Pristine Pixie

Hello all!

Very informative forum - I'm learning a lot here.

I am in the process of starting a residential cleaning business. I already have two clients. I'm getting insured and bonded before I actually start working (that's happening this week, hopefully).

However...I work full-time right now, so I am starting this on a part-time basis (nights & weekends). I really want to quit my day job, but I'm a single mother and need stable income. I have 6 months' worth of living expenses in the bank. I've done market research and know there is a huge demand for cleaning services in my area. I know a local woman who started her cleaning business part-time, and was able to quit her day job within weeks. Ten years later, she's so busy she has to turn away work.

Have any of you started a cleaning business while working full-time in a non-related field? My daughter is almost 18 and wants to do this business with me (it was her idea, actually!). I think this will be a great thing for us to do together, at least until she finishes high school and maybe while she's in college.

I'm afraid that continuing to work my "day job" will interfere with my ability to really succeed in this business. Sure, I know of one person who was able to do this part-time and quit her day job within weeks, but is that the norm?

Any ideas or advice will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

rtcarpetech

I know how it is wanting to quit the day job. As you've probably experienced, it's not an easy thing to do until you business picks up. It's all about the marketing of your business. Don't let the word marketing scare you off. People often associate it with big corporate advertising campaigns. There are cheap/free options. The biggest is to give great service. Give your clients a coupon to refer a friend. If they like what you do, and especially if they are given incentive, they won't hold back on telling all of their friends about your great service.

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Pristine Pixie

Thankfully, marketing is my strong suit. I'm very outgoing and love to talk to people and am not shy at all.

I'm concerned about my day job taking up too much of my time. :( I can't help feeling like if I want this to really work, I'm going to have to take that risk and quit my day job.

Any thoughts? My best friend owns a business and she says I should quit my job and jump right in. I tend to agree but that fear is still there...

allwinners

Wow its been a while since I was here, and it is good to pop back in and see what is happening.

I can relate to this situation as well, and although in my case it was commercial contracts not domestic, the urge to quit my day job was very high. I had two commercial contracts that I worked 3 days a week, (nights and weekend) and combined they were bringing in around $600 a week. However that was gross income and costs would have been around 20% of that total.

I resisted the urge to quit my $800 a week job just in case those two contracts went belly up, and it was actually when I secured my fifth contract that I finally handed in my notice at work.

I think the feedback you have received thus far is fine, but it is only one way to look at things. Facing the worst possible scenario, and we are still in the throes of a depression of sorts, what would happen if you threw in your job, built up a few more clients, and then the bottom fell out of your business? Would you be able to re-enter the workforce without too much hassle? If your answer is yes, then maybe quitting and devoting 100% attention to your new business is the way to go.

Remember that the domestic cleaning market can be fickle. As quickly as word will spread from one satisfied client to other potential clients, bad news will travel even faster. Meaning that if all your customers come from referral channels, and something happens to disappoint the original referral, will your business be able to sustain a mass exodus?

This is why I stuck with commercial clients. It meant I had written agreements with each one, and I could not lose the contracts unless I did something to breach one of the conditions. Even then, I had a way to rectify things before the contracts could be terminated. Having the written contracts was a lot more secure than having verbal contracts with people who can change their minds from one moment to the next.

thoroughmaintenance

I would urge you not to quit your day job just yet. The market is quite a bit soft, at least on the West coast. I have lost 2 clients in the past month and I have been in business 27 years. It is not as easy to secure new clients as it was a few years ago. However, when I started my business, times were a little soft too. So, anything is possible if you put in the effort! I just say, make sure you are certain of the waters before taking the plunge. Best of luck!

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jaycar

yes, i agree with everyone who said dont quit your day job just yet. Wait until you can live off what you are earning with your business and not just paying for running costs. that may take quite some time but I guess it all depends on how much effort you put into it initially. Just be patient above all else and stick with it.

Good luck.

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tsbuckets

Good for you to get out there on your own, even better to work with your daughter.

I agree with everyone here, the urge to quit the JOB (Just Over Broke) is very strong but work your job at least a year....honestly, I worked my job and the company for 18 months before I slowed down at my "real" job.....just because every now and then the market does got soft and that extra little bit of income comes in very, very handy.....

Best of luck to you and please keep us informed of your progress!!!

Pristine Pixie

I am back - and I did it - I resigned from my day job!

I knew it was time when I received an offer to bid on a major contract here. I didn't bid because I wasn't ready at the time, but I took it as a sign that I'm getting good exposure and should pursue this full-time.

Oh, and a local news channel called me because they like my website and want to do an online feature on my business.

So, here I go! I'm looking forward to spending more time around here so I can learn as much as possible from all of you.

Happy New Year! I wish all of you tremendous success!

alphacleaning2009

I think it may take you between 6 month and a year before you can get a stable income from your business. It depends how hard you try and what kind of income is satisfactory for you.

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Mighti

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Ranger

I'm thinking I have a ways to go before I can take the leap

Sharbysyd

Pixie,

Congrats on being able to leave your day job and on doing so well.

We quit our day jobs right before starting our business because we had the opportunity to do so after my mom passed away and we wanted to be able to focus totally on the business.

It was almost a year before we started taking draws and shortly after that we were able to pretty much live off what we were taking in.

I noticed that you are from Southeastern VA. I went to Pearisburg on vacation for the last two years. Are you anywhere near there? I believe it's near Radford. I remember it was near Pulaski County. I loved it there.

Sharon

bahousecleaning

For me it was hard to grow the business while I was working full time and it grew very slowly. Then I had my daughter who is now two and I have since went back to the regular job. I don't do the cleaning myself, my mom and aunt do most cleanings and then a few other family members when help is needed. I mainly do all the day to day business task and I love it. I do most of what I did at my job before only part time, spend time with my daughter and still make more than I did at my job.

I love what I do and wouldnt change it for anything. This business has allowed me to stay home with my daughter and enjoy the first years of her life which is priceless!

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Pristine Pixie

Thanks!

I'm in the Virginia Beach area. Pulaski County is in SW VA - beautiful area! A few of my friends have children who are students @ Radford University.

Pristine Pixie

This is great to hear - thanks for sharing! I'm very excited about this. I feel really good about my decision. I live in an area with loads of vacation rentals. I'm researching the best ways to market my business for vacation rental move in/move outs.

bahousecleaning

How about going to the management companies of the rentals and handing in information about your cleaning services or Craigslist for some immediate work.

Do you have a website?

Also other classifieds sites like Craigslist are OLX, Backpage, eBay Classifieds, etc.

While personally I've never handed out flyers people say it works.

I get all of my work through our website and website is a must for your business.

What area are you in?

Anita

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Danna

I left my full-time job in December so that I could launch my newly formed house cleaning business. It wasn't possible for me to work Mon-Fri and clean residential properties at the same time so after careful consideration, I just went ahead and took the plunge. I like that I can advertise and immediately schedule any new clients. My expectation is that I won't even come close to what I made at my full-time job for several months, but I am doing some local advertising to get the word out about my new business.

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Pristine Pixie

I'm going to go out and meet the rental management people.

I thought about Craigslist, but wow - there are pages and pages of housecleaners there. I'm guessing most are not bonded and insured (and definitely some "trunk-slammers"), because when I conducted market research for my business plan, there weren't many competitors who offer services similar to mine.

I have a website, but want to improve it. Working on that now.

Pristine Pixie

Good for you! Glad to see there are others taking that plunge!

I'm doing a Groupon deal in 4-6 weeks. I know I'm crazy. lol I do have people lined up to help me out in case I get slammed (people with professional cleaning experience). I'm trying to work the numbers now, to see what the maximum amount of deals I can handle is. Two cleaning services in my area have done a Groupon offer - one put the max as 400 (and reached it), and the other had a max of 627 (also reached it).

The Groupon rep said it may be best for me to calculate how many deals I want to sell based on how many cleaning hours I can manage, not the number of new clients I can handle.

Any thoughts?

pasadena

I kept my day job and worked weekends until I felt that I had enough clients to quit.

http://www.carpet-cleaning-hacienda-heights.com