Paris, France (AHN) – Jet fuel supplies have been cut to two Paris airports as refinery workers striking over pension reforms blocked major pipelines Friday.

Workers at the Grandpuits refinery east of Paris are striking. Pipelines carry gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel from that refinery to Paris.

Charles de Gaulle Airport, also known as Roissy, could run out of fuel next week and the Orly airport only has enough fuel for about 17 days. Fuel depots south of Paris that supply filling stations south are also affected.

Most refinery workers around the country are on strike. Members of the CGT trade union are protesting plans to increase the retirement age to 62 from 60.

Plans to hike the retirement age have met with widespread opposition from many of the nation’s unions. Despite the opposition and the strikes, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government says it will go ahead with the reforms.

To deal with the fuel crisis, the government might tap into its reserves.

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Firstly, you can avoid costs associated with cleaning products and equipment by using your customer’s supplies. This practice is quite common in the residential house cleaning business and most households have, or can arrange everything that you will need quite easily.

Transportation costs are the other big expense that you will face. If you don’t have your own vehicle you can try to pick up work within walking or biking distance of your home.

Look into ways of promoting your services cheaply. Organizing business cards or a flyer doesn’t have to be expensive and you can also try posting free advertising on community notice boards.

Let your friends, family and neighbors know that you are available for cleaning work. If you plug into networks of people around you it is surprising how fast word can spread. Go for a walk around your neighborhood and talk to people who just happen to be outside their homes in their yards or on their driveways and ask them if they currently hire a cleaner, hand out your business card, and let them know that you are available.

One great way to win customers is to offer to do a free house clean. This can be difficult as you won’t be familiar with their house the first time round. But you may get a nice surprise and find that they reward your generous offer by giving you permanent work or letting others know about your services.

Once you manage to win your first few customers and start cleaning their properties you should start to benefit from ‘word of mouth’ referrals, if they tell others about you. Acquiring your first few customers is always hard, but once you have them it is easy to grow your client base from there. And once you have some income coming in from your first clients you can then afford to scale up your business and go for a more professional image and some paid advertising.

While it is tough to get started in any business on an extremely tight budget, don’t let this put you off. Don’t use your lack of funding as an excuse anymore. Get started in the cleaning business today!

For more information on how to start a cleaning business visit -

http://www.cleaningforprofit.com