[The Great One]

Hi Guys

when people ask you what you do for a living and after you tell them and you get that slight pause and an 'OH'...

Don't forget to also tell them that you are part of an industry that turns over £3.1 billion and growing!

Then leave them to stew on that.

Regards

Martin

[Musicman]

Or if you sell burgers and have a habit of saying 'Have a nice day' you can also tell them you're part of an industry worth £100 billion.

Tell them to chew on that!

Martin what are you trying to say? Are you ashamed of the industry you work in? Are people embarrased for you when you tell them what you do for a living? Do you really get that response from people?

If so you need to work on your personal marketing.

Tell them you're an entrepreneur, you run your own business, you escaped the rat race, you're no longer a wage slave, you're your own boss, you choose the hours you work etc.

I bet you that almost everyone using this forum is in this industry because they enjoy it (and make good money from it). How many people do you know that genuinely enjoy their jobs?

Do you think that if asked what he did for a living Richard Branson used to say that he sold a few records?

If people do react like that then they ain't worth talking to in the first place mate.

[The Great One]

I am never ashamed of anything I do.

This post was about another post on the CC section where people were talking about responses they get from people.

Just wanted to offer an angle for people who do come across this kind of attitude, it was that simple.

Regards

Martin

[Mike Halliday]

I don't like to brag or anything but do you see that  .1 of a billion, thats my contribution

Mike

[Ian Gourlay]

Mike, Ive now got to do some more Maths to see how rich you are I think the answer is Mega

[DP]

I’m  not sure what you say to people, (if they have already categorized your trade), will make any difference to their views. I think if you need to say something then get it wrong, can make it a lot worse, especially if the comments are transparent.

Sometimes a lot of explanation or over reaction can reveal something about the person being uncomfortable with themselves, and any defensive statements could simply compound the matter.

People will always judge other people, its human nature and you wont stop it.  

I would suggest that  "less is more" in these issues and  an all knowing smile can have a real effect and if you feel you have to say something, keep it short and believable. The personal betterment statements rarely convinces anybody unless they were already involved with you before you started.

Anything else and I would be wondering who am I trying to convince them or me.

Just my views.

[Ian Gourlay]

How many other industries is it possible to go from being bankrupt, aquiring a claped out ford escort van, hand painting it , to having ten good condition vans and drive around in a merc in the space of 8 years/

[wreelyclean_servic]

....So you`ve got the rest of my £3.1 billion have you.......give it back you swine....

[PPThomas]

I

[Just a cleaner.]

I get exactly the same response from people when I tell them that I have a cleaning biz.  Some people are just Snobby sods!

[stevey331]

£3.1 billion!!  all i can say to this remark am very proud to be part of this industy.and when people ask wot i do i tell them everyone needs some sort of cleaner so i say dont knock cleaning if you DONT know nothing about it !!

[Kenny_Dobson]

If they come over all lord & lady just stand back take a look at them and say "Where there's muck there's money!"

Wiz

[Fox]

How about 'cleaning is the fundemental need of your business' -  your staff have a basic need to function - for basic living we need - shelter, food, warmth, for sales we need ' an empty bin and clean toilet!'

Fox

[MR WHEELIE CLEAN]

I recently got married (2nd time), when signing the register the registrar asked me what my profession was, was I still an accountant? I said no and was about to say that I was a wheelie bin cleaner and then I realised that actually I'm an accountant, a sales director, a marketing gourou (not sure of spelling), a cleaning operative, a managing director, a customer services representative, the list goes on.  I finally settled on entrepreneur.  Anyone that sneers at this title clearly has no understanding of just how clever I am!!!!!!!! :   Cant understand why my share of the 3.1b is  so small (but growing!).

Nev.

[Rob_Mac]

Guru

[Ian Gourlay]

Mr Wheelie Bin as an Acountant did you not have the chance to pke your nose into lots of enterprises, and find out what their expentiture was in each cateogry to achieve a certain turnover.

With this inside knowledge you should be on your way to dominating the UK market

[George-Reid]

Ian
I think he has done that already
Their are over 25 million wheelie bins in the UK and that is just the domestic market.

We reckon %10 of the population will have their bins cleaned at £3 per fortnight.

World domination here I come.

Cheers

George

[MR WHEELIE CLEAN]

George,

Don't mind if you dominate Scotland but can you leave England for the rest of us?     (not interested in Wales)

Nev.

[MR WHEELIE CLEAN]

Ian,

As an accountant I did get to see different industries although most of those were large enterprises.  Therefore as a sole trader, I  now get to experience all the pressures of all the roles I never did before.  As an accountant it was very easy to just ''count the money'' and tell everybody what was happening and what needed to happen from the financial aspect.  It was then handed over to someone else to decide / worry about how to achieve the sales etc. etc.  I decided to go into wheelie bin cleaning because it reduces several risks that you can get in some industries.  For example, bad debts are reduced by having a large volume / small value sales.  Also a large customer base reduces the risks associated with losing customers. Some companies are reliant upon one or two customers for significant chunks of their turnover, to me this is a risk which is outside of the control of the company. The wheelie bin market is also a growing market with new councils switching to twin bin schemes which can increase the % that require cleaning.  The start up costs are small in comparison to other industries with most of the cost base being fixed and negliable variable costs until you start employing staff!!  

On the downside wheelie bins are dirty and stink and a lot of hard work is needed to grow the business, but I know it will keep growing.

Regards,
Nev.

[Ian Gourlay]

Fantastic Free advise from an Acountantant :

George did I read somewhere that you used to clean carpets.

Looking at your brouchue the other day and what you have just posted I can see why you have switched.

If start up costs are low isnt there a danger of market saturation.

I know Georges system is enviromentally safe etc but a clean wheelie bin is a clean wheelie bin. or am I wrong

Not planning my own wheelie bin empire.

[George-Reid]

Ian
Yes I had a Rainbow franchise. I had to many business interests for their liking and had to make a choice so I sold Rainbow.

Start up costs are low in comparison to some businesses
After the usual office, business costs your biggest expense would be a vehicle. For our system that would be a vehicle + £6000 or vehicle + £12000 so probably similar to buying a van and truck mount.

As for operating costs these are easily as low as carpet cleaning.

The competition tend to start up with an old transit IBC tank and a pressure washer they then proceed to break Environmental guidelines, Water authority guidelines, local council guidelines etc. And then disappear within six months because it was harder than they expected. In some cases they help to create a customer base but in most they damage the potential customer base.

The truth is the people who have the cash and will power to build this business are few and far between because they see it as beneath them.  The majority who start in this business and fail are as above.

But that just leaves more for Nev and I

Cheers

George

[Kenny_Dobson]

And me

[higilab-br]

Thank you, guys
I was in need of reading something that could put me up... and most of this discussion did exactly that! (thanks to Ian Gourley´s and Nev "guru" messages). I am not bankrupt,,, I will not dream of driving a merc (a brand new fiat tempra will do... hehehe)
By the way, professional cleaning in Brazil is an industry worth about US$3.3 Billion (with an estimated potencial of 3 times that, and a potential for growth above 8-10% / year). Problems: qualified professionals, low wages, low perception in the social position, wide use of outdated technologies (cleaning systems), weak planning... that´s enough (but not all)
Martins

PS: I put figures in US$ because I could not find the sterling pound (nor euro) symbol in my keyboard... and R$ would mean nothing to you!

[The Great One]

Oi higilab-br

tudo bem?

Eu falo um pouco de portugues, minha mulher e brasileira!

Eu estou aqui na ingleterra, no sul. Eu tenho uma compania de limpeza aqui por um ano.

Como e o trabalho de limpeza no brasil?

e dificil?

Martin

[higilab-br]

Oi Martin
Prazer falar com voce. Fiquei surpreso com a mensagem em portugues e bastante satisfeito. Morei alguns anos em Reading (de onde tenho muita saudade e deixei alguns amigos) - estive fazendo meu PhD aí nos anos 80 (e tinha feito o MSc em 1977). Abraco do Rio de Janeiro (moro aqui a alguns anos, mas sou originario do Rio Grande do Sul, gaucho). Vou continuar em ingles (?!) para benefício (?!) dos outros participantes do forum.

Cleaning is a fast developing industry in Brazil but is still restricted to the major cities (e.g. Sao Paulo, Rio, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Porto Alegre, Salvador, Fortaleza, Manaus, Campinas, Juiz de Fora, Goiania, Aracaju). The market is very competitive but price is still the main criteria used for contracting. Major problems: scientific planning, training and qualifications, quality criteria, low wages, low expertise on key efficiency/productivity issues (ergonomics, cost calculation, distribution of workload, etc.).
I am most interested in catering cleaning (industrial kitchen), hospital cleaning and retail cleaning (super/hypermarket). My goal at the moment is to set a training (and cleaning technology display) centre in Rio.
Best regards
Martins

[higilab-br]

Dear Martin
I put forward your question about cleaning business in Brazil to our friends in a discussion list in Brazilian-Portuguese... it took 10 minutes to get one first reply:

<Dear Martin

Good question. I do not believe there is anything easy, anywhere in the world, left!

Anyway, I do know a bit of English cleaning and can compare a little with local cleaning.

Your employees in general work half time. here a 9 hour shift is the usual and very often with some overtime bult in.

Salaries here are very low, in the range of under 100 pounds per month, and so, usually the workforce tends to be  very uninterested and a lot of motivation is necessary. On the other hand, social and other direct costs more than double this cost to the employer.

The use of cleaning equipment, due to the relative cost of labour towards machines, is much less intensive, as machines here ( with the exception of single disk scrubbers which are for some reason much cheaper) tend to cost as much (if local) or a lot more ( if imported) than in Europe, as there are considerable taxes on top.

Competition is fierce, there are a few very large cleaning contractors, with over 10.000 full time employees, and many, many smaller companies. There are some 11.000 registered companies in the country if I am not mistaken. The tendency of contracting specialised companies is already the rule, and I believe it is still growing. As an example, I manufacture scrubber dryers and over 70% of my sales go to cleaning contractors.

Have a look at the site www.abralimp.com.br which is the Brazilian institutional cleaning association and comprises Manufacturers, Distributors, Cleaning Contractors and some important end users.

Open to any aditional questions

Salvator Licco Haim
Sociedade Alfa ltda
www.sociedadealfa.com.br>

[The Great One]

  Oi

E prazer e tudo meu, presico practica meu portugues.

I will continue in english for the others on this forum. My wife is from Rio and I know the wages in Brasil are really bad, and the social standing if you are a cleaner leaves a lot to be desired. I though the wages were closer to $100 US per month.

I have now had my own cleaning company for one year, there have been some challenges but I do enjoy most of it.

Regards

Martin

[higilab-br]

Hi, Martin
Yes, you are correct about the wages. I suppose Mr. Haim wanted to say US$100 and not 100 pounds. With other social benefits this will go to about US$200 (total cost to the employer).
Regards
Martins

[macash1]

Seriously thinking of going into the wheelie bin cleaning business was wondering if you could give me any hints or tips ,such as is it worth having a franchise or going it alone ? If so where is a good place to get equipment etc

[George-Reid]

Macash1
I don't think that you need the back up of a franchise company for this type of business but you do need help and support in the early days. Especially if you have not been self employed before.
You can get lots of tips and advice here for free.
Take a look at my site www.really-wheelie-clean.co.uk
I can sort you out a new vehicle or a second hand vehicle and I can help you with a complete business package.
if you want a chat pm me your phone number and I will call you back

Cheers

George

[supershine]

i have the same thing here in cyprus.some times when they ask me what i do for living i never tell them that i run contracting cleaning companie i tell them that i clean windows and carpets and i am only 25 year old but in really i have one of the best cleaning companies in cyprus i started this when i was 18 and now i am in love with my work i dont care  what r they saying this is my work this is what i do for living my emplees r very happy coz they know that they work they dont sit and whait for there salary or thete father and mother to give them money they love what they do even that its not there companie.u have to love what u do never listen what the others say.in cyprus cleaning its like u r in the worst level of the humanity.its not easy to find local to work this here there is from other countrys.so love what u have and live the others to think whatever they like

[The Great One]

Hi

These posts just go to show that here in the UK we have it fairly easy compared to other parts of the world.

Regards

Martin