Need some advice/help

[fieryleo1984]

Afternoon everyone,

Could do with some advice please. I have been registered since april and have had no enquiries, its just been really quiet. However today I had a call and was really happy but its only for 3 days a week, if i took this child on I wouldnt earn enough to give up my current job or pay the bills :-/. The mum is suppost to be coming to see me tomorrow, I dont want to waste her time but I just dont know what to do? What if I dont get any other interest etc.

Em

[Pipsqueak]

you quite often find that once you are 'in work' you get other work come along.

look at your advertising is it stand out enough? are you advertising in the right places
can you do t-shirts
do a FB page and get your local friends and family to 'like' or join and then spread the word locally

lots of word of mouth

[fieryleo1984]

thankyou for your quick reply, am advertising in the local shops, surestart centre and online at the mo. need to put a advert in my car I think to. I feel in limbo, I just think if only I didnt have that loan to pay I could give up work tomorrow and get going with the CM.

Wish I had a crystal ball lol x

[boxtree7]

Sometimes you just got to make the decision and decide this is the start of my childminding business .. it is very true once one have one others seem to follow. Good luck.

[pinkbutterfly]

Can you not keep your job and childmind at the same time? You see the thing with childminding is that it's not a stable business .... one day you can bee full and the next day you can have two or more parents give you notice and then you have just 4 more weeks of income unless you find replacements. I had two children leave me in May and it had a massive impact on my finances .... I had to fill those spaces quick and luckily I managed and now I'm back to being full.
I have a weekend job as well ... that helps me keep it going ....

[gegele]

i stated with 1 3days a week, had no call for 6months, took little one one and a week later had a before and after school plus holiday and a week after that 2 after school!!!y car was full

it's really difficult but couldn't you do your job around that child?

i did home care and kept doing it in evening and week end until it pick up then reduce the hour and then totally stopped.

with minding you will get known by being out with kids and on school run. you can't do that from work!

good luck

[kel1983]

I started off with one lo 3 days a week. It was a start. Then a couple of months later took on another lo 2 days a week.

A year on and I have only this month taken on my first full timer. It's a bit of shock to the system but the moneys excellent.

I suppose it depends on how many children you can have at one time. If you have space for a couple I wouldnt turn this one down.

As a well known supermarket syas "Every Little Helps"

[fieryleo1984]

Thanks everyone for your replys, unfortunatly I cant carry om working in my current job as i work weds-fri and its not negotiable hours. ( I work for local goverment at present). I have thought about doing waitressing at the weekends to supplement the income.

I know I would be silly to turn this child away.

Emx

[miffy]

I agree with Pip, once you've got some work sometimes other work seems to follow.

Would it be possible to cut down your hours at work, rather than give up altogether, so that you could take on this child and see what happens?

Miffy xx

[fieryleo1984]

no they have made it clear they wont let me cut down my hours...so much for councils being family friendly eh! Which is one of the reasons I wanted a new career and looked into childminding, its just unfortunate that my outgoings are so high. On the plus side at least I wont be using so much petrol.

Im going to think long and hard about this xxx

[miffy]

no they have made it clear they wont let me cut down my hours...so much for councils being family friendly eh! Which is one of the reasons I wanted a new career and looked into childminding, its just unfortunate that my outgoings are so high. On the plus side at least I wont be using so much petrol.

Im going to think long and hard about this xxx

That's a shame, it would have been a good solution in the short term.

Would it worth seeing if you could extend your loan period (so your repayments are smaller) for a while?

Miffy xx