July 03, 2025

Episode 204 with Whitney Burkman - From Home to Center: Young Leadership in Action

51 minutes

Kris welcomes young inspiration and rising leader Whitney Burkman, owner of Magnolia Academy in Payson, Utah. Whitney shares more about her journey from in-home childcare to a full 125-spot center before age 30. She talks about building confidence as a young business owner, gives some great advice for hiring, marketing strategies, leadership challenges, and the critical role of mindset in growing her successful childcare business.

Key Takeaways:

[4:55] Whitney opened Magnolia in 2022, and they are currently at 122 enrollments. [7:43] Opening a center at age 27 and what inspired the move from home to center.

[12:59] How is Magnolia Academy different from its competitors?

[15:44] Becoming an off site owner and the shifts she had to make in her habits and mindset when going from in home to an actual center.

[21:09] Whitney’s chaotic home life (in the best way) with a busy husband and four boys.

[23:43] Whitney shares some of her best marketing and branding tips.

[27:12] Enrollment and staffing is always cyclical.

[28:42] Using organic content for social media to show the cool things going on at Magnolia Academy.

[30:30] Lessons learned in leadership and building a team.

[35:04] Reminding staff that there is always something that can be fixed, but they also must remember it is a business with parents and children depending on them.

[38:06] Whitney shares challenges as a young leader and owner.

[40:53] What’s next for Whitney in the rest of 2025 and beyond?

[45:57] How joining the Academy and shifting her mindset helped change things for Whitney.

Quotes:

“I feel like I've really been able to pull that in-home feel into my center, which makes us stand out a lot.” [13:56] - Whitney

“I feel like our program has just far exceeded just giving trust into my teachers and my directors and letting them do what they're supposed to do.” [20:08] - Whitney

“You can't make everybody happy.” [30:56] - Whitney

“To me, leadership is not for the faint of heart. It's not easy to do all those things. It's much easier just to smooth it over or pretend like everything's fine and shut your door, but that's not really serving people.” [37:02] - Whitney

“Once I was able to change my mindset, then just everything else fell into place, my enrollments, my staffing, just everything. It's just weird how it works.” [46:02] - Whitney