People who are looking to sign up ASAP are usually people with low income and an unstable job/family situation. If you told them it cost three dollars a day, they'd gasp and say "That's so expensive! Will you do it for two?"

It took me a year to get up to 4 kids daily (max for legally unlicensed in my state). That's also what DHS said at the orientation meeting: Budget for having only one or two kids for the first year. It's going to take time, but you'll find people willing to pay what you're charging, as long as they like your program. I have three kids who don't use Fridays but they're all 1-3 days a week and have the most erratic schedules and the most frequent cancellations, so I couldn't depend on those families for my income (I do have part-time families, but I found families whose schedules neatly nested together AFTER I took full-time kids). My bread and butter comes from people who pay for five days a week.

I'm 2 1/2 years in so I can't speak to burnout, but I have an active social life going on nights and weekends through a Meetup group I organize and through my church. That's what keeps me chipper and grounded. Keeping my own kid in the daycare turned out to be a horror show, so my mother's paying for private school.

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