Build Your Own Substitute Teacher Placement Company

You already know childcare’s staffing problem. Now you can build the business that helps solve it.

TFTOS is a complete business-building system for childcare owners and experienced early childhood leaders who want to launch and grow an independent substitute teacher placement company in their area.

Your business. Your name. Your community. Not a franchise.

68,000+

Substitute teacher hours placed in a single year

Since 2013

Building and operating Teachers for Tomorrow

Built for Childcare

Created from firsthand experience solving childcare staffing challenges

You May Be Closer to This Business Than You Think

You’ve watched one callout change the entire day.

You’ve watched directors and owners step back into classrooms when they should have been leading their teams, supporting families, and running their centers.

And the staffing problem isn’t happening only in your center. Childcare centers throughout your community are dealing with it too.

That’s where the opportunity begins.

Instead of asking: “How do we keep covering these classrooms?”

What if the question became: “Could I build the company that helps solve this?”

If You Own Childcare Centers

You already understand the customer because you are one.

You know the staffing problem firsthand, and you may be ready to build a separate business that supports your own organization while serving other childcare centers in your community.

If You’re an Experienced ECE Leader

You’ve spent years hiring teachers, leading teams, solving staffing problems, and keeping childcare centers running.

You may be ready to use that experience to build something of your own while staying connected to the industry you know.

If You Have a Strong Leader Ready for More

You may see the opportunity but know you shouldn’t be the person operating another company day to day.

A strong director, regional leader, or entrepreneurial leader on your team may be ready to step into the operator role while you provide the ownership and vision.

You Don’t Need Experience Running a Staffing Company.

That’s what TFTOS teaches you.

You bring the childcare experience, leadership, startup capital, and willingness to execute. We give you the system and support to help you build it.

You Don’t Have to Figure Out How to Build This Business from Scratch

There are a lot of moving pieces behind a substitute teacher placement company. TFTOS gives you the path, tools, and support to build them in the right order.

01 | BUILD

Build the Foundation

The goal: Know what needs to be in place before you begin serving your area.

02 | LAUNCH

Build Both Sides of the Business

The goal: Move from building the company to hiring substitute teachers and contracting partner centers.

03 | GROW

Build a Stronger Company

The goal: Build a company with systems that don’t depend on you solving every problem yourself.

Build It. Launch It. Grow It.

MEET ALETA MECHTEL, FOUNDER

I Built This Business Because I Needed It Too.

Before Teachers for Tomorrow, I was an owner and director of four childcare centers.

I knew what it was like when one callout changed the entire day. So in 2013, I started hiring and training substitute teachers for my own centers.

Then I realized other childcare centers needed the same solution.

What started as a way to solve a staffing problem inside my own centers grew into Teachers for Tomorrow, a substitute teacher placement company that has placed more than 68,000 substitute teacher hours in a single year.

As the company grew, other childcare owners began asking me:

“How could I build something like this in my area?”

That’s why I created TFTOS.

I took the systems, processes, tools, and lessons we’ve developed from actually operating this business and organized them into a complete business-building system so other childcare owners and leaders don’t have to figure it all out the way I did.

You don’t have to start where I started. You get to start where I am now.

As seen in...

What's inside the system

You're not buying a pile of videos. You're getting the playbooks and processes behind a substitute teacher placement company that's operating today, organized into four areas. Training videos, workbooks, forms, and templates all live in one online hub you can come back to anytime.

MODULE 1: Business Back Office & Day-to-Day Operations

Set up your company and run the day to day, from business structure, website, and marketing to scheduling, hiring, and the back-office processes that keep placements moving.

MODULE 2: Teacher Training

Recruit, train, onboard, manage, and retain your substitute teachers. The substitute workforce is different from your full-time staff, and this module teachers you how to reach it.

MODULE 3: Working with Partner Schools

Market to childcare programs, contract with them, measure each partnership, and know when it's time to part ways.

MODULE 4: Resources

Every form, template, and system link in one place, because if the process only lives in someone's head, you don't have a process.

You Get Everything You Need to Build the Business Without Starting from a Blank Page

TFTOS is a complete business-building system created from the processes, tools,

and lessons behind an operating substitute teacher placement company.

01 | BUSINESS FOUNDATION

Build the Company

So your company is ready before you serve your first center.

02 | SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS

Build Your Substitute Team

So you have dependable substitutes ready as your customer base grows.

03 | CHILDCARE CENTER PARTNERSHIPS

Build Your Customer Base

So you know how to move from “I have a business” to “I have customers.”

04 | PLACEMENT + DAILY OPERATIONS

Run the Business

So the day-to-day runs on processes, not on everything living in your head.

05 | GROWTH + LEADERSHIP

Lead the Business as It Grows

So you’re building a company you can lead, not another job that depends on you doing everything.

And You’re Not Handed All of This Information at Once.

TFTOS is built around implementation. You’ll begin with onboarding and clear priorities, then move through the system in sequence so you’re working on what your business needs now, instead of trying to learn everything at once.

Included with TFTOS:

PLAYBOOKS + SOPs · TEMPLATES · TRAINING · OPERATING TOOLS · IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT

When questions or challenges come up, you bring us the real business: the numbers, the recruiting problem, the customer conversation, or the process that isn’t working. We help you work through it.

You Build It. But You Don’t Build It Alone.

Real Owners. Building Their Own Companies.

TFTOS started with the systems behind Teachers for Tomorrow, but it doesn’t stop there.

Childcare owners and leaders in other communities are using what we’ve built to create and operate substitute teacher placement companies of their own.

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“Yes, it still takes commitment and hard work to make your own company successful, but having Aleta’s blueprint helps ensure that you have the foundation for an awesome organization.”


Brian Sprafka

Owner, Sunflower Childcare Substitutes & Small Hands, Big Dreams Learning Centers

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“Aleta and her team have been so helpful to me... They can always give me a direction and a focus to keep going.”


Jen Gelhar

Co-Owner & Operator, Just in Time Teachers

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“My sub team only continues to grow each week, and my center’s overall morale and teacher support is better than it has ever been!”


Andrea Majewski

Co-Owner & Operator, The Roots Teachers

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The fact that Aleta had already thought through all the details. It was just so complete. From the contracts to the trainings to the how-tos, how to set it up, how to set up your own company, how to hire, how to interview, how to train, how to market. It was a complete package and it's really a no-brainer if you follow all the steps they tell you to do.


Karen Brown

Master Consultant at Childcare Business Professionals and Chief Program Officer at EnCourage Preschools

This Is Your Company.

Not a franchise. Not done-for-you. Not passive income. A real business you build and own.

Your business. Your name. Your community.

TFTOS gives you the system, training, tools, and support to help you build and operate your substitute teacher placement company.

You bring the leadership, startup capital, operator, and execution.

STILL NOT SURE? ARE YOU THINKING...

“I’m Already Stretched Thin. How Will I Run Another Company?”

You shouldn’t simply add this business on top of everything else you’re already doing.

A substitute teacher placement company is a separate business, and it needs someone accountable for operating it.

That may be you stepping into the operator role, or it may be a strong leader on your team who is ready for more.

Where Owners Get Stuck

  • Squeezing the business into nights and weekends

  • Running it exactly like a childcare center

  • Pricing based only on what they pay teachers inside their own centers

  • Treating the operator role like an extra responsibility instead of a real position

The TFTOS Investment Is $25,000

It gives you access to the TFTOS business-building system, training, tools, playbooks, templates, operating resources, and implementation support.

The $25,000 investment is not the total capital required to start your business.

You’re building an independent company, so you’ll also need to plan for business setup, technology, insurance, recruiting, payroll, working capital, and an appropriate cash reserve.

The amount varies based on your area and the decisions you make about wages, number of substitutes, payroll frequency, customer payment terms, overhead, and other operating assumptions.

We’ll talk through those considerations with you before you make a decision.

Common Questions

Do I need to own a childcare center?

No. TFTOS is designed for childcare owners and experienced early childhood leaders who understand the industry and are prepared to build and lead a business.

Do I need experience running a staffing company?

No. That’s one of the reasons TFTOS exists. You bring your childcare and leadership experience. We teach you the substitute teacher placement business.

How will I find substitutes when I can barely hire for my own center?

Recruiting substitutes is different from recruiting full-time classroom teachers. TFTOS teaches you how to build a substitute recruiting strategy, how to communicate the opportunity, how to hire and onboard substitutes, and how to continue building your bench as your company grows.

How does the business make money?

Your company contracts with childcare centers for substitute teacher placement services. You establish your pricing, pay your substitute teachers, and manage the operating costs of your company. TFTOS helps you build the financial model and understand the numbers you need to watch.

How much money will I need beyond the $25,000 investment?

There isn’t one number that applies to every owner. Your working capital needs depend on substitute wages, payroll frequency, expected hours, payroll burden, technology, insurance, customer payment timing, and the cash reserve you want available.

How long does it take to launch?

That depends on your starting point, market, operator, business setup, recruiting progress, and how consistently you execute. TFTOS gives you the sequence and implementation support, and we’ll help you set a goal launch date, but we don’t promise a specific timeline.

What support will I have?

You won’t simply receive information and be left to figure out how to apply it. TFTOS is built around implementation, with training, tools, operating resources, and a designated Success Rep who checks in with you as you work through the system.

Is TFTOS a franchise?

No. You are building and owning your own independent company, with your own business name and your area. TFTOS provides the business-building system and support.

Will this work in my area?

That depends on a few things we’ll look at together: the staffing need in your area, the childcare centers you could serve, who will operate the company, and your plan to fund and grow it. We’re also intentional about how many TFTOS owners we work with in an area. We’ll talk through all of it before you make any decision. TFTOS gives you the system and support, but your results depend on how you build and run your company.

READY TO EXPLORE THE OPPORTUNITY?

Let’s Talk About What You Could Build.

The next step isn’t buying TFTOS.

It’s a conversation.

We’ll look at your area, talk about the staffing need in your community, who would operate the company, the investment and startup capital required, and whether TFTOS is the right fit for you.

You’ll also have the opportunity to ask the questions you need answered before deciding what comes next.

Your business. Your community. Your decision. Let’s find out if the opportunity makes sense.