I Made A List, Now What?

[sgmb id=”1″]Hello my friend!

I hope you got to read my last blog NEW YEAR, NEW DAYCARE PLAN. (If you missed it, no worries you can find it HERE). In my blog I encouraged you to make a list of things that you like about your business and that you dislike about your business. So here is a big question:

DID YOU DO IT?

If you haven’t got a chance to make your list yet, please take some time to do so. Perhaps you can get away to a coffee shop or a bookstore with your planner in hand so you can make your agendas for 2017. Treat yourself to a cup of coffee and a cookie because who said that planning has to be boring? Not me!

And if you are a person who made your “like” and “dislike” list – GOOD JOB, my friend!
But you might be wondering “ I made a list, now what?”

I am glad you asked, because your question leads us to the next step on our journey to become a successful and satisfied daycare provider.

What are some of the things that you recorded on the “dislike” list? Let’s take a closer look at those, but please don’t get discouraged and overwhelmed because you don’t have to address all of them at the same time. Pick a few that will become your priority, give yourself a deadline of when you would like the changes to take place and go for it, girlfriend. You can do it! Remember, I am right here cheering for you. Don’t give up now, your better tomorrow is just around the corner. It will take some work, but you will get there – I promise.

So let me guess some of the frustrating things that you wrote down:

CLUTTER – So you don’t like all the toys, books, puzzles and blocks laying around making your daycare space look cluttered and disorganized? What are you going to do about it? Pick a room that you will work on, one room at the time, or an area that you will work on. Get the supplies you need before you start or you will make no progress. Do you need to buy some extra plastic containers and labels? Each container will have certain toys in it or puzzles or whatever you chose, but make sure everything is assigned to a container. It will make your clean up easier and faster, and it will help children to know where to put their toys after they are done playing with them. It’s a win win for everybody.

CONTRACT – Read carefully through your contact, and highlight the areas that do not work for you anymore. Maybe your hours need to change or your prices need to go up. How about the holidays and sick days? Go over your highlighted areas in the contract and write down the new plan, new hours, new prices, new days off etc. I would give the families at least 3 weeks notice before you enforce your new arrangements. Type up your new policy, date it and have the parents sign it.

PARENTS – Maybe you are enjoying working with the kids, but their parents are the ones who are driving your crazy. Do you have a family that is always late? Do you have a family that always comes early? Do you receive your payments late? Whatever the issues are, write them down (remember, you are more likely to accomplish your goals if you write them down) and approach each issue individually. Perhaps, you don’t answer your door until the time you are supposed to be open, enforce late pick up fees, and don’t accept the child until you receive your payment. Whatever you decide to do about your parents issues be respectful yet firm. You will thank me for this tip one day. It will save you a lot of stress, trust me on this one.

These are just a few areas that probably made it on your “dislike” list, but I am sure there are more. By now you get the idea of how to make adjustments and revisions to your daycare program. Go down your dislike list, write down the specific changes that need to take place, give yourself a timeline and communicate with your daycare families.

You can do this, girl! I believe in you!

After all your hard work, please take a look at your “Like” list and be proud of yourself because you are doing a good job. There are many things that are going well in your business because you figured out what works best for your program and it’s admirable.

xoxo, Sylvie