Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashlee Wilkerson.
Hi Ashlee, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I originally got my bachelors degree in Family and Child Development from Texas State University in 2012. I briefly worked at a local Emergency Children’s Shelter and Child Protective Services out in Austin before returning to Houston in 2013. I took some time away from working with children while I took care of and helped a close family friend run his electrical control panel business. In 2014, I got married to my now ex husband and in 2015 I had my son, Wyatt Lonestar and in 2016, I had my daughter Teegan Wildflower. My ex was not in favor of paying for childcare so that I could work so I was staying home until one of my neighbors and now close friend asked if I was interested in watching her child while she was at work. One thing turned into another and within a few months my entire downstairs was converted to a licensed home daycare where I cared for 12 children, Monday through Friday 6am to 630pm. One evening in June 2019, I was having dinner with my parents and my dad casually mentioned that I should just buy a daycare instead of having one at the house. Later that evening, “just for fun” I looked up daycares for sale within the Houston area and found one for sale in Conroe. My mother and I scheduled a tour for the childcare center and contacted my financial advisor. I was able to cash out my IRA account and cover the cost of the childcare center. I officially got licensed for the center with the state of Texas in September 2019. My now Senior Director was working at the center as the Director when I took over and we basically hit the ground running. We repainted, decorated, and rebranded the childcare center and quickly changed became one of the more popular childcare centers in Conroe. In May of 2021, I opened my second location in Willis, Tx and since the original location in Conroe had had a waiting list for several months, I decided to take a leap of faith and apply for a loan with the SBA to build my own building instead of resigning a lease for the original building. My new building opened in August 2024 and is about 75% full with a capacity of 207 children.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all! I opened my first location in Sept 2019 and barely was getting the feel of things and understanding how to run my business and grow it and then COVID hit in March 2020. I lost about half of the children I had enrolled due to only being allowed to care for Essential Workers children only. Thankfully, the PPP loans provided by the government helped float us through the COVID restrictions. Once school started back in August, we quickly made adjustments to offer care and distance learning for the school age children. Slowly we started building back up our enrollment as the different COVID restrictions were lifted.
Since I was renting my first location, I’ve had to overcome several obstacles with maintenance, as my landlord did not offer any assistance with any repairs. Luckily, I am DIYer and am able to make most repairs myself. Within the first few years, I found myself learning how to change out toilets, faucets, work on a septic tank, and replace the air conditioning unit.
We’ve also unfortunately have experienced several instances of vandalism on the childcare vans such as having the catalytic convertors stolen on two of the vans and also had holes drilled into the gas tanks three different times.
Once I got the loan for the new location and hired a construction company, there were delays after delays due to weather, permitting, and material issues. The planned completion date was estimated to be December 2023 and we ended up not being able to complete everything and open until August 2024 which caused us to lose several families that needed care and had to enroll elsewhere because we weren’t able to open on time.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I currently own and operate to licensed childcare facilities located in Montgomery County. We pride ourselves on providing quality childcare at an affordable price. We really try and maintain a personal and professional relationship with all the families at our center giving that small town feel even though we have grown and have doubled our capacity. My Senior Director has been with me for almost six years now and she has over 30 years experience in child care and my office coordinator also holds a directors license with over 30 years experience as well.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I definitely wouldn’t have survived without my Senior director, Lisa and Office coordinator Kristi. We all three bring different strengths and knowledge to the table. They have both taught me a lot about running a childcare center which was completely knew to me since I’d only ever had a licensed home childcare. They both provided thoughts and ideas based off the experience and helped design the layout of the new building.
My parents both have been very supportive throughout the entire process and done anything they could to help, from little things of helping to get my own children off the school bus or watching them when they are sick so I could work. My dad has taught me a ton and has helped fixed several things at the childcare center. During the opening process, they helped set up the classrooms and unpack things. My mother also is just always there to listen and offer advice and suggestions when needed.
My boyfriend has been a huge help whether he wants to or not. He gets stuck listening when things go wrong, he has offered support and knowledge on the business and payroll side since he has an accounting background. He’s spent many weekends with me doing “the behind the scenes” stuff at the childcare center, from repairing things, cooking, cleaning and even mowing the yard up there.
Pricing:
- The tuition cost for the daycares is listed on our website if you want to pull that.
- I’m not really sure how to put it into these boxes.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://littletexanschildcarecenter.com
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/littletexanschildcarecenter
