The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Starting A Cleaning Business

David Fitz

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
216%
Jan 30, 2020
347
751
Ireland
Background

Just finished reading TMF .

I followed the usual script. I got good grades at school, went to Uni and messed around for 3 years. After leaving Uni I worked in the legal profession as a paralegal on shit pay initially. I was then offered a training contract to fully qualify as a solicitor which I accepted, before realising that I didn't want to be in the legal profession for the rest of my life and I pulled out. Since then I've taken sales roles in IT firms, start-ups, banks and the last role I was doing until very recently was selling life insurance. Hands down the worse job I've ever done, literally had the moment MJ describes in his book, sat in a f*cking cubicle age 30 thinking "How did I get here?". I quit this job to focus on mental health and got sober after struggling with excessive drink/drugs for years. 4months clean. I'm not working right now, I have some savings, maybe like £10k, I recently finished a personal training course because until I read TMF I had this great plan to "do what I love". Now I'm not sure that is the best idea and might put it on the back burner for now.

My skills/assets

- sales skills/relationship building. I can connect with people in person and over the phone. But I'm sick of making someone else rich via selling
- some savings and relatively little outgoings
- good understanding of customer service
- passion for helping others and the knowledge that solving other peoples problems is what makes money

Idea

I think a cleaning business would be pretty easy to set up and could get the wheels turning for me. Equipment would be cheap, I'm good at cleaning and I actually enjoy it. I could do a part time sales role remotely while building this to keep regular money in. I would have no problem knocking on doors and pitching/handing out fliers, could print them off, set up a website easily enough. Read quite a bit of that on here. Read @Tubs posts on that. Also read @Andy Black's post about probably already knowing enough which I took quite a lot from. I definitely don't want to bury myself in excessive research for the next 6months in a library or trying to read every single post on the forum. However I'm also aware that it's obviously a bit unconventional for a 30yo guy to decide to start a home cleaning business. Also think it has issues with making sure people are in etc which @Johnny boy mentioned. I've thought about lawn care/gardening but I think equipment would be £££ initially. I can't help thinking that anything related to roofing would be sketchy in the UK weather.........could be wrong about that though. Still a lot to learn regarding marketing/google ads, I don't really know about any of that right now.

I don't want to waste time, I feel like I need to start something. I'm here to learn and execute ASAP.

Any suggestions/tips would be greatly appreciated, glad to be a part of this forum.

Don't make the same mistake as me and start a low skill low income business. I realized after about 3 years that the money is in skilled labour. Flood and fire damage, hard floor cleaning, carpets and upholstery, rugs and so on.

I'm changing my business up this year and already I can see the difference in income from the skilled work. There's also less people doing this type of work as you need training and you need to invest in equipment.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

2dads

The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
133%
May 27, 2021
100
133
BRISBANE, Australia
Mate great work, you have taken a lot of feedback and started!

Ride the wave and please update.

From doing cleaning my self, I have found a lot of work through sites like:

- Airtasker
- Work rabbit

Depending on you area, make sure you understand what they take (Commision) set high numbers and take photos at the start and end of any job.

Cleaning any glass? I have found metho and butcher paper a treat to leave no streaks. If you have not get a check list of tasks to complete on the clean:

- Spray shower with X
- Scrub shower with Y

It may seem simple but own these check lists, E- Myth revisited* (book) talks about procedures, start documenting and creating a system.

Lets say you grow your cleaning business - which I think you can. You need a way that some one who has very little cleaning experience can come in and do a sufficient job and to your standard in the shortest period of time.

It also means you can manage complaints when a customer says (shower was not done) and your worker has ticked all boxes that they have ownership and a system in place - I hope this makes sense.

Commercial cleaning - going into places and offering a weekly (before or after hours) clean is a great way to build up constant income, however just remember charge accordingly - your not a charity and don't allow a "master swap" - always have the balls to pull up and move on. Get a good list of customers who value you and your staff and GROW GROW GROW!
 

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
hard floor cleaning, carpets and upholstery, rugs and so on.
Thanks for your message David. Makes sense. I plan to move into these in the next few months once I've built up domestic customers and have regular money coming in, hopefully then I can give the general cleaning working to employee(s) leaving me to work on carpets. There are some equipment costs with carpet cleaning which I'm a little hesitant to spend on until I've got cash coming in. But it's definitely on my radar. For now my plan is to outsource the carpet cleaning when booked in with general cleaning and take 25%.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
Lets say you grow your cleaning business - which I think you can. You need a way that some one who has very little cleaning experience can come in and do a sufficient job and to your standard in the shortest period of time.

It also means you can manage complaints when a customer says (shower was not done) and your worker has ticked all boxes that they have ownership and a system in place - I hope this makes sense
This is a very good idea, thank you.

I'm not on TaskRabbit yet because the hourly rate they recommend I charge looks very low but I should probably get on there as well initially just to fill my diary.

And yes I need to remember the before and afters shots, one guy has just asked for those and thankfully I took a few last week so had some to send. But everyone else seems to have a lot more so need to build it up.
 

2dads

The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
133%
May 27, 2021
100
133
BRISBANE, Australia
This is a very good idea, thank you.

I'm not on TaskRabbit yet because the hourly rate they recommend I charge looks very low but I should probably get on there as well initially just to fill my diary.

And yes I need to remember the before and afters shots, one guy has just asked for those and thankfully I took a few last week so had some to send. But everyone else seems to have a lot more so need to build it up.

They can recommend what ever they want, you know your numbers - stay strong and make each job you win an actual win. Much easier to lower prices down the track then increase prices.

I did some lawns @ $75 at one stage, worked my a$$ of 3 hours

Got smart

Worked my a$$ of for 1.5 hours = $145.

Learnt my numbers and did not budge unless (I could learn - add to my portfolio) or wanted to keep busy that day

"You get what I am putting down?"
 

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
They can recommend what ever they want, you know your numbers - stay strong and make each job you win an actual win. Much easier to lower prices down the track then increase prices.

I did some lawns @ $75 at one stage, worked my a$$ of 3 hours

Got smart

Worked my a$$ of for 1.5 hours = $145.

Learnt my numbers and did not budge unless (I could learn - add to my portfolio) or wanted to keep busy that day

"You get what I am putting down?"
Yeah I get you. I think home service work is just better paid over there though not a chance I’m getting that sortve rate in UK. I’m more looking at like 15ph at the moment, maybe 25-30 for end of tenancy/deep cleans. £145 for 1.5hr general cleaning would be very high over here. A customer I spoke to yesterday thought 15 was too high so we didn’t do the deal
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

woken

Silver Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
145%
Mar 24, 2021
606
879
London, UK
Yeah I get you. I think home service work is just better paid over there though not a chance I’m getting that sortve rate in UK. I’m more looking at like 15ph at the moment, maybe 25-30 for end of tenancy/deep cleans. £145 for 1.5hr general cleaning would be very high over here. A customer I spoke to yesterday thought 15 was too high so we didn’t do the deal
And I see that the US is more inclined to :
“Here’s $150, get the job done”

and the UK:
“How much is per hour? How many hours?”

That way everyone keeps thinking you are stalling to get more hours in. Lose-lose scenario.
 

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
And I see that the US is more inclined to :
“Here’s $150, get the job done”

and the UK:
“How much is per hour? How many hours?”

That way everyone keeps thinking you are stalling to get more hours in. Lose-lose scenario.
Yeah it’s trickier for sure. Margins a lot thinner. Things change when the cleans get more specialist - like carpet cleaning - people seem to accept that there’s equipment/training costs so are more agreeable to job type pricing rather than by hour.
 

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
Last week:

Only two jobs last. £220 for the week so not great.

Felt like more of a pipeline/lead gen week. Set up a Facebook page.Tried some Facebook ads which someone offered to help me with. Called the leads that the ads received. I had a booking for this tomorrow but the guy cancelled cause he had to go into hospital for an operation of some sort. Anyway he wants weekly cleaning when he’s back next week. Then a guy who I quoted for his Air BnB business, said he needs someone up to twice a week, met him, hopefully he calls back this week. Also set up a meeting with a salon owner who says she needs cleaning twice a week, I meet with her Weds. All these look like potential regular £ but yet to materialise as of yet.

Today:

Better start to this week - £450 for a large end of tenancy clean today. My carpet guy took £125 - leaving me with £325. I’ve got 3hrs booked tomorrow but nothing booked in for rest of week. Hopefully those quotes come through.

I’ll probs try some more Facebook ads this week see what happens. I wanna get myself to £500pw ASAP. Realistically that’s not all that much but feel like that would be an important threshold to reach and then build on. I’m confident there is money to be made in cleaning in this city - I’ve just got to consistently find it. Need to start posting some flyers this week I’ve been lazy on that so far.

Still a lot to learn as well. Realising I can’t skimp on shit cleaning products, realising I have to give myself a set time limit per room otherwise I just lose track. And it’s super difficult to price some jobs sometimes - I know I’m leaving money on the table but at the same time I don’t wanna look as if I’m trying to rip them off. Some customers are prepared to pay good money, like the guy today, and it’s all chilled. Some people want your hourly rate and your minimum booking straight away and not a penny over, it’s a little more jarring. But yeah get me to 500pw consistently and I’ll be happy enough with that for first couple of months with just me cleaning. My financial investment in this is still very very low.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

2dads

The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
133%
May 27, 2021
100
133
BRISBANE, Australia
Great news Fasted with the wins, in regards to setting times in a room - you are 100% right. As some one who has done a little cleaning I would suggest at the start of the job (quoting etc) walking the rooms - writting down each room.

Draw a quick map of the area and break down of areas of concern.

Say Bed Room One - skuff marks on walls, mark those areas on the walls etc
Put down a time for the room - say it will take you 10mins to do the jobs in room - add 30% for the time, rather have a little more for the unforseen. 13 mins is for bed Room One.

After you do all the rooms you have a rough time allowed - Example:

Room 1 - vac floor, mop, dust, air freshner, scuff mark on wall (x on map) 13min
Room 2 - var floor, dust book shelf 13min
Room 3 -vac floor, mop, dust, air freshner, scuff mark on wall, empty bin 13 min
Kitchen - clean sink 26min
Bathroom 1 - .... 26min

Total time: XX mins

You not have a clear time frame, get a milk crate/clear box, hold some cleaning supplies and your work pad in right and have a small timer (egg timer etc)

Enter the room, set the timer and get to it. If you allow 13 mins to get it done, you will get it done. If you allow 30 mins, you will use those 30 mins. If you finish early, move onto the next room.

This is my 2 cents, this could also be a way to get the most out of your staff and sets it up as a challenge. As a cleaner, in most cases close enough is good enough and some one with OCD is not the cleaner you want *Great you spent 3 hours doing my sink and cleaning the grim - but what about the rest of the house??**
 

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
If you allow 30 mins, you will use those 30 mins.
Yup I’ve noticed this
the grim - but what about the rest of the house??**
Also fall victim to this sometimes and I’ve gotta watch for it. Like today I was cleaning this window panel when I realised I’d spent over five mins on a single panel trying to get it a absolutely perfect - wtf am I doing a need to move on - literally had a whole house to clean and I’m trying to get a speck of dust off
 

2dads

The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
133%
May 27, 2021
100
133
BRISBANE, Australia
Yup I’ve noticed this

Also fall victim to this sometimes and I’ve gotta watch for it. Like today I was cleaning this window panel when I realised I’d spent over five mins on a single panel trying to get it a absolutely perfect - wtf am I doing a need to move on - literally had a whole house to clean and I’m trying to get a speck of dust off


Me and my wife did the cleaning when had a go at it, She works smart and has a high level of common sense - I on the other hand have a little bit more slacker approach. Need to get it to a good enough level, also if the customer does complain take the feedback - right it down. If people keep complaining that you leave smudges on the glass, well - fix it - use a different spray, change your clothes etc until it fixes that issue.

Also flip the feedback, they may want a premium clean and want you there for 4 hours - if they are happy to pay you for that you both may have just had poor communication. Any feedback is good feedback.

Be selective of your customers - I have met some cool people over my time - people pay for service. Save 10-30% to deal with some half whit? Or pay some one who rocks up, get's it done and has a smile

I know which I would choose.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
Me and my wife did the cleaning when had a go at it, She works smart and has a high level of common sense - I on the other hand have a little bit more slacker approach. Need to get it to a good enough level, also if the customer does complain take the feedback - right it down. If people keep complaining that you leave smudges on the glass, well - fix it - use a different spray, change your clothes etc until it fixes that issue.

Also flip the feedback, they may want a premium clean and want you there for 4 hours - if they are happy to pay you for that you both may have just had poor communication. Any feedback is good feedback.

Be selective of your customers - I have met some cool people over my time - people pay for service. Save 10-30% to deal with some half whit? Or pay some one who rocks up, get's it done and has a smile

I know which I would choose.
Never had any negative feedback. I leave the place looking mint. But I’ve gone over on jobs sometimes by a full half hour so I say my bad I’ll just accept what we agreed as the price because it was me being inefficient. Obviously they’re not gonna complain about that but I know I’m shooting myself in the foot.

So far not had any half wits as such. But there’s one guy who bartered with me for an end of tenancy so I did a clean that was satisfactory to the price he paid and not the price I wanted for the job. He asked me back last week so we just wanted a non premium clean I think. One woman wanted a 3 bed shit show cleaned in 2 hours so I didn’t bother with that one. Actually she was probably the closest to half wit ive dealt with.
 

2dads

The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
133%
May 27, 2021
100
133
BRISBANE, Australia
Never had any negative feedback. I leave the place looking mint. But I’ve gone over on jobs sometimes by a full half hour so I say my bad I’ll just accept what we agreed as the price because it was me being inefficient. Obviously they’re not gonna complain about that but I know I’m shooting myself in the foot.

So far not had any half wits as such. But there’s one guy who bartered with me for an end of tenancy so I did a clean that was satisfactory to the price he paid and not the price I wanted for the job. He asked me back last week so we just wanted a non premium clean I think. One woman wanted a 3 bed shit show cleaned in 3 hours so I didn’t bother with that one. Actually she was probably the closest to half wit ive dealt with.

Sounds like you got this sorted, few months you can grow this puppy and put a staff member to do some of your work.

Grow it up - set some procedures and market it to your customer.

Get some solid numbers and profit and SELL or keep it going
 

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
£540 this week. Relatively pleased with that as I'd set £500 as a short term goal.

I've set up Stripe to start taking a small appointment booking fee when they agree over the phone. Had a couple of flakes from Facebook ads this week and think this could be avoided if I get a deposit from them. Gonna try and target customers that want end of tenancy cleans with facebook ads this week, see if I can hit that niche. Tenancy cleans are the bulk of the money I make right now. If I could get 3 end of tenancies per week that'd be like £750pw. That should be my next goal 750pw.

tl;dr edit: will set up a website this week and stopping faffing around.

Not sure what I should be spending money on next. I'm gonna order some polo shirts tomorrow with my logo on, try and look a bit more professional. Other than that I know I could get a website set up pretty cheap to take bookings/payments. Could link that on my facebook page which would make me look more legit. I looked at google ads but I have to set it up as legit Ltd to do that and that might not be the best idea for me at the moment if it means I have to do accounts/tax and shit. Or maybe I should just start it as a Ltd now, I'm obviously going to have to do it at some stage if I want to scale and grow this.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

2dads

The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
133%
May 27, 2021
100
133
BRISBANE, Australia
£540 this week. Relatively pleased with that as I'd set £500 as a short term goal.

I've set up Stripe to start taking a small appointment booking fee when they agree over the phone. Had a couple of flakes from Facebook ads this week and think this could be avoided if I get a deposit from them. Gonna try and target customers that want end of tenancy cleans with facebook ads this week, see if I can hit that niche. Tenancy cleans are the bulk of the money I make right now. If I could get 3 end of tenancies per week that'd be like £750pw. That should be my next goal 750pw.

tl;dr edit: will set up a website this week and stopping faffing around.

Not sure what I should be spending money on next. I'm gonna order some polo shirts tomorrow with my logo on, try and look a bit more professional. Other than that I know I could get a website set up pretty cheap to take bookings/payments. Could link that on my facebook page which would make me look more legit. I looked at google ads but I have to set it up as legit Ltd to do that and that might not be the best idea for me at the moment if it means I have to do accounts/tax and shit. Or maybe I should just start it as a Ltd now, I'm obviously going to have to do it at some stage if I want to scale and grow this.

Great week mate, start saving some cash for bussiness ventures (items you will need) don't let this money burn a hole in your pocket. I would do the below if not already been done:

Get a magnet sticker done - large for your car (can be ordered online) - when you get to jobs put these on the front or back of your car. You can leave them on all the time however this is up to yourself. Cheap alternative before you can get sign writting or wrapping on your car. (SHOW PEOPLE YOUR BRAND WHILE YOU DRIVE AND PARK AT JOBS)

Get 2 - 3 nice polo shirts with you logo on them, you don't need and more at this stage. Get breathable and buy quality (local place in which you could support) - drop of some cards to them as well. (BUILD YOUR BRAND & MAKE IT CLEAR - YOUR ARE THE REAL DEAL)

Do up some flyers with X% discount on them - smallest amount and when your done a job hit the street / units next door and on other side of the road = 3 to 5 houses near by to your client.

I would have each one have a blank space on the flyer saying something like:

Hello Bob from XY Cleaning here,

I was in _____(BLANK; TESSMAN STREET) Today working with one of your neighbors. (ALSO SHOWS IT IS NOT JUST BULK MARKING - HAND WRITTING of streets gives a bit more a personal feel)

Please find a list of the services we offer and 10% of your first clean when you surrender this flyer.


A potential client see's you walking in to his/her neighbor. - "oh ok XY Cleaning - wonder how expensive they are?"

You look the part, he goes out and see's your car or van with signage. - "XY Cleaning, thats the guys doing next door"

Letter box drop " Oh that was Bob from XY Cleaning next door I saw, they do House and Bond Cleans, I need a bond clean. Wow - 10% off"

What your trying to do is build your trust with a customer on a scale in which if 10% of your efforts are rewarded you will gain more and more business. & hopefully the ideal customer:

You do 10 jobs a month, you drop of 5 pamphlets and have a lead rate of 10% = 5 new lead, say you get half on board = new 2 customers in a month. Now that is saying you hand out only 5 pantalets at a job, say you double that or triple this in a unit complex.

Those are 3 little changes I would consider - I hope this made sense, writing this on the fly.

best of luck and keep on it mate
 

Private Witt

Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Feb 20, 2018
984
2,168
Oklahoma
I only use a cleaning service when I move out of a place but I'm pondering for the first time using one regularly for a temp time in the States as Ive had significant injury issues and may be in PT awhile. Do you see old and feable people using your service? In 10 to 20 years I'm for sure going to need regular cleaning service as my back is already torked without these injuries and gonna be way worse. Target areas where older people got money if possible.
 

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
Great week mate, start saving some cash for bussiness ventures (items you will need) don't let this money burn a hole in your pocket. I would do the below if not already been done:

Get a magnet sticker done - large for your car (can be ordered online) - when you get to jobs put these on the front or back of your car. You can leave them on all the time however this is up to yourself. Cheap alternative before you can get sign writting or wrapping on your car. (SHOW PEOPLE YOUR BRAND WHILE YOU DRIVE AND PARK AT JOBS)

Get 2 - 3 nice polo shirts with you logo on them, you don't need and more at this stage. Get breathable and buy quality (local place in which you could support) - drop of some cards to them as well. (BUILD YOUR BRAND & MAKE IT CLEAR - YOUR ARE THE REAL DEAL)

Do up some flyers with X% discount on them - smallest amount and when your done a job hit the street / units next door and on other side of the road = 3 to 5 houses near by to your client.

I would have each one have a blank space on the flyer saying something like:

Hello Bob from XY Cleaning here,

I was in _____(BLANK; TESSMAN STREET) Today working with one of your neighbors. (ALSO SHOWS IT IS NOT JUST BULK MARKING - HAND WRITTING of streets gives a bit more a personal feel)

Please find a list of the services we offer and 10% of your first clean when you surrender this flyer.


A potential client see's you walking in to his/her neighbor. - "oh ok XY Cleaning - wonder how expensive they are?"

You look the part, he goes out and see's your car or van with signage. - "XY Cleaning, thats the guys doing next door"

Letter box drop " Oh that was Bob from XY Cleaning next door I saw, they do House and Bond Cleans, I need a bond clean. Wow - 10% off"

What your trying to do is build your trust with a customer on a scale in which if 10% of your efforts are rewarded you will gain more and more business. & hopefully the ideal customer:

You do 10 jobs a month, you drop of 5 pamphlets and have a lead rate of 10% = 5 new lead, say you get half on board = new 2 customers in a month. Now that is saying you hand out only 5 pantalets at a job, say you double that or triple this in a unit complex.

Those are 3 little changes I would consider - I hope this made sense, writing this on the fly.

best of luck and keep on it mate

Great week mate, start saving some cash for bussiness ventures (items you will need) don't let this money burn a hole in your pocket. I would do the below if not already been done:

Get a magnet sticker done - large for your car (can be ordered online) - when you get to jobs put these on the front or back of your car. You can leave them on all the time however this is up to yourself. Cheap alternative before you can get sign writting or wrapping on your car. (SHOW PEOPLE YOUR BRAND WHILE YOU DRIVE AND PARK AT JOBS)

Get 2 - 3 nice polo shirts with you logo on them, you don't need and more at this stage. Get breathable and buy quality (local place in which you could support) - drop of some cards to them as well. (BUILD YOUR BRAND & MAKE IT CLEAR - YOUR ARE THE REAL DEAL)

Do up some flyers with X% discount on them - smallest amount and when your done a job hit the street / units next door and on other side of the road = 3 to 5 houses near by to your client.

I would have each one have a blank space on the flyer saying something like:

Hello Bob from XY Cleaning here,

I was in _____(BLANK; TESSMAN STREET) Today working with one of your neighbors. (ALSO SHOWS IT IS NOT JUST BULK MARKING - HAND WRITTING of streets gives a bit more a personal feel)

Please find a list of the services we offer and 10% of your first clean when you surrender this flyer.


A potential client see's you walking in to his/her neighbor. - "oh ok XY Cleaning - wonder how expensive they are?"

You look the part, he goes out and see's your car or van with signage. - "XY Cleaning, thats the guys doing next door"

Letter box drop " Oh that was Bob from XY Cleaning next door I saw, they do House and Bond Cleans, I need a bond clean. Wow - 10% off"

What your trying to do is build your trust with a customer on a scale in which if 10% of your efforts are rewarded you will gain more and more business. & hopefully the ideal customer:

You do 10 jobs a month, you drop of 5 pamphlets and have a lead rate of 10% = 5 new lead, say you get half on board = new 2 customers in a month. Now that is saying you hand out only 5 pantalets at a job, say you double that or triple this in a unit complex.

Those are 3 little changes I would consider - I hope this made sense, writing this on the fly.

best of luck and keep on it mate
@2dads mate this is sick I have pm'ed you
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

p0stscript

Silver Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
184%
Feb 7, 2018
334
616
63
UK
Come come across this @Fasted , Welcome and all the best with your business. Some great info has been given to you and I see you are taking it on board. @2dads has already covered what I would advise plus much more , and learn from @Johnny boy he was an inspiration when my wife and I started our domestic cleaning service.
All I will add is if you haven't done so already get registered as trader with inland revenue, the gov.uk site is useful for information re small businesses and they don't bite (in fact during lockdown the grants were nice to receive).
Also Lidl and Aldi sell some excellent cleaning products.
 

MattR82

Gold Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
178%
Oct 4, 2015
1,394
2,480
41
Brisbane
I like this thread! It's interesting to hear how much opportunity is out there in service businesses.

I know someone that got a small franchise for commercial cleaning and is doing really well out of it. It seems like small to medium sized offices/contracts is a really nice sweet spot as far as profit margin goes, and that the downturn from less office space being used during the pandemic was somewhat offset by businesses needing to get more serious about cleaning to stay covid compliant etc. I literally just read this interview about it today.

I know franchise is a dirty word still lol, but maybe there's some interesting info in there for you.

 

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
Come come across this @Fasted , Welcome and all the best with your business. Some great info has been given to you and I see you are taking it on board. @2dads has already covered what I would advise plus much more , and learn from @Johnny boy he was an inspiration when my wife and I started our domestic cleaning service.
All I will add is if you haven't done so already get registered as trader with inland revenue, the gov.uk site is useful for information re small businesses and they don't bite (in fact during lockdown the grants were nice to receive).
Also Lidl and Aldi sell some excellent cleaning products.
Thanks buddy I appreciate that. Are you still in the cleaning business?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
I like this thread! It's interesting to hear how much opportunity is out there in service businesses.

I know someone that got a small franchise for commercial cleaning and is doing really well out of it. It seems like small to medium sized offices/contracts is a really nice sweet spot as far as profit margin goes, and that the downturn from less office space being used during the pandemic was somewhat offset by businesses needing to get more serious about cleaning to stay covid compliant etc. I literally just read this interview about it today.

I know franchise is a dirty word still lol, but maybe there's some interesting info in there for you.

Thank you. I'll check that interview see if I can pick anything up. I've not niched down yet but I know I'll need to at some point. At the moment I'm literally doing domestic, commercial, airbnb, end of tenancies, but know I'll need to position myself in the market at some point, just not exactly sure on which is going to be the best bet just yet.
 

p0stscript

Silver Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
184%
Feb 7, 2018
334
616
63
UK
Thanks buddy I appreciate that. Are you still in the cleaning business?
Finished last year, covid lockdown changed our outlook (we are both in our sixties and no longer need the business as such). Not that business had slowed, in fact the opposite it seems that during lockdown, when we couldn't visit homes, instead of realising they could do it themselves clients wanted cleaners even more and appreciated what was done. In the end though we missed the free time we had experienced together in 2020, and whilst we continued cleaning for all of our clients once restrictions were lifted in the end we basically gave the custom away to the other cleaners to carry on with as they wished.
 

Boogie

Bronze Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
219%
Nov 27, 2014
202
442
Midwest, USA
One of my dad's best friends (who is long dead, btw, this was a few decades ago now) was a chiropractor who added in a cleaning business as his second business. He didn't do any of the cleaning himself as far as I know.

One interesting tidbit: When we traveled with him, he always used a fake name so nobody could trace his activities. I don't know why. Maybe he did some work with cash under the table. He used to travel to Vegas a lot. I don't think he was mob connected.

His relevance to the discussion is that he niched down into cleaning banks and that seemed to be very profitable for him at the time. I have no idea if that's still true. But at least the contract would have been a 6 day per week service for each bank.

Ultimately, he left chiropractic and lived on what his crews made for him.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
A

ANON04803

Guest
In my opinion you could run the risk of violating "the commandment of entry" (Mj DeMarcos´s book :" the fastlane millionare"). It does not take very much to get started with a business like a cleaning agency. So lots of other competitors have already flooded the market and are likely to do so in the future. So profit could be competed away. On the one hand cleaning is something everybody requires but the entry level to get in as a company or freelancer is very low if not non-existant.

In my mind there are 3 kinds of markets:

the first one is already saturated and you can only take away market shares from competitors if you´re better or cheaper.

the second is a market that is about to emerge and ideally you are one of the first to establish dominance in the early stage.

And the third one is a market that is completely new and created by only you.
 

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
the first one is already saturated and you can only take away market shares from competitors if you´re better or cheaper.
This is my market. What I'm essentially doing is skewing value which is also discussed in the book. It does violate "entry" fully aware of that, to be honest that's one of the reasons I was able to get in so quick and start making money. I'm aware it's not truly fastlane but that does not mean it's not worth doing if I can get in, make money and not have to work for somebody else. All about the value skew.
 

Fasted

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Dec 18, 2021
96
168
UK
@2dads its going to be £325 this week and around the same for last week. Not where I’d like it to be but it’s taking a little longer than I expected to get my appointments filled with regular repeat customers. End of tenancy are great and all but they’re one and done type jobs you don’t see them again.

Just started using bark.Com for my leads and hoping for some more traction there. Gumtree has dropped off severely so gotta look at other ways to find customers. Already signed up two regular customers from bark so it might be worth the spend, we’ll see. Haven’t seen much from the flyers, not entirely surprised by that but will keep at it, I’ve bought enough of them lol.

Closed a £500 deal from a Facebook ad lead last week that was really encouraging, just received his deposit, will be a days work. It’s in a couple of week so that should pump this months earnings a bit.

There’s lots of customers that need this service. But I can’t be too shy on the marketing spend otherwise I’ll never find them. It’s taken me a while to get my head around the spend £ to earn £££ mindset with marketing/sales but I think I’m getting there. Particularly if I look at lifetime value of that customer it’s easier for me to see that the marketing CPL is in fact quite small.
 

MattR82

Gold Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
178%
Oct 4, 2015
1,394
2,480
41
Brisbane
@2dads its going to be £325 this week and around the same for last week. Not where I’d like it to be but it’s taking a little longer than I expected to get my appointments filled with regular repeat customers. End of tenancy are great and all but they’re one and done type jobs you don’t see them again.

Just started using bark.Com for my leads and hoping for some more traction there. Gumtree has dropped off severely so gotta look at other ways to find customers. Already signed up two regular customers from bark so it might be worth the spend, we’ll see. Haven’t seen much from the flyers, not entirely surprised by that but will keep at it, I’ve bought enough of them lol.

Closed a £500 deal from a Facebook ad lead last week that was really encouraging, just received his deposit, will be a days work. It’s in a couple of week so that should pump this months earnings a bit.

There’s lots of customers that need this service. But I can’t be too shy on the marketing spend otherwise I’ll never find them. It’s taken me a while to get my head around the spend £ to earn £££ mindset with marketing/sales but I think I’m getting there. Particularly if I look at lifetime value of that customer it’s easier for me to see that the marketing CPL is in fact quite small.
Are you looking at commercial cleaning as well, like small offices attached to showrooms or industrial areas, gyms etc?
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top