Blog

Introduction to Owning a Childcare or Daycare Franchise

Introduction to Owning a Childcare or Daycare Franchise

Cincinnati franchise opportunities are rich when it comes to the childcare industry. They offer many advantages to hopeful franchisees or business owners with a knack for taking care of kids and some who hope to educate. They are particularly great for individuals with children who are also looking to own a business, but don’t necessarily feel happy about spending less time with their own kids every day while they’re at work. On top of that, if you’re not rolling in money already, you may be cringing at the high cost of child care and how quickly it adds up, but with the right help through franchising with a company like All About kids, you’ll find that those high costs are much more manageable than you might have previously thought. With Cincinnati franchise opportunities, you can run your own business and still be in charge of your child’s care and after-school education. You won’t have to feel bad about leaving your children with someone else while you’re reaping a great income because you’ll be near your kids while you’re at work.

Not only will running a daycare franchise give you the opportunity to stay close to your children, but you will find a mentally rewarding experience paired with the financially rewarding one. While the option to purchase the right child care opportunities to run a childcare center in your home is always an option, investing in an established child care center will bring you more profits and financial stability quicker, even if it takes a larger first investment. Child care franchises in Ohio offer a lot of benefits with more new features, equipment, and perks that you can offer families in order to draw them in and give you a bigger income.

When you’re deciding on the type of Cincinnati franchise opportunities you want to invest in, you have to go down the list of requirements as well as your own list of resources. Don’t sign up for a project that you’re not 100% sure you can follow through with. That goes for any franchising decision.  You’ll always want to look up the specific rules and guidelines of the law as they pertain to the industry standards on top of research of your own available resources. After that, the biggest decision is what type of childcare you want to open and whether All About Kids is right for you. As you survey Cincinnati franchise opportunities, we’ve made a childcare franchise resource to give you all the basics you might want to know about buying and running a childcare center before you commit. In this resource, you will find fifteen different sections with the following information.

All About Kids Blogging Series:

  1. All About the Basics
  2. All About Business Requirements
  3. All About the Startup Costs
  4. All About the Location
  5. All About State and Federal Requirements
  6. All About Business
  7. All About Marketing

1. All About the Basics

When you decide to purchase a Cincinnati daycare from franchisors like All About Kids, you have a couple different options on your hands building-wise. When choosing your location, you’re not only picking where you will come to work every day, but the overall foundation you’re your business from here on out. When you’re looking for a location, you can choose between three different types of building locations:

  • Purchase an existing center
  • Start a fresh, brand new center
  • Operate the center from your home

All of these styles of Cincinnati daycare centers have their pros and their cons. To find out what works best for you, you must do research into what home childcare offers vs. center childcare and how their attributes work with your eventual plans. Things to take into consideration for your child care centers include:

The Existing Cincinnati Daycare Center

One of the location types you might look at for your Cincinnati daycare center could be whether to purchase a child care center from another franchisee who has one up and running, but is looking to sell. A business owner doesn’t always sell their business because it’s not going well. In all reality, there are many reasons why a franchisee may be unhappy with their current business. It might not have been the dream-come-true that they thought it was going to be. They may have found that they have passion elsewhere or perhaps they are just a little on the flaky side. As a daycare franchise, the franchisee might have realized that they do not have appropriate chemistry with their franchisor and that selling is a necessary step to make all parties happy. Either way, when you consider purchasing an existing Cincinnati daycare, you have a handful of things to keep in mind such as:

  • Construction and Grand Opening (or lack thereof)
  • Currents Staff
  • Customer Base and Current Clients
  • Public Reputation
  • Rules and Policy Changes
  • Shopping and Supplies
  • Startup Costs
  • The Building Itself

The Brand New Cincinnati Daycare Center

The brand new Cincinnati daycare center gives you the free reign to do what you want where you want – with some exceptions. If you purchase a franchise, there will always be a handful of rules set by the franchisor that your business must follow. However the best part about opening a brand new location is that you get a clean slate in your chosen community. When you’re building your child care center, you will have to keep in mind various things like:

  • Building Plans
  • Clientele and Marketing
  • Licensing
  • New Equipment
  • Rules and Policy
  • Special Classes
  • Staff
  • Startup Costs

The Cincinnati Daycare Center at Home

You don’t have to purchase a new building or plot of land in order to open a Cincinnati daycare center or childcare franchise. You can also do it in your home if you believe that’s the right option for you and your family. However if you decide to open a home daycare center, don’t do it thinking that there will be little to no cost. While the cost can be cheaper up front, there is still a cost and it is still as persistent as any other daycare cost. Some things to keep in mind for at home Cincinnati daycare centers are:

  • Cost
  • Utilities
  • Wear and Tear on Home
  • Staff
  • Licensing
  • Activities
  • Pets
  • Communication With Adults
  • Time Spent at Home

In Conclusion for the Cincinnati Daycare Centers

The issues associated with these three things vary vastly and picking the right setup for you depends on your needs and your financial abilities. Without research, you could be doomed to making an expensive mistake with unforeseen needs or circumstances. This could turn what might seem like an easy job for the hopeful Cincinnati daycare owner can turn into a nightmare without the proper prep-work such as research on locations and buildings, an expense plan, a list of things you must haves and optional items to run, where you will get these items, and if they offer them at a discount for any particular reason.

No one can tell you which type of Cincinnati daycare center is right for you. So take your time, do the research, and pick what feels right.

 

2. All About Business Requirements

For every Mason daycare center, there is a daycare that has passed the local, state, and national level of requirements to be put into existence. Your daycare franchise will be no different. To help make assessing your Mason daycare easier, you might want to look into creating a regulatory committee. This regulatory committee can be extremely helpful to your Mason daycare center as it helps keep you on track with all childcare requirements; where your daycare is and where it needs to be. You should educate yourself on what the committee is and does before you elect the officials. This creates a team that respects one another and is completely trained where it matters.

Inspections

Your Mason daycare center will go through regular inspections run by the state to make sure you are maintaining the code they set forth. Depending on what type of child care center you have, you will have different regulations to meet and maintain. Home child care centers have far different needs than facility or center run child care. However despite the differences in regulations, your child care centers will still be graded on the same things including:

  • Appropriate Meals
  • Daily Schedule
  • Emergency Drills
  • Exits
  • Hygiene / Cleanliness
  • Proper Staff Certification
  • Safety

Creating Your Fire Escape Plans

If you do not have a fire escape plan prepared when you know an inspector is coming, you need to plan on creating and implementing one immediately. One of the most important parts of the inspection is to insure that the children and individuals within the facility will be safe, whether it’s a regular day at your Mason daycare center or an incredible disaster takes place. For at-home childcare centers, fire plans should be posted in every room in your house you use for child care and should outline how to get out of the house and where to meet in case of a fire. In a later section, you will read more about planning for disasters and how to protect your Mason daycare center thoroughly.

Health and Safety Policy

Different states have different policies for health and safety. Common sense should always be used as ground zero if you’re not sure what the nationally set policies are. However your bottom line, commonsense rule shouldn’t be where your Mason day care center rules stops. Look into health and safety specifics and instill what you have to in order to meet those requirements. Health and safety can include, but is not limited to toys, number of children vs. adults, food, new equipment, old equipment, indoor and outdoor safety, who to call in case of emergency, and any other extensive rules.

You should be 100% aware that not knowing is not an excuse when it comes to child safety, health, and running a Mason daycare franchise. You’re taking care of lives entrusted to you and it’s your job to keep those kids safe. If your Mason daycare safety and health policies do not add up to what is expected by regulated requirements, you can expect a fine, a temporary suspension of your business, and/or to be shut down permanently. You may also expect a drop in business as families trust you just a little bit less with their children if your lax safety rules are heard of. Following policies and protocols is not only good for legal reasons with state officials, but to give parents peace-of-mind.

 

The Re-Inspection Process

If your Mason daycare center doesn’t pass the inspection process the first time, that’s okay. Inspectors should give business owners information on what they need to do in order to meet the required level of safety for operation and will usually provide a short time period in which the business is allowed to make those changes before they come back and grade you all over again. If you do not meet the requirements a second time, the shutdown may be longer if it is only temporary. If you receive a re-inspection, do your best to meet the requirements so you can open or continue your business as usual. The longer you do not pass the inspections, the more poorly it will reflect on your daycare franchise and franchise company name like All About KIds. If you’re shut down or under inspection for too long for breaking local, federal, and national rules, you might find your clientele dwindling or that you are no longer getting any new clients at all.

 

3. All About the Startup Costs

As you take the step to owning your own northern Kentucky daycare center, you’ll have to prepare the proper finances for your mega-move. This section will discuss in detail what you can expect for startup costs and break down the generic costs you may encounter as you open up your own daycare franchise. Depending on the route you go to open your child care center in Ohio, your costs will vary. If you’re opening a facility in your home, the costs will likely be smaller than if you’re purchasing land and/or constructing a new building upon it.

As you open your northern Kentucky daycare center with a franchisor, there are a few more fees that you can look forward to paying. However these fees provide you with the added help and guidance of someone who knows what they’re doing with a business system that’s been proven to work. A basic rundown of costs for startup include:

  • Building Costs
  • Child supplies
  • Franchising
  • Licensing
  • Staff
  • Supplies

 

In the section, you will get a much bigger breakdown of costs to expect. When you’re opening a northern Kentucky daycare center, you should always plan for one thing or another to surprise you. If it doesn’t, then you have yourself some extra money. It’s always better to be over-prepared than unprepared because that extra money can help you in other places whereas a lack of funds can pose a much larger threat to your new business.

 

Employee Cost

An often forgotten startup cost for businesses is the employment cost. When you’re hiring staff members for the children that you will have and to maintain your facility, you probably will not start out with much of a profit or income for your northern Kentucky daycare center. During startup, you should prepare to have three to six months’ worth of wages saved up in order to pay your employees while you create a cash flow. This is regular procedure for most businesses during startup because you cannot start a business without employees, but you cannot get employees if you don’t have the money.

 

Start Small Then Go

This section will also talk about how to save money on employment and other startup costs by starting small and building your budget as your incoming cash flow grows. There are a few well-kept secrets for business owners during the startup phase, that without, your business will struggle further and might have a harder time getting off the ground. Don’t allow your northern Kentucky daycare center to struggle along the ground.

 

Business Plans

Business plans are a huge deal for the northern Kentucky daycare center owner. Business plans help business owners to strategize when it comes to the finances they have and the financial demands of their business. This helps prevent over or heavy spending come time to shop. This helps prepare your business for the incoming expenses while minimizing overspending because there is a plan and budget in place. A business plan will also help guide what is necessary and what is unnecessary for the daycare franchise to run. Once at the front lines for sales, it’s easy to forget what you need and what you can actually afford and splurge, which causes many business owners to over spend and likely cause their decline.

This section will list eight different things you should always include in the business plan for your northern Kentucky daycare center. After that, you will read a few tips on what your business plan will not include, but what you will need to plan for in a separate document for your business.

 

Business Structure

A business structure is different from a business plan because it doesn’t signify any list of needs in your business, but describes what the ownership of your daycare franchise looks like. There are four different types of business ownerships which will be covered in this section. Those four structures include:

  • Sole Proprietor
  • Partnership
  • Corporation
  • Limited Liability Corporation (LLC)

 

Funding Options

Another subject that will be covered in this section will be different ways you can acquire funding for your northern Kentucky daycare center. Opening a company or a franchise has a hefty price tag, though it does eventually pay itself off with interest. To help fund your big dreams, you’ll need to research all possible sources of financing which aren’t limited to just lending. Some of the sources that will be covered include:

  • Civic Organizations
  • Corporations
  • Family and Friends
  • Grants
  • Loans
  • Private Investors
  • Small Business Associations

 

Maintaining Your Banking

Business and financial plans are important to maintaining your budget. Without the proper foresight and planning, it’s easy to overspend. With that said, this section will cover a handful of tricks to help maintain the budget for your northern Kentucky daycare center. It will also help to avoid overspending while you open and operate your daycare franchise.

 


4. All About the Basics

To successfully run your Anderson Ohio child care center, you must know the basics for the business. Without the basics, it’s hard to set a good foundation for your business. That’s what this section is for. If you’re unsure about what the basics are or how to properly set up your Anderson Ohio childcare center, this is the chapter for you. Starting with…

 

All About Location

The location that you pick is far more important than many business owners think. If you want to get the most out of your Anderson Ohio child care center, you’ll want to direct a lot of attention into where you place your daycare franchise and what surrounds it. Poor placement can have worse effects than a long and annoying drive for you. If it’s in an inconvenient place, there’s a likelihood that even parents won’t want to waste the time that it takes to visit your center, especially not every day they have to drop off and pick up their children. Different locations might receive different levels of utility efficiency or might not be wired the same as other, more accessible locations.

 

All About Layout

In this section, you will hear about the different concerns that might come up as you build your Anderson Ohio child care center. When you’re putting up walls (or taking them down as you remodel a building), you will find that the layout is just as important to your franchisor as it is to the state when it comes to maintaining safety. This section will talk about furniture placement along with other layout qualms you should be aware of.

 

Child Care Rates

The basics also includes what you will charge your clients for your services when you open the doors to your Anderson Ohio child care center. There are different ways to do rates with different pros and cons. If you’re aligning with a child care franchise, like All About Kids, you’re going to need to follow whatever rate policy the franchisor already has. There are a couple ways you can deal with rates if you are the one in charge of them. Some options that will be talked about in this section will include:

  • Hourly
  • Weekly
  • Bi-Weekly
  • Monthly
  • Adjustable

 

Competition

As an Anderson Ohio child care center, you will have competition with other Anderson Ohio child care centers and those in the surrounding area. You will be competing with learning centers, after school clubs, and any other businesses who offer anything similar. Anderson Ohio child care centers can come in a few forms, which makes research important so that you can compete with the right market or target the right clients for your center. Some of the child care options that will be gone over in this section include:

  • ‘Fancy’ Anderson Ohio Child Care Centers
  • Low Cost Anderson Ohio Child Care Centers

All About Staffing

Hiring the right staff for your Anderson Ohio childcare center will be one of the deciding factors on how well your child care center operates and what relationships you have with all clients. Hiring the right staff also comes down to hiring professionals that you can afford. You might want to hire the best of the best with lots of experience and degrees in early childhood development for all the positions at your Anderson Ohio child care center, but when you look at your financial plan, you might not be able to afford it. It’s definitely important to hire professionals who know what they’re doing and have the right chemistry for your daycare franchise, but you also want to insure you do not go broke before you start making a sustainable income.

Other topics that have to do with maintaining staff in your Anderson Ohio childcare center include:

  • Motivation
  • Problem Solving
  • Self-Education
  • Paperwork
  • Parental Expectations

 

5. All About State and Federal Requirements

The state and federal requirements are something that you cannot overlook with your daycare franchise business. This is why you will not only want to talk to your franchisor about this but also talk with a franchise attorney. Most people think they do not have to do any additional work because the FDD is required to have the legal requirements for the franchise listed. However, it is a good idea to do some research on your own just to make sure you are covered.

There are several aspects that you will want to examine with this. It can be as simple as how many chaperones are needed for field trips with your children or something more specific to the management of your daycare franchise business. Some of the more specific aspects include a fire escape plan and having floorplans of your building with the fire escape route plotted on them.

The license you will apply for with your franchise will be at the state, not federal, level. Other aspects such as tax filing will go through the federal government. It is a good idea to have a business accountant handle your books to ensure that everything is done properly.

Insurance for Your Daycare Franchise Business

There are some insurance policies that are required for your business, such as liability, health insurance, worker’s compensation, and accident insurance. This does not mean that it is all you need. You should hire a financial adviser to help you understand the policies that will give you the best coverage.  This will help ensure that an accident in your daycare does not hurt your business or your personal finances.

Keeping the Daycare Sanitary

Germs are a huge issue with kids which is why proper sanitation is needed more than ever. You want to make sure you understand the procedures for proper sanitation in your daycare franchise business. You will also need to have the right cleaning supplies on hand and storage facilities for the products. Food safety is just as big of a problem with these facilities. You want to make sure that food storage procedures are followed exactly to keep germs from spreading and making children in your facility sick.  You should also make sure that all utensils that come into contact with food are properly cleaned after their use as this can spread germs as well.

The diaper changing station is one of the places that you will want to pay close attention to. This will need to be a flat area made of plastic or vinyl material. You will need to make sure that this station is cleaned after every diaper change to prevent the spread of germs. You will need to use bleach and water solution or other approved cleaners to clean the area. Children are very susceptible to germs and this is something you need to actively monitor.

Creating a Daily Schedule

Having a regular schedule is healthy for children as it allows them to have the routine that they crave. You want to make sure that you have an active schedule planned for the children as this will help to give them the exercise they need to stay healthy. Along with this, you should have adequate nap times for the children and a regular feeding schedule in place. While there are some ways that you can be flexible, there are a few areas that you want to make as regular as possible: feeding times, playtime, and nap time.

There are many tools that you can use to make your schedule easier. You will find that just having a schedule in place can make things go smoother for your staff and students will know how the day is supposed to go. Also, a food program can be helpful as you will know what children will be eating and there is not any issue if a child forgets their lunch. This does present its own set of problems, but can be helpful in many ways.

 

6. All About Business

When you buy a child education franchise, one of the things you need to do is understand how to run the business. Knowing how to run the business is the key to success. It is not enough to just get the licensing. There are many aspects to consider such as creating and enforcing rules, hiring, safety in the center, and so much more. This is where you should also make sure you have a firm grasp on project management. Here are some of the aspects you should consider with your daycare franchise.

Choosing Your Staff

The hiring process is integral as you want to make sure that you have the right team in your daycare franchise. Before you even start hiring people for your child education franchise, you need to understand how many people you will need. Make sure to examine your state regulations on child to adult ratios. Remember the requirements changes for each age group so you will want to know the limitations.

Hiring the right people is important because they are the face of your child education franchise. These are the people your customers, the parents, will interact with on a daily basis. So you want to make sure that you hire people that will provide the care that your brand stands for. Take the time to ensure that you are getting not only a person who will provide the service you want, but that you are getting the best possible staff for your available budget.

When advertising the job openings you have, it is important to know where to post them. You may think that the best place is a free listing such as Craigslist. While this may work, you may find that this can be a tedious process that may not produce the kind of applicants you are looking for. This is why it is helpful to use job sites that are more professional.

Once you have the list of applicants, you will need to screen through their information. Do as much research as you can about the person before they show up for an interview and make sure that you keep track of the responses from each applicant.  When interviewing you want to do more than just ask them about their education, even though this is important. You want to understand how they think and how they will react in the daycare franchise setting.  You also want to make sure you give them a good understanding of what you are looking for and what the atmosphere is like in your child education franchise so they can make an informed decision of whether they want to work for you or not.

 

Figuring Your Compensation

How much you pay your staff is imperative to think about. You need to understand what you have budgeted for this is the first thing a potential employee will look at. How much you pay your staff says a lot about you and will also determine the level of service you will receive from the employees. If you plan on paying minimum wage, you should consult with your local wage board to understand what that number is. If you want to pay more but are not sure how much, look at comparable job postings in the area. Keep in mind that someone with a degree in early childhood education and years of experience in a daycare will command a higher salary than someone who is still in school with no experience.

You will also need to determine how you will handle the other aspects of employee compensation. This includes paid time off, sick days, 401(k), insurance, and even discounts. You will need to check with your franchisor to find out if you are expected to offer something specific or if it is offered at the corporate level.

 

Introducing and Training Your Staff

The orientation process is designed to give your new staff members a better idea of how you run your child education franchise. Depending on the size of your daycare franchise and the amount of information you want to review, this could take anywhere from half an hour to a whole day or more. From there, you will move on to the training. Even if you have someone who is experienced they will still need training for your facility. For one, you want to make sure they understand the way run things in your daycare. More than this you want to make sure they understand the rules and processes that you have established. This includes punishment policies, safety procedures, and fire codes. You need to make sure that they understand what they are doing so that you can keep everyone safe. Remember that there are different ways that you can train them including online training, hands on training, coaching, shadowing, and more.

 

Setting the Bar

You will also need to determine what your expectations will be of your staff. You want figure this out before you hire anyone. Make sure you have policies in place that state what you expect from employees of your child education franchise so that no one starting in your daycare franchise are surprised at any later point in time.

 

Section 7: All About Marketing

For your Maineville Ohio daycare to succeed, advertising and marketing must take priority. It doesn’t matter if your doors are wide open and your staff is well-trained if no one knows who or where you are. Marketing isn’t just a ploy done by big corporations in order to bring in more money. It’s done as a way to inform the public of a service, brand, event, or company that they might not have known about before. Handing the public flyers one by one or personally inviting your city to your Maineville Ohio daycare isn’t really a plausible or purposeful idea nowadays. It won’t have the outreach to justify the work and it might not even be welcomed by the community. Generating the attention you need to pick up your new daycare franchise is going to matter immediately so you can pay your wages and expenses and afford your business.

 

Generating Publicity

Generating publicity for your Maineville Ohio daycare can be done in a few different ways. If you’re not sure how to market or advertise your daycare franchise, you may want to consider hiring a marketing consultant. If you work with a franchisor such as All About Kids, they may already have some form of marketing in place to get you started. Many franchisors actually include a level of advertisement or marketing in the initial franchising fee and the ongoing royalty if they have a constant marketing plan.

 

Marketing to Potential Clients

Marketing is your chance to build a relationship with the families in your community that you haven’t actually met yet. For this reason, how you go about marketing your Maineville Ohio daycare is incredibly important. You must know who your target demographic is, where they’re located, and what they respond best to. You also must know the difference between advertising and marketing, which will be covered in this section.

 

Know Your Service

Another thing that will be talked about in this section is knowing who you are, what you do, and what you have to offer. It’s hard to tell others about your Maineville Ohio daycare if you can’t put into words the way you define yourself. This section will talk about how important it is to know what your daycare franchise offers in order to draw in clients. You can’t advertise without some idea for what you’re trying to say.

 

Different Types of Advertising

The section will go into detail about different types of advertising you may want to use with your Maineville Ohio daycare. These types include:

 

  • Online
  • Radio
  • Print

Different Types of Marketing

Along with advertising, you’ll want to add marketing to your Maineville Ohio daycare such as:

  • Community Events
  • Parades

Marketing Yourself

As a business owner for a Maineville Ohio daycare, you will not only be selling your service, but you will also be selling yourself. There are a number of ways you can do this. Those that will be talked about in this section include:

  • Brochures
  • Business Cards
  • Flyers

Other Forms of Advertising

A couple other forms of advertising for your Maineville Ohio daycare are out there and they’re a bit more creative. Some will be mentioned in this section.

Get People Talking

Talking about your Maineville Ohio daycare is a great way to get the word out. Having other people talk about your Maineville Ohio daycare is even better. There are a couple of things you can do as a business owner to get the public talking about you and they aren’t hard for most businesses to pull off, especially not with the big push of grand opening. Some of the things that will be discussed in this section include:

  • Press Releases
  • Activities

Opportunities for Marketing

There are never ending possibilities for marketing for any business in any industry at all times. For your Maineville Ohio daycare, you just have to look for those opportunities around you. Whether it’s community involvement, opportunities on the internet, or a special event at a business, you will find that you’re only limited by your creativity when it comes to marketing and advertising.

Bringing on New Clients

Your extensive time spent on advertising and marketing will pay off as you bring new clients into your Maineville Ohio daycare. Once you bring in the clients, don’t think the work is done. This section will talk all about the work that goes into onboarding new clients such as:

  • Interviewing
  • Tours
  • When Families Don’t Fit

Continuing Communication with Your Clients and Dealing with Negative Media

When you’re marketing your Maineville Ohio daycare, you can always expect someone to dislike whatever it is you do. You might receive minimal bad media or you might have overlooked a relatively large mistake in the marketing department. Whatever the cause is, this section will briefly go over what to do with negative media and how it might affect your current clientele. It will also talk about ways to regularly interact and communicate with your current clients in order to maintain a trusting relationship between you and them.

All About Kids Child Care Franchise © 2018

Design by: Web Strategy Plus