Opening a Daycare Center Business

Opening a daycare center is a serious undertaking. There are a lot of things that you need to consider and do if you want your daycare business to run smoothly and become profitable. Initially, you should find out how much demand there is for day care centers in the area where you want to start the business. After satisfying yourself that you'll have enough customers you then need to consider the following issues:

1. Opening a daycare center - Registration and Regulation

Find out from your local agency or licensing office what you need to do to get a licence. You'll need to do this before you can start operating. If you're unsure who to contact, you can call the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education on 1-800-598-KIDS (5437). They have contact information for every state in the USA. Some daycare business are not required to be licensed but there are more advantages to being licensed and you'll find that parents take licensed care providers more seriously.

2. Opening a daycare center - Start-up costs and financing

Some of the things you need to consider:

- Set up costs - How much is it going to cost to get started? Are you prepared to operate without making a profit for a few months? What is your budget?

- Are you eligible for a loan or daycare grant? Most for-profit day care businesses are only eligible to apply for a limited number of grants. Non-profit day care providers have access to more funding and grants. You'll need to research what is available to you.

- Do you want to run your business from home or do you prefer to lease, rent, buy or build new facilities.

- Are you planning to hire staff or do you intend to do everything yourself?

3. Opening a daycare center - Your motivation for starting a daycare business

Your goals, aims and motivation for opening a daycare center are important because they will determine what direction your business will go.

- Do you have any experience in the area of childcare? Do you enjoy working with children? How much do you know about child development? Have you ever run a business before? If this is your first time you'll need to do a lot of research and reading.

- Are you prepared to work long hours, accept responsibility, meet strict deadlines, exercise authority, manage other people and provide leadership?

- Do you have good communication skills? How do you cope under pressure or in stressful situations?

- Are emotionally and physically healthy?

4. Opening a daycare center - Getting Started

It's a good idea to get hold of a good book on opening a daycare center. Such books usually contain detailed information on many aspects of the day care business. You could also locate and speak to current owners of day care businesses. You can learn a lot from their experience.

Copyright ? 2007 Greg Miles. businesstartupsguide.com/daycare Click here to get a complete business package to help you easily and quickly start your own profitable day care business: businesstartupsguide.com/daycare businesstartupsguide.com/daycare or visit The businesstartupsguide.com Start-up Guide online.