Day Care Centre

Idea:
If you own a house with considerably big hall or living room, your house can be converted to your business premises. Yes! It’s a children day care center. In cities, where number of working women is high, this service has a better scope. It can give an unexpected income per month, if did run well.

Simple definition:
A daycare centre, otherwise known as a childcare centre is an establishment, a facility or place where parents who have no time (due to the nature of their job) take their children or kids to; and these children will be taken care of by someone else, in return for a fee.

Demand factor:
Since working women can’t take care of their children properly, they search for good day care centers. Keeping a maid or baby sitter at home, now-a-days, is risky; as threats of loot, murders have increased. Also at day care center, children can mix-up and have fun with other similar aged children and can enjoy and learn.

Pre-requisites:
Good location
Living room / Hall larger than 14 x 10 Feet (If in building / apartment; not above 2nd floor)
Fond of children and their activities
Good cooking
Guardianship
Good communication skills
Presence of Mind
Good contacts with doctors, hospitals & police
Toys & talent
Advantages:
Home based business
Low startup cost
Heavy demand business
Non boring business
Own control
Help to the society
Generation of employment
Disadvantages:
Bonded schedule
High risk of life
Requirement of high alert
Hard handling in-obedient children

Steps to Startup:

Learn & Plan - Learn more and more about this business through various sources like books, internets, existing centres etc. Then plan it as per your budget and requirement.
Plan for good location - The location/place should be good in all conditions. There should be ample sunlight, air in room. It should not at very quiet or very noisy location. A good big room can give children a good feel and atmosphere. The room must be safe from theft, electricity issues, pests, fire, gases, etc. Fire extinguishers, first aid kits must be kept handy. Risky items like needles, cutters, blades etc. must be kept out of reach of children.

Choose a good name - Selection of good and attractive name is must. It must be easy to pronounce, catchy, child friendly and brand-able; viz; Euro-Kids, Tree-House.
Invest well - Investment in this business is really very low. It will include Rent (if not own place), shop license, safety gears (fire extinguishers, first aid kit, window grills & small gates, pest control etc.) expenses, banners & advertisement expenses, lots of toys & learning aids like puzzles, building blocks, story books, craft supplies etc. Alarm clock or digital diary to maintain schedules of activities & medicines etc. is a must. Insurance cost is an important investment in this field. All the children, whether already insured or not, must be insured for life and medical. Benefit of group insurance can be utilized.

Advertise - Since trust is a basic factor and feature in this business, advertise in general is not that useful. Mouth publicity plays an important role for this business, hence your ‘Quality Service’ will only be your advertisement.

Quality Service - Clean & quick service is always appreciated. You must be ready to accept children on time every day. Parents / Guardians must see a clean, happy & healthy environment at centre every day. Children should be seen happy while leaving from centre every day. Good communication with children will enable you to learn their needs & problems. Good communication with their parents / guardians will enable you to tackle emergencies like children’s illness and accidents. Good communication with doctors, hospitals & police will enable you to handle emergencies like accidents, thefts, robbery etc. A collection of good toys & learning aids makes children happy. They can have lots of varieties of play toys. Puzzles, building blocks, story books, craft supplies etc. keeps them learning and updating in easy manner. Every Day Care Centre is a pre-school and this should be kept in mind, as parents / guardians keep watch on it while mouth publicity. Group sports, camp games will be useful to keep children busy and bonded with each other. Shouting, Scolding to children must be avoided. Keeping children in very strict environment will affect their growth. Children are always happy with good and happy faces so usually this business is good for females. Men can own business and can appoint a female manager to manage children; women understand children well.