Business, Marketing, and Life Advice for Play-Based Business Owners

How To Price Your Indoor Playground Business Services Based On Profit Margin

Jan 02, 2023

So often I get questions on my Youtube Channel or in my Instagram messages saying, “hey Michele, I am thinking about offering X— what would you charge for this?”

And the latest example of this was on my youtube channel on my 2023 Indoor Playground Business Trends video, so shout out to Elizabeth for being the inspiration behind this episode. And PLEASE– read this one until the end. There are some really key takeaways I need you to hear and we are going to wrap this all...

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Optimizing Your Instagram Highlights For Bookings And Sales For Your Indoor Playground Business

Dec 26, 2022

As you are reading this I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season with your families and staying safe and warm! 

(And if you prefer to listen, you can get this same information anywhere you listen to podcasts on episode 146 of my Profitable Play podcast!).

As you may know I am in Buffalo, New York and we certainly got our fair share of wind and snow and while this holiday looked a lot different than expected since we were unable to travel and spend Christmas with our...

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3 Takeaways About Hosting Profitable Character Events At Your Indoor Playground Or Play Cafe From Tiffany, Owner of MY Play Cafe

Dec 21, 2022

If you follow me on YouTube you likely saw that this past week I interviewed Tiffany from MY Play Cafe and we talked about one of the most widely agreed upon tactics for profitable events amongst indoor playground owners- having kids’ favorite characters attend events.

But even if you watched that video, I wanted to take a moment to share my 3 biggest takeaways from my conversation with Tiffany. I want to share the 3 little nuggets of knowledge you may have missed if you were distracted...

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9 Tips To Keep Your Indoor Playground or Play Cafe Clean And Tidy (In An Efficient, Cost-Effective Manner!)

Dec 15, 2022

Now I want to give a little disclaimer before we get into this article. And by the way, if you prefer to listen instead of read, I have this article published as a podcast episode on my Profitable Play Podcast here.

If you are one of those indoor playground owners who made it through the pandemic, then hats off to you. This will likely all be a bit of a review– and may even give you a lil’ bit of business PTSD– so you may want to skip this one unless you want some tidying up...

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Who Is Your Ideal Customer For Your Indoor Playground Business, And Is It OK To Have Multiple "Ideal Customer Avatars"?

Dec 09, 2022

In this article I want to explain more about about ICA’s–or “Ideal Customer Avatars”-- and why you might have MULTIPLE ICA’s in your business– and why that’s OK.

Now if you have read any of the business books I’ve mentioned on this podcast, including Building a StoryBrand by Donald miller which we read together in a 5-part series starting back on episode 114 of my Profitable Play podcast– you should already be intimately familiar with the...

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Should You Exclude Current And Past Customers From Your Facebook and Instagram Ads?

Nov 28, 2022

As you likely know, we are right in the middle of the whole black Friday, small business Saturday, cyber Monday sale madness at the moment. 

I talked in last week’s Profitable Play Podcast episodes about sales I recommend business owners take advantage of for themselves and their businesses and also gave some unique ideas for sales that have been successful for my indoor playground in the past. 

But in this article (and in this episode if you prefer to listen!), I want to...

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5 Reasons You Should NOT Close Your Indoor Playground Or Play Cafe Business Thanksgiving Week

Nov 16, 2022

Something I try to do is follow as many play spaces as possible on social media. And this is for a few different reasons. 

I love to show support, especially the places inside of my Play Maker Society program where we all try to follow each other's accounts and engage regardless, but I also like to stay up-to-date on the trends of the industry, as you might expect. 

It was a bit overwhelming to do so when I owned my own space, so if that sounds exhausting to you– it’s...

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My 3 Favorite Things About The Indoor Playground / Play Cafe I Visited Yesterday!

Nov 09, 2022

In this article (which is a reader-friendly version of my Profitable Play Podcast episode 131 which you can listen to here), I am going to quickly share three things I loved about my recent visit to Cafe O Play in November 2022! Now, I could truly list dozens of other things– but I want to keep it simple so that you can walk away from reading this with actionable takeaways you can implement in your own indoor playground, play cafe, or family entertainment center!

This was an extra...

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How To Justify The Price Of Your Open-Play Passes By Increasing The Perceived Value With One Simple Policy

Nov 09, 2022

I often hear from prospective indoor playground and play cafe business owners that pricing is one of the most difficult aspects of launching their play spaces.

This is especially true when it comes to the services they’re providing that don’t necessarily have a direct cost associated with them– making it impossible to utilize a simple profit margin calculation. For example, if you were a PRODUCT based business, if your COST was $2 and you wanted to ensure an 80% profit...

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Don't Put Your Indoor Playground Sales (And Business!) At Risk By Making This Common Mistake

Nov 07, 2022

If you follow my Profitable Play Podcast, you may have seen that I released a very important "play of the day" for you today– and paying close attention to this tip can help prevent a disaster in your business over the next 2 years– one that I have seen play out ALL too often in real-life businesses every single day, just like yours. 

So in case you didn't listen to this episode (or if you prefer reading!) I am here to summarize for you.

Many popular marketing...

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Can I Send You My NEW Free 2023 "What's Working In The Indoor Play Industry" Guide?

I asked 7 Play Cafe Academy and Play Maker Society members what is working RIGHT NOW in their businesses to attract customers and grow sales. I want to send you their answers in my FREE newly updated 2023 "What's Working" Guide!