I too had a friend who had been in the business a long time. She made sure that I had contracts from day one and as in a prior life as part of an earlier career, I'd written contracts, she was able to warn me of common issues (late payments, late pick ups, bounced cheques etc) so I was able to avoid them.

I don't use day care management software nor genetic forms.

I decided what the boundaries of my service would be, what I could be flexible with and what I couldn't, what sort of customer I wanted and who I didn't, why my service would set me apart - i.e. what was my competitive edge?