Expert Tools Successful Child Care Business Owners Love

Expert Tools Successful Child Care Business Owners

As a childcare center, preschool or Montessori, you face unique challenges with monitoring your financial health. A key to long-term success though, is strong finances and understanding how fluctuations in enrollment can affect spending and budgeting.

We have some tips to help you manage this key aspect of your business.

  1. Invest in a good system that will help you track your finances.
    Some organizations lean on software such as QuickBooks, but childcare management software is tailored specifically for your business and often for the same price as standalone financial software, you can reap the benefits of added functionality to help you run your business. iCare Software not only helps you with budgeting and finances, but also enables you to set up automatic bill pay so that you’re never left in the lurches by parents who forget or are tardy with paying for their childcare.
  2. Know what you have to keep enrollment at.
    Know your overall expenses including teacher salaries, supplies, technology and rent, and how many students it takes to offset those costs. Be sure to do adequate recruiting throughout the year to ensure enrollment stays at a healthy level. Employ marketing tactics by partnering with local companies to have a day with a booth in the lobby where employees can learn more about your facility, promote materials within local doctor’s offices as women start to plan for their baby’s arrival, employ local search marketing on Google, Bing and Yahoo, and network whenever you can. These simple marketing tactics can ensure you aren’t left hoping for an enrollment to help you balance the books at the end of the month.
  3. Run regular reports.
    At the end of each month, use your childcare management software to run a financial report to ensure you stay up on the health of your finances. Allow yourself time at the beginning of each month to carefully go through the report to ensure everything looks to be in line and to plan for the month ahead. This is when you can set up special marketing campaigns to add to enrollment as needed or review staffing levels should you need to lower expenses.
  4. Employ the assistance of a financial advisor.
    Have a financial advisor that you can trust and call upon as needed. Each year at tax season review your financial position with your advisor. Advisors can provide insights and tactics to help ensure you have a successful year ahead. They can also tell you what to look for in your finances and provide insights into what you’re seeing on your reports.

Ready to start discussions on implementing the childcare management software iCare Software to monitor and manage your financial health? Contact us to learn more or set up a demo.

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