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January 2, 2003
Gary and I were approached with an intriguing business opportunity. The Day Care that Hannah and Camryn attend might be for sale. When I say “might” I mean that the director is a friend of mine and told me she would sell it to me because she know that I have the children’s best interest at heart not the money. Although the money is very important! She is currently working on a price to sell this, she just wanted to see if we were interested in the first place.
I will give you a little background—the Day Care has been established for a while, it recently was changed from ages 0 to 12 to infants through kindergarten aged children. The center is three to four children short of full capacity, and the customers have been pretty consistent. (There are not a lot of drops and adds) The center is a home that has been refurbished to meet the standards for a Day Care. She has done some repair work and a few updates in the last year, but I know that on room leaks and she is having a contractor come back out, the roof is brand new.
If anyone has any thoughts on this, please offer them, I want to focus on this for a while and make sure that I am making the right decision.
Issues:
1. We have never owned our own business, and we do not have a clue about everything involved. I have been searching the internet, but have not found any step-by-step instructions on where
2. New requirements by the state would force the Director to be at the Day Care full-time. Our state is setting new requirements that would make the Director be on the premises most of the time from 8 to 5 at least. I would still have the flexibility to take the girls to doctor’s appointments, school parties, ballet, and swim lessons, but would have to be there full-time on all other occasions.
3. Gary is concerned about my loyalty. I am a job jumper. I have had 2 jobs in 4 years, and am currently entertaining offers. I have not found the perfect job for me, other than motherhood. Gary is concerned that once I take on this new job, I will decide I don’t like it, especially after the girls have started school and are not there with me full-time. I simply do not know. I will agree that once my girls go to school, I will miss them, but I think I will enjoy the flexibility of being my own boss. I realize with the money that we would be paying for this business, I would be locked in for a while, and would have to stay with it.
4. Gary would like to build our own day care and start from scratch. I am concerned about this because I have worked at Day Cares in college, but I would not know where to begin on starting my own business. Frankly, starting up a new business without having an estimated income is absolutely terrifying to me. I really do not have the entrepreneurial spirit at all; this business venture would be a total risk for me. Gary, on the other hand, has wanted to start his own business for a while. By buying this one, we have an established business, that has a good reputation, all supplies, and is fully staffed.
5. I would have to go back to school for about a year either while working at the Day Care, or while working at my current job full-time to become certified to be a Director of a Day Care. I have my BBA in Human Resources, and I am certified in this field. I worked very hard to get to this point in my career and be certified, and in a sense I would be giving all of this up. Owning my own business I would still handle a lot of the HR Functions in management, but in the career world, managers do not look at it quite the same.
6. There is not much room for expansion. The playground is small, and if we wanted to add on to the center, we probably would have to start from scratch at a new location. (Gary would love to build from scratch, but I am concerned about money)
I think I should mention that Gary offers a new outlook for me; where I am more conservative, Gary is liberal. Where I am afraid to take the next step, Gary walks out on the limb. We balance each other perfectly. I guess I am just looking for input from those who might have had the same idea, or maybe even direct a childcare center. Please offer any opinions that you night have so that I can make the best, most prepared, decision. Again this board has been a great source of information and support. I would love to hear from everyone regardless of your opinion, just please be respectful.
Happy 2003
We celebrated the New Year at our home with our closest friends. We had a blast! Both of the girls stayed up, how could they shut their eyes with so much fun being had in the next room. We counted down to the New Year then bid farewell to our guests. We had a gret time. New Years Day the girls slept and slept. Other than late night feedings, neither one of my girls had ever been up that late.
My New Years resolution is to finish losing my baby weight. My SIL got engaged over Christmas so I know I will need to squeeze into a bridesmaid's dress before the year ends. And next year is my high school reunion. If there is ever motivation to lose weight, I have it!!! Hopefully, I can keep it!
Happy New Year!!!
Jamie, Hannah and Camryn
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