Episode 97: Creating an Education Business Over Time with Lisa Vodola of Preschool Readers
Lisa Vodola is the founder of Preschool Readers, she works with her team of preschool reading specialists to provide children ages three to five with an academic Head Start through their proprietary award winning accelerated reading instruction, which they deliver in person and virtually, enhanced by their exclusive framework, the Clear Approach, a framework for differentiated instruction.
I talk to Lisa about her business, how she was able to develop her framework while still teaching, and how COVID forced her to adapt.
Topics Discussed:
Why Lisa focused on teaching early literacy
How she developed her new framework
Why teachers have more skills than they’re given credit for
Resources mentioned:
Take our FREE quiz to nail down your next best career step in education.
If you’re enjoying this podcast, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.
Related episodes and blog posts:
Read the transcript for this episode:
Welcome to Educator Forever, where we empower teachers to innovate education. Join us each week to hear stories of teachers expanding their impacts beyond the classroom and explore ways to reimagine teaching and learning.
Lisa Vodal is the founder of Preschool Readers, she works with her team of preschool reading specialists to provide children ages three to five with an academic Head Start through their proprietary award winning accelerated reading instruction, which they deliver in person and virtually, enhanced by their exclusive framework, the Clear Approach, a framework for differentiated instruction. Preschool readers strives to ensure each student receives effective instruction. Their mission is to go beyond knowledge. They nurture the confidence essential for future academic and personal success. Welcome Lisa. So nice to have you here.
Lisa Vodal
Hi. Thanks for having me.
Lily Jones
So I'd love to have you start by telling us about your journey as an educator.
Lisa Vodal
Oh, yes, okay, so I never wanted to be a teacher. Actually. I grew up with parents in education who absolutely loved it, but in my mind, I wanted to make more money, right? And so I'm like, I'm not going to be a teacher. And I went to school for communication. And my whole life, everybody said you should be a teacher, though, because I guess I was so good with kids, and I was always a babysitter. And so I went to school for communications, and unfortunately, that's not it's a confusing degree, because it doesn't, like push you towards anything. So when I graduated, I was like, now, what do I do? And I was babysitting, and I started substituting on the side, and then I'm like, Oh, I do like this. And that's kind of how I wound up in education, the alternative route.
Lily Jones
Yes, awesome. And then what grade did you teach when you decided the bullet?
Lisa Vodal
Yeah. So I taught kindergarten special needs, and it was so much fun. Actually, it was k1 self contained. So I taught k1 self contained. And then about five years in, I went back for my master's in education. So that's when I went back and got my degree in education. Before that, I got certified in special needs and pre K to third grade. But yeah, I just Oh my gosh. Loved every moment of it. And of course, I started in ese, because that's kind of where there was a high demand for teachers, and so I was just like, Sure, I'll take it. And then I just stayed there the whole time. I loved it.
Lily Jones
Yay. Yes. You're like my people, because I also taught kindergarten and first grade. And I'm like, it's the best. If I ever were going to go back to teaching, I definitely would choose kindergarten.
Lisa Vodal
The little ones, yeah? Like, it's so funny, like, I just miss like, their things, they tell you all, like, the random things they tell you all day out of nowhere,
Lily Jones
yeah, yes, totally, I know, yeah. I always at my kids school. I'm always like, let me go hang out with the little ones. Like, I'll be over here.
Lisa Vodal
Yeah, and especially the ES and special needs, it was just they made us laugh all day, just the things they said and the things they did, they were just so cute, so cute.
Lily Jones
Yes, amazing. So now, can you tell us kind of how you decided to start Preschool Readers, and what Preschool Readers is,
Lisa Vodal
Yeah, so when I was teaching kindergarten, I noticed that there was a big disconnect, and this is what I kind of say with prescriters, between what's taught in preschool and expected in kindergarten. I'm sure you know, the standards are so much higher now, right? And so I'm like, "Why aren't they coming knowing more?" I know preschool is supposed to be play based, and it should be, well, a lot of learning should be play based, but I also knew they could be knowing more than they than they knew, and that's kind of where it started. And I thought, well, maybe I could kind of create something to get them to read quicker. And then I noticed it was working with my students. And then so on the side, I started, well, let me just say what Preschool Readers is. So at Preschool Readers, who provide in home and virtual reading instruction to preschoolers. So when I was working with my kindergarteners, I kind of developed a reading program, like, it's a systematic approach to site word instruction, because I'm not sure if you noticed this, but when I taught site words, there was never a specific plan. It was, you know, anybody I talked to was like, let's just take 50 of the pre... it was just very random. Did you notice that?
Lisa Vodal
Yes, when I was teaching, it was like that too, where me and my other k1 teacher that I collaborated with would just be like, okay, which ones this week?
Lisa Vodal
Right? And then, and then, and then parents would be sent home like a ring of words. Just memorize these by this time. And then we would introduce words, but then we'd be reading books that had, like, way more sight words in it than we actually have taught. So I just felt like there was no system to it. So I just simply, like, created a system. Like, these are the words we're teaching. These are the books that they're in. These are the worksheets, which sounds like there'd be something out there, but there really wasn't. And I haven't really seen anything since you see a lot of workbooks, sight word workbooks and sight word stories, but not like a system like this. So I created this system, and it was going really well in the class. And I thought, well, let me, let me try this with preschoolers, because my kindergarteners, being special needs, were about at the level of preschool. So I thought, well, it's one. Working for them when we try it. And so while I was teaching on the side, I piloted the program. I should say that I spent a year researching and creating a whole nother year piloting, and that changed during the pilot, and then I launched it like while I was teaching, and it took off so quickly that by the end of that year I had to quit teaching. I had to make the decision, stay or quit.
Lisa Vodal
That's great, yeah, that's great.
Lisa Vodal
It happened so quickly. I was like, wow, but yeah.
Lily Jones
That's amazing. And it happened so quickly. And also kind of not right, because you did do the research and like, you did create it, and you did pilot it. And I'm curious about that process too, because I assume that that was key to your quick success, was doing the piloting and like trying it out in your own classroom first. So how did that work?
Lisa Vodal
So yeah, so when I, when I was working with my students, I noticed it was working. I'm like, okay, so how can I make this for families? And piloting is key, or at least it was key for me. Because when I first thought about this, I thought I would create something for parents to do with their kids on their own, you know, teach them reading. And then I found and I don't know if it was my clientele or maybe it was the families I was working with them like they'd rather pay somebody to do it. And there's nothing wrong with that, if that would probably be me. So I was like, so let me change this. They probably want something that they're not doing themselves, that they can pay for somebody to come in. And so that's kind of how I changed it. Changed it from my original thought to a pilot. So it turned in more to a I call us preschool reading specialists, not tutors, because tutors are really helping a child, in my opinion, who might need a little that need a little help in something, but we're actually teaching them to read, so we're calling it so that that piloting was key in the sense that it was one thing for parents. And then I was like, ah, yeah. I think they just want us to come in and work with this student, work with their children themselves.
Lily Jones
I definitely relate to that. And I often say, like, I teach education business programs now to people who want to start education businesses, and this is something I stress all the time of like, we can have amazing ideas of things we want to offer, and we're like, it's going to be like this, right? And that as soon as you can get it in front of actual people and get their feedback, it'll give you surprising, sometimes and very important information. And I'm really glad that you got that right, like, rather than going out and building something that was like, amazing, but just not quite what your ideal customers wanted,
Lisa Vodal
Right? And I know that there are people, okay, I follow people on Instagram that are selling programs to parents, and that's great, but I just felt, I'm like, I just felt like it just wasn't for the families that I was working with. And so, yeah, so that was, that was key for me. And then completely I had to, like, redo things, and, yeah, rewrite things.
Lily Jones
I bet, I bet. And so now, can you tell us about kind of the structure of your business? Like, do you have other people teaching with you? Iin person and online?
Lisa Vodal
Yes. So when I first started, okay, that year that I quit, I was just working myself. So I think the whole year I was working with students myself, and then I got to the point where I could slowly start hiring teachers and training them. So I was living in Tampa at the time, so I did that. And then I wanted to go home to New Jersey, where my family is, because my nieces were, like, just born, and I was missing them. And so I went up to New Jersey, and I started working again, so my teachers in Tampa were working. And then I went to New Jersey, and I started the same process. I started working in New Jersey in New York City. I would drive every day to work with clients, until I kind of had a, like a base of students, and then I hired and trained teachers there. So that's kind of how it started. But then COVID hit, so we were always we were just in home, and COVID hit, and I was, and I was really hesitant to go online, because we are so play-based and hands on, and we do a lot of movement. I think that's really important. And so I was kind of, like, really against, like, how are we going to make this interactive and engaging online? But it was kind of a really fun challenge for me, because... I wrote, I know that you were, one of your questions for me was, what did I learn about myself? I love a challenge. And so I really enjoyed covid in the sense that I had to get creative and come up with really fun ways to keep our students engaged. And that was, like, awesome. So now then we added the in, the virtual aspect and and that just took off. And now we can reach kids anywhere so, but that was really fun for me. Actually, I really like the challenge of that,
Lily Jones
I bet, yeah. I mean, I think that's so much of a big part of being an entrepreneur. It's like solving problems and being a teacher, right? Like, there are always challenges. Like endless challenges, whether it's figuring out how to reach one particular kid, or, like how to do all the things you need to do in a day. But it's like having that desire to solve the problem, or, you know, figure out the puzzle. I think, can be incredibly motivating. And I love to just thinking about the progression of your business and starting in person, well, starting even in your classroom, then piloting, then going in person, then going in person, in multiple locations, and then going virtual. I think it's definitely possible for people who want to try something out just virtually, but I think those stepping stones probably set you up for success too, because you just knew what worked. You had worked with actual not that they are actual students on the screen, but people in person, and saw what works with kids.
Lisa Vodal
Yes. And I think it kind of, I know a lot of this. I mean, being a teacher, I think, oh my gosh, we have so many skills that we don't even realize. But even when I taught special needs, you kind of have to go with the flow and, like, kind of make things up. You could have a runner and had to figure out how to keep them engaged. And so when COVID hit it, I didn't just give up. I you know, it's like, okay, well, now what do we do? But you kind of have to do that to survive in business. You can't, you can't just give up. So I feel like I got lucky that I made it through.
Lily Jones
Absolutely. COVID for so many people, was a chance to really try things out, and then even the after COVID of like, okay, what things stay the same? What changes? What goes back, what doesn't I think it's an interesting kind of resettling.
Lisa Vodal
Yeah, we're doing more and more virtual and I'm finding, as an as an owner, it's a lot easier. Scheduling is easier, like, you know, there's easier and and I noticed that hiring is different now. So more people, I'm sure you've noticed what virtual work. So even hiring in home teachers has been harder. So right now it's a lot of virtual students. Mostly virtual students. yeah. Because of that, because things are just changing. You know, teachers really where they used to want to work at home with students, now they just want to work virtually.
Lily Jones
I mean, that was part of COVID too, right? A lot of teachers got a taste of what it was like to teach from home. And a lot of parents too, right? Like, saw what would be possible there. And so I'm curious a little bit starting back to when you first started your business, about how you found your first customers, and how that baby has evolved over time.
Lisa Vodal
Yeah, so I was strategic. So I was in a woman's league in Tampa. It was called Junior League, and it's all females and not all moms. I'm actually not a mom myself, but it was a lot of moms. And so I went to some of the women that I knew, knew a lot of people. I said, "Could I pilot with you?" And they said, "of course." And and then so it really started with the piloting, because I thought if I could pilot with people that knew a lot of other moms, and it went well that they would probably tell a lot of people about it, and that's really how it started. I mean, just piloting with the right people. And I do look back and I don't know, I feel like I've just got very lucky, I don't, because I instantly had so many clients. But I think being involved in an organization like that and just networking was probably, I mean, that was just like, all women, I don't know if you're familiar with the Junior Leaguers, like whole group of women. That was, like, the best thing that I could have done. So I feel, I feel like I got lucky, I don't know.
Lily Jones
And when you're networking and making those connections, then it is, like an exponential impact sometimes, of like, all right, this person had a good experience, and then they tell 10 other people, and then it kind of spreads that way. And did anything change when you moved to working virtually and, like, recruiting people virtually?
Lisa Vodal
Families? Parents? it's still mostly, it's always really been word of mouth. And my I've actually never put money into marketing. Personally, I just feel like a lot of times moms are talking to each other, like, where do you send your kids to swim? Where do they go to dinner? You know, it's more like conversational. So I never really put anything into an ad. I do a lot of newsletters, but it's the same when actually it's not the same. I do have more and more saying they heard about me online, which I don't know how, because I don't pay like SEO, or any of like, you know, I don't know if they're just Googling me, but um, so I am getting a little bit more like I found you online, but mostly the referrals. So that's that's remained the same.
Lily Jones
Great. And you talked about this a little bit of like realizing that you love a challenge. Is there anything else that you've learned about yourself through starting a business?
Lisa Vodal
Yes, I like a challenge. I'd like to keep growing and moving. So like we were, you know, I was with the students, and I was training teachers. Then I expanded, then I took on interns. I have, like, an internship program now I'm doing something else. Like, I definitely my personality. I like to keep growing and changing, and I actually like a challenge, which was interesting. I don't know that surprised me with COVID, but yeah, and then also, like I said earlier, how many skills we have as teachers, like, I'm so organized, and that helps. And then in the classroom, I had two parents, because I was a special needs students, and so I learned how to work with other adults, not in like a do this for me, but just kind of and I feel like that helped me with hiring, because I have some friends that own businesses that they had a little trouble hiring people because they don't know how to ask somebody to help them with something without sounding like they're telling them what to do. In a way. I don't know if that makes sense, but I felt like I gained that experience with my paraprofessionals, and just so many teacher skills carry over.
Lily Jones
That's so interesting thinking about the paraprofessionals. I kind of learned through that too. Now, just like having people in my classroom and having to, like, give them directions and make sure that they were effective with the kids, like all of that really does transfer so well.
Lisa Vodal
Yeah, I never thought about it until a friend had mentioned that I was like, she's like, I'm having trouble hiring. I'm like, I don't know why it's so hard. And I thought, oh my gosh, I have experience. My paraprofessionals were older than me, so you have to learn like it was, and I was young when I started. So yeah, you learn all these skills.
Lily Jones
Yes, and so thinking about, you know, what you've learned, and kind of thinking back in time to when you first started a business. What advice would you give other educators who maybe are interested in starting something of their own?
Lisa Vodal
Yes. So I would definitely do what we talked about, started on the side, for sure. I would not give up. I know there's some things out there that are like, quit and follow your dreams. You have to be smart. And I would keep income coming in as long as you can, honestly. So until you have to, I would keep doing teaching while you work on the side and um, and I was able to work the kinks out with the pilot, because I can't imagine if I just quit, um, teaching. But also, keep in mind, maybe a full business isn't for you, because they have those sayings. Like, just because you know how to bake a cake doesn't mean you can, like, run a whole shot, or, like, you know, own it. So maybe you don't quit teaching, but you do something on the side. It doesn't have to be, like, you're a owner of something. I think that would be my advice. Is that,
Lily Jones
I think that's great advice. Yeah, so many different options, right? Like, it doesn't be either all in like, like, here I go. I'm quitting tomorrow, you know. And it doesn't have to make some people don't want to start a business, but they do want to work for an innovative education company, you know, or try something new. So just learning about yourself, I think, is, yeah,
Lisa Vodal
and if you want to, right? And if you, I mean, are you the type of person who wants people under you? Do you want to just do something on the side by your the side by yourself? But yeah, just figuring out who you are, I knew that I could do it, but it's not for everybody, so you know, and that's okay, but there's other ways, like you said, to do things on the side. So, yeah, yeah, but it's fun. It is definitely fun, yes.
Lily Jones
And I think in some ways it's like, way more accessible thinking about it that way too, where, if you're starting something on the side, and you're like, kind of experimenting, you know, and you're seeing what works, and then, you know, after you do that for a while, you might get to a point just like you did, yeah, I'm like, All right, I gotta make a choice.
Lisa Vodal
It looks daunting, and it's less daunting, and it's less like you have to know, you have to make up A decision right away. And the great thing about teaching is there's always a job like, we can always go back to it, especially I'm in Florida, and we need teachers so badly, so it's like worst case scenario.
Lily Jones
Yes, absolutely, a great safety net for everybody. And subbing.
Lisa Vodal
And tutoring, I was just gonna say, or substituting. I mean, I feel like we're so lucky in that sense. So I also had that in the back of my mind. I mean, I've been doing this for over 10 years, but worst case scenario, I like to keep that in the back of my mind. I'm like, I could always go back to teaching or being a professor. I mean, there's so many things that we can do. Yeah, yeah.
Lily Jones
There's a wide world out there. So I think just like seeing all the different options and feeling out what's the best for this season of life that you're in and what you want to do. So do you have plans for how you think your business will continue to evolve, or where you see your business going?
Lisa Vodal
So I'm currently working on my doctorate. I just finished up my first year.
Lily Jones
Congratulations,
Lisa Vodal
It's a long ways ago but thank you. So I'm really interested in I created a framework for inclusive instruction, and I realized that I have the reading program which I love, but teaching reading is not like my passion. So the so what I realized is the way that I teach reading is what I love. Like. The way I teach our program, and I'm like, okay, so I realized it's a framework, and so I've created the framework, and I'm actually piloting it soon. So that's really exciting. I'm piloting it in like a classroom setting. And the great thing about the framework is I feel like it can go further, because it can be used with any grade, any subject, it's just how you approach what you're what you're teaching. And so I'm really curious to see how it how the pilot goes, because I know it works one on one with my reading program, and I know it'll work in the classroom. There's just going to be changes, like, that's what happened with my reading program. But that's, that's kind of the next thing that I'm excited about and working towards
Lily Jones
that's so exciting. Yaaaaa,
Lisa Vodal
I feel more excited about that. But I didn't know I like the reading, but I realized I like the reading because the way we teach the reading, so I'm excited.
Lily Jones
It's so cool. I mean, I think the best things and the best people you know, are constantly evolving, right, not really evaluating, like, what has worked, what works for me right now. And so it's cool seeing you in that process, you know, having some works, and then thinking about where it's going to go next, and what you really enjoy about it,
Lisa Vodal
Right? And you don't have to get rid of the reading program. That can still stay there. So I'm really excited, actually,
Lily Jones
Yay. That's great. Well, can you tell people where they can connect with you?
Lisa Vodal
Yes, just prereaders.com. It's a great place to start. And then on the you know, on the website, you can find our Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, all of that.
Lily Jones
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much, Lisa, it was so nice to connect with you.
Lisa Vodal
Thank you for having me.
Lily Jones
Absolutely.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai