WomenVenture client, Krystal Hall, is the owner of Home Away from Home Childcare in Minneapolis, MN.
Krystal Hall became a child care provider almost 19 years ago after an unsuccessful search for a provider for her son. She just couldn’t find the right option for her family. “I didn’t want him to be just watching TV, I wanted him to be educated as well. So, I quit my job on faith and became what I was looking for.”
Since then, Krystal has worked on and off as a child care provider, now owning and operating Home Away from Home Childcare. She loves her work and says the children make it the most rewarding job imaginable.
“When we are doing our lessons and they finally understand the curriculum – they can identify letters or some sounds are coming together – it’s so exciting and it makes it all worthwhile.”
Despite her years of expertise as an educator and provider, Krystal knew she needed help to take her business to the next level. “I have the educator experience, but needed to learn the business side of it. You’re trying to keep your head above water and do things in a professional manner, but you just can’t take a break.”
In 2021, she joined WomenVenture’s pilot program YourVenture, a service designed for family child care businesses to streamline daily accounting tasks, improve financial outcomes and reduce the hours providers work.
“Being accepted was like a dream come true. YourVenture really pulled my program together; it relieved me from working so many extra hours. I was introduced to Brightwheel, an activity tracking platform that notifies families throughout the day. They can find out what their children are eating, how they’re doing. They can now check in and out through a QR code which helped to keep things touchless, especially now with COVID.”
The YourVenture pilot program also helped her to create and monitor her financial goals: “QuickBooks training and assistance meant we could track our spending and revenue and decide as a provider: where do we want to go? I want to expand on becoming a 24-hour service and working in the YourVenture program, I could see how to grow.”
What is Krystal’s advice to women interested in starting a child care business?
“Utilize all the programs out there to help you get started. People are never going to stop having children and parents need us. Your business will run 100% more smoothly if you have the support you need.”
