Home Cleaning Business Plan

by: John O'Callaghan

Copyright 2005 John O'Callaghan Until about 10 years ago, business advice guru’s used to say that the best business to be in was the one you knew most about! That statement is disputable. And, even if it were true then, it certainly is not true today! Here’s why: No matter what skills you have or what trade or profession you are in, the amount of money you can earn is severely limited by the number of hours in the day you can work. Aha! So now we can say: A better business is one in which you can recruit and train others to do what you can do. This leaves you free to manage and grow the business, Even so, we still can’t say that it is best business to be in. We can’t say it because some trades and professions have much higher billable hourly rates than others. Copywriting, and especially direct-response copywriting, is undoubtedly one of the highest paid professions in the world! Copywriters tend to be pretty smart. A copywriter and an attorney are discussing fees: Lawyer: “My fees start at $150 an hour.” Copywriter: “I charge from $1 a word.” Lawyer: “Wow! I can't think of any word worth a $1.Gimme an example?” Copywriter: “Gimme a $1.” Lawyer: “Okay. Here's your $1.” Copywriter: “THANKS!” So, is copywriting the world’s best business to be in? I say NO! I say Info-Marketing on the Internet is undoubtedly the world’s best business to be in! It doesn’t necessarily have to be an e-book that reveals copywriting secrets and a list of words that sell. Although that would sell well to a business-2-business market. But it does have to be an info-product that’s designed to satisfy the needs and wants of a specific niche market. Simple, huh? Well, not exactly. If it were that simple, everybody with a how-to info-book and a direct-response website would be rich. As I see it, only about 5% of Internet sites make millions. The remaining bunch of hopefuls is still struggling. Jeff Walker, Product Launch a leading Internet marketing expert, says: “Everyone has heard the story of the Internet being paved with gold... but only a precious few are bringing home that gold. There are thousands of websites that won't even break even. Most of those sites are moribund... sitting there with products that don't sell. They will wither away, and then get blown off the Internet like some dried-up piece of tumbleweed.” Internet marketing expert, Cody Maya, Private Label Books, says, “The average cost of a copywriting project is $5,000--and that’s just for one sales letter. You need three things to succeed on the Internet: #1. You need a great product. #2. You need to be able to get traffic to your site. #3. You need to be able to convert those prospects into customers.” Internet marketing is great. It is not cheap. It is not easy and the learning curve for the average Joe Schmoe is mind-boggling. It takes a high degree of sophistication, and a lot of money to buy the kind of tools that will enable you to put your business on Auto-Pilot, “while you lie on the beach in Hawaii with your laptop and make a ton of money even while you sleep.” Yanik Silver, one of the top guns in Internet Marketing told me he spent nearly $50,000 (a ton of money) on new products and doing research last year! So, I need to qualify what I said earlier about selling an info-product on the Internet. Here’s my revised statement: “Selling an info-product on the Internet to a well-defined niche market is the world’s best business to be in--for those who know what they are doing and have the money to do it.” So, you can’t just fly into flying. You think big but you start small! You have to learn to walk before you can learn to run! Some 30 years ago, self-made multi-millionaire Joe Karbo stated a very simple truth: “Most people are too busy working to make a living to ever make more than just a living.” In his book, “How to Be Rich,” the late billionaire J. Paul Getty said that the only way to get rich is to start your own business and work at making yourself rich, rather than your employer! For over 20 years I have been searching to find an “idiot proof” business that could be launched by the average Jack or Jill--and with no previous business experience and little or no capital to invest. I managed to identify seven businesses that fit that bill. Here’s my list--not necessarily in order of merit or profitability: 1. Home and Office Cleaning 2. Handy Person Service 3. Window Washing Service 4. Publishing a Local Ad Magazine 5. Computer Instruction and Repairs 6. Painting and Decorating 7. Leaflet Distribution 8. Mobile Haircutting and Beauty Service 9. Lawn Cutting and Yard Maintenance 10. Taking Care of Snowbird Vacation Homes I have written a how-to business instruction plan for each of the above. Here’s what I have to say about the Home and Office Cleaning Biz: You could be your own boss--starting today! "10 Powerful Reasons Why Home and Office Cleaning is One of the World's Best Businesses to Be In” 1. Low start-up cost. 2. You can work part-time or full time. Keep your day job if you have one. Work evenings and weekends. Don’t quit your day job until you are sure you can make more working for yourself than your employer. 3. No Hard Selling Involved The service virtually sells itself because 98% of housewives hate housework so much they jump at the chance of having a “maid” come in to the do all the dirty work. 4. Unlimited Demand For the Service Today, as more and more women go out to work, they have less and less time to do housework and look after a husband and a family. If they can afford it, they jump at the chance of hiring a trustworthy and reliable home cleaner. 5. High Hourly Rates The standard minimum age is a miserly $5.15 an hour. The average hourly rate for cleaners is $25 an hour. That’s more than four times the minimum wage. Average means that some cleaners charge a low of $20 an hour and others charge a high of $30 an hour. 6. No Special Skills or Training Required Either you know what to do or the house owner tells you what she wants done. 7. The Target Market is Local and Very Easy to Contact 8. Hot Prospects are Easy to Identify People who can afford to hire a cleaning maid live busy lives. They own large homes with two or more garages. They reside in up-market suburban areas. 9. Very Simple and Inexpensive Marketing Plan The three best ways to get new customers as regulars are: One: Referrals from existing customers. Two: Leaflet Distribution. Three: Using a tested and proven telephone script designed not to sell the service, but to make an appointment to call and give a free estimate. Done right, the level of acceptance is a high 86%. 10. Unlimited Growth Potential While you can make $1,000 a week doing two, four-hour jobs a day for five days a week, the way to make really big money is not to do any of the work yourself! The trick is to hire others to do all the cleaning work. This leaves you free to concentrate on managing and growing the business. As the Holly Noble, owner of a San Diego based cleaning business, says, “You can’t be soliciting new customers when you are cleaning a toilet.” John‘s “Home Cleaning Business Plan” is a fact-packed, step-by-step, do-it-by-the-numbers guide that tells you all you need to know about starting up and succeeding in a home-based business of your own. While it includes a lot of his own advice on how to promote and manage the business, the real value of the Plan is that it contains in-depth interviews with nine successful cleaning business owners who revealed their most closely guarded trade secrets. About the author: John O'Callaghan is CEO of Entrepreneur's Network, Inc. John specailizes in business plans for home-based businesses that can be launched with little or no money. Get 20 Start-up Tips Free. johnoc29@aol.com Circulated by Bandoni Media