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    Family Child Care Business Planning Guide
    Family Child Care Business Planning Guide
    Family Child Care Business Planning Guide
    Ebook167 pages3 hours

    Family Child Care Business Planning Guide

    By Tom Copeland

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Family child care providers will learn how to formulate and use a business plan. Includes a step-by-step guide to write a business plan and information on how to effectively use it.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRedleaf Press
    Release dateOct 1, 2008
    ISBN9781605541686
    Family Child Care Business Planning Guide

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      Book preview

      Family Child Care Business Planning Guide - Tom Copeland

      Family Child Care

      Business Planning

      Guide

      Tom Copeland, JD

      Published by Redleaf Press

      10 Yorkton Court

      St. Paul, MN 55117

      www.redleafpress.org

      © 2009 by Tom Copeland

      All rights reserved. Unless otherwise noted on a specific page, no portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or capturing on any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a critical article or review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper, or electronically transmitted on radio, television, or the Internet.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Copeland, Tom.

      Family child care business planning guide / Tom Copeland.

      p. cm.

      ISBN 978-1-60554-168-6 (e-book)

      1. Family day care—United States.2. Family day care—United States—Management.3. Family day care—United States—Finance.I. Title.

      HQ778.63.C649 2008

      362.71'2068—dc22

      2008033979

      Disclaimer

      We are selling this publication with the understanding that neither Redleaf Press nor the author is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or financial advice or any other professional services. If you require expert legal, financial, or investment assistance, obtain the services of a qualified professional. Because each individual has unique circumstances, neither the author nor Redleaf Press guarantess that following the instructions in this publication will ensure business success.

      Contents

      Acknowledgments

      Chapter One: How This Book Can Help You

      Treat Your Business Like a Business

      Why Do You Need a Business Plan?

      How to Get Your Plan Done

      What’s in a Business Plan?

      Chapter Two: Is Family Child Care for You?

      Is This Business for You?

      Can You Afford to Work at Home?

      Providing Exempt Child Care

      Providing Illegal Child Care

      Remodeling Your Home for Your New Business

      Understanding Your Business Tax Deductions

      Chapter Three: Write a Start-Up Plan

      Legal and Regulatory Issues

      Start-Up Costs

      Business Tax Issues

      Your Contract and Policies

      Chapter Four: Write a Business Plan

      Your Hopes and Goals

      Your Marketing Plan

      Your Insurance Plan

      Your Program Plan

      Your Professional Development Plan

      Your Record-Keeping Plan

      Your Financial Plan (Budget)

      Chapter Five: Prepare a Budget

      The Sample Budget

      Estimating Your Income

      Estimating Your Expenses

      Should Your Budget Show a Loss?

      Chapter Six: Manage Your Business Finances

      Help Parents Understand Your Business

      Calculate Your Hourly Wage

      Find Your Break-Even Point

      Prepare a Cash Flow Projection

      Appendixes

      Appendix A: Start-Up Plans

      Blank Start-Up Plan

      Sample Start-Up Plan

      Appendix B: Business Plans

      Blank Business Plan

      Sample Business Plan

      Appendix C: Financial Tools

      Sample Cash Flow Projection

      Blank Budget Form

      Acknowledgments

      Many people have contributed to this book, including thousands of family child care providers who have shared their stories in my training sessions over the past 26 years and over 500 providers who responded to the online money management survey discussed in this book. Thanks to all of them.

      Thanks also to the following people, who reviewed this book and offered valuable suggestions that made it better:

      •Tax and financial planning professionals: Benjamin Cohen, Barbara Delbene, Tom Jemison, Shaun McHale, Jeff Robinson, Sandy Schroeder, Al Wroblewski, and Pinghau Yin.

      •Family child care providers: Olga Anderson, Sarah Beck, Kalissa Braga, Laurie De Martini, Pat Goor, Traci Heilman, Roxanne Johnson, Patty Kelly, Bonna Lake, Patricia Lee, Debbie Moore, Linda Powell, Tiffany Sartin, Pamela Schmitz, Loretta Spindler, Lorna Tall, Michelle Thole, and Reva Wywadis.

      Others who have contributed to this book include Jan Stokley, Diane Copeland, Kathy Modigliani, and Paul Bloomer. Thanks to David Heath for project management; Laurie Herrmann, Carla Valadez, Douglas Schmitz, and Jim Handrigan for production assistance; and Jan Grover and Beth Wright for proofreading.

      I want to give special thanks to my editor, Rose Brandt. Rose has been my editor for seven previous books, and her work has greatly contributed to their success. She is a painstakingly thorough editor who has improved the clarity of all my books. Her work on this book is especially noteworthy, and her numerous suggestions have improved every section. I cannot thank her enough for many years of excellent work.

      CHAPTER ONE

      How This Book Can Help You

      Chapter Summary

      This chapter explains how business planning can help you manage your family child care business more effectively, whether you have an ongoing business or are thinking of opening a new family child care business.

      Most family child care providers have experience caring for children before they begin offering care to other families. However, few providers have experience starting and managing their own business. For this reason, over the years many providers have asked me for a resource that would help them get their business properly organized right from the start.

      This book meets that need. It is organized around the resources in the appendixes—two blank plans that you can fill out to set up your business properly and two financial tools that you can use to budget and plan your business finances:

      •Start-Up Plan (Appendix A). Completing a start-up plan will help you to handle the issues that must be addressed before your business begins, identify the costs involved in starting your business, and set up the key terms of your contract and policies.

      •Business Plan (Appendix B). Completing a business plan will help you to plan how to market your business, protect yourself with insurance, set up your program, and keep the necessary business records.

      •Financial Tools (Appendix C). Preparing a budget and cash flow projection will make it easier for you to meet your financial goals, whether you are a new or an experienced provider.

      This book outlines a clear path that will help you to either get a new business started in a businesslike way or manage an existing business more effectively. I hope that the information in this book will help you learn new skills so you can enjoy the work you love most—caring for children. However, this book doesn’t include all the resources you’ll need to run a successful family child care business; it’s intended to be used with the other books in the Redleaf Press business series:

      •The Redleaf Calendar-Keeper

      •Family Child Care Record-Keeping Guide

      •Family Child Care Tax Workbook and Organizer

      •Family Child Care Tax Companion

      •Family Child Care Contracts and Policies

      •Family Child Care Marketing Guide

      •Family Child Care Legal and Insurance Guide

      •Family Child Care Money Management and Retirement Guide

      The books in this series offer a depth of information that will answer all your questions about operating a family child care business. However, you don’t need to read all of these books before you open your business—you’ll be ready to go after you complete the plans and budget explained in this book. You can add the other books to your library as needed to help manage your business and make it more successful.

      Tax note: This book refers to tax laws that are subject to change. For the latest tax rules and information, consult the current edition of the Tax Workbook and Organizer.

      A Note about Gender

      Studies show that over 95% of family child care providers are female. In this book I will use female pronouns to describe family child care providers and male pronouns to describe their spouses. I’ve made this choice to avoid the awkward use of she or he; however, I don’t mean to slight any male family child care providers or female spouses who may be reading this book.

      Treat Your Business Like a Business

      In 2007 we posted a money management survey on our Web site, and over 500 family child care providers responded. (You can view the results at www.redleafpress.org—enter Business Planning Guide into the search field, and follow the links.) The responses showed us that many providers would like to learn how to manage their business more effectively. For example, one experienced provider wrote:

      I feel that we older providers—and maybe the younger ones, too—went into this business thinking it was just something to do while our children were young—we didn’t really view it as a business at first. We were just so grateful to be at home with our children, and we didn’t lay down a solid business plan. When we finally started thinking about how to secure our future, we realized that it would take a lot of courage and drastic changes to the way we do business. Even now, that’s one of the most difficult parts of the business for me.

      In other words, it’s important to treat your business as a business, rather than a hobby, as another provider told me. A hobby is something that you do just for fun. The work that

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