Friday, March 23, 2012

A Positive Attitude to Make Money Cleaning Offices

I thought I would interrupt this blog series with some personal thoughts. While it is important to know the business skills when establishing a commercial cleaning service, none of the business skills will be of any value unless you learn something that I wish I’d learned earlier in life.

Here is a little secret: have you ever met someone and were immediately turned off by bad breath or body odor? While it may not be as obvious, the odor of a bad attitude can be equally offensive. Here is what I mean: when people first meet you do they sense someone who is upbeat, has a positive outlook, someone they are naturally attracted to; or someone they can't wait to get away from?

Now, I'm not saying that you or I are rude, inconsiderate, or offensive. But have we allowed a negative attitude to permeate our view of life, business, and the people around us? Try asking yourself this question - do I see the glass half empty or half full? If you're not sure, ask your spouse, a family member, or close friend to be honest with you. Dale Carnegie wrote How to Win Friends and Influence People. If you haven't read it, please do. It's uch easier to make money cleaning offices when potential clients like you!

If you find that you are lacking in a positive outlook towards life, here are some suggestions:

1.     Decide to change. Negative thinking is a habit. And like all bad habits, change begins when you acknowledge your behavior and make a decision to alter it. It doesn’t have to be a long, drawn out process. It will take conscious effort at first, but it will become automatic over time. Start today.
2.     Change your ‘Label’. The most powerful change happens when we modify our view of ourselves. What if you said to yourself, I am a positive, encouraging person: I enjoy being around people? How would your behavior change?
3.     Put on a happy face. According to health experts: smiling can help reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine, and increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphins. While smiling has this impact on you, it also has a similar impact on others. This is one reason they unconsciously want to be around you.

Thanks for reading. Comments always welcomed!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Make Money Cleaning Offices - How to Advertise

Your Attention, Please!

For new business or small business, marketing is always a bit of an experiment. Chances are good that you only have a few dollars with which to work; use it wisely, and business comes your way; use it poorly - you're broke and have nothing to show for it.

Here are just a few ways in which you may want to advertise your business if you want to make money cleaning offices:

Flyers: You can inexpensively print some catchy, well designed Flyers and take them around to small businesses in your area. Remember, successful advertising depends upon it recognition; your potential customer needs to know you exist when they'll need you, even though that may not be right now.

Mailings: Call businesses that you are interested in cleaning. Get the name of the individual who would make the decision to hire you and send them a well-designed letter. Hand address the envelope, and include a flyer with your letter. Remember, you will need to send them something on a regular basis to get a contract and make money cleaning offices.

Cold calling: Easier for some people than others. Be prepared for initial rejection, leave some materials and be friendly, not pushy.

Yellow Pages: Increasingly, Yellow Pages are not seen as a wise investment for commercial cleaning services. If you are committed to this business purchase the least expensive ad that will get your name, phone number and the services you offer into the Yellow Pages.

A website:  More of a gimmick than a necessity for the startup business.

Local newspapers: Never used one myself, but maybe buy a small inexpensive ad and run weekly on a regular basis. Remember, repetition is the key to being noticed if you want to make money cleaning offices.

Handing out business cards: Without being pushy, don't be afraid to let people know what you do and that you would like to do it for them! A well designed business card is a part of developing repetition; find places to distribute them.

Word of mouth: when people who meet you ask what you're doing; once again simply let people know what you are doing for a living and that you are always looking for more customers. They may not need your services, but they may know someone that does.

See, you can make money cleaning offices!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Make Money Cleaning Offices What do I charge?

What to charge?   
Your next step to make money cleaning offices is to determine what your price will be for each square foot of cleaning that you do. There is no magical formula for doing this, but it is certainly something you should not guess at!
If you have never had experience in the commercial cleaning business, I would highly recommend that you seek part-time work with an existing janitorial firm. This will give you actual experience in cleaning various types of buildings and determining the amount of time necessary to do the various tasks required if you really going to make money cleaning offices.
What you're trying to do here, is determine what your hourly rate for cleaning would be in order to make the kind of profit you desire. Remember that you must include certain things as insurance, equipment, supplies, travel time, and other ongoing business expenses.
If you had no experience in the cleaning industry, and do not wish to work for a cleaning service, you can start by cleaning some very small offices to gain the same amount of knowledge to make money cleaning offices. But that way, if you make a mistake and are charging too little for your cleaning services, you can go back to the business owner and suggest that you adjust the rate to reflect your actual costs.
Once you figure out your hourly rate, you then determine how many hours it will take for you to complete any cleaning job. Many factors will determine this: what kinds of floor, how many rooms, how many bathrooms, the total square footage of the building. Starting out small gains you time on the ‘learning curve’ for you to get your calculations correct.

Once you know how many hours, multiply by your hourly rate.  Then multiply that by how many times you will clean in a month and put the monthly rate on your bid sheet. 
It takes time to learn the ropes, but you can make money cleaning offices!
For more info, go to   http://makemoneycleaningoffices.com/

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Finish the Paperwork to Make Money Cleaning Offices

Finish the paperwork   

Now that you have obtained a name and a proper business license, the next step will be to get a business checking account if you’re going to make money cleaning offices. A good place to start is at your local bank where you do your personal checking and see what type of business account they will offer. The banking industry is still somewhat competitive and it may be possible to get free checks for a small business account.
The next step is to purchase liability insurance.  Liability insurance is a requirement for a commercial cleaning business. Potential clients will want to see your liability certificate and may even require a certain limit on your insurance policy before you get a chance to make money cleaning offices. For many years I carried a $500,000 policy; but as my business has grown, I now have larger accounts that require a $2 million policy.
If you are going to hire employees, a surety bond is also a necessity. It’s purpose is to protect your business against employee theft. Such bonds are not expensive and most of your clients will want you to have one. Both commercial liability insurance and a surety bond are available through a commercial insurance broker. There are many companies providing such insurance; shop around to get the best value. If you want to make money cleaning offices, it's not that hard to get the insurance coverage you need.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Make Money Cleaning Offices - Choose your Business Name

Now that you know what sort of buildings you want to clean if you are going to make money cleaning offices.  Now, you need to set up the business.  First, you need to decide on a business name.  You will want to pick something professional since you are dealing with professional people.  Don't use a "cutesy" name if you plan to have a successful business as you make money cleaning offices.  A ‘cutesy’ name  will turn off many of those professionals that will be meeting you. 
Decide and then register your business name. Get the appropriate business registration and licenses by visiting your local county or city hall and inquiring as to their requirements for starting a business. If you intend to work from home, you need to consult the zoning guidelines governing your residential area to check whether starting this business from home is allowed. In most cases, you will be only doing the ‘paperwork’ or marketing of your business from your home in order to make money cleaning offices; no permit will be required.


For more info, go to  http://makemoneycleaningoffices.com/