Going Into Home Daycare-Adversity

[Unregistered]

Did any of you start your home daycare because you wanted a BUSINESS?

i see alot of ppl started because they wanted to care for their own young children at home. My children are older and almost out of school but i have been thinking about home daycare. i enjoy the thought of working for myself and i enjoy teaching children. I have crazy looks from family because i make pretty good money at my job now and it just doesnt make sense to them that i would give that up for the uncertainy of daycare.
i know its a major risk.. i want to pay down a lot of debt so that i can still make it thru the dry patches..
anybody have any success stories or lil words of wisdom to keep me thinking.. thanks in advance

[Blackcat31]

Did any of you start your home daycare because you wanted a BUSINESS?

i see alot of ppl started because they wanted to care for their own young children at home. My children are older and almost out of school but i have been thinking about home daycare. i enjoy the thought of working for myself and i enjoy teaching children. I have crazy looks from family because i make pretty good money at my job now and it just doesnt make sense to them that i would give that up for the uncertainy of daycare.
i know its a major risk.. i want to pay down a lot of debt so that i can still make it thru the dry patches..
anybody have any success stories or lil words of wisdom to keep me thinking.. thanks in advance

I started my child care as a business, with the intention of staying in this long term.

My own kids were not babies when I started. They are now 21 & 24 and I am still doing child care.

I don't have any plans to retire any time soon....unless I win the lottery; and then I wouldn't even open the next day so until that happens...I am here running a business.

[MarinaVanessa]

I'm like BC. Although staying home with my kids was a HUGE bonus and maybe the main reason why I wanted to do FCC I also wanted to run a daycare the way that I would have liked a daycare to be run. I did have great child care providers in FCC for my DD but I was looking for a specific type of program that was more play-based rather than academic like my DD's last daycare was and the one previous (although they loved her very much) would let her get away with murder and I felt she needed more structure. The happy medium was that I start my own daycare business and run it the way that I was happy with .

[Unregistered]

so you guys quit jobs you had? did you have any naysayers? how long did you PLAN before you took the big plunge? was your family supportive? do you suggest to save a certain amount of money and have it available for the slow times

[Blackcat31]

so you guys quit jobs you had? did you have any naysayers? how long did you PLAN before you took the big plunge? was your family supportive? do you suggest to save a certain amount of money and have it available for the slow times

Yep, I quit working for Head Start where I was an Assistant Teacher/Home Visitor. I had been there about 5 yrs.

My DH was completely supportive as long as I opened my child care in a 100% separate house other than the one we live in. He grew up with his mom having a daycare and has some negative experiences from that and didn't want our own kids to have to deal with some of the issues.

I quit my job in October, applied immediately for my child care license and was up and running in February. I wasn't 100% full though until atleast 6 months later. My DH had a great job so he covered my expenses that I couldn't meet during that time.

All the toys and stuff I had were from my own kids. I was also lucky enough to have been given a TON of equipment/furniture from Head Start as one of our area centers was relocating to a new building and was getting rid of alot of things at the same time I opened.

..oh, and nope. Can't say I had any naysayers.

[jokalima]

I had the intention of starting it for a while, because I wanted to be my own boss and make more money that what I was making at the center I worked. I had the license for more than a year before I finally decided to start it. When i had my child I went through some hard things, it turned out this is the only child I am having so it made me want to stay with him and enjoy him as much as I can. I could not bare the thought of going to pick him up @ DC and a teacher telling me "he gave 2 steps today" or "he sat down by himself" For me, him being my only child, i wanted to witness that first hand and I have, I only can thank God for this awesome blessing of having this DC and being able to see my son grow. D

[blandino]

My mother did FCC when we were young in order to stay home with us. She returned to work once we were 11 & 6. She reopened the daycare when I was 17 and my brother was 13 - so she did. It have young kids at home. I am now 24 and her partner and have no young kids of my own - and no intention of having any soon.

So we are both in it for the "business" aspect.

[Unregistered]

thanks for your insight!

[MarinaVanessa]

so you guys quit jobs you had? did you have any naysayers? how long did you PLAN before you took the big plunge? was your family supportive? do you suggest to save a certain amount of money and have it available for the slow times

I did have a job before this. I worked as a manager at a large home improvement chain store and kept it during the time that I was trying to get my license. I advertised for my 1st family before I even got my license (legal in CA to have only one family, called license-exempt) and when I signed on my first client I left my job. About 2 months later I had my inspection and got my license that same day then started advertising for more clients.

My DH was a little hesitant at first but my DD's FCC provider talked with him about the business and she was the one that put his worries at ease. I had a lot of encouragement from her and she mentored me through the process.

I had thought about doing FCC for YEARS before I got the guts to actually do it. I researched and put all of the information together for about a year before ever approaching my FCC provider about her thoughts. I wish I would have just asked her since the beginning because she really walked me through the whole process. I would have saved myself a lot of time.

All in all I don't think it was expensive for me at all to start my daycare. Here's a list of what costs I incurred (from memory so I may miss some) from getting my license and starting my daycare in CA.

$ 25 Orientation fee
$ 45 3 TB tests (for me, my DH and my BIL that lived here)
$165 3 Criminal Background Checks (for me, my DH and my BIL that lived here)
$ 35 Fire Extinguisher
$ 95 2-day Child, Infant & Adult CPR, First Aid & Preventative Health & Safety course
$ 65 Application fee
$ 55 Large first-aid kit
$ 40 Child-proofing (approx)
$100 Toys and Equipment (bought over time)
------
$625

All of the above things were paid for over time so it wasn't like it was a lump sum investment but I had DD already so I did not have to purchase a lot of toys and our home was already child proofed except for some minor things.

If your family is NOT supportive I would highly recommend that you wait until you have convinced them to be on board without any hesitations (immediate household members) otherwise it will make things extremely stressful and difficult. There are many times where I have heard stories from providers that have DH's that don't respect their daycares or follow the safety rules and that can cause not only problems with regulations but also within your marriage.

I would definitely consider saving 3-6 months worth of living expenses needed to keep you afloat when you first start off if your income is needed in order to pay your families living expenses. Sometimes you don't get a client right away (that first client is always the hardest) and you should have enough saved so that you can support yourself for the first few months. You should always have a reserve anyway even after you are full "just in case". I think 3 months is ok.

[williams2008]

I quit a job that I had too. My youngest son is 14, so I don't have any smaller children at home. My husband was very supportive, and plus I have other sources of income that I recieve.

I applied for my license in March and by May I was up and running. I had a full enrollment by July and I have been full every since! so with that being said, I got in it for the business!

[rmc20021]

This is my second time around. I started doing daycare when my youngest daughters were toddlers and stopped when they were both in school full time and a year or so after that.

This time around, I began doing daycare to have my own business which I could operate the way I wanted. I was working a full time job, applied for licensing and got the ball rolling before leaving my job in November of last year. My license was approved in January and had my first kid the day my license was approved.

I figured with what I spent on gas, eating lunches out etc, that I bring home about what I did then when I have 3 full time kids. I'm licensed for 6 but plan to increase that to 12 this summer so I can have a cushion for when I lose a kid or two.

[itlw8]

I started doing childcare because I wanted to stay home with our youngest until age 5. I stayed and improved my preschool/childcare because I loved the business . Our baby just turned 30 and I have his 5 yr old in my program.

Every state is different here in MO I think the only cost was $10 for a background check. and 12 hours of training each year. I had to make a few modifications but nothing major to the house.

If you are quitting a job make sure you have some money saved up to get you started just like opening any new business.

[LK5kids]

I quit a good job a few months ago to get back into FCC. We bought a house separate just for child care. My kids are grown. I had lots of support from family and friends.

This is a business in everyone's eyes. It has been a big adjustment for me and I knew what I was getting into and thought things through for months. I worked for a family agency for 14 yrs. and I worked with families with children birth-5 yrs., so I never got very far away from working with young kids.

I don't know how long it takes to get licensed in your state (or if you even plan on going that route) but it's a long process in my state and I should have been further along in the licensing process before quitting my job. I'm limited on the # of kids I can take until I am I licensed and it's been a financial stress. I also started around the holidays ( which is not a good time to start up).

I have always worked with young children, but I am now just really getting back in the groove of FCC and feeling okay with my decision. It's been a long winter

[MNMum]

I quit my job as an RN and make half as much as I could doing that. My kids were 2, 6, 9 when I started. I was tired of working for someone else and only having one weekend/month with my family.

[Rubysmom]

I quit a job of 17 years where I was only working 25 hours a week with great benefits and flex to start a daycare. I absolutely could not take my boss or the crazy coworkers anymore. Everyone thought I was nuts!

I have been doing this almost a year now and have never regretted it! My daughter will start kindy in the fall, and I will be here to get her on and off the bus. She has had alot to adjust to having kids here playing with her old toys, sharing mom and mom not having days off for fun outtings, but she has made it thru with me.

I would never been able to do this without a very supportive and handy husband, and a friend who subs for me when I have appts.