Today we’d like to introduce you to Todd Curlett.
Todd, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Barbora, from a small town in the countryside of the Czech Republic, decided to take a break from her business career to explore America for a year through the Aupair program. At the same time, I took an uncharacteristic look up from of my head down approach to my business career, and created an online dating profile!
Somehow, beyond my belief to this day, Barbora found her way from the other side of the planet to my small town of Ashland, MA where we met. It was clear, on our very first date, that we shared many of the same dreams and passions in life, namely, for creating our own business. We traded seemingly endless stories of our “genius” business projects, million dollar ideas, and of course, the inconceivable reasons that derailed each’s success.
We quickly realized that together, we could make up the missing parts, and create an amazing team, capable of anything we set our minds to. Just 3 years later, we are now married, have our own baby girl, and a successful small business, Cedar Street Kids’ Club.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Cedar Street Kids’ Club was within a payroll run of shutting down. To get started, we invested most of my life savings into the renovation of a garage apartment at our home to create a beautiful classroom.
The classroom was approved by the state’s Early Education and Care Department for 20 children, but when we went to the town planning board meeting to get our occupancy permit, which we believed to be nothing more than a formality and last step prior to opening, a crusty old miserable attorney neighbor, an abutter, took the stand in protest. This lawyer nearly drove us to bankruptcy with his delay tactics, but we persevered and found a way to open with a limited capacity of just 10 children.
Two months after opening, we had only 3 children enrolled… Our director’s 2 children and my son.. We were literally down to our last payroll before pulling the plug on the business. Cedar Street Kids’ Club was looking like another failed “million dollar idea” with a crusty old neighbor attorney as the inconceivable reason for its demise.
Fast forward another 2 months and we were full to our 10 child capacity with a waiting list of over 60 families. Today, we have two schools and over 150 enrolled families.
Cedar Street Kids Club Inc – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Cedar Street Kids’ Club is an early education and care program in Ashland. We feature a nursery program and a preschool program, serving families with children aged 3 months to 5+ years of age.
Barbora and I have strived to create a unique education and care experience that stands out from the dozens of typical daycares prevalent in the area.
We emphasize inspirational curriculum, unparalleled parent communication, and exceptional cleanliness. We are committed to our community and back that up with action. Rather than a marketing budget, we have a community involvement budget. Rather than a website visibility budget, we invest in technology that allows us to share photos and milestones of a child’s day with their parents.
As local business owners, we take our responsibility to our community extremely serious. We pay attention to every detail and try to go above and beyond our family’s expectations when it comes to a quality educational experience for the future of our community.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment for me and Barbora was when we took a leap of faith and opened our second school. It filled to enrollment capacity at the very first open house event. At this moment, we knew we had finally achieved more than the next crazy business idea and that with continued hard work and dedication, our dreams could become a reality.
Contact Info:
- Address: 118 Main Street & 300 Eliot Street
Ashland, MA 01721 - Website: www.cedarstreetkidsclub.com
- Phone: 508-656-0316
- Email: info@cedarstreetkidsclub.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/cedarstreetkidsclub
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Linda J Livingstone
January 17, 2018 at 12:40 am
Cedar St is truly an amazing operation, from what I can see on their Facebook page. I have been happy to see them be successful. I am disappointed in Mr Curlett’s departure of the attorney, whose name he should have listed if he was going to complain about him online, even now, when he has reached his success.
I did not take part in any of the planning meetings but it was naive, in my opinion. to think anyone could come to town and open a school with little invention or input from the town. In Mr Curlett’s new locations he does not have some of the initial location issues. The home is on a very narrow street and on a curve with visibility issues. Cars would be coming and dropping off children and exiting back to the street. School bus stops at that place were moved for similar problems.
None of the neighboring homes around the school knew Mr Curlett and his ultimate success but certainly had legitimate concerns for what a school opening there would do to their homes which many of us had lived in for 30 or more years and would it change the feel of the neighborhood.
I have no problem with Mr Curlett being unhappy with the attorney making it a little harder for the school to open but possibly in the end he did him a favor. Some of that very success could be from the necessary town agencies and neighbors getting on board with the idea and requirements for the town, which are frequently safety, board of health and other important issues. Children are too important and these days we hear too many sad stories AFTER the fact. Like I said, I have no problem with Mr Curlett being unhappy but this characterization of his attorney neighbor takes a bit of the shine off the happiness I felt for Mr Curlett in his success.