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READER QUESTION: I’m New and Want to Start a Cleaning Business

This week’s reader question:

Hi Eddie!
How are you? It was inspiring to read your story. I moved to the States from England recently – I reside in Massachussetts and am looking to start up a cleaning company.
Although I have no professional cleaning experience, I have always been a clean freak and enjoy it! And my cleaning is impeccable and I have also been told so on many occasions.
I feel I have the drive and determination to take it up professionally, though I have never had a business.
Just wondering what advice and help you could give to a newcomer who’s just starting out and wants to start a cleaning business.
Any advice would be most greatly appreciated!
Thank you for your time.
Kind Regards.
Reader

This Week’s Answer:

The fact that you enjoy cleaning and are a cleaning freak is an important step towards becoming successful in the cleaning industry, because let’s face it – 95% of people don’t enjoy cleaning and only do it because they have to. The rest of us or the 5% enjoy cleaning because we’re passionate about it, slightly nuts and total clean freaks. That’s why there’s such a demand for cleaning businesses – residential or commercial. Now that I’ve been in the cleaning business for over three years, everything has become second nature to me. Certain tasks that were once a chore, have now become easy and straight forward.

Are You Passionate About Cleaning?

Without passion you can’t succeed, whether you’re planning to start a cleaning business or any other business for that matter. Passion is what drives you, and on those really tough days it’s what makes you understand why you’re in the business in the first place. Far too many people start businesses without being passionate about the subject they’re starting the business within. They focus way too much on the green stuff (money), without much thought on why they’re about to get into the industry. Don’t become one of those people. Be honest with yourself, and asses your reason for wanting to get into the cleaning industry.

Cleaning Industry Has An Easy Entry Barrier

Gaining entry into the cleaning industry is relatively inexpensive and pretty easy. All it takes is your dedication, some home made flyers, cleaning materials and voila – you’re a small cleaning business. That’s why I’ve recommended to many people over time, that starting a cleaning business is a no brain-er. However, at the same time, it’s more about passion than the dollars. I started my cleaning business for under $200, and haven’t looked back since.

Research Before You Commit

I really think it’s important to do you research ahead of time before you commit to anything – especially starting a business. Read as much as possible, take notes, and ask a lot of questions. I’d also highly advise you to get together with an accountant, and see what your options are for taxes within your state or province. Maybe you’d like to incorporate your cleaning business and separate the personal and business taxes at the end of the year or maybe your accountant will recommend you stay small due to projected income you foresee earning.

Here’s a list of articles I’d recommend you read, as they’ll offer you some great insight:

The main reason people fail at starting a cleaning business

Different types of cleaning businesses

6 start-up tips for new entrepreneurs

How to start a cleaning service

How to get cleaning business leads

Marketing Material

You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on Marketing and promotional items in order to become successful. However, you will need to maintain a sense of professionalism in order for potential clients to take you more seriously. Start off with a logo and business cards. The reason why I emphasize on having a logo designed – your logo will brand your business. It automatically distinguishes you from the rest. Ask friends if they know of any graphic designers and see if you can negotiate a rate to have a custom logo designed for your new business.

The next step I recommend is to create business cards. Again, something that’s important to any business, especially when you pitch your service to potential clients, you can leave a business card with all your contact information. Two websites that create amazing business cards are MOO BUSINESS CARDS and JUKE BOX. For the slightly more budget conscious business cards, check out VISTA PRINT.

Finally, with your logo and business cards in hand, you’re ready to create flyers. For years now I’ve been creating my own flyer’s through Microsoft Word. I insert my logo on top of every flyer, and ensure that there’s a phone number where I could be easily reached.

Sales and Promotion

When I first started, I really didn’t know where to start promoting my business or my services. I think it took me almost three months to land my first client, but with a lot of dedication and perseverance I manged to land my first client. Please give yourself enough time as this is certainly not an overnight process. Be ready and open to talk to anyone and everyone about your business. Here’s what I’d recommend when you first start out:

  • Have business cards ready to hand out at all times
  • Let your friends, family members and acquaintances know that you have a business
  • Send an email out to all your contacts introducing your business
  • Develop a simple promotional flyer, and visit your local grocery stores and libraries to hang them in their FREE ad bulletin board
  • Use websites such as KIJIJI and CRAIGSLIST to advertise your cleaning services
  • Carry business cards with you at all times – in your purse, car and jackets
  • Talk openly about your business – holding back doesn’t get you anywhere and nobody will ever find out about your services
  • If you’re doing residential house cleaning, take a walk within your local neighbourhood and drop off flyer’s door-to-door
  • If you’ve decided to get into commercial office cleaning, visit small businesses with your flyer and don’t forget to drop off a business card

Final Thoughts

Any beginning is difficult. Whether you’re starting a new relationship, job or business – there are certain challenges that you’ll need to overcome. Probably the biggest challenge any new business will face is drumming up new clientele. That being said, keep in mind that it’s all a time process. Establishing your business in the market and gaining sales takes time. Gaining new clientele certainly isn’t an overnight process. It’s very easy to get discouraged and give up,  but if you give yourself enough time, stay determined and keep pushing forward, the results will be unbelievable and your income potential unlimited.

Good Luck!!

Eddie

Four Things Every Entrepreneur Can Do In 2012

January is a traditionally slow month for most business. People are getting back from mini holiday vacations. It takes time to get back into the groove and get back into the grind. As a business owner or business owner to be, you are planning ahead. One key characteristic of being every entrepreneur is the ability to plan ahead. So, I hoped you planned for the New Year. Planning ahead helps you focus what you want to accomplish and breaks your big goals down into smaller daily tasks.

 

So, with that being said, here are five things every entrepreneur can do in 2012 to make the year ahead a successful one.

1. Set Personal Goals

In order to achieve any goal, you first must set the goal. You should know where you’re going, how you’re going to get there and what you will need along the way. Think about where you want to be by the end of the year. Break it down into smaller goals. Not only is it easier to measure, but as you achieve these smaller goals along the way, they will give you a moral boost to keep going further.

Your personal goals can be anything. You may want to improve your work/life balance, eliminate debt, save more money, take the family on a vacation or simply improve your physical fitness.

Setting a goal now, will help you get there in due time.

2. Set Business Goals

As a small business owner, you know you are tight on time. I know that most days, I wish the day had more hours in it. Despite that as an entrepreneur, you have a billion things to do, it is essential to set goals for your business.

Much like personal goals, setting small goals is key. This gives you the ability to easily measure and adjust your journey along the way towards your goal.

I know setting goals is sometimes difficult, but one way that has worked well for me to set goals is through the use of the S-M-A-R-T steps.

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Attainable

R – Realistic

T – Time Measured

By using the above SMART method, I ensure that my goals are realistic as possible. Why set a goal, if you know it will be impossible to achieve.

An example of a SMART goal would be, “I want to acquire one new client by the end of next month through referrals from my current customers.”

3. Develop a Marketing Plan

Part of developing a marketing plan is understanding who you’re targeting and what you want to sell to your intended target. You don’t need to be a marketing genius to create a marketing plan. Looking at your target market’s needs and creating a custom marketing effort to that audience will ultimately give you the best return on your marketing dollars.

All you need to do is define who your customers are in terms of demographics (age, gender, occupation, income), geographical ( your city/district/province), and behaviours (their attitudes, values, interests, and benefits sought).

Once you know who you are targeting, it’s easier to determine what products and different price points you will offer.

4. Get In Touch With Your Customers

Keep in touch with your customers. Did you hear that? Keep in touch with your customer. All the time. A phone call, a small thank you note, a quick visit or email will go a long way.

Thank your customers for their valued support and address any of their needs, concerns or wants.

Please avoid sending mass general mass emails or cards. They are so cheesy and such a turn off. Anytime I get one of these, they go straight to the garbage. Make your email personalized as possible. If you’re sending a card, write a hand written note.

Work hard to keep your customer happy and the relationship as live as possible. We all know what happens to poorly managed relationship – they end before they’ve begun.

Good Luck in 2012 and may all your goals, wants, dreams and desires come true.

Cheers!
Eddie

Six Reasons to Start Your Own Cleaning Business Company

Being part of the cleaning industry for a few years now, I’ve enjoyed being a business owner. Furthermore, I’ve enjoyed the perks that come with being in the cleaning industry. More on that later, but for now, let’s focus on five reasons to start your own cleaning business.

Put it this way.

If a 28 year old guy, with a full-time job, another business on the go and with very limited time can start a cleaning business – you can as well.

However, keep in mind that starting your own business, particularly a cleaning business is not for everyone. If you’re unsure whether starting a cleaning business is for you or not, read my post on why start a cleaning business.

I’ve always wanted to become a small business owner. I often thought about owning different businesses or a franchise of some sort. However, none of the other ideas transpired, simply because of two things: Fear of Failure and Start Up Capital.

So, what came next? Well something I already knew a little bit about, which happened to be the cleaning business. I used to work as a teenager alongside my parents cleaning various office’s and commercial buildings. We never dabbled into house cleaning, but rather stuck to the commercial cleaning side of things. Cleaning offices and commercial institutions worked with our schedule. We worked full-time during the day, so cleaning in the evenings for extra cash was a perfect fit. And we did it for years, until my parents eventually gave it up.

Ten years later, I answered my calling  and decided to start my own cleaning business. Why not? It required minimal capital to start up and I could do it part-time.

However, this article is not about my start up success, but rather about you and five reasons to start your own cleaning business:

1. Low Start Up Costs

You can start your own cleaning business with virtually no money. Now, that’s not really true, because any business has start up costs associated with it. I started my own cleaning business for under $300. Here’s what it cost me to start up my own cleaning business:

  • Business name registration (Ontario) – $75
  • Open up a business bank account – FREE
  • 500 business cards – $75
  • 100 flyer’s (design & print) – $150
  • Cleaning tools & equipment – FREE (collected rags, cleaning bottles, dusters and brooms from the garage)

2. Work on Your Own Time

You don’t need to invest a lot of time up front. I started off part time and two years later, I am still holding my cleaning business to part-time basis. I enjoy my daytime job, but equally as much enjoy being an owner of a cleaning company. The best part of my cleaning business, is that I make it work around my full-time work schedule. All the jobs are in the evenings and weekends.

3. Learn as You Go

The beauty of owning a cleaning business is that you control how big or small the business grows. Maybe, you want to be like my self and keep the business small and earn an income passively. Keeping my cleaning business small allows me to learn from my mistakes as I go. You can start off small as well and keep it like that for some time. This lets you work the bugs out before expanding.

4. You Don’t Have to Quit Your Day Job

If you’re like me and need your full-time income to pay your mortgage, than you don’t quit your day job. That was one of the biggest attractions towards starting my cleaning business. I got to keep my regular job, while earning a passive income on the side.

5. Control Your Own Destiny

The beautiful part of working for your self, is that you control your own destiny. Sure, there are many successful cleaning franchises out there, but there are many drawbacks of being a cleaning franchise owner. You don’t ever get to work on your own pace. You are always expected perform. By being an independent owner/operator, you work on your own terms.

6. Simple & Quick Start Up Process

That’s right, you don’t need weeks or months to start your own cleaning business. I started mine in less than 24 hours. I registered my business one afternoon, opened up a business bank account the next day and started to hand out flyer’s to local businesses, pitching my cleaning business.

If you’ve ever thought about starting your own business, I would highly recommended starting a cleaning business. However, it’s not for everyone. For example, if you don’t enjoy cleaning, this business model is not for you.

Everything I said above is true. Starting a cleaning business does not take a lot time and requires very minimal monies to start up. However, I’m still going to stress the fact that if you don’t enjoy cleaning, you won’t enjoy the cleaning industry very much.

PCI