business plan for children's day nursery

How to Write a Business Plan for Daycare and Preschool

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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.

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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.

A women using a calculating and holding cash

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.

Childcare and Preschool Supply List

A list of everything you need to start an early education program.

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Nursery School Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business Plans » Education Sector » Schooling

Are you about starting a nursery school? If YES, here is a complete sample nursery school business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE .

Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting a nursery school. We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample nursery school marketing plan template backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for nursery schools. So let’s proceed to the business planning section.

We all know that a nursery school is a pre-school childcare facility that are actually open all year round and all day to take care of kids of working or busy parents.

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This business is not an easy business, which is why if you’re not certain about committing to a full-time business, there are other ways that you could be involved in childcare – from running a crèche to a playgroup. You can even start and organize a self-employed childminder at home.

It is very important to note that starting a nursery is certainly not a shortcut to wealth. In fact, you could probably make more money driving a taxi than running your own nursery. But, if you want to start a business that will be inspiring, provide hourly challenges and a lot of rewards then you should consider starting a nursery school.

Before you start your nursery, it would be wise to write down your business plan. If you are going to go through the rough patch of starting a nursery school, you should run it like a business venture, not as a hobby.

One other hurdle that you will need to scale as you start out in this industry is to write a business plan. Below is a detailed business plan for your consumption.

A Sample Nursery School Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

Nursery Schools provide preschool education services for children aged three and four, combined with day care. Most businesses in the nursery school industry are private but may get funding from a variety of sources, including state and federal grants.

We all know that getting affordable, quality child day care, especially for children under age 5, is a major concern for many parents, particularly in recent years with the rise in families with two working parents. As the need for child day care has increased, the child day care services industry began to fill the need of non-relative child care.

It was estimated that within the past five years, strained household income and pressures on local budgets have shortened the spending on nursery schools, moving the nursery school industry revenue to reduce drastically. But it has been estimated that in the coming years, improved household income and greater public attention to early education will aid to turn the nursery school industry.

Still, grand plans for preschool expansion, including a tentative plan to provide multibillion-dollar investment by increasing taxes on tobacco and on high-income households, are unlikely to come to fruition in the near future.

Also it has been verified that this industry shows a low level of capital intensity, measured as spending on capital versus labour. It is expected that the average nursery school will spend only $0.05 on depreciable capital for every $1.00 spent on labour in the next two to three years.

It is believed that nursery schools will continue to rely on teachers and other staff, employing little capital beside school buses and software.

In addition, this capital wears out slowly, limiting depreciation spending per year. It is expected that the capital intensity of the industry will remain low through 2022. Conversely, labour intensity will remain high, with wages being the single largest cost for an industry operator.

2. Executive Summary

Covenant Academy is a new, standard, and a full-service nursery school in the Sterling City that will take care of toddlers from age three to five. We at Covenant Academy hope to focus on the upper end of the market: double-income professional parents.

We believe that these personally ambitious parents are typically eager in terms of their children’s development and will be willing to pay to have their children attend the best educational facilities. We believe that through adequate and specialized training of our prospective staff and our innovative learning systems, we at Covenant Academy will be able to take over the market entirely.

We believe that our well sustained educational curriculum, coupled with a custom designed facility and a low teacher: student ratio will make sure we achieve a top shelf service for the children and the parents.

We at Covenant Academy expect to become profitable by month 12, and have estimated a modest net profit by year three. Our objectives at Covenant Academy for the first two years of operation will be to create a service based operation whose primary goal is to exceed customer’s expectations.

We also expect the utilization of Covenant Academy by at least 40 different families in the first eight months. We at Covenant Academy hope to increase the number of client’s served by 20% each year and also develop a sustainable, profitable, start-up business.

Covenant Academy will be located in Sterling City, Texas, and will offer child care services for kids between the ages of three and five.

We at Covenant Academy plan to offer our innovative services from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. The cute kids of our prospective clients we believe will be exposed to a large range of activities including arts and crafts, socialization, large muscle group activities, and general learning.

We at Covenant Academy believe that we will be priced out of some people’s budget, but will offer a low student to teacher ratio and well trained staff.

3. Our Products and Services

We at Covenant Academy plan to offer the good people of Sterling City an upper-end nursery school facility for toddlers age three to five.

We hope to offer a low teacher to student ratio, custom facilities, and innovative learning programs. Our operation hours at Covenant Academy will be a bit wider rage than normal business hours to accommodate the working parents, the target customer.

We at Covenant Academy understand that the two income families have children, yet both parents work. That is why Covenant Academy was established as an innovative solution that acts as virtual parents, broadening the children’s skills during the day.

It is worthwhile to note that Covenant Academy is not a babysitter facility but a fully fledged Nursery school. The children are engaged throughout the day, learning new skills and reinforcing already acquired ones.

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

Our vision at Covenant Academy is to provide dedicated early education services to children within the our target market
Our mission at Covenant Academy is to provide top level nurse school activities. We at Covenant Academy exist to attract and maintain customers. When we adhere to this maxim, everything else will fall into place. Our services will exceed the expectations of our customers.

Our Business Structure

Craig Sissy, the founder and owner of Covenant Academy will be managing the daily operations of the facility. Craig Sissy got his undergraduate degree in English from the University of Washington. After graduating with a Second class upper division, Craig was no actually sure of what he wanted to do so he travelled to Australia and taught English for four years.

Within the first two years of his stay in Australia, Craig stayed with a local family. In exchange for room and board, he cared for the family’s two children. Although he had never done any child care before, Matt found love and satisfaction just taking care of the kids.

When he returned to the united states Craig decided to start a solid career in the field that makes him happy and fulfilled. Ultimately, He entered the University of California for his Master of Education Program in toddler development.

After graduation, Craig became very confident in his abilities and decided that he would appreciate the autonomy of running his own business. He purchased a house for the facility has been working hard on this project ever since. He has layer a basic foundation that will surely guarantee success and these are the very workforce he wish to work with at Covenant Academy:

School Director

School Administrator

Tutors for Various Learning Areas

Marketing and Sales Executive

Accountant / Bursar

Client Service Executive / Front Desk Officer
Security Officer

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

In charge of providing direction for the nursery school
Creating, communicating, and implementing the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
In charge of handling high profile clients and deals
In charge of fixing fees and signing business deals (partnership)
In charge of signing checks and documents on behalf of the tutorial college
Coordinates all arms of the nursery school
Evaluates the success of the nursery school
Reports to the board of the nursery school
In charge of overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the pre – school
Design job descriptions with KPI to drive performance management for all staff members
Regularly hold meetings with key stakeholders (parents and member of the school board) to review the effectiveness of the schools’ Policies, Procedures and Processes
Maintains office supplies by checking stocks; placing and expediting orders; evaluating new products.
Ensures operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs.
Defining job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
Carries out staff induction for new team members
In charge of training, evaluation and assessment of employees
In charge of arranging travel, meetings and appointments
Updates job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities; reading professional publications; maintaining personal networks; participating in professional organizations.
Oversee the smooth running of the daily activities of the tutorial college.

Tutors for Various Learning Areas for Toddlers

Effectively teach subject / subjects as assigned by the school coordinator
Access the progress of kids under their care
Ensure that kids participate in learning activities such as potty trainings, rhymes and dancing et al
Contributes his / her quota towards growing the pre – school
Receives complaints from parents and channel it to the appropriate quarters
Handle any other duty as assigned by the school coordinator.
Identifies, prioritizes, and reaches out to new parents, and business opportunities et al
Identifies development opportunities; follows up on development leads and contacts; participates in the structuring and financing of projects; assures the completion of development projects.
Writing winning proposal documents, negotiate fees and rates in line with organizations’ policy
In charge of handling business research, market surveys and feasibility studies for clients
In charge of supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
Develops, executes and evaluate new plans for expanding increase sales
Document all customer contact and information
Represents the company in strategic meetings
Help increase sales and growth for the company
In charge of preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports; analyses financial feasibility for the most complex proposed projects; conducts market research to forecast trends and business conditions.
In charge of financial forecasting and risks analysis.
Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting for one or more properties.
In charge of developing and managing financial systems and policies
In charge of administering payrolls
Ensuring compliance with taxation legislation
Handles all financial transactions for the nursery
Serves as internal auditor for the nursery school

Client Service Executive

Welcomes toddlers and their parents by greeting them in person or on the telephone; answering or directing inquiries.
Ensures that all contacts with parents (e-mail, walk-In centre, SMS or phone) provides them with a personalized customer service experience of the highest level
Through interaction with parents on the phone, uses every opportunity to build their interest in the school’s products and services
Manages administrative duties assigned by the school coordinator in an effective and timely manner
Consistently stays abreast of any new information on the schools’ products, promotional campaigns etc. to ensure accurate and helpful information is supplied to students when they make enquiries
Receives parcels / documents for the nursery school
Handles any other duties as assigned by the school authority
Maintain a clean nursery school facility by sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning of glass doors and windows, etc. if required.
Ensures that toiletries and supplies don’t run out of stock
In charge of handling laundry
Handles any other duty as assigned by the school coordinator.

Security Officers

Ensure that the nursery facility is secured at all time
Control traffic and organize parking
Give security tips to staff members from time to time
Patrols around the building on a 24 hours basis
Submit security reports weekly
Any other duty as assigned by the school coordinator.

6. SWOT Analysis

We at Covenant Academy understand that just within the United States, there are approximately 20,000 businesses that provide preschool and early education services to the general public. We were meant to believe that annually, these businesses generate $10 billion of revenue while providing jobs for 180,000 people. Annual payrolls in each of the last five years have exceeded $2 billion.

Preschools are considered to be part of a mature industry, and the expected future growth rate will remain in line with that of the economy’s GDP. We also understand how competitive the industry is and how businesses in the industry are trying so hard to overshadow other ventures, which is why we are so keen to understand all possible loopholes and establish a competitive business.

We took our time to research and write a comprehensive SWOT Analysis, that explains our strength and possible weaknesses. We believe that all issues will be taken care of before we open our doors for operation. Outlined below is a comprehensive SWOT Analysis conducted by Nicklaus Communications for Covenant Academy:

According to our comprehensive SWOT Analysis, the core strength of Covenant Academy lies in the will and experience of our team; our workforce. We at Covenant Academy believe that we have a team that has the right passion and drive for taking care of toddlers, a specific workforce with excellent qualifications and experience in education industry.

Our SWOT Analysis also noted that Covenant Academy is well positioned in a community with the right demographic composition and that we will attract loads of parents who would want to register their kids from the first day we open our doors at Covenant Academy.

Our SWOT Analysis noted that our weaknesses might be the time it will take some time for our organization to break into the market and gain acceptance in the already saturated education industry. Also we might not have the required money to pump into advertising and promoting our brand the way we would want to.

Opportunities

The opportunities in the education industry are very huge due to the number of parents who would want their kids to be in safe place and to gain adequate knowledge. As a standard, safe and highly comfortable nursery school, we are ready to take advantage of any opportunity that comes our way.

Our SWOT Analysis noted that some of the threats that we are likely going to face as a nursery school operating in the United States of America are unfavourable government policies that might affect us directly and indirectly, the arrival of a competitor within our location of operations and global economic downturn which usually affects spending / purchasing power.

There is hardly anything we can do as regards these threats other than to be optimistic that things will continue to work for our good.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

Market Trends

The improvement in the Nursery industry is the main reason that is attracting parents to enrol their wards is the safe and capable institutions, cleanliness, location and of course the overall comfort of their toddlers. It is worthwhile to note that the trend in the nursery industry is such that businesses in this industry can now comfortably start their Nursery school business in a business district; a place where it is easier for working class parents to pick their kids after work and do all things necessary.

Although competition among pre-schools is one way to bring tuition costs down, government action should be taken to make pre-school education more accessible for children from all backgrounds, whether it be ethnic, economic, or social. Investing in early childhood education will benefit individual children and society as a whole.

Since most pre-school programs are administered by private organizations, more funding is being provided at the state and federal level to provide make it possible for children to have the opportunity to attend pre-school, especially children coming from families living below the poverty line.

The economic downturn hasn’t really affected this industry, especially in countries that believe in the efficacy of early education. The areas you would need to spend heavily on is in ensuring that your school is up to standard, is the facility, your advertisements, and insurance.

8. Our Target Market

We at Covenant Academy hope to concentrate solely on the double income working professional families because they are the part of the population that can most easily afford nursery schools, are the ones who need day care because of their work obligations, appreciate the advanced learning and development we at Covenant Academy are very much ready to offer.

We believe that with both parents working, this part of the American population will always need some sort of provisions for the care of their child. It is very important to note that the Department of Labour indicates that over 50% of children are cared by relatives compared to 29% for commercial education institutions.

But we are confident that our targeted group always wants a more structured learning environment. We all know that using relatives are great for nights out or weekends, but it cannot be argued or compared to a structured program when it comes to the learning and development that we at Covenant Academy are offering.

Our competitive advantage

We at Covenant Academy are bent on targeting a specific niche in child care space and we understand the market properly. We plan to always adequately spread our services to let us attract our target market. We at Covenant Academy plan to use the touring of our facilities to sell our services.

We understand how important this is, because we understand that most parents want to see a facility before they will send their kids there. Our facilities at Covenant Academy are so good that they speak for themselves. We believe that our competitive advantage is in two folds and they include:

Our intensive and specialized training

We at Covenant Academy understand that our educational facility can only be as good as the teachers and assistants. Which is why we at Covenant Academy have established an intensive training program that all teachers and assistants are put through so they are proficient at teaching the specific programs that we at Covenant Academy have organise for all prospective toddlers age three to five.

Our well researched Innovative learning programs

We at Covenant Academy understand that the specialized learning programs for toddlers within our target market will have to focus on specific traits and only work on one trait/ skill at once. We understand that as much as this is successful in reinforcing the skill, it is often very difficult for the child to appreciate the interrelationships of the different skills.

Consequently, the child can learn the skill, but has difficulty applying the skill when faced with multiple stimuli. We at Covenant Academy possess adequate experience so that the child is unsure of what to do because of the multiple stimuli and these several skills that they have learned independently, the child tends to shut down out of confusion. We are prepared to create a learning pattern that brings out the best in kids.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

Sources of Income

Our source of income at Covenant Academy will come from providing preschool, early childhood education services and after school care for children enrolled in our well defined educational facility. We at Covenant Academy also believe that from time to time, we will be able to receive state based grants that will help us in subsidizing the costs associated with providing our services for young children within the State.

We at Covenant Academy believe that we will be able to provide a broad range of educational services including artistic training, general education, and computer training for young children. We at Covenant Academy will also serve breakfast and lunch to students enrolled in our Institute.

We will also make sure that all employees possess the necessary licensure and background check so that they are qualified to work with children under the age of six. This will be one of the foremost priorities of Covenant Academy.

10. Sales Forecast

We at Covenant plan to use the very first two months to renovate the facility and bringing it up to specifications, both for the state health and license codes. Within the same period, we must have been done with the training program and manuals. The first week of the third month will be used for training of the staff. We at Covenant Academy understand that by the middle of the third month, we will start accepting children for care.

We also expect that the facility will be under-utilized until the eighth month. By then, word will have spread and the classes will be filling up quite nicely. We at Covenant Academy believe that from month seven on, there will be a steady, incremental increase in sales. We have researched the industry and have come out with a detailed sales projection and they are:

First Year -: $150,000
Second Year -: $980,000
Third Year -: $3,000,000

Note : it is worthwhile to note just like we stated above that this forecast was done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the believe that none of the threats we mentioned above will be a hindrance or may likely appear.

Marketing Strategy and Sales strategy

We at Covenant Academy plan to makes use a number of

It is also our plan to build relationships with public and private schools within the our target market in order to generate referrals among parents that have older children in grade school and are seeking preschool services for their younger children. We at Covenant Academy will also use an internet based strategy. This is very important as many people seeking local services, such as preschools, now the Internet to conduct their preliminary searches.

We at Covenant Academy also plan to register our Institute with online portals so that potential customers can easily reach the business. We will also develop our own online website. We will maintain a sizable amount of print and traditional advertising methods within local markets to promote the services we are offering. Below is the summary of all the marketing strategies we plan to use:

Introduce our nursery school by sending introductory letters alongside our brochure to parents / household and key stake holders in Sterling city
Print out fliers and business cards and strategically drop them in religious centres, libraries and public facilities.
Use friends and family to spread word about our Institute
Post information about our nursery school on bulletin boards in places like churches, maternity clinics, parks, libraries, and local coffee shops et al
Place a small or classified advertisement in the newspaper, or local publication about our nursery school
Leverage on referral networks such as agencies that will help match parents with toddlers under school age with our nursery school
Join relevant association or body that will enable you network and meet others in same industry.
Advertising online by using an advertising platform such as Google AdWords, that will allow us place text advertisements alongside on websites with related contents, and along results from search engines.
Advertise our pre – school in relevant educational magazines, newspapers, TV stations, and radio station.
Attend relevant educational expos, seminars, and business fairs et al
Engage direct marketing approach
Encourage word of mouth marketing from loyal and satisfied parents

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

We at Covenant Academy plan to ensure maximum visibility for our Institute within our targeted market. Below is an overview of the publicity and advertising strategies of Covenant Academy:

Place adverts on both print (community based newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
Sponsor relevant community based events / programs
Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook , twitter, YouTube, Google + et al to promote our brand
Install our Bill Boards on strategic locations all around Sterling City
Engage in road show from time to time in targeted neighbourhoods
Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas
Contact corporate organizations by calling them up and informing them of our Nursery school, and the advantage we over the others.
Passing general information via our social media handles like twitter, Facebook, Google hangouts etc.
Ensure that all our staff members wear our branded shirts and all our vehicles are well branded with our schools’ logo et al.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Our strategy at Covenant Academy will be based on a communication effort to explain the virtues and importance of all our services and how we can successfully speed up the children’s development considerably. In addition to one on one explanation of the program and its merits, the prospective parents will be given tours of the facilities.

We at Covenant Academy hope to keep our fees below the average market rate for all of our students by keeping our overhead low and by collecting payment in advance. In addition, we will also offer special discounted rates to all our students at regular intervals. We are aware that there are some kids that would need special assistance, we will offer flat rate for such services that will be tailored to take care of such kids’ needs.

Payment Options

It is very important to note that we at Covenant Academy after our extensive research and thorough discussion understand efficiently that different customers prefer different payment options as it suits them but at different times and ways.

We plan to make sure that we provide them with payment options that will make their transactions less stressful and very open. Listed below are the payment options we at Covenant Academy plan to make available to our customers;

Payment via bank transfer
Payment with cash
Payment via online bank transfer
Payment via check
Payment via bank draft
Payment via POS

We have also chosen to partner with a known bank in the United States in order to give our customers the best they can ever get in the nursery school industry of the United States.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

It is very crucial to note that Covenant Academy will start out as a simple proprietorship, owned by its founder. We believe that as the operation grows, the owner will consider re-registering as a Limited Liability Company or as a corporation, whichever will better suit the future business needs.

Every possible threats and analyses have been considered, and the future we see for Covenant Academy is as bright as the sun. We have analysed the possible place we wish to spend our start up capital and they include:

Business incorporating fees in the United States of America will cost – $750.
The budget for Liability insurance, permits and license will cost – $3,500
Acquiring a facility / property that will accommodate the number of kids that we want to take care of for at least 6 months (Re – Construction of the facility inclusive) will cost – $35,000.
Equipping the office (computers, printers, projectors, markers, pens and pencils, furniture, telephones, filing cabinets, and electronics) will cost – $10,000
The budget for paying staff members and utility bills for at least 3 months – $70,000
The budget for start – up inventories (toiletries, toys, cots, and mats et al) – $2,500
Launching an official Website will cost – $500
Additional Expenditure such as Business cards, Signage, Adverts and Promotions will cost – $5,000

From the above projection, we need approximately $250,000 to start Covenant Academy, and we have made all possible plans to raise the said amount.

Generating Funding / Start-up Capital for Covenant Academy

We at Covenant Academy understand that adequate funding will go a long way to make sure you achieve your desired goal. Finance basically is a very crucial factor when it comes to building any business, and building a successful business is not a one day job but a continuous job that requires consistency and hard work.

Covenant Academy is the dream of Craig Sissy, who is the founder and owner of Covenant Academy, and will be managing the daily operations of the facility. We have decided to start up the business as a sole proprietorship business, and will sponsor the business solely, but we consider other sources as the business grows. For now the strategies we hope to raise funds may include:

Raising part of the start – up capital from personal savings
Raising part of the start – up capital from family members and friends (soft loans and gifts et al)
Raising a larger chunk of the start-up capital from the banks (loan facility).

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

We at Covenant Academy believe that we will be offering child care/development for toddlers age three to five, and that we will be targeting double income professional families who, because of work obligations, do not have the time during the day to care for their child.

We at Covenant Academy are very keen to get to families that are hungry to offer their kids something more than simple baby-sitting facilities, those individuals who like their children to be registered in a program that offers development of many different skills including: socialization skills, arts and crafts, large muscle group workouts, reading, numbers, etc.

We at Covenant Academy plan to make use of our facility tour to impress our prospective clients. We believe that our facilities were custom designed to achieve very specific educational goals and we are very proud to have it. We believe that these tours will occur during the day and will serve as a perfect opportunity for prospective patrons to view the care as it is occurring.

We hope and trust that this strategy will serve to build a trust bond between Covenant Academy and the parent who naturally is cautious about leaving the child with strangers to have the child cared for and taught the entire day.

We at Covenant Academy believe that in case of an economic downturn, we may face a decline in our incomes. But we believe that the demand for parents that want to register their children in our care will keep increasing steadily. Which means that Covenant Academy will always remain profitable and our cash flow will remain positive at all times despite certain drawbacks in the economy.

Checklist/Milestone

Business Name Availability Check: Completed
Business Incorporation: Completed
Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts various banks in the United States: Completed
Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
Application for business license and permit: Completed
Purchase of All form of Insurance for the Business: Completed
Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
Leasing, renovating and equipping our facility: Completed
Generating part of the start – up capital from the founder: Completed
Applications for Loan from our Bankers: In Progress
Writing of Business Plan: Completed
Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
Drafting of Contract Documents: In Progress
Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: Completed
Recruitment of employees: In Progress
Purchase of the needed software applications, furniture, office equipment, electronic appliances and facility facelift: In progress
Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
Creating Awareness for the business (Business PR): In Progress
Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement: In Progress
Establishing business relationship with banks, financial lending institutions, vendors and key players in the industry: In Progress

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Child Care Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 5,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their child care centers. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a child care business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Child Care Business Plan Template here >

What is a Childcare Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your child care business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan as a Childcare Provider

If you’re looking to start a childcare 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 childcare business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your business 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.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for a childcare business.

A childcare business plan should include 10 sections as follows:

Executive Summary

Company Overview

Industry Analysis

Customer analysis, competitive analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, management team, financial plan.

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 facility 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 childcare industry. Discuss the type of child care you are operating. Provide key details regarding your direct competition. Give an overview of your target audience. Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will describe your business concept for a child care business that you are currently operating or plan to open.

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

In addition to a business description, 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 is your mission statement?
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? A Limited Liability Company? A sole proprietor? Explain your business structure here.

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 local 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:

How big is the child care business (in dollars)?
Is the market declining or increasing?
Who are the key competitors in the target 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.

The customer analysis section must detail the target customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: working parents, 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 potential 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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With Growthink’s Ultimate Child Care Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Your competitive analysis should identify the direct and indirect competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other child care businesses.

Indirect competitors are other childcare 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 centers located within the same residential neighborhood or very close to your local area.

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 unique value proposition. 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?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your 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 competitive pricing strategies 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 marketing efforts you might consider:

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

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, cleaning and sanitizing the facility, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to serve your 100th child, or when you hope to reach $X in sales. It could also be when you expect to hire your 4th employee or launch a new location.

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 childcare businesses and/or successfully running retail and small businesses.

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 ongoing expenses 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.

Balance Sheets : While balance sheets include much information, to simplify them to the key items you need to know about, balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. For instance, if you spend $100,000 on building out your childcare center, that will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $100.000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow forecast 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 childcare 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 financial projections be sure to include several of the key start-up expenses needed to open a childcare center:

Center build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
Cost of fixtures like tables, chairs, couches, etc.
Cost of equipment used like computers and televisions
Staffing costs for support staff members
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 childcare center design blueprint or location lease.

Free Business Plan Template for Childcare Providers

You can download our child care business plan PDF .

Childcare Business Plan Summary

Putting together a business plan for your childcare facility will improve your company’s chances of success. The process of developing your plan will help you better understand your target market, your competition, and your customers. You will also gain a marketing plan to better attract families, a business operations plan to focus your efforts, and financial projections that give you goals to strive for and keep your company focused.

Growthink’s Ultimate Child Care Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Child Care Business Plan.

Additional Resources For Starting a Childcare Center

Opening & Running a Child Care Center
Marketing Your Child Care Program
Childcare Licensing and Regulations

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.

Click here to see how our professional business plan writers can create your business plan for you.

NURSERY BUSINESS PLAN: Guide and Template

by Folakemi Adegbaju
August 14, 2023

Table of Contents Hide

How to start a nursery business, how to write a nursery business plan, #9. organization and management team, #10. appendix, nursery business plan template, final thoughts, can you open a nursery in a house, who regulates nurseries in the uk, is a nursery school a good business.

Starting a nursery can be your next step in your childcare career, a long-term goal, or a new area of interest. You should make sure you are well prepared for what it will entail because, even if you have worked in childcare for many years, it may be a challenging job with many factors to take into account. There are four key requirements for success, regardless of the nursery’s level of development: a strong business plan for the nursery, thorough planning, market research, and high-quality, qualified employees. You will find it difficult to offer the level of provision that will ensure success without all of these components. A nursery business plan template has been created by us in this article to make the writing easier for you.

Let’s zoom off….

What Is a Nursery Business?

Nowadays, nurseries are a common and prosperous business. They provide early childhood education to kids before they start in-school programmes, and if you like dealing with kids, this might be the ideal place for you. But there are many things to think about first if you’re thinking of opening your own nursery business.

There are some steps to follow when you plan on opening a nursery business to make it successful:

#1. Make Sure You Have the Qualifications and Experience

If your goal is to operate a nursery as a business rather than get engaged in the teaching and day-to-day management of the nursery, you technically don’t need any training or expertise to do so. If you’re going to work in the background, it’s always a good idea to educate yourself on the ins and outs of business ownership. However, there are some credentials and experience you’ll need to have if you do intend to get involved with teaching the kids directly.

A nursery manager must have worked as a nursery nurse for at least two years, have had a supervisory position for one to two years, and possess the necessary nursery certifications.

#2. Hiring the Right Staff

In every business, but especially when working with kids and families, it’s crucial to pick the right employees. Whether or not they have appropriate behaviour management. Children’s caregivers may come across a variety of behavioural situations, and they must be able to react in a way that supports the welfare and development of the kids.

Whether or not they take pleasure in working with kids and have patience. They must share your vision because they will have to do this daily. They must also have the proper mindset. Remember that nurseries must adhere to minimum staffing ratios of one adult for every three children under the age of two, one adult for every four children ages two to two, and one adult for every eight children ages three to seven. In your adult-to-child ratios, trainees or apprentices under the age of 17 are not considered adults. Additionally, there must always be a minimum of two employees on duty.

#3. Register Your Nursery

You must be 18 years of age or older, be eligible to work in the UK, and submit to a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check before you can apply for registration. The DBS check, which costs about £50, verifies that you have no criminal convictions that would prevent you from working with children. Additionally, you will be required to complete a health declaration form outlining any medical conditions you may have and any medications you are currently taking. Following registration, Ofsted will visit your nursery at least once every three years to make sure it complies with the 14 national criteria for child care. This will be used to grade you.

#4. Conducting Research

Conducting correct research is the first step in starting a successful nursery business. Included in those crucial sectors are clients, rivals, and operations. It is crucial to carry out both primary research (your own investigation, including speaking with prospective clients and keeping an eye on rivals). An annual sufficiency report, which local authorities are required by law to provide, is helpful for identifying gaps in and choosing an appropriate location to open, is available from the early years’ department of your local authority and is frequently a good source of information about early years provision in your neighbourhood. Learn what parents want from childcare services, then customise your offerings to fulfill those needs. You may set your rates at a sustainable and competitive level by conducting research on the amount of fees parents are willing to pay for childcare and learning how many local nurseries charge parents.

#5. Decide What Type of Nursery You Want To Start

You have the option of starting a nonprofit nursery or a private nursery. In either case, you must abide by the same laws and standards. However, if the organisation is a registered charity, additional reporting obligations will be applicable. The sole distinction is that the non-profit nursery’s profits support the community centre or nonprofit organisation to which you belong, whereas a private nursery operates like any other company, with shareholders and dividends or drawings if it is not incorporated.

You should also choose if you want to join a franchise or launch your business entirely from scratch. You won’t need to rush to raise startup money because the franchise organisation will help with the nursery’s resources, but they will also take a cut of the revenues.

#6. Get Your Licences and Regulations

Regardless of where you reside, your country’s regulatory body will require you to register your day nursery before you may do so, and you must first meet the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) standards. A nursery insurance policy is required, covering public liability, employer’s liability, professional indemnity, commercial property, and business interruption insurance to protect you in the event that you need to temporarily close the nursery, such as during a lockdown.

There are food safety laws you must follow for the meals and snacks you offer to kids. Specifically for childcare providers, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has created a set of hygienic guidelines for preparing and storing food. Maintaining risk assessments, evacuation plans, fire safety, injury reporting, and the storage of any hazardous goods should all be covered by a clear health and safety policy. Depending on the age range of the kids at the day nursery, there are some stringent staffing requirements for the amount of personnel you must hire.

#7. Building Your Day Nursery Brand

There is more to branding than just a logo and a colour palette. It is how you wish to present your nursery business to your target market. Your branding needs to represent all aspects of your business, from how you interact with parents to the instructional strategies you use.

It’s difficult to create a brand from scratch. The best course of action is to meet with a branding consultant like BUSINESS YIELD CONSULT who can help you achieve your goal. Once you have established your brand, you may replicate it across all of your communications, websites, buildings, uniforms, and policies.

Once you’ve established your brand, it’s time to increase brand recognition. Social media and websites can help with this. However, there are guidelines and restrictions on the internet sharing of pictures of the kids who go to your nursery. You can’t post their pictures without their parent’s or guardians’ consent.

#8. Find a Suitable Location

When picking a location for your nursery, there are a number of things to consider. The following is to be considered:

If there is a parking
Whether it has good transportation options
Is the nursery going to be attached to a community centre or religious community and will it be nearby?
And if there are any nearby nurseries that compete
Perhaps there is enough room outside for a playground.
Whether it has enough space to install all the required facilities is not
Is there a demand for another nursery? Are existing nurseries in the area full?
Maybe it is in a neighbourhood that is safe and has lots of families around

You will also need to abide by some legal space limitations. For kids under the age of two, you need 3.5 square metres of room per child. You need 2.5 square metres per child between the ages of two and three.

Furthermore, each child needs 2.3 square metres of space between the ages of three and seven. After you’ve closely examined a potential site, consult an architect to see how much it will cost to turn the area into a daycare centre.

#9. Prepare a Business Plan

It is time to draught a business plan now that you have gone over every aspect and are aware of what it takes to build a nursery business. When you are searching for funding, the lender will want to know where their money is going. Therefore, this is important to keep you on track and is also vital. Also, it aids you in maintaining your spending plan at all times. You might engage a professional to write your business plan if you are unsure of how to proceed.

#10. Funding

You’ll be prepared to use your business plan to raise money for your nursery now that you’ve finished writing it. Several ways to pay for your nursery include:

Put money of your own into the business.
Loans from banks
loans for new companies.
Equity funding is capital provided by shareholders.

The groundwork for establishing your new nursery business will be in place once you have done your research, written a business plan, and raised the necessary funds.

What Is a Nursery Business Plan?

When starting a nursery business, it is crucial to have a solid plan. As you move through the setup process in the nursery business, it will guide your decisions. Do you require outside funding? Or require legal advice from a professional? Do you know where to look for and how to entice the parents of prospective classmates?

You’ll be stumbling in the dark without a nursery business plan. You won’t be taken seriously by potential investors either. Get it right away and prepare for the journey ahead. But if you know what you’re doing and truly care about providing high-quality early childhood education, you could be able to create a company that will be successful for many years, perhaps even decades. The good news is that to ease your worries, we have a nursery business plan template for you!

Here, we created a nursery business plan template as a guideline to assist you in putting your aspirations on paper. If you follow these instructions, you’ll have a useful, pertinent document to help you stay relevant in the business.

#1. Executive Summary

An executive summary is a breakdown of your nursery business plan’s main ideas. It contains important details like your earnings and loss. It should be brief and to the point and explain why your company is viable. Any childcare experience you may have should be mentioned here. You can summarize the key facts about your company in it, such as its name, aims, and ambitions. This provides a summary of your goals for both you and anyone else reading your nursery business plan.

#2. Company Overview

This is your chance to share the motivation for beginning a nursery business. To sell yourself and your vision, mention your drive, expertise, and qualifications. If you’ve never had a business before, visualise yourself as a prosperous businessperson and tap into the confidence that will result from it. Include a description of your beliefs, services, ways you stand out from the competition, your mission and vision statements, and the chances you plan to capture.

Keep in mind to adhere to the SMART principles while defining your goals;

#3. Services

Make sure to fully describe what you are giving in this part as well as how you vary from other providers and organisations in your nursery business plan. Your main component when promoting to potential clients and investors will be your unique selling point (UPS). What will offer your nursery the edge above the competition you need to succeed? Perhaps your business is next to a railway station, making pick-up and drop-off for harried parents who commute easier. Maybe there is a wooded area in your outdoor space that you could advertise as a forest school.

Even though it might seem obvious, you must list all the services you will provide. Consider carefully the following, as each childcare provider will have a slightly different offering:

How accommodating are your hours?
Specify your lower and upper age limits in the age provision.
How many kids will be in each class? What are the ratios? And how many employees?
Are there any parks, museums, or libraries near your property?
Will you offer services from outside providers, such as swimming lessons or language classes, as part of your activities?

#4. Market Research

Now is the moment to define your market, being sure to analyse both your target market and your competitors in your nursery business plan. You will be able to start forming an accurate company strategy, as well as a picture of the types of individuals that will be your customers and the price you will charge.

Focus on your intended audience now. Beyond the fact that they will inevitably become parents, they can diverge greatly. Some parents of two-year-olds will qualify for more government assistance than others, while others may rely on childcare vouchers provided by their employers. Some parents will only require a spot for a few mornings each week, while others will require a full-time setting. Examine the demographics of your neighbourhood, including the average pay, population size and change, and birth rates. Your plans can benefit from every piece of knowledge and become more accurate.

#5. Finances

This describes your financial situation as well as your projected income and expenses in your nursery business plan. Financial statements like your balance sheet and cash flow statements would be included. The equipment needed to start a nursery will range from furniture to toys and books to outdoor playthings to computers and tablets to first aid supplies and promotional materials.

Your largest continuous cost will be employee pay, which makes up 73 percent of all expenses for private day nurseries. Some of these may need to be changed on a regular basis. Rent or mortgage payments, training expenses, and utility bills will all significantly reduce your profit. Do you know where your funding originates, to sum up? In your nursery business plan, be very explicit about the funding you’ve previously acquired (personal savings, soft loans from family and friends, etc.) and whether further funding through a business loan, sponsorship, or business partner is necessary.

#6. Location

The location of your business is crucial to your plan, and there are several things to take into account, including its size, location, and compliance with any applicable property laws. Many structures have limitations on the number of people who are permitted to enter them as well as guidelines governing whether you are able to operate a company from them. Describe your plans in this part of your nursery business plan, being careful to mention any necessary ancillary charges.

Decide how many children you would ideally like to accommodate before you begin looking for a location. This will have an effect on the size of the property you need, the number of employees, and the cost. Your market research should guide where you decide to locate this business. Will you be flooding a market that is already having trouble or filling a gap?

Here are some things to consider while searching for a location:

Transportation options to provide the most convenient pick-up and drop-off
adequate outdoor space and parking
Bathroom and kitchen amenities
Whether a structure is suitable for conversion when it already exists

#7. Marketing Plan

Here, you should outline your strategies for attracting parents and customers, generating sales, and creating devoted followers. Furthermore, a significant portion of your business plan will be devoted to your marketing strategy. A plan for promoting your nursery before its anticipated launch date should be at its core. You need to go all out, using both conventional strategies like posting banners outside the building and distributing flyers to neighbourhood infant and toddler organisations, as well as fully embracing a social media campaign.

#8. Rules and Regulations

There are a lot of legal considerations, guidelines, and restrictions when starting a nursery. You will be taking care of kids, after all. Make sure your company plan makes it apparent that you are aware of and have taken into account these rules and regulations. Additionally, you will need to register with Ofsted. If you are qualified to care for children, you need to take the following two steps first:

a DBS that evaluates your fitness based on any prior convictions for crimes
a health declaration form in which you indicate any medical conditions you have and the medications you take

Make sure you budget at least six months for the completion of this lengthy registration process since it is necessary. Without it, you won’t be able to open your nursery business. Once your nursery is operational and registered, Ofsted will inspect it at least once every three years to ensure compliance with national requirements. With the possibility of an Ofsted inspection looming, you’ll be even more driven to succeed in your new nursery venture.

You must now specify if you plan to hire employees and how your company will be managed. This might address both the early stages and how you envision your company developing over time and adding people as it expands. Who is involved in the venture, and what are their skills and expertise?

You can include any material in this part to support your business plan. Reports, legal documents, etc. may be included. It serves to explain some of the elements you included in the business plan and provides a complete grasp of it. You can include any material in this part to support your business plan. Reports, legal documents, etc. may be included. It serves to explain some of the elements you included in the business plan and provides a complete grasp of it.

Having a nursery business plan template gives you the full confidence of starting the journey of writing your own nursery business plan. We have a nursery business plan template so you won’t get confused when writing your plan. The following are included in the nursery business plan template we’ve created for you:

Executive summary
Industry analysis
Market analysis
Operational plan
Management team
Marketing plan
Financial information

This nursery business plan template will surely serve as a guideline to make writing your plan easier.

Planning the ideal nursery requires consideration of how to bring toddlers’ giggles and smiles into the space. Without any children to enjoy it, operating a nursery business is pointless. Therefore, your nursery business plan needs to be carefully written. That is why we have compiled one for you to save you from the stress of writing it! Go ahead and download the template for nursery business plan

If planning approval is obtained, you are allowed to operate a nursery in your home. To find out if this is the case, you must speak with your local government, which could take some time.

The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services, and Skills is also known as Ofsted. In England, they oversee and inspect childcare providers such as childminders, registered nannies, nurseries, pre-schools, schools, and FE institutions.

Preschool establishments are one of the most lucrative enterprises when done with devotion, tenacity, and dedication. Preschools help you gain market recognition and goodwill in addition to improved financial returns.

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Folakemi Adegbaju

She is a passionate copywriter and a good listener

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Last Updated on August 15, 2023 by Folakemi Adegbaju

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Your Nursery Business Plan

Powerful integrations

Backed by industry standards

Running a nursery brings its own unique rewards: watching the children in your care grow and flourish as you offer them the very best early years education.

If you’ve got a passion for teaching and nurturing, along with the right qualifications, spending your days with a group of fun-loving toddlers will sound like a dream come true.

And with childcare costs and availability of suitable places an ongoing issue for working parents, demand will never drop off. So, in theory, it’s the perfect start-up opportunity.

But starting a nursery business isn’t all singing songs and sharing cuddles with small people. Along with the daily – and often dramatic – ups and downs of life as a toddler, you’ll have a complex business model to manage.

Rules and regulations, staff training, strategic planning, cashflow monitoring , customer service challenges, reputation management, ongoing marketing: they’ll all require your attention. And don’t forget, you need to do all this with the endless patience and energy every childcare professional must have each day.

Despite the hard work, working with young children as they start their exciting education journey is enormously satisfying. Get your nursery business plan in order from the start and you’ll have taken the first step towards opening the doors to your very first mini-customers.

Why Do I Need to Write A Business Plan?

In the private day nursery industry, it will inform your decisions as you progress through the set-up process. Do you need external investment? Do you need professional advice about the legalities? Do you know how to find and attract the parents of future classmates?

Without a business plan, you’ll be stumbling in the dark. And potential investors won’t take you seriously. Nail it now and get organised for the road ahead.

How to Start A Nursery Business

Step one: write your nursery business plan . This should follow a set structure, divided into clear, information-packed sections.

Here we outline a suggested template that will help you get your dreams out of your head and onto paper. Follow these steps and you’ll have a helpful, relevant document to keep you on track.

1. Executive Summary

This is a grand title for your introduction. Within it, you can summarise the top-line detail about your business including its name, your objectives and goals. This gives you, and anybody else who reads your plan, an overview of your intentions.

Make sure it’s clear, concise and gets to the point. Highlight what you can bring to the business to make it a success: think of it as an elevator pitch. Leave the nitty-gritty until later.

2. Company Overview

The company overview builds upon the executive summary to give further insight into your plans. This is your opportunity to tell your story about why you’re starting a nursery business . Include your motivation, experience and qualifications to sell yourself and your vision.

If you’ve never run a business before, imagine you’re already a successful entrepreneur and channel the confidence you know that will give you.

You’re seeking to impress and convince potential investors and partners to help them to understand your journey and to trust you.

Include a vision statement to really hammer home what success looks like for you. What do you envisage achieving in the next five years? How will you reach those goals?

When setting your goals, remember to follow the SMART guidelines and make them:

Specific : e.g. to have 40 clients within six months
Measurable : e.g. to make a £25,000 profit in year two
Achievable : e.g. to break even within 12 months
Relevant : e.g. to gain an outstanding Ofsted rating
Timely : e.g. to have a team of 20 staff within 18 months

Outline who will own and operate the business, including its legal structure (for instance, have you set up a limited company?) and how many committed staff members you already have on board.

3. Services

This might seem obvious, but you need to outline all the services you’ll be covering. Every childcare provider will have a slightly different offering, so think carefully about:

Opening hours – how flexible can you be?
Age provision – specify your lower and upper age limit
Class sizes and ratios – how many children will be in each room? And how many staff?
Outings – are your premises close to a park, museum or library?
Activities – will you be offering services by external providers such as swimming lessons or foreign language sessions?

Remember that if you’re not in a position to offer everything on your wish list straight away, you can highlight your future development plans.

Also consider your USP. What will give your nursery that competitive edge you’ll need to thrive? Maybe your premises are located directly opposite a train station, simplifying pick up and drop off for busy parents who commute? Maybe your outdoor space has a wooded area you can market as a forest school?

Whatever makes you stand out from the childcare crowd, shout about it.

4. market research.

The latest government figures , released in 2016, show that there are around 23,500 day care nurseries in the UK. The industry is worth £4 billion, employs over 188,000 people and provides childcare for 1.2 million children.

Since then, and due mainly to the introduction of the 30 hours free childcare policy, the number of childcare providers registered with Ofsted has fallen. Most of those leaving the market have been childminders facing unsurmountable financial pressures .

Among the private nursery market, 841 providers left the sector in the final quarter of 2017 and 772 joined. And while overall numbers may be falling, the number of spaces is actually rising.

Just as you’re doing now, those 772 people made the entrepreneurial leap: after, of course, writing a comprehensive nursery business plan .

You need to know about this competition: who’s already operating in your area, what services they offer and the demand for them, whether they’re sole traders or part of a larger chain etc. Don’t forget to consider playgroups and home-based childminders in this analysis.

Next, shift your attention to your target market. Naturally, they’re going to be parents, but beyond that they can differ widely. Some of those with two-year-olds will be entitled to more government support than others, others will be relying on childcare vouchers from their employers, some will only need a few mornings a week, others will need a full-time place.

Investigate the demographics of your area such as average wage, population levels and fluctuations, and birth rates. Every nugget of information can inform your plans and improve their accuracy.

Crucially, based on your research, you can start to gauge how much you can charge. Prices vary across the country with an average cost of £122.46 for 25 hours of childcare at a private day nursery. You can then factor this figure into your financial planning.

4. Finances

Before you can put a tick next to “write business plan”, there’s some serious number-crunching to do.

A solid business plan should be brimming with informative tables to guide you and reassure your potential investors that you’ve done your sums and are a safe bet. As a bare minimum, you should include a profit and loss forecast and cashflow forecast for the first three years, and a detailed start-up budget.

For a nursery, start-up costs will include equipment ranging from furniture, toys and books, outdoor play equipment, computers and tablets, first aid kits and marketing materials.

Beyond these, some of which will need to be regularly replaced, your highest ongoing cost will be staff wages which averages at 73% of all outgoings for private day nurseries. Add rent or mortgage payments, training and utilities costs, and your profit will quickly be dented.

Then detail your income stream based on estimated numbers and your projected fee structure. To avoid cashflow challenges, consider incorporating a Direct Debit facility for parents to pay their monthly fees. It’ll mean less hassle for them and more certainty for you: you’ll know exactly how much to expect in your business account and when.

Partnering with a Direct Debit bureau such as FastPay will ensure fees are paid upfront, avoiding the administrative headache of gathering payments by cash, cheque or debit card. Your cashflow and your customer satisfaction levels will thrive.

Finally, do you know where your funding is coming from? Be crystal clear in your nursery business plan about cash you’ve already secured (personal savings, soft loans from family and friends etc.) and whether extra capital is required from a business loan, sponsorship or business partner.

5. Premises

Before you start searching for premises, you need to establish how many children you’d ideally like to cater for. This will impact on the size of the property you need, as well as the number of staff and pricing.

Government regulations mean that you must allocate a minimum square footage per child. Calculate your requirements carefully based on these and also consider future expansion plans. The last thing you want is to be a huge hit with local parents and have capacity issues before you’re ready, and financially solvent, to move or extend.

In terms of location, your choice here should be informed by your market research. Will you be filling a gap or saturating an already struggling market?

Key considerations, beyond demand, include:

transport connections to make pick up and drop off as convenient as possible
sufficient car parking and outdoor space
kitchen and bathroom facilities
with an existing building, its suitability for conversion

Whether you’re renting or buying, adapting a building or moving into purpose-built premises, carefully consider every cost involved in every option.

6. sales and marketing.

Your marketing plan will form an important section of your business plan. Central to it should be a strategy for advertising your nursery before your planned opening date. From traditional methods such as hanging banners outside the building and leafleting local baby and toddler groups to embracing a full social media campaign, you need to go all out.

Tours of the nursery are also priceless. Parents will want to know exactly where they’re leaving their child and who will be caring for them: viewing your premises and meeting your staff will create trust. Whether you hold an open day or welcome potential clients in on a typical working day, this is your opportunity to showcase your facilities and share your personal approach to childcare.

Impressed parents will then spread the word to friends and family, giving you free exposure that could easily translate into clients.

Once you’re up and running, you’ll need to keep attracting clients as children grow and move on to start primary school. Your reputation will speak volumes here, so use this never-ending marketing job as added motivation to provide exemplary service and standards.

7. Rules and Regulations

Your business plan must address that you fully understand these legalities and are taking the appropriate steps.

In order to look after children under the age of eight for more than two hours a day in England, you must be registered with Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education). For a nursery, you’ll be signing up to the Early Years Register.

There are two preliminary steps:

a DBS check to assess your suitability based on any previous criminal convictions
completion of a health declaration booklet , in which you must list any health problems and medications you’re taking

Next, you’ll need to demonstrate to Ofsted that you’ll comply with all their strict standards. These cover a wide range of factors including:

staff training and vetting
child group size
staff-per-child ratios
space-per-child ratios
fire safety
bathroom facilities
health and safety
quality of education
welfare needs

This necessarily comprehensive registration process takes time so make sure you factor in at least six months for it to be finalised. You won’t be able to open without it.

Once you’re registered and up and running, Ofsted will assess your nursery at least once every three years to make sure it conforms with the national standards.

With the prospect of an Ofsted inspection on the horizon, you’ll have the added motivation to make your new nursery business a success.

Starting a nursery business is a slow but ultimately highly rewarding process. Prepare for a steady start and enjoy the momentum building as your reputation establishes itself.

A few years down the line, you could be revisiting your business plan with an eye towards the future. Expansion, perhaps with a second or third site, will require another impressive document to wow your investors.

For now, focus on getting its first incarnation right and you’ll soon be welcoming small, smiling faces through your doors.

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Health & Safety

How to Start a Nursery Business

Nurseries are popular, successful businesses in this day and age. They offer early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education, and could be the perfect place for you if you enjoy working with children. However, if you’re thinking of starting your own nursery school, there’s a lot that needs to be taken into consideration first.

In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know about starting a nursery business, including the qualifications required. We’ll also provide a free business plan template that you can use.

The contents of the guide are as follows:

Why Start a Nursery Business?

Starting a Nursery Business Plan – Market Research, Choosing Your Premises, Financial Planning, Marketing and Branding

What Qualifications Do I Need to Open a Nursery?

How do i run a good nursery business.

Starting your own nursery business can be extremely rewarding – the benefits include:

The ability to influence and be involved in children’s early development , which lays down the foundations for the rest of their lives. Early years are really important – find out more in our article here – and helping to give children the best start makes for a fulfilling career.
High demand and the potential for great success . The Department for Education’s 2019 report showed that there were 1.7 million childcare places offered in that year in England, with the great majority being from group-based nurseries rather than school-based ones. Few places go spare – only 19% of group-based nurseries’ places were available in 2019 – because more parents are able to work, as a result of changes in employment conditions, and new government childcare schemes.
Freedom to work for yourself . Starting your own nursery gives you the freedom to be your own boss, and if you decide to do it from home, you don’t even have the hassle of travelling.

However, there may be some drawbacks to consider. Like any start-up business, there are risks to starting a nursery: you need a really good business plan, great organisational skills, and a passion for the industry. Additionally, you have to be prepared for things to go wrong – insurance policies are particularly important, so that you don’t find yourself on the wrong end of a lawsuit.

If you plan to set up a nursery business, you don’t need any formal childcare qualifications, unless you want to be involved in the day-to-day managing of the nursery. Managers must have at least two years’ experience as a qualified nursery nurse, one to two years’ experience in a supervisory role, and a relevant nursery qualification.

However, there are a lot of other considerations that you will need to keep in mind, from registering your nursery to safeguarding requirements and health and safety regulations.

Registering Your Nursery

Your nursery will need to be registered the specific regulator in your country:

England – Ofsted. Follow the link to this page for more information.
Wales – CSSIW (Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales). Look at this page for more information.
Scotland – the Care Inspectorate. Follow this link for more information.
Northern Ireland – the Health and Social Services Board (HSSB). Follow the link to this page for more information.

In order to apply for registration, you must be aged 18 years or older, have the right to work in the UK, and must undergo a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check . The DBS check ensures that you have no criminal convictions that make you unsuitable to work with children; it costs around £50. You will also need to fill in a health declaration booklet , detailing any health problems that you have and any medication you are taking.

Once you are registered with Ofsted, they will carry out inspections of your nursery at least once every three years, to ensure that it conforms with the 14 national standards for childcare . You will be graded on this.

Below is an overview of the relevant information contained in the 14 national standards.

You must comply with local child protection procedures, and ensure that all staff are also aware of how to safeguard effectively – including the symptoms of children at risk, and what to do to report it. You will also need to create a written procedure detailing what to do if allegations are made against a member of staff, as well as the person in your organisation that everyone with concerns should go to. Additionally, you should have a system of attendance showing the times of arrival and departure of every child at nursery, and a system where you can identify that children are being collected by the correct person.

Need Safeguarding Training?

You and your nursery staff will need at least Level 1 Safeguarding – our Safeguarding Children in Education course will provide you with the knowledge and skills you need. We also offer higher-level safeguarding training, including Advanced Safeguarding Children (Level 2) and Designated Safeguarding Lead Training (Level 3) – visit our safeguarding course library to browse our available courses.

You will need to complete a risk assessment of your premises, and ensure that you review it if there are any significant changes or you have reason to suspect it is no longer valid. Your risk assessment will need to include an action plan to identify how and when you will minimise any existing risks. For help completing your risk assessment, have a look at our Health and Safety in Schools Checklist – much of this information will also apply to you.

Additionally, it’s really important that all your staff know what to do in an emergency. This includes fire safety measures and evacuation procedures , how to report injuries , how and when to administer medicine, how to handle hazardous substances, and how to carry out manual handling. At least one staff member on the premises must have paediatric first aid training at all times.

You will require policies about health and safety and ill or infectious children, and a procedure for what to do if a child becomes ill while they are at nursery. You should also have a no smoking policy.

Food Safety

If you will be preparing food and drink for children in your nursery, you will require appropriate training – there must be one trained member of staff on duty at all times. A Level 2 Food Hygiene course would be an appropriate qualification. All other members of staff must ensure that they also follow safe food hygiene practices; you should create a food hygiene policy with sections covering everything they need to know, from cross-contamination to temperature control and accidents. Don’t forget about allergens – we have created a handy poster of the 14 named allergens that you could give to staff:

Documentation

You will need to ensure that you keep records relating to the children you care for – these must cover everything that your staff need to know in order to safely and effectively care for each child. After a child has left your nursery, you will still need to keep these records for a reasonable period of time (PACEY recommends this to be six years after the child has left your setting).

When handling records, you will need to follow data protection regulations. Failing to comply with data protection law can lead to serious consequences. If you need training in this, have a look at our Data Protection for Schools course.

Equal Opportunities

All staff must actively promote equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practices. You will need an equal opportunities policy that follows the current legislation and guidance on the topic – take our Equality & Diversity Training to update your knowledge. Your equal opportunities policy should be available to all staff and parents.

For more information about the 14 national standards, have a look at the Department for Education’s guidance . If you will be looking after babies, there are additional criteria in that document which will apply to you.

Starting a Nursery Business Plan

When setting up a nursery, the first thing you need to do is create a business plan. This will help you to stay on track and within budget, as well as showing any prospective lenders that you know what you’re doing.

In this section, we will detail everything you need to think about and consider including in your business plan. We will also provide a business plan template for you to fill in.

Need More Help to Start Your Business?

If you need more help to write your business plan, and you could do with advice on finding investors, accessing support, marketing and operations, try our Starting a Business course . Once you complete the training, you’ll be confident and prepared to set up and run your nursery business.

Market Research

One of the first things to think about is whether there is actually demand for a nursery in your local area. Look at the childcare providers around you which might be your competition, including other nurseries and childminders. How many of them are there? Are they full, or do they have lots of spare places?

An easy way to find this information out is through your local authority, which will have a list of all registered childcare providers. You could also contact the other providers to ask whether they are over-subscribed. If the market is already saturated in your area – in other words, if there are already plenty of nurseries, with plenty of places – then starting your own may not be such a viable plan.

Other things you should consider are the services the existing nurseries offer, and what their fees are. This will give you guidance as to what you could provide, and for how much: if their service is limited in some way, could you be more flexible? Think about the length of their opening hours, the ages they provide for, group sizes, and activities – for example, could you offer regular trips to the park, or foreign language lessons? Could you cater for broader age ranges? You could ask your friends, family, and acquaintances what they would like in a nursery, or even contact the local authority about what provision they feel is lacking.

In terms of fees, you need to think about how many parents in your target market will be relying on government support or subsidies – research the average wage and other demographics in your area, and think about whether you would register your nursery for the Tax-Free Childcare Scheme, or make your fees reasonable for those paying individually.

Choosing Your Premises

The premises you run your nursery from can hugely influence its appeal to your target market. Initially, you should decide whether you want to run the business from your home, or whether you will acquire new premises.

Running a Nursery from Home

You can run a nursery in your home if planning permission is granted – you will need to contact your local authority about this, and it may take some time. If you decide to do so, be aware that the minimum space requirements set by the government might limit your capacity: you need 3.5 square metres per child under two years old, 2.5 square metres per child aged two years, and 2.3 square metres for children aged three to seven.

Acquiring Other Premises

If you decide to acquire other premises, consider:

Location: whether the venue is in an area that covers your target market. Are there plenty of family homes and lots of schools? Is it an area where parents will be able to afford your fees, or access them with subsidies? Are there lots of other nurseries nearby, and are these already full or not?
Access: is there parking outside or nearby, for both staff and parents? What are the transport links like – is there a nearby bus stop or train station? Are there pedestrian crossings so that parents can cross the road safely and easily?
Outdoor facilities: is there enough space outside for a playground? Can the grounds be enclosed, so that they are safe?
Indoor facilities: is there the potential to install all the necessary facilities, including toilets (one for every 10 children over the age of 2), kitchen facilities, changing areas, and a telephone? Is the building well-lit and adequately ventilated? Is there enough space to have separate areas for all the activities you plan to run, as well as for storage for equipment?
Potential hazards: are there multiple floors? Are staircases child-friendly? Would you be able to prevent children from accessing the kitchen?
Future expansion: is there scope for expansion in the future?

You might decide to convert a building into a nursery, purchase an existing nursery building, or share space with a building such as a retirement home or indoor play centre (something that is becoming popular!). If you choose to share space, bear in mind that this might limit your ability to be flexible in opening hours and expand your business.

Financial Planning

Financial planning is key to any successful start-up. You will need to spend time working out each of the following:

You will have two types of costs: start-up and running . Your start-up costs involve:

Setting the nursery up, including buying the premises (if you choose to do so), and any building conversion costs.
Installing facilities such as a professional kitchen and outdoor play equipment/ground surfacing.
Buying furniture, toys, books, first aid kits, office equipment, uniforms, and signage.
Registering your nursery.
Initial staff training.

Start-up costs could total up to £100,000, but you could cut costs by buying things second-hand, doing as much as you can yourself, or deciding to be part of an existing nursery franchise.

Running costs will include ongoing expenses, such as:

Rent or mortgage payments.
Staff wages. The average salary for nursery staff is £19,000; paying their wages will make up the bulk of your running costs.
Your own salary.
Utilities (including council tax, water, gas, and electricity).
Food and other disposable resources.
Regular maintenance.
Ongoing staff training.

You need to project how much money you expect to make from your business, in order to find out whether or not it is going to be profitable. First, consider how much you are going to charge by looking at other nurseries’ fees to compare. You might be able to charge more if you are going to offer more services – for example, you could charge extra for snacks, meals, trips out, and other activities. Government childcare payment schemes cover the childcare rather than these extra things, so all parents could be charged for them on top of the regular fees.

Then, think about how many children you will need to have in your care, paying the fees you have decided upon, to be able to cover all your outgoing costs and give you the profit you want. You will need to make a profit for your business to be sustainable. Create a cashflow forecast for the first year of your business, anticipating what money will be coming in. Remember that the number of children in nursery can fluctuate throughout the year, so you might not be able to rely on consistently filled places in every season. Also think about whether you’re going to offer part-time, as well as full-time, places, and the difference in cost between these.

Finally, give some thought to how you’re going to collect your fees from parents. You need to ensure that fees are paid regularly and on time – if lots of parents pay you late, you can easily run out of money. It is best to set up standing orders or direct debits for this reason.

Insurance is included in your running costs, and it’s worth mentioning which insurance you should consider acquiring before you start your nursery. This includes:

Public liability insurance. This covers the cost of potential injury or sickness experienced by a member of the public (such as a child) on your premises – for example, staff administering non-prescribed medication, allergic reactions, and injuries on your play equipment.
Employer’s liability insurance. This covers the cost of potential injury or sickness experienced by a member of staff while on your premises. You will need to display your certificate of this insurance clearly in your nursery.
Professional indemnity insurance. This covers you if you give out expert advice to parents or children which turns out to be wrong.
Commercial property insurance. This covers your property (and potentially the contents of your property) in the event of fire, flood, or theft.
Business interruption insurance. This pays you a certain amount if your business has to close for a period of time.
Personal accident cover. If you are heavily involved in the business, personal accident cover is advisable – if you have an accident and can’t work, it will give you financial compensation during this time.

If you plan to organise trips, make sure that your insurance policies cover staff and children when they are away from the nursery premises.

Looking at all the costs you have in front of you, think about how you’re going to fund the business. You might have your own savings, or the potential of a ‘soft loan’ from family or friends. Your local authority might be able to provide you with some funding – look on their website or get in touch with them for more information. Additionally, you could acquire a loan, whether that is from the government (e.g. The Start Up Loans Company ), or from private equity funding sources.

Marketing and Branding

Marketing and branding are important parts of your business plan – they involve making your business known, and giving it its own style.

To create your own professional brand, consider speaking to a branding consultant. They can help you to design your logo, colour scheme, and uniform, along with giving you advice on the way you communicate, and policies. Your brand is important in showing potential customers why they should come to your nursery.

The next step, marketing your business, could involve:

Placing bold signs outside your premises , so that potential customers in your area notice you.
Creating a website , which includes your location, contact details, and the services you offer (at the very least). You might be able to create your website for free, but if you want lots of traffic to come to your site, it could be worth talking to an SEO specialist to help you get it listed on major search engines. It could also be worth working with a website designer, if you want to make it look extra professional – they should be able to consider SEO too.
Using social media accounts , including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This helps to attract new customers – however, remember to get parents’ permission before posting pictures of children.
Leafleting and hanging banners . These methods are still effective!
Giving tours of the nursery, or holding an open day . This will create trust between you and your prospective customers, and show off your premises to everyone who is interested.

Marketing is never finished – it is a continuous process, because the children at your nursery will gradually grow up. Make the most of every marketing opportunity.

Now that you know what to write in your business plan, download the template – which you can edit on your computer or print out – using the button below:

Now you know what you need to do, you might be wondering what you could do to make your nursery the best that it can be. In this section, we will provide you with some tips and advice for maximising the success of your business.

Choosing the Right Staff

It is extremely important to choose the right staff to work in any business, but particularly when you work with children and families. When choosing your staff, think about:

Whether they have patience and enjoy working around children . They will be required to do this day in, day out, so it’s key that they have the right attitude and share your vision.
Whether they are trained in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) . Some children that pass through your nursery may have special needs, and you will need staff who can adequately provide care to them.
Whether they can manage behaviour effectively . Those who care for children might experience a wide range of behaviour incidents, and they need to be able to respond in a way that promotes the children’s welfare and development.
Their qualifications . At least half of your staff will need a Level 2 qualification that is relevant to the care or development of children – or be working towards this – and others should possess Level 3 qualifications. You can use the government tool to check whether someone’s qualifications are applicable to your setting. Additionally, consider taking on apprentices – they will have less experience, but will be rewarding and inexpensive to train.

Keep in mind that there are minimum staffing ratios for nurseries: there must be one adult to every three children under the age of two, 1:4 for those children aged two, and 1:8 for children aged three to seven. Trainees or apprentices under the age of 17 do not count as an adult in your adult to child ratios. There must also be a minimum of two staff on duty at all times.

Pay and Training

Once you have hired your staff, paying them what they are worth and investing in training and development will ensure that you have high staff retention rates, as well as improving the quality of your nursery, morale, and productivity.

While all staff will require induction training within their first week – including safeguarding, food hygiene, and health and safety training – you should also think about courses they could take for their Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

For example, staff who have achieved Level 3 qualifications could be upskilled by completing Level 5 qualifications, allowing them to take on more managerial responsibilities in the nursery. Staff wanting to increase their skills might also take Challenging Behaviour Training . There are plenty of courses related to childcare and other aspects of the work environment that your staff could take, and you should ensure that they do complete extra training every year, as well as keeping on top of their compulsory safety training requirements.

Creating a Good Learning Environment

Your nursery school will not only provide childcare – it should also help children to develop their emotional, physical, social, and intellectual abilities. You should follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) development structure, providing activities and play opportunities that support children’s:

Personal development
Language and communication
Mathematical development
Knowledge and understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development.

You can use the EYFS handbook to help you to meet these goals.

Staff will need to support children in carrying out activities, listening to them and talking about what they are doing. They should also be able to teach children what is right and wrong, and encourage positive behaviour – for tips about how to do this in the early years, read our article .

In addition, you should have furniture, equipment, books, and toys that help to make your nursery an accessible and stimulating environment.

Working in Partnership with Parents and Carers

Finally, you can make sure you are running a good nursery business by working with parents and carers to meet children’s needs as best you can. This involves sharing relevant information with them, having an established complaints procedure, and valuing their feedback and opinions on your nursery. By building trust between you, you can ensure that they are satisfied, and your reputation will be great as a result.

We hope you’ve found our guidance on how to start a nursery business helpful, and we wish you luck if you plan to get started. If you need further information, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to see how we could help – you might also find the range of courses we offer, alongside our other resources on the Hub , of use.

Further Resources:

Education Training Courses
How to Become an Early Years Practitioner
Promoting Positive Behaviour in Early Years: A Guide for Nurseries
How to Become a Childminder in Your Own Home
Professional Development in Early Years Education
How To Apply For A DBS Check When You’re Self-Employed

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Safe Kids Child Care

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.">, opportunity.

There are an increasing amount of families who have become dependent on two incomes, which has created the necessity of the child care industry. Increasing need means that there are more children that are in need of a safe enriching place to go.

Safe Kids Child Care will succeed by offering its clients’ children a safe and secure care environment, and close personal attention. The goals of the center are dual-sided: to help parents feel good about the care of their children, and to make it a safe, educational, and fun experience for the child.

Safe Kids Child Care has a focus on meeting the local need for child care services within the 10-mile radius of Lynn. Children are taken in flexibly on either a full-time or part-time basis.

Competition

There are over 300 child care providers in the local area. The larger commercial chain child care centers, such as KinderCare, have a majority of the market share. These larger chains compete well because of a good reputation among the consumer market. Safe Kids Child Care offers a lower staff to child ratio, which is appealing to most parents. Additionally, the company maintains child care fee levels that are 5-10% below the average of that of the large commercial chain child care fees.

Safe Kids Child Care offers a lower staff to child ratio, which is appealing to most parents. Additionally, the company maintains child care fee levels that are 5-10% below the average of that of the large commercial chain child care fees.

Expectations

Safe Kids is an exciting opportunity that provides safe and secure child care to the Lynn, MA neighborhood. Safe Kids will reach sustainable profitability over the next three years. Through a combination of well-priced services, outstanding customer service, and a well seasoned management team, Safe Kids will quickly gain market share and a reputation as a premier child care provider.

Financial Highlights by Year

Financing needed.

We plan on having $40,000 to start our business. Each owner will contribute $20,000 to our opening costs.

Problem & Solution

Problem worth solving.

The child care market is quite competitive in the Boston area. There are over 300 different facilities. There are two general types of facilities. The larger style is commercially run, typically a corporate franchise center. These facilities are both regional and national. Currently, the four largest child care facilities in the USA account for 29% of the market. There are also many different smaller locally run and owned faculties. While the largest facilities can host between 20-100 children, the locally run centers typically have a maximum capacity of 20 children.

Target Market

Market size & segments.

Full-Time Working Couples

The company wants to establish a significantly large full-time regular client base in order to establish a healthy, consistent revenue base to ensure stability of the business. Customer relations are extremely important, as it is imperative to keep the parents pleased in order to keep their children in the daycare center.

Part-Time Workers / Drop-Ins

Part-time workers and drop-ins comprise approximately 20% of revenues. While this market is not the primary focus, sufficient flexibility to handle this secondary market is important to producing supplemental revenues.

Current Alternatives

Our advantages.

Child care competitive edge is the facility’s efforts in obtaining all appropriate licensing and certifications. Additionally, thorough pre-hire background screenings are performed on all individuals before hired for employment.

Keys to Success

Keys to success for the company will include:

Maintaining a reputable and untarnished reputation in the community.
Quality care.
Competitive pricing.
Flexible hours.

Marketing & Sales

Marketing plan.

The differentiating effort will be benchmarked customer service. A customer-centric philosophy will be infused within the entire organization. Safe Kids will spend extra money to attract and train the best employees. This is especially important because it is the employees that interact with both the children and parents and will have the best chance to impress them enough to turn them into a loyal customer as well as to be vocal in telling their friends about their positive child care experience.

We will have a Social Media Campaign which uses Facebook and Linked in. We will have experts answer child care questions if the public wants. This gives the public confidence that we know what we doing. We will have customer reviews and allow our customers to talk to us.

Safe Kids Child Care will make a significant profit through the excellent care of children. Even though Safe Kids charges less, the company will see profit within the first year due to beneficial word-of-mouth advertising. The company expects to double its’ clientele every six months, for the first 18 months.

Locations & Facilities

The facility will originally consist of a 1,300 sq. ft. house in a quiet, residential neighborhood. The yard will be fully fenced in, to ensure no one can either come in or wander away. The yard will be furnished with safe, entertaining toys, as well as a sandbox.

Milestones & Metrics

Key metrics.

Our Key Metrics are:

Facebook page views, Twitter re-tweets, and new potential clients calling saying that a current client referred them.
The number of children we take care of daily
The number of children that are signed up for the monthly care
The amount of training our staff has to take care of children and keep incidents down to zero.

Ownership & Structure

This business will start out as a simple proprietorship, owned by its founders. As the operation grows, the owners will consider re-registering as a limited liability company or as a corporation, whichever will better suit the future business needs.

Management Team

Personnel Table

	2020	2021	2022
Expert Consultants (2.92)	$89,400	$45,000	$45,000
Care Staff (9.61)	$246,000	$374,400	$467,256
Managers (2.75)	$135,000	$185,400	$190,962
Totals	$470,400	$604,800	$703,218

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

Key assumptions.

Our key assumptions are:

There are children from families where both parents work or need to work. The children need somewhere safe and enriching where they can grow and make friends while their parents get a chance to get back to him.
Adults sometimes have emergencies and they need to have a place to leave their children when they can’t be with them
The community appreciates the it takes a village mentality. They appreciate we have resources and experts that will answer their questions. We assume they will come to us if they need help, we won’t go out of our way to advise.

Revenue by Month

Expenses by month, net profit (or loss) by year, use of funds.

Our Start-up Expenses are $3000 including:

Legal $1,000

Brochures $350

Stationery etc. $100

Activity Supplies $250

Food Preparation Supplies $300

First Aid Supplies $200

Cleaning Supplies $150

Nap Time Bedding $250

Sources of Funds

Our two owners will put up 20,000 dollars each, totaling 40,000.

Projected Profit & Loss

	2020	2021	2022
Revenue	$696,000	$875,000	$1,092,000

Direct Costs	$117,240	$80,000	$88,680

Gross Margin	$578,760	$795,000	$1,003,320
Gross Margin %	83%	91%	92%
Operating Expenses
Salaries & Wages	$381,000	$559,800	$658,218
Employee Related Expenses	$76,200	$111,960	$131,644
Leased Equipment	$1,800	$1,800	$1,800
Certifications	$2,400	$2,400	$2,400
Utilities	$1,800	$1,800	$1,800
Insurance	$3,000	$3,000	$3,000
Rent	$24,000	$24,000	$24,000
Startup Expenses – Listed in Use of Funds	$3,000
Total Operating Expenses	$493,200	$704,760	$822,862

Operating Income	$85,560	$90,240	$180,458

Interest Incurred
Depreciation and Amortization
Gain or Loss from Sale of Assets
Income Taxes	$6,845	$7,219	$14,437
Total Expenses	$617,285	$791,979	$925,979
Net Profit	$78,715	$83,021	$166,021
Net Profit/Sales	11%	9%	15%

Projected Balance Sheet

	2020	2021	2022
Cash	$139,493	$168,779	$190,402
Accounts Receivable	$0	$0	$0
Inventory
Other Current Assets
Total Current Assets	$139,493	$168,779	$190,402

Long-Term Assets
Accumulated Depreciation
Total Long-Term Assets

Total Assets	$139,493	$168,779	$190,402

Accounts Payable	$0	$0	$0
Income Taxes Payable	$3,689	$1,766	$3,570
Sales Taxes Payable	$17,089	$15,277	$19,075
Short-Term Debt
Prepaid Revenue
Total Current Liabilities	$20,778	$17,043	$22,645
Long-Term Debt
Long-Term Liabilities

Total Liabilities	$20,778	$17,043	$22,645

Paid-In Capital	$40,000	$40,000	$40,000
Retained Earnings		$28,715	($38,264)
Earnings	$78,715	$83,021	$166,021
Total Owner’s Equity	$118,715	$151,736	$167,757

Total Liabilities & Equity	$139,493	$168,779	$190,402

Projected Cash Flow Statement

	2020	2021	2022
Net Cash Flow from Operations
Net Profit	$78,715	$83,021	$166,021
Depreciation & Amortization
Change in Accounts Receivable	$0	$0	$0
Change in Inventory
Change in Accounts Payable	$0	$0	$0
Change in Income Tax Payable	$3,689	($1,923)	$1,804
Change in Sales Tax Payable	$17,089	($1,812)	$3,798
Change in Prepaid Revenue
Net Cash Flow from Operations	$99,493	$79,286	$171,623
Investing & Financing
Assets Purchased or Sold
Net Cash from Investing
Investments Received	$40,000
Dividends & Distributions		($50,000)	($150,000)
Change in Short-Term Debt
Change in Long-Term Debt
Net Cash from Financing	$40,000	($50,000)	($150,000)
Cash at Beginning of Period	$0	$139,493	$168,779
Net Change in Cash	$139,493	$29,286	$21,623
Cash at End of Period	$139,493	$168,779	$190,402

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How To Write a Business Plan For a Nursery

Why Write a Business Plan?

It helps you set a clear statement of your business mission and vision
Sets values that you can lean upon and steer you through tough times
You set benchmarks you can use to track your progress and performance
Gives an analysis of your nursery industry, including any opportunities and threats
Gives you an insight into your potential customers and what parents may want
Lets you know how much you will make as well as your likely costs
Is essential if you hope to get any outside funding

A nursery business plan helps reduce the likelihood of you:

Running out of cash
Missing sales projections
Losing customers due to poor quality
Becoming overwhelmed by too many tasks or options
Going bankrupt because you don’t have a plan of how to make money

Remember! Time spent putting together a good business plan is time well spent. The more time you spend the better prepared you will be.

What a business plan should include.

Your nursery business plan can be in any form you decide and include whatever you want. Though typically they will include (we will go into more detail on each section later in the article):

Executive summary: this is a summary of the key points in your business plan. It includes key information like your profit and loss. It should be short and concise and convey why your business is viable. You should include any experience you have in childcare here.
Company Overview: this is where you describe your company and your ethos. Include your mission and vision statement, descriptions of your values, services, ways you’re unique and what opportunities you plan to seize
Business environment: this section analysis your local nursery industry giving descriptions of direct and potential competitors; and a close look at your customers e.g., their age, employment status, what they want from a nursery etc
Company Description: here you include information about your staff structure, the different services you offer e.g., part-time, full-time, drop offs etc, your marketing potential and
Company strategy: puts a strategy going forward for the company
Marketing Plan: this is where you describe how you plan to reach parents/ customers, make sales and develop loyal customers
Financial Review: this outlines your current finances as well as what you expect your income and expenditure to be. It would include financial statements like your balance sheet and cash flow statements
Action Plan: here you detail the steps involved in implementing your business plan
Appendixes: this section you just put any information to support your business plan. It may include reports, legal documents etc. It’s used to justify some of the things you have put in the business plan and gives a more rounded understanding of your business plan

Reminder throughout the business plan it is important to make it as simple and concise as possible.

The goal of the business plan is to answer these questions:

Does the nursery have a good chance of starting and succeeding?
How much money will the business need to get up and running?
Who are your customers, and how will you reach them?
Why parents will choose you instead of your competitors?

It should also help you learn:

Whether you’re prepared to run the nursery
How you can turn your passion for children into a profitable business
What resources you will need
How much you should and can charge

FREE NURSERY BUSINESS PLAN TEMPLATE

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Where to Start?

I always say start with what you know.

Firstly, start by creating the sections mentioned above. (Don’t worry we can complete the sections later.)

Then, start by adding to your executive summary and writing about your experience in childcare. How many years’ experience you have, any qualifications you have, why you got into childcare/ why you want to open and what sort of nursery you want to create.

Once you have done this you can begin completing the following sections, in any order you wish.

Executive Summary

As well as putting your experience and what else you may have started writing. You can also include here:

What you plan to do different than other nurseries
Your mission statement – your ‘why?’
Some key objectives for the first few years e.g., to be profitable by end of year one, to run at near capacity by end of year 2 etc
Anything you believe will make you successful e.g, are you already known to your local community, will you offer a something your parents need that other nurseries don’t, will you market well
Your organisation structure i.e., are you running the nursery by yourself/ will you have a partner/ hire a manager
What other relevant experience you may have that will help you run your business
Are there any opportunities you are looking to capitalise on e.g. the expected rise in childcare demand post covid-19
Where will you be located? What is the demand like there?
Who are your typical customers e.g., two working parent households who may need full time childcare because of this/ people using government funding? How many of these people are in your area?
What is your competition? Private nurseries/ school nurseries/ childminders etc. How many are in your area?
What are your growth plans, how many children do you plan to open with and how many do you expect per month (be conservative with your predictions)
You may briefly put some of your expenses and losses and any charts you create that show your profit for the first few years

Remember that this section is a summary and overview of things you would put elsewhere into your business plan, so you do not need to go into depth about all of these points.

Company Overview

Here you should list:

What you will be doing and what will support the services you give?
Your start up costs and how this will be funded
Information on your building (size and location) and any expansion plans
Your business set-up – are you a company, partnership, sole-trader. Who else is involved in the business?

Business Environment

Competition analysis. What options are available to parents? Chain-Nurseries, small private-owned nurseries, home-based childcare/ childminders, staying with family, not working. What are the benefits/ negatives of these.
Will you differ from them? If so, how?
List three or four of your competitors as well as key information about them – their size, price, location, Ofsted grade etc
Research the demand in your area. For support in doing this you can enrol on the full nursery course which teaches you how to open your own nursery from start to finish in just 6 months, with a limited budget. Click here to enrol: https://www.openanursery.co.uk/courses
How is your market segmented e.g. full-time working couples needing full time care, part-time workers needing shorter shifts, funded children?
Where are your parents located?
How many under 5s in your area?
How many nurseries are in your area?
Brief description of how you will target customers e.g., referrals, website, open days
Growth rate in the area
Will there be an increase in demand in your area? Likely after COVID-19.
SWOT analysis

Company Description

Your staffing structure – how many and what employees you plan to hire and the costs. This will form part of your personnel plan
If you already have some of the staff ready to start, what experience do they have and why are they suitable?
When will you hire new staff and how will you recruit them?
The services you offer e.g., opening closing times, all year/ term time only, school drops, part time/ full time
How will you teach – Montessori type, learning through play
What is your focus? Fun or professionalism

Company Strategy

What is your ethos/ value proposition? Use your SWOT analysis to determine this.
Where will you position yourself in the market? Are you a premium provider or cheaper provider or in-between?
What will you use to differentiate yourselves?
Briefly describe marketing strategy?
What will you charge? Lower price as you’re new, or establish yourself at a premium
What are your sales strategies and forecasts? The sales forecast should be detailed. Stating how many new full-time/ part-time children you expect on opening and then per week, as well as how much income this will generate. When are you likely to have more children enrol or leave e.g. some may go in summer to go school more may enrol at the beginning of terms?
What businesses will you align with to be help with e.g., you may work with local schools to help with marketing

Marketing Plan

What marketing materials will you create? E.g., flyers, brochures, advertising etc
Promotion strategy – when and where will you do your marketing e.g. planning open days, when to distribute flyers and what area
How will you utilise your website and social media?
Will you create and run these yourself?

Financial Review

How will you generate money i.e., through children signing-up? Do you have any other ways to generate income?
Create your key financial tables here including, your profit and loss accounts, balance sheets, break-even analysis, cash flow forecasts and business ratios

Action Plan

Set milestones. When do you expect to complete business plan, get funding, register with Ofsted, secure a building etc. You can get more help in achieving these milestones by enrolling on the full nursery course here: https://www.openanursery.co.uk/course/how-to-open-a-nursery-the-complete-guide-2/ . This guide will teach you everything you need to open your bursary including how to find a building, how to create your profit and loss accounts and other financial tables mentioned earlier and how to secure funding. Enrol today for just £249.99
Use this to explain some of your sales forecasts, e.g. how many sales will you need to generate the income mentioned

That is generally all that is needed to complete your nursery business plan. You can add or omit certain sections to suit your needs.

If you need any support writing your nursery business plan, then join our Facebook Group, where you can ask questions to other members who will be able to support you. ‘Successful Early Years Owners’

Started or completed your business plan already?

Then, you’re ready for a nursery business plan review..

A review is the best first step to get your business plan ready to send. The review analyses the scope of your business, your financial data, marketing plans to inform you of what works well and where you can make improvements. This assessment is not an edit to the text, but a report detailing the business plans potential of success within the nursery market.

So, if you want to improve your business plan, and increase your chances of investment. Then…

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Nursery Management

How to start, run and scale a successful nursery business

Just as with any business, starting is probably the most exciting – and daunting part. In an industry where demand is only increasing, looking at how to run a nursery business – a successful nursery business – could reach enormous potential for you and your entrepreneurial goals. Take for instance this report from the Department of Education , which indicates that in 2019 there were 24 000 group-based Early Years providers. This levels out to about 14 700 private nurseries and 8 600 voluntary nurseries. It’s no wonder you’re looking for a piece of the pie.

How to Start your own Nursery Business

What is the reason for starting a nursery, give children the best possible start to their education journey:.

It’s no secret how important the early years are for a child’s learning and development. Perhaps you want to be part of this to help ensure the highest quality. After all, nursery school is the beginning of a child’s education journey.

Participate in a successful industry with high potential:

Considering that nurseries remained open even during our third national lockdown, nursery schools are in high demand. As more parents are able to work, and new government schemes are introduced nursery businesses are growing – and quickly.

Be your own boss:

This one is self-explanatory, but the freedom of working for yourself is what attracts many to start their own businesses.

Strike while the iron is hot:

It’s now simpler than ever to start up a nursery due to Covid-19. In an odd turn of events, there’s less work involved. Check out the Government website for the specifics. With Covid-19 laying waste to the struggling high streets, the government has fast-forwarded its overhaul of its building use category system, enabling people to convert retail, restaurant and even office units into day nursery space without the need to apply for change of use.

Is it the right decision for me?

The first step at how to start your own nursery business is making sure it is the right decision for you. Many struggle with this, so feeling anxious about this decision is normal. Before you take the leap, consider the following:

Do you have a true love for children’s learning and development?

Regardless of whether you plan to work with the children directly or not, this value set will drive you to create a successful nursery business.

How are your management skills?

Even small nurseries will have a team of 5-10 people and larger settings will be 30+. Practitioners come in all shapes and sizes and therefore you will be managing a diverse group of people. A key element to success is how well you manage.

Can you handle jumping from one take to the next?

Very often, nurseries starting out have the owner wear many hats: Nursery manager, finance manager, marketer, practitioner and so on. You could go from assisting with nappy changes, to drafting edits to your finance model, to dealing with a grumpy parent. Are you able to adjust and remain unflustered?

Insider Tip:

Make sure you enjoy operational tasks and processes, as your success to a big degree rests on how well you manage these ( in addition to the core element of caring for children). Other functional areas such as finance, optimising costs, and marketing are critical. If no one knows about your amazing childcare it’s pointless. Of course, focussing on delivering high quality childcare has a knock-on effect on everything else.

Is it essential to have any specific qualifications and/or experience? If so, what are they?

As a registered person or a nominated person, you do not need to have any Ofsted qualifications yourself to be the registered person. However, you must ensure that you have enough knowledge to understand how you will deliver the EYFS and understand (at a minimum standard) how you are able to manage and oversee a nursery manager – who in turn has that specific skill set to deliver the EYFS in detail including all statutory requirements. It comes back to the multifunctional approach starting a nursery business entails.

Look at where you add value to the nursery you own. As much as you’d like to, you can’t be an expert in everything. Success will come from knowing where you contribute and knowing where you have gaps in your skill set. Either fill it with people you hire or external services.

How do you find out if it’s financially viable for you?

It may come as no surprise that you need a very clear financial model when looking at how to start a nursery business. Although we may do it for the children, it is ultimately a business with a bottom line. And as with any business, it comes with risks. Assess carefully your:

Fee structure, and for this you must look at occupancy. What does your occupancy need to be? Looking at these numbers will give you a clear income forecast. We recommend assessing your income forecast for the next 3 years.

How to do this using Blossom?

Occupancy reports and Financial Forecasting reports on the Blossom platform help our customers to manage their finances correctly and easily.

Of course, in an ideal world your occupancy would grow to 80% within the first year. It does happen, however, most likely it will be a gradual growth process. Therefore, in your financial planning you need to be prudent. Understand what your financial portfolio would look like in the worst case scenario. Rather over estimate than under and be prepared, than find yourself in trouble later. Main point is, ensure it is a realistic approach.

A key success factor is identifying what your costs will be. It’s very easy to forget or miss out on potential costs. Therefore, we suggest getting expert advice from an accountant or an Early Years specialist. This way, you can ensure you are informed of all costs you will incur when running a nursery.

Generally, your top 3 costs will be:

How to start, run and scale a successful nursery business

Obvious costs may come to mind such as insurance, accountancy fees, and services charges. Less obvious are elements include: security costs, repairs and renewals (which are ongoing costs of maintaining your building), waste disposal, and training costs particularly when there are certain statutory requirements for qualifications that your staff must have.

Model all of this out and validate it with a professional.

What are some initial set-up costs?

Building : and any building or redevelopment that comes with it
Recruitment costs : building a team (often there is a need to use external services for this)
Materials : furniture for children and staff, teaching resources
Marketing getting your business out there and known to the community

These are all large costs you will incur up front before a child even steps foot in your nursery.

Starting up our own nursery, we were shocked at the price of external recruitment services. The scarcity of nursery practitioners is an ongoing issue. We needed to use external recruitment services to ensure we build the best team, and the amount spent was a shock to us.

What insurance cover do you need?

You will need to look at a few in detail. Unsurprisingly, starting a nursery requires a few insurance policies. Such as professional liability insurance, building insurance and so on. Organisations like the NDNA can assist with clarity on policies you need and connect you with the proper insurance providers.

What insurance you may need:

Public liability insurance:

To cover costs of any potential injury or sickness experienced by a member of the public (such as a child) on your premises. This can be staff administering non-prescribed medication, allergic reactions, and injuries on your play equipment.

Employer’s liability insurance:

To cover costs of potential injury or sickness experienced by a member of staff while on your premises. It is critical to display the certificate of this insurance clearly in your nursery.

Professional indemnity insurance:

To cover you in the case you give out expert advice to parents or children which turns out to be incorrect.

Commercial property insurance:

To cover your property (and potentially the contents of your property) in the event of fire, flood, or theft.

Business interruption insurance:

To pay you out a certain amount if your business has to close for a period of time. A useful one during these uncertain times of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Personal accident cover:

If you have an accident and can not work, it will give you financial compensation during this time.

Remember, if you plan to organise trips, make sure that your insurance policies cover staff and children when they are away from the nursery premises.

What makes a solid nursery business plan?

Have a clear understanding of how you will run each of your functional areas. Understand what’s involved. Marketing, Finance. Recruitment. Each needs its own plan. Also consider the external help you will need – whether it’s companies or hired employees. Therefore you will need to think about what your hiring profile looks like. Ask yourself: what will you be doing as the owner? What are the gaps? Put simply, choosing the right staff and management team underpins your success.

How do you choose a location?

What should you look for when choosing a location for your nursery? Firstly, there needs to be a need in the area for the type of service/child care you are offering. Every local authority has Childcare Sufficiency Assessments which are legally required to be conducted every 3-5 years. This is a good starting point to understand the demand based on local birth rates and the supply (how many nurseries exist).

Often a lack of a certain type of service in an area is a sign that there isn’t a need in the area. For example, if an area does not have a full day service nursery, you should be asking yourself ‘why?’ to assess the area properly.

Occupations (Full time, both working parents?)
Income levels (Can they afford your service? What do parents in the area expect to pay?)

It will impact your decision of location as in areas of working parents, full time care is generally required. Whereas, in areas with only one working parent there may only be a need for sessional care (where you would be open for 6 hours a day).

How important is establishing a brand?

Branding can mean different things. On one side, it can be your logo, the colours you choose and on the other it’s your nursery’s reputation. Establishing a local brand is important. You want the people in the area to know that you are there. Ways to do this are:

Speak with customers/potential parents to see what resonates with them.
Keep it simple and state your value and what you stand for. What matters the most to you?

The quality of services you provide will build your brand for you which will develop over time. It will determine how parents perceive your nursery.

Remember that when it comes to branding, policies and processes are critical. This relates to everything, from safeguarding and recruitment to answering telephones. There is a huge difference between answering with, “Hello this is Rainbow Nursery” versus “Hello.” And it could mean the difference between a parent lost or gained. It’s one thing having written policies and processes (which you can purchase from organisations such as the NDNA as a useful starting point), however implementing them in another story completely.

How does Blossom help with this?

By uploading the nursery’s policies and procedures onto the platform, these documents are made readily available to staff to check anytime – at the click of a button.

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How to Run a Successful Nursery Business

Registering your nursery.

Your nursery needs to be registered with the specific regulator in your country:

England Ofsted
Wales CSSIW (Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales)
Scotland the Care Inspectorate
Northern Ireland the Health and Social Services Board (HSSB)

To register effectively, you must be aged 18 years or older, have the right to work in the UK, and must undergo a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check. This check ensures that you have no criminal convictions that make you unsuitable to work with children. The cost for a DBS check is around £50. Additionally a health declaration booklet, detailing any health problems that you have and any medication you are taking must be filled in and submitted as well.

Once registered with Ofsted, you can expect graded inspections of your nursery at least once every three years.

Check out our

Expert guide to getting an Ofsted Outstanding

What makes a good nursery staff?

How can you ensure that you are hiring and building the best team possible? Here are some things to consider:

Do they have the passion?

Caring for children is not for everyone. Gaps in knowledge can be filled with good training programmes. Instilling that core passion in someone however, is much more difficult.

Are they committed?

Are they trustworthy? The ability to show up and deliver without fail is crucial for a nursery business. In this line of business, you ultimately impact the lives of children so if an applicant seems on the fence or you doubt their trustworthiness, keep searching.

What qualifications do they hold?

They should either hold (or be working towards) their Level 2 or Level 3 qualifications. Use this government tool to check if an applicant’s qualifications apply to your setting. Also check if they are trained in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Some children at your setting may require additional support and/or care.

Can they have effective conversations with children?

This sits at the core of high quality education at nursery. Do they communicate with them and not at them? Can they build a rapport with the children? Do they help stretch a child’s imagination, speech and thoughts? What kinds of conversations do they have with children, are they open-ended? These are the types of questions you need to be asking yourself when considering adding to your team.

Make sure you hire enough staff as there are minimum staffing ratios for nurseries. For example, for every three children under the age of two, you need one adult. And trainees or apprentices under the age of 17 do not count as an adult.

With Staff Profiles , Blossom customers have complete visibility over the team- including their qualifications.

How to recruit good staff

Start with an interview. As you know, an interview cannot truly give all the insight needed to gauge someone’s passion and abilities. Include a trial period to test this. For example, if someone is applying for a Room-based teaching role where they will work with the children, specific members of staff will be allocated to assess them and subsequently provide the recruiting manager with notes of their observations.

It is essential to base the observations off of clear set-out criteria , otherwise it can become very subjective. Create a positive checklist and assess against this to determine the potential employee’s skills and passion. Speak to previous employers directly. Even better, speak with a previous co-worker who worked with the candidate directly to see what their impact and reliability was like. Conduct practical exercises. A big part of being a practitioner is being able to assess and understand children’s progress and understanding what the steps are for their development is important. Do exercises they will have to do daily in their position, such as writing an observation for a child to assess written abilities, observational skills, IT literacy.

How do you get parents involved in the day-to-day runnings at your nursery?

What is essential to remember is that each 1 child’s positive experience at your nursery results in a possible 5 new children. And it just grows and grows. Your demand generation eventually takes care of itself. Therefore, it is essential to get parents involved. We recommend establishing a PLG (Parent Liaison Group), made up of representatives from the parent body who meet with the management team at the nursery to provide feedback / thoughts (whether positive or negative), and take communication back to the rest of the parent body. This helps parents feel engaged and involved.

A survey also works. Asking parents what they think works well at the nursery and what needs improvement not only provides you with valuable feedback for your business, but builds that parent relationship. After all, that parent(s) hopefully will be at your setting for a number of years (plus any future children they may have).

We’ve made this easier for Blossom customers with our easy-to-use and modern Parent App. It enables parents to:

Receive diary updates, highlighting special moments
Be involved in their child’s learning and development with Learning Journeys
Continue their child’s education at home with Home Observations
Enjoy paperless billing with automatic reminders
Communicate with the nursery instantly with 2 - way messaging

Why not go a step further and try a CLG (Child Liaison Group), and get children from each room involved. Start as young as 3 – children know what they like and what they do not.

How to Scale a Successful Nursery Business

How do you continue the advancement of your staff.

There are two elements to this: an employee’s professional training and development, and then their general well-being. When it comes to training, there are statutory requirements and then upskills. There are two important elements when it comes to training: it must be needs-focussed and high quality.

This training must be focussed on needs, and not generic training rolled out for the sake of it. How do you know what training to pursue? Through performance management processes, such as staff supervisions or observations, you can identify performance improvements that are necessary for staff, whether it be for an individual staff member or a team. An example is effective child communication. Remember that training does not need to come from an outside source. Get skilled senior staff members/room leaders to head up a training session to share their wealth of knowledge (and real-life experience).

When bringing a new employee on board, identify what particular skill set they each excel in, and assign them to lead training sessions on it for other members of staff. This also creates a sense of responsibility to each team member to help and teach others which in turn creates pride in their work and the training they do.

Alternatively, you are able to hire external trainers to assist with upskilling your staff as well. When doing this remember two things:

Look carefully at the content and the quality of the training provided.
What credentials does the trainer themselves have? Will they present the content in an engaging way?

The second factor for continued staff development is their general well-being. How are you able to ensure that your staff are happy and thriving? A number of factors must be considered such as:

Staff workload:

Are they managing the work you assign or barely keeping their nose above water? Make sure that their workload is not overbearing, otherwise you will start to see your staff ill and burnt out.

Is enough help being provided to staff members? Especially to those that have reached out for it.

Recognition:

Do you acknowledge an employee’s contributions in a positive way? It may sound small, but something like a staff member of the month/quarter/year goes a long way in boosting morale. Additionally, small awards or gifts to acknowledge good work can have a positive impact too. As management, you’re not doing this because you ‘have to’ but because you want to . You have a genuine want for your staff to be happy, healthy and thriving in their life – especially at the workplace.

Social opportunities:

Nursery staff work daily in a high pressure environment. Nursery staff can’t simply have a quick cup of coffee or a smoke break chat – the children are of paramount concern and require their constant attention and care. Therefore, it is important to create social opportunities for them outside of the nursery.

Insider Tip

A staff dinner works well for the team at our setting Blossom Tree. Family fun days, where staff have the opportunity to meet and interact with their colleagues’ children and families is a great bonding and social experience.

Blossomers have complete control and visibility over Staff Rota, Staff Work Log, Staff Leave and more to ensure that staff are not overwhelmed at any time.

What is your advice for building your reputation in the community?

You are aiming for a positive, localised reputation. A good first step is building visibility that you are in fact there. There are a few ways to achieve this such as:

Sponsor community events
Host events for young children at your setting (e.g. an open day with fun activities)
Engage with local press (any events you hold e.g. charity events)
Set up a website to give out essential information such as location, contact details and services offered but also an “about us” page.
Create active and engaging social media
Online advertising (such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads) demographic and location specific can target potential parents well.

Hiring a digital marketing specialist can help get the best results from your online marketing. This may seem over the top, but think about how much one registration is worth to your nursery (and over the years). If you consider that for one child, parents may be paying £1000+ per month for 3 years, the cost of getting that parent on board will be higher because you are effectively securing revenue for your business for the next 3 years.

What steps do you take to ensure the continued growth of your nursery?

This does not need to be complicated. It comes down to two main elements: effective marketing and ensuring you provide the highest quality of care for children at your setting. Once you have established a good reputation, you will find that your parents will take over to an extent with word of mouth marketing. Eventually, parents will come to your nursery solely based on this, continuing the growth of your business almost for you.

To ensure longevity of your business, you must invest. Invest in your staff and develop your policies (as spoken about above), but also invest in your infrastructure. Make sure that the building always looks fresh, inviting and new. An annual coat of paint works wonders. Setting aside a ‘resources budget’ is also a good way to ensure that facilities, play things, tools and materials are always updated. All of this combined will attract parents and continue to build your reputation in the industry.

Blossom customers are able to take control of their financial status and growth through valuable insight gained from data in reports such as: Revenue reports, Financial Forecasting reports, Debt reports, Funding reports .

What do you think the future holds for the nursery school industry?

I think there will continue to be a demand for childcare, particularly as parents increasingly need to work longer hours as it’s difficult for parents to have sole earners. Therefore the need for childcare will continue to evolve. I also believe that a continued passion for a localised approach will remain.

You will find that even large chain nurseries focus on marketing locally and branding their nursery as ‘the local neighbourhood nursery’ rather than as a big group. We’re one of the few industries where in many ways a single nursery provider has a benefit over large chains because parents want that tailored and personalised approach. And even though big nurseries continue to acquire smaller settings, there will always be a place for those individual nurseries.

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Early Years Guides

Setting up a Day Nursery Business

All you need to know about starting and running your business.

In this article

What is a Day Nursery Business?

Although the number of children and infants attending day nurseries in the UK fell during the Covid-19 pandemic, figures are once again on the rise. More than 800,000 children currently attend early years settings, such as nurseries, nursery schools and childminders.

The most recent figures from Statista show that there are more than 72,000 early years settings in the UK, with approximately 3.78 million children younger than five years old that are eligible to attend.

A day nursery is the most well-known of early years settings. A day nursery is an early years setting that cares for children between 6 weeks and 5 years old. When setting up your day nursery business, you can choose the age of the children you are willing to care for.

A day nursery can be run by the local authority, by a volunteer group, be attached to a local primary school (this type of nursery is known as a nursery school) or be run privately. As you are setting up a day nursery business, your nursery will likely be run privately.

Day nurseries usually open for longer hours compared to nursery schools, as they aim to cater for working parents. The majority of day nurseries in the UK are open between 7am and 8am. They usually close between 5:30pm and 6:30pm.

The typical operating days are Monday–Friday. Unlike nursery schools which usually open during term time and close during the school holidays, a day nursery usually only closes for bank holidays and a Christmas break.

Regardless of the type of nursery you run, you will need to ensure your learning curriculum is in line with the curriculum provided by the relevant governing body.

The governing body varies, depending on which country of the UK your business is based:

England: The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum.
Wales: The Foundation Phase Curriculum.
Scotland: The Early Years Framework (EYF).
Northern Ireland: The Curricular Guidance for Pre-School Education.

When setting up a day nursery business, you will need to ensure you design your business and your premises in a way that makes it safe, engaging and conducive to the children’s development. Although you will want to ensure you maximise your profits, you will still need to ensure your business is child-centred.

When starting up a day nursery business, there are certain criteria you will need to fulfil:

Consider ways to encourage physical, social, emotional and educational development.
Implement a keyworker system whereby each child is assigned a keyworker, especially younger children.
Ensure separate rooms or areas for children of different ages.
Ensure toys, equipment and facilities are appropriate, safe, bright and engaging.
Employ staff who are qualified and experienced.

Day nurseries usually charge parents per day, although you may choose to charge per hour. You will likely provide all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner), snacks and drinks. Provisions should be made for any child that has allergies or follows a special diet, such as halal, vegetarian or vegan. Meal costs will be included in your pricing.

If you are considering starting up a day nursery business, you should ensure you have the necessary skills to make your business succeed. If you don’t plan to be involved in caring for or teaching the children, you may not require any specific qualifications or experience.

However, having the relevant training and experiences may make your business more attractive to prospective parents. Having an understanding of the curriculum, a passion for education and a love for children is also important.

You will also need good leadership skills and a flair for business. As you will be taking care of children, a knowledge of the relevant laws and regulations and an understanding of health safety is imperative.

Types of Customers

Parents generally choose day nurseries that are close to where they live or work, so dropping off and collecting their child each day is convenient.

However, parents will also want to consider other factors when choosing their child’s day nursery, such as:

Your Ofsted (or other relevant governing body) rating

Your day nursery business will be inspected within the first 30 months of opening and then approximately every 6 months thereafter. You may receive additional inspections if there are any concerns, or you undergo significant staff changes.

Ofsted will give you a rating of:

Grade 1: Outstanding
Grade 2: Good
Grade 3: Requires Improvement
Grade 4: Inadequate

Most parents will opt for a nursery that has been rated as either Good or Outstanding.

Your food hygiene rating

Day nurseries are inspected as part of the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS).

Your business will be given a rating between 0 and 5:

5: Hygiene is very good.
4: Hygiene is good.
3: Hygiene is generally satisfactory.
2: some improvement is necessary.
1: major improvement is necessary.
0: urgent improvement is necessary.

Parents generally look for a nursery that has a rating of 4 or above.

Your facilities and equipment

Prospective parents will usually attend a tour of the nursery before signing their child up. They will want to look at the facilities and equipment you have, the indoor and outdoor space that is available and whether your facilities, equipment and toys will support the development of their child.

The qualifications and experience of your staff

Training and qualifications can help ensure your staff operate at the highest possible standards. It can also help to protect the health and safety of your staff and the children.

The ages you accept in your nursery

Some nursery businesses don’t accept babies younger than 6 or 12 months whereas others don’t accept pre-school aged children (4 and 5 years old). If you opt to only care for children of a specific age, this can influence your custom.

Your opening hours

Working parents will need a nursery that opens during the hours that best suit their profession. For example, they may need to choose a nursery that opens at 7am rather than one that opens at 8am.

Equipment You Will Need

When setting up your day nursery business, the equipment you choose will be pivotal to the success of your business.

The equipment you require will vary depending on the size of the rooms, your outdoor space, and the age of the children you care for.

Some of your equipment requirements may include:

Baby room equipment:

Your baby room will have specific equipment requirements.

This could include:

Cots, beds or sleep mats.
Prams or pushchairs.
Blankets and pillows.
Changing mats.
Baby changing supplies, such as wipes and nappies.
Baby seats and feeding chairs.
Low tables and chairs.
Sensory toys and equipment.
Discovery play mats.
Push and pull toys.
Walking aids.

Any toys or resources you buy should be age-appropriate for the children in that room. They should also be educational, engaging, fun, safe and reliable.

You will need different toys for different ages. You may buy similar toys in different varieties, to ensure they suit the age and development of the children in that room.

Some toys you may want to buy for your day nursery business are:

Arts and crafts supplies, such as:

Colouring pencils and crayons.
Paper and card.
Playdough and other modelling materials.
Glitter, sequins, feathers and other decorations.
Scissors and glue.

Role-play toys, such as:

A doll’s house.
Toy figures.
Kitchen areas.
Shopping tills and accessories.
Cleaning toys (e.g. hoover, mop, sweeping brush).
Trains and train tracks.
Cars and other vehicles.
Dressing up clothes and accessories.
Food, plates and utensils.

Construction toys, such as:

Building blocks.
Building bricks.

Electronic or battery-operated toys, such as:

Musical instruments.
Microphones.
Remote control vehicles.
Interactive toys.

Other toys, such as:

Jigsaws and puzzles.
Magnetic letters and numbers.
Sorting and stacking toys.
Cuddly toys, such as teddy bears.
Sand and water tables and accessories.
Board games.
Soft play toys that the children can climb, sit on, or play on.
Sensory toys.
Tents and play mats.

Outdoor equipment:

You may have different outdoor areas dedicated to the different ages of the children you care for. You may want to cover some or all of your outdoor flooring with protective materials, to help reduce the risk of injury if any of the children fall.

Some outdoor equipment you may require includes:

Play equipment such as slides and a climbing frame.
Bicycles, tricycles and scooters.
Other ride-on equipment.
Balls of different sizes.
Sand and water play areas.
Skipping ropes.
A playhouse or tents.
A mud kitchen.
Child-friendly gardening tools.

Other equipment requirements:

Fire safety equipment, such as fire extinguishers and smoke alarms
Fully stocked first aid kits (one for each room).
Cleaning equipment.
Spare clothes (in different sizes).
A music player or CD and DVD player.
Computers and laptops.
Mobile phones and landline phones.

Each room will have specific furniture requirements.

Some of the furniture your day nursery business may need includes:

Tables and chairs that are suitable for different ages.
Bookcases or bookshelves.
Adult sized chairs for your staff and any visitors.
Shelves, cupboards and other storage areas.
A washing machine and dryer.
Personal products for children, such as wipes and nappies.

Kitchen equipment:

Day nurseries usually provide food for the children. Depending on the hours you open, you may provide breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Your kitchen equipment will need to be safe, reliable and an appropriate size for the number of children you care for.

Some equipment you may need in your kitchen are:

An oven and grill.
A fridge and freezer.
Kitchen utensils, such as knives, spatulas, spoons and ladles.
Cooking accessories, such as rolling pins, graters, weighing scales, colanders and sieves.
Food processors and blenders.
Chopping boards.
Temperature probes.
Child-friendly plates, bowls, cups and cutlery.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), such as hair coverings, aprons and gloves.

Typical Pricing

Although a day nursery business can be extremely profitable, it will also have high start-up costs and running costs.

To help you better plan your business and your finances, take a look at the typical costs you can expect when setting up and running a nursery.

The premises for your day nursery will likely be your biggest expenditure. You may choose to purchase a building and convert it or build your nursery from scratch. Alternatively, you could purchase an already existing nursery business. If you are not in a position to purchase your premises, you could look at your rental options. Prices can vary significantly based on your location, the amount of land you are purchasing and any existing infrastructure.

Renovation, refurbishment and installation

You will likely need to renovate or refurbish your premises to incorporate the room divides and the furniture and equipment you need for your day nursery business. You will also want to design and decorate your nursery to make it attractive to children and their parents. Renovation costs can vary, depending on the level and scale of work required.

Equipment will be a big expenditure when starting up a day nursery business. Although you can buy more equipment as your nursery grows, you will need to have appropriate toys and equipment for each age group straight away. Prospective customers will also likely view your nursery before signing up their child and if the equipment you have is not as good as your competitors, this can make them less likely to choose your nursery. As the safety of the children is paramount, you may want to purchase your equipment new, rather than second-hand. Your equipment costs can start at £10,000 and go as high as £100,000.

Repairing and replacing equipment

Your equipment will need to be inspected regularly to ensure it is safe to use. Any equipment that shows signs of damage or could be unsafe should be repaired or replaced. Young children can also be heavy-handed, and equipment may become broken or damaged frequently. Maintenance, repairs and replacements can cost you upwards of £1,000 a year.

Your day nursery will have several insurance requirements, including:

Public Liability Insurance.
Employers’ Liability Insurance.
Equipment Insurance.
Legal Expenses Insurance.
Personal Accident Insurance.
Loss of Revenue Coverage.
Professional Indemnity Insurance.

The cost of insurance can vary, depending on your insurance provider and the level of coverage you require. Prices can start at £15 per month.

Running costs

These are the everyday costs associated with running your business. They could include rent or mortgage payments, electricity, gas, water and taxes. Some of your running costs will be paid monthly, whereas others will be quarterly or annually.

Food and ingredients

Plan your menus in advance and buy as much of the stock and ingredients in bulk as possible, as this can help to save money overall. Calculate how much of your nursery fees will account for feeding the children and try to ensure that your stock and ingredients don’t exceed 40% of this cost. This is because you will also need to account for paying your kitchen staff, buying equipment and the time spent preparing, cooking and cleaning.

You may need to employ a nursery manager, nursery assistants, nursery practitioners, room and team leaders, a chef, other kitchen staff and cleaners. You may also require administrative staff, such as a Human Resources manager and a finance department. Your staff will have different wage requirements, depending on their role in the nursery, their qualifications and their previous experience.

Branding can help you to establish your nursery business’s identity and set you apart from any local competition. Branding could include creating your business’s visual identity, a logo, your business name, and your business website. You can hire a professional to help you with branding or do some of the work yourself. Branding can cost between £500 and £10,000, depending on the amount of branding you require.

Marketing and advertising

This can help you to grow your business. It is recommended that you spend no more than 10% of your annual revenue on advertising costs. As many of your children will move on to start school every year, you will need to advertise for new children every year.

Once you have established your start-up costs and running costs, you can then calculate your pricing strategy.

The average cost of sending a child to a private day nursery in the UK is £53 per day or £263 per week.

However, these costs can vary significantly, depending on several factors, such as:

Your location – Nurseries located in big cities or middle- and upper-class areas may charge higher fees.
Whether the child is full time or part time.
The age of the child – Nursery fees are generally higher for children under two years.
Whether the child has a sibling at the nursery.
Your facilities and equipment.

Safely Running a Day Nursery Business

Safely running your day nursery business and implementing safety procedures will be a top consideration when setting up your business.

Safety procedures can help you to ensure the health and safety of the children, your staff and any visitors to your nursery.

Some safety considerations you should make include:

Ensure all equipment and furniture adhere to safety standards

You must also ensure equipment and furniture are regularly maintained and inspected for signs of damage. It must be set up or installed correctly to ensure safety standards are met.

Conduct risk assessments

Risk assessments are an essential requirement in nurseries. They can help to protect the children you care for and your staff.

Your risk assessments should:

Identify hazards.
Determine who could be at risk.
Evaluate the potential risks.
Implement safety measures.
Record the results of the risk assessment.

You should review all risk assessments on a regular basis.

Implement a cleaning policy

Nurseries are often full of germs. This means that illnesses and infections can spread easily. You should implement a cleaning policy and cleaning procedures, including a schedule for cleaning, the management of cleaning materials and equipment and the cleaning processes all staff will follow. Cleaning procedures should apply to all areas of the nursery, including equipment and furniture.

Implement a handwashing policy

Germs and bacteria spread very easily on hands. You can implement handwashing procedures that apply to staff and children. Teaching children how to correctly wash their hands and implementing a schedule, such as washing hands before mealtimes and after playing outdoors, can help protect the health and safety of everyone in your nursery.

Appoint trained first-aiders

All nursery businesses must have an appointed first-aider on the premises at all times. In the event of an accident or injury, you will then be able to administer the necessary first aid. Although a first aid qualification or certificate is not legally required, it is the easiest way to demonstrate your first aid training to the parents and the relevant governing body.

Keep bins and waste away from children

This is to prevent children from touching the bins or handling the waste. Bins should be kept in staff-only areas that are not accessible to children.

Implement emergency procedures

You will need to implement procedures in the event of fires and other emergencies. All staff should be aware of the procedures, and they should be displayed around your nursery for easy access. Running emergency drills is also recommended.

Protecting staff from abusive or threatening behaviour

As the business owner, it is your responsibility to protect your staff from threats or abuse. Implement procedures for dealing with threatening behaviour, record any incidents and ensure you support your staff as much as possible.

Keep dangerous objects away from children

This includes cleaning products, knives, scissors and heavy equipment. Any potentially dangerous objects should be kept out of the reach of children at all times, and where possible in separate rooms.

Implement security measures

Security measures can help prevent the children from escaping from your nursery. They can also help to protect your nursery from break-ins. You could install a CCTV system, a reliable lock and an alarm system to help protect your business and the children.

Safety proof your nursery

As you will be looking after babies and toddlers, you will need to safety proof the indoor and outdoor areas of your nursery.

Some ways you can do this are:

Install safety gates.
Use soft close toilet lids and doors.
Cover furniture edges.
Use plug socket covers.
Don’t use looped cords, leads and other cords that could result in a risk of strangulation.
Install window restrictors.
Tie up or cover electrical cables.

Legal Requirements

When setting up and running your day nursery, it is essential that you adhere to the legal requirements at all times.

The early years and childcare industry is heavily regulated, and you will need to be subject to regular inspections. During your inspections, your observance of the relevant laws and guidelines will be scrutinised.

Some legal requirements you will need to adhere to are:

Register with Ofsted

You must register your day nursery business with the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). The registration process will look at the nursery’s ability to provide care that will conform with the 14 national standards for day care and childminding.

Adhere to the child to adult ratio guidelines

There are strict guidelines regarding the minimum ratio of staff to children.

The ratio requirements change depending on the age of the children:

Under two years old: one adult to three children
Two to three years old: one adult to four children
Three to seven years old: one adult to eight children

Keep in mind that a group of children should never exceed 26, regardless of how many adults are present.

Adhere to space per child ratios

The guidelines specify that you must adhere to specific guidelines regarding the space per child.

The ratio changes depending on the age of the children:

Under two years old: 3.5 square metres per child
Two to three years old: 2.5 square metres per child
Three to seven years old: 2.3 square metres per child

You must also ensure there is a minimum of one toilet and one handwashing facility for every 10 children above two years of age.

Ensure staff have the correct qualifications

Legal guidelines state than at least 50% of your staff must have a childcare qualification.

Examples of the qualifications your staff could hold are:

Level 2 Certificate in Childcare.
NCFE CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Child Care and Education.
BTEC National Diploma in Children’s Care, Learning and Development.
NVQ Level 3 in Children’s Care, Learning and Development.

Adhere to the EYFS

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a statutory framework set out by the Department for Education (DfE). It sets out the standards that school and childcare providers must adhere to for the learning, development and care of children five years of age and under.

Follow the correct early years curriculum

As mentioned earlier, different countries in the UK follow a different early years curriculum, as set out by the relevant governing body. Ensure you have a thorough understanding of the relevant curriculum and implement it in your nursery.

Ensure all staff have an up-to-date DBS check

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check looks for any previous criminal convictions and checks you are fit to work in a nursery. All staff and volunteers at your nursery require an up-to-date DBS certificate.

Adhere to food safety and hygiene standards

You will need to follow hygiene regulations when storing, handling, cooking and serving food. You should also ensure your staff are correctly trained in food hygiene. Any staff members who are involved in food handling, preparation, serving or another aspect of the food process, will require a Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate. Chefs, kitchen staff and the nursery manager will need a Level 3 Food Hygiene Certificate.

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013

RIDDOR states that you must report all injuries, diseases and dangerous events that occur in your nursery. Reports must be made to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) using an appropriate recording document.

Apply for a Childcare and Children’s Social Care Health Declaration Form

This form must be completed before your register with Ofsted. It includes an up-to-date medical declaration from you and your GP. Without this form, you cannot register with Ofsted or set up your day nursery business.

Purchase insurance

Some types of insurance, such as Public Indemnity Insurance, are legally required, whereas others are only recommended. Contact your insurance provider for more information.

Implement health and safety policies

Health and safety policies are legally required for all businesses in the UK. You should have policies in place that protect the children, staff and any visitors to your business. If you have five or more employees, your health and safety policies should be recorded. Your policies should also include fire safety procedures and emergency procedures.

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989

The Electricity at Work Regulations state that any workplace that uses electricals must construct electrical systems in a way that prevents danger. You must also maintain electrical systems to ensure they are safe and ensure electrical equipment is checked by a competent person annually. Conducting Portable Appliance Tests (PAT) is also recommended.

Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) 2002

COSHH is the law that states that all businesses, including nurseries, must control any substances that could be potentially hazardous to health. In line with COSHH, you must assess, control and reduce any risks or potential hazards and protect individuals from harm.

Keep clear records

You should keep up-to-date records of your clients, the cleaning schedules, risk assessments, health and safety policies, and food hygiene policies. Ofsted will likely want to see your records when they conduct their inspections.

Comply with employment legislation

As you will be employing staff, you must ensure you follow employment legislation. You must comply with legislation relating to recruitment, working hours, pay, sickness, discrimination, dismissals, and maternity or paternity pay.

Apply for a Notification to Process Personal Data Licence

You can apply for this licence with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) . If your day nursery has a CCTV system or processes personal information such as payroll information or accounts and records, you will need to apply for a licence with the ICO and renew your registration every year.

Apply for planning permission

You will likely need to apply for planning permission to convert your building into a day nursery. You may need to extend the building, partition the space to make extra rooms or build some structures in the outdoor area. To apply for planning permission, you will need to contact your local planning authority (LPA) via your local council.

Positives of Owning a Day Nursery Business

Owning a day nursery business can be rewarding in multiple ways. It can be both a financially and emotionally rewarding career path.

Some of the main positives of owning a day nursery business are:

Be a positive role model

The children will spend a lot of time with you, especially if they attend nursery full time. You will become a person they trust and depend on. Working so closely with children allows you to teach them important life skills and socialisation skills and help their development. You can be a positive role model and hold a special place in the child’s and their family’s hearts.

It can be a lot of fun

If you take a hands-on approach to running your business, you will be spending a lot of time playing games, singing and dancing and doing arts and crafts. You can even plan and design a lot of the activities yourself. You can have fun every day at work.

Rewarding work

Running a day nursery can be very rewarding. If you love children and spending time with people or enjoy the organisational aspects of running a day nursery business, setting up this type of business can be very rewarding.

Unlimited income potential

There is no limit to the amount of money you can make from a day nursery business. If you operate at full capacity, expand your nursery or even open additional sites, this can help to maximise your profits.

Be your own boss

You can make all key decisions yourself and steer your business in whichever direction you choose. You can choose how involved you want to be, the employees you hire and make the best decisions for you and your business.

Be involved with the local community

Children are the centre of most communities, and as a nursery owner you will develop an important connection with your local community. You can get involved in local events and get to know many local families. You will even see infants and children you used to care for growing up.

Free childcare for you and your staff

If you have young children of your own, you can bring them to the nursery and save yourself a small fortune in nursery fees. You will also know your child is receiving the best possible care and is being stimulated and encouraged.

Standard working hours

Owning a nursery business means you won’t have to work evenings or weekends. You can also reduce your hours and leave your nursery manager or another member of staff in charge.

A constant need for your business

Early years businesses will always be in demand as people need childcare for their little ones or want to aid their development and education before they begin school. You will never have to worry about your business not making a profit or experiencing a lack of demand.

High customer retention

Once a child starts attending a nursery and makes connections with staff and other children, they are likely to remain at your nursery for several years until they begin school. You are also likely to have multiple siblings from the same families and have parents recommend you to other family members or friends.

Predictable income stream

You will know exactly how many children you have at your nursery and how many available places there are. Parents often pay for each term upfront or arrange a payment scheme ahead of time. This makes it easier to predict your income.

Design your dream business

You can design your nursery business exactly how you want. You can choose the design of the nursery, the type of toys you purchase, the activities and the staff. Creating your dream business can be both fun and rewarding.

Day nursery staff keeping up high energy

Negatives of Owning a Day Nursery Business

Although running a day nursery business can be rewarding, there are some negative aspects you should be aware of.

You need to be constantly aware

Working in a nursery, you need to be hyperaware at all times. The little ones you work with can accidentally hurt themselves or others, eat something they shouldn’t or even run away. If you are not aware at all times, a child could sustain an injury or have an accident and you may be held liable.

You need constant high energy

Even if you are having a bad day or feel unwell, you need to keep up high energy to display a positive attitude and to keep the children engaged. This can be exhausting.

Strict laws and regulations

Nurseries are highly regulated and there are many laws and regulations you will need to abide by. You will need to research your legal requirements and ensure your nursery is operating in line with the law. Failure to do so could result in a fine, the forced closure of your business or even prosecution.

High liability

If a child or employee becomes injured, contracts food poisoning or is involved in an accident, you and your business could be liable. Children are vulnerable to injuries or illnesses and ensuring the health and safety of everyone in your nursery can be stressful.

Your role can be demanding and stressful

Not only will you be responsible for making your business succeed and ensuring safe practices, but you will also likely be in charge of the administrative duties and day-to-day running of the business. As the owner, you will also have to deal with parents’ worries, concerns or complaints. This can be both demanding and stressful.

It can be physically exhausting

If you work hands-on in your nursery, you will be on your feet for a lot of the day, carrying children, bending down, moving toys and playing on the floor. The physical strain can result in aches, pains and even injuries.

High start-up costs

You will need to pay for your nursery premises, renovation and refurbishment costs and the facilities, equipment and toys. Your start-up costs will be extremely high, and you may have to source outside investment. It also makes your business higher risk and will take you longer to start turning a profit.

Can be competitive

You will be competing with other day nurseries, nursery schools, childminders and other early years settings. Having multiple settings to compete with can make it more difficult for your business to succeed.

Motivation of employees

Although you will have the power to hire your employees, it can be more difficult to control their motivation once they are working for you. If your staff are unmotivated, have a negative attitude, or don’t follow your business values, this can be harmful to your business and difficult for you to deal with.

Planning Your Business

When starting up a day nursery business, you will need to create a business plan.

Some considerations you will need to make are:

What ages are you going to cater for?

This is one of the first considerations you will need to make. Determine the minimum and maximum ages you are willing to accept in your nursery and how this will affect your staffing and equipment requirements.

How many children will you be able to cater for at one time?

The size of the building and the number of staff you employ will influence your available places. The ages of the children will also influence your available places. Determining how many children you can care for can help you determine your marketing strategies and your pricing and calculate your potential profits.

What are your training and qualification requirements?

Specific training and qualifications can help ensure the health and safety of the children at your nursery and can help to improve your nursery’s curriculum and child development programme. It can also make your nursery more attractive to prospective customers. Determine what qualifications and training you want your staff to already hold and which training you will provide them with.

What are your equipment requirements?

Consult the list above to determine your equipment requirements. The equipment you require will depend on the ages and number of children you care for. Calculate the cost of the equipment and whether there is any equipment you can purchase at a later date.

What are your start-up and running costs?

Calculating your start-up costs, your estimated costs monthly and annually, staff wages, overhead costs, and operating costs is a key part of planning your business. It allows you to determine your initial investment and whether you can fund this yourself or require outside investment.

What will your pricing strategy be?

Once you have calculated your start-up costs and running costs, you can then calculate your pricing. Consider how much money your day nursery business needs to make per month and what fees you need to charge. Look at your competitors’ pricing and consider the average income in your local area when determining your pricing strategy. Your pricing policy should be transparent and easy to understand.

What is your local competition?

Parents will likely tour multiple nurseries before making a decision, meaning it is important you are aware of your local competition. Being aware of your local competition can help you determine how to make your nursery business a success. Look at how to make your nursery stand out and how to attract customers.

What are your staff requirements?

Staff are an essential part of your nursery business. You will need to hire staff before you open your business and ensure they have the necessary training. Consider how many staff you need to hire and their expected wages.

What are your business objectives?

When creating your business plan, you will need to determine your business objectives. Planning the future of your day nursery and creating a one-, three- and five-year plan can be pivotal to the success and growth of your business. Having clear business objectives and a business plan can help to attract prospective investors and help you to identify which aspects of your nursery require a particular investment.

Your business objectives should be SMART:

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Achievable
R = Realistic
T = Time bound

Do you have all of the necessary licences and have you complied with all legal requirements?

Consult the list of legal requirements above and ensure you fully comply when setting up and running your day nursery business. Failure to comply with the legal requirements could have a detrimental effect on your business or could result in a fine, the forced closure of your nursery or, in serious cases, prosecution.

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Resource: The Ultimate Business Plan – Nursery/Childcare Set Up

Add your heading text here, the ultimate business plan – nursery/childcare set up.

The Business Plan by the Early Years Staffroom.

This is a comprehensive business plan and financial forcast planner to use for setting up your business in Childcare.

Good luck with your venture!

All our planning has been carefully created by experienced qualified primary school teachers with QTS therefore you can be sure that your planning will achieve your outcomes and aims.

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These are beautifully made and really useful for extending my more able.

This training was fantastic. Really made me think and reflect on ways to improve. Just brilliantly honest and straight to the point.

Phonics Phase 1 planning

This is great we have printed it out and we use daily for the Nursery children for a short Phonics activity. It has saved me loads of time and is really well thought out and each activity is clearly explained so the staff know what to do. Each time they teach Phonics they are becoming more confident with presenting.

This is so helpful to give to parents. A great help. Thanks

Wow wow wow

This is so amazing thank you so much for making plans appropriate for Early Years!

Great understanding of phonics

Very please with my purchase, brilliant phonics activities.

Hi I am interested in purchasing just this resource, however, I cannot read the sample page very well. Is it possible to see a clearer picture of the sample page to help me determine whether I want to purchase a membership?

A Great Help - Thanks.

Really helpful planning - good ideas.

Helpful Phonics

Great Book, really helpful phonics planning. Would definitely recommend when teaching phonics to children.

Phonics 1 book

Highly recommend this informative phonics book. Everything you need to know about phase 1 and explained in good detail.

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Related Resources

Early Years Resources | Early Years Staffroom - Resource and Planning Website

Developing Vocabulary in the Early Years PowerPoint

Maths Audit – New EYFS

Year 1 – Progression of Skills and Assessment Checkpoint Document for Maths

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What do I get for my membership?

Over 1600 (and increasing) high quality Early Years resources, planning schemes and brainstorm ideas for enhanced planning created by Early Years Experts. Covers all areas of learning in the new EYFS
Planning and resources made to request
Long, Medium and Daily Plans
Audits in line with the latest government requirements. Policies and risk assessments
High quality Phonics Program (Phase 1-6) created by a Specialist Leader in Education for Early Years and Phonics
A fun outdoor and practical Maths program from aged 22 months to the end of Year 1 supporting White Rose Maths
Training videos to view at your convenience by amazing Early Years Leaders in the field
A supportive community of likeminded Early Years Practitioners with free access to an exclusive vetted group with anonymous posting
Progression and skills documents and Training PowerPoints
Save 7-8 hours of your time on planning and resource preparation time per week, safe in the knowledge the planning you have is high quality and used by experts. Save money on other subscriptions or one-off resources. Stress relief and increased well-being. Spend more time with your family
Someone to turn to if you need something bespoke
Ensure you are always prepared for Ofsted
The ability to lead fun and practical phonics sessions sometimes outdoors that target all types of learners in phonics
You can track and reflect on your practise, ideal for interviews and appraisals
Use a tool the enables you to track and reflect on your practise, ideal for interviews and appraisals
Training as and when you want it. Learn new skills, improve your practise and keep current in the world of Early Years
Feel completely supported with our team always available to help and guide you with any issues you may have

Choose from the following membership plans

Eys school/nursery plan, eys individual plan..

£58.00 now for one licence which gives you membership for 1 year. Your subscription for the second and subsequent years will be £4.80 per month. Join now before the price increases along with our new benefits.

EYS Large School/Nursery plan

£384 for 12 months membership for up to 5 users, your subscription will auto-renew at £384 per year until cancelled.

EYS Small School/Nursery plan

£160 for 12 months membership for up to 2 users, your subscription will auto-renew at £160 per year until cancelled.

EYS Individual Plan

£118.80 for 12 months membership for one user. Your subscription will auto-renew in the second year on a monthly rate of £9.60 until it is cancelled.

EYS Individual Monthly Plan

£15.56 per month for 12 months for one user. Your subscription is for a minimum of 12 months and after this period it can be cancelled at any time.

Every plan gives access to everything on the website. The price will never increase as long as you have a continuous subscription. If you don’t find what you are looking for our experts will create it for you. If you would like to get a quote for more than 5 users or pay by invoice (Schools or Nurseries only) please email us at [email protected]

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How to Write a Business Plan for Daycare and Preschool
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 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.
Nursery School Business Plan [Sample Template]
A Sample Nursery School Business Plan Template. 1. Industry Overview. Nursery Schools provide preschool education services for children aged three and four, combined with day care. Most businesses in the nursery school industry are private but may get funding from a variety of sources, including state and federal grants.
13+ SAMPLE Child Care Business Plan in PDF
2. Assess the needs of your business. This is roughly similar to some things in the first step. In this step, you can begin by looking at the current trends that are in the child care industry. After that, follow through by beginning to narrow down the choices based on the choices that suit your area the most.
How to write a business plan for a nursery?
Following that, provide an overview of the addressable market for your nursery, current trends, and potential growth opportunities. Next, include a summary of key financial figures like projected revenues, profits, and cash flows. Finally, in the "ask" section, detail any funding requirements you may have. 2.
How to write a business plan for a nursery, daycare or preschool
What are your growth plans how many children do you plan to have when you open up and how much you expect per month remember to be conservative with your predictions be as realistic as possible. ... For example if you plan on open day you might say you get 10 sign ups from that, but what if it doesn't happen. ... nursery business plan ...
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How To Write a Business Plan for a Childcare Business. A childcare business plan should include 10 sections as follows: Executive Summary. Company Overview. Industry Analysis. Customer Analysis. Competitive Analysis. Marketing Plan. Operations Plan.
NURSERY BUSINESS PLAN: Guide and Template
You can summarize the key facts about your company in it, such as its name, aims, and ambitions. This provides a summary of your goals for both you and anyone else reading your nursery business plan. #2. Company Overview. This is your chance to share the motivation for beginning a nursery business.
Child Care Business Plan Example
To create a service based operation whose primary goal is to exceed customer's expectations. The utilization of The Toddler Warehouse by at least 40 different families in the first eight months. To increase the number of client's served by 20% each year. To develop a sustainable, profitable, start-up business.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Your Nursery Business Plan
The latest government figures, released in 2016, show that there are around 23,500 day care nurseries in the UK.The industry is worth £4 billion, employs over 188,000 people and provides childcare for 1.2 million children. Since then, and due mainly to the introduction of the 30 hours free childcare policy, the number of childcare providers registered with Ofsted has fallen.
How to Start a Nursery Business
Why Start a Nursery Business? Starting your own nursery business can be extremely rewarding - the benefits include: The ability to influence and be involved in children's early development, which lays down the foundations for the rest of their lives.Early years are really important - find out more in our article here - and helping to give children the best start makes for a fulfilling ...
Child Day Care Services Business Plan Example
Services. Kid's Community College® offers upscale child care services and an advanced collegiate based curriculum designed for kids ages 4 months to 5 years and 1st through 5th grades. Normal operating hours will be 6:45am to 6:30pm, Monday through Friday - with observance of all major legal holidays.
How to Write Your Nursery Business Plan (with Free Business Plan Template!)
Within your nursery business plan, you will need to include everything there is to know about your nursery, as when caring for children, legalities, finances, qualifications, and health and safety must be in order. This post will take you through each area step-by-step, in order to provide a solid foundation for your start-up.
Day Care Business Plan Example
Sales Plan. Safe Kids Child Care will make a significant profit through the excellent care of children. Even though Safe Kids charges less, the company will see profit within the first year due to beneficial word-of-mouth advertising. The company expects to double its' clientele every six months, for the first 18 months.
How to write a business plan for a nursery, daycare or preschool
How to write a business plan for a nursery, daycare, or preschool - plus a free business plan template.In this video, we will be going over how to create a k...
How To Write a Business Plan For a Nursery
Executive summary: this is a summary of the key points in your business plan. It includes key information like your profit and loss. It should be short and concise and convey why your business is viable. You should include any experience you have in childcare here. Company Overview: this is where you describe your company and your ethos.
Comprehensive Nursery Business Plan
A business plan can help to make sure your business is stable, and create a basis for future growth. Use this guide as a template to help you write a business plan for your nursery. This guide includes. A structured way to organise your business ideas. A template to define clear goals and plan for the future. What to consider when reviewing the ...
How to start, run and scale a successful nursery business
It's now simpler than ever to start up a nursery due to Covid-19. In an odd turn of events, there's less work involved. Check out the Government website for the specifics. With Covid-19 laying waste to the struggling high streets, the government has fast-forwarded its overhaul of its building use category system, enabling people to convert retail, restaurant and even office units into day ...
Setting up a Day Nursery Business
Your business will be given a rating between 0 and 5: 5: Hygiene is very good. 4: Hygiene is good. 3: Hygiene is generally satisfactory. 2: some improvement is necessary. 1: major improvement is necessary. 0: urgent improvement is necessary. Parents generally look for a nursery that has a rating of 4 or above.
The Ultimate Business Plan
Phonics Phase 1 planning. This is great we have printed it out and we use daily for the Nursery children for a short Phonics activity. It has saved me loads of time and is really well thought out and each activity is clearly explained so the staff know what to do. Each time they teach Phonics they are becoming more confident with presenting.
How To Buy A Nursery Business
Buying a nursery: background information. Buying a nursery business could be a good idea, provided you understand the costs and effort involved to generate profit. UK owners are having to hike up fees to cope with rising costs, with the average cost for 25 hours per week for a child under 2 now reaching £7,729.
How To Open A Nursery Business
Make sure that the income you expect to make is higher than the total costs - and allow a margin for unexpected expenses. Most nurseries can expect to 20-30% profit margins. "You won't get rich running a nursery, although, if you love children you may very well love operating a nursery business.".
Three Gables Day Nursery & Pre School Bournemouth & Poole, Dorset
A typical day at Three Gables Nursery & Pre-School. From the moment the door opens with a warm welcome, your child will begin to learn by making their own choices of where to play, how to play and who with. There will be lots of different opportunities offered to them throughout the day - from circle and story times, to messy play, planting ...
Woodlea House Day Nursery & Pre-School, Bournemouth
Email us, or simply complete our online form: [email protected]. Alternatively, call us on: 01202 388 100. Woodlea House Day Nursery & Pre-School, 1 Crantock Grove, Castle Lane West, Bournemouth, BH8 0HS.

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A Sample Nursery School Business Plan Template

2. Executive Summary

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Table of Contents Hide

What Is a Nursery Business?

#1. Make Sure You Have the Qualifications and Experience

#2. Hiring the Right Staff

#3. Register Your Nursery

#4. Conducting Research

#5. Decide What Type of Nursery You Want To Start

#6. Get Your Licences and Regulations

#7. Building Your Day Nursery Brand

#8. Find a Suitable Location

#9. Prepare a Business Plan

#10. Funding

What Is a Nursery Business Plan?

#1. Executive Summary

#2. Company Overview

#3. Services

#4. Market Research

#5. Finances

#6. Location

#7. Marketing Plan

#8. Rules and Regulations