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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Oftentimes when we close our businesses in observance of a holiday, we assume that it means a pause in revenue as well. 

However, in this article I want to challenge that belief and provide you with some inspiration on how you can generate sales EVEN while your doors are shut.

First, I highly recommend listening to Episode 26 of my podcast, The Profitable Play Podcast, in which I share a very specific strategy about creating a BUNDLE offer. There are many different reasons why I never...

Psst.. would you rather listen to this as a podcast episode? Click here!

Determining the hours of your indoor playground is a business decision that you want to take the time to evaluate and prioritize, especially before presenting the hours to your community. 

The hours that you agree upon will impact how many people find you for open play, how many parties you book, and what your emphasis is going to be in terms of how you're going to actually make your money, which all have big...

If you've been on the fence about joining Play Cafe Academy...

You need to hear what new Play Cafe Academy student and Play Maker Society member Jeremy had to say about the program.

What I love about Jeremy's story is that he had been working YEARS on his business plan and considered himself an industry expert... And it took him a few weeks to decide if the investment would be worth it.

But after already going through EVERY lesson, he found that he still found incredible value in the honest...

According to HubSpot, 90% of consumers reported reading or at least glancing at online reviews before visiting a business. Furthermore, 88% of consumers will trust online reviews on Google or social media, as much as a referral or recommendation from a trusted friend, family member, or coworker.

This is what makes the topic of online reviews and how they impact your sales so important. When you've worked hard to get a glowing five-star review, it’s crucial to understand how to maximize...