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Preschool Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

preschool business plan

Preschool Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 500 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their preschool companies. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great business plan.

In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a preschool business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

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What is a Preschool Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your preschool business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Preschool

If you’re looking to start a preschool business or grow your existing preschool company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your preschool business to improve your chances of success. Your preschool business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Preschool Businesses

With regard to funding, the main sources of funding for a preschool business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors. When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for preschool companies.

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How to write a business plan for a preschool business.

If you want to start a preschool business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. The guide below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your preschool business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of preschool business you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a preschool business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of preschool businesses?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan.

  • Give a brief overview of the preschool industry.
  • Discuss the type of preschool business you are operating.
  • Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers.
  • Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team.
  • Offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail the type of preschool business you are operating.

For example, you might specialize in one of the following types of preschool businesses:

  • Parent co-op preschool : Preschools that offer lower-cost enrollment in exchange for the volunteer work of a parent on a regular (typically weekly) basis. This type of preschool employs a teacher and an aide, but also includes parents, which reduces the payroll costs considerably.
  • Academic/play-based preschool: Preschools that stress learning via a number of experiences in academic introductions. Play-based learning is also introduced in math and pre-reading games and other forms of learning-while-you-play interactions.
  • Religious preschool: Preschools that adhere to the religious practices and beliefs of the parents in teaching, while including academic and play-based experiences for preschoolers.
  • Learning system preschool: Systems of specific teaching theories, such as Waldorf and Montessori, are offered at this type of preschool. These preschools are based on proven structures for learning.
  • Development-interaction preschool: Preschools that offer a holistic approach to preschool, focusing on the emotional, intellectual, social and physical growth of each preschool child.

In addition to explaining the type of preschool business you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

  • When and why did you start the business?
  • What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of programs offered, the number of preschool graduates, reaching X number of preschool locations, etc.
  • Your legal business Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the preschool industry. While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the preschool industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.

The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your preschool business plan:

  • How big is the preschool industry (in dollars)?
  • Is the market declining or increasing?
  • Who are the key competitors in the market?
  • Who are the key suppliers in the market?
  • What trends are affecting the industry?
  • What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
  • What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your preschool business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your preschool business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: parents, grandparents, children, and churches, and schools.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of preschool business you operate. Clearly, parents would respond to different marketing promotions than churches, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other preschool businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to choose for their preschoolers that aren’t directly competing with your service. This includes private tutors, public schools, nannies and babysitters. You need to mention direct competition, as well.

For each direct competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as

  • What types of families do they serve?
  • What type of preschool business are they?
  • What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
  • What are they good at?
  • What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

  • Will you provide options for translation services?
  • Will you offer family-discounts that your competition doesn’t?
  • Will you provide better playgrounds and amenities?
  • Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

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Marketing plan.

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a preschool business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of preschool company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you provide developmental, religious, academic or play-based learning systems?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your plan, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the site(s) of your preschool(s). Document where your company is situated and mention how the sites will impact your success. For example, is your preschool business located in a new, master-planned community, near a business district, or in a standalone building?  Discuss how your site might be the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your preschool marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

  • Advertise in local papers, radio stations and/or magazines
  • Reach out to websites
  • Distribute flyers
  • Engage in email marketing
  • Advertise on social media platforms
  • Improve the SEO (search engine optimization) on your website for targeted keywords

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your preschool business, including answering calls, placing preschoolers into programs, meeting with parents, planning and providing teaching sessions, billing and collecting revenue, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to open your fifth preschool, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your preschool business to a new community in your city.

Management Team

To demonstrate your preschool business’ potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing preschool businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a preschool business or successfully leading as a principal of a public elementary school.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenue and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you open a new preschool every two years, or offer summer school and daycare sessions? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your preschool business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a preschool business:

  • Cost of classroom furniture, equipment and office supplies
  • Payroll or salaries paid to staff
  • Business insurance
  • Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, and equipment

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your list of parents who have enrolled their children on contract for the next two years, or the waitlist of parents who want their children to attend your preschool.

Writing a business plan for your preschool business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will understand the preschool industry, your competition, and your customers. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful preschool business.

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Preschool Business Plan

Executive summary image

If you are planning to start a new Preschool business, the first thing you will need is a business plan. Use our sample business plan created using upmetrics business plan software to start writing your business plan in no time.

Before you start writing your business plan for your new preschool business, spend as much time as you can reading through some examples of education-related business plans .

Reading sample business plans will give you a good idea of what you’re aiming for and also it will show you the different sections that different entrepreneurs include and the language they use to write about themselves and their business plans.

We have created this sample preschool business plan for you to get a good idea about how perfect a business plan should look and what details you will need to include in your stunning business plan.

Preschool Business Plan Outline

This is the standard business plan outline which will cover all important sections that you should include in your business plan.

  • Mission statement
  • Vision statement
  • Keys to Success
  • 3 Year profit forecast
  • Startup cost
  • Management Team
  • Personnel Table
  • Funding Required
  • Products and Services
  • Market Overview
  • Market Trends
  • Target Market
  • Product/Service
  • Word of Mouth
  • Community Involvement
  • Public Transport Advertising
  • Web Plan Summary
  • Sales Strategy
  • Personnel Plan
  • Important Assumptions
  • Brake-even Analysis
  • Profit Yearly
  • Gross Margin Yearly
  • Projected Cash Flow
  • Projected Balance Sheet
  • Business Ratios

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Need help writing your business plan from scratch? Here you go;  download our free preschool business plan pdf  to start.

It’s a modern business plan template specifically designed for your preschool business. Use the example business plan as a guide for writing your own.

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Download Preschool Business Plan

ProfitableVenture

Preschool Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business Plans » Education Sector » Schooling

Preschool industry operators provide daycare services for children under the ages of three and four to prepare them for kindergarten.

The dispersion of the preschool programs reflects in the geographic distribution of the children, which is also influenced by the cost and supply of preschool programs, income and housing affordability patterns, labor, and child care subsidy policies.

Also, varying state and local regulations and licensing requirements affect employment in this industry. Preschools are under the Early Childhood Learning Centers Industry and the market size, measured by revenue of the Early Childhood Learning Centers industry is $10.7bn in 2023. The industry is expected to increase by 4.6% in 2023.

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Steps on How to Write a Preschool Business Plan

Executive summary.

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. is a standard and well–equipped preschool that will be located in a well-populated residential estate in Ashville – North Carolina, USA. We provide daycare services for children under the ages of three and four to prepare them for kindergarten.

Aside from the fact that we will operate a preschool center, we will also propvide in-home tutoring – we will go to the homes of our students as demanded by their parents. Donald Derrick is the founder and CEO of Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc.

Company Profile

A. our products and services.

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will provide a wide range of services that revolves around providing daycare services for children under the ages of three and four to prepare them for kindergarten. Our services are designed to give early childhood education to kids under the age of 4 and also help provide relief to parents when they need to be away from their kids for a period of time.

b. Nature of the Business

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will operate the business to consumer business model (B2C).

c. The Industry

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will operate under the Early Childhood Learning Centers Industry.

d. Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide safe and secured daycare facility and services geared towards educating and taking care of kids of a certain age. We are all out to prepare kids for kindergarten.

e. Vision Statement

Our vision of establishing our preschool is to grow the business to be amongst the top three preschools in the whole of the United States of America.

f. Our Tagline (Slogan)

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. – Rasing and Educating Golden Kids!

g. Legal Structure of the Business (LLC, C Corp, S Corp, LLP)

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will be formed as a Limited Liability Company (LLC). The reason why we are forming an LLC is to protect our personal assets by limiting the liability to the resources of the business itself. The LLC will protect our CEOs’ personal assets from claims against the business, including lawsuits.

h. Our Organizational Structure

  • Head of Preschool (President)
  • Preschool Administrator
  • Account Officer
  • Early Childhood Educators
  • Front Desk Officer
  • Cleaners and Nannies
  • Security Guards

i. Ownership/Shareholder Structure and Board Members

  • Sophia Lavendar (Owner and Chairman/Chief Executive Officer) 51 Percent Shares
  • Solomon Lavendar (Board Member) 19 Percent Shares
  • Adrain Lavendar (Board Member) 10 Percent Shares
  • Larry Brad (Board Member) 10 Percent Shares
  • Lauren Williams (Board Member and Secretary) 10 Percent Shares.

SWOT Analysis

A. strength.

  • Ideal Location for preschool business
  • Highly Experienced and Qualified Employees and Management
  • Highly Secured and Clean Facility
  • Highly structured programs aimed at giving kids early childhood education and to prepare them for kindergarten.

b. Weakness

  • Financial Limitations
  • Operating from a leased facility (restriction to fully modify the facility to suit our style and taste)
  • Inability to retain our highly experienced and qualified employees longer than we want

c. Opportunities

  • Growth in per capita disposable income influences demand for early childhood learning centers. Households with higher disposable income are more likely to be able to afford higher-quality child care and, thus, will be more likely to demand higher-cost services. Per capita disposable income is expected to increase in the coming year, presenting an opportunity to the industry.

i. How Big is the Industry?

The early childhood learning industry is indeed a big industry. The market size of the is projected to be over $10.7 billion in 2023.

ii. Is the Industry Growing or Declining?

Available statistics point to the fact that the industry is presently not growing and revenue for the industry has been adjusted from an increase to a decline.

Please note that from 2022 the revenue of the industry is anticipated to start growing as the economy recovers and COVID-19 (coronavirus) cases subsequently drop in line with the nationwide vaccination rollout. As a matter of fact, available data shows that the industry is projected to grow by 4.6 percent in 2023 recovering from a decline of -3.8 between 2017 and 2022.

iii. What are the Future Trends in the Industry

The early childhood learning centers industry is changing, and players in the industry are improvising. No doubt, technology, kids-friendly legislature and customized software will change the landscape of the industry going forward.

iv. Are There Existing Niches in the Industry? If YES, List them

No, there are no niche ideas when it comes to preschool line of business.

v. Can You Sell a Franchise of your Business in the Future?

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. has the plans to sell franchise in the nearest future and we will target major cities with a growing numbers of parents in the United States of America.

  • Lack of support from stakeholders and the government
  • Unfavorable government policy and regulations.
  • Community resistance (May not want such facility to be located in their community)
  • Liability problems
  • Arrival of competitors within our market space.

i. Who are the Major Competitors?

  • The Episcopal School
  • Pacific Northern Academy (PNA)
  • Westside Neighborhood School
  • Lowell School
  • East Linn Christian Academy
  • Cambridge-Ellis School
  • Saint Ann’s
  • The Children’s School.
  • Germantown Friends School
  • Beyond ABCs
  • Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School
  • Avenues World School
  • National Child Research Center
  • Wetherby-Pembridge School
  • University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
  • Greenhill School
  • Presidio Knolls
  • Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley
  • Gems World Academy
  • Bank Street School.

ii. Is There a Franchise for Preschool?

Yes, there are franchise opportunities for preschool and here are some of them;

  • Genius Kids (Initial investment: from $122,000)
  • KLA Schools (Initial investment: from $1,100,000)
  • Adventure Kids Playcare (Initial investment: from $385,000)
  • Primrose Schools (Initial investment: $652,000)
  • Discovery Point (Initial investment: from $405,570)
  • Lightbridge Academy (Initial investment: from $581,000)
  • Building Kidz School (Initial investment: from $214,000)
  • KidsPark (Initial investment: from $261,000)
  • Montessori Kids Universe (Initial investment: from $424,000)
  • The Goddard School (Initial investment: from $698,000)
  • Kiddie Academy (Initial investment: from $400,000)
  • The Learning Experience Academy of Early Education (Initial investment: from $544,000).

iii. Are There Policies, Regulations or Zoning Laws Affecting Preschools?

Yes, there are county or state regulations and zoning laws for preschools, and players in this industry are expected to work with the existing regulations governing such business in the county or state where their business is domiciled.

For example, the designated area for children’s activities should contain a minimum of forty-two square feet of usable floor space per child. A usable floor space of fifty square feet per child is preferred. However, you may be subject to local permits depending on how you plan to operate your preschool.

Marketing Plan

A. who is your target audience.

i. Age Range

We will admit children between the ages of 2 and 4 years old.

ii. Level of Educational

We don’t have any restrictions on the level of education of those we will admit their kids to our preschool.

iii. Income Level

We don’t have any cap on the income level of those we will admit their kids in our preschool.

iv. Ethnicity

There is no restriction when it comes to ethnicity of the people we are looking forward to admit their kids in our preschool.

v. Language

There is no restriction when it comes to the language spoken by the people we are looking forward to admitting their kids to our preschool, however, we will prefer people who speak the English language.

vi. Geographical Location

Any parent from any geographical location will be welcome to enroll their kids in our preschool.

vii. Lifestyle

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will not restrict any parent from accessing our facility and services based on their lifestyle, culture or race.

b. Advertising and Promotion Strategies

  • Host Themed Events That Catch The Attention of Parents.
  • Tap Into Text Marketing.
  • Use FOMO to Run Photo Promotions.
  • Share Your Events in Local Groups and Pages.
  • Turn Your Social Media Channels Into a Resource
  • Develop Your Business Directory Profiles
  • Build Relationships With Other Parent Associations in our Area

i. Traditional Marketing Strategies

  • Marketing through Direct Mail.
  • Print Media Marketing – Newspapers & Magazines.
  • Broadcast Marketing -Television & Radio Channels.
  • OOH Marketing – Public Transits like Buses and Trains, Billboards, Street shows, and Cabs.
  • Leverage on direct sales, direct mail (postcards, brochures, letters, fliers), referral (also known as word-of-mouth marketing).

ii. Digital Marketing Strategies

  • Social Media Marketing Platforms.
  • Influencer Marketing.
  • Email Marketing.
  • Content Marketing.
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Marketing.
  • Affiliate Marketing.
  • Mobile Marketing.

iii. Social Media Marketing Plan

  • Start using chatbots.
  • Create a personalized experience for our clients.
  • Create an efficient content marketing strategy.
  • Create a community for young parents and intending parents.
  • Gear up our profiles with a diverse content strategy.
  • Use brand advocates.
  • Create profiles on the relevant social media channels.
  • Run cross-channel campaigns.

c. Pricing Strategy

When working out our pricing strategy, Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will make sure it covers profits, insurance, premium, license, and economy or value and full package. In all our pricing strategy will reflect;

  • Cost-Based Pricing
  • Value-Based Pricing
  • Competition-Based Pricing.

Sales and Distribution Plan

A. sales channels.

Our channel sales strategy will involve using partners and third parties—such as referral partners, affiliate partners, parent clubs, and clinics to help refer parents to us.

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will also leverage the 4 Ps of marketing which are place, price, product, and promotion. By carefully integrating these marketing strategies into a marketing mix, we can have a visible, in-demand service that is competitively priced and promoted.

b. Inventory Strategy

The fact that we will need toiletries, change of beddings, supplies and food per time means that Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will operate an inventory strategy that is based on a day-to-day methodology for ordering, maintaining and processing items in our warehouse. We will develop our strategy with the same thoroughness and attention to detail as we would if we were creating an overall strategy for the business.

c. Payment Options for Customers

Here are the payment options that Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will make available to her donors and contributors;

  • Payment via bank transfer
  • Payment with cash
  • Payment via credit cards
  • Payment via online bank transfer
  • Payment via check
  • Payment via mobile money transfer

d. Return Policy, Incentives and Guarantees

At Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc., we offer services, and the nature of the services we offer does not accommodate return policy, but we will guarantee parents that their kids will get the best of early childhood learning and education.

e. Customer Support Strategy

Our customer support strategy will involve seeking customer’s feedback. This will help us provide excellent customer service to all our customers, it will help us to first understand their needs, experiences, and pain points. We will work with an effective CRM software to be able to achieve our aim of surpassing our customer’s need.

On a regular basis, we will work towards strengthening our Customer Service Team and also Leverage Multi-Channel Servicing as part of our customer support strategy.

Operational Plan

We plan to expand our revenue by 45 percent in the second year and the plan will include a marketing, sales and operations component. The operations component of the plan would include attracting more customers and additional service offerings that will enable the organization to boost our service offerings and support revenue growth.

a. What Happens During a Typical Day at a Preschool?

  • The facility is open for the day
  • The facility is cleaned and prepared for the day’s activities
  • Parents are welcome and their kids are received from them
  • Early childhood learning activities, as well as playing with kids to encourage mental and physical stimulation are carried out as required
  • Administrative works are done
  • Parents come to pick their kids and the facility is closed for the day.

b. Production Process

There is no production process when it comes to a preschool.

c. Service Procedure

There is no service procedure when it comes to a preschool.

d. The Supply Chain

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will rely on parent associations and other stakeholders in our city to refer parents to us. So also, we have been able to establish business relationship with wholesale supplies of beddings, toiletries, and other supplies.

e. Sources of Income

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. make money from;

  • Providing daycare services for children under the ages of three and four to prepare them for kindergarten.
  • Offering home tutor services for toddlers as requested by their parents
  • Retailing early childhood learning materials.

Financial Plan

A. amount needed to start our preschool.

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. would need an estimate of $250,000 to successfully set up our preschool in the United States of America. Please note that this amount includes the salaries of all our staff for the first month of operation and the renting of our operational facility.

b. What are the Cost Involved?

  • Business Registration Fees – $750.
  • Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits – $1,300.
  • Marketing, Branding and Promotions – $3,000.
  • Business Consultant Fee – $2,500.
  • Insurance – $5,400.
  • Rent/Lease – $120,000.
  • Other start-up expenses including, commercial satellite TV subscriptions, stationery ($500), and phone and utility deposits ($2,800).
  • Operational Cost (salaries of employees, payments of bills et al) – $30,000
  • start-up inventory – $15,000
  • Store Equipment (cash register, security, ventilation, signage) – $4,750
  • Furnishing and Equipping – $45,000
  • Website: $800
  • Opening party: $3,000
  • Miscellaneous: $2,000

c. Do You Need to Build a Facility? If YES, How Much Will It Cost?

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will not build a new facility for our preschool; we intend to start with a long-term lease and after 5 years, we will start the process of acquiring our own facility.

d. What are the Ongoing Expenses for Running a Preschool?

  • Cost of stocking up supplies such as toiletries, change of beddings, and other supplies
  • Utility bills (gas, internet, phone bills, signage and sewage et al)
  • Salaries of employees

e. What is the Average Salary of your Staff?

  • Head of Preschool (President) – $45,000 Per Annum
  • Preschool Administrator – $36,034 Per Annum
  • Account Officer – $35,000 Per Annum
  • Early Childhood Educators – $33,300 Per Annum
  • Front Desk Officer – $28,000 Per Annum
  • Cleaners and Nannies – $22,000 Per Annum
  • Security Guard – $22,000 Per Annum.

f. How Do You Get Funding to Start a Preschool?

  • Raising money from personal savings and sale of personal stocks and properties
  • Applying for a loan from your bank/banks
  • Pitching our business idea and applying for business grants and seed funding from the government, donor organizations, and angel investors
  • Source for soft loans from our family members and friends.

Financial Projection

A. how much should you charge for your service.

At Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. it is important to note that we will charge $4,460 to $13,158 per year ($372 to $1,100 monthly) on average, depending on the services involved.

b. Sales Forecast?

  • First Fiscal Year (FY1): $250,000
  • Second Fiscal Year (FY2): $350,000
  • Third Fiscal Year (FY3): $450,000

c. Estimated Profit You Will Make a Year?

  • First Fiscal Year (FY1): (65 percent)
  • Second Fiscal Year (FY2): (45 percent)
  • Third Fiscal Year (FY3): (50 percent)

d. Profit Margin of a Preschool Product/Service

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will work towards achieving between 25 percent to 45 percent.

Growth Plan

A. how do you intend to grow and expand by opening more retail outlets/offices or selling a franchise.

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. will grow our preschool by first opening other outlets in key cities in the United States of America within the first five years of establishing the business and then will start selling franchise from the sixth year.

b. Where do you intend to expand to and why?

Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. plans to expand to Dallas – Texas, New York City – New York, Sumter – Florida and then to Liliano – Texas, Lancaster – Virginia, Alcona – Michigan, Los Angeles – California and Catron New Mexico.

The reasons we intend to expand to these locations is the fact that available statistics show that the cities listed above have the highest number of people with kids below the age of 5 in the United States.

The founder of Auntie Lavendar® Preschool, Inc. plans to exit the business via family succession. We have placed structures and processes in place that will help us achieve our plan of successfully transferring the business from one family member to another and from one generation to another without hitches.

How to Write a Business Plan for Daycare and Preschool

  • brightwheel
  • Running a business

People sitting at a table reviewing business graphs

Writing a daycare or preschool business plan is a big task, but due diligence and hard work will help you understand what you’ll need to launch and run a daycare or preschool successfully.

people sitting around a table reviewing a business graph

What do daycare investors want?

Your local government will have rules and regulations you’ll need to follow as a small business owner and childcare provider. Start by reviewing the childcare licensing guidelines for your state and city. Once you’re clear on licensing guidelines, you’re ready to start writing your childcare business plan.

The purpose of a business plan is to help secure funding. You’ll likely need financing to launch your preschool or daycare, especially if you want to avoid the monthly repayment of a loan. 

Investors provide businesses with money in exchange for partial ownership. As a result, they expect a larger return on their initial investment. Because many investors work in business, they prefer to invest in an established company.

Most investors look for:

Industry background and experience

Financial performance and promise.

Investors want to make money. Therefore, they are more inclined to work with experienced entrepreneurs and business owners to guarantee a return on their investment. 

This might sound discouraging for those with little experience or without a business management background, but the opportunity doesn’t end there. You could consider bringing on a partner with a business background. Additionally, many investors act as a source of business advice. 

You need to demonstrate that your business will make money. Investors will likely want to see signs of business growth before they give you money. 

Additionally, investors will want to know about your financial stability. Questions an investor might ask are:

  • What do you plan to do with the money?
  • Has your business been up or down in recent years?
  • Is your company losing money? Are there signs of growth for the future?
  • How do you plan to repay your investment?

Of course, every investor is different, so they’ll consider various factors. While experience and financial promise are at the top of the list for most investors, they might also look for uniqueness, business readiness, an effective business model, and more.

A women using a calculating and holding cash

Writing a daycare business plan

We’ve discussed licensing and investors. Now, you’re ready to begin the framework of your business plan for daycares and preschools. Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

Business description

Needs assessment, insurance policies, operating policies and procedures, marketing strategy.

Start with the basics: what does your daycare do? Detailing the service you’re offering will help you create a clear business plan. Next, you might want to write some goals or even a mission statement outlining your purpose and motivation.

Start by looking at general daycare or preschool industry trends, then narrow your scope to the preschools or daycares in your local area. Next, you’ll need to figure out who your target customers are and confirm that there is a need for a business like yours in your community. 

Are there a lot of young families in your neighborhood? Are you located somewhere convenient for commuting parents? Does your business offer a specific service that your competitors don’t, like early check-in or extended hours? 

Also, check out the competition. Research the existing daycare or preschool options in your community. Look at current preschool or daycare business plan samples. What makes your daycare or preschool unique? 

Developing detailed budgets will help you run your small business. You’ll need to compare your current cash flow and expenditures to determine whether you’ll make a profit.

Build a budget for unexpected costs. For example, how many children do you need to serve to be able to pay your bills and stay afloat? Child Care Aware of America offers some terrific budgeting resources for this process.

Depending on the type and size of your preschool, you’ll need insurance policies of several different types, including liability, property, workers’ compensation, and business insurance. Check the licensing requirements for guidance in building this part of your preschool business plan.

Create a comprehensive handbook for families and staff that includes you center's policies and procedures. For instance, you'll need to develop an emergency plan , daycare sick policy , and other safety protocols according to your local childcare licensing requirements. 

Your staff handbook will be a helpful resource your employees can reference and include all your employment policies including work and pay schedules, benefits, and information about professional growth and development. You can also include information on your center's philosophy and curriculum, classroom procedures, and expectations for working with children and families.

Your marketing strategy is the key to attracting customers. Decide what type of advertising you will use in front of potential customers. For example, list your school in local directories and participate in parenting and kid-friendly community events. Run a social media campaign focusing on your target population.

Another big part of childcare business marketing is differentiating yourself from other preschools. These days adopting daycare software is a surefire way to attract families with young children. A tool like brightwheel's center management feature will streamline your center's admission process, record keeping, and reporting, saving you up to 20 hours per month. 

You can also use brightwheel for recording and tracking daily events and activities, and sending real-time updates to families throughout the day. It also offers secure, digital check-in/check-out and a paperless billing system. This is a great way to keep your families looped in on daily activities and handle all of your administrative tasks in one place.

Your business is ready!

Writing a business plan can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. Once you secure the proper licensing, use the information in this article to guide you through creating a solid daycare business plan that drives investors and financing to your business.

These are just the basics to get you started. For further information, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s website has detailed instructions on creating each necessary part of a successful business plan. 

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The Daycare Business Plan Blueprint (Examples + Template)

a business plan for a preschool

April 14, 2022

Adam Hoeksema

Starting a daycare business can be a daunting task. There are so many things to think about and plan for. You need to find the perfect location, get the right licenses and permits, hire qualified staff, and, most importantly, create a daycare business plan. 

Creating a daycare business plan is one of the most important steps in starting your business. A well-thought-out business plan will help you get funding, attract investors, and operate your business effectively. 

The bad news is that there is a lot of advice out there on writing a business plan. With so much information and tons of daycare business plan examples to choose from, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. 

The good news is, we've got you covered. In this article, we'll give you a comprehensive guide on how to write a daycare business plan. We will also provide some examples and a free daycare business plan template to get you started. 

But First...Is a Daycare a Good Business to Start? 

Before we talk about how to create a daycare business plan, let's first answer the question: is starting a daycare a good business to get into? 

The answer is a resounding yes! The daycare industry is growing rapidly. It is one of the few businesses that are not only recession-proof but also thrives in uncertain economic times. 

According to the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), the demand for child care services has increased by 26% over the last decade. This demand is only expected to grow in the coming years. 

When it comes to profitability, the daycare industry is very attractive. According to IBISWorld , the average profit margin for a daycare business is around 15%. That's higher than the average for most other industries! 

If you're thinking about starting a daycare business, know that you are getting into a very profitable and in-demand industry. Now let's talk about how to write a daycare business plan that will help you start and grow your business successfully.

How to Create a Daycare Business Plan 

A daycare business plan is as simple as a word document with the following sections:

  • Business Description
  • Market Analysis

Business Model

  • Location and Facility
  • Marketing Plan
  • Financial Plan

Executive Summary

This article will provide context of what to include in each section of your daycare business plan. As you work on writing your business plan, you will want to grab our daycare financial projection template as well in order to complete the financial plan section.

Your daycare business plan should be an elevator pitch in itself. It should be attractive to potential partners and investors. Basically, it should give them a clear idea of your business, where it is located, what services you offer, who your target market is, and how you plan to make money. 

Creating a daycare business plan doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, the cheapest and easiest approach is to simply start with a blank word document and work through each of the above sections, it can be pretty easy. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to create a daycare business plan: 

Create a Compelling Business Description

Your daycare business's unique selling point (USP) should be the first thing you include in your business plan. What is it that makes your daycare center different from all the others? 

This description should be the foundation of your marketing efforts as well.

There are a few questions you should answer in your company description. They include:

What's your Curriculum Based On?

Potential investors, partners, and even customers will be interested in knowing what your curriculum is based on. This will help them understand the environment children will be in a while under your care. 

When describing your curriculum, make sure to include:

  • What age ranges do you cater for?
  • The type of care you offer (full-time, part-time, drop-in) 
  • Your educational philosophy 
  • The activities and programs you offer 

For example, if your daycare is unique by offering a Montessori curriculum, you will want to highlight that.  In fact, you can learn more about how to start a Montessori program here . 

How Big is Your Facility? 

The size of your facility will say a lot about the type of operation you're running. Are you a small, home-based daycare or a large center with multiple classrooms? 

This section of your business plan may include: 

  • A floor plan of your facility 
  • The capacity of your facility 
  • The number of employees you have 
  • Type of equipment and furniture you have 

Who Is Your Target Market? 

You can't market to everyone, so you must identify your target market. This will help you focus your marketing efforts and ensure that you're reaching the right people. 

Below is a daycare business plan example that shows how your business description should be:

“ABC Daycare is a small, home-based daycare located in San Francisco, CA. We cater to children aged 0-12 years old and offer full-time, part-time, and drop-in care. 
Our curriculum is based on the Reggio Emilia approach, emphasizing hands-on learning and collaboration. Activities and programs include arts and crafts, music, and outdoor play. 
Our facility can accommodate up to 12 children at a time. We have a staff of four employees who are all CPR and First Aid certified. 
Our target market is working parents in the city who need quality child care but can't afford the rates of larger daycare centers.  We've created an affordable subscription-based pricing model for our target market to fulfill the demand. We generate revenue through monthly subscriptions and have low operating costs due to our small size. 
Our suppliers are local businesses that provide us with food, toys, and other supplies.” 

Do a Thorough Market Analysis

After writing a compelling description of your business, you need to do a thorough marketing analysis. This analysis will help you determine your target market, what type of advertising and promotion will work best, and how to price your services. 

You should also research the competition and see what they are doing right and wrong. This information will be invaluable as you create your daycare business plan.

Keep these things in mind when doing a market analysis:

The Size of Your Market

This is determined by the number of potential customers in your area who need or want your services. 

For example, if you live in a small town with only a few thousand people, there may not be enough demand to support a large daycare facility. 

On the other hand, if you live in a city with hundreds of thousands of people, there may be room for multiple daycare facilities. 

Your target market is the segment of the population that is most likely to use your services. This includes factors like age, income, education, and location. 

After you've identified your target market, you need to show how you plan on fulfilling the demand. This is where your business model comes in. 

Your business model is a detailed description of how your daycare will operate daily. It should include: 

  • How do you plan on acquiring customers? 
  • What are your pricing strategies? 
  • How will you generate revenue? 
  • What are your operating costs? 
  • Who are your suppliers? 

Your business model should be detailed and easy to understand. It should also be realistic and achievable. 

Here is a daycare business plan example of a business model for a small daycare center: 

“The daycare will be open Monday through Friday from six in the morning to six at night. We will offer care for children ages six weeks to twelve years old. 
Our rates will be $50 per week for one child and $40 per week for each additional child from the same family. We will offer a discount of $20 per week for families who enroll their children for an entire year. 
We will generate revenue by charging weekly rates for our services. Our operating costs will include rent, utilities, supplies, and salaries for our employees. Also, we will acquire customers through online advertising and word-of-mouth.” 

As you can see, a business model is a detailed description of how your business will operate. It's essential to have one in place before promoting and selling your services. 

One thing you should not forget to include in your daycare business plan is the location of your business and your rental agreement. If you are renting a space, including the terms of your agreement and how long you have the space. If you are purchasing a property, include information on the property, such as square footage and any special features that will help your business stand out. 

This daycare business plan example shows you how to include this vital information: 

“The daycare will be located at 123 Main Street in a commercial space currently leased by the owner. The lease agreement is for three years with an option to renew for an additional three years. The monthly rent is $2000, and the security deposit is $3000. 
The daycare will have exclusive use of the main floor, including a large open play area, a small kitchen, two bathrooms, and four classrooms. The daycare will also have access to the outdoor playground.
80% of our space will be used for childcare, with the other 20% used for our administrative offices and staff lounge. 
We have chosen this location because it is close to several residential neighborhoods and has easy access to public transportation. The space is also large enough to accommodate our future growth.” 

There are many daycare business plan templates you can use to help you get started. This is a basic outline of what should be included.

Daycare Marketing Plan

Most daycare business plan templates will include a section for your marketing plan. Most people overlook the marketing aspect of their business, but it is one of the most important pieces of your puzzle. 

In your business plan, you need to outline your target market, your marketing strategies, and how you plan on executing those strategies. 

You also need to set aside a budget for your marketing efforts. Many people make the mistake of thinking that they don't need to spend money on marketing, but that couldn't be further from the truth. 

The following daycare business plan example shows you how you should describe your marketing efforts:

"Our target market is working for families with children between six weeks and five years old. We will reach our target market through online and offline marketing efforts. 
Some of the offline marketing strategies we will use include print advertising, flyers, and word-of-mouth referrals. We will use a mix of SEO, content marketing, and social media for online marketing. 
We have set aside a budget of $500 per month for our marketing efforts."

As you can see from the example above, your marketing plan should be clear, concise, and to the point. Don't forget to include a budget!

Daycare Financial Plan

Your business plan should include a financial plan section. This is where you'll lay out how much money you need to start or grow your business. Be specific and include dollar amounts. If you're seeking a loan, including information on how much you're requesting and how you'll use the funds.

You should also include a detailed budget in your business plan. Your budget should include all of your projected income and expenses for at least the first year of operation. Creating a budget will help you get a clear picture of what it will cost to start and operate your business.

This section should include projected costs for:

  • Rent or mortgage payments
  • Advertising and marketing
  • Operating expenses such as utilities, supplies, and more. 

Startup costs are another vital item to include in your business plan. This is the money you need to purchase equipment, furniture, or any other items to get your business up and running.

If you plan to secure a loan, your lender will want to see a detailed business plan with information on how you plan to use the loan funds. Ensure you include this information in your business plan to increase your chances of securing funding.

If you're seeking funding from investors, you'll need to include information on how they will be compensated. This is typically done through equity, a percentage ownership stake in your business. 

For example, if you seek $100,000 in funding and offer a 20% equity stake, the investor will own 20% of your business. 

Make sure you use a daycare business plan template that includes a section on funding to ensure you include all the necessary information. If you’re planning to get a loan or seek investment, you’re going to need full financial projections. Our daycare financial model will provide up to 5 years of projected income statements, cash flow and balance sheet forecasts.

Next I want to answer some key financial questions for you as you consider how to forecast your daycare financials. I am going to hit on:

  • Daycare Startup Costs
  • Daycare Revenue 
  • Daycare Facility Operating Expenses
  • Daycare Profitability

Let’s dive into some key questions. 

How much does it cost to start a daycare? 

It costs between $10,000 and $50,000 to start an in-home daycare business according to Bizfluent . 

It costs between $59,000 and $3 million dollars to start a daycare facility according to Bizfluent . 

So obviously this is a huge range in startup costs.  The main thing that will determine your startup costs is your daycare facility.  Depending on how large your daycare is, whether you are buying, building, or leasing the space, and how much renovation needs to be done, your startup costs can vary drastically.  

Some tips to help you estimate a cost of a daycare facility:

  • A daycare facility should have 35 square feet of open floor space indoors per child. 
  • So if you wanted a facility that could care for 100 children you would need 3,500 square feet of indoor space for children, plus additional space for offices, kitchen, bathrooms, etc.  Let’s assume that you would need at least 5,000 square feet of space for a daycare facility that served 100 children.  
  • A daycare center would cost at least $295 per square foot to construct in the U.S. based on data from Levelset . 
  • Constructing a new 5,000 square foot daycare center would likely cost at least $1,475,000 based on $295 per square foot.  
  • Now you might not be constructing new, rather you might rent an existing facility which could require renovations.  You will need to get a specific quote for the specific renovations that you need for your space. 

How much revenue can a daycare business make?

A daycare facility can generate $17,680 in revenue per year per child according to Zippia .  

A daycare business with 100 children can generate over $1.75 million per year in annual revenue based on our average revenue per child of $17,680. 

How much does daycare cost?

The average cost of daycare is $17,680 per year, per child in the U.S. according to Zippia . 

This means that the average monthly cost of daycare in the U.S. is roughly $1,475.

What is the typical child to staff ratio for a daycare? 

The typical child to staff ratios for a daycare are:

  • 1 adult staff for every 4 infants (age 0 to 12 months)
  • 1 adult staff for every 6 toddlers (age 1 to 3 years)
  • 1 adult staff for every 10 pre schoolers (age 3 to 5 years)
  • 1 adult staff for every 12 school aged children (5+ years old)

Source - Childcare.gov

These ratios will help you estimate how many staff members you will need.  Our financial projection template makes this easy.  Just enter in your ratios and the number of children you expect to have in each age group and the model will automatically calculate the number of staff required to maintain your ratios.  See the input daycare staffing table below:

a business plan for a preschool

What are the typical operating costs for a daycare? 

Your largest operating expense for a daycare facility is likely to be your rent. 

It should cost between $20 and $30 per square foot to rent a daycare center space based on available spaces on Loopnet . 

Other operating costs for a daycare center include:

You can see how you can enter in your operating costs into our financial model below:

a business plan for a preschool

How much profit can a daycare make? 

The average daycare profit margin is 6.5% according to Daycare Business Boss . 

Once you complete your projections you will want to take a look at our At a Glance tab to make sure that your projected profit margins aren’t way out of line with the industry norms.  You can find projected profit margins for your daycare below:

a business plan for a preschool

This is an important aspect that you may not find in most daycare business plan templates, but it's still essential. An appendix includes any additional information to help you understand your business plan. This might include things like your:

  • Business licenses 
  • Insurance policy 
  • Lease agreement 
  • Sample contracts 
  • Staff bios 

This section adds credibility to your daycare business plan and shows that you've done your homework. Including all of the necessary details in your appendix will give investors peace of mind and show that you're serious about starting a daycare center.

An executive summary is a brief overview of your business plan and is often considered the most important section. It should be two pages long, with a clear description of your business, your goals, and why you will achieve them.

There are several key elements to include in your executive summary:

  • Business Name: This is the name you have chosen for your business.
  • Location: Include the city, state, and country where your business will be located.
  • Business description: Describe what type of business you will be operating.
  • Target market : This is the group of people you will be targeting as customers.
  • Competition: Who are your competitors, and how will you compete with them?
  • Product or service : What product or service will you be offering?
  • Sales and marketing: How will you generate sales?
  • Financials: Include a five-year income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.
  • Management team: Introduce your management team and their experience.
  • Exit strategy : This is the plan for how you will eventually sell or otherwise exit the business in case you decide to retire or move on to other projects.

The executive summary is the most crucial section of your business plan because it gives investors and lenders a quick overview of your company and its prospects. Be sure to include all of the key elements listed above, and keep it under two pages in length.

What Are The Benefits of Creating a Daycare Business Plan?

Research shows that a business plan helps business owners make better decisions, turn abstract goals into tangible objectives, and track progress over time. But what does this mean for those who want to open a daycare? 

Creating a business plan forces you to think through every step of starting your company. It's a valuable exercise that can save you time and money in the long run. Even if you don't end up following your business plan to a tee, the process of writing it will help you better understand your business and what needs to be done to make it successful. 

There are many benefits to creating a daycare business plan, including: 

Gives You a Roadmap to Follow

As with any journey, it's always helpful to have a map. A business plan is that map for your daycare business. It will give you a clear idea of where you want to go and how you can get there. 

Helps You Secure Funding

A business plan is essential if you're looking for investors or loans. It will show potential lenders and investors that you've put thought into your business and have a solid strategy for making it successful. 

Ensures Your Daycare Business is Feasible

When you're starting a business, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement and overlook potential problems. A business plan forces you to take a step back and assess whether your business is truly viable. It also helps you identify any areas where additional research is needed. 

Final Thoughts

A daycare business plan is a valuable tool to help you make your business successful. 

It is worth noting that your business plan is not a one-time exercise but should be updated regularly as your business grows and changes. This document is meant to be a living document that evolves as your business does. 

If you're unsure where to start, there are plenty of resources available to help you, including daycare business plan examples online, books, and daycare business plan templates. 

You can also use our daycare projection template to get your financial plan ironed out and ready for your business plan.

The most important thing is just to get started. The sooner you create your business plan, the better prepared you will be for success.

You can get the Daycare Facility financial projection template here!

The template is simple to use and will save you loads of time while still producing professional looking daycare projections. ProjectionHub has helped more than 50,000 businesses create financial projections so you can be confident that you can do it too.

The daycare business projection template includes:

5 Year Daycare Facility Pro Forma Financial Statements

CPA Developed & Completely Customizable

Free Support & Projections Review

Compatible with Google Sheets

Free expert review of your completed projections

The template is easy to use and you do not need to be an excel wizard to fill it out. Editable cells are highlighted in blue, a video guide is included, and our team is available to answer any questions you have.

You can see the complete walkthrough and demonstration of the daycare business forecast template here:

Get the template today for just $79

a business plan for a preschool

If you have any questions before purchasing, please feel free to begin a live chat or email us at [email protected]

100% money back guarantee in accordance with our terms and conditions

‍ Photo by Pixabay

About the Author

Adam is the Co-founder of ProjectionHub which helps entrepreneurs create financial projections for potential investors, lenders and internal business planning. Since 2012, over 40,000 entrepreneurs from around the world have used ProjectionHub to help create financial projections.

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Child Care Director Resources How to Make a Preschool Business Plan

How to Make a Preschool Business Plan

11th August 2020

An important early step for starting any new business is to make your business plan. Starting a preschool is no different! What expenses do you need to take into consideration? How can you think about setting your pricing? What ages should you take? What hours should you operate? Here’s how to think through each of these decisions to form your preschool business plan.

Preschool Business Plan Basics: Wonderschool’s Iron Triangle of ECE Finance

Before you think through specific business decisions you’ll need to make, it’s important to understand what you’re striving for. Meet the iron triangle. For a preschool business to be financially stable, the iron triangle must be met:

  • Full enrollment: ensure that all of your spaces are full.
  • Full fee collection: ensure that you are collecting all of your tuition and on time.
  • Revenue covers real cost-per-child: you need to ensure you are priced in such a way that your revenue is truly covering the cost of caring for each child.

Important Business-Related Decisions You’ll Need to Make

Type of license: Most states have at least two options for in-home child care licenses . Often there’s a “small” license and a “large” license, with a large license allowing you to have more children. If you’re just getting started you’ll have to choose which type of license you want. There are usually different requirements for each. For example, in California, to obtain a large license for up to 14 children, your home must meet certain fire safety requirements like number of exits and you need to have previous experience working in a licensed child care program.

One thing to keep in mind is that just because you have a license for a certain number of children, does not mean that you need to fill all of those spots. If you qualify for a larger license, you can get it and still only serve 6-8 children if you so choose.

Regardless of what you choose to do, you’ll want to make sure you understand the details of your particular license. How many children can you have at one time? What ratio of staff to children are you required to maintain?

Hours of operation: Do you plan to run a full day program? Or a half-day program? Will you operate a more “normal” school day schedule and offer before and after care for an extra fee?

Families need all sorts of care options. Think about your immediate community when thinking about your hours of operation. If you have a lot of stay at home parents, a part-day program might be perfect. If you have a lot of dual-earning parents who commute a long distance to get to their workplaces, you might need to offer extended hours.

Keep in mind that what you decide on initially does not have to be set in stone. You can always change it later, if needed. You’ll know if you’re not offering a good match for what the families in your community need if you’re not getting much interest, or if families aren’t enrolling once they tour.

Schedules you’ll offer: Related to your hours of operation, you’ll need to think about what schedules you’ll make available. Will you allow parents to enroll part time? Or do you only want full time enrollments? If you have part time schedules available, what does that look like? Is it Monday, Wednesday, Friday? Or is it half days?

Keep in mind that you can charge a higher rate for part time spots because it can be very hard to fill the alternative spots, plus the added paperwork for you. That said, not everyone wants to offer part time care.

Ages you’ll enroll: Deciding who you’ll enroll will depend on your comfort and background. If you have a lot of experience caring for and educating a specific age group, that might be your starting point. Most in-home programs serve a variety of ages, so even if your experience is with preschoolers, you may want to consider branching out from that. If your goal is to fill up quickly, infant care might be your ideal starting place, because that is an age group that is in constant high demand.

The ages you enroll will also dictate what you can charge. Because of the lower ratios required for infant care, you can charge more for infants. Often programs have separate pricing for children under 2 and children over 2.

Meals or other things you’ll offer: Will you provide snacks or meals? Or will you ask parents to provide those every day? Will you hire a yoga teacher to come once a week? Will you provide diapers, or will parents provide diapers? These are all expenses you’ll need to account for in your tuition pricing. Remember that one part of the iron triangle is ensuring your pricing covers the actual cost of care per child. These expenses should be taken into account.

Your plan for hiring staff: You may not need to hire staff until your enrollments surpass a certain number. Determine what that number is for you– do you feel comfortable caring for three children alone, but not four? Decide at what point you’ll hire help, and how many hours you intend for them to work. Will you have a full time assistant? Or two part time assistants?

Decide on how many hours per week you will need to pay your staff, and then determine what you can afford to pay them. Researching on Indeed can be a great way to get a sense of pay scale for assistant teachers in your area. Keep in mind that paying a higher amount will likely yield more higher quality and more reliable candidates. If you’re priced too low you either won’t find anyone, or will have to deal with increased staff turnover.

Your vacation policy: You’ll want to think through your vacation policy, both for time you take off, and for time your families take off. Will parents need to pay while they’re on vacation? Or will you give them a discount? Will parents need to pay while you’re on vacation? Or will you give them a discount? There are pros and cons however you do it, but you’ll want to think this through and include your policy in your parent handbook so the expectations are set from the start. However you structure it, you deserve to get paid vacation, so if parents aren’t continuing to pay while you’re closed, you’ll want to make sure that gets added to your tuition calculations.

Use the Above Information to Determine Your Pricing

Pricing can be a bit of trial and error. Generally, it can be a good idea to price yourself a bit lower when you’re just getting started. Then, when you’re full, you can gradually increase your prices.

To determine your starting point, add up all of your anticipated monthly expenses. You’ll need to price yourself to make sure you cover those expenses, and also pay yourself. Keep in mind that as a business owner, you’ll be responsible for paying your own taxes. You can generally expect to pay 30% of your revenue to taxes.

Keeping it All Organized

Pricing might feel like a bit of a puzzle that needs to be fit together, and it should. You want to make sure your pricing reflects your real costs as a business owner. The final piece to your business plan is that you’ll want to make sure you figure out how you’re going to track all of your business expenses. This will make it easier when it comes time to pay taxes, but it will also help you keep an eye on the health of your business. There are a variety of tools available to purchase to track this stuff, or you can start out with your own spreadsheet or pen and paper system. Whatever works for you is fine, just set it up and use it. Sometimes our tendency with money is to bury our heads in the sand, but that won’t help you make informed decisions down the road.

Starting a new business always comes with a certain amount of risk. By thinking through all of the different facets of your child care business, you will better be able to mitigate that risk. It can be scary to stand up and say “this is what my time as an early educator and care provider is worth,” but your business plan should give you confidence to do just that. Good luck with your successful and sustainable child care business!

Essential reading

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Maryland family child care licensing: An overview

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Meredith Downing

Meredith Downing

Meredith Downing is the Curriculum Lead at Wonderschool, where she supports directors to build high-quality programs that help students grow and succeed.

a business plan for a preschool

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Home » Sample Business Plans » Education » School

How to Write a Preschool Business Plan [Sample Template]

Do you want to start a preschool and need to write a plan? If YES, here is a complete sample preschool business plan template & FREE feasibility report. There are various business ideas that you may want to start.

However there are some businesses that guarantee good returns on investment. Chief amongst it is the preschool business. One of the reasons why this business is good is the point that you are able to help mound lives whilst you are making good money.

Why Start a Preschool?

Running a preschool can be a very rewarding and profitable venture. An entrepreneur who is interested in children education and also having a business might find that opening a preschool would meet both desires. Before starting a preschool, one must be prepared by ensuring that they carefully plan out the venture from the beginning, by researching on local and state laws that govern pre – school education business.

What Does It Take to Start a Preschool Successfully?

There must also be planning as regards space, getting insurance, developing a curriculum, hiring additional staff, advertising and registration of children. A pre – school program is a business that requires that no details be overlooked.

The first thing that needs to be done before starting out is in contacting the local governing body of child care for relevant information regarding the opening of a preschool. When approaching the governing agency, ask to meet with the administrators, so as to discuss your business idea, and get information on how to become a licensed preschool program provider.

After gathering all the information that you would need including written literature, you would need to contact the local government as regards getting a license to start. Depending on the state you will be operating in, you might be required to register and pay a fee to obtain licensees.

You will also need to ensure that the property you intend to use as a facility is in an acceptable area from which the business can be started, even if it is a section of your own residence, this can be done by contacting the zoning department of your local government, and if the area you choose is not suitable, you will be advised on suitable areas.

After applying for a business license as required by the state and meeting any other special requirements needed in order to become a preschool, you should then consult with insurance agencies regarding the right coverage for your facility. Ensure you choose a plan that will adequately cover you, your clients, as well as your business.

Lastly, ensure that you prepare your location for safety inspections, while ensuring that your facility has emergency evacuation plan in place for any unforeseen circumstances or disasters. Also prepare a curriculum for your pre – school program.

You can either choose an established program from a particular publisher or choose various materials from several publishers, while not forgetting that you have an option of creating your own curriculum. Do not also forget to hire qualified staff after running background checks, and marketing your school.

A Sample Preschool Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

The Preschool industry operators provide day care services for children under the ages of three and four to prepare them for kindergarten.

The dispersion of the preschool programs reflects in the geographic distribution of the children, which is also influenced by the cost and supply of pre – school programs, income and housing affordability patterns, labor, and child care subsidy policies. Also, varying state and local regulations and licensing requirements affect employment in this industry.

According to research and statistics, this industry generates $53 billion annually, and is projected to have an annual growth rate of 2.5% by 2016. The number of business in this industry amounts to 768,021, employing 1,664,311 people.

There are about 53,000 commercial facilities, plus about 21,000 facilities run by non-profit organizations. The industry is highly fragmented as the top 50 companies generate less than 20% of revenue for the entire industry.

Preschool programs became popular especially as more percentage of women in the workforce grew by nearly 71% in 2007. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 28% of mothers with young children worked in 1975, which has more than doubled by 60% by 2013.

Over the same period, employees in the daycare industry increased by nearly 250%. The bureau also noted that investment in childcare by non-profit and government agencies, as well as new tax credits, also helped to fuel the industry’s growth.

According to the Child Care Aware group, about 11 million children under the ages of 5, spend an average of 35 hours a week in childcare. Infants in center-based care had an average annual cost that ranged from $5,496 in Mississippi to $16,549 in Massachusetts; 4 year olds had care in a center ranging from $4,515 in Tennessee to $12,320 in Massachusetts; with the quality of care and degree of regulation varying widely.

Also, childcare workers were seen to be paid the lowest wages in any professional field, $21,490 on average. However, the recovery of the economy is already impacting greatly on the preschool market.

Parents and especially mothers are going back to work, thereby causing the demand for preschools and preschool services to grow. This means that disposable income will increase which will let parents especially women put more resources towards child care like the high value early educational programs.

Even though this might seem like a saturated field, it isn’t, as there is always a constant demand for parents to prepare their children for proper schooling. The incentives in venturing into or starting a pre – school are having an impact on toddlers who are struggling academically and getting them engaged so that their parents will carry out their businesses or other activities.

2. Executive Summary

Future Stars® Pre – School is a standard and well – equipped pre – school that will be located in a well – populated residential estate in Ashville – North Carolina, united states of America. We are a preschool that provide day care services for children under the ages of three and four to prepare them for kindergarten.

Aside from the fact that we will operate a preschool center, we will also engage in home tutoring – we will go to the homes of our students as demanded by their parents.

Future Stars® Preschool is a client-focused and result driven preschool that provides day care services and broad-based learning approaches and experience at an affordable fee that won’t in any way put a hole in the pocket of our clients (parents).

We will offer a standard and professional pre – school daycare and teaching services designed for toddlers in a highly secured, neat and conducive learning environment. We will ensure that we work hard to meet and surpass all our parents’ expectations and educational goals whenever they enroll their kids in our pre – school.

At Future Stars® Preschool, our kids’ and their parents’ overall best interest would always come first, and everything we do is guided by our values and professional ethics.

We will ensure that we hire professional educationist and care – giver who are well trained to handle kids that are of pre – school age in various kids development learning areas who are well experienced and passionate in imparting knowledge to toddlers at various learning ladder (potty training, rhymes, walking, dancing and talking et al).

Future Stars® Preschool will at all times demonstrate her commitment to sustainability, both individually and as an educational organization, by actively participating in our communities and integrating sustainable business practices wherever possible.

We will ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards by meeting our clients’ (parents) needs precisely and completely. We will cultivate a working environment that provides a human, sustainable approach to earning a living, and living in our world, for our partners, employees and for our students.

Our overall business goal is to position Future Stars® Pre – School to become the leading Pre – School brand in the educational industry in the whole of Ashville – North Carolina, and also to be amongst the top 50 pre – schools in the united states of America within the first 10 years of operations.

This might look too tall a dream but we are optimistic that this will surely come to pass because we have done our research and feasibility studies and we are enthusiastic and confident that Ashville – North Carolina is the right place to launch our pre – school; they have the right demographic composition that can support and sustain our business model.

Future Stars® Preschool is founded by Mrs. Clara Jake – MacPherson. She has a Degree in Education with bias in children education and she has well over 16 years of experience in the educational industry in the United States of America. She will be bringing in her wealth of experience to help build Future Stars® Pre – School to enviable heights.

3. Our Products and Services

The Future Stars® Preschool is going to offer daycare services within the scope of the education board in the United States of America. Our intention of starting our pre – school is to soundly prepare toddlers who are under the ages of three and four for kindergarten and of course to make profits from the education industry and we will do all that is permitted by the law in the US to achieve our aim and business goal.

Our service offerings are listed below;

  • Provide daycare services for children under the ages of three and four to prepare them for kindergarten.
  • Running a Standard and licensed Daycare Center
  • Offering Home Tutor Services for toddlers as requested by their parents
  • Retailing of Kids Educational Books and Materials

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

  • Our vision is to build a highly competitive pre – school / daycare center that will become the number one choice for parents in the whole of Ashville – North Carolina.
  • Our vision reflects our values: integrity, service, excellence and teamwork.
  • Our mission is to provide professional, safe and conducive daycare and learning environment to toddlers.
  • Our overall business goal is to position our tutorial college to become the leading pre -school brand in the educational industry in the whole of Ashville – North Carolina, and also to be amongst the top 50 preschools / daycare center in the United States of America within the first 10 years of operations.

Our Business Structure

Future Stars® Pre – School will build a solid business structure that can support the growth of our pre – school. We will ensure that we hire competent hands to help us build the business of our dream. The fact that we want to become the leading pre – school / daycare brand in the educational industry in the whole of Ashville – North Carolina makes it highly necessary to deliberately build a well – structured business from the onset.

At Future Stars® Preschool we will ensure that we hire people that are qualified, hardworking, creative, customer centric and are ready to work to help us build a prosperous business that will benefit all the stake holders (the owners, workforce, and customers).

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our long serving senior staff members and it will be based on their performance for a period of five years or more as agreed by the board of trustees of the company. In view of the above, we have decided to hire qualified and competent hands to occupy the following positions;

  • Head of The Pre – School (Daycare) / School Coordinator

School Administrator

  • Tutors for Various Learning Areas
  • Nannies / Caregivers / Aux Nurse

Marketing and Sales Executive

Accountant / Bursar

  • Client Service Executive / Front Desk Officer
  • Security Officer

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Head of the Pre – School / School Coordinator:

  • Responsible for providing direction for the pre – school / daycare center
  • Creating, communicating, and implementing the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
  • Responsible for handling high profile clients and deals
  • Responsible for fixing fees and signing business deals (partnership)
  • Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the tutorial college
  • Coordinates all arms of the pre – school
  • Evaluates the success of the pre – school / daycare center
  • Reports to the board of the pre – school / daycare center
  • Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the pre – school
  • Design job descriptions with KPI to drive performance management for all staff members
  • Regularly hold meetings with key stakeholders (parents and member of the school board) to review the effectiveness of the schools’ Policies, Procedures and Processes
  • Maintains office supplies by checking stocks; placing and expediting orders; evaluating new products.
  • Ensures operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs.
  • Defining job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
  • Carries out staff induction for new team members
  • Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees
  • Responsible for arranging travel, meetings and appointments
  • Updates job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities; reading professional publications; maintaining personal networks; participating in professional organizations.
  • Oversee the smooth running of the daily activities of the tutorial college.

Tutors for Various Learning Areas for Toddlers

  • Effectively teach subject / subjects as assigned by the school coordinator
  • Access the progress of kids under their care
  • Ensure that kids participate in learning activities such as potty trainings, rhymes and dancing et al
  • Contributes his / her quota towards growing the pre – school
  • Receives complaints from parents and channel it to the appropriate quarters
  • Handle any other duty as assigned by the school coordinator.

Nannies / Caregivers / Aux Nurses

  • Responsible for changing diapers for kids and cleaning them up when they messed up themselves
  • Responsible for feeding toddlers
  • Ensures that toddlers sleep as at when due and help calm them when they are crying
  • Goes the extra mile to ensure that toddles are comfortable and well taken care of.
  • Contributes his / her quota towards growing the pre – school / daycare center
  • Handles any other duty as assigned by the school coordinator.
  • Identifies, prioritizes, and reaches out to new parents, and business opportunities et al
  • Identifies development opportunities; follows up on development leads and contacts; participates in the structuring and financing of projects; assures the completion of development projects.
  • Writing winning proposal documents, negotiate fees and rates in line with organizations’ policy
  • Responsible for handling business research, market surveys and feasibility studies for clients
  • Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
  • Develops, executes and evaluate new plans for expanding increase sales
  • Document all customer contact and information
  • Represents the company in strategic meetings
  • Help increase sales and growth for the company
  • Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
  • Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports; analyzes financial feasibility for the most complex proposed projects; conducts market research to forecast trends and business conditions.
  • Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.
  • Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting for one or more properties.
  • Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
  • Responsible for administering payrolls
  • Ensuring compliance with taxation legislation
  • Handles all financial transactions for the tutorial college
  • Serves as internal auditor for the tutorial college

Client Service Executive

  • Welcomes toddlers and their parents by greeting them in person or on the telephone; answering or directing inquiries.
  • Ensures that all contacts with parents (e-mail, walk-In center, SMS or phone) provides them with a personalized customer service experience of the highest level
  • Through interaction with parents on the phone, uses every opportunity to build their interest in the school’s products and services
  • Manages administrative duties assigned by the school coordinator in an effective and timely manner
  • Consistently stays abreast of any new information on the schools’ products, promotional campaigns etc. to ensure accurate and helpful information is supplied to students when they make enquiries
  • Receives parcels / documents for the Pre – school
  • Handles any other duties as assigned by the school authority
  • Maintain a clean daycare facility by sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning of glass doors and windows, etc. if required.
  • Ensures that toiletries and supplies don’t run out of stock
  • Responsible for handling laundry

Security Officers

  • Ensure that the daycare facility is secured at all time
  • Control traffic and organize parking
  • Give security tips to staff members from time to time
  • Patrols around the building on a 24 hours basis
  • Submit security reports weekly
  • Any other duty as assigned by the school coordinator.

6. SWOT Analysis

Future Stars® Pre – School engaged the services of a core professional in the area of business consulting and structuring to assist our pre – school in building a well – structured educational business that can favorably compete in the highly competitive education industry.

Part of what the team of business consultant did was to work with the management of our organization in conducting a SWOT analysis for Future Stars® Pre – School. Here is a summary from the result of the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of The Future Stars® Pre – School;

Our core strength lies in the power of our team; our workforce. We have a team that has the right passion and drive for taking care of toddlers, a team with excellent qualifications and experience in daycare / pre – school education. We are well positioned in a community with the right demographic composition and we know we will attract loads of parents who would want to enroll their kids from the first day we open our doors for daycare services.

As a new pre – school / daycare center in Ashville – North Carolina, it might take some time for our organization to break into the market and gain acceptance in the already saturated pre – school / education industry; that is perhaps our major weakness. Also we might not have the required money to pump into advertising and promoting our brand the way we would want to.

  • Opportunities:

The opportunities in the pre – school / education industry is massive considering the number of parents who would want their kids under school age to be in safe place and to get them prepared for kindergarten. As a standard, safe and highly comfortable daycare center, we are ready to take advantage of any opportunity that comes our way.

Every business faces a threats or challenges at any part of the life cycle of the business. These threats can be external or internal. This shows the importance of a business plan, because most threats or challenges are to be anticipated and plans put in place to cushion what effect they might bring to the pre – school.

Some of the threats that we are likely going to face as a pre – school operating in the United States of America are unfavorable government policies that might affect daycare centers, the arrival of a competitor within our location of operations and global economic downturn which usually affects spending / purchasing power. There is hardly anything we can do as regards these threats other than to be optimistic that things will continue to work for our good.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

  • Market Trends

The trend in the pre – school / daycare center line of business is that the keys to attracting parents to enroll their wards is the safety, cleanliness, location and of course the overall comfort of their toddlers.

The trend in the daycare center industry is such that players in this industry can now comfortably start their daycare business in an business district; a place where it is easier for working class parents to take advantage of their launch breaks and even tea breaks to dash down to breast – feed and cuddle their children before dashing back to work.

The demand for pre – schools is driven by the fact that most parents work or are engaged in businesses that takes them away from their kids that are under school age and one of the options left is to enroll such kid in a daycare center.

The economic downturn hasn’t really affected this industry, especially in countries that believe in the efficacy of early education. The areas you would need to spend heavily on is in ensuring that your school is up to standard, is the facility, your advertisements, and insurance.

8. Our Target Market

As a standard preschool / daycare center, Future Stars® Pre – School offers a wide range of pre – school services hence we are well trained and equipped to services a wide range of kids are different growth level irrespective of any challenges et al.

Our target market as a preschool / daycare center cuts across parents with kids under school age of different class and people from all walks of life.

We are coming into the pre – school / education industry with a business concept that will enable us work with the toddlers at different learning stages. Below is a list of the parents / toddlers that we have specifically design our pre – school services for;

  • Working class parents with toddlers under school age
  • Parents with toddlers under school age who run their own business and are too busy to take care of their wards during business hours

Our Competitive Advantage

This field is a highly intense one because of the level of quality service offerings by the pre – schools, who are more pressured to deliver better services. Due to this pressure, there is a jostling amongst the different pre – schools to get more parents to enroll their toddlers in their daycare center, thereby increasing their earnings as well.

We are quite aware that to be highly competitive in the preschool / education industry means that you should be able to deliver consistent quality service, parents should be able to experience remarkable difference and improvement in their toddlers and you should be able to meet the expectations of the educational governing board in the United States of America.

Our competitive advantage lies in the power of our team; our workforce. We have a team that has the right passion and drive for taking care of toddlers, a team with excellent qualifications and experience in daycare / preschool education. We are well positioned in a community with the right demographic composition and we know we will attract loads of parents who would want to enroll their kids from the first day we open our doors for daycare services.

Lastly, all our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category (startups pre – school / daycare center in the United States) in the industry meaning that they will be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our business aims and objectives.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

  • Sources of Income

Future Stars® Preschool is established with the aim of maximizing profits in the preschool / education industry and we are going to go all the way to ensure that we do all it takes to attract parents on a regular basis.  Future Stars® Preschool will generate income by offering the following services;

10. Sales Forecast

One thing is certain; there would always be parents who may want their kids under school age to be in safe place and to get them prepared for kindergarten. As a standard, safe and highly comfortable daycare center, we are ready to take advantage of any opportunity that comes our way.

We are well positioned to take on the available market in Ashville – North Carolina and we are quite optimistic that we will meet our set target of generating enough income / profits from the first six month of operations and grow the pre – school and our student base.

We have been able to critically examine the preschool / daycare center market and we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast. The sales projection is based on information gathered on the field and some assumptions that are peculiar to similar startups in Ashville – North Carolina.

Below is the sales projection for Future Stars® Pre – School, it is based on the location of our daycare center and of course the wide range of pre – school services that we will be offering;

  • First Year-: $75,000
  • Second Year-: $150,000
  • Third Year-: $350,000

N.B : This projection is done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and natural disasters within the period stated above. So, there won’t be any major competitor offering same additional services as we do within same location. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

  • Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

We are mindful of the fact that there is stiffer competition amongst pre – schools / daycare centers in the United States of America hence we have been able to hire some of the best marketing experts to handle our sales and marketing.

Our sales and marketing team will be recruited base on their vast experience in the industry and they will be trained on a regular basis so as to be well equipped to meet their targets and the overall goal of Future Stars® Pre – School. We want to build a standard and first – class pre – school / daycare center that will leverage on word of mouth advertisement from satisfied parents

Our goal is to grow our preschool to become one of the top 50 pre – schools / daycare center in the United States of America which is why we have mapped out strategy that will help us take advantage of the available market and grow to become a major force to reckon with not only in Ashville – North Carolina but also in other cities in the United States of America.

Future Stars® Pre – School is set to make use of the following marketing and sales strategies to attract clients;

  • Introduce our pre – school / daycare center by sending introductory letters alongside our brochure to parents / household and key stake holders in Ashville – North Carolina.
  • Print out fliers and business cards and strategically drop them in religious centers, libraries and public facilities.
  • Use friends and family to spread word about your pre – school / daycare center
  • Post information about our pre – school / daycare center on bulletin boards in places like churches, maternity clinics, parks, libraries, and local coffee shops et al
  • Place a small or classified advertisement in the newspaper, or local publication about our pre – school / daycare center
  • Leverage on referral networks such as agencies that will help match parents with toddlers under school age with our pre – school/ daycare center.
  • Join relevant association or body that will enable you network and meet others in same industry.
  • Advertising online by using an advertising platform such as Google Adwords, that will allow us place text advertisements alongside on websites with related contents, and along results from search engines.
  • Advertise our pre – school in relevant educational magazines, newspapers, TV stations, and radio station.
  • Attend relevant educational expos, seminars, and business fairs et al
  • Engage direct marketing approach
  • Encourage word of mouth marketing from loyal and satisfied parents

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

We have been able to work with our brand and publicity consultants to help us map out publicity and advertising strategies that will help us walk our way into the heart of our target market. We are set to become the number one choice for both parents and students in the whole of Ashville – North Carolina which is why we have made provisions for effective publicity and advertisement of our pre – school / daycare center.

Below are the platforms we intend to leverage on to promote and advertise Future Stars® Pre – School;

  • Place adverts on both print (community based newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
  • Sponsor relevant community based events / programs
  • Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook , twitter, YouTube, Google + et al to promote our brand
  • Install our Bill Boards on strategic locations all around Ashville – North Carolina.
  • Engage in road show from time to time in targeted neighborhoods
  • Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas
  • Contact corporate organizations by calling them up and informing them of our pre – school / daycare center, and the advantage we over the others.
  • Passing general information via our social media handles like twitter, Facebook, Google hangouts etc.
  • Ensure that all our staff members wear our branded shirts and all our vehicles are well branded with our schools’ logo et al.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Generally for pre – school and daycare services flat fees on a weekly or monthly basis is what is obtainable. As a result of this, Future Stars® Pre – School will charge our parents who enrolled their toddlers in our daycare center flat fees except for few occasions where there will be need for us to charge special students on hourly basis.

At Future Stars® Pre – School we will keep our fees below the average market rate for all of our students by keeping our overhead low and by collecting payment in advance. In addition, we will also offer special discounted rates to all our students at regular intervals.

We are aware that there are some kids that would need special assistance, we will offer flat rate for such services that will be tailored to take care of such kids’ needs.

  • Payment Options

At Future Stars® Pre – School, our payment policy will be all inclusive because we are quite aware that different people prefer different payment options as it suits them. Here are the payment options that we will make available to our clients;

  • Payment by via bank transfer
  • Payment via online bank transfer
  • Payment via check
  • Payment via bank draft
  • Payment via mobile money
  • Payment with cash

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will help us achieve our plans with little or no itches.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

In setting up a pre – school business, the amount or cost will depend on the approach and scale you want to undertake. If you intend to go big by renting a place, then you would need a higher amount of capital as you would need to ensure that your employees are well taken care of, and that your pre – school’s environment is conducive enough to keep kids.

This means that the start-up can either be low or high depending on your goals, vision and aspirations for your business. The materials and equipment that will be used are nearly the same cost everywhere, and any difference in prices would be minimal and can be overlooked.

As for the detailed cost analysis for starting a pre – school business; it might differ in other countries due to the value of their money. However, this is what it would cost us in the United of America;

  • Business incorporating fees in the United States of America will cost – $750.
  • The budget for Liability insurance, permits and license will cost – $3,500
  • Acquiring a facility / property that will accommodate the number of kids that we want to take care of for at least 6 months (Re – Construction of the facility inclusive) will cost – $35,000.
  • Equipping the office (computers, printers, projectors, markers, pens and pencils, furniture, telephones, filing cabinets, and electronics) will cost – $10,000
  • The budget for paying staff members and utility bills for at least 3 months – $70,000
  • The budget for start – up inventories (toiletries, toys, cots, and mats et al) – $2,500
  • Launching an official Website will cost – $500
  • Additional Expenditure such as Business cards, Signage, Adverts and Promotions will cost – $5,000

Going by the report from the market research and feasibility studies conducted, we will need about two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) U.S. dollars to successfully set – up a medium scale but standard and well equipped pre – school / daycare center in the United States of America.

Generating Funding / Startup Capital for Future Stars® Pre – School

Future Stars® Pre – School is a private business that will be owned by Mrs. Clara Jake – McPherson and family. They are the sole financial of the business which is why they decided to restrict the sourcing of the start – up capital for the business to just three major sources.

These are the areas we intend generating our start – up capital;

  • Generate part of the start – up capital from personal savings and sale of his stocks
  • Generate part of the start – up capital from friends and other extended family members
  • Generate a larger chunk of the startup capital from the bank (loan facility).

N.B: We have been able to generate about $100,000 (Personal savings $85,000 and soft loan from family members $15,000) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $150,000 from our bank. All the papers and document has been duly signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

It is easier for businesses to survive when they have steady flow of business deals / customers patronizing their products and services. We are aware of this which is why we have decided to offer a wide range of tutorial services and other related services to high school students, students with disabilities and elderly students (adult education).

We know that if we continue to deliver excellent daycare services, there will be steady flow of income for the organization. Our key sustainability and expansion strategy is to ensure that we only hire competent and selfless staff members, create a conducive working environment and employee benefits for our staff members.

In the nearest future, we will explore the options of either selling out franchise or expanding our scope beyond Ashville – North Carolina to other major cities in the United States of America. We know that if we implement our business strategies, we will achieve our business goals and objectives in record time.

Check List / Milestone

  • Business Name Availability Check:>Completed
  • Business Incorporation: Completed
  • Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts various banks in the United States: Completed
  • Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
  • Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
  • Application for business license and permit: Completed
  • Purchase of All form of Insurance for the Business: Completed
  • Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
  • Generating part of the start – up capital from the founders: Completed
  • Writing of Business Plan: Completed
  • Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
  • Drafting of Contract Documents: In Progress
  • Design of The Pre – Schools’ Logo: Completed
  • Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: Completed
  • Recruitment of employees: In Progress
  • Purchase of the Needed furniture, office equipment, electronic appliances and facility facelift: In progress
  • Creating Official Website for the Pre – School: In Progress
  • Creating Awareness for the pre – school in Ashville – North Carolina: In Progress
  • Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement: In Progress
  • Establishing business relationship with vendors and key players in the education industry: In Progress

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How to Write a Preschool Business Plan

preschool business plan

Are you thinking about starting your own preschool? If so, it’s crucial to create a plan before you open your school. There are many factors that go into running a successful preschool. Your plan’s action items will depend on the specifics of your vision for your business.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss the steps that go into writing a comprehensive business plan for a preschool business. We’ll outline the essential components of a solid business plan. And we’ll also provide some helpful tips so you can write your own!

Ask yourself: What will the purpose of your preschool be?

One of the first steps of outlining your preschool business plan is determining your preschool’s purpose. Creating your mission statement will help guide you through all aspects of running your preschool. It ensures that your mission’s intended purpose is aligned with your vision.

There are a number of different types of preschools out there. Whether you’re looking to create an inclusive school environment or you intend to open an all-day preschool that caters to children who have autism or other special needs, it’s important to identify what type of preschool you intend to run before moving forward.

Determine the costs & revenue for your business plan

The next step in writing your preschool’s business plan is to determine the cost of starting your preschool. This includes the most common expenses. For example, monthly rent or mortgage payments, equipment and furniture, registration fees, and advertising/marketing materials (like flyers or brochures).

All of these expenses add up fast! You’ll want to do some research into the tuition prices of similar schools in your area. This will not only give you a helpful benchmark but can also give you a competitive edge as well.

Additionally, it’s essential to consider potential preschool or daycare business tax deductions for your center. Many expenses related to running a preschool, such as supplies, food, utilities, and even a portion of your home if you’re operating from there, may be tax-deductible. Understanding these deductions can significantly impact your overall financial planning and profitability.

Examine your market needs

Next, you’ll want to examine your market. This includes looking at the size of your target demographic and who they are. It also includes children’s age range and where your prospective families live in relation to where you plan to open up shop.

You’ll also need to develop a  grasp of the types of families that might be interested in enrolling their children at your school so that you can tailor your marketing materials specific to them.

If you don’t complete this step first, it will be hard to know how much time or money you’ll need to allocate toward advertising or how to determine your school’s enrollment fees. No preschool business plan is complete without this very important step!

Establish policies and procedures

Your next step in outlining your preschool business plan is establishing the policies and procedures you plan to implement. The best way to communicate your policies and procedures to new families and employees is through handbooks.

For employees, you need to ensure that you include information in your handbook about policies and procedures for requesting time-off, reporting children’s absences, your dress code if applicable, and more!

For new families, their handbook should include information about the registration process, pick-up and drop-off times, student attendance policies, and whom to contact if there is a problem with your services or facilities, for example. All of these little things go a long way with new parents and employees.

Promote your new preschool

Nowadays, most businesses have a website so people can find information including that business’s location, contact details, and what types of services they provide. Preschools are no exception. Make sure that when you set up your website , it is user-friendly, loads quickly, and reflects your preschool’s core values.

Not only does a stellar website legitimize your preschool in the eyes of prospective parents, but it also acts as a hub for all of the other channels to which you need to promote your preschool… which brings us to our next mode of promotion: social media!

If your social media presence is lacking (or even worse, nonexistent), you are almost guaranteed to be missing out on reaching an entire audience of prospective families in your area. We recommend you start by establishing pages on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Make sure that you post regularly (about three to five times per week), and ensure that your content is consistent across the board. With the availability of new automation tools that can help you schedule your posts, not having enough time is no longer an excuse!

While online marketing initiatives make it easier to measure your results, it’s also wise to incorporate some more traditional marketing methods as well. Hanging flyers at local businesses and organizations is an easy, low-cost way to get the word out about your school.

Once you start gaining enrollments, you can even offer parents incentives if they make referrals to their friends and family!

Conclusion:

Your preschool business plan needs to be clearly outlined before you open your doors. This will ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible, in both the short-term and long-term. You’ll need to make decisions regarding costs, operating policies, and procedures, examine your market needs, and develop an effective promotion strategy for attracting families.

From there, your main focus will be driving and retaining enrollments so that your preschool can thrive!

Are you thinking about opening your own preschool? Contact No Joke Childcare today for a free consultation!

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Daycare Business Plan Template & PDF Example

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  • August 27, 2024
  • Business Plan

The business plan template for a daycare

Creating a comprehensive business plan is crucial for launching and running a successful daycare. This plan serves as your roadmap, detailing your vision, operational strategies, and financial plan. It helps establish your daycare’s identity, navigate the competitive market, and secure funding for growth.

This article not only breaks down the critical components of a daycare business plan, but also provides an example of a business plan to help you craft your own.

Whether you’re an experienced entrepreneur or new to the service industry, this guide, complete with a business plan example, lays the groundwork for turning your daycare business concept into reality. Let’s dive in!

Our daycare business plan is thoughtfully developed to encompass all crucial aspects required for an in-depth strategic plan. It outlines our facility’s operations, marketing strategies, market dynamics, competitors, management team, and financial projections.

  • Executive Summary : Offers an overview of your Daycare’s business concept, including the innovative learning environment, market analysis , management team, and financial strategy.
  • Building & Location: Describes the Daycare’s modern, child-friendly design, its central location, and amenities such as indoor and outdoor play areas, sensory rooms, and nap zones.
  • Pricing & Educators: Lists the services provided by your daycare, including full-time and part-time care options, the educator-to-child ratio, and pricing structure.
  • Key Stats: Shares industry size , growth trends, and relevant statistics for the Daycare market.
  • Key Trends: Highlights recent trends affecting the childcare sector, such as the increasing demand for early childhood education programs and technological integration.
  • Key Competitors: Analyzes main competitors nearby and how your daycare differs from them, focusing on aspects like curriculum quality and additional services.
  • SWOT : Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis tailored to the daycare business.
  • Marketing Plan : Strategies for attracting and retaining customers, including branding, local advertising, online presence, and community involvement.
  • Timeline : Key milestones and objectives from the initial setup through the first year of operation and beyond.
  • Management: Information on who manages the daycare, detailing their roles, experience in early childhood education, and business management.
  • Financial Plan: Projects the daycare’s 5-year financial performance, including revenue projections, profit and loss statements, cash flow analysis, and balance sheet, aiming for significant growth and profitability by the target year.

Daycare business plan

Daycare Business Plan

a business plan for a preschool

Fully editable 30+ slides Powerpoint presentation business plan template.

Download an expert-built 30+ slides Powerpoint business plan template

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary serves as the gateway to your daycare business plan, providing a succinct overview of your daycare center and its offerings. It should highlight your market positioning, the variety of child care and educational services you provide, its location, size, and a sketch of daily operations.

This section should also delve into how your daycare will integrate into the local community, including an analysis of the number of direct competitors in the area, identifying who they are, along with your daycare’s distinctive features that set it apart from these competitors.

Moreover, you should incorporate details about the management and co-founding team, outlining their roles and contributions to the daycare’s success.

Additionally, a summary of your financial projections, including revenue and profits over the next five years, should be included here to offer a clear vision of your daycare’s financial strategy.

Daycare Business Plan Executive Summary Example

daycare business plan executive summary1

Business Overview

In the  business overview  section of a daycare’s executive summary, it’s vital to present a comprehensive picture of the daycare’s operations.

This includes the facility’s location, size, amenities, the qualifications of the educator team, child capacity, and pricing structure. Key aspects to highlight are the features that contribute to a nurturing and educational environment, such as indoor and outdoor play areas, sensory rooms, and nap zones. The qualifications and number of educators are crucial for ensuring quality care and education.

This section should also outline the daycare’s capacity to accommodate children and the  pricing strategy , reflecting its commitment to providing accessible and high-quality childcare services.

Example: Little Explorers Daycare, located in [Location/City/Neighborhood], spans 5,000 sq. ft. and offers a stimulating learning environment with dedicated play and learning zones. The daycare boasts a team of 5 certified educators, ensuring a low child-to-educator ratio. Licensed for up to 60 children, the facility provides flexible childcare options with competitive rates, catering to the needs of the community.

Market Overview

The  market analysis  section should include an assessment of the childcare industry’s size, growth trends, average costs, and key  market trends .

This part of the executive summary is crucial for understanding the industry’s dynamics and the daycare’s position within it. Trends such as the rising demand for early childhood education programs and employer-sponsored daycare benefits are important to highlight, as they indicate evolving consumer preferences and potential growth areas. An analysis of the  competitive landscape  is also vital for identifying the daycare’s unique selling points and potential areas for differentiation.

Example: The US childcare market, valued at $60.4 billion, is characterized by its essential demand for quality services. With approximately 600,000 daycare centers nationwide, Little Explorers Daycare competes in a robust market. Its focus on specialized curriculums and child development tracking sets it apart in an industry where differentiation is often based on curriculum quality and additional services.

Management Team

This section introduces the key figures leading the daycare, highlighting their educational background and experience.

The management team’s expertise in early childhood education and business management is critical for the daycare’s operational success and strategic direction. This part of the summary should instill confidence in the team’s ability to provide high-quality childcare and effectively manage the business.

Example: The Director, a co-founder with a Master’s in Early Childhood Education and 10 years of teaching experience, oversees the educational program. The Business Manager, also a co-founder with an MBA and expertise in entrepreneurship, handles the operational and financial aspects of the daycare.

Financial Plan

The financial plan overview provides insight into the daycare’s financial goals and projections.

This section outlines the revenue targets and profit margins, reflecting the daycare’s financial health and potential for profitability. It includes specifics such as aiming for $1.9 million in yearly revenue and an 18% profit margin by 2028.

This section should demonstrate how the daycare plans to achieve these financial objectives through strategic enrollment growth, operational efficiency, and quality service provision.

Example: Little Explorers Daycare aims to achieve $1.9 million in annual revenue with an 18%  EBITDA  margin by 2028. This goal will be supported by expanding enrollment, maintaining high standards of childcare, and implementing efficient business management practices to optimize costs and enhance revenue.

For a Daycare, the Business Overview section can be effectively divided into 2 main components:

Building & Location

Briefly describe the daycare’s facility, focusing on its safety, child-friendly design, and the stimulating environment that it offers to children.

Mention the daycare’s location, emphasizing its accessibility and the convenience it brings to parents, such as proximity to residential areas or ease of drop-off and pick-up. Explain why this location is beneficial in drawing your target clientele, particularly parents who prioritize convenience and safety in their choice of daycare.

Pricing & Educators

Detail the range of childcare and educational services provided, from basic care for infants to preschool programs and after-school care for older children. Outline your pricing strategy , ensuring it aligns with the quality of care and education provided and is competitive within your market segment.

Highlight any special programs, discounts for siblings, or membership deals that offer additional value to families, fostering long-term relationships and loyalty among your clientele. Discuss the qualifications, experience, and approach of your educators and staff, underlining their role in creating a nurturing and educational environment for the children.

Business Plan_Daycare facility and location

Industry size & growth

In the Market Overview of your daycare business plan, start by examining the size of the childcare industry and its growth potential. This analysis is crucial for understanding the market’s scope and identifying opportunities for expansion, particularly in regions with increasing numbers of working parents or areas underserved by quality daycare facilities.

Key market trends

Proceed to discuss recent market trends , such as the growing demand for early childhood education, the importance of developmental programs, and the preference for daycares that offer flexible hours and holistic child development approaches.

For example, highlight the need for services that cater to different developmental stages and incorporate educational curriculums, alongside the rising popularity of daycares that focus on sustainability and health, such as offering organic meals or eco-friendly play areas.

Competitive Landscape

A  competitive analysis  is not just a tool for gauging the position of your daycare in the market and its key competitors; it’s also a fundamental component of your business plan.

This analysis helps in identifying your daycare’s unique selling points, essential for differentiating your business in a competitive market.

In addition, competitive analysis is integral in laying a solid foundation for your business plan. By examining various operational aspects of your competitors, you gain valuable information that ensures your business plan is robust, informed, and tailored to succeed in the current market environment.

Identifying and Categorizing Competitors

Initiate the competitive analysis by cataloging various local childcare services. Beyond traditional daycare centers, include in-home childcare providers, preschools, Montessori schools, and specialized educational programs focused on early childhood development. Also, consider alternative childcare solutions like nanny services or after-school programs, as they might indirectly compete for parental trust and enrollment.

Leverage digital platforms and online tools to map out the geographical presence of these competitors. Extract insights from customer reviews available on platforms such as Google Reviews, Yelp, or dedicated childcare review websites. Positive reviews highlighting a competitor’s dedicated staff or emphasis on a nurturing environment signal  strengths  in their service offerings.

daycare business plan  key competitors

Daycare Competitors’ Strategies

A meticulous examination of various aspects of competitor operations is imperative:

  • Educational Philosophy and Curriculum:  Evaluate the educational approach and curriculum structure. A daycare center with an emphasis on bilingual education or a holistic developmental approach might attract parents seeking specialized learning opportunities for their children.
  • Staffing and Qualifications:  Assess the qualifications and certifications of daycare staff. Highlighting a team of experienced and well-trained early childhood educators can be a significant competitive advantage in assuring parents of quality care and education for their children.
  • Pricing Models and Services:  Conduct a comparative analysis of pricing models and the spectrum of services offered. Does a competitor provide additional services such as transportation, meal plans, or extracurricular activities as part of their package?
  • Marketing and Outreach Strategies:  Analyze the effectiveness of competitors’  marketing strategies . Evaluate their online presence, community engagement initiatives, or collaborations with local events aimed at engaging parents and attracting prospective clients.
  • Facilities and Amenities:  Consider the facilities and amenities offered. A daycare center with secure outdoor play areas, advanced security systems, or partnerships with extracurricular activity providers may stand out from competitors.

What’s Your Daycare’s Unique Value Proposition?

Reflect profoundly on what sets your daycare apart. This could be innovative teaching methodologies, a focus on environmental sustainability, or specialized programs catering to children with diverse needs.

Gather insights from parent feedback, industry trends, and  market research  to identify gaps in the market. For example, if there’s an emerging demand for daycares focused on mindfulness and emotional intelligence, consider integrating such practices into your curriculum.

Tailor your daycare’s services and facilities to match the demographics and preferences of your location. An urban daycare might prioritize flexible schedules and proximity to workplaces, whereas a suburban daycare might emphasize larger outdoor spaces and nature-based learning experiences.

daycare business plan  strategy

First, conduct a SWOT analysis for the daycare , identifying Strengths (such as a qualified and caring staff, comprehensive educational programs), Weaknesses (like limited space or high operating costs ), Opportunities (for instance, a growing demand for quality early childhood education), and Threats (such as changes in government regulations or competition from new daycares).

daycare business plan  swot

Marketing Plan

Next, formulate a marketing strategy that details how to attract and retain families through targeted outreach, referral incentives, a strong online presence, and participation in community events.

Marketing Channels

Employ a mix of marketing channels to reach potential parents and engage effectively with the community.

Digital Marketing

  • Social Media Presence:  Leveraging various platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter allows you to share engaging content showcasing daily activities, educational insights, testimonials from satisfied parents, and detailed information about your programs and events.
  • Website and SEO:  Maintaining an informative, user-friendly website that provides comprehensive details about your daycare’s philosophy, curriculum, staff qualifications, enrollment procedures, and upcoming events. By optimizing your website for local SEO, you enhance visibility in online searches, ensuring that interested parents find your center easily.
  • Email Marketing:  Implementing an effective email marketing strategy allows you to regularly communicate with parents, providing updates about enrollment, upcoming events, educational resources, parenting tips, and testimonials. This strategy fosters engagement, builds trust, and maintains a consistent line of communication with parents considering your daycare services.

Local Advertising

  • Community Engagement:  Foster connections within the local community by participating in neighborhood events, sponsoring school activities, or organizing open houses and tours to showcase your daycare’s facilities and programs.
  • Partnerships:  Collaborate with local businesses, pediatricians, schools, or community centers to establish referral programs, joint events, or educational workshops, thereby increasing your daycare’s visibility and credibility.

Promotional Activities

  • Special Enrollment Offers:  Create promotions like ‘Early Bird Registration Discounts,’ ‘Sibling Discount Programs,’ or ‘Refer-a-Friend Incentives’ to attract new enrollments and encourage parent referrals.
  • Open House Events:  Host periodic open house events inviting prospective families to tour your facility, meet staff members, and learn about your curriculum and approach to childcare.

daycare business plan  markeing plan

Sales Channels

Implement effective sales strategies to convert inquiries into enrollments and ensure customer satisfaction.

Consultative Selling

  • Tours and Information Sessions:  Offer guided tours of your daycare center, allowing parents to experience the facilities and interact with teachers. Conduct informative sessions addressing parents’ concerns and questions about your programs, curriculum, safety measures, and daily routines.
  • Personalized Approach:  Tailor your communication with parents based on their specific needs and concerns. Highlight how your daycare meets their child’s developmental needs and addresses any apprehensions they might have.

Enrollment Process Efficiency

  • Online Enrollment:  Simplify the enrollment process by offering an intuitive, user-friendly online registration system accessible via your website. Ensure it provides all necessary information and offers secure payment options for a seamless experience.
  • Enrollment Incentives:  Provide incentives like waived registration fees, trial days, or discounts on the first month’s tuition to encourage parents to enroll their children at your daycare.

Retention Strategies

  • Parent Engagement:  Foster a sense of community by organizing family-friendly events, parent-teacher conferences, workshops on child development, and educational seminars. Encourage parental involvement through volunteering opportunities or participation in daycare activities.
  • Quality Service Delivery:  Focus on delivering exceptional childcare services, ensuring the safety and well-being of children, providing engaging learning activities, maintaining open communication with parents, and offering regular progress updates about their child’s development.

Strategy Timeline

Lastly, draft a precise timeline that marks crucial milestones for the daycare’s launch, marketing initiatives, enrollment targets, and growth plans, ensuring the business progresses with clear goals and intent.

Business Plan Gym Timeline

The Management section focuses on the daycare business’s management and their direct roles in daily operations and strategic direction. This part is crucial for understanding who is responsible for making key decisions and driving the daycare business toward its financial and operational goals.

For your daycare business plan, list the core team members, their specific responsibilities, and how their expertise supports the business.

daycare business plan  management

The Financial Plan section is a comprehensive analysis of your financial projections for revenue, expenses, and profitability. It lays out your daycare business’s approach to securing funding, managing cash flow, and achieving breakeven.

This section typically includes detailed forecasts for the first 5 years of operation, highlighting expected revenue, operating costs and capital expenditures.

For your daycare business plan, provide a snapshot of your financial statement (profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow statement), as well as your key assumptions (e.g. number of customers and prices, expenses, etc.).

Make sure to cover here _ Profit and Loss _ Cash Flow Statement _ Balance Sheet _ Use of Funds

daycare business plan financial plan

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Preschool Business Plan Sample

Published Oct.11, 2013

Updated Apr.23, 2024

By: Jakub Babkins

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Preschool Business Plan

Table of Content

Do you want to start a Preschool business plan?

Are you thinking of drafting a business plan for a preschool? If you want to know how to write a business plan for a preschool, you can refer to business plans like the one presented here.

Starting a new business can be hard, especially in the education sector but it can also be very rewarding. So, if you want to know how to develop a business plan for angel investors that will get them excited and interested in your business, then start by following this document. 

Here, we will be presenting a preschool business plan with a focus on tutoring business ideas .

Executive Summary

2.1 what is the business.

This document contains the sample business plan for preschool that will be called LearnALot. LearnALot will be a preschool/ daycare center operated and managed by Theodore Krasinski. It will offer parents a chance to make their kids have fun in a safe environment. Besides, the kids will also be taught the basics.

2.2 Management of Preschool

Starting a preschool business plan can be hard. But the process to plan and manage the business becomes easier if you split it into smaller and more manageable parts. If you want to make a business plan for a preschool center , the first thing you need to do is to draft everything. 

In this business plan for a preschool pdf, we will plan out all the necessary details of LearnALot one by one. If you want to write a business plan for preschool, you can follow the guide. You can also hire business planning services to get a professional business plan written for your startup.

2.3 Customers of Preschool

The customers of LearnALot will belong to all kinds of family backgrounds. Due to our daycare services, parents or families with small or special needs children will make a major customer group.

  • Working Parents
  • Single Parents
  • Concerned Parents
  • Families with special needs kids

2.4 Business Target

The target of LearnALot is to become a reliable daycare and educational center for the residents in Florida. We aim to cater to healthy and normal children as well as those with special needs. 

The financial targets that LearnALot wants to achieve within the first three years of operation are demonstrated below:

Preschool Business Plans - 3 Years Profit Forecast

Company Summary

3.1 company owner.

Theodore Krasinski will be the owner and manager of LearnALot. Theo got his master’s in education three years ago after which he served as a teacher for two years and as a principal in the third year. However, he always felt a need to do more so he decided to open a special preschool himself. 

3.2 Company History

Theo noticed that though public schools were trying their best, they didn’t focus on acquiring the tools to cater to children of different needs. There was also a lack of preschools and daycares in the surrounding. To eradicate this issue, Theo decided to open a preschool that would prepare students of all kinds to keep up when they got into school. 

3.3 How the Preschool will be started

Step1: Evaluate Goals

Starting up a preschool business or any business in that domain requires a lot more than money. Before you start a business, you need to be sure about the goal you want to achieve via it. The goal can be scaling up the business, earning profits or increasing the well-being of the community, or anything else. But there needs to be a solid goal to direct your operations.

In this open driving school business plan , we will list the SMART business goals adopted by LearnALot.

Step2: Plan the Business

Once you are sure about the goals of your business, you can start developing a business plan template for preschool. If you are not sure how to develop a business plan, you can take help from preschool business plan examples like this one to learn how to write a business plan for a preschool. 

Step3: Plan Structure and Logistics

Now that you know the base details of the business, you will be able to sort out the finances. This will include estimating the costs that will be involved in starting the business. 

Step4: Get Funding

Any business needs money to start and function before it can become self-sustaining. To get the initial funding for LearnALot, Theo decided to write up a strong business plan that would wow the investors. 

Step5: Find a Physical Space

Every business, big or small, needs space to function. Therefore, to start a preschool, you will need a building to set up everything. Theo decided to rent out a building with some space in the front so that he could develop an outdoor play area as well. 

Step6: Promote and Market

The final step of the business is to develop a marketing plan to promote the business both in the online and physical realm. Theo will hire a marketing plan specialist to develop a marketing plan that can be easily followed to bring more customers to the business.

Preschool Business Plans - Startup Cost

Legal$151,400
Consultants$0
Insurance$25,100
Rent$35,100
Research and Development$10,000
Expensed Equipment$52,200
Signs$3,400
Start-up Assets$251,400
Cash Required$201,000
Start-up Inventory$35,100
Other Current Assets$251,000
Long-term Assets$217,000
 
Start-up Expenses to Fund$277,200
Start-up Assets to Fund$955,500
Assets 
Non-cash Assets from Start-up$1,242,000
Cash Requirements from Start-up$115,000
Additional Cash Raised$50,000
Cash Balance on Starting Date$35,000
Liabilities and Capital 
Liabilities$18,200
Current Borrowing$0
Long-term Liabilities$0
Accounts Payable (Outstanding Bills)$51,500
Other Current Liabilities (interest-free)$0
Capital 
Planned Investment$1,232,700
Investor 1$0
Investor 2$0
Other$0
Additional Investment Requirement$0
Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses)$139,600

All business plans including business plans for preschools include details of what services or products the business will provide. Deciding these things ahead of time allows you to develop a preschool business proposal more efficiently. 

A preschool business plan like an e-learning business plan will help you map your business in detail. That will, in turn, allow you to manage it in a better way and gain more funding. 

In the case of this preschool business plan template, Theo decided to include all the major services that he will offer to the customers through his business. 

  • Day Care Services

The primary service provided by LearnALot will be daycare. The business will offer daycare services for all types of parents. This will include parents who just want to drop their kids temporarily for a few hours while they get done with their day-to-day tasks. The other option will be for parents who want to entrust their kids regularly as they are off to work. 

  • Special Education Services

LearnALot will also cater to families and parents who have special needs children. This can include children who need help with physical activities or children, who, perhaps have a different way and speed of learning. 

As Theo wants to offer a one-place-for-everything business, there will also be some learning activities for the kids to learn as they play. Parents will have the choice of opting their kids out of these activities. However, Theo will try to encourage parents to allow their children, a free environment so they can adjust better when they get into school later. 

  • Transportation

LearnALot is primarily a business for children with parents who are busy working for a living. So keeping their busy routines in mind, the business will also offer ‘pick and drop’ services to facilitate such parents. 

Marketing Analysis of Preschool

Excellent work.

excellent work, competent advice. Alex is very friendly, great communication. 100% I recommend CGS capital. Thank you so much for your hard work!

Even though opening a preschool business may look like an easy task, it can be very taxing if not planned properly. To start any business, even a preschool business, you need to thoroughly research the market and understand it. 

The best way you can learn about your target market is to do market analysis as a part of your business plan for preschool center. The marketing will help you understand the past, present, and future conditions of the market, what the gaps are, and where you can fit in. 

If you are thinking of running a preschool business, you will need to learn all about your target market. This will include both your customers and competitors. Learning these things will help you develop a preschool marketing plan targeting your customers. You will not only be able to attract customers in a better way but will also be able to find ways to stand out among others. 

If you want to develop a preschool business plan sample and you don’t possess enough knowledge, you can follow this sample preschool business plan for LearnALot. 

5.1 Market Trends

Daycare and Preschool services are booming services in the US. According to IBISWorld, daycare centers have a market share of around $54 Billion. And according to Bplans, 84% of startups in daycare services succeed enough to make a good profit within the first year. Therefore, opening a business in this domain is very rewarding. 

5.2 Marketing Segmentation

The customers of LearnALot will belong to the following groups:

Preschool Business Plans - Marketing Segmentation

Business plan for investors

5.2.1 working parents.

Our main customers will be working parents living in and around Florida. These parents usually have eight-hour jobs that keep them busy. Therefore, they are expected to utilize our services most often. We will offer them a place where they can leave their children without any worry. At us, they will have a space where their kids can play and learn new things and skills. 

5.2.2 Single Parents

Our second target customer will be the single parents who need as much help as they can get. Single parents usually have to manage everything on their own. Therefore, a service of this sort will be of great help to them. By entrusting their kids to us, they will be able to do daily chores and relax for a while. 

5.2.3 Concerned Parents

A lot of parents usually get concerned that their children are not learning as fast as they could. For these parents, our educational services will be the most attractive. We will offer learning sessions in several niches so that parents can choose what they want their kids to learn. 

5.2.4 Families with Special Care Kids

Lastly, LearnALot will cater to those children as well who don’t learn at the same pace as other students. Parents can bring their children to get assessed and our preschool will try its best to cater to the children in the most helpful way.

       
Working Parents41%55,10066,12079,34495,213114,25510.00%
Single Parents37%45,10054,12064,94477,93393,51910.00%
Concerned Parents14%25,10030,12036,14443,37352,04710.00%
Families w/ Special Kids8%25,10030,12036,14443,37352,04711.00%
10%

5.3 Business Target

The target of LearnALot is:

  • To become a safe and reliable place where parents can drop off their children regularly. 
  • To become the best preschool/ daycare center in Florida.
  • To expand the range of services we offer.
  • To earn a profit margin of $10k/month after the first two years to sustain the business.

5.4 Product Pricing

Our prices for specialized cleaning are a little higher than those of our competitors. However, our other offerings are available to our customers in a similar price range as that of our competitors.

Marketing Strategy

To develop a preschool marketing plan template that will help you succeed, you will need to develop strategies that will work for your market. A good marketing plan is a part of every business plan. Therefore, you will need it for your daycare and preschool business plan as well. In this business plan for preschool pdf, we are providing the preschool business plan sample for LearnALot. 

If you are also offering physical training and game sessions, you can also see the marketing strategy for karate center business plan .

6.1 Competitive Analysis

  • We have versatile offers and services to cater to parents who want to drop off their kids for different periods. 
  • Our customers can directly contact us in case they need any special services.
  • We are offering pick and drop service to facilitate the parents even more.

6.2 Sales Strategy

  • We will advertise through local news channels, posters, and social media posts.
  • We will offer discounted rates to the first 15 customers.
  • We will offer different types of affordable packages to parents so that using a preschool doesn’t break their bank.

6.3 Sales Monthly

Preschool Business Plans - Sales Monthly

6.4 Sales Yearly

Preschool Business Plans - Sales Yearly

6.5 Sales Forecast

Preschool Business Plans - Unit Sales

Unit Sales
Day Care Services1,5001,5901,685
Special Education1,2501,3251,405
Playgroup1,5001,5901,685
Transportation750795843
Unit PricesYear 1Year 2Year 3
Day Care Services$250.00$290.00$336.40
Special Education$150.00$174.00$201.84
Playgroup$250.00$290.00$336.40
Transportation$200.00$232.00$269.12
Sales   
Direct Unit CostsYear 1Year 2Year 3
Day Care Services$75.00$82.50$86.63
Special Education$60.00$66.00$69.30
Playgroup$85.00$93.50$98.18
Transportation$70.00$77.00$80.85
Direct Cost of Sales   

Personnel plan

A business plan preschool like any other business includes the strategy to hire the employees for your business. To get an idea of how many employees you may need, you may consult a business plan for language school sample . In this preschool business plan pdf we are providing the employee list made by Theo to run the preschool.

7.1 Company Staff

  • 5 Trained Teachers
  • 1 Sales Executive 

7.2 Average Salary of Employees

 
Manager$30,000$33,000$36,300
Trained Teachers$175,000$192,500$211,750
Cleaners$45,000$49,500$54,450
Sales Executive$22,500$24,750$27,225
Guard$22,500$24,750$27,225

Financial Plan

When you look at preschool business plan examples, you will notice that all of them outline their finances in one way or another. Financial information is always a part of every preschool business plan sample pdf. Accurate financial planning enables you to fund your business, and earn revenue.

Due to the immense importance of financial planning in a business, it is advisable to not experiment with developing a financial plan. Financial planning is of utmost importance and it impacts the sustainability of a business in the long term. Keeping it in mind, you should hire a professional financial planning expert for the task. Various business frims would do the task for you even online.

Below, we are providing the financial analysis for LearnALot. You can follow this template to do financial analysis for your martial arts business plan as well. 

8.1 Important Assumptions

 
Plan Month123
Current Interest Rate8.12%8.20%8.26%
Long-term Interest Rate8.40%8.44%8.47%
Tax Rate24.03%24.21%24.60%
Other000

8.2 Break-even Analysis

Preschool Business Plans - Break-even Analysis

Monthly Units Break-even5340
Monthly Revenue Break-even$132,500
Assumptions: 
Average Per-Unit Revenue$231.00
Average Per-Unit Variable Cost$0.62
Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost$163,800

8.3 Projected Profit and Loss

 
Other$0$0$0
TOTAL COST OF SALES
Expenses   
Payroll$295,000$324,500$356,950
Sales and Marketing and Other Expenses$145,000$148,000$156,000
Depreciation$2,300$2,350$2,500
Leased Equipment$0$0$0
Utilities$2,900$3,000$3,100
Insurance$2,100$2,100$2,100
Rent$2,900$3,000$3,200
Payroll Taxes$24,000$25,000$27,000
Other$0$0$0
Profit Before Interest and Taxes$245,800$400,735$616,433
EBITDA$245,800$400,735$616,433
Interest Expense$0$0$0
Taxes Incurred$49,160$80,147$123,287
Net Profit$196,640$320,588$493,146
Net Profit/Sales18.08%23.97%29.99%

8.3.1 Profit Monthly

Preschool Business Plans - Profit Monthly

8.3.2 Profit Yearly

Preschool Business Plans - Profit Yearly

8.3.3 Gross Margin Monthly

Preschool Business Plans - Gross Margin Monthly

8.3.4 Gross Margin Yearly

Preschool Business Plans - Profit Yearly

8.4 Projected Cash Flow

Preschool Business Plans - Project Cash Flow

Cash Received
Cash from Operations   
Cash Sales$51,000$55,080$59,486
Cash from Receivables$22,000$23,760$25,661
SUBTOTAL CASH FROM OPERATIONS
Additional Cash Received   
Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Received$0$0$0
New Current Borrowing$0$0$0
New Other Liabilities (interest-free)$0$0$0
New Long-term Liabilities$0$0$0
Sales of Other Current Assets$0$0$0
Sales of Long-term Assets$0$0$0
New Investment Received$0$0$0
SUBTOTAL CASH RECEIVED
ExpendituresYear 1Year 2Year 3
Expenditures from Operations  
Cash Spending$42,000$42,000$45,000
Bill Payments$27,000$28,000$31,000
SUBTOTAL SPENT ON OPERATIONS
Additional Cash Spent   
Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Paid Out$0$0$0
Principal Repayment of Current Borrowing$0$0$0
Other Liabilities Principal Repayment$0$0$0
Long-term Liabilities Principal Repayment$0$0$0
Purchase Other Current Assets$0$0$0
Purchase Long-term Assets$0$0$0
Dividends$0$0$0
SUBTOTAL CASH SPENT
Net Cash Flow$21,000$23,000$25,000
Cash Balance$27,000$30,000$33,000

8.5 Projected Balance Sheet

Assets
Current Assets   
Cash$275,000$308,000$338,800
Accounts Receivable$24,000$26,880$30,213
Inventory$4,300$4,816$4,900
Other Current Assets$1,000$1,000$1,000
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS
Long-term Assets   
Long-term Assets$10,000$10,000$10,000
Accumulated Depreciation$19,400$21,728$24,444
TOTAL LONG-TERM ASSETS
TOTAL ASSETS
Liabilities and CapitalYear 4Year 5Year 6
Current Liabilities   
Accounts Payable$18,700$20,944$23,541
Current Borrowing$0$0$0
Other Current Liabilities$0$0$0
SUBTOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES
Long-term Liabilities$0$0$0
TOTAL LIABILITIES
Paid-in Capital$30,000$30,000$31,000
Retained Earnings$53,000$57,770$63,547
Earnings$193,400$210,806$231,887
TOTAL CAPITAL
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND CAPITAL
Net Worth$293,400$319,806$351,787

8.6 Business Ratios

 
Sales Growth7.25%8.03%8.90%3.00%
Percent of Total Assets    
Accounts Receivable9.21%10.20%11.31%9.80%
Inventory5.39%5.97%6.62%9.90%
Other Current Assets2.11%2.34%2.59%2.40%
Total Current Assets149.80%151.00%152.00%158.00%
Long-term Assets11.55%11.60%11.64%12.00%
TOTAL ASSETS
Current Liabilities4.90%4.94%4.98%4.34%
Long-term Liabilities0.00%0.00%0.00%0.00%
Total Liabilities7.59%7.65%7.72%7.38%
NET WORTH
Percent of Sales    
Sales100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%
Gross Margin94.60%97.15%99.87%99.00%
Selling, General & Administrative Expenses93.56%96.09%98.78%97.80%
Advertising Expenses1.52%1.56%1.60%1.40%
Profit Before Interest and Taxes41.50%42.62%43.81%33.90%
Main Ratios    
Current34353632
Quick3333.834.64533
Total Debt to Total Assets0.18%0.18%0.17%0.40%
Pre-tax Return on Net Worth74.08%74.89%75.00%75.00%
Pre-tax Return on Assets96.30%101.12%106.17%111.30%
Additional RatiosYear 1Year 2Year 3 
Net Profit Margin33.56%34.60%35.67%N.A.
Return on Equity55.80%57.53%59.31%N.A.
Activity Ratios    
Accounts Receivable Turnover7.77.87.8N.A.
Collection Days100100100N.A.
Inventory Turnover32.434.0235N.A.
Accounts Payable Turnover15.61616.3N.A.
Payment Days272727N.A.
Total Asset Turnover2.52.52.6N.A.
Debt Ratios    
Debt to Net Worth-0.04-0.03-0.04N.A.
Current Liab. to Liab.111N.A.
Liquidity Ratios    
Net Working Capital$244,000$257,664$272,093N.A.
Interest Coverage000N.A.
Additional Ratios    
Assets to Sales0.850.870.89N.A.
Current Debt/Total Assets1%0%0%N.A.
Acid Test2929.1229.16N.A.
Sales/Net Worth2.12.22.2N.A.
Dividend Payout000N.A.
  • Are preschoolers profitable?

Opening a preschool business can prove profitable if you do a financial analysis to make sure that the cash flows are managed well.

  • How can I grow my preschool business?

You can grow your preschool business by reading preschool business plans for preschools that are running successfully.

  • What are the steps to start a preschool?

The first step is to make starting up a preschool business plan and then deal with every aspect of your business including the finances, marketing, and services you will offer. 

  • How do you write a preschool proposal?

You can write a business plan for the preschool center by following the template provided above.

Download Preschool Business Plan Sample in pdf

OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rate business plan development, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

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Examples

Preschool Business Plan

a business plan for a preschool

Starting a preschool business is not for the faint of heart. Even if you love the idea of working with children, reality often differs dramatically. The stress of the actual operations is even wildly different from the stress you get just preparing everything from the ground up. To help you stay on top of everything, you need a proper preschool business plan on hand. Documents like a kindergarten  business plan , and a play school business plan, among others, will help you survive the initial onslaught of the endeavor while guiding you for months or even years to come. Scroll on to learn more and to find some of the best preschool business plan examples anywhere.

Preschool Business Plan Examples & Templates

1. preschool business plan template.

Preschool Business Plan Template

  • Google Docs

Size: A4 & US

2. Simple Preschool Business Plan

Preschool Business Plan Example

Size: 574 KB

3. Preschool Business Plan Sample in PDF

Preschool Business Plan in PDF

Size: 207 KB

4. Free Preschool Business Plan

Sample Preschool Business Plan

Size: 318 KB

5. Preschool Business Plan Template in PDF

Preschool All Business Plan

Size: 164 KB

6. Basic Preschool Business Plan

Basic Preschool Business Plan

Size: 121 KB

The Importance of a Preschool Business Plan

Like any business, a preschool comes with numerous requirements for you to meet. You will need funding, marketing strategies, materials, and equipment . With all of those variables mixing into one big goal, you need a guide. You will need something to help attract investors if necessary. This is where a preschool business plan comes into play. Sure, you can still plan things out if you don’t have one. However, there is a detail of organization that you won’t get using anything else.

Tips for Writing a Preschool Business Plan

Those with experience in writing business plans will know all about the nuanced nature of the document. Whether you are looking to create a non profit daycare business plan or one that’s for profit, the little details and the approach are all bound to change. Rather than get a free sample school business plan, here are some tips to help you in the event that you need to write your own business plan from scratch.

Tip 1: Keep it Short

It benefits you more to keep things as short as possible. Yes, there are many aspects of the preschool business to plan for. However, your expression of those plans do not have to be overly long or complicated. Be concise with your plan and you can be guaranteed that your readers will find it much more effective.

Tip 2: Keep Your Audience in Mind

With preschools, your audience should be parents with children of a specific age range. It is important to take note of that because what you offer will center around them. Your strategies, your branding , your methods, and the rest of your plans depend on your audience. Keep them in mind when planning for greater odds of success.

Tip 3: Don’t Let Fear Hold You Back

Starting any kind of business is going to be daunting. There’s no shame in admitting that some aspects of your endeavor may feel intimidating at times. However, you can’t allow that to hold back your plans. You need to recognize your goals and objectives so that you can plan around them. Never plan around the fears that grip you.

Tip 4: Be Timely and Realistic

As much as we like to say that you should shoot for the stars, it would be bad advice to leave all pragmatism behind. Your goals and objectives need to be firmly rooted in reality. Don’t let fear hold you back, but at the same time, you must acknowledge where your capabilities remain. Once you learn that, be sure to set a timeline for yourself. That way, you can ensure greater productivity.

What are the six components of a business plan?

First, there is the executive summary , followed by sections that dictate the opportunity and the execution. From there, you have the company and management, the financial plan, and lastly, the appendix.

Is it acceptable to have a professional write your business plan for you?

If writing a preschool business plan is too much for you, or if you lack the time, then you can always recruit a business consultant to help you with it.

How long should my business plan be?

The proper answer for that is as long as you need it to be. It does not have a required number of pages, as long as everything necessary for the execution of your startup is included and explored adequately.

Learning about how to write a proposal for a daycare center or finding the best preschool business plan ppt templates are among the things anybody should do before anything else. By researching the best methods of moving forward, you can avoid the pitfalls and accomplish your desired goals sooner than anticipated. Having learned as much as you can from this article, you may take your new knowledge and apply it when you decide that starting a preschool is your calling. Just remember to choose wisely and act boldly when that time comes!

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Child Care Biz Help

Daycare Business Plan Creation – Includes Template Download

Video - daycare business plan, daycare business plan: executive summary, opening a daycare: location, location, location, employees and responsibilities, market niche, financial info, operational plan, marketing plan, revenue opportunities, purpose of loan, business feasibility, financial projections.

  • Download >> Daycare Business Plan [FREE Template]

daycare business plan

What if Starting a Daycare was Easier Than You Ever Imagined?

It all starts with creating a good daycare business plan. With the right plan in place, opening a daycare has never been easier!

Our comprehensive guide will walk you through creating a business plan . At the end, be sure to download our free template and hit the ground running!

YouTube video

The actual daycare business plan may look pretty long once you have everything filled out. To make things easier for everyone from the bank to your employees though, you should begin with an executive summary.

An executive summary provides key info, including business address, phone number, and who to contact. It will also outline the business structure, the list of owners, banking info, and the anticipated start date for your daycare.

The summary should also include a snapshot of your business concept, a description of daily business, and a rundown of your employees. Finally, it should include who your client base is, what your market niche is, and what factors make your success very likely.

Our guide will take you on a deeper dive into some of these different parts of the summary, and you can always work with an outside child care consultant to get things "just right." But it's important that your executive summary provide all of this key info at a glance.

daycare business plan template

One of the biggest decisions to make is where you will open a daycare. You must decide whether to run the daycare out of your home or run a  group child care center . Child Care Biz Help works mainly with existing and start-up group child care centers.

Provided that you have enough room, using your home for the daycare business helps to cut down on costs, but keep in mind home daycares limit the number of children that you can care for, which ultimately restricts the amount of revenue you can earn.

When choosing a group child care center, you have several options:

  • New building
  • Existing center

Whichever options you choose, make sure you know how much everything will cost. This is vital info for your business plan, especially when you get financing.

opening a daycare

The business plan should include as much info about your employees as you have. It's true that you may not know everything about everyone you plan to hire, but any info that you already have should go in the plan.

For example, the plan should include the overall number of employees you plan to have. Furthermore, it should outline the exact responsibilities that each person has so that it's clear who the owners are, who the director and teachers are, and who the other support staff is.

Regarding your management team, the business plan should include their relevant background and experiences. And you can use this section to outline some of the ways that you might screen applicants (such as criminal background checks, letters of reference, and personal interviews).

Again, you may make personnel changes over time. But the stronger your first set of employees is, the easier it will be to get this business off the ground!

daycare business plan

Let's face it: there are plenty of daycares out there. And all of the daycares in your area are now your competition. That's why your business plan should include info about your specific market niche.

Will you specialize in attending to the needs of a particular set of children? Or will your teachers embrace a specific teaching style such as the  Montessori Method ?

There is plenty of room to get creative here. After all, chances are you want to open a daycare because you can do it better than other people. This is simply the section to explain why your business will be the best!

daycare business plan

Finances play multiple roles in your plan. But the first area occurs right after your executive summary. This is where you lay out all of the relevant financial details in one place.

The info should include how much your daycare equipment will cost, how much your furnishings will cost, and how much transportation will cost. You will also need to provide info about how much operating capital you currently have and how much your intended renovations are going to cost.

Make sure this section is accurate so that you can get all of the money that your business will need!

daycare business plan

The daycare business plan should include an operational plan section. This is where you go on to outline specific individuals as well as their titles, responsibilities, qualifications, and payscale. Keep in mind the center director position is one of the most important positions to hire for.

This is also a good section to outline the value of your project. Here, you provide an itemized list of different things (like the plumbing, drywall, and electrical) and how much they cost. Do the same thing with any machinery, equipment and furniture. Don't forget to include any  playground costs  which can be very significant when you're a new start-up.

Finally, this section should include a description of your business operations. Be sure to include the "little things" (like creating daily schedules and installing equipment) as well as the "big things" (teaching children of a certain age range, following health and safety guidelines, etc.).

childcare business plan template

It's one thing to have a great business and it's another thing for people to  know  you have a great business. That's why every good business plan should include a marketing plan.

In this section, you should be specific about who your primary target audience is and what communities they live in. Provide very specific demographic data before you pivot into the marketing strategy.

That strategy should include any combination of traditional and digital marketing methods. This might range from newspaper and radio advertisements to social media and SEO campaigns.

Over time, you will discover which marketing methods are better than others. But this section should include every marketing method that you plan to try.

daycare revenue

Most people plan to start a daycare because they want to give back to the community in some way. With that in mind, the purpose of any business is to generate profit. And your business plan must include info about the different revenue opportunities of your business.

The most basic form of revenue will come from the weekly or monthly enrollment fees for taking care of children. You can simply calculate the anticipated number of children (and their age ranges) with your rate in order to calculate an approximate monthly revenue.

In addition to that, you might consider adding enrichment programs and registration fees as revenue opportunities. It's all a matter of finding a balance between a quality program and a program parents can easily afford.

business plan for a daycare

The business plan should include a section for the purpose of your loan. In this section, you will identify, down to the dollar, what your intended loan needs to cover.

This should be an itemized section so that the lender knows how much is going towards renovations, furniture, equipment. And you should use this section to reiterate what your current operating capital is.

When the smoke clears, we should have a clear idea of the project cost, your equity and contributions, and what the total financing required will be. Without this info in place, it's impossible to get your business off the ground.

childcare feasibility study

What is a lender's primary consideration when a business needs money? Simple: they want to know the business will succeed. That's why your business feasibility section is so important.

At the bare minimum, this section should include research data about which factors will make your daycare in this area successful. If you have any feasibility studies or other intensive research you can cite, this is the section for it.

Ideally, this section should also include a  full-blown SWOT analysis . This shows lenders and investors that you have a keen understanding of what your business does well and what it might need to work on.

Finally, this section should include your long-term plans. Outlining how you plan to grow and adapt your business helps reassure lenders and investors that you are prepared for the future.

childcare financial projections

The final section is straightforward and to the point. This is where you attach the financial projections you have completed for your business.

We recommend including cash flow projections for the first twelve months and cash flow projections for the first three years. On top of that, you should include three years of projected income statements and balance sheets.

Obviously, much can change in the space of three years. But healthy financial projections for the next few years are a great way to win skeptical audiences over.

Download >> Daycare Business Plan [FREE Template]

download daycare business plan template

Now you know how to create a daycare business plan . But do you know who can make it nice and easy?

All you need to do is complete the form below to download your free plan template. And for more tips about opening a daycare or if you're interested in hiring us to help, contact us today!

Q: What should be considered when developing budgets for a daycare or preschool?

A: When developing budgets for a daycare or preschool, it is important to consider several factors to ensure the smooth running of your business. One essential aspect is analyzing your current cash flow and expenditures, which allows you to determine whether your operations will result in a profit. Additionally, it is crucial to build a budget that takes into account unexpected costs that may arise, such as repairs or equipment replacements.

Apart from regular expenses, it is important to consider specific factors related to the nature of your business, such as the number of children you need to serve in order to cover your bills and maintain financial stability. This analysis will help you understand the enrollment capacity required to generate sufficient revenue.

To assist you in the budgeting process for daycare or preschool, there are valuable resources available. Organizations such as Child Care Aware of America offer excellent budgeting resources designed specifically for this industry. By utilizing these resources, you can further enhance your budget development, ensuring that you are considering all relevant financial aspects required for your child care business.

Q: What should be included in the business description section of a daycare business plan?

A: In the business description section of a daycare business plan, it is essential to provide a thorough overview of what your daycare offers. Start by clearly defining the scope and nature of your childcare services. Describe the types of programs or activities you will provide, such as full-time daycare, part-time care, after-school care, or specialized programs like early education or infant care.

In addition to detailing the services you offer, it is crucial to articulate your daycare's goals and mission statement. This will help demonstrate your purpose, motivation, and values as a business. Your mission statement should clearly state what you aim to achieve and the unique qualities that set your daycare apart.

Furthermore, consider including information about your target market. Briefly describe the demographics and characteristics of the families or children you aim to serve, such as the age range, specific needs (if applicable), or any particular geographical focus.

Moreover, it is beneficial to outline any competitive advantages or unique selling points your daycare possesses. This could include factors like a low staff-to-child ratio, highly qualified and experienced caregivers, a stimulating educational curriculum, state-of-the-art facilities, or any other exceptional features that make your daycare stand out from others in the market.

Lastly, if your daycare has any special affiliations, accreditations, or licenses, mention them in this section. These credentials may include being licensed by regulatory authorities, certified by recognized early childhood organizations, or complying with specific state or local regulations. By including these key elements in the business description section, you will provide a comprehensive overview of your daycare business that showcases its offerings, goals, target market, unique qualities, and regulatory compliance.

Q: What are the key factors investors look for in a business plan?

A: When evaluating a business plan, investors typically consider several key factors to gauge its viability and potential for success:

  • Industry expertise and experience: Investors are more likely to partner with entrepreneurs and business owners who have a strong background and demonstrated experience in the relevant industry. If you lack specific experience or expertise, it may be advantageous to bring on a partner who can provide the necessary knowledge.
  • Financial performance and projections: Investors seek evidence of solid financial performance and stability, as well as a well-defined plan for future growth and profitability. They may inquire about your financial track record, including revenue growth, profitability, and cash flow management. Additionally, they are interested in understanding how the investment will be utilized and how it will be repaid.
  • Uniqueness and competitive advantage: Investors look for businesses that offer something unique and have a clear competitive advantage over others in the market. This could be innovative products or services, proprietary technology, strong brand positioning, or a robust intellectual property portfolio.
  • Market opportunity and readiness: Investors assess the attractiveness and potential size of the target market. They want to see a solid understanding of market trends, customer demographics, and competitive landscape. Additionally, investors value businesses that are well-prepared, with a well-defined go-to-market strategy, feasible timelines, and a robust sales and marketing plan.
  • Scalability and growth potential: Investors are attracted to businesses that have the potential for significant growth and scalability. They will assess if the business model and infrastructure are capable of expanding rapidly without losing efficiency or compromising the quality of products or services.
  • Effective business model and execution strategy: Investors want to understand how the business generates revenue and how it plans to sustain profitability in the long term. They value a clear and well-thought-out business model that demonstrates a deep understanding of customer needs, efficient operations, strategic partnerships, and effective distribution channels. Furthermore, investors assess the management team's ability to execute the business plan successfully.
  • Risk assessment and mitigation: Investors are aware of the inherent risks associated with any business venture. They will evaluate your risk assessment and mitigation strategies, looking for a well-balanced approach. Demonstrating a thorough understanding of potential risks and outlining strategic measures to minimize them will increase investor confidence.

While these factors are crucial to investors, it is essential to recognize that individual investors may prioritize certain elements differently based on their investment objectives and preferences. Therefore, presenting a comprehensive and well-balanced approach to these key factors in your business plan will increase your chances of attracting investor interest and capital.

Q: What types of insurance policies are needed for a preschool business?

A: Insuring a preschool business requires various types of insurance policies to ensure comprehensive coverage. Fundamental insurance policies needed for a preschool business include liability insurance, property insurance, workers' compensation insurance, and business insurance. These policies play crucial roles in protecting the preschool, its staff, and its physical assets from potential risks and unforeseen events. It is essential to refer to licensing requirements and regulations to determine and tailor the insurance coverage according to the specific needs of the preschool business.

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a business plan for a preschool

Hi there, we are in process to start a day care center we need your help

a business plan for a preschool

How exciting! I’ll send you an email and we can talk about your project in more detail.

a business plan for a preschool

Hello, Im in the process of opening up a daycare and would like some assistance with my business plan

That is great! Let us know if we can help in any way. Email us at [email protected] .

a business plan for a preschool

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a business plan for a preschool

Crafting a Business Plan for Your Preschool: Key Elements to Consider

  • March 26, 2024

Table Of Contents

Introduction

  • Daycare Preschool Purpose & Unique Selling Point
  • Project Cost & Time to Recover and Profit
  • Daycare Preschool Daily Operation Plan
  • Teaching & Non-Teaching Staff
  • Marketing & Advertising Plan
  • Plan for Continuous Improvement

Starting a daycare preschool is easier when you have a set of guidelines to work according to. This set of guiding points is a preschool business plan. This document is essential, especially for first-time preschool owners. It details several key points and gives edupreneurs an idea of what needs more attention.

This blog takes a look at what these key points are and why they need extra care and thought. This will help budding edupreneurs pay extra attention to these preschool opening requirements.

Must read: Exploring the world of preschool education: Opportunities & Challenges

1. Daycare Preschool Purpose & Unique Selling Point

There may be other preschools in your area. What will set your daycare business apart from them? Preschool purpose and unique selling point help a preschool stand out from the rest.

Some people open preschools thinking about the ability to profit. Edupreneurs open preschools to contribute to the education system. They also do it to enrich children’s lives.

A preschool business plan requires eduprenuers to state how their preschool solves problems. This helps investors to visualise the success chances of your preschool business plan.

2. Project Cost & Time to Recover and Profit

Opening a business such as a daycare preschool will attract costs. The costs will vary in amount and owners need to keep track of them. This is especially true if owners plan to stay within a certain budget.

Costs of the following need consideration at the time of writing up the business plan:

  • Cost of renting/buying preschool premises
  • Furniture and interior designing
  • Exterior designing
  • Teaching and non-teaching staff salaries
  • Security costs (fencing/walls, security cameras, guards)
  • Teaching equipment
  • Other cost (maintenance, food, toys)

Making realistic cost estimations can give owners insight into the actual running costs of a preschool. And more importantly, it gives an idea of costing that will help to cover the initial opening costs.

3. Daycare Preschool Daily Operation Plan

Apart from the setup costs, day-to-day operations will attract costs as well. These apply to utilities, perishable goods, and certain teaching materials. These are some of the basic preschool opening requirements .

Estimating daily costs allows for an estimation of monthly running costs. Comparing monthly costs then allows owners to see the pattern of spending. It can help identify areas which bring the most costs and which bring the least.

Daily operation cost estimation ensures money remains for the running of the preschool.

Check this comprehensive preschool business plan, cost, and essential requirements to get an idea of what to expect.

Crafting a Business Plan for Your Preschool Key Elements to Consider

4. Teaching & Non-Teaching Staff

Staff are an important part of a daycare preschool . They directly influence the quality of education. Ensuring the best staff is important to achieve an excellent standard of education.

Non-teaching staff help in ensuring the smooth running of daily activities at the preschool. This makes hiring the right staff with adequate experience and good character important.

Preschool owners will not want to cut corners when it comes to staffing their preschools. Hence, the importance of considering staff in the business plan.

An effective preschool business plan needs to mention the following:

  • Number of teaching and non-teaching staff
  • Experience and qualifications of all staff
  • Opportunities for teachers’ training programs
  • Salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff
  • Student-to-teacher ratio

Skilled staff are one of the most common preschool opening requirements . Preschool owners need to invest time and money into finding the right staff. After this, they also need to consider improving their staff in terms of teachers’ skills and character.

Take a look at how to hire and train preschool staff .

5. Marketing & Advertising Plan

Marketing and advertising sections are a vital part of a preschool business plan . It details how owners intend to spread awareness about their preschool.

Furthermore, it also mentions an advertising plan. This details how to ensure steady admissions. Using various marketing and advertising methods will draw positive engagement from the community.

Ideas or campaigns for spreading awareness of admission offers are also important. Not sure how to market a preschool. These are marketing strategies to build your preschool brand.

6. Plan for Continuous Improvement

Like all businesses, an improvement plan needs to be in place. This will ensure that the preschool business maintains a high level of education. It will also make sure that the preschool will grow over time.

This part of the business plan will show what the owner’s ambitions for the daycare preschool are. Whether they wish to expand, open more branches, or offer additional services for more grades.

This may prove helpful when starting the preschool as it leaves the scope open for the future.

Are you an Edupreneur looking for guidance in starting a successful preschool? You can consult an expert like Kreedo. As the leading preschool solutions provider, Kreedo helped start 2200+ schools in India.

Ready to start your preschool ?

Stuck between franchise and non-franchise preschool models? Here are the facts: Everything you should know about preschool franchise .

A daycare preschool business plan acts as a roadmap for edupreneurs when it comes to starting their preschool. Making it highly detailed and accurate can help later on. Ideally, key business plan points to consider are:

  • Preschool’s Purpose & Unique Selling Point
  • Daily Operations Plan

Undertaking the time to assess each of these points now makes it easier to work later. They are all key aspects of starting and running a business. Creating clarity around them in the preschool business plan will help.

Q 1) What are the benefits of choosing preschool solutions?

Ans) There are several benefits of partnering with a solutions provider like Kreedo. You get support, guidance, and benefit from their knowledge. Kreedo will help you select a daycare preschool location. They will also help hire and train teachers and put in place a successful curriculum.

Q 2) What is a business plan?

Ans) Business plans are documents that highlight various aspects of a business venture. This includes objectives, strategies, operation details, and prospective costs.

Q 3) Why is having a business plan important?

Ans) A preschool business plan will be essential for better decision-making. It will also aid in the long-term success of a business. Owners must draw up a business plan before starting a business. It helps to provide a realistic idea of what costs it will attract and how it will operate with success.

Preschool Admissions in 2024

  • May 21, 2024

10 Proven Methods of Increasing Preschool Admissions in 2024

Improve Your Teaching With Innovative Preschool Curriculum Strategies for 2024

  • May 13, 2024

Improve Your Teaching With Innovative Preschool Curriculum Strategies for 2024

Implementing STEM in Preschool Classrooms

  • May 7, 2024

Theory to Practical: Implementing STEM in Preschool Classrooms

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How to Start a Daycare Business Plan 

A Step-by-Step Guide for Childcare Planning with Tips to Help Entrepreneurs Start Their Daycare Business

daycare teacher with kids crop-1

Table of contents

What is daycare and why should i start one.

  • Types of Daycare Providers
  • Before Starting Your Daycare Business Essential Planning Steps
  • Decision Journey Map Definitions

Assess the Competition

How to start your daycare business.

  • The Importance of an Execution Plan
  • Execution Plan: Marketing and Sales
  • Form Your Daycare Business

Get Familiar with Daycare Licensing Requirements

  • Choose Your Insurance and Liability 
  • How to Gain Enrollment at Your Daycare  
  • Invest In Childcare Experience Software to Build Your Daycare with Less Work

How to Start a Daycare Business Plan

Build an Expert-Level Business Plan for Daycare

The childcare industry is full of passionate, hard-working individuals. Entrepreneurs just like you are starting a daycare from the ground up. In this guide, we'll give you guidance and provide templates to build a solid daycare business plan.

How to Start a Daycare Business Plan

According to Forbes , daycare businesses were projected to have some of the fastest employment growth of all industries through 2020. Starting a daycare is a great opportunity for aspiring business owners who have a passion for early childhood education and child development.   

‘Daycare’ is an umbrella term for various childcare options (such as Montessori, head start programs, preschool, and many more) where parents and guardians drop their children off and leave them in your care to...  

  • Socialize with other children in their age group  
  • Learn basic fundamentals for future academic success  
  • Reach important developmental milestones

Is Starting a Daycare Business Worth It?

Starting a childcare business or franchise is profitable, emotionally rewarding, and sustainable – the need for committed childcare entrepreneurs has never been greater.   

As of 2021, there were 856,238 childcare centers in the United States. The growing popularity of childcare centers comes from the demand. Parents will always need a form of care for their kids. Plus, there’s a necessity, especially beyond COVID-19, to socialize children in an environment that fosters development.  

How to Start a Daycare Business Plan

Types of Daycare Providers 

  • In-home daycare  
  • Relative care  
  • Preschool  
  • Independently-owned daycare
  • Daycare franchises  

The Difference Between Individual Centers and Franchises  

An independently-owned daycare often has an individual owner, a center director, and possibly a few other administrative staff members – along with teachers, cooks, bus drivers, etc. The owner is typically an individual who puts their own money and savings into opening the daycare, so all business rights (name, branding, etc.) belong to them.  

Alternatively, a daycare franchise falls under a corporate brand that has made an agreement with an individual to legally establish a business – using the company’s brand or trademark. In this scenario, the franchisee usually pays an initial fee, as well as ongoing royalties to the corporate franchisor. In return, the franchisee gains the use of a trademark, support from the franchisor, and the right to use the franchisor's system of doing business (including unique business policies and procedures, such as their method for advertising or enrollment). This model can be particularly beneficial for individuals who are passionate about early childhood education but don’t know how to get started on their own.  

For example, Kids R Kids and Kiddie Academy are both successful daycare business plans in the United States. Each center operates similarly, has the same name (aside from a unique location number or city/county name), and the same branding as all locations fall under the franchisee umbrella.  

Daycare Franchise Terms

  • A franchisor is a daycare company that provides its services, brand, and business operations to the individual. This may also be known as a ‘ franchise system ’.  
  • A franchisee is an individual owner that is being supported by the company (franchisor). Buying into a daycare franchise makes you the franchisee.  
  • The franchise refers to the legal agreement between the company and the franchisee.  
  • The franchise disclosure document is the legally binding contract between the company and the individual.  

Essential Planning Steps Before Starting Your Daycare Business

1) conduct market research.

When it comes to starting your childcare center, relying on assumptions about your customers and competitors leads to wasted time, money, and effort. In contrast, businesses that conduct regular market research improve customer retention and are 76% more likely to see an increase in revenue.  

Market research is a data collection process that evaluates both consumer behavior, competitor habits, and industry trends to determine the viability of your center and build a foundation for future business operations.  

Prepare for success upfront by conducting thorough market research to understand your competition, improve communication with your target audience, and identify new market opportunities. This research should result in actual data that you can use to drive your business and marketing strategies as you launch your center.  

There are a variety of tools available to help you conduct market research - all from the comfort of your own office. Gone are the days of hiring team members with clipboards to approach consumers face-to-face. Survey Monkey, Attest, and Sprinklr all offer digital market research tools to help guide you through the process of understanding your audience, your competitors, and your industry.  

how to start a daycare business plan

2) Determine Your Target Market

A market segment is a group of consumers that could potentially enroll at your childcare center. First, identify your daycare target market segments and determine how big each segment is.  

Be careful not to fall into the trap of defining your market as “everyone in your community.” This often leads to a ‘spray and pray’ approach to your marketing and as we know, a message for everyone really speaks to no one. When you generalize your advertising in favor of not isolating a potential consumer, you aren’t able to effectively communicate with your ideal customers – forgetting to recognize how your childcare center can appeal to them and their needs.  

A classic example is a shoe manufacturer. While it would be tempting for a shoe company to say that their target market is anyone who has feet, realistically they need to target a specific segment of the market in order to be successful. If they sell adult athletic shoes, they should be building their message to target athletes or individuals who enjoy staying active and exercising. Likewise, if you offer programs for children aged 6 months to 4 years old, you should prioritize advertising toward young adults in their 20s and 30s.  

A common strategy when identifying target markets is to use the TAM, SAM, and SOM approaches to look at market sizes from a top-down approach as well as a bottom-up approach.

Target Market Terms

This should include everyone you wish to reach.  

Example: Your entire local community.  

SAM: Your Segmented Addressable Market or Served Available Market 

This is a portion of the TAM you will specifically target because they align with your offerings.  

Example: Families with young children.  

SOM: Your Share of the Market 

This is the group of your SAM that you will realistically reach—particularly in the first few years of your center’s opening, as you may expand and grow your service over time.  

Example: Families with young children who make at least $65,000 each year in household income.  

For childcare organizations with multiple brands, schools, or programs - increasing revenue and keeping families happy is vital for growth. Your Millennial parents need a uniform, high-quality experience, regardless of location.

Standardizing business processes has a significant impact on time savings, costs, and most notably quality. In fact, standardization improves quality by   61.9% ,  on average. Create consistent  enrollment processes across all your franchise locations to ensure every family has a great experience and a positive association with your brand – leading to higher conversion success and profitability.   

To achieve consistency, your franchisees’ marketing approach and advertising material must follow all your corporate brand guidelines. Your organization should have a lead management system that supports your childcare franchise staff as they  guide families through   the decision-making journey  while also ensuring each location is delivering a consistent parent experience.  

how to start a daycare business plan

3) Develop Your Buyer Personas

Before you begin writing your daycare marketing plan, make sure you’ve defined your market and buyer personas. Without a deep understanding of whom you’re speaking to, a daycare marketing plan will have little value.    

Audience personas allow you to dive even deeper into your target market and help you understand more than just who your customer is. These identities inform you how to communicate with your customers in a way that relates to their pain points and needs.  

Building a daycare business plan is no joke! Check out childcare business tips at a glance . 

When you understand your customer’s motivations, you can uniquely address their concerns and questions in your marketing materials - leading to increased tours, enrollments, and revenue.   

Start by listing out the various kinds of programs and classes you’d like to offer at your center.  

Then, determine who the primary decision-maker is and who the primary influencers might be in each scenario.   

Primary decision-maker : typically the individual(s) taking financial responsibility and remitting payment at your center.   

Primary influencers : are  also crucial in the purchasing process as they often have the ability to sway decision-makers.  

For example, imagine you’re promoting availability for Summer camp programs at your center. In this instance, the primary decision-maker might be the parent(s) or guardian(s) whereas the primary influencer would likely be the child who’s deciding what kind of activities they want to do this Summer.  

how to start a daycare business plan

Audience Overview

List the audiences, personas, or segments that you want your center’s marketing and messaging efforts to reach.  

a business plan for a preschool

Select one audience from above and describe it to the best of your knowledge. Go beyond the traditional persona to consider motivations & behavior.  

a business plan for a preschool

Identify the key stages in your audience’s enrollment journey from beginning to end, knowing there may be multi-dimensional steps within a stage. Complete the table for each journey at the individual stages from the specific audience’s point of view.  

a business plan for a preschool

Decision Journey Map Terms & Definitions 

Stage : This refers to each stage of the enrollment journey - awareness, consideration, action, and advocacy.  

Awareness : This is when a family is first learning of your center and your brand. They are researching multiple daycare centers and eventually send an inquiry to tour your facility or learn more.   

Consideration : During this stage, a family is touring your center and may be deciding between you and 1-2 other providers. Tip: Proactively equip your staff with key talking points so they can highlight your unique center features.  

Action : This is when a parent decides to register their child for care, pay fees, and is either placed on your waitlist or enrolls.  

Advocacy : After a successful, happy experience, this parent or guardian has become an advocate for your business. They’re telling friends and family about your center. This is vital for your word-of-mouth marketing strategy.  

Emotion : Identify what the persona is feeling at each stage of the customer’s journey. They may be anxious, curious, excited, or satisfied at various points. Put yourself in their shoes.  

Key Actions : What actions would a consumer take at each stage? For example, during the awareness stage, they may see your ad on Facebook, look you up on Google, or visit your website. In the consideration stage, they may call your center to get more information, look at your services online, or read reviews.  

Questions : What questions is the consumer asking in each stage? These are the questions you need to be answering for them in your advertising and marketing efforts.  

how to start a daycare business plan

Competitive research helps you understand why customers choose your center over other alternative care options. This information provides you with insight into how your competition is marketing their services and over time, this can help you improve your own marketing campaigns and business offerings.  

Look up similar daycare centers in your area, and see what programs they offer, the type of facilities, their capacity, and their curriculum. Then, highlight the features that make your center stand out. Showcase your selling points in all marketing and advertising efforts.  Get started with these key questions...

  • Who are my direct competitors and what do they offer?
  • Who are my indirect competitors
  • What does my competition's pricing look like?
  • Do they offer promotional pricing or payment plans?
  • What do they do best?
  • What do they do poorly?

Download the guide to stay up to date on the latest industry news, trends and best practices for growing and managing your childcare business.

Download the Guide

how to start a daycare business plan

Build a Daycare Business Plan

A good business plan will guide you through each stage of starting and managing your childcare organization- including how to structure, run, and grow your new business.  

There’s no correct or incorrect way to write your business plan. What’s most important is that you identify your business objectives and use this document as a roadmap for how to achieve these goals.  

A strong business plan can help you recruit business investors, gain funding, or find new partners. Prospective investors want to feel confident they’ll see a return on their investment and your center’s business plan is the perfect tool to assure potentials that working with you — or investing in your business— is a smart and profitable decision.  

Write a Day Care Executive Summary (Daycare Business Plan Outline)

Although this section is the first thing people will read, it’s advised that you write it last, once you know the details of your business inside and out. At this stage, you will be able to articulate your business more clearly and summarize all the information in a succinct, concise manner.  

Ideally, your executive summary will be able to act as a stand-alone document that covers the key highlights of your detailed business plan. In fact, it’s common for investors or loan providers to ask for just the executive summary when they start evaluating your business. If they like what they see in the executive summary, they’ll often follow up with a request for a complete plan, a pitch presentation, and more in-depth daycare business plan financials.  

As your executive summary is such a critical component of your business plan, you’ll want to make sure that it’s as clear and concise as possible. Cover only the essential components of your daycare, ensuring your executive summary is one to two pages maximum. This section is intended to be a quick read that hooks your potential investors’ interest and excites them to learn more.  

The executive summary is a tell-all first paragraph that details...  

  • The city and state of your center (you can decide on the exact location later)  
  • A potential open date  
  • A projected enrollment count (number of full-time enrollments)  
  • Programs you plan to offer  
  • Ages you hope to serve  
  • A quick financial summary (based on grants, funding, and potential revenue from projected enrollments)

This may seem like a lot of information upfront, but it’s simply a high-level overview of your plan.   

how to start a daycare business plan

Conduct an Opportunity Analysis 

The opportunity section of your business plan includes information about:  

  • The problem that you’re solving within your community
  • P rograms and classrooms   do you plan to market your center(s) to
  • How your daycare facility fits into the existing competitive landscape  

Opportunity Analysis: An Example 

  Weaknesses Opportunities Threats
What are we doing well? Is our value proposition lacking clarity? How can we expand our reach? Have our conversion rates decreased?
Which programs make us stand out? What can we improve? Which can help us grow? Are there new daycare competitors in our area?
Which facilities are a selling point? Which stage(s) of our enrollment pipeline aren't performing well? Is our daycare a competitive solution that parents trust? Have we received any negative feedback from families?

The opportunity analysis portion of your business plan is important for outlining what distinguishes your daycare from your direct and indirect competitors. It details how you can continue to expand and grow your center in the future.  

Use your previous competitive research to determine your daycare business’s competitive advantage and position. Analyze potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. 

how to start a daycare business plan

Problem and Solution

Describe the problem that you are solving for your customers. Childcare centers are need-oriented, meaning your consumers have tangible pain points that you must resolve to be successful.   

So, what is the primary pain point for them? Maybe it’s that busy, working parents need a caring, safe place for their child during the day, or perhaps families are seeking after-school care options for their elementary-aged children, or maybe parents need 24-hour childcare options when they’re traveling or working odd hours.   

Now, assess how they are solving their problems currently and where there’s room for improvement. If there's only one childcare center in your community and it has no open seats, you could be the solution. Or maybe there are lots of existing care providers in your city but they’re expensive or have rigid pickup and drop-off times that working parents have trouble meeting. Or perhaps there aren’t any existing childcare businesses within a reasonable driving distance of where you’d like to place yours.  

Defining the problem you are solving for your customers is by far the most critical element of your business plan and is crucial for your daycare business’ success. If you can’t pinpoint a problem that your potential customers have, then you might not have a viable business concept.  

To ensure that you are solving a real problem, try conducting your own survey with potential customers to get a better understanding of their needs and validate that they have the problem you assume they have. Then, take the next step and pitch your potential solution to their problem.

Do they agree that it’s a good fit or does it seem to fall flat?  See how to come up with a strategic plan for your business.

how to start a daycare business plan

The Importance of Creating an Execution Plan

The execution chapter outlines how you’re actually going to make your childcare center work . You’l l address your marketing and enrollment plans, operations, success metrics, and any key milestones that you expect to achieve.  

Execution Plan: Marketing and Sales  

The marketing and sales plan section of your business plan details how you propose to reach your target market segments, how you plan on converting those target markets, what your pricing model looks like, and what partnerships you may need to make your center a success.   

Your Positioning Statement

Once you understand your audience, the first part of your marketing and sales plan is your positioning statement. Refer back to your value proposition to create a simple, straightforward sentiment, explaining where your company sits within the competitive landscape and what differentiates your venue from the alternatives that a customer might consider. This statement should be written for an investor or loan provider, rather than for your customer.  

One daycare business plan example - a positioning statement for a 24-hour childcare center in Austin, Texas may look like this:

“For the Austin-based family who is seeking childcare around the clock, Jenny’s 24-Hour Daycare is a safe option for young children with nutritional meals, best-in-industry sleeping arrangements, a clean outdoor play area, and highly trained care professionals. Jenny’s 24-Hour Daycare is the first center of its kind within 30 miles of the Austin metroplex and offers competitive pricing and tuition payment plans.”  

how to start a daycare business plan

Use this formula to develop a positioning statement for your center: 

Your Mission Statement

Your mission statement is a scaled-down version of your positioning statement. This should be just one or two sentences that are geared toward your target consumer and describe what your business plans to accomplish. This statement usually includes company core values that explain your daycare’s purpose and how you serve your audience.  

For example, Cadence Education is a leading early childhood education provider with the mission of “providing parents with peace of mind by giving children an exceptional education every fun-filled day in a place as nurturing as a home .”  

a business plan for a preschool

Pricing 

Your positioning strategy will typically determine how you price your memberships and packages. There are some basic rules that you should follow when deciding on your price point:  

  • Cost-plus pricing : For the most part, you should be charging your customers more than it costs you to host them at your center to ensure your venue is profitable and appealing to investors.  
  • Market-based pricing : Look at what your competitors are charging and then price based on what your audience is expecting.  

how to start a daycare business plan

Strategic Alliances

As part of your marketing plan, you may wish to collaborate with other organizations such as local camps, after-school programs, pediatricians, or even other childcare centers that don’t offer the same activities that you do.   

This partnership should benefit both of you – it may help provide access to a target market segment for your venue while allowing your partner to offer a helpful recommendation to their customers. If you’ve already established an alliance, it’s important to detail that in your business plan.  

The operations section is all about how your business works. This portion details the essential logistics such as staffing and sourcing and fulfillment. But remember, your goal is to keep your business plan as short as possible, so too much detail here could easily make your plan much too long.  

Milestones and Metrics

It’s critical that you take the time to look forward and schedule the next critical steps for your business. Investors will want to see that you understand what needs to happen to make your plans a reality and that you are working on a realistic schedule.

Then, determine how you will measure the success of each milestone by listing out the key performance indicators and metrics needed to see progress. These will be the numbers you monitor on a regular basis to evaluate the trajectory of your business. For example, you may look at how many families tour your center each week, how many children you enroll each month, or the amount of revenue you bring in per quarter.  

Company and Management Summary

The structure of your staff and teams sets your daycare up for success. In a new daycare center, there’s typically an owner (or franchisee), a center director, staff members, an enrollment or marketing team, accounting/administration, teachers, assistants, cooks, bus drivers, and janitorial staff. For example, the average small daycare business plan includes 8-10 fully licensed and/or certified early education teachers.

how to start a daycare business plan

Financial Forecasts  

A typical financial plan will have monthly sales and revenue forecasts for the first 12 months, and then annual projections for the remaining three to five years. Break your sales forecast down into several rows, focusing on just high-level buckets at this point.   

Knowing how much your daycare will cost to open ahead of time can save you money, stress, and time. Daycare business plan start-up expenses vary by size, enrollment capacity, and miscellaneous needs.

Keep in mind that you can save on staffing costs and cut down on overhead with technology that helps to streamline your center’s operations. After all, 40% of Millennials prefer self-service over human contact when interacting with businesses.   

It’s essential that you find ways to enable families to book tours and enroll online without ever having to make a phone call to the center- reducing time spent on necessary-but-manual tasks for both your staff and inquiring families.  

Finally, articulate your profits and losses based on the data from your sales forecast and your personnel plan plus a list of all your other ongoing expenses associated with running your childcare center.  

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See this Formula for Financial Forecasts

Step 1 : Average cost of tuition per child x your expected enrollments x 12 (annual revenue – assuming each family enrolls their child in one of your summer programs).  

Step 2 : Daycare businesses make around 16% profit from their overall revenue, after daycare expenses. Multiply your number from step 1 by .16 to get your predicted profit.   

Example : Let’s say you plan to charge families an average of $315 per week for childcare. With that, your goal is to enroll 60 students by the time your daycare center opens. Multiply $315 x 60 x 12 (annual revenue). This should come out to $226,800. Lastly, multiply your revenue of $226,800 by .16, which equals a net profit of $36,288 per year.  

Consider Various Funding Sources

Depending on your situation, there’s both loan and grant funding in childcare. Between state tax credits, loans, and grants – there are financing options for a variety of situations.  

Review Your Tax Deduction Options

Collecting tax credits is one way to receive an annual deduction on daycare costs. Based on your state, you can claim tax credits for...  

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Collect Daycare Grants for Your Business

Often, startup costs for opening a daycare are high. Certain states and counties offer grants for new daycare businesses. There are several grant options, depending on your child and family details.   

For example, there’s a Preschool Development Grant Program and a Head Start/Early Head Start grant to provide funding that expands early childhood centers and developmental programs.   

a business plan for a preschool

Know Which Loans Are Available to Daycare Business Owners

While grants are a wonderful option for freshly opened daycare businesses, loans are occasionally easier to come by. They’re offered widely and often have fewer requirements to qualify. Check out a few loan examples for your daycare center.   

  • SBA Loans , otherwise known as Small Business Administration loans, have exceptional rates, low interest, and flexible repayment options.  
  • SBA 7(a) Loans are beneficial for covering pricier equipment funds and real estate. Loans of up to $5 million are available to daycares.  
  • SBA 504 Loans – these are wonderful for business expansions and involve a loan for 50% of the project cost.  

how to start a daycare business plan

Take Actionable Steps to Bring Your Daycare Business to Life

Both Limited Liability Companies and Incorporations offer the significant legal advantage of helping to protect assets from creditors and provide an extra layer of protection against legal liability.  

The main difference between an LLC and a corporation is that an LLC is owned by one or more individuals, and a corporation is owned by its shareholders. In general, the creation and management of an LLC are considered simpler and more flexible than that of a corporation.  

Find the Right Vendors

Choosing the right suppliers for your business is essential. If your vendors aren’t reliable or don’t deliver quality products, your new center will struggle to attract families. As a childcare provider, you will likely need the following vendors at one point or another:  

  • Electrician 
  • Plumber  
  • Food and Beverage Supplier 
  • Educational Materials Supplier  
  • Substitute Staffing Provider 
  • Accountant  
  • Childcare Licensing Consultant 
  • Cleaning & Maintenance  
  • Childcare Management System (CMS) 
  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software  
  • Digital Payments Provider 
  • Online Forms Software  
  • Childcare Experience Software  

All states have different daycare licensing requirements. Generally, you'll follow the steps below.

1) Take a Course

Attend and complete a pre-application course (you’ll receive a certificate at the end – remember to save it).  

2) Submit Your Application

Submit your online licensing application. It'll ask for details about your business that were outlined in the executive summary.

3) Pay Fees

Pay your application fees. The fee depends on your center's capacity or the number of children you plan to enroll.

4) Complete Inspections

An inspection of your business property must be conducted.

5) Submit Your Service Payment

Register and pay for the inspection.

6) Conduct Background Checks

Submit background checks (this may also be an additional charge).

how to start a daycare business plan

For More Information on How to Operate In Licensing Excellence, Listen to the Podcast Below

how to start a daycare business plan

Choose Your Insurance and Liability

  • Provide general liability – stay covered if your center has any property damage or injuries to third parties (children).  
  • Abuse coverage protects your childcare business or franchise. If employees turn out to be abusive towards children, this policy covers defense costs and defends you against financial losses.  
  • Professional liability insurance provides coverage for your business and workers if there is a neglect claim.  
  • Hired and non-owned auto liability ensures everyone is covered if there is a pick-up/drop-off vehicle accident.  

*Liability requirements may vary by state.

How to Gain Enrollment at Your Daycare

From a business owner's perspective, the next step after successfully starting your daycare is to grow your center and gain enrollments.   

Begin by building a strong company culture, actively marketing your daycare center, and finding the right childcare technology to optimize your enrollment process and save time.  

See how to elevate your business plan for daycare with better waitlist management.

Create a Culture Where Staff Want to Work

A daycare center that stands out from the rest has happy staff members that want to work hard. Create a diverse employee culture that feels comfortable openly talking about situations. Provide support, patience, and room for growth. See more tips for creating a healthy and positive culture for your daycare staff .  

how to start a daycare business plan

Market Your Center

A daycare marketing strategy starts with an achievable goal. Do you want to fill your enrollment spots? Do you want to build a waitlist? Should you focus on scheduling more tours or gaining new leads ?   

Choose a goal with measurable results. That way, you can track and analyze your marketing performance. When it comes to how to promote daycare business, marketing helps families realize you're the best childcare center on the block. Promote your centers through...

  • Social media (especially Facebook – 83% of Millennials have a Facebook account).  
  • Landing pages and contact forms on your website  
  • Listing directories  
  • Email and text marketing campaigns  
  • Referrals  
  • Digital advertisements  
  • Flyers  
  • Word-of-mouth marketing  

Tip: childcare experience software that automates the reports you need helps you to save time and improve your return on investment (ROI).  For example, a  Source of Families report shows you where your leads are coming from to optimize your efforts.

Invest In Childcare Experience Software to Build Your Daycare with Less Work  

LineLeader is revolutionary childcare software that automates lead capture, follow-up, scheduling tours, and reports. Craft  beautiful, personalized marketing campaigns to continually grow your business.  Plus, easily manage your curriculum, attendance, and billing with automated center management

Get more from your marketing while saving franchisees 10 hours every week with LineLeader. Automate everything from lead capture and reporting to center management—all from one place.

LineLeader Reports New

Download Your Guide

Resources to help you run your childcare business.

childcare enrollment, childcare marketing, enrollment data, ece business, childcare business, childcare executive

How LineLeader Enhances Personalized Marketing for Childcare Enrollment

a business plan for a preschool

10 Ways LineLeader Streamlines the Parent and Staff Journey in Childcare...

enrollment operations, childcare marketing, childcare enrollment, childcare business, childcare CRM

Adapting Enrollment Strategies Post-Pandemic: What Childcare Centers Need...

Additional resources.

For more information on specific childcare resources regarding marketing tools, campaigns, tips, and best practices - see below.

1. Learn hidden secrets no one tells you about starting a childcare business .

2. See how to operate in childcare licensing excellence to boost enrollment.

3. Beth Fiori of Tiny Treasures provides expert tips. check out ways to improve your business plan for daycare with enhanced waitlist management.

4. Discover tips to maintain the best childcare center on the block.

5. Gain advice for strengthening your daycare staff culture. 

6. Learn the benefits of building a daycare business plan , at a glance. 

LineLeader Video Resources

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Keeping a group of toddlers occupied and writing a strong business plan may be very different tasks, but both take patience, time, and coordinating a few moving pieces.

You bring the child care skills, this guide will help out with the other one, outlining the five key areas to include in an effective child care business plan.

From financial projections to local business marketing strategies , here are the most important sections of a successful daycare business plan.

1. Executive summary

Your childcare business plan will be as functional to your business as a shelf stocked with Curious George. Not only is it an essential document if you’re raising funds for your business, but it’s also a helpful way to organize your thoughts and plans for yourself and to share them with employees.

Start every business plan with a summary to hook whoever’s reading it to learn more about your company and your proposal. Think of it a little like a sales pitch for your business and a preview of everything you lay out inside. Be sure to include:

Contact information – Include your name, number, address, email, and any other relevant contact information so potential partners know how to get in touch.

Business concept – Whether a one-person babysitting service or a 24/7 child care facility, include key details of your business, including staff size, services, a summary of general operations, and the required operating licenses you have or plan to get.

Business structure – List owners, partners, managers, and employees, and explain the structure of your business and how it will run. This should also include your target demographic and basic marketing plans.

Mission – Share your reason for starting a childcare business. For Matt and Anne Evers , owners of the Primrose School of Atascocita in Kingwood, TX, their business is personal: “Since both of our children attend the school it is very easy for us to ask ourselves when making daily decisions, ‘What’s the best choice for the child? What will result in the best outcome for [them]?’”

Keep the executive summary to one or two pages. You’ll have the space to dive deeper into the details of your childcare business in the following sections.

2. Location details

Child care is a local business, which means location, community needs, and demographics are all key in planning your grand opening.

Your business location will likely fall into one of two categories of childcare businesses:

Inside your home – Operating within your home can mean less overhead costs, fewer rental expenses, and more flexibility. To comply with local and state safety regulations, you may be required to renovate or change portions of your home. 

Outside your home – Factor in rent, utilities, and any necessary repairs to the property. Whether renting in a residential neighborhood or purchasing a commercial property, summarize your general knowledge of the building and neighborhood, plus why you plan to operate there in this section.

Since your location is important to your childcare business, include insurance costs, relevant zoning laws, neighborhood information, and applicable details on kitchen and bathroom facilities.

3. Financial layout

An effective business plan will share both a compelling narrative for your idea and the steps you’ll take to make it a success. Your financial planning section should be well-researched with estimates for costs, the funding you’re seeking, and projected growth over the next three or more years. While this section is necessary for investors and partners, it will also give you a working plan to help your childcare business run smoothly and make a profit.

When fleshing out the financial section of your business plan, include details like:

Tax plan – Share your business’s legal structure — commonly C or S corporation, general or limited partnership, sole proprietor, or limited liability company — to plan for taxes.

Insurance – Assess risk, liability, protection, and coverage options to ensure you’ve covered all the necessary bases. 

Budget – Include both costs and projected profit for your child care business accounting for personnel, equipment, supplies, professional fees, and other expenses. Include monthly and annual budgets, as well as a cash-flow forecast.

Detail your plans for fluctuations, which is common for childcare businesses. Take it from Danielle Burns, director of Lil’ Red Barn Academy in Washington whose business experienced an influx of children in the summer of 2021, despite the summer typically being a slower time.

If you run into questions with the financial section of your business plan, consider tapping an accountant for help, especially if they have advised other local businesses in your area.

4. Marketing plan

It’s almost time to spread the word about your services. Building a marketing plan as a neighborhood business is more than catchy slogans and photos of cute kids. In this section, show your understanding of your local market and how your business will support it.

When developing your marketing plan, include:

Market analysis – Summarize the state of childcare in your area: Will you be one of five daycares on the block, or are you opening up within a community that’s lacking in childcare options? Consider neighborhood trends, your competition, and the average cost of child care in your neighborhood. Include information on your target clientele and how you’ll meet their needs to show your business’s potential.

Business niche – Whether you’re focused on a specific age group or specializing in evening care, explain where you fit into the overall childcare industry and how any unique services will distinguish you from the competition.

The 5 P’s: Price, product, promotion, place, and people – You’ll want to make sure you’re offering the right prices and products to the right people in the most effective way possible. Analyze market and demographic data for marketing or advertising plans for your childcare business to reach the right clients for your business.

Start with a free business page on Nextdoor . Set one up for your local business in minutes to instantly unlock a following of your most valuable customers: neighbors. Show up in local searches when neighbors look for childcare options near them, share updates as you open and grow, and build trust in your business with recommendations.  

5. Daily operations

The details of your day-to-day operations are just as important as the big picture ideas and long-term goals you’re setting. Use this section for the details of your services, including information on:

Personnel – List your team along with the goals and responsibilities of each of their roles. Share details of your hiring practices and staff policies, from sick leave to the termination process. 

Structure – Include a schedule for what a typical day at your daycare looks like highlighting what makes your business unique: lunch or nutrition plans, classes and other organized activities, playtime, exercise, and storytime.

Parental policies – The two most important details with parents are how you plan to keep them informed, and what your policies are. Pick-up and drop-off requirements, what happens if they’re late for pick-up, behavioral issues — build an action plan to set expectations when they first enroll their children.

Emergency plans – Include fire escape plans, medical protocol, and other possible contingency plans as part of your daily operational details.

Build a community with Nextdoor

The building blocks of a successful childcare service start with a comprehensive business plan. From there, your business will rely on your local community and how you’re able to meet the needs of the families in your neighborhood to thrive. 

With one in three U.S. households on Nextdoor , neighbors use the app every day to get things done, connect with everyone and everything nearby, and pass along local recommendations. With 50,000 shared each week, make the next recommendation for your child care services with a free business page and a plan to reach local families who need them.

Nextdoor Editorial Team

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Nothing can be more scary than the apprehension any parent get out of finding the right people to leave their child with. Or the institution they have to trust to instill learning of the kid at an early age, while they are away on weekdays. You can get wary with all the options available. You may also see preschool templates .

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Choosing A Child Care Center

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Evaluate Your Readiness

  • passionate about helping children develop their learning thereby helping their families
  • ready being your own boss, leading a facility with the skills and proper mindset to make this a small business that have every potential to succeed. You can also read daycare business plans .
  • Have the right education or at least a background in child care or are willing to be trained and learn the skills as well as hire people who have
  • You will also need certain qualifications for your staff to meet licenses and certification required by the state to allow you to operate and accept enrollees. You can also like startup business plans .

1. Business Plan and Needs Assessment

  • How many parents or families with young children live in your area and how many of them need to be in a preschool? You may also see bakery business plans .
  • Who else in your area are child care providers? Is age group necessary in their facility?
  • How does the preschool market look like in your area? How much will it cost to manage a program on a regular basis? What figures do yo need to ask from potential partners to offer a profitable child care program? You can also read construction business plans .
  • How will you attract parents enough for them to be convinced by your mission?
  • What will make your preschool business different from the rest?

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2. Prepare and invest on your facility

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How to Start a Daycare: A 10-Step Guide

The hardest part of starting a daycare center is knowing where to start. LegalZoom tells you how to turn your wish into a reality.

Ready to start your business? Plans start at $0 + filing fees.

a business plan for a preschool

by   Swara Ahluwalia

Swara has over six years of writing experience in the software, manufacturing, and small business segments. When she ...

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Updated on: August 27, 2024 · 12 min read

Is now the time to start a daycare?

How to open a daycare in 10 steps, how to get started with your new business.

Despite the rise of remote work, the demand for daycare services is at an all-time high. According to Grand View Research, a leading research publication, the U.S. child care industry stood at $63 billion as of 2023, and the market is expected to grow by another 5.86% through 2030. 

For an entrepreneur looking to start a small business in child care, these numbers certainly exhibit opportunities for success and profit. But where does one begin? 

A child seated at a table pretends to paint on the face of a daycare worker as she tries to get him to concentrate on his lesson.

Let LegalZoom help. Learn how to start the daycare center of your dreams.

We’d say yes! This year and the coming years are poised to be lucrative times to step into the child care market. Trends driving this surge in demand include:

  • Parents returning to the office
  • High demand for women-led industries , like health care and educational services
  • Increasing number of parents pursuing higher education and specialized training 
  • More women pursuing entrepreneurship
  • Increased awareness about early childhood education 
  • More homes where both parents are working

From a business standpoint, a child care business presents ongoing demand and exciting prospects. Here are some numbers to back that up.

  • Approximately 62% of U.S. children population are in some form of child care
  • Profit margins are a respectable 10%-15% 
  • Start-up costs range from $10,000-$50,000
  • Recovering economy is poised to give parents more disposable income
  • More grant options for child care businesses from organizations like First Children’s and WomensNet

Excited about working with children and running your own business? The pathway to success begins with market research. 

Step 1: Research your market

The child care business has stiff competition, and to be successful, you need to know what you’re up against and what you need to do.

Here are a few steps that help you dig deep and assess whether a child care center is a viable business idea.

  • Analyze demand. Study your area's demographics, like parental income, families with kids, and population trends, to identify if there’s a demand for your business. The U.S. Census is a good starting point for this information. 
  • Finalize age group. Daycare centers cover a spectrum of age groups, each with its benefits and challenges. It’s important to understand which group you wish to serve. In addition, assess your skill set—are you better with babies or more comfortable dealing with toddlers or older?
  • Study the competition. Look at local child care centers and learn their set up, target market, pricing strategy, and what they bring to the table. You can even examine their cost structure—what the salaries and rent expenditures are, and how much the supplies and materials cost?   
  • Identify market gaps. Ask yourself, “What can you do to differentiate yourself?” and “What are the pain points of the parents?” 
  • Understand state guidelines. While a bachelor's degree in education is not mandatory for running a daycare, the job involves working with a vulnerable age group and some teaching and training. Many states require daycare business owners to have some minimum qualification, like a GED, an associate degree in childhood education, or a child development associate certification. If you're missing this, get started as you build your center. Your state’s office of  Child Care Services or Health and Human Services can give you all the details about the training, experience, and credentials you need to legally operate a child care center.

Step 2: Find a location

Many people have successful child care centers operating from their homes or basements when state law permits. If you plan to go that route, ensure you have a safe and sufficient place in your house that doesn’t disturb your own children or family members' daily routines. 

If you need to look externally, run an online search and contact local recreational clubs, gyms, churches, and other small businesses. Often, they will have an underutilized space they can rent out at an affordable price. 

Location parameters to keep in mind while you go space hunting include: 

  • Accessibility
  • Scalability

After you have narrowed down location options, check with your local zoning, fire, homeowner association, and health department for compliance requirements.

Step 3: Make a daycare business plan

Having an idea isn’t enough; to operate a successful daycare center you need a well-thought-out business plan that includes everything from competitor analysis to financial statements, marketing strategy, and details about managing conflicts.

Your business plan should detail the following: 

  • Your business entity structure. A small business owner can opt between a sole proprietorship, limited liability company, or S corporation. Your chosen structure will influence your tax filings, bookkeeping, administrative duties, and daily operations. LegalZoom can help you  select and form a registered business entity that aligns with your business goals.
  • Business proposition. What service does your daycare provide—full-day, half-day, or an after-school program? Will the daycare follow a certain learning philosophy like Waldorf or Montessori? Will extra services like reading classes or tutoring be offered? Write out your mission statement and short and long-term goals . 
  • Pricing strategy. How will you charge parents? Will discounts be offered for those who sign up long-term? Your market research will help you set a pricing plan. 
  • Operating plan. How will the day-to-day run? What processes will help you manage the place? Will you be hiring staff, or will your daycare be a one-person show? 
  • Business expenses and financial projections. Include accurate start-up costs and expense estimates alongside income projections. Do you have enough savings to cover the startup costs ? If not, how will you secure funds? Be realistic about when you expect to start making money and leave some buffer for future and unexpected expenses. Getting into the financial nitty-gritty will give you a framework to operate.
  • Marketing strategy. How will you reach your target audience? Will you rely on social media or a door-to-door campaign? Also, consider local partnerships (schools and businesses) you can establish to bring in clients.

The more planning and prep work done upfront, the higher the chances of success. SCORE offers a  business plan template that can ensure a strong start off the blocks.

Step 4: Get your licenses and permits 

Securing the right licenses, permits, and certifications is one of the most important aspects of starting any business. These licenses and certifications protect your business from unfavorable conditions and often inform your customers about your commitment to safety.

Licenses and permits that you may require are: 

  • Family child care home license
  • Commercial group child care license
  • General business license
  • Building permit 
  • Fire permit
  • Health-related permit 

Most permits and licensing requirements are regulated by the state government. Also, the licenses and permits required depend on the size of the daycare and whether you are operating from your home or a commercial place. LegalZoom’s Business Licenses service can help identify and meet your licensing requirements.

Step 5: Secure funding

The financial aspect of your child care center business might not be as fun as selecting a name or designing the space. Still, it’s a catalyst that gets you one step closer to becoming a successful entrepreneur. 

Can’t bootstrap your way into business and require external financial assistance? Don't panic, here are a few  alternative sources of money that you can look at: 

  • Small Business Administration (SBA) microloans. These loans, typically between $500 to $10,000, are mainly geared towards startups. They are given to women, minorities, and those operating in low-income areas.
  • Online business loans. Online loans are an alternate means of getting capital that doesn’t have the same barriers as traditional business loans, like stronger credit scores or years of establishment. They also tend to provide quicker access to capital but with higher interest rates.
  • Private and government grants. An attractive source of funding because you don’t have to pay back the amount. Grants are generally offered by the government, private foundations, or corporations. Check out your state’s Child Care and Development Fund Administrators and grant marketplaces like OpenGrant and GrantWatch to see if you qualify for any. 
  • Business credit cards. A cost-effective, fast, and short-term way to cover your startup costs even if you don’t have the best credit rating. The advantage of a business credit card is it can actually help you build credit while keeping your personal and business expenses separate. These cards can also link directly to a business bank account.
  • Crowdfunding. A popular and inexpensive way to raise funds without any obligation to pay back the debt. Crowdfunding allows small business owners to reach a wider pool of investors through an online portal. Popular crowdfunding sites include Fundable, Kickstarter, and Indiegogo. 

Step 6: Design your daycare center

This is the best part! Proper design and layout of your daycare can be instrumental in fostering a nurturing environment where kids can thrive and grow. The challenge you might face is designing an aesthetically pleasing and functional that abides by the required safety regulations. You can hire an interior designer or get ideas from Pinterest to overcome this hurdle.

While designing, factor in the following: 

  • Designated areas for learning, napping, and eating
  • Child safety locks and gates for stairs, storage, and equipment
  • Open floor space that allows for movement
  • Cleaning and sanitizing of all equipment and surfaces
  • Security measures like CCTV cameras, smoke detectors, and fire extinguishers

Running a daycare center requires massive investment in supplies and equipment—from tables and chairs, disinfectants, wipes, and books to toys and bibs and various art materials. You can search online marketplaces to find preloved materials at a bargain or explore suppliers like Discount School Supply and Lakeshore Learning. 

Step 7: Hire qualified staff (if required)

The need to hire staff depends on your state of residence as well as the age and number of children in your daycare. For example, in New York State, a child care center must have one adult for every six children under the age of six. 

Your state’s Office of Child and Family Services or licensing agency can inform you of the required staff-to-children ratio and the necessary qualifications and experience for hired staff.

There are still more things you have to complete after you have identified the number of people you need: 

  • Run necessary background checks , including criminal background checks and references.
  • Sign contractor or full-time employment agreements to protect your business from fraudulent claims and ensure there are no discrepancies about roles, responsibilities, and pay. 
  • Create detailed job descriptions so everyone knows what they have to do. 
  • Train staff on child development, early learning frameworks, emergency preparedness, and basic health and safety measures like CPR and first aid. 

An employment attorney can steer you away from legal issues and ensure you’re following your state’s employment laws and mandates while hiring and managing your staff. 

Step 8: Create a business handbook

This business handbook is the master blueprint your daycare runs on. If you have any doubts or confusion about how to deal with the families or your staff, the handbook should have the answers. 

For families, the handbook should cover crucial logistical information, such as:

  • Enrollment procedures
  • Tuition fees and payment procedures
  • Description of curriculum and activities
  • Field trip process
  • Health and safety measures
  • Sick kid protocol
  • Communication policy
  • Discipline code 
  • Pick-up and drop process
  • Food and nutrition (if you are providing meals)

For your staff, the employment handbook should include:

  • Pay and benefits
  • Personal leave policy
  • Child care guidelines
  • Hiring and termination procedures
  • Disaster and emergency plans
  • Performance evaluation process
  • Hygiene and cleanliness protocols 

Step 9: Market your daycare

You can have the best daycare in the area, but nobody will know about it if you don’t market it. And by marketing, we don’t just mean a few flyers or social media posts; an entire strategy has to be set that addresses the question, “Why should families choose you?” 

To start, pick a creative name for your daycare and design a logo. You can collaborate with a graphic designer or utilize online design tools like Canva and Snappa. Getting a trademark can protect your business from potential copycats.

In today’s world, an online presence is a must. Develop a business website and social media presence. You don’t need to be active on all channels—just the ones that resonate with your target audience. 

Pro tip: Get a website domain name and social media handle that matches your business name. It will create brand consistency and make it easier for parents to find you. 

A free and powerful marketing tool is to set up a Google Business Profile. Collaborate with local businesses, like libraries, gyms, restaurants, and grocery stores, to advertise your business. Also, getting featured in a local newspaper or hosting an open house or free parenting class can also go a long way. 

Step 10: Stage your grand opening

This is premiere night, and you should put on a show to get people through the door. You’ve one shot to make a positive impression, so give this your all. 

A popular and effective way of getting people through the door is to host an opening with engaging activities that speak to your target group. Consider offering:

  • Scavenger hunts
  • Art and craft sessions
  • Reading time

This allows you to showcase your skills while potential clients get first-hand experience of what it would be like for their child. To boost brand recall, make sure every person who attends leaves with a memorable freebie with your daycare’s name and logo, such as tote bags, stationery items, or even a T-shirt. 

Pro tip: You can further encourage attendees to submit enrollment forms by offering a special discount, such as waived registration fees or a significant discount. 

Starting a business is challenging, but it’s also the most rewarding and fulfilling experience. We understand that the start-up to-do list may seem endless, but remember, you don’t have to do it all on your own. 

We can turn your passion for transforming future generations into a thriving business with our Business Formation services. With the right information and resources for every big or small question, our start-up experts will smoothen your entrepreneurship journey.

Can I run a child care center from my home?

You might be able to, but it’s best to check with your local licensing authority about the number of kids you can care for and the space requirements for a home-based daycare. 

How much does a daycare owner make? 

It’s difficult to pinpoint an exact figure because it depends on the number of kids enrolled, operational costs, location, and competition. If you are in an area with multiple other family child care providers, you will have to keep your rates competitive. 

What insurance do I need for my daycare? 

Daycare centers typically require property, workers' compensation, professional, and general liability insurance coverage. An insurance broker can help you pick the right policies for your business.

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  • +91 9100065704
  • drskids , Franchise

How to do a Preschool Business Plan

admin

  • November 20, 2021

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INTRODUCTION

1. executive summary -.

- The first and crucial step of preparing a preschool business plan is to start with an executive summary. The executive summary must consist of your objective and unique selling point. It should talk about the aspects that make your preschool stand out from the rest.

- DRS Kids aims to function as a fun and nurturing play school for children from 1.5 - 6 years. We stand out as we provide a rich, stimulating environment to satisfy the learning needs of children. We strive towards the development of their social, emotional, physical, and academic skills.

2. ABOUT YOU -

- Yes, you need to talk about your preschool in the plan. Mention what, when, how, and every other possible question, but briefly. Firstly, the organization itself needs to understand what they are. Then comes the plan on how they plan to execute their identity to the general public.

- DRS Kids, a preschool chain, provides a joyous learning environment. The curriculum provided is scientifically researched to maximize the development of children. The preschool environment is safe, educational, and nurturing. The creche cum daycare facilities and market segmentation makes DRS Kids feasible for urban as well as rural areas.

3. MARKETING PLAN -

- Marketing is an integral part of business. The extent to which you market your business is what determines your success. It aims at building brand awareness using various ways. One is even open to select the type of marketing they wish to do for their business. The requirement is to strategize the further proceedings of their plan based on that.

- We, at DRS Kids, provide major support to our preschool franchises when it comes to marketing. We plan a customized marketing strategy for them and provide them with all the marketing collateral required. We also offer them training for admission counselling as a part of marketing. Additionally, we do national brand marketing through televisions ads, official websites, social media platforms, etc.

4. OPERATIONAL PLAN -

- The functioning strategy of your business is it's operation plan of actin. Mention the location of your preschool and the number of employees that you plan to employ. Make sure to form the departments that will exist in the organization. Specify the possible division strategy of employees into each department. Ensure that the operational plan has a list of the tasks assigned to each department or each member. The list should also mention the deadlines of each task.

- We, at DRS Kids, make the whole process of operational planning easy for our preschool. We provide them with the operational expenditure plan, the staff recruitment plan, and the student enrollment plan. We even provide them with a welcome and consolidated kit that consists of essential manuals & documents.

- Team is the core aspect of a business, both in the plan and in the implementation. A business is highly dependent on the team that works to build it. Mention all your team members in the business plan. It should include all the members from all the departments.

- DRS Kids provides overall support to our clients to recruit the entire team for their preschool.

6. PROJECT STARTUP COSTS -

- Plan your finances and lay down the same plan firmly. It familiarizes you with the expenses that await you shortly. This way of strategizing helps in the proper implementation of your plan and promotes organized spending.

- DRS Kids preschool franchises are affordable as they do not burn a hole in your pockets. We provide our clients with a revenue projection list, which is a part of our business proposal. We currently have a zero franchise fee offer which further adds to our clients’ savings.

Also Read:- How to start a preschool in india

7. projected profit & loss statement -.

- The profit gained out of a business is the definition of its success. Profit and loss statements help in target setting and better functioning. Similarly, loss will possess this application too. Hence, while making a business plan, it is important to add a combined projected profit and loss statement

- The DRS Kids business proposal shares a project feasibility report with the franchisee. This way the process is hassle-free for them. The business proposal provided is completely informative in itself. We simplify the process for making business plan for clients.

• CONCLUSION -

- So far it is clear that a preschool business plan is a written document. It consists of the organization’s business-related activities and goals. It also gives information about how it wishes to execute its plan to achieve the mentioned goals. The business plan document is not supposed to remain constant. This is mainly because growth and evolution are important aspects of a business. Hence, as the business grows, the modification of information in the document is important too. In simpler words, we can say that it is a document that develops and evolves as your business grows. At DRS Kids, we provide you with a business proposal that satisfies all the above-mentioned requirements. The process of building a business with us is effortless.

Mr. Garv Agarwal

Garv

  • Curriculum for preschool , Government permission to open a preschool , How much area is required for preschool , How much investment to start a preschool , How to start a preschool , How to start a preschool in India , How to start playschool & daycare , Legal procedure to start a preschool in India , Open a preschool , Permission to start a preschool , Permission to start a preschool in India , Preschool affiliation in India , Procedure to start a preschool , Process to open a Playschool in India , Registration of a playschool

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IMAGES

  1. 14+ Preschool Business Plan Templates in Google Docs

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  2. Preschool Business Plan Template Lovely Daycare Business Plan Sample

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  3. Preschool Business Plan Template Luxury 28 Business Plan Templates Word

    a business plan for a preschool

  4. FREE 13+ Sample Daycare Business Plan Templates in MS Word

    a business plan for a preschool

  5. 14+ Preschool Business Plan Templates in Google Docs

    a business plan for a preschool

  6. 14+ Preschool Business Plan Templates in Google Docs

    a business plan for a preschool

VIDEO

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COMMENTS

  1. Preschool Business Plan Template [Updated 2024]

    Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P's: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a preschool business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following: Product: In the product section, you should reiterate the type of preschool company that you documented in your company overview.

  2. Preschool Business Plan Template [2024 Updated]

    Download Template. Create a Business Plan. If you are planning to start a new Preschool business, the first thing you will need is a business plan. Use our sample business plan created using upmetrics business plan software to start writing your business plan in no time. Before you start writing your business plan for your new preschool ...

  3. Preschool Business Plan [Sample Template]

    Preschool Business Plan [Sample Template] Preschool industry operators provide daycare services for children under the ages of three and four to prepare them for kindergarten. The dispersion of the preschool programs reflects in the geographic distribution of the children, which is also influenced by the cost and supply of preschool programs ...

  4. How to Write a Business Plan for Daycare and Preschool

    Your local government will have rules and regulations you'll need to follow as a small business owner and childcare provider. Start by reviewing the for your state and city. Once you're clear on licensing guidelines, you're ready to start writing your childcare business plan. The purpose of a business plan is to help secure funding.

  5. The Daycare Business Plan Blueprint (Examples + Template)

    This daycare business plan example shows you how to include this vital information: "The daycare will be located at 123 Main Street in a commercial space currently leased by the owner. The lease agreement is for three years with an option to renew for an additional three years.

  6. How to Make a Preschool Business Plan

    Meet the iron triangle. For a preschool business to be financially stable, the iron triangle must be met: Full enrollment: ensure that all of your spaces are full. Full fee collection: ensure that you are collecting all of your tuition and on time. Revenue covers real cost-per-child: you need to ensure you are priced in such a way that your ...

  7. Preschool Business Plan [Sample Template for 2022]

    A Sample Preschool Business Plan Template. 1. Industry Overview. The Preschool industry operators provide day care services for children under the ages of three and four to prepare them for kindergarten. The dispersion of the preschool programs reflects in the geographic distribution of the children, which is also influenced by the cost and ...

  8. How to Write An Effective Preschool Business Plan

    Conclusion: Your preschool business plan needs to be clearly outlined before you open your doors. This will ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible, in both the short-term and long-term. You'll need to make decisions regarding costs, operating policies, and procedures, examine your market needs, and develop an effective promotion ...

  9. How to Write Preschool Business Plan? Example & Guide

    A preschool business plan is a detailed document that outlines the vision, objectives, and operational strategies for a preschool. It serves as a blueprint for launching and managing your ...

  10. Daycare Business Plan PDF Example

    August 27, 2024. Business Plan. Creating a comprehensive business plan is crucial for launching and running a successful daycare. This plan serves as your roadmap, detailing your vision, operational strategies, and financial plan. It helps establish your daycare's identity, navigate the competitive market, and secure funding for growth.

  11. How to Write a Child Care Business Plan

    The business plan itself can be a lengthy document. The executive summary should be a summary of all the elements of your business, so the reader can get the gist of what the rest of the plan contains. The executive summary should include all the nitty-gritty details of your daycare such as the address, hours of operation, and the number of ...

  12. Preschool Business Plan Sample [2024 Updated]

    Step4: Get Funding. Any business needs money to start and function before it can become self-sustaining. To get the initial funding for LearnALot, Theo decided to write up a strong business plan that would wow the investors. Step5: Find a Physical Space. Every business, big or small, needs space to function.

  13. How to Develop a Business Plan for a Preschool

    A business plan is essential for the success of your venture. In this, we'll go over how to develop a comprehensive business plan that will help you launch and grow your preschool. Starting a preschool can be a rewarding and profitable venture. However, it's important to have a solid business plan in place to ensure the success of your ...

  14. Preschool Business Plan

    Documents like a kindergarten business plan, and a play school business plan, among others, will help you survive the initial onslaught of the endeavor while guiding you for months or even years to come. Scroll on to learn more and to find some of the best preschool business plan examples anywhere. Preschool Business Plan Examples & Templates 1.

  15. The Ultimate Guide to Launching Your Preschool Business

    Aspiring owners can use these 9 steps as the answer to how to start a preschool business with ease. 1) Planning is the Essential First Step…. If You Want Success. 2) Competitor Research: Know the Market. 3) Research & Identify Licensing & Legal Requirements to Start a Preschool Business. 4) Find Your Dream Preschool Location.

  16. How to Write Preschool Business Plan? Guide & Template

    Jan 8, 2024. Starting a preschool is a rewarding venture that requires careful planning and strategic thinking. One of the crucial steps in launching a successful preschool is to create a ...

  17. Daycare Business Plan Creation

    It all starts with creating a good daycare business plan. With the right plan in place, opening a daycare has never been easier! Our comprehensive guide will walk you through creating a business plan. At the end, be sure to download our free template and hit the ground running! Video - Daycare Business Plan.

  18. Preschool Business Plan: 6 Key Points to Consider

    A preschool business plan requires eduprenuers to state how their preschool solves problems. This helps investors to visualise the success chances of your preschool business plan. 2. Project Cost & Time to Recover and Profit . Opening a business such as a daycare preschool will attract costs. The costs will vary in amount and owners need to ...

  19. How to Write a Preschool Business Plan

    A preschool business plan is a useful tool for starting any kind of new business, not just a pre-school. It provides you with the necessary information to make informed decisions. It also keeps you under a time limit and focused on your goals. Whether you are starting a preschool, childcare center, or any other type of small business you should ...

  20. Daycare Business Plan + Executive Summary w/ Examples

    One daycare business plan example - a positioning statement for a 24-hour childcare center in Austin, Texas may look like this: "For the Austin-based family who is seeking childcare around the clock, Jenny's 24-Hour Daycare is a safe option for young children with nutritional meals, best-in-industry sleeping arrangements, a clean outdoor ...

  21. How to create a childcare or daycare business plan

    Set one up for your local business in minutes to instantly unlock a following of your most valuable customers: neighbors. Show up in local searches when neighbors look for childcare options near them, share updates as you open and grow, and build trust in your business with recommendations. 5. Daily operations.

  22. 11+ Preschool Business Plan Templates

    Here are some of the things you should consider: 1. Avoid expecting that you can perform a miracle and teach them to read and write immediately. Even in a ballet class, you cannot expect they can dance, the way you do. Or that they can do it, exactly how you want it done. Get the moves, but let them do it their way.

  23. How to Start a Daycare: A 10-Step Guide

    Step 3: Make a daycare business plan. Having an idea isn't enough; to operate a successful daycare center you need a well-thought-out business plan that includes everything from competitor analysis to financial statements, marketing strategy, and details about managing conflicts. Your business plan should detail the following:

  24. How to Do a Preschool Business Plan

    1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY -. - The first and crucial step of preparing a preschool business plan is to start with an executive summary. The executive summary must consist of your objective and unique selling point. It should talk about the aspects that make your preschool stand out from the rest.

  25. StarLite Pet Motel, inspired by Dilworth's historic Star Lite Motel

    This may be Olson's first midcentury-inspired pet motel, but it isn't her first dog-boarding business. The lifetime pet-lover opened her first boarding facility, Petopia, in Grand Forks in 2018.