Child Care Business Basics
Child Care Business Basics, training North Carolina child care providers, business skills training. Start up costs, Child Care Business Plan
to find out if there are any trainers in your area who might be conducting business skills training.
Getting Started
Before starting or expanding a child care business you should do some careful thinking not only about what your own skills and motivations are, but also about what the “market” for child care looks like in your area. Here are some worksheets that will help you get started on these tasks:
- Self-Analysis Worksheet - Use this worksheet to help you figure out if you have the skills and desire to be a child care business owner.
- Competitive Analysis Worksheet - Use this worksheet to help you determine what your business or planned business is doing compared to your competitors.
- Location Analysis Worksheet - Use this worksheet to help you analyze whether or not a location that you are considering for your child care business is appropriate.
Promote or Perish:
If no one knows about your business, you are unlikely to get enough kids to fill the slots at your business! When thinking about the ways you want to let people know about your business make sure to choose activities that are affordable, cost effective, and aimed at the type of parents you want to attract.
- Sample Marketing Tools -A list chock full of marketing ideas organized by the type of activity and the expense.
Determining Costs:
Excellent child care business owners are not only skilled in early childhood development, but also in business skills. Below are some tools that can help you figure out what your business income and expenses are or will be.
| Homes |
Centers | Purpose |
| Sample Start-up Costs |
Sample Start-up Costs | Examples of what some sample start-up costs will be. Actual start-up costs will vary depending on the size of your business and your star-rating. |
| Start-up Costs |
Start-up Costs |
A worksheet to help you determine what the start-up costs for your business will be. |
| Direct Costs |
Direct Costs |
A worksheet to help you determine what the direct costs (e.g. food, diapers, craft supplies) will be for your business. |
| Sample Indirect Costs | Sample Indirect Costs | Sample indirect costs (e.g. rent, utilities, loan payments) for a child care business. Actual indirect costs will vary depending on the size of your business and your star-rating. |
| Indirect Costs |
Indirect Costs |
A worksheet to help you determine what the indirect costs (e.g. food, diapers, craft supplies) will be for your business. |
Cash Flow Spreadsheet:
Use this excel spreadsheet to analyze your month-to-month cash flow, break-even point, debt coverage, and key ratios (payroll, occupancy, and food as percentages of revenues). This tool is very useful in helping you predict how much money will be coming in and out of your business each month in the next year.
- Sample Cash Flow Projection - Download this sample cash flow projection to see how another child care has filled out a cash flow spreadsheet. The child care in this example is a center.
Business Planning:
- Business Plan Overview and Checklist - This overview includes information about why you should have a business plan and what is typically included in a business plan. Use the checklist included in the overview to help keep yourself organized when writing your business plan.
