A Former High-Tech Consultant Creates a Family-Focused School in Florida
Building Kidz gives Bobby Pierce (above with family) the meaningful career he yearned for after many years in high tech. The franchise’s childcare and education — for babies to school-age children — focuses on academic, emotional and social development through a curriculum that integrates performing arts. Pierce’s previous jobs included consulting and work with large companies like Facebook and Edward Jones. “While they’re great organizations, I found that helping large companies make more money felt somewhat empty at the end of the day.”
Today, he derives a wide-ranging sense of fulfillment from his 14-month-old Building Kidz franchise in New Port Richey, Fla. For instance, Pierce enjoys greeting parents and kids daily, a rewarding personal touch that transcends online and transactional businesses. “Building strong relationships and creating a family atmosphere is very important. I’m at the school almost every day and spend lots of time with the families and children. Several parents have told us that their 3-or 4-year-old is talking to them in a way they never have before after a couple of weeks with us. We know our families, celebrate their wins and feel for them when they have losses.”
Bringing People Together
Child care remains a major need for working families — and a significant expense. The national average annual price of care reached $13,184 in 2025, according to Child Care Aware of America. For Pierce, creating a welcoming, relationship-driven school helps families feel supported while their children learn and grow. Pierce’s relationship-building also involves being intentional about showing appreciation for staff and families each month. “We do extra events like Voluntary Prekindergarten Prom and Muffins with Moms. By bringing people together, we work to create our own Building Kidz family.”
The franchise’s local outreach extends to participation in holiday food drives and clothing donations. “I’ve seen kids in my school wearing clothes my kids outgrew,” Pierce says. “It’s cool to see.” As a bonus for families, his franchise offers two state-sponsored programs: Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten, which is free to any child who turns 4 by Sept. 1 and provides 540 hours of education during the school year; and School Readiness, which subsidizes childcare costs up to 100%.
A Typical Day
Entrepreneurial and civic activities keep Pierce happily on his toes. “Some days I’m at work early doing maintenance,” says the franchisee, who owns the property. “Some days I work from home focusing on business operations. A typical day, though, is usually a mix of some work at home in the morning before my kids get up.”
Then, after Pierce helps his kids get ready and go to school, he usually heads for his school, which has a staff of 15 in teaching and leadership roles (leadership employees help teachers with various activities and lunches). He helps the director, visits with parents and works on tasks to move the business forward.
“I try to be home by 5 p.m. to take my kids to activities like baseball and jiu-jitsu. After they go to bed, I often plan for the next day.” Pierce credits franchisor support as instrumental to his school’s success. “Building Kidz has handbooks, job descriptions, processes and systems that I can use. They have a full curriculum I can implement.” The corporate team and fellow franchisees provide valued sounding boards, and franchise technology tracks payments for the 200 or so parents his franchise serves. “By giving me the systems to be successful, I can focus on teachers, parents and children.”
Why He Chose Building Kidz
As Bobby Pierce weighed business opportunities, the level of difficulty involved in childcare nudged him toward Building Kidz. “I looked at opportunities to start small and build out. With childcare you can’t really start small. My school has a capacity of 108 children, and a staff of 15 to 18. That’s big and a little scary. That’s what I liked initially.”
But the deciding factor was the people at Building Kidz Worldwide. “The most important thing at this phase of my life and career is doing good work with good people. Building Kidz Worldwide is simply a bunch of good people trying to do good work.”
Learn more about the Building Kidz franchise opportunity.
