My Big Decision
There are many things that are very important to me in regards to how I want my children to grow up, but at the top of my list is being able to be at home with them when they are young. I know, in this day and age and hard economic times, it is a lot to ask (unless we win the lottery or something), but my mom stayed at home with me and my little sister until she was in kindergarten. And even then, my mom only had a part time job until my sister was in high school when she started working full time. I am not even asking for that. I want to work. I'm not the kind of person that can spend money without having made some myself. I just want to have a way to work at home. I have an entrepreneurial spirit so a home-based business seems like the best option.
I can already feel the eyerolling going on. What would I do? Why would I want to be stuck in my house all day? Well I would want to be home because that's where my babies would be. I work at a child development center, but I really don't believe in daycare. I know that we use the "safest" rules for the children, but I don't always agree with how we work and I wouldn't want my child to be confused on how I want them to behave because I teach them one thing at home and they're taught something else in school (daycare). Also, military centers don't allow cloth diapers and I think that should be my choice.
As far as what I would do at home... I'm stuck between two ideas for a home-based business: themed party planning and childcare. My husband thinks the childcare business would be a good idea and he says he wouldn't even mind having to basically give up a whole level of our would-be house. I'm not even sure that I'm ok with that part. I do have the experience, but I mostly enjoy working with children under 3 and that would limit the amount of children I would be allowed to teach. Also, my own children would be counted in the teacher-child ratio so that would further limit how many I could take. I still think it's a good idea, but I can see the drawbacks.
Themed event planning is right up my alley. I'd still get the opportunity to work with children for birthday parties and what-not, but I would get to set my own hours more or less and keep most of the space in my house to myself. The main drawback is that I have no experience in party planning at all except for a few family reunion things. Start-up costs would probably be less for event planning because I'd mostly need to budget for advertising and software since I already have most of the office equipment I'd need.
Good news for both businesses is that I'm in a pretty good position right now to get some free preliminary advertising done. I'm not sure that I'd be able to take any of the parents that currently keep their kids at the center with me when I leave, but I might be able to get some good references. For the party planning, though, I thought it might be a good idea to present myself as a hobbyist at first, doing some planning for free so as to get a reputation and portfolio going.
So what do you think? Which choice sounds more practical? I'm really leaning more toward the event planning because it seems more in line with what I'd like my lifestyle to be like, but it seems most people I've talked to like the daycare idea best. Give me a little feedback.
I can already feel the eyerolling going on. What would I do? Why would I want to be stuck in my house all day? Well I would want to be home because that's where my babies would be. I work at a child development center, but I really don't believe in daycare. I know that we use the "safest" rules for the children, but I don't always agree with how we work and I wouldn't want my child to be confused on how I want them to behave because I teach them one thing at home and they're taught something else in school (daycare). Also, military centers don't allow cloth diapers and I think that should be my choice.
As far as what I would do at home... I'm stuck between two ideas for a home-based business: themed party planning and childcare. My husband thinks the childcare business would be a good idea and he says he wouldn't even mind having to basically give up a whole level of our would-be house. I'm not even sure that I'm ok with that part. I do have the experience, but I mostly enjoy working with children under 3 and that would limit the amount of children I would be allowed to teach. Also, my own children would be counted in the teacher-child ratio so that would further limit how many I could take. I still think it's a good idea, but I can see the drawbacks.
Themed event planning is right up my alley. I'd still get the opportunity to work with children for birthday parties and what-not, but I would get to set my own hours more or less and keep most of the space in my house to myself. The main drawback is that I have no experience in party planning at all except for a few family reunion things. Start-up costs would probably be less for event planning because I'd mostly need to budget for advertising and software since I already have most of the office equipment I'd need.
Good news for both businesses is that I'm in a pretty good position right now to get some free preliminary advertising done. I'm not sure that I'd be able to take any of the parents that currently keep their kids at the center with me when I leave, but I might be able to get some good references. For the party planning, though, I thought it might be a good idea to present myself as a hobbyist at first, doing some planning for free so as to get a reputation and portfolio going.
So what do you think? Which choice sounds more practical? I'm really leaning more toward the event planning because it seems more in line with what I'd like my lifestyle to be like, but it seems most people I've talked to like the daycare idea best. Give me a little feedback.
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