We were lucky to catch up with Yolanda Bush recently and have shared our conversation below.

Yolanda, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I believe that success is a frame of mind. Being successful depends on how each individual person may define it for themselves, and what success may look like or feel like to each person. To one person success could be becoming a billionaire or climbing the corporate ladder. Another person could view success as creating a family of their own, which could include getting married, having kids, and becoming homeowners. Success for me is what brings me peace and happiness in every aspect of my life, being able to live a life where I am proud of the decisions that I make within my faith, career, and personal life, as well as seeing my dreams and goals become a reality and thrive in their own right. I also believe that becoming successful involves accepting and embracing those not so great moments. Moments when you may feel like you are failing or have failed at something is all part of the process. One of the best things that a successful person could do for themselves is to never give up. I have realized that no matter what, especially if you are trying to do something big, obstacles will come, but even through those struggles I like the comfort in knowing that I am at peace with my decisions, and the direction that I am going in life. Success for me is setting a goal and accomplishing it. I set out to open my own preschool and although it took longer than I thought, and I ran into different obstacles, I never gave up. So although it may not have happened in the time frame that I wanted it to, and even now I am still working on making it bigger and better, I succeeded in turning my dream into a reality with faith, hard work, dedication and consistency.

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

My name is Yolanda Rene Bush and I am the Owner, Director and a Teacher at Discovery Christian Preschool (DCP). Discovery Christian Preschool is a licensed facility located in Covina, California and we serve children ages 2-5. DCP is an early learning center for children to grow socially, emotionally, academically, and spiritually. We create a home away from home environment where children can learn, play and explore in a non-constricting teacher and student directed environment.  We incorporate the five main learning domains (Cognitive, Physical, Social/Emotional, Self Sufficiency and Language), spiritual based learning. We have our own monthly theme based curriculum that includes problem solving, counting, alphabets, tracing, experimental, observatory, social, and spiritually focused activities and bible stories. Play is also a big part of our curriculum approach. This includes both teacher directed as well as free play (non teacher directed play). At DCP we believe that play is an essential part of child development. We also provide 9 different schedules for enrollment that include full day, half day and drop in options to assist with different family needs. At DCP we assist with potty learning and provide 2 daily snacks at no additional cost to our families. We also accept subsidies and provide a summer program in July and August. As the owner and Director I am completely involved with the day-to-day operations, as well as the education of the children and building daily bonds and communication with the families and staff. I still enjoy teaching in the classrooms everyday and learning from the students and staff. I believe in creating an environment that is warm and nurturing for the students, staff and families. At Discovery Christian Preschool we strive on a daily basis to maintain a positive, faith based and fun educational environment. My plans are to always strive for growth at Discovery Christian Preschool, as well assisting families and other business owners in whatever way I possibly can.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Within the Preschool and childcare industry, the best way to build clientele is through word of mouth from previous clients. But what do you do when you have a new business and you are not able to rely on previous or current customers? One of the first things that I set up was a website for the school, to  provide information to potential families regarding the mission, philosophy and vision, operation hours and contact information for DCP. I also included all of the pricing information in order to give as much information as possible to assist families with the selecting the appropriate Preschool for them. I believe that one of the most important things when running a Preschool, or any business for that matter, is transparency. I want the children, families, and staff to feel comfortable and completely aware of what to expect from the school, as well as what may be expected from them, as we all work together to create a conducive, healthy, loving, caring and supportive learning and work environment. I utilize social media as much as possible to gain and retain families. Social media is a great way to get your business out there to people who may not know that it is an option. I started promoting DCP through the Facebook, and Instagram pages that I created for the school. I also joined different community groups on Facebook for Covina and the surrounding areas that allow businesses in the area to promote on certain days of the week. Google and Yelp were another important factor with the marketing and promotion of the school. I made sure to set up and claim my Google and Yelp business profiles and connect my website in order to make additional information about the school as accessible as possible. Eventually, your business will start speaking for itself, through your clients. Sometimes satisfied clients will go and leave a review rather on Facebook, Google, or Yelp. As a business owner, you could also encourage your clients to review your services, and to also let you know what you could be doing differently/better, or things you could add to your services that would be beneficial to the clients.  It is also important to remember what would be considered the “old school” way of doing things by having brochures and business cards at the ready. I also sent out mailers and passed out brochures and business cards in the neighborhood. Sometimes you have to put in the actual legwork and let people see your face.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2019 I went through a transition with my career. I was working at a Preschool full time and It was just not a good work environment. I had been working there for almost 4 years and working as a Preschool Teacher for 6 years at that point. It was one of those situations where you just dread going to work even when you are passionate about what you do. Although you love your co-workers and the families that you work with everyday , and some you have been knowing for years, there are just some working situations that will make even all of those positive aspects, not worth the mental and emotional fight that you deal with in a negative work environment. I was already in the process of trying to find a location for the preschool but I just had not found a good location. I wanted to hold on to that job as some form of stability, but the reality is, when you are trying to accomplish something in life, you just have to take that leap, and for me it was a major leap of faith. In my heart, mind, and soul I had to trust that God would take care of me, as He always has. Once leaving that job, I was approached by families of past students to do private tutoring, and I started working at a parent/child co-working space where I, along with other staff, put together different enrichment classes for children while their parents used the offices to work. I was also driving for a rideshare food delivery company to supplement my income. Since my schedule was more flexible, it allowed me extra time on certain days to make that extra money that I needed in order to support myself and it also afforded me the time needed to complete paperwork and continue developing my business plan for the preschool. I believe that when you are trying to make something happen, you have to do what you have to do. Even if it may be uncomfortable. And trust me, it will get uncomfortable for a while, but that is all a part of growth. You will learn so much in those hard times and it will definitely grow and test both your faith, and how serious you are about your goals. That career pivot was a blessing for me. It has allowed me to stay in touch with some of my old students and families, and I am able to see and hear the impact that I have had and still have on their lives. The best thing to hear as an educator, is that all of your hard work, dedication, and patience, was not and is not in vain.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.discoverychristianpreschool.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/discoverychristianpreschool/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/discoverychristianpreschool
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/discovery-christian-preschool-covina