Advice please :)

[Polkaroo]

I just started my daycare in February and this is the sole income for my family. I started planning 2 years ago, finishing basement, putting up a fence, baby proofing, preparing contracts etc. Then both my husband and I lost our job and it put our plan in full motion! Had no choice to start, luckily I was ready. Unfortunately this all happened around xmas time and well...not a lot of families look around that time of year. It was VERY Stressful. But i had planned for this so I had saved money to survive in this hard transition period. That saved us! January came and I was full within weeks! I now have 3 full-time dck, a fourth starting in April and one after school. I keep my adds up all the time and I currently have a waiting list for when my after school dck leaves.

You can make this happen if you work hard. But i suggest before you do this to definitely have money put aside to help as you will probably won't find kids that will all start right away! I had mine start 2-4 weeks apart and although not the greatest for a paycheck, it was a wonderful way to have them all transition well.

Other thing I suggest is don't wait for clients to come to you. Try to find clients yourself! I posted posters at local libraries, community centers, sent emails to family and friends, posted on several daycare sites (including this one) and replied to tons of 'wanted' adds on Kijiji. I found a lot of people that were looking for care there.

Other thing I suggest that helped me is stay positive and believe in the service you are offering. In my case every single client that came to visit wanted to sign up. I even turned families away.

Good luck with your plans and keep checking this site. I know for me this site has been amazing as a lot of dcp here have a lot of experience and can give really good insight on things.