SEF-CCB8001 - Step-by-Step Guide to Opening a Childcare Business

Course Description

This class is a step-by-step guide to opening a childcare business that walks you from idea to open doors: choosing your model, understanding regulations, picking a location, building a brand, budgeting (startup and monthly), selecting curriculum, hiring your first staff, and launching with a family-first handbook and simple marketing. It’s clear, printable, and built from real-world experience.

Course Outline

Course Includes:

One-time, four-hour class.
Review Program Model
Location and Critical Licensing Rules
Financial/Cash plan
Creating A Draft 30-Day Launch Plan

Learner Outcomes

1. Choose a best-fit program model.

By the end of the session, participants will complete the Model Fit Quiz and produce a one-page **Model Decision Brief** that states their selected model (family child-care home / center-in-residence / brick-and-mortar), top three reasons, and two risks with mitigation steps.

2. Extract location-critical licensing rules.

Participants will use a guided worksheet to pull **10–12 site requirements** from their state/local rules (e.g., indoor/outdoor sq. ft./child, exits/egress, toilet/sink ratios, fencing/surfacing, zoning/parking) and leave with a personalized **Site Readiness Checklist** for building tours.

3. Build a break-even and cash plan.

Participants will complete a mini financial exercise to calculate **break-even tuition** using both top-down and bottom-up methods, identify the **minimum viable enrollment**, and outline a **90-day cash runway** (startup costs vs. operating expenses).

4. Draft a 30-day launch plan.

Participants will leave with a **brand one-liner**, a simple **referral credit policy**, and a **30-day marketing checklist** (bios, pinned posts, posting cadence, tour form, follow-up scripts) aimed at generating their first tours and enrollments.

Notes

Students will need the book: Educator to Entrepreneur, by Rachel Hall

Students should come ready to participate and leave with a business plan.