Meet Tommy & MJ Runfola
The husband and wife duo co-founded Prep Academy Schools in Central Ohio; in one of the most competitive childcare markets in the country; ranked 7th nationally by the number of licensed independent centers. Starting completely from scratch, they grew Prep Academy Schools into a thriving, multi-location, eight-figure business recognized for quality, systems, and scalability.
Their rapid expansion was powered in large part by one core advantage: they consistently attracted the ideal families, those who paid, stayed, and referred others like themselves again and again.
Grandchildren of Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s, attended Prep Academy Schools, along with the children of several well-known professional athletes.
Eventually, Tommy and MJ sold their organization to a major national corporation for a multiple of its value, a true testament to their business acumen and the strength of their model.
While others make a living telling owners how to run a center, Tommy & MJ are among the elite few who have actually built centers from the ground up and lived the realities of the business every single day.
And don’t think your center is any different from theirs. You may be surprised to learn that Tommy and MJ’s model isn’t much different from yours today, however, they discovered the key triggers for driving real growth and
profitability.
Unlike what other childcare marketing pundits would have you believe, the key to success is in the small things you can do right now that have the biggest impact on growth and profitability.
For example, in golf, everyone gets excited about the long drive off the tee. It’s loud, it’s dramatic, and it’s what gets the applause. Yet every professional golfer will tell you: the real money is made on the green. Putting; this quiet, subtle, almost invisible part of the game is what wins tournaments and pays the big checks. Pros spend the majority of their practice time on those short, controlled shots most spectators never notice.
Childcare is no different.
Most childcare marketing experts promote big, undefined ideas or concepts, or flashy marketing tactics, ads, social media, websites, and billboards. Those are the “tee shots.” They get attention, but they don’t close the deal.
The real money in childcare is converting a visit to a client; it starts with the tour.
It’s the small, deliberate, personal moments, walking parents through the halls, introducing them to teachers, letting them feel the warmth of the classrooms, and inviting them into the culture of the center. This is the putting green of childcare. This is where enrollment decisions are made. And yet, no marketing company talks about it because they can’t package it, automate it, or sell it as a ‘done-for-you’ service for which they can charge. It is something you, the childcare center owner is best qualified to do.
You are Mighty Michelle!
This is where you close parents…or lose them.
Master the tour, and you master the entire game of childcare.
Can it be this simple? Yes!
You don’t need to reinvent your entire center. Simply fix the moment that creates your revenue.
Despite the evident downturn in birthrates among Americans, there is still a high demand for quality childcare centers, especially among affluent clients. According to the December 2023 report by the Center for American Progress, “More than two-thirds of the nation’s children have all available parents in the workforce, making childcare a critical support not only for children’s early learning and development but also for caregivers to be able to go to work, school, or job training.”
In October 2025 Rasmussen University reported that many centers see net profit margins of only 5-10 percent after
expenses. This means that one staff
absence, a dip in enrollment, delayed
parent payments, or a broken HVAC unit can wipe out an entire month’s profit.
• You don’t need to start over.
• You don’t need to reinvent your center.
• You don’t need to do everything
differently.
• Fix the right things; the thing that
leads to stability, profit, and
freedom…Full Enrollment
