Run a Daycare in Your Home or Rent a Place?

One of the most common questions I get from people who are thinking about starting a daycare is whether or not to do it in their home or to rent a place.

Well, the first question is whether your home is big enough and can you spare the space? If so, this can save you a lot of money on rent. Of course, your home needs to meet fire department criteria and be otherwise suitable to have a daycare in it for this to work (if you live on the 3rd floor in a building without an elevator, this won't work), but if it does, it can be a major advantage.

Another good thing about having a daycare in your home is the time you save on commuting. It gives you more time to be with your own family and leaves you with more free time during each day.

But, starting a daycare center in your home has one limitation: you're limiting yourself to the size you can spare. Most homes will not be able to accomodate many children, so this is something that you need to decide upon: how many kids do you want to have in your day care? Will the space you can allocate for your business be enough? If not, will renting a place and having more kids mean more profit for you?

Of course, you can always decide to rent a place later after you've been in business for a while. So, this is not a life or death decision.

Having a daycare in your home will mean that your personal life and business are less separated than other people's. This is something which some people love and others hate. Make sure that your home is separated from your business as much as possible. We all need our home to be our private sanctuary. That being said, don't wait on this decision for too long. It is changeable. Just decide on a place and get moving on opening your day care center

5 Things You Need To Start Your Own Daycare

Before you start you daycare you need to make sure you have some things. Starting a daycare isn't hard but it does take some initial preparation. Don't start you daycare before drawing up a checklist of things you must do and have. Only after you've completed checking off your list, should you actually start your daycare.

Here are some must have things in order to start a successful daycare center:

1. Permits - Each state and sometimes even each county has its own set of permits for starting a daycare. You have to make sure you have all the necessary business permits before you start your daycare.

2. Insurance - Starting a business, any business, without some sort of business insurance is not a good idea. If you're worried about premiums, don't be. As long as your daycare is small the premiums will be low. And if you ever get to the point when you want to expand your daycare, it means you're doing so well that you can afford the higher premium.

3. Toys, children's books, sleeping mats - If you want to be able to keep the kids occupied, you're going to need toys. You don't have to spend a whole lot to get some, but a few toys are a must. Children's books are also great since they help you get the children to take an afternoon nap which give's you a much needed break. Of course, in order for the children to sleep, you also need some sleeping mats.

4. Application and registration forms, receipt book - Make sure you have all the necessary forms so when a new customer shows up at your door, you can sign their kid up to your daycare without a pointless delay. Also make sure that you have all the accounting forms and receipt books that you need.

5. First aid kit - Make sure to have a full stocked full aid kit around just in case one of the children gets hurt. Don't let this scare you. Children run around, fall down, and get hurt all the time. Just make sure you can put on a band-aid when you need to.

Starting you daycare can be fun, profitable and rewarding. Having the things I wrote above can help you make an easy and profitable start of it.

To read more about how to start a daycare center read my review, click here: StartingADayCare Review. I also recommend using one of these daycare start-up guides Starting A DayCare or Starting A DayCare Center

Which Toys Not To Get For Your Daycare

Running your own day care center can be a very lucrative opportunity. A lot of women have become financially independent and are making a lot of money with their day care business. If you take the time, make the effort, and do the right things, you too can open a day care center and earn a great income.

But a day care, as any business, needs some investment. One of the things a day care needs are toys. You need toys in order to keep the kids occupied. Otherwise, you'll have to spend all your time and energy interacting with them which will quickly become too tiring. Besides, one of the first things a parent who will come to check out your day care center will look for are the quantity and quality of toys.

You need to take some time to buy the right toys. More importantly, you need to consider which kinds of toys not to buy.

Which kind of toys you should never get for your day care center?

Here are a few examples:

1. Flammable Toys: There should never be any fire at or around your day care center, but still, why take the risk? Flammable toys are an invitation for trouble and there is no justification in getting them.

2. Toys small enough to swallow: Small children have a tendency to place things in their mouth. Many children have choked on small objects they found around their house of day care cenetrs. Don't become part of that tragic statistic. You have to keep your day care center safe for the children. Don't buy any toys which are small enough to put into a child's mouth.

3. Toys for older kids: There's no sense in buying Sony Play Station for a 3 year old. Most toys have the age range to which they are intended written on the cover. Before buying any toys make sure that they fit the age group of the children you'll have in your day care center.

4. Hard surface toys: In order to avoid injury, buy mostly soft cover toys. Small children can get into fights and they can strike each other with whatever they're holding at that moment. A hard surface toy can be very painful. It can also cause an injury. The safety of the children in your day care is your first priority. Keep your hard surface toys to a select minimum.

Don't worry, you can get a lot of fun toys for your day care center. It doens't need to be a big investment or take too long. Just follow my tips and you'll do fine.

How TO Make Your Daycare Safe

Before you open your daycare center you need to make sure it will be a safe environment for the children you'll care for. Many women have turned their daycare businesses into mega-income ventures. You can do so too. But think of your daycare business as a building. You need to build good foundations for the building to stand. If you build the good foundations of your daycare center, it will be a massive success.

One of the most important foundations of a daycare center is creating a safe surrounding for the children. You should place the wellbeing of the children at the top of your priorities. It's not hard to safe proof your daycare center. If you follow these few tips, your day care will be much much safer and readier for business.

Here are some steps you must take in order to make your day care a safe place:

1. Remove flammable materials. Of course you can't remove everything that may catch fire, but anything you do get rid of is one thing less which can cause a problem.

2. Make sure you have a small fire extinguisher near by. It doesn't have to be a big one, and it doesn't cost a lot. Just make sure the fire extinguisher is handy.

3. Remove anything which is poisonous. This includes any detergents or cleaning chemicals. Remove all insecticide canisters as well. Children have a way of getting hold of things. It wouldn't be wise to give them the chance.

4. Cover every sharp surface with some soft covering material. For instance, if you have a table, make sure the corners are taped over with something soft. Children have a tendency to run into things and they are much shorter than us. You can then throw a map over the table so no one will see the soft covering and the table will look great. Do the same with other furniture.

Before you open your new daycare center, take a look around and make sure that there are no danger spots. It shouldn't take long and it will be well worth it.

For more tips and info on how to start a profitable daycare, I recommend using one of these guides: StartingADayCare or StartingADayCareCenter

How To Know If This Is The Business For You

Starting a daycare center can be the best business decision you've ever made. All over the country, women are discovering their business apptitude and are making a great income with their daycare centers.

But how can you know if this is the business for you? You need to answer these questions:

1. Do you like children? Daycare involves working with children for hours and hours. If you don't like children a lot, you have no place in the daycare business. And don't just say that everybody likes children. Liking them and working with them are totally different things. You have to truly love children to make it in this business.

2. Do you want to start your own business? This isn't specific for the daycare business, but is still a fundamental question. If you don't want to be a financially independent business person, you shouldn't start a business at all, let alone a daycare center.

3. Are you prepared to put in some hard work? Daycare isn't the hardest of businesses to maintain, but you still need to put in some initial effort to get it off the ground. If you'd rather spend your time doing something else, I suggest you stick to your day job.

4. Are you prepared to put some money into your business? You don't need a large investment in order to start a day care. But some initial investment is still required. You need to buy toys, books, business forms, and spend a little on advertising. You can get back your money a 100 times over if you do things right, but not without that investment.

If you've answered "yes" to the four questions I wrote above, than you should seriously consider opening your own daycare center. I suggest that you start by using one of these 2 start-up guides: StartingADayCare or StartingADayCareCenter.
They can really help you get off to a good start.

Introduction

Having and running your own day care can be a reawrding and fulfilling venture. It can also prove the way to financial freedom and prosperity.

This blog is dedicated to all you brave women who decided to become independent businesspersons, to take matters into your own hands and to start a daycare.

Running a daycare can be done right or it can be done wrong. When done right it can be wonderful. When done wrong it may prove disastrous.

This blog includes a selection of the articles I have published on how to start and run a profitable daycare center.

I plan on adding to it from time to time so check it out once in a while.