You’re probably pretty excited about this idea of creating a successful preschool… and you’re likely a little overwhelmed as well. Will it work for you? Where do you start? Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” So listen up, we’re about to show you that first step, called the preschool business plan.
Let’s help you develop your preschool business plan so you can gain clarity on how a preschool can work for you, when to schedule your classes, how much you can make each month, and whether an online or local preschool is best for you!
Before we outline your preschool business plan, we’d like to let you in on a little secret: Contrary to what everyone else has told you… You CAN create a consistent income WITHOUT working 12-hr. days, being exhausted, or being away from your kids!
That’s right… you can create a consistent income WITHOUT putting your kids in daycare or even starting your own daycare.
And you do that by starting a PRESCHOOL instead.
So many times, when we would tell people we started a preschool, they would ask us later, “So how’s your daycare going?”
I’m sorry, but the word daycare literally feels like nails grating on a chalkboard to us, and we would immediately respond, “Oh, our PRESCHOOL is going great…”
Now let me be clear – we don’t have anything against the amazing ladies who provide quality early childhood education for those who need full-time care…
But we DO have a problem with the home daycare industry in general.
After all, we saw what it did to our sister.
She used to run a home daycare, but after working 12-hour days and dealing with the huge age ranges of children, she was WORN OUT every night when her own kids got home from school.
After working 12 hours, she STILL had to cook dinner, help her own kids with their homework, spend time with her husband, shuttle kids to multiple extracurricular events… the list went on and on!
No wonder she was exhausted!
All she wanted to do was spend time with her family in the evening, yet she was so exhausted she struggled to do even that.
That’s why we’re so against home daycares, and why we think women need a 3RD CHOICE – a preschool!
Daycare was NOT a choice for us – we couldn’t handle that! (After all, our kids needed US – not an exhausted us!)
(We don’t know about you… but no woman deserves to have to WORK 12 hours without a break…)
So when we were creating the idea of starting a preschool, we realized we wanted to stay as far away from daycare as possible.
Honestly –
All we had to do was the OPPOSITE of everything we hated about starting a daycare.
We wouldn’t change diapers…
We’d only teach 3-5 year olds.
We wouldn’t work all day long…
We’d only teach for a few hours each day.
Our kids wouldn’t have to fight for our attention from all the daycare kids…
We’d spend quality time and have fun with our kids during the few hours of preschool…
And we’d get paid better too because we would only be teaching a few hours each day!
So let me explain the biggest differences between daycares and preschools.
1. Daycares Serve Working Parents; Preschools Serve Stay-At-Home Parents
Daycares serve working parents who need someone to care for their children while they go to work.
On the flip side, preschools serve stay-at-home moms and part-time working parents who want a premier educational experience for their child to have fun, make friends, and get ready for kindergarten. They don’t want a daycare… they want “strictly a preschool” program for their child(ren) and they’ll pay for it, too. They want “more than just preschool.”
They want a family to belong to, a community to help raise their child, and friends for them, too! If you think that everyone needs daycare, you’ve got what we call “daycare blinders” on.
Sure, lots of people need daycare… but daycares aren’t our competition. People who need daycare will never go to our preschools, and that’s just fine. We can help you find all the stay-at-home moms and part-time working parents who are eagerly seeking a premier preschool for their children to prepare them for kindergarten.
2. Daycares Are Open 12 Hrs./Day; Preschools Are Open 2.5 Hrs./Day
Daycares are open for 12-hr. Days from 6am-6pm, whereas our Preschool All Stars only teach for a few hours each day… AND they get to set the hours they want to teach that work for their families.
Local preschool classes usually run for 2.5 hours, then the students go home. A common preschool schedule might look like this. You could choose to do 1, 2, 3, or 4 of these classes. When we first started, that’s what we did: (4) classes of 6 students each:
- 6 kids could come to a MWF 9-11:30 then go home
- A different set of 6 kids could come to a MWF 12-2:30 then go home
- A different set of 6 kids could come to a T_TH 9-11:30 then go home
- Finally a different set of 6 kids could come to a T_TH 12-2:30
Online preschool classes are usually held as 2 different classes: a 30-min. Pre-recorded Teaching Time lesson, where you teach a lesson that the students can watch anytime on their own, and a live 30-min. Preschool Pals class where your students get together on Zoom with you. You could teach in the morning, afternoon, or evening… and even on weekends!
3. Daycares Serve Ages 0-8; Preschools Serve Ages 3-5
Daycares serve all ages from 0-8 years old, but we only teach children ages 3-5, allowing us to not have to deal with diapers or before/after school care.
4. Daycares Charge by Week; Preschools Charge by 9-Month Contracts
Daycares work on weekly contracts which allow for lots of turnover in enrollment. On the flip side, we enroll students into 10-month preschool programs and 2-month summer camps so we have consistent income every month.
5. Daycares Can Only Be Local; Preschools Can Be Local and Online
Daycares can only be open locally, putting them at risk for closures. Preschools can be open locally or online, allowing us to stay in business regardless of what closures happen in the world.
6. Daycares Make Low Hourly Rates; Preschool Owners Make High Hourly Rates
Daycares don’t make a lot of money because they have to work so long so their hourly rate ends up being really low. Because we only teach for a few hours each day and are helping prepare children for kindergarten, we can charge a premium tuition which allows us to create a supplemental or even full-time income.
For a local preschool class depending on where you live, you can charge anywhere from $120-$400/mo. per child… and for online preschool classes depending on the niche of your preschool, you can charge anywhere from $50-$200/mo. per child. With full classes, you can often make between $60-$100/hr.!
7. Daycares Are Open Almost Every Day; Preschools Take Off 5 Weeks Vacation Every Year
Daycares have to be open almost every single day because parents need to go to work. On the flip side, preschools can create a calendar similar to the public school district, so they get to take off all federal holidays, 1 week for Thanksgiving, 2 weeks for Christmas, and 1 week for Spring Break… and they STILL charge the same tuition every month!
8. Daycares Have High Start-Up Costs; Preschools Have Low Start-Up Costs
Daycares require a ton of start-up money for furniture to operate, including cribs, high chairs, and a ton of toys for different ages. Local preschools can be started in your home, a church, or a separate building… and online preschools can be started right in your home with very little supplies required.
9. Daycares Make Your Own Children Feel Like They Have to Share Everything; Preschools Help Your Children Have Fun WITH You
Daycares require you to be available every hour of the day for 12 hours to lots of other people’s children. That means your own children will have to fight for your attention and might feel neglected because now they have to share you with everyone else.
What we love the most about our preschool model is that you get to spend a focused small amount of time having fun with your preschool students… and that’s the perfect time to have fun with your own children as well! We can’t tell you how rewarding it was to be able to know that we spent a focused 2.5 hours with our own children, singing, dancing, doing arts and crafts, helping them make friends, and preparing them for kindergarten.
And because it was such a short time, we were able to keep our energy high during class and still stay happy for the rest of the day too, instead of being exhausted and drained after 12 hours of doing daycare.
“You Don’t Have the ‘Right’ Degree or Experience to Start a Preschool…”
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