What should you include in the daycare business plan? We will look at the critical elements in the daycare plan and the importance of having one.
Why Is A Business Plan Important?
A daycare business plan is an important tool for any person starting a child care business. It enables you to manage your business in an efficient and effective manner. Additionally, it ensures sound business decision-making by the owner through encouraging strategic thinking.
Your daycare business plan is also an important communication tool for acquiring external funding from investors and banks. It helps communicate your business mission and goals to investors. It provides lenders with in-depth information about your organization gives a credible explanation of how the funds will be utilized. Business plans are usually required when applying for business loan financing from commercial banks. Having a formal plan for your daycare business takes you a step closer to successfully acquiring funding for your business.
Elements of a Complete Daycare Business Plan
Executive Summary
An executive summary provides an overview of the whole daycare business plan. It outlines the contents of the plan. It should be written last after the rest of the other sections are completed. It should not be more than one page. The aim of the summary is to save time for lenders and investors to get an idea of your business. Therefore, you should make it interesting enough for readers to motivate them to go through the rest of the plan.
The executive summary should include the following information:
- Objectives of the plan and description of the project
- Business history and nature of the operation
- Description of products and services
- Project financing
- Management and Advisors
- Risk assessment and contingency plan
Business Overview
The overview of the business involves giving a detailed description of your daycare business. Some of the information to include in the business overview is:
- Business legal name and trade name
- Nature of the business to be done
- Vision and Mission
- Core values of the business
- Business goals and objectives
Additionally, include details on your daycare concept and brand that you want to bring to market. The mission statement is a summary of what your business intends to achieve. Business goals and objectives will help you realize your mission. They can be short-term, mid-term and long term business goals that you have set for your business to accomplish.
Industry Overview
Having an in-depth understanding of the child care industry enables the business owner to know where to focus his/her efforts. Your industry overview should include a description of nature and trends in the daycare industry. Moreover, describe the main players within the industry and highlight the applicable government regulations that govern the industry. Show how the government regulations will affect your child care business.
In describing the above elements, incorporate the latest statistics that support demographic, economic, social, and cultural factors. These factors play a major role in making your daycare a success.
Market Analysis
You need to provide proof of demand for your daycare to show the viability of your business. You will want to prove that there is demand for child care services among your target market. Two major components of the market analysis are the description of the target market and competitor analysis.
In competitor analysis, identify potential competitors in the daycare industry and list down their strengths and weaknesses. From the information obtained about your competitors, explain how you will distinguish your daycare from the competition. Additionally, use the information to determine the competitive advantages that your daycare will leverage to stay in business.
When describing your target market, use demographic characteristics e.g. age, gender, and income levels to develop a buyer persona. This information can be obtained from reliable external sources such as Statistics Canada. Customer segments have unique characteristics. Make sure to go for customer segments with a higher preference for your daycare services.
Marketing Plan
A marketing plan is essential in showing your readers how you will attract and retain customers in growing the business. Detail the marketing strategies you intend to use to advertise and promote your business. Various media and non-media channels can be used to market the business. The popular media channels used in daycare advertising are traditional mass media and online/digital media. Non-media channels that can be used to advertise the business include community outreach programs. A combination of both media and non-media channels is more effective in reaching a larger audience.
Within the marketing plan, including a pricing policy and selling methods. Develop a customer relations strategy describing the actions you will undertake to give the ultimate customer experience to your customers. All these components make your marketing plan complete.
Location and Assets
A daycare business plan places emphasis on the location of your childcare business. Where possible, provide details of the exact location of your daycare. Explain why the chosen location will contribute to the success of the business. Ensure you have chosen a strategic location for your daycare since it provides easy accessibility to your premises by customers.
List down the various assets that will be needed to effectively carry out daycare business operations. Explain the plans you have in place to procure the various furniture, fixtures, and other physical assets required for a daycare business.
Operations Plan
There should be a plan in place that details the daily operations of your child care business. Operations plan documents business controls and systems of your daycare. This ensures your operations are streamlined by the start of operations.
The operations plan for your daycare should cover the following 3 main areas:
- Suppliers
- Operations Workflow
- Business support functions
List suppliers of business assets that you intend to source furniture and fixtures for your daycare. Operations workflow describes the day-to-day activities to be performed. Business support functions such as accounting are necessary for facilitating the daily daycare operations.
Management and Human Resources
Information relating to the person in charge of carrying out childcare activities needs to be included in your daycare business plan. List the qualifications, duties, and responsibilities of the child attendants at your daycare.
Develop a Human Resource policy and procedures that include weekly operational hours, vacation programs, training and development programs, remuneration and benefits for employees, and health & safety guidelines that are to be followed at the daycare.
Financial Plan
Any business plan is not complete without a financial plan. You need to provide financial numbers that will influence lenders’ decisions to grant you funds for your business operations. These financial numbers include financial projections for a period of 3 to 5 years. Financial projections comprise estimated revenues, expenses, and profits on a monthly and yearly basis within your preferred timeframe. Moreover, include information on the daycare’s revenue model, sources, and amount of funds required to cover start-up costs.
There are 3 main financial documents that should be included in the financial plan; profit/loss statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. Include tables, graphs, and charts to provide a pictorial representation of your financial projections and financial documents.
Appendix
This section is where you include supporting documents to your plan. These supporting documents can include the tables, graphs, and charts of your financial projections. Other supporting documents include legal documents and letters of support etc.
5 Tips for Preparing a Daycare Business Plan
Always go for a professional-looking document.
Presentation of your daycare plan is very important. Lenders go through many business plans looking for those that are well designed and easy to read. Having a professional-looking business plan document shows lenders and investors that the company’s management takes business seriously.
Go straight to the point
Your business plan should be precise. A short, well-written plan will be preferred by readers over a long one. Use easily understandable terminology that all readers will be able to comprehend.
Make your daycare business plan realistic
When highlighting strengths and opportunities that your daycare has, also mention the weaknesses and threats it faces. Never hide the weaknesses and threats associated with the business. A good business plan should demonstrate to readers that you have an understanding of the challenges facing the business. In doing so, you should show how you intend to deal with the business challenges faced. A SWOT analysis section can be used to identify the factors affecting your daycare.
Ensure your daycare plan is funding ready
Your daycare business plan should enable investors and banks to have an understanding of the business. It should also show how you intend to utilize funds given in covering your start-up expenses and operational costs.
Seek professional help
Having professional business plan writers help you write up your daycare business plan adds value to your business. It increases your chances of securing funding from lenders. Most importantly, they ensure that all aspects of your business are covered in your business plan. This enables you to focus on other areas of the business.
At Vaisus, we are a team of professional business plan writers who prepare funding-ready daycare business plans. We have helped a number of businesses come up with custom, detailed business plans. Call us today to speak to one of our consultants.
Photo by Gautam Arora on Unsplash
