Starting A Daycare Business

Are you interested in how to start a day care? Well, if you are, you are probably one of two types of people. It's either you are looking to start a profitable home business or maybe you have found yourself in a situation where you are at home looking after your own kids and have hence decided to start a daycare. It really does not matter your reasons for wanting to start a day care, this article is going to provide you with the basic information you need to get started as soon as possible.

With changing times, more and more households can not afford to have one of the parents staying at home to look after the children. Most families now need the income of both parents in order to stay afloat in these harsh economic times. As a result the demand for daycare centres has increased, making this a very good business to get involved in.

Before you start your daycare, the first thing you need to do is check with your local state or government regulatory agencies. They will be able to give you the minimum requirements as far as size of buildings, teachers per child and also whether you require an in- house nurse or not. This is a very important first step, so that you know exactly what is required of you before you write your business plan.

If you have problems acquiring capital to get your business started or maybe you just want to start small, you may opt to start your day care business as a baby sitting service from your home. Then you can slowly reinvest your profits and expand your operations, move out of the home and also increase your enrollment gradually. This start small and build strategy seems to work well for many, because it reduces the risks involved considerably.

Once you have your business plan written up, you can try approach local businesses and maybe your church and ask for sponsorship to get your day care centre started up. Sponsorship may even include space for you to run your day care centre, for example the local church hall. Think about it your local church, may charge you less rent when compared to renting space from somewhere else.

Other things you are going to have to consider are how you are going to market your services, your operating hours and policies, maybe getting some formal training on how to take care of children, and whether you are going to take care of the business side too or possibly hire a book keeper to look after your books.

As already stated above, the demand for day care services is getting higher with everyday. This can indeed be a profitable business, but it is important to get it right, right from the start. Before, you run into actually starting your day care, make sure you do your homework on how to start a day care.

It is now almost impossible to get a grant for a for profit day care center. However you can try go to your community agencies or your local churches. Alternatively you can just have fundraisers for your child care which can involve the parents too.

Now if you own a not for profit one, you can go online to Google and type in 'grants for not for profit day care centers'. You will find government grants, small business grants, grants for minorities and grants for women.

In order to apply for these grants, you need to have your marketing plan in place so you can present it to the government or these grant agencies. This will help them know that this is going to be a legitimate not for profit child care center. Also show that your day care has been established to educate the children in your community.

Other requirements for applying for grants include having at least three children enrolled. It all depends on the ages of the children. You also need to show that you will offer quality education and instruction to the children. This is vital in order for your center to be successful.

The easiest way to apply for a grant is contact the offices of Smart Start and see which grants they have available. Each year they hold a open day where they display the different grants which are available.

One grant that you may receive is called the 'Growing Readers Grant'. It consists of a consultant coming out to have story time with the children. They also bring you a bag of new books which they call 'The Book Bag' every month.

Another grant that is available is the 'Quality Enhancement Grant'. That grant has a consultant who comes out and you basically work together with them to find out what you need to enhance the quality of your establishment.

So you have decided to start a home day care, but you are not quite sure of the day care license requirements. It is very important that even before you start your business plan you become familiar with these requirements.

There is no point developing your business plan and even applying for start up grants, when you can not be licensed to run your own day care service. You will be just wasting your own valuable time.

You must be at least 21 years old in order to run a home day care. Any background checks should come out clean as this is the only way to ensure that the children and families you interact with are safe. A Tuberculosis skin test is also required to show that you have been vaccinated and are negative for the disease.

You need to be well trained including in first aid and CPR just in case anything was to happen to one of the kids, in which case you would know what exactly to do in that situation.

If you have a pet in your home, your pet must be up to date on all vaccinations and free from rabies. Your home must also be child proof with hazardous materials kept at least five feet above the ground in a locked cabinet. All outlets must be covered with appropriate devices and also they may not be a felon living in the home.

These are some of the day care license requirements that you need to be aware of and try to correct before you apply for your license. If you meet the requirements you should not encounter any problems at all.