Weighing The Pros And Cons Of Starting A Home Child Care Business

If the thought of children receiving poor child-care sets your
blood to boiling, you clearly have a heart for kids, which is
the number one factor for creating a successful child care
business. But, the truth is, even if you have a passion for
children, running a day care center is a lot of work!

Like any home-based business, there are both pros and cons.
It's up to you to decide whether the pros outweigh the cons, or
vice-versa. Below is a list of some specific aspects of starting
a day care center, including the good and the bad about each one
Take them into consideration as you make the choice of whether
starting a Day Care Center is right for you.

THE KIDS

• The Good: Starting a day care would enable you to spend your
day doing what you enjoy doing—being around kids!

• The Bad: The kids aren't bad themselves, but their actions
can be. Kids are definitely challenging. If you struggle with
patience, anger, or get easily frustrated, child care may not be
the job for you.

CONVENIENCE

• The Good: The work comes to you. If you have kids yourself,
the start-up cost will be minimal, as toys probably abound in
your home anyway. If there's extra food to purchase, you can
just pick it up during your regular weekly grocery shopping. And
an added bonus: you can claim these items on your taxes at the
end of the year!

• The Bad: Your home may take a hit…the mess, stained
carpeting, sticky floors…it all comes with the job. If you are
someone who takes pride in your spotless home, you would be in
for a rude awakening. Besides that, you're pretty much stuck in
one place for an extended period of time. Not the most appealing
to those who like to be out and about during the day.

JOB SECURITY

• The Good: The demand for child care has never been so high.
There will likely never be a shortage of kids needing good care.

• The Bad: Especially with today's economy, you never know when
a parent will lose a job or need to pull their child out of day
care. You could have four kids one day, one the next.

INCOME

• The Good: The income potential is huge. Day care is not, nor
should it be, cheap. Depending on how many kids you decide to
take in, and the going-rate in your area, from a financial
standpoint, starting a day care is a great choice.

• The Bad: See Job Security (above). Consistent income for any
length of time may be hard to come by. As kids come and go, your
income will, too. Also, remember that you will not get any paid
sick days, vacation days or health benefits. If you or your
children are sick, you will basically lose a day or two of
income.

FLEXIBILITY

• The Good: Flexible Hours AND work load. You decide how many
hours you want to work. Maybe it's full-time, 8 to 6 every day.
Or two days per week. Maybe you prefer afternoons only. Or even
evenings, to accommodate second shift parents. It's completely
up to you! You also choose your own work load. Do you want to
take four kids or just one? The number of children you are
legally allowed to care for varies. Be sure to check your
particular state laws.

• The Bad: You might not be able to find the exact schedule you
want. Compromise just may be inevitable.

TECHNICAL STUFF

• The Good: There are a ton of tax write-offs for the licensed
day care provider. You might want to check out the following
link, which lists all kinds of helpful sites by State:

http://www.nccic.org/statedata/dirs/regoffic.html

• The Bad: The tax laws tend to be complex. There are lots of
ins and outs you'll need to learn. Permits and licenses to earn
and apply for. You'll need to consider whether this will be a
problem for you. And, if you have any children of your own, your
write-off allowance for toys and such will certainly be
affected.

This only gives a glimpse at some of the pros and cons to
starting a child care business in your home. If you find that
the benefits outweigh the negative aspects, this may just be the
job for you!

About The Author: Visit WahmZone, the ultimate community for
the Wahm and work at home mom. http://www.wahmzone.com or
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How to Hire a Nanny Legally to Take Care of Your Children

Many people who hire nannies seem to think that they are independent contractors and therefore they can be given a 1099 at the end of the year.

EDD (Employment Development Department) clearly states that all qualifying domestic employees are to be placed on payroll.

"Qualifying" means that if they are receiving a salary of at least $750 per calendar quarter, this qualifies the employee and employer to pay payroll taxes.

Although payroll taxes may seem exorbitant, there are a couple of savings that can be obtained by placing your nanny or housekeeper on payroll.

You can save taxes by putting up to $5,000 pre-tax per family per year into a Dependant Care Account if applicable and offered by your employer. Depending on your effective tax rate, this could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars in taxes while you use this pre-tax money on eligible dependant care expenses, including paying your child-care provider.

Another form of savings is a Child Care Tax Credit that you may be eligible to claim under federal tax law. For 2005, this amount of credit, if applicable, allows you to receive a minimum of 20% for the first $3,000 in qualifying expenses for each of your first two children per year.

Finally, you will have peace of mind and sleep well at night knowing that you've done everything legally. You will never have to worry about getting caught and the consequences of hiring illegally.

The bottom line is that after calculating potential tax advantages, hiring a nanny legally typically adds approximately 4% to 5% to your cost. On a $20,000 annual salary, that's roughly an additional $800 -$1,000. Social Security, Medicare and state and federal unemployment taxes add approximately 9% of a worker's salary to a typical household employer's costs.

However, by making the most of tax advantages available to you, the true burden of hiring a nanny can be substantially less.

Apart from the very important issue that it is illegal when you do not put your nanny or housekeeper on payroll, there is another reason to think about doing the right thing.

The people who do this line of work usually expect their wages in cash due to the fact that most employers just don't want to be burdened. This actually throws off the wage curb for those of us who are paying our domestics properly. If you are offering $15/hr gross and your neighbor is offering $15/hr cash, which job do you think the employee would prefer?

We need to all get on the same page and pay our domestics properly. A person who pays on payroll often has to up the gross amount to equal what the employee wants net of taxes. If everyone offered their domestics salaries from a gross (before tax deduction) tax perspective, we would not have such problems with respect to salaries.

Employees should be informed of the advantages of being on payroll. For example, there is social security, worker's compensation, unemployment, and creating a credit history. What you may encounter is a disgruntled employee filing for help and reporting you at the same time.

Marta Perrone, author "Help! How to Find Hire Train and Maintain Household Help!"
Free report: "Top 10 Mistakes Household Employers Make When Recruiting Help.
http://www.domesticpublications.com - http://domestic-connections.com - http://martaperrone.com

Tips for Working as a Nanny

If you are thinking about working as a nanny, here are a few tips for you to think about before beginning your career. It isn't that simple to just get matched with a family and start a job. There are many nuances that you must learn so that you can avoid termination within the first 30 days of working as a nanny.

Here are five tips for you to consider:

1. Do not try to be your employer's best friend; hence crossing boundaries and turning your position as an employee into a nightmare for your employer. Always remain professional.

For example:

a) Do not delve into your employer's personal life and offer suggestions of how her marriage might repair itself if she followed your ideas,

b) Do not go into your employer's closet and decide that you need to borrow one of her dresses for a Friday night date - don't ask to borrow anything personal for that matter unless it is a tire iron to fix your car or something of that nature,

c) Do not break down and cry because of a problem with your boyfriend and expect complete consoling from your employer (keep your private life to yourself),

e) When the family needs privacy, give it to them and do not expect to be included in every moment of their lives, and finally

f) Do not ask for a loan under any circumstances.

2. Arrive on time every day without any excuses, especially the ones that entail how you fell out of bed and were sitting up to turn the alarm off and hit your head so hard that you passed out for a few hours.

Another excuse that is not looked upon favorably would be the one where you state the traffic flow was so bad that you decided to stop and have breakfast first. How about the one where you locked yourself out of the house with your car keys inside. Soon, you will simply run out of excuses. No employer of any type likes their employee to be late. When you are late, the working parents will be late. If this in effect causes problems for their job or career, you may find yourself out of a job rather quickly.

3. Be honest even when you know you did something grossly wrong and could get fired for it. Better to ask for forgiveness and explain that you understand what you did wrong and that it won't happen again, than to deny while your employer knows you are blatantly lying, For example, a nanny thought that she could win favor with a child by giving candy everyday in spite of the parent's strict rules of "NO SUGAR". The child has now grown accustomed to the treats and remnants of those sweets are found in clothing for the parent to discover. When the child is asked about it, the response is that the nanny gives it everyday and goes into great detail about it. You have just been nailed. Come clean and accept the consequences.

4. Do not use your cell phone while at work unless it is an emergency. You couldn't possibly be putting proper attention to a child while talking on the telephone. Even if you see mothers do it all the time. It is one thing to have a mother with coffee in hand, cell phone in the other while walking the dog and carrying a newborn baby - equally not smart, but certainly as a professional nanny, you should know better.

5. Keep your skills honed. Take child development courses whenever possible and constantly read magazines and books about raising children so that you are always on top of the latest ideas and methods of approaching child rearing. While learning, you can make suggestions, but always follow the mother's way of rearing. Do not decide that you are the mother of the child and absolutely know the better way of raising children. You should implement a new approach only if the parent agrees that you do so.

Marta Perrone, author "Help! How to Find Hire Train and Maintain Household Help!"
Free report: "Top 10 Mistakes Household Employers Make When Recruiting Help.
http://www.domesticpublications.com - http://domestic-connections.com - http://martaperrone.com

 

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