What makes Forwhen different
And welcome to our newest signups!
A few days ago, I posted a TikTok to encourage potential sitters to join for Forwhen. As the school year is nearing, my goal was to find more folks with flexible daytime schedules that I can connect with parents looking for care. In 24 hours, I received over 70K views, and more than a thousand sign ups—all people who were interested in finding sitting jobs!
This level of enthusiasm was completely unexpected—before that, I had a couple hundred sitters sign up to join the platform in the year I’ve been in business and have over 75 verified sitters that have gone through the interview, background, and reference check process. The thousands of likes and hundreds of comments are a huge vote of confidence that what I’m building is something that both sitters and parents are really lacking. As a solo founder and new mom trying to squeeze in work during naps and after bedtime, it feels really good to know that Forwhen is resonating with so many of you.
For my new subscribers and potential sitters, I wanted to share what makes us different from other sitting services. I’m now a mom to a six-month-old baby girl, but I started this platform as a sitter myself. I spent a lot of time looking for jobs, interviewing with parents, and paying to be a part of sitting platforms. I wanted to create something different with Forwhen.
We don’t take a cut of your pay. We firmly believe that sitters should be paid fairly and directly for the work they do, so we don’t take a percentage of your hourly rate or inflate your rates to parents and then only pay you part of that. Instead, we charge parents a per-booking fee.
We personally interview every sitter that’s a part of our platform. This is to get to know you, your background, and your experience in childcare. I consider every sitter that works with me as a partner, since you are the IRL representation of the Forwhen! I love meeting you and developing a relationship so that I can better refer you to families that I know you’d enjoy working with. So, this takes a minute! If you don’t hear from me immediately, it’s because I’m working my way through the sign ups and seeing who’d be a great fit.
We charge a one-time background check fee of $40—and that’s the only fee we ask from you to start booking jobs. This is to cover the cost of running the background check from the third-party service that we use. We don’t accept previous background checks from other jobs just to ensure consistency and legitimacy in each report.
Heads up, this is a change from our previous policy. Until now, I covered the background check fee until you booked your first sit. With all of the incredible interest in Forwhen, I can no longer front this charge for the hundreds of sitters that I would love to join the platform. To my new signups: I realize this is a big change, so I understand if it impacts your decision to be part of our service. But this one-time fee replaces any cut of your pay or recurring membership fee that other sites will use to try to convince you to pay to get more jobs.
I’m so grateful for your excitement about finding sitting work—that’s why I started this business! As I interview and onboard many more of you, this also allows me to encourage many more parents to start finding their sitters through Forwhen. Any questions or feedback? Let me know here or at ellie@forwhencare.com.