Taking Care of Business

I was asked if I have a pamphlet for my daycare ... so my blogging time yesterday morning was spent fine tuning my newest promotional item. And voila! I have a brochure to add to my arsenal of hand-outs to promote my new daycare business.

Then there is the Excel spreadsheet that I created to keep track of income and expenses. I wish that I had utilized this handy tool for my previous daycare years. But I wasn't as wise to the benefits of Microsoft Office back then.

This Excel sheet is a godsend as I try to figure out a fair and equitable flat rate for varying schedules and rates. In the past, I have spent hours figuring, checking and rechecking my numbers as I try to figure out a fair-for-all rate of pay. Excel has given me the power to change one number and all of the calculations are automatic!

I haven't started a newsletter yet but you can be sure that my newsletter experience from the school will be brought into my new world.

As I develop various tools to take care of business, I am seeing the value of my schooling. I am bringing Microsoft Office into my daycare world. Microsoft Word is helping me create professional business cards, posters, pamphlets, start-up literature, contact lists and newsletters. Excel is helping me manage the financial end of things.

The ability to utilize what I have learned in my new world fulfills my need to work my brain. Working with numbers and the business end of running a daycare has always come easy to me. I thank my math skills and years of banking and bookkeeping experience for that. Creating documents, advertising and literature to promote my business fulfills my need to add my signature touch to the world we are creating here.

After spending a week communicating at the level of a one and a two year old, my brain welcomes the challenge.

Next week's challenge? Consistency and calmness must reign as I teach my new little ones the importance of treating others the way you want to be treated (translation - don't grab toys from someone just because they have them). Routines will teach my one-year-old that nap time is a very good time. Going to sleep happy means waking up happy.

Will my year of working at the school help me overcome the challenges that I see before me? I believe it will. If I start talking/thinking and writing at the level of the children I care for, I will sound the alarms and bring myself back into the adult world by remembering all that I learned last year.

I am grateful for all that I have learned throughout my hiatus from full-time daycare, as I find myself bringing all that I have learned into my new world ... as I take care of the business at hand.