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Family child care is a business and as such, needs to be founded and operated on sound business practices.  Dollar & Sense will give you the beginnings of how to operate your child care like a professional business.

If you are a child care provider and business is not in your background, how will you make a success of your small business and earn a livable wage? Now, there's a training curriculum designed just for you. It's called Dollars & Sense: Planning for Profit in Your Child Care Business. The course takes traditional business skills and packages them for the very non-traditional business of child care -- the business of caring.

"This training is not simply a collection of new provider skills. It teaches a new attitude about the self-determined professionalism and compensation of child care providers." -- Janet Bush, author of Dollars and Sense

Developed by Janet Bush and the Montana Child Care Resource & Referral Network and the Montana Community Development Center, this course is based on the expertise of "local child care industry leaders -- providers who have demonstrated quality care, longevity, and experience in the field and had an admirable profitability."

Find out what these leaders know and practice, from creating and using policies to setting fees and collecting payments. Most importantly, Bush shares what being a successful child care provider is really all about -- perceiving oneself as a professional, an advocate for the profession, and an informal mentor of new providers.

Included in the Dollars & Sense Training Curriculum are:

• A Child Care Provider Bill of Rights
• Six different communication lessons: Eliminate Guilt, Sharing Unpleasant News with a Parent, Communication Styles, and more
• Business lessons on Rates, Fees and Collection; Record-Keeping and Cash Flow; and Marketing Strategies
• Child care business plan
• Sample business forms and documents.

Dollars & Sense is a series of business skills and assertive communication classes that consists of 12 separate one hour trainings.  These trainings are most effective if taken as a complete series, but we can make arrangements to provide any individual sessions that may interest you the most.

Sessions:

• Child Care Provider Bill of Rights
  Child care providers are professionals, and are entitled to good working conditions and worker status.
  • Objectives:
    1. To discuss the difficulties that providers may face in being perceived as professionals.
    2. To discuss the family child care program as a business.
    3. To discuss provider rights and responsibilities.
        
• Contracts and Policies
  • Objectives:
    1. To show how contracts should clarify provider & parent expectations. 
    2. To discuss how business policies should maximize profitability.
    3. To learn how to write a proper contact and policy statement.
        
• Eliminate Guilt 
  • Objectives:
    1. To learn that feelings of guilt have little productive value for your child care business.
    2. To learn the importance and implementation of setting professional boundaries.
    3. To discuss respect and healthy relationships.
        
• Rates, Fees, and Collection
  • Objectives:
    1. To learn how pricing is a science and an art. 
    2. To learn how to research the local market, consider expenses, and set income goals before you choose your rates, fees, and collection practices.
    3. To discuss payment schedules, supplemental fees, and other income considerations.
    4. To learn how to handle pricing objections.
        
• Passive, Aggressive, and Assertive
  • Objectives:
    1. To learn a communication style to enhance productive outcomes for your business.
    2. To learn the differences and similarities in passive, aggressive, and assertive styles of communication.
    3. To discuss stereotypes in communication styles.
        
• An Effective Record Keeping System
  • Objectives:
    1. To discuss the importance and advantages of a separate checking account for your business.
    2. To learn how to implement a monthly business income and expense ledger.
    3. To learn about record keeping and business riling systems.
    4. To discuss what records need to be kept and for how long.
        
• Listening Skills
  • Objectives:
    1. To learn about active listening skills and how they can lead to problem solving.
    2. To learn the techniques of proper response, paraphrasing, and detachment.
    3. To learn how to listen respectfully and deal with criticism.
        
• Cash In, Cash Out - Where Do You Stand?
  • Objectives:
    1. To learn to create a cash flow plan for your business and the advantages of its use.
    2. To learn about annual income statements and balance sheets.
        
• Sharing Unpleasant Information With Parents
  • Objectives:
    1. To learn how to share unpleasant or critical information in a respectful and supportive manner.
    2. To discuss the BEAD formula for offering constructive criticism.
        
• Marketing Strategies
  • Objectives:
    1. To learn how to research local market to identify special features and offerings of your business.
    2. To learn how to objectively look at your facility and program.
    3. To discuss how to identify and target potential customers.
    4. To learn the proper steps to an effective marketing plan.
    5. To learn how to analyze and compare to competition.
    6. To discuss specific marketing techniques and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
        
• Responsibilities of an Assertive Provider
  • Objectives:
    1. To promote a clear understanding of provider rights and professional responsibilities.
    2. To learn about good parent-provider relationships and communication.
        
• A Professional Business Plan
  • Objectives:
    1. To learn how to put together an overall business plan.
    2. To learn to present business practices and profitability in applying for loans and grants.

If you would like more information about Dollars & Sense, would like to set up a training, or for help in finding educational opportunities in your area... Contact me