It’s that old vicious circle again! One that I hear time and time again. “I can’t afford to invest in myself”. But then because you’ve not invested you can’t grow. And so it goes on. Ad infinitum. So I’ve written a blog to explain why you can’t afford not to invest in yourself!
Read on to discover the reasons I know that it’s time for you to start taking investing in you and your childcare business seriously.
Excuses I hear everyday about why you can’t invest in yourself
When I’m coaching childcare business owners something they very quickly grow out of is making excuses. They used to say things like “I can’t afford to take time off”. Or “I can’t afford to get a coach”. Or even “I can’t afford to hire staff”. And instead they now take time to consider things carefully before automatically making assumptions about money and affordability. They look at all the options available to them. They don’t write off things that could actually help them grow their businesses just because they have in the past.
I’m not suggesting that you start taking silly risks or putting your home on the line. No way! I’m just asking you to REALLY think about things before you turn down huge opportunities to up-level your childcare business.
When I was coaching with my most recent cohort of The Childcare Flip, I saw them completely change their mindset about “affordable” and other money issues. The progress they made was incredible. And I want that for you too!
Can’t invest in yourself or won’t…What is going on really?
More often than not when someone says “I can’t afford it” they’re not thinking about their actual finances and bank statements. Sometimes it’s about trust. Others it’s about priorities. And occasionally it’s about being more resourceful and thinking outside the box.
So when you’re faced with an opportunity to invest in yourself as a childcare business owner, I’d encourage you to journal on it. Don’t immediately say no. Instead take some time to look at what’s really happening here. What are the benefits of investing in this? Where might the path take you? Who will you get the chance to work with? How much money could this make you in the future?
Can you afford not to invest in yourself?
As a childcare boss, there’s only so far you can go by yourself. I know because I’ve been there. I’ve had to invest in a coach to help me navigate growth and dive deep into my own mindset issues. And I’ve taken courses to elevate my business to the next level, far beyond the imagination of home daycare Nyckie from back in the day! I never imagined I’d be the owner of multiple facilities and a coach to Childcare Ninjas across the globe!
And that’s what I want you to think about, Ninja. When you invest in yourself there are so many amazing benefits beyond the coach/course/program you buy. You get that awesomeness, and then you also get the added bonuses so often available. And that’s what you get with The Childcare Flip too. I will be teaching you SO much brilliant stuff in there to flip your business! I also give you templates to help you grow your list, and more! These things will MAKE you money. Can you afford not to invest in yourself?!
The Childcare Flip – turning childcare business on its head!
This course is THE complete, step-by-step system I have created for in-home daycare and childcare owners to create a childcare business with freedom, flexibility, and financial success.
You’ll learn the F.O.R.G.E. Method to help you create a winning marketing method that gets potential clients coming to you instead of your competition & that does this fast.
The Childcare Flip Course has helped me keep growing my daycare business day after day, have more than one center & made my life and business into what it is today…
I’ll be running my free webinar training on these common and easy-to-make mistakes TOMORROW! Based on my own experience and going through this huge learning curve I want to shortcut your success and help you save $$$s on costly mistakes!
If you’re not ready for my course, why not get connected with other childcare owners instead? Get tips every week to move your childcare business forward by joining my FREE Facebook group! Hang out with like-minded and aspirational daycare owners as well as training every other week from me! 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!
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!
Is it time for you to grow your finances and finally begin building your wealth? One of the reasons I set up Childcare Ninjas – my mission if you will – is that I really want to encourage everyone in this community to become financially literate in their childcare business. I want women like YOU to be bringing in the money you want to make.
For years, money has been a taboo subject – particularly for women – and I want to make sure that doesn’t get in your way! It’s a topic that often makes us feel stressed or uncomfortable, so the more we talk about it the less hush-hush it’ll be.
In this blog I’m going to share with you some of the things you need to consider when it comes to finances. Because when we KNOW, we can GROW!
Why do we need to learn about finances?
Rather than just spending up your check when it comes in, we need to learn what to do to make the money work for us! We want to manoeuvre ourselves into a place where we start to become wealthy, where we don’t just strive but get to thrive financially in our business and our lives.
In order to do that I believe there has to be a learning curve, to seek out the education that shows us how to use our finances in a positive way and be able to continue growing them. Oftentimes that isn’t the information that’s handed down, you need to be purposeful about seeking it out.
Many of us received the opposite, growing up with negative thoughts and ideas about money and wealth. This takes time and effort to unpick and unlearn.
When it comes to finances in business, I was (once upon a time) the kind of person who’d throw all my receipts and invoices in a drawer and “deal with them later”…and then the drawer got all jammed up because it was overflowing with paperwork…I wonder if that’s ringing any bells for you there, Ninja?
The trick when it comes to great financial management is consistency and small, simple systems. This took me so long to figure out, and that is why I am super excited to be giving you this guidance, so you don’t have to waste time figuring it out!
But why do you need to grow your finances?
And the reason this matters is that money is not shared equally across the globe. Nope. Did you know that the world’s richest 1% – those with more than $1 million – own 43.4% of the world’s wealth? And of those, men have more of a share than women, and there is massive inequality in terms of race, language, religion.
So when a load of us women in childcare start growing our businesses and creating WEALTH for us and our communities we are rocking the boat! We are shifting the wealth share and making the lives of people in our areas better! What’s not to love, Ninja?!
I want to encourage each and everyone of us to build our wealth and create overflow and abundance in our lives!
Figure out the language of finance
Part of the reason we shy away from talking about money is that the finance industry bamboozles us with words that we don’t understand. So before you get started with trying to sort out your finances, I’d recommend getting familiar with the language.
There’s absolutely no shame in googling words you don’t recognize or listening to some finance books on audiobook. You could even reading a paper copy and have a thesaurus handy for any unfamiliar words.
We weren’t taught this stuff in school, so it’s time we took things into our own hands! Let’s grow your finances together!
What do we know about finances already?
Take a minute to sit and figure out what you DO know. You might already know how to pay in checks and cash them, for example. You may be au fait with internet banking. How about pay roll and taxes?
Perhaps you ran a product-based business before you decided to open a daycare, or maybe you were the treasurer for the PTA and kept immaculate records on spreadsheets for the bake sales and jamborees. Whatever your experience, don’t belittle it! You’ve picked up skills over the years and you can flex those muscles again, just in a different way.
Once you know what you DO know, then you can start to look and learn the things you DON’T yet. And it’s okay to admit that we don’t know stuff!!
Time to separate your money
Don’t mingle your money! Especially if you’re an LLC. You need an EIN to set up your own business account. Do it in your name or under a business name – doesn’t matter! But you need it separate. Lots of first time business owners make the mistake of using their day-to-day accounts when they start up, and it just creates utter chaos when you are trying to figure out incomings and outgoings.
Keep it simple. One account for the childcare business, and another for your personal business. Read about the way you can manage finances and the Profit First method here.
Create financial goals to grow your finances
So I know you’re probably familiar with the idea of goal setting – “In 5 years I’d like to have a second daycare”, “In a year I’d like to build an extension onto my current childcare space”, “By the time I’m 40 I want to have a new home, car and at least 30 employees”… And these are great. Being ambitious and stretchy in our goal setting is AWESOME! However, you want to be ultra specific with financial goals.
Make sure you set income goals because you want your business journey to be focused and not meandering all over the place. Attach a number to your goal. For example, “In a years time I want to be bringing in $60,000 so I can build that extension and develop my childcare space”. You don’t wanna travel without a destination!
Break down your financial tasks
Daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly. Keep track of receipts, keep track of all incomings and outgoings on a daily basis. Weekly – on a Friday – you can get your financial tasks done (like filing those receipts!). Your accountant will love you for it. Build these tasks into your workflow!
Get some financial help!
I cannot emphasize this enough: get an accountant and a book keeper. They’re not the same thing!
Your accountant can support you with taxes and figuring out your financial journey. I tend to check in with mine and update them on new things I’m doing in case that impacts my taxes. But at the end of the tax year is when they work their magic. And the bookkeeper makes sure all your expenses are accounted for and you work together all year long. They’re financial fairy godmothers who can help you stay on top of things!
Build relationships with people at your bank. Talk to the teller and the bank manager, and don’t feel intimidated by anyone. It’s key to connect, so that you can ask questions and learn from them as experts about how things work.
When you have a new project coming up or are looking to expand, their expertise can be so valuable to decision making.
Do not be afraid of asking for help.
Hopefully after reading this blog post you’re feeling a bit more confident about money and talking about how to grow your finances. I mentioned earlier that I use the Profit First method and have been since reading the book, but I’d love to know what money, finance, or business books have made an impact on you? Share your resources in the comments below or come and join in the conversation over on Facebook!
To get you started on managing your finances effectively and efficiently, here’s an extra helping hand from me to you, Ninja:
If you want to hang out with like-minded and aspirational childcare business owners, come and get involved in the community over on Facebook! 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!
In any year it’s easy to lose focus on our finance goals, but when there’s a global pandemic going on it’s even harder! However, I wanted to give you some encouragement and motivation to show you how to stay inspired and on track.
We often find it tricky to keep our eyes on the prize. We get distracted by the endless possibilities of what everyone else is doing and what all our friends have. It’s all too easy to get side-swiped by what you don’t have, or haven’t managed to do, and the reasons behind that – usually financial!
What I want to help you with is staying focused on your goals!
Money mindset and financial taboo
When it comes to money, there’s a lot of weird stuff that comes up for most of us. A lot of it stems from our childhoods and the way we were brought up. For me that was in the church. And boy oh boy do church and finance have some bizarre clashes in personality going on!
So many of us brought up to believe that it’s impolite or embarrassing to talk about money. Money also holds an emotional connection for many of us. It can bring on an anxious reaction or trigger other behaviors. In my Facebook group, one of the things the Ninjas shy away from is talking about finance.
So what exactly is going on here?
I’ve talked about the importance of having a positive money mindset before, but I haven’t really gone into my own personal journey. So I’m going to share my story with you because I believe you may have experienced similar growing up.
At one point in my life I believed that making money was evil. That’s what I’d grown up hearing in church. That “money was the root of all evil” and that people who made money were greedy and evil and nothing good ever came from money. That the love of money was a sin and it was the Devil’s work.
But as I got older I began to do my own research, really looking at the scriptures and the context of quotes like the one above – which is the infamous 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” Drummed into many of us as kids, when we look at it as adults, we can’t forget to add the love of in front of money here.
I’ve had to relearn a lot of my mindset around money. Money builds churches, hospitals, and homeless shelters – communities! We should be pro making money, and what we should stand up to is using money in a way that harms people and the planet.
It’s time for us women in business to overcome the money taboo!
Money is a tool!
Money isn’t evil. It’s an object that we can use for good or evil. And it really can be a fantastic tool to help us make a difference. We can utilize it to make the world a better place. It can help people.
Money can help us reach our goals and without money it can be quite tricky to take care of the people we love. We owe it to ourselves as women to achieve financial success. We owe it to our children to see us earning money and not being ashamed of it. Women can have an extraordinary economic impact on the planet.
Let’s change the way we think, accept that we are worthy of earning money, and let’s start embracing what money can do!
Stay focused on YOUR finance goals
You might think your goals are yours…but what if you’ve been influenced by other people and they don’t align with your values? The way you can get laser-focused and ensure that your goals truly are YOURS is to look at your soul goals and see if they marry up with the money targets. Are they challenging enough or are you playing small to please others? Or have you set something that is only going to end in heart ache?
Take some time to journal on this one. Honor your truth. Listen to your gut. It never fails to tune into your intuition.
What will inspire you to stay focused on your finance goals?
We’re all different and have our own things that help us. For me, my faith is one of them, I utilize it every day of my life! Now that I’ve made peace with the age old conflict between church and money, I know I can use my faith to keep me on track.
Perhaps it’ll be your family that inspires you to stay in your lane and reach your goals. Is it to extend your home or find somewhere a little less snug? Or maybe it is an adventure that you want to go on, and you’re able to visualize yourself going on that trip – each time you lose a little momentum, practice picturing yourself doing that thing!
“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.”
Ayn Rand
Not only do we need to have conversations around the green stuff, we need to be open about how finance looks and feels for us! We have got to persist in setting ourselves financial goals, and start asking for what we want and need. Because let’s not forget what money can do for us!
I hope you’re going to use this as an opportunity to start talking about money more, encouraging conversations about finances with your business friends, employees and your family. If you found this blog post helpful, send the link to a friend – sharing is caring! Or come and continue the money talk over on Facebook in our Ninja community!
If you enjoyed reading this and would like to get more involved, 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! Interested in becoming more involved in the community and to grow your business? Join us for more tips on how to make your childcare business the success it deserves to be! Or if you prefer Instagram, come and say hi there!
If 2020 has taught us anything at all, then surely it’s that we need to be prepared for the unexpected and be as adaptable as we can be. So how can you use this knowledge to organize your finances to make you more secure?
So what I’m sharing with you today is things we can do to cover ourselves. Making sure we cover all the bases and essentials, plus investing in our childcare businesses and us. Because investing in ourselves is key to growth.
Does the word “finances” fill you with dread?
Since I’ve been running my own business, I’ve got a lot more comfortable talking about money. The ins and outs, the profit margins and invoices. I’ve written about it before over here, and in other places too!
It’s strange, because although we know how important money is, and how finances impact our lives daily, it seems that we don’t like to talk about it much. There’s definitely a touch of taboo when it comes to discussing the green stuff.
Recently, I posted about finances in my Facebook group and it turns out that not many Childcare Ninjas are feeling the topic! But what I want to change is how we view money. Because it is super clear that to become successful in your childcare business, you’ve got to get comfy with finances and the talk that comes with it.
Excuse-proofing your finances
Last year, it was very easy for many of us to make excuses around not investing in our childcare businesses, and putting off investing on ourselves. But now 2021 has arrived, and we should be able to start off on a good foot, covering ourselves so we have the finances we need to grow our businesses. This includes money for investing in ourselves and investing in our childcare businesses.
Now is not the time for excuses! So what can you do to change the way things have been going? Have you made a plan for alternative income streams? Have you got ideas for saving money?
Challenge yourself to up your finance game
Developing your childcare business this year means you’ve got to stop using the old excuse “I can’t afford it”. Take the opportunities that you’re given in 2021 to grow your business. Lean into the fear and get stuck in. Stop putting off investing. Take money as an excuse of the table. And to do that, you’ve got to set yourself up to be more secure. You need to get comfy looking at your finances. To know exactly what you need to have coming in, and some extra for investment.
I want to challenge you to sit down and create some plans on different ways you can make some extra income next year. Set a timer and write down all the possible ways you could make money. E-bay? Babysitting? Make a cup of coffee and really go for it with that list!
Think outside of the box!
What are you good at that could bring you in some side hustle money? Could you teach piano lessons or do dog walking? Could you offer odd job skills to neighbors? Perhaps you’re a dab-hand at baking and might offer your services to busy moms who haven’t got time to make that all-singing all-dancing birthday cake?
Don’t let worries about what other people might think get in the way of you trying ideas out. Marie Forleo waited tables and taught dance classes while she worked her way up to the top of her game! She talks about money myths many of us women fall into here. And doing something other than running your childcare business, so that you can have enough money to invest doesn’t make you a failure. Trust me!
Still stuck on how to excuse-proof your finances?
I have a great resource that can help you out. It offers a number of different ideas to help you get the cash you need to start your in home business, hire that coach, or purchase that course to help move you along on your journey to success.
I designed this for you because I want you to get the tools you need to get to the next level of your success quickly and I don’t want you to keep putting your success on hold because of limited funds. And I want to help you reach your success as quickly and as simply as possible because it’s about time that you started living life on your own terms! Are you with me!? Download you free ideas list here.
How do you feel about finances? Is it something you shy away from talking about? Or are you at ease in that kind of conversation?
Come and let us know over in the Childcare Ninja Facebook group! 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! Interested in becoming a part of the community? Join us for more tips on how to make your childcare business the success it deserves to be! And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!
