Ashley Murphree's life started as a refugee from Vietnam. She and her family became what was commonly referred to at that time as "boat people" by fleeing Vietnam in a boat after the nation fell to the North Vietnamese Army. On their way to Malaysia and hopefully freedom, Ashley and her family were attacked by pirates, who took their boat and threw the family into the sea, where they eventually floated onto an island that was part of Indonesia. The island was largely isolated from the world, but the family survived there for a year until they were discovered and the Red Cross sought to help. Ashley and her family were eventually moved to Malaysia and ultimately to the United States by UNICEF. From that very difficult beginning, Ashley has now built a very successful preschool system, Carpe Diem Preschool, with four different locations. The preschool is unique in that it pursues a highly differentiated strategy: All teachers have four-year college degrees, the student-teacher ratio is low (there are 130 staff in her schools for approximately 600 students), daily music classes are taught by trained musicians, and a high level of security is provided for the students.

The idea for the preschool came from Ashley's own life. After graduating college in 1995 with a degree in business, she worked for several firms in human resource roles. However, as she started her own family, she wanted to continue to work but needed quality care for her children. She was not satisfied with the options that she found, particularly with the instructors' level of education and experience. Therefore, in 1999 she decided to learn about setting up a child care center and two years later she opened her first unit. The start-up capital for the venture ($400,000) came from Ashley's own 401(k) and from her family. Her family funding included her mother's retirement funds, which she cashed out for her daughter's start-up.

To be able to open the preschool, Ashley extensively planned for the venture including visiting over 30 different preschool facilities. She even worked at a competing preschool to get firsthand knowledge. However, despite the best-laid plans, when her preschool opened in 2001 the telecommunications and wireless industry in her region crashed, which meant that many of the parents Ashley was counting on as customers were now financially strained. The business therefore took longer to reach breakeven than Ashley had planned. A key element that helped Ashley break through and start her strong financial progress forward was connecting with a public relations person. This person was able to have Ashley featured in a number of newspaper and magazine articles. The free publicity drew in new clients. The nature of the business is that when a family has one child who does well, they later place more children in the school. The publicity about Ashley and her Carpe Diem Private Preschool plus the increasing presence of siblings resulted in far greater demand than she could meet.

The outcome of the strong demand led Ashley to open her second preschool in 2005. It took approximately two years for the preschool to open, including the search process for a location, obtaining the land, and obtaining all licenses. The second preschool broke even in one year. The third day care opened in 2009. However, the fourth day care was a slightly different arrangement. The demand for the day care had been so strong that a friend of Ashley's asked to join in the process. Although the result is still a Carpe Diem Private Preschool, Ashley has used this venture to explore the potential of franchising the concept. She has developed extensive systems and manuals that she has used with her friend. She helped him identify the location and navigate the process to establish the school. In addition, she advised him on setting the school up and in training the staff. However, rather than directly control the school, she has set it up to take a percentage of revenue. Any changes she makes in her school she passes on to the newest school. Thus far, the new school has been a great success.

The new school has allowed Ashley to see the potential for expanding her method of preschool to a wide range of other areas. Her target market is high-income areas with young families. She consistently gets calls from developers asking her to locate a preschool in their new developments-a preschool of this caliber is seen as a key attraction to young parents in the same way being close to a leading private school is an attraction. Ashley believes the key benefit to being a successful entrepreneur is controlling your own life. Today, Ashley generally

visits her schools weekly, and she is always available on phone. The core outcome of her success is that she has the freedom to do what she wants, not what others want.

What Advice Does Ashley Have for New Entrepreneurs?

1.Double at a minimum the time and money you think it will take to start your business. Everything takes longer and is more costly than you expect. Don't run out of time or money just as your idea starts to take hold.

2.Get good people you trust. You want the business to be able to run without you. If it cannot run without you, then you can never sell it or never be away from it for any period of time.

QUESTIONS

1.Would a day care based on the same principles as Carpe Diem Private Preschool be viable in your area?

2.How does Ashley protect her competitive advantage as she goes forward?

3.What lessons from Ashley's experience will help you start your business?