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Hi Everyone,
I have posted up a couple of times in other threads asking for help and guidance for not only some self improvement but really getting the wife's cleaning business off the ground. I've really got interested and involved in the business and can really see a potential here for scaling. Hence, I thought it would be a good idea to start a progress thread, as the business is now only a 3-4 weeks old...although has been in the works for around a year.
Why cleaning?
Long story short. We have a small family and the 'ol 9-5 lifestyle was not working. We needed to really make some adjustments so my partner could be around for our kids morning and afternoon. Searching for ideas of what she could get into, we had plenty but nothing really stuck. My wife really only had 2 requirements, that initially she could work the jobs in around the children as she needed to and secondly, it was a physical job - after 10 years in office based work, I could definitely understand why she wanted this!
Finally, we stumbled across cleaning. The wife is an very thorough with cleaning the house and best of all, she is quick! I have to admit, she has a great work ethic. Initially, we were both quite unsure it was the right choice in path (and it still might not be but we are giving it a crack!). What gave us a boost in confidence was a chat with an old friends partner who currently runs a cleaning business, charging from $50 - $85 a hour! She targets the high end of town, which directly reflects the price she is charging. Completely booked out and not wanting any more customers, she offered to help get on our feet with referrals.
And now, here we are. Officially launched 2 1/2 weeks ago. The wife has finished working for big business and has gone out on her own. Quite daunting for both of us but I was excited. Plenty of doubtful moments leading up to this, even with a few job offers being thrown her way for old competitor companies. Tempting, but she has held strong. Had to keep thinking, if she took any one of these offer, what was going to change? Life was almost guaranteed to be back at the same place with no true control over it's direction!
What have we done so far?
We had the idea in the pipeline for quite some time, so we had already organised quite a few bits and pieces including logo design, work shirts and brochure/pamphlet printing. I moved onto creating the website on Weebly. Short and simple, it's no masterpiece but it looks reasonable enough to make us look like a trustworthy business. Then came the obligatory facebook pages, bing pages, yellow pages, yelp and etc etc.
After 1 week, we had picked up2 jobs. 1 referred from the cleaning friend and another through family friends. Damn, nothing through any of our channels created. Only first week though! To be honest, probably a good thing to start off slow. With the down time, my partner handed our brochures where ever she could. After talked to a member on here, I started advertising on buy swap sell facebook groups in our target area - of which there was 40 (so far). Made a grand sum of $147.50.
Week 2, definitely a pick up in work. A noticeable lift in website views - especially after facebook postings on the buy swap sell groups. Even had a few enquiries through the brochure. Weeks gross = $381.25
Come to Week 3. After much quoting, finding our feet and chasing every lead - my partner has booked in 10 REGULAR (some weekly, most fortnightly) clients at an overall average of $47 per hour with minimum 2 hour cleans. This might not sound like a big deal but I am hugely proud of the wife so far. On top of this, she has a couple of 5-6 hour end of lease and builders cleans that are currently being booked in and the schedule for the week is almost filled out. This weeks gross looking to be nearly $800.
That is it so far. Our total expense to date is $1,500 not including a few cleaning tools and equipment that we already had.
Plan Moving Forward.
* Continue to develop our policies and procedures. Necessary to gain access to a service that is lacking cleaners in our area!
* Look at cost/benefit analysis of subcontracting or hiring casual personal
* Gain more feedback reviews for facebook & google pages.
* Work on the copyright for website.
I have posted up a couple of times in other threads asking for help and guidance for not only some self improvement but really getting the wife's cleaning business off the ground. I've really got interested and involved in the business and can really see a potential here for scaling. Hence, I thought it would be a good idea to start a progress thread, as the business is now only a 3-4 weeks old...although has been in the works for around a year.
Why cleaning?
Long story short. We have a small family and the 'ol 9-5 lifestyle was not working. We needed to really make some adjustments so my partner could be around for our kids morning and afternoon. Searching for ideas of what she could get into, we had plenty but nothing really stuck. My wife really only had 2 requirements, that initially she could work the jobs in around the children as she needed to and secondly, it was a physical job - after 10 years in office based work, I could definitely understand why she wanted this!
Finally, we stumbled across cleaning. The wife is an very thorough with cleaning the house and best of all, she is quick! I have to admit, she has a great work ethic. Initially, we were both quite unsure it was the right choice in path (and it still might not be but we are giving it a crack!). What gave us a boost in confidence was a chat with an old friends partner who currently runs a cleaning business, charging from $50 - $85 a hour! She targets the high end of town, which directly reflects the price she is charging. Completely booked out and not wanting any more customers, she offered to help get on our feet with referrals.
And now, here we are. Officially launched 2 1/2 weeks ago. The wife has finished working for big business and has gone out on her own. Quite daunting for both of us but I was excited. Plenty of doubtful moments leading up to this, even with a few job offers being thrown her way for old competitor companies. Tempting, but she has held strong. Had to keep thinking, if she took any one of these offer, what was going to change? Life was almost guaranteed to be back at the same place with no true control over it's direction!
What have we done so far?
We had the idea in the pipeline for quite some time, so we had already organised quite a few bits and pieces including logo design, work shirts and brochure/pamphlet printing. I moved onto creating the website on Weebly. Short and simple, it's no masterpiece but it looks reasonable enough to make us look like a trustworthy business. Then came the obligatory facebook pages, bing pages, yellow pages, yelp and etc etc.
After 1 week, we had picked up2 jobs. 1 referred from the cleaning friend and another through family friends. Damn, nothing through any of our channels created. Only first week though! To be honest, probably a good thing to start off slow. With the down time, my partner handed our brochures where ever she could. After talked to a member on here, I started advertising on buy swap sell facebook groups in our target area - of which there was 40 (so far). Made a grand sum of $147.50.
Week 2, definitely a pick up in work. A noticeable lift in website views - especially after facebook postings on the buy swap sell groups. Even had a few enquiries through the brochure. Weeks gross = $381.25
Come to Week 3. After much quoting, finding our feet and chasing every lead - my partner has booked in 10 REGULAR (some weekly, most fortnightly) clients at an overall average of $47 per hour with minimum 2 hour cleans. This might not sound like a big deal but I am hugely proud of the wife so far. On top of this, she has a couple of 5-6 hour end of lease and builders cleans that are currently being booked in and the schedule for the week is almost filled out. This weeks gross looking to be nearly $800.
That is it so far. Our total expense to date is $1,500 not including a few cleaning tools and equipment that we already had.
Plan Moving Forward.
* Continue to develop our policies and procedures. Necessary to gain access to a service that is lacking cleaners in our area!
* Look at cost/benefit analysis of subcontracting or hiring casual personal
* Gain more feedback reviews for facebook & google pages.
* Work on the copyright for website.
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