Childcare is more than supervising and nurturing kids while their parents are at work. Childcare is also a business— a necessary, legitimate, and impactful one. To run a successful daycare business you need a good work ethic, a heart for children, and a smooth business model you and your staff can follow.
When all the professional details are met, you can focus on serving the children and families at your daycare. In this guide, you’ll learn the top seven tips to both start a daycare and run your childcare center successfully.
1. Follow the Policies
Every childcare center is required to follow a set of policies. Policies include federal and state licensure, health regulations, financial agreements, and more. While there are certain policies that all daycare centers must follow, some of them vary depending on size and location.
Some daycare centers have specific policies unique to their facility. For example, you may have tuition fees, a schedule, and nutritional standards that look different than other local childcare centers. Maybe you have a curriculum that is different from others.
Set up your policies to be followed clearly. Make sure your daycare center strictly follows all of its policies! This will prevent lawsuits, avoid confusion, and allow your center to maintain a good reputation in the community.
2. Build Healthy Relationships
Parents send their children to daycare to enrich their development and encourage them to form bonds. An excellent daycare center is led by the understanding of what it takes to create healthy relationships.
Communication with the kids in your care is a vital part of childcare. Additionally, parents expect clear, professional, and friendly communication on a regular basis. Talking about their child’s behavior, discussing money, and resolving conflict are all natural parts of this industry.
These days, some tools can help daycare workers build better relationships. While in-person communication is still ideal, digital communication can benefit the ongoing contact between parents and staff.
3. Make Life Easier for Your Team
Another key to a successful daycare business is making sure your team is supported. It isn’t always easy working with children all day— emotions run high, accidents happen, and chaos can ensue. By giving your employees the help and expectations they need, you can all be successful together, even on difficult days.
To make life easier for your staff, you can:
- Provide ongoing training and employee education
- Set up easier communication tools between classrooms
- Hold monthly meetings where your staff can discuss and voice their feedback
- Maintain a leader gratitude board
- Upgrade routine administration tasks to electronic software
- Remain open to the questions, concerns, and suggestions of your staff
4. Grow Your Daycare Enrollment
The more enrollment opportunities you have, the easier it is to run a successful daycare business. One of the biggest challenges daycare centers face is growing their enrollment.
Encouraging new enrollment takes time and effort. By becoming more involved in your community, you can promote your business, help parents find your daycare online, and truly stand out from the other childcare centers in your area.
With the internet today, it’s easier than ever to promote your business online. Having a useful website people can visit builds trust from potential enrollees. Providing a virtual tour of your facility can make parents fall in love with your daycare at first sight. Partnering with local advertising agencies can help put you in front of the right audience.
To learn more about specific ways to grow leads for your daycare business, read this Free Guide to Increasing Enrollment.
5. Improve Childcare Billing and Payment
There is always room for improvement when it comes to receiving payments in your business. If you’re still running on checks, cash, or inconsistent credit card payments at your daycare, it’s time for an upgrade that will make your life a lot easier.
You can update your billing systems by going digital. If you’ve already gone digital but still struggle to keep up with the financial aspect of your business, there are payment processing tools designed specifically for you.
Switching to a childcare payment app helps daycare providers stay on top of their billing and tuition. That way, more time and energy can be spent on what really matters: caring for the kids.
6. Market Your Daycare Business
Marketing is relevant for all businesses today, even childcare. Because 90% of adults use the internet to find information relevant to them, a majority of parents are turning to search engines to find childcare services.
If you can improve your website with local SEO (Search Engine Optimization), you can show up as one of the first results in your area whenever people search for daycare. Being active on social media can boost your credibility. Advertising on childcare resource sites can also connect you with parents who need care for their children.
7. Hire the Right Staff Members
Who you hire to work for you can contribute to your daycare business’ success. You don’t want to hire someone with no experience, but you also don’t want to turn every imperfect candidate away.
Seek qualities in employees that you see potential in. Even if someone doesn’t have the exact schooling units you’d prefer, maybe they have an awesome personality and real-world experience working in care situations that would benefit your business.
Since several other ways to ensure success involve supporting and communicating with your staff members, hiring the right people will overflow into the other areas where trainability and attitude simply cannot be taught.
Helping Your Daycare Business Succeed with Daily Connect
If you’re still wondering how you can run a successful daycare business, get organized with a childcare center app. At Daily Connect, we help daycare providers just like you get the services and administrative support they need to boost their business to the next level.
With Daily Connect, you receive:
- Childcare Center Management Tools
- Sign In and Attendance Options
- Parent Communication Tools
- Assessment Records and Digital Portfolios
- COVID-19 and Health Safety Reports
- And more
With digital tools and smart practices like these, you can improve the everyday demands of your childcare center. Get the help you need to finally grow your daycare business. Reach out and get a free demo of Daily Connect today.
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