Working To Earn In A Financial Crisis.
by R.Santos
I am Amaya. My husband was running a mid-sized industry to which my contribution had been not much beyond giving him moral support and perhaps, more importantly, making him free from day to day domestic matters. Both our daughters were in the final years of completing their studies and at the threshold of joining work if they so desired though there was no need to do so from financial angle.
It was at this stage that I sensed my husband wasn?t his true jovial self. On literally pestering him to share the problems that bothered him, he mentioned that he wanted to wind up the industrial unit rather than give in to highly absurd demands of the employees under the influence of outside trade union men.
I felt I had to give him greater support, including an avenue to supplement income, so that he dealt with the business front more freely. I started attending his downtown office some 35 miles from our residence three days a week. This made my husband concentrate his energies better to the manufacturing unit where the actual problems were brewing.
As for creating an alternative to ensure smooth transition after winding up our production unit, I saw that the preschool my daughters were running fairly well at another town not far away could be expanded if I joined them. My husband too agreed though for his own different reasons; our elder daughter was now married and we wanted her to be with her husband.
I shifted to the new city where the preschool was located. Within a couple of months as an understudy to my daughters, I got myself a little familiar with this new line. I convinced my elder daughter to move and join her husband now that I was there to help the younger one. This she did that gave us an extra sense of emotional boost.
I had never been in teaching but had a flair for taking charge of young kids whenever there were big parties or celebrations at our friends? places. With active inputs from my younger daughter who possessed excellent communicative skills, we started a day care center using the same premise after school hours.
I found that here my presence at the school for hours beyond school was of utmost value as it gave the parents an extra sense of security in leaving their kids for long hours. Of course, it meant quite a bit of pressure on my physical capacities but was soon rewarded with a number of 10 to 15 kids coming in no time.
The day care unit grew pretty fast. I could sense that the working parents who patronized our center did appreciate the committed personal care I bestowed upon their kids with the maturity that I had at my age (about 50 then). This meant putting the same premise to financial gain beyond school hours.
The school after some ten years is still doing reasonably well supported as it is by the day care unit.
My ten year stint makes me share the following tips with those who may want to go into this line of work professionally.
1. One should not start with the idea of making easy money. This is an extremely demanding profession that needs total personal commitment.
2. Owning a premise serves you very well. If you don?t have one, choose a rented one that is as inexpensive as possible; of course where all facilities for kids can be provided.
3. You surely will need to employ female staff but be under no illusion that they will ever measure up to you own presence.
4. Try keeping monthly overheads like staff salaries and kitchen expenses at the lowest. The line is not a money spinner.
5. Keep in mind that the parents leave to your care their precious little ones and you need to be equally sensitive to their concerns.
6. Be in touch with a pediatrician close by to take charge in the event of any medical emergency.
I have run it pretty successfully, so can you.
My guiding dictum has been: I keep auto-instructing myself that the kids during the time they are under my care must receive MY PERSONAL ATTENTION to an extent I would give my own. It can be yours too.
