At one time or another you’ve probably been a little strapped for cash, as so many of us are. If you’ve wracked your brain to come up with a way to pick up a little green, but only come away with a headache, maybe you need to stop thinking so hard and start doing. A cleaning business is a great way to make money without a lot of overhead. But what steps should you follow to get started?
Decide on Your Target Clientele
Do you want to clean for businesses, or would cleaning homes be more up your alley? If you aren’t sure, first clean the home of a friend or someone you trust to be honest with you about the end result. Then, ask them questions such as whether or not they were satisfied with the length of time it took, the cleanliness, etc. This could be a valuable way to discover if you are suited for this line of work before you start setting up clients.
Set up a Bookkeeping System
Even a simple cleaning business will need a bookkeeping system of some sort. If you are going to be a one person team, you will still need a spreadsheet or some other way to keep track of your income and expenses. Don’t order checks and business cards right away, however. These things cost money, and until you get rolling, you might be putting the cart before the horse.
Do get a calendar of some type so you can keep track of appointments and addresses. Then, you can add those other things once you build your clientele. But as with any type of business, you should have a separate checking account so it’s easy for you, your accountant, and the IRS to see what transactions are for your business and which are personal, and so you don’t have anyone digging through all of your own personal expenditures that you may wish to keep private.
Decide How to Charge
Remember your time is valuable and you need to pay yourself well. Also, if you are the one providing the cleaning products, mops, buckets, vacuum, and any other items, then you are the one replacing them as well. Vacuums depreciate with use and will need to be replaced at some point. Cleaning products must also be replaced as they are used, so don’t forget to charge enough to be able to do so and still make a profit.
Determining if you are going to charge by the hour, by room, a flat rate, etc. can be tricky, so don’t make this decision lightly. Do not take a job without having the chance to view the home or business – ever! You don’t want the surprise of walking into a filthy environment and having to spend way more time than you budgeted for the job. This adds extra expense, because in a cleaning business, time is literally money!
Ask for Cleaning Business Referrals
When you are just starting out, you want to keep your expenses as low as possible. You are in this to make money, after all, so you don’t want to spend a bunch of money advertising your new cleaning business. Make sure you do a good job and ask your clients for referrals if they are happy with your services. If they are unhappy about anything, do your best to make it right. It will be worth it in the end for the free advertising you will get. Happy people tell others how great of an experience they received.
Hopefully the steps above will help you avoid the headaches of starting your own cleaning business, and allow you to make some good clean cash!
Have you ever thought about starting a cleaning business to make money?
There’s a lady in our neighborhood who does cleaning for a number of other residents in the sub. In fact, she used to clean our house for the people that lived there before. I’m sure it has to provide a nice supplemental income for her and her family.
Yeah, I actually hire someone to clean my house and she does an awesome job. It’s actually her main source of income and it pays pretty well based on how much I pay her per hour. 🙂
Spot on! This is exactly what I have just started. I placed ads with long description and many pictures on gumtree (British version of craigslist) and apart from many views it generated quite a few replies. I “have” one family right now and will have another one in April once they move house.
I complement my part-time job with this but I see the potential to “convert” to cleaning as its rate is higher than what I currently get in my job.
I focused on families with children – worded my ads in a way to emphasise that I can be there to help out when mummies are overwhelmed with being with their kids + covering household chores. But one can aim at young professionals who work long hours or couples who want to enjoy their retirement and not spend their time cleaning, etc.
Great tips! I’m glad to know this strategy is working out well for you!
I used to help my sister clean their house every weekend. Though I earned small, I think it’s really a good side hustle. And, I believe that a cleaning business is really a good way to earn money because almost everyone needs help with cleaning.
Definitely! There are very few people who want to clean their own house, so I’m sure you can find more clients if you desire.