My Summer Business...Okay, Summer JOB

[Yankees338]

I just got my license about a month ago. I've come to realize that living is a very expensive task -- EVERYTHING COSTS MONEY! This has been a shocking revelation.

Anyway, my dad asked me to clean his office a few weeks ago after his cleaning people left (or were asked not to return b/c they sucked...can't remember). I finally decided to clean it one day and realized that it's a pretty easy task, but vacuuming is a b!tch and is time consuming. Then, my mind began wandering (as usual), and I remembered one of my favorite inventions of all-time: the Roomba floor-vac -- a vacuum cleaning robot. I had always wanted one, but it just seemed like doodad and my parents saw no use for it considering we already had a vacuum. At this point, though, I realized that I could use it to clean MUCH more efficiently.

So, after this epiphany, I decided that I would spend a few hours a week this summer cleaning my dad's office and any others that I can convince to acquire my services. I will offer top-notch cleaning at a reasonable rate, and hopefully do so efficiently because I will be able to minimize the time vacuuming takes by having my counterpart, the Roomba, do it for me.

This will be Fastlane by no means, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. I'm looking forward to testing my marketing skillz cool and just getting my feet wet in the world of "business". I'm essentially creating a job for myself, but, at 17, I'll take it. I'll still have time to work on some things online and play baseball, so it should fit well with my plans for the summer and my future.

I'm in the process of trying to acquire some used Roombas (and Scoobas -- the same type of gadget, but it mops instead of vacuums), so I'll try to get started shortly. Once I iron out the kinks, I'm going to try to get some friends involved in this gig for a share of the profits; I'll supply them with the necessary equipment and handle the marketing, and they can handle the labor at the jobsites themselves. This should also help my management skillz (you can tell I'm in a good mood from this idea because it's made me feel cool enough to spell "skills" with a Z) with other people and myself. If my friends and I all profit, we can celebrate the fruits of our labor together and have some fun!! :3some: :smx6:Bad Ryan...:eusa_naughty: In the end, it should be a worthwhile experience that will benefit me in multiple facets.

Any suggestions, conerns, or advice? Feel free to comment!

P.S. Forgot to mention: this will be targeted mainly towards local small businesses like doctors' offices, lawyers' practices, CPA's, etc...

 

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[Runum]

Sounds like a plan. What are you going to do with the money you earn?

 

[kurtyordy]

Sounds like a plan. What are you going to do with the money you earn?

I think he already answered this, drink:smx6:, and become a yankee sandwich:3some:. Both of which cost money. Think of how expensive it is to date one girl, now he will have to maintain the costs of two. You better get some more roombas yankee.

btw, good plan for summer income.

 

[Yankees338]

Lol...thanks guys.

My plan, as of now, is to just get the business up and running during the summer so that it can be automated for during the year when I'm in school. I'm hoping to iron out the kinks during the summer, and then bring on employees to do most of the labor afterwards so that I can take on more of a management role.

I'll eventually roll the profits into either real estate or another business, but this is really just something to pay for gas, get some experience, and have a little extra money to spend on things I want and to save.

 

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[lightning]

Great to hear youre taking some initiative! Any money you can pack away in your teen years will do WONDERS to help you in your twenties (I only WISH i had started saving/investing back then, or had done something REALLY productive like starting a business). Back then, I was all about seeing my GF as soon as we got out of class, cruising my car on Friday nights, and playing competitive paintball on Saturday and Sunday. The amount of money I blew on hobbies back then was staggering..lol.

That being said, I think its awesome youre taking some steps to better yourself at 17-18!

Not sure what the rules (if any?) there are for posting links to sites that sell stuff, so for the moderators if this is not allowed please remove my link as I did not wish to upset anyone. (just trying to help the kid out). I checkout a pretty cool website (link below) probably every other day, and they have refurbished Roombas literally once a week (every other week tops), and they are ALWAYS cheap. (the website offers one deal a day till it sells out, after that you gotta wait 24 hours for the next offer!). So the next time they come up, you may be able to score a few of them for a bargain.

www.woot.com

Something you may want to consider though, is that Roombas are generally very weak vacuums, meant for very smooth surfaces for them to scoot along on (they will not have NEAR the power of your standard Dyson or Eureka, etc.). So Im not sure they would work well for your venture as you may end up redoing all of thier work!

Hope this helps, best of luck

 

[MrPink]

Great job on taking action!

I would look into expanding as you have already mentioned. If you are able to get your friends to do the physical work then you would have more time to find more places (move more from an E to a S/B). Also if you are able to get your friends to do the work at a reasonable cost then maybe buying a roomba is not needed.

"I'm essentially creating a job for myself, but, at 17, I'll take it."

Why settle? I have read a number of posts and have concluded that you not an average 17 year old, best wishes.

Mr. Pink

 

[Yankees338]

Great to hear youre taking some initiative! Any money you can pack away in your teen years will do WONDERS to help you in your twenties (I only WISH i had started saving/investing back then, or had done something REALLY productive like starting a business). Back then, I was all about seeing my GF as soon as we got out of class, cruising my car on Friday nights, and playing competitive paintball on Saturday and Sunday. The amount of money I blew on hobbies back then was staggering..lol.

That being said, I think its awesome youre taking some steps to better yourself at 17-18!

Not sure what the rules (if any?) there are for posting links to sites that sell stuff, so for the moderators if this is not allowed please remove my link as I did not wish to upset anyone. (just trying to help the kid out). I checkout a pretty cool website (link below) probably every other day, and they have refurbished Roombas literally once a week (every other week tops), and they are ALWAYS cheap. (the website offers one deal a day till it sells out, after that you gotta wait 24 hours for the next offer!). So the next time they come up, you may be able to score a few of them for a bargain.

www.woot.com

Something you may want to consider though, is that Roombas are generally very weak vacuums, meant for very smooth surfaces for them to scoot along on (they will not have NEAR the power of your standard Dyson or Eureka, etc.). So Im not sure they would work well for your venture as you may end up redoing all of thier work!

Hope this helps, best of luck

Thanks for the tip! I'll look into it.

I was kinda under the impression that the Roomba isn't really a deep-cleaning power vacuum, but after I thought about it, I realized that an office doesn't really need its floors cleaned intensely. They mainly just want their workplace to look neat and professional. I think the Roomba can handle that from what I've read/heard.

Congrats on beginning your REI career, btw.

Great job on taking action!

I would look into expanding as you have already mentioned. If you are able to get your friends to do the physical work then you would have more time to find more places (move more from an E to a S/B). Also if you are able to get your friends to do the work at a reasonable cost then maybe buying a roomba is not needed.

"I'm essentially creating a job for myself, but, at 17, I'll take it."

Why settle? I have read a number of posts and have concluded that you not an average 17 year old, best wishes.

Mr. Pink

Thank you, too. That's basically my plan -- I want to eventually shift this over to 'B' Quadrant business, so that I'll have free time to take care of other ventures. I've seen the need for decent cleaning people with my dad's practice, so I think there will be enough demand to at least make a substantial income.


My only concern thus far is that after speaking with my parents (once I convinced them that I'm going to do this and I don't really care whether they're behind me or not), I'm trying to look into getting "bonded", which is basically getting insured for this with all of the stealing and trouble that goes on with cleaning services. I haven't found much on the topic yet, but I'll keep looking!

Thanks for all the support as always. :fastlane:

 

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[CarrieW]

I am not 100% sure but I dont believe you can get bonded untill you are 18.

they do fingerprinting and background checks and stuff to be bonded and insured.

I will try to call one of my best friends and ask her what she knows about this. I know she was looking into bonding and insuring the employees at the company she started but its a financial company so it may be alot different then the type of bonding you would need in this business.

It may take me some time to get ahold of her.(ive been trying for about 3 wks already) but as soon as I do hear back from her I will try to get this info!

 

[Yankees338]

I am not 100% sure but I dont believe you can get bonded untill you are 18.

they do fingerprinting and background checks and stuff to be bonded and insured.

I will try to call one of my best friends and ask her what she knows about this. I know she was looking into bonding and insuring the employees at the company she started but its a financial company so it may be alot different then the type of bonding you would need in this business.

It may take me some time to get ahold of her.(ive been trying for about 3 wks already) but as soon as I do hear back from her I will try to get this info!

Thanks a lot for your help! Being a minor sucks!!! Lol...well, not always, but a lot of times it's a pain.

 

[rcardin]

Also look at what your state law is. Is 17 old enough to be emancipated? ( I think that is the word I am looking for) Age of consent might be a better word. At 17 you might be old enough to sign contracts and be legally liable for them.

 

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[Yankees338]

Also look at what your state law is. Is 17 old enough to be emancipated? ( I think that is the word I am looking for) Age of consent might be a better word. At 17 you might be old enough to sign contracts and be legally liable for them.

I'll have to look into this. I do know, however, that I cannot fully manage my own bank account; I would guess it's a similar type of thing. As long as my parents are cosigners on the account, I can still fully manage my account.

If I can prove myself as being capable, is there any way the rules can be bent to accomodate the situation?

 

[Redshft]

Some states have statues that that allow people under the age of 18 to sign contracts. A general rule is a minor may enter into a contract, but it is voidable at the preference of the minor and they are able to disaffirm, or deny the contract and the minor has no liablitiy. This is not for all contracts, but some. Contracts that are nonvoidable by minors would include insurance, school loans, bank account contracts, etc.

 

[Eric]

From what i've seen of the roomba and scooba, all they do is drive (for lack of a better term) around and bounce off of walls in random lines (like a ball on a screen saver).

It would probably take 5x as long to wait for one of those devices to clean a office as it would if you just bought a decent vacuum and did it yourself. Plus, like people have already said, a regular vacuum will clean much better.

I don't know about you, but if I were paying for a cleaning service, I would want it cleaned GOOD. You might not think a office carpet may NEED to be cleaned good, but the person paying you might think otherwise.

Good luck though, let us know how it turns out!

 

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[Yankees338]

From what i've seen of the roomba and scooba, all they do is drive (for lack of a better term) around and bounce off of walls in random lines (like a ball on a screen saver).

It would probably take 5x as long to wait for one of those devices to clean a office as it would if you just bought a decent vacuum and did it yourself. Plus, like people have already said, a regular vacuum will clean much better.

I don't know about you, but if I were paying for a cleaning service, I would want it cleaned GOOD. You might not think a office carpet may NEED to be cleaned good, but the person paying you might think otherwise.

Good luck though, let us know how it turns out!

Thanks. I guess I'll try one out first to see how well it cleans.

 

[Z5 FILMS]

You should buy a Roomba and do some testing on you carpet at home and some on commercial carpet to see if it delivers satisfactory results. I have heard less than good things about them. The consensus seems to be a regular vacuum cleaner does a much better job and you can do in 5 minutes what a Roomba takes hours to do.

 

[Yankees338]

You should buy a Roomba and do some testing on you carpet at home and some on commercial carpet to see if it delivers satisfactory results. I have heard less than good things about them. The consensus seems to be a regular vacuum cleaner does a much better job and you can do in 5 minutes what a Roomba takes hours to do.

Yeah...after speaking to several people about this, I think I'm going back to my original plan. I'm going to start up a website now -- hopefully I can get it going at the end of this week once baseball is over and I've taken my AP test for Economics. This will be my main project for the summer.

I'm not gonna post my detailed plan for that one here, but anybody who is interested in hearing about it is more than welcomed to PM me for it.

 

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[LamboMP]

You could always do residential window washing, it's pretty profitable and the solution doesn't really cost that much. Lots of people at this time of year want their windows cleaned. Your only big expense would be the ladder that you would have to lug around but other than that it's something you can start with little money, and could be good to get your feet wet with invoicing clients etc..

Just a suggestion.

 

[Yankees338]

Thanks for the suggestion. If I decide that I really need a "job" this summer, it's definitely something I'll consider. Rep+++ for the suggestion.

 

[AMBITIOUSBOY]

I just got my license about a month ago. I've come to realize that living is a very expensive task -- EVERYTHING COSTS MONEY! This has been a shocking revelation.

Anyway, my dad asked me to clean his office a few weeks ago after his cleaning people left (or were asked not to return b/c they sucked...can't remember). I finally decided to clean it one day and realized that it's a pretty easy task, but vacuuming is a b!tch and is time consuming. Then, my mind began wandering (as usual), and I remembered one of my favorite inventions of all-time: the Roomba floor-vac -- a vacuum cleaning robot. I had always wanted one, but it just seemed like doodad and my parents saw no use for it considering we already had a vacuum. At this point, though, I realized that I could use it to clean MUCH more efficiently.

So, after this epiphany, I decided that I would spend a few hours a week this summer cleaning my dad's office and any others that I can convince to acquire my services. I will offer top-notch cleaning at a reasonable rate, and hopefully do so efficiently because I will be able to minimize the time vacuuming takes by having my counterpart, the Roomba, do it for me.

This will be Fastlane by no means, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. I'm looking forward to testing my marketing skillz cool and just getting my feet wet in the world of "business". I'm essentially creating a job for myself, but, at 17, I'll take it. I'll still have time to work on some things online and play baseball, so it should fit well with my plans for the summer and my future.

I'm in the process of trying to acquire some used Roombas (and Scoobas -- the same type of gadget, but it mops instead of vacuums), so I'll try to get started shortly. Once I iron out the kinks, I'm going to try to get some friends involved in this gig for a share of the profits; I'll supply them with the necessary equipment and handle the marketing, and they can handle the labor at the jobsites themselves. This should also help my management skillz (you can tell I'm in a good mood from this idea because it's made me feel cool enough to spell "skills" with a Z) with other people and myself. If my friends and I all profit, we can celebrate the fruits of our labor together and have some fun!! :3some: :smx6:Bad Ryan...:eusa_naughty: In the end, it should be a worthwhile experience that will benefit me in multiple facets.

Any suggestions, conerns, or advice? Feel free to comment!

P.S. Forgot to mention: this will be targeted mainly towards local small businesses like doctors' offices, lawyers' practices, CPA's, etc...

You could do something with exotic cars if you have that kind of Clientele around you

 

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[Woody]

I really think you’re on the right track! My personal note about the Roomba is that the product actually works better than many people think. I bought one for my room and have never manually vacuumed since. I can see an opportunity to maximize productivity and efficiency by using Roomba.

I think your idea is brilliant, but how are you going to persuade potential customers that your service is better than others? I assume you will be doing the cleaning while the office is closed? Just a few questions I thought of while reading through your post.

Anyways, I really like your idea and respect the fact that you are actually acting on your ideas!

-Woody

 

[Yankees338]

You could do something with exotic cars if you have that kind of Clientele around you

I've thought about something involving cars, but I haven't found a glaring need that I think I could solve.

I really think you’re on the right track! My personal note about the Roomba is that the product actually works better than many people think. I bought one for my room and have never manually vacuumed since. I can see an opportunity to maximize productivity and efficiency by using Roomba.

I think your idea is brilliant, but how are you going to persuade potential customers that your service is better than others? I assume you will be doing the cleaning while the office is closed? Just a few questions I thought of while reading through your post.

Anyways, I really like your idea and respect the fact that you are actually acting on your ideas!

-Woody

Thanks for your support! It's still an option, I guess, but I don't know how devoted to it I am. My problem is that I get all excited when I come up with an idea, but then I either let it drag on too long and it loses momentum or my parents come up with some bullshit excuse as to why I can't do it. I thought those problems would be avoided now that I have my license and can do things on my own, but my parents still don't trust me and try to control every thing I do. It doesn't help that my dad refuses to get a car for himself, so he just drives the one that he bought for me, which leaves me with nothing (of course, he had no problem buying my older brother a car the week he got his license...).

Ughhhhhh...I just wanna fu...freakin' do something already!!!

I'm convinced that this forum is the only thing truly keeping me sane.

 

[Woody]

I'm convinced that this forum is the only thing truly keeping me sane.

I know what you mean. I come here for motivation and inspiration. I hate being surrounded by people that want me to go get a job this summer, work my a$$ off, and quit when school starts. I want something that will continue to grow throughout the years!

 

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