A House Cleaning Invoice Example for Planning Your Business Effectively

House cleaning invoice example for Planning

this video is sponsored by project to payment more on them in a minute the cleaning industry is booming so now is an incredible time to start your very own cleaning business but if right now you're feeling overwhelmed about where to start then don't worry this video is going to fix that so you can get started today if you're new around here my name is Bethany Jean and I've owned my own cleaning business for over 20 years some years later my husband Alex joined in and on top of our cleaning business together we also own a coaching business where we help people just like you build super profitable cleaning businesses so in this video I'm going to guide you through the first eight steps you need to take to not just get your cleaning business off the ground but to start making real money and fast let's get going before we get to the steps let me just answer a few common questions about this industry number one can you make good money as a cleaning business owner absolutely yes I started cleaning to support myself through college but after I graduated I learned that I could make way more money growing my cleaning business than I could getting a job with my college degree and here I am over 20 years later still a very happy and successful cleaning business owner for a long time I specialized in luxury residential now we only do commercial and we have a team of cleaners but over the years we have done it all regardless of whether you want to actually clean or hire the cleaning out you can earn an incredible income it is very possible for one person cleaning businesses to make six figures a year and in some markets you can even earn that working part-time and I'm not just talking about gross sales I'm talking about your take-home pay as the business owner and businesses that scale with subs or employees can grow as big as they want number two does it cost a lot of money to get started absolutely not you don't need fancy equipment or expensive marketing just get some Basics which we'll talk about in this video and start finding clients and number three can you be successful even if there's a lot of competition in your area without hesitation I say yes this is an industry with a huge demand which creates incredible opportunities even for new cleaning business owners be sure to drop any other questions in the comments below and we'll try our best to answer everyone well this brings us to step number one figure out your goals for your business and write them down some call this your business plan but if you don't set goals you'll have nothing to shoot for so here's some questions to get you moving in the right direction do you want to work alone have a few employees or create the biggest cleaning business in your area do you know yet if you want to specialize in residential commercial vacation rental or construction cleaning how much money are you looking to earn each week month and year what hours do you want to work the reason writing these things down is so important is because these goals will shape your future decisions limit the amount of time you waste and and reduce the mistakes you make along the way but if you don't know the exact Direction you want to go yet that's okay don't let that stop you from starting just start with the goals you do know and see where it takes you but write these things down so you can work towards them starting today and if you already know at least one of the goals you have be sure to put it down in the comments below so I can cheer you on step two is to pick your business name this doesn't have to be complicated because at the end of the day your success in this industry is not about your business name it's about your professional nature and whether you know how to actually clean if your goal is to grow and sell your business then you shouldn't use your personal name but make sure it very clearly states what it is you do if it's just cleaning then ABC cleaning if you also do home organization then ABC cleaning and home organization you get the idea and if you don't yet know what type of cleaning you want to specialize in then keep it more generic for now in the US at least you can always add a trade name name later on meaning you have your primary legal business name but then another name you operate under but if you don't pick a name you can't move forward step three register your business once you have your name figured out then go see if that name is available where to look depends on where you live for example in the US it's by State but you need to register your business name before you invest in things like business cards there's nothing worse than getting far into your business setup and only then realizing your name is already taken part of this process is also choosing your business structure again using the us as an example you could choose a variety of legal structures but the two most common for new cleaning businesses are sole proprietorship and a single member LLC the advantage of llc's are they offer some protection against your personal Assets in the US you will also need an employer identification number or Ein which you can apply for online I can't get too specific here since depending on where you live the process can vary quite a bit but don't get overwhelmed Google is your friend and if in doubt just hire an accountant or other professional to help you there are a lot of good and affordable accountants out there to guide you through this process one of the reasons I love this industry is because there is very little overhead meaning the expenses to run my cleaning business are incredibly low but a good accountant is one of the things that I recommend investing in mine saves me time so I can focus on growing my business and mine has also saved me lots of money over the years by giving me great advice regardless of the route you go just be sure to register your business as soon as you have the name figured out step four with your business name locked in now it's time to think about your marketing materials but don't get carried away the only thing I recommend getting when you're just starting out as business cards right now don't worry about a website or setting up social media or fancy flyers or branded clothing just start with a high quality business card inside my program I talk about when when to use those other tools but I do recommend you invest in high quality business cards because they can help you make an excellent first impression there are lots of providers online and I've used a few of them but my current recommendation is moo and I'll drop a link below a business card that costs around 50 cents a piece might seem expensive but a single card can literally lead to tens of thousands of dollars of income per client so make sure it looks good and increases your confidence and now is also a good time to set up a new email address to print on that business card and record a professional voicemail message keep your email address professional like ABC cleaning gmail.com and in your voicemail make sure there aren't any screaming kids or barking dogs in the background keep it calm simple and professional one other thing some cleaners often include in their business cards is whether they are licensed and insured which brings us to step five do you need to be licensed bonded and insured and do you need any other cleaning certific ifications let's take these one at a time and start with licensing in certain industries a license is needed to show that you're legally permitted to conduct business in your city municipality or state but it varies by location and profession for example where I live home builders are required to have a business license to perform their work but handymen are not and as a cleaning professional I am not required to have one either so it really comes down to this what is required where you will operate your business again if you don't know you can easily find the answers online or here's another reason you might consider hiring an accountant as they should know the answer let's move on to being bonded and insured I have a full video on this topic which I will link below but here are the basics bonds mostly cover your clients against theft and fraud or in other words use stealing from or defrauding your clients they aren't usually that expensive so if you want it get it but unless a certain client type is requiring it I wouldn't recommend buying it even if a client did did ask me I would just explain why I'm not bonded and then show them proof of my general liability but check out my insurance video if you want a deeper explanation on the other hand insurance is required if you're going to build your business the right way specifically you need general liability insurance this protects you as well as your clients and the good news is that it usually isn't that expensive at the time of making this video I only pay around $65 a month for a $2 million policy you can get free quotes from variety of providers or even find a local agent to compare rates for you but below I have a link for next insurance which is a good place to start it only takes a few minutes so get your free quote today and I have found that it pays off to buy insurance from well-known companies like next this makes you look more professional and makes the client feel better protected workers compensation is another type of insurance you could need but it's not usually required when you're just starting out unless a client is requesting it again I talk about this more more in my insurance video and don't start paying for your insurance policies until you actually need them just get your quotes lined up and then purchase when you start going on interviews it should only take about 24 hours to get your coverage activated once they've built out a quote for you and lastly what about cleaning certifications these might be needed for certain types of advanced cleaning like mold remediation but for general cleaning like scrubbing toilets and mopping floors they are not usually required if you Google cleaning certificate or clean certifications you will find all kinds of online courses that promise completion certificates but that doesn't mean there are requirement in this business and your clients won't care it goes back to what I said earlier your success depends on your professional nature and whether you know how to actually clean not on whether you took Bethany Jean's cleaning course step six is to set up your bank accounts and invoicing every Bank requires different documentation so ask before you go in but since you've already registered registered your business you should have all the paperwork that you'll need I have my insurance premiums deducted from my business bank account so this step goes hand inand with purchasing your insurance once you have your bank account number you can then figure out how you'll invoice for your cleaning services and speaking of that this is a great time to tell you about the sponsor of this video project to payment project to payment is my favorite tool for all things invoicing I love it because its simple design makes getting paid by your clients a breeze and on top of that it's super simple for your clients to use making your cleaning business easy to work with in addition to all the great invoicing and payment features you also get an easy way to manage your customers send estimates receive project requests and so much more the team over there loves supporting small businesses which is why they set their cost at just $20 a month for as many users as you need and if you use my special link in the description below to sign up then you'll get 3 months free so be sure to check them out in addition to getting your invoicing software set up you also need to learn some invoicing best practices and yes I have a video on that topic too which I'll link below step seven is to purchase the other physical products you'll need in this business but don't worry it's not as much as you might think let's start with work attire you don't need fancy branded clothing but you should always look professional and this really will set you apart from your competition I expect those that work for me to be presentable and when I clean luxury residential I always made sure I was very well put together and when I interview especially for high dollar commercial accounts I step it up even more this is one of the ways I attract much higher paying clients so dress like a professional who owns a healthy business and it will pay off as far as equipment and products my clients are trained to maintain pretty much everything needed to clean their property I always did that in residential and I still do that today with all of my commercial clients there are certain cleaning kit Essentials that you will maintain to see those be sure to check out my Amazon store linked below I have different lists for different types of cleaning but in most cases I encourage you to train clients to provide the bulk of the cleaning products like glass cleaners toilet bowl cleaners and so on this will save you from taking a huge cleaning kit from job to job the exceptions to this rule are construction cleaning and move in or move out cleaning since in those cases the properties are usually empty there is even one very essential tool that my business never takes from job to job again minus the cleaning types that I just mentioned and that is a vacuum and this is to prevent cross-contamination between properties if you take your own vacuum from client to client you are spreading germs and allergens and since more and more people these days are sensitive to a variety of things this just makes good sense so I'd recommend you explain this to your clients and ask if you can use theirs if they don't have a good one then encourage them to upgrade obviously what tools and products you need will depend on a bunch of different factors but if you want to see all the products I recommend and why then again be sure to check out my Amazon store and last but not least is Step eight build up your cleaning knowledge you can be the best salesman on Earth but if you are the ones doing the cleaning in your business don't know how to clean properly then your road to success will be long and slow and even if all you're doing is selling the cleaning services clients still expect you to be a cleaning expert since you're the owner they will present certain questions or situations and expect educated answers if you or someone in your business doesn't have that knowledge like what products to use on what surfaces then you will not be able to keep your clients happy or know how to train your staff when you get to that point when I did residential one of the biggest complaints I heard from new clients was about damaged surfaces from their prior cleaner not knowing what they were doing so invest the time into building your cleaning knowledge and you will find much success in this industry in early 2024 we will be launching a full cleaning course inside our coaching program and it may even be live by the time you watch this video I'll put links below where you can learn more so to recap getting started is not as hard as some people make it out to be and you can make an incredible income and grow your cleaning business as big as you want it to be and the best part is that once you have everything we talked about set up it's just about finding clients and getting to work but you're probably left with some other questions like how do you find your first client and Beyond how do you interview with those clients how do you bid jobs what should you charge how do you know when to add cleaning staff and how do you build the cleaning business everyone wants to hire to learn more of course subscribe and check out other videos on my channel but also be sure to check out our coaching program linked below thanks thank you again to project to payment for sponsoring this video you'll find a link below where you can get 3 months free I believe you can build the cleaning business of your dreams so get started today have confidence in yourself and know that I'll be here to help you build something you [Music] [Music] love