Which brings us to this week. The economy is bad and has been for a while but it really had not hit my child care. Well it finally caught up with me this month. I had one opening from a family that dad got laid off and then one of my sibling sets gave their notice because the mom changed jobs and needed hours I did not provide. So here I sit with 3 openings and I am wondering what I am going to do. I have not advertised in so long because word of mouth had been enough for the last 7 years. So now what do I do? I had to actually think about it even though I mentor new providers. What do I tell them to do when they are first starting out? So I made up a flyer and business cards and took it to the only donut shop in Lincoln. Then I told everyone I know that I am looking for children. I offered a free week to my current clients if they find someone who enrolls. Then I posted on Facebook that if any of my friends referred me someone I would get them a gift card to somewhere they loved. The calls have been really slow still. I am wondering how to adjust my program to meet the needs of families in Lincoln. Well the need seems to be for 1/2 day preschool programs.
While a 1/2 day program sounds wonderful. I mean who wants to really work 10.5 hours a day anyway right? It still kind of scares me to head in this direction. It just doesn't seem to be as financially secure as child care. I mean when times get tough won't these families just pull their children from my program. Will it be stable? Will I be able to make enough to support my family? One nice thing would be my payroll would be way less and I would have more time with my family.
It would take time though to transition from full time care to part time preschool since I have many families that still require full day. These people have become family and I would not just let them go if I decide to change directions. So for a little while I would have a group of kids that were here all day and some that were just around for 1/2 a day.
Change is always scary and even though I have had to change my business many times it has never been this huge of a change. There are still so many questions I have and wonder can I really do this. I hope that as I pray about this decision I will have a light bulb moment and now exactly what to do. In the mean time I am in this place where I feel so wishy washy. Do I take those people who call and want just a preschool or do I tell them no and hope that someone full time comes along. So many decisions that could really impact the rest of my families life.
