How to Start a Daycare Business from Home Ideas for Moms

Many women who Stay Home with their children take in additional children.

You have many options if you start a Home Daycare Business from Home:

Start a full-time daycare with several children
Add one child as a playmate for your children so you still have the flexibility to run errands during the day.
Open an after-hours daycare for kids from 3-6pm.
Run a summer camp.

So you want to be a work at home mom. You don’t mind it when your children bring their friends over so you figure you’ll just open up a day care and earn some extra money, right?

Before you jump onto the day care band wagon there are some considerations. If you’re treating this as a business and not a hobby, you need to be licensed by the state. Assuming you are going to start with a home day care, you and your house will undergo a great deal of scrutiny. You and other adults in your home will have to go through a criminal background check. You’ll have to complete mounds of paperwork. Your facilities and yard will be inspected and must meet all requirements.

I heard of one mom who spent over $800 making necessary improvements to her home (fencing, guard railing, etc.) and still was not yet approved for a license months into the process.

You also need to like children. That seems like a given, but you need to be able to treat the other children as your own. You’ll need to set hard policies regarding payment and pickup. You need to run your day care business like a business, or your client’s could easily take advantage of you. By this I mean not picking up the children when they agreed to, not paying on time, calling in sick and not expecting to have to pay you. Get your policies in writing and ensure parents are clear.

If you’ve met all the above with no issues, the start by placing ads in your local newspaper or leave flyers with churches and moms groups. Make sure you give all existing clients a couple of your business cards. Parents are always looking for quality care.