Meet Ryan Mahoney | Owner Care 4 Kids & Entrepreneur
We had the good fortune of connecting with Ryan Mahoney and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Ryan, what do you attribute your success to?
It’s really not one thing. It’s a combination of taking risks, thinking outside of the box, problem solving, listening to and maintaining quality relationships with people. Maybe the most important factor, if I had to choose one, would be telling the truth and following through to staff and customers.
What should our readers know about your business?
The idea was nuts from the beginning! The initial plan for our business completely failed and what came after was unexpected but successful far beyond expectations. The original goal was for my business partner Mike Atter and I to take eight to ten kids in for an overnight at our two bedroom apartment on New Years Eve. Yeah right! Who in their right mind would drop their kids off for an over night with two strange guys. We did have background checks done and some experience with kids, so that was good, but are you kidding me? At age 23, no, we weren’t kidding at all. This was a great idea. We called ourselves “R&M Sitters” We would allow the parents to drop off the kids about 5pm so the parents could get ready for the night, celebrate New Years, sleep off their hangovers the next morning, have brunch, and then pick the kids up at about noon. What young couple wouldn’t want that, right? Wrong, although surprisingly, we did get one call. We gave the job to a girlfriend and went out for the night. Fast forward two months later and the phone was ringing off the hook. Yeah, it was still a phone with a cord and proper handle that you had to hang up on base. In the winter of 2022, concierge after concierge from the local hotels around Vail and Beaver Creek were calling to request short term babysitting. Unexpectedly, and like a toddler discovering new legs, we were off and running. After lot of hard work acquiring a license, bonding, insurance and getting a ton of other stuff in place, Care 4 Kids was born. We said yes to every request and found girlfriends to cover them all. When the parents were okay with a male sitter one of us would take the job. After about 3 years, I bought out my business partner, got married, quit my other three part time jobs, and took the leap to full time running the business with my new beautiful wife Amy. After we started a family I began running Care 4 Kids mostly by myself. I’m most proud of the fact that it was started from nothing. Like a parent does for a child, I nurtured it, loved it unconditionally though it’s tough toddler years, struggled with it though it’s ups and downs and helped it grow to be productive in society for 22+ years. It was high stress at times and relentless hours of work but like the joy a parent gets after seeing their child thrive, it was all worth it.
What sets Care 4 Kids apart from other companies would have to be a combination of the experience I bring to the business and the people I hire, not only who I hire but then drawing from their strengths. I’ve thought long and hard about how to say it another way but that’s the truth. I’ve poured my heart and soul into hiring, training sitters and learning from mistakes along the way. The ability to trouble shoot and adapt are huge. It’s only after learning to resolve hundreds of situations through the years, that one gains these skills. Learning to resolve conflicts and adapt to changes, coupled with a tenacious work ethic, allows me to help the sitters follow through and succeed with providing the best possible service. In order to retain the quality staff I hire, I find it most important to be reachable when they need me, on or off the job, and to focus on being a good listener.
We got to where we are today applying the following values, the adaptability to change, creativity, establishing quality relationships, being honest, holding to high standards, believing it was possible, and thinking outside the box.
I’ve learned that good communication and focusing on the importance relationships with people matter the most in our sensative industry. How you conduct yourself as well as earning and maintaining trust is crucial. It’s also extremely important to be able to sacrifice the short term gratification for the long term vision.
I want the world to know that I sincerely appreciate, more than I can put into words, anyone who has assisted Care 4 Kids in our success. I care deeply about the parents having trust in me, to send them a babysitter with whom they can trust, to leave their kids with.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When I have friends visiting the area of Vail and Beaver Creek, I highly suggest they get outdoors to ski or ride, hike, bike, raft, camp, drive a dirt road through the mountains and just take in all the mountains have to offer form sunrise to sunset. Oh, and stay hydrated!
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give the shout out to my awesome wife Amy who held down the fort while I worked long hours and credit to our great kids Alex and Millie who were understanding when they had to wait a little extra for dad to join on family activities. I’ve also made it a habit of studying successful people such as Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, Tom O’Brien, Steve Rhodes, Dr. Amen, and Dr. Jordan Peterson. I’ve learned from and applied many ideas from books such as “Who Moved My Cheese”, “The 5 Love Languages”, and The Dream Manager”
Website: https://BabysittingInVail.com
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