Daycares are always in demand as parents look for places to watch their young children during the day. In many families, both parents work and don’t have the time to watch their children in the years leading up to full-time schooling. If you love being around children and want to create a safe and affordable daycare option for parents, you might enjoy starting your own daycare business. Below are six steps you can follow to make this new business venture a reality.
Know the Local Laws and Licensing Requirements
First, you’ll want to know the laws in place that govern childcare facilities in your state. You should contact either the Department of Human Services or Child Care Licensing Office for your state and learn what’s required to open a daycare. It’s important to learn these regulations at the beginning so that you can properly include them in all your plans. You don’t want to get close to opening your daycare only to realize that you’re not compliant with local regulations and have to scramble to adjust.
Develop a Business Model
Next, while you may be opening a school and want to provide a great place for children, at the end of the day, you’re still running a business. This means you’ll want to have a winning business model in place that helps you generate a profit so that you can remain open.
Take the time to think about how much you’re going to charge, how many children you can enroll, how you’re going to get new children each year, how many kids you need to be enrolled to turn a profit, what your expenses will be, etc. Developing a business model will help ensure that you carefully think about your daycare facility from a business perspective and give you a roadmap to follow along the way.
Choose a Location
A big decision to make when opening a daycare is the location. There are several factors you’ll want to consider, such as:
- How much space is inside
- Whether there is room for an outdoor play area
- The amount of parking available for staff and parents
- Distance from major residential areas
- Local traffic or other buildings nearby
- Rent, insurance, and utility costs
Work with a realtor to find some suitable locations in your area and go through each one carefully. Ideally, this is where you’ll have your daycare for many years, so you’ll want to spend plenty of time choosing the right spot.
Hire Staff and Services
More than likely, you won’t be able to run this daycare entirely on your own. You’ll need staff, like instructors or aides, to help you manage the day-to-day functions and watch over the kids in your care.
You may also need to hire outside services, such as an accountant or landscaper, to take some tasks off your plate. One particularly common and vital service is working with professional daycare cleaners. According to Compass Cleaning Solutions, “Maintaining a clean and safe environment in a daycare center is essential for the health and well-being of young children. Daycare centers face unique challenges in keeping their spaces clean due to the high level of activity and the presence of young children who are more susceptible to illnesses.” Think about which services and staff members you’ll need to hire, then factor those costs into your business model.
Detail Policies and Procedures
Before you open your daycare business, it’s a good idea to create a detailed list of your policies and procedures. These are things like pickup and drop-off times each day, how your daycare will handle specific situations, what’s expected of parents, what to do in an emergency, etc. Parents will want to see that your daycare has thought of everything and that all your policies are clearly laid out in one document. Having this document will also help you train new staff and resolve any future disputes with parents.
Get the Word Out
One of the last things you’ll want to do before opening your daycare is get the word out. To get children enrolled at your facility, parents in the area need to know about it. Develop a marketing plan and promote the opening of your daycare through channels like print ads, social media, and direct mail campaigns. Consider offering a discount for new parents as a way to encourage those initial signups, as they may be reluctant to join a daycare without an existing track record.
Open Your Daycare
With all the steps above taken care of, you can now open your daycare. If you took your time with each step and carefully planned out all your decisions, you’ll have created a strong foundation on which your daycare business can grow. There will, of course, be some bumps along the way, but you’ll be in the best position possible to handle them.
