By Faith Yocum

 

From Engineer to Early Educator

Before I ever stepped into early childhood education, I was an engineer. I worked nonstop managing production and quality control for a 24/7 international household goods company. It ruled my life. I was always on-call, constantly managing crises, and completely accountable to a chain of bosses above me. I didn’t feel free. I didn’t feel like what I did mattered. I felt replaceable.

When I was laid off during the recession, I was devastated. But only for a day. The next morning, I woke up and realized I had been handed an opportunity: a severance package, no obligations, and the freedom to do anything I wanted. I had always been torn between science and education, and I finally leaned toward something more human, more connected. I didn’t want to answer to a boss. I wanted to build something of my own.

So I went back to school for early childhood education, remodeled my home, and opened a licensed family child care center. It felt like a fresh start—a new chapter filled with purpose, and I was all in.

 

The Freedom Myth

We enter this field thinking we’ll finally have freedom. We think being the boss means we’ll set our own hours and answer to no one. But here’s the truth: you end up answering to everyone. The state. The families. The staff. Your business owns you. You are the last person who gets to make a decision that only serves yourself.

And yet, I loved it. I loved the one-on-one time with the children. I loved helping them understand kindness, empathy, and the impact of their actions. Kids are going to learn math and science in school. But who teaches them how to be good people? That was my mission. That was the part I believed in to my core.

We extended that same care to families. When they were struggling, we went above and beyond. That kind of emotional investment is powerful—and exhausting.

Eventually, the weight of it all caught up with me. No matter how much I cared or how hard I worked, I was drained—physically, emotionally, mentally. I’d wake up already tired, pouring from a cup that felt emptier every day. I knew I couldn’t keep going like that. So I made the difficult decision to close my center and return to manufacturing. Again.

And just as I was closing one chapter, an unexpected new one began.

 

The Perfect Storm: Buying a Center Before COVID

At the tail end of closing my home center, I met my now-husband. He wasn’t in child care at the time, and he certainly wasn’t interested in joining me in it. But he saw something in me. He saw how disconnected I felt when I returned to corporate life. I didn’t feel like anything I did mattered.

One day he sent me a link to a child care center for sale. “You can do this, right?” I said yes. Before I knew it, we were signing NDAs, touring facilities, and making the leap.

We closed on our first school on March 6, 2020.

The center we bought was over capacity and out of compliance. I spent my first week identifying which families I would have to terminate to get back within regulation. I was still learning the ropes of this new business—and then, five days later, COVID shut our city down.

By week two, only 20% of our kids were showing up. Parents were out of work. Older siblings were home. Enrollment dropped off a cliff.

I couldn’t make payroll. I was facing all the things you faced during COVID: cash flow issues, staffing shortages, fear, burnout, and the crushing weight of uncertainty.

 

Just When Things Got Better…

Somehow, we got through it. It took two full years of rebuilding, but eventually we had a solid team, strong culture, and consistent enrollment. I finally started to feel like I could breathe again.

Then my husband got laid off.

And, because timing has a sense of humor, we bought two more schools.

One was a confidential deal that was supposed to continue operations through the sale. The second was a neighboring center that called us out of the blue: they were closing that Friday and needed someone to step in so their families wouldn’t be left stranded.

We hadn’t even closed on the first center yet.

So there I was—one center barely recovering, and two new centers… both empty.

 

The Wake-Up Call: I Needed Help

I was back to drowning—financially, emotionally, mentally. And I knew I couldn’t keep going like this.

I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. I wanted a roadmap.

I didn’t want to make every mistake on my own. I wanted someone who had been there—someone who could guide me through it.

But finding the right coach wasn’t easy. My first call with a coach turned me off completely. It felt like a rah-rah session with no real substance. I walked away thinking, “Well, that was an hour I’ll never get back.”

Honestly, I almost gave up on coaching altogether.

But a few months later, I attended a webinar on finances. At the end, there was a link to book a coaching call. I figured, why not?

And that’s when everything changed.

 

Finding the Right Coach

That coaching call with Brian was exactly what I needed.

He didn’t just hype me up—he handed me a roadmap. A step-by-step plan. A support network. And—this was key for me—a guarantee that I wasn’t wasting my time or money.

Finally, I had someone who understood our industry. Someone who could provide real, measurable strategies for my business. Someone who didn’t just tell me I could do it, but showed me how.

 

Stabilizing My Business (and My Sanity)

The first thing coaching gave me was stability. I was overwhelmed. I didn’t even know where to start. So I did what many of you have probably done: organized my desk instead of facing the pile of urgent problems.

My coach helped me prioritize. What needs attention now? What could wait? Where should I focus to make the biggest impact?

And when I hit a crisis, I had someone to call.

Like the time we had to terminate a family after a parent threw something at my director. That mom took to social media and painted a wildly inaccurate picture. It broke me. But my coach gave me the game plan: share our values, rally our community, and ask for support. Within hours, our clients and colleagues had flooded our reviews with positive, truthful comments. It buried the negative review and improved our score. That support was invaluable.

 

Scaling Up Without Burning Out

From there, we started building.

• Metrics tracking: I built a dashboard on the plane ride home from a conference. It changed everything. Now I can instantly see what’s working—and what’s not.
• Financial management: I stopped relying on gut feelings and started trusting the numbers.
• Marketing and enrollment: We grew our reach, optimized our messaging, and got strategic.
• Revenue expansion: We learned how to grow revenue without adding classrooms.
• Operational efficiency: We implemented new systems, integrated software, and ran a tighter ship.

I even brought back lessons from my engineering career and applied them in ways I had never thought to before.

 

The End Result: Freedom

Our schools became high-value assets.

We reached financial freedom. And then—we reached lifestyle freedom.

I haven’t stepped foot in my centers since March of last year. My husband checks in, but I don’t have to.

We sold our house and moved onto a boat. Last year, we traveled 101 days along the East Coast: 8 states, 14 cities, 4,662 miles. Then we went international: 111 days, 7 countries, 11 cities, 17 flights, 28,808 miles. Vietnam. Portugal. London. Norway. We ate everything, saw everything, and came home to find our business still thriving.

 

A Better Question: What Do You Want Your Business to Do for You?

Most people think coaching is for people who are struggling.

But here’s the thing: successful people have coaches, too. Oprah. Barack Obama. Bill Gates. Serena Williams. Josh Allen. Coaching isn’t a sign of failure. It’s how you go from good to great.

So ask yourself:

• Is your school running flawlessly?
• Are you maximizing revenue?
• Do you wake up every day living the life you actually want?
• If not, maybe it’s time for something different.

 

Define the Life You Want—Then Build It

When we started coaching, we stopped asking how to fix our business.

We started asking: what do we want our life to look like?

If money weren’t an issue, how would we live? That vision became our goal. And with the right support, we built a business that made it possible.

 

Why I Stay, and Why I Lead

I didn’t expect to fall in love with this work. I thought I was just pivoting out of a corporate layoff. But what I’ve found here is so much more meaningful.

In engineering, I was accountable to a company. Here, I’m accountable to people. To children and families. To teachers who depend on strong leadership. To a mission that matters.

Yes, the days are still long sometimes. Yes, the work is still hard. But now, I’m building something that aligns with my values—and I’m not doing it alone.

Being part of this community reminds me every day that I’m not just running a business—I’m building a legacy. One child, one teacher, one decision at a time. And with the right tools, systems, and support, I’ve learned I really can lead with both heart and strategy.

So if you’re standing where I once stood—wondering what’s next or whether you’re cut out for this—let me say this: You are. Keep showing up. Keep learning. And surround yourself with people who get it.

Because when you do, everything changes.

Ready to learn more about coaching with Child Care Genius University can help you regain control in your early education business? Book a call with me here.