Starting a DayCare Center

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Your first steps to starting a daycare center operated from your home can be fairly easily. Many states allow unlicensed daycares, provided they don' exceed a certain number of children. Most states allow you to watch as many as 5 without requiring a license. Starting a daycare is rewarding. A successful operation can make up to $50,000 a year.


Talk with Your Family

Before you get too far in you planning, talk with your family. Your children may not be very receptive to "sharing" their mommy, or toys with other children. Letting them know in the early planning stages may save some unhappy moments later on. Consider how this business may affect your daily lives.

Is Renovating Your Home Necessary?

Your home must be child proof. You might need to do some minor renovations prior to starting your home based daycare. Areas to consider include: yard fencing, non-slip flooring in the bathroom, sharp edges, fire extinguishers, safety latches and covered electrical plates, etc.

Insurance Considerations

Talk with your insurance agent. You should consider purchasing liability insurance to protect your personal property against accidental damage.

Accounting

One great benefit of operating a child daycare from home, is you benefit from sharing household expenses with your business. You can write off the portion of these expenses that relate to your business. (Here again, you should talk to your accountant, to find out exactly what expenses you get to write off.)

You'll want to set up a simple accounting system. We suggest QuickBooks because it's easy to use and you can use an online version if you decide to work with a bookkeeping service online.

Check with Regulatory Agencies 

Contact your local authorities regarding legalities and licensing requirements to operate a daycare from your home. In most states, the State Dept. of Health or Social Services can assist you.

Ask about zoning regulations, and when necessary, also check neighborhood covenants.

Each state has their own definition of a family day care center.

Go to our resource library and

You'll find all this listed under the heading: Specific Business Resources

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a Federal program designed to provide healthy meals and snacks in both child daycare and adult daycare facilities. This program reimburses participating daycare operators for the meal costs, and provides USDA commodity food and nutritional educational materials.(This program is worth looking into, however, you must follow strict guidelines that are administered by a sponsoring organization in your area.)

Ok, You've completed the preliminaries...

Your next step is to write a business plan

Planning your business will give you a greater probability of success.

Before you start, we suggest you review the 7 Steps to Starting Your Business. You'll find information to help you decide what legal structures for business you should use, as well as other helpful information, then use our free business plan template, or purchase a good business plan software and modify the sample plan included.

You will want to find out what your break-even point will be. To do that simply, list your estimated expenses, then calculate how many children you'll need to watch using the rates you will charge for each child. Your profit is derived from everything you make over and above your expenses.

Do You Need Financing?

There are numerous ways to obtain loans for starting a business. Our best advice is to first review our description of legal structures for business and decide which is best for you.

Although most home based businesses operate as a sole proprietor, you will find building business credit is easier when you establish your business as an LLC or Corporation.

You can purchase simple templates, which include all the necessary forms for filing with your Secretary of State. By taking this step, you are also protecting your personal assets.

Download your free complete Start-Up Guide, when you sign up for our Resource Library. You may want to purchase a startup kit, to help you in starting a daycare center. It will help you get up and running quickly.