Over the next six-months, the House Cleaning Alliance will offer, mostly for free, its own details about how to operate a scaled maid service enterprise. Keep an eye out for the forms to appear in the Maid Service Co-Op Shop, over the next several weeks, at fantastically low prices. Until a complete package is made available, the following (along with Articles included in this site) will have to suffice to summarize our main points of dissent.

Your Father’s Marketing Plan Any guru offering a marketing plan which doesn’t mention web-based marketing is either headed for the bone yard, or has just arrived from the moon. Traditional marketing methods are passé. With a fully-developed web-based marketing plan, your next customer will seek and find you, and each new customer will cost you just pennies on the dollar, as compared to traditional methods proposed by the gurus. And you will add new customers at a rate which will astonish you.

Specifically, we don’t agree with making door hangers the cornerstone of your marketing plan. Since the no-call lists have served to eliminate those dinner-time telemarketing calls, door hangers have taken their place as the new fly in home owner’s ointment. Use door hangers sparingly, for operational reasons, and with discretion.

Mailings certainly have a place in your overall marketing scheme. They should be incredibly focused in terms of content and target, and we would never again have a third-party distribute them on our behalf, without independently verifying that they were indeed mailed.

Phone book and newspapers ads are passé. We don’t intend to ever spend another nickel on either.

Mind Your Phone Manners The Gurus advise: End every sentence with, “So when’s the In-Home Visit going to be then?” Such hard-sell techniques have no place in our industry. If a prospect phones your office, it would be remiss for you not to offer an In-Home Visit (or an hourly price over the phone, if the Prospect prefers), but to do so more than once would insult the Prospect’s intelligence. If the Prospect has called for information, then give it freely over the phone. Selling house cleaning services requires instilling a sense of trust, and acting like a high-pressure used car salesmen is not going to give her that warm and fuzzy feeling she is seeking. Consumers are weary and wary of high-pressure sales techniques, so relax a little. The difference is subtle; it depends on adopting an attitude different from that of your mediocre competitors. Exude confidence, not desperation. You offer exceptional services, and your services are highly sought after. This Prospect is seeking your services. Be a facilitator. Invite her, don’t scare her. Be the spider sitting back in your web, not the hawk swooping upon its prey.

When fielding calls from Prospects, you want them to finish the conversation thinking that you are polite and competent. Respect the Prospect’s process, rather imposing your own. Your objective for each call from a Prospect should be to satisfy the inquiry, with a secondary objective being one of a number of possibilities: 1) the Prospect visiting your website for more information about your company and services; 2) the Prospect phoning back the next day (or next month) to inquire further; or just maybe 3) booking the In-Home Visit while the Prospect is on the phone.

In-Home Quotes: Leave your Plaid Jacket at Home The purpose of the In-Home Visit is firstly to describe those tailored services you are offering to this particular prospect. The process offers the chance for you to distinguish yourself from your competitors. Indeed, if it is a mediocre service that you are offering, then it might be altogether better for you to skip In-Home Visits and quote everything hourly over the phone. But if your service is exceptional, then it’s going to be a natural sale. You can simply walk around, listen, and, with complete candor and confidence, make 20 promises to your Prospect about the baseboards, under the beds, cobwebs, etc. Collectively, the promises represent your sales pitch.

When you are done, and have established (and documented!) the scope based on your walk-through with the Prospect, then give her the prices. Hmmm . . . I have loads to say about how to arrive at the prices. It won’t fit here. Suffice it to say, we go about it altogether differently than the gurus. If you want to chat about our pricing method sometime, I may be happy to do so. We are presently developing a statistical tool to help you price house cleaning assignments. It’ll be ready this calendar year.

Aside from arriving at the price, we disagree with the gurus’ Living Room techniques. Better to assume your Prospect has an IQ of 150 and will appoint a house cleaning company precisely when she is ready, and not before. Make your offer, then describe your method for having arrived at the price (it’s a function of the time you estimate it will take to clean the home, based on the agreed-upon scope).

The offer is followed by a pregnant pause, not by the obnoxiously insulting question, “So what’s it going to be then, weekly or every two weeks?” At this point in the visit, you will have a good sense for whether or not you’ve won over the Prospect. The price might astonish her. That’s OK, you’ve already described your premium services, and now you’ve given her your premium price. Maybe she needs a moment to digest it. Be calm and polite. Of course, you’re ready to book it on the spot. But if she seems indecisive, I always say, “These quotes are good for one year. If you get three quotes from three companies, I will expect that ours will be the highest. It’s not that we charge more per hour for our services, but rather that we spend more time in our clients’ homes, and our prices reflect that. If you are uncertain, then choose one of our competitors for a lower price. Once you’ve tried them, you’ll find that they either satisfy your needs, in which case you’ve saved money, or they disappoint you, in which case you will be more appreciative of our services, once you appoint us six weeks hence.” The most common response: “Wow (what confidence!), why would I waste my time with the others? When can you start?” Of course, over time, this only works if you can actually deliver what you’ve promised.

The gurus track close rates. To them, a sale equals success. To us, a sale may very well represent the worst-case scenario, if it is based on a bad price. An orangutan dressed in a plaid jacket can sell premium maid services for a bad price. We monitor close rates, but we emphasize accuracy in pricing. The difference may seem subtle, but beware, the results can be remarkably different.

Let the Market Dictate Your Operating Profile The gurus say three person teams are “the Best.” That’s like saying a Cocker Spaniel is the best. The best for what? When it comes to Operations, think outside the box. Flexibility is the key to meeting customer demands and optimizing the big Scheduling Puzzle. One of the benefits of being an independent maid service company is that we don’t have to abide by one of those pesky operational manuals, and we’re not about to impose superficial operational rules on ourselves as a substitute.

We happily and intelligently run one-person, two-person, three-person, four-person teams, depending on the clients, the location, and the circumstances (maybe even five or six-person teams for special assignments). We do it to please our customers, optimize the schedule, minimize drive-time, facilitate training, and because we have the systems which enable us to do it.

The gurus, with their manual forms and pencil sharpeners, sacrifice flexibility in order to simplify and solve the Scheduling Puzzle. To them, “a Team” is a static concept. To us, it is dynamic. On Monday, Maria manages a two-person team. On Tuesday she manages a separate three-person team. On Wednesday she manages an altogether different four- person team, and so on and so forth. What’s the difference? Well, to Maria’s Monday clients, there is none. She has the same Monday team each Monday. But from an operations perspective, the difference is remarkable. Firstly, evaluations: every Cleaning Associate works with, and is evaluated by, multiple Team Leaders every two-weeks. Yes! Another relative performance parameter on which to base pay! Secondly, flexibility in matching the perfect personnel package to the perfect assignment. Thirdly, flexibility in solving the Scheduling Puzzle. Fourthly, camaraderie across teams, not just within them.

The gurus’ specialization concept? Yech! Who wants to become a bathroom specialist? Why would anyone introduce yet one more constraint into the Scheduling Puzzle? Get real. Everybody does everything-the Team Leader trains everyone, and uses her discretion in assigning tasks. She mixes it up amongst the team so as to make their lives more bearably interesting. And it would be naïve to imagine that quality won’t suffer from the gurus’ undue emphasis on efficiency. Give your house cleaners some credit for being intelligent enough to work out efficiency among themselves, monitor quality carefully and continuously, and you may be surprised at the results. Rely on your pay schemes to reward your employees for a combination of efficiency and quality. What pay schemes, you ask? Well, that really is the million dollar question, isn’t it? Please see the Forum.

Please check back to read about our plans to send a maid to the moon.

And most of the people who have dreamed about how to start a housecleaning business have been hesitant to put their plans into action, as they cannot find the correct answer for these questions. This comprehensive guide will help you to successfully launch and grow your business by offering expert advice on each and every aspect of setting up and running a prosperous home-based housecleaning business.

Housecleaning businesses are one of the fastest-growing service businesses in the United States. It is an ideal option for new entrepreneurs, part-time workers, and also for those people who would like to make a career switch. In today’s busy world, these are highly sought commodities, and a good housecleaning service offers comfort and order. Housecleaning is a cost effective business with low operating expenses, inexpensive equipment, and a flexible work schedule. Generally speaking, the answer to how to start a housecleaning business is an understanding of basic cleaning technology. In the very beginning of housecleaning business, the home cleaning service might start out small, but it has the potential to foster into a multi-million dollar business with branch offices and franchises.

The very first thing about how to start a housecleaning business is to develop a business plan and policy. After developing a business plan you need a unique name which must stands out from the rest. The next and important step before starting the business is to insure your housecleaning business. You are starting the business, and as you are the sole-proprietor, insuring your business entitles you to the status of independent contractor. Insurance also eases the minds of your future clientele as well as it gives you peace of mind to work freely.

The next important step is to get a copy of your background check and police record. Hopefully, you won’t have one; but depending on which state you are residing in, you have to pick up the application at the State Trooper Barracks, City Hall or the Police Station. This is a simple step; you just take about 5 minutes to fill out the form. The application fee will be between $3 and $15.00. After filling out the form, mail it in, and within 14 days the form will be mailed back to you with an official stamp stating “No record.” You can take photocopies of this form, as you should provide this certificate to your prospective clientele with your information packet.

The information packet is the major step in the housecleaning business – it is what makes your business professional. The information packet must contain a printout or photocopy of your policy and procedures, insurance and background check, references and a sample work order. In your policy statement you should explain the details of your working policy. This will give information such as: your hours of operation; if you will work in a house that has a dog; if you bring the cleaning products or the client has to provide his/her own cleaning products; your rates (per hour or per job); and what form of payment you take. All these details have to be included in the policy statement.

Don’t forget to include a sample work order in your information packet. For example, in cleaning a bedroom, what will you do? That is, you must write – ceiling fan will be dusted, trinkets dusted, bedroom furniture dusted, sheets changed and bed made, carpet vacuumed and any other service you will provide. Also, you can custom create a work order if a client wants something done which is not on the work order.

Also, it is a plus for you to include at least two references. Adding references might be a difficult task as you are just starting out so add them as you go along. You can get a references by offering a free cleaning for some community organizations or churches.

When you create your business cards, you must only include your name with the title of proprietor, and your telephone number. Don’t put anything such as FREE ESTIMATES or CHEAP on the cards. You have to present yourself as a person offering a professional service.

Now you’ve got some idea about how to start a housecleaning business! It is a highly profitable business. So what’s stopping you now?

You Can Start Your Own Cleaning Business

Whether you choose house cleaning, commercial cleaning or both, there are some things you need to consider before starting a cleaning business. A good business plan is a must! What does a business plan consist of?

You need to write out a plan, and include what your start up costs will be (which are very minimal in this business), what hours you will work, transportation you will use, marketing plan, etc. One VERY important thing you must do – check out your competition! Knowing their prices and what services they provide will help you compete and gain more clients.

Starting a cleaning business is really easy. If you are contemplating a commercial service, you will need contracts for your clients. These contracts will include services you will perform, rates, etc. You and your client should be clear on prices and what services are to be included in your price.

A home cleaning business is a little different, in that you don’t usually need a contract. Most of the time you can clean houses during regular daytime hours, and get paid at the time of the cleaning. Some people will want to pay you on a monthly basis, if you clean for them every week.

There are a few other things you need to know about starting a cleaning business, especially if this is your first venture into this type of business. If you do your research, get a good marketing plan together and make sure you know what you are doing before you start, a cleaning business can be your ticket to freedom from the 9 to 5 – AND your ticket to a great income!

Starting a cleaning business is an easy way to make HUGE profits, with very little start up cost. To find out all you need to know about starting your own house or commercial cleaning business, visit http://www.simplymakemoneyfromhome.com – Sign up for our FREE newsletter!

My name is Patti Page, owner of Page’s Personal Cleaning. I started a successful house cleaning business in 1998. I would like to share what I have learned through the years in hopes of helping others who are thinking about starting their own cleaning service.

First of all, before you decide to start your cleaning business, make sure this kind of work is right for you. You will need to be in good physical condition. Cleaning is very hard strenuous work. You will need to have good customer relation skills. You will need to have basic office skills and some accounting skills.

If you are planning on leaving your full time position to start a cleaning business, make sure you have at least six months of savings. Or keep your full time job and start out part time.

Research all the aspects of the cleaning service business. From customer service to advertising, taxes, employees, insurance and bonding, what to charge and how to clean a home professionally. Cleaning your own home and cleaning professionally is totally different. Learning how to clean professionally takes a lot of time. When a client pays for your services they expect to come home and find their home spotless.

Getting those first clients takes time, persistence and patience. You will not get a hundred clients overnight.

Obtaining Those First Clients The hardest part of starting your own cleaning service is obtaining those first clients. Most clients want to know how long you have been in business and want references. The best thing to do is let clients know that, yes, you are new to the business but that you have thoroughly researched all aspects of the cleaning business and assure them that you know what you are doing and that you are quit capable of cleaning their home to their specifications. Be confident. I can’t stress this enough. Clients love to see confidence. It relieves their worries and lets them know that their home is in good hands.

References: To get a few good references when starting out, ask some friends or family members if you can clean their home for free or at a discounted rate. The sound of working for free may not be appealing but it will be worth it to get some good testimonials.

When cleaning those first homes, go for quality, not how fast you can clean the home. Cleaning efficiently takes a long time, but you will get to the point where you can do a thorough cleaning in a short time. After cleaning make sure you go back and double check all rooms to make sure you didn’t miss anything. Impress those first clients and word of mouth will spread soon.

Advertising Your company image is everything. Before you start advertising, decide what image you want to portray on your advertising material. Your image is very important. Be consistent with all your advertising. If you have a logo be sure to use it on all your advertising materials. I think it is best to have a website developed before you start advertising. When advertising, stick with the same logo and colors.

Advertise in Local Paper: Start by running a text ad in your local newspaper. Try to come up with an eye catching ad. Do not sell your services on low rates, sell your services on your quality of work and what you can do for the client that other companies don’t. There is a lot of competition in the cleaning service. You have to stand out from the rest.

Magnetic Signs or Lettering for your Vehicle: Having your business name and contact information on your vehicle is a great way to advertise. We use the vinyl lettering. The lettering looks much more professional than the magnetic signs.

Flyers: You can print nice flyers on your home computer, but I would suggest investing in some professional flyers. Hang flyers at Hair Dressers, Laundromats, Restaurants, Bakeries, Grocery Stores, etc. Put flyers on car windows at local groceries stores and businesses. You can even go door to door in neighborhoods you would like to work in. You cannot put them in mailboxes. but you can put them in the front door.

Door Hangers: Door hangers are a great way to get new clients. Pick the neighborhood you would like to work in and hang the door hangers on the doors. When people get flyers or ads in their mailbox they usually throw them away with the junk mail. But if there is a door hanger on the door they will take the time to look at it.

Business Cards: Start passing out your business cards to friends and family members. You can also ask your local businesses if you can leave some cards on their counters.

Referral Program: A great way to obtain new clients is through a referral program. Offer existing clients a discount when they refer a friend. You can give your existing clients a discount when the friend uses your services three times.

Website: These days people live very busy lives so they use the convenience of the internet to shop for the services they need. A lot of working women will shop for services while at work. We obtain 90% of our new clients from our website. Everyone that has a business should have a website. It shows clients that you are serious about your business and allows them research your business in their own time.

Cleaning Products: Page’s Personal Cleaning made the decision in 2006 to start using all natural cleaning products with the added benefit of aromatherapy to clean our clients homes. By using all natrual products, we can offer our clients a healthy cleaning experience and protect ourselves against harsh chemicals. Our clients love the natural cleaning products with essential oils. They come home to a healthy clean home filled with the wonderful scents of aromatherapy essential oils.

Tip: Always carry hand sanitizer and wash your hands often while cleaning homes. Wear gloves when cleaning bathrooms. You will be exposed to a lot of different germs in clients homes.

Remember most customers prefer that you bring your own cleaning supplies. That way they do not have to worry about going to the store for cleaning supplies before you clean. Some customers have special cleaners for certain appliances or floors in their houses. These customers usually will have these cleaners on hand for you to use. We almost always use the customers vacuum cleaner. That way you do not have to carry a heavy vacuum from house to house.

What to Charge I mentioned earlier that you should sell your services on your quality of work and not your low rates. If your rates are too low, clients will think that your work is sub-standard and that you are not experienced. Also you want to attract the clients that can afford your services. I made the mistake of pricing my work too low when I first started out. Cleaning is hard work, charge what you are worth. As the old saying goes “You get what you pay for.”

Some companies charge by the hour, some charge by the room, some charge a flat rate per home and some charge by the square foot. I always give a flat rate charge per home. I think it is better to charge by the home, not by the hour. If a client knows they have to pay one set fee, they don’t care if you take 2 hours or 5 hours. Also your clients will know what they are paying up front and won’t have to worry about added expenses.

No two houses are the same. And there is no set charge for all homes. You have to clean for awhile yourself to get some experience and to work out a system to clean efficiently. Only you know what you want and need to make. Decide what you need to make hourly to cover all expenses and still make a good profit.

A Basic Price Guideline: 2 bedroom, 2 bath home, bi-weekly: starting at $80.00.

3 bedroom, 3 bath home, bi-weekly: starting at $100.00.

4 bedroom, 4 bath home, bi-weekly: starting at $ 115.00

These are just example rates. Rates will vary by State.

A word of advise: Make sure when you start your company that you charge what you would charge if you had employees. Some people make the mistake of under charging when they start out just to get customers and then later on when they grow and need to hire help they aren’t making enough money on their houses to pay help. Don’t under price your work. Cleaning homes is very hard physical work and you didn’t get into this business to work for nothing.

New Construction Cleaning If you decide to do this type of work you will need more equipment. You will need ladders, window cleaning kits with long extensions, a shop vac, etc. These types of jobs are usually 2 to 3 person jobs. New construction cleaning requires a lot more cleaning. You may have to remove stickers and labels from windows and bathroom showers, sinks and toilets. Some require that you clean the vents to remove dust from construction work. There will be ceiling fans to clean, scrubbing floors, and cleaning woodwork to remove dust. New construction cleaning rates depend on the area you live in. Normally they run from .12 cents per sq .ft. to .25 cents per sq .ft. depending on where you are located. Insurance and Bonding

Insurance and Bonding. You need to be an honest person and somewhat personable. People will need to trust you to be in their homes. Most clients are concerned about having someone new in their house, with good reason. You should be bonded and fully insured. Liability insurance rates depend on your insurance carrier and where you are located. Each person you hire will increase your liability insurance. It’s well worth the cost. You can pay quarterly or yearly. You can purchase your bond through your local insurance company. You will need to renew the bond every year. *Note: if you hire employees and cover them under your insurance, they must be an employee on payroll and not a sub-contractor. If you employ them as a sub-contractor your insurance will not cover them. If they are a sub-contractor they are required to carry their own insurance. You need to carry at least 1,000,000 in general liability insurance.

Taxes I have listed a few links that are very helpful with answering questions about taxes for your cleaning service business: starting a business and keeping records, deductions for your business, employee taxes and a very nice withholding calculator.

Small Business and Self Employed One Stop Resource. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small

Franchises This is a link to some great information about Franchises and why you don’t need them. http://www.build-a-business.com/cleaning_franchise.htm

Hiring Help If you start out cleaning the homes by yourself, you will eventually get to the point where you need to expand your business. Start out with one part time employee. Train her and let her take your place one day a week. Then have her take your place 2 days a week and so on. This will give you the free time that you need to market your business and obtain more clients. After you get more clients you will be able to hire more part time help. Eventually you will be able to stop doing the cleaning yourself and just run the business end, which is the only way you will be able to grow your business. When training new employees, always, either train them yourself or have a lead person train them. Make sure there is a lead person on each and every cleaning job. Employees have a tendency to slack off when they are on their own.

Growing Your Business You will eventually get to the point where you have enough employees and lead people and you will be able to stop working in your business and start running your business. You will find that after awhile it will get to be too much trying to clean everyday and at the same time giving estimates, answering calls, scheduling, doing book work, obtaining new clients, etc.

Remember one of the most important qualifications for a cleaning service is TRUST. A client has to know they can trust you alone in their home. After you acquire a few cleaning positions ask the clients if you can use them for a reference. Most of the time they are more than willing to let you use them for a reference. This is how you build your business and acquire new clients is through referrals. Be dependable. Most clients will want to be set up on an every week or every other week schedule on the same day of the week. Try to always keep this same schedule unless the client asks you to switch to another day. If you have to cancel a cleaning date, make sure you try to reschedule at the earliest possible date to make up the cleaning.

You are free to use this article in part or full provided you include the bio below. Patti Page is the owner of Page’s Personal Cleaning in Cincinnati OH.
Website: http://www.pagespersonalcleaning.net/cleaningarticles.htm

Supplies

To be able to clean houses you will need a few supplies. Wal-Mart, Costco and Sam’s Club (or any other club membership warehouses) are great places to buy your supplies for less money. A good business rule to go with is that most customers expect you to bring your own tools and supplies. They do not want to go to the store and stock up on cleaning supplies before you come. What will you need? A step stool or small ladder (2 step ladder or 4 step ladder), industrial-grade bath cleaner and toilet bowl cleaner, an all purpose cleaner, high-grade window cleaner, soft scrub cleanser, carpet cleaner, furniture polish, wood floor cleaner, a set of buckets, a cleaning carrier and a bag of cleaning cloths and your ready to go. The initial set of supplies will probably set you back about $100.00 to $200.00. Try to buy wholesale sizes as it will save you money in the long run. Avoid being the cheapest stuff because often you just get what you pay for – cheap stuff. You want quality to be able to do a quality cleaning job. Quality work will impress your customers and make them to have you come back.

Some customers prefer certain name brands to be used in their house. This could have several reasons. Talk to each client if they have any concerns or preferences. Some people have health concerns and prefer to only use brand X as an example. Ask them to have sufficient supplies at hand if they want you to use their supplies. Important Marketing Tip: A special sales pitch could be to advertise that your service options include environmentally friendly cleaning supplies.

In most cases you will be able to use a customer’s vacuum cleaner. Find out in your pre-screening process if that will work with each particular customer or if they expect you to bring a vacuum cleaner. To keep your startup cost low you can make it a requirement that customers have to supply a vacuum cleaner.

Important: Do not use the same cleaning tools on different surfaces. As an example – it is highly recommended to use one mop for tile floors and a second one for wood floors. Different cleaners used on the same mop can have severe effects to surfaces they were not developed to be used for.

Fees & Prices

Pricing and fees you will be able to charge have several dependencies. The most critical dependency is your geographical location. An area with high incomes among a broad part of the population will allow you to ask for higher prices. You will also find more customers in such areas as low-income households are not really your preferred target group.

Important: Cleaning jobs should be priced by the project/job and not by the hour. There is a little psychology going on when looking at it from a customer point of view. The customer knows that he has to pay $75.00 to get the house cleaned it does not really matter to them if it takes you 3 hours or 5 hours. If the same job would be priced by the hour the customer might look more detailed at how long it takes you to get the house cleaned and eventually questions why it took you an hour alone for the 2 bathrooms in his house. Your customer as well as you will know in advance what the price for the house cleaning is. Customers will like the fact they do not have to expect any surprises if it takes you 2 hours more to do the job.

Pricing strategies: Cleaning a house is not always the same. You should differ between the initial cleaning of a place and maintenance cleaning. Imagine a rundown house – it will take you much longer to clean a really messy place compared to one that is cleaned on a regular base. If customers want to hire you on a recurring base the job should start with an “initial cleaning”. The initial cleaning should come at a price of about 50% above your normal rate for the same job. If you charge $75.00 for a 1,500 SQFT. home with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths the initial cleaning should cost the customer between $100.00 and $125.00. The initial cleaning protects both sides from disappointments and also assures that you are in a position to deliver quality work.

To find out what the going rate for house cleaning in your area is you should check out your competition. Get price information from established companies like “Molly Maid” as well as from the sole proprietor that works alone or only with a small crew. You also have to put a fair value at your own time and put that into consideration. Setup your own price list for houses of different sizes. Base your initial pricing on a standard house of 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and approx. 1,500 SQFT. of space. A 4 bedroom/3 bathroom house with approx. 2,200 SQFT. should drive up your price by $15.00 to $25.00. As a rule of thumb you can add $10.00 or $20.00 per 1,000 SQFT. of space of the house to cover your time and your expenses (instead of working with the number of bedrooms/baths).

Exclusions: Window cleaning, oven cleaning, and refrigerator cleaning are not included in standard house cleaning jobs. You should charge between $15.00 and $25.00 for ovens and refrigerators and about $5.00 per interior (normal sized / easy to access) window.

Important: Don’t work the market with prices too low. It will be difficult to raise prices later on when you are more established. Getting customers is not just a matter of pricing. Put into consideration how much it would cost you to hire somebody to do the same job and still make some money from the job for yourself after having to pay salary to your employee. Do put a fair value at your own work. Home cleaning is hard work.

About the Author

Christoph Puetz is a successful entrepreneur and international book author. His small business related website is Small Business Land. Christoph’s own small business is located in Highlands Ranch in Colorado, USA.

How much money you make depends on how big you want your business to be. It could be a one person operation where you set up at home and service areas close to home, or you could set up a commercial office and hire people to work for you.

Here are 7 simple steps to get you started on your own house cleaning business.

1) Decide exactly what kind of house cleaning services you will offer.

Here you decided what cleaning you will do, like making beds, vacuuming, mopping and waxing floors, dusting and so on. Also note what you won’t do, e.g. laundry. You can also decide to specialize, e.g. by cleaning carpets only, or cleaning suspended ceilings only.

2) Pricing your housecleaning service.

To have an idea of how to charge for your housecleaning service, use your competition. Check your telephone directory and the classified ads section in your local newspapers for cleaning businesses, call them up (pretend to be a prospective client) and find out exactly what cleaning services they offer and how much they charge. With this information gathered decide the best price to charge for your cleaning service.

3) Workout startup costs.

For this you need to consider, tools, material, transport, advertising, insurance etc. Write down a list all the tools and material you need, like cleaners, sponges, mops, carpet cleaning equipment etc. Next find out the cost of each item on the list and write it down next to the item.

Transport: you will have to estimate your costs here. You see it depends on where your client is located and your means of transportation to get to your client. (Having your own vehicle would be to your advantage).

Advertising: You can use free advertising (word of mouth) and paid advertising (classifieds, telephone directory ads etc). Phone calls to your local newspaper and the telephone company who publish your telephone directory will tell you the cost of placing ads.

Once you’ve gathered all this information, calculate your total startup costs.

4) Name your business.

Choosing an appropriate name for your house cleaning business is important. Here are a few examples I got of the internet, ‘Maid Brigade’, ‘All Shine Cleaning’, ‘White Glove Cleaning Service’. Please avoid using ‘Your Name Cleaning Services’. Using your own name as part of your business name is over done by many house cleaning businesses. Brainstorm and come up with a name that helps you stand out of the crowd.

5) Learn the zoning regulations of your community.

Check the city clerk’s Office or your local library for a copy for a copy of the zoning laws governing your community. Your reason for doing this is that some zoning regulations prohibit home businesses in a community.

6) Do a few free cleaning jobs.

Well you’re not actually doing them for free. You’re doing them in exchange for references (these add to your credibility for future paying clients and are invaluable). You can offer these free cleaning jobs to friends, non profit organizations in your communities etc.

7) Get your first paying client then get another and another and another and so on.

Tell everyone you know that you’ve started a cleaning business and place ads in the local newspapers. In the beginning you need to spend most of your time and money getting paying clients. However, the more clients you get the less time and money you spend on marketing and more time you spend on cleaning and making your clients happy.

This is just the beginning. Once you start making money take a house cleaning business course to help you better manage your business in terms of growth, accounting, taxes, insurance better marketing strategies and more.

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About The Author

Fayola Peters is the webmaster of housecleaning-tips.com. To find more information about a house business cleaning course check out her website at http://www.housecleaning-tips.com.

fayolap@yahoo.com

Professional marketers know a little secret most small business
owners are not aware of; most advertising is worthless. And the
reason it’s worthless is because people don’t spend the time on
their small business plan and small business marketing plan. The
information you enter in these plans define your target customer.
Without knowing who your targeted customer is, what kind of an ad
are you going to publish?

Are you also aware that not everyone is your customer? Even in
the house cleaning business, there are different types of customers
that look for the type of house cleaning business that will service
their needs. Do you know who these people are and how to attract
them?

What you charge depends on what your market will pay. Every city
in the world is different. After you define your target customer,
you need to start researching your competition to learn what they
are charging for the services they offer. It also makes a huge
difference to your target customer that you are licensed, bonded
and insured; or not.

You can now start by defining your personal hourly rate. This is
the amount you want to earn per hour. Add onto this your overhead
and you have the hourly rate for your business. How does this
compare with what your competition is charging? Can you compete
at this rate? What will make you stand apart from your competition
at this rate? Is your rate your only measure of exceeding your
competition in your house cleaning business?

If you’re going to compete in your market with only your rate, you’ll
have a hard time. There will always be someone in your area that will
consistently under-bid your quotes. You’ll need a customer benefit
to keep your target customer interested in your service.

If you’re targeting the low-end customers and lowering your rate to
get jobs, you’ll constantly need to work more jobs and acquire more
customers to keep ahead. But, if you are targeting the high-end
customers that are looking for quality and reliability, you can work
less jobs for more money.

That’s why you need your small business plan and your small business
marketing plan to establish who your customers will be and how you
will attract them. If you don’t have this information, don’t spend
a penney on advertising until you do.

Define your target customers and all your marketing for your house cleaning business will easily fall
into place and effectively bring in customers that want what you offer.

Sign up for a FREE eCourse on running a successful house cleaning business. Learn about bidding house cleaning jobs in Special Report #5. Grow your business with advanced information on expanding your house cleaning business.

There are numbers of different types of business that can receive grants such as brokerage, photography, construction, food and restaurants, retail and decorating. There are more but it would take quit a while to list all of them. There are tons of ways to a business starting grant and many ways to find one.

There are tons of different types of grants that are offered to business owners today such as government grants, individual grants, organizations and business grants. There is tons of money given away yearly by the US government that never has to be repaid. Those are starting to become quite scarce though so that may be one of the hardest options. The best thing to do would be to research all the grant possibilities and if the grant is allowed in your state and exactly what must be done to receive the grant. There may certain stipulations that must be met before receiving any kind of grant money. Tons of different types of state agencies offer a business starting grant or some type of financial assistance when aiding the start of your business or helping to expand your business.

There are some people out there who have payed big money to get a grant which basically just consisted of someone filling out the paper work for the person and the person never seeing any money. There are scams with everything that is done now days. Doing the proper research on every company and grant that may be available is one of the smartest ways to go. There are some companies such SBICs that are loaning small businesses money to get their business up and going but the best thing about a grant is that grants are usually something that never has to be repaid.

There are of course Cd’s, and books out there promising grants for only 29.99. But the only problem with those is there are so many stipulations for getting the grants such as your income, what state you live in. Most people do not qualify for those types of grants anyway.

There is a wealth of information that can be found on the Internet now days when it comes to looking for and qualifying for a grant to start or expand your business. Looking into as many companies and what they offer and the terms of the grant is the best thing that entrepreneur should do. You should take the time know exactly what you want before you get started looking for the best grant to fit your needs. Take the time to understand and know what you are getting into. Grants can be heaven sent for companies that really need them not people just taking advantage of the system to get some “free” money.

Lucy Bushman is an accomplished niche website developer and author.
To learn more about business starting grants, please visit My Successful Home Business for current articles and discussions.

Why are grants for women in business a good idea? To answer that question lets look at how most small business are started and financed. Most entrepreneurs will go to their local bank and take out a business line of credit, usually putting their home up as collateral. The second choice is to find someone or a group who is willing to invest in the idea with cash up-front.

For the woman who owns a small business this can create an inordinate amount of stress having this debt hanging over her head. And in the case of putting personal property up as collateral, if the business fails she stands a good chance of losing her home along with her failed business.

Small business grants for women are not subject to repayment. That’s right, once you have the grant you are not required to pay it back which can make starting and running a business much easier. This gives the woman business owner the opportunity to concentrate on growing her business without worrying about paying back any money she may have borrowed. It is important to use the money for what it was intended for otherwise there is a risk of being censured and even penalized to the point that you can be black listed from receiving government business grants.

Here are four quick tips to help find and receive grants for women owned businesses.

1. Use the Internet – The are a abundance of websites that will help you not only find government grants that meet your specific needs they also provide the necessary information you need to successfully apply for and receive this free money.

2. Research – Be sure to thoroughly research each grant and granting agency to find out what their requirements are. There literally grants available for just about everything, from starting a business to paying for college so it is important to target those that meet your goals.

3. Have a Business Plan – This can be one of the most important parts of applying for a business grant for women. This is your road map for success and any grant giving institution will want to see one.

4. Hire an Accountant or Attorney – Getting professional help from someone who is schooled in the world of applying for government grants can pay big dividends. It may cost up front but this cost can be worth thousands of dollars in successful grant requests.

Every year the government gives away millions of dollars in grants for women in business. What better way to start a new business or grow an existing business then with free money that leaves you free to concentrate on making money.

To learn more about finding and applying for mall business grants for women please click here.

By involving in such great opportunity with the business of cleaning service you will enjoy being with the business world using such capital with just a minimum rate of capital with low cost of the business itself. And because you are the boss, the retention of the revenue is all yours. That is solely because you are the owner, and at the same time the manager of your profitable activity, which is indeed would bring forth happiness for every entrepreneur for it is considered to be such a great reward.

In starting things up, you may be worried on the first place. But things are not too complicated. You need not a higher degree of educational background, or skills, or even large amount of money just to be able to fulfill of generating your desired profit and for you to be successful. Starting such business, is easy and simple that you can even build it on your very home premise that would require lesser legal requirements with lesser burden on the back.

So why not start your own cleaning business soon and experience the excitement in being in the field?

Learn how to start a cleaning service, visit StartCleaningService.com.