Nanny Service

Not just your average babysitter, a nanny provides daily care for children in addition to helping with household chores. Obviously, then, nannies should enjoy being essentially another mom in a busy household. You need to carefully screen your nanny candidates (including running a background check with the police to make sure they have a clean record) and match them carefully to prospective households. Make sure that your client homes fill out a questionnaire detailing their preferences and exactly what kinds of work they expect to have done by the nanny. Also, since many nannies drive kids to soccer practice or other recreation activities, be sure that each nanny has a valid driver’s license. Your nannies should be CPR certified as well.


Your costs to start a nanny service are generally quite high for a number of reasons, including liability insurance, office overhead, and benefits. Once you factor in your advertising costs (a good-size ad in the Yellow Pages and ?yers or brochures for parents’ and professional groups), you’ve spent anywhere from $10,000 to $40,000. Nanny services are particularly lucrative in large cities, where most of the need is.


It is a challenge to match the right nannies to each of your clients’ households, but if you ask all of the right questions up-front, your chances of success will be high. Nannies are filling an important void in the lives of working families, and if the two-income family trend continues to rise, your service will be among the most profitable businesses to start.


Approx. cost of start-up: $10,000 to $40,000


Approx. potential earnings:$40,000 to $70,000


Typical fees: $20 to $35 per hour


Where to promote: Yellow Pages, newspapers, parents’ groups, business associations, Web site with testimonials and information about your fees and services


Qualifications:Business experience, preferably experience in managing a sizeable staff


Things needed: Computer with high-speed Internet access, cell phone, fax


Required staff: Yes (about 20–30 nannies)


Hidden costs: Liability insurance, health benefits and possibly background checks for your nannies (however, some nanny services require candidates to cover that cost)