How can you start ur own cleaning business if all you have is the skills to do the work and a name for it?

Question

My husband's been working for a cleaning company that's miles away and has decided to get his own company together without having any real knowledge of how to get it started. He's got his EIN number from IRS and his company name. But he's not business oriented and doesn't know how to really get started. That's where I come into to the picture. I don't know where to look for the jobs. Are there agencies that you can advertise your cleaning business with, that typically, when businesses are in need of cleaning compnies, can look at? We're located in south central Ohio. There's no question that we have the skills to do the work. We just need a little help getting it started.

You can contact me at [e-mail]

Answer 1

Some keys to success for your business will rely on:

1) Establishing a reputation as a high quality and trustworthy service provider.
2) Getting your name established in the community through paid advertising and word-of-mouth
3) Pricing yourselves competitively with your competition
4) Establishing a good business plan (this should probably be #1)

As your husband can atest, a good reputation goes a LONG way in this industry. Your clients need to know they can trust you implicity with their homes/business and you need to build that trust quickly by showing people you are in it for the long haul.

Establishing a separate phone number, business cards, and address all lend an air of permanence and you should focus on getting those things together.

A satisfied client is one of your best marketing tools. Good, reasonably priced service will lead to more word-of-mouth referrals than you can imagine. These clients are like gold because they are motivated to hire someone and based on the recommendation chances are they aren't going to shop around.

Work with your local newspaper and radio stations (yes radio) to begin to establish an advertising plan. Often times newspapers will run free articles about newly established businesses. This is great, free "PR" and one you should pursue.

You should also look at establishing an advertising budget that will get your name on the street. Radio can offer some attractive rates to a targeted audience.

The key here is to get the word out and don't stumble on those first few clients. You need to exceed their expectations so you can use them as a reference. Getting insured and bonded can also help as it too lends an air of permanance.

Your husband's experience in the industry will help you with pricing. You need to price competitively and aggressively to draw clientele in. It's not a bad idea to set a low price point for your first few clients to establish your base. There's nothing that says you can't alter pricing up (more money in your pocket) once you're up and running.

Finally get a good business plan together. Most people flip-out when they think of putting a business plan together and equate it with nothing more than a bunch of profit and loss statements and accounting. This couldn't be further from the truth.

A good business plan is nothing more than a strategy of what your business is about. Start with some simple foundation questions:

What kind of business?
What kind of customer?
What towns/communities will we serve?
How much do we have to charge per hour to make a profit?
How will we advertise?
How much can we expect to sell?

You get the idea. There are a ton of FREE resources on the web that can walk you through this process in much more detail.

http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/index.html
http://www.entrepreneur.com/businessplan/index.html

Good luck!

Answer 2

Put an ad in the newspaper and away you go. You could also talk to a freind who has a small business. Clean his office and do an excellant job. Then let him recommend you to his vendors/business associates.

Before you do this however, I would see an Attorney to create a corporation. With the Ohio Commercial Activity Tax (Gross Reciepts tax) you want corporate protection. Also getting an accountant to do corporate tax returns would be advisable as well.

Answer 3

Put an ad in the paper, post on community boards, go door to door with a flyer explaining your services to businesses or homes. Write a business plan. It will help you focus and define what it is you want to accomplish. Get a book on running a small business. There may be other steps you need to take to protect yourself such as bonding, insurance, incorporate yourself etc.

Answer 4

a good way to start is to develop a good business system where you have people working for you and money is always coming in. to start you should look at how the successful business have done it. check their system out and see if you can do it too. good luck.