10 Things You Must Do For Childcare Business Success (2)

INTRO

10 things you must do for childcare business success – Part 2

Welcome back to the 10 things you must do things for childcare business success.

This is part 2, as I mentioned in the previous video, it’s been ten years since I first opened my nursery in 2014.  Time has flown and I’ve learnt a lot.

So I wanted to give back to you and discuss ten key things you should do in order to start your business off successfully.

This is based on the knowledge I have gained from opening a few nurseries for myself.  And from what I have seen and learnt helping numerous others to open their own nursery.  Some, of which now own multiple nurseries.

So, you can learn from my successes and failures and from all the people I have helped to open up. 

If you haven’t watched part one do make sure to check it out as we go over the first four things you should do.

But, there is no need for further introductions as this was done on the first video.

Let’s just get straight into the 5th thing you should do in order to start and run your childcare business successfully, which is to

5. Be active in your community

Now community is a broad term that I’ve chosen intentionally as I don’t mean one specific thing.  Your community could be your local neighbours and people in your area, it could be a community of local businesses, it could be a community of nurseries or other childcare settings that support each other.

No matter what community you feel you and your nursery falls into, you should try to be active in them.

No matter what type of childcare business you plan to create you should have some connection with the community you are in because it will help support you in so many ways.

Firstly, it gives your business more say and more authority in your area.  Which can be important.

We established a community of local businesses, so we had the local Chinese restaurant, nail salon, gym and other businesses all in a WhatsApp group where we would discuss any local issues.

This helped us in a variety of different ways, so for example there was a time whereby the local council wanted to remove the free parking available near our nursery and near other local businesses.  Though, because we all worked together in opposing this, we had greater power to do so and the local council caved and didn’t introduce the parking.

With the group we also managed to arrange some events for the local community which benefited both our parents and local businesses.

It also helped with recognition so we would all recommend each other’s businesses to potential customers.

It also allows you to get support from others.  As it can be difficult running a business by yourself.  So any support you can get is useful.

I remember there was a time we got broken into at night and although we had CCTV the burglar wore a mask, so although the police came and took finger prints and checked CCTV there wasn’t much we could do.

Though, because we had connections with other businesses and also other nurseries. 

We were able to get CCTV footage from a business across the road where he didn’t have a mask on and we also found out he had burgled other nurseries in the area, which we were able to pass on to the police.

If we hadn’t been active in our community, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve none of this.

Being active in your community is great for your marketing.  If people see you and your brand consistently out and about at your local fairs maybe or linked with certain schools, your brand and your nursery will come to their mind quicker when looking for a setting for their child.  Or even if they don’t need childcare themselves, if they know someone that does they will be more likely to recommend you.

Your community can include your parents, staff and anyone who comes into contact with your business too like potentially food suppliers or someone who runs a class at your setting.

So, it’s important to establish good relationships with them too.

You will want everyone who comes into contact with you business to have a positive impression of your nursery and building positive relationships is key to this.

6. Get support

Number 6, is to not do this alone.  Do it with support if you can.

When I started my nursery there wasn’t much support available helping you to open and run a childcare business.

This was ten years ago.  Back then the only way to get support opening your nursery was to start a franchise which was and still is very costly and also means you give up a lot of the control you have in your business.

Fortunately, nowadays this is not the only option.

There is more support online around this topic, a lot from myself, but there are other places you can get support too.

Entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey and it’s easy to make mistakes or not understand things, which is why it’s important to get advice and guidance from someone that has already gone through the process.

I do offer this, through consultations and meetings.

Though, one of the best ways I offer this is through the online course open a nursery in just 6 months without a massive budget.  This course offers you the guidance so that you can avoid some of the mistakes that happens if you were to do it alone and it gives you access to a platform where you can discuss things with other nursery owners and potential nursery owners along the journey.

At the end of the video you can find out more information about the course, but regardless of whether you sign up don’t start this journey on your own.

Running a business can be stressful.  From managing staff, dealing with parents expectations and handling Ofsted and other inspections there will be days where you may feel hopeless and defeated.

So even if the person you have supporting you isn’t in the childcare field or doesn’t have childcare knowledge, it can be crucial just for your sanity to have someone outside of your nursery who you can vent too and talk about some of the issues you are dealing with.

Getting support is so important.

Obviously, on a practical level having someone to support you who has been through the process already and can give you practical advice in certain areas like how do you go about purchasing a new nursery  or what is this county lines thing that Ofsted have been discussing in recent inspections, so if you do have someone to support you in this way then it is always better.

And I do offer this support.

But if you don’t have someone with childcare knowledge to support, at the bare minimum have someone.

And have someone that’s actually useful.

You don’t want someone that is secretly going to be jealous of your achievements and may not offer you the best advice because of this.  And on the other hand you don’t want someone who will just agree with anything you say.

You will want someone who can support you and give you good advice.

7. Discover what makes you unique

The seventh crucial thing you should do to ensure your childcare business is successful, is to discover what makes your childcare business unique.

What makes you special?

We all have something.

Something that makes you different to the nursery down the street.

Something that makes parents choose you over another nursery.

Something that makes you, you.

It’s difficult to come up with this as we are all providing childcare to children.  But, we are all providing this in a different way.

You may not know straight away what makes you different as you may not have planned for this but you should try to figure this out early as it can benefit you in many ways

One way to do this is to ask parents and staff why they choose you over other nurseries or other childminders.

I doubt it will just be because of your price.

They may say things like because you made us feel welcomed, I liked your ethos, maybe you have a Montessori or forest school approach or maybe they chose you because you were very professional or because you were

Whatever they say, this is what makes you unique.  This is what makes you different.

So, use this.

Put this on your marketing, emphasise this during your show-arounds.

If your current parents are choosing you because of this, then other parents will too.

If you aren’t already open, you can create your nursery or childcare setting with your niche or unique proposition in mind.

Which is highly recommended and we go over how to do this on the course. 

But look at your potential competitors and see what they aren’t doing or maybe are doing and see how you can be different or just market yourselves as different to them.

An example of how I did this, was I opened my first nursery within my home.

Now nurseries within the home were seen as less professional and less structured as those in a dedicated building.  With many parents choosing these for their younger babies and moving to a dedicated nursery building once they reached toddler and pre-school.

I saw this as an opportunity for my nursery.

Many of the nurseries that were home-based in my area weren’t well marketed, some didn’t even have a website.

So although, they did pretty much the same as nurseries in a dedicated building following the same EYFS and having similar resources many parents still saw them as a stepping stone to the actual nurseries before starting school.

I didn’t want my nursery to fall into this same category.

So, although I didn’t actually do anything much different, still provided great service and resources.  I made sure parents new that by changing nurseries when they reached toddler and preschool that there was no benefit to this.

I did this by marketing throughout every contact point with my nursery that you will receive the same professionalism and quality as a nursery in a dedicated building but from a homely environment.

This meant that when children reached toddler and preschool parents didn’t feel they had to leave to go to a different nursery.

And meant that I a long waiting list of parents which meant I could expand my nursery quicker.

When I did expand I had a choice, as I wasn’t in a home anymore.  Which meant the message was potentially not as strong.  However, I kept with the branding and made my nurseries in their own dedicated building feel like a home with the set-up and resources I choose.

This just shows the importance of discovering what makes you unique and using this to help make your childcare business a success.

Though, if what makes you unique changes, don’t feel like you can’t change your marketing and your branding.

8. Research, research, research!

The 8th tip for childcare business success is to make sure you research and don’t go into the process blind or on a whim.

Just by watching this video it shows you are cautious and are seeking good advice before doing so.  Which is great, so I’m probably preaching to the converted.

You probably already know the importance of doing your research and due diligence first.

I just want to urge and remind you to do this with all parts of your business.

When looking for where you want to open your nursery, make sure you research the area which is step one on the course.  How many parents are there, how many potential competitors are there, what do other nurseries or childcare charge. Don’t just go in assuming there is demand in your area.

By researching you take away a lot of the risk associated with opening your nursery.

Your finances are an area most people try to avoid researching.

Either because they don’t like numbers or just a general fear and apathy of working this area out.

But it’s so important, you can waste so much money or even run out of money by not researching and working out your finances.

So, make sure you know how much you need to start up, how much you need to break even and what your daily running costs are.

You can’t bury your head in the sand on this part.

You need to get to grips with it.

We go through these figures on part 3 of the course.

But it’s so important for you to understand your finances, don’t just rely on your accountant, you need to have a basic understanding of these.

You don’t need to have a great understanding into things like the depreciation of your assets or some ways to save money on tax.

But, you should know things like how much it costs you for a child to attend your setting, this will help you to accurately know how much to charge. Or how many children you need to break even so you have this target in mind and put measures in place to prevent going below this.

Just make sure you’re researching all areas of your business.

Don’t go into things blind.

9. Keep learning

My penultimate bit of advice is to constantly be learning.  Never stop learning.

Whether you’ve just opened your nursery or you now own multiple you should always be willing to learn new things.

A quote from an American businessman who is estimated to have been worth 2.6billion dollars when he died last year at 99 years old is that ‘those who keep learning will keep rising in life’. Which is true, if you want to keep growing and keep developing you have to be willing to continuously learn and learn new things.

You should never get to a point where you feel like you know a topic or subject as there will always be new things to learn.

This goes for all areas of your business.

You might feel like you’ve managed staff before and therefore you don’t need to go on training for this.

But things change and staff change, sometimes it will require you to refresh your knowledge other times it will be about learning completely new methods of managing staff.

With all areas of your business you want to remain current and up to date with your knowledge.

So make sure you keep an open mind and be willing to try new marketing techniques, new learning practices and new ways.

But, you shouldn’t just wait for new things to come to you. 

You should be actively seeking out new ideas and wanting to discover new things.

10. Just do it

And the final bit advice I want to give you is to just do it!

Don’t let fear hold you back.

Providing you have done sufficient research and are confident that your childcare business is viable then you shouldn’t let fear stop you.

Do it despite being scared.

It will be scary.

It’s something new.

Many of you wouldn’t have owned a business before or it may be a new type of business.

No matter how confident you are, there will be at least a little bit of fear.

It’s the unknown.  You may be worried about what could happen.  What if no one likes your nursery.  What if it’s the wrong choice.  What if you make no money.

There will be lot’s of fears running through your head.

I was scared when I started too.

But ten years later in the journey, I’m glad I never let the fear stop me.

Don’t let it stop you.

Just make sure you set up your business properly and do it with support, then you will have less to fear.

The best way to do this?

Is to enrol on the course open a nursery in just 6 months without a massive budget.

I really don’t want you to be holding yourself back from getting to the next level and potentially achieving your dream.

Which is why I recommend you to take action now and commit to enrolling on the course.

On the course you will follow a step by step guide taking you through how to open a nursery.

From researching your area and finding your building all the way up to hiring your staff and marketing and enrolling children.

It is the best course available teaching you how to open a nursery in the uk.

Ensuring you open your nursery correctly helping you to minimise the risk of you opening and helping you to save money.

Whether you want to open a nursery now or in a few years’ time, because you get lifetime access you can enrol today and get started now.

So, if you want open your own nursery and want support doing so, then click the link that’s on the screen now to enrol.

Plus get an extra 10% off the course by inputting discount code youtube1 at checkout.

So head over there now to get started.

I hope you have enjoyed the video and learnt something from these ten things.

I wish you all the best and ill see you over there.

God Bless.