How Long Did It Take You To Get Established

[TwinMama]

I'm just starting, but....I want to be realistic about this. About how long does it take for a person to get established.

All I need is 2 full time children for me to move forward and quit my job. I live in a small town with less than 5,000 people. The good part is that people are nosey and talk about everybody. So that might be good for me in that sense to get the word out.

The few daycares that we do have just have a ton of kids in them. So I think the need is there.

I'm also hoping that with the holidays that people have their parties and get togethers, and it will get the word out that way.

How long did it take you to get going?

[Blackcat31]

I think this is a great question but also one that is unique for everyone.

Each area is different and the needs are different as well so it's hard to say.

Personally, I had no issues establishing myself as I was already coming from a field related to Early Childhood so I knew a ton of families with young children looking for care. I also grew up in the same community so I knew a lot of families personally as well.

I think all you can do is advertise, get your first child and jump right in. wouldn't try to worry about job stability in this line of work as that concept is pretty non-existent....even for long standing providers.

Things change all the time and as soon as you plan for one thing another happens so you really just need to make sure you are good at rolling with it because you'll do it a lot in this field.

[Crazy8]

it really can vary so much from one area to the next. the good thing is you believe there is a need. I would just start getting word out that you will be opening in January (or whatever month you plan on opening) and see if you get some enrollments. If by chance you don't you can always push the opening back (but since you only need 2 kids you should be fine).

When I started I got twins with the first ad I put in the paper (this was back 13+ years ago - internet searching wasn't quite as popular as it is now). Two months later I got my 3rd client. We can only have a max of 5 kids and I had my daughter at home too so getting 2 at first was fine for me.

[Annalee]

I started in Nov, 1992 and was full by January, 1993....a few slow spells but on the average have stayed full since......parents having siblings are the best job security for me thus far.....I began on my second generation of kids last year:: funny thing is I can see me working till my third generation::

[daycare]

I think it depends on several things.

when I first started, I was much younger and had young children in sports, social clubs and it was very easy for me. I had lived in the same city for awhile and a lot of people knew of me because I always coached youth sports.

I filled up and stayed filled for about 6 years.

Then i moved 400miles north. I came to a new place and no one knew of me and I had to start all over again.

I started out strong and within less than a year was back to one DCK. I found that the cycle of children behaviors had changed and I had not.

I decided to go back to school in early ECE. The more classes I took the better I became at my job. I hit some rough patches along the way due to trying to figure out how to deal with what I call HIGH MAINTENANCE parents, but in the last two years I have been full every day with a nice long wait list that makes me know that I am doing something right.

Starting out I thought I knew all there was to know about kids just to find out that I really needed to know more about how to handle the parents...

I also have to say time and patience in this business is a virtue. If you take every tom dick or harry that walks in the door, you will be miserable. Have a good solid foundation of what type of people you want in your business and stick to it. Don't take people because you need the money or need to fill up, take them because they are the RIGHT fit for your program.

Lots of learning curves in this biz. My only wish was that I would have found this form sooner.

[melilley]

I received my license in January of last year and was full with the numbers that I wanted by March/April of last year, so about 2-3 months.

Like pp's have said, it depends on the area that you live in. Here, infant/toddler care is in high demand so it's really easy to fill those spots, but it's really hard to fill the 30 month and over spots (here we can only have 4 that are 30 months and under) because of all of the formal preschools around.

[DaveA]

I started advertising about a month before opening and had been letting it be known around town that I was opening for a couple of months before that. Opened in May with 1 family/2 kids and was full by August.

[taylorw1210]

I am only in my second year, however, it only took me about 3 months to get enough families to be considered "full". Now a year and a half into it, I do not have to advertise anymore - all of my new families come from referrals from current/past families and I have a waiting list.

I took a huge leap of faith when I started daycare. I left the job I had at the time (it was terrible and was causing me severe health issues as well as severely limiting my time with my own children) with no back up plan. I basically decided this is what I'm doing and I don't have the option to fail. It's worked out really well for me and I truly do wake up every morning feeling like I am incredibly lucky to be able to have this "job" everyday.

[missy]

I recommend seeing if you have a county/state agency that provides child care info (in PA ours is called CCIS, Child Care Info. Services) and ask them for info. They were very helpful to me.

I also recommend establishing a relationship with the local daycares and ask them to refer you. I have a center but we get regular referrals from other centers when they are full or can't accommodate a family. I imagine it could work the same for a home daycare. One of our group home providers in my area has to turn kids away all the time because she has been around for so long that she has a regular wait list.