Opening an in-home day care center is the ideal solution for people looking to open their own business, work from home, and enjoy caring for children. Every state has its own rules and requirements regarding in-home day care centers, so it is essential to be aware of those to ensure you are running a legal business. It is also critical to get business insurance to protect yourself and your home should a child get hurt or injured while in your care.
Beyond the legal and insurance matters, you may feel lost about how best to run and market your in-home day care. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Get appropriate training.
Liking children and caring for your own do not mean you are prepared to care for multiple children simultaneously in addition to your own. While there may be no degree or certification required to open an in-home day care, you will benefit from early childhood development training. You can also better market yourself by telling prospective clients that you are certified in early childhood development. It is also critical to be first aid- and CPR-trained for older children, infants, and toddlers. This training can be found at the Hamilton CPR and first aid training facilities and through local agencies such as the Red Cross. The more training and certifications you can get, the more you can promote yourself as the best choice for an in-home day care in your area.
Rely on advice from other mothers.
When it comes to organizing activities, buying games and toys, and scheduling your time in the day care, listen to what other mothers are saying and recommending. Truly Mama is an amazing resource covering everything having to do with babies and young children. You can get new ideas and perspectives and read reviews for all the latest baby products and toys. Choosing to gain advice from mothers will give you an advantage because it will be primarily mothers with whom you are working and communicating.
Create effective marketing material.
In order to market your in-home day care, you are going to need marketing materials that you can hand to people when talking. Companies like Lucidpress can help by offering a brochure template, a business card template, and other resources to help you create marketing material that will be professional and personal. You may also decide to make a flyer to promote your business, but be sure your flyers include tear-off sheets with your contact information, or you can attach your business cards right to the flyer. Once you have marketing materials, you can start getting them into the hands of young parents, who may become future clients.
Market directly to mothers.
You’ll want to focus on hyper-local marketing since you need clients who live in your general area. Identify places or groups within your community that will allow you to directly reach the mothers in your area. This may include a bulletin board at a local kiddie gym or a community Facebook page. Try several local options to see where you get the best response, and then focus on those when you first get started. Be sure to hand out your cards and brochures to everyone you know locally and ask them to spread the word to others.
Some people decide to open an in-home day care because they think it will be an easy way to make money. However, it is critical to the business’s success to treat it like a real business instead of a side hustle. Look into training and certifications that will help your business, get professional marketing material, and be ready to promote yourself.
