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Archive for the ‘Business Expansion’ Category

Reflecting on 2012 and Developing a Growth Plan for 2013

This year has been a bit of a roller coaster for me. I have accomplished many of my business goals and I am still working on two of my goals as I write this blog post. One of my business goals was to update the sign on the outside of my center and I accomplished that goal in September 2012.

Also, I set a goal to make improvements to my playground and I added new playground equipment back in August. Another one of my goals was to get rid of my mini van and purchase a car. Along with going to Vegas for the first time!

I thought I would share some photos with you so that you can see that when you focus on what you really want and set goals; that you can have, what you desire.

sign

After Signs By Marvin installed the facing on the sign, my husband painted the rusting sign. After 91/2 years, it was time for an upgrade.

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The kids love the new playground equipment and it was a great enhancement for the playground. The parents and the kids love it!

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vegas 2

This Summer we took our first Trip to Vegas and it was my first airplane ride too!
Whoo Hoo and I conquered a fear!

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I love driving my Passat to my center every day. In fact, it is a reminder that when you work hard, focus on your goals, you can have what you want!

So as you can see, I have accomplished many of my goals for 2012 and I have even bigger goals &  plans for 2013. In fact, I am reading John Maxwell’s new book, The Laws of Growth; to prepare my mind for growth.

While I was reading John Maxwell’s book, I realized that I was focused too much on goals and not on business growth. Check out this excerpt from John’s Book:

” If you focus on goals, you may hit them, but that doesn’t guarantee growth.

If you focus on growth, you will grow and always hit goals.”

WOW! After reading that quote, I realized why I was losing my passion for my business and it was because I was not focused on growing the business.

When it is time for you to grow, you get frustrated with where you are and you lose momentum. If you have that desire to grow, than I suggest that you join me in reading John’s Book, The Laws of growth.

If you are not ready to expand your business now, but plan to expand in the future; this is a great time to develop a growth plan. There are many ways that you can grow:

  • Improve your character
  • Take some classes to enhance your business knowledge
  • Add a room to your home daycare
  • Move the business out of your home
  • Add more vans
  • Increase your licensing capacity
  • Start a chain of daycares
  • Increase your faith

My growth plan for 2013 is to prepare my mind for growth, upgrade my van, upgrade my kitchen at my center and search for funds to open a second location!

Whatever your growth plan maybe for your child care business, your success depends on your ability to grow!

My hope is that you have a successful 2013, so be sure to check out the events that I have planned for you (click here) and download your Free Growth Plan 2013 Reflection eguide.

Much Success to You!

Shiketa

Recommended Reading

Laws of Growth

Category:

Business Expansion, Child Care Center, Expansion

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How to Figure Out If It’s Time to Expand Your Child Care Business

If you get a call from at least one parent every day who’s interested in enrolling their child at your child care facility, it may be time to expand your efforts. Expanding may mean that you’ll need to move to a different facility that’s larger, and it may mean that you’ll need to hire new staff members. Calculate how much it will cost to move to a new place of business and how much it will cost to hire new staff members. Then calculate how much of a profit you’ll be able to make from each new enrollment.

Sometimes expanding may seem like a good idea, but it isn’t always necessarily. You can end up actually losing money if you expand too soon and don’t have the right number of kids enrolled as you expand. If you feel as though growing your business is the best idea for your particular situation, you may need to consider raising your prices. This, unfortunately, could mean that you may lose the business of some parents, and you might not attract as much business. Consider your clientele’s needs and financial limitations before you raise prices in order to expand.

As you can probably tell, there is some risk associated with growth. However, whenever there’s risk involved in business there’s also the opportunity for significant profit. You may need to step up your game in terms of marketing efforts if you do decide to grow. Additionally, you’ll likely have to spend some time recruiting new employees, which can be fairly time-consuming. If you already have a fairly well-established child care facility, the work associated with growth probably won’t be unmanageable.

In these tough economic times, the number of stay-at-home and work-at-home parents is on the rise, which means that interest in child care outside of the home is on the decline. However, there will always be a need for child care businesses. If you think there’s enough interest from parents, expanding could be one of the advantageous things for you. Ultimately, your particular situation will determine what’s best. Just remember not to make any rash decisions, trust your gut, and make sure you calculate the costs associated with expanding versus how much profit you’ll be able to make as a result of your business’s growth.

About Guest Author: Carolyn is a guest blogger about small business marketing who helps people get the right order management software that will work with Shopify, 3dcart, and BigCommerce.

Recommended Resources

10 Steps to Starting up a Child Care Business

21-Day Mastermind eClub

Category:

Business Expansion, Business Management, Child Care Center

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