Are daycares profitable

Are Daycares Profitable? Is the IAP Daycare Owner Course Enough to be Licensed

A drawing of 8 children and a daycare mum in a decorated room playing a guitar with one kid banging a drum another shaking symbols. A cat is looking on. And 4 kids around a table, one of them sitting and eating cereal and a cup of milk on the table. 
Used in the article Are Daycares Profitiable?
Having fun at daycare.


In todays highly regulated world, Is the IAP daycare owner course good enough to get a daycare business license?

Regulations for daycare mean that you had to have a Certificate in Daycare, which shows you have the knowledge to manage a daycare.

This includes training staff, meeting the needs of children, financial management, health, and safety requirements, and everything necessary for the successful running of a daycare.

The IAP Daycare certificate course covers all the necessary topics required in owning a daycare business. So, yes this certificate course from IAP is a good certificate to have to obtain your daycare business license. Depending on the amount of time you have to devote to the course it is expected to take around 6 weeks, but it can be extended to 12 weeks.

Disclosure:- This site has an affiliation with IAP Career College and should you purchase something from a link I may receive a small payment at no cost to you.

A full list of subjects can be seen here.

The minute government offered subsidies for daycare the Corporates were set up and ready to go.

This didn’t happen everywhere of course, but it did happen in quite a few countries around the world.

Grandma, your sister, or the lady down the road were no longer deemed good enough to provide daycare for toddlers while mum and dad were at work unless they did a complete makeover of their residences.

Churches were perhaps one of the few established childcare providers who were able to upgrade and meet new government requirements.

Some of the corporates couldn’t handle the abundance of largesse, spent big on all the wrong things, and had to be sold up to pay out their debts.

Some debtors received only a few cents on the dollar.

Some of the corporate survivors decided that franchising was the way to go.

Of course, franchising is no guarantee of financial success.

Are Daycares Profitable?

Governments set the following rules for day-cares. It is how you implement the training from the IAP course, that determines whether your business will be profitable or not.

Some government rules. These vary from country to country even from local authority to local authority.

  • The number of children permitted in a daycare (this varies according to the size of the building and staff numbers).
  • The ratio of carers to children
  • The ratio of bathrooms to children
  • The qualifications required by staff
  • Accessibility of first-aid kits.
  • Playground equipment to meet a government-approved standard.
  • Externally there may be other requirements for parking and signage set by a local authority.

While many of the things above seem like common sense.

Other things also come into play. Wage rates, insurance premiums, security costs, etc.

They can be, but don’t expect the margins say a Mcdonald’s or some other food franchise receives.Research shows an average range of profitably of between $40,000 – $60,000 p/a.In places where governments hand out subsidies, expect to have government interference in the business.

This can have some effect on profitably Although there may be subsidies available.

These Days Forget about the Labor of Love. It is Serious Business.

Back in the day, “the lady down the road” charged enough to cover expenses with perhaps enough cash left to pay herself a modest amount to live on.

But not enough to attract the attention of the taxman.

Generally, they were only looking after around 6 or 7 kids, probably fewer most days.

They kept their pricing modest because they were only helping neighbors and friends, and probably many of the people who trusted them with their kids weren’t earning a full-time income anyway.

So it was often more a labor of love than any desire to run a business.

However…

A new generation of women chose to work full-time (or had no choice), and needed access to daycare for their children, which fitted with their work hours.

  • This of course led to greater demand for daycare places
  • Governments encouraged a change in behavior by offering subsidies.
  • Big businesses (and entrepreneurs), saw the void and built childcare centers in areas where demand was high.
  • It created new career paths for millions of people.

Is it Worth Investing your Money in a Daycare Center?

It is a decision that needs to be carefully thought through.

Without understating it. There are a whole lot of different variables involved, unlike your typical retail brick-and-mortar businesses.

Those types of businesses generally have minimal government regulations.

In most parts of the developed world setting up a daycare center means you will have any number of hoops to jump through and rules to follow.

In some parts of the world (or anywhere actually), there may be “kickbacks” to be paid.

Understanding your competition in the area you want to set up is a good starting point. As well as…

  • Is there a demand and why? Is a big business having trouble getting staff?
  • Is qualified staff available? Why would someone leave their current job to work for you?
  • Your set-up costs and recurring costs. food, toys, etc.
  • Finding the number of children your business needs to become profitable. There will be a % of non-payers.
  • What software is available to help you run your business?
  • Incorporate or form an LLC? You can find answers here

There are benefits that are not often mentioned. Like the use of your car and claiming its running costs through the business.

One other thing of importance to think about is, how will your business differentiate from others nearby.

It is common knowledge that corporates tend to be impersonal.

They provide the care, but are so risk-averse the kids are “wrapped in cotton wool.”

There is no uniqueness about the corporates (as much as they tell us otherwise).

Kids like to explore, be creative, and run around.

But you have to balance that against the rules, legal implications, and… grumpy parents.

How does the IAP Daycare Owners Course Help in Getting your Licence?

The IAP course is comprehensive, to say the least, and delivered completely online.

It can be completed in 8 weeks or less, depending on your commitments. Link Below.

In most places in the world now, you are required to have completed a course of some description for any business operation.

NOTE: Where children are involved, it is likely you will need a police character check.


You may already have nursing, early childhood qualifications, or similar, or have been employed as an early childhood carer.

The IAP guides not only give you the grounding in meeting the needs of children, but also the steps required for starting a daycare (how to start a daycare).

  • If you have no previous experience and are an entrepreneur wanting to invest in a daycare center for your community, doing this course will break it all down for you.
  • It will also help if your intention is to open a daycare center at home and look after just a few children.
  • It is also suitable for those living outside North America.

People in the UK and other parts of the world have expressed how beneficial it has been for them.


IAP courses and guides can be found in the library collections of many respected colleges and universities.

Their guides for courses ranging from Event Planning to Fashion Design have also been used in colleges and universities from California to Colorado to Connecticut.

The University of Texas and Columbia University, Wellesley College, and the Fashion Institute of Technology as well as in numerous public libraries in cities from Vancouver to New York. As well as academic institutions such as George Mason University and Harper College in Chicago.

Plus, when you register with IAP you receive the applicable textbook at no extra cost.

IAP College.

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