Who owns that Mercedes?

When you notice the new Mercedes parked beside you, you may wonder if it belongs to a doctor, attorney, executive, stockbroker or perhaps even a drug dealer.  It could be but, today, it might well belong to the entrepreneur who owns the cleaning company that cleans your home every other week. 

Cleaning homes these days is a far cry from the independent “cleaning lady” your parents used to hire 15 or 20 years ago.  In fact, the profession used to be the domain of individuals who were unable to find “regular” jobs for a number of reasons such as:  insufficient education, illegal alien status and lack of job skills.  Some even wanted to avoid paying income taxes by being members of a vast underground economy.

Now, in the 21^st century, highly-educated folks with high-paying careers are leaving the corporate world to start – of all things, a residential cleaning service.  The industry in 2013 is almost devoid of the worker element which was its face in days gone by.  In fact, the degree of business sophistication which has grown throughout the industry over the past decade makes it very difficult for the lone-wolf house cleaner to compete.

Not all that long ago, even in major franchise organizations, hearing of cleaning businesses generating $300K - $400K in annual revenues was not that common.  Now, the number of home cleaning services generating $1million and up in sales is more common place.  And while some are franchises, independent business owners are not lagging behind.  In fact, many are building their own office, training and warehouse facilities – up to 10,000 square feet in area.  And, yes, they are able to afford the finer things in life like luxury vehicles, nice homes, summer cottages, boats and great vacations.

Not to be ignored is the fact that the business can be successfully launched and maintained with a smaller investment than almost any other type of business you can think of.  In fact, some of today’s industry leaders got started cleaning homes themselves for several years.  In this instance, what they lacked in capital equity they made up for with sweat equity.  Obviously, the more funds available to invest in the business, the faster it can be launched.

Above all, what is critically important is that anyone going into this type of business should seek out expert guidance to avoid the pitfalls, long learning curve and expensive trial and error most new owners otherwise encounter.  There are a number of excellent resources one can refer to which can be a great first investment in order to learn the “dos and don’ts” that you NEED to know and which you will otherwise learn the hard way.

So, next time you glance at a Mercedes, think of this article.  That might be your ride in the not-too-distant future.

 

By Gary Goranson, serial entrepreneur, business coach and creator of the popular www.housecleaningbiz101.com course for over 4,000 cleaning business owners in 60 countries worldwide.