NOTABLE! [Progress] Growing a Cleaning Business

[nzott]

I read the E-myth, fantastic book.
Good tip the FAQ for the phone.
Will definetly make such a script.

A whole lot off work indeed,
Thanks for the reply !

Definitely some work up front, but no more than a day or two if you buckle down and just knock it out. Then it's done and you don't have to worry about that portion again. Even if you hold off actually making a hire or outsourcing the work, having this complete will make that decision happen 100x faster.

No problem, glad to help.

 

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[GoodluckChuck]

Great progress report sir!

My question is this:

At what point, if any, do you see yourself stepping out of the business completely? Is that even a goal right now? Cheers.

 

[nzott]

Great progress report sir!

My question is this:

At what point, if any, do you see yourself stepping out of the business completely? Is that even a goal right now? Cheers.

Im completely removed from a lot of the day to day happenings. I'll get a couple emails each day from my VA to update on anything notable, but other than that, she runs it.

I branched out and started offering window cleaning which I currently do with a hired worker. We only do 2-3 per week which is about 1k in revenue on average. I'll keep doing this until it's sustainable work for a full time team then step away.

In the larger scheme, it's too early to tell what I'll do. I'm still in growth mode and keep nearly everything in the business. Growth target is 1 million in annual revenue or in monthly terms, $83,000. Once I hit that, I'll likely do one of 4 things.

1. Sell to a venture backed company in Manhattan looking to branch outside the city. Valuation will depend on how fast I can hit 83k per month because growth rate with increase the multiple I can sell at. I say venture backed as opposed to just anyone because startups tend to pay stupid money to gobble up other companies.

2. Launch same service in other markets. I've had numerous people ask to partner in other markets to do the same thing. I've also had investors offer to front the cash for fast early growth in exchange for an equity stake. I just haven't taken their money.

3. Franchise the business and sell to other people looking to start a similar service. It's similar to option 2, but completely different in how you sell and what your day to day duties would be.

4. Do nothing and hold it for it's cash flow. I'm a big fan of real estate, so the cash flow this provides would serve as an awesome tool to fund real estate ventures without needing to take on partners or raise outside capital.

 

[Patrickg]

Great forum man. Thank you for sharing.

How did you find an employee to work when you first started? Or did you do the work?

I ask because I'm thinking of doing something similar. But want to make sure I don't end up doing the work and becoming a technician. Plus I have a full time job so it would be hard.

 

[nzott]

Great forum man. Thank you for sharing.

How did you find an employee to work when you first started? Or did you do the work?

I ask because I'm thinking of doing something similar. But want to make sure I don't end up doing the work and becoming a technician. Plus I have a full time job so it would be hard.

I started with Independent Contractors. Found through Craigslist.

If your in a big city like me, people are constantly looking for work on Craigslist. It's up to you to fully vet these people to make sure they do a good job.

Here's the process I use:

1. Fill out Google form to weed out crappy candidates. Few things I want to know; experience, do they have a partner, do they have a car, can they pass a background check, etc
2. Schedule initial interview to discuss in greater detail
3. Those I like I arrange a trial cleaning at my own apartment or a friends place. I'm looking at how they carry themselves and their interactions with a client on site. I never tell them it's the owners home they are cleaning.
4. Meet up at coffee shop to bring them on board officially and cover expectations and how we operate day to day.

Being a technician is fine as long as you are 100% determined to exit that path as soon as it's reasonable to. It's incredibly easy to get trapped because you're making more money than you would be otherwise. My best teams clear $1500-$1700 per week. Its hard to go from making $1500/week to making $300 because you hired a full time team to take over the work. But, doing so allows you to grow well beyond that.

There's no reason you can't operate this with a full time job. When you start out, your phone isn't ringing off the hook, there's not a pitfall of issues to deal with day to day, it's sporadic. No reason you can't follow up with clients on your lunch break or have a well timed visit to the bathroom.

Marketing channels like Thumbtack can be done entirely from your phone. You can program automated responses that can be sent out to inquiries within 5 seconds or receiving the notification.

Being a technician with a full time job is far tougher. You'd have to schedule yourself exclusively for nights or weekends. It's possible, but not what I'd recommend.

Start with an owner mentality from the get go.

 

[Patrickg]

Thanks nzott. Great information.

 

[mbRichard]

Reading your post gets me extremely excited - I am currently planning a Marketing Strategy for my Dad's cleaning business - i'm looking to pretty much take over management and retire my dad in his own business.

I just have a few questions.

1. I ran an ad for a cleaning job - like yourself, I had an overwhelming amount of people apply. Although, probably 95% of candidates were international students/adults which have only been in Australia for a couple of months. Roughly what are you looking for in a contractor?

2. I read on IceCreamKid's Carpet Cleaning thread that EDDM was doing well. Obviously you're doing amazing on Adwords - what was your initial decision on starting Online Advertising instead of Offline Advertising? (You also mentioned that flyers worked well)

3. How do you keep your employees happy? We had an assistant cleaner who had worked with my dad for 2 years and really fell off the last couple of months, so we dropped him.

Any advice would be much appreciated, I keep close tabs to this thread because it has some damn good content!

 

[nzott]

Reading your post gets me extremely excited - I am currently planning a Marketing Strategy for my Dad's cleaning business - i'm looking to pretty much take over management and retire my dad in his own business.

I just have a few questions.

1. I ran an ad for a cleaning job - like yourself, I had an overwhelming amount of people apply. Although, probably 95% of candidates were international students/adults which have only been in Australia for a couple of months. Roughly what are you looking for in a contractor?

2. I read on IceCreamKid's Carpet Cleaning thread that EDDM was doing well. Obviously you're doing amazing on Adwords - what was your initial decision on starting Online Advertising instead of Offline Advertising? (You also mentioned that flyers worked well)

3. How do you keep your employees happy? We had an assistant cleaner who had worked with my dad for 2 years and really fell off the last couple of months, so we dropped him.

Any advice would be much appreciated, I keep close tabs to this thread because it has some damn good content!

1. The process is as follows:

What I want before I'll even consider candidate:
-Have some experience (I don't care whether it's 1 yr or 10 years)
-Has a cleaning partner
-Has a car (Or partner does)
-Has own cleaning supplies (Or willing to get them with list from me)
-Authorized to work and speaks English
-Able to pass background check
-Has smart phone - Can text

In my initial discussion, I'm just trying to get a feel for their character. Do they bash an old employer, talk about some government funded program they are taking advantage of, talk about some lawsuit they are involved in. This comes out over the course of normal conversation. I'm providing details about how we operate on a basic level, but more so just letting them speak. I get a general gut feeling from this and if there's even a hint of bad, I move on. Reason I'm looking specifically for bad things is because it's easy to show up and act like a saint for a quick interview. No reason to notate good things. I need to tease out any negative item before either of us wastes our time further.

If all seems good, I schedule a cleaning at my place. Just a couple rooms and pay them for their time. Obviously I'm judging their timeliness, attention to detail and overall ability to clean. More so, I'm seeing if they work with a sense of purpose. Do they take pride in performing the job well. This comes out better if they don't know you are the owner.

Lastly, I schedule a coffee meeting where we go over specifics and sign documentation that officially brings them on board. Nail down expectation, how jobs are received, how they are paid, etc. I then provide about an hour long video for them to watch at their leisure that presents who we are as a company, where we are going, how we are going to get there and where they fit in to all that. This piece is more important than you may think. This exercise alone provided me a lot of clarity. Putting it on video allowed me to deliver a concise message to each and every new hire that I simply reinforce day to day.

2. I'm not the best to ask because I never tried EDDM. My print ads are what we call 5-arounds. We hand out a flyer to each of the surrounding five houses after every job. The flyer simply says "We just serviced your neighbors home and would love to do yours too" then provides a quote for everything we do.

To me, the upside in online versus print is online marketing provides you with immediate results and is easier to tweak and run tests.

I can set up an Adwords campaign and get a booking next day. I can hawk Thumbtack all day and bring in bookings same day. I could call Groupon and get a campaign set up within a few days and have more bookings than I know what to do with. With online, I can literally pull business to me (Usually at a lower profit, sometimes none. This is more so when you're just starting and need volume in a hurry). Print doesn't provide that luxury.

Also, with all marketing, everything should be a split test. Headlines, text body, call to action, etc. This is soooo much easier with online ads as opposed to print.

Lastly, I want to go after the low hanging fruit. I want to sell to people that are already looking for the services I offer. That means getting on places that people are looking for my services and standing out from the pack. Print is still interruption based marketing that by and large aren't currently looking for what you offer. Online ads is more solutions based. I have a problem, I Google that I want to fix this problem, This company fixes my problem, I'll give my money to them.

There's countless business that grow solely on print ads and EDDM. I can't knock them, it works. I just don't have any competitive advantage in that, so I'd rather stay ahead of the curve competing with non tech business owners in a growing tech world.

3. Open dialogue with each and every person that works for you. Find out what their goals are and align their day to day tasks with how they will attain those goals.

For example: Maybe they fell on some hard times and racked up some credit card debt that they don't see a way out of with their current pay. Set up a plan to tackle that issue using a bonus structure for doing well in their job. I give cash bonuses if teams get Yelp reviews that specifically mention that team member by name. I give bonuses for up selling our services and bringing in new business. If you align your goals with theirs, they're much more likely to stay the course.

Always remember, they don't give a shit about you or your goals. They give a shit about themselves and their family. That's how it should be. You as the employer need to find a way so that the things you care about and the things they care about are aligned.

Good luck and keep at it!

 

[mbRichard]

1. The process is as follows:

What I want before I'll even consider candidate:
-Have some experience (I don't care whether it's 1 yr or 10 years)
-Has a cleaning partner
-Has a car (Or partner does)
-Has own cleaning supplies (Or willing to get them with list from me)
-Authorized to work and speaks English
-Able to pass background check
-Has smart phone - Can text

In my initial discussion, I'm just trying to get a feel for their character. Do they bash an old employer, talk about some government funded program they are taking advantage of, talk about some lawsuit they are involved in. This comes out over the course of normal conversation. I'm providing details about how we operate on a basic level, but more so just letting them speak. I get a general gut feeling from this and if there's even a hint of bad, I move on. Reason I'm looking specifically for bad things is because it's easy to show up and act like a saint for a quick interview. No reason to notate good things. I need to tease out any negative item before either of us wastes our time further.

If all seems good, I schedule a cleaning at my place. Just a couple rooms and pay them for their time. Obviously I'm judging their timeliness, attention to detail and overall ability to clean. More so, I'm seeing if they work with a sense of purpose. Do they take pride in performing the job well. This comes out better if they don't know you are the owner.

Lastly, I schedule a coffee meeting where we go over specifics and sign documentation that officially brings them on board. Nail down expectation, how jobs are received, how they are paid, etc. I then provide about an hour long video for them to watch at their leisure that presents who we are as a company, where we are going, how we are going to get there and where they fit in to all that. This piece is more important than you may think. This exercise alone provided me a lot of clarity. Putting it on video allowed me to deliver a concise message to each and every new hire that I simply reinforce day to day.

2. I'm not the best to ask because I never tried EDDM. My print ads are what we call 5-arounds. We hand out a flyer to each of the surrounding five houses after every job. The flyer simply says "We just serviced your neighbors home and would love to do yours too" then provides a quote for everything we do.

To me, the upside in online versus print is online marketing provides you with immediate results and is easier to tweak and run tests.

I can set up an Adwords campaign and get a booking next day. I can hawk Thumbtack all day and bring in bookings same day. I could call Groupon and get a campaign set up within a few days and have more bookings than I know what to do with. With online, I can literally pull business to me (Usually at a lower profit, sometimes none. This is more so when you're just starting and need volume in a hurry). Print doesn't provide that luxury.

Also, with all marketing, everything should be a split test. Headlines, text body, call to action, etc. This is soooo much easier with online ads as opposed to print.

Lastly, I want to go after the low hanging fruit. I want to sell to people that are already looking for the services I offer. That means getting on places that people are looking for my services and standing out from the pack. Print is still interruption based marketing that by and large aren't currently looking for what you offer. Online ads is more solutions based. I have a problem, I Google that I want to fix this problem, This company fixes my problem, I'll give my money to them.

There's countless business that grow solely on print ads and EDDM. I can't knock them, it works. I just don't have any competitive advantage in that, so I'd rather stay ahead of the curve competing with non tech business owners in a growing tech world.

3. Open dialogue with each and every person that works for you. Find out what their goals are and align their day to day tasks with how they will attain those goals.

For example: Maybe they fell on some hard times and racked up some credit card debt that they don't see a way out of with their current pay. Set up a plan to tackle that issue using a bonus structure for doing well in their job. I give cash bonuses if teams get Yelp reviews that specifically mention that team member by name. I give bonuses for up selling our services and bringing in new business. If you align your goals with theirs, they're much more likely to stay the course.

Always remember, they don't give a shit about you or your goals. They give a shit about themselves and their family. That's how it should be. You as the employer need to find a way so that the things you care about and the things they care about are aligned.

Good luck and keep at it!

There is still a lot to learn and implement into the business! Thank you for your input, brains on fire thinking about the ideas and where I want to take it from here.

Thanks

 

[nzott]

Another 60 days have passed, so it's time for some updates:

Here’s how we rounded out the last couple months:

June: $21,114
July: $16,640

Crossed $100,000 for the year on July 21st.

Well, the growth had to hit a speed bump at some point. I mentioned in my previous post that I stopped paying for Yelp ads and Thumbtack in June, so it’s no surprise that July took a hit. Down 26% it pretty drastic and it was evident we’d have a down month within the first week and a half of July. I reached out to a number of other owners that have been around for a few years to get a sense of whether this was normal. Luckily, it is. I came to learn July tends to be a down month for the industry as a whole. For that reason, I was happy I didn’t just throw money at advertising to prop up growth.

With that being said, there were some items that I let get away from me that contributed to this. My SEO guy has been fairly nonexistent lately. He’s overseas and we usually check in for a call a couple times each month to assess where we are at and strategize what we’ll do going forward. We had big jumps in the SERPs from January thru May when I invested pretty heavily in SEO. We were top 3 in most of the highly trafficked keywords in my area. We’ve since taken a hit and sit in the 7-10 range. This difference is massive in terms of organic traffic, so that was felt in July.

I’m in the process of finding another SEO provider now. This won’t be an easy task because everyone claims to know SEO, yet few really do in practice. I'm fortunate that I have a working knowledge in SEO, so I know what to look for and when someones feeding me BS. I'll ask other business owners for recommendations and start there. Another route that I suggest anyone follow who doesn't have anyone to recommend someone is researching SEO services that rank for the term “SEO” or similar term in Google in my area. Reason being, it’s really hard to rank for a highly trafficked keyword like SEO, so it’s safe to assume that companies in the top 5 consistently in my area for variations of SEO got there because they know what they are doing. Sure, some may play games and do things that are frowned upon in Google’s eyes, but by and large if you see the same provider consistently, they’re there for a reason. This will definitely come with a higher cost compared to what I’m paying now, but it’s something that’s important and will pay for itself quickly.

I’m back to using Thumbtack daily. I have a VA that handles this and actively bids on jobs for me and follows up each day in a predefined sequence of messages. The reason I went back was because I am now recognized as a “Thumbtack Top Pro” which means I get a little badge on my profile and can tout this in my bids. Only 4% of Thumbtacks entire provider base has this. I had been waiting for them to award me this, and it’ll be a huge help going forward. We’ve already seen a significant uptick in bookings from Thumbtack, which had taken a nosedive the past couple months.

Yelp held strong since turning ads off. We had 246 and 247 Views in May and June respectively on our Yelp page which led to 113 and 140 “leads”. Leads can be visits to our website or calls/messages sent to us by potential customers. Since stopping Yelp ads, we actually had more views in July with 259 leading to 126 leads. The view to lead rate is pretty solid overall for Yelp, so I’m hoping this continues to hold strong.

August will be back to more growth and I will continue to attack the next major milestone of 30k monthly revenue!

Onward.

 

[HustleHard]

@nzott Great thread and advice in here from you about starting a cleaning service business, thanks. I'm looking into different businesses I can potentially start myself, and am currently researching the cleaning industry.

Did you have any experience working as a cleaner / maid yourself before you started your business? Did you just watch YouTube video's how to clean to get a general knowledge of how it's done? Or did you just hire cleaners from craigslist from the start?

Did you subcontract your cleaning jobs to big companies and kept a percentage of the profit, or did you hire single man or woman cleaners to do the jobs?

Do you plan on eventually hiring full time employees or staying with the subcontractor business model?

Thanks for any insight you can give.

 

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[jclean]

Another 60 days have passed, so it's time for some updates:

Here’s how we rounded out the last couple months:

June: $21,114
July: $16,640

Crossed $100,000 for the year on July 21st.

Well, the growth had to hit a speed bump at some point. I mentioned in my previous post that I stopped paying for Yelp ads and Thumbtack in June, so it’s no surprise that July took a hit. Down 26% it pretty drastic and it was evident we’d have a down month within the first week and a half of July. I reached out to a number of other owners that have been around for a few years to get a sense of whether this was normal. Luckily, it is. I came to learn July tends to be a down month for the industry as a whole. For that reason, I was happy I didn’t just throw money at advertising to prop up growth.

With that being said, there were some items that I let get away from me that contributed to this. My SEO guy has been fairly nonexistent lately. He’s overseas and we usually check in for a call a couple times each month to assess where we are at and strategize what we’ll do going forward. We had big jumps in the SERPs from January thru May when I invested pretty heavily in SEO. We were top 3 in most of the highly trafficked keywords in my area. We’ve since taken a hit and sit in the 7-10 range. This difference is massive in terms of organic traffic, so that was felt in July.

I’m in the process of finding another SEO provider now. This won’t be an easy task because everyone claims to know SEO, yet few really do in practice. I'm fortunate that I have a working knowledge in SEO, so I know what to look for and when someones feeding me BS. I'll ask other business owners for recommendations and start there. Another route that I suggest anyone follow who doesn't have anyone to recommend someone is researching SEO services that rank for the term “SEO” or similar term in Google in my area. Reason being, it’s really hard to rank for a highly trafficked keyword like SEO, so it’s safe to assume that companies in the top 5 consistently in my area for variations of SEO got there because they know what they are doing. Sure, some may play games and do things that are frowned upon in Google’s eyes, but by and large if you see the same provider consistently, they’re there for a reason. This will definitely come with a higher cost compared to what I’m paying now, but it’s something that’s important and will pay for itself quickly.

I’m back to using Thumbtack daily. I have a VA that handles this and actively bids on jobs for me and follows up each day in a predefined sequence of messages. The reason I went back was because I am now recognized as a “Thumbtack Top Pro” which means I get a little badge on my profile and can tout this in my bids. Only 4% of Thumbtacks entire provider base has this. I had been waiting for them to award me this, and it’ll be a huge help going forward. We’ve already seen a significant uptick in bookings from Thumbtack, which had taken a nosedive the past couple months.

Yelp held strong since turning ads off. We had 246 and 247 Views in May and June respectively on our Yelp page which led to 113 and 140 “leads”. Leads can be visits to our website or calls/messages sent to us by potential customers. Since stopping Yelp ads, we actually had more views in July with 259 leading to 126 leads. The view to lead rate is pretty solid overall for Yelp, so I’m hoping this continues to hold strong.

August will be back to more growth and I will continue to attack the next major milestone of 30k monthly revenue!

Onward.

@nzott how went august ? Keep up the good work !

 

[nzott]

Thanks @HustleHard


Only experience I had was back in high school. My first job was with a residential window cleaning company. Interior cleaning I knew nothing about. I remember when I’d take phone calls and people would ask me what products I used for particular surfaces. I’d have my laptop googling their question during the time they were asking it. Do this 50 times and you build a pretty remarkable working knowledge in all aspects of cleaning.


It might sound weird, but the actual cleaning aspect of the business is such a tiny component that it’s completely unnecessary to spend any time on before starting. I had potential subcontractors come clean my place and I inspected each area. Whether they used a particular product or technique, I didn’t care as long as it got cleaned.


Google is your best friend for any product or technique question. There’s a ton of forums out there to learn ways of doing things as well. I had to use these when I wanted to expand into soft washing and pressure washing.


Studying how to create systems in the business is really what will separate you quickly.


My favorite hires are small services looking for more work. Small team of two with 3-5 great references but no knowledge on how to market and grow their service.


I’ll probably move to full time employees eventually for legal reasons. There’s a fine line between subcontractors and employees in the IRS’ mind. Not worth the business risk as things grow.

 

[HustleHard]

Thanks @HustleHard


Only experience I had was back in high school. My first job was with a residential window cleaning company. Interior cleaning I knew nothing about. I remember when I’d take phone calls and people would ask me what products I used for particular surfaces. I’d have my laptop googling their question during the time they were asking it. Do this 50 times and you build a pretty remarkable working knowledge in all aspects of cleaning.


It might sound weird, but the actual cleaning aspect of the business is such a tiny component that it’s completely unnecessary to spend any time on before starting. I had potential subcontractors come clean my place and I inspected each area. Whether they used a particular product or technique, I didn’t care as long as it got cleaned.


Google is your best friend for any product or technique question. There’s a ton of forums out there to learn ways of doing things as well. I had to use these when I wanted to expand into soft washing and pressure washing.


Studying how to create systems in the business is really what will separate you quickly.


My favorite hires are small services looking for more work. Small team of two with 3-5 great references but no knowledge on how to market and grow their service.


I’ll probably move to full time employees eventually for legal reasons. There’s a fine line between subcontractors and employees in the IRS’ mind. Not worth the business risk as things grow.

Thanks, great suggestions

 

[nzott]

@nzott how went august ? Keep up the good work !

Been stagnant as of late. Hovered right around 16k - 18k the past few months. Biggest reason I can pinpoint is a lack of direct focus. I was 100% all in for the first 6 months of 2017, and it showed. The tough part was I was reinvesting everything back into the business to facilitate more growth. Figured pulling 2k out of a business that made 10k/month wasn't near as fun as pulling 10k/month out of a business doing 50k/month. I also didn't want to become an employee myself, even though this would have brought me a substantially larger share of the revenue each month.

Now, let's not forget, when you're reinvesting everything, bills still gotta be paid. So I was hustling elsewhere to make up the difference. As these other side gigs started to morph into full fledged businesses of their own, I found myself spending more and more time focused on other items. This meant delaying things I'd usually be running full tilt towards. Hiring new teams was pushed back, networking opportunities were delayed, etc. This isn't all bad. The other business creates a larger cash flow for me personally, which is great, but my goal is for the cleaning business to grow exponentially larger and that won't happen until I dedicate more time to it.

As I've mentioned before, I hired a full time VA who handles the business currently. She does 95% of the work each week while I sit back and pay the bills. She does a tremendous job managing everything, but it's clear that I need to refocus on what got me to this point and re-calibrate for what's going to take me over the next hurdle.

That's essentially where I'm at now. It's been 1 year and 1 month since I left my job and it's been an incredible journey thus far. I'd do it again in a heartbeat and only regret is that I didn't have the balls to leave sooner.

 

[momomaurice]

Hey it's great reading this, some excellent info so far. I'm starting my cleaning business in the new year, I'm waiting til then as I'm travelling Asia for a few months and I'm going to come back and start straight away on my business. Keep up the good work and I will be following you as you go.

 

[nzott]

Hey it's great reading this, some excellent info so far. I'm starting my cleaning business in the new year, I'm waiting til then as I'm travelling Asia for a few months and I'm going to come back and start straight away on my business. Keep up the good work and I will be following you as you go.

Sounds great, let me know if you need any support. Happy to help any way I can.

 

[nzott]

Know I've been non-existent as of late, but promise I'm still chugging along hustling any way I can. Various ventures are going well and continuing to grow, but since this is a progress thread on the cleaning business, I'd stick to a few updates on that.

We continued the slow pace through the fall, but hit a turning point in November. December is shaping up to continue on the right path. Teams are finally catching on to the incentives I offer them and the revenue on the other side makes it all worth while.

I recently replied to forum question and figured I'd re-post my answer here since I think it's valuable content that some of you would find helpful. Not only for local service business, but for most any business in general.

Question:
Any advice for building capital in a cleaning business?
Does anyone have any advice for building capital for their cleaning business? I am constantly having to turn down work when I get new contracts due to capital. I would like to avoid taking out a loan.

Answer:
Here's 7 things I would do to increase revenue/profits over the next 30 days.


1. Raise prices on my current customers: Sure you may lose a few due to the higher prices, but overall as long as your current clients are happy with your current work, you'll retain most of them and be operating at a higher profit overall.

2. If you don't already have a recurring component to your business, build a maintenance plan for clients that keeps them with you. Chasing new customers each month is tough. Knowing you have X amount of money in recurring revenue already booked for the month makes it a lot easier to make capital expenditure decisions.

3. Your biggest revenue potential is your current customer base 10 times over. Call/Text/Email every single client you've ever done business with that was happy with your work. Follow up and see how they're doing. Run a promotion for discounted service. Call it you're "end of year extravaganza". Tell them you're looking to help as many of your customers before year end and you only have so many slots available at these discounted rates. You'd love to fit them in before the holidays roll in.

4. If you don't have it already, build a referral engine to your business. Reward current customers and potential customers for bringing you business. $20 discount on their next service for every customer they bring you. 10% discount for everyone if their neighbors book same day service, etc.

5. Market heavily on Thumbtack or other similar lead gen source and offer your services at discounted prices. Sure it's lower profit work, but it's a much needed influx in overall capital that you can leverage down the line to higher ticket jobs. If you don't have the money for a paid source, post multiple times each day on Craigslist, Backpage, Gumroad, or other free listing service.

6. Offer an Incentive for your current teams with bonuses for great work. Use public reviews as a proxy for this. Give your teams a $10-20 bonus for each public review that team gets on big review platforms, i.e. Yelp, Google, Angie's List, Facebook. Public reviews are social currency for your business. Each one is worth well over the $10-20 (or more) your going to spend paying the bonus. It's important to align your goals with your teams goals. Your team goals might not always be additional money (though it often is). Find out what those goals are and build them into your business to benefit both of you.

7. Analyze where your dollars are spent each month and see if there's any cost savings to be had. This is the lowest on the totem pole for increasing profit, since the best answer is always to just bring in more work. Bringing in work is an ever expanding route whereas cutting costs is limited. You can only cut so far.

Utilizing all 7 of these methods will no doubt bring in a huge amount of revenue and additional profit to your business. As long as your doing quality work, it's impossible for this strategy not to work. Please note, only one element I listed costs any money out of pocket. Plus, I gave you a free option for this as well. There's no reason you should need to spend money to grow your service. Sure, paid marketing can grow your service faster, but exponential growth isn't a necessity. A little time investment rolling out each of these methods and a lot of hustle is all you need.

 

[HustleHard]

Know I've been non-existent as of late, but promise I'm still chugging along hustling any way I can. Various ventures are going well and continuing to grow, but since this is a progress thread on the cleaning business, I'd stick to a few updates on that.

We continued the slow pace through the fall, but hit a turning point in November. December is shaping up to continue on the right path. Teams are finally catching on to the incentives I offer them and the revenue on the other side makes it all worth while.

I recently replied to forum question and figured I'd re-post my answer here since I think it's valuable content that some of you would find helpful. Not only for local service business, but for most any business in general.

Question:
Any advice for building capital in a cleaning business?
Does anyone have any advice for building capital for their cleaning business? I am constantly having to turn down work when I get new contracts due to capital. I would like to avoid taking out a loan.

Answer:
Here's 7 things I would do to increase revenue/profits over the next 30 days.


1. Raise prices on my current customers: Sure you may lose a few due to the higher prices, but overall as long as your current clients are happy with your current work, you'll retain most of them and be operating at a higher profit overall.

2. If you don't already have a recurring component to your business, build a maintenance plan for clients that keeps them with you. Chasing new customers each month is tough. Knowing you have X amount of money in recurring revenue already booked for the month makes it a lot easier to make capital expenditure decisions.

3. Your biggest revenue potential is your current customer base 10 times over. Call/Text/Email every single client you've ever done business with that was happy with your work. Follow up and see how they're doing. Run a promotion for discounted service. Call it you're "end of year extravaganza". Tell them you're looking to help as many of your customers before year end and you only have so many slots available at these discounted rates. You'd love to fit them in before the holidays roll in.

4. If you don't have it already, build a referral engine to your business. Reward current customers and potential customers for bringing you business. $20 discount on their next service for every customer they bring you. 10% discount for everyone if their neighbors book same day service, etc.

5. Market heavily on Thumbtack or other similar lead gen source and offer your services at discounted prices. Sure it's lower profit work, but it's a much needed influx in overall capital that you can leverage down the line to higher ticket jobs. If you don't have the money for a paid source, post multiple times each day on Craigslist, Backpage, Gumroad, or other free listing service.

6. Offer an Incentive for your current teams with bonuses for great work. Use public reviews as a proxy for this. Give your teams a $10-20 bonus for each public review that team gets on big review platforms, i.e. Yelp, Google, Angie's List, Facebook. Public reviews are social currency for your business. Each one is worth well over the $10-20 (or more) your going to spend paying the bonus. It's important to align your goals with your teams goals. Your team goals might not always be additional money (though it often is). Find out what those goals are and build them into your business to benefit both of you.

7. Analyze where your dollars are spent each month and see if there's any cost savings to be had. This is the lowest on the totem pole for increasing profit, since the best answer is always to just bring in more work. Bringing in work is an ever expanding route whereas cutting costs is limited. You can only cut so far.

Utilizing all 7 of these methods will no doubt bring in a huge amount of revenue and additional profit to your business. As long as your doing quality work, it's impossible for this strategy not to work. Please note, only one element I listed costs any money out of pocket. Plus, I gave you a free option for this as well. There's no reason you should need to spend money to grow your service. Sure, paid marketing can grow your service faster, but exponential growth isn't a necessity. A little time investment rolling out each of these methods and a lot of hustle is all you need.

Great info, thanks! Just curious though, what other types of business ventures are you involved in?

 

[nzott]

Great info, thanks! Just curious though, what other types of business ventures are you involved in?

Most of my time is spent on a furnished rental business. There's a lot of stuff I currently do on it that could (and should) be outsourced. I just haven't done it to this point. Winter is the slow time for this though, so I'll have some time to spend back with the cleaning business.

Day to day, the cleaning business is usually just a daily update from my VA. Every so often I'll need to help with a quote or meet with a potential new hire.

I'm chewing on the idea of launching another local service in snow removal. Figure Home Cleaning is year round. Window Cleaning and Pressure Washing is spring, summer, and fall. I can finish out the seasons with snow removal. Snow removal I plan to brand as it's own service, so we'll see how it does.

 

[jon.a]

How about, rain gutter cleaning?

Most of my time is spent on a furnished rental business. There's a lot of stuff I currently do on it that could (and should) be outsourced. I just haven't done it to this point. Winter is the slow time for this though, so I'll have some time to spend back with the cleaning business.

Day to day, the cleaning business is usually just a daily update from my VA. Every so often I'll need to help with a quote or meet with a potential new hire.

I'm chewing on the idea of launching another local service in snow removal. Figure Home Cleaning is year round. Window Cleaning and Pressure Washing is spring, summer, and fall. I can finish out the seasons with snow removal. Snow removal I plan to brand as it's own service, so we'll see how it does.

 

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[nzott]

How about, rain gutter cleaning?

We offer gutter cleaning as an add on service with our Window Cleaning packages. It's not as actively searched as the other two, so we don't do any paid marketing specific to gutter cleaning, but we certainly let people know it's available.

 

[minivanman]

Some days I wake up and miss the cleaning business.... and then by mid-day that feeling goes away

 

[nzott]

Some days I wake up and miss the cleaning business.... and then by mid-day that feeling goes away

If you disliked it that much, you were involved too much.

 

[minivanman]

I didn't mind the business when I had it in the midwest. Once I moved to Texas.... my home state.... the people around here do not know how to work like the people in the midwest. So that WAS the problem. Down here I had to be involved. I know several cleaning business owners in this area and most have all sold out because of the workers around here. I have rules and ways to clean and if my ways are not met, I do not care to be in the cleaning business. I'm the same with every business I've been in. My favorite things to start is lawn mowing businesses. Quick to build and quick to sell. But I'm over that now too. lol Now I'm on cruise mode..... Doing what I want, when I want but it is all thanks to the cleaning business in the midwest. Good luck! Tons of profit in it.

 

[CPisHere]

I didn't mind the business when I had it in the midwest. Once I moved to Texas.... my home state.... the people around here do not know how to work like the people in the midwest. So that WAS the problem. Down here I had to be involved. I know several cleaning business owners in this area and most have all sold out because of the workers around here. I have rules and ways to clean and if my ways are not met, I do not care to be in the cleaning business. I'm the same with every business I've been in. My favorite things to start is lawn mowing businesses. Quick to build and quick to sell. But I'm over that now too. lol Now I'm on cruise mode..... Doing what I want, when I want but it is all thanks to the cleaning business in the midwest. Good luck! Tons of profit in it.

What kind of cleaning business did you have? Residential or Commercial? Tell us more about how you built it!

 

[minivanman]

It was residential. I started back when flyers were king. The only advertising I ever did was passing out flyers. That's basically it, nothing complicated at the time. I started with $3.17, a borrowed bottle of window cleaner, a borrowed bottle of shower cleaner, a vacuum that didn't suck.... really, it wouldn't suck a piece of dirt off the floor..... we cut up large towels for smaller rags and we arrived in the beautiful 1974 Nova that had the rear shocks rusted out so the wheel wells rubbed the tires and the whole exhaust was trashed. It was so loud I would kill it as far away from the customers house as I could and coast in so they wouldn't hear it..... until I had to start it to leave. lol

It grew fast and we had no plan. My girlfriend and I split about 1 year in to it so I started over again with 5 customers that she 'gave' me out of the darkness, eerrr, I mean kindness of her heart. So I started again, with no plan and some how it grew to 12-15 workers, depending on the day.

Through those years I learned what cleaned best and it turns out, the best cleaners are the cheapest. And then they came out with the Magic Eraser.... they cut our cleaning time by 1/3 which saved me lots of money on payroll. And then I found 100 Magic Erasers on Amazon for $7 which made my cost even less!!

My new found 'love' and I built the business and expanded to 3 cities before our love failed. We sold them and I then moved to Texas. But in Nebraska, I loved the cleaning business. The employees were so great, a few stay in contact and want me to come back and start another business there ~vs~ here in Texas = crap.

 

[HustleHard]

Incoming Information Dump my compadre's ...

4 years ago I wrote a case study on reddit on my $4k per month local business. I've since built that company into a multi-million dollar company and the redditors that followed are now doing a combined $50 million dollars per year! Updated case study and AMA. • r/Entrepreneur

DAY 26: From Zero to Website Launch-A recap of everything that got us here! • r/EntrepreneurRideAlong

Most recent posts — Rohan Gilkes

http://localcasestudy.com

Rohan Gilkes’ 27 Days to Building a Business Once and For All: Channels - 27 weeks coaching

http://www.maidsinblack.com

http://howardpartridge.com

NEW Rich Cleaner System Special Offer - Piranha Marketing Kit for Cleaners & Restorers by Joe Polish

Hiring agencies internal referrals how myclean gets worker. Company aquistion how to grow your company. Also Buy cleaning business contracts who are going out of business.

https://www.myclean.com/blog/we-bootstrapped-a-20k-house-cleaning-service-into-a-4-million-dollar-a-year-business/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2017/03/01/former-banker-revamps-cleaning-service-with-an.amp.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mixergy.com/interviews/juan-chaparro-karen-la-spina-gmaids-interview/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mixergy.com/interviews/rohan-gilkes-maidsinblack-interview/amp/

http://www.cleanguru.com

http://321mobi.com/janquest/

http://www.cleaningtalk.com/#/topics/2996?page=1

http://www.jondon.com/equipment-accessories/truck-mounts-and-accessories.html

https://www.myhousecleaningbiz.com/public/main.cfm

http://www.isetoday.com

https://www.quora.com/As-a-cleaning-company-owner-do-you-hire-or-contract-your-workers

http://cleaningbusinesstoday.com/blog/the-great-debate-employees-versus-independent-contractors

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/independent-contractors-avoid-classification-problems-35463.html

https://www.thejanitorialstore.com/public/Employees-or-Subcontractors-338-2.cfm

https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&client=ms-android-verizon&ei=1qsjWdjBKebLjwTDsJ6gBg&q=house+cleaning+mastermind+group&oq=house+cleaning+mastermind+group&gs_l=mobile-gws-serp.3...8780.10820.0.11179.8.8.0.0.0.0.259.1455.0j3j4.7.0....0...1.1j4.64.mobile-gws-serp..4.1.228...30i10k1.Cj_P-7svirg#xxri=2

http://arcsi.org

http://gary-goranson.blogspot.com/?m=1

http://www.powerwash.com/articles/add-on-pressure-washing-service.html

http://cleaningbusinesstoday.com/Mobile

http://themaidcoach.com/10-rules-for-success/

https://www.issa.com/member-benefits/arcsi.html#.WSYf6p8pDqC

http://online-cleaning-coach.com/start-a-cleaning-business-with-no-money/

http://sfs.jondon.com/guide/grow-cleaning-business

http://www.cleaningtalk.com/#/

https://www.truckmountforums.com

https://www.score.org

https://nationalproclean.com/start-a-janitorial-or-office-cleaning-service/

http://cleaningbusinessbuilders.com

http://cleaningbusinesstoday.com/blog/how-to-be-the-biggest-cleaning-business-in-town

https://speedcleaning.com

https://fundbox.com/blog/8-surefire-ways-grow-your-cleaning-business/

http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com

https://www.cleaning-4-profit.com/2013/10/27/how-to-make-more-money-with-your-cleaning-business/

http://www.city-data.com/forum/business/1975084-office-cleaning-profitable.html

http://cleaningbusinesstoday.com/blog/wealth-first


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/winniesun/2016/02/09/mattpaxton/amp/

https://www.myclean.com

https://mixergy.com/interviews/myclean-with-michael-scharf/

https://mixergy.com/interviews/michael-scharf-myclean-interview/#transcript

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7795676

http://howtostartcleaningbusiness.net/how-to-start-a-cleaning-business/


http://howtostartcleaningbusiness.net

https://www.cleaning-4-profit.com/2010/07/25/secret-to-wealth-cleaning-business/

http://www.advisoryhq.com/articles/how-to-start-a-cleaning-business/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/11/28/zig-ziglar-10-quotes-that-can-change-your-life/amp/

http://online-cleaning-coach.com/cleaning-contracts-for-sale/

http://www.manta.com/c/mm8c3y4/golden-services-inc

https://startupjungle.com/start-maid-service-business/

https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/i-sat-down-with-a-millionaire-who-operates-10-businesses-while-sailing-around-the-world-with-his-338929c4e8c9

 

[Bdenner64]

Incoming Information Dump my compadre's ...

4 years ago I wrote a case study on reddit on my $4k per month local business. I've since built that company into a multi-million dollar company and the redditors that followed are now doing a combined $50 million dollars per year! Updated case study and AMA. • r/Entrepreneur

DAY 26: From Zero to Website Launch-A recap of everything that got us here! • r/EntrepreneurRideAlong

Most recent posts — Rohan Gilkes

http://localcasestudy.com

Rohan Gilkes’ 27 Days to Building a Business Once and For All: Channels - 27 weeks coaching

http://www.maidsinblack.com

http://howardpartridge.com

NEW Rich Cleaner System Special Offer - Piranha Marketing Kit for Cleaners & Restorers by Joe Polish

Hiring agencies internal referrals how myclean gets worker. Company aquistion how to grow your company. Also Buy cleaning business contracts who are going out of business.

https://www.myclean.com/blog/we-bootstrapped-a-20k-house-cleaning-service-into-a-4-million-dollar-a-year-business/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2017/03/01/former-banker-revamps-cleaning-service-with-an.amp.html

How Gmaids Brought Online Tactics To An Industry Stuck Offline - with Juan Chaparro and Karen La Spina - Mixergy

Maids In Black: An Entrepreneurial Dilemma (Tech Or Non-Tech?) - with Rohan Gilkes - Mixergy

http://www.cleanguru.com

http://321mobi.com/janquest/

http://www.cleaningtalk.com/#/topics/2996?page=1

http://www.jondon.com/equipment-accessories/truck-mounts-and-accessories.html

https://www.myhousecleaningbiz.com/public/main.cfm

http://www.isetoday.com

https://www.quora.com/As-a-cleaning-company-owner-do-you-hire-or-contract-your-workers

http://cleaningbusinesstoday.com/blog/the-great-debate-employees-versus-independent-contractors

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/independent-contractors-avoid-classification-problems-35463.html

https://www.thejanitorialstore.com/public/Employees-or-Subcontractors-338-2.cfm

https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&client=ms-android-verizon&ei=1qsjWdjBKebLjwTDsJ6gBg&q=house+cleaning+mastermind+group&oq=house+cleaning+mastermind+group&gs_l=mobile-gws-serp.3...8780.10820.0.11179.8.8.0.0.0.0.259.1455.0j3j4.7.0....0...1.1j4.64.mobile-gws-serp..4.1.228...30i10k1.Cj_P-7svirg#xxri=2

http://arcsi.org

http://gary-goranson.blogspot.com/?m=1

http://www.powerwash.com/articles/add-on-pressure-washing-service.html

http://cleaningbusinesstoday.com/Mobile

http://themaidcoach.com/10-rules-for-success/

https://www.issa.com/member-benefits/arcsi.html#.WSYf6p8pDqC

http://online-cleaning-coach.com/start-a-cleaning-business-with-no-money/

http://sfs.jondon.com/guide/grow-cleaning-business

http://www.cleaningtalk.com/#/

https://www.truckmountforums.com

https://www.score.org

https://nationalproclean.com/start-a-janitorial-or-office-cleaning-service/

http://cleaningbusinessbuilders.com

http://cleaningbusinesstoday.com/blog/how-to-be-the-biggest-cleaning-business-in-town

https://speedcleaning.com

https://fundbox.com/blog/8-surefire-ways-grow-your-cleaning-business/

http://www.growmycleaningcompany.com

https://www.cleaning-4-profit.com/2013/10/27/how-to-make-more-money-with-your-cleaning-business/

http://www.city-data.com/forum/business/1975084-office-cleaning-profitable.html

http://cleaningbusinesstoday.com/blog/wealth-first


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/winniesun/2016/02/09/mattpaxton/amp/

https://www.myclean.com

https://mixergy.com/interviews/myclean-with-michael-scharf/

https://mixergy.com/interviews/michael-scharf-myclean-interview/#transcript

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7795676

http://howtostartcleaningbusiness.net/how-to-start-a-cleaning-business/


http://howtostartcleaningbusiness.net

https://www.cleaning-4-profit.com/2010/07/25/secret-to-wealth-cleaning-business/

http://www.advisoryhq.com/articles/how-to-start-a-cleaning-business/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/11/28/zig-ziglar-10-quotes-that-can-change-your-life/amp/

http://online-cleaning-coach.com/cleaning-contracts-for-sale/

http://www.manta.com/c/mm8c3y4/golden-services-inc

https://startupjungle.com/start-maid-service-business/

https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/i-sat-down-with-a-millionaire-who-operates-10-businesses-while-sailing-around-the-world-with-his-338929c4e8c9

Great, how much of this have you implemented? Where are you actually at? Reading about how to make a multi million $ cleaning business doesn't mean having one.

 

[HustleHard]

Commercial janitorial franchise.. Anyone doing this???

It most certainly is fastlane. I know of a gentleman that built a janitorial services company to just under $1billion in annual sales in under 10 years. He did it by buying other janitorial companies and rolling them into one. I've spent years as an Investment Banker, doing just want I described. Believe me, doing roll-ups is a VERY FASTLANE strategy. You can build massive wealth in under 5 years doing the above.
Cleaning Forum


cleanerr
•
207d
I used companies until i could find someone reputable.

Craigslist has companies advertising their services, you can send out a simple email saying.

"We're a premium service, we have an influx of clients, we'd pay higher than your rate, please let me know if you're interested"



GOLD! - Making Money For Dummies (And In a Crowded Market)



My Tips for Growing Your Business

How Tidy Casa Bootstrapped from $0 to $500k in 18 Months | Ep. 1 | Hidden Insights


https://mixergy.com/interviews/brian-scudamore-1800gotjunk-interview/#transcript

https://www.merrymaids.com/company-history/

Our Story: About the Molly Maid Cleaning Service Franchise

Is window cleaning a good business to get into

THE GRIM SWEEPER – MAKING A KILLING IN CRIME SCENE CLEAN-UP

https://www.thestar.com/life/2007/07/24/behold_the_grim_sweeper.html

http://plug-into-the-system.com/cleaning-business-facts.htm

http://www.cleaningconsultants.com/pages/semi.html

https://www.aromatherapynaturals.com/pages/cleaning-resources

https://www.aromatherapynaturals.com/pages/how-to-start-a-house-cleaning-business

http://www.backwoodshome.com/start-a-post-construction-cleaning-business/

http://www.fatcatcleaner.com

https://www.cleaner.com

http://cleaning-success.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/03/should-you-own-commercial-residential-or-both-types-of-cleaning-businesses.html


https://www.myhousecleaningbiz.com

http://www.cleaningbusinessnow.com

http://www.city-data.com/forum/business/1975084-office-cleaning-profitable.html

Question: most of the replies are from people that were self-employed or the people they know in this busines are self employed. All of which is not the same as owning a business.

Which do you want: A business or a job that you own.

For a business, it's very profitable. The profit margins are very high.

For a job that you own. You'll barely grow.

I know a guy, true story, that started a CLEANING BUSINESS back in 2002. He sold it for $400 million in 2012.

That's the difference between some one that starts a business and someone that does something "to keep food on the table". Both are not the same.

Source: Me. I've spent years managing big cleaning companies at the Senior management level.
The business is great but volatile. What I mean is, as soon as your customer gets a itch, their going to scratch it. Meaning, customers can be very "dumb". They'll change a cleaning company contract out in the blink of an eye. You're in a commoditybusiness. There is nothing unique about the service.....having said that........

You'll definitely want not only a sales person but a well defined organization. Management team on down. Be honest with yourself as it relates to what YOU want your role to be.

You're right, it's all about volume. So if you're thinking in those terms, the worst way to grow is by way of internal growth i.e- your sales team.

The biggest and most successful cleaning companies that I know of, all got there the same way--acquisitions. They started small and once the foundation was laid, they went on non-stop buying sprees. Instead of slugging it out in the marketplace trying to "steal" market share, they bought market share. Essentially, they bought all of their competitors as well as synergistic companies.

That's how you get big. Buy your growth. Companies like Coke, Google and Amazon get big by acquisitions, not selling products.

You will not get big by sending out sales teams to land new contracts. That will get you to a certain point than after that, you have to focus on buying other companies. That's how you get to a point to where you cash out after 10 years and go do something else.

IF IT WERE ME:

If I were to "start" a cleaning business today here is what I would do.

I would offer a PPM (Private Placement Memorandum) Essentially, you quietly soliciting private investors for capital. Lot's a of S.E.C. regulations to follow to do this. Consult your local securities lawyer.

After I secured about $2-$3 million in my fund. I'd used the funds to make down payments for purchases of cleaning companies. I'd structure my deals so the cash flow from the business will service the debt payments but no more than 50% of cash flow.

I would keep doing that over and over until I built up a big cleaning company than sell it to a Private Equity Group.

Buy it, grow it, sell it, Rinse and repeat.

That's not the traditional advice you're going to get from MOST business folks.

There are just to many ways to do it. I'll be doing something similar but NOT in the cleaning industry.
Anyone that has aspirations of starting and building a business, please do not listen to the folks that say it can't be done, or you need prior experience. YOU DON'T.

You're only limited by your own thinking. Having been and currently in the trenches( looking for companies to buy), many of you have no idea what the possibilities are. The opportunities are unbelievable.

Focus on designing business systems and building assets that offer value( there are 15 core assets for a business to build). The by product is ever increasing profits. Most people get in backwards--Fire, Ready, Aim.

The problem is, the new entrepreneur get's held down by:

1-Listening to people that have no idea what they're talking about
2-People giving advice and they have NO experience
3-Not creating HIGH CALIBER connections and contacts
4-Using sweat equity and disposable income to build a business
5-Listening to "Haters" on a forum.
6-Not spending money on EXPERTISE. (trying to figure it all out on your own)
Cleaning can be quite profitable. It's so unglamorous, there's less competition. Nobody really wants to start a janitorial cleaning business, let's be honest.

Mom and pop sized yet still substantial cleaning businesses may be available for sale at reasonable P/E multiples. Think of all the soon to be retirees that need to sell. We aren't talking tech companies here. 2, 3, 4, 5x earnings maybe. That makes it possible to rapidly grow through acquisitions, if financing can be secured as others mentioned on here. Treat it just like a real estate or other cash flow investment business. The numbers on the spreadsheet are what's important. If they can add up to your advantage, with a large degree of safety it's worth doing. It doesn't matter if some of the money is made cleaning toilets, or polishing door knobs on Judge's offices. Money is all the same, what matters is that the cash flows won't just disappear.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/commercial-janitorial-franchise-anyone-doing-this.38864/

It most certainly is fastlane. I know of a gentleman that built a janitorial services company to just under $1billion in annual sales in under 10 years. He did it by buying other janitorial companies and rolling them into one. I've spent years as an Investment Banker, doing just want I described. Believe me, doing roll-ups is a VERY FASTLANE strategy. You can build massive wealth in under 5 years doing the above.
If you were to come up with $800K("yours", investors or SPECIALIZED LENDERS), believe it or not, you could acquire a $100million/annual sales company. To answer your question. You'll use the profits from your "platform company" to reinvest in acquisitions. Buying 3-4 companies a year is not RAPID nor fast. That's what I like to call.... "about right".

Some Fortune 500 companies easily buy 12-15 companies a year. That's how MOST big companies become big. Google, Microsoft, Amazon....that's how they all get so massive. It's not purely demand for their products/services. ALL businesses have a plateau, ALL of them. You can only grow internally for so long. It's best to start off buying companies that way you don't hit your plateau to soon. There is a lot that goes on "behind the closed business door" that you'll never hear about unless you run in those business circles.

Most business books have people misdirected and confused about business and the way things are really done.

The least of concerns is the cash. There are dozens of ways to structure the deal to lessen capital outlay. DOZENS.

You can also raise private funding through private placements, etc.... I'll stop here because I could write an entire volume of books on buying companies.
http://danpena.com/your-first-100-million-html-format/ *

http://www.danlok.com/daniel-s-pena/ *
http://www.achrnews.com/articles/90302-what-8217-s-your-hvac-plumbing-business-worth


https://www.sweetprocess.com/systematized-transformed-home-cleaning-business-into-a-franchise-by-hiring-systems-consultants/

Wondering how to franchise your business? Do you want your small mom and pop type business to turn into a multi-million dollar franchise? It can happen, but it’s next to impossible without systems. Most small business owners have dreams to grow and reach millions in annual revenues, but they’re so tied up in the day-to-day tasks that there is no time to focus on systems.

http://danlokinnercircle.com


https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/scrub-daddy-is-shark-tank-biggest-success-2015-4
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/do-you-have-a-successful-entrepreneurial-premise.3056/


My advice to aspiring business owners is this: Quit looking around for money-making opportunities -- instead, look around outside of yourself, stop being selfish, and help your fellow man solve their problems.

If you can make 1,000,000 people achieve any of the following:

1) Make them feel better
2) Help them solve a problem
3) Educate them
4) Make them look better (health, nutrition, clothing, makeup)
5) Give them security (housing, safety, health)
6) Arise a positive emotion (love, happiness, laughter, self-confidence)
7) Satisfy appetites of all kind, from basic (food) to the risqué (sexual).
8) Make things easier
9) Enhance their dreams and give hope

Do any of the above and I can guarantee you this: You will be worth millions.

So, the next time you hear yourself trolling around for opportunities to make you money, sit back and ask yourself this ...

"What do I have to offer the world?"

Offer the world something of value and the money will be close behind.

http://cleaningbusinesstoday.com/blog/how-to-be-the-biggest-cleaning-business-in-town

You started with one location and today have two. What’s your process – your strategic leader thought process – when you’re considering “getting bigger” and what does that mean for you? To what do you attribute your fast growth?

SM: In 2008, two years after I booked my first cleaning job, I decided this should be a real business. I wasn’t cleaning any homes by then; I had hired part time people to help and had found my start-up resources: HouseCleaningBiz101.com, Debbie Sardone’s programs and ARCSI.
http://www.thelawofattraction.com/what-is-the-law-of-attraction/

Once we have come to understand the astounding possibilities that life has to offer us, we can also come to realize that we are like artists. We are creating pictures of our intended life and then making choices and taking actions that will realize what we envisaged.

So what if you don’t like the picture?

Change it!

Life is a blank canvas of possibility; you are in control of what the finished picture could look like.

The Law of Attraction really is that simple… no catches. All laws of nature are completely perfect and the Law of Attraction is no exception. No matter what you are looking to have or achieve or be in life, if you can hold onto an idea and see it for yourself in the mind’s eye, you can make it yours to have… with some effort on your part.