Quote Originally Posted by Serendipity View Post
...I guess I think providers need to do what works for them but if sibling discounts are the norm in your area, parents are going to expect that.
This is true .... providers need to ensure that their business plan is viable for them and what they are offering and that the market can bare what they are wanting to charge ~ it can be a delicate line for sure!

If it is the norm for your area to give discounts and so forth and you believe in that practice as fair than certainly no harm in offering them!

However if you are like me and you do not 'agree' IMO there is nothing wrong with being a 'pioneer for change' if you truly believe it not best for your business to offer a 'discount' of your services ~ it comes with a risk for sure cause in going against the norm is you have to be prepared to defend that practice should you choose to do so and potentially miss out on clients who value the discount more than what you might have to offer.

I researched what the norms were in my area too when I started out BUT I made my final business decisions based on what I wanted to be able to offer in my program and the income I needed to secure for this to be a viable business option for me!

So for example the norm in my direct area is to work without a contract, to only charge $20-25 a day and only get paid when they 'use' the space and in exchange for all that flexibility for the client they get NO receipts, little program and the providers seem to have little passion for their work cause it is just money under the table for them .... however that would not work for my business plan and therefore I was a pioneer in my area and choose to work with a contract, charge $32 a day when I started out (not the $40 a day I wanted to charge because I felt my service was on par with what licensed home childcare offered but I had to find a fee that the market would bare) and everything is done above board with reciepts and so forth and the same service clients would get if 'with a licensed model' I just opt to cut out the middle man.

Sure I may miss out on the clients who want the 'cheaper option' that my neighbors offer but fact is even though I am not the NORM I am able to find a full roster of clients who are willing to invest in what I have to offer them!

So IMO sometimes the norm is over rated and reality is that over the past 7 years in my direct neighborhood the bar of NORM has been raised via conversations/networking at the local parks and so forth as other providers have asked what I charge and what clients get for that fee and so forth and than said 'hey I would rather follow that model' sometimes raising the bar above the NORM raises the bar for everyone!