Day care business all about family
By SUSAN HALLER
For Smart
Kid's First Day Care owner shares why she started her own business, and how she makes work all about family.
How long have you been open?
Since August 2002. It’s the best thing I ever did. We started out with 30 kids. Now we have 80. We’ve been full since the second month we were open. There are 15 people working there.
What sets your day care apart from others?
I think, and it sounds funny, it’s because it’s more of a home. Everybody knows everybody; all the kids know all the other kids’ parents. I’m here all the time. We know all the parents by name, all the grandparents by name.
We do a lot for the kids. We do tons of field trips in the summertime. We do scrapbooks of the field trips to show parents what we do all the time. We put scrapbook pictures to a music video at Christmastime.
I think we do a lot more than the other day cares, and we don’t charge as much.
How are you able to provide all these services without charging as much?
Basically, I’m not in it for the money. I’m not in it to say, “I made $100,000 this year.” If we can afford to do what we do and I can afford to live, that’s my goal. I love what we do. I love my kids and I love my job. It’s not about the money.
How is your family involved with the business?
(Todd) does a lot of the maintenance at the day care, and he has a full-time job. He’s also trying to open his own deck business. He helped me open my business, and now I’m trying to help him open his business.
My older daughter helps the kids; she plays with the 1-year-olds in the morning. They love it here. When I’m ready to go home, they’re not ready to go home.
How did you get started?
I used to work at a couple other day cares before I opened this one. ... I was at the day care and I thought, “I can do this on my own.” A couple of the girls that worked there with me would go looking for buildings that I could open up my own business. We were looking for the building for about a year.
What do you like about your job?
I think I relate more to kids. They make you feel young. It’s a fun environment ... you get to play all day. You can be yourself more around kids.
What advice do you have for women looking to start their own businesses?
I don’t think it was harder for me as a woman to get my own business. It just takes a lot of work. If I didn’t go for it, I wouldn’t be as happy as I am.
My advice would be to take the chance and go for it.
What are your favorite parts of the job?
Favorite part — the women that I work with, that work for me, are my best friends. I love coming in and seeing them every day. I love being with my kids and all the kids; I see them as my own kids.
Least favorite parts?
It’s hard for some parents, it’s hard to get them to pay on time. It’s hard to go up to someone and say, “you owe me money.” That and keeping up maintenance on the building. There’s always something you need to fix. I hate having to raise rates.
What has presented the biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge in opening the place. ... From the time we bought the building from the time we opened was only two months. We had to renovate the inside of the building and paint the building and I had to do that pretty much by myself ... I don’t know that I have a big challenge right now, it’s just maintaining and improving things.
What do you see yourself doing in the future?
I’ll be doing this for the rest of my life. We’re actually looking into opening another building. We’re trying to get this place where we want it to be. A lot of the girls here are going to school so they can direct other day cares. And the business will go to my kids, if they want it. To know that this is what I want to do with rest of my life is great.
What inspires you?
Basically my kids. They’re everything to me. The way I run my building, my kids are here. I think of the other parents, and how they want their kids - they want them to be safe and to have fun and that’s what keeps me going. How can we change this to make it better? Because that’s what it’s all about taking care of the kids, having fun with them, teaching them ... So when they leave they feel better, we did our part in raising them.
We have parents that write us letters out of the blue just saying how great the day care is and how important it is to them. Knowing that the parents are happy, and they know they’re kids are safe there.
About JenAge: 35
Occupation: Owner/operator of Kids First, 2500 W. Market St., West Manchester Township
Family: Husband Todd, married for 12 years, daughter Morgan, 9, and son Tyler, 7.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Millersville University.
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