How to Make a Child Care Business Plan: A Simple Guide

Anyone with a passion for child care has the potential to start a successful daycare center. Not only will you help enrich children’s lives by providing a safe and welcoming learning environment, but you can even turn that passion into a profitable business.

Now, the idea of running your own business focused on caring for children might seem appealing, and in many ways it is, but it’s also important to understand how to do it right. From creating your business, developing a business plan, to ongoing care—there’s a lot to consider. 

The business plan you create is designed to turn unorganized and vague ideas into tangible processes and strategies that serve as the guideline needed to establish and expand your child care business.

Simply put, if you want to operate a successful daycare business, you need to start with a daycare business plan. 

So, what should you include in yours? And what does it take to create a child care center business plan? Let’s find out.

What Does a Successful Daycare Business Require?

You’re about to make dozens of decisions as you create your business plan. It’s important to understand what makes a daycare business successful to help guide these decisions. 

The three primary elements that create a successful daycare are:

1. Full enrollment
2. All fees are collected on time and in full
3. Revenue exceeds overall costs-per-child

Daycares that manage to achieve all three elements are essentially guaranteed to operate successfully. Keep these three focuses in mind as we proceed to discuss the specific decisions that you’ll need to make.

Must-Have Elements for Your Child Care Business Plan

Successful businesses throughout all industries have taken plenty of time to create plans and strategies that help them continually reach the next level of growth. Now, it’s your turn to make the ideal business plan for daycare in your area.

Your business plan must include the following sections:

• Mission statement: Craft a compelling mission statement that encapsulates the childcare philosophy embodied by your policies and procedures. This mission statement doesn't necessarily need to be public, but it can be a great addition to sales brochures and websites.
• Licensing information and other regulations: You will likely require some form of licensing depending on where you live. There may be additional regulations, legal requirements or restrictions that you should also be aware of. Thoroughly research licensing requirements and all applicable regulations and include them in your business plan so that it’s readily available. Describe any steps that you’ll have to take to obtain licensing and meet other requirements.
• Comprehensive business description: Get specific. We know you’re starting a daycare, but have you thought about which type of daycare layout you’ll be using, which child care program type you'll be offering, or which child care software will work to manage your daily activities? Describe the specific area and demographic that you’ll be targeting, including hours of operation and other vital details. 
• Specific policies and procedures: Many businesses can delay crafting specific documents until later, but childcare needs to start by thinking about how they will be caring for children. Craft policies that dictate how children are educated, enriched, disciplined. Additionally, create billing policies that can be made abundantly clear to new parents, and definitely consider purchasing liability insurance
• Market analysis and advertising strategy: Does the area you have in mind actually need a new daycare center? Parents typically want a daycare center that’s close to their homes, so consider how many residences are nearby as compared to other existing daycare centers. Next, craft a detailed childcare marketing plan that discusses specific campaigns and mediums, including brochure design, website development, pay-per-click advertising, and social media advertising. See our blog post on tips to market your childcare business

Does all of this sound too intimidating? Don’t worry, you can handle it. Take it one step at a time, there’s no due date. We also offer childcare training courses and coaching sessions for anyone looking for added guidance with business plan creation.

Plan Ahead to Ensure Ongoing Success

A business plan allows you to think about starting a daycare in a practical and tangible way that goes beyond the excitement of running your own business centered on your passion for childcare. 

Consider creating a business plan an essential step before you proceed, since the document itself will help guide future decisions.

Are you interested in learning how to create a business plan for a childcare business? We offer childcare training through private coaching sessions and on-demand training courses for anyone looking to craft an ideal business plan.

Book a discovery call today to see how we can help you turn your passion for childcare into a profitable and sustainable business.