Becoming an Administrator

So I went to The Department of Early Learning's Licensing Child Care Center Orientation training on Thursday and boy was that a long day. It started at 8:30am and went until 4:30pm, but it was so full of information that it was almost over whelming. There are many things that go with being a director and it is not just the paperwork aspect that takes so much attention. Starting a center from the ground up is scary to think about. Getting approval from licensing is not even a first step. Fire marshals have a lot of rules and you have to be aware of state and local laws. The biggest thing that I came away from this with was to make friends with your licenser and work closely with them. They have an extreme amount knowledge and references, and they truly want to help your succeed. Having to have everything in place before you can even start taking kids and having an income for your center means having to have quite a bit of start-up money. Also needing to have teachers in place before you have kids, (with all their background checks, TB tests, education and certifications and so on) can be frustrating. I originally had wanted to start my own center from the ground up, but after this I think I will be looking into taking over an already established business and just making the changes to fit my views and wants. A very big pro for me is that I have taken this orientation, I do now have all the check lists and incite into what I will need to get set into place when I fist make the decision to have my own center.