kate carpenter
 |
A cleaning business-whether residential or office-is a terrific way to have a stable income. And you're smart to investigate before you try and get clients! It's not wise to start circulating flyers and such before you have investigated insurance, pricing, areas to work, book keeping and supplies.
Here's some beginning steps:
1. Check with your city or county clerk's office to see if you need a business license or fictitious name license. These are inexpensive ($25-$50) and usually last 3 or more years. But to start, you can forego this with residential cleaning;
2. Then, call around to insurance companies and compare prices for liability insurance (sometimes called bond). This protects you if something breaks or gets damaged while you're on the job. And, yes, sometimes you didn't do it, but with this you can keep a client! AND, when you can say to potential clients, "I have liability insurance" it not only makes you professional, but adds confidence. It shouldn't cost more than around $100-$300/yr for $100K coverage (you don't need more than that for now, probably less for residential...but it is important);
3. Call existing cleaning companies, pretend to be a potential customer, to find out the going rates and services provided;
4. NOW, make a nice flyer and/or introductory letter about your service and start knockin' on doors, so to speak! Dress nice, maybe have a t-shirt made up with your company name and/or logo at Cafepress.com, too. Think about magnetic signs and/or a vinyl wrap for your vehicle;
5. And spend less than $39 on a business cleaning kit (less than that (under $20)for a residential cleaning kit!) that will give you the basic contracts, forms for estimates, pricing charts and book-keeping, intro letters, supply list and resources, customer leads and other valuable tips. It will save you time and money in the long run!
This is a general start. There is lots of information available for you below......
|
Rehab Junkie
 |
Pass out some fliers and put an ad on Craigslist. Go the drugstore and buy a bunch of cleaning junk. (about $50 should cover it, if you, or your customers already have a vacuum) .
Charge from $8, minimum to about $12 per hour.
Work very hard at first, until you see how much you can get away with, |
Homepage 
Financial
Forum 
Small Business 
No Spam
Adult 
Gambling
Unfinished
Deception
Plagiarism
Not English
