Nina Lemon, Owner and Founder of the Lemon Tree Academy in Georgia, has the enthusiasm and commitment to action and implementation of a true Child Care Rockstar. She talks with Kris about how she went from a pediatric nurse to a businesswoman with two full locations, the biggest challenges she faced as she scaled up and out, and how her love of HGTV plays into making her centers a welcoming environment for children and their families.
Key Takeaways:
Nina has been in child care for six years and grew up around kids as part of her large family. She started as a pediatric nurse and very much enjoyed a job at the local elementary school so much she decided to dedicate more of her time and energy to the industry. Once she had her daughter, she figured out a way to carve a path where she could work where her daughter went to daycare, and now she just opened a second location at full capacity.
Fun fact — Nina’s father was in construction and the love carried down to her! Her other career in a different world would be in construction, but for now, she enjoys using her HGTV knowledge to make her schools even better.
Her first location went from four paying kids and her daughter to 50, and then to a full location of 94.
Nina’s biggest challenge when opening up Lemon Tree Academy and expanding to the second location was learning to expand her comfort zone outside of the classroom. She rose to the occasion and saw the importance of training, duplicating successful methods, and being a positive example to her team.
Three other action items that Nina implemented at Lemon Tree that she saw produce positive results were:
1. Creating training videos for staff so they could understand policies and procedures. 2. Share events and accomplishments on Facebook. 3. Reward the staff for their hard work and dedication.
Nina’s mindset shifted when she understood her value, worth, and what she brought to her community.
A true child care rockstar to Nina is someone that is always learning and growing and uses their power to also motivate and help others.
Mentioned in This Episode:
The Child Care Success Company
LemonTree Academy on Facebook
Move Your Bus: An Extraordinary New Approach to Accelerating Success in Work and Life,by Ron Clark
