Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: dan roberts on December 02, 2005, 01:09:14 am
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Hi, I'm looking for info, on it all, everything to do with cc. I'm pinning my livelyhood on the chance to be self employed, active, and financially secure.
Three questions for you all...
1) Can a person earn £18.000 net from c.c within three years of trading with the right attitude?
2) What is the outlay of a small business start up in cc?
3) What are the pit falls?
Thank you.
All contributions are gratfully recieved, negative or otherwise!
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Earnings are not limited but you need staying power and determination. 40/50k net in 3 years is achievable as long as you put a 40 hour week in the bin.
Outlay is ongoing but initial investment for a non franchise start up would be in region of 10/12k - Plant, transport, marketing, training etc.
Pitfalls - Like everything, research is key, know your product inside out, if you dont then failure will happen.
Good Luck.
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I think yhe biggest mistake people make is not knowing how yhey are going to get leaflets out.
Thankfully there is on this site a lot of useful information on leaflets, which was not available when I started.
Leaflets is not the only Marketing statergy but is the quickest
Others will advise you to go on training courses book them now before you start.
You might not understand everthing taught but you can always do another course.
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Hi Dan,
£18000 per year after 3 years is achievable - but you will need to put in some hard work!
I'd say that you can buy the equipment you need to get started for around £3000 + van. But you should also allow plenty extra to live on - at least 3 months wages, and preferably more.
It may take a while before you make enough money to live on. So be prepared to take on a part-time job if you need to while you build up your client list.
Totally agree with Ian about the leaflets - I think they are by far the best way to get new enquiries when you start off.
Read the other advice about leaflets on this forum, and get some good books on direct marketing/copywriting too - I learned more from 'Tested Advertising Methods' by John Caples than any other book I've read.
The other thing with leaflets is HOW you deliver them.
Having your leaflets delivered with the free paper is a complete waste of money (in my area anyway). And I didn't do much better with the local leaflet distribution firms.
When you start out, deliver as many as you can yourself, then you can see what response you SHOULD be getting.
If you hire people to deliver for you, there are lots of retired people who enjoy doing it for a few hours a week, and they tend to be more reliable (if a bit slower sometimes).
Once you've got a leaflet that works, consider trying the Royal Mails Door to Door service. The booking process is a bit long winded and they are quite inflexible, but it's the most reliable service I found.
Never book a leafelt drop during, or the week before a bank holiday week - the response goes down the toilet.
One common mistake with new start-ups is wasting money on the wrong type of advertising - ask for advice on the forums before you commit to spending money on anything.
A mistake I made was paying for a large Yellow Pages ad that didn't really work very well. That's not to say big Yellow Pages ads don't work, only that you won't know if your particular ad works until you are already paying for it.
Hope that's helpful, and the best of luck with it!
Matt
www.cleansmartsupplies.co.uk
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Dan go to Matt's website and sign up for FREE MARKETING from him
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Dan,
Are you physically fit and do you like exercise/sport?
The reason I ask is CC is quite a tough game and requires hard work, some prefer office type jobs.
Cheers
Doug
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Hi Dan I went self imployed in July although been in the trade 6 years,
It starts slow, this is a busy season, well for some any how but the begining of each year will be slower if just starting, so calculate your timing, I would sugest late feb too march and hit the holiday lets and parks they start there season then. dont know what your backround is but spend a lot of time TRAINING and researching how to run a business this is where im strugling, book keeping, advertising, tax, vat remember you will need an accountant, bank manager, insurance for pub liability, treatment risk, van and equipment dont listen too all the sailsmen they will convince you too have adds in Y/P local pappers etc advertising is leaflets leaflets leaflets and referalls
And the main bit of advice is dont aim at £18000, if you do this you will earn £18000 aim high and always high but be prepared for a struggle, ive been working for myself as i said since July and where only know just starting to get away from breaking even and seeing a profit, I havent had a pay pack for months but now startin to reap some of the rewards
Good Luck
for any advice give me a shout
James
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i started from scratch about 3.5 years ago and all the guys are right
it is an uphill struggle
however with the right marketing and motivation then you will be a success
i followed the "fasttract" from alltecs approach and although it seems you are constantly paying out, within a year i was starting to make some good money.
everyone tends to do what they think is best, but for me this way has been fantastic and im glad i took the plunge
be prepared for lots of hours and hard work at the start , but once the ball gets rolling, you will find what works best for you and your working hours will go down a lot, well at least they have for me
the best thing is when you start to get referals and repeat customers, cause it just cost you less in time and effort of actually getting the job to start with
all the very best , and im sure you will make A GREAT SUCCESS
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Moderators..... where is the rest of this post?????????? I replied late last week, a number of replies appear to be missing?? have they been deleted??
Chris
Chris, and all other members
Not sure but if you have a complaint, use report to Moderators.
We do not delete without good reason
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Dan, go to www.drycarpet.co.uk then go to the franchise download.
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Lots of good advice here for anyone determined to succeed, but you do need to be determined, physically fit and not frightened of hard work. My best advice would be to get yourself the best van you can afford (Transit medium wheel base size is good - white if possible), apply proffessional looking signwriting (not too tacky), keep it cleaned and polished. Initially you will need business cards, leaflets and just follow the advice of the guys on this site.
These days (Almost 16 years later) the only advertising I do is a 4x4 in yellow pages and me van. When I have time, which is very seldom, I would tagert a particular segment of the business community with mailshots. I find this to be particularly profitible on almost every occassion. Need good stationery though.
Hope this has helped.
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To start why dont you sub-contract yourself out, either direct to a large cleaning company, or to someone like us who have the blue chip companies behide us, yes your a sub......but it gives you income every week coming in, whilst you build on you own business. Just ring 01457 829237