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Today, goods and services for children are gaining more and more popularity. One of the first places is occupied by children’s developing centers. Due to the catastrophic lack of places in public institutions, developing centers for kids is a great business idea.
Modern parents are increasingly using the services of children’s development centers . According to surveys conducted in large cities among parents of children from 8 months to 7-8 years old, more than half of mothers already take or are going to take their children to developmental classes. At the same time, if earlier visiting commercial centers was not cheap, now such pre-school education and development is available even to people with an average income level.
More and more new mothers are thinking about opening their own children’s development center and turning it into a permanent source of income. Despite high competition, business in this area remains attractive and profitable, as the number of children is increasing every year, and there are still not enough good childcare facilities for preschoolers.
Classification of children’s development centers
There are children’s centers of various types. The owner of such a center himself determines the areas of work that are of interest to him, the level and list of services provided. Regardless of whether you plan to take funds to start your own business or are going to make do with your savings, before starting work, experts advise you to draw up a detailed business plan. Such a plan for a children’s development center, which aims to develop the intellectual and creative skills of children aged 1 (less often younger) to 8 years, includes several sections: an overview with a description of the specifics of the industry, a description of the enterprise itself, a list and description of the services that you plan to render, analysis of the modern market, production plan.
If you do not have the funds to consult specialists, conduct your own market research of similar organizations in your city and in the area where you are going to open a center. Interview potential clients of the children’s development center – parents of children (respondents can be found at playgrounds, in children’s clinics or at kindergartens). Ask them questions about the location of the club, where they would like to take their children, about the program and teachers they are interested in. Find out what they look for in the first place when choosing a children’s center for their little ones.
First of all, to organize your own children’s development center, you need to find the optimal room. Most entrepreneurs do not aim at large areas, preferring to rent a small establishment with an area of about 40-50 square meters. meters. The main selection criteria: convenience of location (in the city center or at least in a large residential area, in a place with high traffic), the minimum need for repair work (although, most likely, you can’t do without it), the availability of a separate bathroom and space, where parents will wait for the end of classes.
How to choose the premises and location of the children’s development center
Let’s return to the question of choosing the area where your center is located. It does not depend on your preferences and amenities, but on the target audience you are targeting. Assess your financial capabilities. A children’s center that claims to be in the high price segment, with excellent repairs, the most qualified teachers, a professional administrator and demanding clients, will be very expensive. Such an institution should be located in the city center, where the rent will cost a pretty penny.
For a simple children’s club with a low cost of classes, even the first floor of a multi-storey building in a residential area is suitable. Decide in advance on those areas that do not suit you uniquely in terms of remoteness (you will also have to travel to work every day) and / or according to the contingent and solvency of the population, competition and other factors. The area of your premises also depends on the goals and objectives. The study room (if there is one) should be at least 30 sq. meters. Some children’s clubs open in office buildings or shopping malls. Ideally, they should be located on the ground floor so that the little ones do not have to climb stairs or take the elevator. In this case, there may be several study rooms, but most likely they will be small in size.
In any case, your child development center should have a waiting room. Often, the heads of the centers try to save on rent and do without it. However, many parents will wait for their children while they study. If they have to stand all this time on the street, they are unlikely to go to your center for a long time, no matter how good it is.
Taking into account the study rooms, the waiting room (or hall) and the bathroom, the area of the children’s club should be about 50 square meters. meters. If you don’t have the money to rent a large space and can only afford one study room, of course, and such an institution can be profitable, but you severely limit the choice of courses you offer. With all the desire to “score” the whole day with classes, it will not work. Kids come to study in the morning – before lunch and daytime sleep.
Older children attend classes after 17-18 hours (when they are picked up from kindergartens). The period from 13 to 17 hours (in fact, half a day) simply falls out of the schedule, as older children spend this time in the kindergarten, and the kids sleep.
As an option, you can offer discounts for classes during this time, but this is unlikely to completely solve the problem. On the other hand, the main rule of the rented premises is that each meter of it should bring you profit. Therefore, renting or buying a large area that you simply have nothing to occupy is also not worth it. The list of classes in your center and the schedule of lessons in each of the rooms must be compiled at the stage of choosing a room.When searching for premises, it is necessary to take into account the norms of the SES and the Fire Supervision authorities. For example, a children’s center cannot be located in the basement, semi-basement or basement. The premises should be well ventilated, have a separate entrance and a separate bathroom. Of great importance is the convenient access to your center, and the availability of a place to park a car (this is especially true for the city center, where it is very problematic to find a free place during rush hour).
How to recruit staff for a children’s center
One of the main conditions for the success of your institution is its staff. Moreover, it includes not only the teachers themselves, but also administrators. True, it will be easier to find a good administrator than a teacher who loves and understands children, knows how to find an approach to them and captivate them with any activity. For the position of administrators who will answer phone calls, receive visitors, schedule classes and solve other organizational issues, you can take students or recent graduates. Administrators usually work in shifts. At first, you can take over their duties, unless, of course, you yourself are going to conduct classes.
It is much more difficult to find good teachers for a children’s development center. Qualified teachers with extensive experience in kindergartens or even schools will cost a lot, but worst of all, having a diploma of special higher education, certificates, diplomas and other documents does not at all guarantee that your teacher will be able to find a common language with children, and not beat they have a desire to learn. It also happens that recent graduates of pedagogical faculties turn out to be better teachers who are liked by both children and their parents.
Conduct face-to-face interviews with potential employees of your children’s center. Pay attention to their appearance, communication style, evaluate their passion for their work, initiative and innovation. Sometimes even mothers of toddlers who do not have a special education, but who are very passionate about various methods of developing children, constantly attend various courses and seminars, are interested in new phenomena in the field of preschool education, and, most importantly, understand what their children need. On the other hand, the presence of a diploma of pedagogical education for your employees, of course, will be useful, but still this cannot be the only criterion for choosing an employee.
Advertising and marketing of a children’s development center
Do not forget also that the services of your child development center must be advertised. Your target audience, first of all, is mothers of preschool children. It is they who, as a rule, choose clubs for their children. Undoubtedly, the best advertisement is your favorable reputation, thanks to which parents themselves will recommend your center to their friends and acquaintances. However, the reputation still needs to be earned. To attract customers at the first stage of work, you can use standard advertising methods: posting ads, distributing leaflets, advertising on the Internet on forums and websites dedicated to the topic of raising children.
Consider the possibility of a free visit to the children’s development center (or at a significant discount) for the first trial lesson, at which mom and baby can decide whether your center is right for them or not. As a rule, the centers offer two options for paying for visits – a one-time visit at higher prices and a monthly subscription. In the latter case, the cost of the lesson is 15-20 percent lower.
Let’s say a few words about the legal side of the issue. Until recently, many children’s centers that provided services in the field of preschool education tried to avoid explicit mention of this in their names and documentation. This was explained by the fact that obtaining a license to carry out educational activities is a rather complicated and costly business. Therefore, most of the small centers and courses for preschoolers were opened as individual entrepreneurs (IE), and not as a non-state educational institution (NOU) and did not license their activities. They positioned themselves as leisure centers, clubs, private tutors, etc. However, now the situation has changed.
According to the new Federal Law “On Education”, an individual entrepreneur has the right to officially conduct educational activities with the involvement of other teachers, but for this he needs to obtain an appropriate license before January 1, 2014.
In the near future, by-laws are expected to be released that will clarify the procedure for obtaining a license for an individual entrepreneur and the conditions that such a preschool educational institution and its employees must comply with.
Let’s calculate the costs of opening a children’s development center. This includes the rental of premises (depending on the location and area), repairs if necessary (from 150 thousand rubles and more), purchase of the necessary equipment and materials (about 200 thousand rubles), purchase of furniture (minimum 80 thousand rubles), wages teachers, administrators, cleaner, advertising and promotion (at least 25 thousand rubles per month). The cost of one subscription for 8 visits is from 2000 rubles (depending on the city, target audience, program). The payback period for such a project is one year.
Children’s development center. Questions and answers.
? What is a child development center?
There are children’s centers of various types. The owner of such a center himself determines the areas of work that are of interest to him, the level and list of services provided. Regardless of whether you plan to take funds to start your own business or are going to make do with your savings, before starting work, experts advise you to draw up a detailed business plan. Such a plan for a preschool institution, which aims to develop the intellectual and creative skills of children aged 1 (less often younger) to 8 years, includes several sections: an overview with a description of the specifics of the industry, a description of the enterprise itself, a list and description of the services that you plan to render, analysis of the modern market, production plan.
? Staff for the children’s center?
One of the main conditions for the success of your institution is its staff . Moreover, it includes not only the teachers themselves, but also administrators. True, it will be easier to find a good administrator than a teacher who loves and understands children, knows how to find an approach to them and captivate them with any activity. For the position of administrators who will answer phone calls, receive visitors, schedule classes and solve other organizational issues, you can take students or recent graduates. Administrators usually work in shifts. At first, you can take over their duties, unless, of course, you yourself are going to conduct classes.
It is much more difficult to find good teachers. Qualified teachers with extensive experience in kindergartens or even schools will cost a lot, but worst of all, having a diploma of special higher education, certificates, diplomas and other documents does not at all guarantee that your teacher will be able to find a common language with children, and not beat they have a desire to learn. It also happens that recent graduates of pedagogical faculties turn out to be better teachers who are liked by both children and their parents.
? How to advertise a children’s development center?
The target audience of the children’s development center , first of all, is mothers of preschool children. It is they who, as a rule, choose clubs for their children. Undoubtedly, the best advertisement is your favorable reputation, thanks to which parents themselves will recommend your center to their friends and acquaintances. However, the reputation still needs to be earned. To attract customers at the first stage of work, you can use standard advertising methods: posting ads, distributing leaflets, advertising on the Internet on forums and websites dedicated to the topic of raising children.
Consider the possibility of a free visit to the children’s development center (or at a significant discount) for the first trial lesson, at which mom and baby can decide whether your center is right for them or not. As a rule, the centers offer two options for paying for visits – a one-time visit at higher prices and a monthly subscription. In the latter case, the cost of the lesson is 15-20 percent lower.
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