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Why a ‘Large Daycare’ Never Worked for Me Sigh

Elyssa McGregor — Tue, 14 May 2019 17:02:43 +0000

Did you know that opening a large daycare is virtually impossible? Well at least for me. I’ve tried THREE times without success. So to all of you daycare providers out there that were able to make this work for you, I praise you!

Child Care Demand

There is a demand for child care in my area, Thousand Oaks, California. But, most of my phone calls are for children under the age of two, infants. And even with a large daycare, my max number of infants is four. I always thought licensing should lower the age to under the age of eighteen months. This would open up more infant spots quicker and cut back on the year-long waiting list.

As for children over the age of two, well it’s pretty much the sound of crickets over here. Maybe because there are a lot more child care options for children over the age of two. And maybe because families prefer private preschools over in-home daycares for their two year old. It also could be that at the age of two families are already settled into a child care of their choice.

Curriculum

Well let’s face it, my downfall, I really didn’t have a curriculum set up in my daycare for preschoolers. Nor did I advertise that I had one. I always knew I wasn’t a very crafty person, definitely not a Pinterest kind of person. Not to say that you have to be.

Many people operate their child care as a play-based facility. This was me. I strongly believe children learn through play. But I’m sure there are many families out there that would prefer some structure, lessons, circle time, crafts, and activities.

Backyard

Let’s just say my backyard isn’t child care friendly when it comes to having preschoolers. With a large pool in the middle of my backyard. And a linear, narrow yard at that. It just wasn’t ideal.

Minus the pool. It would be a great outdoor space for children to play.

I didn’t go ‘all-out’ advertising my preschool as I should have. This wasn’t like me though. Maybe because I had this little voice in the back of my head thinking this wasn’t going to work. And this may be a major reason as to why I failed a third time.

I went as far as naming my preschool side of the daycare, Shadow Oaks Preschool an extension of Shadow Oaks Daycare. So I had my catchy business name.

I advertised by running a Facebook ad targeting people in the Ventura County area where Thousand Oaks resided. I placed an ad on CraigsList too. And made the necessary changes to my website so that I showed up on Google Search for my city + preschool.

Competition

While many daycares had closed in the area (retirement, moving, lack of children). One had opened right down the street from me. They were planning on opening up a large daycare too. It was co-founded by two teachers who encouraged outdoor play. They are still around today but operate as a small daycare just like me. Maybe they too were unable to make the large daycare work. But nevertheless, they are running a successful daycare between the two of them. While their rates are higher than mine, there are two of them that need to be paid for their services. And somehow they’ve made this work for them with a staff of two. So I applaud them.

Assistant

With operating a large daycare I needed to hire an assistant. And let’s just say this is not an easy task. After a couple of interviews, I found one. Somebody that was willing to work part-time until I needed them full-time as I expected to grow.

Along with being fingerprinted and clearing a background check. The assistant needed to be TB tested and have their whooping cough vaccine along with showing proof that they were vaccinated against measles. They also needed to pass the mandated reporter class that was now a requirement in California. CPR and First Aid training could come later as long as I did not leave my assistant alone with the children.

I also needed them to sign off on the fact that they were allowed a lunch break but the lunch break must be at the child care facility. This is a requirement in the state of California.

Another downfall to hiring an assistant was figuring out how to manage their sick time and vacations. If my assistant happened to be absent I would only be able to operate as a small daycare. And what would I tell the preschool side of the business? I’m sorry I’m unable to watch your child because my assistant is absent. That just doesn’t cut it. Finding someone to temporarily cover them would be a struggle.

So then it happened, my assistant told me she was going to Russia for three months. Now, what was I supposed to do?

The only way I see an assistant working for a large daycare is if it were a family member. But, as they say, it’s a bad idea to work with family. Although it may work for some.

Human Resources

Now not only was I the owner of the daycare. But, I was Accounts Receivable, Payroll, and Human Resources. I had to manage an ’employee’ because you can’t hire a daycare assistant as an independent contractor. Another big downfall to starting your large daycare business.

This meant I had to carry workers comp insurance. And pay all the applicable taxes required for payroll. And it meant that I paid for sick time and vacations. On top of having to pay another individual to cover for them while they were absent. Now how is anybody supposed to make that work and make a profit? Please tell me?

Operations

I was going to have to take a long, hard look at my day-to-day operations. Knowing that the other preschools in my area were my competition. How was I to compete? Especially when it came down to the hours of operation. While most preschools offer extended hours. We’re talking about 7 AM to 6 PM. While my hours were 8 AM to 5 PM. And let’s face it having two working parents in the family the preschool’s hours were much more feasible. Not to mention I would have to be paying overtime every day for an assistant. And there is a law for how many hours you can require a person to work. Plus their lunch break was considered one hour of work time that must be paid since they are required to remain at the facility.

If you were going to compete with the preschools at their hours of operations. Then you’re looking at putting in some long hours every day. And that’s got to be hard on anybody.

I was also going to have to take a long, hard look at my policies and procedures too. Making sure I stuck to my policies despite the introvert in me.

Conclusion, as you can see there are a lot of factors that were against me and are against other daycares in my position. If you operate a large daycare I would love to hear from you. How did you make it happen? I applaud you.

The post Why a ‘Large Daycare’ Never Worked for Me *Sigh* appeared first on HelloDaycare.

3 ways to separate your child care brand from the competition

Elyssa McGregor — Sun, 12 May 2019 17:37:17 +0000

Well, the simple truth of the matter is you need to out-advertise them. This is how you will separate your child care brand from the competition. Like I’ve mentioned before in my two articles free and paid ways to advertise your child care business. These are all things you should be doing to outrank your competitors.

You need to set your brand apart from other child care providers in your area. You can do this by coming up with a catchy business name a brand name and working on your local search engine optimization. That’s where I come in to help.

3 WAYS TO SEPARATE YOUR CHILD CARE BRAND FROM THE COMPETITION

Get a website

This would be the number one way to outrank your competition is to get a website. Nowadays people (you’re potential clients) expect that a business, even a child care business, have a website.

If you don’t have a website then you’re expecting your clients to find you by word of mouth. Maybe that works for you if you live in a small town with little competition. Who knows? But if you plan to set your brand apart from other providers in your area you’ll at least need a website.

Blog

As I’ve mentioned before in my blog post, how blogging can help advertise your child care business. Blogging can set your brand apart from the rest. And Google likes brands. By blogging you can even more so establish your brand.

Blogging brings more visitors to your website something your competitors most likely aren’t doing. With more visitors coming to your website and seeing your brand you’ll be able to have a chance to convert those visitors to clients. And of course, crush the competition.

If people search for your brand, mine being Shadow Oaks Daycare, this shows Google that your site is a real brand. Which is one of Google’s 200 ranking factors. Other brand ranking factors are social ranking factors, like do you have a Facebook page with lots of likes or a Twitter following. These signal a popular brand and will help your ranking on Google Search. Blogging can increase these rankings and help you obtain more likes and followers.

Local SEO

Now if you really want to outrank your competition you should be looking into local SEO for your website. Local SEO means appearing in Google’s Local 3-Pack for your targeted keyword phrase. Like shown below, this is where you’ll want to rank when a user is searching for daycare in your city.

Then, of course, having your website show up on page 1 of Google under Google’s Local 3-Pack is where you want to be. I toggle back and forth in different positions but always remain on page 1 of Google.

The point is you’ll want to show up everywhere people are looking for daycare in your area. This means also establishing your online presence by adding your business and website to directories like Yelp and Yellow Pages. Also, by having a social media username for your daycare across all the social media platforms out there like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Conclusion, if you’re serious about advertising your child care business you’re going to do well filling your daycare spots. While the other daycares are relying on word of mouth advertisement. This is how you’ll separate your child care brand from the competition and get more potential clients inquiring about your business.

Even if you’re doing well by word of mouth advertisement why not step it up a notch? Be prepared for when and if the ‘word of mouth’ no longer works for you. As you know many individuals are starting a daycare at home every day.

I hope this blog post helps you out some and of course if you should have any questions or suggestions please comment below and I’ll be sure to get back to you.

The post 3 ways to separate your child care brand from the competition appeared first on HelloDaycare.

How Blogging Can Help Advertise Your Child Care Business

Elyssa McGregor — Sat, 11 May 2019 21:05:34 +0000

Have you ever thought about blogging? Blogging is actually a great way to advertise your child care business. Not only that, people link to blogs and what does that do in return? That improves your Google Search rankings for your website.

It really doesn’t have to be all that complicated. You can start with something short and aim for about 300 words per blog post.

And it really can be about anything. You can write about family, friends, or daycare crafts and activities. I’ve even gone as far as writing about things that happen in the daycare, like the time I was told I was not a good fit. Not one of my proudest moments but at least it gives you a general idea of topics that you can write about.

So, let’s talk about a better moment. Like when I wrote my first article, the snuggle is real at daycare. It was my first and by far my most visited blog post and it only had a 415 word count. But has had over 20,000 visitors to that particular blog post. So you can definitely keep things simple and not over complicate.

Blogging keeps your website current

If you’ve started a website with me then you’re using WordPress. WordPress is one of the best, if not the best, blogging platforms out there to use. Which makes it perfect for you to blog on your child care business website.

Blogging helps keep your website current. And guess what? Google loves fresh content and so do your followers. Keeping your website current means keeping your followers engaged and increases the number of visitors to your website page. Another key factor that Google loves and you should too, visitors.

Content tells Google what you’re all about

Blogging, producing content, is a great way to tell Google what you’re all about. Even more so important is telling your visitors what you’re all about. It’s your visitors you’ll be converting into clients, not Google.

The more content you put out there the more chances you’ll have to get visitors to your website. And it really isn’t as much about quantity as the quality of the blog posts that you need to be concerned about. Quality definitely outweighs quantity hands down when it comes to writing good content.

Blogging can help your Google Search rankings

Like I mentioned above, blogging can help with your child care search engine optimization. One by putting more quality-driven content out there and two by people linking to your blog posts. These two factors will help your rankings in Google Search which in return will get you more site visitors.

But, blogging isn’t the only way to help your Google Search rankings. There’s a lot more to local search engine optimization that will help your rankings. This is why I show up on page 1 of Google for the keyphrase “Thousand Oaks Daycare“. Just look for my child care business called Shadow Oaks Daycare. It wasn’t just blogging that got me here. But, blogging certainly helped improve my rankings.

It represents your brand

Did you know the number one reason Google ranks a website is because of their brand? Google loves brands. Why because they are well-liked by online users. And Google can spot a brand from social media signals to click-through-rates on your website. By creating a well-liked, well-remembered brand, you’ll in return get recognized by Google.

Conclusion, if you’re at all interested in starting a daycare or child care blog to advertise your business I’m right here to help you along. Simply comment below or ask a question and I’ll be sure to get back to you.

The post How Blogging Can Help Advertise Your Child Care Business appeared first on HelloDaycare.

What to look for when purchasing your child care website theme

Elyssa McGregor — Sat, 11 May 2019 17:20:42 +0000

There are many factors to look at before purchasing your child care website theme. This article will help you with just that. It’s not as simple as just picking out a random theme and hoping it will all come together as you like. It takes a lot of thought to create your brand, your look, and have your child care website work for your users.

Here are some key design elements to look for when picking out your website theme or template.

Your Child Care Logo

Imagine how your child care logo or child care business name will look on the theme you’re thinking about purchasing. Remember your logo is your brand. It is very important to make sure your brand is well recognized in your community as a child care provider.

We can always change colors of the theme to incorporate the look of your child care logo. Or if the theme has the colors you’re looking for then we can always customize your child care logo to have the same look as the website template.

Imagining what your logo will look like will help you when picking out your child care WordPress theme. And is an important step to visualize before making your purchase.

Responsive Theme

Most website templates will now be responsive. What does that mean? It means that the website design has been resized using HTML and CSS to make your website look good on all devices. Devices such as desktops, tablets, and phones.

Why is this important? Because most people use their phones nowadays when doing online searches. So you want your website to be compatible with all devices giving the user the best layout depending on what device they’re using. It is very hard to read or browse a website that does not have a responsive design.

Pictures

Most themes come with free for commercial use pictures already built in the theme. But, more than likely you’ll want to change them out. As they may not be the same age as the children in your care. For instance, you might have picked a Kindergarten theme when purchasing your child care website template. And let’s say you take care of children under the age of two. If this is the case, then you’ll want to change out those “Kindergarten” images to images that display infants and/or toddlers.

You can either use your own images if of course, you have parent permission. Or you can use the free for commercial use images that you find on sites such as Pixabay.

Many people will make decision-based on images alone. So make sure they’re the best images you can find that look the best with the template you have chosen to purchase. Here are 7 tips for choosing website images that increase conversions. This list is a good list to follow when thinking about what images to add to your website.

And if you have to get some professional pictures taken of your child care business and the children in your care. It’s a one-time thing that will make a big difference on your website and those visiting your website.

Navigation

Navigation is a very important factor when picking out your website. It’s really all about the user experience. Is your new website template easy to navigate? Does it have all the pages and forms needed to give the user what they want? If not, think about the pages that you want to see on your new website. Again, you’ll have to visualize this process. Visualizing your website ahead of time will make things a lot smoother when customizing your website, otherwise your website designer won’t know exactly what you’re looking for when completing your project.

Don’t necessarily think about what you need and what works best for you. But put the user first, and what would work best for the user navigating your site and giving them the information that they are looking for.

Conclusion, If you have any questions you can always reach out to your website designer, hopefully, that’s me and asking them what’s possible or not when planning your website design. Remember, keep it simple and user-friendly that’s your best bet. And of course, make your brand known across your website so that you’re easily remembered amongst those in the community.

The post What to look for when purchasing your child care website theme appeared first on HelloDaycare.

8 of the Best Daycare Website Designs for your Child Care Business

Elyssa McGregor — Fri, 10 May 2019 21:59:47 +0000

If you’re looking to get a daycare website then you’re in luck. I’ve put together a list of eight daycare website designs that you’re going to love. All of these are available to purchase for your very own daycare website.

Of course, be sure to check out HelloDaycare’s shop page for our services in starting your very own website. We offer an SEO package with a website or just your standard website package. We’re here to help you through the whole process.

Make sure to check out our blog post, what to look for when purchasing your child care website theme. It will help you when making your decision for the best daycare website design. Some things are more important other than website colors and pictures. As all of that can be changed.

We can work with you on any WordPress design you choose. It doesn’t have to have a child care theme, just check out our website design at Shadow Oaks Daycare. It’s our minimalist theme but does the job quite nicely.

8 DAYCARE WEBSITE DESIGNS

Lilo – Babysitting and Child Care Theme

SuperOwly – Kids WordPress Theme

Fable – Children Kindergarten WordPress Theme

Happy Kids – Children WordPress Theme

Kids Life | Children WordPress Theme

Child Care Creative – WordPress Shop Theme

Kids Voice School – Responsive WordPress Theme

Little People | Kindergarten WordPress Theme

The post 8 of the Best Daycare Website Designs for your Child Care Business appeared first on HelloDaycare.

31 ‘Positive’ Blog Posts About Daycare, Enough Said!

Elyssa McGregor — Tue, 07 May 2019 20:36:08 +0000

Because I’m sick and tired of seeing all the negativity talked about on the news or on other blogs about daycares. Because of that I’m not even going to link to anything negative on this blog post. So here are 31 positive daycare blog posts from 31 different blogs that need to get more attention on the world wide web.

Do us a favor as bloggers, comment one positive thing about daycare on this blog post or any of the blog posts mentioned below. Or a social media share would be even better. And if you know of a positive blog post that wasn’t mentioned in this article please feel free to let me know. And we’ll add it!

31 POSITIVE BLOG POSTS ABOUT DAYCARE FROM 31 DIFFERENT BLOGGERS

Why It’s OK For New Moms To Leave Kids In Daycare -Elite Daily
No guilt, mama: Day care is good for your child’s social + emotional development -by Heather Marcoux @ Motherly
11 Surprising Ways Daycare is Benefiting Your Kid -Working Mother
6 ways daycare is healthy for kids—and moms too -Fox News
What Makes a Great Daycare? -Little Sprouts Learning
5 Benefits of Private Home Daycare -Parent Bloggers
A letter to my son on his last day of daycare -Orlando Moms Blog
9 Surprising Ways Daycare is Awesome for Your Child (and You!) -The DGAF Mom
The Snuggle is Real At Daycare -by Elyssa McGregor @ HelloDaycare
Thank you for loving my baby: An open letter to our daycare -by Amy L. Kovac-Ashley @ Motherly
An open thank you letter to all those who watch my baby -SweetPhi
Provider Appreciation Day: A Special Note of Thanks to All the Daycare Providers -Twin Cities Moms Blog
Thank You to Daycare Providers -Fairfield County Moms Blog
How to Show Your Daycare Provider You Appreciate Them -This Mom Shit is Hard!
A Thank You Letter to Childcare Providers -Gild Collective
A love letter to our daycare provider -Minnesota Parent
Nearly 400 Child Care Providers Thanked -Southwest Initiative Foundation
10 Reasons I Love Daycare -by Christina Antus @ Scary Mommy
10 Reasons to Appreciate a Daycare Teacher -Mom Wife + Teacher Life
Kids in Daycare Are Not Being “Raised By Strangers” -The Catholic Working Mother
3 Reasons Being a Child Care Provider is Awesome -by Kristin Cook @ HelloDaycare
8 Reasons to Love Daycare -Knoxvile Moms Blog
6 Benefits of Daycare for Young Children -Child Care Advantage
6 Reasons Day Care Is Great for Your Kid -CafeMom
Top Reasons to Consider In-Home Family Child Care -Verywell Family
Daycare Is One Of The Best Decisions I’ve Ever Made -by Rachael Boley
@ Scary Mommy
Thank You – An Open Letter to Daycare Teachers -Mother Teacher Dreamer
An Open Letter to Daycare -HuffPost
To our son’s daycare teachers – an open letter of thanks -Dr. Julie Bhosale
An Open Letter To My Child’s Caregiver -Mid-Michigan Moms Blog
Women in Early Childhood Education: My Interview With Home Daycare Owner Melinda Marshall -30Seconds.com

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Yes, We Have a National Child Care Provider Day, Let’s Celebrate It!

Elyssa McGregor — Sun, 05 May 2019 15:06:39 +0000

Did you know we have a National Child Care Provider Day? Also, known as Provider Appreciation Day. This day was started by a group of volunteers in New Jersey back in 1996. This group wanted a day to recognize the tireless efforts of child care providers who care for children of working parents. It is celebrated annually on the Friday before Mother’s Day. This year it will be celebrated on Friday, May 10th, 2019.

I did not know about Provider Appreciation Day until one day I decided to look it up and voilà! Who would have thought? All though poorly unrecognized at least in my area. But, I think it’s highly important that we as child care providers make this day known and celebrate it.

The most beautiful satisfaction in the world is when someone appreciates your work. -author unknown

How do we celebrate this day?

I believe we celebrate this day by spreading the word about Child Care Provider Appreciation Day. It’s time the support and recognition of this day become well-known across the United States and beyond. I think in all my years of doing child care I’ve had one parent wish me a Happy Child Care Provider Day with this World’s Best Child Care Provider Certificate. Let’s change this and blow up our social media accounts with thank yous to our fellow child care providers.

And don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that my daycare parents aren’t telling me they appreciate me, I do get that quite often. But it’s just nice to have a day dedicated for this very reason, just like Teacher Appreciation Day. Which is a day to honor and appreciate teachers and recognize their lasting contributions to education and society and the lives of their students. And I have been recognized on this day by families in my daycare too, so thank you.

Thank a Provider

Do a Google search for child care appreciation day images and pick an image to share on your social media accounts. I’ve created some GIFs below for you to use, but there are plenty of awesome child care appreciation day images out there to choose from. Like on this Pinterest board by ChildCare Education Institute.

Make sure to tell all the child care providers in your life to have a Happy Child Care Provider Appreciation Day. And be sure to hashtag your post with #providerappreciationday so we can see all the love being given out there.

You can use these GIF images by visiting our GIPHY Channel @hellodaycare and sharing them on your social media accounts.

What can parents do?

Honestly, the best thing parents can do by also recognizing this day is to give a provider a good, honest review on their Facebook, Google, and/or Yelp page. This would mean the world for a provider to receive a review from you on Provider Appreciation Day. Also, remember to like or follow your child care provider on all their social media channels, like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Of course, spreading the word about Provider Appreciation Day would be a big plus too. Have you thanked your child care provider today?

Remember to spread the word about Provider Appreciation Day #providerappreciationday! Thank you for your dedication, support, patience, and love you provide for the children in your care.

The post Yes, We Have a National Child Care Provider Day, Let’s Celebrate It! appeared first on HelloDaycare.

Why Having a Daycare Facebook Page Isn’t Enough

Elyssa McGregor — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 22:42:02 +0000

If you’re looking to promote your daycare business online you shouldn’t stop at just creating a Facebook page. Facebook pages do great for social media advertising and getting people to like your daycare page and follow you. Mostly a word-of-mouth technique all online.

But, it doesn’t target those that are actually looking for daycare. Most people don’t go to Facebook to look for a daycare unless they are asking for recommendations within a Facebook group, like a mom’s group. They go to Google.

WHY HAVING A DAYCARE FACEBOOK PAGE ISN’T ENOUGH

1. It’s not on Google.

People go to Google when doing online searches to look for daycare, not Facebook. While you can get your Facebook daycare page to rank on Google, it’s not the most desired content to put in front of those searching the internet for child care. Online users are looking for a website to find more information. Why? Because it legitimizes the fact that you are a business. And because with a website, you can customize your pages and the information you provide, giving the user what they want to see.

Also, you have more control ranking your website over a Facebook page on Google. Your chances of ranking your website on Google are higher than that of your Facebook page. As it’s incredibly difficult to optimize a Facebook page for search engines.

2. It’s limited.

While you could treat your Facebook page as a website, it is limited on what you can provide. And we live in a world where we want information right at our fingertips. With a website, you can provide more information to your users by adding more pages, like a testimonial page, an about our program page, and a frequently asked questions page. The possibilities really are endless with the amount of information you can have on your website. And having a personal business website adds credibility to your brand especially if you want people to purchase your services.

Think of your website as the core of your online presence, and social media as a marketing tool.

3. It’s not what the user was looking for.

Let’s face it, users aren’t looking for a Facebook page when they are looking for a business online via the internet. While Facebook pages can help by adding credibility and branding to the business it’s not the go-to when users are searching the internet.

By creating a legit website you are further implementing your brand. Nowadays to rank a website on Google, you have to give the users what they want which is helpful information for the services you provide. So why not give the users what they want? Feel free to check out our website services in our HelloDaycare Shop.

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3 Reasons Why You Should Have a Daycare Website

Elyssa McGregor — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 17:07:01 +0000

As a daycare provider, you should be advertising your business online just like any small business. This means having a website, not just a Facebook page. Having a website has many advantages for you and your potential customers as we will be discussing.

I get asked all the time, how do you get your phone ringing? Well, this is how. Having a website is the main reason I get my phone ringing to fill any spots I may have available in my daycare program. That and search engine optimization to get you on page 1 of Google, Yahoo!, and Bing for your targeted keywords.

3 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE A DAYCARE WEBSITE

1. More visibility.

One of the main reasons of having a daycare website is to create more online visibility. The more visible you are online, the more visible you are to potential customers. If customers are searching for you and can’t find you, well then you’re missing out on getting that telephone to ring.

Your website should be everywhere. On your social media accounts, on online directories like Yelp, and on Google My Business. It is imperative to add your website to all of these platforms to start establishing credibility with the search engines. The more opportunities that are given for a potential user to visit your website, the more opportunities you’ll have converting those online users into clients.

2. More information.

Online users are going to want to search for daycares to find more information about the business. The more information you can provide them the better. Make a FAQ page about your policies and procedures. Create a portfolio of you, the children in your care (if approved), and your business setup.

By providing more information to online users you are satisfying the users’ questions they might have about your business. They will appreciate this and how thought out your website is to the mindset that your business has been well thought out too.

3. Establish trust.

Begin to establish trust with online users. The more they see about your business, the more trust they will gain with you. Trust as in, okay this is a real legit business with a license number. They have plenty of outdoor space for kids to run around according to their online photo gallery. The kids look happy and well taken care of with plenty of activities. So the process is already going through their head as to can I picture my child here at this daycare before your phone even rings.

Believe or not, I have had people ask to enroll their children in my daycare even before coming for a tour. Not that I encourage this, but hopefully you get what I’m saying. Even including online testimonials will help in this area. Use testimonials from happy customers to help prove trust and increase a customer’s confidence to do business with you. Or pictures of thank you cards in your gallery.

Need help setting up a website for your daycare business?

Having a professional web design helps in all three of these areas, by having more visibility, more information, you establish trust. We at HelloDaycare have an exceptional program for creating daycare websites and offering search engine optimization with our goal to get you on page 1 and in front of your potential customers.

You can check out our web design programs at our HelloDaycare Shop for more information. We can help you in all of these areas and give you the tools you need for you and your daycare business.

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How to Start a Daycare at Home, a Simple Step-by-Step Guide

Elyssa McGregor — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 20:43:38 +0000

Note: This post is not to take place of your state’s licensing requirements. Make sure to follow the guidelines and laws within your state when it comes to operating a daycare out of your home. This article is for informational purposes only.

I’m guessing you’re here because you want to learn how to start a daycare business out of your home.

Well first off, you’ll need to check with your state to see if there are any licensing requirements.

What most people don’t realize is that if you are caring for more than one child from two or more families then you are required to be licensed. At least, that’s the requirement here in California. This rule may not apply to all states.

Here’s the thing, each state will have its own requirements that you will be required to meet before obtaining your daycare license. Just like a prerequisite followed by an appointment with your licensing analyst. While I’m sure there are some universal requirements most will have their own.

You can use the below list by state to see if a license is required. This is information I’ve gathered off the internet for that particular state. Make sure you do your own research. Or call the licensing department to find out the required information to obtain your license.

PRE-LICENSING GUIDELINES

Take a pre-licensing orientation either online or in person held by your state. The pre-licensing orientation will help you get prepared for what is needed to be done at your house to get you ready to obtain a license from your state. Follow all requirements and regulations needed before scheduling your analyst’s pre-licensing visit.

Here is an example of a pre-licensing readiness guide for family child care homes. This one is issued by the state of California. But, you can take a look to help give you an idea of what is expected when getting ready to get your license approved.

Take required courses by your state

There may be some courses that you are required to take based on your state. Here are some examples of courses that may or may not be required by your state. But, very important courses that every child care provider should take required or not.

Must complete 16 hours of Pediatric Health & Safety Training obtained from an EMSA approved vendor, or accredited college/university

Must complete 3 hours of Mandated Reporter Training

Get your house ready

Some suggest getting down on your hands and knees and roaming your daycare area or home to look for any dangers that may need to be corrected before licensing issues you a license.

Some things that I noticed was that I need to put safety covers on all electrical outlets. I needed to make sure I had age-appropriate toys. This meant getting rid of anything chokeable for babies, such as any toy that might fit through a toilet paper roll or paper towel tube. If an object fits in the tube, it’s too small for children under the age of 3. Children under the age of 3 are at the highest risk for choking due to their small airway, underdeveloped ability to chew and the propensity to explore items with their mouth.

You can find age-appropriate toys by visiting garage sales, Facebook Marketplace, or on Craigslist. We actually got our 6-seat Angeles® Bye-Bye® Buggy on Craigslist for $120 when it retails at $1300. So there are some good buys on there.

DAYCARE FACILITY FORMS

There are three types of forms you will need to keep record of in your daycare. They are children’s forms, facility forms, and information to be posted in your family child care home. Below I have listed “examples” of forms you may be required to keep on file in your home. Forms/records must be kept for a period of time such as three years depending on what is required from your state.

Children’s Forms

Parent Notification, Additional Children in Care, if you plan to care for more than X children for a Small Family Child Care Home or more than X for a Large Family Child Care Home.
Affidavit Regarding Liability Insurance – This form is required to be signed by each parent of a child in care if you do not have either liability insurance or a bond.
Consent for Medical Treatment – This document gives you permission by the parent to seek emergency medical or dental care for their child if needed.
Consent/Verification for Nebulizer Care – Before a child care licensee or staff person can administer inhaled medication to a child in care, this form must be completed and filed in the child’s record and in the personnel file. A separate form must be filled out for each person who administers inhaled medication to the child.
Identification and Emergency Information – This form must be kept for each child in care and identifies who to call in an emergency.
Notification of Parents’ Rights – This form must be given to each parent at the time a child is accepted for care.
Caregiver Background Check Process – This form must be given to each parent at the time a child is accepted for care.
Family Child Care Consumer Awareness Information – This form must be given to the parents of each child in care.
California School Immunization Record – For every infant, toddler, or preschool age child admitted into a Family Child Care Home, the provider must maintain current immunization records.
Acknowledgment of Receipt of Licensing Reports, if applicable.

Facility Forms

Personnel Records as required, including but not limited to, proof of current pediatric first aid, CPR and preventive health practices certificate and criminal record information.
Unusual Incident/Injury Report – You must use this form and submit it to your local licensing office when reporting any incidents or injuries occurring during daycare hours.
Child Care Facility Roster – It is required that each child care facility maintain a current roster of children who are provided care.
Notice of Employee Rights – This form must be filled out by all employees working in the Family Child Care Home.
Statement Acknowledging Requirement to Report Suspected Child Abuse – This form is the Child Care Custodian’s acknowledgment of the requirement to report suspected child abuse.
Property Owner/Landlord Consent Form, if you plan to care for more than X children for a Small Family Child Care Home or more than X for a Large Family Child Care Home.
Property Owner/Landlord Notification Form.
A copy of your deed or lease/rental agreement.

Information to be posted in your family child care home

Emergency Disaster Plan – This must be posted in your home next to the telephone and the Earthquake Preparedness Checklist, must be attached and available to the public.
Notification of Parents’ Rights Poster – This poster must be placed in an area of the home where all parents can see it.
Facility License, – Your Family Child Care Home License must be posted in an area of the home where it can be easily seen.
Notice of Site Visit must remain posted for XX days (during the hours that children are in care) after each site visit by a licensing representative.
Any licensing report documenting a type “A” citation must be posted for XX days during the hours that children are in care.
Any licensing report or other document verifying compliance or non-compliance with the Department’s order to correct a Type “A” deficiency must be posted for XX days during the hours that children are in care.

DAYCARE HANDBOOK

While maybe not required by licensing, this is an important step to take to make sure you have your policies and procedures are in writing. Be sure to check out our article, how to enforce daycare policies even if you’re an introvert. Unfortunately, as you’ll find out, people will take advantage of your kindness.

You’ll forever be changing your daycare handbook to keep up with the things that you are learning while operating a daycare. And with things that you read online to protect the children and yourself. Like I just read this article about why a daycare does not accept sleeping children at drop-off. This is something every daycare should consider adding to their handbook.

Here are three examples of parent handbooks I’ve found online that will help guide you on making your very own handbook.

Butterflies and Bumblebees Daycare Parent Handbook
Morning Star Child Care Parent Handbook
Kiddie Kollege Daycare Parent Handbook

DAYCARE CONTRACT

This is a legal binding contract, where a policy handbook is just that a book of your rules and procedures. A contract usually states your hours of operation along with the amount to be paid to you for your child care services. I do not have a handbook per se for my daycare but I do have a contract that my daycare families must abide by. This contract is actually a re-enrollment contract for children already in my care.

Here are some examples of some daycare contracts I found online:
Sample Family Child Care Contract
Parent-Provider Child Care Contract
Family Child Care Contract

How will you be accepting payment?

There are many different ways to collect payments from your customers just like any other business. But, my preferred way is PayPal. Even though it has a fee it allows me to setup recurring payments. What does that mean? That means that my customer makes a one-time payment using my recurring payment link and then is charged on a weekly or monthly basis depending on how the recurring payment link is setup on your end. Use PayPal ‘recurring’ payments and never ask for a daycare payment again.

It basically takes place of you having to ask for daycare payment on a weekly or monthly basis. Once the credit card is charged the first time it continues to charge that same credit card depending on the billing cycle schedule you have setup. So for instance, if your customer makes a payment on Monday and you have your billing cycle setup to be weekly. Then every Monday their credit card will be charged and you will get paid without any hassle. It really is a win, win.

✓ Cash
✓ Check
✓ Credit Card
✓ PayPal

✓ Venmo
✓ Zelle
✓ Google Pay
✓ Brightwheel

CHILDCARE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

[youtube video =”ykj6vgz2Brs”] This is a great tool to be able to communicate with your daycare families. The software management tool I use is called Brightwheel. You can manage classrooms, observe students, collect tuition, and stay in touch with families – all from one easy-to-use childcare app.

Replaces the need for paperwork. As with Brightwheel you can log activities such as diaper changes and potty breaks, bottle feedings, nap schedules, mealtimes, attendance, notes, medicine, kudos, and photos all for free. For their premium, paid version, you can log activities such as video, incidents, and the ability to create custom tags to log specific activities affiliated with your program.

✓ Reduce paperwork
✓ Capture milestones
✓ Share moments digitally
✓ Engage families

✓ Digitize check-in
✓ Bill easily
✓ Run reports quickly
✓ Centralize your database

Other childcare management software platforms are HiMama and Kinderlime.

DAYCARE LIABILITY INSURANCE

Having child care liability insurance is another thing child care providers should consider having when opening up a daycare at home. Some states even require that you carry liability insurance when operating a daycare out of your home. A daycare insurance program protects you, the children in your care, and your business investment.

The state of California, however, does not require you to carry liability insurance, although highly recommended. Again this is something you’ll need to check with and see if your state requires you to carry insurance. In the state of California, if you do not carry liability insurance you must have your daycare parents sign an affidavit acknowledging that the daycare facility does not carry liability insurance or a bond in accordance with standards established by Family Child Care statute. Having an affidavit or waiver does not protect you. You will have to pay your own legal fees and parents will collect any money awarded from a lawsuit from you.

How much will your business insurance cost? The annual cost of daycare insurance ranges from $250 for an in-home child care business to $2,000 for a larger daycare center. Of course, every child care business is unique and therefore has different insurance needs.

There are three things you can do to help protect you, your family, and the children in your care and they are:

Purchase insurance

To help give you an idea of the safety hazards you can find in your daycare we have included a chart of the child care centers percentage of safety hazards provided by Garzor Insurance.

Image source: Garzor Insurance

Remember you have a legal duty to act with reasonable care while supervising children. You could be sued for negligence to use reasonable care if a child is injured or becomes ill while in your care. Protect yourself and purchase liability insurance.

ADVERTISE YOUR DAYCARE

I get these quite a bit in my area:

Hello Elyssa @ Shadow Oaks Daycare,
I have recently opened a daycare in my home like you. I was wondering if I could get some advice as you have years of experience? I opened my doors in January and have yet to enroll anyone. I’m on Yelp, Care.com, CCRC, Facebook, Instagram, Craigslist and Google. Do you have any advice you could offer for how to get the phone ringing when just opening up? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Have a great day!

Advertising your daycare is an essential part of starting your daycare. How do you plan on getting the word out there? There are some free ways to advertise your daycare or some paid ways, it’s all up to you.

What has worked for me is for one, creating a daycare website. My website has been my main way of advertising my business and filling my daycare spots. Also, try doing a search on your community Facebook groups for posts looking for daycare. Join a mom’s group is your best bet. Another form of advertisement that has worked for me is advertising on Craigslist. And of course, creating and passing out business cards. Those would be my tips for advertising your child care business.

And let’s not forget about Yelp. Yelp is another good and free way of advertising your child care business. Make sure to set up a business account with them. And install the Yelp Biz app on your mobile phone so that you can communicate with potential families looking for child care. Yelp even rewards you by your responsiveness. Make sure to respond fast to all new inquiries as Yelp highlights those businesses that respond in an hour or less.

Here is the link where you can get started creating your Yelp business page for free.

While advertising your daycare make sure to include your license number on all of your advertisements. In some states, this is a requirement. New on Yelp: Yelp now asks you if you want to show your verified license on your business page. Businesses with a Verified badge typically see a 24% increase in leads. With License Verification, Yelp will confirm your trade license with the applicable government agency and display your license more prominently across Yelp. This, however, is not a free feature from Yelp and will cost an average of $1 per day.

DAYCARE INTERVIEWS

As I’ve said before daycare interviews are a two-way street. Not only are you doing getting interviewed but you get to interview the daycare family too. I would suggest scheduling your interviews after hours so that your time is not taken away from the children. Not only will you not be able to provide adequate care during an interview but the children could start acting out which doesn’t go so well during interviews. Try not to disrupt the daycare.

Make sure to go over your policies and procedures with the potential daycare parents. It’s always a good idea to get this out of the way. I even bring out my contract during daycare interviews just so the parents can know what to expect when enrolling into the daycare.

Be prepared to answer the many questions that parents might have. And remember, sometimes the best answer to these questions is “I do the best that I can.” Because really that’s all that we can do.

ENROLL DAYCARE FAMILIES

Enrolling families into your daycare is actually a long process. Some people even charge a registration fee to collect for their time spent registering the child into the daycare. Which, quite frankly, isn’t such a bad idea.

Go Over Your Handbook

When enrolling a family into your daycare you’ll want to sit down with them and go over your policy and procedure handbook. This is an important step to make sure that both the parents and the provider are on the same page when it comes to providing child care for said child. Have them sign off that they have read and agree to the handbook. I also tell my fellow child care providers to keep a digital copy of your handbook on your website. That way at anytime you or the child’s parents can refer to it online.

Sign the Contract

Once you’ve gone over the handbook, next have them read the contract. You’ll want to go over the contract with them in detail and have both parties (the parents and the provider) sign and agree to the contract.

Request a Deposit

Most daycares request a deposit to hold the spot for a child in the daycare. I usually request a two-week non-refundable deposit that goes towards the child’s first two weeks of child care. Some providers have the two-week deposit cover the first week and last week of child care. Sometimes if it’s four to six months before the child starts daycare I even ask for a months deposit. Which isn’t unheard of since some providers request daycare payments on a monthly basis instead of the standard weekly basis.

Provide a First Day Checklist

To make the transition as smooth as possible be sure to provide a first-day checklist for the parents. This is a frequent question I get asked during my daycare interviews. Here are three daycare checklists to help get you started on making your very own depending on the ages of children in your care.

What You Need to Pack for Baby at Day Care
A Weekly Daycare Packing List for Babies
Checklist: What to Pack for the First Day of Preschool

Unannounced Licensing Analyst Visit

Now be prepared for your assigned analyst to make an unannounced visit to your facility. You’ll start to get an idea of how often and when they come to visit after a couple of these. Mine usually comes once a year during the summer, but they’re late this year. You can read about one of my unannounced visits from licensing here.

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