WAY Too Many Daycares

[littlemissmuffet]

I went through all the training and licensing requirements, background checks, fees, etc...., and I don't think it's fair that they aren't.

Um, I am not licensed and I have the best daycare in my area - I am always full, I have stellar recommendations and referals, I have a 4 year wait list, I feed my DCKs only healthy foods, we go on WEEKLY field trips, we spend much of our days outdoors, we are CLEAN, we DON'T HAVE A TELEVISION, etc...
And to top it off I charge quite a bit less than the licensed home daycares in my area who stay inside all day long, eat grabage for meals, do not even have a designated play area and have a tv going all day long.
Life isn't fair, honey

This business, much like any other, NEEDS competition - to weed out the short-lived fly by night dayhomes. Trust me, the majority of these stay at home moms who are charging ridiculously low fees won't last... the ones who think this job is easy and they can just lay around all day - well, they have the kind of clients we don't want. You have to sell yourself as being the best!

Here's some advertising tips that work for me:

- I bring business cards EVERYWHERE I go and hand them out to almost every parent I see (grocery stores, parks, malls, corner stores, beauty salons, schools - and I usually have some DCKs in tow when I do it)
- I print brochures and leave them at my neighborhood schools and churches
- Find community boards and print the boldest, brightest and easist to read ad possible (I make them with pull tabs that have my name, number and email)
- Craigslist... and also ANY free online advertising site
- Get your number in the phone book
- Lawn signs
- Poster ads around schools, churches, your home, the gym
- Staple a business card to candy bags at halloween (this got me countless calls!)
- Advertise on local online mom/parent groups
- Welcome Wagon - get them to ad your business card to their packets
- Get a website
and best of all Word of Mouth... tell everyone you're looking for kids!!

Good luck!

[Blackcat31]

I agree with littlemissmuffet...if you're good, then it doesn't matter how much competition is out there.

If a parent wants care, but only if it's cheap then I don't want them and am very grateful for those sahm's who are offering exactly that.

[MsMe]

Hi there! I am just in need of getting this out! I have been doing daycare for about 2 years now, and presently, I only care for one 9 mo. old who I've had since he was 2 months. I have not had the best luck with the families I've had attend. I live in a town of about 70,000, not too big, not too small, but I've noticed that there are A LOT of licensed daycares in my neighborhood. I mean A LOT. I would think that the county would put a cap on how many there are. No one is full, and there are also a lot of SAHM's advertising on craigslist to watch one family at CHEAP prices. It upsets me because they are taking away our business. At the prices they are advertising, how can we compete?:confused: I went through all the training and licensing requirements, background checks, fees, etc...., and I don't think it's fair that they aren't.

Sorry, I'm kind of venting but I'm getting frustrated. I am trying to make a living doing this, and it seems silly that the county just keeps spitting out licenses. How is anyone going to get any business?

I've just finished a website for my daycare, I've made up and handed out business cards, and I have an ad on craigslist. Anyone have any other ideas for advertising? I'm also registered with our local R&R. I just hope I get some calls soon! Thanks for listening!

If they had put a cap on it I bet you would have been too late to ge a license two years ago. I am sure there are other providers in your area that have been at it longer than you thinking you are one of too many. If they are in it for a quick buck or easy money they will stop soon enough and word will get around soon enough who is good and who is not.

Talk talk talk good luck

[dEHmom]

to the op, you mentioned "they are taking away our business". It's just as much their business as yours. Not to sound harsh, I understand how you feel, but if they aren't very good daycares, charge too little or too much, or don't do what they should be doing, they will not last. Some may be doing it because they have no other option, some might have wanted to do this their whole life and change of events allowed it to happen for them. You never know.

A lot of people prefer licensed centers over private unlicensed. Others prefer unlicensed. Everyone will have their own ideas how to run it, and not everyone will agree. Be the best you can be, and people will start coming to you.

I am unlicensed, and live less than a block away from a licensed center directly across from a school. Many people have chosen me over her. She offers french, and I do not. But that doesn't make her better than me. I offer more flexibility, but I cost more than she does (although she makes more than me because of government grants).

[Blackcat31]

If they had put a cap on it I bet you would have been too late to ge a license two years ago. I am sure there are other providers in your area that have been at it longert han youthinking you are one of too many. If they are in it for a quick buck or easy money they will stop soon enough and word will get around soon ebough who is good and who is not.

Talk talk talk good luck

Momwith4, Please don't take this wrong but if I used your line of thinking I should be mad that you are in business....I have been in this business for a loooong time (almost 2 decades) and I have done all the required trainings and licensing requirements PLUS earned a CDA, a A.A.S in ECE and am working on my B.A. in ECE/Sp. Ed and participated in several other trainings and courses that aren't required but still lose business sometimes to new providers because they are less expensive or because their rules/hours are more flexible...etc...etc... I even purchased a home with a mortgage strictly for daycare and am trying to make a living doing this as well. I am not a fly by night provider and have devoted many many years to this business and the state still just keeps spitting out new licenses every year....

But since I have been doing this for so long, I do welcome new licensed and unlicensed providers because it makes it so that parents have choices. No one is ever forced to stay in a child care that isn't a good fit. No one has to put up with a provider or parent that doesn't meet their needs. No one has to pay money out to an expensive (or to a less expensive) daycare unwillingly. It provides parents the opportunity to find the perfect fit and it provides me with options to give parents that don't or won't fit well with me.

I work closely with neighboring providers and share their names and numbers with parents who call me and I either can't or won't take them so I have lots of other provider numbers to give them in hopes that they are able to get that one "right" provider for their children. Some of these neighboring providers love babies, some do not. Some are willing to transport or make all organic foods or do cloth diapers or keep kids late or not charge late fees or let kids bring toys from home or don't offer naps or take drop ins or......???

There are choices (and seems like more every year) and IMHO, that is what should be happening.

[flightlessbird11]

wow...I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here. I'm very aware that life is not fair, but if people are doing daycare without being licensed, why bother to be licensed at all? In my county, you can only have up to four non related, from one family at a timr if you're not licensed, and thats not an option for me.

If the county is going to keep spitting out licenses, then they are setting up a lot of people for failure. It's kind of the same thing for other licenses. There is only a certain amount of rental licenses allowed on any city block at a tinme in my county, liquor licenses, etc..

I also don't mind competition. I have an excellent program, and almost everyone that i've interviewed and offered a spot to, has come to me. All I was saying is that for a smaller town, there are ALOT of daycares here.

[Blackcat31]

wow...I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here. I'm very aware that life is not fair, but if people are doing daycare without being licensed, why bother to be licensed at all? In my county, you can only have up to four non related, from one family at a timr if you're not licensed, and thats not an option for me.

If the county is going to keep spitting out licenses, then they are setting up a lot of people for failure. It's kind of the same thing for other licenses. There is only a certain amount of rental licenses allowed on any city block at a tinme in my county, liquor licenses, etc..

I also don't mind competition. I have an excellent program, and almost everyone that i've interviewed and offered a spot to, has come to me. All I was saying is that for a smaller town, there are ALOT of daycares here.

Unlicensed providers can make money while watching only one other family's children AND stay home with their own children so that is why it works for them.

How are they setting up people for failure?

[flightlessbird11]

If they had put a cap on it I bet you would have been too late to ge a license two years ago. I am sure there are other providers in your area that have been at it longer than you thinking you are one of too many. If they are in it for a quick buck or easy money they will stop soon enough and word will get around soon enough who is good and who is not.

Talk talk talk good luck

sounds like i offended you, you seem defensive. Maybe that would have been the case, but when I was licensed initially, there were only 15 daycares in my neighborhood-not the present 52. (I actually did do my homework), so I don't think it would have been a problem. But thanks for the support....geesh, this thread wasn't intended to be taken the way some of you are reacting. I've just hit a dry spot, and money is tight, and I am in this for the long haul,so whatever I guess. Just looking for some clever advertising ideas, not the static I'm getting.

[flightlessbird11]

Unlicensed providers can make money while watching only one other family's children AND stay home with their own children so that is why it works for them.

How are they setting up people for failure?

I'm talking about the county. The government. They make the money off all the licensing fees they keep turning out, not thinking about how many children are actually in need of chldcare, so if there are sooooooooo many daycares, and not enough children to go around....see where I'm going with this.

[Blackcat31]

sounds like i offended you, you seem defensive. Maybe that would have been the case, but when I was licensed initially, there were only 15 daycares in my neighborhood-not the present 52. (I actually did do my homework), so I don't think it would have been a problem. But thanks for the support....geesh, this thread wasn't intended to be taken the way some of you are reacting. I've just hit a dry spot, and money is tight, and I am in this for the long haul,so whatever I guess. Just looking for some clever advertising ideas, not the static I'm getting.

Please don't get discouraged...it is the dry spells that weed out the good from the bad. We have all been there. This forum is where you should go to vent and let off steam, but you also can't get mad when someone else says things from a different viewpoint or standpoint. There are many many sides and not one single one is right. You may have just been venting but it read as though you were dissing on new providers or the fact that the state allows new ones daily without capping the numbers...but if that were the case, then as MsMe was saying, you are on that one side of the argument as being one of the newly licensed providers and even if there were only 15 providers, those 15 probably felt that you were intruding into an area they already had covered.

FTR, I wasn't getting ruffled, just sayin' so you could see things from a different perspective. I do think you shoud hang in there. I have seen providers come and go and unfortunatley the cycle will turn that way forever and all we can do in all the mess is do what YOU do best...they will come. Patience is definately a virtue in this biz.

I also didn't pay one dime for my license and none of the new providers in my county do either. My county doesn't charge for licensing so I am lost in that area.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Free market economy....

The market has a way of correcting itself. The poor quality ones will go away. The large center across the street from my small center has been 3 (!!!) different places in 6 years. They were ALL AWFUL and they go away eventually.

But if we want to live in a free market economy, we have to deal with competition as a fact of life. I had a nice wake-up call myself on this very topic today myself.

[flightlessbird11]

Um, I am not licensed and I have the best daycare in my area - I am always full, I have stellar recommendations and referals, I have a 4 year wait list, I feed my DCKs only healthy foods, we go on WEEKLY field trips, we spend much of our days outdoors, we are CLEAN, we DON'T HAVE A TELEVISION, etc...
And to top it off I charge quite a bit less than the licensed home daycares in my area who stay inside all day long, eat grabage for meals, do not even have a designated play area and have a tv going all day long.
Life isn't fair, honey

This business, much like any other, NEEDS competition - to weed out the short-lived fly by night dayhomes. Trust me, the majority of these stay at home moms who are charging ridiculously low fees won't last... the ones who think this job is easy and they can just lay around all day - well, they have the kind of clients we don't want. You have to sell yourself as being the best!

Here's some advertising tips that work for me:

- I bring business cards EVERYWHERE I go and hand them out to almost every parent I see (grocery stores, parks, malls, corner stores, beauty salons, schools - and I usually have some DCKs in tow when I do it)
- I print brochures and leave them at my neighborhood schools and churches
- Find community boards and print the boldest, brightest and easist to read ad possible (I make them with pull tabs that have my name, number and email)
- Craigslist... and also ANY free online advertising site
- Get your number in the phone book
- Lawn signs
- Poster ads around schools, churches, your home, the gym
- Staple a business card to candy bags at halloween (this got me countless calls!)
- Advertise on local online mom/parent groups
- Welcome Wagon - get them to ad your business card to their packets
- Get a website
and best of all Word of Mouth... tell everyone you're looking for kids!!

Good luck!

not trying to offend..sorry. Just a question for you though; does your county let you have more than one family's children at a time without being licensed? I'm guessing they do by the sounds of it, just curious. Mine doesnt.

[SilverSabre25]

not trying to offend..sorry. Just a question for you though; does your county let you have more than one families children at a time without being licensed? I'm guessing they do by the sounds of it, just curious. Mine doesnt.

I live in a state where we can have up to 6 children, including our own under age 6, without being licensed. In fact, my particular county does not license any home daycare providers at all, though other counties do (and then you have to have 2 providers). 3 of the six can be under age 2, too. Different states have different rules.

[flightlessbird11]

Please don't get discouraged...it is the dry spells that weed out the good from the bad. We have all been there. This forum is where you should go to vent and let off steam, but you also can't get mad when someone else says things from a different viewpoint or standpoint. There are many many sides and not one single one is right. You may have just been venting but it read as though you were dissing on new providers or the fact that the state allows new ones daily without capping the numbers...but if that were the case, then as MsMe was saying, you are on that one side of the argument as being one of the newly licensed providers and even if there were only 15 providers, those 15 probably felt that you were intruding into an area they already had covered.

FTR, I wasn't getting ruffled, just sayin' so you could see things from a different perspective. I do think you shoud hang in there. I have seen providers come and go and unfortunatley the cycle will turn that way forever and all we can do in all the mess is do what YOU do best...they will come. Patience is definately a virtue in this biz.

I also didn't pay one dime for my license and none of the new providers in my county do either. My county doesn't charge for licensing so I am lost in that area.

In my county, there is a $100 licensing fee/year-no joke. That's the reason I brought up my frustration with non licensed. I'm not against new providers at all, like you've all pointed out-I'm relatively new myself. In 20 years, I'll get to say I'm experienced-just not there yet. I may be new to daycare, but I'm a mother of four wonderful children and have been working with children all my life. I'm in it for the long haul.

[flightlessbird11]

I live in a state where we can have up to 6 children, including our own under age 6, without being licensed. In fact, my particular county does not license any home daycare providers at all, though other counties do (and then you have to have 2 providers). 3 of the six can be under age 2, too. Different states have different rules.

ok, that's interesting. I realize diff. counties, have diff. rules, I guess I didn't think about that as I was writing. We pay $100/year to be licensed in my county.