When I interview nannies I ask about their plans for the future and often I hear that their ultimate ambition is to open a nursery. This is what Joanne Boon told me when I met her in the early 1990s. She was looking for weekend and holday work in order to earn extra money to finance her dream. She is now the owner of a popular 50-place day nursery near Peterborough. So how did she do it?
Jo gained her NNEB in 1984 and got her first job in a hospital helping new mothers with their babies. She says, 'I loved looking after the babies, but I'd decided I wanted to travel, so I looked for work abroad and got my first nanny job in Switzerland. I was there for a year. After I came back to England I did seasons with Thompson Holidays in their resorts in Tenerife, Benidorm and Portugal. During the winters I did temporary nanny and nursery work. When I'd had enough of travelling I got a full-time job at the hospital, initially helping the new mothers, and then I moved into the special care baby unit. It was then, in 1994, that I decided it would the right time to start my nursery. My mother was going to do it with me.
'In order to save money I did extra nanny jobs at weekends and in my holidays. In our free time we looked for suitable premises for a nursery.
The hardest part of setting up any business is finding the best property in the right place.
'It reminded me of playing Snakes and Ladders - one minute you seem to have taken a great leap forward and the next, you've slithered even further back. We found what seemed like the perfect site. A village school was prepared to rent us a large part of their field where we could site Portakabins. The rent was low and the school was very keen to have us work alongside them. It seemed almost too good to be true - and it was.
'Unfortunately, local families protested that because there were bad traffic bottlenecks at the beginning and end of the school day, the extra cars from parents dropping their children off at a nursery would block the road completely and prevent any emergency service vehicles from getting access. Not only were we unable to use that site, but then my mother felt that she didn't want to get involved in conflict and decided not to join me in the business after all.
'At this time I was doing temporary work in day nurseries. I wanted to get as much experience as I could and see how they were run differently. One of the nursery nurses asked if I would like her to become my business partner.
We agreed that we'd each raise the same amount of money to invest, and run the nursery together. So the project was back on track.
'It was really good to have a partner, not just for the financial input but so we could discuss ideas, and we gained a lot of strength from each other.
If I was having a "down" day, she might be feeling optimistic, and vice versa. But if you do take on a business partner it's very important that you share the same views and standards. The first time I went to her house I noticed that her taste in decoration was very similar to mine, which was good because I knew exactly how I wanted the nursery to look, and we both wanted it to have a garden.
'Eventually we found our property in Eye, a small village just outside Peterborough. On first impression it seemed off the beaten track, but we'd researched the area and found there was a lot of traffic on the main bypass road into the city, so it would be a convenient place for parents to drop off their children. Then we drew up our business plan and approached the banks.
'The first bank we went to wasn't prepared to lend money to someone like myself, who could offer no security and had had a series of temporary jobs.
But the next one looked carefully at the business plan, my qualifications and experience, the fact that I'd always worked and had no mortgage outgoings, and concluded that I was worth the risk, as long as I lived with my parents until the nursery started to show a profit. My parents weren't in a position to give me any money, but they took out a bank loan for 5,000 which they then lent to me. My partner's husband guaranteed her loan, so we had the money to start the nursery.
'It's surprising how quickly a large amount of cash can be sucked into a new business. We had to pay builders to do the structural work, but to save money we did all the painting and decorating ourselves. To sort out the nursery I had to be free during the day but still earn money, so I took a job answering the phones at the night emergency doctor service. I'd leave the nursery at midnight splattered with paint to start my evening shift at the medical centre!
'I lived rent-free with my parents, who were incredibly positive and encouraging. Every penny I had went into the business. To recruit customers, we put up a sign outside the building, advertised in the local surgeries and villages, and held an open weekend so parents could come and see what the nursery was like. Once we installed the phone line we had a lot of enquiries.
'We opened Toddlers' Inn in October 1996. It was registered for 30 children. We started with four. I had to carry on with my night job for awhile as we weren't able to draw a wage, but we had done it! We had our nursery up and running.
'In business you can never afford to be complacent. After all the hard work and stress involved in opening the nursery I was aiming to totally relax during our first Christmas, when the nursery was closed for that holiday week. To do nothing was total bliss - until the snakes and ladders experience kicked in again.
'Someone from the village phoned to say they had seen water flowing out of the building. When we arrived at our newly-decorated nursery, we found that a pipe had burst and brought down three ceilings and flooded the whole place. It took three fire engines to pump all the water out.
'Our next shock was to find out that we were under-insured. However, although the insurance company couldn't cover all our financial loss, they did use an excellent firm of builders who worked day and night putting everything right. So we were able to re-open after the holday without letting anyone down.
'Needless to say, our insurance cover is now much better, and I leave the heating on throughout the winter!
'We knew we were in competition with established city nurseries and so our nursery had to offer something special. We decorated it in a homely fashion because we wanted it to be a happy, secure place with high standards of care. After the flood disaster everything went well and the nursery filled up quickly. Six months later we were each able to draw a wage.
'When the nursery was full and had a waiting list, we built a conservatory so we could take 35 children, and later extended again. I was able to pay my parents back and buy my own house. My partner had her first baby, and in 2002 we decided to go our separate ways. We had the nursery valued. I remortgaged my house so I could buy my partner out, and shortly afterwards she and her husband moved away.
'The nursery now has 50 children and I employ 15 staff. I have an excellent deputy manager, and I also continue to work very hard. The introduction of nursery vouchers may have encouraged more parents to send their children to nursery, but it does involve a lot of paperwork. I have to be aware of any changes in Ofsted requirements and any new issues in child protection.
Luckily our local authority doesn't charge for staff training, but I do have to employ extra people to free my nursery staff to attend courses. New government guidelines on nutrition made us look closely at our catering.
People assume that nurseries only have to worry if an Ofsted inspection is due, but, as the owner, I am ultimately responsible for anything that might go wrong.
'What advice would I give to anyone else who wanted to open their own nursery? Well, you have to give it your full commitment. In the early days the nursery occupied my every waking moment. Research your market - no matter how good you are, if your business is in the wrong place, it will fail. Be prepared for setbacks - they always happen! Move with the times.
Even after eight years, I feel like I'm still on a learning curve.'
