You voted on our poll last month and we listened so we are bringing you 5 new business ideas for November, all of them with our take on how you can go from unemployed to owner of your very own company. We have direct experience with each of these 5 strategies we are bringing you and know it can work as long as you put in the hard work. I have over a 100 ideas to share which I am sure we could all use but I am trying to stay focused on ideas that do not require a specific skill in order to get involved. In other words, I won’t tell you to open a dance studio, as it requires funding and requires you to be a great dancer.
Our first home business idea is one that enables you to take your work in multiple directions to expand and attract many clients in a short period of time…
Start a Commercial/Residential Cleaning Business
Initial Cost: Less than $1000
Secondary Costs: Insurance, licensing, needed maintenance, website
Potential First Year Income: $50,000+
Dollar earned per job: $100+
Main form of Advertisement: Realtor Networking, Apartment leasing agents, Yellow pages, Directories, and Website
What the job entails:
You offer cleaning and touch up services for apartments and homes for sale. Basically you will be offering cheap services to Realtors to clean and recondition the homes and apartments that are listed for sale or rent in between tenants. If a tenant leaves an apartment, you would come in and clean the place, as well as shampoo carpets and touch up paint where needed. You could offer the same service for homes that are foreclosed or have just lost their renter. The idea is to charge only $100-$200 per place as the leasing office or Realtor will not want to lose that much up front with no guarantee of payback. The reason they don’t already call on companies is because of the cost. You can also push further services like carpet cleaning, painting and touch up in both residential and commercial properties.
How will you be successful:
You will need to purchase some good equipment such as a a steam cleaner, carpet shampoo and all your basic painting and cleaning agents. You will also need a separate cell phone that is always on. Make sure to network amongst many Realtor and Leasing offices, the more the better. Have a price sheet with basic services and offer significant discounts to those that will hire you for multiple locations or will give you an exclusive contract. Offer cheaper prices up front and also have “A La Carte” deals for homes that don’t need it all. The baseline is to sell yourself cheap and get more volume until volume exceeds your ability to meet deadlines. Once that occurs your prices go up and you can hire 1-2 helpers at very low costs.
The secret to success:
The concept is simple and doesn’t require much thinking, but hard work and the dedication to actually making work is very needed. Most people give up because they end up getting discouraged as they don’t get much work their first 2-3 weeks. The networking part and investing your time are key components that will allow you to grow into this role. Also keep in mind that keeping your phone on all the time will give you the opportunity to not miss on any type of job. Cleaning companies of smaller scales are usually very bad at answering phones and therefore never do. Being available, offering low rates and being willing to work will give you the results you seek.
Join me next week when I unveil how you can cook your way into 6 figures…
