Getting Children

[Unregistered]

Sounds you've got most avenues for advertising covered. It's true tho. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Do you need to start out with longer hours, take school age before and after school, adjust prices, etc.? I don't know if any of those things can be adjusted. I say take a look at those kind of things at least.

Years ago I had to be open longer, take two kids Sat. Morning, and be open till six on Friday night for two families. i also took one infant and one toddler even tho I would have preferred two and up. I was happy to work these hours because I needed the $$$. I did have a large dedicated DC space. I could have never done this right in my living room.

Now I'm open two hours less, take kids one and up, and would never do a Sat.

The only other advertising I have is a magnetic car sign from Vista Print.

[Unregistered]

Oh yes, I do lots with FB too!

[Thriftylady]

I restarted a year ago and it is hard to get families in my area. Many people here just don't seem to want to pay for childcare. I agree that you may have to take some less prime hours for awhile. I am doing that right now, but I have an awesome family from it, and had one this summer that needed odd hours that was temporary from the start. I am finding the odd hours to be somewhat worth it.

[NillaWafers]

I had to lower my prices quite a bit before I got my first kid. It also took like 2-3 months. Once I had my first kid it snowballed from there and two months later I was full. In January I will be raising my rates to be more reflective of my program. I found all my kids through a moms swap in my area.

[daniellesweety1]

Also many grocery and convenience stores have a board where you can post flyers , business cards and things like that .

What county / town / city are you in . If I hear of someone needing care in that area I could pass along your name , just pm me the info.

I PM'd you, Thanks. and disregard the last part about speaking with you. It was someone else. ! I looked through my messages.

[daniellesweety1]

I was able to get my first family through a Facebook group and by opening at 5:45 for them. Once I got the first family, it was easier to get a few more. I discovered I was able to earn a third of my income for the first half of a year after opening by accepting drop in clients ( scheduled at least 24 hours in advance). Maybe advertise that on Facebook groups and see if you can just start generating an income.

I'll advertise for drop ins as well. Thanks for that. Do you have a contract for that and how does it work as for as medical forms and things for Drop-Ins?

[daniellesweety1]

Facebook has been my saving grace recently. Prior to recently it was almost 100% Craigslist. Then, I quit advertising there because the people were flaky, never coming to interviews, or horrible clients if they signed up. Spent a couple years running seriously low and then starting making myself known in some active local facebook groups, both of the BST (buy sell trade) variety and the "mom" variety. It was a growing process of getting "known" in there before I started advertising my daycare. For a couple months I was responded to EVERY person saying they needed child care recommendations. Finally in the space of 2 weeks I got 2 new kids, putting me at full for the first time in 3 years. So it wouldn't hurt to try FB if you have active local mom groups.

I do post a lot on FB, I need to see if I can find other local mom groups in MD. I'm going to look into that today. Craigslist was ok but now I do get some strange emails from ppl that I don't ever respond to. Thanks again for your help as well.

[daniellesweety1]

I had to lower my prices quite a bit before I got my first kid. It also took like 2-3 months. Once I had my first kid it snowballed from there and two months later I was full. In January I will be raising my rates to be more reflective of my program. I found all my kids through a moms swap in my area.

I have been considering changing my rates, but based on my area I'm in the middle of everyone so lower will be really low. I was actually thinking of lowering for based on the age range for infants. Like charge more for the really small ones and when they get to the 9-12 month mark go a little lower and then depending on how they are at the age of 12-18 months maybe offer a little lower until 2 and then my rates will be the regular rates for 2 and up. So I was playing around with that idea.

Does anyone else do that?

[Unregistered]

I post on care.com, accept drop-in care, have 24/7 availability (parents rarely use it, but they like to know it exists), make organic baby food until 12 months, roughly 75% organic for older kids, part of the food program, give two assessments per year, have pre-k education based upon the children's interests (for instance, little Judy likes building things, talk engineering and use magna-tiles, point out examples of architecture, etc., in a loosely based way), have a play-based daycare, etc.

Also, I make it known to parents that there are other families I am interviewing. The key phrase being "I am interviewing"...that lets them know they aren't interviewing me...this is a business, and I get to decide who is in my care. What do you know...that makes them more eager to join, and they are waiting on me to call the next day and say yes or no...especially for the under 2 category.

Make sure your house is nice, clean and organized. I set my daycare up to have no bright primary colors...instead it is in aqua, apple green and yellow with soft creams/tans....it appeals to the parents as well as the kids.

[Unregistered]

Also, I find out what the parents do for a living...if they are journalists, I talk about the books we read, and if they are scientists/engineers, I talk about the math and science experiments we have. The parents are looking for people like themselves to take care of their kids...it's really that simple.