She Built A Duplex Daycare In Her Backyard And Filled Every Spot Opening Day

Leave us a voicemail at 651-300-2277. Your question could help thousands of providers. Linda Hopkins has run a home daycare in Indiana for 26 years. She started on Halloween day, grew from one child to 32 across a licensed duplex she built off her back door, and in a few months she will be running the daycare alone for the first time since she opened. In this conversation she talks about the burnout that sent her to a counselor, the crying baby she should have been honest with a parent about, why she stopped giving out her personal phone number, and the regret she still carries about the time she gave away. CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro0:29 How She Got Started in Child Care2:50 Indiana Licensing and 32 Kids4:44 Building a Daycare Duplex6:25 Scaling Down After 20207:34 Getting Her GED and CDA12:06 Online vs In-Person Training13:37 Losing Privacy in a Home Daycare16:47 Staffing a Home Daycare19:33 Losing Staff and Working Alone21:34 Putting Yourself First as a Provider22:44 Burnout and a Crying Baby24:18 Terminating a Family and What Changed26:34 Preventing Burnout With Boundaries29:40 Parents Who Show Up Early32:39 The Lunch Problem Behind Body Bib34:42 Turning an Idea Into a Product37:35 Childcare Conferences and Travel39:05 The Food Program for Providers40:33 Relicensing and Running Two Businesses43:46 Daycare Contracts and Handbooks44:46 Daycare Taxes and Business Expenses48:19 Retirement Planning for Providers49:53 Selling a Home Daycare Business53:04 Loneliness in Home Daycare55:02 Provider Support on Social Media58:14 Treating Daycare Like a Business59:24 Parking Lot Safety and House Rules1:02:39 Advice for New Daycare Providers1:04:11 Getting a Separate Daycare Phone1:09:06 Her Biggest Regret as a Provider1:11:08 Parents Who Respect Your Time1:13:10 What Providers Carry Behind the Smile1:16:45 Balancing Family and Daycare1:18:28 Where to Find Linda Online KEY TAKEAWAYS \- Enforce your contract from day one, before the heartstrings get pulled \- Burnout is often coming from the thing you have not said out loud yet \- A child who cries all day affects every other child in the room, and terminating is sometimes the right call \- A separate daycare phone protects your evenings, weekends, and vacations \- If you run a home daycare you are a business, licensed or not, and you have deductible expenses \- Losing your only assistant changes how you handle appointments, conferences, and time off RESOURCES MENTIONED \- BodyBib, the full body bib Linda invented: https://bodybib.com \- Mileage tracking app she uses: MileIQ \- Tom Copeland, family child care business author and trainer FOLLOW LINDA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daycareprovidersunlimitedlindahopkins Website: https://www.daycareprovidersunlimited.com BodyBib: https://bodybib.com CONNECT Website: www.TheDaycareSisters.com Email: info@thedaycaresisters.com #daycareprovider #daycarelife #homedaycare #momlife #childcareproviders