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If you offer a very good program, even though you are limiting your age group, you should be able to get the clients you need. Set your place up nicely, find out what others in your area offer and try to offer a little more than they do. Get your name out everywhere you can in your area. Advertise in local papers, put business cards in local stores, restaurants, etc. Put flyers out everywhere. See if there's a local parents' resource number that parents can call to find daycare providers. If there is, get your daycare information on their list to give to parents. Make a point to go out in your area shopping, at restaurants, to any public place that you can specifically to let your new neighbors know about you having a new daycare in the area.
I take ages 6 weeks - 5 years old (as long as the 5 year olds aren't in school yet). I do not take school kids. I also don't take kids who go somewhere else for a couple of hours of preschool. I provide a preschool program here so the children that I watch get their preschool education while here for a full day of childcare.
I have had a good bit of people that I had to turn down because I don't take school children. It will limit your ability to take certain families. But, if you are able to take a little time to build your group up, you should get enough families. Not everyone has a child in school. Plus, many families who have only younger children would rather that you don't have the older children mixed in with the younger ones. And if they don't have school kids, many families don't want to have their child put in your car every day to drive someone else's child to school and don't want their child to have to stand in the rain/snow at a bus stop for someone else's child that has to get on a bus.
I would suggest that you offer a good preschool educational program to entice more parents to choose your program over the others in the area. Plus, if you feel comfortable doing so, I would suggest that you call around and/or go visit local daycares to see what your competition is doing with/for the age group you would like to watch. If no one else offers to provide meals, you could provide meals to entice parents to hire you rather than them. If others have mainly plastic shelves as their 'furniture', you could invest in some nicer shelves.
By limiting an age group, you are already limiting your chances of getting a full group quickly. So, it might help if you can 'one-up' your competition with what you offer/how your home/set up looks vs. other daycare providers in your area. Doing that could either help or hurt you with making friends with the local daycare providers. Some or all of the providers might get mad that you are trying to be 'better than they are' or that you are starting problems for them because no daycare in the area offers to provide diapers, and since you learned that, you DO provide diapers, so now parents are asking all the daycare ladies to provide diapers. Or other providers might think it's nice that you offer a nicer program. You could either make friends or enemies of the other daycare ladies. So, just keep that in mind.
Another thing you can do to try to get clients quickly is to offer some time frame of a free childcare (one free week) or the first two-four weeks at half price or something like that.
I take ages 6 weeks - 5 years old (as long as the 5 year olds aren't in school yet). I do not take school kids. I also don't take kids who go somewhere else for a couple of hours of preschool. I provide a preschool program here so the children that I watch get their preschool education while here for a full day of childcare.
I have had a good bit of people that I had to turn down because I don't take school children. It will limit your ability to take certain families. But, if you are able to take a little time to build your group up, you should get enough families. Not everyone has a child in school. Plus, many families who have only younger children would rather that you don't have the older children mixed in with the younger ones. And if they don't have school kids, many families don't want to have their child put in your car every day to drive someone else's child to school and don't want their child to have to stand in the rain/snow at a bus stop for someone else's child that has to get on a bus.
I would suggest that you offer a good preschool educational program to entice more parents to choose your program over the others in the area. Plus, if you feel comfortable doing so, I would suggest that you call around and/or go visit local daycares to see what your competition is doing with/for the age group you would like to watch. If no one else offers to provide meals, you could provide meals to entice parents to hire you rather than them. If others have mainly plastic shelves as their 'furniture', you could invest in some nicer shelves.
By limiting an age group, you are already limiting your chances of getting a full group quickly. So, it might help if you can 'one-up' your competition with what you offer/how your home/set up looks vs. other daycare providers in your area. Doing that could either help or hurt you with making friends with the local daycare providers. Some or all of the providers might get mad that you are trying to be 'better than they are' or that you are starting problems for them because no daycare in the area offers to provide diapers, and since you learned that, you DO provide diapers, so now parents are asking all the daycare ladies to provide diapers. Or other providers might think it's nice that you offer a nicer program. You could either make friends or enemies of the other daycare ladies. So, just keep that in mind.
Another thing you can do to try to get clients quickly is to offer some time frame of a free childcare (one free week) or the first two-four weeks at half price or something like that.
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