Feedback on Biz Idea for Body Corporation/Building Managers

[Lukebrisbane]

Hey guys,

So I'm currently working as a cleaner for a guy who does like commercial property management/body corporate sorta stuff. So they manage the building pretty much, maintenance ect. He mentioned how he gets taken for a ride on some services, example being they have had to pay cleaning businesses $40 per hour in the past where they found it was much cheaper to hire me directly for $25.
He mentioned that they'd like me to help recruit more people like me, essentially cheaper labour, instead of hiring a business to clean the pool, they could hire someone directly as part of their business for much less.
What I was thinking is do you guys think there is potential for a recruitment kinda business in this?

I could approach building managers/owners and offer to find them people that will work for them directly, hence saving them lots of money over the long run.
I'm going to offer to help recruit people for him for free, in return for possibly a referral If I get things moving.

I'd have to think about how I'd actually make money, as well as how I'd find people to recruit, but yeah. Just wanted to see if this sounded plausible to anyone.

 

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[Real Deal Denver]

Good in theory. But you will hit your ceiling very quickly. And how many people can you recruit? 100 using Craig's List. So, your plan has a good idea, but it needs to be refined so it can benefit you directly and continually.

1) If you're doing the work, how much cleaning can you actually do? 10 hours a day? Then what? You're maxed out. You created a job for yourself, not a business.

2) Is he going to jump up and down to save maybe $100 a week? Maybe. Probably not if he has several buildings. He is more interested in having a reliable quality company that he can count on to do ALL his cleaning. He is running a business. If he does his job properly as a manager, and has more than one building, he has a lot to do in running his business. Using your logic, do you think he tries to save money by painting a vacant unit by himself? Maybe save $500? Probably not. He budgets for things like that. But, If he has time to piddle over $100, instead of running his business like a professional business, then he's small time. If he's that small, he might just set up a few friends of friends to do it for $12 an hour. Then you're done. He used your method to push you out of the picture.

So if he's big - you lose out. You're too small to mess with. If he's small and wants to save a few bucks, he's too small to mess with.

You need a solid business plan to run a solid business.

Just so happens, I have one for you. It even involves recruiting, but in a different way.

You have to launch a business. This is easy in the age of the internet. You don't need to be a big business, but you have to LOOK like one. Get business cards, get a domain and website, get the tools you need. Fake it until you make it, as they say.

To launch your business, start small by doing the work yourself, and then back out slowly as you replace yourself with someone else. After you replace yourself, repeat that process with a new customer. Soon you could have 5 or 6 people working for you, and you're making $10 or more an hour on each one. Now you're up to making $60 an hour and you're not doing any of the work.

You now have a new job. You're a boss. And you're paid well for it, and you can't be put out of business by your one little client, which could happen if you were working all by yourself.

THAT'S the method to follow. Practically free to start, and easy to grow.

It's not quite that easy. You have taxes, etc. to deal with. Get a CPA to help you. Don't try to be superman and do it all. In fact, your goal should be to do as little as possible. Spread the wealth by hiring support services. I've been there, and I have done it all. It is a lot of work. I'd rather "sacrifice" one or two account's profit to pay for my "overhead" of my highly trained professional support team: lawyer, accountant, etc. Do it right.

Build a company, not a job.

There are other ways to skin a camel, but this is a good starting point.

 

[Lukebrisbane]

Thank you for the detailed reply, I guess you're right. Hit the ceiling quickly. I'll think about it all.
-Luke