Interview with Lisa Amic and Pam Miller of The Goddard School

Tell us about your company, it’s purpose, mission, target audience, goals, what makes it unique.

The Goddard School is an early childhood center for children 6 weeks to 6 years of age. We are dedicated to providing an environment where teachers support the nurturing and learning children want and need, where children are offered the opportunity to develop their natural curiosity and creativity and where they can develop a lifelong love of learning. As the Goddard School owners we are committed to providing the best early childhood development experience for the children in our community. We are available to our teachers and our children’s families every day.

How did you come to work together in the first place?

Lisa (daughter) was inspired by her three children to open a Goddard School because she saw the importance of a quality program to develop children to their fullest potential.  Pam (mother) has taught primary-aged children for 26 years and sees the importance of an early childhood education as a foundation for lifelong learning.  As a team, we thought we could bring our expertise and enthusiasm together to provide a place where parents and children would love to come every day. 

Please describe your respective roles in the company.

Lisa takes care of the financials while Pam focuses on marketing. Together they work on making sure that each and every family feels special.

How has working together affected your relationship outside the “office.”  In other words how do you keep family matters separate from work related issues?

We know that is important to keep business and family lives separate. If one of us brings up the business we remind each other that we will talk about it tomorrow at work.

What are some of the challenges you have faced working together?

When we started the business we didn’t really know what our roles would be.  We soon discovered our strengths and weaknesses and it has evolved from there. Every day becomes a new challenge but we are enjoying our new found strengths.

Triumphs?

We opened our school with 11 children and after 1 ½ years in business we have 125 children.  One of our families, coming from out of state, started their two children here. One month later they bought a house out of our area and signed their children up at another school close to their new home.  They called us back after four days and asked if they could come back.  They realized how happy their children were at The Goddard School and it was worth the drive!

What, if any big challenges or little annoyances have occured as a result of working together and how have you managed to overcome them?

We have very different personalities so we balance each other out. At times we might not agree on something, but we open it up for discussion and use a sense of humor to get through the stressful times. We also remind ourselves that we are here for the families and children and we always want what’s best for them.

What tips would you share with our readers for working with a member of the family?

Remember that tomorrow is another day and start fresh each day. When the work day is done leave it there, our families need our full attention too.

What’s been the most exciting thing that has happened as a result of working together?

 Every time a new family signs up we are just as thrilled as we were when our first one signed up. Pam (mother) gets to see her granddaughter every day because she is a student at The Goddard School.

One day one of our parents came with a small gift and thank you card to tell us she loved bringing her children here because it felt like a family.

What’s next for this mother daughter team?

We would love to open a second school; we will see what the future holds.
 
To learn more about the Goddard School, visit  http://www.goddardschool.com/Schools/Plymouth-MN/schools.gspx
This article can be read in the Spring/Summer issue of WE Magazine for Women