Entries Tagged 'How To Start A Daycare' ↓

1. My day – kids and tots- A captivating adventure for kids and adults.  The show mode can be used to entertain little ones while also reinforcing and acknowledging all the good things in life.
2. Kids game pack – talked about in Forbes magazine.   Designed to improve the brains working memory and motor skills with vivid colors and great entertainment.  Great for all kids in child care.
3. Pediatric Symptoms MD – This app was referenced in the November 2009 edition of Parents Magazine.  This care guide help you make smart decisions on what level of care (if any) is needed, and how to provide speedy symptom relief for minor illnesses or injuries.
4. Kidivities – at a loss for good new activities to keep your children happy?  This app has plenty of great kid approved games and craft projects you can do in your daycare.
5. Family fun – family friendly activities.
6. Toddle teaser quizzing – Great interactive games for small children to help teach them skills they will need.  Designed with different skill levels for kids of all ages.
7. Voice toddler cards – the talking flashcard – English and Spanish allows you to teach your kids with talking flashcards.
8. My baby signs - ALS for toddlers.  Study after study keeps showing the ability and importance of teaching small kids to use simple sign language.  This app can help you teach you kids the basic signs.
9. Magic sleep – Music and sounds designed to help get small children to fall asleep faster.  With a built in timer function plays the music for as long as you want with no need to continue restart a CD.
10. Zatz – days to — countdown of days until Christmas, Halloween.  Just leave the iPhone docked and let the kids watch.  Need I say more?

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Microsoft has some great lesson plans for kids aged K-12, so if you have some older kids in your child care program, you’ll definitely want to check it out. Yes, they focus on how to use Microsoft products, but hey, it’s a great way to teach computer skills.

Here’s the site: http://www.microsoft.com/education/lessonplans.mspx . Take a look. As you will see they have some great plans with fun activities, like setting up a virtual lemonade stand, or making graphs with M&M’s. An innovative way for kids to learn something new.

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Why do you need a business plan?  First and foremost, a business plan is a basic requirement to getting government grant and loans, as well as bank loans.  It is also a great way to focus the complete picture of your daycare, get it out of your head and down on paper.

There is something about writing a plan down on paper that brings it into reality, and requires greater precision.  This is what a business plan will do for you and your child care business.  It does not matter if you’ve been open for years or just starting out - you will gain tremendous value from writing it down.

Preparing a business plan can be a long and daunting task, but I recommend using a daycare business plan template to give you a head-start and save you hours of time.  If you’re not already convinced, here are 10 big reasons why should have a business plan:

1. Sets specific objectives for your daycare.  Good owners set specific objective that can be measured.  This allows you to keep track of how you are doing and make changes if needed.
2. Helps define your strengths.  A major part of any plan is learning what your strengths are in a business both personal, professional and as a business.  Knowing your strengths will allow you to play to them.
3. Helps uncover your weaknesses.  Just like with your strengths, knowing your weaknesses can be a massive advantage for you.  If you know where you are weak, you can focus more energy on this area, or find somebody else who can help you.  Or best of all, delegate this area to someone else completely!  An example is my friend Christine who runs her own daycare, and she is weak at keeping track of her business paperwork and finances.  Luckily, her husband Robert is an accountant.  He handles ALL the paperwork, receipt tracking, payments, and accounting for her.  Sounds like a perfect marriage!
4. Helps you know and understand your competition.  In developing your plan, you will get to know your competition, what their unique benefits are, and what their weaknesses are.  From this you should be able to determine where you can compete with the greatest success.
5. Enables you to deal with professionals.  Having a business plan will allow you to deal with other professionals, such as lawyers, accountants, insurance agents, and consultants, in a confident manner.
6. Understand who your customers are and what they want.  To be successful in child care you need to give the customer what they want, not always what they need or what you are best at.  The business plan process will help you to find out more about your customers.
7. Determine how much money you will make.  Knowing your customers, your competition and your strengths, you will be much better able to make an accurate projection about how much money you will make, how much you may need to pay out in expenses and how much you get to keep!
8. Understand how much it will cost to start your daycare.  If you haven’t yet started your daycare you will learn how much money you will need to get started.  Depending on the size of your center this may be almost nothing to 6 figures for a new child care center.  Knowing the costs will help you figure out where you can save some money too.
9. Help you sell your daycare.  Right now you may not be thinking about selling the business you are just starting but down the road you may decide to.  It is always good to get paid a large amount for all the hard work you put into your daycare.   A good business plan that has made you successful goes a long way in receiving a good sales price.
10. You simply must have one to apply for grants and loans.  To get any money from the government or banks you need to have a business plan.  Not having a plan is one of the biggest reasons people don’t apply for government grants and loans and why that money goes unused.   The money is out there for the asking, but you must have a business plan to get any of it.

Yes, preparing a business plan can be a daunting process.  And if you take it on from the beginning alone it will be.  But luckily you have several great options.  There are several business software programs on the market you can use.  These are good and they walk you through the process with examples for each section.

Another option is to have a business plan created for you by a professional.  This is the easiest but also the most expensive route.  Search the web and you should find several companies willing to do all the work for you and send you a professional plan.
A third option is a “done for you” daycare business plan template.  I’ve have a couple of these for you, (daycare center business plan, home daycare business plan), with just about everything already done.  I’ve helped enough daycares to know what 90% of the business plan should be.  I find from coast to coast the same information in just about every business plan.

It’s up to you how you go about writing your business plan, but you should strongly consider getting started today writing one.  Success is just so much easier with a good business plan for your daycare.

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For anyone who thinks the daycare business is a thankless job please take note of this story. It goes to show that when you do a good job taking care of children, love your work and have faith good things can come to you.

Sandy Morris, a St. Paul woman whose home day-care business is known as the heartbeat of a multicultural neighborhood learned Friday that her family will be featured on the popular ABC television series, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

Sandy Morris and her children, 15-year-old Catricia and 12-year-old Mychal, answered a knock at their door to find host Ty Pennington. He will lead a cast of thousands to demolish the house and build a new one in its place.

“It’s so surreal. I’m shocked. I feel blessed,” Sandy Morris, 40, said outside her 100-year-old house just south of downtown St. Paul.

Morris, who grew up in the house, said “Extreme Makeover” came just in time, because the foundation is crumbling, the roof is sinking, walls are buckling and the basement has mold. Still, she said she is sad that it will be torn down because of all of the family memories. She bought the house from her mother, who has since died.

Sandy Morris was working as an early childhood education teacher when Catricia was born. Frustrated that she couldn’t find suitable day care, she started her own. Tia (Aunt) Sandy, as she is known to the children, teaches them Spanish and creates a regular curriculum that keeps parents coming back, said Nina Edmond, whose daughter NaTouri has attended for four years.

The day-care area in the new 2,800-square-foot house will have its own kitchen and a pint-size bathroom for the children. Designers also added a play area above the garage.

This is one of those amazing heartwarming stories that makes me proud to be in the child care industry. Keep you r eye out for when this airs.

And my best wishes and blessing to Ms. Morris and her family.

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If you are looking to start a daycare and wondering how, I have some great news for you.  Check out my latest video, then when it’s over scroll to the bottom for some more great help.

Enjoy!

As I mentioned in the video, find out more about the great resources in the Daycare Success System.

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Pictures are one of the greatest ways to reinforce your value to parents.  No matter the size of your child care center, you should be taking photos and using them to promote your business, both to current clientele as well as prospects.

Today I got the proof pictures from my daughter’s child care class photos.  I’m just in love with these photos.  These pictures will be going out to family for the holidays and great simple inexpensive gifts.  And it is not just me, I’m sure the other parents will be doing the same thing.

Portraits

Portraits are a great benefit you can offer.  It doesn’t matter the size of your daycare, you should be able to get something set up for a picture day.  If you’re a small home daycare think about contacting the local college to find a top student, they may even do it as a project, or look for wedding photographers in the off season, they may do it to keep busy.

Everybody loves seeing their little boys and girls all dressed up in a photograph for years to come.  And doing it at your daycare saves the family the trouble of going to a portrait studio in the mall…and will probably be cheaper for them too.  What a great way to make parents happy and willing to refer your center to their friends, family, and co-workers.

Action Shots

Taking pictures goes beyond portraits.  Think about taking pictures of the fun things your kids are doing.  Here’s a picture of my daughter with what started as finger painting.  She loves to get into whatever she does.  I just love this picture, it’s framed in hallway.  This picture was just taken by the daycare staff and emailed to me.

These pictures weren’t just sent to me, other parents get similar pictures when fun stuff happens.  It allows parents to connect with their kids, and show them off.

An inexpensive digital camera from Wal-Mart should cost you less than $50.  That’s nothing when you look at what it will earn you:  great reviews, referrals, great enrollment… Plus you will likely be able to deduct the cost of the camera as an operating expense.

Daily Pictures

Parents love to see how their kids are doing at daycare.  Before now it’s been hard, the portraits, and maybe some fun shots now and then.  But the internet is changing that fast.  With the growth of cheap small digital web cam and high speed Internet connection you can now broadcast your days to all parents.  The best example of this is a service called Share In My Day.  With this service, everything is set up for you and parents are given a login and password to access the daycare’s online webcam from anywhere, anytime.  They can check in and see what’s happening and watch the fun.  This is a new technology and everywhere it goes in, parents just rave about it.  Could you do something like this for your parents?

Parents just love getting pictures of their kids.  When you find unique and special ways to give them what they want, they will love you that much more.

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If you’ve read some of my past blog posts, you know I’m a big believer in using daycare business forms.  Making sure you have the right forms, completed and on file, will keep you out of legal trouble and help you manage your daycare business much more easily.

In addition to saving you time and making your life easier, here are some other great ways to use them:

1. As a checklist to be sure you have everything.  This is one of those great simple secrets, when you have a complete set of forms you can simply crosscheck the list to see if you need to get a form completed.  “Hey, I’m going to put sunscreen on the child…Do I need permission to do that?  Yep, there’s a form.”  This way you know you are covered.
2. As a communication tool with parents.  When parents complete your required forms, it will remind them to tell you everything you need to know, and allow you to communicate your expectations.  Often things simply “slip their mind” but completing the paper work may remind them of important things you need to know about their child.  For example, the “Authorization to Administer Medication” form may remind parents to let you know Johnny is allergic to a certain medication.
3. As a double-check that your staff is doing their job.  As a Director, you should be receiving copies of all forms completed in your child care center.  This will help you keep an eye on your staff.  If you know a child had an accident but you never see the form, you know either the staff was not paying attention or decided not to do their paperwork job.  This is a great way to see who is really sharp and who is just getting by.
4. As a way to improve your level of professionalism in front of new customers.  Your daycare looks extremely professional when you have all the forms you could ever need ready for the parents when they join you or as activities require.  The simple fact you have all the forms for starters show you are a dedicated professional, then getting them to new parents from the start shows that you know what you are doing and not just winging it.
5. As a way to make inspections go smoother.  Daycare licensing inspections can be a pain, but when you have complete forms for every student, it simplifies the task.  When an inspector checks a child’s file and finds all the needed forms completed and sees you have a complete list of other forms too, she or he will likely be impressed with your thoroughness.  The fewer problems she finds, the less likely she is to dig deeper, and the sooner she will be on her way.

Remember, it’s a good idea to get all forms updated or new forms completed on an annual basis.

If you don’t already have a complete set of daycare forms, check them out here.

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I’ve been getting lots of questions from my readers lately about child care grants, so I thought I’d share some tips with you about daycare grants and how to find them. (If you want to subscribe to my email newsletter, click here.)

Tip #1:  It is very hard to find grants to cover start-up costs, especially for an in-home family daycare.  The reasons for this are:

-          Most grant providers want to give funds to a child care business that is already stable and running successfully, but needs funds to improve their operations and/or take on more children.  That way, they can be sure that the funds will be used wisely.

-          It costs very little to start an in-home child care business (typically $1,000 or less).  Most grant providers are looking for bigger opportunities to make a difference with their dollars.

Many child care grants are reserved for expansion of existing facilities, or non-capital improvements to an existing facility, such as training, better outdoor spaces, and the like. 

Tip #2: The best place to start looking for your daycare grant is with your local Childcare Resource & Referral Agency.  To find yours, simply go to www.childcareaware.com and enter your ZIP code in the field on the right-hand side of the page.  You’ll get the contact information for your local CCR&R.  Call the number provided and introduce yourself, and ask to speak with the person who handles local grants and low-interest funding programs.  If your region or state does not have any grant programs, they may be able to refer you to some non-profit foundations in your area that do (such as your local United Way chapter).

Tip #3:  Non-profit child care centers qualify for grants to a much greater degree than for-profit centers.  If you want to start a child care center, but you have little to no funds of your own saved, you may want to consider opening up a non-profit child care center.  You can still earn a nice salary, and your likelihood of finding a start-up daycare grant is much greater if you set yourself up as a non-profit.  I recommend finding other non-profit child care centers in your region or state, and contacting them with questions on how to get started.  Most people in child care are very friendly and eager to help!

I go way more in-depth on this topic in my Daycare Success System, so if you want more information, be sure to check it out!

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Many working moms are dreaming of a way to stay home with their young children, and still earn a solid 5-figure income…but they just don’t know how to make this dream a reality.  One excellent solution is to start your own child care business in your home.  As a child care business owner, you can use the management skills you learned in your corporate career, and structure your business to fit your lifestyle.Here are 6 reasons why starting a home-based child care business is a GREAT way to make an excellent income, and be able to stay home with your children each day:

Reason 1: The Low Cost of Starting a Daycare. Starting a daycare can be done with very little upfront funding.  Many daycares are started with less than $1,500, because you already own many of the supplies you need (since you’re a mom!).  If you have a walk-out basement that’s already finished, that’s the perfect space to dedicate to your new child care business.  If not, use a spare room or your family room.  Add in toys you already own, yard sale finds, donations from parents, borrowing books from the library, and you’re set to go.

Reason 2: Rapid Payback. Instantly, you can start your business tomorrow and start making cash. Enroll the child and collect the money all in one day.

Reason 3: Work at Home. This speaks for itself: no more fancy clothes, traffic jams, hassles, or angry bosses who don’t respect you. You set your own rules and limits and work out of the comfort of your own home.

Reason 4: Independence. You are now the boss and you make the rules. Do exactly — and I mean exactly — what you want. Give yourself time off when you feel like it.  After you get your business up and running, you can hire a student or retiree as your assistant, and have the time you need to manage your business and personal life.

Reason 5: Business Owners Earn More Money Than Employees. That’s a simple fact. The daycare business is a legitimate business, not some pie in the sky idea. It’s not an MLM, networking, or pyramid scheme. The straightforward truth is daycare owners can make more money than many college educated professionals.  In fact, recent studies have shown that the average home daycare owner earns nearly $48,000 in revenue per year.  Don’t forget to add in to your income the money you used to spend on daycare.

Reason 6:  Never Miss a “First Moment” of Your Child’s Development.  You can stay home with your children and watch them grow…and experience every little milestone that they accomplish, instead of being at work and missing those incredible “firsts”!

Learn more about how to start a successful and profitable child care business today:

http://www.daycarehotline.com/products.htm

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If you’re a childcare provider, here are some tips to get ready for summertime play:

1) Ask parents to bring cool clothing to keep on hand

2) Keep the children out of the sun during the hottest time of the day. Good times to play outside in summer are from 9-11 a.m. and 3-6 p.m.

3) Check all outside toys and play structures for loose or missing parts. Do regular cleanings of toys & play structures with eco-friendly cleaner, a scrubby sponge, & a spray hose.

4) Walk your fence line and check for loose or missing boards or nails

5) Check trees with low large limbs for splits which could fall if pulled on

6) Fill water bottles ¾ full the night before and freeze. Have the children make a name label put to on their bottles. Place the bottles in a box or on a tray outside and encourage the kids to drink 2-4 bottles of water each day.

7) If having trouble getting the kids to drink water, add some lemon or orange slices or make kool-aid or juice ice cubes to add to drinking water

Serve fruit smoothies, milkshakes or POPSICLES!

9) Coat everyone well with Sunscreen (Have a signed authorization form prior to application)

10) Fire up the sprinkler (if allowed by your licensing agency)

11) Keep a small first aid kit outdoors

12) Encourage bathroom use before going outdoors to prevent children being unsupervised.

13) Create a separate list of outdoor rules i.e. No one leaves the yard, no climbing on the fence, no throwing except for balls, shoes off before reentering the house, etc. Go over the rules the first few days of outdoor play.

14) Do not apply bug repellent to the children unless authorized in writing and requested by parents.

15) If you have your home sprayed for pests, check to make sure that it is safe for children and pets and confirm what precautions you need to take when the children go outdoors after being sprayed.

16) Do not fertilize your plants or lawn during the week, do this on the weekend to allow time for the fertilizer to dissolve.

17) Encourage indoors toys to stay in and outdoor toys to stay out.

18) Offer fun yet messy activities such as sidewalk chalk, finger-painting and play dough.

19) Provide safe outdoor activities such as a child friendly play structure, sand box; ride on toys and balls. Set up sporting stations with a mini basketball hoop or cones for mini soccer games.

20) Keep a cellular or cordless phone outdoors so you can be available to parents as needed, while being able to supervise outdoor play at all times.

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More than $5 billion was set aside for early education in the stimulus package signed by President Obama last month.

In California, $210 million will go toward improving Head Start and Early Head Start programs for low-income toddlers and students, while more than $220 million would enhance child care for infants and toddlers.

Stimulus money would also pay for more funding for in-depth training for current preschool educators.

“There are long waiting lists - 55,000 students in the state waiting for preschool,” said Scott Moore, senior policy adviser for Preschool California.

“We don’t have enough funding to provide publicly funded preschool to low-income kids, and we are not even including middle- and upper-income children,” he said.

Increased funding would help resolve those issues and make preschool or other early education more available to families.

Most other states are also receiving funding, in addition to California.

So you see, this is the PERFECT time to start your own child care business, and/or get funding to expand your services to more children.

The demand for quality care is high, the funds are increasing at the state & local level, and you are getting geared up to meet that demand by owning your own child care business.  So let’s get started.  If you want to know the very first step you should take, listen to this audio class that I gave back in November:

I look forward to your feedback, and to helping you get started.

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A few weeks ago, I posted a new article to my site, and you might enjoy reading it.  It’s called “How to Start a Daycare - Avoid the 7 Biggest Mistakes Many New Daycare Owners Make”.  Check it out here:

http://www.daycarehotline.com/howtostartadaycare.htm

Happy New Year, and happy reading!

Kris

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Everyone is “abuzz” about the economy and predicting what’s going to happen, and how long our slump will last.

If you’re a child care provider, how can you benefit from the current economic situation?  This week in the Wall Street Journal and other national papers, it’s been reported that people are closely examining the amount of money they spend on child care, and trying to figure out a way to spend less.

So the current trend is to “downsize” in terms of the perceived quality of care, in order to spend less.

This means that people who had private nannies are looking at firing the nanny & moving their kids to a child care center.  People who had their kids at centers are looking to more affordable family daycare options.  And people who can no longer afford family daycare are calling Grandma or Grampa to come in and help.

How can you benefit from this trend?

If you own a family daycare, and you have openings or anticipate openings, you can start marketing to people who are currently enrolled at centers.  This is especially true if you’re a family daycare who has a curriculum / learning program with circle time, arts & crafts, etc.

If you can show that your daycare is a high quality learning environment with a superior quality of care (get some testimonials from your current customers stating this point) then you can go after parents who are looking to trim their child care budget.

So how do you go about finding these parents?  Well, you can try a local newspaper ad targeting these parents with a strong headline, or you can create flyers with the same headline and post them around town and in employee lounges and fitness center bulletin boards.  Use an attention-grabbing headline like “Save Money On Child Care Without Lowering Your Standards!”  and focus your ad or flyer on the BENEFITS to the parents & child that they will receive by enrolling with you.

Instead of complaining about the crappy economy, turn it around and discover how you can still make your business grow.

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People ask me all the time whether it’s a good idea to start a new child care business in these tough economic times.  Truth is, this can be a GREAT time to start your new child care business…it just depends on your individual market, your financial position, and your mental attitude.  Let’s talk more about each of these 3 success factors.

Why is your individual market important?  Well, you have to know whether your neighborhood or city is in need of more child care providers, or whether there’s an unmet need that you can tap into, such as second-shift care, before & after care, bilingual care, or some other untapped “niche market.”  If you fill a need that people have been searching for, you will do FINE in this economy, because you’ll have an instant clientele and maybe even a waiting list.  On the other hand, if there is too much supply and not enough demand in your area for child care, you’ll be starting an uphill battle.

In any economy, it’s important to figure out how much money you’ll need to start your business, and make sure you have enough saved up, as well as some source of funds earmarked for an emergency.  If you don’t have at least $3,000 to $5,000 saved, I would probably advise you to wait on your business start-up until you do.  You can start a home-based daycare with as little as $1,000, but you’ll want to have a reserve in case it takes you longer than planned to build your clientele and have a full child care program.

The third thing you need is the right mindset.  You will face challenges during the start-up phase of your daycare business, so you’ll want to make sure you’re clear on WHY you are going into this business, and be able to get in touch with your deep desire and passion to make it work.

If you’ve done your homework, you have some start-up funds saved, and you have the mindset, you’re going to succeed no matter how tough the economy gets.  So what’s stopping you?

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