Lessons From a Mom Running a Business Full of Toddlers | Kristina Babina

Manouchka: Hey Boss Mama! Welcome back to the show. This is the space where we explore building a business you love, raising your family, and creating a life that works for you. I’m your host, Manouchka Elefant, marketing coach, and fellow mompreneur. And so today, let me ask you something. What would it take for you to stay fully committed to your vision?

No matter how chaotic life gets, because today’s guest, Kristina Babina, is the kind of entrepreneur who redefines what’s possible when you combine fierce organization, grounded leadership and a bold, long-term vision.

She built a growing chain of daycares across French speaking Switzerland, has over 140 employees, and was back to work just seven days after giving birth all by design. But what I found most fascinating about this conversation wasn’t just how much she gets done, it’s how clearly she thinks about what truly matters: from rejecting short term motivation, to advocating for a total mindset shift around private and public daycare systems, this interview will stretch your thinking in the best way.

Hi, Kristina, thank you for joining me on the Hey Boss Mama podcast. I’m really excited to have you here because I’ve been seeing your daycares around the French speaking parts of Switzerland, and I know it’s a very tough business. Not only with the regulations, but also with all the setups and the incredible demand that there is, but also that there’s not enough for parents.

So I’d love to hear how you decided to start this business because it was even before you had your own child.

Kristina: Yes, sure. for me it’s really a life journey and, uh, something I believe I was born to do. I was, um, a hyperactive child when I was, uh, younger and I’m still a hyperactive adult. Right. And, uh, for me it was quite stressful having the preschool and schooling system, which always. Tried to put me in a box where I didn’t belong.

And I think I was about 12 or 13 years old when I told my mom, uh, and like people around me were asking me, what do you wanna do, uh, et cetera. And I always said, I’m gonna work with kids. You know, I will, I will do something for children, and I will create a space where each child can be themselves and not, uh, something that the society wants them to be, basically.

and of course society is important, and of course preparing children for school is very important. and I’m not trying to break any rules, uh, in, in that sense. What is important for me is that in TotUP, what we really able to do is observe children and, work as a team with parents and help them out to discover as well as natural interests of the children, as well as the educational, uh, preferences and trying to guide them through this not very always, very simple journey of understanding their kids better.

Manouchka: Oh, beautiful. I love how already as a kid you knew yourself that you wanted to work in this field. It’s incredible. And so you had your daughter about three years ago now.

Kristina: That’s correct

Manouchka: How has that influenced your vision of the work that you do?

Kristina: truly to say it didn’t really influence me in any way, uh, because for me, I mean, I, I’ve been, doing this for ages before my daughter was born, and as I’ve said, for me it was not, like I’ve became a mom and wanted to do something about it. Right? Uh, it was really something that I looked forward towards all my life.

Of going through, educational system, uh, during university and then, uh, creating something right. And, obviously my daughter goes to my daycare. It was very clear to one of my daycares. It was very clear for me that I should be treated as any other parent. Uh, so I didn’t have any, like change of vision, or whatever. My vision was always there and clear, and certainly my vision and the fact that I became a mom, was not supposed to influence in any how, uh, the way I see the business, right? Because otherwise that would not be a good business. Uh, for me as an entrepreneur, you have to have a clear idea and goals of what you wanna do and how you wanna do it. And it’s not, any other private life matters that should influence, the business. And I truly believe in that. and I also truly believe in the fact that your private life should not be what is targeting, uh, the fact that you wanna create, a sort of business, right?

Because for me, that’s short, uh, term motivation. I’ve seen a lot of, uh, people and I coach entrepreneurs, right? And, for me it’s always a kind of a very important point why somebody started, a business, and, what they do. And for me, it’s always important that it comes from their heart and brain at the same time, but it’s not influenced by a concrete thing in their life.

for example, birth of a Child. Because for me that would be a short term motivation. And what I see is that, often women when they. Become mom, which is a great, uh, thing in life, right? Um, but they get all those ideas, but they’re based on their personal wants and needs and it. It should be always confirmed by the market and by the reality of things.

Otherwise, you would create something which is suitable for you, but will not be suitable for other clients, or will be suitable only for a very small part of the society, right? And that would not make it a long-lasting business.

Manouchka: So you’re going to laugh because I did exactly everything you said not to do because,and I have a business background. I studied management and then finance. And so I know what you’re talking about with, “you need to double check with the market. You don’t wanna create something in your own bubble.”

But, uh, so I had a marketing agency until I had a baby, and then I felt the need to connect with other mom entrepreneurs to understand. What they’re going through and how they adapted so that they could do both at the same time. ’cause we didn’t wanna send our child to daycare and, um. Basically having this kind of conversation for the podcast because as I was having those conversations, I saw there is a need.

We, we are often very alone when we’re entrepreneurs and we’re often very alone when we’re young mothers. And so I felt the need for connection and I saw I was the same for others. And then it gave me the idea for the Mastermind for Mom entrepreneurs and from there, all of this started happening with, Hey, boss Mama, which I hadn’t planned into a business when I started this.

It was more for myself. And so I’m doing exactly everything you’re saying not to do because it, it came from my own need and, but from there I saw there was a need from others.

Kristina: Yeah, I guess, obviously I have also a part of the story of being not happy in school, right? but what I mean is that it cannot be the only thing. Why people do it. For me is very important to process the message because again, it’s only short term.

I’ve seen unfortunately a lot of, uh, people putting a lot of effort based on their personal story. after two, three years it’s not the actuality for them anymore. It’s not actuality for their business. And this, for me, what is very important is that

we should not start, if we think that at some point, you know, when the kids will grow, that will not be the subject that interests us anymore.

But what is important for me, if you do start something, you should not base it purely on it and should not base it purely on the fact that this is my own need right now, but what is going to happen when it’s not going to be my need anymore? What is going to happen to my company? For me, the head of the company should have a very clear vision behind its personal needs.

Manouchka: Yeah,I know exactly what you mean. I’ve seen several women who started businesses, for example, with fashion for kids or nutrition for kids, and they came from their own need because they felt the need for it as moms, but then they didn’t follow through with the business. And as the kids grow, it just fizzles out.

So I completely get what you mean. And I’ve had also that thought process of. What is my business going to look like when my kid is not 19 months like he is now, but 19 years old? Is it still going to make sense for me? and it’s definitely something that I think any business, whether or not it’s tied to what we went through as an experience, we have to have that thought process of what’s the long-term vision.

So that it can grow, it can evolve no matter where we’re at. But I wanna go back to your story though, because you told me that when you were giving birth, you had your cell phone in your hand, and that just seven days later you were back at work. And I wanna know that whole story because this is incredible.

It’s also the opposite of what we tell moms to do. We tell them, take your time, take a break. Focus on yourself and your wellbeing. So what’s the story here?

Kristina: Well, the story is that, uh, the type of business I have cannot survive without me. Meaning that, I am responsible for over 140 employees and the fact that I have to pay their salaries at the end of the month, and rent and all of that. And for me, I don’t believe myself is the most important. What I believe is that, what I bring as the value and the business is more important and much bigger than my own needs.

And it doesn’t mean I’m ready to burn out or I look, uh, likea very tired person or whatever. But I truly believe in organization and I truly believe in what, is priority and where. Obviously my child is the priority for me. But, I mean, I’m spending a lot of time with my, girl, even though she’s in the daycare.

A hundred percent. I have,a very, um, lucky I would say because, um, my daughter’s very happy in the daycare and, I can kind of move my work around as well, so I’m not with the fixed hours somewhere stuck in. Um. Uh, in a bureau, right? for me it’s still about the balancing out. So, I wouldn’t be able to go on maternity leave for three months, and that was very clear, for me, for my husband, for my family, uh, and for me when I decided to have a child.

Because for me, that was a decision, that I’ve made. so, uh, I’ve just organized myself around it. I knew that, if I just block out for three months, then after three months I will come back to nowhere. Right? anything needs control. Business needs control. It’s a myth of those entrepreneurs who talk on the Instagram saying like, “I’m an entrepreneur and I’m on Maldives 24/7 and everything works without me.”

At least in my business, that’s not possible. I can take vacations, I can, plan out my day, but, the heart of what is going on is myself and my director’s team. and that is why it’s working so well, basically. And that’s why, I’m progressing. even though a lot of people would tell that it’s very hard business administrative wise, it’s very hard in terms of, um, HR. it’s a very challenging profession being an educator. and it’s very important to make a good place for the team members as well because without my team members, my vision and my quality of the daycare cannot be reproduced. Right. And obviously they are the first contact with the parents and with the children.

And so a lot of things depends on them. But for them to. To be, well, they should be reinsured that the director’s level and the founder level is always accessible, is always there to support them, is always there to create a good working environment. And so for me that was very important also to let them know that the fact that I’m having a child will not mean that they’re just.

Left out there alone and they cannot call me. They cannot discuss with me. I will not be in place, et cetera, et cetera. Well, I subscribed to my own daycare when I was three weeks pregnant. I didn’t yet announce to my team that I was pregnant, so I told my director that, um, I’m looking for a place for a friend, so I’ve calculated, right?

So I thought I’m gonna have a place right away. So I told her like, oh, I would like to have a place in September. Right? So we were October, 2021, and I wanted a place for September, 2022, meaning my girl would be four months, right. And then, I told her that and she goes like, oh, but we don’t have space, uh, for September.

And I’m like, what do you mean you don’t have space? She was like, well, we’refully booked. And uh, I’m like, okay, maybe like couple of days. And she’s like, no, no. So first availability I have is January, 2023, and I can, give you days and a half. I was like, this is great. that’s, uh,

My things when administration, uh, Swissadministration keeps on telling me There is no problem, everyone has a place, everything working just perfectly fine. We don’t need private daycares, et cetera. I was like, oh, that’s great. So, uh, would be happy to see what administration can offer me because apparently my own daycare, I have no space.

Right. So it’s fully booked. Obviously I would never do public daycare, and actually I would not, never even have a place ’cause the system is made like that. When you’re an entrepreneur, you’re not considered to be self-employed or an employee, so your dossier would be somewhere at the very, very end. uh, what should I do?

Right? I was lucky my mom was able to come for, first, couple of months. but then I’ve breastfed, right? so, what I did is I was working with my daughter. So for the first eight months before she could start daycare, she would be just traveling around all the daycares with me.

My teams were super supportive about that. and they were all texting me like in the morning saying like, oh, by the way, we have a child that is sick or on vacation. If you want, you can drop your girl for like couple of hours so you can work. So it’s a kind of was like that. And um, I don’t see any problem with that.

so she was always with me. Uh, I did breastfeed till she was two years and three months. I have a excellent connection with her. Absolutely no problem. she is a late sleeper, so, so she goes to bed at like 10 o pm

so a lot of time in the evenings together.

We’re never in a rush. we pick her up, either me and my husband from the daycare. We have a walk. We can go and eat all together, and then we play and do their bath time and then we go to bed. Uh, and, uh, all the weekends and vacations, obviously I spend with my daughter. my mom doesn’t live here. My husband’s parents do not live here either.

so we’re just two of us. We’ve never had a babysitter.

so we’ve always organized between my husband, myself, and it’s not always easy, but again, for me, organization is something and like communicating inside the family is what is the most important and it, what, makes it all work.

Because I have to say that it’s not, uh, also easy. In terms of organization on the side of my, husband who is working as well, a hundred percent, but he goes two to three days per week to the German part, so he’s out of home for one or two nights per week.

But again, we’re just making it work. I work I think over a hundred percent, so sometimes I do my emails at night and, that’s how it works.

it’s a choice that I’ve made. I’ve, Decided to be an entrepreneur. I knew exactly what is waiting for me.

I knew that, uh, it will take a lot of work. I knew that I will have. A huge responsibility because being an employer is a huge responsibility. for me it was very important to have already my business operating, uh, having several daycares, knowing how it works. And even though. Each opening of a new daycare brings new, uh, surprises. I mean, each Canton operates on the different reglementations, right?

So every time I’m like going to the new country.

So when my baby came along, I mean, it’s of luck as well, of having like no problem. Um. Being pregnant, didn’t have any like emergencies or whatsoever. So I was able to work until the last day, I think, the day before I went to my Aqua Swim course, and then, had my water broke, come to the hospital. Uh, it took some time. Uh, then she was born, I came out of the hospital, then I was like, okay, the breastfeeding is working.

Uh, my daughter had a couple of months of collics, which is okay.

I knew all the stories. I think it would not, it would be very hard to surprise me. So everything, what was coming up when, even if it was quite, uh. New to me as, as, my personal, my own child, right?

I’ve been hearing a lot of stories. I worked myself in the daycare. Uh, ’cause for me it was very important to understand the profession as well. So, uh, I had a lot of information already, so nothing really surprised me. Um, and yeah, up until now, looks good.

Manouchka: Amazing. And just to give a little bit of context, because a lot of the people that are listening to the podcast are not in Switzerland, so they don’t necessarily understand why it’s so difficult for daycares. Can you give us a little bit of a lay of the land and, and explain also what kind of work you’re doing to change some of the legislation.

Kristina: Sure. Um, so basically, the daycare business is highly controlled by the state, which is not necessarily bad, uh, which, what concerns security and, hygiene levels and all of that. I completely agree that it’s very important and there should be control however.

As in any state, I believe, we are making rules that are very rigid, and sometimes it doesn’t correspond to what you can see on the market and how the market works. So basically, first of all, there are public daycares and private daycares, right? So public daycares are, have subsidies from the state, which allows the parents to pay less because the other part of the money is compensated by the state. for the private daycares, we do not receive any subsidies.

So the cost of a daycare place is totally, paid by the parents, which makes it for the certain revenues more expensive. So it would, because at the state level, you would also pay according to your level of salaries. and what is quite complicated is that this system in the French, specifically part of Switzerland doesn’t allow partnerships, which means that when the state is not, uh, doesn’t have enough of spaces.

they just basically wait until they’re able to open a new daycare.

Manouchka: Right. But that takes ages to go through the process. While there are. private daycares who are ready to collaborate with the state. Uh, but uh, because they’re private daycares, the law doesn’t allow to do so, and it goes all and all again. And, uh, it’s either you have to bring up an association or be part of the association, but when you become a part of the association, you lose. Your identity, um, because you have to basically become, as any other public daycare and follow some rules, meaning that you cannot be bilingual, um, or you cannot, uh, do some of the activities that a private daycare usually proposes. Okay.

Yeah, so basically parents are at the end of the line and they’re taken as hostages in between all of that.

Kristina: So then the parents are basically there and it’s, if there is no public space, then they have to go to private. And the private is a certain cost and that’s it. And there is no other third way of coming out of the situation while in German part, what they do in the German speaking cantons is that they subsidize directly the families.

Meaning if a family is allowed to have a subsidy, it’s the family who receives the money. And then they can decide, either they wanna go to the public system, to the private system, if they wanna go to the daycare that is close to their work, or to the daycare that is close to their, housing, which gives. Much more liberty for the private daycares to develop, but also for the parents to be very, um, pragmatic about their choice basically. And it’s the parents who, give the opportunity to choose and not being held as hostage the system, uh, which makes it much easier. So. obviously, together with some politicians trying to change that in the French speaking part and adopt this way of collaborating between private and public for the good of, the families.

Manouchka: Yeah. Yeah, that’s so important. And I’m assuming also, like if you’re looking just at a pure business aspect of it, I’ve heard a lot of horrible stories with daycares in the French part of Switzerland, and if you have that kind of healthy competition, then you’re also going to increase the level of services overall between the private and the public too.

Kristina: it, really depends. Uh, there are daycares and private actors that would go into the market purely because there is a demand, right? And it’s a, kind of, seems to be very easy. There is a demand I open and I will have the parents. What people have to understand is that first of all, a daycare is a very low margin business.

In between the cost, 65% of revenues goes to cover up the salaries and the social charges. But then you have the rent, et cetera, et cetera. You are left out with about 5%, five to 8% margin, which is very low, in terms of business and different industries, and meaning that any mistake in management can lead to irreversible process of going into debt, which means that.

One single daycare cannot survive. And that’s the rule. And I’m very surprised that the state is, or now they’re kind of trying to change it, but at the past would allow people to open just one standing daycare because on the long term, it’s not feasible. As soon as you have just a year where you have too many employees sick.

And your insurance skyrocket and you have to pay the first two weeks and still replace the employee. That immediately cuts down your margin, if not bringing you immediately to debt. So what is important for the day is to have stability. And how the stability can be organized is by having several daycaresin different, um, places so that if

you have a bad chance and one of your daycares going a bit slower or a bit down, then the daycare that goes well can compensate for it. Secondly, when you have the volumes, you are much more powerful on the market so you can much better negotiate your other costs because obviously the salaries you cannot match and negotiate, and the rent you cannot match, negotiate either.

But what you can negotiate is your other costs from the suppliers, right? So if you have the volume, then you are much more stronger in the eyes of the suppliers, and then you can have a better pricing in terms of that. Because for them, it’s also easier to manage by working with one chain and not working with separate institutes, right?

And so they will choose you over the single daycare, and the single daycare would get a higher price because it also takes. Much more time. And in terms of administration fee, so that would be also uh, added to the price that they will receive. So basically, in any case, for me, it was very clear when I opened the first one, I already knew that it’s not going to be the last one.

That the goal would be to open

several, daycares in order to be able to have a strong position on the market in order also to test. the educational line because, education is something that should be transformed over time and should be adjusted. And so if we’re bringing up, TotUP is very innovative.

In that case, we’re bringing up a lot of new projects into life, but what we do is that we would test it with one, and then we would duplicate it in other daycares to test if it’s actually convenient. or is it just the project because it’s working just based on, some motivated, uh, individuals inside the team.

Right. And this is my goal as well, looking at the HR and that in any case, daycare business has quite, I wouldn’t say high, we don’t have a high turnover, but we do have some turnover. For me, it was also very important to make my talents stay with me and in order to make the talents stay with you besides the salary you are supposed

to give them a headline a place where they can grow, right? And so my educators know that they can become directors and that they can grow, uh, indifferent ways inside the company, administrative, et cetera, et cetera. And that’s what gives me, uh, some, um. Advantage, to keep the talent with me and not, uh, letting them, to other, uh, places, competitors or public system, And then, uh, I mean, that’s basically it. So for me, if you want to do a daycare business, then it’s either you are financially very stable and you can open several ones. Or either

you have to make a franchise or, uh, partner up with the existing daycare so that you can benefit from what is already done and most importantly, from the pricing of the, uh, suppliers, that a chain already has.

Manouchka: And when you, you mentioned earlier that when it came to having your daughter, while the business was already running and quite productive, what were the organizational things that you’ve put into place so that it works? Because from what you were saying is that you really integrated your daughter into your life.

Kristina: Mm-hmm. Yeah. It’s obviously, I mean, I havedirectors in every daycare, right? I have an administrative poll that helps me out. Um, I think what I did right is that I very well chose, and my directors very well chose me. It’s the more than employees. I’m not someone who mixes private life and business, but we are in the very social sphere and we do have a connection beyond work.

Do we call it friendship? No, but. Our values are super connected. We’re at the same radio frequency. We understand the same. when I have to say something, I mean they can all almost finish my sentence as I can finish theirs. And this what allows the team, I mean, anentrepreneur is never alone. And this is also a lie.

I hear a lot of entrepreneurs saying like, I’m alone. Um, I did it. No. So that’s, that’s, a lie. I will just put it like that. An entrepreneur. A good entrepreneur is never alone. In order to make your business work, you need a support system that is around you, and in order to construct that support system, you have to be very transparent.

Bonus, people have to respect you, but at the same time, they have to connect with you as well. So your employees should know you more than just some figure at the top management level. And for me, that’s the key, which works very well. I’m very transparent. Um,I’ve adopted by the way, like even my accountant was quite,

I would say, uh, not negative, but, uh, trying to me that I should be careful about that. But for example, all my employees receive, my accounting every year.

Manouchka: Okay.

Kristina: So my accounting is open to my team, to my directors, and to the whole team. We present the numbers every year once they’re ready. To show the results, the expenses, et cetera.

Obviously, we do not present the whole like, uh, 55 lines of stuff. We are making it in a shorter table. However, if there are employees that have more questions or would like to see the audit accounts of my company for which they’re working, they can come to the director. And the director will show it to them.

And that’s for me very important because again, there is this thing where we think that entrepreneurs, they’re just like putting money on the in their pockets. And they do notdo anything. And we as people, which is also normal, we think about ourselves, right? And when we think about our salary. On our own, it seems to be maybe not as high as it could be, or maybe it could be better, but we never, question ourselves about what it brings in general.

Right? uh, when we just think about it, we feel like maybe there is some unfairness, right? But when they see the numbers. And they see what it represents because they’re not alone in the company. I’m also very transparent about how much I take back from the company ’cause I’m not, um, I don’t have a salary in my companies.

Um, I still do the return on investment and they know exactly how much money I take out every month for myself, which is much lower than their salaries to be very clear per daycare.

Kristina: That’s basically, I think what creates a very transparent, again, I didn’t do daycares to make money. Uh, obviously I would like to make a return on my investment. It’s a very high financial investment. I would the six figure number. my family money who trusted in me and who gave it to me in order for me to develop this business. So obviously I would like to have a return on investment and obviously I have to eat and to sleep, right? I take money back, uh, forin order to have a. Comfortable life, but I didn’t make this business to become a millionaire. Let’s be clear. No one who has a daycare can become a millionaire.So it’s a business where I feel comfortable with what I get in return for myself. Uh, but for me, what is important is that. My life makes sense. I’m not looking to buy a yacht or to have a private jet. I’m just looking to have a comfortable life, but I want my life to make sense, and that is why next to my business I also coach in entrepreneurs. I also work as a volunteer coach, every Friday morning I go to start, which is an association that helps. Immigrants to integrate into either work life or create their microenterprise. And it’s completely a hundred percent volunteer. Uh, because truly believe as well in karma and there were a lot of people putting stones on my road so that I can fall and die. Manouchka: But, uh, it didn’t happen because I had also quite some people around me who did trust in myself, who did trust in what I do and who helped me out on the way. And so for me now when I’m quite stable, uh, I’m able to give it back,Beautiful, and I wanna bounce back on something that you said before because I feel like there’s really different categories of entrepreneurs. They’re the ones who decide to go really big and have a big investment, and they need for that to have a team around them because they can’t do it all alone. And at the same time, in parallel to that, you have. entrepreneurs that see things maybe at a smaller scale and who want to stay as lean as possible, invest as little as possible, sometimes simply because they don’t have the money, or sometimes because they have a different vision and they prefer to keep things small, not necessarily because they see themselves small, but they have a vision that is a different scale. And so it’s a different approach. And obviously you went big, you had the investment, you built the team around you and all of that. But how do you. Consult both. what are the aspects in terms of probably mindset and the way that you plan for your business that are parallel to both. Kristina: I mean, I don’t know if, uh, I, I didn’t go big. Uh, let’s put it clear. My business still is a small to medium size enterprise. I would also not confuse a business and individual entrepreneurship. For me, that’s two very different things. And two very different mindsets. And, uh, in terms of investments, et cetera, et cetera. Um, I do consult independent, entrepreneurs, uh, which, usually, have a very different, vision. But what is the same for both? That again, maybe, I mean, I would be a bit harsh or maybe it would disappoint some people, but for me. With zero investment, you will get zero. Either you see things as small or big. I do not believe in business or in entrepreneurs who tell me they come from zero because, in any case, at some point, I mean, if you’re individual photographer, right? I mean, you need to buy at least A camera right. Yes. So that’s already an investment. I mean, if, uh, small or big you see, that obviously will margin out the investment. Uh, it’s will obviously if you just looking to open a photo studio, just one, uh, it’s all certainly not the same investment as opening 10 studios, but you can open just one and then develop from there. Right? But so at the beginning I also started with one daycare.. Even though I had a vision of having several, for me, what is important that people understand that at, at least in Switzerland, Switzerland is a very small country and it’s a very limited market. Unfortunately, single businesses are very hard to survive. You obviously can make, um, I don’t know. there, there are independent entrepreneurship that can have like very limited, market, and just sell their products, et cetera. Though I wouldn’t call it business. For me, that’s two very different things for me. Um, individual entrepreneurs, it’s a super complicated path. There are great ones. There are those who achieve those who don’t. But in most cases, individual entrepreneurs, they either work alone and they are the primarily primary source of their revenue. Meaning that it’s usually people who work with their hands, if not directly, but all with their brains, right? I mean, You are a photographer, you are making pictures, you are going to the weddings and make photos. You are a musician that you are making, uh, concerts, et cetera. exactly, you are putting your time at the service of others for which you receive the money. It also has its own limits, right? Because your time is limited. So at some point, you will get stuck because you don’t have enough of time to do, and then you either take. A path of saying, in any case, with what I have, I have, enough of money I feel comfortable, which is nothing wrong with that, and I’m just gonna stuck with my clients and do what I can. Or either you go and pick a side and say, okay, now I need to transform my individual entrepreneur. A shift to a business where I have to have a, acompany where I can hire people, where I can make other people work for me, uh, and against the salary this time, and then I put a margin over it, et cetera, et cetera. For some businesses, it’s quite possible. Others will tell you. In any case, no one does better Manouchka: Yeah. Kristina: the job than I do, so I cannot trust other people, et cetera, et cetera. I’m not comfortable with giving doubts to other people, and it’ll limit them. but, but that’s fine. I mean, everyone makes a choice. I’m not, an educator by education. I had a very clear vision. So for me it was very important to have the team that shares the same vision. I found little by little, I mean, I first did one daycare, then the second one, and then it took a kind of, lift where I had like three projects projects at the same time. Uh, and still developing. Obviously I don’t plan to stop for now. Um. But what is important at some point is to let go as well. I control a lot of things. I do come, uh physically to every daycare, every 10 days at least. Uh, I still do meet the people, the parents, um, I know all my teams. They know me if they need to have a coffee with me or talk with me or have a formal uh, interview, et cetera, et cetera. That’s not a problem. However, I also know my limits. So for me, it’s very important that the directors, they have this, um, kind of, connection with the daycare as well, because obviously they manage a lot and they do a lot of day-to-day things, and I’m there to global it up and bring it through. And motivate and, uh, they motivate me back and that’s how it works. Manouchka: Awesome. And, and so the, the impression I get from you, like hearing you speak about your business and your life, I feel like you’re that kind of power woman who’s always going a hundred percent. How do you also find the time and the space for yourself? Kristina: I, again, it’s pure, uh organization, organization I don’t have a phone. I have my agenda. It’s a written one. I really believe in written agendas. , Or maybe that’s because I’m hyperactive and I need to write all the time, but I, I, do believe in it. Uh, I don’t have any phone agenda. It’s everything is written in my, in my book. So I write things out. And I plan everything. So in my agenda, you can find meetings, but you can find as well things like wash the clothes, or go to, dry cleaner or whatever, or bring my car to the revision. For me, everything is planned, it’s one agenda for my personal life and my private life, so everything is in it. I plan accordingly. If I cannot, uh, it can happen to us. Sometimes it’s more stressful weeks, sometimes less stressful weeks than my husband comes in and he says, okay, I can do that for you. we have a very good communication and that’s, a very big part for me in families, you have to talk about everything and be able. to discuss openly and say when it’s just too much or when you cannot manage or something like that. And then the other one can step in and, maybe, help you out. Manouchka: One last question. Today, your daughter is quite small, but one day when she’s all grown up, maybe she’s already 30 years old. What do you wish she would say about you? What do you wish your daughter would say about you when she’s grown up? Kristina: Well, I don’t hope for much. I believe that children over the different periods of their growing up say different things about their parents and whatever a mom will or will not do at some point. Uh, children will not be happy about it, but what I really hope is that my daughter grow up, with her own personality and the possibility to just call her as many things as possible. And she would just say that, Her mom gave her this opportunities and possibilities, to discover herself and make up her own opinion about things, and hopefully she will be proud and I would be able to pass on what I’ve created to her. Manouchka: oh, I love this. It’s so important that we’re able to give our kids critical thinking, but also the ability to actually appreciate what they have and building their own opinion, discovering for themselves. I mean, that’s the essence. First of all, being human and being a child, but growing up, and if they’re able to do that, then I think they’re equipped with everything they need to in order to become good humans, good adults. So what’s next on your radar? What projects are you working on? Kristina: At this point of time, I am trying to, develop new projects and new things always, around the preschool and primary education. And we are working very hard on, putting, quite a scientific approach, to our pedagogical, approach that we’re using. And when I was starting to work with some professors at universities in order to be able, to really show how our pedagogical approach, can have a scientific base on it. And my goal really in the following years is to really show that preschool education is much more important, that we think, in general, and specifically here in Switzerland and as well as I’m starting out my political career and one of my goals as well as to put to the attention of how preschool education and daycare places can not only be useful and important for child development, but in general for economic growth and healthy political and economical situation in a country. Manouchka: Oh wow. That’s wonderful. So we have a lot to look forward to coming from you and where can everyone connect with you and find out more about what you do? Kristina: Well, I surely invite everyone to check out our website of TotUP and specifically our Instagram as well, where we post every day, some really cool activities or just simple photos with smiles of the kids. And I’m sure it can give a smile to anyone, watching or scrolling on instagram seeing, happy children. otherwise you have also my website, and my IE personal Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. I’m quite available. I receive a lot of messages, but I do always try to answer, to people in general about TotUP or even general about children development or, families with kids with special needs. not to promote specifically the activity, that we do in TotUP, but in general, having a lot of knowledge about the system, I’m very happy to be useful, for families and parents. And also, to people who follow my political journey. I’m always also available to plan like a meeting for coffee and get to know people. I really believe in the circular economy and entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs. so if you’re an entrepreneur, a mom, just an interested person, and you have any questions, that you would like to discuss, I’m very open and you can contact me basically on any of the social media platforms. Manouchka: Thank you for taking the time and for sharing your story. It was amazing.

Manouchka: So boss Mama, what did this conversation stir up for you? Maybe it challenged your thinking, maybe it inspired a new level of clarity. Maybe it gave you permission to go all in. On your vision, your structure, and your strategy. So wherever you’re at, remember this, there’s no one right way to be a mom or build a business, but the more honest we are about what works for us, the more powerful we become. So if you’re ready to streamline your business and reclaim your time, check out my free masterclass AI for Mompreneurs, how I Run My Business in two days a week using AI. I’ll walk you through how I use free tools like ChatGPT to save time, reduce mental load, and focus on what actually moves the needle. Watch on demand at www.HeyBossMama.com/ai And if you wanna go deeper into structure, visibility, and building a business that fits your real life, check out the Hey Boss Mama Mastermind. It’s where strategy meets support and where stuck turns into serious momentum. Know a mompreneur who needs to hear this? Send it her way. And if you love the episode, leave a quick review to help more boss mamas find it. So until next time, boss Mama, you’ve got this.