In this blog, I’m sharing the secret main ingredient to growing your childcare business. Take your home childcare business to a whole new level by making sure you’re adding the value your potential clients are actually seeking.
You’re already offering a great service to your families and community, but how can you really make your childcare business stand out from the crowd? How are you going to shine above all the others?
One word my lovely Ninja: VALUE!
You’ve got to be going above and beyond in your offerings.
Why do I need to add value?
It’s necessary to do more than just offer the basics. I had to do this right at the start of my journey as a childcare business owner. I looked at serving my community with hours outside the traditional working day childcare hours. By offering unusual hours I was giving value. I filled a need that other people had neglected in their offerings!
How will I know what value my clients are looking for?
Hey ninja, keep it simple here! Just ask them! Put out a survey asking if there’s anything the families wish you offered.
Think about the questions that your current clients are asking you. Do you offer weekends? Are you open in the evenings? Pull out the ones that you can fulfil now…and mark ones for the future (when you’ve got more staff or venues).
Don’t be afraid of asking questions on tours of your daycare. “What else would you like to see?” Because you might be able to add it in at a later date when you have capacity. Perhaps music lessons or languages, or a gardening club…whatever it is!
Who else can you help?
Also, it doesn’t hurt to think outside the box. Think about the value you can offer to other businesses or individuals who aren’t your current clients.
When I was looking at other services I could offer, I just so happened to be at a wedding. I was looking at the kids running round and it dawned on me that what this wedding needed was a babysitting service! And so I branched into wedding childcare. Which led to an “aha” moment when I realized that if weddings needed childcare services, perhaps other events did too. So I reached out to event management companies. It took off!!
So take a look around your neighborhood. What is missing? Is there anything you could offer to local businesses that could make you stand out as a childcare business?
Make use of your venue.
If you run your childcare business from a center that isn’t your home, you might want to look at hiring out your space at the weekends to local community groups or for birthday parties.
What else could you offer at your specific venue? Is there a local makers market or artists group that needs a space? Or perhaps a sports coach? Helping people in the community adds value to your childcare.
Check out my YouTube video for more tips, where I’m discussing how to add value to your services that will help your childcare business grow. In case you haven’t subscribed to my Youtube channel yet and didn’t know, my videos get released live every Monday. Go ahead over to my Youtube channel and let me know what you think. Of course while you’re there be sure to SUBSCRIBE and don’t forget to snap up whatever FREE resource I’ve put up that week. Enjoy! If you find it helpful, pass on the link to other childcare business owners you know who might find it helpful!
Let me know how it helps you inch closer to becoming a childcare ninja when it comes to childcare business growth.
Sometimes being a home daycare provider can feel lonely and overwhelming so getting connected with other childcare owners can really be a game changer to help you gain strategies and tips to move your childcare business forward.
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!
Often when I talk about branding, people conjure up images of their logo. They think of the color palette of their website. But branding is more than just the colors you use, it’s the ‘personality’ of your business. It encompasses your personal and business values, your mission, the service you want to offer and – most importantly – how you want your customers to feel.
I was chatting with my daughter earlier this week about the fact that sometimes people will forget a daycare name but they’ll remember the owners. While a name may be forgotten they remember the WHO – the “Who” that runs that business. And if they had a positive experience, they’ll remember how they FELT.
One of the ways you can help them remember the experience of being in your daycare – whether that’s for a tour or once they’re moving on – is making it sensory. And that’s what I’m focusing on in today’s blog and over on my YouTube “Monday Moves“. Read on!
Using your five senses to up your branding game
You’ve got an opportunity to really hit your clients and potential clients in all their sensory areas with your branding!Ad agencies and marketing businesses have been talking about this for a while. Sensory branding (also known as multisensory marketing) is proving to be a very effective way to captivate your audience. This can be a marvellous way to make your childcare brand unforgettable.
The reason it’s so impactful is that some people love looking at visuals, while others prefer audio, and then you’ve got others who are attracted to touch or smell. All these sensory preferences can be utilized in your marketing. You can grab their attention by creating products and services that tap into their sensory leanings. It’s all about enhancing your customer experience.
Sight and visual branding
Think about the experience you want your families to have in your care. What do you want to be remembered for? If you’re all about the fun and your personality is loud and proud, why wouldn’t you want your daycare to be the same? Let your personality shine through! Use color and materials to liven up the visual experience! Or if you’re a kinda zen individual whose whole being is about calm and meditation, let that come out in your decor.
Use light – from windows or from lamps – to make your daycare a feast for the imagination. Drape fabric from the ceilings to create a different look. Use mirrors to enhance the space and stimulate play!
And while we’re talking about visuals…I know I said logos aren’t the be-all and end-all, BUT…
Are you making sure your visual branding is on everything you do? You want people to remember you and your business. Ensure that your logo is on all your signs and posters. Put it on any window stickers you might have displayed. If you or the kids wear uniforms, is the color on-brand? Is your logo on the kit? Think about giving your children a special branded daycare tote or book-bag. This is essentially free advertising because they’re carrying it all round town before and after their day with you!
Make sure that your logo is on all your communications – paper or digital. Use it in your email signature (tutorial here!). Is the logo on your header image of your social media? Do you use your logo and brand colors on things you share online?
Smell in your branding
Okay, I know this might sound a little weird. Bear with me! But y’all know that real estate agents often bake cookies in the homes they’re trying to sell, so why don’t we do this kinda thing too?!
When you consider the practical smells of a day care – diapers, concoctions of mealtimes, and all that jazz – you might want to think about the smell of your daycare. This is particularly important for visits, but branding your daycare smell matters all the time! You don’t want parents to be gasping for breath when they leave the space. Wouldn’t it be lovely for them to walk in and be given a totally sensory experience of a diffuser with essential oils that soothe the soul? It might also have a positive impact on the kids too! I know I love to walk into my daycare and breathe in whatever delights are in the diffuser each morning!
Taste in your branding
Speaking of baking…Imagine you’re taking your families on a tour around your daycare and having cookies to takeaway with your logo on!? You want to be remembered, and people remember what they’ve tasted.
You can get personalized branded candy or you could do it on a budget, by bulk buying penny sweets and putting them in a pretty bag with a logo sticker on! Or if you’re really focusing on healthy eating, have fruit with your stickers on! Bottles of water with your daycare name on work really well too!
Making your business memorable is what it’s about!
Touch in your branding
Have pens or pencils and other promotional items that you can put your business logo on. Whether you purchase these or DIY, using things they touch and hold to help people remember your childcare business is a great idea!
Parents can take these away, and will be signing checks or writing notes in meetings and someone might notice and ask them about your daycare. Being at the forefront of their minds is helpful when they’re in the process of decision-making where to send their precious kids off while they go to work. If you’ve made the parents feel amazing, and they’ve got something to physically hold and remember you by, they’re more likely to call you up and book on!
Sound in your branding
Don’t panic, I’m not suggesting you go and have a jingle made for the local radio station (anyone else now got Smelly Cat stuck in their head?). What I mean is using sound to enhance the sensory experience of your daycare. People tend to associate darcares with a screechy sound track of nursery rhymes that hark back to the 1980s. So why not think about what music fits the vibe of your daycare?
Think about your own favorite shopping experiences. What music do you hear in those places? Why does it feel good? And then consider how you want your kids and families to feel in your very own daycare centers. Perhaps your could play something that fits the theme? Ambient jungle sounds or rainforest background noise. Or maybe some calming Mozart? Or perhaps you love music from your country of origin and want that to be what people remember.
And of course YOU!
Let’s not forget what I said at the start. YOU are your brand. I think it’s important that you’re “branded” and visible in your local community so that both get associated with each other. I run into that a lot. People will say to me, “Oh yeah Miss Nyckie’s day care! I remember that place” and even though they may have forgotten the venue’s name they remember me and the way I made them feel!
So do make sure you get yourself out there and known in your community and be your brand! Branding isn’t just your childcare venue but it covers you too!
How do you feel about your current daycare branding? Are you utilizing all the sensory experiences you could be? I’d love to chat with you over in the Facebook group about it!
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!
I’ve heard it time and time again over the last few years: “I can’t automate, Nyckie, I run a childcare business.” It often feels like it’s hard to automate anything in this industry, but that’s simply not true! We can automate many things in the day-to-day running of our childcare businesses. We don’t have to do everything manually.
Does this sound like you? I’d love to encourage you to read this blog post and discover why automations and simplifying your business are going to be the spark that allows you to up your game!
This is the 5th part in my series of posts on making the set up of your #homechildcarebusiness as simple as possible! This is hugely important for you to begin scaling to success. Keep it SIMPLE from the very beginning. If you missed the others, check them out here.
Read this week’s new post and let me know how automation helps you inch closer to becoming a #childcareninja when it comes to automating your home childcare business.
What’s so great about automating?
I’d like to flip that round and ask – what ISN’T great about automating?!? Who doesn’t want to make life easier for themselves and their staff? Anyone? *TUMBLEWEED*
Automating means putting systems in place (whether that’s technical systems or step-by-step processes) that require less of your time and energy to run your childcare business. Which means more time to spend on the things you LOVE doing! It equates to FREEDOM!
And not only will having automations save you time, having them all set up and working smoothly will save you money too! Doing things manually or having too many different systems in place costs you more than you realize!
So let me tell you a few ways that it’s possible to automate your childcare business and how to get started.
Take time to observe where you could automate
If you observe your work and the work of your team over a couple of weeks or a month, you’ll notice that you all do certain tasks over and over again. That repetition means it’s high time you begin automating! Those repeatable tasks are exactly the types of tasks you want to automate and systemize!
Look at those tasks and consider which parts can be turned into an easy-to-copy system? Perhaps it’s the on-boarding of new clients, or the payroll for staff…but you need to take a step back and figure out which ones are achievable and will give a great ROI (return on investment).
There are tonnes of free ways to automate, it doesn’t all have to be paid for. But technology and automation should be your BFFs right now!
How can you use technology to help do that?
The areas you can automate in your childcare business using technology are broad! You can set up automations for your marketing, getting families enrolled, and do all your ordering and food planning with them too. Technology exists to help you automate the maintenance and other practical elements of your daycare centers too. And there’s even ways you can automate your team training.
Lean in to the technology that is available – it certainly wasn’t around when I set up my first childcare business! Get recommendations from colleagues over in the Childcare Ninjas Facebook group and watch the replay of my Tuesday Tips. I chatted about all the ways you can automate things to make your life easier and how it can transform a clunky manual business taking up every second into a smooth running one which frees up your time! You can also catch up on my YouTube “Set up” series here.
Do you want to automate more things? How do you feel about it? Excited or do you worry about the tech? Come and join the chat over in the Childcare Ninjas Facebook group.
Don’t forget to grab this week’s FREE resource, it’s my SIMPLE CHILDCARE AUTOMATION GUIDE. Get your copy now by clicking HERE. Enjoy Ninja…#YOUGOTTHIS!
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!
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!
There’s one main thing that can totally help you stay on track inside your childcare business. Are you doing it, Ninja? It’s ok, don’t panic! I wasn’t either in the beginning. But now I make sure that I’m using all kinds of workflow systems to help me stay on top of things. Read on to find out how to setup your very own childcare workflow for success!
I wish I’d known 15 years ago how much having a workflow would help me! Since I started implementing them I’ve grown my business massively and don’t know where I’d be without them.
So what are you waiting for?! Let’s get started right now…
Nyckie, what is a workflow?!
Simply put, a workflow is a way of making your day more efficient. A business workflow is a repeatable process that consists of a series of tasks that generally need to be completed in a specific sequence. You map out your processes – for everything – and then you’ve got a workflow to ensure things get done!
Workflows are useful for making sure that those important processes you rely on are done the right way – every single time. An example: you may want to define a process workflow for onboarding new employees. You want to make sure that all your new employees get all the info, policies, and resources they need!
So, now you know: a workflow isn’t a plan for the kids, it’s a flow of work for you. The purpose is to ensure your daycare runs smoothly and your business is successful! What are you waiting for, Ninja?!
Write it all down
Start off by writing everything down. Break down all the tasks your team have to do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. How often? By whom?
Look at your monthly views in your planner. What needs to get done in each month? Payroll? Team meetings? Taxes? Training? Each month is different! And don’t forget about those special days each month – Thanksgiving, National Poetry Day, Valentines, Black History Month… Maybe you’ll want to create some activities based round these or get a guest in. If you’ve got it written down, you won’t forget!
Theme your days
I have a theme for each day of the week. For example, Mondays for me are marketing days. I take a look at what needs doing so I can stay visible and keep my day care centers on people’s radars. What do I want to post? I focus on what needs doing for my marketing each Monday. Tuesdays are for teamwork! I meet up with team members and update paperwork. Wednesdays is my client day, so I focus on emailing potential families back or getting in touch with people who’ve been in for a tour.
Thursdays is my facilities day. So I work on things that relate to inspections – paperwork, asking questions. And I also use that time to do facility paperwork or practical tasks – like ordering lightbulbs! Sometimes I reflect on how things are working in the facilities – are the plans we have working? Do I need to work on the building itself and remodel? My Friday focus is finance!
I’ve just shared my themed days with you, but I now have all this down on my Trello. Each theme has a board and then I add tasks to the list that come up to the appropriate board and I then work on those as I go! I used to find using tech really hard for my workflows, but now I get in and open up my boards and I can see what has to get done! Once you’ve figured out your themed tasks then you can plug them into your week. I show you exactly how I do mine here!
There are other tools that I know people use, and I hear great things. There’s Asana, Monday, Hive, and more… You’ve got all the tech right at your fingertips! Imagine if I’d had these tools 15 years ago!
Hopefully you can now see how you can run a daycare successfully using a workflow! Have fun with the template and try out implementing your workflow with tech to help you stay organized.
Don’t forget your freebie!
I’ve created you a FREE RESOURCE to help you start and scale your home childcare business successfully. So don’t forget to grab this week’s FREE resource: my Ultimate Childcare Workflow Template. Get your copy now by clicking here. Enjoy!
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!
