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- Dec 7, 2022
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Hello Fastlaners, thought I'd post some content related to two remote businesses I started this year (I'm 56 and semi-retired from my primary business and source of income which is a multi-inspector home inspection business I started 20 yrs ago that is mostly automated and I manage remote from my lap top and smart phone from a different state). Retirement is boring so I started these fledgling businesses.
The first is a residential cleaning business (I will post the 2nd business on a seperate thread) in which I paid $11K for a "business system" which included a web site, tech help, and coaching. Why a cleaning business? Because I already have many real estate contacts in the area due to my home inspection business that I can market cleaning services to - especially move in / move out cleaning for home buyers/sellers and tenant change overs for property managers. Plus I was attracted to the concept because I could operate it remotely, it didn't require any employees (just 1099 contract cleaners), minimal monthly expense, It was a new business I could build from scratch, and it cost less than $15K to start up.
So I started it 2 months ago and started getting jobs through one of my real estate property manager contacts who manages about 200 doors and are growing - we've gotten I think 6 or 7 jobs so far resulting in several hundred dollars in positive cash flow. I've learned some interesting things in the short two months since I launched it:
1.) I didn't need to spend $11K to start a business like this. All I needed was the knowledge on how to do it - after coming across the business system offering, I should have researched how I could make it work in my market with my contacts. The system I bought into was advertised to be automated - which attracted me to the business in the first place. But the level of automation - online scheduling from the web site, auto invoicing, credit card payment acceptance, cleaner scheduling, a complicated phone answering system with no text capability, a compicated third party scheduling and invoicing site to automate it, I learned was all unnecessary to launch and operate this business - perhaps such automation can come MUCH later if it ever grows to a six figure entity. I could have built the web site myself on wordpress or godaddy, I don't need a complicated 3rd party phone system when I can have 3 phone numbers on my smart phone, and I can manually invoice and collect payment without blinking an eye. So I got rid of all the automation and am running the business maually via text and email (my definition of a "remote" business).
2.) Trying to make it as a new cleaning company in the retail market ie owner/occupier homes is too competitive - on the bark.com platform where you get paid leads for retail customers looking to hire a cleaner - I lost 14 out of 15 bids at my pricing level - which was double what I offer to pay my 1099 cleaners. I had done some local market research and picked my hourly rate to pay cleaners and price to charge customers based on what I thought the competition was doing. So the business I actually have been getting is coming from the non-retail or income property side - which doesn't require paid advertising (the business system seller advocated for a pretty heavy monthly ad cost via google ads, FB ads, paid leads, etc).
3.). I think there is a niche in my metro market for end of tenancy cleans. So I am now targeting only income property customers (out of state investors, land lords, property mgrs etc). "Targeting" means reaching out to my extensive contacts in the local market and NOT advertising.
4.) Finding one reliable 1099 contract cleaner for this type of work required interviewing 10 qualified cleaners (on FaceTime or Zoom) - who all said they would do it and then ghosted me. Nothing is easy of course. If this business does scale up over the next 12 months then I think the challenge is going to be finding good reliable cleaners willing to go into rental income neighborhoods.
So we shall see how quickly I make my money back, if at all!
The first is a residential cleaning business (I will post the 2nd business on a seperate thread) in which I paid $11K for a "business system" which included a web site, tech help, and coaching. Why a cleaning business? Because I already have many real estate contacts in the area due to my home inspection business that I can market cleaning services to - especially move in / move out cleaning for home buyers/sellers and tenant change overs for property managers. Plus I was attracted to the concept because I could operate it remotely, it didn't require any employees (just 1099 contract cleaners), minimal monthly expense, It was a new business I could build from scratch, and it cost less than $15K to start up.
So I started it 2 months ago and started getting jobs through one of my real estate property manager contacts who manages about 200 doors and are growing - we've gotten I think 6 or 7 jobs so far resulting in several hundred dollars in positive cash flow. I've learned some interesting things in the short two months since I launched it:
1.) I didn't need to spend $11K to start a business like this. All I needed was the knowledge on how to do it - after coming across the business system offering, I should have researched how I could make it work in my market with my contacts. The system I bought into was advertised to be automated - which attracted me to the business in the first place. But the level of automation - online scheduling from the web site, auto invoicing, credit card payment acceptance, cleaner scheduling, a complicated phone answering system with no text capability, a compicated third party scheduling and invoicing site to automate it, I learned was all unnecessary to launch and operate this business - perhaps such automation can come MUCH later if it ever grows to a six figure entity. I could have built the web site myself on wordpress or godaddy, I don't need a complicated 3rd party phone system when I can have 3 phone numbers on my smart phone, and I can manually invoice and collect payment without blinking an eye. So I got rid of all the automation and am running the business maually via text and email (my definition of a "remote" business).
2.) Trying to make it as a new cleaning company in the retail market ie owner/occupier homes is too competitive - on the bark.com platform where you get paid leads for retail customers looking to hire a cleaner - I lost 14 out of 15 bids at my pricing level - which was double what I offer to pay my 1099 cleaners. I had done some local market research and picked my hourly rate to pay cleaners and price to charge customers based on what I thought the competition was doing. So the business I actually have been getting is coming from the non-retail or income property side - which doesn't require paid advertising (the business system seller advocated for a pretty heavy monthly ad cost via google ads, FB ads, paid leads, etc).
3.). I think there is a niche in my metro market for end of tenancy cleans. So I am now targeting only income property customers (out of state investors, land lords, property mgrs etc). "Targeting" means reaching out to my extensive contacts in the local market and NOT advertising.
4.) Finding one reliable 1099 contract cleaner for this type of work required interviewing 10 qualified cleaners (on FaceTime or Zoom) - who all said they would do it and then ghosted me. Nothing is easy of course. If this business does scale up over the next 12 months then I think the challenge is going to be finding good reliable cleaners willing to go into rental income neighborhoods.
So we shall see how quickly I make my money back, if at all!
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