One of the questions I get asked the most by people looking to start a childcare business is: “How do I find money for my childcare business start up?!” And it’s a great question! Not all of us have money in the bank to get started, right!? So I wanted to share with you some ideas about how to get those dollars flowing!
I’m NOT a financial pro, so these are tools I’ve used myself or my coachees have tried out.
The childcare industry brings in BILLIONS of dollars to the economy every year. It’s pretty much recession proof too, because who doesn’t need childcare?! Which means that there’s cash waiting to invest in new childcare businesses…
Read on to find out how you can get your hands on the financial support you need to finally start your childcare business and start living the life you love!
First thing first…
I need to ask you a question: how are you planning on setting up?
Do you actually need to set up a center? Or could you begin in your home? Are you setting up as a franchise? Will you need a center?
A little bit of money and a lot of perseverance is how you grow! I started as a home daycare because I didn’t have thousands of dollars to hire a space or invest in a franchise. And that is a great route into the industry. I’ve been able to grow and thrive. And so can you.
Should you start small?
Don’t stress about not having hundreds or thousands of dollars. You do not NEED huge amounts of cash to start your childcare business. Many of the owners I know started out with a simple daycare run from their front room! And once they became more established, they were able to find investors or access money to grow.
So I want you to think really carefully about how you start out. Don’t put off starting something you know you’ll love and feel passionate about just because you’re not cash-rich!
Grant money
Grants are great because you don’t usually have to pay the money back. At the moment, there seems to be grant money in most states to support childcare businesses to stay open and grow. These tend to be for businesses that are already established. However, there’s no harm in investigating! Perhaps your local government agencies have something available for start up childcare businesses. Even if they have nothing to give you, they can be great for sign-posting you to other grants.
Look at grants outside the childcare business arena – small business grants, community grants… There are lots of options and sometimes it’s smaller amounts that you can put towards training or furniture.
Loans
Not always something people are keen on (I know I stayed away!), but loans can be a good way to getting your foot in the door. Go to your own bank and open up a conversation with your finance experts there. They might be able to help you set up and they can point you in the right direction for grants and further support.
Do not go to a loan shark or take out a loan where the interest rates are sky-high! A reputable and responsible bank or financer will ensure that your repayments are affordable and sensible. A loan could be the leg up that you’re looking for.
Side hustle
Perhaps you might want to look at getting a second job or doing a side hustle to gather the money you need to get started. This isn’t an option for everyone, but working a few extra shifts means being able to save cash. You can then put this directly into savings for your new business venture.
If you do have the time to spend 6 months working a second job or side hustle, then it’s a great way to plan for saving. Set yourself that deadline so you don’t get stuck and not start your childcare business.
Find a partner
If you have someone who wants to partner up with you – perhaps they’d rather be in the background while you’re doing the front of house! A great partnership can do amazing things for a business. Sometimes the partner just wants to invest, and that’s cool. But they might want to be IN the business, so you’ve got to be clear about roles. Playing on each of your strengths can be hugely beneficial.
Whatever you do on this front, make sure you’ve got it all in writing!! A partnership break up can be ugly if you don’t have things laid out officially from the get-go!
So if you’re wondering how to find the money for your childcare business start up, save some of these ideas and then dive into the video below for more!
Watch my YouTube video now to answer the biggest question I get asked about the childcare business: ”How do you find money to start one”?
Join me inside as we tackle some ideas to get those dollars you need to finally get started!
And to help you figure things out, here’s my Side Hustle Checklist to download now! Go and get some inspiration on what you can quickly do to get the start up funds you need.
If you’ve loved this post, please leave me a comment below, or share the lessons you’ve learned so far!
I’d love for you to join the community over on Facebook, where you can hang out with like-minded and aspirational daycare owners. Dive in for more tips on how to make your childcare business the success it deserves to be! Or if you prefer Instagram, we share ideas and tips there too. We’re an army of childcare professionals who are sharing ninja-sharp skills to transform our businesses into childcare empires! This is Childcare Ownership all Grownup!
Just because you’re full at the moment, doesn’t mean you can forget about your enrollment. In this blog I’m going to give you some hacks to supercharge enrollment! Let’s make sure you’ve got a wait list of keen families who’ll snap up a spot as soon as you have a vacancy!
After 15 years running my childcare business, I’ve learned tons of hacks along the way to keep my daycares buzzing! Read on for some of my awesome expert tips!
Don’t slack because you’re currently busy
Right now it might seem super easy to get enrollment. Lots of families are headed back into their workplaces and trying to navigate this post-Covid world. This means that our daycare centers are open to support people! In fact it’s making us all incredibly busy.
However, we don’t want to slack off purely because we’re busy. Therefore we’ve gotta be like the ants in the story of the ants and the grasshopper (you’ve seen A Bugs Life, right!?). Work solidly all year round and don’t sit on your laurels or rest completely while the sun is shining!
Let’s keep in mind that families aren’t always sat waiting for a space. Remembering numbers on your waitlist might drop sometimes, so we must be proactive about enrollment.
Why you need a waitlist
It’s vital that you have a waitlist for enrollment so that you don’t have to worry about where you’ll find your next client when someone moves on. You know how it goes, the childcare’s enrollment goes up and down! So I definitely want you to be prepared for when enrollment potentially drops.
If you’re bearing enrollment in mind all year round and have systems in place, you can build a waitlist for those quieter times. Ultimately, you want to keep relevant and top of mind with your local families.
Enrollment hack #1
A super easy win for letting people know you’re there is getting some signage up! You’d be surprised how many times I’ve walked past daycares with no idea they’re even there! Make sure you’ve got a sign of some sort up! No matter what size of business you have, people need to know you exist.
I’m not saying you have to have a gigantic sign that dominates the street. You could even just place an easel out the front, with some branded balloons! Having your business name on the balloons and a simple notice stating that you’re open for enrollment is all it takes.
Depending on where you’re based and any residential rules (if you’re a home daycare), you might want to go bigger! Perhaps you could even have something custom-made with your childcare biz name and a flashing “join the waitlist!”
So whether you’re a home daycare or a large facility, pop up some signs!
Enrollment hack #2
Sometimes it’s easy to forget how valuable the local community can be when it comes to enrollment. Not only is word of mouth helpful, but you can utilize the online space too!
I highly recommend joining some local Facebook community groups. Engaging in these kind of spaces, demonstrates your standing in the real world and reminds people that you’re an expert! Often it’s tricky to post adverts or be salesy, due to rules, there’s no harm in you offering tips and advice. Sometimes you can pop a link under “any recommendations?” posts from people (if it’s allowed). Plus you can absolutely have a link to your business website in your profile.
By being helpful in the groups and engaging with potential clients, you’re keeping visible and reminding people that you’re open and ready to serve.
For more hacks, here’s my recent YouTube video! Watch so you don’t miss out on the things that have helped me and hundreds of other childcare business owners I work with!
So please keep enrollment and visibility in mind for the whole year, not just when your numbers drop! That way you’re always ready for the quiet periods and never have to stress over low numbers!
Speaking of being visible and proactive for the whole year…have you started planning for 2022 yet?! I’ve got just the thing to give you a head start! This is no ordinary paper planner. It’s specifically designed with Childcare Business owners in mind. Because I got sick of having to tweak the ones aimed at other industries!
And because I know a planner is zero use without accountability, I’ve added an accountability piece to my new and improved Nyckie B’s 2022 Childcare Business Planner System!
Even with all the planning in the world, being a home daycare provider can sometimes feel lonely and overwhelming. Getting connected with other childcare owners is a game changer! Gain strategies and tips to move your childcare business forward by joining a community! That’s why I set up my Facebook group, where you can hang out with like-minded and aspirational daycare owners. Join us for more tips on how to make your childcare business the success it deserves to be!
Or if you prefer Instagram, we share ideas and tips there too. We’re an army of childcare professionals who are sharing ninja-sharp skills to transform our businesses into childcare empires! This is Childcare Ownership all Grownup!
As Childcare providers, we’re kinda prepared for sickness within our facilities. However, at some point there’s bound to be a highly contagious something-or-other spreading round your daycare! I wanted to share with you 3 lessons I learned recently after an outbreak, so that you can comeback stronger!
Have you had to deal with a wildfire sickness in your childcare biz yet? If you haven’t yet, read on!
What’s an outbreak?
Kids touch everything. And I mean All. The. Things. They also put lots of things in their mouths! And because of this, highly contagious diseases and infections spread FAST in childcare facilities!
When one kid has something infectious you want to isolate it as quickly as possible before it becomes an outbreak. An outbreak is when two or more cases occur of the same illness. And that happens super fast in daycares where the kids are in close contact.
Our recent outbreak scenario
In my 15 years of running a childcare business I’ve somehow managed to dodge any outbreaks. Even during Covid! So you can imagine my face when a few weeks ago we had an outbreak of Hand, Foot & Mouth…oh no!
We all know and understand that in childcare ownership you will no doubt at some point deal with a highly infectious illness that enters your childcare business. And you can bet your bottom dollar that it has a high potential to be spread to others. So when it hit one of my facilities, I was not surprised at the event but was shocked at the speed at which it spread!
My goal this week is to help you learn a few lessons and navigate through the process a little simpler so that you aren’t coming at this from a clueless perspective. I want to share my tips for a successful comeback after an outbreak!
What happened?
We had a new child start who came from another day care center. Unknowingly, they brought with them the scary disease Hand Foot and Mouth. I say scary because it was! We’d never had to deal with it before.
Although we’d never had cases of Hand Foot and Mouth spread like this before, we were kind of prepared. We had things on hand, like our emergency plan, to help us deal with it. And we’ve obviously spent the last 18 months being extra vigilant because of Covid-19. But still!!
Once we knew what we were dealing with, we shut down the facility for a few days into the weekend. This allowed the sickness to run its course and for us to do what we needed to do in the center! And we were able to come back fresh on the Monday morning ready for whatever that week was gonna throw at us.
Wanna watch my Monday Moves YouTube instead of reading? Here you go!
We learned a lot during those few days! What a learning curve! Here’s a few of the main lessons from our outbreak…
Lesson 1 – is it time to rethink your intake processes?
Where we are, rules state that clients have a time period of about a month in which their child has to get a physical. Which means that kids start without us knowing if they have a clean bill of health or not. Normally, we have to wait for the paperwork.
But this recent outbreak has made me reconsider this! Moving forward, I want children to have that paperwork before they start. It means I can protect the families we serve already and also my All Star Team!
How does your intake process work? What are your state guidelines? If yours are loose like ours, maybe try making it a bit stricter. It should help you cut down on potential outbreaks.
Lesson 2 – Take a look at your childcare set up
Is there something in your set up that can be changed to prevent the spread? We have lockers for our older kids, but in our facilities for younger children we have open cubbies. And we realized that the toddler cubby area was where Hand Foot and Mouth came in and where it was spread. Little kids touching each others things and the belongings are cross-contaminating. So we’ve now got lockers for our toddlers!
What could you alter in your daycares to slow the spread of infectious diseases? Make sure you’ve looked at cleaning protocols and handwashing routines for kids and grown ups too.
Lesson 3 – Don’t forget the basics!
I know the mornings are super hectic, but don’t let your vigilance slip! Keep your eyes peeled for things other than Covid. We’ve been constantly checking temperatures, but maybe more so than looking for wellness visual signs. And that’s where we can spot signs of other – potentially highly contagious – things like Hand Foot and Mouth.
One thing that helps is asking the kids how they’re doing. They’re so good at telling you exactly how they’re feeling! So you can then quiz parents gently about any symptoms the child’s brought up.
And make sure your team practice your emergency plans on a regular basis to keep everyone on their toes! That way they’re not panicking when something actually happens.
I hope these lessons help you prevent an outbreak in your daycare! Have you got any tips you’d like to share? Please leave them in the comments below!
Want to grow your business and get more involved in the childcare community? Join us for more tips on how to make your childcare business the success it deserves to be! Or if you prefer Instagram, we share ideas and tips there too! We’re an army of childcare professionals who are sharing ninja-sharp skills to transform our businesses into childcare empires! This is Childcare Ownership all Grownup!
Every October we’re celebrating our birthday! Woo hoo! And this year is 15 years! And that’s a pretty long time to be in business. So, what lessons have I learned during my 15 years of childcare ownership?!
Oh my goodness…so so many! And I wanted to share the top ones with you, so you can learn from them too.
Get stuck in, Ninja! I’m all about helping you grow, so read on!
15 years of childcare ownership
Some days I wake up and I cannot believe it’s been a whole 15 years since I set up my first childcare business from my home. I’m so proud of how far I’ve come on my childcare ownership journey! Not to mention the all star teams I’ve brought along with me for the ride…
And along the way I’ve made some epic mistakes that have helped me grow as a childcare business owner. I see every hurdle and challenge as a lesson, and I think that’s the key to being a successful entrepreneur. We learn from every mistake we make. And I’m sharing some of these lessons with you because I was out on my own back in the day and wish someone had told me a few of these!!
It’s a marathon not a sprint!
This one is a key lesson, Ninja! If you don’t take it seriously, you’ll burn out and you’ll struggle to succeed. Running a childcare business isn’t the way to overnight success. Trust me. I’ve seen childcare owners come and go because it all seems like too much hard work. And do you know what?! It is hard work! It’s certainly not a get rich quick scheme.
Owning a childcare business is more than just babysitting! It requires stamina and an understanding that success will take time – just like a marathon.
Always look forward!
Yup. I said it. Reflection is all well and good – we learn from our past after all! But the key to being a successful childcare business owner is constantly looking forward. Don’t spend so much time looking back that you forget about the present and where you’re headed.
You’ve got to have goals that stretch you, that help you grow. You should be aiming for them and you can’t do that if you’re facing backwards, can you?!
Commitment is foundational!
The only reason I’ve managed to grow my business year upon year is that I have remained committed! I have never given up, even when things looked bleak. Knowing that showing up everyday and putting in the work WILL eventually lead to growth is so important. Sometimes it can feel like an uphill battle, but the view from the top is awesome!
Build the foundations of your childcare business by committing to it. Know that the work you put in now is going to make a solid beginning for your empire to come!
Done is better than perfect!
Well I certainly wish I’d learned this one in the early days. I used to waste so much time worrying about things not being ready and then never offering that particular service or advertising a type of class…all because I was being a perfectionist! It had to be perfect or it wouldn’t happen. And do you know what?! It was never perfect. So things never happened.
My advice to you, Ninja, is to remember that perfection isn’t always possible and therefore if you have an idea JUST GO FOR IT! This is a daily challenge for me and I am often reminding myself and the rest of my team: done is better than perfect!
Think BIGGER!
If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know I LOVE the bang on about this one! It’s all about mindset and going for gold. You’ve got to aim high and think bigger when it comes to the goals you have for your childcare business. I’ve written about that more here.
It reminds me of this quote: Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star. Meaning that you should have an ambitious goal and truly go for it. Remembering all the time that, should you miss the goal, you might still achieve something special. Because sometimes, even when things don’t go as you’d planned they can still turn out to be a success!
What you do matters!
Oooooooofffff. This one means so much to me that I’ve just had a whole batch of team t-shirts made with “What I do matters” sewn onto them!
Your job, your business, your passion… they all matter to your families AND to your community! It’s so helpful to remember the bigger picture, especially when you’ve had a bad day (as we so often do!). Every single day you are out there making a difference in the lives of others. What you do absolutely matters. And this is also a great reminder for the kids in your care too.
And there are more lessons I’ve learned in 15 years of being a childcare owner…
So I’ve put together a celebratory video for you here!
Every week I share a video on YouTube especially for you, Ninja! Join me every Monday when I release a new video for you to make moves in your home childcare business to make your childcare ownership journey Simple. Fun. & Successful! Subscribe here.
I hope you enjoyed the essential lessons from my journey of 15 years of childcare ownership! My mission is to help you minimize the amount of time in learning these lessons so that you can reach success much faster than I was able to!
If you’ve loved this post, please leave me a comment below, or share the lessons you’ve learned so far!
That’s why I set up my community over on Facebook, where you can hang out with like-minded and aspirational daycare owners. Join us for more tips on how to make your childcare business the success it deserves to be! Or if you prefer Instagram, we share ideas and tips there too. We’re an army of childcare professionals who are sharing ninja-sharp skills to transform our businesses into childcare empires! This is Childcare Ownership all Grownup!
Hands up if an onboarding system has slipped down your To Do list? I know so many childcare business owners who are winging it on this front. You have people knocking on your door before you’ve had a chance to create a team to take care of the kids! Sometimes this leads to panic hiring, and – let’s be honest – this is a disaster for everyone!
Rushing to fill the gaps in your team is nearly always a mistake. You want to have time and space to find the right fit, and having a great onboarding system will make this easier! And we’re in the final quarter of 2021 and 2022 is looming, so now is the time to sort it out!
Let’s do this, Ninja! I want to share with you my expertise on how to create an onboarding system that helps your new team members settle in but that also keeps you on top of the paperwork you must do!
What is an onboarding system?
This is the processes you have in place for hiring someone new for your childcare team.
Firstly there’s the hunt for people to interview. Then there’s the picking the right people for interviewing. After that there’s the actual interviews…and that’s followed by all the legal paperwork that needs to be completed. And once they’re hired, it’s important that you nurture them so that they stick around and help you grow your business through consistency!
It can be a whole lot to deal with, so I want to help you as much as possible.
Why do we need an onboarding system?
In this industry we have a ton of rules and regulations to follow when it comes to bringing a new member of staff onboard. There are legal requirements that must be adhered to and we cannot afford any errors. The state needs us to have certain things, wherever you’re based!
And actually it’s not just about the legalities…it’s about saving you time and money! Hiring the right team member in the first round rather than third time lucky will make a huge difference to your business. You want to make sure the onboarding system includes elements that brings the right person into your business.
Hiring a team can be hard!
Hiring is one of the hardest parts of running a childcare business. Where can you find your dream team?! Make sure you’ve got your job description sorted out, you’ll want to head out and start looking for those new key players. Obviously you can use the internet to place a job ad. You can look on Indeed, Craigslist…there’s a tonne of other places to put your job description on there. Set up a Facebook page where potential staff can come to you and you can let local people know that you’re hiring right now.
I’d recommend using a mix of digital and traditional in your search for the perfect team! “Help Wanted” signs still have a place. Word of Mouth is still great too, so make sure you tell parents and the current team that you’re looking for help. And I know I’ve found some great extra help from teachers who are looking for some additional income over the summer holidays. Plus you might have some newly qualified trade school students in your area who are looking for some work.
You can ensure that your interviews go well by having a set list of questions that are really tailored to your daycare. It’s no good having generic questions, because your business is different and unique to you. Make sure that your questions reflect that and are open enough to allow your interviewees to feel at ease so they can answer to their best ability. I’d also recommend including an orientation session and maybe a “meet the team”, so you can get the team’s feedback.
Also, this process is as much about you as it is about them. You want to be giving the right signals to your potential new team member. How do you want to come across? What do you want to be known for? Remember the old adage: people remember not what you say but how you make them feel.
File your paperwork!
Unless you love having really difficult conversations (or WORSE receiving citations!) from the inspectors, you must make sure all the forms get filed properly!!
It’s very easy to forget what has or hasn’t been done, so the best thing to do is – you guessed it! – create a process!
Checking off things the list as we get them done will help us keep track of where we’re at. In order to do that properly, it’s great to sit down and think the process through. Consider all the steps like how are we getting the people in our doors, getting paperwork filled out, training, and getting them used to your children, parents, and the rest of the team.
Bringing them into your business
Once you’ve hired your new team member – a newbie or someone who’s done it before – you want to get them settled in. Give them time to learn the processes and routines. Let them get to know their new colleagues and the kids and parents.
It’s important to make their probation as positive an experience as possible, so that they want to stay. It’ll save you time, money and energy if you can retain your new team members and not have to go through the hiring process over and over again.
Watch my video to find out more about how I create my onboarding system!
I hope your takeaway from this is that you need to get an actual process in place! One that’s written down and ideally in a checklist form, because it definitely helps things flow easier! Trust me on that!
if you haven’t already, So I really want to encourage you to set that up your onboarding system in the next few weeks. To help you get started, go and download my FREE ‘Hiring and Onboarding for Success’ guide.
Tell me in the comments…Do you have any onboarding tips? What works for you?
Join us over on Facebook for more tips on how to make your childcare business the success it deserves to be! You can hang out with like-minded and aspirational daycare owners. Or if you prefer Instagram, we share inspiration, ideas and tips there too. We’re an army of childcare professionals who are sharing ninja-sharp skills to transform our businesses into childcare empires! This is Childcare Ownership all Grownup!
