We were lucky to catch up with Debra Adamo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Debra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

As an entrepreneur, you will encounter many obstacles/unexpected problems. It is part of the job and what makes it challenging and rewarding at the same time. Covid is definitely at the top of this list. Covid was unprecedented and a huge setback for many businesses. At the peak of 2020, we had to close our doors. Thankfully, with the type of business I have, we were all able to work from home which we did. However, since many other businesses were not working, the need for childcare decreased dramatically. So did our group event and hotel business since travelling was cancelled and hotels were closed. This was a major loss in revenue for us. We immediately began to diversify our revenue. We did this by starting a shopping service. We also worked on expanding our supervisory service. Parents that are court-ordered to have a supervisor when visiting with their child still needed to see their children. Our supervisors would go and supervise these visits. We also utilized this time to revamp our contracts and service agreements. We created a coloring and activity book called “Heros Who Care”. In the coloring book, we thanked all essential workers by creating coloring pages for each profession. 25% of the proceeds went back to a charity called “”Project Frontline” which directly helped essential workers.
Thankfully in Florida, we were not locked down for long, but this time helped me to realize how important work-life balance is to my employees. I realized we can achieve this for them while still being productive. At Nannies Who Care, we have continued to work from home and my team and I love it! We meet up in person once a month and have lunch and some fun since we don’t see each other in person regularly. If there is any good that came from Covid, I suppose this would be it.

Debra, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

After having my firstborn child, I realized the need for quality childcare in my area. I knew I was not comfortable leaving my child unless the person was thoroughly screened and vetted. This prompted me to open my own nanny agency. In fact, that is how I found my first nanny. We pride ourselves on our thorough background screening and the relationships we build with our nannies. We are confident in our referrals as we are a premier agency in Central Florida. We are the only agency in the State of Florida that is a member of two prestigious organizations; The International Nanny Association and The Association of Premier Nanny Agencies. These organizations hold us to a higher standard. We also ensure our nannies are paid legally.
I and my team are passionate about helping parents find the right nanny for them as well as the nanny finding the right family. Our slogan is “Matching Great Families WIth Great Nannies since 1989”. We then follow up with ongoing support. Families become kid’s club members which allows them to utilize our on-call nannies at a discounted rate for those much-needed date nights or perhaps they need help when their nanny is sick or on vacation. We provide continuing education through training events to keep nannies up to date on the latest recommendations when caring for children.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

In approximately 2004, the nanny industry started changing because online nanny services began popping up. These are “do it yourself” sites similar to Craigslist. They state the background screening is done on nannies, however, the nannies are not properly vetted. After all, how can you properly screen a nanny that is not even required to show her ID to anyone and is not even met by anyone face to face? The screening process that is done by online sites is similar to a google search that anyone can do themselves. This gives parents a false sense of security and consequently began affecting my revenue at Nannies Who Care. I quickly realized that other agencies around the country operating similar to mine must be feeling this pain as well. Consequently, I invested in a marketing group to come up with a plan and “National Childcare Referral Service” was born. NCRS was a complete marketing plan where agencies pooled their money together so we could market ourselves as to how we differ from online sites and why it is a safe way to find quality childcare. Our plan was to use digital, print TV and news media ads nationwide. By coming together, we could respectively afford to market ourselves under the NCRS umbrella.
Before getting started, I needed 20 Letters of Intent from agencies across the country in order for the plan to be effective. When I only got 13, I knew it was not enough. I had already invested thousands of dollars and realized that although a great idea, not enough agencies saw the value. I closed NCRS and began focusing on spreading the word about how my individual agency was unique and different from online sites.
I am successful in my business, but the point is to go after your dreams and ideas. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they don’t. That is ok because it helps you continue to learn more about business to keep moving forward.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I have read the book “Traction” by Gino Wickman and I highly recommend it. This book teaches you about EOS; Entrepreneurial Operating System. I began to gain control of my company with a clear business strategy. My team and I developed a set of core values and a vision. We also created a 10-year target and marketing strategy which is broken down by 1 and 3 yr goals. I learned how to have more effective meetings and hire and place the right people in the right seats. You learn how to create “rocks” which are basically quarterly goals so you can view and achieve your progress effectively. As a result, my company runs smoother and we are all focused on moving in the same direction to achieve growth and success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nannieswhocare.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nannieswhocare/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nannieswhocare
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nannieswhocare/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NanniesWhoCare
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/NanniesWhoCare1
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/nannies-who-care-tampa