Thoughts and opinions on brochure

[DanielleS]

Thoughts and opinions on brochure??

Just to head off at the pass- the part about cloth diapering/baby wearing and working with parents...I am pretty set on this. I understand it's a lot of work and juggling, and I am fully prepared to stand my ground with their parents. I already have a firm plan in place for baby wearing that is in my handbook and will be thoroughly discussed.(no sleeping on me, time limits, incorporated throughout the day in addition to independent time. If child has a problem with independent time, we'll work on that and scale back wearing to facilitate) and it IS well within our state regulations.


Anyway...other than that. Anyone see grammar errors, stuff that doesn't make sense etc?

ETA- Sorry, it's harder to read than I thought

About Smart Start Home Care
Learning and development begin at birth, so it is never too soon to foster healthy growth and development.
My mission is to meet the physical and emotional needs of infants and give them a safe and stimulating environment in order to develop the skills they need to explore the world around them.

The Smart Start Difference
My sole focus is small-group infant care. This means your baby gets the highest quality infant care available, without the added distraction and difficulties posed by the additional care of older children.
The small group environment ensures that your child has all of their needs met quickly and provides ample amounts of one-on-one attention.


Individualized Care Options
You are your child's greatest advocate. I respect the decisions made by parents and will make every effort to accommodate different parenting choices. This includes, but is not limited to:
Cloth diapering
Baby wearing
Schedule and routine
Other needs that can be met while remaining in compliance with state regulations

[daycare]

the white on blue is hard to read......maybe its over the computer that makes it hard to read.

also your PT rates. is it 125 for how many days and what do you consider PT?

I think in small print i would define what you consider PT.

some parents will say ok 4 days is PT ....

[DanielleS]

Originally Posted by daycare

the white on blue is hard to read......maybe its over the computer that makes it hard to read.

also your PT rates. is it 125 for how many days and what do you consider PT?

I think in small print i would define what you consider PT.

some parents will say ok 4 days is PT ....

I might order one to see if it's hard. It doesn't seem bad on my screen...This is also a screenshot of an online proof that I blew up so it could be seen. I'll definitely keep an eye on the quality. Thanks. I could choose another vistaprint design, but I hated them all LOL

Part time is 25hrs a week or less. I intend to use contracted hours, so they'll have to set up a schedule per the handbook/contract. I might see if I can fit that in there without it being too small or busy. I planned on breaking that news once I'm actually talking to them. I used to sell cars and had a previous business with sales training and development. I am depending on that background to get people to a) pay my high-end(ish) rates and b) accept my contract stuff without a fight.

Good thinking though, perhaps a parenthetical couldn't hurt.

[daycare]

i have found that its better to not leave much for them to try to interpret in their way..

I also worked sales too for many years....but i was not very good at it...lol

[DanielleS]

Originally Posted by daycare

i have found that its better to not leave much for them to try to interpret in their way..

I also worked sales too for many years....but i was not very good at it...lol

lol. I am an excellent sales person. Partly because I firmly believed in listening to the advice of people who were more seasoned and successful than me. You're right. I don't really want to start an interview off with an argument about hours. Adding the parenthesis now.

[daycare]

Originally Posted by DanielleS

lol. I am an excellent sales person. Partly because I firmly believed in listening to the advice of people who were more seasoned and successful than me. You're right. I don't really want to start an interview off with an argument about hours. Adding the parenthesis now.

well now you get to sell yourself.....it will be fun and I am sure you will be good at it..........

[spud912]

Maybe you can include a picture of your set-up somewhere on the brochure? I know people are very quick to dismiss written text and are more drawn to pictures. I am by no means a business "marketer," but that's what I've noticed with myself .

[melilley]

It looks great, but I do agree with daycare, I would define what p/t and full time hours are. And I also agree with spud12, a pic. of your set up would add a more comforting/homey part (can't think of what words to use...lol) to your brochure. The only other thing is in one of the pics (on the front I think) it looks like one of the babies are sleeping on their stomach.

This is very interesting! What happens when the babies age out, do you send them elsewhere? What ages do you accept?

Sorry about all the questions! Your program seems interesting! I would love to have only babies, but unfortunately here we can only have 2 under 18 mo.

[DanielleS]

Originally Posted by melilley

It looks great, but I do agree with daycare, I would define what p/t and full time hours are. And I also agree with spud12, a pic. of your set up would add a more comforting/homey part (can't think of what words to use...lol) to your brochure. The only other thing is in one of the pics (on the front I think) it looks like one of the babies are sleeping on their stomach.

This is very interesting! What happens when the babies age out, do you send them elsewhere? What ages do you accept?

Sorry about all the questions! Your program seems interesting! I would love to have only babies, but unfortunately here we can only have 2 under 18 mo.

We can have 4:1 under 12 months (only if there are no others, of course. The ratios change with different ages), so with my own impending child, I can take 3. I can fully replace my income from preschool teaching with 1.8, so I'm going to take 2 and try to leave a spot for PT or drop-in.

I didn't want to have mixed ages competing for attention with infants. I worked a while in the infant room at my preschool and LOVED it. It can be really crazy, but it can also be sooooo nice. We had a really great infant teacher that was amazing and getting them into routines. She's offered me lots of baby-whispering help.

Yes, I have in my contract that I will keep kids past their 1st birthday if they have a confirmed spot in another place. I refer to the preschool that I was working at, since they are AMAZING! In return, they are giving people who they have to turn away (no more infant space) my brochure/cards and their endorsement. When all the kids age out, then I'll decide whether to a) take on older kids b) go back to working preschool or c) take more infants and possibly send my kid to my preschool PT. We'll see!

I'm not my best with kids when they are about 1ish until they're 3...Shhhhhhh!

URGH! So, the brochure is just a vistaprint template. I don't have the design chops or resources to do much more. I can probably add a picture (maybe over the belly sleeping kid...good eye! I didn't notice that.), but that means I'll have to wait to print them until my whole room is set up and I've taken pictures. With shipping and all, they are already like 3 weeks out. If I have to wait until I can take pictures of my area, it could be even longer. I was really hoping to get things set up and get interviewing sooner...
Do you guys think it would just be a bonus, or a deal breaker??

Also, I already edited and added the FT/PT definitions. Thanks for the input!!!

[daycare]

Originally Posted by DanielleS

We can have 4:1 under 12 months (only if there are no others, of course. The ratios change with different ages), so with my own impending child, I can take 3. I can fully replace my income from preschool teaching with 1.8, so I'm going to take 2 and try to leave a spot for PT or drop-in.

I didn't want to have mixed ages competing for attention with infants. I worked a while in the infant room at my preschool and LOVED it. It can be really crazy, but it can also be sooooo nice. We had a really great infant teacher that was amazing and getting them into routines. She's offered me lots of baby-whispering help.

Yes, I have in my contract that I will keep kids past their 1st birthday if they have a confirmed spot in another place. I refer to the preschool that I was working at, since they are AMAZING! In return, they are giving people who they have to turn away (no more infant space) my brochure/cards and their endorsement. When all the kids age out, then I'll decide whether to a) take on older kids b) go back to working preschool or c) take more infants and possibly send my kid to my preschool PT. We'll see!

I'm not my best with kids when they are about 1ish until they're 3...Shhhhhhh!

URGH! So, the brochure is just a vistaprint template. I don't have the design chops or resources to do much more. I can probably add a picture (maybe over the belly sleeping kid...good eye! I didn't notice that.), but that means I'll have to wait to print them until my whole room is set up and I've taken pictures. With shipping and all, they are already like 3 weeks out. If I have to wait until I can take pictures of my area, it could be even longer. I was really hoping to get things set up and get interviewing sooner...
Do you guys think it would just be a bonus, or a deal breaker??

Also, I already edited and added the FT/PT definitions. Thanks for the input!!!

where did you get the pictures from Vista? I would just look and see what other pics that they had of babies. I think it looks great. I did one myself using publisher. I used clip art. I then had them printed same day at a local print company. They look really nice.

IT really sounds like you are all set and ready to go. You seem to have done a lot of leg work to get where you are at and your plan to work with your past employer sounds awesome. I hope that all of this works out for you.....

[DanielleS]

EDITED
I was able to get rid of the baby sleeping on his belly!!!! I replaced it with some feet.
I am going to make the executive decision to save a bunch of money on the brochures and deal with the no picture of my own place. I think as a solution, while I'm waiting to get the brochures in, I'm going to make 1/8th of a sheet mini documents that will give people $25 off their first week's tuition if they complete the process to hold their spot before April 1 (enrollment fee + first week's fees hold the spot) and I can print a little picture of my space on those, plus I can print them at the print shop for a few bucks and tuck them in the brochures before I hand them out.

(I was considering doing this anyway, to try to solidify my spots well in advance of opening)

I liked the publisher idea, but when I looked into having them printed, it was going to cost almost 2x as much as vistaprint. So I am going another way.

Thanks!!!

[daycare]

Originally Posted by DanielleS

The pictures came pre-loaded into the template from Vistaprint, there does not appear to be a way to substitute.

I looked into doing it with publisher and having them printed and it was going to cost around twice as much
I'll keep looking though and see if I can figure out a solution...

If I were to make my own I'd have to find images still. I have a weird thing about using images without people's permission (I used to shoot stock photography and it sucks getting stolen from) AND I like things to look real vs. being clip-art.

Sounds like I'm either going to have to figure something out and get over some of my weird issues...

I would probably still use the one you have and just ping if out that it was a stock photo. It might win you some brownie points to pin that out to parents. I didn't even notice it but I don't and have never done infant care.

Just like you don't feel good about the age group you mentioned. I don't feel good about infants. They scare me. Lol.

[DanielleS]

Originally Posted by daycare

I would probably still use the one you have and just ping if out that it was a stock photo. It might win you some brownie points to pin that out to parents. I didn't even notice it but I don't and have never done infant care.

Just like you don't feel good about the age group you mentioned. I don't feel good about infants. They scare me. Lol.

LOL. I think everyone has their ages. I have always been good with babies. My degree is in Elementary Ed and I started with 5th graders...I was freaked when I got put with K because I didn't think I could handle "the babies". Now I think it's hilarious that my almost kindergarteners are my "big kids" and I handle them just fine...

Still. One year olds give me nightmares. The inability to follow directions and their ability to kill themselves on everything terrifies me!