Nov 07 2019 23 mins 8
I recently connected with Whitney Bonds of "Tried & True Mom Jobs" who helps moms venture out into the workforce to help their families. It's an awesome mission. Whitney or Max as she goes by, asked me to write up a concise blog for her on "How to Start Your Own Cleaning Business". She wanted to bring this content and example to her large blog audience of moms to show them the potential of cleaning as a mom job. Let's cover my answers to her questions in this podcast episode as I believe it's a great piece of content to cover early on. Make sure to go back to the Pros & Cons of Solo Cleaning as I covered some of these points already. What are the steps to setting up your own cleaning business? It’s important to first understand the various models available to you. There are many “Aunt Sallie” cleaners out there. They take great risk as do the homeowners hiring them as they are uninsured and not paying taxes. Do not do this! The risk is too great and the income is low. A solo cleaning company is insured, registered in their state, and pays all necessary taxes. They work as owner-operators. I did this for the majority of my New York business. The final model are the team cleaning independant and franchise businesses. In all cases, the simplest way to set up your cleaning business is to do the following: Register your sole proprietorship with your local county or state agency as a DBA “Doing Business As”. This costs between $20-$50. Register your DBA for a Federal EIN. This is free. Some may choose to set up as an S-Corp, LLC, or C-Corp for tax and liability protection. Unless you are building a big business model from the beginning, you don’t need to start here. Register your DBA your state sales tax office (if your state requires cleaning companies to remit. This is free. Purchase General Liability insurance for $2M per year aggregate from a reputable local broker. Your annual policy should run between $400-$800/year. Open a business account at your bank or credit union with you DBA. Get your basic supplies together. You can either bootstrap it with the cleaners and vacuum you already have or you purchase a cleaning system for between $500-$1,000. If you CANNOT do the cleaning yourself because of work commitments, you’ll need to hire employees or subcontractors. Start the process of identifying the ones you’d like to hire and get the proper insurances (Worker’s Comp, state disability, payroll & bookkeeping). I don’t recommend starting this way, unless you have to. I like the new cleaner to get their hands dirty, learn the business solo, get proficient & profitable, and then grow. Go Clean!!! It’s an awesome business! Start. Stop re-reading this over and over. Take action for your family!!! You can read the rest of this BLOG at Tried & True Mom Jobs. Check out our Solo Cleaning School Premium Membership if you'd like training, mentorship, and accountability as you begin your new solo cleaning business.
