. I’d like someone who could help us build these programs. The administrator would have been a pre-school teacher herself before she was promoted to that role, and she could help as well.” Everything he said made sense, so why was Katie still so afraid? “Let’s talk salaries. I’ve done some research into salary expectations for these various roles, and here’s what I’ve come up with.” He scrolled across his screen so she could see the salary projections for the staff members.
Katie had never earned that much money in her life. As a new pre-school teacher, she knew she would be making one-third of that. “Chris, that’s too much. I couldn’t draw that kind of salary from the business in the beginning. Maybe in a few years.” When she felt she’d earned it.
“That’s open for negotiation, but I think that salary is in line with the amount of work you would have to do to get this business to the point necessary to meet our five-year projection.”
“Our five-year projection?”
He scrolled across the screen. “I spoke to Cynthia this morning, and her
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