Inspirational and Empowering Child Care Business Owners To Build Successful Child Care Businesses

Creating An Inclement Weather Plan

11 15 12

Winter is will be arriving soon and this is a great time to develop or review your inclement weather plan. In fact, it seems that some winters we are better than others in terms of the amount of snow that we get,however, it is vital that parents know what to expect in the event there is inclement.

Here are  Nine things that you can do to plan for inclement weather, assure that parents & staff know what to do in the event of inclement weather and other helpful tips:

1. Connect with your local news channel to find out how you can list your snow or closing  schedule in the event of inclement weather.

2. Post a notice of your inclement weather procedures on your door and insert the notice in your parent handbook.

3. Have a list of your parents contact information at home with you; so that you can send out a group text about your planned snow or closing schedule.

4. If you plan to cancel transportation, notify parents at least 2-hours before school starts to allow parents enough time to locate back-up childcare.

5. Ahead of time, purchase ice melt or salt for your sidewalks to melt ice on your side walks.

6. Have a contract with a snow plow or landscaping company to clean your parking lot before your business opens in the event of inclement weather.

7. When conditions are too icy, you may want to consider planning a later opening time to allow staff and parents time to get to the center.

8. Post your plans to open later or close during inclement weather on your social media pages; at least 1 hour before your scheduled open time.

9. Be sure to provide updates to parents via voice mail, your website or your social media pages

I hope that you have found the tips in this blog post to be quite helpful to you. I look forward to hearing about how you plan to prepare in the event of inclement weather.

Shiketa

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Category:

Emergencies, parent communication, Policies

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The Enrollment Seasons of Child Care

11 07 12

It seems that every year in April, the enrollment inquiries for my summer program increases. Also, many of the same families come back every summer and I look forward to the income increase every summer.

However, I do not look forward to the enrollment shift in August and this is why I recommend that child care business owners enroll for their fall programs in June or July.

The reason that I titled this post: The Seasons of Child Care is because I was recently reflecting on how good it feels to have a great enrollment season and then when the enrollment is down, how it impacts everything about the business.

Today I want to share with you, three principles that I learned from the many enrollment seasons  that I have seen in childcare, including being filled to capacity to low enrollment seasons:

  1. Prepare for the low enrollment seasons during the seasons that you are filled to capacity.
  2. Save money during the seasons of highest enrollment
  3. Stock up on supplies such as: paper towels, classroom supplies, etc; during the good seasons
  4. If enrollment is low, be patient ,keep marketing your business and your perseverance will pay off.

If you have been in the business for more than a year, I think that you can relate to this post. Moreover, if you are new to the business of childcare, I challenge you to develop a great marketing plan and learn to manage your money effectively, because how you manage marketing & your money; determines if you will survive the good and the not so good seasons of childcare!

Which season are you in? Are you filled to Capacity? Do you need children?

I look forward to reading your comments below and thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

Shiketa

For more marketing tips, check out my Marketing 101 toolkit and for child care business tips, be sure to subscribe to this blog and my weekly Child Care Business eNewsletter at www.childcarebusinessowner.com

Category:

Quality Care

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