353: Want Happier Staff and Happier Parents? Here’s How Babysitting Connection Makes It Happen with Beth Heyer

In this episode of Childcare Conversations, Kate and Carrie chat with Beth Heyer, founder of Babysitting Connection — and honestly, it's such a fun conversation! Beth shares how she turned her own struggle to find reliable babysitters in Austin into a thriving membership-based agency that vets and matches sitters with families. For childcare directors, this is worth a listen; it could mean a flexible substitute staffing solution, an enrollment funnel, AND extra revenue. Beth also touches on empowering women to launch their own agencies. Her biggest takeaway? You simply can't please everyone. So stop trying!

Learn more about Beth here!

www.bethheyer.com

www.babysittingconnection.com

www.petsittingconnection.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Child Care Conversations, the podcast where early childhood leaders like you get real-world strategies, honest talk, and a whole lot of support. Whether you're running one center or many, we're here to help you lead with confidence and clarity. This episode is brought to you by Center IQ. If you've ever added a child to a classroom, adjusted staffing, or made a quick schedule change, and then spent the next two weeks fixing the ripple effects, you're not alone. Most leaders make decisions and then see what happens. CenterIQ's decision intelligence lets you see what happens before you decide. Start your free trial today at centeriQ.io. Now, let's get into today's conversation. One we think you're really going to love.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Hey guys, so today we've got somebody to come in and talk to you about another way to make your staff happy because they have more ways to earn uh some revenue, they can have some more flexibility, and at the same time, it will make your parents happy. You get your your staff happier, your parents happier, and maybe even put some money in your back pocket. I don't know, that sounds like a win-win-win. And I think that Beth Hare is, and did I say your last name correctly? Hire, like Meyer, Hire. Because it depends on where in Germany the family came from as to how they pronounce it. So Beth Heyer is here to talk to us a little bit about how we might be able to do that, pulling four things together and making everybody a little bit happier.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Well, okay, before we get into the conversations with Beth, because Beth is going to tell us a little bit about how she got, how she found herself on this journey. But we have talked and we've done episodes about other ways you can use your commercial kitchen, other ways and other things you can do with your van, other than just a school age pickup. We've talked about having parties in your building. We've talked about using that building and off hours because, again, it's an asset. Well, today we're going to talk about your capital, your human capital, your biggest asset that you actually have access to without having to pay your staff overtime and without having to get into more of this. But what how do how does that work in my parent policies and procedures and all those SOPs? So, Beth, welcome to Childcare Conversations. And we are looking forward to this conversation. Thank you. So tell us a little bit about how you created or or even why your businesses and existence and kind of uh a little some things that make your program different than some maybe other ways people can collaborate, partner. And of course, as always, we will always have all of Beth's information in our show notes. So you can absolutely grab links to Beth's organization to find out more information from the show notes. Beth, it's all yours.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

Thank you. Yeah, so I'm Beth Heyer. Um, and I uh I grew up in Ohio. I had my babies there. I became a stay-at-home mom with them, and I really just had an absolutely incredible network of mothers and babysitters and support and community in Ohio. Uh when my kiddos were about two and three, we uh moved to Austin, Texas, and I was left with no one. I didn't have any family, I had no friends, I had no network, and um I set to kind of building that community again. And I I met a lot of wonderful mothers, I met a lot of wonderful people, but I was really struggling to find babysitters to help support me if I had a hair appointment or to go on a date night. And I was getting referrals from friends, and I was like, these people are not, we should not be referring these people to people. And I was just really unimpressed with what I saw. And I um I knew I was eventually gonna go back to work. I knew I wanted to own my own business, and um since becoming a mother, I grew really passionate about moms and helping moms and um you know, allowing moms, you know, to not feel guilty for wanting to spend a few hours without your kid. Um, and I thought, you know what, I think I can build something better than what's out there. This was six years ago, and kind of the only thing out there was you know, care.com and many agencies, and I knew there had to be something better, had to be something in between. So I really set out to build something that um would be a really, really great place for parents. And I wanted it to be a great place for sitters too. And over the last six years, we've really just leaned into finding that balance and walking that fine line between being a really great place for families and a really great place for people to work. Um so I built Babysitting Connection and we launched six weeks pre-COVID, which um I coming from the babysitting side of the daycare side, we had very different situations during COVID. Yeah. Um, y'all, y'all, most of y'all had to close, whereas we were in high demand six weeks in because people still needed to work and they needed reliable child care. All the schools were closed, all the daycares were closed. So very quickly, we were able to help support families with kind of some consistent support, matching them with sitters. We had a lot of families and sitters at that time who kind of potted together. Um, and since then it has just really taken off. Um, we're now in all four major cities in Texas, and we are in Northern Ohio, which is where I'm from. And um, I think a couple of things that really set us apart is um we have a monthly membership service. It's a very affordable, uh, flat rate monthly membership. You kind of pick your tier, it's paid for, it's done, there's no surprise fees. Um, and that really benefits both families and business owners. Um, and then when it comes to our our sitters, um, we we hire really great sitters. They're all fully vetted and ready to go. Parents aren't doing that whole Facebook shuffle where you go on Facebook and you ask for someone, and then you have 15 people messaging with you, and you're trying to find the person who's available next Friday, and then you want to try to meet them at the coffee shop to make sure they're not crazy.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

I'm like, I'm having some flashbacks, Beth. I'm just I'm over here trying really hard to not laugh really, really loud because um I've been there and I see it regularly still. So um I had four kids, uh Carrie had two. So we absolutely can feel that as a parent. Right. Um, and then having run programs, we also can feel it as um what our parents felt. So so your staff come, you you're doing all the vetting, you're doing training, I suspect. Uh what does this mean for the family? So they just make a commitment and then how do they schedule? Like, tell me more about the the how it works. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

So we have to are you getting texts at four o'clock from parents who need babysitters at five? Like, how is all that working? Um, not often.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

Sometimes that does happen. Um, so we have some really great software, and there's some truly great software out there that could really automate it and streamline it. So my sitters say when they join, I'm willing to work in South Austin, West Austin, and Central Austin, and I'm comfortable working with kiddos uh one year and older, and I'm okay with dogs and cats, right? And then a family joins, and they say, I have a two-year-old, I live in West Austin, and I have a dog. They are only going to even see each other if they're a match. So you're not trying to sort through people to see who's comfortable with your ages. You're not giving the software to match.com. Hey, I met my I'm getting married next uh two months, and I met my partner on Hinge.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

So don't hate, don't hate the apps. Don't hate the apps. Oh, I didn't say I hated the apps. That's actually a failed match.com is how I've met husband number two. But I will tell you right now, match is not the same as it was 30 years ago. And so right now I'm having some problems, and I'm like, this is not what I've marked. I do not want to see these people. And there's no way to mark must-have hair. Okay. I have a failed e-harmony. I have a failed e-harmony second marriage. Totally, so totally sidetracked. Sorry, anybody who's listening, but if you haven't figured out in the last few years, Kate is not actively looking for husband number three, but you know, we've been through two.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

We'll be a trio launching dating app conversations next month.

unknown 8:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

Um that's uh back to okay, so your families only match public. My families only see each other. And then not only that, we even take it a step further, and our sitter has set up their availability. So it's not like you're just you know shooting in a barrel here. Like you are you, it is a targeted this sitter is available for this date and time. They work with my kiddos. So we have a 99% acceptance rate, right? 1% of the time the sitter forgets that their grandma's birthday party is in two weeks, right? Or or or they find they they book a sit a month out and then you know find out grandma's birthday party. So obviously we are dealing with things like um call outs, like you know, somebody wakes up sick, or um somebody wakes up sick, I put myself on do not disturb, and it still happens. So obviously we're still working with things like call outs or a flat tire, that sort of thing. But what is so wonderful about having a team in the software is if we wake up and a sitter has text us and said, I woke up, I feel terrible, I can't make it to my noon sit today, I go in and click two buttons, and that sit is automatically broadcast to everyone in my team who qualifies. So we get that sit picked up like that. We we fill 99.9% of our sits and we're doing 1200 sits a month.

unknown 10:06

Right?

SPEAKER_02 10:06

So I think that's that is a huge thing. And if again, looking at the child care center director, like even if you are like, I don't know a hundred percent if this works for me, here's where I want you to think this through and go, yes, it does. Because if you need substitutes at your child care center, which I don't know, but you do, you a hundred percent do. And this way they can be people you have trained, so you know that they passed the background check, you know that they are trained to your standards, and these are people who want to work in the gig economy, they want control over their schedule, and you get priority and you get to snag them for your time before the parent who toured your facility and was like, No, I don't know that I want to go ahead and make a commitment to a child care center. I'm just gonna continue with the ad hoc care of using babysitters and grandma and the neighbor. So, in some ways, you can see there's some competition, but in my opinion, this is a way to get those people more likely to come to your school because they've had Susan watch their kids three times, and then Susan says, This is the last time I'm gonna be able to work with you because I've actually gotten a permanent job at ABC Childcare. Um, as you know, they they're a sister company with our babysitting company, and so now I'm gonna be full time, I'm gonna be working 20 hours a week um in the toddler classroom, so I won't be able to do babysitting during these hours. And then some of those parents are gonna be like, wait, so do they have part-time care? Could could my kid hang out with you every morning? Because Susan, my kids love hanging out with you, and if I could sign up that every morning they went with you, then that's great. So it it can be a weird enrollment funnel into your program in my mind.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Absolutely, absolutely, and there's also an awesome way to hire substitutes. Um, because one of the things, Beth, we talk about a lot is you should always be hiring. And if you are a childcare owner or a director, and again, what I think is probably a really nice thing is if you are a director listening to this, so you're not the owner, but you've been thinking that maybe you wanted a business, what a great opportunity to have a con, you've got to have a conversation with the owner. Don't go starting this business on the side and having your staff work for you in the sitting service and having not fully disclosed it to the owner. Like that's just a little sneaky. Uh, but have the conversation with the owner. And the owner might be going, awesome, I think that's great. I don't want to own that business. And so here is an opportunity for you to reach out to Beth's company.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Beth has options for you to get a uh franchise, software, branding, logo, marketing, pricing, I got you.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Okay. So Beth will help you get started. Um, Beth also does coaching for people who are like, I just want to do it all my own. Um, I don't know why you would do that if Beth has got a proven system, but sure, go for it. Um, but you know, go find the proven system that might be um a better fit. And so I think that if you're listening and even you got kind of the slightest bit of an itch, um, I'm gonna encourage you to reach out to Beth and go, hey, you might even be a teacher, because we know that we've got teachers who listen. So you might be a teacher listening. What if they're not in Texas? What if they're not in Northern Ohio or that other secret city that we we shall not name, uh, that you are currently, you know, working through the process? Um, are there limitations? Like I, you know, I'm not, I don't really want to say, have you franchised and licensed this? And do people have regions or do people just call you and start?

SPEAKER_03 14:22

So I do not franchise or license, and I don't plan to do that. I own all five of my current locations and plan to own all my future ones. Um I am I I'm a firm believer in when the waters rise, all the ships rise. Um, there is more than enough. You know, I'm in Austin, Texas. I have a successful business here and I have 500 members here. There's a million people here, right? There could be six other babysitting agencies here, and we'd all be okay. Um, but I really love working with um women to start their own agencies. So I have Britney in um Washington, D.C., who just launched Cherry Blossom Sitters, and Belle in Vancouver, Washington launching the Sitter Bridge. So I really believe that the model that I've built and the pricing and the structure um works and can easily be duplicated. And I would rather have a woman own 100% of their business than um pay royalties to me or anything like that. Like just hire me. And I also don't want to manage 50 people. I already manage 300 babysitters, right? I don't want to manage 50 franchise owners. So I don't franchise. Um yeah, and I wanted to go back, you said something about substitutes. You know, kind of just as an aside, um, there are so many great babysitting agencies across the country. And we work with a lot of Mother's Day outs programs where they're Wednesday mornings that we get a call out and they message us and say, hey, do you have anybody? And we backfill for them a lot. Now I know different states have different regulations, that stuff. Um, but reaching out to local nanny agencies or babysitting agencies and partnering can possibly help you get a sub roster as well. Um, and I think too, I know that why not own one? I'm just saying, yes, right? Like in the short term, in the short term. In the short term.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

I mean, Carrie and I Carrie and I painfully did that for a while back in. I'm not even sure if you remember landlines and pagers. Um our pager was pink and sparkly, um, and we had landlines, and people would call me at 3 a.m.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Which is why I asked the question are people calling you an hour before they need uh they need coverage? Um, and are you having to deal with that? And you saying, we've got software, and so I don't have to get in there and get in the muck. I think that is amazing, and that makes it a much more viable business for somebody to do as a side business as they're growing it. And they may decide they want it to be their full, their full career, but you can start it as a side business because there's that automation, there's that matching ability.

SPEAKER_03 17:04

There's, you know, there's always gonna be, you know, we our phones are basically open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. We're we're kind of you know, we're just always there for our clients. But in terms of like emergencies, it's pretty minimal. Uh, you know, short notice call-outs, or you know, uh, you know, we have we've had moms who go in labor and need someone to come, or you know, their husband uh got hurt at work and they need someone to come or whatever. So we do deal with that. But um, like I said, as a software makes things so much smoother and easier, um, that we're not, you know, I'm surely not answering phone calls at 3 a.m.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

That is love that, love that, love that. So all right. So, Beth, if somebody was listening and you were gonna give them, here's one thing that you should think about before you say yes, um, or something you're like, ooh, I wish somebody had told me about this before. What would that be?

SPEAKER_03 17:54

Oh, golly, you caught me off guard here. Um good. No, my so my, I mean, I think I think daycare owners know this, and someone told me this early in my career, and it's sometimes a hard one. It's probably not what you're looking for, but you can't make everyone happy, you're not pizza, right? Yep. And sometimes you just need to say, I'm not gonna be the best fit for you. We this our agency, our our care, our facility, I am so sorry, but we are not, we are not gonna be able to fill your needs. And I think a lot of times, as new business owners, particularly, you want to make everyone happy. And people say, You know what you should do, you know what you should do, you know what you should do. And you spend all this time doing what other people think you should do. But the reason you started a business is because you had a passion and interest and you felt strongly about it.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

And you should not shoot all over yourself. Shoulding all over yourself is a bad idea.

SPEAKER_03 18:44

No, no, yeah, definitely not, definitely not. So just really being like true to yourself and understanding that like the bulk of people, you know, if you're making the bulk of people happy, but there's always gonna be that, you know, stick in the mud who just doesn't matter what you do, doesn't matter what you say. It's you know, I think we got like, you know, we we have we're doing a post here soon. We got we got a one-star review, and we're like, you know what? We wouldn't have done anything different, you know. We we stick true to our policies and we did what we felt was right, you know?

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Absolutely. I love that. Well, Beth, I think that tip alone is probably worth anybody who listened to the episode because it is so on target for any business, not just um if you are starting, you know, a sitting service or you're running a child care center, or I mean, even if you have a food truck, there are gonna be people who aren't gonna like your food. If you do ice cream, heck, even if you own a winery, there are gonna be people who do not like your wine. Yep. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

My daughter has a number of t-shirts that say you can't make everybody happy, you're not a taco. Um I mean not all tacos are for everybody. You know, if you're allergic to corn, that corn taco is not gonna make you happy. If you're allergic to wheat, that wheat taco is not gonna make you happy.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

If you can't have a tomato, you're gonna have something else on top of it. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

So I think that, you know, this is a wonderful opportunity for people to help leverage the skill set they already have. You already know how to train somebody to keep a child engaged, happy, and alive, right? You've been training people to do that for years, and now you can take that knowledge, you can spread it to more people and impact even more families and get yourself some access to some substitutes at the same time. Happier parents, happier staff, a substitute pool and money in your pocket. Oh my gosh, that's four wins, guys. That is four wins. I I think if you've got any bit of an entrepreneurial itch, this is one to look at. It definitely is.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Absolutely. So share the episode with somebody who needs to know. Go check out our website at childcareconversations.com. Register for the newsletter, check out Beth. I'm gonna give you way too many things. I'm only supposed to give you one call to action, and I just gave you three. Anyway, go to the show notes. We look forward to talking to y'all in a couple of days.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Thanks for tuning in. We love bringing you real talk and fresh insight from the world of early childhood education. Be sure to follow us on social media to stay connected and catch all of the latest episodes. And if you're planning a conference, training, or special event, Kate and Carrie would love to speak to your audience. You can learn more about their keynote sessions and workshops at kateandcary.com. If you learned something today, share the show and leave us a review below. We'll see you next time on Childcare Conversations.