Opening Private Day Home

[Inspired by Reggio]

Congratulations ~ you've take then first most important step to having a successful business plan .... RESEARCHING your business, creating a plan, budget and so forth

1. Do you need a business license to be a Private Day Home

I would start your research here cause it depends on how big a private childcare you want in Alberta

http://www.child.alberta.ca/home/1159.cfm

and this section of their site has lots of publications on the various options and rules

http://www.child.alberta.ca/home/1151.cfm

2. Do you collect income tax on your earnings like any other job?

Everything you need to know about the 'tax requirements' for a home childcare business can be found here on the CRA ... you would be technically self employed and responsible for your own income tax.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tp.../menu-eng.html

4. Thinking of running from 0600-530 with late pickups case by case

Admital .... but IME Beware of BURN OUT ... we all start out with these wonderful ideals about offering special services to clients ... but there is a reason why they are 'hard to find' for families because offering them burns out providers and the reality is that while you have to care for your own children 24.7 caring for other peoples children is TOTALLY DIFFERENT it is way more draining both emotionally and physically and as much as you love children you will be grateful to see closing time come each day .... IMO if you want to catch the 'early birds' than focus on that but I would aim to keep your business hours 10 hours max with 9 hours being ideal for a child to be in care for ... I know you are a in the nursing field and use to shift work however working 12 hour days 5 days a week 50 weeks a year will quickly exhaust you! There is a reason why nurses get so much time off between shifts

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5. How much money did you have to spend to get everything you needed for it. Toys, furniture etc.

Totally depends on your home, age groups you want to serve and so forth ... my advice to newbies is to find out if your community has a toy lending library and if so than I would focus on the 'staples' of what you need everyday with furntiture and than with toys just get a few staples as well and than 'borrow' the rest that way you get rotational options but are not having to STORE all those toys when not in use!

6. Do you have parent sign a contract or have a deposit?

Yes a contract protects both you and the client by clearly defining expectations around financial commitment and service provided. Always get paid IN ADVANCE of care so you never end up working for free ... I also choose to take a two week security deposit to ensure that if a payment bounces or someone 'bolts' I have two weeks of fees in my savings account to use towards finding new client to replace them.

Hope that's helpful and keep asking questions and search the website for key topics ... the more knowledge you have going forward the more successful your endeavor will be