[carpetguy]

What's wrong with your back Damien............I might be able to help

rob

[John Kelly]

Nicky, some sensible advice has already been given. This is a good forum despite being slagged off by some people who should know better.
As has been said it is easy to get going in some areas than others due to competition etc.
A lot of people, myself included took anything that came along at the start. If you contact your local estate agents and letting agents you may pick up some carpet cleaning work but also tout for anything else they have to offer, it all pays the bills. I did garden tidies, full house cleans, getting rid of old furniture, minor repairs etc. This can tide you over until you build up your customer base for your carpet cleaning. In fact you can also keep it going quite nicely along side the carpet cleaning as a few on here already do.
But please do one thing, don't charge bargain basement prices. This is the main cause of people becoming disilusioned and struggling.
I'm glad to say all the people I have helped start up over the last year have taken this on board and are thriving.

[Jeremy]

Nick.

Here is my pennies worth from a South African perspective. I started by drawing up a business plan. Part of this plan was to phone many CC's to understand pricing (I do this every year at the beginning of the season). I then looked at how many jobs the average CC did per month and took into consideration seasons. One of the ways I did this was information supplied from the US as to the average number of hours people where clocking on their TM's. I took my bench mark as 500hrs (I achieved 475hrs in my first year).

Even by doing this I quickly realised that I was never going to buy my Porche.

As mentioned in a previous thread, I decided to look at all the things that I could do with my TM and branched into hard floor cleaning as well.

I'm not suggesting that you do this, but it is important to not limit yourself just to CC, unless you are happy with a basic income.

My machine clocked 800hrs in the second year and the major income is from hard floor cleaning and natural stone cleaning/stripping and sealing.

I also decided to aim more at commercial (Hotels, Shopping Centers, property managers) and this is usually big ticket items.

In Summary, I really believe that you should plan to start with Carpet Cleaning but brainstorm other things that you could do and then put dates as to when you start.

Hope this helps

Jeremy

[NigelD]

You've seen many good comments and feedback.

Any self employed person needs to be able to sell, to make the person they are talking to believe they can deliver what they require.

If you don't like speaking to strangers, taking knock backs, then think about whether self employment is right for you.

I think everyone would agree that it' hard and there is no silver bullet. f you are prepared for for that, then good luck.

Nigel

 

[Atlantic Cleaning]

Jeremy is right in what he is saying, start with carpet cleaning and add ad ons. I am not saying this is right for everyone, but in an area like mine it has been alife saver.

I clean ovens as well, and a good example is what happend today, went to measure up a prospective customers carpets for cleaning, while I was doing the survey I mentioned to the customer that I also clean ovens, now not only am I cleaning her carpets I am also doing her oven at the same time. Another £40 in my pocket from my add on service. And hopefully a very happy customer as well who will recommend me to her friends as well.

Good Luck

Duncan

[Dave_Lee]

In the first 2 or 3 years you have to be prepared to realise that your earnings are not going to be that high. You may even make a loss in your first year. You will have to spend a lot of money on marketing initially and keep it going no matter what at least until your repeat business takes off properly which will be in the 3 to 4 year period normally. You have to have patience, it is not going to happen overnight.
Dave.

[Liahona]

I think what Dave has said above this post is that it isnt going to happen over night and you have to be prepared to wait.

Be care full in thinking that the more you put in the more you will get out.  I say this as if you put a boat load of money in to say the yellow pages (just as an example) it doesnt mean you will get a boat load out of it.

Same goes wherever you may put your advertising monies into.

What has also been touched on and is quite true is that what is realistic to one person is beyond someone elses fathom.  For those who earn and it doesnt matter if its turn over or profit for this conversation around £100 or £200 per day will think it unrealistic to be earning £400 or £500 a day.  The same applies in reverse. 

What and how I do things are to most totally unrealistc but as above it also is true in reverse in that I dont think what most cleaners do is realistic.

I know what I wanted to do so I just went out and got it so to speak.

I would advise people to do the same. 

Just decide what you want from a money point of view and then go find the client that will pay you that amount.  Sounds easy but I appreciate that it isnt.  But if I can do it then so can most anyone else on here. 

Best, Dave

[paul wright]

well nicky  this is how it is for me ,  trading 12 years, ads in three bt books,2 thoms books  all qaurter page , 6 local numbers on each ad, 240000 mags a year (20000 a month)  sighn written van , ads on web etc  my turnover 12000-15000 year, how do i keep going ?  my wife has good job  ,    not saying people tell porkies about what they earn  but u belive what u want  good luck mate

[Mike Osbourne]

Paul,

Rather than suggest others are lying about how much they earn why don't you figure out why after 12 years and all that advertising you are still failing?

You are right, you believe what you want, and what you believe is it's easier to slag others off who are making a go of it in a sixth off the time it's taken you to earn employee wages.

Sorry if this seems harsh but it's probably the best thing you could hear.

Mike

[Doug Holloway]

Paul

You need a properly targeted web site , email me doug@1st4carpetcleaning.com.

BT book, Thompsons are not lokely to bring in much !

On the general subject of realistic earnings , while there may be some who exagerate , there are quite a lot who do well, look to see what they are doing.

Cheers

Doug

[carpetguy]

Paul

With so much advertising you should be getting a much greater return ! Obviously, it's impossible to judge what you're doing on a computer screen, with no information, but, and this is intended to be constructive.

Are your adverts just...................chuck loads of ads around.....................bound to get a return, or are your adverts offering a service, that sounds like..... best quality / best drying times / best stain removal / simply the best, etc. Does your phone ring all day, every day and is your phone diverted to your mobile when you leave home ?

If you were looking for a carpet cleaner, would you choose your advert, or would you be drawn to others, if so, why ?

You are obviously putting in the effort, but maybe need a change of approach. Another point......are you always prepared to "price match"  This can get you volume, but in this industry, you can only, physically, get round so many jobs in a day !!!

I have no advertising and have had none for the past three years and very little over the previous five years, I don't carry cards, my van is clear, but I get more than double your turnover and this is me backing out of the business, currently doing about 1/3 rd of the business I was doing 3-4 years ago.[

 Although I have done dozens of sales and marketing courses, I have been lazy and barely imlemented any of the ideas suggestions.

What has worked in my favour, over the past 40 plus years, of working, not just in c/c has been, my obvious empathising with people.................this is just being chatty, polite, pleasant, showing an interest in others................and being very thorough in the work I do!

The result, is referrals, (without asking) but you could and should ask ( provided that you have done an excellent job) and I mean a genuinely excellent job. There are many who regard themselves as being excellent, but miss details, skip corners / hard to reach areas, don't move, easily moved items, etc.

They won't get the repeats and referrals, year after year.

rob

[paul wright]

 hi  my ads  allways say half price/ oap prices/ no vat etc etc,  my prices are 30 living room  40 hsl   20 bedrooms  80 3pc   with discounts for  whole houses etc my biggest volume of work is from the thoms   but it was allways local  hence y i put in more local numbers to cover more areas of the book.   p.s mike not saying they lying some just big it up a bit      pps  not really bothered anymore just treat it as partime job 

[paul wright]

just outer intrest  just added up jobs for each month so far this year   jan 18   feb 12  march 18   april 16 may  16 june  15  july 13 so far

[carpetguy]

Morning again Paul

If you look back over the posts from Susan ( 1st clean ) you will find how she inherited a business from her father, that was trading in high, very high volume, but low prices.

She was encouraged, rather than slagged off, to raise her prices, even slightly. and sh has never looked back, is very happy with her better profitability and has even gone, partly T/M

Susan's experience is a good example of the success that comes from a slight change in thinking.

remember..............if you offer half price, make sure the original is high enough to make it viable !

[The Great One]

Hi

I am coming up to my 4th year is business that is EOT & CC. I only have advertised in YP (not anymore) and direct mail.

Last years books showed a £35,000 Turnover (not sure on profit yet)

I did some painting jobs in that as well.

I am quite pleased with that seeing as I actually started my cleaning business on 4th of september 2003 with £50.

Regards

Martin

[Macarthur]

Good for you Martin, sounds like your doing well for yourself.
Better than me. I have just started my 4th year in business myself and last years books showed £18,000 turnover. 
I have been slowly progressing each year.  The only form of advertising I do other than Yellow pages are putting leaflets out myself, just the odd few hundred probably once or twice a month as well as word of mouth.
I am overall pleased with this steady growth, will admit though feel I could do better if I pushed the marketing side a little harder.

Nigel.   

[The Great One]

Hi

Thanks.

But, it is only through diversifying that I can get to that, if I was only CC it would be a lot less.

I have tried leaflets but did not find them productive, maybe if I had 20,000 a week/month put out.

I am at the stage where I feel I may need staff if I am to grow as I am maxing out on my time (summer student season), we'll see?

regards

Martin

[Mike Osbourne]

Paul

I wish I had a rich Mrs, all I inherited was 2 teenagers.

Anyway if you are happy with your lot then fine, it's when people blame everything else but themselves for their predicament that gets my goat.

At the momemt I do three things. Leaflet good areas myself 300 ed, use Parish mags in good areas and have several referral systems in place.

I have done door knocking and works well if you have nothing on, but the other week I put leaflets through for a 'free' demo.

This brought in almost instant cash, but I didn't like doing it and was desperate mesures.


I don't do papers, YP etc and I have no website

[carpetguy]

Remember, there are suites in every house in the country, which need regular cleaning, but also remember, they are retailing at lower prices today than a couple of years ago.

[paul wright]

i must say when i first started i had 3 times the amount of work i get now and didnt do half as much advertising , and every other job was a 3pc  now i do 20 carpet clean jobs for every 1 3pc clean job    intresting i wonder y this is ?