How To Start Your Own Day Care Center

There's a definite need for day care centers as more and moremothers of pre-school age children are forced to find jobsoutside the home. This is due in part to the current economy, andunfortunately, to the high divorce rate, which means mothers whomight ordinarily stay at home and care for their own childrenmust seek income to help make ends meet.
Many experts expect the demand to increase through the turn ofthe century, and the popularity of this type of business tocontinue growing from there. They base their forecasts on thefact that more and more young parents have happy memories of thetime they spent in day care centers, and the learning experiencesthey enjoyed. And again, there is the continuing need or desireof young mothers to work outside the home.
Profitable day care centers are much more glorified baby-sittingservices. Social researchers have found that the most importantyears in a child's development are those from one to six. Thus,the exposure to the world in which he lives, the instruction hereceives, and the habits he forms during those years, definitelyaffect his ability to learn and properly adjust as he progresseson through his years of formal education.
For mothers of today--usually better educated than theirmothers---are more aware of these factors and wanting the bestfor their children, are demanding the structured pre-schooleducation and learning stimulation offered by modern day carecenters. This is an honest desire of the mothers of pre-schoolage children--even those who aren't forced to work outside thehome.
Another thing in your favor: Even though there seems to be trendfor many companies to finance and operate day care centers fortheir employees in or close by their factories or officebuildings, studies show that most working parents prefer to leavetheir children closer to home than where they work. Thus,privately operated day care centers in residential neighborhoodareas should not be worried too much about competition from thefew company operated day care centers.
The first step toward start-up of a profitable day care center isto understand what makes them profitable.
There are a lot of day care centers operating will fullenrollments of 35 to 65 children, but just barely breaking even.This is generally the result of regulations imposed by the stategovernment, causing exorbitant overheard costs of operation.Basically, you'll need facilities to handle 150 to 200 childrenin order to realize annual profits in the "before taxes" bracketof $100,000.
Check with your state and local government regulatory agencies.Many states require day care centers to provide a minimum areaper child, both inside and outside the building, plus at leastone hot meal per day. A licensed teacher for every 15 to 20children, and even a licensed nurse on the premises may berequired. Be sure to know the regulations in your area, and thendesign your business plan to meet these regulations.
Actually, you can begin by operating a baby-sitting service, bylearning and expanding from your profits, and of course, throughthe long term benefits of establishing a quality image. In fact,we recommend that you start small---with a baby sittingservice---and build upon your progressive successes. Unless, ofcourse, you have half a million dollars to invest.
Once you're beyond the baby-sitting stage, out of your home andbackyard, beginning to build a real day care facility, you mighttry locating in your church or one of your area's civic clubfacilities. Also, you should check out the possibilities ofrenting or buying a vacant house. A large ranch-style home with alarge backyard would probably suit your need at this stage. Butbe sure you have zoning approval from your city council beforesigning a rent lease and finalizing your plans.
You might find, if you have your business plan in order, that achurch or labor union will sponsor your business, or even offerfinancial backing. Arranging some sort of partnership orsponsorship agreement with an established local organization willsolve a lot of problems for you, not only in the area of spacebut in assistance with start-up costs and city-father approval.
Incidentally, a day care center is perhaps the ideal business forabsentee ownership or a group of professional investors. Keepthis fact in mind as you organize your plan and seek financing.See our business report, HOW TO RAISE MONEY FOR STARTING YOUR OWNBUSINESS.
Generally, a "shoestring entrepreneur" in this business will dovery well to locate in a vacant convenience store, or even avacant grocery store in a larger shopping center. The zoning willbe in your favor, plus you'll have adequate parking space, andless expense in partitioning or remodeling the building to suityour needs.
Ideally, your day care center should be located on a mainthoroughfare, with the building set back from the street. Youshould be on the right hand side of the street as the trafficheads towards the major business or industrial areas of yourcommunity. In larger metropolitan areas, this would be on thecity-side of the "bedroom" communities. In smaller communities,you can locate just about anywhere except in the downtown area.
If at all possible, you should plan your facility similar to ahospital or motel entrance. This would be a driveway from thestreet to your door, usually under a covered drive-thru, with thedriveway continuing back out to the street. Your long-termparking space would be located in the center of the "U" orbetween the driveway and the street. You want to strive for theconvenience for the parent in being able to drive right up toyour door. She can drop off the child with only a few steps intoyour facility and easy access back onto the main thoroughfare.
Depending on your city sign ordinances and your finances, go allout with your sign. Advertise the name of your name care center,the hours you're open, whether you accept drop-ins, overnighters,or weekenders, and of course, your phone number.
The sign makers and advertising people may strongly advise youagainst so much wording on your sign, but in this instance, don'tlisten to them. Your sign should state all essential information,and serve to convince passers-by that you can handle theirchild-care problems whenever the need arises.
If you initially locate in, or through the sponsorship of achurch or labor union, these people can assist you tremendouslyby including a mention of your services in their membershipbulletins, and by passing circulars or flyers.
You'll need to decide on your regular day care hours. Generally,these are from 6 a.m. through 6 p.m. You'll also need to decidewhether you want to offer breakfast for the children. If so,you'll have to plan for a cook and food supplies for morningmeals. We'll discuss kitchen facilities and kitchen help later,but first decision must be if you will include breakfast. You'llalready be set up with kitchen facilities and a cook because forthose parents wanting to feed their children at your home, you'llbe able to add $8 to $12 per week to their billing. By buyingyour food supplies in bulk, you'll probably be able to realizesome savings in overall food costs.
Mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks are required in some states,but even where they're not required, they are pretty muchstandard fare in most day care centers. Fresh fruit, cookies, andjuice are the usual snack foods served in most day care centers.
As mentioned earlier, you'll definitely be providing a hot mealfor the children at noon. This entails a cook, dishes, plannedmenus, food supplies in bulk, and perhaps even small size tablesand chairs. You'll also have to have kitchen help and facilitiesfor washing the dishes.
These are just some of the important overhead costs you must planfor, and of course you will work to keep them as low as possible.As you should know by now, the greater the overhead, the morechildren you're going to have to take in, and the more childrenyou take in, the greater your space requirements.
All profitable day care centers operate according to plannedroutines. .The day is broken down into one-hour segments, withpre planned curricula, much the same as classes at a publicschool.
A typical day begins with a play period from whenever thechildren arrive until about 9 0'clock. For this, you'll needindoor sand boxes, toys, and perhaps a family sized televisionset. From 9 to 10 the children are separated intogroups---generally by ages--and you hold a reading or storytelling session. The mid-morning snack time is scheduled sometimebetween 10 to 11. For the younger children, this might include amid-morning nap, after snack time, a learning session is usuallyheld. Typically, this is the time when guests are invited in tospeak or entertain the children.
Work with your Chamber of Commerce, civic clubs, and cityadministration for guests. Children will especially enjoy visitsby policemen, firemen, and others who talk to them aboutcitizenship, show films, and teach them about things they can doin the community.
You can also get upperclassmen at your local colleges to visitand demonstrate such things as drawing, working with clay,building with wood, making things out of paper, and hundreds ofother talents or skills they might might be learning. Theimportant thing is to bring "outsiders" in to talk to the kidsabout goes on in the world.
Noon to 1 o'clock is generally lunch time, and 1 to 2 is anotherlearning session. During this afternoon learning session, youmight offer the rudiments of reading writing and arithmetic.These teachings chores can be handled by college studentsstudying to be teachers, retired teachers, or unemployed personswith teaching certificates. It's not so much a session to teachproficiency as a time to stimulate a interest in formaleducation. The basic goal of most day care centers is to instillwithin each child a desire to learn more about the world in whichhe lives. Thus, each child should be full of plans for "when Iget to be six years old and start school, I'm going to..."
About once a week, your afternoon learning session should be atour or a trip to someplace that might be interesting as well aseducational for the children. Again, you're making the idea oflearning not only interesting, but an exciting adventure as well.
These trips can be anything from a walk in your immediateneighborhood to loading all the kids into cars or onto buses andtaking them to the zoo. Check it out first, but on th whole,you'll find most businesses in your area will welcomeopportunities to show the children around their offices orfactories. The same thing quite naturally applies to your cityoffices, fire department, police department, and radio ortelevison stations.
On days when you don't have a trip scheduled, your "learningsession" might be a film or program related to nature,particularly animals. The advent of the Video Cassette Recorderhas opened endless possibilities in this area. Nap time and snacktime will fill a period for younger ones, and books and quietgames will occupy older children who do not take a nap. When thenap period is over, they're allowed to play until their parentscome to pick them up.
Whenever possible, you should encourage the children to beoutside during play periods. If you have lots of playgroundequipment, you won't necessarily always have to have organizedgames, but you will have to have a playgroundsupervisor---someone to watch the children and see they don't gethurt as they play. You can hire part-time help for this chore,perhaps from the local colleges, for minimum wage. If your cityordinances do not cover the specific age requirements of aplayground supervisor, you might be able to hire students formyour neighborhood high school. Select all the people you can hirerelative to their affinity with children and their dependability.Be aware of today's climate of extreme concern in protectingchildren in day care situations.
Your playground will require a fenced-in area. Drive around andlook at the playground equipment in play yards of your publicschools and day centers in your area. You should have the basicsandboxes, swings, slides and jungle gyms but in this area youcan be creative and original, provided your equipment meetssafety standards.
Some states require that you have a registered nurse on thepremises, but generally, the main things needed are medicalinformation from the parents and a written procedure to follow incase of accident or illness. Basically, when a child is injuredor becomes ill, you should take them to the nearest medicalcenter, while another staff person gets in touch with theparents, and explains what happened. If the parent cannot bepresent at the medical center, all information should be passedon to them immediately it is available.
It's a good idea to have all helpers indoctrinated with basic RedCross first aid knowledge, and have a well equipped first aid kiton the premises. As for any requirements to a fulltime nurse, youshould be able to hire registered nurses who are either notworking or looking for extra income. You might be able to "hirethe license" of a registered nurse. You should pay a small fee tohang her license in your office, and she agrees to be availableto serve your needs when you call.
Most day care centers are currently charging from $35 to $65 perchild for a five day week, plus $5 to $10 more for the inclusionof breakfast, with another $1 per meal when they serve an eveningmeal to the child. If you do receive pay in advance, you can veryquickly get "in the red." We strongly suggest setting up yourfinancial structure and clients payment schedules with this inmind.
By having your customers pay in advance, you'll eliminate a lotof bookkeeping chores and time, the problems of collections, andyou'll have operating funds with which to run the business. Apoint to stress when asking for payment by the month, in advance,is that because monthly payments are based on only four weeks ofday care, they'll be getting a week free service every threemonths.
Every profitable day care center requires a sharp manager ordirector. This person might be yourself, or someone you hire forthe job. Regardless, this person will be the key to your success.The director should have empathy with people, be an excellentjudge of people, be sales orientated, and have an outgoingpersonality. As much as anything else, this person must have theability to listen to, and really hear what other people aresaying without the influence of preconceived opinions, or makingsnap decisions. This person has to have the success of yourbusiness in mind at all times, which means building andmaintaining an impeccable reputation.
Your director will be responsible for the hiring and supervisionof your other help and the budgeting, scheduling and overallday-to-day operation of the business. It is imperative to thesuccess of your business that you have the very best person youcan get in this position, regardless of the cost. A good directorfor a day care center will command salary equal to teachers inyour public schools, plus fringe benefits allowances such as freeenrollment for their children and perhaps medical and dentalinsurance if you choose to provide group coverage.
When a prospective client calls to ask about your services, youshould explain how you operate, and emphasize your invitation forthem to bring their child in so the two of them can be taken fora tour of your facilities.
Once in the center, your manager or director takes the parent andchild on a tour, all the while explaining to parent theadvantages of the center's structured learning and play programcompared with everyday run-of-the-mill baby-sitting services.It's important to have the child along, because he sees the otherchildren at play, he will be drawn to them, and this will greatlyinfluence the parent in deciding that your center is the rightplace for his child.
After the tour, steer the parent back into your administrativeoffices and propose enrollment of the child. Begin by askingwhere the parent works, what hours and if he or she ever has towok overtime. You then ascertain the hours they'll want to dropoff and pick up their child.
Strict procedures are absolutely essential regarding the pick-upof any child. Frightening as it may be to contemplate, we haveall read accounts of strangers (or non-custodial parent)kidnapping a child. Printed forms must be provided andauthorization signatures must be compared when anyone other thanthe legal guardian takes a child from your care. You will learnthese requirements from your licensing office. Our advise to youis to follow them meticulously.
You should have a slickly printed, quality brochure showing yourrates, your services, an outline of the curriculum, and astatement of your benefits goals for the children.
Check with a legally qualified person about the need for acontract. The parent will probably simply fill out aquestionaire-file card giving address, place employment, medicalinformation about the child, and place he or she may be reachedin case of emergency.
Most day care centers accept all children between two and sixyears of age. An there are many nowadays who take infants fromsix weeks.
Of course, your personnel in this situation will be thoroughlyoriented in infant care, an you must ascertain if these babiesare well brought in to you. Otherwise, you put yourself in theposition of "hospital" care instead of day care.
Generally, children aren't allowed to bring toys from home. Youmay want to allow the children to bring their own blanket fromhome for nap time, but if you allowed toys from home you would beopening "Pandora's box" of possible problems relating to sharingand ownership. In light of this, you will want a full complementof appropriate toys and play items in your center.
If your decide to include short-term baby-sitting services, agood idea would be include within the layout of your facilities asmall one bedroom apartment for a live-in person or couple. Anolder retired couple would be ideal, with the husband also asmaintenance and handyman.
Around-the-clock baby-sitting services, in addition to yourregular day care center, can add tremendous and immediatecash-flow profits to your business, but correspondingly increaseyour payroll for qualified personnel. Such services would enablethe parents to drop their children off in the evening, and leavethem around the clock or over the weekend. There will generallybe no need for any planned program because these children will besleeping during most of the time they're in your care.
As you establish the image and reputation of your day carecenter, the parents in your area will be much more inclined toleave their children with you for baby-sitting duties. Andbecause you are considered tops in the area of responsibility,you'll be able to charge the very top rate of the baby-sittingfee structure. Keep current with fees charged by other qualitybusinesses similar to yours.
The demand for uplanned or emergency baby-sitting services isvery large. Not too many day care centers are aware of thispotential for extra profits yet, but the ones that are find thattheir incomes can increase by 30 percent or more ! We certainlyrecommend consideration of this idea for anyone involved in a daycare service.
Another area that could mean enhanced profits for you is bus orvan pick-up service for the children. Of course, this wouldincrease your operating costs (and consequently your fees) butthe convenience of pick-up is gaining in popularity. You'll needa custodian for indoor and outdoor cleanup, and if you haveaccess to a bus or van, he could be assigned additional duties asthe driver. Some day care centers offering pick-up service fortheir children contrast with local transportation services fortheir children contract transportation services to provide thisservice. Be certain of the driving experience of your driver ifyou contract for this transportation service.
Most day care centers open with very little fanfare oradvertising. Generally, even without advertising most arereporting 90 percent capacity enrollment within six months.
With grand opening fanfare, and a strong advertising campaign,you should be able at 90 percent capacity within your first sixweeks. In an area where a severe shortage of day care facilitiesexists, and with the right advertising and promotion, evensooner.
Your first step should be the door-to-door, hand-out distributionof a quality informative brochure. To save on costs, you can hirestudents attending advertising classes in you area colleges oreven a free lance advertising copywriter to help you with thedesign and writing of this brochure. However, the bottom lineshould be that you have a good commercial printer do the printingon the best paper can afford. All of this has to do with theimage you're wanting to create, and the quality of the servicethe "buyers" feel they're getting for the prices you arecharging. Don't skimp on your brochure--you're aiming at peoplelooking for the best place for their children.
You should place at least a two-column by four-inch grand openingdisplay ad in you local newspapers. At the same time, you shouldplace similar ads in the local magazines and other publicationscatering to the working mother. Send along a group picture ofyour staff, and a story about your services with your advertisingorder. Phone the editors at your local newspapers, radio and TVstations and invite them out to your grand opening.
Be sure to place a "service information" ad in yellow pages ofyour telephone directory. This should be the largest size you canafford. And remember that you need to make contract for a yellowpage ad well in advance of the release date of the directory.
After your grand opening, and until you attain full capacity,continue to hand out your brochures at the entrances to theoffice buildings which house companies employing working mothers.Continue to run ads in your local newspaper, although these adsneedn't be quite as large or run as regularly as the grandopenings ads. Run an ad in the classified section describing yourbaby-sitting services.
At your grand opening, offer free refreshments for everyone.Coffee and punch for the adults, with juice for the children, andcookies for everyone. You should have members of your staffcirculating among the parents to answer any questions and handout brochures about the center.
You can begin small, and expand in stages with your profit.However, you must draw up a long-range plan detailing exactlywhat you intend to do, and each milestone you'll have to passbefore proceeding to next your goal. In this way, you can succeedand attain not only the ultimate business, but also the kind ofprofits planned at the start.
The basic, and bottom line secret to success with your own daycare center will be your ability to hold your costs in line whileachieving maximum capacity enrollment. You've got the plan, andmy best wishes for success!