Starting a child care center is a significant undertaking. This is the reason why there are laws and regulations in place to ensure safety and other standards. Your plan of starting a childcare center will come to naught if you are not following these laws and regulations. First of all, scout around the city and find someone running a child care center. Request them to provide you with a sample startup budget for child care center. You can also find child care center budget template and daycare financial statements to understand the economics of this business.
Their apprehension of the child care business will be of great help for you. Glean enough information to start a licensed child care center. Non-compliance will subject you to a raw deal. Also, consider the following:
Is it a center-based or an in-home daycare
In-home daycare services are provided in your own home. In a center-based daycare, you need to have a dedicated space.
In the case of in-home daycare, you are not going to purchase or rent a space. You will be able to provide services to only a few clients.
When it comes to a center-based daycare, there is a clear boundary between your professional and personal life. And, you can serve more clients. However, you will need to find and purchase or rent a commercial space. When you are renting a commercial space, you will work under the pressure of building a clientele quickly.
Licensing and Approval
Learn about local and state licensing laws. After learning about the licensing or permit you need to operate a daycare business, prepare a plan and make sure that you can meet all the requirements. Now, apply for the licenses and permits. Though the license and permit approval process depends on the location, most of the times, there are following stages in this process:
Location Approval
The location should not pose any threat to the health and safety of kids. Location approval is important. You cannot open a child care center near an industrial plant producing hazardous waste.
Background check
You and your employees, you all have to pass a background check.
Training and education
There is some minimum qualification and training required to apply for permits and licenses.
Licensing
You might need to apply for more than one license before getting permit and license for starting and running a child care center.
Find out how much you need to spend to obtain education/training, permits and licenses.
Grants and financial options
You can find some government agencies and even private foundations providing financial support especially to women planning to start some business. If you are a woman, you might get a business loan at a lower interest rate. Apply as soon as possible.
Children are the future of a nation. This is the reason why governments also provide financial support to those who are going to start or running child care center.
Taxes and Bookkeeping
Be good at accounting and record-keeping right from the beginning. This will not only help you in running your business smoothly but also keep your business out of the harm’s way as you will be paying taxes on time. Open a separate business account to manage the finances of your child care center. If you cannot invest in a special purpose bookkeeping and accounting software, you can use a spreadsheet. Outsourcing bookkeeping and accounting might not be an ideal option for you.
Marketing and promotion
Now you are a licensed child care services provider and you have invested in every essential you need to start a business, now create a presence on the web, especially on social media. Make your potential clients aware of your business. Develop a website for your child care center and be active on all social media platforms.
From getting sample startup budget for child care center to promoting your business on the web, you have to comply with laws and regulations. Ensure the safety of kids and provide healthy foods. Authorities can revoke your license after receiving complaints from parents. So, never disappoint any of your clients.
