The Enrichment Entrepreneur presented by enrops

How to start an after-school program, from a former K-5 principal who now runs programs at 55+ schools. Dr. Arielle Hammond walks through the five decisions that make or break a new program: what you teach, where it runs, who pays, who teaches, and how families sign up. You'll hear what a principal is actually thinking when you walk into the office, the first-term mistakes that cost the most, and...

After-school programs get a yes from a principal for very specific reasons, and Dr. Arielle Hammond spent eight years on the principal's side of the desk. In the Season 2 premiere, she sorts what providers send schools into a yes pile and a no pile. In this episode: - What a principal is really deciding when she says yes - The yes pile: rosters, proof, calendars and money handled - The no pile...

Most after-school program owners stop selling the day school starts. That is the mistake. Fall enrollment has a second window, and it opens in week two. In this episode: Why parents do not commit until they see the real schedule, and how to sell into that The 40 people already on your list who can fill your seats this week How to turn the school itself into your enrollment channel without asking f...

Growing a kids enrichment business from 10 to 30+ sites requires systems that scale before the complexity does. In this episode: • How to build parent communication systems that improve trust and reduce support requests • The partner communication cadence that keeps schools informed and confident in your programs • What to standardize before you add more sites, instructors, and complexity • How to...

Summer camp safety protocols are what keep busy programs from depending on one person to catch every mistake. In this episode: Why foolproof protocols matter more than relying on experienced instructors How attendance reminders and registration alerts can prevent small mistakes from becoming safety issues Why new instructors shouldn't start solo What summer camp demand taught Arielle about tak...

After-school program registration may be costing you more enrollments than you realize. In this episode: - Why 70% of families abandon registration before checkout - The registration mistakes that create friction and reduce enrollments - How Apple Pay and mobile-first checkout increase conversion rates - Why payment plans help more families enroll in your programs - How automated wait lists recove...

Building a successful after school program business starts with creating something families cannot replace. In this episode: - Why Shoreview Chess grew through word of mouth instead of advertising - How a backyard chess class became a dedicated training facility - The membership model that simplified operations and stabilized revenue - What Demetrius looks for before allowing a coach to teach inde...

Most enrichment operators are so busy running their programs they don't have time to look up and see what's happening around them. This episode is the lookout. Dr. Arielle Hammond breaks down the real forces reshaping the kids enrichment industry in 2025 and 2026…consolidation, shifting parent demand, the rise of school-sponsored programs, and what the growing gap between "free" and "specialized"...

Physical literacy is one of the most overlooked foundations of a great kids enrichment business. In this episode: • Why physical literacy matters in kids enrichment programs and how it shapes long-term success • How meeting children where they are builds confidence, participation, and growth • What Sportball learned from partnering with universities to validate program outcomes • The rookie-to-mas...

How to get your first school partnership is one of the biggest challenges in a kids enrichment business. In this episode:- Why the distance between zero and one feels harder than every partnership after it - How to make your program easier for schools and PTOs to say yes to - Where to find partnership opportunities before schools are ready - What belongs on your one-page program overview - How par...

Starting a business isn't just a professional decision. It's a family decision. In Part 2 of this conversation, Dr. Arielle Hammond and her husband, Ryan Hammond, continue reflecting on what entrepreneurship has required of both of them, how their perspective has changed over the years, and what they hope other families know before taking a similar path. It's an honest conversation abo...

Starting an after-school enrichment business comes with a lot of decisions, and some matter more than others. In this episode, Dr. Arielle Hammond shares what she'd do differently if she were starting an after-school enrichment business today. From choosing between a mobile or studio model to finding your first school partnership, setting class sizes, and knowing when to hire your first instru...

Building an enrichment business changes more than a career...it changes a family. In this first of a two-part conversation, Arielle is joined by her husband, Ryan, to explore the side of entrepreneurship that rarely gets discussed: what it looks like to support a growing business from behind the scenes. Together, they talk about the uncertainty, sacrifices, and everyday decisions that come with ra...

Instructor payroll isn't a system problem. It's a mirror. Every gap in your operations shows up there first, every week, on a deadline that doesn't care what else you have going on. This episode covers the full journey...Chase direct deposits and hand-made pay stubs, Gusto, a part-time assistant reconciling spreadsheets every week, and self-reporting that nobody actually did on time. T...

Spencer Rubin spent 26 years in broadcast radio before a PE teacher planted an idea that wouldn't let go. Three years after that conversation, he was changing into coach's gear in school parking lots, working until 10pm, and building Play. Fit. Fun one school partnership at a time. He was still showing up as a top performing salesperson every single morning while quietly laying the groundw...

Choosing the wrong registration platform can cost time, money, and a whole lot of unnecessary frustration. In this episode, Dr. Arielle Hammond walks through the most popular platforms in the kids enrichment space, not as a software reviewer, but as someone who has operated programs, managed teams, worked with schools, and lived the consequences of these decisions. Sawyer, Jumbula, CourseStorm, Ja...

When Jessica Vorster joined Journey to STEAM as Program Manager, she didn't start by changing anything... she started by mapping every school, every contact, and every unwritten rule first. In this episode, Arielle and Jessica get into what actually shifts once someone with that kind of pattern recognition joins a team: the recap email that replaced 30 separate manually-sent templates, the dat...

After ten conversations with operators, founders, and industry experts, some of the biggest challenges in enrichment started looking a lot less unique. The same themes kept coming up: marketing that actually works, staffing and retention, growth ceilings, canceled programs, strategic partnerships, and building systems that can support long-term growth. In this episode, Dr. Arielle Hammond looks ba...

In this week's episode of The Enrichment Entrepreneur, Arielle is joined by Jeff Kerestes, founder and CEO of The Ukulele Project, a music education program now serving 25 schools across Portland and Vancouver. Jeff's path to entrepreneurship was anything but traditional, beginning with a career as a professional musician before a series of unexpected changes led him into the world of afte...

There were multiple points in my journey as an enrichment entrepreneur where I seriously questioned whether I could keep going. Scheduling chaos, enrollment tracking, instructor management, payroll, parent communication, every time the business grew, the complexity grew with it. In this episode, I share five moments where my systems broke, the lessons I learned the hard way, and why I eventually r...

One of the most effective growth strategies in kids enrichment isn't a new marketing tactic. It's picking up the phone. In this episode, Arielle is joined by Jeannette Sermak-Proulx, founder of Plaza Production One Mobile Dance Studio, to talk about how she built her business through relationships, consistency, and a commitment to serving families and schools. They discuss earning partners...

Most enrichment entrepreneurs don't have a pricing strategy. They have a number that felt right when they started and a lot of hope that it's still working. In this episode, Arielle breaks down why pricing feels so difficult in youth enrichment, the hidden costs most operators forget to include, and the simple framework she uses to determine whether a program is actually profitable. She al...

Seth Miller didn’t set out to build a music school…he set out to recreate the feeling of community he found inside Portland’s jam circles and folk music spaces. In this episode of The Enrichment Entrepreneur, Seth shares how Portland Sound Academy is helping kids build confidence through low-pressure, collaborative music education instead of isolated practice and performance pressure. We talk abou...

The enrichment industry is growing fast, but a lot of operators are still running their businesses through spreadsheets, disconnected tools, and systems that only make sense inside their own heads. In this episode, Arielle talks about the operational pressure quietly building underneath the industry right now…unstable enrollment cycles, inconsistent cash flow, rising complexity, and the long-term...

A lot of people love something. Far fewer people figure out how to build a business around that thing without eventually draining the joy out of it. In this episode, Arielle talks with national fiddle champion and music educator Aarun Carter about what it has actually looked like to sustain a life in music across decades…through performing, teaching, competitions, parenting, business ownership, an...