Been advertising for 3 months...not even one enquiry

[Ripeberry]

Feeling really down at the moment. We have been away for a few days in the Lake District and it was great. I had hoped to have come home to some enquiries but nothing.
I've been registered since mid Jan and in all that time only had one enquiry to collect a 9yr old girl from a school almost 20 miles away! :eek:
Too many people in my area just look after each others children on a i'll scratch your back if you scratch mine and they think its funny that i've tried to do everything legally by being registered :angry:
A lady down the road has at least 6 other children at her house on top of her own 5 children (they are over 8yrs old anyway) but she does not LOOK after them she just chucks them our in the street for the day to annoy all the other neighbours and i'm fed up of getting footballs out of my back garden.
I have lost a lot of steam and just don't feel motivated anymore :(
Sorry to rant but if the children are not there there is not much i can do.
Will Ofsted de-register me if i don't have anyone within 6 months? As they will HAVE to do an inspection by mid July at the latest.

[Annie_T]

im sure your get some soon hun, some take a while to kick off while others just get going just like that. (hope that makes sense lol)

im not sure what ofsted will do i think they just ask you contact them once you start minding if its over the 6months period.

try not to worry hun, as your make your self ill if not careful.

maybe you could make a small leaflet up and do a leaflet thru the doors, check where you have place ad's are actually still there too

x

[snowqueen]

Awww sorry to hear this. Ofsted wont de register you, i think its 1 year if you have not had any children. These parent's should be registered if they look after children for more than 2 hours anyway. I really feel for you, because i did not have children for a while it does get frustrating, Keep your chin up hopefully something will come up. Have you advertised, in shops schools, do you have a local magazine, maybe put an ad in there. ;)
Hope all gets better for you hun, i know its hard coz i have been there and i probably will be in the same boat soon..lol as im just re registering again;)

[chewy sweets]

Really sorry to hear that. Hope you get some kiddies soon!! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.:thumbsup:

[Demonjill]

Awww sorry to hear this. Its one of my worst nightmares for when i finally get registered.

Fingers x you get something soon.:)

[Buzz Lightyear]

Sounds like you had a great weekend, dont let the lack of enquiries bring you down.

What are you doing advertising wise to get yourself out there? Do you have a website? Are you distributing adverts, leaftlets? Attending baby and toddler groups and handing out business cards?

It can be slow to get established, it happened for me and I am not the most patient person in the world but once you are out there, people get to know you and word of mouth is the key. I've been amased just how many of my enquiries have told me "x recommended you" which is great.

Pm me if you need any help with marketing and I'll try and help. I'm not professional at website building or enhancing your profile on google but am rather proud of my site which I've built myself. I also get a lot of compliments about it from parents.

Chin up, just you wait (a bit longer), soon the enquiries will come flooding and you'll be up to your eyeballs with them. You'll soon show the flee-ridden minders (i.e. scratch your back, I'll scratch yours.... they must have flees, lmao!)

Good luck :thumbsup:

[misst104]

sorry to hear this ripeberry! Ellie had some good advice there. Your posts are usually so positive and its sad to hear you are feeling so disheatened :(

I'll keep everything crossed for that first enquiry :thumbsup:

xxx

[Tatjana]

Sorry to hear you're so down, i really hope you get your first mindee very soon.

How horrible of those people to think it's funny you are doing things legally, don't think they'd find it funny should anything happen to their kids with an unprofessional and unregistered minder.

Good luck!

xx

[Chanelle]

Sorry to hear that hunny ... Check all your advertising options and see where you can add new leaflets ... maybe re invent the leaflet and make bigger, brighter ... etc, may catch people eyes ... If you need ideas where to advertise send me an IM and I will tell you where i advertise also :)

Good Luck

[Bitsy Beans]

Chin up chick. Am in the same boat (although not for 3 months). There's not a sniff of anything at the moment so am hoping that this changes once nursery sessions have been allocated.

So do Ofsted automatically de-register you if you haven't worked in 12 months :eek: Would that mean you have to go through the whole process again.........I don't think I could face that.

[jibberjitz]

Hope things pick up for you soon hun. I bet you'll suddenly get a flurry of enquiries :thumbsup:

[Pippa31]

I know how ur feeling hun. I have been registered a few months but started putting out ads last month and not had a wiff of anything..... BUT everyone keeps saying be patience so I am hoping it will pay off in the end...

In the mean time keep smiling because then everyone wonders what u are up to:)