First Clients

[Jiminycrickets]

I had one client (2 kids) for the first 4 months I was open and that was only because we knew them and they were literally waiting for me to start my own day care. After my second family started, it took 3 more months to fill my other two spots (though I wasn't in a huge hurry to fill those spots, so was not advertising heavily.)
It can take some time to get started. I had lots of people call and ask for care and try to get me to take $80 a week for 50 hours of care and such things. I stuck to my guns and now I have to put people who call on a waiting list.
I would definitely give it more than a few weeks before lowering rates or changing what times you are offering.

[e.j.]

If I started off with Fridays I couldn’t go backwards, and heard Fridays off was a game changer.

That's not necessarily true. When I first started out, I worked 5 days a week but within a year or two, some of the kids aged out of my program and I was left with several part timers. I decided to stick with a 4 day work week and filled the rest of my slots with families who didn't need Fridays. I never had a problem staying full working M-Th.

About 5 years ago, I agreed to open on Fridays again. Long story short, the kids I agreed to watch on Fridays have gone on to school and I have my Fridays back again. So....yes, you can start out full time M-F and then go to a M-Th schedule. I've done it twice! I think establishing a good reputation first can make it easier, though. Most of my new families come to me word of mouth. They knew up front that I didn't work Fridays. Most either changed their work hours or had relatives or friends to cover for them.

Those typically have more fad demands and are unreliable income longterm since they often change providers on a whim. They don't generally need childcare and will remind you of that often for loopholes. They also enjoy writing bad references online.

I've never experienced this but maybe I've just been lucky? I wonder if location also has something to do with it? I did have one mom who used to let me know how far she traveled from her house to mine every day and she would mention how expensive day care was. After telling her twice that I would understand if she left and enrolled her child closer to home, she stopped. I ended up with her second child as well and both kids stayed with me until they left for kindergarten. Other than the comments, she was one of my best clients and she referred several other families to me.

If you can hold out, and maybe jazz up your advertising, I highly recommend a 4 day schedule! I agree, try not to lower your rates, if they are in the right range for your area.

I offered part time, infant/toddler care because there were few places near me that took infants, and offered flexible scheduling. It can work! I had a lot of families with grandparent who picked up the 5th day, or SAHM who just wanted 2 days of care for a break at home.

It was a great schedule, since my boys were young at the time. I really hope you can make it work!

I agree.

As far as how long you should wait, I'd say that really depends on what you can afford to do financially. Hold on for a while longer if you can but if/when money gets tight, maybe give some thought to working M-Fri long enough to establish a reputation. Once you're more in demand, try taking on more part timers and either let the full timers age out or give families notice that you will no longer be working on Fridays as of a date of your choosing. Good luck.