sample business plan for children's home

CHILDREN’S HOME BUSINESS PLAN: Guide to Starting a Children’s Home Business Plan

• by Folakemi Adegbaju
• August 14, 2023
• No comments
• 7 minute read

Table of Contents Hide

What is a children’s home, #1. create a business plan, #2. registration with the regulator (ofsted), #3. property, #4. staffing matters in children’s home, #5. market survey, #6. funding, #7. advertise your children’s home, who is children’s home created for, #1. executive summary, #2. market analysis, #3. detail your marketing plan, #4. outline your organization and management, #5. milestones, final thoughts, how long does it take to register a children's home, what do ofsted look for in children's homes.

Starting a children’s home can appear like an appealing option because the monetary obstacles are low and the financial rewards can be considerable. If you have always cherished assisting those in need and have a tendency to reach out to those in need, you may agree that orphans are among those who require the most love and encouragement. Reaching out to folks in need of love and care is one thing; being able to act to improve their lives is quite another. A good children’s home business plan, which is also known as a residential children’s home plan, is necessary when setting up a children’s home. You must have the necessary policies and procedures in place, as well as business planning, risk assessments, and qualified and competent personnel.

This is for you if you’re having trouble with the process of starting a children’s home business plan.

Get started today!

People under the age of 18 are considered children. Children’s homes, also known as residential children’s homes, are a place to stay when foster care is not ideal for you or your needs. One possibility is to open a children’s home in a separate structure. However, it necessitates a significant amount of labor.

Children’s homes have higher administrative and management costs than other forms of child care enterprises, in addition to more severe licensing requirements. One of the most exciting things you can do is learn how to open a children’s home and take your children’s home from concept to reality. However, it can be a long and tough route with many barriers and diversions.

How to Start a Children’s Home

The following are steps you need to take when starting a children’s home:

Your ideas are worthless unless you have a solid plan to back them up. A business plan can be written in two ways: as a one-of-a-kind and simple piece for your own use, or as a foundational and financially sound document to attract investors. However, when it comes to investing, no one can do it without the assistance of an experienced business plan writer . Keep in mind that the intention of a residential children’s home business plan is to filter out the most important aspects of your care business. Whatever route you take, there are three things that you must include in your residential children’s home business plan.

It is critical that before opening a children’s home, you need to follow the regulations as the administrator. Children’s home is highly regulated, and you must meet the specified requirements in order to operate. You need to understand that the average duration from application to registration is currently 17 weeks.

The following are the steps to take when registering :

• Fill out an SC1 and attach all of the required documents to it.
• OFSTED will conduct additional checks and may request additional information. Examining your DBS, GP health evaluation, and sending out requests to your referees are all part of this process.
• OFSTED will interview you, your source, and your management in order to determine your appropriateness and whether or not the registration conditions have been completed.
• They will inspect the provision twice a year once you register. A poor inspection report can affect the likelihood of receiving placement authority recommendations.

Due care and effort must be exercised before investing in a new property for your children’s home, establishing that they need such a service in the area. Most local governments have a preferred supplier list that they utilize to award contracts. Because you may have a children’s home and not be able to easily access bidders in your area, try to check the location before starting your children’s home in such an area.

You’ll need to think about the type of property you’ll need, where it’ll go (from the perspective of child safety and taking into account neighbors ), and whether or not you’ll need planning approval. You won’t be able to register with OFSTED unless you obtain the necessary permissions for your property, which you must document.

However, planning regulations are always changing, so we always recommend hiring a planning consultant to verify you have the proper rights to operate as a children’s home.

The type of property required, whether you will rent or buy, where it is located both for safety reasons and in relation to neighbors, and whether you will need planning approval, will be the first things to consider.

Anyone interested in opening a children’s home should be aware that it is a highly regulated industry that requires qualified staff and a registered manager. A responsible individual with prior experience is also essential. You’ll have to show OFSTED that you have enough employees with the necessary expertise and credentials to care for children. There will never be an anticipation of a complete complement of personnel from the outset, but enough to open the home and accept your first child. However, the position of the registered manager is crucial, and it is imperative that they have the necessary qualifications, expertise, and skills. As part of the OFSTED registration process, the registered management will be interrogated.

Anyone unfamiliar with a children’s home should be aware of current regulatory and market situations, as well as have thoroughly examined the needs in the targeted geographic location.

The time it takes to start a children’s home is long, and you’ll have to pay a lot of money to get started. Make sure you have enough money to last you until you can accept children. Due to the extensive regulation process, it takes longer to open a children’s home than it does to open other types of care enterprises. As a result, your startup costs are likely to be higher, and you’ll need enough cash to get to the point where you can begin taking children.

However, it’s critical to have a solid and realistic business plan and financial forecast, and OFSTED will most likely examine it closely. To lend credibility to your plan or forecast, it’s a good idea to hire an accountant with professional experience. Working from a freehold property makes the possibility more appealing to lenders and boosts the likelihood of obtaining funds.

Remember that if you want to build a business, you’ll need to teach people about your children’s home. You might distribute fliers and pamphlets to inform people about your it and its location. However, you can also publicize the children’s home through social media, TV, or radio so that people can call you if they need to visit.

For a variety of reasons, children and young people must live away from their families. Here are a few of them:

• For children and young people who are disabled, including those who have physical or learning difficulties.
• Children whose parents are unwell
• Children and adolescents with emotional and/or behavioral issues
• For children and adolescents who have psychological problems.
• For children and young people who are drug or alcohol addicts,
• Those who have committed a crime or those who require additional protection
• Those that are refuges

Children’s Home Business Plan

Writing a business plan for a children’s home might have a variety of reasons. To begin with, a business plan can assist you in organizing your ideas for starting a business by specifying the actions you’ll need to take. After you’ve opened your children’s home, a business plan will help you keep on track as you work toward your objectives. However, a children’s home business plan, on the other hand, isn’t put in law, update it as your children’s home business grows and your goals start changing.

The following are guides to starting a children’s home business plan:

This is in the form of goals and a vision or mission statement. Make a high-level outline of your residential children’s home business plan. Include why you think launching a children’s home business is a smart option in a quick explanation of your aims. Include a summary of your own qualifications and experience, as well as your staffing standards.

What’s the problem your children’s home solves for people? What’s the problem you solve for your customers? Why would they choose you over other alternatives?

You must include an examination of the children’s home industry. Make a list of children’s home trends and forecast revenue for the children’s home industry. Include information on your target market’s needs and how you can meet those needs. Include details on how you want to position your children’s home company for success in the face of stiff competition.

What will you do to promote your children’s home business? If you intend to buy advertising, make a list of the types of ads you intend to run. Keep in mind that different target markets may require different marketing strategies to get your service in front of them.

 Plan how you will communicate your children’s home business benefits to your target market.

Describe the legal structure that you intend to use for your children’s home business. You can form a sole proprietorship if you will be the sole owner of the children’s home business. You will, however, need to form a partnership if you have a partner.

Add details about how you run your firm. Include information about how to hire and train personnel. Cover the legal needs of a children’s home business, such as site safety, emergency care, personnel credentials, and other local laws.

What are the most important tasks you must complete in order to get your business up and running? This will assist you in staying on track and achieving your objectives. Assign targets to your team members so that you have genuine duty and commitment.

The most important aspect of a children’s home business plan is to always review and adjust it when circumstances change. However, it’s possible that your business objectives need to be updated, or that your expense budget needs to be amended. 

At the moment, it takes an average of 17 weeks to complete the procedure from accepting your application to registering your children’s home. 

OFSTED really want proof that employees are familiar with the children, including things they like and dislike, as well as their anxieties and emotions. Workers who are committed to each child’s personal growth and well-being. Your workers must have skills to support the learning process of the children.

To qualify for this position, you do not need any qualifications or training.  For a residential children’s home, your life experience, character, and personality are all vital attributes to bring into the home.

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Folakemi Adegbaju

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5 YEAR BUSINESS PLAN: Steps for Writing a 5 Year Business Plan

Executive summary of a business plan: how to write an effective executive summary.

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A Sample Children’s Home Business Plan Template for UK

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

A children’s home is a large house where children and young people live together as a group, with professional staff to look after them. Children’s homes aim to meet the needs of children who can’t live with their own families. When a child cannot live with their family or stay with foster caregivers, they may go to a children’s home.

A children’s home is a place for children that provides food, shelter, and space for play and leisure in a caring environment. Children’s homes look after children with different needs.

Available statistics show that in the United Kingdom, there were 2,462 children’s homes as of 31 March 2021, an 11% increase (251 homes) from the previous year (2,211). These 2,462 homes were registered for 9,699 places, an 8% increase from 8,996 on 31 March 2020.

Steps on How to Write a Sample Children’s Home Business Plan

Executive summary.

Themes Valley® Children’s Home will be based in Wigan, Lancashire and the organization will be committed to serving a small number of children who will reside in a family-like setting with trained staff and effective programs.

We will house between 10 to 20 children per time in a family setting that offers the potential for them to enjoy full use of community resources, including health care, education, and recreational opportunities. Wayne Philips is the founder and CEO of Themes Valley® Children’s Home.

Company Profile

A. our products and services.

Themes Valley® Children’s Home will provide a wide range of services that revolve around 24-hour supervision, and support to troubled teens in a home-like setting and we will also provide psychiatric services to emotionally disturbed children.

Our products and services are designed to help provide residential treatment for youth for some time, and then facilitate the return of the youth to a family environment (until foster families are found for them), or properly reintegrate them into the community if they are old enough to live on their own.

b. Nature of the Business

Our children’s home will operate as a charity organization, we will source for finance from donor organizations and relevant government agencies.

c. The Industry

Themes Valley® Children’s Home will operate under the orphanages and children’s homes industry.

d. Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide a safe children’s home that will also provide specialized treatment to children subjected to abuse, and also to cater to children with emotional, intellectual, physical, medical, and/or behavioral difficulties.

e. Vision Statement

Our vision of to become the number one children’s home in Wigan, Lancashire.

f. Our Tagline (Slogan)

Themes Valley® Children’s Home – The Family That Is There for You!

g. Legal Structure of the Business 

Themes Valley® Children’s Home will be formed as a charity organization and we will operate as a charitable incorporated organization (CIO).

h. Our Organizational Structure

• Head of Children’s home (President)
• House Manager (Administrator)
• Nurse’s Aides
• Teachers, Caregivers / Rehab Counselors
• Account Officer
• Front Desk Officer
• Security Guards

i. Ownership / Shareholder Structure and Board Members

• Wayne Philips (Owner and Chairman/Chief Executive Officer) 56 Percent Shares
• Andrew Young (Board Member) 14 Percent Shares
• Rowe Anthony (Board Member) 10 Percent Shares
• John McNamara (Board Member) 10 Percent Shares
• Helen Gordon (Board Member and Sectary) 10 Percent Shares.

SWOT Analysis

A. strength.

• Ideal Location for a children’s home facility
• Highly Experienced and Qualified Employees and Management
• Access to Pool of Donor Organizations
• Highly Secured and Clean Facility
• Highly structured programs that help teens live comfortably as though they are with their families.

b. Weakness

• Budget Limitations
• Lack of full-fledged educational structure
• Inability to initially manage the organization without the support of donations and grants
• 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

• The demand from individuals aged 15 and under is expected to remain high because the majority of orphanages and children’s homes cater to children in this age bracket regardless of external circumstances
• Government funding and private donations are anticipated to increase for support for children’s homes.
• The orphanages and children’s homes industry is projected to reverse its decline trend and increase in the coming years.
• A pool of finance from donor organizations, individuals, and relevant government agencies.

i. How Big is the Industry?

The orphanages and children’s home industry is not a big industry in the United Kingdom.

ii. Is the Industry Growing or Declining?

Available statistics point to the fact that the industry is presently growing because there were 2,462 children’s homes as of 31 March 2021, an 11% increase (251 homes) from the previous year (2,211). These 2,462 homes were registered for 9,699 places, an 8% increase from 8,996 on 31 March 2020.

iii. What are the Future Trends in the Industry

The orphanages and children’s home industry is changing, and players in the industry are improvising. No doubt, specialized treatment, technology, and social media will change the landscape of the orphanages and children’s home industry going forward.

iv. Are There Existing Niches in the Industry?

No, there are no niche ideas in the orphanages and children’s home industry.

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

Themes Valley® Children’s Home has plans to sell franchises in the nearest future and we will target major cities with high children abandonment rates in the United Kingdom.

• Lack of support from stakeholders and the government
• Unfavorable government policy and regulations.
• Community resistance
• Liability problems
• Reduction in abusive homes and teenage pregnancies

i. Who are the Major Competitors?

• Fraserburgh Children’s Home.
• Brucefield Children’s Home.
• Neil Street Children’s Home.
• Kincorth Children’s Home.
• Roseberry Specialist Care Centres.
• Swann Lane Children’s Home
• Cameron House Children’s Home
• Crosslands Children’s Home

ii. Is There a Franchise for Children’s home? 

No, there is no known children’s home franchise currently.

iii. Are There Policies, Regulations, or Zoning Laws Affecting Children’s home?

Yes, there are policies, regulations, or zoning laws for Children’s homes. The Care Standards Act 2000 says that ‘an establishment is a children’s home if it provides care and accommodation wholly or mainly for children. Children are defined as people who are under 18.

Young people aged 18 and over may also stay in a children’s home, but they must be in a minority. If you want to register a children’s home/school, you must first contact the DfE for secure children’s homes or the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for secure schools.

This is to get the Secretary of State’s approval under The Children (Secure Accommodation) Regulations 1991. If you are planning a new building or to carry out any refurbishment or building works, you must share your plans with the DfE/MoJ. They will get the views of specialist architectural advisers before you carry out any works.

Marketing Plan

A. who is your target audience.

i. Age Range

Our target markets are children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 17 years.

ii. Level of Educational

We don’t have any restriction on the level of education of those we will accommodate in our children’s homes.

iii. Income Level

We don’t have any cap on the income level of those who we will accommodate in our children’s homes. Besides, most people who are admitted to children’s homes have no source of income.

iv. Ethnicity

There is no restriction when it comes to the ethnicity of the people we will welcome into our children’s homes.

v. Language

There is no restriction when it comes to the language spoken by the people we will welcome in our children’s home but we will prefer people that speak English.

vi. Geographical Location

Anybody from any geographical location will be welcomed in our children’s home.

vii. Lifestyle

Themes Valley® Children’s Home will not restrict any child from accessing our facility and services based on their lifestyle, culture, or race.

b. Advertising and Promotion Strategies

• Host Themed Events That Catch Attention.
• Tap Into Text Marketing.
• Use FOMO to Run Photo Promotions.
• Share Your Events in Local Groups and Pages.
• Turn our Social Media Channels Into a Resource
• Develop Your Business Directory Profiles
• Build Relationships With Other Nonprofits and related organizations 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 direct sales, direct mail (postcards, brochures, letters, fliers), print advertising (magazines, newspapers, coupon books, billboards), referral (also known as word-of-mouth marketing), radio, and television.

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 teens (housemates).
• Create an efficient content marketing strategy.
• Create a community for our donors and volunteers.
• 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, Themes Valley® Children’s Home will make sure it covers upkeep, medications, premium, economy or value, and full rehab package for each child. 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, religious organizations, nonprofit organizations, and charity to help refer abused and abandoned children to us.

b. Inventory Strategy

The fact that we will need educational materials, toiletries, medications, and foodstuffs per time means that Themes Valley® Children’s Home 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 Themes Valley® Children’s Home 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 Themes Valley® Children’s Home, we offer services, and the nature of services we offer does not accommodate return policy, incentives, but we will guarantee our housemates on the transformation that will occur in their lives if they follow our program.

e. Customer Support Strategy

Our customer support strategy will involve seeking customer feedback. This will help us provide excellent service to all our housemates, it will help us to first understand their needs, experiences, and pain points. Regularly, we will work towards strengthening our Customer Service Team and also Leverage Multi-Channel Servicing as part of our customer support strategy.

Operational Plan

Overall, we plan to expand our revenue by 25 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 grants and fundraising strategies that will enable the firm to boost our service offerings and support revenue growth.

a. What Happens During a Typical Day at a Children’s home?

• The facility is open for the day
• The facility is cleaned and prepared for the day’s activities
• Housemates are welcomed
• Housemates are provided with educational programs that will help them to properly integrate back into society. They are engaged in an active rehabilitation treatment program run throughout the day, where the residents receive intensive individual and group counseling.
• House chores are carried out at different intervals during the day
• The facility is closed for the day and housemates go back to their rooms to get it arranged and then go to bed.

b. Production Process

There is no production process when it comes to children’s homes.

c. Service Procedure

There is no service procedure when it comes to a children’s home.

d. The Supply Chain

Themes Valley® Children’s Home will rely on social workers, counselors, religious organizations, and government agencies in our city to refer children to us. So also, we have been able to establish business relationships with wholesale supplies of educational materials, toiletries, medications, foodstuffs et al.

e. Sources of Income

Themes Valley® Children’s Home make money from;

• Contributions for partners and donors
• Grants from government agencies and charity organizations
• Community support.

7. Financial Plan

A. amount needed to start your children’s home.

Themes Valley® Children’s Home would need an estimate of £150,000 to successfully set up our children’s home in the United Kingdom. Please note that this amount includes the salaries of our staff for the first month of operation.

b. What are the Cost Involved?

• Business Registration Fees – £400
• Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits – £700.
• Marketing, Branding, and Promotions – £1,000.
• Business Consultant Fee – £1,500.
• Insurance – £1,400.
• Rent/Lease – £50,000.
• Other start-up expenses include commercial satellite TV subscriptions, stationery (£500), and phone and utility deposits (£2,800).
• Operational Cost (salaries of employees, payments of bills et al) -£40,000
• start-up inventory – £7,000
• Store Equipment (cash register, security, ventilation, signage) – £2,750
• Furnishing and Equipping -£30,000
• Website: £600
• Opening party: £3,000
• Miscellaneous: £2,000

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

Themes Valley® Children’s Home will not build a new facility for our children’s home; 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 of Running a Children’s home?

• Cost of stocking up supplies such as educational materials, medications, toiletries, beddings et al
• Cost of food supplies and ingredients
• 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 Children’s home (President) – £40,000 Per Annum
• House Manager (Administrator) – £32,034 Per Annum
• Nurse’s Aides – £29,660 Per Annum
• Teachers, Caregivers / Rehab Counselors – ££28,878 Per Annum
• Fundraiser – ££26,500 Per Annum and based on target
• Account Officer – £25,000 Per Annum
• Front Desk Officer – £24,800 Per Annum
• Cleaners – £20,000 Per Annum
• Security Guard – £18,000 Per Annum

f. How Do You Get Funding to Start a Children’s home

• Raising money from personal savings and sale of personal stocks and properties
• Applying for a loan from your bank/banks
• 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.

It is important to note that we will make our facility free of charge since we hope to attract enough grants and funds from donors.

b. Sales Forecast?

• First Fiscal Year (FY1): £150,000
• Second Fiscal Year (FY2): £250,000
• Third Fiscal Year (FY3): £350,000

c. Estimated Profit You Will Make a Year?

Themes Valley® Children’s Home will operate as a nonprofit organization.

d. Profit Margin of a Children’s home 

Themes Valley® Children’s Home is designed not to make profits hence we don’t have a profit margin for our services.

Growth Plan

A. how do you intend to grow and expand .

Themes Valley® Children’s Home will grow our children’s home by first opening outlets in key cities in the United Kingdom within the first five years of establishing the organization and then we will start selling franchises from the sixth year.

b. Where Do You Intend to Expand to and Why?

Themes Valley® Children’s Home plans to expand first to Cleveland, in North East England, and then to Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Tyldesley, Manchester, Bradford, West Yorkshire, and Crewe, Cheshire.

We intend to expand to these locations because available statistics show that the cities listed above have the highest juvenile delinquencies in the United Kingdom. As a matter of fact, with a crime rate of 109.7 per 1,000 people, Cleveland had the highest crime rate of all the police force areas in England and Wales in 2020/21.

The founder of Themes Valley® Children’s Home plans to exit the business via merger and acquisition. We intend to merge with an international charity organization that has a world spread so that the organization can be placed under a trusted hand when the founder retires.

The goal of combining two or more charitable organizations that are into children’s home on a global scale is to try and achieve synergy – where the whole (the new organization) is greater than the sum of its parts (the former two separate entities) and with the well-structured management team and board of trustees.

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Child Care Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Download our Ultimate Child Care Business Plan Template here >

What Is a Business Plan?

Why You Need a Business Plan

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

Source of Funding for Child Care Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a child care business are bank loans and angel investors. With regards 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 confirm that your financials are reasonable. But they will want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

The second most common form of funding for a child care is angel investors. Angel investors are wealthy individuals who will write you a check. They will either take equity in return for their funding, or, like a bank, they will give you a loan. Venture capitalists will not fund a child care business.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

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 type of child care business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a child care that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of child care businesses.

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the child care industry. Discuss the type of child care you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of child care business you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types:

• Home-Based Child Care: this type of child care business operates out of your home and typically has one or two caregivers on staff.
• Child Care Center: a child care center operates out of a commercial building. It typically has multiple staff and caregivers and can serve many, many children.
• Pre-School Child Care: a child care business that primarily serves preschoolers
• School-Age Child Care: a child care business that primarily serves school-age children.

  In addition to explaining the type of child care you operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include sales goals you’ve reached, new program offerings, etc.
• Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the child care business.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

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

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy particularly if your research identifies market trends. For example, if there was a trend towards child care that includes transportation, it would be helpful to ensure your plan calls for such a service.

The third reason for market research 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 child care center business plan:

• How big is the child care business (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the local or national market?
• What trends are affecting the child care 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 market for your child care. You can extrapolate such as 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 child care center business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: soccer moms, young families, baby boomers caring for grandchildren, etc.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most child care businesses primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand 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 child care businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have that aren’t direct competitors. This includes keeping children at home and/or after school programs among others.

With regards to direct competition, you want to detail the other child care businesses with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be child care businesses located very close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses 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 customers do they serve?
• What child care services do they offer?
• What times are they open?
• 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.

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

• Will you provide superior child care services?
• Will you provide child care services that your competitors don’t offer?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Marketing Plan

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

Product : in the product section you should reiterate the type of child care that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific services you will be offering. For example, will you over technology or exercise classes to the children?

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

Place : Place refers to the location of your child care. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your child care located next to a heavily populated office building, or gym, etc. Discuss how your location might provide a steady stream of customers.

Promotions : the final part of your child care marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Social media marketing
• Reaching out to local bloggers (particularly “mommy” bloggers) and websites
• Local radio advertising
• Banner ads at local venues

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 child care such as discussions with prospective new customers, procuring supplies, keeping the child care center, etc.

Management Team

To demonstrate your child care’s ability to succeed as a business, 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 the child care business. 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 like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in child care businesses and/or successfully running retail and small businesses.  

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 revenues 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 serve 10 children per day or 50? 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.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure 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. For example, let’s say a company approached you with a massive $100,000 child care contract, that would cost you $50,000 to fulfill. Well, in most cases, you would have to pay that $50,000 now for employee salaries, etc. But let’s say the company didn’t pay you for 180 days. During that 180 day period, you could run out of money.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a child care center:

• Child care center build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
• Cost of fixtures like tables, chairs, couches, etc.
• Cost of equipment used like computers and televisions
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Taxes and permits
• Legal expenses

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 child care center design blueprint or location lease.  

Putting together a business plan for your child care is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the child care business, your competition and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful child care.

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Our Children’s Home Business Plan Template offers a structured framework that guides you through showcasing your vision, mission, and operational strategies. This template covers all essential components required by Ofsted registration, from background information to marketing plans and operational procedures. It includes example text, providing a valuable reference and inspiration to effectively communicate your organisation’s unique strengths and service offerings. Customise the template easily and create an effective business plan that stands out.

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How to Write a Business Plan for Daycare and Preschool

• brightwheel
• Running a business

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.

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.

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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How to Write a Business Plan for a Daycare: Complete Guide

• January 30, 2023

👇 Check all our resources on daycares 👇

Whether you’re looking to raise funding from private investors or to get a loan from a bank (like a SBA loan) for your daycare, you will need to prepare a solid business plan.

In this article we go through, step-by-step, all the different sections you need in your daycare business plan. Use this template to create a complete, clear and solid business plan that get you funded.

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary of a business plan gives a sneak peek of the information about your business plan to lenders and/or investors.

If the information you provide here is not concise, informative, and scannable, potential lenders and investors will lose interest.

Though the executive summary is the first and the most important section, it should normally be the last section you write because it’s the summary of the different sections included in your business plan.

Why do you need a business plan for your daycare?

The purpose of a business plan is to secure funding through one of the following channels:

• Obtain bank financing or secure a loan from other lenders (such as a SBA loan )
• Obtain private investments from investment funds, angel investors, etc.
• Obtain a public or private grant

How to write an executive summary for your daycare?

The executive summary of your daycare business plan should include the following important information:

Business Overview

Introduce your company (its name, its mission) and the history behind it: why did you decide to create a daycare in your area today? Why you? 

Also, that’s where you should expand on the business: where will the daycare facility be located? How old are the children you target? How many children will you be able to take care of? What are the amenities (classrooms, playground, cafeteria, etc.)? 

Market Overview

Provide here a deep market analysis that backs your decision to open a daycare business in your area today. Why would your business succeed given current market conditions? 

For example, the market analysis should include information like: what are your competitors in the area? What are their characteristics, strengths and weaknesses ? Who are your target audience (parents and children)? Is that in line with the demographics in your area?

Management & People

Who is the management team? What is your/their experience in the daycare industry?

Financial plan

What is your expected revenue and profitability for the next 5 years? When do you expect to break-even? Simply include here a chart of your key financials (e.g. Revenue, Gross Profit, Net profit )

Funding Ask

What loan/investment/grant are you seeking? How much do you need? How do you intend to spend the money?

Daycare Financial Model

Download an expert-built 5-year Excel financial model for your business plan

2. Daycare Business Overview

The business overview section of the daycare business plan summarizes the basics of your facility, including the background information, business model, services, target audience, and legal structure. 

a) History of the Project

When you launch a daycare business, you want it to grow and even become the best in the region if possible. One small element that can catalyze your company’s growth is its history. You don’t have to exaggerate the information here, but try to include useful details that will make your daycare business stand out. 

For a business as sensitive as daycare, trust overrides anything else. So, make sure to include in your business plan your experience and passion for children to demonstrate to investors you are qualified and the right person to successfully run a new daycare facility.

Also, flesh out the history behind the project: why are you starting a daycare now? For example, you may have noticed a lack of child care services for toddlers and infants in the city.

b) Business Model

Next up is the business model. This is the revenue-generating plan that identifies how your business operates. A daycare business model should be succinct and address specific things about the business. 

For instance, is it a commercial daycare facility or a family daycare? Is it an independent facility or a partnership? And should you opt for a daycare franchise? 

Keep in mind that daycare facilities vary by the target age group. So, you can opt for a childcare center, a family daycare, a kindergarten/pre-school, or a nursery school.

c) Daycare Services

It takes a lot to raise a child. So, be clear on the services you want to offer in your newly founded daycare facility. The quality of services will make your business more attractive. But an even bigger factor will be the type of services you provide at the facility.

Indeed, a lot happens inside a daycare facility, from hands-on learning (classrooms, private tuition) to field trips, games and community events. 

d) Pricing Strategy

Age is a key factor when setting the prices of your daycare services. On average, parents across the US pay about $9,400 per year on child care per child. Of course, the actual figure will vary based on a number of factors, but this is a great starting point when getting into the industry. 

An accurate pricing strategy can help you outshine your biggest competitors. However, don’t forget that setting cheaper prices isn’t necessarily the best strategy, just in the same way overpriced services may turn off potential clients. 

e) Target Audience

Daycare centers are so named because they are about a child’s well-being. However, the final decision rests with the parents, who must buy into your idea and long-term vision for the facility. 

For this type of business, you have a definite target market . And all you have to do is ensure your facility is closer to a busy neighborhood with many children. Find out if the families truly need child care services, why they need these services and the children’s average age. 

Finally, make sure your services are aligned with your target audience. For example, you wouldn’t necessarily succeed with a daycare operating 9am – 4pm in an area where parents typically work long hours in the city and need time to commute back to their neighborhood to pick up their kids.

Same goes for pricing: if you offer high-quality expensive daycare services, make sure your daycare is either located close to offices or in an area where affluent parents work or live.

f) Legal Structure

Finally, your business overview section should specify what type of business structure you opt for. Is this a corporation or a partnership (LLC)? Who are the investors? How much equity percentage do they own? Is there a Board of Directors? If so, whom? Do they have experience in the industry?

3. Daycare Market Overview

In the market overview section of your business plan, you must cover 2 important areas:

• Market trends : how big is the daycare industry in your area? How fast is the market growing? What are the trends fuelling this growth (or decline)?
• Competition analysis : how many competitors are there? How do they compare vs. your business? How can you differentiate yourself from them?

a) Daycare Market Trends

How big is the daycare industry in the us.

It’s always helpful to base your business decisions on the latest trends in the US market. For instance, the US daycare market had a value of approximately $54.3 billion in 2019 . And it is projected to grow at an annual rate of 3.9% from 2020 through 2027. 

According to reports, the high number of parents occupying full-time and part-time jobs is a major driving force behind the increasing demand for daycare services. No matter how you look at it, these statistics make the daycare business even more lucrative, provided you get all the basics right through your business plan. 

How big is the daycare industry in your region?

After the US, assess the size of the daycare market in your city or area. Focus on the zone where you plan to offer daycare services.

Naturally, you might not be able to get the data for your specific city or region. Instead, you can estimate the size of your market, for more information on how to do it, read our article on how to estimate TAM, SAM and SOM for your startup . To give you an example, let’s assume you plan to operate in an area where there are already 10 competitors:

As we know the US daycare industry is worth $54 billion today, and there are about 230,000 child care centers , therefore the average annual turnover per child care center is around $235,000.

Now, we can safely assume that the daycare industry is worth $23 million in your area (10 centers).

How fast is the daycare industry growing in your region?

Growth is an important metric for assessing the status of the daycare industry in your region. 

Here if you don’t find information online or via your research, you can calculate growth using the total number of competitors in your area. 

For example, assuming there were 8 daycare competitors in the region in 2018, and 10 in 2022, the annual growth rate is 6% per year.

b) Daycare Competitor Analysis

At the very least, your competitor analysis should answer all the questions below:

• How many daycare businesses are the area where you plan to open yours?
• What type of daycare businesses are there: home-based vs. center-based home care, early care vs. early education & daycare, etc.
• What age range do they specialise in?
• What services do your competitors offer?
• What amenities do your competitors have (playground, classrooms, etc.)
• What’s their average price (daily rate / monthly rate)?
• What is the child / staff ratio of your competitors?

4. Sales & Marketing Strategy

For some existing daycare facilities, marketing isn’t the most important aspect of running the business. But you’ll probably have to implement a few marketing strategies at the beginning to attract the first families , especially if you’re starting a new daycare facility.

a) Daycare Market Channels

A daycare business doesn’t have diverse marketing channels like retail stores or other businesses. So, this may limit your options when it comes to new marketing channels. 

Apart from word of mouth, other marketing channels include;

• Social media
• Online listing (Google business, Facebook business page)
• Word-of-mouth

b) What are Your Unique Selling Points (USPs)? 

Daycare facilities offer pretty much the same services, and it’s not easy to stand out from the competition. However, a few factors can be useful when evaluating your opportunities in a competitive market, including:

• Target age group : You may cover a unique age group as opposed to your competitors
• Opening hours : you may offer longer opening hours to accommodate for different parents’ jobs and availabilities
• Price : Your services may be cheaper than your competitors
• Quality & amenities : Quality services and extra amenities (outdoor playground, etc.) will make your daycare facility more attractive vs. competitors
• Services : Your services may go beyond the standard hands-on learning and kid games 

5. Management & People

The 5th section of your daycare business plan should be about people. It should include 2 main elements:

• The management team and their experience / track record
• The organizational structure: what are the different teams and who reports to whom?

a) Management

Here you should list all the management roles in your company.

Of course, the amount of details you need to include here varies depending on the size of your company. For example, a small daycare business run by 1 or 2 persons doesn’t need the same level of detail vs. a large center with 50 children or more.

If you plan on running your business independently, you may write a short paragraph explaining who are the co-founders and/or senior managers (if there are any in addition to yourself). It’s important to highlight their experience in the industry and previous relevant professional experiences.

b) Organizational structure

No matter how many leadership roles there are, you should now explain how you intend to run the company from a management standpoint.

What are the different teams (management, childcare staff, cooking staff, human resources, finance, etc.)?

Note that you should include these details even if you haven’t hired anyone yet. It will show lenders and investors that you have a solid hiring and management plan to run the business successfully.

A great addition here is to add an organizational chart that list all the roles, from Directors to managers, key supervisory roles and employees. Make sure to highlight with reporting lines who manages/supervises whom.

6. Financial Plan

The financial plan is perhaps, with the executive summary, the most important section of any business plan.

Indeed, a solid financial plan tells lenders that your business is viable and can repay the loan you need from them. If you’re looking to raise equity from private investors, a solid financial plan will prove them your daycare is an attractive investment.

There should be 3 sections to your financial plan section:

• Your historical financials (only if you already operate the business and have financial accounts to show)
• The startup costs of your project (if you plan to start a new daycare facility, or add capacity to an existing daycare center, renovate your facilities, etc.)
• The 5-year financial projections

a) Historical Financials (optional)

In the scenario where you already have some historical financials (a few quarters or a few years), include them. A summary of your financial statements in the form of charts e.g. revenue, gross profit and net profit is enough, save the rest for the appendix.

If you don’t have any, don’t worry, most new businesses don’t have any historical financials and that’s ok. If so, jump to Startup Costs instead.

b) Startup Costs

Before we expand on 5-year financial projections in the following section, it’s always best practice to start with listing the startup costs of your project.

For a daycare, startup costs are all the expenses you incur before you open the space to your customers. These expenses typically include: renovation costs, equipment and furniture, etc.

The startup costs for opening a child care center depend on various factors such as the location and size of your daycare facilities, the capacity (the number of children you plan to have), the quality of the amenities, etc. 

We’ve identified that it costs anywhere between $130,000 to $490,000 to start a daycare business with 50 children . See below the cost estimates.

Note that these costs are for illustrative purposes and depend on several factors which might not fully apply to you. Let’s first start below with startup costs. 

c) Financial Projections

In addition to startup costs, you will now need to build a solid daycare financial model over 5 years.

Your financial projections should be built using a spreadsheet (e.g. Excel or Google Sheets) and presented in the form of tables and charts in your business plan.

As usual, keep it concise here and save details (for example detailed financial statements, financial metrics, key assumptions used for the projections) for the appendix instead.

Your financial projections should answer at least the following questions:

• How much revenue do you expect to generate over the next 5 years?
• When do you expect to break even?
• How much cash will you burn until you get there?
• What’s the impact of a change in pricing (say 10%) on your margins?
• What is your average customer acquisition cost?

You should include here your 3 financial statements (income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement). This means you must forecast:

• The number of children over time ;
• Your expected revenue ;
• Operating costs to run the business ;
• Any other cash flow items (e.g. capex, debt repayment, etc.).

When projecting your revenue, make sure to sensitize pricing and the number of members as a small change in these assumptions will have a big impact on your revenues.

When it comes to the costs, consider both startup and operating costs. For more information, read our complete guide here .

7. Funding Ask

This is the last section of the business plan of your daycare center. Now that we have explained what type of daycare services your company would offer, at what price, your marketing strategy , management and people, this section must now answer the following questions:

• How much funding do you need?
• What financial instrument(s) do you need: is this equity or debt, or even a free-money public grant?
• How long will this funding last?
• Where else does the money come from? If you apply for a SBA loan for example, where does the other part of the investment come from (your own capital, private investors?)

Use of Funds

Any business plan should include a clear use of funds section. This is where you explain how the money will be spent.

Will you spend most of the loan / investment to buy the real estate and do the renovations? Or will it cover the cost of the salaries of your childcare staff and other employees the first few months?

Those are very important questions you should be able to answer in the blink of an eye. Don’t worry, this should come straight from your financial projections. If you’ve built solid projections like in our daycare financial model template , you won’t have any issues answering these questions.

For the use of funds, we recommend using a pie chart like the one we have in our financial model template where we outline the main expenses categories as shown below.

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Daycare Business Plan

What is a Daycare Business Plan?

A daycare business plan is an equivalent of a roadmap in your business journey. A plan helps you understand what you’re getting yourself into.

It helps you understand the market, figure out where you stand in it, know your target audience better, and formulate better marketing and financial strategies.

Overall, it makes your decision-making process faster and more effective and prevents you from feeling clueless at any point in your business journey.

Moreover, it also helps you get investors and helps your employees and partners understand what your business stands for. It gives the people in your business a feeling that you have a vision and know what you are doing with your business.

Also, you get to set clear goals that give you a direction to work and put your efforts in.

Why is a Daycare Business Plan Important?

Everything you do for your business should add value to it. And here’s how a daycare business plan can add value to your business:

It gives you a sense of direction

There are several ways you can go with each business decision. A business plan helps you understand what would work best for your business then.

Also, it gives a set of tangible goals to look forward to when you work on your business.

It helps you understand your target audience better

Planning your business gives a better form and structure to your research. Which at the end of the day helps you understand your customers better. It also helps you analyze what it means for your business.

Making and upgrading your product or service for your customers serves the biggest purpose at the end of the day.

It helps you understand your competition better

Imagine there’s a popular daycare center in your city and several parents swear by it. Now, this could mean several things for your business.

You’ll have to pick a different location, know the daycare service’s weaknesses and offer better services by working on that area for your business.

You can also pick the things they are doing right, and inculcate the same in your strategies.

A business plan can help you do all of the above and more through a competitive analysis.

It helps you convince your investors

Though making the right prediction is difficult, having a rough idea of your business’s sales and financial potential is important to get investors on board.

Investors want to know the scalability of your business before they invest in it. A good and realistic prediction of returns makes it easier to convince investors.

And a business plan can help you make realistic financial predictions.

It keeps you updated with the latest business trends

A business plan is a living document that grows alongside your business. It also helps you have a foresight of changing trends and act on time for getting the best results for your business.

This also makes it important for you to keep updating your plan as your business grows.

What does a Daycare Business Plan Look Like?

If you are planning to start a new auto or car repair shop, the first thing you will need is a business plan. Use our sample Daycare 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 auto repairing shop, spend as much time as you can reading through some examples of Children’s & Pet business plans .

Moreover, business plans come in different forms to fit the current state of your business.

Apart from that, there are a few major sections that should be included in every business plan.

Daycare Business Plan Outline

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

• Executive Summary
• Keys to Success
• Company Summary
• Timothy Bernard Kilpatrick
• Start-up Summary
• Locations and Facilities
• Service Description
• Competitive Comparison
• Sales Literature
• Fulfillment
• Future Services
• Industry Analysis
• Market Segmentation
• Market Analysis
• Market Needs
• Market Trends
• Market Growth
• Business Participants
• Competition and Buying Patterns
• Main Competitors
• Strategy and Implementation Summary
• Value Proposition
• Competitive Edge
• Positioning Statement
• Pricing Strategy
• Promotion Strategy
• Marketing Programs
• Sales Forecast
• Sales Programs
• Strategic Alliances
• Web Plan Summary
• Website Marketing Strategy
• Development Requirements
• Management Summary
• Organizational Structure
• Timothy B. Kilpatrick
• Carolyn Steverson
• Candice Harris
• Management Team Gaps
• Personnel Plan
• Projected Profit and Loss
• Projected Cash Flow
• Projected Balance Sheet

What to Include in Your Daycare Business Plan?

A good daycare business plan consists of a certain number of well-defined sections, the following sections can help you in writing an excellent business plan.

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary section is one of the most important sections of your business plan because it not only forms the first section of your business plan but also acts as a pitch for potential investors who can provide you with funds for your daycare business.

It consists of your company’s vision and mission, its USP, objectives, and also expected revenues.

Writing the executive summary section of your plan at the very end, so you can sum up your plan properly is a good tip to remember.

2. Services

In this section, you should give out a clear idea of what your services are and whom it caters to. You should define your target market, your niche, the area your services will be extended to, etc.

As a daycare center, you should have a clear idea of the age group you will cater to, what is the preferred location of your target audience, how you come off as a service to your customers, and so on.

3. Market Analysis

Market analysis can be of great help to any business, it can help you understand what you are getting yourself into, who your competitors are, what your client base expects out of you, and where you stand in the current market situation.

Hence, market analysis immensely improves your understanding of the industry you are getting into. In the case of a daycare center knowing the best practices of childcare that exist in the market can be of great help.

4. Web Plan

In today’s internet-based world, most busy parents looking for a daycare center online. Hence, having a strong and reliable web presence is crucial to the success of your daycare business. Thus, including a web strategy in your business plan is necessary.

Always remember, as a daycare service coming off as a trustworthy and reliable institution is crucial for your business to work.

5. Management and Organizational Structure

Having a well-structured management system is especially crucial for a daycare service. It not only helps your business run smoother, but it also makes you look more responsible and reliable in front of the parents or the primary caregivers.

In this section, you should include the structure of your organization, details about people on various levels in your company, a solid system for tracking everyone’s work and progress, the areas your team is excelling at, and the areas your team is lagging in.

6. Financial Plan

One of the chief reasons for several daycare services running out of business is poorly managed finances or running out of funds to keep going.

Planning your finances in the early stages of your business saves you from encountering such a problem later on.

Hence, planning your finances is mandatory while writing a business plan.

Download a sample daycare business plan

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

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

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

Daycare Business Plan Summary

In conclusion, apart from having a good image as an organization, a well-managed team, a clearly defined niche, thorough research of the market and an excellent financial plan is crucial to the success of a daycare business.

After getting started with Upmetrics , you can copy this sample daycare business plan into your business plan and modify the required information and download your daycare business plan pdf or doc file.

It’s the fastest and easiest way to start writing your business plan.

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3 Kid Business Plan Examples (Real Ones!)

By: Author Amanda L. Grossman

Posted on Last updated: June 28, 2021

Need some examples to show kids and teens how to create a business plan? Kid business plan examples + a free template to create your own.

Teaching kids and teens to make a business plan?

It’s helpful to have some kid business plan examples to show the kids and teens who will be creating their very own (usually for the first time).

I happen to have created a kid business plan template – the Solid Gold Biz Plan.

So, I’m going to use that and two of the kid business ideas I came up with here, to show you kid business plan examples.

First up, let’s look at what a kid business plan needs to cover.

Teaching Kids to Make a Business Plan

Each business plan looks a bit different, but if you’re teaching kids about making one?

You’ll want to make sure these bases are covered:

• Problem you want to solve
• The ONE idea you’re going to create to solve it (product or service)
• Who you will target to buy your product/service
• How you’re going to tell that target audience about your product/service (marketing)
• How you’ll price your product service (combination of estimating your cost to create/maintain/deliver your product/service, what the competition is charging for a similar or same product/service, and what your customer can pay)

Now, let’s head into some kid business plan examples.

Kid Business Plan Example #1: Wig Styling

I put a call out for actual kid business plan examples real kids and teens have filled out, and was SO excited to receive this one from Natalia.

Sixteen-year-old Natalia has wanted to sell styled wigs for 2-3 years, and was given the opportunity to fill out a business plan at her school (love that!).

Her mother says,

“My daughter started cosplaying when she was about 12-13. Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad started it all! We started going to “comicons” and Animethons in our area, and she was HOOKED! She developed a passion for styling her own wigs because when they arrive/or are store bought, there is little detail. Natalia is a stickler for the finest details when it comes to wigs for characters. She's very precise.”

Her parents bought her some salon-quality cutting tools, and Natalia taught herself some unique techniques in styling.

She shares her idea + marketing work below.

Business Idea : Natalia wants to commission wigs, and has mostly done this for conventions and cosplay so far.  She’s even sold a couple already!

Marketing : Natalia wants to focus on cosplay stage play, and teens to adults at the moment. Her strategy to find these clients is through Amazon or Facebook – all online.

Pricing and Profit : Natalia has not nailed down her pricing yet (this will come with experience). She works for either a flat rate, or by the hour right now. Her average cost for materials is $80, and she sells the wig for $120. This means her profit is right around $40. This is a profit margin of 33.33% ($40/$120 * 100). Her plan is to invest most of this back into the business until she starts getting steady income from it. 

Alright! Let’s go to the next business plan example.

Kid Business Plan Example #2: Pet Photography Business

Let’s say your child wants to start up a pet photography business.

Problem You Want to Solve : People love their pets – they’re practically family members. They want to have photos of them in real life to both print out for their home, and to post on social media networks like Facebook and Instagram. But it’s hard to take your own photos of you playing with your dog, or to take animal photos at all (since they move) especially if you haven’t got the photography skills.

Your Target Client : Pet owners who feel like their pet is part of their family, or pet owners who like to spend extra money on their pets

How to tell the target Client about your product/service (marketing) : I can hang out at the local dog park and hand out my business card with the services printed on the back. I can also talk to a few pet sitters that I know, to see if they will help to spread the word.

Estimate cost of creating/maintaining/delivering this product/service :

• I don’t know of any competitors – everyone takes photos of people, not people with their pets. Local photographers charge around $150 for a portrait package with kids and teens.
• I don’t have a lot of experience with this, but am in the middle of a photography class at school.
• To get my first few clients and start getting experience, I am going to charge just $35 for a 30-minute pet photography session at the local dog park.
• I’ll also offer an “upsell” of any public location they’d like (within a 20-mile radius of my house), for just $15 more.
• As my experience grows and as the referrals start to come in, I’ll raise my prices.

Kid Business Plan Example #3: Bean Bag-Making Business

I love to use the business example from my own childhood that my friend and I created: to make and sell bean bags.

We didn’t fill out a business plan at the time (only 1 of the 1,327 mistakes we made – haha!), but if we had, it would’ve looked something like this:

Problem We Want to Solve : Kids get bored, and they might like a bean bag to play with.

Hint: this was one of the biggest problems with creating this product – it was really solving our own problem of trying to come up with something to do. We were bored, and my friend’s mother suggested we do this! Not only that, but we thought we could earn a quick buck).

Your Target Client : Kids.

How to tell the target Client about your product/service (marketing) : through yard sales

Hint: it was summertime when we started this, and our only avenue to sell was through a yard sale.

To create our product, we have to have:

• Needle and thread (yes…we were making them by hand!)

We can create one bean bag for around $0.05. We will sell our bean bags for $1.00.

I hope you found these kid business plan examples useful, and I'll be adding to them as I go. In fact, if your students or child/teen has a business plan example that they wouldn't mind sharing? Go ahead and email me so that I can add it in to this article. That'll help others trying to fill out their own business plan!

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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

How to stand out to parents looking for child care.

9th June 2020

We’ve had the pleasure of speaking to many, many parents ...

Not Sure if Family Child Care is the Right Choice? Here are Some Considerations

30th October 2020

Starting a new business can often be frightening. You’re taking ...

Oregon family child care licensing: Eligibility

21st September 2017

This post is a part of our series on Oregon ...

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 Simple Guide for Kids’ Business Plans

Who said kids can’t run successful businesses ? Kids can start and run a successful business as early as the 4th grade.

Of course, you still need to get good grades in school, but it’s also great to nurture your entrepreneurial skills.

If you have a great business idea and would like to nurture it to join the likes of Mikaila Ulmer and Jack Bonneau, you should write a plan for it.

If you’re a parent, you want the best for your child . What better way to secure their future than to help them convert their business idea into a small business?

You can help your kid put down their ideas and plans by writing a business plan with one of the many free business plan templates available online.

Before perfecting your plan, you can write a sample business plan to orient you to the dynamics of a business plan for kids.

The Components of a Sample Business Plan for Kids

Starting a business requires commitment to a plan, much like studying for your tests.

State Your Business Ideas

The first part of a good business plan will be laying out your big idea(s).

What’s the Big Idea?

Before helping to start your kid’s business, you should clearly understand your child’s idea and how you can convert it into a money generating venture.

Talk about the equipment you need to run the business, any relevant training you have (or will get), and how you intend to actualize the business plans.

Conduct Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis is a breakdown of what your competitors offer, their prices, and their marketing strategies.

When you plan a business, you must know what your competitors offer to gain a competitive edge.

Some of the items you should include in  your competitor analysis are:

• A product list for each competitor
• A price list for each product, for each competitor
• The needs that each competitor fulfils in the target market
• A list of the gaps in the market
• A proposal of how you intend to fill the gaps

Here’s a template of what your analysis should look like:

Record Your Research Findings

As a parent helping your child develop a business plan, guide them through the research process and help them identify the gaps. You could even be helping your child improve their grades in school as they learn how to conduct research.

Support their idea with facts, statistics, and visual elements to make it as accurate as possible.

You and your kid can even create a template like the one below to help you record your research findings.

Market Your Business

You already have your product and business laid out, but how do you get your target consumers to know about it?

A business is as good as its marketing strategy because it is the only way to make sales. When you, or your kid, write a business plan, map out a marketing path.

In the marketing section of  your business plan, have the following segments:

What’s Your Product ?

Although you introduced your product or service in the first part of your business plan, you need to talk about it in detail here.

Explain what your product is, what it is made of, and how it’s different from other products in the market. If you’re selling a service, explain why and how it’s different from other similar services in the market.

If your product or service is the first in the industry, explain what it is, what gaps it fills, and why the consumer should buy it.

Name Your Price

What is the price tag for your product/service?

You can easily influence your customer base by offering them unbeatable prices for your product.

This is where your math lessons come in handy; striking a balance between your sales volume and your prices to make a decent profit.

Are You Investing in Product Promotion?

How do you intend to introduce and maintain your product in the market? Discuss the forms of advertising you intend to use for your merchandise and how effective the strategies will be.

For instance, do you intend to use social media campaigns, or will you be marketing on other forms of media such as television adverts and printables?

Discuss how your product will be packaged to entice prospective consumers. The name, packaging, and contents of your product speak volumes about your business.

Explain the brand name and how it speaks to your target market. You can also include a pictorial sample of your logo or packaging to help explain how your product connects with the intended consumer.

What’s Your Location?

When you finally start supplying your goods or services, how will your consumers access them?

Are you a purely online seller, or will you have a brick-and-mortar store? If you have several stores, be sure to provide detailed information about them.

If you sell online, give accurate and working links to your online store. You can also provide a guide on how consumers can access your shop and make purchases.

Organize Your Finances

According to Alfred Marshall, an economics mogul of his time, “Capital is that part of wealth which is devoted to obtaining further wealth.”

Your business needs both human and financial capital to produce, distribute and sell your product or service.

You can list down a management team and have a worksheet to show their responsibilities and how much you intend to pay them.

In your business plan , explain how much capital you need to get your business up and running. Provide a working figure with a breakdown of how you will use it.

Sourcing Capital

Explain how you intend to raise the startup costs for your business. Do you have savings, or do your parents/guardians intend to finance your project?

What about angel investors? Do you have any?

If you are a parent intending to finance your child’s business, will you be investing from your savings, or do you intend to get a loan?

Breakdown Capital Usage

At this level, you will explain how your capital will be used. How much do you need for manufacturing and distribution?

Are there any other overheads between manufacturing and selling your products/service? If there are, explain how much they will cost.

Return on Investment (RoI)

Here, you explain how you will get back your capital and realize profits from your business. Indicate how you will price your product/service and show the projected profit margin.

Also, provide a timeline for how soon you should have regained your capital. Give a projection of how much profit your business should be reeling in a specific time frame.

Successful kids’ businesses are not run by geniuses; they are owned and run by kids who were passionate enough to capitalize on their dreams.

Awaken Your Entrepreneurial Self

Building your successful business starts with creating a well-detailed business plan.

If you aspire to become one of those kid entrepreneurs or would like to grow your child’s business dream into a successful business , write down an actionable plan.

Actualize your great business idea by creating and following a great business plan.

Katrina McKinnon

I'm Katrina McKinnon, the author behind Small Revolution . With two decades of hands-on experience in online work, running eCommerce stores, web agency and job boards, I'm now on a mission to empower you to work from home and achieve work-life balance. My passion lies in crafting insightful, education content. I have taught thousands of students and employees how to write, do SEO, manage eCommerce stores and work as Virtual Assistants. Join our most popular course: SEO Article Masterclass

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Get this complete sample business plan as a free text document.

Children's Play Program Business Plan

Start your own children's play program business plan

Bees' Circus

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">.

Bees’ Circus is a children’s play and music program that offers a series of parent/child programs devoted to the physical, emotional and social development of children. We offer eight different weekly classes for children newborn through four years. The activities are designed to improve balance, coordination and other sensory stimuli while reinforcing good social skills in a group play environment. Bees’ Circus also offers music classes. Children 16 months through four years, will enjoy singing and dancing while getting their first taste of different musical beats and rhythms. Each week, new musical styles will be introduced, such as jazz, contemporary, and classical tunes. Activities such as instrument exploration, songs and movement to music are designed to provide a positive musical experience for both parents and young children.

Bees’ Circus offers a unique service in that there is no other program like it in the city of Monroe. Though the city does run some classes for children through their parks and recreation department, they are not part of a comprehensive growth program for pre-schoolers.

Bees’ Circus is centrally located in the new commercial center that serves the affluent northwest area of Monroe. Over the past five years, there has been tremendous housing growth in the northwest of the city. To date, 3,500 new housing units have been built in the area to accommodate the growth of the city’s population. Most these units are being bought or rented by young families with young children. Currently, there is no park program servicing the area. It is anticipated that a new park will be created in the next three years to serve the estimated 10,000 families in the area.

Barbara Miller, co-owner of Bees’ Circus, has been an educator for over 20 years and has been instrumental in the development of Monroe’s pre-school programs. She is starting Bees’ Circus to offer parents and children a nurturing environment in which to spend time together and play.

1.1 Mission

The mission of Bees’ Circus is to promote the physical, emotional and social development of children. Parents are also a central part of Bees’ Circus activities.

When parents enter their child’s world of play and imagination, the child blossoms with more confidence to explore and learn. Time spent playing with mom or dad contributes to healthy emotional development and will also build trust between parent and child.

1.2 Objectives

The objectives of Bees’ Circus are as follows:

• Fill classes to 70% capacity by end of first year of operation.
• Retain at least 50% of children moving from one class level to the next.
• Increase the number of families participating in classes by 15% during the second year of operation.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Company summary company overview ) is an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure.">.

Bees’ Circus is a children’s play and music program that offers a series of parent/child programs devoted to the physical, emotional and social development of children. The program will operate as a limited partnership.  Barbara Miller will manage the daily operation of Bees’ Circus. A silent partner will have accounting oversight responsibilities.

Bees’ Circus is located in the Northtowne Center at 3456 Briggs Road. The program space is 7,000 square feet and includes a music room and a party room. Up to 40 children can play and work in the space at the same time.

2.1 Start-up Summary

The start-up expenses for the Bees’ Circus is focused primarily on equipment, play surfaces, and materials needed for the classes.  Barbara Miller and the silent partner will invest equal amounts.  In addition, Barbara will secure a long-term loan and use credit card debt to fund the enterprise.

2.2 Company Ownership

Bees’ Circus is owned by Barbara Miller and a silent partner.

Bees’ Circus offers six different weekly classes for children newborn through four years. Activities are designed to help children develop balance, coordination and other sensory stimuli while having fun in a group play environment. 

Bees’ Circus also offers three music classes. Children 16 months through four years get to sing and move while getting their first taste of different musical beats and rhythms. Teachers introduce children to new musical styles each week, such as jazz, contemporary, and classical tunes. Activities such as instrument exploration, songs and movement to music are designed to provide a positive musical experience for parents and young children.

All play and music classes last 45 minutes and are taught to child-parent pairs in small groups. The fee is $100 per class.  The parents can pick which two weekday day sessions she wants to attend with her child.  Each class is a month long.

NewBees (newborn) classes addresses the special needs of newborns and their parents. Activities are designed to gently stimulate the baby’s learning skills with special toys, singing and gentle play.

BabyBees (6 – 14 months) will indulge your child’s natural curiosity and offer creative ways to practice emerging skills through fun-filled exploration of tunnels, slides, climbers, songs, movement activities, parachute play and more.

ToddlerBees (14 – 24 months) will use equipment and activities to learn cause and effect, coordination, balance and motor skill development. Playful movement activities and equipment exploration build pre- and early walking skills, while songs enrich emerging language.

RunningBees (24 -30 months)  challenges a child’s growing body with slides, climbers, balls and tunnels. Activities also focus on language skills and social interaction. 

BuzzingBees (30- 36 months)  will focus on themes like “Dinosaur Day,” “Under the Sea,” and “Forest Fun” with movement stories, puppetry and songs. Physical activity will be combined with imaginative play where children will construct stories. Listening skills and body awareness grow as your child explores our playscapes, creates roles and predicts outcomes. Playfully structured movement to music provide experiences in group interaction and social development.

JumpingBees (37- 46 months) will explore pre-sports and pre-gymnastic skills including kicking, throwing and catching. Each exciting class builds listening skills and coordination while emphasizing cooperative play and encouraging new friendships.

The music program has three levels.

HummingBees (16- 24 months) will build a repertoire of songs to sing together that supports your child’s awareness of melody, pitch and rhythm. Children learn musical phrasing, rhythm and simple musical rules through playful scarf activities, baby dances and ball games. Explore safe and age appropriate instruments, enjoy soothing lullabies from around the world and immerse your baby in activities that build a solid musical foundation to grow on.

DrummingBees (25- 36 months) will use activities such as lap rides, dancing and instrument exploration to help children develop a sense of steady beat and create an atmosphere of fun. Pitch and tone are explored through songs and listening activities. Every three weeks, a new musical style is introduced, exposing your child to a variety of musical genres such as latin, rock ‘n’ roll, and classical for a musical learning adventure.

SingingBees (37 – 48 months)  is designed to support and challenge emerging skills, together you’ll share a world of music. Children are encouraged to discover their singing voice and make music of their own as they explore different instruments. Self esteem and social skills get a real boost as your child engages in group songs, chants and finger plays and imagination and listening skills build as children express themselves to music.

Birthday parties at Bees’ Circus . In addition to the extensive program of classes, Bees’ Circus can host a child’s birthday party providing great activities for kids and an easy experience for parents. An enthusiastic Bees’ Circus staff member leads the activities as the birthday child and his or her friends and parents play, laugh, and sing together, creating a memorable celebration.

Market Analysis Summary how to do a market analysis for your business plan.">

Over the past five years, there has been tremendous housing growth in the affluent northwest area of the city.  To date, 3,500 new housing units have been built in the area to accommodate the growth of the city’s population. Most these units are being bought or rented by young families with young children.

Currently, there is no park program servicing the area.  It is anticipated that a new park will be created for the area in the next three years to serve the estimated 10,000 families in the area.

The area also has 15 private child care centers that serve over 1,600 children, ages one to four.  It is estimated that there are 5,000 children in northwest Monroe under the age of four. 

Currently, there are no other activity or music programs in the area that serves the pre-schoolers.

Bees’ Circus will purse both the children at home and children at the private child care centers.

4.1 Market Segmentation

Bees’ Circus will focus on the two target groups:

• At home pre-schoolers
• Childcare pre-schoolers

Strategy and Implementation Summary

Bees’ Circus will start by sending direct mailings to parents of young children in northwest Monroe.  The mailer will announce an open house invitation to visit the facility.  In addition, Bees’ Circus will offer a 20% discount on its activity and music classes.

Bees’ Circus will also offer a discounted group rate (20%) to the area’s announce centers.

5.1 Sales Strategy

The sales strategy of Bees’ Circus will be to build from a base of satisfied customers.  The program will offer a 20% discount on class fees for each successful referral to Bees’ Circus.  We will also offer one session free visits for any parent and child interested in exploring our program.

5.1.1 Sales Forecast

Bees’ Circus anticipates that May will be weak month for classes.  Enrollment will increase steadily from June on. The following is the sales forecast for Bees’ Circus.

Management Summary management summary will include information about who's on your team and why they're the right people for the job, as well as your future hiring plans.">

Barbara Miller will be the Director of the program.  She has been an educator for over 20 years and has been instrumental in the development of Monroe’s pre-school programs. Most recently, Barbara was the youth activity planner and coordinator for the city of Monroe’s park and recreation department.  She managed a team of ten that organized and scheduled all youth activity classes offered by the city.

6.1 Personnel Plan

The personnel of Bees’ Circus will be as follows:

• Teacher (3)
• Class aides (4)

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

The following is the financial plan for Bees’ Circus.

7.1 Break-even Analysis

The monthly break-even point is presented in the following table and chart.

7.2 Projected Profit and Loss

The following table and chart highlight the projected profit and loss for three years.

7.3 Projected Cash Flow

The following table and chart highlight the projected cash flow for three years.

7.4 Projected Balance Sheet

The following table highlights the projected balance sheet for three years.

7.5 Business Ratios

Business ratios for the years of this plan are shown below. Industry profile ratios based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code 8351, Child Day Care Services, are shown for comparison.

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