Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ann McGrath. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ann, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

My dream of owning my own preschool evolved over the years. I have always loved working with kids and started babysitting neighborhood children as soon as I was able to. Through the years, I have always worked in some capacity with children (preschools, school-age programs, babysitting/nannying, internships and volunteering). In first grade, my student of the week poster told everyone I wanted to be a teacher growing up. In college, that dream changed to owning my own preschool center. After becoming a director at a preschool center, my dream changed one last time to opening up my own home preschool. The only problem? Getting my own home to create this preschool program I dreamed about. For the next 7 years, I researched, planned and saved for the day that I could finally follow my dream. During those years, I was able to travel locally and internationally while nannying and help open a brand new preschool center – giving me even more valuable knowledge for when I would finally open my own. When COVID-19 happened, the school I was working at was bought out by a new company. Although, change can be scary, this helped me to finally take the leap of faith that I had been planning for years. I quit my job, left all my friends and godchildren and moved from CA to MI. My brother was living in MI at the time and promised if I came out here, he would help me get the house I needed to finally open my own home preschool. For the next year, I worked on getting the house ready (painting, fixing, building), going through the licensing process, creating all the documents needed (contracts, permissions, communications etc), marketing (creating a website, advertising, business cards, social media) and creating my own curriculum. Finally, on April 18th, 2022, I opened my very own home preschool!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself and your business to our readers.

I am the owner/director/educator at Ms. Ann’s Preschool and Childcare located in Royal Oak, MI. Ms. Ann’s Preschool is a small S.T.E.A.M focused home preschool program for children aged 12 months and up. I am truly passionate about being a positive influence and inspiring our future generations. I strive to create a safe space for children to learn and thrive in a fun and sometimes out of the box way. We get messy and my program might look different than others, but here we learn kindness, compassion, independence, experimentation, problem solving and much more in addition to literacy, math, and science. Every child is different, and since this is my own program, I have the ability to change things day by day based on the children’s interests or needs. For example, sometimes we will do circle time or art outside, or we might stop what we are doing to watch the garbage trucks or construction workers. We are able to talk about what machines they are using or what we think they are building or fixing. We like to explore outside and have spent many mornings working on not only our gross motor skills but also our fine motor skills. We like to discuss the types of bugs we find, or how the trees change with the season. We get excited to see who can spot different color flowers or different animal tracks. I am incredibly grateful to be living my dream and for the amazing families who trust me to care for their children and have ended up feeling like family.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

To be completely honest, I was nervous at first to be opening a childcare business in a new city where the only people I knew were my brother and sister-in-law. Trusting someone new with your children is a very big decision. I had a great reputation and many people willing to recommend me back in California but didn’t have that here in Michigan. Thankfully, I found many people willing to give me a chance. I started out by setting up a website (www.msannspreschool.com) where I have information about me, my program and also testimonials from past families. I then took pictures of my space and posted on Nextdoor, Instagram and various Facebook groups. I definitely got the most interest from the Facebook groups. From there, I set up tours and met with potential families. Currently, I also get a lot of interest from word of mouth.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I saved a lot over the years. I babysat nights and weekends while I was working at the centers. In addition to that, at one of the centers I worked at, I started a cooking class business (offered as an extracurricular activity- teaching nutrition and basic cooking skills) and taught two classes a week after my shift ended. I saved all the extra income from these side gigs that I could. Also, since I always knew this was my end goal, I would buy toys for my current classroom, that I knew would travel with me throughout the years. One set I bought for a classroom nearly 10 years ago is still a favorite in my preschool today! I also accepted donations (old clothes that kids have grown out of, toys they were going to get rid of etc). Another great resource has been Facebook marketplace. I was able to get a stroller from there and all of my Cozy Coupes which are a favorite here! I do think it is important to realize that I didn’t need to have every toy or material to start. It is much easier to build up over time. I have been truly blessed to have not only known this was my path and be able to plan ahead for a long time, but also to know very generous and thoughtful people who offer and donate things that they can no longer use but are truly a treasure here.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.msannspreschool.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/msannspreschool.royaloak
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100078238651567