Hello everyone? My wife and I are going to start a cleaning business in the near future. Will a thousand dollars get us up and running? We want to do office cleaning. We are considering doing residential houses in the beginning. I work full time on second shift. So, we will be look for contracts from 8:00am to 1:00pm. I will then have to go to work at 1:15pm and will get off around 10:36pm. We will clean our building after I get off. That is the plan anyways.
As for the money itself, I started with $0, a borrowed bottle of window cleaner, a borrowed bottle of shower cleaner, Jenny cut small towels from our bath towels, I think the vacuum was either borrowed or maybe someone gave it to us and a '74 Nova that was scrapping the back tires because the back shocks were rusted out. I quickly moved up to making $1 an hour and got a dime raise for several years. :thumbsup: That's about what it felt like but stick with it, don't spend more than you make, treat people fair and money will fall your way. And don't be afraid to give. I'd always try to give employees a little extra here and there and I have learned over the years that the more you give, means the more you will have.
I know everyone is going to talk about doing things legit and it is great if you can do it that way but we started October 16, 1998. By February we had insurance for $22 a month at State Farm.
Now if you choose to go with commercial work, they will most likely want you to have insurance before you get the job. But, there is no way I would get the insurance until they tell you that you are hired and all they need before you start is to see the insurance.
This is a tough, cut throat business. It will take a lot of hours and a lot of patients but just remember one thing since you and your wife will be working together..... let her read this too..... she is more important to you than any customer or employee. And you are more important to her than any customer or employee. It will get rough.... no need to get upset at each other... if one of you makes a mistake on bidding or anything else.... it's ok... it's not the end of the world! Did it cost you $10k? It might have but guess what, you still have each other and that's really what you're working for to begin with. The goal in life is to have fun and enjoy it because we are only here for a short time.
naturaldry is right. 1000$ is quite a tight budget for a newly-established business. Yet, depending on your first clientèle and your performance, you might be able to push your business off the ground pretty quick.
Good Luck! :thumbup:
I started off with less than a $1,000. $500 for a years worth of insurance and about $300 for a commercial back pack vac. Then there was $75 to join a local networking club here in my small town. 6 months later I am so busy, I have all the business I can handle alone right now. Could use some hired help a lot of times....
I'll bet both of you $25,000 cash.... I win you pay me, you win I'll pay you.
I can go to your city and start a profitable cleaning business for under $100 within 30 days.
Ya see, I'm sure of what I say... let's see if YOU are!
Not picking on either of you, I just think it's silly for people to think it takes that much money when I can prove it doesn't.
I will say, in a city such as NYC or one comparable, I won't take on the task because that is a whole different ballgame and 99.9% of the people on here don't live in NYC. Although.... with the help of the internet I bet NYC could be done even cheaper. Craigslist and free web sites. 2 things I would not use in a regular type of city.
You can start with that budget (to get equipment, products etc) but you need to think about the costs to promote and market your business from day.
Fortunately there are some great free options. Start by registering with all the free web directories (you never know you might get one or two customers), use social media to promote your service to friends and family, offer an amazing opening special and distribute flyers, run a contest in conjunction with local newspaper/radio with a 'giveaway' and get free exposure that way.
Good luck with the business, I hope it works out the way you want it to.
I think you will be cutting it fine but it certainly is achievable. You will need to be really honest with yourselves about where the money is going and how much you are willing to pay yourselves. I started my business with £2000 because i wanted to have money in the business account to start paying myself even after the first month.
The great thing about this kind of business is that you can keep your overheads very low and thus make it profitable immediately. My vesicle broke down in the first month of my business and i had to buy a new one ... getting ready for the unexpected is one of the pitfalls of not having much start up capital. I made a few marketing mistakes at the beginning too, which is natural for a first time business.
Do your home work and lots of planning and I think you can do it!
Good luck
How much money do you need to start cleaning business
I'm not trying to be funny. I started with very little money -- under $10 for the first kitchen floor I cleaned. I had no van, no truck, no car. I got on the city bus with a bucket, rags, and a bottle of **** and Span.
Some of the money you make from your first jobs should be used to invest in your business.
Should be enough.
Build your own site. (there are many platforms like wix.com that offer a free website)
Advertise lightly on google to attract your first paying cstomers.
Don't try to over do anything until you generated some cash flow and you should be golden
I personally think it's plenty if your willing to do the legwork to promote yourself. Business cards and flyers are cheap and you can simply walk bike or drive yourself around your neighborhood placing them inside mailboxes. I'm starting my own stripping and waxing business and spent less than 500 on equipment. As for marketing I'm learning and doing it on my own at the same time. I haven't got my first account but have stopped by about 15 businesses handing my cards out. My Next step is a mailing service.
I personally think it's plenty if your willing to do the legwork to promote yourself. Business cards and flyers are cheap and you can simply walk bike or drive yourself around your neighborhood placing them inside mailboxes. I'm starting my own stripping and waxing business and spent less than 500 on equipment. As for marketing I'm learning and doing it on my own at the same time. I haven't got my first account but have stopped by about 15 businesses handing my cards out. My Next step is a mailing service.
Well, first of all, you better leave those mail boxes alone. If you touch a mail box that isn't yours it's a federal offense. And yes, the post master general WILL call you and give you 1 warning... if you are lucky. I got my warning in 1995 :whistling2:
Strip & waxing.... go to day cares, Montessori schools, any type of private schools and places like that. That's my best shot for ya.... I'm residential because commercial is a PITA to get (and get paid). There are companies that you can hook up with and get all the major accounts for stripping and waxing but they pay peanuts. One of my buddies in Kansas City used to do 62 CVS Pharmacy stores and he used to have to do them all splash & dashes..... splash a little water on the floor and dash off to the next store.
By the way.... the lil woman used to work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and lived in NYC for over 10 years. She was just in Massachusetts a few months ago for work plus that's where she was born (Mass).
I started will a heck of a lot less then that. Also, you are going to hear a lot of the so called pros tell you about marketing and you need to pay SEO for your web site and this and that.
Your marketing budget should be x amount of dollars and so forth and so on. Don't listen to them, you know what you need to eat.
Bottom line, you go out you hand out biz cards and have a nice flyer printed up at Vistaprint also consider a yahoo listing I do a paid one for 9.95 a month and in one contract it paid off for years now.
Get bonded, most businesses will only want a bond. In all my years of doing this I have had one, only one customer ask me for my ins. Now if you plan to do sub work then you will need it, but why work for someone else anyway.
Good luck. Oh and if you think you will not have any bosses to deal with in this business, think again for each customer you have they will now be your new boss.
My wife and I met a guy in a shopping center a few days back trying to steal one of my customers away from me, so I walked up to him and introduced wife and myself to him, he was a young guy with his hair in a pony tail and tats on his arms and legs.
So I said what makes you want to be in the cleaning business and he told me he was tired of having a boss, my wife and I looked at each other and started to laugh, he had no clue why we were laughing and I told him good luck and we walked away to go pick up my check at the customer he was trying to steal away from me.
A thousand dollars is a tiny amount to start any kind of business. However, if you are really motivated and really push forward, you can succeed. I guess you can buy some used machines, detergents and other supplies. Then once you build yourself a name, you can expand and buy professional machines. Just remember - always provide quality and extra bonuses. Multiple order discount should be your magic phrase. Good luck
I Agree with Sprintcar.
You can most definitly start your business with $1000. I started with a whole lot less and am doing just fine. I will not get rich doing this work, but I do feel more secure now, having the extra income.
Knowing your strong points is key. Know what you are really good at and use that n your marketing. We cannot be good at EVERYTHING!!! Some things just do not appeal to us. Figure out what you love about cleaning and go from there.
Settle in, get a few jobs, and learn as you go. That is the only way you WILL learn! On the job. Go slowly and gain confidence, and always try to learn something new about cleaning.
If you want to stick to a budget. What I did is wrote out a business plan with all that I would be spending my money on, and then went and price checked it at different stores. It took some time. I realized I could get a lot of things at the dollar store, like spray bottles, cleaning rags, buckets, and different small things that would help cut costs. Hope this helps. Good luck to the both of you.
My vesicle broke down in the first month of my business and i had to buy a new one. getting ready for the unexpected is one of the pitfalls of not having much start up capital. I made a few marketing mistakes at the beginning too, which is natural for a first time business. Do your home work and lots of planning and I think you can do it.
i think 1000$ is a tricky price, you should make a list of everything you need to buy and establish before you do. Sometimes it takes a higher price, sometimes less, it really depends on your business skills.
Lots of good info on this thread. My short answer is yes but you need to be creative with your marketing as after all your other costs you wont have much left with that $1,000. Now if you have a part time job on the side and can add in a few hundred dollars each month until things really get going then you're in a much better position.
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