Does anyone else worry about being self-employed and a childminder?

[MuppetsRule]

I love childminding, its all I have ever wanted to do and being self-employed it is my only income.

Next summer I will be losing 3 of my 4 minded, one to maternity leave and the other two due to their parents moving abroad, i know its not for a while yet but im constantly worrying whether there will be anyone looking for childcare and what I would do if no one approaches me.

Is it just me or does anyone else ever worry about this kind of thing? I feel like its the first and last thing on my mind every day, is it a typical self-employed worry that I need to get used to?

It worries me all the time I'm loosing 1 to maternity leave too and will be left with a gap 9am til 3 which is going to be hard to fill.

There have been no enquiries lately too and I worry that I'll have to give notice to my existing one if a more permanent child comes up which would be awful but I have to pay my bills!

I am a childminder but at the moment I'm not actively doing it or advertising as i'm too busy doing other bits. I knew the children I was caring for would be moving on to school and enquiries where down so I started advertising nannying as well.
I added the insurance and got a variation from ofsted to do both at a grand cost of £23 but I charge 3 times my hourly childminding fee for adhoc proxy parenting or emergency day childcare. I also took out creche insurance so I could run creches in children centres. I now employ 5 staff on an adhoc basis and earn in 2 hours what I used to earn in a day.
I also advertise at the local posh hotels and spas for babysitting and get usually 1 or 2 bookings a week. if I don't want them I pass them on.
I could only do it though with a husband who doesn't mind me being out for odd hours and older children to look after their younger brothers on occasions.
The hotels love using me as they can say i'm registered and insured and the children centres have known me since they opened as i used to take mindees there.
It really is worth thinking about what you can do with the skills you have, its a big selling point.

thats such an interesting last post less, never thought about doing what you so but its amazing what oppertunities are out there to make money if you are prepared to grasp them, good on you.

Muppets, yes being self employed is great in some ways but theres no safety net is there? my dh is se as well and at the moment, a few years ago I was a sahm and he worked for usually 9 months at a time and then had a few months off between contracts, not any more, far too worried about the next gig for that.

however just grateful for the work in these times I suppose.

keep your ears to the ground and keep advertising to plan ahead for when your children leave, tbh I seem to have lots of enquiries at the moment as everyone is going back to work so in my area there are lots of parents looking for affordable child care.

About 2 yrs after I started minding I ended up with 3 siblings. Started with 1 and their family grew. Both parents were made redundant and I was given notice for all 3 children. It was a scarey time, but I got more work. I work with my dh now and 5 of our minded are all due to start school at the same time, so we are stressing a bit.

Somehow it has all turned out ok so far ...

Thanks for all your replies, its good to know someone else has the same worries, my hubbie tells me all the time that it will all be ok but I just dwell on the worse case scenario, thanks again x

I find the hard bit is taking on everyone else's uncertainties - i.e. in addition to my own family's concerns, 1 of my parents may be moving (trying to sell house is poor area, so I'm hearing all her worries on that - and will be losing the mindee when she does sell; 1 of my parents may be putting his child in nursery (so I'm hearing all his worries about whether LO is ready, how to make most of free hours etc - and I'll be losing the child when he does find a place he likes and a space is available) and 1 of my parents is trying to get pregnant (I'm hearing all about that and will lose mindee when she does and starts mat leave).

ARGH! So not only am I (potentially at any moment - well, subject to notice) losing 3/5ths of my income, I'm also getting to hear about so many stresses in the meantime! :( It feels like waiting for an axe to drop at the moment!

I can relate to what you say Leeloo (and HSMM and all you other ladies). I feel I experience all my families' ups and downs, not least because nine times out of ten their misfortunes will become ours too. I do find I can get a bit sucked in and stressed about other families' concerns as well as a bit obsessive about trying to second guess what the future holds for me and my business. I have to keep telling myself there is no point worrying about things I can't change and concentrate on being prepared for opportunities which do come along. For example, I have just been told I will lose one of my children at Christmas (family splitting, so nothing I can do) but I did immediately contact a lady who phoned me a few weeks ago whose child I could not then take on, and found she has not yet sorted out her childcare needs. Maybe this was meant to be? So far, I have been fortunate to have a steady flow of work and my fears about losing children and not replacing them have been completely unfounded. I do think you need to be quite mentally tough to be self-employed with all the uncertainty that brings.