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

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...

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...

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...

It was recently estimated by the CDC that over 5.4 MILLION adults in the United States  (2.21% of American adults) have ASD.  The states with the greatest estimated number of adults living with ASD included California (701,669), Texas (449,631), New York (342,280), and Florida (329,131). And similarly, the nationally representative survey suggests that about 1.5 million U.S. kids have autism, or about 1 in 40.

To put it in perspective, most indoor playgrounds serve between 25 and...

One of the biggest reservations I hear from play space owners who are nervous to install a full cafe in their space is,

“well, I can’t afford to hire additional staff a cafe would require..."

If you haven’t listened to episode 55 of my podcast yet, go back and listen to it because I break down this objection in painstaking detail, but today I want to share two ways with you that you use to dispel this fear even further.

And just to recap ONE point from episode 55 in case...

In the past I’ve talked about how to find potential opportunities to decrease some of your costs, especially if your business model has shifted at all since opening. Or if your volume is a little different than expected. 

However, what happens if you can't decrease a specific price? Even  worse, what if you are facing price increases? That's the situation, unfortunately, many small business owners in every industry, not just ours, are faced with as we go through 2022. 

...

It’s May 2020, and we are right in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis and all of the uncertainty that comes with it.

I’ve been paying attention to the conversations happening on podcasts, YouTube channels, and inside Facebook groups, and I’ve actually been quite surprised at the comments being made.

Understandably, a lot of people are feeling scared and stuck, and like their dreams are on pause.

However, the surprising part to me is that a lot of prospective business owners...

Whether you are looking to start or grow a business, you will have many options along the way in terms of accelerating your path to success.

There are free resources like blogs and YouTube, paid educational products and programs like online courses, as well as coaches or consultants that work one-on-one with clients.

This is a good list of questions to consider whenever you decide to invest in a mentor, expert, or “guru”, whether you are only investing your time (to watch their...

I’m writing this on March 24, 2020- while we are smack in the middle of a global health crisis. I live in New York so we have been quarantined for just over a week, and indoor playgrounds around the country have been mandated to close until further notice.

While “social distancing” seems to (so far) be “flattening the curve”, so to speak (with the main aim of “flattening the curve” being to prevent a sharp peak of cases and spread out the infection...