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

Hosting a birthday party at Climbing Vines is a guarantee that your child will have a unique and fun experience! Every one of our packages includes a private rental so you can enjoy our play cafe with just your guests. Each party is completely individualized and we accommodate for nearly any sized event.

Whether you’re considering hosting a part in our indoor playground space or are looking to create your own indoor playground birthday party package, below are some frequently asked...

Our family-owned and operated 2,500 sq. foot space features a clean, imaginative play-area for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, as well as a barista-staffed gourmet coffee, tea, and espresso cafe for adults. It is large enough for the children to run & play, yet intimate enough for adults and caregivers to relax, have a conversation, or catch-up on work.

If you’re a regular at Climbing Vines Cafe and Play, this information should be familiar, but today we want to share some...

If this is as far as you get in this post, just remember: online criticism will happen NO MATTER WHAT. And it will all be ok.

Earlier this year, a woman orchestrated a coordinated social media attack on my business and me personally. It left me gutted for hours. I could tell soon after she messaged me that she was attempting to get a rise out of me for social media attention, which was confirmed by the other reviews she had been recently leaving local businesses.

However, I was able to take...

For a year or so after Climbing Vines opened, I could barely go one day without checking the websites and social media accounts of my local competitors. I was constantly looking over my shoulder, hoping and praying that no one would “copy” my business idea and steal all of my customers.

After two direct “copycats” opened within the first few years, it turns out that I was right about one thing: when someone finds success doing something, others will quickly recognize...

HOW TO PROFESSIONALLY HANDLE AND RECOVER FROM A KEY EMPLOYEE LEAVING YOUR BUSINESS

As any business that employs part-time team members, we see a fair amount of employee turnover at Climbing Vines. This is true for any local business, but especially for an indoor playground. Many people will apply and join your team without fully understanding what to expect, or what’s expected of them since the business concept is relatively new.

While I felt business was a strong suit of mine, when I...

These days, especially if you are in the U.S., even minor injuries like a finger jam or a slip and fall can have devastating effects on your small business, so the recreational aspect of an indoor playground makes us especially vulnerable to injuries, lawsuits, and disgruntled customers.

We also of course want to prioritize the safety of our guests as much as we possibly can.

Remaining prepared during any sort of personal-injury emergency should be self-explanatory but it’s,...

The only time we’ve “fired” a customer happened a little over 6 months ago. While this was a difficult decision to make, it was necessary for the well-being and safety of our other customers. Unfortunately, not every family is going to share our philosophies or feel obligated to abide by our policies, so we have found it is easier to let those customers go and focus on the customers that do love and respect our space and our rules.

Speaking of rules, we at Climbing Vines...

If you dream of going into business for yourself but you’d rather not build your business from scratch, franchising might be the right choice for you! However, it can also have a variety of drawbacks.

Franchising (and all the legal jargon that goes with it) can be confusing for first time business-owners, so today I’m going to break down the advantages and disadvantages and how franchising differs from licensing.

WHAT IS A FRANCHISE?

A franchise is an extension of an already...

We’ve already discussed the red flags I look out for in an indoor playground business plan, but I wanted to elaborate just a bit more on start-up costs and what you can expect should you decide to embark on this endeavor.

If you want all of the start-up costs you can expect (especially those that will likely surprise you!) I’d love to invite you to join us inside Play Cafe Academy where you’ll not only get ALL the line-by-line details but also personalized support every...

Since I opened the doors to my indoor playground in early 2016, I have had hundreds of prospective owners reach out to me asking to “take a quick look” at their business plan. Now, not all of them have gone as in-depth as I did when creating a business plan, but most business plans are major documents that take a great deal of time to review.

While I no longer offer one-on-one consulting because I have chosen to dedicate my time and energy towards helping my Play Cafe Academy...