How many inquiries do you receive?

[Suzie_Homemaker]

I'm glad your dry spell didn't last too long. In the 9 years I've been doing this, this is the slowest it has ever been. I don't find too many stay at home moms opening daycare struggling to fill their spots at their prices, and I think that it isn't necessarily indicative of their ability to provide good care so that means that they will get a good reputation and their naivety at being able to charge competitively from day one effects the industry greatly as a result. I think as well that they manage even if they know they can charge extra because so many plan to close after 3 years or so when their child enters kindergarten which is full time here so then they can go back into the employed workforce. Word of mouth and reputation are amazing things, but a rate that is $10-$15 less per day is something that a considerable amount of people will see as a game changer when they are faced to choose between two daycare providers they like equally. I charge $45 per day and I am open M-Th, only accepting 4 day spots. Some of the others who really don't care to much about making a viable full time income out of this as a necessity, charge $30 a day and are more flexible on their policies. Yes it will bite them in the ass eventually and they will regret it, but that won't stop them from opening their doors with cheaper rates and making it slower for us old schoolers.

Undercut prices hurt everyone at least for little while. Sometimes it good to educate new providers and plant little seeds of thought.

Do you have FB? It used a lot in little communities like this one. Try setting up a providers support page. Like this forum but local provider and be quick to remove nasty poster and trolls. Then begin to slowly plant seeds.

Sometime when carer ask about rates, they don't see that they working for free. They don't know what can be claimed. So they providing food out of pocket and cheap care. When you break down these cost and let me figure out they working for peanut, then they start to increase fee. This is good. When not competing on price, means competing on service. This where experience counts.

Encourage fee increases. Encourage paid leave. Encourage fair rates. Encourage common practices. All help to be profession and grow contact and support but also held stabilize market place. Take time though. Over time too, natural progression of inexperience showing too. Tricky to manage large group of 7 children if not used to it. Tricky to know ways to help sleep train, toilet train, if not used to it. Many parents learn to value knowledge of experienced carer once they encounter lack of knowledge and unsure themselves.

I tried not to consider the $22 a day people as competition. These were not client I want anyway. But it can be hard to think that way. Try and remember that every place has not so good client who don't value carer. Try and think of cheap carers as people who suck up poor client and leave way clear for you to get good client. Understand? Hard to explain.

When people work for $22 a day or super cheap rates, in time they feel under valued because they are under valued. This effects motivation for works. In time, these carer can struggle to be motivated early morning get up and long day with grumpy children. They start to slip. They also must cut costs so little added value services. Cheapy crafts if any. Cheapy food. IT challenging job to be motivated for lots of year unless really love doing it. Many $22 a day carer not doing it for love but because they think easy money. Soon understand it not easy money and not big money so they move along. You just have to hold on until they do.