When it comes to starting up any business, the key to being successful is being patient. You can’t expect your business to thrive straight away, and you can’t expect it to be successful if you don’t do plenty of research. If you don’t know what will work well, then how can you expect your business to run well? Many people like the idea of running a low-cost business like a cleaning business. However, because it is fairly simple to start up, competition is tough, as the industry is already dominated by many small businesses.
If you are seriously considering starting up your own cleaning business, then you need to make sure that you are prepared to work hard. You’ll need to have a clear idea of what your business plan is, and you need to carve a niche for yourself. You need to make sure that you do something that can help your business stand out from the crowd. What makes your cleaning business different from the rest? How are you better than the others? These are all things that you need to think about if you are planning on starting a cleaning business.
Residential, Commercial or Specialised?
The first thing that you will need to do, is determine what type of cleaning company you’re going to be specialise in. Is your cleaning company going to focus on residential, commercial or specialised cleaning? The main two types of cleaning are residential and commercial cleaning. Residential (or domestic cleaning) involves cleaning people’s homes and can be started by you as soon as you secure some clients. Commercial cleaning is a bit different because you’ll need a team of people to clean the office (as commercial properties tend to be larger office buildings).
This means that your role will take a more managerial role, rather than as an actual cleaner. Once you have decided between these two forms of cleaning, you also need to decide if you will specialise in anything. Will you be able to clean windows, or be a carpet cleaning company? Perhaps you could also offer a car wash as part of your service (which can be useful for both commercial and residential). Consider what skills you have, and then go into the market which you will be best suited for – there’s no point going into a specific market if you don’t have the skill for it.
Research Your Market
When you are thinking about what skills you have, you need to also consider how they will benefit your potential clients. The only way to do this is to make sure that you research your market. Researching the market and local area will help determine the type of cleaning company that you should start. For example, if you are planning on starting a residential company, then you need to make sure that the people in the local area are financially able to pay for someone else to do their domestic chores.
Likewise, for a commercial cleaning, you need to make sure that there are enough viable contracts to make your business successful. When you are doing your market research as well, you will also be able to figure out what your prices should be. You could always try posing as prospective clients and ring up the local competition in your area. You will want to make sure that your pricing point is competitive, whilst also ensuring that you will still make a nice profit from it.
Create a Business Plan
Your business won’t be successful if you don’t have a good business plan. This is why doing things like researching your market will hugely benefit you. You will also need to make sure that you have a budget in mind. You will need to consider things like the cost of the equipment that you are going to use, how you are going to market your business and how much you can afford to spend on hiring people. If you don’t have a plan for this, then your business is likely to fail.
Right from the very beginning you need to think about your long-term plans for your business. For example, are you happy for your business to slowly grow organically and that you can keep in control of or would it be better to franchise straight away (particularly if you are planning on hitting the ground running straight away)? Whatever you decide, just make sure that you have planned it all out, as this way your business has a better chance of being successful. If you would like more tips on starting up a small business, you can check out this article here.
