Think about going to a restaurant. That's an experience you have. It's true in other businesses too, from a coffee shop to a doctor's office to a hardware store. So why shouldn't that apply to a child care center?
That's the message of Better Beans Branding in Duluth, Georgia. This company does branding, design, signs and construction and their clients include child care centers, which Better Beans helps to reach their goals and convey their values in their spaces.
In this podcast, Neel Sengupta, the company’s chief operating officer and managing partner, and Lyndsey Ward, a Better Beans graphic designer, talk about the importance of design in child care centers and how their work creates positive environments for young learners. They share the questions they ask before a project begins, including thinking about how adding space could mean additional revenue. And they describe the trend of parent-interaction areas in child care centers ... because what parents see in your lobby or common space is all they typically see, so you'd better make it interactive and experiential!
To learn more about Better Beans Branding, visit its website and its Facebook and Instagram pages. You also can email info@betterbeansbranding.com.
Think about going to a restaurant. That's an experience you have. It's true in other businesses too, from a coffee shop to a doctor's office to a hardware store. So why shouldn't that apply to a child care center?
That's the message of Better Beans Branding in Duluth, Georgia. This company does branding, design, signs and construction and their clients include child care centers, which Better Beans helps to reach their goals and convey their values in their spaces.
In this podcast, Neel Sengupta, the company’s chief operating officer and managing partner, and Lyndsey Ward, a Better Beans graphic designer, talk about the importance of design in child care centers and how their work creates positive environments for young learners. They share the questions they ask before a project begins, including thinking about how adding space could mean additional revenue. And they describe the trend of parent-interaction areas in child care centers ... because what parents see in your lobby or common space is all they typically see, so you'd better make it interactive and experiential!
To learn more about Better Beans Branding, visit its website and its Facebook and Instagram pages. You also can email info@betterbeansbranding.com.
Welcome to the Childcare Business Podcast, brought to you by ProCare Solutions. This podcast is all about giving Childre, preschool, daycare, afterschool, and other early education professionals, a fun and upbeat way to learn about strategies and inspiration you can use to thrive. You'll hear from a variety of childcare thought leaders, including educators, owners, and industry experts on ways to innovate, to meet the needs of the children you serve. From practical tips for managing operations to uplifting stories of transformation and triumph, this podcast will be chock full and insights you can use to fully realize the potential of your childcare business. Let's jump in.
Speaker 2:Wanna welcome everybody to the Childcare Business podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Ney , and , uh, I'm excited. Before we started, you know, recording this episode, I was going down memory lane with one of our guests today, Neil Sin Gupta. Uh, he's the Chief Operating Officer of Better Beatons Branding in Duluth, Georgia. Maybe we'll talk a little bit about, you know, Neil's background. He's here with Lindsay Ward, who is one of the graphic designers at Better Beans . And, you know, we thought it would be a , a really fun episode to talk a little bit about the importance of design in childcare centers and, and how the work environment creates positive spaces for young learners. And it's , it's probably a topic that many of our , in our audience are familiar with. I , we know a lot of thought goes into laying out , uh, the physical environment that you operate in, but, you know, we wanted to talk to some experts today and get a little insight from their side of the industry. So, Neil Lindsay , welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Hey, Ryan, thank you for having us. We, we really appreciate that. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, we're excited.
Speaker 3:It was , it was, it was , um, it is great to see you again and , uh, certainly appreciate the opportunity to share what we do and, and just talk, you know, really important topics for sure. So , um, looking forward to getting to know your listeners and, and being out there for them too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's awesome. So, so Neil , I know we were talking a little bit before we started recording, but just as a starting point, do you mind talking a little bit about your background in the industry and kind of what brought you to the current, you know, role and position that you're in? And then, Lindsay , I'd love to hear the same from you, maybe in terms of where you've been in your career and what you do now for better beans.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So happy to Ryan. So I , I was telling , um, your screening teammates and everybody on the call earlier today that, you know, what we do for the industry, construction, brand development, signage, and interior design, we first did for ourselves out of necessity, right? So when you're working with Better beans , you're, you're working with an organization who , um, has also operated schools, you know , uh, upwards of 25 locations here in the metro Atlanta area and beyond. And so out of our own necessity to , um, really innovate and be ahead of the pack, we have found the need consistently forever to con to deliver on design and brand development and facility , uh, management and in , in a way that actually moves the meter for the experience for the customer , right? So we got started , um, through acquisitions of childcare centers before we were even better beings , our senior partner and owner, Thad Joiner , um, operated schools here in Georgia. And , uh, and in that operation we developed a branding process to improve our messaging for our customer, to improve our connectivity to our employee, to improve , um, what the community related to went and saw us as in each and every neighborhood and market that we're in. And , and the result of that , um, exercise became a process, and that process becomes something now that we can help the rest of the industry with, and that we've been now doing for almost 10 years.
Speaker 2:And Lindsay , I wanna ask you too , to introduce yourself. What, so I know you're a graphic designer on the team. I've got a bunch of questions about all the work that you guys do. Um, but introduce yourself. What's your background? I'm guessing it's creative, but maybe I'm wrong. If you tell me that you were like a mathematician, I might be surprised. Um , guessing it's creative, but talk to about us about your background, what you do.
Speaker 4:Yeah, definitely not related to math, as everyone here will tell you. I do not like numbers , but , uh, yeah, I started out as a photographer. My undergrad is in art specializing in photography, and due to life circumstances, I , um, also decided to get a master's in graphic design. And right after that is kind of when I found better beans and started working for the team. And it's just been an amazing ride ever since I've learned more than I ever thought I would, especially about schools and signage and yeah, it's, it's been a great, great time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right on. And was this like a , like a traditional, like job find for you in terms of got done with school, they were looking for a graphic designer and you responded to an ad, or was it, I knew somebody, or I knew the industry.
Speaker 4:It wa it was more traditional. I , um, I was looking and, and, you know, really wanted to, to move on and start my career. I was, I was still in my, the, my home state and where I went to college, so I definitely wanted , was ready to move on. So I saw the ad and started , um, you know, once I applied, I started doing a little freelance stuff just to see, you know, how the fit was and it turned out to be a good fit. So yeah, that's how I came along.
Speaker 2:Here we are. Next thing you know, you're on a podcast and That's
Speaker 4:Right,
Speaker 2:<laugh> . Yeah . Nice . So, so talk to me , uh, Neil, if you could, I wanna go back to the way Better Beans was formed. Like I know you guys operated schools for many years, and that was kind of what, what birthed this business when you were doing that? Were you guys aware at the time that what you were doing was unique and kind of your secret sauce? Or was it more like in retrospect, like you got out of operating and you looked back and you realized, wow, we actually were different and had an approach that we could go and share?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, I think as you started doing it, we realized because like, like your listeners throughout the industry, you make friends and you make colleagues across, across the industry, and you go to events and you start meeting the people who are doing what you do everywhere, right? And when you start hearing their stories, you realize , um, that they've got the same challenges, they've got the same, same issues that they're trying to solve for, for us. Um, listen , not, not to get too far back into the story, but for us, we were doing this process as well in the restaurant business prior to even being in childcare. And so we understood the value of consistent messaging and consistent design. And so we brought that along with improving the operations of where we operated into the childcare space. And it works every time. So did did we know that it was magic? I I don't know that I would like to call it magic. It's something that, that, yes, it's special and yes, we knew we'd help others, but really the phone started to ring for us after that first round of businesses were sold. And Thad took a number of calls, said, Hey, how did you do what you did to , what's the secret? And you get out to, to now who are friends and colleagues and interested parties and help them see their space and take the tunnel vision off. And, and what ended up becoming for better Beans was, hey, there's, people have the desire and they have , um, the interest in this process and the interest in this solution, but what they didn't have was time. Right? And so we put that together in a , in a turnkey sort of way to address from start to finish through implementation, a better way to elevate your business or your space.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. I was gonna ask you to elaborate on that, maybe around, like, when you talk about elevating your space, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm assuming you work with both established schools that want to kind of , I dunno if it , we call it reinventing yourself or rebranding yourself as well as maybe at a seed level , you know, know new entrepreneurs or business owners that are saying, Hey, we wanna do this from stage one. Can you just walk through maybe what that process would look like? And if it is different for new versus existing, maybe some of the nuance, it , it
Speaker 3:Probably, you know, you , you don't have long enough on this podcast to do that. We'll schedule a second one for that. Perfect. But , but I , but I would say that, right, the process is all about listening, right? And so our job is to listen to the priorities and understand the values of somebody's business goals and figure out if they're actually communicating those things. Now, in our way, we communicate that through the experience a customer has through a space. So we communicate that through design elements, through through branding and signage and graphic development and, and the experience of, you know, every fixture and every detail and, and what that goes into, right? Take away , take this mindset away from the childcare experience. And all of us as consumers go to restaurants and there's an experience there that the patron gets at a restaurant and they feel like they're connected to that, that space. Same thing happens in your coffee shop, it happens at your doctor's office, it happens at your local hardware store. There's no reason that it shouldn't happen in childcare too, right? Yeah . And so for us listening to that, when you ask about what's the process, right? We're gonna interview you , we're gonna descend on your space and learn about what it is if, if you're working on remodeling your, your facility, right? But if you're going from ground up, right? You have a a dirt field, we wanna know how you're gonna use that field, right? Is it , is it three buildings or one is it, you know , so we're going to go in and really try to understand your objectives and, and you as the business owner where you think you can be different. And then we're gonna work to accentuate those differences so that they message out really well and they become , um, key ways to , for you to, to elevate your brand and elevate, you know, really how do you get more enrollments? How do you keep the ones you've got and how do you charge more for it? That was it . Yeah .
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's like, if you sum it all down to where the impact is, let's talk about the ROI and how that's gonna actually play itself out. Yeah . And, and I would imagine then , Neil, you guys are both, you know, in terms of being partners for your customers, both, Hey, let's help you with this individual project as well as we're gonna be an ongoing partner for you as you move forward with all the different projects that you're working on. Is that a , a fair assessment in terms of how you interact with your clients?
Speaker 3:Dead on , dead on accurate, right? I mean, what we, listen, we'd all like to, in our business, go ahead and sign the big will who says, Hey, great, you're, you're in for 70 schools, let's go. Right? But you always start with one. Yeah. And our job is to grow with you as a partner and , and continue to help you elevate and evolve. Right? I think, I think we were talking about earlier the idea there that , um, the places where we patronize, right? That where we go as consumers to spend our money, they don't just stop once they've arrived at their, at their, how they wanna look and feel. They're constantly evolving. If you, if you go to your local fast food restaurant right here in Georgia, we, we all love our Chick-fil-A nationwide. I think that that's pretty, pretty obvious, right? Given their , their stay stature. But whether it's Chick-fil-A or McDonald's, they don't, they , they constantly are, are remodeling their space, right? They're, they're , every seven years they're looking at, Hey, how do we refresh? We would tell you that that's the same expectations that you should have of your space too .
Speaker 2:Wow. For bridge out .
Speaker 3:Well , here's the thing. I'm , I'm , my objective for you is, is, is that you don't ever wanna pick up your head from working all day and look up and go, Hey , um, I'm, I'm being forced to keep up with the Joneses. I want you to be the Joneses. Right?
Speaker 2:Do I like that ?
Speaker 3:Set the trend and stay ahead of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that. I'm gonna steal that. I want you to be the Joneses that's gonna flip that, that saying on its head. And , and , and I would, I would imagine for a lot of our industry, Neil, I mean you , you know, our customers and, and the marketplace and who our stakeholders are, that a lot of people say, look, I know how I want my families and, and kids to feel when they come in. I, I have this vision of like how I want them to feel, but how did it actually create that? I have no idea. And that's, I don't know if that's too simplistic, but I would imagine that that's a common theme as you start to sit down with people that are looking for your help.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a absolutely. I'm , I have to let Lindsay take that one for sure. I think that that is one of those scenarios where I would say we're just doing a better job listening. Uh , but yeah, why don't you jump in there.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I mean, we get to, like Neil said, listen to what their needs are. And it's really fun for me as a graphic designer , um, to see what those translate to visually. Uh , we get to go through a whole design discovery phase and look at what someone likes visually, and then work within those parameters to tell that story and to , uh, yeah. Illustrate what that story is and what makes them unique.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And that's what they wanna be in their marketplace. Are there trends that you guys are seeing? You know, I see, you know, one of the topics that , um, that we kind of had on our, our agenda to talk about is like outdoor playground space. Like, I know there's a lot of trends and a lot of things that you guys see, and I love how you were saying Neil, around like every seven years, it's never gonna , you're never gonna arrive and it doesn't change again. But right now, there's some things that you guys are seeing and focusing on maybe where we're
Speaker 3:Even Yeah . Look, look, the, the big C word of the last three years, right? Covid forced everybody to rethink how they're addressing health and safety. And one of the key drivers of that experience that we all experienced was, Hey, let's get outdoors. Let's get our children outdoors more. Let's get them to, you know, ensure that they're running around and playing still and feeling like a child outdoors. And well, hey, if we're gonna focus on letting, you know, improving that outdoor experience, then let's actually go dive into improving the experience. And, and all of a sudden we all looked up and we've got thousands of childcare centers of playground space that need help. They're, they're kind of stuck in the eighties of what traditional outdoor , um, play spaces look like, felt, like, smelled, like, tasted like all of that, right? It's, and so what can we do for our children to make sure that they're really experiencing that? And the , and the design trend that we gravitate to. It's not the only one, it's the right one,
Speaker 2:Right? <laugh>, it's the best, it's the be it's the best one, but that's okay. It's
Speaker 3:The best one. Yeah. It's not right that what , what works is what you can stand behind and be proud of and deliver a pr uh , you know , uh, something that is, that your client and your customer wants, right. That they can then , um, excel at. Right? However, for us, we are seeing a absolute definitive direction that the market is moving to natural playground spaces when it comes to , um, children's play spaces in, in childcare, right? Outdoor playgrounds. So, so the other part of that terminology happens to be the outdoor classroom experience, right? So bringing the classroom from the inside outside, and we tend to merge those things. So, and there's, there's, there's reasons why we do, and there's, there's a , a series of, for us, we have basically nine core competencies that we look to provide as an actionable item in every single space. Whether that's a , a , a playground that's divided into multiple yards for multiple age groups or just one yard, right? You know, so you didn't ask, but I'm gonna tell you, I'm not gonna list off all nine if you want all nine call better beans . But there are, you know, things like , um, loose parts play and natural growing experiences and sensory environments and music and movement and the opportunity to create , um, an engineer on the outside. So from a childcare perspective, if you're thinking about the centers that you may have in your classroom, you should be thinking about those centers outside too, right? That's our job. And then their job, the design team job is okay, if, if those things resonate you, what do, how do we act , activate those things and design for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And , and, and are you guys finding, then , as you're talking with clients, that outdoor space that you're talking about, Neil, are , is that, do you think that the launching off point was covid, like everything became, Hey, we have to be outside, we had , or was it ,
Speaker 3:I already call it the launch. I I think it accelerated. I I have to, this isn't not, this is , um, it , it , I think the rest of the world embraces outdoor play and outdoor space , um, in different ways. And I think that we, we all have been influenced by it. But you know, I think it probably started out west in California where there's a little bit more of a liberal approach to what can happen outside. Let's face it, there's, there's more outside time, right. Uh , in than the rest of the country in some ways. Maybe Florida too, right? But, so I i, I wouldn't say that Covid was the launching off point, but , um, in terms of an event, it definitely accelerated everybody's desire to, to affect it, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah. That, that does make sense to me. You, you made a comment a few minutes ago too, about a lot of outdoor spaces in childcare, maybe at , you know, public school systems as well, and public parks are still back in the eighties and nineties, versus a more modern approach. Is there anything that comes to mind just for like listeners to visualize? Like what's an example
Speaker 3:Of an Well , yeah . I mean , let me ask you that question, right? So when, when , when you were, you're older now, you have glasses, you have less hair than the last time I saw you, right? Exactly. Me too. But when you were a child, you went to the park and you played on a what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we played on a a , we had a slide, we had a swing, like metal slide swing, maybe a little , um, teeter totter. Yeah . I'm trying to think of what else was there . And usually it was like gravel, you know, like little peek .
Speaker 3:Maybe a monkey bar.
Speaker 2:Monkey bar. Yeah. Exactly.
Speaker 3:Guarantee you if you're still going to, th those things still exist and there's nothing wrong with those things, right? But, but the manufacturers and the providers of these things have, have figured out that they've gotta be attractive and they've gotta design for them. And so you can go out and see that our parks really, frankly, the municipal parks have kind of elevated how they provide that experience for us in the natural playground experience. We're saying to you that you don't have to have that monkey bar experience, and still, you could still create alternative climbing solutions, right? You can still find ways to have children experience the idea of a slide by creating a natural hill with turf, right? And so all of a sudden the elevation changes, all of a sudden the types of materials that, that you're getting into change mm-hmm . <affirmative> . And, and the, so the, that all of a sudden becomes a way that children interact with the pieces. But also, here's the other, the other part that we notice , um, and this is not, this doesn't make it wrong for the big equipment providers. They have great businesses, they're doing a great job of what they do. But we've seen that children want to create their own interactive spaces and they want to integrate their own ideas of how to play without being forced to how a structure should move. So like, here's the thing, and , and we all hear it in childcare. A a teacher says to a student, no, don't climb up the slide that way. You can't go up the slide, you have to go down the slide. Why ? Well , why, why is that?
Speaker 2:Yeah . Why , who
Speaker 3:Made that wrong ? Childcare licensing says that that's how you use the slide. And that's the answer, right? We've put these restrictions on students because of how we interacted with slides when we were growing up mm-hmm . <affirmative> . But does that make it right? And so when you start taking off your, your design ideas and your op , how it operates, and you, you realize that children looking for that freedom, then you start designing with that freedom in mind. And , and, and our designers get really excited about that opportunity to, to design for the student without restrictions.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And reversing,
Speaker 3:So there's a , there's a terminology. It's not our term. We, we stole it from somebody. Um , and we don't steal by the way we , we loosely borrow . And, and, but the idea that we're teaching children how to, how to choose and as and , and understand their level of risk when they play is a big deal. And you can do that effectively with natural playgrounds.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I I love that. I love that. Because you're also saying like, I mean, the interesting thing about this, Neil , I think I read a quote, maybe it was from you, but talking about as a business owner when you're playground ,
Speaker 3:Ryan . Ryan , no one ever read a quote from me.
Speaker 2:No, but I, I think I'm reading your very first quote from you, Neil. This might go down in history .
Speaker 3:Go down historic. Okay, go ahead. I interrupted.
Speaker 2:We're gonna mark this date . What's the date? It's June 8th, 2023. This might be a first, but just talking about how a playground walks the talk of a childcare owner in terms of the authenticity. And I actually, when I saw that and thought about it, it does make sense because if I'm a parent and I'm gonna come to a school to take a tour, or I'm driving by my community every day , I might not see the inside, but what I see on the outside is gonna ultimately be my initial impression of the school. Is that, is that what that you mean by that? Or is that what that quote means? Is the playground speaks the message?
Speaker 3:I don't remember saying it. Okay . But I , I agree with you. I Lindsay's got some notes prepared around that topic, cuz it's come up before. Jump in on that one.
Speaker 4:Well, yeah, I mean, I would definitely agree that your interpretation of that 100% true and important, like parents are gonna drive by and see that, and yeah, it means to look good. Um, but you know, a lot of schools nowadays are also saying like, yeah, we have natural playgrounds. We , um, we like to encourage kids to play outside and they talk about their playground. But if the parent walks outside and sees, you know, plastic structures and they're dingy and old and dirty, you know, that is gonna cause them to lose that credi credibility. So, you know, any time that you're able to demonstrate the things that you claim, it's gonna establish that credibility , uh, and that authenticity with , uh, with your parents or anyone. Um, yeah, I would also , uh, say it relates to branding as well. Uh mm-hmm . <affirmative> . Cause a lot of schools, like we, we've seen this a lot. They like to use certain words in their names and their , the tags. So they'll say like, brilliant or excellent or anything like that. And, you know, maybe that's true, but if a parent walks in and sees a dirty inside , um, tape on the walls, smells bad, anything like that, like, they're not gonna believe that. So it's just important to really take action on the things that you say you are and who you are and really show appearance that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So , so walking the walk is implied beyond, beyond operations, right? It's, it's, yeah . Kind of reflect back on what you say you're gonna be and then, and then look at your design accordingly. Is is that accurate?
Speaker 2:Makes total sense that your adjectives on how you describe yourself or that branding matches, you know, how you approach business. So that , that brings up, I know we're shifting maybe a little bit from outside to inside, but you brought it up , uh, you know, around some of the common things like tape on the wall or even, you know, not cleaning quickly and somebody comes in. Are there some common mistakes, like things that you guys see when you're interviewing clients and looking at their spaces that are like standout? Like these are common mistakes, easy to fix, but you see 'em a lot?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, I , I think those are definitely a few of the good examples of those. And I would also say, just in terms less of of mistakes, I would say that childcare has just changed a lot in the last 20 years, like we've been talking about. Um, I remember as a child in pre-k, you know, we had primary colors, everything, primary colors on the curtains, the rug. Um , even the teachers were dressed <laugh> in the most, you know, childlike and primary color way. Um, and nurseries were too, you know, the way the parents decorated their nurseries. But like that, that's just changed and schools have not kept up with that change. Schools, a lot of schools still look like that. And it's important for, you know, them to keep up with it. Cause um, you know, if you wanna , as a graphic designer, another mis mistake that I would bring up would be , uh, dated logos. You know, so many people have logos that you can look at and immediately say like, oh, that's from the nineties, that's from the eighties, and you know, you might be attached to it and that's understandable, but a new parent is gonna come in, they're not gonna have that same , uh, attachment to it in that same way that you view it. And so if they see that and say, wow, that's a dated logo, then they might also question, Hey, is their curriculum dated? Is their teaching methods dated? What else about this is not up to our standards and keeping up with where we are as , as a world <laugh> ?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, I can relate to the , uh, to the logo and the mascot. You know, our pang tucker, the penguin is the ProCare, you know, logo slash mascot. And listen, we can change aspects of our software program around, you know, the program itself. But if we touch Tucker and change it, we hear about it from our customers. So I i, I can relate a little bit to the, to the logo piece. We've updated them recently and , um, it's a fun process, but people get attached for sure. What were you , you wanna
Speaker 3:Say something? I think the, the less of a mistake and more of an opportunity is, is that there are still a r you know , uh, we would like to think that we are , we are able to move the meter here, but there are still a lot of centers that resemble an more of an institutionalized look and feel. And you're competing for a, a enrollment dollar and a savvy customer who's not looking for that in , for their child at, at the preschool age, grade age group range. Right? They , there's time to go into institutional field that's called elementary school. Right? Got it. But, but prior to that, the , our families, people with young children are not looking for that field . And there's so many ways that we're continuing, we, you, the o you know, you guys in schools that are out there continue to give them that thinking them that that's what they want. Right? Colors . It's the, you know, the , it , it looks like a parochial school that we may have gone to from first grade to sixth grade. And that's just not, that's not even the way those schools are being designed right now. So,
Speaker 4:Yeah. And it's not just about the way that it looks or feels. It's also about, you know, we have a lot of data on this stuff now we know that, you know, the color red makes kids angry. And you know, there's just so many different examples of, of data in that way, and that's the stuff that we know and we try to design with that kind of stuff in mind. So it's not just that we're telling you like, Hey, you probably shouldn't do this because it looks bad, but there's also a data driven reason for that. So , you know, we, yes, we wanna , we would prefer to be modern and trendy, but we also want to be driven by data and we want to include timeless elements that, you know, you don't have to throw out the next time you decide to look at your brand and change things.
Speaker 3:I , I've got another mistake. This is absolutely a mistake in my opinion, if, if, if I'm allowed to have one. I think that something that happens in the question is kind of what's a mistake in childcare design? I , I'll tell you the mistake is in childcare design implementation, it , the implementation issue for me is, is that , uh, when clients and customers decide that they're going to do this , uh, evolution of their space and they go and they, and they break it up over a significant amount of time so that your customer never realizes that something has changed, right? So, hey, this, this year we're gonna paint the front half of our building next year we'll paint the back This year we're gonna handle taking care of some new lobby furniture. Next year we're gonna take care of the right side classrooms this year we're gonna work on, right? And so it's this bandaid approach to constant evolution as opposed to we, listen e everybody knows the , um, the H G T V world is, is there's a reason there's success there, right? They, they take that person in front of their house, their, their , um, their project home or whatever it is, and they go, Hey, move that bus. And they have an experience, right? Mm-hmm . They see dramatic change and they're able to elicit a response from that dramatic change. You don't get that credit if you just paint the infant room this year and next, next year you're gonna work on the three-year-old room, right? So the , the issue for me is if you're constantly just tweaking and slightly making improvements, you never get the credit from your customer or you don't get, how about this? You don't get as much as you could. And that's a big deal for us is, is that driving credit also drives revenue. Driving credit drives connectivity with your employees. Driving credit drives the ability to do more for them and do more with your money. So go big or go home.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's why I was just gonna say, I mean, if you wanna make that big impact and get your business to that level, you gotta be committed to it. And you gotta make the financial, the time commitment. But what you're saying is we have data to support that, that type of an investment in the right decision will be the best investment for your business.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:What about, I, I saw something that you guys are building out or designing interactive, like parent spaces. Is that like a , a thing for child development programs and early learning environments now where, I mean, it makes sense parents are on campus, maybe not like they would be or they wouldn't be like in first through six and middle school and high school, but you always have parents present. Is that a , is that a thing that you guys are seeing?
Speaker 4:Yeah , um, it is. And we try to stress it in every brand that we do, especially if there's ample room for it , uh, in the lobby. Um, it's just a great place. Like one , I mean, it's a little coffee area and an area that you can put parent notices and you know, keeping them up to date on what's going on in school, anything like that. Um, it's just important to have that connection with the parents so that they can feel a connection of where they're sending their young child for eight hours of the day. Um, that's hard thing , you know, even harder when they're in , uh, this preschool versus an elementary school cuz the , they're young children. So it's important to have that open dialogue , um, that parents feel with the school and they can have the confidence in that. Um,
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think, I think it's about first impressions, right? But Lindsay , you were telling me the other day or we were recently talking about it, right? Every, every, every one of us, I'll have the, this doesn't work in a virtual background, but I'm, I'm holding up my, my phone, right? And so everybody's got apps and our clients are communicating with their customers on apps. We know that, right? They're , you guys have an app that, that, that communicates the progress of the student throughout the day. Mm-hmm . <affirmative> , um, all , all of the, all the 90, I'm sure that the market says that most childcare centers are using app driven software to communicate with families, but, but I would tell you that there's a danger there of the app taking the place of, of face-to-face contact. And so what we wanna do is design for opportunities to engage, help engagement. Right? And, and I think that that's what you were driving at is, is that, is that let's let's give you a space or an action or an actionable amenity area that allows you to have true interaction with a , with a parent or a child. Oh , that's not an app or the classroom. Right? I I would also say that even in these spaces, it becomes your first impression too, right? Because our parents aren't always going back to the classroom and spending time in the classroom. So how , what they see in the lobby or the common space is what they think is happening all day long. So you better make it look good, you better make it interactive and, and experiential.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So like that, that institution approach where it's real sterile in like a , an entryway where parents are, you know, just signing their kids in and out and then yeah . Leaving the building if that's their only exposure to your building or your business, even though it could be the most amazing place behind those next set of doors, their impression, what you're saying is, is not aligned with your brand.
Speaker 3:Yes. Yeah , yeah . Absolutely. Is that ,
Speaker 2:Is that when you talk to existing centers, like on that level, Neil, around, hey, your building may not be set up right now in line with your brand and we wanna help you with that. Is it challenging to go into an existing space and try to remodel that? Or is it it's always possible to improve a physical space? Is that a fair statement?
Speaker 3:Always impo always possible to improve. Yes. I mean, I think restrictions are what they are and the way someone may come into it with what they have in mind, but um , yes, it's always possible to improve it. I , I think, I think our team, I'm gonna steal your word here, but I think our team thrives on what other people think are impossible, right? I think that's natural for anybody in design is, okay, well you've presented a problem that we'll fi figure out the solution.
Speaker 2:Yeah .
Speaker 4:But still problem . That's what, that's what we do every day is problem solve. And like Neil said, like that's what we thrive off of. There's no challenge to , to difficult. Like, like that's what we do. And some of the most difficult, if you wanna say difficult or the most , uh, the project with the most preset restrictions on it have ended up becoming my favorite. And it's not because it's my design style or I like the colors or the icons or anything, it's in the logo. It's because I took it from what it was and made it into something new that's within these parameters and it works and it's good. And, and that was a , that was a challenge I had to solve. And that that's really rewarding.
Speaker 2:Yeah. The bigger the challenge, the more rewarding it is at the end of the project. And is that how it starts for your customers? I know I asked you earlier about your process, Neil , and I know it's, you know, it's a long process. A lot goes into it in terms of working with a client, but for somebody who's like, Hey, I'm about to start construction, or I've been thinking about redesigning my space and I don't even know where to begin. I mean, I'm assuming it's as easy as, hey, reach out to us, we'll set up some time and you guys have a, a really well defined process of how to vet Yes.
Speaker 3:The work . Yeah , very much so, right? I mean if , if the for the end for us is figuring out how to make it happen, right? We , our job, that's our mission. Um, our job is to make it happen. And so we approach that process with that end in mind. And, and so , um, without going back to some of the things we said, I think it it is, it is a blend of of taking the experiences that they've come to the table with and where they think they're going , uh, and trying to reconcile the information that they're providing about what they want their business to look like and feel like and what the experience they want to get credit for and understand if that's gonna , those changes would achieve an roi , right? And then having our design team basically responsible for that, right? And we, we don't make any guarantees, but boy, boy, the track record's there, it works. These things work. So , um,
Speaker 2:You have data support and ,
Speaker 3:And I agree with you, it's about solving, pro solving for problems or, or even creating opportunities, right? Sometimes one of the restrictions that people go into, into building design is they think that the classroom may be licensed for only a certain <inaudible> the value of knocking down a wall and extending the room or changing the way a space is laid out so that they can maximize that capacity. And all of a sudden four more students equals 40 or $50,000 more in annual revenue and over the lifetime of that business in just that one space, that, that may be many hundreds of thousands of dollars, right? And that, that takes a project from, oh my gosh, I don't know if I can reach it because it's so fin it's a , it's a , it is a financial lift too. Oh my gosh. I don't know how I can't,
Speaker 2:All of a sudden it flips the script a little bit . And I , and I think it's helpful to obviously talk with individuals and, and experts who have helped other businesses do the same thing. Cuz you're gonna look at it with a different set of eyes, obviously an expert set of eyes from a branding standpoint. But also we had a client that did this very thing. They knocked out a wall to create more space and it did X, y, and Z for their business. So the simple process of talking about your experience, I'm sure is helpful. You guys work nationwide, any geographical limitations
Speaker 3:Worldwide? Ryan,
Speaker 2:Let's go
Speaker 3:Worldwide. They're planes now. We can get on planes Yeah. Nationwide, right ? Seattle to Miami and everything in between. So, you know, we have a , a big giant wall here in our office of where the beans are and it's not uncommon to see different bean teammates in different parts of the country today. We've got folks in Denver, Ohio, South Carolina, and Florida. Right? And, and so , um, if, if you have a need, we'll we'll look at it and consider the how effective we can be to solve the problem. No matter where that need is,
Speaker 2:You'll have beans anywhere. How did, how did the , the name Better Beans come about? I gotta I gotta ask about that.
Speaker 3:So, so there , the team was doing a , a naming exercise because even, even for ourselves at that time, we had a solution for people and we didn't have our brand for ourselves. So , um, you know, in, in our space, in the childcare space, we don't get a lot of opportunities to create names for people. Like most people come to us with a brand that we have to evolve. Um, very few people come to us with an opportunity to name their new space or name something for them. But we had the opportunity to name our business and , um, you know, I know that the exercise entailed a , a passing around of a what at the time was a sample , a Campbell Soup camp . And it spawned a discussion, well , what's your favorite bean? And we realized, I think this is my story. I I'm sure that some of the other bean teammates would, would have a , a different take on it. But I think the , the way it worked out was we all found that we all have differences. We all have different beans that we liked and, but we realized when you put the recipe together, we're a better bean. Right? The , the collection of our beans make for a better recipe for you, our clients and for us as , as well as , uh, too ,
Speaker 2:It was actually a soup can with beans. I , oh man, this is a no brainer for me. I'm a hundred percent, don't even have to think about the bean, it's a coffee bean for me. No doubt. You're
Speaker 3:A coffee bean. Okay,
Speaker 2:Coffee bean. But what are you guys, you guys have a favorite, a favorite bean that everybody has this
Speaker 3:Cereal . We do. And and I bet you, Ryan, you have a re like you have a story of why the coffee beam was is important to you, right?
Speaker 2:I , well, every morning I have that story, Neil. Exactly. Okay . It's cause every morning that is a priority for me to start my day and I love the smell of coffee and sometimes even like just the warm cup in the morning while I'm reading. Super important to me. So
Speaker 3:That's no , what what's your favorite Bean bean, Lindsay ?
Speaker 4:Mine is butter bean or lima bean. Kind of the same thing. But yeah. And I guess the kind of story would be I'm from the south and butter beans for this very southern, it's uh, it was my favorite one growing up and yeah , still is still ,
Speaker 3:I'm a , um, I'm a garbanzo and , um, but, and when I'm not a garbanzo, I'm a , a black jellybean, like the old school classic, everybody hates it, but I love it. Black jellybean licorice. Yeah,
Speaker 2:You go, you're , you're swimming against the grain there for sure.
Speaker 3:Well that one. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 2:Yeah. That doesn't surprise me too . How do people, that doesn't surprise me, I will say, but I like it the black jelly bean , that's like black licorice, right? Like that's the one people throw to the side and they eat all the other ones.
Speaker 3:Yeah .
Speaker 2:Give them to ,
Speaker 3:I don't , please don't mail me them. If, if you're <laugh> hearing this podcast, don't, don't collect a batch full and send them to me. Um , but yeah, I'm , I'm not gonna turn them down either.
Speaker 2:All right. That's fair. How do people, I , I know we , um, you guys are busy and we're excited to have you on the show and obviously we also wanna give our audience an opportunity on how they could find you guys and, and maybe learn about the types of services that you provide and your expertise. So can you guys share, just as we wrap up,
Speaker 3:Find us on Instagram and Facebook by searching better Beans branding or email info better beans branding.com and we will respond back.
Speaker 2:Excellent. Simple to find you . This is Nielsen Gupta and Lindsay Ward, better beans Brandon , guys . And we really appreciate you guys being here and , uh, excited to, to watch you guys as, as the years go on. Thanks for your time. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thanks Ryan . Good to see you again.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Childcare Business Podcast. To get more insights on ways to succeed in your childcare business, make sure to hit subscribe and your podcast app so you never miss an episode. And if you want even more childcare, business tips, tricks, and strategies, head over to our resource center@procaresoftware.com. Until next time.