This week, I asked our Story Rangers team to share a win from their week in our team WhatsApp group.

When you’re busy running classes, visiting nurseries and schools, prepping for sessions and growing a business, I think it can be really easy to just move straight onto the next thing without actually stopping to think about everything you’ve achieved.

So this week, we stopped for a minute to do exactly that.

And I loved reading everyone’s answers.

They were all really different, from lovely moments with the children we work with, to professional development, business growth and one VERY exciting life milestone!

A pretty big win!

One of our franchisees is just heading into her second year of running Story Rangers and shared this:

“My win this week would be buying a house. As I enter my second year of business I’ve managed to secure some amazing nursery and school contracts, alongside my community classes. This has given my family an increase in income and so we are able to move house. I love that I’ve built a business that is having such a great impact on my family.”

What a win… I couldn’t help feeling a bit emotional reading this one.

She’s worked so hard over the last year to build her business, growing her community classes and securing some brilliant nursery and school contracts along the way.

Knowing that her Story Rangers business is now having this kind of impact on her family is exactly the kind of success we want for our wonderful team.

And we had another lovely business win come through a little later from another of our franchisees:

“A nursery I sent a survey to 4 months ago and then never heard from again has just contacted me out of the blue wanting sessions. 🥳”

I think anyone who runs a business will appreciate this one!

It’s such a good reminder that just because you don’t hear back straight away, it doesn’t mean that the work you’ve put in has gone unnoticed. Sometimes those conversations come back around months later.

And when you’re building Story Rangers in a new area, having a nursery get in touch wanting sessions is definitely a win worth celebrating.

The moments that make it all worthwhile

A lot of this week’s wins were about the children we work with, which probably won’t surprise anyone!

One of our team shared:

“My win was seeing the children at my after-school club cheering ‘Yayyyy! Story Rangers is here’ when they arrived through the doors with huge smiles, and telling me how excited they had been waiting for me to come. And receiving a lovely message from the parent of one of the children in my nursery workshops, who said her little boy had been singing and doing the actions of the Story Rangers song and doing the actions when he got home from nursery ❤️”

Another had been sent this lovely message from a nursery worker whose little boy also attends the setting:

“He is obsessed, thankyou for all that you do for us, you really have impacted him in the best possible way at kangaroo pouch 💗”

And I think these are the moments that remind us why we do what we do.

My own win this week was along the same lines:

“My win this week is that, just 3 weeks into term, I can already see how much my new children across the different settings I work in are growing in confidence. They’re so palpably excited for Story Rangers each week 💚 Even after all these years of delivering the programme, that doesn’t stop being the most rewarding part of the job.”

Even after all these years, seeing children grow in confidence, begin to come out of their shells and get genuinely excited when Story Rangers comes around each week is still my favourite part of what we do.

Thinking on your feet

We also had a win this week that I think lots of people who have worked in education will relate to!

One of our franchisees had been booked to deliver a parent workshop at a nursery, but when she arrived, circumstances had changed and there weren’t any parents there.

Rather than waste the visit, the nursery asked if she could deliver a session with the children instead. So, with no notice or chance to prepare for the change, that’s exactly what she did.

She shared:

“My win…proving to myself that I still have that teacher instinct to adapt and change sessions when they don’t quite go as planned or circumstances change. Making sure the children we visit have the best experience no matter what! 💚”

I loved this one because so many of us came to Story Rangers with years of experience working in education, and you don’t lose those skills when you leave the classroom.

Being able to read the room, adapt and think on your feet is something we probably take for granted sometimes, but it’s a huge part of what makes our team so good at what they do.

Always learning

Lorna had another lovely win to share this week:

“My win for this week is passing my level 2 autism awareness course 🎉 I’ve been working through it for the last 6 months. I’m now starting a new course specifically about PDA. Xx”

Inclusivity is hugely important to us at Story Rangers and we’re always looking at ways we can keep learning and developing what we do, so this was definitely one worth celebrating.

And after six months of working through the course, I know Lorna was very pleased to get this one over the line!

And I sneaked in a second win…

I couldn’t resist adding an HQ win too:

“Adding a cheeky HQ win too… it’s been a week full of calls, catching up with our existing team who are all absolutely smashing it, but also chatting to some lovely people who are interested in bringing Story Rangers to their own local area. I love that I get to help others do this too 😊”

And I really do.

I love delivering Story Rangers myself and seeing the difference it makes to the children I work with, but I also love that I now get to help other people build their own Story Rangers businesses and bring what we do to children and families in their own communities.

This week’s messages were such a lovely reminder of how much there is to celebrate across our little team.

A new house. New contracts. Children waiting excitedly for their Story Ranger to arrive. Lovely feedback from parents. Growing confidence. New qualifications. And those moments where you remind yourself that yes, you absolutely do know what you’re doing!

Not bad for one week. 💚

And if you’ve been reading this thinking that you’d love to find out a little more about running Story Rangers in your own area, please do get in touch.

There’s absolutely no pressure or expectation. We can just have a chat, I can tell you a little more about how it all works and you can ask me anything you’d like to know.

You can also download our franchise prospectus at www.storyrangers.co.uk/franchise to find out more.

I’d love to hear from you.