Free business review
A short call to work out where the pressure is and whether I am the right person to help. No obligation and no proposal attached to it.
Start with confidence.Run with control.Sell on your terms.
I help nursery founders, buyers and owners make better commercial and operational decisions at every stage, from first idea and registration through acquisition, growth, turnaround and sale.
New to childcare?You do not need to know the sector language before the first call. Bring the idea, the opportunity or the problem. We will start there.
- 01Start-up
- 02Purchase
- 03Operate
- 04Grow
- 05Sell
The point of view
A nursery business should be built with the end in mind, even when the doors have not opened yet.
Registration, funding, occupancy, staffing, systems, leadership and eventual sale are connected decisions. Good advice sees the whole journey, not one isolated problem.
Clear boundary
Purchase and sale support is commercial and operational. It complements, but does not replace, advice from your solicitor, accountant, broker or regulated adviser.
Selected work
Evidence of control, not consultancy theatre.
Real operating roles. Real accountability. Outcomes delivered from inside the organisation.
01 / SCALEFrom one setting to a four-site group.
Growth without losing control of the operating model.
1 to 4sites over nine years
Pennies World Ltd
As Operations Director, I helped build the organisation, leadership structure and commercial discipline required to grow from a single nursery into a four-site group with £4.5m turnover.
02 / TURNAROUNDA community organisation brought back under control.
Governance, compliance, funding and operational reset.
£135kfunding secured
Repton Community Trust
As Chief Executive, I led a regulatory and organisational turnaround, strengthened governance and systems, and secured funding to stabilise services and protect delivery.
03 / MULTI-SITEPerformance made visible across multiple settings.
A clearer grip on staffing, standards and commercial delivery.
£6m+revenue managed
Multi-site nursery operations
Across senior multi-site roles, I have led more than 150 people and managed performance through occupancy pressure, staffing challenges, inspections and demanding commercial targets.
Five business stages
Useful from the first idea to the final handover.
Turn the nursery idea into a business that can actually work.
For first-time founders and people entering childcare from another sector, I help connect the registration plan to the commercial reality. The setting needs more than a strong vision. It needs viable room economics, staffing assumptions, systems and a route to opening.
- Start-up model and room economics.
- Registration and operational roadmap.
- Leadership, staffing and opening readiness.
Understand the operation you are taking on before it becomes your daily problem.
I provide a commercial and operational view of the nursery, its people, systems, occupancy and immediate risks, then help turn the handover into a controlled first 90 days. This sits alongside professional legal, accounting and regulated advice.
- Operational purchase review.
- Handover priorities and risk.
- First 90 day operating plan.
Make the numbers, standards and leadership tell the same story.
I connect occupancy, fees, room use, staffing, cash, safeguarding and accountability into one operating view. The point is earlier decisions and less dependence on the owner carrying every issue.
- Commercial performance and cash.
- Staffing, standards and systems.
- Manager accountability and reporting.
Growth and turnaround both expose the structure beneath the business.
Whether the pressure comes from a new site, weak performance or organisational change, I bring operating grip, independent challenge and a clear sequence of decisions.
- Multi-site operating structure.
- Turnaround and performance control.
- Growth planning and integration.
Build a business another owner can understand, trust and operate.
Sale readiness is operational before it is transactional. I help owners reduce dependency, clarify performance, strengthen management information and prepare the organisation for scrutiny. Legal, tax, valuation, brokerage and regulated advice remain with the relevant professionals.
- Owner dependency and succession.
- Operational sale readiness.
- Management information and handover.
Engagements and fees
Start with a review. Add leadership only when the business needs it.
Every engagement starts with a free call. Nothing is quoted before we have spoken, and no price below is hidden behind an enquiry form.
All fees are exclusive of reasonable expenses. A written proposal follows the free review. Fixed fee work is invoiced on agreement, monthly support in advance.
No charge, 30 minutes
Support around a business stage
Start-up and Registration Roadmap
A commercial and operational route from initial concept to registration and opening readiness. Built for first-time founders and people entering childcare from another sector.
Nursery Purchase Review
An independent commercial and operational review of the nursery you are considering, focused on the business you may inherit. This does not replace legal, financial or regulated due diligence.
Sale Readiness Review
A practical review of owner dependency, performance information, operating control and handover readiness before a sale process. Valuation, tax, legal and brokerage advice remain with the relevant professionals.
Defined projects, fixed scope
Business Health Check
A focused review of your accounts, occupancy, staffing, leadership and immediate risk. Written findings and your top five priorities.
Nursery Business Audit
A deeper piece of work when the Health Check is not enough. Full commercial and operational review with a written plan.
New Owner First 90 Days
For owners who have just bought a setting. What you have actually acquired, where the risk sits, and a first 90 day plan.
Strategy Day
A day in your business with you and your leadership team, working through one decision that has been sitting unresolved.
Ongoing support, monthly
Owner Coaching
A confidential space to think, decide and be held to account. Usually two sessions a month with support in between.
Non-Executive Director
An independent voice on your board or advisory panel. Challenge, governance and commercial oversight without day to day involvement.
Retained Advisory Support
Senior support on call, so you get a second experienced view on the decisions that matter without adding an operational role.
Fractional Operations Director
Operational grip across people, performance, standards and execution. The structure that lets the business run without you in the middle of it.
Fractional Managing Director
Senior commercial leadership without the cost of a full-time appointment. P&L ownership, real decisions, accountability.
Fractional MD Plus
Deeper involvement for groups going through growth, investment or significant change. Scoped to the business.
Everything else
Bespoke consultancy, by arrangement
Work that does not fit the list above. Acquisition support, interim cover while you recruit, a board paper, a specific problem that needs an experienced pair of hands for a defined period. Tell me what the job is and I will scope and price it after we have spoken.
Dominic
I have sat in the chair.
For more than 20 years, I have led organisations through growth, commercial pressure, regulatory scrutiny and change.
I built my career inside operating businesses, not outside them. At Pennies World, I helped grow a single nursery into a four-site group and later served as a Non-Executive Director. I have since led a community trust through turnaround and managed performance across multi-site nursery operations.
My work covers the points where quality and commerce meet: finance, staffing, safeguarding, governance, occupancy, parent relationships and leadership. I know what it feels like when the numbers are moving the wrong way and everybody still expects the leader to have the answer.
When I advise an owner, it comes from having carried the responsibility myself.
20+years in senior leadership
£6m+multi-site revenue managed
150+people led
Proof
References are available by introduction.
I am building public consultancy case studies. Until clients approve named testimonials, I will not turn private conversations into anonymous praise or put invented quotations beside stock portraits. The evidence shown here comes from roles I held and outcomes I was responsible for.
Our thinking
Notes from inside the business.
The first 90 days after purchase are not a settling-in period.
The handover tells people what the new owner will tolerate, measure and prioritise. Drift starts quickly. So does control.
A full nursery can still be a weak business.
Occupancy is only one signal. Room mix, staffing, fee structure, debt, cash and management discipline decide whether the business is genuinely strong.
Sale readiness starts before the broker is appointed.
A buyer needs to see a business, not a collection of decisions that still depend on the owner being in the room.
Working tools
Useful before we ever speak.
Private enquiry
Tell me where you are. I will tell you what I see.
You may have an idea, a nursery to buy, a business under pressure or an exit to prepare for. You do not need a polished brief. Give me the stage and the issue, and I will come back with a sensible next step.
Quickest route, straight to mehello@nurserybusiness.co.uk07703 025601Weekdays 8am to 6pm. I reply within one working day, and I answer my own phone.