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Not Fastlane but pays bills on MY time.

Brootal

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This thread isn't going to make you rich, but if I can help ONE person here reach their goal faster I will have done my part.

As many of you know from some of my other posts, I tried my hand at wholesaling real estate a few months back with mixed success. I was successful in the fact that I got a couple deals, however I learned that it wasn't for me. The problem wasn't real estate but rather the wholesaling model.

After throwing in the towel with wholesaling I spent some time trying to think of something else to do. While trying to develop ideas as to what I could do to make my millions I became frustrated. In my frustration I decided that ANY extra money was better than NO extra money. This is money that can help me save even faster so that when I'm ready to go will have some nice padding.

I started then looking for things I could do immediately. It had to be something that required minimal effort, could make decent money, and couldn't be working for someone else directly.

After some initial brainstorming, I decided I would try and clean offices. Every job that I have had while growing up at some point had me cleaning the office and bathroom area. Not exactly awesome, but pretty damn easy.

Here is what I did:

1) To kick it off I asked the place I work at what they pay per month to have our office cleaned. Turns out the crew comes twice a week, sweeps, empties trash, cleans the bathrooms and break room and thats it. THEY DO A SHITTY JOB AND COLLECT $250 per week!!!! This is $1k a month for only a few hours of work.

I immediately explained the benefits of having me do it instead, and set my price at $175 per week. My bid was accepted and now I clean the office I work at. EASY MONEY!!! (PS: I got lucky that the contract they were in was up and they had been paying month to month)

2) I then called around to other cleaners in the area and asked for rates to confirm that we weren't the only jackasses getting hosed. Turns out this is a pretty standard rate. This takes into account what MJ and others have said about it being easier to charge businesses for service instead of individuals. If I was cleaning houses I would have to charge MUCH less, and most likely deal with more headaches.

I just told them what I was looking to have done and how much sq.ft I needed cleaned. Most were willing to give over the phone ballpark quotes. I then used this to help formulate my rates.

3) I wrote up some quick flyers, and had my buddy at staples run me off 50 business cards

4) I then called around to many of the offices in my area and let them know what I was doing. Many were interested but were still locked in contracts. This is just the name of the game. Not everyone will be interested. After calling on a dozen or so offices I hit a mini goldmine!

While talking with a potential client about cleaning the front office of his auto service center I mentioned that I had worked for a shop through out college, and that I wouldn't mind cleaning the shop portion as well for extra $$$.

This worked out PERFECTLY!! I remembered that we never wanted to hire a cleaning crew at the place I worked because they didn't understand what was truly garbage and what was important to keep and not sweep up. They also could never seem to degrease the floor properly or clean other common shop spills. He confirmed that they had been frustrated with cleaning crews in the past, but wanted the shop to look neater.

In most small towns the automotive world is actually a small community. Shop owners talk to each other. After BLOWING AWAY the first owner with an exceptionally clean work area, I was able to get extra business NO problem from other shops I contacted that were willing to pay my fee. They love the fact that I do what the other crews don't understand. I know to save o-rings and wiring harnesses that looks like garbage rather than toss them out.

I am now at the point where I can't take on anymore clients! Obviously I could go ahead and hire some people to expand but this is not my interest.

What I want to point out is that this is something that YOU can start TODAY. I'm not killing it, but I am QUICKLY building money to throw into my plan. I am making cash at times when I might otherwise by sitting on the couch "researching" (aka wasting time) on my plan.

Its only been a few months but I have earned enough for the rest of my portion for this years rent.

My short term plan calls for me to save 1 years living expenses so that I can quit my job and work on my PLAN. At this rate I have another 5 or 6 months and I am OUT!

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!!!
 
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Michael W.

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Nice, pretty much the exact route I went. The recurring revenue is awesome and commercial cleaning is very scaleable, labor cheap and easy to train. You just have to get out there and sale, sale and sale some more.

USM (huge contractor) started out as 2 guys cleaning residential for college money, now its a 500m business. Jani-King started as 1 guy and built a successful franchise.

It can be fastlane and grow very quick.

Thats a great story and awesome for taking action, now learn how to leverage your time!

PS - globalcleaningassociation.com has been a tremendous resource and there is a interview on hardtofindseminars.com about a guy that built and sold a cleaning company and how he did it.
 

Brootal

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Thanks for the reply!

I didn't even know these sites existed! I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants right now and never really thought about increasing what I am doing.

Excellent resources however for anyone else looking to do this. I would love to hear more about how you got your start. Are you still going at it?
 

kwerner

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there is a interview on hardtofindseminars.com about a guy that built and sold a cleaning company and how he did it.


m31ab makes a great point here, although it may not be your "plan", could you build this business up to a point where you would be able to sell it?

Let's say you had to establish a 2 year history and hire a couple employees in order to build the business up enough that someone would be willing to take it over... would this be something you'd consider if you could sell it for a high 5 / low 6 figures down the road?
 
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Michael W.

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...Are you still going at it?

Well, we started out doing floors only, and that really, really sucks and the margins are thin so of course it was natural to look at regular cleaning, the margins are substantially better. But even that is on the backburner as we open up our janitorial equipment repair shop.

Its a long story how I got to this point but the repair part is making more money than the cleaning right now, only no recurring revenue until we start a preventative maintenance program.

I still long for commercial cleaning, I will probably buy a little firm that has customers and somewhat of a brand, and build it from there, that seems to be my specialty. My ultimate goal is to do a roll-up or commercial cleaning companies and get'em on a stock exchange and cash out. :smx1:
 

Michael W.

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I also just want to say reading about service based companies that have recurring revenue has provided lots of info on how they built their companies, specifically Wayne Huizenga of Waste Management (or any of the early trash companies such as BFI) as well as "Lord" Michael Ashcroft who bought a cleaning company for 10 pounds and sold it for a nice mill when he was 30, and eventually became a billionaire. I dunno why, stuff like that just inspires me and gives me a little confidence every now and then.
 

Russ H

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Brootal-

This is exactly how I got started doing music systems for homes-- I was better at it, and cheaper, than everyone else. I got very busy in a very short period of time.

Rep speed for DOING-- and sharing. :thumbsup:

-Russ H.
 
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Bilgefisher

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I know it may not be what you want to do, but it is very scalable. There is obviously a need that has to be filled.

What is it that you do right that your customers like?
What is it the competition does wrong?
Can you quantify those items and put systems in place so the customer gets what they expect every single time?
Can you put checks and balances in to make sure low end employees do high end work?

If repair shops need knowledgeable folks on what is trash and what isn't, could you train others to know trash from supplies?


Here's my take. The 1800gotjunk guy took something that seemed to need no skill and was done by many mom and pop shops in the back off pickups. He cleaned it up, dressed it up and made it easy to utilize for customers. He was able to franchise the name out. His product was the quality service, the clean imagine and the systems in place so the customer got the same high level of service every time.

I really think you should take a look at "The e-myth revisited"
Get the audio format, listen to it on your ipod while your cleaning. It makes for a very productive use of time.

Cleaning may not be something you want to do, but if you were to build it for a few years and sell it, that could allow you to do anything else you want to do. I believe you may have it a goldmine, but do not realize it.
 

MJ DeMarco

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This is why I say business plans are worthless for most business startups (not requiring funding). You got into business to clean offices and yet, the market feedback steered you toward an entirely different opportunity within the automotive segment. At B&P I mentioned that as entrepreneurs we should be open to allowing the market to steer you where it wants you to go instead of trying to force-feed the market your vision, or in other cases, where the business plan says you should go.

Also I should mention that this concept you have is very Fastlane ... franchising, human resources are all Fastlane seedlings for scale and time.

Congrats! Can you keep us up-to-date??

I believe you may have a goldmine, but do not realize it.

A second that statement. This could easily turn into a $100M company. You have a genuine need with market differentiation, a very potent Fastlane mix.
 

GlobalWealth

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Speed to you for this. So many people want to take the easy road. They want the website that they believe will generate millions while they sit on the couch. Or they want to day trade thinking this is easy money. It is inspiring for me to hear a story about a guy who gets his hands dirty and does real work. And yes, this is scalable. If your billing rate is $50/hour and you pay $20/hour (including all employment costs) you net $30/hour. Now how many people do you want to hire? How many new jobs do you want to sell? All of them of course. Imagine having a crew of 50 people working 20/hours per week each, that is 1000 billable hours/wk and you are netting $30/hr. $30k/week. Grow it one customer at a time and hire as needed. Right now is a great hiring market. Lots of people are willing to work for $8-10/hour. Carpe diem!!!
 
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Cat Man Du

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Where can it lead?

About 20 years ago I met Fred, who was the department head of men’s fashions in our local JC P store. Ahhh....yes I’m one of those guys you read about in the millionaire books...I shop there. I learned real quick on how to hide it. I would remove the labels so when my jacket was hung up in the office and one of the guys would check the label.......it wasn’t there. When they would ask ...I would tell them Private Label....yeah private. Any way, Fred came to me for his house purchase. We got to know each other and he told me that he was with JC’s for 9 years and was vested in their pension plan, but he owned a cleaning company that was earning more then his salary. Long story short, he left the store and did quite well in the business and really enjoyed the FREEDOM from the JOB.

The rest of the story: He had a nose for real estate..........used his new found free-time and started buying houses....SOLD the cleaning bus. and now owns many rentals.

His life has completely changed...FROM ONE DECISION...as MJ wrote about on another thread!

YES... to the above: "seize the day".
 

Brootal

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Wow! First let me say thanks to all those that replied with encouragement!

After doing some searching around online, I can now see how much of a hack I am already being, running this little shindig the way that I am.

I literally just got business cards, called companies and told them what I charge. The only place I needed to "bid" on was where I work. Perhaps it was dumb luck that the companies I called on are small enough to not have purchasing departments or require contracts.

If I decide to take this any further (which I am seriously considering), I need to clean up a lot of things FAST. Since this was more of a side project than a business I never got an LLC or business insurance. After some thought, this is actually pretty dumb, so hopefully anyone that actually took my advice thinks about this now that I am pointing it out. It only takes one customer to say I stole or broke something and I'm SOL.

Time to get my Sh*t together!!

I want to list a few of my main concerns / fears as to why I haven't gone any further yet and hope that some of you can give me some advice.

1) I haven't matched what I make at my JOB yet, and have a tough time determining how long it would take me to get there. The other side of this is that my JOB provides health, dental, vision, etc.

2) Although I can't take on any more clients because I don't have the time, I haven't been pursuing new business either. Is there a chance that the clients I have somehow are the only ones interested? How can I determine how deep the market really is?

3) I obviously have never hired anyone to do anything. My fear is that whoever I hire won't do the same level of work I do, or worse, steals something from a client. There has always been a part me that says "if you want something done right, better do it yourself". This would be something I need to get over.

4) Part two of the above, I have never handed out paychecks nor understand where to even start if I was to hire someone.

Maybe they don't seem like too much of a problem, but for a guy thats never done it, I am intimidated.

I am excited and nervous at the same time. I never saw it as anything more than paying bills.

Thank you!

PS: Am I possibly breaking any laws by handing out cards and fliers with a business name that isn't official?
 

Cat Man Du

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The above is a Detailed handbook! SPEED to ya...J Scott!
 
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Brootal

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JScott-Thanks for your reply. Your advice is much appreciated.

I did some poking around on the web today to try and get a feel for what the competition is doing. To my surprise I found that nearly all of the janitorial companies in my area (there are approximately 50 within a 45 min radius) have no web presence. The few that do have a crappy web site, except for one that is a franchise.

Seeing that there are 50 other companies in my area gives me two thoughts.
1) Intimidating because there is a lot of competition.
2) Confirmation that there is a market that needs to be served.

Some observations while looking through the phonebook and online:
1) No web presence (as I mentioned above.)
2) Most have boring names and no image (ex: Mom's cleaning service, A & A cleaning etc..)
3) Many of them are specialty cleaners that only do carpet cleaning or windows.

I haven't been able to give much thought to what any of that means but wanted to get my ideas down.

My initial quick thoughts:
-Dominate the web in my local area
-Change the name to something memorable (I have a few in mind).
-Give it a unique image to differentiate from the other smaller players, and to give the feel of bigger more professional company rather than a side job.
-Continue to offer top shelf service

As JScott mentioned: At his point I can afford to give top level quality and be competitively priced because this is costing me nearly nothing to run.

I also want to continue to focus my efforts to gain accounts in the automotive industry as a niche.

My next steps are to make this legal and get insurance. Neither which I have done before so I need to do a little research.

If anyone has any comments / advice as to what other kind of market research I should be doing, or any resources to learn, I would appreciate it.

Also: if I start an LLC and fail miserably for whatever reason, what happens to the LLC? Can I 'cancel' it, or use it for another venture later?
 

kwerner

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Brootal - If you're wanting to set up a corp/llc in YOUR state (Virginia), I believe this is the place to start.

Virginia State Corporation Commission


However, it may benefit you to incorporate/form your llc in a state that has more favorable laws. Maybe you could ask GlobalWealth for his advice / hire him to properly set up your company. He really seems to know his stuff.


On another note, if you need to create a logo / business cards for your business, I would highly recommend checking out 99Designs.com, I had a great experience using their service recently.
 

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