DAYCARE & CRECHE CENTER BUSINESS PLAN GUIDE
One business idea that has thrived over time is the daycare business. Daycare business involves providing childcare services for parents for certain hours while the parents are busy or most especially when they are at work.
Now, this is one child care business idea that is highly rewarding as new babies are born every day, and parents are always in need of the services a daycare provides, especially since both parents have to put in work to be able to provide for the family.
SEE: CATCHY DAYCARE NAME IDEAS
Questions to Ask Before going into a Daycare Business
So, where can I get free information on how to start a daycare?
- What does owning a daycare entail?
- How does one start up a daycare?
- How much does it cost to start a daycare?
- Can I start a daycare center with government grants? how do I start a daycare with no money?
- Are there special requirements to go into the daycare business?
- How do I go about licensing a daycare?
- How do I ensure I succeed in a daycare business?
UPDATED: KinderCare Daycare Tuition Rates
To answer the above questions, here are some things to know, when it comes to daycare business….
When it comes to a daycare business, the advantages are inexhaustible. First, you get to be your boss, which of course is the main drive behind becoming an entrepreneur. Then you get to have fun while working.
Children are fun to be with, that is a fact for sure. Then, as earlier mentioned, you will never run out of clients. New babies are born every day and with the work schedules of parents, daycare services would always be in need.
Here is a sample business plan for starting a child care business.
A daycare is easy to set up and can be started at home and requires low startup capital. And then, if you are a parent, you could also get to spend time with your kids when they are young.
- Write a Daycare Business Plan
Before starting a childcare business that will eventually become profitable, you need to research the kind of services you will be rendering. You should determine who your potential competitors might be if there are several businesses in the community that is offering the same type of childcare.
You should find information on the census of your community including the numbers of working families with children of a certain age, numbers of a recent marriage, gather your information, and build a strong plan that will help the growth and development of your business.
- Get Licensed
Daycares do not just pop out from nowhere and then start functioning. You are being given the responsibility of taking care of other people’s kids and most states or countries do not just give anyone that privilege. So, if you are interested in starting a daycare, you must get licensed to run one.
Licensing is not required in all places, but then it is important to find out if you are going to need one and then if not, at least check out for registration of your daycare business.
- Location
As earlier mentioned, daycare is one business that can be run from home. But then, there are other aspects to consider when it comes to the location of your daycare business. It is more advantageous if it is located in a commercial area. This makes it easier and more accessible to parents dropping off their babies when they are off to work.
The space in your home is also important. You need to know the number of children your home would be able to contain if you are starting your daycare business at home. Children need to have enough play space.
If you are using some other facility for your daycare business, you should also ensure it is spacious enough for the number of kids you hope to cater to daily.
You could also decide to have separate rooms for the different ages of children in your daycare to place them according to their ages.
- Dealing with Logistics
When thinking about starting your daycare business, it is important to work out your logistics. You have to decide how many children you would cater to, this would determine your location and space.
You also need to determine the minimum and maximum age of the children you would accept into your daycare business.
You could also decide if you would be making any provisions, such as snacks or other food items for the kids in your daycare business or if they would be coming with theirs.
- Get It All Set Up
Your daycare needs some items such as furniture for kids, toys, fun books, art supplies, and other forms of entertainment. This is all dependent on the ages of children in your daycare or you could also separate them into different rooms according to their ages.
- Planning your Hours
When it comes to the daycare business, the hours are all that matters. You have to set the operating hours for your daycare business. Checking out the operating hours of your competitors as well as working hours of most of the parents dropping their kids would help you set the hours you would operate daily.
You should be ready to open shop early since most parents would love to drop their children early on their way to work. You could also set up measures to check parents who would come to pick their children late, such as extra charges.
- Hire Staff
For your daycare business, especially one that would have lots of kids, you would need hands. This is where employing other people comes in. When choosing employees for your daycare business, you have to ensure that they are people who love kids and can take care of them.
This means they would treat them with love, hence making your daycare business succeed.
- Accurate Record Keeping
Keeping an accurate record is very vital, you need to have the complete record of all the children, clients, transactions, and events that may take place from time to time. You need to take into account all your finance, take daily notes on the behavior of your children which will include their eating habits, allergies, medical history, and diet restriction.
These records will help you detect a problem early and serve as evidence in case of a dispute.
- Advertise
Advertising your childcare business should begin four months before you open, advertising does not come cheap mostly when it has to do with newspapers, radio, and television which will give you a very good exposure but you can afford more convenient advert with words of mouth, distributing brochures in libraries/church meetings, the printing of fliers and on social media.
Opening a daycare business in your home is sure cheap and fun, but then extra care and attention have to be given to the kids to avoid accidents and any other complications that may arise when one is not careful. Hence, safety has to be paramount when it comes to handling a daycare.
