Checklist for Starting a Daycare

Video Transcript

"Hello, I'm Sarah Norris from Total Childcare in Wilmington, North Carolina and today we'll talk about a checklist for starting a daycare center. Daycare centers are businesses and they're multi-faceted. And there are many many things that must be thought about before beginning this process. Number one is, and this adage has been used probably too much, but you do sincerely need to love children because this is a business that's all about children and you're going to be involved with children all day long every day of the week, and you need to really like them and enjoy their company. Besides that thought, you need to think about where you mike like to have the center. Is there a need in this particular area for your facility, whether it's a center or a home. You would also need to think about the size that you would like to have in the building. Is there a rental property available that you might be able to use, or do you need to build? Do you... what ages do you want to serve? Are you going to serve infants through after school? Are you going to just serve pre-school? Where are you going to obtain funds in order to have the funding that you need to begin the center and you will need to have a budget for start-up as well as operational costs. You will need to have a business plan. You will need to go first of all to a pre-license workshop, which will give you all grades of information about how to begin this type of business. You'll need to consult your small business administration with help and many other companies or many other agencies that might be available within your own state. Do your homework. Go check out all the possibilities be sure you've covered everything, dotted all Is crossed all Ts when thinking about starting a childcare center. It is a business and it is hard work but it can be rewarding."