[continued from Part 1]
There are a few important distinctions between working for someone else taking care of children, and running your own in-home facility.
The first is money. At home childcare businesses can be profitable, but it normally takes six to eighteen months for Wahms to see any substantial income coming in. This may not be a problem for you, and if you are committed to building the quality and size of your business, the start of your profitability can be on the low end of that scale.
Also, if you are getting to look after your own children, you may decide that even if you are not that profitable, you are saving money on your own child care by being at home full time, plus saving on things like commuting to work, gas, work clothes and lunches, and so on.
It can take several months to a year to turn a daycare into a profitable daycare business for many reasons. First of all, each state has its own licensed childcare requirements. Getting licensed to have a home daycare means attending classes, passing certification and having your home inspected.
While you are going through this process, you can look into doing some unlicensed childcare for a few children to start building your business. Babysitting for a couple of hours each day can help bring extra income in, and give you a feel for the scale of the project you are setting yourself by looking after more than just your own child or children at home.
Each state has its own rules for unlicensed childcare. You should take the steps, however, to get licensed because it will increase your employability, in the eyes of parents and make it easier to get funding for your daycare facility.
It can also take a while to become a profitable daycare facility because of the start up costs involved. While you do have some baby and child items from your own children, there are many things that you’ll need to buy in order to make your home functional as a safe and stimulating daycare facility.
You’ll want to buy tables and chairs, art supplies, music CDs, games and other activities that the children can use while they are in your home. You will also need to cater to children of various ages up to pre-school. You can write off most of these on your taxes, but you need to keep receipts and excellent records.
Day Care Business for Work At Home Moms Part 3 deals with other important differences between working for other people, and setting up your own daycare busines.
