I don't mean this to sound harsh although it may....you really are only worth what people are willing to pay for you. The fact is you have no experience running your home daycare and that is off putting for parents. Keep your rates for sure at least on par with the going rates in your area if not slightly lower. Definitely not any higher although with your education I'm pretty confident that after a year or so or when you start having turnover you will be able to raise those rates. I agree also that you should say "this is how we do things" vs " this is how we WILL do things".

The fact is you can be doing everything right and still have a hard time...it's frustrating. Keep in mind that as a provider there will be times like this throughout your career where it feels like no one is "biting". I myself have not been getting ANY calls lately although this winter I was getting several inquiries per week.

The one last thing I want to add is you mentioned you wanted to make your daycare feel as much like a center as possible. Keep in mind that the people you are interviewing are looking for a HOME DAYCARE. Being an ECE and having a nice setup is great, but you have to balance that out somehow and remember that this is home daycare and really sell things like smaller group, homey feel, kids developing stronger bonds and just the more relaxed, less rushed atmosphere that home daycare has to offer (among other things!).

Good luck and try not to stress about it!