Getting on Board
Tanya Jolma ran her child care, Country Kids Daycare, for 10 years before becoming licensed in 2014. A year and a half later she attended “For the Love of Children,” an event hosted by her local YoungStar office, Northwest Connection Family Resources. After learning more about YoungStar participation at the event, Tanya decided to look into receiving YoungStar technical consultation. YoungStar Technical Consultant, Amanda Linden, visited one-on-one with Tanya to explain the YoungStar process in depth, and how Country Kids Daycare could benefit. Tanya decided that even with her years of experience, moving forward with YoungStar made sense.
Building Strong Business Practices
Tanya chose to focus her initial technical consultation on business practices, particularly in the area of tax information and insurance. After speaking with Amanda she realized that her current insurance only covered her for three of the eight children in her child care. Armed with this knowledge, Tanya was able to find improved insurance coverage so that she was fully covered for all of the children in her care. Tanya said that she is very thankful that Amanda was able to bring the insurance issue to her attention before it became a problem. Tanya also worked with Amanda on issues surrounding her program’s tax information. Amanda spoke with Tom Copeland, a leading trainer, author and advocate for the business of family child care nationwide, about ways to support Tanya in managing her tax information. Besides providing Tanya with relevant tax resources and information, Amanda was able to connect Tanya directly with Tom, who was generous enough to look over her tax information and offer her tips for her child care business.
YoungStar Benefits
Now that she has experienced technical consultation, Tanya feels that she has greatly benefited, not only in terms of business practices, but in other areas as well. With her micro-grant money she was able to buy gross motor equipment for her backyard, and Amanda gave her ideas for adding more science materials and activities to her program. Tanya said that she can see why some providers may be uncertain about YoungStar, but encourages them to give it a chance. “I guess I didn’t expect to get that much out of YoungStar,” admitted Tanya. “[But] I would highly recommend it just because there are things that [child care providers] wouldn’t even think of that YoungStar can help them with.”
Get the PDF:
