What Should be Your Daycare Business Goals and Objectives?

Opening a daycare business can be very fun and rewarding.  However, in order to maintain a successfully run business, you will want to have a few goals and objectives to keep you on track.  Knowing what goals you need is important and should be your main focus, but knowing what objectives you need to meet will help you achieve those goals is just as important.

There are three main goals that you should have for your daycare business.  The first one is profit, the objectives you will want for profit are keeping great financial records and determining a budget. The second goal is to provide a safe environment, the objectives you will need to meet this goal are inspection reports and security measures. The third goal is to provide a learning experience, the objectives needed to mean this goal is providing positive social interaction and having hands-on experiments. 

These goals will help you stay on track for a successful daycare business. The objectives are the things you will need to factor in to help you reach these goals.

Goal:

Making a Profit

A major goal that you will seek in your daycare business will be profit.  When running a business you have to account for every penny that comes into the business as well as every penny that goes out of the business.

So what are some factors that will affect your daycare business’s profit?  Cash flow such as daycare fees and late payments is going to impact your daycare positively.  Expenses such as rent, utilities, payroll, license and permit fees, equipment, and furniture will impact your daycare negatively.

Basically, you will take your cash flow and subtract all your expenses and that will be your profit.  When first starting out, most business owners will hire a bookkeeper to help them make sure they are accounting for everything that needs to be accounted for.  If you are new to finances it will be a wise investment to hire a bookkeeper.

Objective:

Keep Great Financial Records

What objectives should you have in order to create and maintain a profitable daycare business?

You should keep great financial records.  This is great for your bookkeeper (if you have one) and for any tax audits.  Being organized would be a great skill to have when comes to keeping records.

Some things that you should keep on hand are all receipts and invoices.  These will be needed for the end of the year taxes.  Every dollar you spend on food, furniture, equipment, supplies, vehicle maintenance, rent, utilities, etc will have to be accounted for.

An easy way to keep all these invoices and receipts organized would be to have them in a file cabinet.  You can label it monthly or by vendor, whichever is easier for you.  Another great thing to do help stay organized is you can scan all your invoices and receipts to your computer and upload them to a file.  This would help your bookkeeper, if you have one, to create those monthly income and cash flow reports.

Any financial reports you have for each month will help paint a picture of your business for you.  This will tell you how much profit you made as well as show if you need to change anything financially.  This is also where having a bookkeeper comes in handy.  Bookkeepers will look at the snapshot of your business and give you suggestions to help you reach your goals as well as become more profitable.

Determine a Budget

Determine a budget and stick to it. Knowing your budget is a major impact on your daycare business.  Rent or lease and the insurance for the business will stay the same month over month.  Property taxes (if you own the building and land) and licenses and permits will mostly be the same year over year.

Even though some of your expenses will vary month over month, you can still control them.  For example, utilities will vary month over month.  How can you control this expense?  Have a setting for the thermostats in the daycare during the day.  When no one is there, have a different setting.  Another example would be your food expense.  How can this be controlled?  Purchase sale items to get the most out of your money.

As you gain more clients and children, keep in mind that even though you are receiving more income for the daycare, but that will mean you may have to spend a few more dollars a month to cover food costs for the children on site.

Goal:

Providing a Safe Environment

Providing a safe environment for the attending children and your staff members should be another major goal. You will want to make sure you have all your safety measures in place to maintain your daycare business.

Objective:

Inspection Report

One objective that should be conducted prior to opening your daycare is to make sure that an inspection has been completed.  Inspection reports will tell you if your daycare is able to be open or stay open.  Also if there are any issues, you will know right away so that you can get them fixed as soon as possible.

Security Measures

Some sort of security measure should be in place as well.  This could be cameras throughout the facility in case there is an issue you have video proof.  Another form of security might be an entry key lock. This is where anyone who tries to enter the facility must have a code to get into the door.

Entry key lock security is very simple and easy. With this in place, you will not have to constantly have someone at the front desk.  This allows your office manager or director of the facility to be able to run errands for your business.  It also allows them to be able to not have to worry if someone is coming in or leaving out if they need to step away from the desk for just a minute or so.  In these cases, if a child is checking out, you will want to have someone to keep an eye on who the child is leaving with and make sure that the proper procedure is being exercised.

Another safety measure would be to make sure that only the individuals that are listed are allowed to pick up the child from daycare. You never want to let a child leave with someone you are unsure is allowed to pick that child up.  A simple task of checking an identification card and matching it with what is on file will only take a few seconds.

Another objective to provide a safe environment will be to be sure that all employees that are working in your facility have had their background check done.  This is already a requirement in most states, but letting your clients know that all employees are required to have background checks will make them more at ease knowing that they are leaving their children in safe hands.

Goal:

Providing a Great Learning Experience

A major goal should be the learning experience you are going to provide for the children in your daycare.  Parents will be paying for your services so they are going to want to know that they are getting the most for their money.  Since parents will not be with their child all day long, development skills are very important and needs to be taught to the children in your care.

Objective:

Positive Social Interaction

An objective to help you get those development skills rolling will be providing positive social interaction.  This can be done through the practice of making new friends.  This will teach the children how to play well with others and share.  Another way to develop social interaction would be to teach them how to be teammates and learn how to work together as a team with problem-solving.

Hands-On Experiments

Another objective would be providing hands-on experiments.  This will help with their intellectual development skill. Having the children participate in little things will teach them how to think creatively.  By keeping their mind open to new things will help them expand their knowledge as well. This helps keep them active and challenges their minds.

As you help the children in your daycare to become independent, they will learn how to take care of themselves.  As you teach the children things such as basic math and reading they will be prepared when it is time to attend school.

Related Questions 

Can these goals and objectives be used for any type of daycare business?

Yes, they can be used whether you have an in-home daycare or a center-based daycare.  If you have a non-profit daycare, limited liability company, or even a corporation, these simple goals and objectives will help you have a successfully ran daycare.

How does achieving these goals help my daycare business?

Achieving these few goals will help you to not only have a profitable business but also get a good rating in your community.  This is also great for referrals from your current clients.

Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a legal expert to address your specific needs.

Now you have outlined your goals and objectives all you need is our startup course and documents.