"They" Say You Can Get Rich Cleaning Houses

You Can’t Get Rich Cleaning Houses (Yourself)!

The charlatans hawking their “how to” e-Books online tout their product by promising thousands of dollars per month by cleaning houses. They suggest you can start with a mop and a bucket, hand out a few business cards and end up on easy street within a few months. No doubt they sell a lot of product to people who are naïve enough to believe their hype.

When people are sucked in by false promises of being able to make a wheel barrow full of money in short order with almost no investment, it’s not the $15 or $30 or $100 they lose on misleading and usually worthless information; it’s the time, frustration and broken dreams which take their toll. That’s to say nothing of the embarrassment they feel by allowing themselves to be duped.


Now, the truth is that it is possible to make a reasonably good living cleaning homes as an independent house cleaner. But to do it legitimately, it takes more than a few supplies and a couple of hundred business cards or flyers to do so – even starting by oneself with little overhead expense. A hundred dollars or so for city and country licenses, an average of $50 to $100 for filing a d.b.a. (depending on the state), anywhere from $200 to $500 for a decent vacuum cleaner, another $200 to $300 for tools and cleaning supplies, and other minimally-required start up costs. While many independent house cleaners take the risk, it’s a big gamble not to have liability insurance from day one; an investment of $500 to $2,000. Then, there’s the cost of acquiring clients and the subsequent cost of replacing customers who for whatever reason choose not to continue to use the service. If people are hired, the costs can escalate quickly.


Having said that, many people in this industry started out small and grew their businesses into substantial enterprises. This is one industry where this is indeed very possible. You just have to be prepared to substitute a lot of sweat equity for financial equity and invest the time it will take to do it – which can be several years. I know one owner who spent the first eight years in this industry doing just that; today her Texas-based company does over $1 million in annual sales revenue and she is recognized as an industry leader. I know another owner who works by himself and manages to turn out $85,000 a year; but he, too, has been in business for several years.


You Can Become Wealthy Building a Real House Cleaning Business.


Up until about 30 years ago, the above scenario pretty much described the commercial house cleaning landscape in America and still does in many countries around the world. It was often the way immigrants managed to eke out a living since they had little education and little or no command of the native language. That all changed in the late 70s and early 80s when pockets of business-savvy people in the United States recognized the growing trend of more and more busy, dual-income and single professional households looking for others to help them with their household cleaning chores. They were also quick to recognize the huge vacuum of professionals to fill this exploding demand.


These insightful entrepreneurs developed and proved their business models and what was once a cottage and mostly underground economy began to grow into a new growth industry. Concurrently, some of these successful industry pioneers began to franchise their concepts. Today, what was once a form of self-employment for people to earn a modest living has become a multi-billion dollar industry across the United States, Canada and dozens of other countries – some of which are just now beginning to see the residential cleaning industry take hold in their respective countries.


When I became involved in this industry almost 20 years ago, stories about owners of house cleaning businesses doing $1 million a year were rare. Not so today. In fact, I know of companies generating over $2 million in annual revenues and I still don’t see a ceiling on the potential in the industry. I have heard of one owner who runs a residential and commercial cleaning business that does over $5 million yearly, about 60% of which is in the residential cleaning sector.


Don’t Stay Busy Working IN the Business, but Rather ON the Business


No, cleaning houses won’t make you rich. Building a real business and hiring other people to clean houses can make you wealthy. While this industry is not brain surgery, it does take knowledge and financial wherewithal to build a successful and profitable cleaning company. In fact, with the right know-how being put into practice, a lot of the funds that will be necessary to grow the business can be self-generated from within.


Don’t be Afraid to Seek the Knowledge and Experience of Others.


Unfortunately, the reason most people don’t succeed is due to lack of business skills and an unwillingness to learn them from experienced third party sources. Then there are those people who obtain access to the experience of others but who, for whatever reason, choose not to implement it in their businesses. Is it stubbornness or arrogance or just a plain old “I can figure it all out myself” attitude that gets in the way.


It used to be that buying a franchise was about the only way to short-circuit an otherwise long and expensive learning curve. For many, this is still an excellent path to follow. But it’s not the only one. In addition to our own http://www.housecleaningbiz101.com/ program currently in use by more than 2,700 individuals and companies in 55 countries, there are several other trusted industry experts to which an owner can turn for solid advice. Other excellent resources include the Association of Residential Cleaning Services International and Home Cleaner Magazine. Networking with other owners is also an excellent source for peer support.