Tip #1: Study by putting things into your own words and writing your ideas out. Don’t just read and highlight your textbooks. Instead, always study by re-writing information into your own words. Or, study by asking possible test questions and then answering them in full. Putting things into your own words helps you really understand what you are reading. If you are pursuing your business degree online, you may have access to online resources, such as multimedia presentations. These can be very handy in helping you understand your coursework.

Tip # 2: Use what you learn. Rather than just learning theories and ideas, consider applying what you learn. If you learn a new business concept, for example, look to see how that concept is used in your day job. Or, listen to the news and see whether you can see examples of what your instructors have been teaching you about in the actual business world. Using what you learn helps to reinforce what you’ve studied and by getting real life examples of the concepts you are learning, you can better remember what you have been taught.

Tip # 3: Read more than expected. If you are pursuing a business degree online, you may at first be daunted by the amount of reading you may have to do. Business programs require learning a great deal of information, including terms, concepts, and real-life applications. However, even though you have a lot of reading to do, you should do as much reading outside classes as you can. This will expand your knowledge and make you a better student overall. Understanding as much as possible about business helps you to understand what you’re learning in the virtual classroom even more thoroughly. If you’re having trouble keeping up with the amount of reading, consider audio books. These can allow you to cover material even while you’re driving the car, doing yard work, or taking care of errands.

Tip # 4: Keep up with the news. If you’ve decided to earn your business degree online, you probably already know that the business world changes very rapidly. While you’re pursuing a program, you will want to keep in touch with your local and national business news. This will help you see how the concepts you are learning are forever changing. Plus, keeping up with the news will allow you to ask your instructors about real-life business situations taking place in the world today. When you graduate and are applying for jobs, employers will likely ask you about current business news, so keeping in touch with what is going on in the business world is a must.

Tip # 5: Make use of every resource your school offers. As a student, you will have access to online libraries, resources, study resources, and much more. Make sure that you make use of all these to the fullest. Your tuition is paying for it, and many of these resources can help you get even more out of your program.

While a business degree online can help you land an excellent job, pursuing such a program can be challenging, especially if you are pursuing full-time work and other responsibilities at the same time. Follow the above tips to maximize your study time and get great results from your degree.

The cleaning trade is filled with people who have started their own business and quickly failed. That’s usually due to the lack of planning, the lack of the necessary business skills and the lack of cleaning knowledge. There are many types of cleaning businesses you could start, but you will succeed only if you know what you are doing.

Too many people thought all they had to do was purchase some cleaning products down the street and start distributing cleaning flyers. That may get you a few jobs, but I can guarantee you they are not the jobs you need to have a successful cleaning business. These low-end clients are only willing to pay the lowest price and they can’t wait to tell you how to clean their house or business. Now you have only succeeded in trading one boss for another – your demanding customers.

Each type of cleaning business will be limited in profits depending on how the business is setup. If you plan to do all the work yourself, you can only clean so many customers in a month, so your income will be dependent on your health and the number of days you can work. A business that is setup to hire workers has the most potential for unlimited income, but will be dependent on the hiring, training and management process you establish.

Each of these cleaning business models can be started with a small investment with you doing the work yourself. If you have planned to hire workers, start your business as if you already have the workers. This means you start with the business procedures in place that will make it easy for you and your customers to transition to hired workers.

First you need to decide what type of cleaning business you want to start and run:

House Cleaning Business – Most people clean their own house so it’s not hard to find workers and train them to work for you. The hours are good – most customers want their house cleaned during the day when they are home or at work. The working environment is good because you’re in a nice home all day. Your cleaning products, equipment and procedures will be very important to keep the best customers. It’s possible to start your business for under $200 and grow it as large as you want.

Window Cleaning Business – This is a lucrative business, depending on what part of the country you are in. If you are in a city with year-round sun, you can create a very busy and profitable business. This will have the lowest start-up cost due to the type of products and equipment needed to do the job. You will be working inside houses and businesses, but you will also be working outside. You’ll definitely need to know how to clean in the environmental elements.

Commercial Cleaning – You’ll need business and marketing skills to break into commercial cleaning in your city. Most businesses want their cleaning done after hours, so consider if you are willing to work late afternoon, past midnight and on the weekends. Finding workers is difficult but not impossible. Supervising the workers will be your most challenging task along with keeping your workers. This type of cleaning business is best started with family or friends to help you build up your customer base. This type of business is the most costly to start due to the insurance, contract and equipment requirements. If you can build this cleaning business by managing the issues, it can be the most profitable type of cleaning business to run.

Construction Cleanup – This will be the hardest work to do because of the work to be done. Cleaning up after construction workers is not easy, it’s very dirty and it’s not easy removing glue, paint and other residue left behind. This type of work takes a lot of “elbow grease” and is therefore specialized. Don’t expect to hire workers who have done residential cleaning to be effective in this type of work. This work is also seasonal and dependent on the economy.

Foreclosure Cleans – Most of this work requires emptying out residences of personal items that have been left behind. You’ll need to know how and where to get rid of all the stuff you encounter, such as sofas, tables, electronics, etc. This may be dependent on the financial institutions that hire you to do the work. Many of these houses will be in bad shape due to the financial constraints of the prior owners. This work is dependent on the economics and may only be in-demand during specific time periods.

As you can see, you need to do your research for the type of cleaning business you want to start. Cleaning is hard work and the workers are not easy to manage. After all, the work is not pretty and many of your customers will never be happy.

The bright side to starting a cleaning business is that anyone can be successful without having the education or trade experience. All you need is the know-how to build the business and the desire to be a success. Plan to do the research that is needed, plan to work hard and invest in the right information.

Author: Anne-Marie Moore
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Low-volume PCB Assembly

Mattress cleaning companies have been available for approximately 12 years in Europe, and are just now starting up in the United States. No matter where you live, this business has virtually no competition, and is useful to all people. If you think it is very expensive to start, you’re wrong.

You can find mattress cleaning service franchises or companies wanting to set up dealers. You will purchase a franchise or license, and start your business. Either way the companies include the equipment, training, support and marketing tools to help get your mattress cleaning service up and running.

Each company offers its own system at its own cost, but they normally start about $3,000 per system and you will probably want to purchase more then one system. The up side of this mattress cleaning business is that you will see a profit fairly quickly. However, you should do some things before purchasing your franchise or license.

The first thing is to check with your local and state governments to find out the regulations and requirements you will need. You should also check with your insurance agent to inquire about insurance requirements for your mattress cleaning business. Make sure you have these before you open for business.

You may also want to visit the Small business web site or go to the local office and get a copy of helpful forms and a sample business plan to use to help you start your business. These forms will help you answer questions, and budget your investment. It will also help you to discover any items you may have not thought of or forgotten about prior to opening.

If you need help financing your mattress cleaning services, you will need this document as well as a proposal. You will take these to private investors, banks, and the Small Business Administration. If you are turned down at first, reevaluate your proposal and business plan, make any changes and try again. Never get discouraged.

Once you have financing and have purchased your mattress cleaning business franchise or license, use the tools the company has given you. Advertise, focusing on the ability to clean allergens out of fabric furniture and mattresses. Everyone has furniture and beds and everyone wants those things clean. This works to your advantage to get clients. Don’t forget to send a sales letter to local hospitals and hotels announcing the opening of your incredible mattress cleaning business.

Run an ad in your local paper. You can even run ads in surrounding areas, depending on how far you are willing to travel. If your area has coupon mailers, consider putting a coupon for the mattress cleaning business in it. It will get your business name out there. It will be one of the best ways to advertise.

Once you have a few clients, they will start telling friends and family and your client base will grow. Your clients are your best advertisements. You may also want to put fliers in mattress and furniture stores. Always ask first, but they may refer people to your mattress cleaning business.

Subscribe to newsletters and periodicals to keep up on the industry trends. This way you will stay ahead of any competition. Also, check out books and web sites. Always know what is going on in your industry.

If you already have a cleaning service, you may want to consider adding this to the services you already provide. Or you may start with this service and gradually grow into other cleaning services. Your options are endless and the industry is wide open. Your biggest chance of failure is if you don’t try.

Author: Randy Wilson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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You should take on board the comments of those that knock you back, but you shouldn’t assume that everyone will feel the same about your idea and your business plan. Obviously you have to believe in your idea, but it is also possible that you will have to adapt your business plan to cater for investor appetite, market dynamics and / or a range of other factors.

Following are some of the ways that you could finance your business, and get your plan off to a flying start.

Loans

Raising money from a bank is hard when you are getting started. This is especially the case if you have not injected a decent amount of equity. Other factors such as experience and the competence of management will also play a part into how safe the bank considers its investment. If the banks refuse, consider approaching family and friends to see if they are able to offer a loan – although there are many downsides to this approach, it’s sometimes the only way to get your business plan moving forwards.

It’s definitely easier to get a loan when your company has a stronger balance sheet. Bankers will often talk about the leverage that a business has. This refers to the ratio of equity to loans that your company uses to finance their business. The lower the ratio, the better your creditworthiness, and the more likely a banker will be to offer a decent loan at a better interest rate.

When you leverage up your business more, you are more likely to be able to increase earnings per share, however you also make your business less stable. Your mind may be torn between equity dilution, growth and stability. Keep in mind, slow and steady doesn’t always win the race. Entrepreneurialism is all about accepting a degree of measured risk; you have to decide how much you’re willing to take to reach your goals.

Equity

It’s sometimes easier to raise equity finance, as a small business, than it is to go to the bank. This is especially the case if you will be investing in intangibles, or an IP-heavy business. Don’t be scared to hand over a percentage of your business if you believe that it will enable you to grow that much faster.

Although there are investors who are willing to look at companies in all sectors and at all stages in their growth cycle, you’re more likely to get a favourable valuation if:

You have a unique idea, a protected idea, or you are likely to benefit from a first movers advantage. Your drive, passion, flair and expertise are all extremely important factors too.

The more progress you have shown, in terms of sales and product development, the more favourable your potential investors will be towards your proposal. Anybody can make a business plan but if you already starting to turn it into reality then you will show that you have what it takes to grow the business further.

Financials are important too. The stronger the balance sheet, the greater the cash flow, the more profitable your company is now – the better. However, earning potential will also play a role in the investors mind.

You have to be prepared for getting plenty of rejection if you want to succeed. If you are determined and persevere long enough you will find an investor.

Starting an office cleaning business is simple, and requires little start-up capital. For the most part, the only expense involves buying supplies and advertising.

Fortunately, cleaning supplies are cheap, and it costs even less to advertise in local newspapers, or online. Because most business professionals are busy, they are willing to pay a company or individual to clean their offices. You just need to learn how to brand your Office cleaning company in order to grow your business.

Remember, Almost anyone can clean. The trick is to hire others to do all the cleaning once you get things up and running. This leaves you free to generate new business. There are very simple and inexpensive ways to market your office cleaning accounts.

Here are just a few simple ways:

* Specialized Service:

If you offer your cleaning service for just one type of business.. let’s say , lawyer’s offices, by concentrating all your efforts in one type of clients, it will make your life easier, and your efforts far more better than being everything for everyone. Think about this, if a lawyer compares between 2 companies, company A is a general commercial cleaning company that offers service for all type of businesses, and company B specializes in just lawyer offices. Who would he choose?

By specializing in one or few types of service you give a message that you offer a service tailored for their needs,and that’s exactly what loyal clients want. Try to copy this idea by finding a small niche, like Doctor’s offices, dental offices, pharmacies, Real Estate, High Tech offices, etc..

Don’t misunderstand me here. You can still go after any type of offices to clean. But you can tailor your marketing towards each individual type of industry. In other words..You can have specialized services in many different industries.

* GIVE-A-WAYS:

One marketing strategy used by office cleaning business owners are giveaways”. Businesses love to try services for free. Once they see what a good job you do, and once you earn their trust, there’s a good chance you have just earned a client. If you’re running a cleaning business, you could give away a cleaning tips brochure, free cleaning guides, or color swatches. Once you begin giving away authoritative information customers will begin to perceive you as an expert in your field. (This may seem somewhat difficult and time consuming but I promise you it’s not).

* Business Cards:

This is one of the greatest marketing tool for any Janitorial/office cleaning business. The problem is most folks that are new to the office cleaning business don’t know how to do this correctly. If you know how to get your business card into the hands of the right people, at the right time you will generate a ton of business just from this one little strategy alone.

Simply learn how to Provide an irresistible offer on the back of the card for new clients. This has worked for office cleaning business owners many times over!

You don’t have to hand out 200 business cards and hope for the best. There are methods of getting leads that can actually help you obtain more business than if you were running an expensive full-page advertisement in the phone book!

* Print Advertising:

Start by setting an advertising budget. Once you set your budget, decide where to advertise. For a cleaning business it makes no sense and would be a waste of your money to advertise in a large magazine or buy a TV commercial that airs on a Saturday night. Besides being expensive, these ads will most likely not reach your target audience. The common print ad, run in your local newspaper or shopper, is the most basic unit of advertising.

Print ads have launched major office cleaning companies and created many success stories. Running ads in a local paper can be a great way to promote your cleaning business…but you must follow a few basic rules.

Your ad should attract attention! Although this sounds obvious, unless your ad attracts attention you are throwing your money down the drain. The most compelling way to have a “noticeable” ad is to have an interesting and visually appealing headline. If you are designing a large ad, think of using a subhead. This will provide added information and can be longer than the headline.

* Greeting Cards:

Greeting cards can be used as a great Marketing Tool when it comes to repeat business and referrals. Use them to thank clients for their business. Send them as greeting for most of the holiday occasions. Try to send cards as early as possible so they can be the first in your clients mailbox. Surprise them first so they can always remember you. Use handwritten messages to show more appreciation to your customers. If you use this marketing tool,you can always save money by buying cards after occasions, in quantity and keep them for next year.

* Electronic Media:

Buy banner ads in electronic media. Look for websites that target your potential customers, such as your local chamber. This can deliver your information right to the business that needs your service.

Copyright (c) 2008 Brent Wale

Author: Brent Wale
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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One important thing to understand about how to make money office cleaning is that office owners don’t have the same picky high standards that you would find with the owner of a residential home. Therefore, offices are easier to clean then homes. Homeowners are emotionally tied to the appearance of their house and if the job isn’t done perfect you will often get nasty criticism. When you clean offices, instead of homes, the customer just has a list of task that needs performed and when you do the task to a certain level of proficiency you will be met with glowing enthusiasm. .

Starting A Commercial Cleaning Business  Tip #1 – Don’t be afraid of the small jobs

When many people begin in their own office cleaning business they often feel that they need to make a zillion dollars starting right out of the gate from day one. If you have this attitude, you might think that the only way of how to make money office cleaning – is to get the large jobs which the giant corporations are fighting for also. This just simply isn’t true.

What most new office cleaning business owners don’t know is how easy it can be to get the jobs with small companies. Large cleaning businesses overlook them. There simply isn’t enough money in the small jobs to satisfy the greed of the bigger cleaning companies. If you’re a small one or two man operation you can easily fill your bookings just picking up these little jobs.

Starting A Commercial Cleaning Business Tip #2 – Always look for ways to save time – because time is money

The best way to save time is to plan ahead. Make sure you have all the equipment and supplies that you are going to need to get the job done. Do the work to be performed in an order that won’t require you to come back and redo work that you have done already. For example, do the higher dusting before you do the lower dusting and empty the trash before you do the sweeping. It doesn’t take much brains to realize how to make money office cleaning , in this case, it is to not waste time doing the same job twice.

Another important way to save time is to make sure that the jobs you book are in the same neighborhood. Nothing wastes time more than driving your car halfway across a large city. You don’t get paid for the miles that you drive – you get paid for the offices that you clean! When your offices are right by each other it takes little time and effort to clean one and then go to the next. When doing a lot of small jobs, like I suggested in how to make money office cleaning tip number one, being able to get from one job to the next quickly is an essential part of making doing small jobs profitable.

Starting A Commercial Cleaning Business Tip #3 – Become a full service cleaner

One of the best and often most overlooked ways of how to make money office cleaning more profitable is to increase in gross profit of each job by offering more services than a typical cleaning would consist of. Instead of just doing dusting, emptying trash, sweeping, or cleaning bathrooms… you might think about adding services such as shampooing carpets, cleaning upholstery of furniture, and maybe even window washing. By doing this you increase the money you make by two or even three fold. If that isn’t one of the best ways of how to make money office cleaning that you ever heard – then I don’t know what is.

As you can see, it isn’t very difficult to figure out how to make money office cleaning if you just use a little common sense. By thinking outside the box and not waiting for business to come to you – you can start making money much easier than you ever thought possible. There are many tips of how to make money office cleaning that I did not include here which would be sure to make your business explode. Although I could not share everything in this short article… I hope that it was helpful and you start making the kind of money for your office cleaning business that you dream of.

Author: Thomas Ridgeway
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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No, you don’t need to be an economics major, but you do need to understand the basics of small business finance and good financial management. And if you are an economics major, Great! You have a big head start.

Do you need a bunch of spreadsheets? Not today, but as you plan your business and it begins to grow, you’ll know how to use these! When you’re starting out, there are five basics areas where you need to learn as much as you can:

Bookkeeping:

In very simple terms you need to keep track of the money that comes in and the money that goes out. It may sound a simple, and it might be in the beginning, but you’re not starting this business to run for a month. Hopefully you’re starting this business to last for a long time.

It’s a very good idea to put a smart small business finance accounting system into place from the beginning, and get it set up to grow with your business. You will find a resource page below with some very good basic accounting systems that are affordable and easy to use for small business finance.

Credit and Collections:

You need to make sure you get paid for your product or service. How this happens can vary greatly based on the type of business you run. If you’re just starting out, you will probably not offer your customers credit terms, more likely it will be cash on delivery.

For this you need a payment tool that your customers trust (always look at your customer’s point of view first) and one that will allow you immediate access to your cash. There are many online payment tools and gateways, like PayPal.

One important note, it is an extremely smart idea to use a payment tool or gateway that also offers you the ability to download transaction details into your accounting package. This saves you loads of time manually entering information into your small business finance software package, and has many additional upside advantages.

Cash Flow:

This is where most people have problems with small business finance, and the largest reason for business failures. Let me explain it this way.

Can a profitable business fail? YES, and many do! Cash is KING!

You must have enough cash coming in to pay your expenses. In the beginning this will be from your own pocket or from your small business finance loan or credit facilities. But eventually, and in most cases sooner rather than later, the start-up funding will run out. You need to be focusing on cash flow from Day ZERO, and eventually when the business is running on its own income you can focus more and more on profitability.

Purchasing:

You will need to buy things for your business. In the beginning it’s important to focus on how you pay for these items. If you’re using your credit card, no problem, but watch the finance charges. Try and keep the outstanding balance on your card down to a minimum.

If your making most of your purchases online, then find a good payment tool or gateway that you can use to pay for purchases while at the same time collecting money from your customers.

Financial Analysis:

Don’t worry, this is not a huge issue in the beginning, because if you’re like most new businesses there will be very little to analyze.

But keep in mind; this will become more and more important as your business begins to grow and you have less and less time to dedicate to finance. You will need to again select an accounting package that can grow and expand with your business giving you easy reports to understand.

In the beginning you really just need the ability to watch your finances and do short range forecasts of your cash flow. Most accounting packages have this as a basic part of the package, if not; keep looking for a system that offers this from the beginning.

Get the Small Business Finance Basics right, and the rest will follow with much greater ease. Ignore the basics, or do them wrong, and you’re asking for problems later on that will distract you from your main function as a business owner which is finding and keeping customers!

When youve started your house cleaning business and its running smoothly, it pays
to think ahead and give yourself an extra edge of job security by delivering little
extras that will make your clients glad to write those checks out to you, month after
month. We’ve experienced the job security that comes from applying ourselves with
integrity to meet each client’s needs – not just meet them, but exceed them. When
you start a cleaning business, you can too. What’s more, you can keep your clients
for as long as you choose. If you are starting a cleaning business, delivering
excellence will help you build job security, because your clients will be praising your
name.

The good news is, delivering excellence is not all that difficult to do. How do you do
it? Here are eight tips:

1. Show up on time and be consistent. Being punctual shows your client that you
respect their schedule and that you can be counted on. Dont vary the time you both
agreed on unless you must. While starting your cleaning business, create or develop
systems that provide a structure within which you can work efficiently and
consistently. Developing consistent systems also provides a way for you to check off
your mentalto do list while working, reducing the likelihood that youll forget
something.

2. Be thorough. Focus on one task at a time, while keeping in mind the whole
picture. Know where you are going next, not just as you start your cleaning
business, but as you clean at each of your jobs. If possible, fully complete one task
or room before beginning the next. Move your cleaning equipment along with you
instead of spreading out all over the house.

3. Do your job to the best of your ability. Clean as if their place were your own.
Show that you care. Do what you would like to have done in your own house or
place of business. Work quickly but never rush or take risks with their belongings.

4. Return your clients’ phone calls as soon as you possibly can. Don’t give them
even one reason to think of you as less than professional. Make it easy for your
clients to keep you on and refer you and your service to others.

5. Make it smell yummy. Reduce the smell of mans best friend, by applying
lavender or orange essential oil to the vacuum bag or filter before using. Essential
oils not only clean the air of bacteria and make things smell fantastic, they will lift
your spirits while you work! This is a subtle and magical trick. Your clients may
never figure out why, but theyll just know that every time you clean their home,
everything smells so darn good.

6. Keep up to date. Continue learning and educating yourself about your business.
Don’t assume that you always know the best way to handle new situations. We can
all afford to step back periodically, get a fresh perspective, and reinvigorate
ourselves and our approach.

7. Say thank you. We send our holiday cards just before Thanksgiving, when they
won’t be lost in the sea of Christmas cards. This is a nice time to thank your clients
for giving you the opportunity to serve them. But don’t wait for the holidays.
Whenever the urge to say thanks strikes, do it. When we first started a cleaning
business, we sent a round of thanks to all our clients. Now one of them, a real
estate agent, consistently refers new clients to us. We like surprising her by leaving
behind a single stem flower once in a while.

8. Were all human. Mistakes can and probably will happen every once in a blue
moon. Especially when you first start a cleaning business. Apologize and make
amends if you need to.

These little extras are not much more than common sense, but we all know how
uncommon that can be. As you start a house cleaning business, work to consistently
fulfill your clients expectations, and then go one step further and give them more
than they bargained for. You will have job security for as long as you choose.

Author: Suzanne Arthur
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

We are living in the times when governments understand the value of small businesses for the global economy. Small businesses are the pushers and testing grounds for new trends, they provide lots of jobs for the masses, they make any society more stable and happy. So governments have created special funds, programs, associations to provide government grants for small business.

You can be surprised to find out that there are so many types of grants that you can be missing and that can help you out almost instantly – minority small business grants, small business grants for woman, federal grants for small business, business start up grants and even free small business grants. All these types of grants act as a real proof that they really help many small businesses to succeed.

There are two typical issues about getting small business grants.

(1) WHERE to Get Small Business Grants.

Start with doing local search for ’small business grants’, ’small business bank loans’, ‘venture funds’ and ‘angel investors’. This will give you a pretty big list of places to apply for help.

If you are in the USA – there are some majors that provide this type of financial assistance – for example, Small Business Administration (SBA) that has many departments that fit all possible types of businesses or help. It can also be wise to check the catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance – there you can find many good places to apply for the grants.

For businesses outside US there is also a way to succeed. Government, public or private organizations in your country must be giving some help to new small businesses within the framework of these institutions:

- economic development programs, funds, departments, opportunities, initiatives;
- banks (usually they have special small business loans and programs);
- venture funds, companies, firms;
- credit partnerships;
- angel investors (this type of business got very popular recently).

The list is big, but it means that you do not need to trust one business grant opportunity. The more opportunities, the better for you!

(2) HOW to Get Small Business Grants.

There is no magic formula to safe getting of grants.

But you can increase your chances using these simple tips.

Build a good business plan. Surely you are starting your business with some plan, but here you need to be very convincing, well-prepared to any questions. People who read this plan must understand and feel that the only element necessary for your success is the money, the grant.

Keep in good contact with your grant agent (manager, officer, anyone who is in charge of all details). Don’t be a pusher, but make sure that you are in control of the situation. A lot will depend upon this person, maybe not the final decision, but a lot. Make sure he/she can reach you at any moment. And would be great if you have his/her contact details, the more, the better.

Try to find someone who already got a grant from the institution or organization you apply to. If it is possible, find out all details before applying there: what problems this person had, what questions asked, what impressed the grant givers, etc.

And the last advice, if in one place it did not work, don’t give up. You can either appeal or try another place.

Only those who knock at the door can see it open.

Author: Nickolay Bokhonok
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Thank goodness starting an office cleaning business isn’t anything like skydiving! If
you fall flat on your face, there’s no chance that it’s going to hurt that bad. Learning
to handle the inevitable occurrence of rejection to the best of your ability will help
you refine your office cleaning business and your business techniques.

Rejection is simply par for the course when you first start an office cleaning
business — it will happen occasionally. So instead of hoping that it never will, it’s
good for your business health to come up with some strategies to handle it, learn
from it and even grow your office cleaning business with that knowledge. As you
start an office cleaning business, aim to minimize your experiences of rejection,
while at the same time, be prepared for it.

Reasons for Rejection.

Not “clicking” with your client when you first start an office cleaning business can be
cause for rejection somewhere down the line. An initial awkwardness between you
may just never go away, and could result in the end of that job. Or you may take on
a new client but you feel some anxiety on their part about your fees. They may hire
you for one or two sessions, and then tell you they aren’t interested in having you
back.

When we first started an office cleaning business we had a continual scheduling
problem with one office manager, who changed her cleaning date many times
during the holiday season. We were as flexible as we could be with her, changing
our other clients’ scheduled dates around in order to accomodate her several times.
But when it came to settling on a regular cleaning date, this person could not be
flexible with us. Funny thing was, Ev and I just knew something wasn’t right with
this particular job from the start. We hadn’t ever really “clicked” with her, so the
schedule problem became bigger than it should have been.

Be aware that scheduling is one of the most important elements of starting an office
cleaning business. Get it right with your clients, and you’ve got a good opportunity
to keep your clients happy. Get it wrong with them, and you may find yourself
moving on.

Superficial concerns like personal style, or appearance, can be a cause for rejection.
People’s perceptions are very important. We’re not saying those perceptions are
right or wrong, only that they’re important. When Evan started to get serious about
making good money with his office cleaning business, he cut his shoulder-length
hair short. His business picked up.

People do make snap judgments on appearances. It’s just a game. If we want the
business, we have to play by the rules of the game. We’re aware that there are a lot
of flaky office cleaners out there who disappoint their clients regularly. You’ll
succeed by playing against the stereotypes. Dress well (as well as you can
considering the nature of this job–you do get dirty on occasion), always be on
time, and communicate well with your clients.

What to Say If and When it Happens.

Let’s say your new client, Mrs. C, calls you on the day after your birthday. Feeling
fine as you pick up the receiver, you assume for a moment that she’s calling about
your schedule. But her voice is quavering, and she proceeds to tell you that she
thinks you are charging too much. Her company no longer wants to do business
with you. She’s nervous, which makes you suddenly nervous. The conversation is
awkward for you both.

You don’t know what to say except, “thank you for your call, I appreciate your
honesty. It’s been a pleasure to work for you. Have a nice day.” (Please note: I have
actually told people to have a nice day, but seeing it in print makes me cringe. Trust
me, you’ll think of something better to say.)

While you’ll never like losing a client, be honest with yourself. Would you want to
clean Mrs. C’s office for less? Would it be worth your time and effort?

So, when Mrs. C calls, you decide. If you want the job enough to lower your
fee, ask if she would be interested in re-negotiating. But if you realize that you
simply can’t do that job at a lowered fee, then say a little mental thank you to her.
She’s opened up your schedule for another, better client to come along. And you
can see how important it is to try and set the fees right at the time of the estimate.

Keep up your marketing campaign.

Do not agonize over it, just do it. And be on the alert while talking to the people in
your daily life. Let them know what you do. Ask them for referrals. Many people
don’t realize how extraordinarily helpful your average person can be. So just ask.
Sometimes that’s all it takes. Don’t allow yourself to skate along smugly on the thin
ice of your regular schedule. Something out-of-the-blue could always happen.

Marketing consistently is especially important during the first three or four months
when you start an office cleaning business. It doesn’t take much time to continually
sow the fields of your daily bread this way. Then when a client drops into the abyss
you can call the people who are patiently waiting for your schedule to loosen up so
you can fit them in, and reap the harvest.

Workplace Trends.

This is a good time to mention that in accordance with the latest workplace trends,
even employees with seemingly secure jobs are being advised never to get too
comfy. “Always be prepared to move on to your next job,” is the advice of career
counselors, who also recommend that employees be discreet about looking for
another job while at work. Companies have no loyalty to their employees, and in the
current economy you never know when companies may be forced to downsize.

How does this translate into language for self-employed people like you and me?
“Always be prepared to move on to your next job.” It’s exactly the same advice.
Except, unlike employees with other companies, you and I do not have to be covert
about it. It’s both smart and natural for self-employed people to always keep a keen
lookout for new clients. It’s all considered intelligent networking.

Shift happens.

As you start an office cleaning business you’ll learn that it isn’t simply that people
are fickle and unpredictable, although they can be both those things. Your clients
are working under the same strenuous system as you, and they are as susceptible to
job loss, solar flares, family crises, illness and temporary insanity as you are. So be
kind to your clients. Even when they can you for no good reason that you can see.
Forgive them, forget them, then go on and market some more.

Author: Suzanne Arthur
Article Source: EzineArticles.com