Monthly Archives: December 2014

5 Marketing Tips For Your Child Care Business

Small CCP teaching childrenRunning a caring, clean and educationally rich child care business isn’t always enough to keep your center filled to capacity.

We are always looking for information, suggestions and tips that our child care providers can use in their day-to-day business operation, especially if it helps them.

We came across a site called Child Care Daily App and a quick set of tips to help market your business.

Things happen.

Children grow up, families move away, circumstances change.

To keep a full roster or to grow your business, you’ll have to engage in some marketing. Marketing – creating awareness, interest and preference for your child care services among your target clients – works best when you use a consistent approach. (Marketing your business only after you’ve had a significant drop off in enrollment creates the dreaded feast-or-famine syndrome.)

Here are a few low cost and free marketing ideas to keep your client roster full.

1. Offer a finder’s fee to individuals who refer a parent to you. (Be sure to specify a minimum length of enrollment to qualify for the fee.)

2. Get listed on your local Child Care Resource and Referral Agency’s referral service.

3. Write a loose script for anyone who answers the phone to use for inquiry calls from parents. This ensures that calls are handled professionally. Always ask the parent how they found your home or center.

4. Host an event. An art day, a jamboree, or a kid vs. parent contest gives the public a no-pressure way to experience at your day care while enjoying a positive family outing. Be sure to have plenty of fliers available and ask your guests to sign in with their name and contact information, so that you can follow up later.

5. Use Child Care Daily App! (You knew this would make our list, right?) That’s because it works! Offering the app gives your business a distinct advantage – our clients report increased enrollment after adding Child Care Daily App. Knowing what’s happening with their child gives parents peace of mind, while posting quick and easy updates free your staff’s time to spend with the children.

Source: http://www.childcaredailyapp.com/5-marketing-tips-for-your-child-care-business/

When not to use Time-Space Percentage

Don’t Guestimate Your Taxes

Tom Copeland wrote a great piece for National Association for Child Care (NAFCC) that is worth sharing with you.

“How much of the cost of an item can I deduct as a business expense?” is a common question of family child care providers. In general, providers should use their Time-Space Percentage to determine the portion that is deductible for items used by their business as well as their family. Such items include property tax, mortgage interest, furniture and appliances, toys, supplies, and more.

For some shared business and personal items, however, the Time-Space Percentage should not be used. These special items, called “listed property,” include a computer, printer, copy machine, fax, television, VCR, cell phone, and vehicle. For these items providers must calculate an actual business use percent, which means determining what percent of each item was used in the business.To read the rest of the article visit NAFCC.

January 24, 2015 T&R Workshop Flyer for YMCA CRSDon’t forget to register to attend our Tax & Recordkeeping Seminar on January 24.  Details for registration here.