CASE STUDY
Childcare Marketing Ltd
Steadying a fast-growing business, rebuilding the team, doubling turnover — and giving a founder his life back.
Key Improvements working with James
Turnover doubled
New and improved team
Better work-life balance
Better work-life balance
About the business
Childcare Marketing Ltd offers affordable childcare marketing solutions tailored to every aspect of marketing a childcare business. Based in Surrey, it was founded by Ben Rolfe in January 2020. Ben had clearly identified a gap in the market and set about filling it.
By July 2020, the company was supporting 100 childcare businesses. In January 2021, they greatly expanded their marketing team, and by May 2021 had registered their 500th childcare business. On the surface, Childcare Marketing was doing extremely well — but in truth, the team was struggling to manage the demands that such rapid growth brings. As Ben put it: “We were tripping over ourselves.”
The company lacked structure and needed more robust systems and processes to allow manageable growth. On a personal level, Ben was working very long hours and doing too much of the actual company delivery. It was taking its toll. Recognising he needed outside help and advice, Ben contacted James Akin-Smith in August 2022.
Making improvements to manage a scale-up business
James worked with Ben for six months, from August 2022 to February 2023. Despite never meeting face-to-face, they held regular Zoom meetings every two weeks, with James available for support and advice in between whenever needed.
Time — Ben wanted to scale up the business in a way that was manageable and would give him a better personal work-life balance. Ben is a very creative and intuitive thinker. James helped him channel those talents — focusing on what he was trying to achieve by encouraging him to answer a set of challenging questions around accountability: What got in the way? What stopped him or his team from delivering? James also encouraged Ben to acknowledge and accept any areas of weakness, and then delegate accordingly. This was better for the business and took the pressure off Ben personally.
James’ input and ongoing coaching
With James’ assistance, Ben developed a growth plan setting out the short and long-term strategies needed to realise his business vision.
Money — Key to this was sorting out the finances. Under James’ guidance, Childcare Marketing brought in a part-time Financial Director to put systems in place that would give Ben proper control of the company’s finances going forward.
Team — James also helped Ben look objectively at a team that had grown exponentially. Up to that point, Ben had recruited reactively — responding to immediate short-term needs without an overview of the skills, attitude and experience required to achieve his broader business vision. As a result, the team lacked clarity about what Ben expected of them and where the company was headed.
James identified the need for improved, clearer and more honest communication between Ben and his staff, and put measures in place to facilitate this. He coached Ben into being proactive rather than reactive — including the challenging task of streamlining the team: letting some members go, while bringing in new people whose skills and ethos would better meet the company’s requirements.
The results
After six months working with James, Childcare Marketing Ltd had a talented, skilled and motivated team in place who shared the company’s ethos and vision. Finances were under control, and new robust systems made it far easier to track business processes. Ben felt able to delegate more — which freed him up to explore other opportunities and steer the business in the direction he wanted it to go.
It also gave him back time for himself, his family and his friends. That relentless, pressured feeling of having to work 24/7 had gone. And as if that weren’t enough — turnover doubled.
In Ben’s own words
“I don’t think I realised quite how overwhelmed I was with the pressure of running a company which was growing so rapidly. I started Childcare Marketing Ltd just before Covid-19 hit, which brought with it additional challenges and saw us supporting our childcare businesses with weekly webinars. I really felt that all I was doing was working. I was afraid — or maybe didn’t know how — to delegate. I think that was partly because I didn’t have the right people in post, but also because I felt I had to do everything myself. I didn’t know how to let go. James has been invaluable in helping me take a step back, look at my company’s needs objectively, and make sometimes difficult decisions. I now have a great team around me, the company is growing really well but in a way that feels steady and manageable. Most importantly, I have my personal life back. The whole experience of working with James has been brilliant.”
Ben Rolfe, Founder, Childcare Marketing Ltd
Find support to steer your business forward
Are you looking for a way to move your business forward? James has worked with a wide range of businesses to help leaders gain the perspective they need to make better decisions. If you’re ready to gain experienced support and guidance, get in touch to start the conversation.
