How to Start a Child Care Business or Daycare

Start a Child Care or Daycare Business

Starting a child care service or daycare is an exciting and rewarding endeavor. There are a number of things to consider before starting your daycare to insure that you are both successful and safe.

Instructions

1. Choose either a home based or commercial based location.

   The first thing to consider is the location of your child care business. If you have enough space it might make the most sense to have it in your home. A commercial option will give your business a more professional appearance, but also cost more upfront.

2. Talk to a lawyer.

   Your next step should be to talk to a lawyer to see what kind of licenses and other legal conditions you will need to operate your daycare business. Find out what kinds of requirements are needed to earn them as well as the costs that you may incur. Some possible items include health code regulations and inspections, including meeting fire code requirements. It will depend on the location in which your business will be situated.

3. Get the necessary education.

   You will also want to consider any special training and certifications that you might need in order to run a successful child care business. This might include first aid classes, CPR, as well as certifications in child care and child development. These certifications will further legitimize your business in the eyes of parents.

4. Call your insurance agent.

   You will also want to find out the amount of insurance that you will need to cover any damages or injuries that might occur during the life of your business. If you're running the business from your home, you will need to increase the limits of your current policy, or in some cases, buy a separate policy.

   If you're running your child care business from outside of your home, you will need to look into insurance for that facility.

5. Check out the competition.

   A lot of business owners don't stop to think if the current location that they are in is appropriate for the business services that they want to provide. You can start to research this by calling other child care providers to see if they have more clients than they can handle or if they aren't filling up their business on a consistent basis.

   Of course, these answers may not mean as much if you find a location near a business with many parents that need child care. If you are convenient for your market, then you can be more competitive.

6. Work on a budget.

   Get out a pen and paper and figure out how much money it will take to start up your child care business. This should include the purchase of equipment that will be required and the possible cost of additional staffing to take care of more children than you can handle by yourself.