In our first year, we enrolled more than 100 children.
At the time, I thought I understood why.
We had created a beautiful school. We believed deeply in what we were building. We had a strong educational philosophy, great teachers, and families were coming through our doors and choosing us.
Then year three came.
And somehow, I found myself having to learn one of the most important lessons in this business all over again:
Parents don’t enroll in buildings. They enroll in trust.
You can have the beautiful classrooms.
You can have the Montessori materials perfectly placed on the shelves.
You can have the curriculum, the credentials, the programs and all the things that look impressive on paper.
But a parent is still about to hand you their baby for eight, nine, sometimes ten hours a day.
That’s personal.
And somewhere along the way, I underestimated just how much the small things matter.
Knowing a child’s name before they officially become one of your students.
Remembering Mom’s name when she walks back through the door.
Remembering that Dad mentioned his daughter loves dinosaurs.
Getting down on a child’s level during a tour instead of talking over them while the adults discuss tuition.
Asking the child what they like.
Noticing when they’re nervous.
Watching what they naturally gravitate toward in the classroom.
Those things don’t show up on an enrollment report.
But they are enrollment.
I think that’s part of the reason we grew so quickly in the beginning.
We weren’t trying to perfect a sales process. We were getting to know families.
Somewhere between growing a company, managing employees, solving problems, building systems and becoming “the CEO,” it’s easy to accidentally create distance between yourself and the very people you built the business to serve.
Year three reminded me of that.
And I needed the reminder.
Parents are not leads.
Children are not enrollment numbers.
A tour isn’t just an opportunity to fill an available spot.
A family is standing in front of you trying to decide:
Can I trust you with one of the most important people in my entire world?
That’s a completely different question.
And when I look back at how we enrolled more than 100 children during our first year, I realize our greatest enrollment strategy wasn’t really a strategy at all.
It was personal connection.
It was knowing names.
Remembering conversations.
Learning children’s interests.
Following up.
Being present.
And making families feel like they weren’t simply joining a school. They were becoming part of something where their child would actually be known.
We’re getting back to that.
Because growth is important. Enrollment is important. Revenue is important. We’re running a business, and pretending those things don’t matter doesn’t serve anyone.
But trust is the foundation underneath all of it.
Parents trust us with their children for most of their waking hours.
We hold that trust sacredly.
And if I’ve learned anything from building a school, growing it quickly, facing challenges and having to build again, it’s this:
Sometimes the secret to getting your next 100 children is remembering exactly how you treated the first one.