Hi Lisa!
Remembering I am purely domestic cleaning, I have kept my costs down to the bare minimum.......
None of my girls earn more than the tax and NI personal allowances (so no worries there)
I had a grant to pay for my CRB registration fee, plus a start up grant from one of my local Business Enterprise company that paid for my Yellow Pages ad.
I already had a pc and printer, so a little extra on papers and print supplies doesn't eat up too much of the income.
The only machinery used is a vacuum, and the customer provides their own.
I obviously supply mops and buckets, cloths and liquids etc, but these have been bought in bulk and/or are re-usable and washable.
No I am not making any profit at present, but my profit will come with the increase of Clients. £9.00 per hour (for down here in sunny Plymouth) is quite expensive, with most of my competitors charging between £7.50 and £10.00 per hour.
In previous posts I have explained that I could no way justify charging any more than I am, at present. Some of my Clients are still on my £7.50 per hour rate, but if I increase I could lose them altogether. People down yer are very wary about parting with their hard earned cash, and I do find I am having to justify why Clients should be paying £9.00 per hour let alone anything more. But that is the nature of the beast, I'm afraid.
It is also very difficult to find reliable, hardworking staff even when I am paying £6.00 per hour (see that is where the profit goes). I have advertised in the local papers, jobcentre, asked around, but no-one seems to want to work, never mind!!
I do have long term plans, but my market dictates my position and therefore I am unable to build up quickly and makes oodles of cash! I suppose I am lucky to be in a position whereby I am not relying on my income to survive, and that I can take my time building the business up.
I love being my own boss and that makes up for every downside to running a business!
Jan