About to Give Up!

[puddlepumpers]

I have been open with my licence since Sept. I registered with a referral company that has a great food program and takes state vouchers. Since I opened I have had 3 different referrals come in through the company, the parents have all called and made appointments to come visit and not ONE showed up. I put adds on the craigslist, but I just dont know of any other way to get families in. We are new in town and dont know anyone, im about to give up and put my 6 month, and 2 year old in daycare and try to find a job outside of the home

[Michael]

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[mac60]

I think where you live determines how you should advertise. Where I am, I am a rural town, nearest city is 55 miles away. I have tried Craigslist on both cities, and never received one call. Craigslist simply does not work in my daycare area. My best adverisement was our local small town newspaper. That is how I got started and filled up. Then after that, maybe in the past 10 years I have advertised maybe 4 to 5 times, other than it is word of mouth from current clients. I have tried putting flyers at the laundromat, nothing, our Walmart and grocery store do not allow these types of flyers, so can't do that here.

Business cards to hand out, magnetic sign on vehicle, local newspaper ads, word of mouth, church bulletin board, laundromat or grocery bulletin boards if allowed. Good luck. You just need to find that "way to get the word out", and it will go from there.

I would say that for my area, now is not a good time to start a daycare as the unemployment rate is very high. I have heard that some providers in my town lost everyone due to the high unemployment. I see ads in our local newspaper and they advertise $1.75 first kid .25 second kid, that tells me they are just "babysitting", and I don't honestly know how they could have a good program with those rates. It cost money to run and operate a quality daycare with activities and a curriculum, I know I couldn't do it caring for 2 kids for $16 per day. Food alone is outrageous, with heat and utilities on top of that along with all the other daily/weekly/monthly expenses.

[gbcc]

I would say that for my area, now is not a good time to start a daycare as the unemployment rate is very high. I have heard that some providers in my town lost everyone due to the high unemployment. I see ads in our local newspaper and they advertise $1.75 first kid .25 second kid, that tells me they are just "babysitting", and I don't honestly know how they could have a good program with those rates. It cost money to run and operate a quality daycare with activities and a curriculum, I know I couldn't do it caring for 2 kids for $16 per day. Food alone is outrageous, with heat and utilities on top of that along with all the other daily/weekly/monthly expenses.

In my area right now it is terrible time to start daycare. I am a bit annoyed though as all these moms loosing their jobs they are staying home and instead of looking for another job they are opening daycares. They offer the lower rates because they have no experience or idea regarding programing but many families right now are going for the cheaper lower quality childcare. (If you are cheaper I am not saying you are lower quality, this is just the way it is in my area)

Maybe you could put something up at school in the teachers lounge. In my area, no one wants teachers children as they take too much time off and feel weird charging them while they are gone 12 weeks at a time. And we certaintly don't want to hold a spot without pay for that long. It is very hard for teachers to find quality childcare around here.

[mac60]

You are right, mothers who have lost their jobs are opening babysitting services. Low quality and cheap cheap cheap. Problem is, they are probably doing it illegally, as if you collect unemployment, there is a cap on what you can earn at a job while collecting unemployment, my state it is 20%. Meaning if your unemployment before taxes is $282 then you can not earn over $56 per week, or they start deducting your unemployment. So, this tells me they are probably doing it illegally---under the table and not claiming it.

[gbcc]

In my state I think unemployment may be stricter. If you work 3 or more days you do not qualify for any unemployment. If you work 1 day you loose about 1/5 of the total amount. 2 days you loose about 2/5 of the total amount. So technically they should not be collecting unemployment and daycare wages.

[laundryduchess@yahoo.com]

you know, here in my town Unemployment is HUGE. if I knew someone doing daycare and collecting unemployment, Id be making a call. Thats fraud.

[booroo]

Dont give up, it can take up to 2 to 3 years to get a good establishment going. Are you members of a church? If so offer a free babysitting service for couples there/like after hours so that they can go out. Also advertising is really hard to figure out. Try the local paper, you are going to have to put some money into advertsiing. Contact your local health and human services-Children services department and have them put you on the list for a daycare, so that when there clients come in they have you to give out.

Good luck and dont give up, it takes time in daycare to get established.

[momma2girls]

It does take a little while, especially if you are in a small town. I have moved 3 times, since starting daycare, so it is especially hard. This last time moving, I didn't have to start over, I moved 1 1/2 miles away!!! I advertise in the paper if I really need to, otherwise signs, business cards, etc.

[Daycare Mommy]

The best advice I ever got on finding clients was:
#1 - Make a nice website with pics of your setup.
#2 - Advertise online with a link to that site.
There are a bunch of different sites that you can choose to pay to have your ad on and it's overwhelming, but a daycare friend of mine gave me a really good tip. Google (your city) and/or zip code and daycare or childcare and see which daycare advertising sites pop up. Those first couple are the ones that are worth forking the money over to get onto.

[DBug]

Daycare Mommy is right -- online is the way to go. When people first start looking around, they'll look around online before they do anything else. I've gotten the majority of my business from my website (www.wix.com for free sites). Parents either just google for daycare in my town and my site comes up, or they find me through my Kijiji ad. If you get a free site up, the only thing it costs you is time -- I see that as win/win for my advertising dollar :-)

[laundryduchess@yahoo.com]

most of my clients are word of mouth. I would say the last 45 - 50 families.

[originalkat]

I have gotten some from the referral agency, lots of calls from signs I put out at busy corners (but they get taken down by the city within a week or less so it isnt worth the cost), some from my yard sign, craigs list, but mostly word of mouth.

I highly recommend a free website. They a lot of times "sell" a client before they show up. For example if you gave those referral agency callers your awsome webite address most will check it out and will just HAVE to sign up. LOL! I use webs.com for my free website. Here is the link if you want to check it out... www.greengatepreschool.webs.com

Also, are you sure your prices are comparable to others in your area?

[Carole's Daycare]

I think where you live determines how you should advertise. Where I am, I am a rural town, nearest city is 55 miles away. I have tried Craigslist on both cities, and never received one call. Craigslist simply does not work in my daycare area. My best adverisement was our local small town newspaper. That is how I got started and filled up. Then after that, maybe in the past 10 years I have advertised maybe 4 to 5 times, other than it is word of mouth from current clients. I have tried putting flyers at the laundromat, nothing, our Walmart and grocery store do not allow these types of flyers, so can't do that here.

Business cards to hand out, magnetic sign on vehicle, local newspaper ads, word of mouth, church bulletin board, laundromat or grocery bulletin boards if allowed. Good luck. You just need to find that "way to get the word out", and it will go from there.

I would say that for my area, now is not a good time to start a daycare as the unemployment rate is very high. I have heard that some providers in my town lost everyone due to the high unemployment. I see ads in our local newspaper and they advertise $1.75 first kid .25 second kid, that tells me they are just "babysitting", and I don't honestly know how they could have a good program with those rates. It cost money to run and operate a quality daycare with activities and a curriculum, I know I couldn't do it caring for 2 kids for $16 per day. Food alone is outrageous, with heat and utilities on top of that along with all the other daily/weekly/monthly expenses.

I know a lot of people who have been laid off decided to open new daycares- not really because it is their chosen profession- they just need some income. I interviewed a family that was all set to come to my daycare, attended for 3 days then left because another gal agreed to watch all three for $30 per day- ther is a lot of that going on- which makes it tough to market in this economy.- More people want less committment in their contracts in case they are laid off, to pay less to get bills paid off/ahead- more people need part time care...
I do two major things when I advertise- 1) saturate the market for as low a cost as I can- print off fliers, brochures, business cards, window clings for my car and friends cars- and leave fliers in every grocery store, restaurant, laundrymat etc. i also use a newspaper ad- but I dont spend for the whole week- I concentrate on Wed, Fri, and for sure Sundays. its cheaper and thats when most people buy/are looking.
2) I try to differentiate myself from other providers- using the information and pictures in my fliers to portray what I feel makes me better than other daycares.

Good Luck

[Daycare Mommy]

I highly recommend a free website. They a lot of times "sell" a client before they show up. For example if you gave those referral agency callers your awsome webite address most will check it out and will just HAVE to sign up. LOL!

I get the same thing! More times than I can count people have made up their mind to bring their kids to me before the interview! (and yes they tell me as much!)