Originally Posted by midaycare:
Similar to ours. But she still needs kids. The hardest part when opening is getting the first few. Once parents know others have signed on, they become more willing.
She may get 25 calls for infant care before March. Or she may not get even one. Hard to predict. But ss a newbie, I'd take a 2 week deposit and sign them up.
I wouldn't say don't take the family! That would be asinine but I would definitely advertise and keep interviewing. I was almost full before I was fully licensed. Well, guess what, I lost 3 families because they 'changed their minds.' Licensing even said that I should have charged because I'm a business not just doing a favor for people and since they weren't invested in me already, they could just walk away. It took me 2 months busting my butt to fill my spots and won't make any real money until next year. I learned my lesson the hard way. Also, in my area they have after school programs so school agers are hard to enroll. I started with an infant legally unlicensed, I had signed an older infant to start fall, I had a 2 year old with a fall start, and and infant in January that wasnt born yet at the time, also another 2 year old in the winter. I lost both preschoolers and the infant, I still have the now born infant and the first family I started with, just enrolled a preschooler and a 9 month old. One I've been doing part time until going full time in January. To say the least, I almost just quit to find a "real" job. I needed money and have been relying on family for help, which I'm grateful for but not an ideal situation. I'm a single mother so this was a dire situation, no help from dad, my 14 year relationship fell apart earlier this year. I've been in a struggle to survive and at times wondered if I was crazy to put so much work into an industry that takes a lot of unpaid time to get started. So, I guess, if you have a fallback and a husband, good for you, seriously, more security. But I learned to keep your options open because you're the one screwed when everything falls apart.