294: How Can Technology Transform Your Child Care Center? With Latrice Galloway

In this episode of "Child Care Conversations," Latrice Galloway shared her journey from juggling multiple tech tools to streamlining everything with Playground software, saving time and money (hello, $2,000/month!). Kate, Carrie, and Latrice swapped tips on batching tasks, delegating, and keeping parents in the loop.

If you’re curious about making your child care center run smoother or want to hear real talk about tech in early childhood, this one’s for you. Don’t forget to check out Latrice’s book and stay tuned for more episodes! 

Learn more about Latrice and her conference: https://www.borntoteachcon.com/

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Transcript

Carrie Casey (00:47)
Well guys, today we have the one, the only Latrice Galloway back for her second time on our podcast, on our podcast and welcome Latrice. How's things going today?

Latrice Galloway (01:01)
Things are going amazing. And I would like to say good seeing y'all again. We saw you this summer. Good to have you being back here on the podcast with you guys, but everything has been going well. So thanks for having me again.

Kate Young (01:13)
Well, you've had a lot of stuff going on. since we had you on last, you had a book come out and the conference was a success. And you have another conference coming up. When and where is that one?

Latrice Galloway (01:20)
See?

So we are having BTT 2026 in Atlanta on July 9th through the 12th. Super excited. This is year three and year three, we're taking it on the road. One and two with such a success. It just continues to grow. And so we decided why not leave Texas and see what Atlanta brings.

Kate Young (01:46)
Awesome. Well, great. And you have a book out. What's the name of the book?

Latrice Galloway (01:52)
Yes, the book is called The Power of One. Release the book at BTT. It has been an Amazon bestseller. Just sharing my story about how just one decision and one childcare center changed my entire life. People really think that you need multiple locations and all these things. And I just want to share my story that that's not always the case. And given actually the blueprint of how I did it.

Kate Young (02:15)
Awesome. Well, how exciting. So we know that that could be its own episode, but we're not going to go there today. ⁓ We're just going to have a conversation about kind of some of the struggles that you experienced and some of the solutions you came. And we're going to talk a little bit about, ⁓ so there's this phrase called a tech stack. ⁓ And so today we're going to talk about how many different

different software you used to use, what that was like as an offsite owner, and maybe some solutions that you kind of found to fix that.

Carrie Casey (02:49)
And how you're seeing that with the people that you are mentoring, like how they're going through all that. when you started back with that first program, day one, with the power of one, did you use any technology at the very beginning?

Latrice Galloway (03:09)
I did. I really think that's what set me apart from day one. Now this was back in 2006, seven, early 2007. Everyone around me was still signing in on paper. And then I found this software that I purchased and it was amazing. It was a game changer. No one was doing it. And so we were assigning everybody in and out on computers and running reports and things like that. This was like, I early 2007. And so

I did, that was the first software I used in 2007. As soon as I opened.

Kate Young (03:40)
So.

Carrie Casey (03:41)
And so did you just use that or did you have email for sending communications to parents that was the same or different and payroll and you know, maybe taxes and stuff?

Latrice Galloway (03:55)
So this was in 07. What was email marketing back then? We didn't even have social media marketing back then. And payroll was ran through my bank. Like back then my bank had their own payroll services and credit card processing services. So for years, my bank did all my payroll and the credit card processing.

Kate Young (04:15)
Alright, but that probably came with a fee.

Latrice Galloway (04:18)
It definitely came with the fee. Nothing's free, but it was no, really no softwares that were doing that back then. So I was using my bank to run all of that, that payroll and financial piece.

Kate Young (04:31)
So what was the first platform you ever used to send emails to parents?

Latrice Galloway (04:35)
constant contact.

Kate Young (04:37)
Okay, and so did you use it as a CRM eventually or did you just use it for email?

Latrice Galloway (04:42)
I just use different emails only. Like I didn't know, I'm not tech savvy, right? I hire people to do that. But back then I couldn't hire anybody to do that. So was figuring it out along the way. And when I decided to start an email list, which was years down the line when I figured out what that was and that I didn't have to keep sending all these emails one at a time, cause that's what I was doing. And when I realized it was a better way, it was through constant contact. And I think I used them just because it was user friendly. ⁓

For someone who didn't know how to use technology, it was very easy to put those email addresses in and create an email and send it out. And then we would send mainly newsletters and stuff like that.

Kate Young (05:21)
All right, so I'm gonna touch on one thing, because I think it's important to listen. for those of you who are listening, I want you to listen to what she just said, which was she made a list so she didn't have to send people one-on-one emails. So regardless of what tech stack you do or do not have, regardless of where you are in the process of owning your child care program, whether you are...

a smaller program or a family home or you are running multiple locations, hopefully you have some way to organize all your contacts that's not a spreadsheet or a Word document and you actually have a list and not just your current clients, right? Everybody who's ever taken a tour.

Latrice Galloway (06:09)
No. I also build my email list, and this is just a tip. I also build my email list too from just community events. That's their ticket in my free events. You have to give your email address and name to get in all the events that I have. So I continue to always grow my email list. And they see our newsletter, whether they have kids or have children that go somewhere else. And they're like, man, they always have some things going on at this place. So we just keep.

⁓ Our name, whether we send tips out to parents like Halloween's coming up, we'll probably send an email just about, you know, some tips on being safe during Halloween just to keep our name on their brain in case they have kids later, grandkids, their neighbors looking for a center. You never know.

Kate Young (06:52)
Absolutely. I love that and that is something you know, we've been we've been talking about that since 2002 so For a long time. So the other thing is Your your payroll was currently being done by your bank. When did you change that? Did you switch to QuickBooks or or a payroll service?

Carrie Casey (07:11)
Thanks

Latrice Galloway (07:11)
So

our bank sent out a letter one day that said they're no longer doing payroll and credit card processing. And they referred all the clients to ADP. Okay. And then that's how I got with ADP. I kind of was stuck there, been stuck there for a long time.

Kate Young (07:31)
And so how much do you think you spent every month, even just, you know, maybe five years ago, like, so even during COVID, you know, what do you think you were spending every month on what I'm going to call your tech stack? So this is every piece of software, your, your constant contact or whatever you were using five years ago, your business operations that was maybe childcare, but all the other software you had to have, maybe it was jot form, maybe it was quick books.

What do you think you were spending? You can give me an estimate. I'm not asking you.

Latrice Galloway (08:02)
About

are you talking about fees to for credit card processing the fees. Man, at least. 3000. Yes, because my credit card processing fees once I switched well was high with the bank, but once I once the software I was using start allowing payments for credit card that came years later, but that was a feature they started offering. ⁓

Kate Young (08:07)
Yes, everything.

because

Latrice Galloway (08:28)
the fees were very expensive. And so I was easily running $2,000 a month just on the fees for the parents to pay with their credit card. wasn't back then you weren't able to pass that on to parents. So I was eating that cost. Plus I probably had five or six different softwares I used to run my program. Then when they added the parent portal, during COVID they started adding a parent piece and then the software I was using.

didn't have the parent piece. Another company had the parent portal before the software I was using. So now I'm using two softwares, one's for my parents and one's for, it was crazy. So I'm paying those two. So easily $3,000 on fees and software and things to keep my business running.

Kate Young (09:14)
Yeah. And so you had one location. So if you're listening to this, if you didn't quite dissect that over 2000 in credit card fees, which means that if you're spending 3000, that's a thousand dollars a month just in subscription services to have an email list, just to be able to do your payroll, to keep track of your accounting, sending parents invoices, sign in, sign out, all of those things. Yep. Right. So when did you decide

There had to be a better way. What did that look like to you? Talk to us a little bit about when you were finally like, I don't know, something had to go.

Latrice Galloway (09:53)
So eventually, software I was using started having, you know, adding different features where I was able to get rid of a few things, right? And I was still struggling with it. But at one point, I just thought, this is just how it is. I just got to deal with it, right? And then I had ⁓ another company reach out to me and say, let us do a demo. And I said, I'm not interested in a demo. I'm good where I'm at because again, I'm a loyal person. ⁓

I don't like technology when I'm comfortable with something, I stay there. But they were persistent. And I said, you know, let's do the demo. Okay. And when I done the demo, was thoroughly impressed. Like, wait, it does all of this in one? All of this in one payment? And they said, yeah. And I said, sign me up.

Kate Young (10:44)
So tell us a little bit about what that application is and maybe even what the transition was like, because, you know, Carrie and I are both have used technology for a really long time. Carrie's husband has got a tech background and one of my companies, he actually worked for me as our tech guy. And wow, that's a long time ago. Sorry. Had one of those. did math in my head and I should never do that. But ⁓

You know, so we're familiar, ⁓ little painfully too familiar with tech. We joke that we kind of don't really tell people about that part of our life. But we also know that changing from something you're comfortable with can really be, you know, painful. So.

Latrice Galloway (11:28)
I almost put my hair out. I'm telling you when I switched. So after the demo, and I made my admin team sit with me in the demo because they ultimately really use it more than me, right? Because I'm an offsite owner. And so they were impressed and they again, but they were really nervous about the change and the software that I had the demo with was Playground. ⁓ hadn't heard a lot about them, but I started doing my research. I told them, me up. They signed me up.

funny part is they signed me up probably in May and I was so scared to switch. said, I was paying, but I was like, yeah, not yet. Not this month, not this month, not this month. Because I knew that switching was going to be a lot. have run in the center with, I'm licensed for 276 children. So I had to move at least 200 families and their fees and train my staff. And it was just a lot going through my head of how I was going to do this. So finally in August, they were like, when are you going to switch?

And I wound up telling my director, we're just going to do it. said, September 1st, it starts our school year. We're starting. Let's just do it. So the switch was, it was different. We had to go through a lot of trainings and, it was put in, they made it easier to import and export all of my information. They did kind of make that part, but you had to sit there and put the financial piece in for everybody, which I only did that.

and it took me days and I said here my eyes were getting crossed with numbers, but again, that's because we have a large center. But once it was all done, I was able to breathe and I really started seeing the benefits like on my direct. We don't care if it's a holiday, my director doesn't have to run anything. It automatically is gonna bill the parents, it's automatically gonna do that for a year or however long you set it up for with their fees. I am a Mac user.

And my other software that I used for years was not compatible to Mac. So that was another selling feature for me. I run my business from the beach now with my Mac. And I love that for me. So that was something that I love to be able to do as well. But the transition, took a minute for my team to get it. But once they got it, they saw the benefits. It took a minute for my parents. know how parents are. were, they didn't like that. Now the fees are yours. They didn't like it, but.

I mean, they complain maybe the first two times, what are you going to take your kid out for $3? Like, come on, you know, or $5 or whatever. So they got it. Now I'm saving $2,000 a month on fees. I love that. I'm telling you, I love this for me. And I'm saving money on different, like, I don't have to have constant contact anymore. The ADP, I don't have to have that anymore. I don't have to have the CRM that I was using anymore. All this is built into the Playground software.

And I love it. It's user friendly. Their customer support has been A1 ⁓ because if you need something, they have this immediate chat button right at the bottom. And they can chime in on your screen and walk you through it if you need them to. I ⁓ absolutely love it. Again, my team does nail. First, they were like, why would you do this? Because they had to learn. Parents were.

We don't like it, but now they love it. They pay from their cell phone. We got rid of those credit cards, swipe things at our front desk. You know, they pay from their cell phone. They get messages. They communicate with the teachers. We communicate back. They're getting pictures and their feed looks almost like a social media feed. And that's what our generation's used to. So they love logging in and scrolling up like it's a Facebook, Instagram feed and seeing what their children are doing throughout the day. ⁓ One of the features that

really love and I just, I mean, I'm discovering new features all the time, even though I've been using it for over a year now. And she can schedule all your posts. This is like social media. So like we have things. So now I delegate to one of my, my admin team on the first of every month schedule all the posts that go, that we want to go out to the parents about events and things that we're having going on. And this week is spirit week. Like she schedules them on the first.

And we never have to worry about it again for the whole entire month. She takes our newsletter and takes our chart and looks at every single thing we have going on, whether it's bring your brown bag lunch, bring this, do that, wear pink, whether, and all that goes out on all that schedule at the first of the month, wear.

Carrie Casey (15:54)
She

only has to think about it one day. She doesn't have to remember, oh right, this classroom's picture day is this day and this classroom's picture day is that day. She doesn't have to remember it. She does it once in like an hour.

Latrice Galloway (15:57)
Yeah

Yeah, it may take her an hour or so, but that's it. She does it one time. And because before it's like, did you send a message? Tomorrow is pajama day. ⁓ crap, we forgot. ⁓ did you tell that? Did you remind the pants as picture day Monday? ⁓ wait, let me see. Now do it once and schedule it. It goes out when you tell it. Okay. So game changer.

Kate Young (16:30)
So that's another one of those tips. I don't care what platform you're using, delegate and batch. Those are things that you can apply that to your social media, to your newsletters, your parent communication. ⁓ Absolutely. Delegate, delegate, delegate.

Latrice Galloway (16:46)
about the

delegate.

Carrie Casey (16:47)
circle back also to that whole in this era of the budgets being tighter and tighter and tighter in a child care program, saving $2,000, that's the equivalent, depending on your tuition of, you know, several children, it's definitely several children's worth of tuition, right? And so if you've got a little bit of wiggle room, you've just bought yourself $2,000 by switching platforms.

And you've made life easier for yourself as an administrator and you've saved money for the owner and the parents are happier. So where's the, mean, I get that there's the switching cost, the amount of time to learn the new software, but other than the switching cost, why would we not save that $2,000 and make our lives better?

Latrice Galloway (17:37)
I agree. And I think, I think the difference too with Playground and I see in a lot of Facebook groups and I've had heard this before with a lot of my clients that have switched. I think it's the initial shock factor because they do cost a little bit more than your average 29.99, 99.99. But once you break it down, okay, what are you paying for ADP? What are you paying for your CRM? What are you paying for your email marketing? How much in fees are you paying? Then

That's how I have to do my clients when they first see and then they're like, ⁓ right. You're to be able to cancel that, that, that, and that and pay that one person. And it's still three times cheaper.

Kate Young (18:20)
even just the customer service piece with that, right? So instead of having

four or five pieces of software that you have to ask customer service. You have one location and they know your whole history when they pull up your information. So, well, Latrice, thank you so much for sharing your experience. And I think we've given some folks some great little nuggets, even if they aren't interested. They've been with their software for 16 years. It's not broken. They ⁓ wanna stay there. I just hope that they think about things from a budget standpoint.

a time, an ultimate time and location. And you are the second person we've had who've talked to us about that platform. ⁓ You know, basically being on Apple platforms and the fact that as an offsite owner, you want to be able to check things without having to go find somebody's PC to be able to check reports.

Carrie Casey (19:18)
Yeah, because more people have an iPad than have a ⁓ Google tablet. mean, pads are kind of ubiquitous. And if you can't check your app on an iPad, way a lot of it.

Latrice Galloway (19:31)
Or an iPhone.

The app is on my phone. you know, so I couldn't see anything now, whether I have my MacBook, my Mac Pro, my iPhone, I can just log on in and see everything I need to see. And when I say everything, I can literally run my business from the beach and know exactly what's going on.

Kate Young (19:51)
You know, that always sounds like a lovely thing. Don't you think, Carrie? Like, who doesn't want to run their business from the beach?

Carrie Casey (19:58)
I mean, I'm willing to go to the water pretty much any time. I will go get in the pool. Kate and I have great business meetings in a pool or at Disney. These are some of our favorite places to have business meetings.

Latrice Galloway (20:11)
I mean, I agree. I agree. Give me a beach, some sand, and I can make memories and make money.

Kate Young (20:19)
What a lovely combination. Kerry, what do we need to do now?

Carrie Casey (20:22)
Well, we need to remind people that they should go get Latrice's book, The Power of One. You can get it at your local bookseller or you can get it on the Zahn, right? ⁓ We hopefully will have some at some of her books at a couple of the conferences we've got coming up. Also, like the show, make sure you're subscribed or following depending on your platform and.

send us a message. You've got that ability in the show notes to send us a message and ask questions. What do you want to hear about next? What is the biggest problem happening at your program? How do you know, maybe you want to know how to get in touch with Latrice because you want to know more about Born to Teach 2026. All of that can be done by hitting that, ⁓ contact the show button and, ⁓ we'll talk to you in a few days.

Latrice Galloway (21:14)
Alrighty! Thank you, ladies!