When my first child was born, I was determined to be home with her. I didn't want someone else raising my child. I wanted to be there to witness her first words, her first steps, and every other milestone she'd reach.
I did not look down upon other mother's who put their babies in daycare. This was just my choice and what I felt was right for our family. My husband and I discussed it, and once we had made the decision that I would leave my job and stay home to raise our children, I needed to find a way to make money from home.
I looked into lots of work from home businesses. But, most of them were scams. Then, a friend told me that her son attended a family daycare. She told me that the owner had said that starting a daycare was relatively easy and explained all the benefits. She also said her son loved it there.
A Family Daycare business sounded perfect! I could work from home so there would be no commuting time or expense. I could still get a paid vacation, and I could write-off a large portion of my household bills as business expenses on my taxes.
Even though I had to make some small changes to my home such as installing kitchen drawer and cabinet latches, putting a safety gate around our wood stove, and buying padlocks for the gates in our yard, it was no big deal because we would have needed to do those things anyway to keep our own baby safe as she grew.
Starting a daycare was easy and I loved being able to be with my baby all day. But, I did make a few mistakes.
First of all, I didn't charge enough money. I charged my clients half of what other family daycare providers were charging because I figured if I had to pay for child care, that's how much I would like to pay.
Second, my family day care was open 12 hours a day, 5 days a week because I wanted to accommodate everyone! I just simply got burnt out after a while.
Lastly, while other home daycares charged for each 5 minute interval, or some even for each minute that parents arrived after the agreed upon pick up time, I was only charging the regular hourly rate for late pick-ups and parents were really taking advantage of me.
If I had had some guidance, I would have kept my rates competitive with other home daycares in the area, I would have been open only 6-10 hours a day depending on how many children I was caring for, and I would have charged extra for overtime.
All other aspects of owning and operating my own home daycare service were great. I love children so I enjoyed the work. I got to be with my baby all day long and witness her reaching each developmental milestone. As she got older, she had "built in friends," and the tax write-offs for having a business in my home were fabulous. I still got two weeks paid vacation and I was my own boss!
If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, then click on the link below and check out this comprehensive kit that comes complete with all the information you need to Start a Daycare now!
You'll get information on licensing, issues to consider before you start, how to get paid on time, how to figure out how much to charge, how to report your taxes and getting a tax deduction for using your home and more.
This family daycare starter kit also comes with daycare forms and worksheets such as policies and procedures, medication permission forms, childcare agreement and registration forms, payment receipts and many more.
If you are even considering starting a daycare, then click on the link and check out this fabulous kit. It even comes with bonuses! I wish I had this kit when I started my family daycare. I spent hours on the phone trying to find out what I needed for licenses etc. I spent days on the internet searching for forms. I spent weeks researching family daycares and trying to find out what I needed to do and how to do it. This kit has it all, including step-by-step instructions on how to get started.
Click on the link below to see if starting a daycare may be right for you.
