Start a House
Cleaning Service

Start a house cleaning service in the era of social media dominance. Getting tech-savvy will help you grow your budding business quickly. Long gone are the days of just pinning up a flier at the grocery store. You'll need to be on social media, especially Linked-In and Facebook. Tweet start-up special offers on Twitter or post useful cleaning service tips on Facebook. In addition to promoting your business, social media also offers regular opportunities to help you cultivate a clean and spotless reputation in the communities where you want to work.

Some things may not be apparent to someone just starting out in the world of professional cleaning. Here are a few tips:

When you start your housekeeping service, your number one concern is getting the word out. In many ways, this is a fairly simple business to start. However, building a successful operation depends on being seen on many fronts, for example, online search, social networks, local public spaces, mobile devices, and local media outlets. If you are truly serious about starting up fast, door-to-door advertising is still the quickest way to get into business.

Promoting your new service means covering as many bases as possible. Do not assume that promotion simply means putting a few ads in the local newspaper. If you are not found online, few people will trust you. Your cleaning service needs to be visible on the Web, and customers will soon warm to you if your presence is likable and trustworthy. Consider the following:

Viral reputations
Guard your online reputation by monitoring your business persona as you start your house cleaning service. In the social media environment, choose your social media hangouts with care. Good or bad, your reputation will go viral to some extent, so you must be squeaky-clean with your business dealings. Remember high school? Those who ran with the fast crowd were always suspect when a prank was pulled, even if they had nothing to do with it. People running a business can no longer cruise under the radar and slip through the cracks. Above all, offer your customers real help. They can easily go elsewhere in the time it takes to click a link. Practice standing in their shoes, seeing your business practices from their point of view. Provide solutions to their problems every step of the way. Offer genuine, upbeat and helpful assistance and don’t let yourself get dragged off-topic or into unnecessary online discussions.

All above board
The service industries were once a safe haven for all sorts of cultural misfits and fringe personalities. You would not believe some of the stories I have heard about professional cleaners! If you have ever been on a construction site, you know what I mean. I guess if you got caught, there was an endless supply of new clients that had never heard about the time you used the client’s shower or borrowed their weed whacker. As long as most of your clients were happy, what did it matter if you took a “liberty” from time to time. But these days, our actions and antics are recorded online by those who witness or are affected by them. Online, these stories will be shared and amplified through countless social networks. Better to remain above board and behave ethically. That way, your good deeds are shared and your reputation shines as it spreads.

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People will talk
Potentially, your new clients can locate your past clients, and trade notes about what they think about you. They may know each other from the grocery store, their neighborhood association, or through a business network. So when a working relationship ends, you must take steps to make it a clean and positive break, with no hard feelings. Even if there are hard feelings, it is your responsibility to let it go. Practice learning from mistakes and misunderstandings, then move on. Keep it professional and upbeat, because your work history will be shared among people on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, cleaning forums, and more. 

Basic business start-up requirements include:

• licensing
• bonding
• insurance
• cleaning equipment
• business account
• business website
• business email
• promotional materials

You will also have to put in place various business systems:

• accounting
• scheduling
• document handling
• communications
• logistics

You will want to get some kind of business method or system to follow. Do not just assume that you can easily improvise the navigation of this new social media territory. Chances are you’ll make a mistake, and perhaps another. Making several mistakes can simply be too costly. In these networked times, you may not ever recover from some mistakes. They will be recorded and archived for all to find through searching online. Find a mentor to walk you through the steps so your start-up efforts are time well-spent. 

Start a house cleaning service, jump onto the social media bandwagon, and you can make an excellent living. Recognize the advantages of getting tech-savvy now. Bridge the old-world need for a fresh, clean environment with the brave new world of online-enabled devices and networks.