subject: How To Determine What You Should Charge For Babysitting [print this page] The babysitting business can be a fun and exciting business to start whether you are a teenager babysitting the neighborhood kids, or whether you are looking to make a career out of private child care. Whatever the case may be, you will need to get a clear understanding on how to price your services so that both you and your customer are happy.
The first thing that you are going to want to consider is the fact that every babysitting opportunity is different and presents its own unique challenges. Sitting for two children, ages seven and eleven, is totally different from sitting for two children, ages three and five. So you would not simple want to charge by the hour. Nor would you want to charge a flat rate. In either case, you could be cheating yourself out of money that you deserve for the work that you have performed. It may be beneficial for you to have a pricing scale that lists the rates you charge per child, for every hour depending on their age.
Many times, you will have to evaluate what you are going to charge a family for babysitting their children. Sometimes the pay scale that you create for yourself may not work. In addition to that, you may find that parents put you on the spot and ask you what you charge. Never feel pressured to answer immediately. Take down their information if necessary and request to call them back with a quote. If they need an answer right away, then the job may simply not be worth the energy. Again, never feel pressured by any family to hurry up and give a price.
Also, remember that the service you provide to families is valuable. You allow parents the opportunity to get away from home to take care of important business, leisure time, and other things. You also ensure that while they are gone, their children are well cared for, fed, put to bed, safe, and more. That is a lot of responsibility to take on and as such, you should be compensated fairly for the job you do. So do not sell yourself short of what you really deserve for the job that you do. If you price yourself fairly, you will be treated better and the families you serve will be better realize your real worth.
Finally, a good tip to remember is to keep a record of what you charge each specific family for your service. You will not want to charge them different prices each time you babysit for them, unless of course the amount of time changes or the number of children changes. Otherwise, make sure that you charge them the same price for the same service. This will ensure that you keep your customers because as you may know, babysitting is a repeat business industry. Once you babysit for a family, they will try to keep you on their call list for the next time they need a babysitter.
by: Sheila Dollarsby
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