📍 Hello and welcome to the Hybrid School Builders Podcast. I am your host, Rebecca Foley, and I am so glad you are joining me today. I am a fellow grassroots founder who is hoping to make your journey toward founding a sustainable hybrid school a little bit easier. If you are dreaming of starting a hybrid school or perhaps you've already gotten started, you are in the right place.

Join me as we dive into real stories, practical tips and hard one lessons that I have learned to help you launch and grow your program with confidence. Remember, building a hybrid school is not just about creating a business or creating jobs. It's not even about just serving the children who attend the program.

It's literally about reshaping the landscape of education. And we can do that one community, one entrepreneur, and one program at a time.       Hey guys, welcome. Today I wanted to touch on something that's, uh, probably one of the hardest emotional things for a founder to do. Now this depends on what your situation is, so let me explain what I'm talking about. Um, I'm talking about separating you yourself from your business. Um, now I'll mention in a few minutes the.

Actual like business, uh, distinction. If you're a nonprofit, you pretty much have to legally separate yourself. You're kind of forced into it as a nonprofit. If you're an LLC, you and your business are, uh, very close to being the same thing as far as like the money that's made and who owns it and like, it, it kind of is you like it's a.

It's, it's not, it's not you in, in the sense of the sole proprietorship, but you are the business owner and if you stop working there, the business is no longer in existence. Right? That's not true for a nonprofit anyway. That's like what it looks like on paper. Emotionally. There's, uh, different levels of how closely the business, the hybrid school is connected to you.

And by, by that I mean your kind of, your, uh, your own interests as a person, maybe your career, um, your wellbeing, your financial whose status, um, or, and or, uh, your children's needs. Your own personal needs. Okay? So lemme give you an example. Let's say that you're a teacher. And you were working in a public school system and you had your, you know, your salary and your benefits and all of that, and you want to leave for whatever reason, right?

There's any number of reasons. Um, and you want to start a program, which is, by the way, there's nothing at all wrong with any of these things. Let me be clear about that. There's nothing wrong with any of the scenarios that I'm gonna talk about. Um. But I'm just explaining why it can be difficult to separate the two.

Okay. So you need to replace, uh, maybe all or most of the income you had as a teacher. Okay? So you need this program to support you financially. All right? There's nothing wrong with that, but I won't explain exactly, you know, how to solve this problem, but it can be difficult to. Separate that need that you personally have from the organization.

Like what's gonna make the organization successful? Like maybe what, uh, families can pay actually what they actually want out of the program. Okay? Now this can also look like something that you need for your children, right? Maybe you need. Uh, you know, a kindergarten class or maybe you need a middle school class.

Maybe you feel like your child would thrive with a two day program. Maybe your child would thrive with a four day or a five day program, and you really want this school to work for your child. Again. There is nothing at all wrong with this, and in fact, it's often an indicator of what the rest of the market needs too.

Okay? But it's very important in your planning process, especially. Uh, at least to head in the right direction that you're able to say, well, this is what I would like, maybe what I actually really need for my family, for my kid, for me, whatever. But I need to, before I jump in with both feet and say, this is what I'm gonna build, this is what it needs to look like.

This is the revenue I need, this is the frequency I need, whatever you need to make sure that there are enough people to support it. Right. And that's just a market economics sort of thing, right. You might be able to find a handful of people who have the exact same you have and, and maybe the money to pay for it, um, but not enough to actually make this dream vision sustainable.

And I talk about this in the, the planning course a little bit when I talk about, uh, your model, your vision and who you are and what you need and what you wanna do in this. Um, and then you have to kind of like build that. You know, theoretically this is what I'd like a five day program, a three day program, whatever, right?

I'd like it to be this big. I'd like it to run this many hours. I wanted to offer this many subjects. Uh, if you're a teacher leaving their job, you might say, I need it to bring in this much money 'cause I need to be able to pay myself this much money. Okay? But then you have to set that aside for a second.

You have to go do a little research to see if your market can actually sustain that. And then you have to bring those two things together so that you'll build a program that's sustainable. For the market and hopefully also meets your needs. But you have to feel out how you're gonna compromise what your vision might be if your market is sending you, you know, very disparate signals about what they need.

Okay? So that is really important to do in the beginning. Alright? As you get further into the process, um, you have to still. Keep this in mind. Like let's say that you are building a two day program and that's what you wanted. That's what you wanted for your kids. You only wanted to work part-time. You're building a two day program, and let's say your market is responding very well, everything's going great, people are coming, you're filling your classes, you have your part-time job, your kids have the part-time school, you're able to homeschool.

Everything's going great. Okay? This is, this is excellent. Or maybe, you know, you started a four day program and you got enough kids to fill the, the school. This often happens with like a micro school sort of setting. You're the teacher, you're handling everything. You found enough kids to pay the tuition, everything's going well.

Okay. But I'm gonna go back to my part-time example. 'cause I, I, uh, I know intimately the, the, some of the challenges that can come with that particular, uh, problem. Um. With that particular model. Uh, so it could be either of those situations, right? But let's say you're running your two day program and maybe you're two or three years in and, and this is like going pretty well, right?

Um, but then let's say you hit some organizational, uh, decision that needs to be made. Okay? Um. One might be, you know, a lot of, a lot of hybrid programs, uh, mine, other ones I've heard of have had issues with their building, right? Their host building, either because of growth or because of sharing or whatever.

Maybe it's a building issue. Okay? Um, maybe it's a staffing issue, right? Maybe you're having trouble keeping staff, maybe you're having trouble finding people who can only work part-time. Um, and it's actually affecting. Like the ability of your program to forecast, like how sustainable you're gonna be, how stable you're gonna be in the future.

Alright. Um, I'll give you an example where a program was really having a hard time finding a space for a while. For several years they were growing, everything was going well as far as that went. They were having. A problem finding, a really welcoming space that was within their budget and it was causing a problem.

They had to move a couple of times, which was very energy draining, very like impactful. It's hard to plan around all of that. And um, they also had a wait list of kids cutting in for the two day program. It was starting to like get quite popular and there was more and more people, but. Uh, they did, they couldn't fit any more kids into the two days.

Okay. To take those extra kids would be to have another set of two days. 'cause a lot of, you know, they were kids who were, you know, a lot of demand for like the younger years and stuff. And what happens sometimes and is that like, let's say the teachers. Or maybe the director, some of the staff are like, well, I don't wanna work four days, right?

Because I'm, you know, maybe they're homeschooling their own kids, you know, hybrid schooling their own kids, and they're like, how are we gonna run a four day program? I only wanted to work two days. Okay. Well, there's absolutely no obligation to run a four day program, except that the stability of the program was being heavily impacted because it's a building problem.

Right. They couldn't find a building that was welcoming. Okay. Now, in this particular instance, there's multiple pieces going on, right? For instance, a four day program might make a building even less welcoming because they don't, in this instance, it's often churches, right? They didn't want people there four days a week.

They only wanted 'em there two days a week. Okay? But. Let's say that they're looking at commercial spaces. Okay. We don't wanna share, this is difficult. We need a commercial. We want a commercial space where we can just rent and we can have full use of the building all the time. Okay, well, you can't rent a commercial space unless you're, I, I guess, subletting or, or sharing it with somebody on a two day income revenue stream.

You just can't do that, right? You can't pay for five days a week and then have a two day program and have the building sit empty. Um, that's just not gonna work, right? Which means that the stability that the program needs, this is the key point, the stability that the program needed possibly, um, to actually be able to thrive in its physical space was possibly going to demand a.

And, and the market was there. That was the other thing. You don't just make this decision if you're like already having trouble getting students in this particular instance story. Um, but you, you're literally turning people away. You're turning money away, you're turning kids away 'cause there's nowhere to put them.

You're also having trouble with your space. Okay? And then let's say you see a building, a space that would work, but you would have to have a four or five day program. But you have the kids there. Okay? Now what can be. This is the problem, right? It's very hard to separate. You love this program, you love your work, you love your teachers, you love your staff.

Everything's working beautifully. Why do you have to expand? You don't want to, right? But the program itself, the sustainability, the stability, the, the morale of your teachers, the quality of the programming is being heavily impacted by the building situation, okay? And you have this building available. And you could afford it if you just had, um, two, two day programs and then like an enrichment day, but who's gonna run it?

You don't wanna run it. You didn't wanna work two days, uh, four days a week, or five days a week, right? You have to homeschool your own kids. Okay? This is one of the instances where you have to be able to stop and say, okay, why am I doing this? Am I, why am I doing this? And if I want this program to, to survive and thrive?

And I want to be able to fit into this work, but I also need the program to thrive for the sake of my families and my students and my, you know, financial stability and not having to move all the time or whatever. Um, what, what are the, what are the solutions here now, assuming, and I talked about this in my last, last episode, risk assessment and resource allocation.

I am not by any means saying that you should just. Jump into the first thing. You know in that episode, I, I even talked about how moves are a huge ordeal, right? And like buying a building is a very risky thing. Um, signing into a long term expensive lease contract is extremely risky. Unless you absolutely know that you're gonna have, uh, the programming and the revenue and all of that, right?

You don't do that. That's not a good idea, unless you're quite positive that this is going to be what's the best thing for your programming. But there's some risk assessment there that you have to do, um, and some forecasting and all of that. So I'm not saying you, you know, you go get the building, you don't grow for the sake of growing.

But let's say that the best solution that you've, uh, you've found for this particular recurring problem that's really impacting your organization is, uh, you know, leasing. Leasing a building. That's expensive and is gonna require a four or five day program. You've looked at all the other options. You've got the kids, you just don't wanna work five days a week.

Right? That's the only thing that's holding you back. Okay. That, so we're, we're assuming that all those things are in place. This is where it can be very difficult to separate yourself, right? Because you're like, well, I don't, what am I supposed to do? Like I either have to make myself work four or five days a week or what?

Well, if you just step back and say, well, is there a way that I can. You know, rearranged my responsibilities so that I am, I can hire somebody, maybe I hire a co-director, maybe I, um, I kind of step back and hire, uh, someone who can work the four days and I just oversee and train them. Okay. And then maybe you can work one day of each, of each or, or something, right?

Like, there's different options, but what you have to do is be able to separate your own. Personal interest. This is my point from the good of the program. Okay. Now another example might be like, you know, the, maybe the micro school. I need to replace my job example, uh, where you really need to work five days a week and you need to be able to charge, you know, $10,000 a student and you need to have.

10 students so that you can bring in a hundred thousand dollars, pay your rent, pay your whatever, and still have a decent ish full-time income. Right. Okay. That's what you need in order to leave your job, but you can't find that many kids that are going to pay that much money. So you might have to run two hybrid programs so that you can work full time.

You might. Really want to be able to teach, you know, fifth and sixth graders, that's what you, maybe your own kids are that age, maybe that's your experience. That's what you wanna work with. But the demand is actually with kindergartner and first graders. Okay? So you're having to, um, figure out how to separate your own personal, uh, interest, your own personal, uh, you know, your own personal interest from what the market will actually be able to support, but also from what.

Is going to create a sustainable and stable program. Which ultimately your interests are wrapped up in that, right? Because if you don't have a sustainable, stable program, your kids are gonna have anywhere to go and you're not gonna have anywhere to work. Right? But it can be difficult to, uh, separate those things.

Okay? And, you know, this can happen on other levels of like, maybe you want to teach in a classroom, maybe you want to be the teacher. Maybe there's certain pieces of it you would really like to be able to do, but you have some personal limitations. That means you just can't do it as much as you'd like it.

You can't, so you have to kind of like, let go of that so that the program can succeed. Maybe you have to hire somebody, maybe you have to outsource something. Uh, maybe you just have to trust somebody else with a piece of it that you just didn't, you know, you, you, it's hard to do that when it's kind of your baby.

It's your vision. Um, you love the work maybe, and, but you just, you just only have so much capacity, right? So you have to trust somebody else with it. And. Again, you're separating yourself from the organization and what's good for the organization and that can be difficult to do. Okay. Um, and you know, one more example.

That was something I had again have heard. These are all real stories. You know, they're like gonna vaguely real stories that they're, uh, veiled real stories. Um. Where, uh, somebody started a program because they were like, well, my, my child needs four days a week or whatever. They, they're not doing great with homeschooling.

Okay. So another example might be, um, someone who starts a program because their child needs a particular service. Right? Maybe they, they're like, well, we. Okay, so another example might be somebody who starts the program specifically for the needs of a particular child. Maybe it's a special need that they have, um, maybe it's a social need that they have or whatever.

And they're focused on making sure that this fits their child. And again, that's, there's nothing at all wrong with that, but it's not good business if it doesn't also match what is sustainable and stable. And what the market can support. Okay? So if you're trying to force something to work because you really want it to work for your child, but you keep trying to force it and it's just not working, it's probably because you are letting your, um, personal desire to make this work because it will work for you family or your child cloud.

Why it isn't working, why the business itself isn't working. You know, why people aren't responding, why people aren't coming. Um. That this is, it's just, it's not, and I'll say again, this is not like a judgment at all. Like I have been personally in this situation, I've watched this, it's really hard to take a vision that you have something you've poured, you know, hundreds, thousands of hours of work into that you've, you know, you've suffered through the hard parts and climb the, uh, you know, the learning curve of figuring this stuff out.

And then have to make a decision for the good of the business. That's not really for the good of you, right? Not really the best thing for you personally. For your family, for your kid, maybe, but it's kind of what you have to do to make the business survive. Okay. That is really difficult to do. It's hard to hand over control over things when you're like, well, I just really wanted to do that.

I love doing it, and now I just don't have the capacity and I have to trust somebody else to do it. Um, maybe they have to get paid more than you because they're able to, they have the capacity and the skill to do something. Maybe they just have the time to do it, and you have to go find that person, hire them, and to pay them.

And you're like, well, I gotta pay him more than me to be the supervisor because I can't be there as much as I would like to. Um, you know, maybe you have a toddler or you know, you, your babysitting changed or, you know, you had a, a parent who needs care or something, you know, in your personal life that changed and or to just was never there and you have to give somebody else the job that you really maybe deserved or, um, you know, worked, worked to get to, but.

The organization itself will be impacted negatively if you are only doing what you have the capacity for or what you're comfortable with or anything like that, or it's just for your own interest for your family. Okay. So, like I said, it's kind of a difficult topic. Um, it's not really something that we, uh, like to think about necessarily.

Um, and a lot of times, you know, you don't have to make those really difficult decisions a lot of times. What works for you? And what works for, uh, the organization is the same thing, right? Maybe growth is really good for you and for the organization. Maybe staying small is good for you and for the organization, and everything's just fine.

And you don't, you don't have to make any really difficult decisions like that. Um, that's great, right? But sometimes. It does happen and the difficult skill is being able to say, okay, I just have to set my emotions aside. So it can be helpful maybe to talk to someone who's more objective and say, okay, I need you to be really honest with me.

I, I, I can see that the solution for the organization is this, but it's gonna impact me this way. And I'm so like, either scared or uncomfortable or whatever doing this and I, or, or do you see something that I don't see? Like I, I think this is what we need to do for the go to the organization. But I just, how am I supposed to do that?

And they might be like, well, you have to, you know, this is what you have to do. And you're like, well, I can't do that. Like, I can't trust somebody else to hire, you know, to like run the program or whatever. And you have to be able to be willing to say like, oh, okay. I'm just like, I'm just not able to see what the solution is because of how it's going to impact me personally.

And, uh, that's, you know, I, I need to be able to set my personal, uh, feelings aside and my personal interests aside. Um, to, uh, make sure that the organization is succeeding. Now, if you started the organization, and I guess this is kind of a ca caveat here, if you literally only are running the organization for your work or your, you know, your child and you really have no interest in running it otherwise, then.

What you really need to do is your research really well to make sure that whatever this model is, you know, whatever this budget is, whatever this tuition is, whatever the size is, whatever this frequency is that you need to work, right? The age of the kids, the size, whatever it is that you need to work for you in your family really is well researched.

And then you have to make sure that it is sustainable before you jump in. Okay? You have to do that. And if it's not. You probably just need to not do it right. Sometimes you won't know until you're in it a little bit, but you really want to do your research extra well. If you're going to say, leave your job or build a program for a particular child and you, you are not willing to compromise what you need for what the organization might need because you just have no interest in running it if it's not.

Gonna work for you. Okay? And again, that's not a judgment. That's okay. Like that's okay. Like it really is. But you have to be aware of that. You have to be able to name that and say, I'm really building this for me, and I'm building this for my own job. I'm building this for my own child. And then you have to go in with your eyes open and realize that that is what you're doing, and that's going to be a determining factor in your decision.

Okay. And by the way, if you're a nonprofit, you really can't do that. Okay? Because you're, you're, you're really gonna get yourself probably in trouble if you start a nonprofit like that because the board is gonna be able to call you out on that and say, you, this is for, this is a missional organization.

It's a, it's got a mission and a vision. And the mission and vision isn't your job or your child. Okay? This is tough talk here. It's not, that's not what it's, so it's not gonna work if it's a nonprofit. Um, but if it's an LLC and you're starting it to start a business. You know, that's okay. You just don't wanna get yourself into it a year or two and then realize that you just really hadn't done your research well, and you really just have no interest in doing this unless it's gonna work for your family.

Okay. So you just have to be able to see it and name it, and there's no judgment on it. It's okay. Right. But you do have to be able to step aside and be objective about things sometimes. And if it really is. The vision and the mission is why you're doing this. You wanna serve these, these kids in the community and hopefully your children or your job also benefit, but it's really about the mission and vision of the organization separate from you.

If you can see that clearly, you can set aside when it impacts you personally and just say, this is, this is gonna be hard for me, but I can see what the solution is. Bring other people alongside of you when you're making those decisions and. You know, allow them to call you out on things and say, okay, yeah, this is, this is hard for me to do.

It's hard for me to see because it's gonna impact me personally, but I, we need to make a decision based on what's good for the organization. Okay. So I hope that that made, made sense. And I, it's something that's, you know, I think it's common. Um, it's, it's okay. It's hard, uh, but. It is important. It is really important to be able to separate yourself and your interest from your organization when you're making especially big decisions on sustainability and stability and, um, that might involve growth and staffing and, uh, you know, the size of things, tuition, um, all of those things.

When you're making those decisions, you have to be able to separate yourself from that.   📍 Thanks so much for listening today. Don't forget to subscribe and make sure you check out the resources I am developing at start a hybrid school.com. 

Send me an email anytime. I would love to hear from you Until next time.