Home Hot Topics Articles Directors' Choice Awards About Us / Contact Us Activities & Curriculum Activities for Outcome-Based Learning Arts & Crafts Music for Learning Recommended Reading Sharing Boards: What Do YOU Think? NEWSlink Current National News Conference Calendar Topics In Early Childhood Education Art and Creativity in Early Childhood Education Job Sharing Board State Licensing Requirements Stay Connected! Each month we'll send you an email filled with articles and ideas for your classroom. Subscribe Now Date: 8/4/2004 5:19:00 PM Author: Laurie (khuki@msn.com) Subject: Opening a center My husband and I bought a center that had been closed for a year before we got it. It had a bad reputation but both of us have been working with children in various fields in the community for many years and felt we could use OUR reputation to build a business. It was lots of physical work getting ready to open but the part that really held us back was all of the inspections. We felt because it had previously been a child care center that nothing would need to be changed. WE WERE SO WRONG! New laws and regulations come out all the time so we had to put in so many new things and change so many things it ended up being 6 months before we could open! We had no income in the meantime because we had to leave our jobs to work on the center. To make a long story short, we have now been open for almost a year and nearly full.( Some classes are full) We have a staff of 7 not including myself and my husband. We are only just started taking a salery this month and only claim 20 hrs a week so that we can meet payroll. Our start-up costs far exceeded what we estimated and repairs to the building and replacing broken things has really strapped us.We also work seven days a week, I come in at 5:00 AM to get the center ready and prepare for the day and work until about 8:00PM doing the bookwork. My husband comes in at night to do the cleaning and repairs and we work weekends doing the big clean-ups and fixing and yard work. You need to want to lput everything into it for at least the first year! We are contracted with the State and are in the process of accreditation. I would still rather be doing this than anything in the world! Having all those children greeting me in the morning is the greatest way to start a day. Name: Email: Subject

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