Day Care Center: September 2007

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Parent Hack #1: Secret to Easier Daycare Drop-offs

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The Dreaded Morning Drop-off. In the toddler room at our daycare, Little B. and her Mom were having a tough time in the mornings. Little B. did not want her Mom to leave, and was crying and clinging on to her. After 15 or 20 minutes, one of the teachers would pry little B. away, holding and comforting her while Mom makes her not-so-clean or happy getaway.

After a few mornings like this, I ran into B's Mom in the parking lot. She looked helpless, pregnant with guilt, little B's tears and cries still weighing on her.

"Tough, huh?" I asked. "Yeah, it's gotten pretty bad lately. I don't know what to do."

I felt compelled to reveal my Secret to a Guilt-free, Tears-free Morning Drop-offs. Actually, it's a technique (or Parent Hack, if you will) that we learned at our last daycare.

"You might have her push you out," I suggested. "What do you mean?"

It works like this: A teacher or parent asks the child, "Do you want to push Mommy (or Daddy) out of the room?" during the good-bye portion of the drop-off. The child agrees. Mommy or Daddy turns, faces the door and the child pushes the parent's butt, like a choo-choo train, out the room.

"Yeah, I'll give it try," said B's Mom.

How did it go? When I ran into B's Mom a week later, she was gushing with thanks. Amazing, she said. And I got to witness it in action the next morning, both of them happy and even having added their little tickling twist to the drop-off ritual. No tears, no banshee cries. No guilt in sight.

As a bonus. "Now she even pushes me out of her room at bed time, " said B's Mom.

The next morning, I saw Little N, another one of the kids who's been having a tough time. After 10 min., her mother spontaneously suggested to little N, "Do you want to push me out?" Little N. agreed.

"It's nice to leave her not screaming her head off in the morning," I overheard N's Mom telling B's Mom.

Why it works. It empowers the child. It gives them some control. They decide (sort of) when you leave. They are pushing you out; you're not leaving/abandoning them.

And it's fun. Like playing choo-choo trains.

The Downside.

1. It may not always work. Although I have yet to see it not work.
2. It's a little manipulative.

Yes, but. My instinct says a little manipulation is better than all the tears, cries and the guilt.

Give it a try and let me how it went for you.

J. Lee writes for http://mysearchformeaning-money.blogspot.com/ and http://daddymadeit.blogspot.com/

The Tax Advantages of Starting Up a Daycare in Your Home

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You are in the childcare business. Now what? You must decide a number of pressing questions. How to organize my business? What forms do I need to keep track of? What logs of information do I need to keep? Why does this all seem so confusing? What planet do accountants and IRS agents come from anyways?

Take a deep breath and we will try to create some simple rules to add some sanity to the confusion. I’m going to start with a couple of advantages to running a child care center from your personal home and will address some of the tricks to record keeping in its own special chapter.

Why is child care a business like no other? You are allowed to follow your own special rules not allowed by any other business run out of your home.

See the IRS is not all bad. Oh my, I did just say that?

You are allowed to count all the areas in your home used regularly for your business – not just those used exclusively for childcare when determining the space in the home that you can deduct. You are the only business that is allowed this treatment.

Here comes the real meat and potatoes, the forms and code sections. (Ugh.)

The most important calculation that you need to understand is a formula called the “Time-Space Calculation.” This is the calculation that allows you to make your personal expenses that no one else can deduct, as business expenses. In order to do this the IRS demands that you report these expenses separately on form 8829.

First we need to determine the space component of the calculation. Step one is to draw a floor plan of your home. Notice I said floor plan not blueprint. We are trying to determine the square-footage of your rooms a percentage of your home – we’re not trying to rebuild the home! Each room is labeled one of three titles: 100% Personal, 100% business, shared. The IRS has ruled that for a room to be counted as shared it must only be used regularly for business, not exclusively. Each year you will need to verify the space component with a new floor plan of the home.

The second component of the calculation is the time component. This seems pretty straight forward. At first you may just count the hours when children are present but you would be missing out on all the other time spent in you home working on your business. These hours include time spent preparing for the day, record keeping, and appointments with parents, and cleaning up from the day. Once you have determined the space percentage and the time spent percentage you simply multiply the two percentages together and you are set to go.

Okay. Now what?

Direct vs. Indirect Expenses

The easiest way to define direct business expenses is to call them expenses that you simply wouldn’t have if you hadn’t decided to start a daycare. Advertising, Liability Insurance, Toys, Art Supplies, etc. all fall into this category.

Indirect expenses are defined as those shared by you as an individual and your business. Rent, Mortgage Interest, Real Estate Taxes, Utilities, Household supplies, Home Owners Insurance, Repairs and Maintenance, etc. fall into this category. The indirect expenses are put through the “time-space calculation” and the direct expenses are put directly to the business tax return.

The last wrinkle that you need to deal with is to determine what a capital asset is verses an expense. Assets are things that you own that will last longer than one year. For example, your house, car, furniture, stove, refrigerator, microwave, are all assets. These items must be depreciated, expensed over a period of time, not expensed in the current year.

You then need to determine if the item is shared or directly used by the business. Your house is used jointly. A daycare van used specifically for child transportation is a day care specific capital expense. The jointly used assets must be depreciated and applied to the time space calculation. This manual does not allow enough time for an in-depth discussion of depreciation rules. Hopefully, however, you have a general idea that there are different expenses and assets for your business which need to be accounted for.

Startup Costs

Startup costs are the expenses associated with starting a business, both direct and capital, made prior to the actual start of operations. These costs are treated differently than normal expenses. The IRS does not want to see two years of startup expenses and no income on your income tax return. Therefore you are allowed to expense the first $5,000 of expenses in your first year of operation and any expenses over that amount are capitalized and amortized (divided equally) over sixty months. Examples of startup costs are Legal and professional fees, supplies, toys, day care furniture, license fees, education classes, etc. Capital costs might be room additions to bring the house in compliance, fence in the back play area and the like.

Choice of Business Entity

The type of entity that you choose to operate your business can have significant ramifications in the future. Record keeping stays an important component regardless of which entity you choose. We will address that in its own special chapter. A word about insurance would be appropriate at this time. You should always maintain insurance on your business no matter which entity you choose. I will make the assumption that you are starting your business for the long term. With that assumption your business will need to be protected and as such will need liability insurance, just like your home needs home owners insurance. You are attempting to protect the source of your future income from loss.

Now back to the subject at hand.

The moment you as an individual start to engage in providing a service or providing a product to others you are engaging in a business. This business can be regulated or unregulated; the IRS does not care for tax purposes. Your state licensing board obviously does care and you should follow all appropriate rules in your state.

Sole Proprietor

The default type of organization is the sole proprietor. This is the easiest to form, (no cost) but could be the costliest in the long run. The sole proprietor is fully liable for the debts and obligations of the business. The argument that I hear from clients is “I truly don’t have own anything right now, why should I be concerned?” If you are taken to court and a judgment is rendered against your business, it will be applied against all your current personal and business assets now and in the future.

Secondly, the net income of your business is treated as a wage. You are both the employee and the employer. Most employees are unaware that the employer matches an equal amount of their social security tax. This amounts to 7.65% from the employee and 7.65% from the employer totaling 15.3% on the first $90,000 of wage (adjusted annually upwards). This tax is assessed over and above any federal and state taxes.

Single Member Limited Liability Company.

As the name suggests, this is a form of an entity that will limit you from the full liability of the sole proprietorship. The costs are nominal $130.00 in the state of Wisconsin plus the attorney fees if you require assistance. The taxes are exactly the same as the sole proprietor, so the only difference is the peace of mind of the limited liability.

Partnership

Partnerships are two or more people organized to operate a business. There is no limited liability and all partners are held responsible for the action of each partner. If you do decide to organize a partnership you can also use the multi member limited liability company and your liability will limited to the extent of business assets and your investment in the company.

Corporation

A corporation is considered an individual entity, and as such, needs to file its own income tax returns. You, as the owner, will receive a wage for working in the corporation and rent for the use of your property. Additionally, you will need to follow the rules of your state and should consult an attorney. Make sure you are receiving the benefits of liability protection and numerous other tax strategies that are available. Consult your accountant or attorney to verify that you are following rules and guidelines in your specific state.

Subchapter S Corporation

The major difference between a regular corporation and an S-corporation is the way in which it is taxed.

The S-corporation’s profits are distributed to the owners, one or more, and are taxed to each shareholder as ordinary income.

As you can see, there are many choices when deciding to operate your business. Not every business is the same and therefore each business must be examined to see which form of business entity is right for you. If you are unsure, seek professional guidance and explore which option is right for you.

Start Up Your Own Daycare and Make $90,000 per year. Get My Free 6 Part Newsletter at http://www.instantdaycareprofits.com Christine Groth, mentor, author has published a 6-week home study course on how to start your own daycare and be profitable, fast.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Why Are Your Children Getting Sick In Daycare

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You may be thinking that your child is getting more cold’s lately, or maybe it’s a tad bit worse. You’ve just come home from the doctor and your baby is diagnosed with the RSV Virus. Anyway you look at it your pediatrician will elude to the fact that you probably picked up these viruses at “daycare”

Anytime children hang around with other children there is an increased chance of picking up viruses. It’s pretty simple and this law applies to everyone. You live in a glass bubble you won’t get sick, you go out and you take the chance of getting ill.

But, there are some occurrences in child care centers that really do increase the chances for illness. So it’s my duty to tell you why you may see your child getting sick and what you can do about it.

As a parent you have either decided to have your child attend a family center or a group center. Family centers are licensed for up to eight children and group centers are licensed for many more children. One simple fact is that the more children that are present the more chances you take for introducing illness. Very simple, but something you should think about. Group centers are known to be germ factories simply because of the numbers of children that are present.

Another item to keep in mind, it that parents do sometimes send their children sick to daycare. Parents will give their child Tylenol in the morning to “mask” the fever that the child has. By afternoon the Tylenol has worn off and the caregiver has figured out what the parent has done. The caregiver then calls for the sick child to be picked-up. Daycares do remind parents that sick children should not be brought into daycare, but many times parents have no alternatives and feel that they must go to work.

Daycare’s must clean and sanitize toys and equipment daily. This definitely cut’s down on germs and viruses spreading. Also, children’s hands must be washed before and after eating and after bathroom breaks. Hand washing is the #1 way children and daycare facilities can cut down on illness.

Some children for whatever reason seem to get more viruses and illness than others. There just is no explainable reason, but some children I’ve had in daycare are always ill and others never seem to get ill.

All in all, most childcare centers are healthy places with few occurrences of major illness. Congratulate all the caregivers who do their job in keeping things clean for your children.

Christine Groth, author and mentor of Instant Daycare Profits Home Study Course. Instead of sending her twins to daycare she decided to open a daycare her home and now makes more money than most professionals. To receive her free newsletter Go to www.instantdaycareprofits.com

Learn the ABC's of Starting a Home Daycare Business

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There are many things to consider when you start a Day Home Day Care Business. Whether it is starting a Home Day Care Business or a Day Care Center you do not need to haphazardly set about starting one.

Just like any business it take much planning and many things to consider. Don't let the numbers blind you. $100.00 per child times 20 children equals $2000.00 a week. Sounds great until you start figuring in all the expenses that go along with running a daycare. Here you will find some things to consider below as you get started.

IS IT FOR YOU

The very first thing to consider when you want to start a Home Day Care Business or a Day Care Center is as with any business is it the right business for you. A day care is very demanding and requires great dedication. Parents expect and rely on you to be open and therefore if this is going to be a Home Day Care you will need to make arrangements in the event you are sick or have other obligations that need to be taken care of. Unlike your own kids you can't just take all your clients kids and load them up in a vehicle and go run errans. So it this will be a problem then maybe it is not for you. But if not then it may be for you.

You also must consider that you must love kids and being around them all day. It takes a special person to be able to have the patients to sit with a child eight to ten hours a day and care for their every need. Do you have a loving heart toward kids? If so then a daycare may be what you are looking for.

IN HOME OR DAY CARE CENTER?

So which do you start? Start a Home Day Care Business or a Daycare Center? This is were the business plan will help out. It will help you do an expense ratio and see what is the most cost wise.

It may not be a money thing alone to you. You may just have kids and want to stay at home with them and supplement lost income from staying at home. Whatever the reason still consider the numbers.

OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER

Do you have room?

Can you rent space for the Center or Do you own a Building?

Is the building child care friendly or will it require work?

How many kids will you care for?

Will you be required to hire additional help?

What regulations does your state require?

Do you have to be licensed?

So you can see there are many things to consider. To help you ask the right questions I would recommend getting a good book abou how to Start a Home Day Care Business or Day Care Center.

J. Wayne Norris is the owner of http://www.start-a-home-day-care-business.com web site. Go to his site for information on starting a daycare and a review of ebooks on the subject.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Daycare Management Software Saves Business Owners Money

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Daycare Management Software

Here's the scene. XYZ daycare has 200 children enrolled in it's business records. A certain child has a medical need, but the assigned physician needs to know of any possible allergies that the child may have. "Sally", of XYZ daycare company scrambles to find the child's medical file. She is on her way to retrieve the record and suddenly realizes that the records have been moved to a different room. After a few minutes, Sally finds the child's medical records and all is well.

No big deal right? Actually, it could have ended up as a bad situation. What if the child was in dire medical need, and couldn't receive treatment due to lack of knowledge about the child's allergies to certain medications? All because of the fact that the child's medical records were filed away somewhere unknown to the daycare worker.

So, how could this whole ordeal be avoided? By usind daycare management software. There aren't many versions available, but I found some that do an excellent job of maintaining children's records. The good versions of this software also do a good job in managing the financial records of a daycare business.

Daycare management software was first developed in 2000, and is readily available today to all daycare businesses. Many daycare entrepreneurs are singing praises to this time-saving, cost-cutting software. Sure, some daycare owners still want to do everything the old fashioned way with folders and file cabinets, but more and more are turning to daycare software as a solution.

Click Here For A Special Offer on Daycare Management Software

Written and Researched by Matt Menster

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The 5 Easy Ways to Market Your Daycare Center

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You’ve taken the leap of faith and decided your going to open your own family daycare center. You start thinking about where you’re going to have your daycare, and how it’s going to be arranged and what toys you are going to have.

But one thing you may not have thought about is, “how am I going to get kids?” Well, I’m here to tell you don’t worry. I really believe that there are a lot of families out there looking for childcare. Especially good childcare.

Marketing your new daycare can be relatively easy and painless. You don’t need to spend a whole lot of money or time. Just use a little creativity and you are well on your way. So, let’s begin with the 5 easy ways to market your new daycare center.

1. Visit your neighbors announcing your new business: Print up some flyers or invitations inviting your neighbors to an open house. Be sure to make it fun, serve juice and cookies and have some children’s games planned. Nothing to complicated but just make sure it’s fun. Remember even if your neighbors have no children, they may know someone who does so be sure to tell them to invite friends from work.

2. Reward Parents for telling others about your daycare: This is a surefire way of spreading the word about your daycare. For every parent who refers a friend who enrolls reward them with a special thank you. Perhaps a gift card, discount on childcare, something they would really enjoy.

3. Visit Employers in your area: Introduce yourself to human resources and or management. in any business. Tell them about your daycare and be sure to leave some business cards behind. Ask if you can place some on a bulletin board in the lunch room.

4. Become Good Friends with the School Secretary: Visit your local elementary school with a plate full of cookies and some business cards. Announce your new daycare and ask if they have a list of daycares in the area that do after school care. Be sure to place yourself on that list.

5. Get really excited about Halloween! Really decorate your home for Halloween and be sure to give out candy with business cards. Wear a costume and scare children as they walk up the side walk to your home. If parents see you love the holidays and you’re having fun wouldn’t they be interested in coming to your daycare?

There’s just a handful of fun and easy idea’s I have about marketing your daycare. And as you can see most of them cost little or nothing. Having fun and making money is what it’s all about.

"Daycare author and mentor, Christine Groth, "The Daycare Queen", is creator of the Guide to Instant Daycare Profits. To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for her FREE how-to-marketing articles and tips visit http://www.startingadaycaretips.com

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Using Open Houses To Promote Your Daycare Centre

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Open houses are the best way to convince parents to sign their children up your centre. But for an open house to be an effective marketing tool, there are some pre open-house preparations to be made and a budget allocated. What you want to is create a memorable experience for both the parents and the child.

1. Timing
Open houses should be over the weekends so that the working parents can check out your centre at a leisurely pace. It can be over one weekend or if resources permit, offer it over two or three weekends.

2. Promoting your open house
There are a number of ways to ensure that news of your open house is spread.
- Put up a banner, with the date and time of your open house, about two weeks before your actual open house.
- Take up an advertisement in the local papers announcing your open house.
- Put up notices in as many high traffic areas as possible such as local cafés and eating places. Do not forget to put it up your own centre so that the other parents are informed. Nothing beats word of mouth advertising.
- Print flyers and distribute it at high traffic areas in and around your neighbourhood a week before your open house.

3. Pre event preparations
- Do some spring cleaning. Ensure that the centre is neat and tidy, no wires exposed, the books and notes neatly stacked, dirty stains painted over, etc.
- Frame up all your the licenses and awards and put them up. Pin up nice photographs of children’s activities and their drawings.
- Ensure that all the necessary materials are ready and inserted into nice presentation folders. Items include curriculum, time table, food menu, etc. Prepare a few sets.
- Prepare a nice little album / scrapbook of photographs

4. Open house programme
- Ensure that you have sufficient brochures for the parents to bring home.
- Ensure that you have lots of enrollment forms and writing materials available
- Prepare a programme for the children e.g. face painting, art and craft, story telling, etc.
- Ensure that you have enough helpers on the day of your open house
- Prepare some snacks and light refreshments
- If budget permits, prepare small little door gifts and give it to them as they depart, preferably with the name of your centre printed. Examples of door gift as car decals or balloons.

After the open house is over, the work is not done yet. Remember to follow up on all your leads. Write little notes on the form such as when to follow up with them, etc so that you do not forget. Organise and file them in an orderly manner. One suggestion is to file them according to when they said that they will sign up, so that you know when to follow up.

Happy organising!

For more information or resources on starting a daycare, please visit http://www.setupadaycare.com

What Kind of Nutrition is Your Child Getting at Daycare?

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A growing child requires your undivided attention, your uncompromising love, and also a properly balanced diet. In today's competitive world parents have high expectations of their children, but are rarely prepared to meet the expectations and sacrifices required to bring them up. When your job status is balanced on a knife-edge, even the smallest distraction can prove to be very costly. So how is someone expected to perform the role of parent and employee at the same time? Surely this is not possible! Well, it is almost impossible and yet the human species continues to multiply at a blinding rate. The answer to the current day, working professional's childcare problem has become the daycare centre. Despite certain shortcomings we notice that the trend is steadily gathering pace.

While a daycare centre certainly shelters your child in your absence. A number of attendants are hired to look after the children as well, however, they are still complete strangers to us. Also, a daycare facility for your child is supposed to provide a well balanced diet. In truth this point is extremely debatable, as we cannot judge the quality of food dispensed at the centre. However, we can certainly question the type of food on offer. A daycare centre, in all probability, is inadequately funded. The repercussions are quite disturbing and at times alarming to the parent. Statistics inform us that a majority of generated income is channeled toward staff and overhead charges. As a result, the centre is left with little or no money to procure a quality meal for your child. In fact, a large number of daycare centers do not provide meals at all. Countless studies have conclusively proven that health problems in adults are linked to malnutrition during the childhood years.

Since every parent wants the very best for his or her child they must investigate the quality and type of food provided by their daycare centre. Do not expect sensitive information such as exact figures of income and expenditure as they are either withheld from outsiders or anonymous to the staff themselves. On the other hand, you are well within your rights to demand a list of food items that constitute your child's daycare meal. Once you are armed with this information, you can now substitute the missing food groups into your child's daily diet. It is advisable to approach a qualified nutritionist for help with your child's diet plan.

Lastly, we must also find out whether the centre has any restrictions against parents supplying food items. Several centers highlight health codes violations and allow only authorized food items into the facility. However, if the daycare diet plan is inadequate you need to reconsider admitting your child into this particular centre. Remember, your child comes before your convenience.

The "Daycare Diva", Christine G. Groth, is the creator of "The Guide to Instant Daycare Profits". To learn more about this step-by-step program and to sign-up for her FREE "How to Start a Daycare" tips and articles, visit http://www.ExpertsAtDaycare.com

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Daddy Day Care

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Thursday, September 20, 2007

Employment After a Baby - Solving the Daycare Issue

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There are many reasons why you, a parent, want or need to get back to work, whatever your reason, on of the biggest worries will be how to solve the day care issue. It is not really fair to expect other family members such as grandparents or parents to look after your child so you will need professional day care -- unless your employer is forward-thinking enough to provide a creche for its staff's children. There are several options open to you; day care facility, a child minder, au-pair or a nanny. But which is best for you?

Unfortunately, that is not an easy question to answer, it will depend on a variety of factors, not least how much you can afford and what services are available in your area.

Day care facilities offer certain advantages over nannies in that your child will get to interact with more children of similar age, as well as adults, developing their social skills. They will also interact with different adults during the day. With a nanny, the child will be interacting with predominantly one adult and will meet and play with fewer other children.

Whichever you choose, avoid being hasty, don't just go with the first one you find. Check them out - a good day care facility will be able to provide evidence of staff training and will not be shy to show you round. Try to visit when other parents will be there and make the opportunity to talk to them. Get their feelings about the place. A Nanny or au-pair will be able to provide you with references, but these alone are probably not enough to allow you to make the decision. Interview the candidates and probe to find out how you feel they would cope with emergency situations. Also try to get to talk with their previous employers and find out how they were and why they left. Using an agency can be helpful here as they should already have done the necessary vetting of the staff on their books.

So, in short, when going back to work, don't rush into the organisation of your child's day care, check it out carefully and only make the decision when you are satisfied with the service and credentials offered.

Disclaimer: This is for informational purposes only, we can not accept any liability for any decision you make.

Visit http://www.superbabysitting.com for free babysitting tips, advice and how to claim a first aid book and babysitters handbook.

Essential Tips To HR Planning For Your Daycare Business

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You’ve done your planning and decided that you’ll need additional help. So how do you ensure that you get the best candidate through your door?

All business owners need to understand the importance of human resource (HR) planning. HR planning is not a fancy term for large organizations to execute. Even small businesses need to ensure that their HR is in order to function properly. Failing to manage your HR properly could result in a shortage of manpower when you need it or too many manpower when you don’t need them and therefore incurring unnecessary cost.

So, what is HR planning? Marketing has its 4Ps whilst HR has 6Rs. It is ensuring that you have the Right staff in the Right numbers, doing the Right job, at the Right time and at the Right place and most importantly, do the job right.

Finding the right staff in the right numbers

There are a number of options to manage temporary shortages in manpower. Firstly, you can hire part-time workers. They are a good option especially when you have a lot of children under half-day care. You can also think about engaging temporary employment agencies. This option is more suitable for less critical positions such as teacher assistants rather than the caregiver. The next option is to have your staff work longer hours and pay them overtime for it.

For permanent manpower shortages, you’ll need to a recruitment campaign to hire. You can do this either via advertisement, referral or hire an employment agency to help you with it.

Doing the right job at the right time and right place

There are a number of factors to take into consideration to ensure that you hire the right person. You need to look indepth into a number of factors:

• What will be the candidate’s duties and tasks. Try to be as specific as possible on the job duties that is required of the candidate. This information will come in useful when drawing up the advertisement.

• Do you need the candidate to be proficient in any tools or equipment such as the computer or musical instrument?

• What’s the working environment of the candidate? E.g. What are the working hours? Will the candidate be on shift? Where is the candidate supposed to be stationed, especially if you have more than one outlet)? How many children does the daycare centre care for? What are the age groups?

• What will be his/her working relationship with fellow colleagues. Who will the candidate be reporting to? Will there be any staff that he/she will be required to supervise?

• What are the job requirements?

- What are the qualities that the candidate should possess? Do you want the candidate to be able to handle children and be patient with children?

- Do you need the candidate to possess prior experience in childcare?

- What are the qualifications you would like them to possess? Do they need to possess a Diploma or Certificate in Early Childhood? Do you need the candidate to have first aid training?

Doing the job right

Finally, you need to sort out what you’ll need to do to attract candidates of the above qualities to apply for the position and perform their job well.

• You need to decide what are the benefits you will be offering to the candidate; e.g. annual leave, insurance, subsidy (if they put their child at your daycare centre), etc.

• Most importantly, you need to decide how you intend to remunerate the candidate.

Finding the right candidate is only the tip of the ice berg. The challenge after that will be to think of ways to retain your staff.

Happy Hiring!

For more information or resources on starting a daycare, please visit http://www.setupadaycare.com

Is Buying An Existing Daycare Centre The Best Option?

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Once you’ve decided that daycare is the business for you, you need to decide how you intend to do it. There are a few options which you can adopt to start up your daycare centre.

1. Brand new start up
You can consider setting up your daycare centre from scratch. You’ll need to do a lot of homework and put in a lot of effort and hard work in the preparatory stages such as getting a location, planning the layout of your daycare centre, oversee the renovations, furnish your daycare centre, etc. The process can be very time consuming but if you are a very meticulous, resourceful and organized person, doing this yourself can save you a lot of money. There are a host of websites which can equip you with the essential information and resources to get you started.

2. Buying over an existing daycare centre
You’ll probably save on a lot of time and planning as compared to a brand new start up. However, there are other concerns which you need to take note of. First, you need to ensure that the condition of the existing daycare centre is in good or satisfactory condition; not just the physical outlook but the business operations as well. Take a good look at the condition of the premises (are minor renovations required?), the state of the company assets (is it reusable?), assess the location (is it ideal?), ask to look at the accounts and the lease agreement, etc.

You’ll also need to examine the financial statement of the business to assess the financial health of the business; how is the existing daycare business doing, is enrolment stable or shrinking. That will help you to determine how much you are willing to offer.

Take some time of get to know their customers better. Survey their customers to understand them better. Find out if the parents are happy with the current services that are being provided. What is the reason(s) their children are still enrolled in the present daycare centre?

Gather as much information as possible about their competitors. Find how many daycare facilities are there within a 500 meters from them. Know what are their charges and preferably how many children they are caring for. Are they successful? What sort of value-added services do they provide which you need to take note of.

You’ll also need to ensure that all the legal aspects such as contracts, agreement, licenses, creditors, etc can be easily resolved.

3. Buying a Franchise
Alternatively, you can consider buying a franchise from a daycare franchisor. There numerous benefits which can be gained from purchasing a daycare franchise as opposed to a brand new start up or purchasing an existing business. For example, The chances of success, although not guaranteed, are good as the daycare franchisor would have established a set of proven practices and operations. Training will be provided and as a result of the transfer of management expertise, the learning curve of running a daycare centre will be significantly shorter.

You will also make significant savings on items such as cost of developing a curriculum and marketing which is usually assume by the franchisor and spilt amongst all the franchisees.

However, there can be some disadvantages in purchasing a franchise such as the prohibitive franchise fee, lack of flexibility in operations or lack of support from the franchisor. In addition, there is a possibility that the promotional programs rolled out by the franchisor might not be suitable for your local market.

In conclusion, which option will clearly depend on what you are looking for in the business and the amount of time and resources that you have. If you are short on funds but are willing to put in the hours, a brand new startup is best for you. If you are less of a risk taker, taking over an existing daycare centre or purchasing a daycare franchise will most likely suit you, depending on how much resources you have and how much freedom you are expecting.

For more information or resources on starting a daycare, please visit http://www.setupadaycare.com

Start Your Own Home Daycare Business

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If you are the parent of small children anyway or perhaps a grandparent with extra time on your hands, then you might want to consider opening your own home daycare business. It is not unusual at all for a home daycare business to begin in the home as a natural result of babysitting duties and then expand into something much larger. While not everyone will want to take on the responsibility of caring for more children, the fact is that a home daycare business has the potential to blossom into a real opportunity.

Essential Equipment and Requirements

State law will most likely require you to get a license in order to take your babysitting to the home daycare business level. This is to ensure that you are qualified to care for small children. You will also be required in most states to have insurance before officially opening a home daycare business and make certain that your house is suited for the new purposes you intend. Other than these basic requirements which will vary depending upon the state in which you live, having age-appropriate games and activities will be the only other essential necessary to begin your home daycare business. Unless you need to make improvements to your home in order for it to meet the requirements of your state, you can start a home daycare business for $1,000 or less with most of this money going towards insurance and licensing fees.

Skills and Training

Patience and a love of children is all you will really need in order to start your own daycare business. Now it will look better if you have some sort of background in Developmental Psychology or teaching, but these are not requirements that are necessary in most states.

Charges and Earnings

If you have ever paid for daycare then you already have a pretty good idea as to the charges and earnings to expect from running such a business. It is not uncommon, depending on the area and demand for quality daycare services, to receive $150-$250 per week for children under the age of 5 and less for older children if you are contracted to watch them after school. Your home, state law, and the number of people caring for the children will ultimately determine your earnings. The more children you can legally take care of, the more money your home daycare business will earn.

Marketing

Quality daycare does not need much more than word-of-mouth advertising and maybe a classified ad in order to effectively market services. As your business grows and should you decide to make education part of the services offered (and remember that teaching will definitely require certification and qualified teachers), then advertising in the Yellow Pages will become part of your marketing strategy.

Most people do not plan to start a home daycare business but sometimes necessity and opportunity combine and offer people the chance to go into business for themselves. There are licensing and insurance concerns, but the start-up costs for this type of business are pretty low, as are the expenses. So if you love children and want to take babysitting to an entirely new and exciting level, then consider opening a home daycare business and thus take control of your financial destiny while helping children and parents in the process!

Doug Dillard has started and run many home-based businesses over the past 25 years. He has created a great site for those of you looking to start your own home-based business, but don't know how to get started. Visit his website: HomeIncomeOpportunities.com for more information.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Doggy Day Care

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Monday, September 17, 2007

Developing An Effective Website For Daycare Centers

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Does the word "website" frighten you? Do you relate website design to complicated programming, complex html - java scripts? Ever wondered how a small daycare center can afford to setup a website?

Website designing has evolved since the start of internet. What used to be a complicated task, fit for a computer programmer, has now been made easier. Most web hosting packages now comes with web builder programs that enable non web designers to setup a professionally looking website without any/little knowledge of computer programming languages.

Here’s how you can easily develop a website for your daycare centre:
Step 1

Purchase a domain name (www.YOUR-DOMAIN-NAME.com) You can buy them from many domain name providers that is available on the web. Go to Google / Yahoo and key in "purchase domain name" and you'll have a list of domain name companies trying to promote their services to you. Domain names are usually charged annually. It can range from as cheap as $1.99.

Step 2
Sign up with a web hosting company
Many web hosting companies offer free domain name registration for as long as you host your website with them. Web hosting packages are charged monthly but many web hosting companies will offer you a discount if you were sign up with them for a number of years. There a number of things you need to take note of when selecting a web hosting company. How much space? How many email accounts are permitted? Does it have a website design software?

Step 3

Write your website copy
The most important and sometimes challenging task of building a website is to write the website copy. Fret not. It can be relatively pain-free.

First and foremost, I would suggest spending some time to surf the web for good examples to copy. The rule of thumb is, if you like it and find it attractive, then most likely your customers will as well.

Here are a number of suggested information to include on your website.

• Home page
This is an introduction or welcome page for your daycare visitors. Visitors normally land on this page first so you should make it easy for your visitors to navigate through. As they say “First impression counts” so ensure that it is attractive. However, don’t overdo it and put too many pictures because it will take a very long time to load.
• Core value and goals
As providing daycare services is a delicate profession, core values and goals of the daycare centre are extremely important.
• About us
Include a photo and short bio of all the caregivers. If it is too tedious, then have at least the daycare centre manager’s / principal’s information.
• Programme / Curriculum br> List down what subjects you offer as part of your curriculum.
• Schedule
Include a schedule of the centre’s daily activities. If possible, even include a menu.
• Photo Gallery
Snap some photographs of the children at play, during storytelling, etc and include it in your photo gallery. Some website design software already have a photo gallery function included.
• Rates and charges
Some owners may not like the idea of publicizing the charges, so it’ll depend on your preference. Personally, I feel that it helps to qualify your customers.
• What’s New
If possible, have a “What’s New” section where you can include short writeup about your centre’s activities or make announcements of upcoming events such as open houses.
•Contact us
In your contact page, list not only contact details such as address, telephone and email but include a map as well. It will be useful for parents who wish to visit your centre.

Step 4
Follow the step by step tutorials or guides to setting up a website. Most website design software comes with tutorials on how to develop a website step by step. It varies from software to software. I won’t lie to say that is a piece of cake but you’ll get better with practice. Just think of the amount of money you will be saving by doing it yourself.

Remember to publish your website only when you have checked it thoroughly. Preview it first to ensure the layout is fine. Check the spelling. Nothing is worse than a website that is poorly developed.

Step 5
Promoting your website The first thing you should do is email to all your friends and family and let them know about your website. Encourage them to forward to as many people as possible.

Next is to include your website address on everything; on your name cards and all your marketing materials (brochure, flyer's, posters, advertisements and banners).

Get your website listed in as many places as possible. There are also many web directories which you can list your website and not forgetting the metroguides. If you have purchased a franchise, ask if the franchiser will allow a link from their website to yours.

If after reading this, you find it too cumbersome, there are 2 alternatives. One is to have someone professional do it for you for a fee. Second is to forget about having a website for your daycare altogether.

For more information or resources on starting a successful daycare, please visit setupadaycare.com

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Developing A Brochure For Your Daycare Centre

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A brochure is like a walking saleman for your daycare centre. It tells your target customer all about your daycare centre. However, some daycare owners are put off by the high cost of producing one as they are under the impression that it should be produced by professionals. And for a small business, that can be quite daunting. However, producing a brochure can be quite a breeze if you know what to do.

First and foremost, you do not need a professional designer. There are many publishing software that can do the job for you. A good example is Microsoft Publisher. There are many nice templates for you to choose from.

As for the copy of the brochure, you can easily do it yourself once you know what you should put inside it. Before we start writing, we first need to understand who you are writing the brochure for; i.e. your target audience. As a daycare owner, your target audience are the parents who wish to put their child at a daycare centre. Some of these parents feel guilty or worried about leaving their children with strangers. Your job is of course to ally their fears and reassure them that their precious little ones are in good hands.

Next, you need to decide what size you’d like your brochure to be; A4, A5 (A4 folded into half), DL (A4 folded into 3 parts), how many colours (will it be 4 colour throughout or 4 colour on the cover and 1 colour on the inside) and the number of pages.

Now you are ready for some copywriting. Here are some information you should consider putting in your brochure.

1. Introduction (How you are different)
Write up a nice and short introduction about your daycare centre. Let the audience know how your daycare centre is different.

2. Mission / Core values / Philosophy
As providing daycare services is a delicate profession, the core values and goals of the daycare centre are probably something which you’d like to communicate to the parents to let them know that their child is in good hands.

3. Pictures of children at play
Add photographs of the children doing different activities in the brochure. Include one on the children at play, one of the children during lessons and one of the children engaging in some interest activities. If possible, include pictures of celebrations such as Children’s Day, Teacher’s Day or graduation. If you are a new business, you may consider getting stock pictures.

4. Programme / Curriculum
Other than caregiving, parents will also be interested to know what’s included in your curriculum. Therefore, list down the subjects that your daycare centre is offering such as art and craft, language, music and drama, etc. And if you are offering other electives such as piano lessons or computer lessons, include that in as well.

5. Quotes / Testimonials
Quote and testimonials lend credibility to your daycare centre. Solicit for quotes from the parents to be included in your brochure. You can choose to have them write their own quotes or you can write it and have them endorse it.

6. Schedule
Include a schedule of the daycare centre’s daily activities so that the parents can have a rough idea of what their child will be doing at your daycare centre.

7. Rates
Include rates and charges. Some owners may not like the idea of publicizing their daycare charges, so it’ll depend on your preference. Personally, I feel that it helps to qualify your customers.

8. Contact details
In your contact details, list not only information such as address, telephone and email but include a map as well. It will be useful for parents who wish to visit your daycare centre. And don’t forget your website address, if you have one.

Now that you’re done with the copy, you are ready to work on the design on a publishing software.

Have fun!

For more information or resources on starting a successful daycare, please visit http://www.setupadaycare.com

Friday, September 14, 2007

Great Home Based Business: Start a Daycare

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My wife owned and operated her own home based daycare business for many years. This is her post–

Starting a home based daycare business:

I will tell you it is a lot of work, but very worthwhile and gratifying. There are very important things you must know before thinking of starting a home daycare, here are 10 things you should know:

1. Licensing requirements– For a home daycare some states and counties do require licensing, but most don’t. If you live in an area without licensing requirements, but most states require or want you to be at least certified. I was certified. It is rather easy, you just need to find a place that certifies you, lots to choose from, just look online for child care information in your state. Here is a great site http://nrc.uchsc.edu/STATES/states.htm But where I lived in Wisconsin, because I was certified, not licensed, I could only have 3 children at one time, that is including yours.

2. Only take as many children as you can handle realistically. I took part time, full time, short time, everything, and I will tell you, from my experience, do not take part time kids, it only makes it harder, unless you are only going to have 3 or 4 kids. I mean if this is a source of income, it's hard to make up for the few hours you get from them.

3. There are many ways to find children. This is the fun of ruining your own home based business. The number one way for me was to make really catchy, cute fliers, I made lots of copies and took them to grocery stores, post offices, door to door, put them on cars, anywhere you can people to see them. The most popular place that people saw them was at the grocery store.

4. There are lots of things to take into consideration before starting a daycare. As a day care provider you will not only be the manager, but the secretary, bookkeeper, accounts receivable collector, bottle washer (literally!), organizer, planner, referee, teacher, and counselor, to mention just of few of the roles. You must be patient!

5. There are so many forms you need to have ready on hand for when you start to except new clients. For example, you must have forms that parents sign ahead of time, like prescriptions, you can not give prescriptions to kids unless it is on paper signed from the parents. Just think of what you would be in if something happened to the child, they might be allergic, might give the wrong dosage, might have more than one child taking the same medication and give it to the wrong child, things like that. I have a daycare kit that I am selling that has all the information you need to have and know even before starting to think about running a daycare, I also include many forms that parents will need to sign before you can let there child enroll.

6. You need to think about how much you are going to charge and what age groups you are going to take. This is another business descision. I called big daycares and home day cares to check out what they were charging, don’t tell them who you are, just pretend you have a child you want to enroll there. Great way to find out what the rate is.

7. Think about the things you will need and where you can get them. You don’t have to purchase all new items, garage sales or good wills are great, just make sure to clean and sanitize them really well before giving them to the children.

For example:
* child-sized table and chairs
* individual sleeping places
* diapering area
* art materials
* assorted toys and blocks
* children’s books
* games, puzzles, vehicles, dolls
* props for pretend play
* music
* baby furniture
* storage area

8. Another thing to consider, have the parents bring, and supply you with items, like diapers, wipes, food, (unless you want to include this in the price). That’s what I did, so much easier, because you might have different age groups and lots of different wipes and diapers, that can get expensive. As far as the food, its up to you. I had the parents bring there food, they know what they will eat more than we will.

9. Remember if you have children of your own, this would be a great opportunity for you and them, you can be a stay at home parent and have friends for your kids to play with. You will never have to worry about where your children are or what they are doing.

10. Make sure to review everything and make sure you are ready to make the investment. It is really a life changing opportunity, but again worth while. I loved every minute of every day. I would do it all over again…

Here is a great daycare kit, its rated #1 on clickbank. It Includes:

* what is required to start the business

* determining what to chargesetting

* policies and procedures

* attracting clients

* establishing your daily scheduleplanning

* activities for children

* billing and accounting

* managing your cash flowrecord

* keeping your clients happy

* growing your business

* plus much, much more!!!

Kerry Mann is the creator of http://www.MakeMoneyIdeasBlog.com

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Starting a Daycare Business - Inside Secrets to Success

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Most people that run a successful babysitting business in their local area have considered the possibility of starting a daycare business. If you have a love for children and your area has room for some professional child care then you have what is necessary to consider starting a daycare business in your area. While it seems like it should be such a breeze to start up your new business there are some things that you should take into consideration before beginning your business. Thinking about and planning for these things in advance will help keep you from being surprised at the last minute with any problems.

The things that you should keep in mind when considering starting a daycare business are whether you have a love for children and would like to work with other people's children day after day. The day care business is not generally one that will make you rich, but it can support you. If you have a real love for children then you have a strong basis to start your new business. Another thing that is very important to understand before beginning your new daycare business is to check out your local area and see if there I a real need for additional child care. If the market is saturated with other child care businesses then it may be difficult for you to make a profit.

You should also get a copy of any licensing regulations to make sure that your place of business (generally your home) is in compliance with local codes. You can probably expect that you will be looked over rather closely because of your working with children. Just make sure that everything is up to par and you should be fine.

Download our easy step by step guide to starting and running a successful daycare at our website http://www.start-daycare.info/

Start Your Own Daycare with a daycare startup kit, available on our website.

Copywriting Tips for Daycare Business Owners

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Copywriting can seem overwhelming for some. Some do not even know how to begin. Here are a few tips to make it a little easier.

Before you begin your copywriting, here’s what you should do.

First, take a piece of paper and list down what you think are the needs and wants of the parents are. It’ll probably be somewhere along the lines of a trustworthy caregiver to care for their child or a daycare centre that is near their house, a clean and hygienic daycare centre or even a daycare centre that is affordable. We’ll call this List A

With that in mind, list down the things / services that you possess which you think will be able to meet those needs and wants. For example, a good track record or it is a new centre or you offer the lowest rates in the neighborhood. That will provide you with the foundation to start your draft. We’ll call this List B.

Traditionally, advertisers use the AIDA (stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action) model as a guide to generate highly successful advertisement copy. It is fairly simple, once you get the hang of it.

“A” stand for Attention. There should be an element in the copy whose job is to capture the audience’s attention. It usually is the headline or a photo/graphic. It should be arresting and should entice the potential parent to want to read more. The headline can be anything which you think will capture the attention of the reader. It can be in the form of a statement or a question. For example, you can use “The cheapest daycare charges in Town A” as a headline or “Are you looking for a cheap and reliable daycare centre?

"On the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. It follows that, unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money." David Oglivy

Therefore a headline is extremely important.

“I” stands for Interest. The copy of the advertisement should aim to generate the audience’s interest. It should address their concerns / needs or provide them with a solution to a problem, using the information gathered from List A as well as List B.

“D” is for Desire. The next step is to get them to “buy” into your idea / product and really want the product. There should be a hook / bait such as testimonials, free gift, or even a time based discount etc.

The final and most important step - Action. Many advertisements miss this out. After telling your audience how your company is going to solve their problems, you need to tell them what to do next. Do you want them to call a hotline to make an appointment or come down to see your open house or bring this advertisement for a free gift. Don’t leave them hanging. Close the copy by telling them what to do.

For more information or resources on starting a daycare, please visit http://www.setupadaycare.com

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - Leaving Your Child In Daycare

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As I write this, I am sitting alone in my house for the first time in eighteen months. I am totally and completely alone, bar the cat. It is quiet, just the sound of birds outside, even the usual drone and thud of construction work in neighbouring fields has halted in honour of the occasion. I can do whatever I want: drink tea which is still hot, read a book and fall asleep with it on my face, leave the house with just my keys and mobile. And what do I actually want to do? Well, other than compulsively tidy the kitchen and my sock draw, I want to bite my nails and fidget and maybe, just maybe, make one tiny call to the childminder, just to make sure that her phone is working and that Squidget isn’t too distraught without me.

Yes, dear reader, I have finally done it. Little Squidget has gone off to her childminders, alias Wonderwoman and Superman, for the morning, for the first time, and I am feeling bereft, like I have sent her away to borstal. Wonderwoman and Superman are the most capable, wonderful people I know, having looked after Goldilocks when I returned to my former life of Career Woman following her birth, some three years ago, so my feelings of dread, guilt and sheer loss are at once rendered ridiculous. But I still feel loss, like part of my body has weirdly evolved and fallen off.

It has been a long road to today, a road pitted with emotional minefields and practical nightmarishness. Who would have imagined that organising enough time to sit and stare gormlessly out of the window could be so complicated? When I gave birth to the Tweenager, I was in my second year at university. I was 22, had just moved to the UK, got married and moved house. My life fell apart when she was born and daycare was the best option. Even as a tiny baby, she was very stoic about the whole thing, bravely heading off to nursery and then school with a rucksack the same size as her on her back, blinking back the tears as she bravely waved goodbye. I never got over the guilt that crippled me every time I left her and went to my lectures. Staying at home was never an option I considered – I was grateful to get through the day without having a tantrum of my own. By the time Goldilocks was born, I was in Cyprus, running a successful business, stronger, healthier, happier, but I had gained that enemy of kids the world over: a Career. I swore I would do better by my second daughter and delegated frantically. Unfortunately, my maternity cover proved to be barking mad and so I returned to work (not altogether unwillingly), baby on hip and often on breast (much to the combined curiosity/shock of anyone within burping distance). A year later, Wonderwoman and Superman entered our lives and Goldilocks found her happy ever after with them for the next two years. The fact that she was and is never fazed by anything, giving any poor soul looking after her a real run for their money, helped assuage any feelings of guilt I might have been harbouring.

Fast forward to today. Before gathering the resolve to ask Wonderwoman and Superman to help out with Squidget (it took me two months to make the call), I read every darn article discussing the pros and cons of early childcare, about separation anxiety and how to handle it. There is a massive amount of information out there on how and why to leave your child but precious little discussion of the emotional impact separation has on the frazzled parent left holding an empty packet of wet wipes. I have always been oddly clingy with all my kids. I’m known for it: well-meaning friends and not-so-friendly others have often joked that I am too attached to them. I couldn’t bear the thought of letting them go, a genuine problem not helped by the fact that it seems to be a medical condition peculiar to Turkish Cypriots to squeeze, stroke and physically grab your baby out of your arms at any given opportunity. If I let them go, what would I do with myself? Knit? Become an estate agent? So I became a Stay At Home Mum extraordinaire. With no life. Enter Wonderwoman and Superman, who I can hear coming up the driveway now. Squidget is smiling in the back seat and all is good with the world. I think I might be able to get used to this.

Nikki is a freelance writer whose work is regularly commissioned by and published in a variety of international magazines and newspapers. As a mother of three young daughters, her writing often focuses on parenting and lifestyle issues but, secretly, Nikki also has a 'proper' job, as an expert writer on overseas real estate investment. She acts as a consultant to agents and developers, identifying and marketing key emerging markets. She is currently collaborating with Property Club International. See more at http://propertyclubinternational.net

Fundraising For Your Preschool Or Daycare Center

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Most day cares are non-profit organizations that must operate within a tight budget that covers the costs of facilities, staff and all of the equipment and materials for operating a quality and stimulating environment for children. It’s a balancing act with little room for extras for the center or it’s staff.

One way to offset the cost of extra curriculum, supplies or staff bonus programs is through fundraising. Our moms have successfully raised funds for our daycare centers, enabling them bring in additional music, art and science events, animal encounters, host special celebration days - like Hawaiian Luaus, purchase sun shades for the playground and fund the staff bonus pool.

Listed below are fundraising programs that have been successfully implemented that you can take, adapt and use at your center:

Garage Sales. Gather your family’s extras and have a group garage sale to benefit your daycare center. Post signs at school to have other families bring their donations in a few weeks before the sale so you can have time to price and organize the items.

Auction. Have an informal auction of donated goods and services in your daycare’s lobby with write-in bids. You can also help organize an auction event, complete with tickets that must be purchased to attend. The event usually has catering, a bar, entertainment and live auction and those costs must be factored into the budget.

Donations. Ask the merchants your frequent regularly if they have goods or services they can donate to the center. Describe the center, what you are raising funds for and explain the donation is tax deductible. Many requests will be positively received. We have found that we’ve received the best response when collecting donations in the spring, summer and early fall so we’re not competing with other donation requests around the holidays. These donations are then incorporated into the school auctions.

Open Ebay Store. Large scale auction events are really only practical one or two times a year for daycare centers because of the costs involved. Consider having a committee that solicits donations year long and sells them in an open market, such as Ebay. It expands your fundraising circle from the immediate circle to a global reach.

Matching Gifts. Remind parents that many corporations have matching gifts programs for donations to non-profit organizations and daycare centers usually qualify. Under this benefit, the corporation may match your cash donation by 50 to 100%.

Artwork By Children. Work with the classroom teachers to create artwork that can be displayed a gallery and sold to parents. Creative projects made by the children or that feature a child’s picture make wonderful gifts for family and friends and sell well when priced appropriately.

Recognition. Parents can memorize their children by purchasing an engraved plaque for a wall, a stamped brick for a walkway or a large piece of equipment for the playground. Think about how large non-profit organizations recognize their large donors and adapt it to your environment. Have an area in your newsletter that regularly recognizes contributions from the parents of the center, whether they be monetary, time or goods and services.

For more great information about expecting and parenting, visit MomRecommended.com, a site for moms by moms. Annie Valle is a freelance writer, web designer and a mom. You'll find product reviews, recipes, baby names, free projects and more, when you visit http://www.momrecommended.com.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

How to Effectively Sell Your Daycare Centre?

DAYCARE Manager That Makes You CRAZY..Click Here To Know More

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There’re many misconceptions about sales. Some individuals believe that a salesperson is born, not bred and feel that they are not cut out for sales. Whilst there is some truth in that, it doesn’t mean that a person who is not “born” a salesperson cannot be trained to be one. When someone is being categorized as a “born” salesperson, it simply means that that person is outgoing and is eloquent and will possibly find selling an easier task to master than a person who is more reserved. However, that said, with some preparations, it is still possible for a seemingly less “sale-sy person to do sales.

The second misconception is good product/services will sell itself. Whilst there is some truth in that, without a good sales pitch, even perfect products will have problems flying off the shelf.

When you are setting up a daycare business, chances are, you will be required to be the principal, teacher, salesperson and sometimes even the cleaner. At least for the first year. As a business owner, you will be required to wear multiple hats and expect to be good at all of it. You will naturally be the frontman of the company and will need to sell your daycare and its services to prospective parents.

Here are some of the basic requirements to be an effective salesperson for your daycare centre.

1. Know your services

First and foremost, you need to list down a fixed set of benefits which you wish to communicate to your potential customers. This is especially useful because you can carry this through, not only to your sales effort but your marketing as well. You can also use this to educate new staff who you’ve recruited.

2. Know your competitor

How much do you know about your daycare competitors ? Do you know how many daycare providers there are within a 500m radius? Do you know what are their pricing strategies? Do you know what they are offering in their curriculum? How do they keep their customers? What do their customers not like about their daycare centre?

You need to gather as much competitive information as possible so that you are able to identify what sets you apart from them. That will be your unique selling proposition when try to promote your daycare services to your potential customers.

3. Know your customers

You need to gather as much information about your customers as possible. Firstly, you need to know what is the demographics of your potential clients. If you are a new daycare centre, look at the client base of the neighbouring daycare centres. It’ll give you an idea of what to expect for your daycare centre.

You need to understand what your customers are looking for in a daycare provider. Are they price sensitive? Are they concerned about the curriculum you are offering? Are they looking at a new and clean facility?

Matching their demographics with what you can offer them, what do you think is the value which they can get from putting their children at your daycare centre.

4. Relate product

By understanding what your customers are looking for, you’ll be able to better cater your sales pitch to their needs. During the initial 3 minutes of the meeting, you should already know what they are looking for in a daycare provider. E.g. If it’s the physical facility that they are concerned about, bring them on a tour around your daycare centre and explain the maintenance policy of each area. If it’s the curriculum that they are looking at, start by sitting them down to show them what your daycare centre offers before bring them on a tour around the daycare centre.

Sales is like riding a bicycle, it become easier with practice. The key to success is lots of hardwork and perseverance.

Good luck!

For more information or resources on starting a daycare, please visit http://www.setupadaycare.com

Monday, September 10, 2007

Pet Sitting Day Care

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Sunday, September 9, 2007

Budgetting Tips For New Daycare Businesses

DAYCARE Manager That Makes You CRAZY..Click Here To Know More

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Many new businesses owners shun budgeting because they are unsure about what sort of cost to budget for. This article will shed some light on the type of cost a new daycare business owner is likely to incur.

You’ve drawn up your business plan, decided on your marketing plan and even detailed your operations plan. Now you need to sit down to calculate how much money you will actually need. But how would you know how much you will need if you do not know what sort of cost you will incur? Whilst there are many types of setup costs for new businesses, here’s a list of costs that a new daycare start up will likely to incur.

1. Set up costs

These are one time cost incurred for the setting up of your daycare facility.

First, let’s look at the physical centre. You’ll need to work out how much the renovations are going to cost you, what sort of furniture and fittings as well as office equipment which you are intending to purchase for your daycare centre. Don’t forget such as fire alarms, smoke detectors, cutlery, mats and decorative items such as notice boards, posters and clocks etc. Sometimes, these small items can add up to quite a lot so be a little careful in that area.

Next, think about all the paper work cost such as licenses, permits, setting up of bank account, lease deposit, commission paid to property agent for helping you secure your centre. Basically any administrative cost.

2. Staff costs

Next, you will need to work out how many staff you are intending to hire and what it is going to cost you on a monthly basis. To have a more accurate gauge, you will need to do a forecast about the number of children you are expecting to have, which will in turn impact the number of staff you will require.

Based on the findings, calculate what you are intending to remunerate your staff. Next, you will need to look into the auxiliary cost such as health insurance, medical benefits, taxes, sick or vacation leave and bonuses. On average, such cost will be about 15-20% of salary.

3. Operating cost

Finally, list down what are the costs you expect to incur on a monthly or regular basis to operate your daycare. The first type of cost will be the administrative costs such as monthly loan / mortgage repayments, insurance for your centre, conservancy charges, hire purchase repayments, rental, utilities, food supplies, etc. You should also take into consideration costs which occur on a regular basis such as maintenance and repair.

Drawing up budgets is an exhausting affair but a good budget and forecast is absolutely necessary as it helps the owner to anticipate the amount of capital and operating cost he/she will need to set aside for a smooth running of the daycare centre.

Happy budgeting!

For more information or resources on starting a daycare, please visit http://www.setupadaycare.com

Day Care Center

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