DESPERATELY Seeking Clients!

[Inspired by Reggio]

Congratulations on your new endeavor!

Yes ~ being new in this business can be a challenge ~ people do not like taking a risk on a 'newbie'.

My tips are

A) very important for any new business to have at least three months worth of revenue in 'savings' to get them through the start up period .... if you are sending off 'desperate' vibes you are going to attract clients who WILL take advantage of that by wanting long wonky hours for cheap or treating you like a door mat knowing you wont terminate them cause you 'need' their income

B) if you need to be FULL to make your business plan work and keep food on your families table ~ reconsider doing this or plan on working TWO jobs in some manner to pay your bills either taking on another 'home based business' like selling something or working on the computer because while being full can and does happen in a drop of the hat you can find yourself with 1 client again through no fault of your own ~ people move, get laid off, get sick, get their hours cut back and the first thing that GOES is childcare in those circumstances

For example ... I made the transiton to home based program in 2007 and filled up within 3 months of my open date and was full for the past first five years in business and always had a waiting list and never went longer than 2 weeks between a clients leaving and a new one starting and this year I sent three kids off to full day school and am still trying to fill two of my spaces cause there is nothing out there right now in my neck of the woods and about 50 new providers have started up this Fall because the economy is bad and well everyone thinks 'childcare' is an easy fall back thing to do ... if I did not have a savings built up from times when I was full to get me through this slow period or if I needed to be full to make this work I would have had to close by now or get a second job because having only 2 kids in care barely covers 'costs' of doing this let alone leaving me an income

C) when advertizing do NOT state anywhere in your ads you are 'new' this this ~ focus on the highlights of your program, your experience with children in general and so forth this will help you to get more people to contact you and you can book interviews and 'sell them' on the program so that the 'new' is than irrelevant as they can SEE your investment in your business by that point to decide if they want to risk a 'newbie'.