Meet Holly Flanders | Childcare Consultant and Nanny Agency Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Holly Flanders and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Holly, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
After a decade of working in various childcare, family support and early childhood education fields, I found that new parents often were overwhelmed when it came to making decisions about the care and education of their young children. Parents often do not know how to determine what will be best childcare for their families and rarely have a clear picture of what daycare is really like or how to properly hire and manage a nanny as their home employee.

I originally built Choice Parenting to be an education service to guide parents through the selection process and teach them how to find, hire and maintain a healthy, lasting relationship with a daycare, nanny, or nanny share that is suitable for their family. Choice Parenting offers both nanny placement services as well as affordable support, information and insight to teach parents to confidently find the best suited childcare solution for themselves.

On a more personal note, when I started Choice Parenting, I was also at the same time starting the emotionally complicated and time consuming process of adoption to have a baby. Starting my own business was built on the dream of giving me a flexible work-life to be home as much as possible with my own child once we found our match.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?

When it comes to having young kids people often say “It takes a village”. I truly care about helping parents find a nanny/childcare solution that will become their “village” so that they do not just survive being a working parent but thrive and enjoy the challenging yet joyful years of early childhood. I think of myself as a “nanny match maker” and take the time to get to know clients to understand the vision they have for their family and help them in finding a caregiver whose values and personality align.

My successes came slowly with time and consistency not an overnight growth. Word of mouth recommendations from happy mom clients was my biggest ally throughout the years and I feel that much of that came with time and reputation not a fancy marketing strategy. Trust is the biggest thing when it comes to allowing someone to care for your more precious little people.

Being patient, honest and consistent has been the biggest lesson I have learned both professionally as a business owner and personally. Challenges, quiet seasons and lead generation failures are not always there to tell you that you should quit and that the business/idea/plan is a failure. Sometimes you need to press on through the uncomfortable moments and keep trying, learning and pivoting to find the right process and path that will lead to your success.

I would love the world to know that Choice Parenting is a story a full-time single, working mom with two little boys who has relied heavily on her “village” of childcare to self care and build my business so I can be the best mom I can be to my two little miracle boys. I want to help other moms ( and dads) find the childcare helpers they need to live their best lives.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As a mom with little kids my friends also tend to have little kids visiting. Our favorite beach to hang out is Delray Beach for some beach volleyball and Boogie boarding with the kids. We would visit: The Girls Strawberry U-pick, Gumbo Limbo Turtle Sanctuary and Sandoway Discovery for local kid activities plus so many of the amazing playgrounds throughout Boca Raton. As a childcare agency, I would be sure to have a few great babysitters lined up for us moms to go out on Atlantic Ave for dinner out at Elisabetta and maybe a little dancing at Tin Roof or a roof top drink at the Ray. We should for sure head down to Miami area to the Frost Museum and enjoy the crystal blue waters and light house at Key Biscayne Perhaps stop at the Everglades for an airboat tour to see some alligators for the kids. Life with kids may look a bit different that what many adults would see as a good time but South Florida offers so many interesting museums, beaches, animal reserves and adventures for parents and kids to enjoy.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Many years ago, I was someone who had never taken many risks in my life and always preferred the paths that were well traveled- safe and secure. However, during a particularly disappointing time in my life where all my best laid plans had failed, I lived with a very close friend who was an immigrant to the USA and opened a dental supply company without any financial support or real knowledge of how to run this company. I watched him grow his little business out of his tiny 2 bedroom apartment in Hoboken,NJ with office equipment he found on the street. He literally had nothing but hard work, passion and “chutzpah”. I watched first-hand the transformation from cold call sales to a multi-million dollar business in just a few years. Sagi was someone who not only did it for himself but also gave me the courage, vision and push to venture out to do start something for myself.    

Website: www.choice-parenting.com

Instagram: @choiceparenting

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollyflanders

Twitter: @choiceparenting

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/choice.parenting/

Image Credits
Claudia Paul