Minding Your Business: How to Avoid the Seven Deadly Financial Pitfalls

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"Help! We've been operating our center for ten years. We've got an excellent location, a great facility, dedicated staff; our parents love us. But it's always a struggle to make ends meet. What's our problem?"

When I give financial management seminars for Child Care Information Exchange, center directors and owners often come to me with similar stories. When I sit down with them to go over their situation, invariably they have succumbed to one of the following pitfalls.

Pitfall #1-Dancing in the Dark

A common management style of child care administrators is MBC-"Management by Checkbook." When the balance in the checkbook is high, they spend. When the balance is low, they cut back.

This method is quick and easy, and, when things are running smoothly, it appears to get the job done. Unfortunately, it is too quick and too easy.

If your center is ...