Working Closely With Other Childcare Providers In Your Area?

[rhondawarren]

Good Morning ladies,

I wanted to ask some opinions on this. We live in a very small town. I use to live in the city but, I closed my in home daycare there so that we could build our final home in the country. There are a few providers in our area that I know very well because this is actually my original home town one being my sister.

Here is my question ... would it be smart for all of us to create a private group on facebook so that we could work closely together on keeping our rates the same, asking questions and warning others about people not paying etc. Do you think this would be beneficial to all of our businesses by keeping things around the same rates etc for each of our care?

I actually built an in home daycare onto my new home in my house plans that has a separate entrance door etc because I truly want to do this for my career

Let me know your thoughts ...

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I REALLY wanted to do something like this but the providers in my area are weird. There is no other term for them ::. Some are just BAD providers, others are catty, and ONE is genuinely nice and kind so we are friends and we do work closely together.

I am not sure that you can technically put someone's name out there as a "bad client" (perhaps you can, but I am thinking no?) but maybe you could do initials and the children's initials or something.

[rhondawarren]

I REALLY wanted to do something like this but the providers in my area are weird. There is no other term for them ::. Some are just BAD providers, others are catty, and ONE is genuinely nice and kind so we are friends and we do work closely together.

I am not sure that you can technically put someone's name out there as a "bad client" (perhaps you can, but I am thinking no?) but maybe you could do initials and the children's initials or something.

LOL on the weird part ... I hear ya

The cool thing about our area is a few of us are even related We are distant cousins and we all kind of talk anyways about us providing childcare. I think if we stuck together on pricing that would work to all of our benefits plus ... we could share forms, ideas, questions and all of that ... I am thinking maybe we should give it a try ...

Maybe if there are a few in your area that you think might like to you could just leave the weird ones out

[Second Home]

Sounds like a good idea . I wish there was a group here like that . There times where I would like to let other local provider's know about a client who owes $$ or other problems .

[coolconfidentme]

I live in a small town & they would throw you under a bus before working with you. One provider had the nerve to go court with a DCM who owed me money & trumped up charges when I billed her. Apparently the DCB does good there & she came to testify how bad I was as a provider, .

It went something like this:

ME: Do you know me?
HER: No.
ME: Have you ever been in my daycare.
HER: No.
ME: Are you here to pay her outstanding daycare debt?
HER: No.
ME: I have nothing else for this witness your honor.

::

[Crazy8]

I like the idea but I have found near me other providers view you as the competition so they are not friendly or willing to share info. It is hard to get kids and stay full around here (lots of SAHM's) so that could have a lot to do with it.

[Blackcat31]

Good Morning ladies,

I wanted to ask some opinions on this. We live in a very small town. I use to live in the city but, I closed my in home daycare there so that we could build our final home in the country. There are a few providers in our area that I know very well because this is actually my original home town one being my sister.

Here is my question ... would it be smart for all of us to create a private group on facebook so that we could work closely together on keeping our rates the same, asking questions and warning others about people not paying etc. Do you think this would be beneficial to all of our businesses by keeping things around the same rates etc for each of our care?

I actually built an in home daycare onto my new home in my house plans that has a separate entrance door etc because I truly want to do this for my career

Let me know your thoughts ...

Networking with other providers is a wonderful way to connect, stay up on new rules/regs and state policies etc.

I would be careful about the rate sharing though as it could be construed as price fixing and that IS illegal. There are some rules and tips Tom Copeland included in his blog about this subject. You can read more here: http://www.tomcopelandblog.com/2010/...our-rates.html

Check with your local Child Care Resource & Referral office about the nearest child care association group. Sometimes starting a support group off of a much larger entity has it's benefits. I belong to an association in my community and it's a wonderful way to connect names to faces as well as share ideas, curriculum and other daycare stuff. Plus the association always keeps us updated on new state regulations and changes that occur.

I'm sorry to hear about those of you who has such unwilling neighbors. My community of providers is fantastic! We share thing all the time and very rarely is anyone looking to compete or run solo.

[Play Care]

Be careful about sharing pricing information - that is considered price fixing and illegal. Since you could potentially share that information on Facebook it could come back to bite you. I'm in a small town. Just like anything else, some providers are friendly, some are not, etc. I have one that refers people to me when she is full. This has been wonderful.

[rhondawarren]

Networking with other providers is a wonderful way to connect, stay up on new rules/regs and state policies etc.

I would be careful about the rate sharing though as it could be construed as price fixing and that IS illegal. There are some rules and tips Tom Copeland included in his blog about this subject. You can read more here: http://www.tomcopelandblog.com/2010/...our-rates.html

Check with your local Child Care Resource & Referral office about the nearest child care association group. Sometimes starting a support group off of a much larger entity has it's benefits. I belong to an association in my community and it's a wonderful way to connect names to faces as well as share ideas, curriculum and other daycare stuff. Plus the association always keeps us updated on new state regulations and changes that occur.

I'm sorry to hear about those of you who has such unwilling neighbors. My community of providers is fantastic! We share thing all the time and very rarely is anyone looking to compete or run solo.

I am pretty sure that we all already charge the same rate. It is just the going rate around here in our area.

[rhondawarren]

Be careful about sharing pricing information - that is considered price fixing and illegal. Since you could potentially share that information on Facebook it could come back to bite you. I'm in a small town. Just like anything else, some providers are friendly, some are not, etc. I have one that refers people to me when she is full. This has been wonderful.

Thanks for the info I believe we all already charge the same rates simply because its the going rate for around here. We will only have a few of us in the group, the group will be private and most of us are related

[Mister Sir Husband]

Yea... I tried this. I saw a provider locally on craigslist that had what looked like a nicely set up program, an employee, and a part time lifeguard for swimming lessons she offers. So I emailed her, introduced myself, suggested maybe we talk a bit about our programs, and inquired about her swimming lessons as I am also looking to install a pool and was curious as to the states involvement and how much paperwork is actually involved.

She never got back to me and pulled her ad from craigslist. My only guess is she was operating illegally and thought I was asking to bust her? oops.

[rhondawarren]

Yea... I tried this. I saw a provider locally on craigslist that had what looked like a nicely set up program, an employee, and a part time lifeguard for swimming lessons she offers. So I emailed her, introduced myself, suggested maybe we talk a bit about our programs, and inquired about her swimming lessons as I am also looking to install a pool and was curious as to the states involvement and how much paperwork is actually involved.

She never got back to me and pulled her ad from craigslist. My only guess is she was operating illegally and thought I was asking to bust her? oops.

That is strange ...

As for us we will only have people that we know very well in our group. That way we can just share some forms, concerns, etc with each other. I think it will be great to have that local connection with those in the same area.

[sharlan]

Good luck.

Providers around here are so paranoid that no one would even consider forming a group.

I've tried connecting with several different ones for playdates that I've met at parks, but none have been interested.

[KiddieCahoots]

I think that's a great idea, especially where you all know each other already.
I would suggest keeping it somewhat closed off to being public knowledge though, just for the whole confidentiality issues, and avoiding trouble with people suggesting you've formed a "click". Ya know how disgruntled trouble makers can be, trying to use anything against you, just to try and discredit you in any way.

[crazydaycarelady]

I think it is a great idea. Our resource and referral is always asking us for training ideas but I wish they would just let us talk for a whole training period because I get my best ideas from other providers.

I have a few providers in my town (we don't have an official group) but we refer each other if we don't have room at the moment. We get our daycares together and do things like have big Easter egg hunts, etc. We alert each other if the FP is making visits! LOL