I'm Erika. I built this from scratch.
I'm the founder of Creative Connections Learning, a microschool in Satellite Beach, Florida. We serve over 75 students in a mixed-age K–9 model with a team of eight educators. I've been running this program for five years.
When I started, there was no playbook. I had a master's degree in education, twenty years of teaching experience, and absolutely no business background. I taught myself how to file an EIN, form an LLC, get liability insurance, build a budget, and hire employees. I designed every piece of curriculum we use. I wrote every policy. I built every system.
I had a full plan before I opened. I ran my numbers at the worst case scenario, made sure we could cover a year of lease and startup costs, and still lost money that first year. But because I planned for that, we made it through.
Five years later, the program is profitable and still growing entirely through word of mouth. Everything I learned along the way is now available to other founders so you don't have to start from zero the way I did.