Archive | August 2014

Running Costs

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

Set Aside your Running Costs

If you were to work for an agency they would charge you a Management Fee from the amount that the client pays you. This is to cover the costs involved in supplying you with work and managing your clients for you. Since you are working for yourself you should still set aside the same amount that you would normally pay to an agency for their fees from each booking and use it to market and promote your own services and pay for the running costs of your business. The rates chart below usually averages out so that at the commencement of running your business you earn at least $18 per hour, and shortly thereafter (if you are looking after you clients properly) you will not need to spend so much money in marketing, advertising and promotions, thereby increasing your hourly rate.

If you intend to continue to work as a sole operator then you will find that you can increase your hourly pay to yourself provided you have few changes to your client base. Under these circumstances you will not have to set aside such a large percentage of your hourly rate in order to run your business. However, despite your best intentions things just sometimes may not go the way you might hope, so it would be wise to build up a reserve in case you hit lean times and can put this money to good use re-building your business..

Recommended fees to set aside for Running Costs

TYPE OF SERVICE	2 HRS	3 HRS	4 HRS	5 HRS	6 HRS	7 HRS	8 HRS	MORE
Regular Maintenance	$15	$20	$25	$35	$40	$50	$55	$60
Extended 1-off Maintenance			$25	$35	$40	$50	$55	$60
Spring Cleaning					$70	$85	$95	$100
Senior Pensioner	$10	$12	$15
Oven Cleaning (3hrs)		$85
Vacate Cleaning			$50	$60	$70	$85	$95	$100
Renovation Clean					$70	$85	$95	$100
Office Cleaning	$25	$35	$50

You should also study the article that is titled Business Promotion Simplified, as the application of this information will allow you to stay in business and run a profitable operation. If you are really well organised and are able to plan, you will find that your business will want to expand due to the correct use of this information. Then your business can really become profitable!

Keeping track of your Earnings

This is what a weekly timesheet looks like:

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————

timesheet Week beginning …(1)./………../……….. (2) Week No. 1 / 2

Date Code Client Name and Number Hrs Total Paid Biz Costs

…(3). …(4)… ………(5)…………………………………………….……..………… ..(6)… ……(7)…… …(8)…

……… ………. …………………..………………………………………….………….. ……….. ………………. …………

And so on down the page…………

————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

How do I fill in my timesheet?

Commencing with item one (1), write the date for the Monday of the week you have just worked at the top of the page. You must always place MONDAY’S date in this section, even if the first day that you work is Wednesday.

Using the calendar that you have marked with week one and two from the first week you have worked, for item two (2) circle either 1 or 2, depending on whether the work was performed in a week one or a week two.

Where item three (3) is indicated, place the date that you actually performed the work in this section.

Next, place the code for the type of work that was done where item four (4) is indicated. Codes such as W for weekly, F for fortnightly, M for monthly, 1-off for one-off bookings, and extra W for weekend work or O for office can be used to identify what type of work has been done.

Place the CLIENT’S NAME and HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER where item five (5) is indicated.

Item six (6) requires that you place the TOTAL NUMBER OF HOURS that you worked in this section.

Then, the TOTAL FEE PAID TO YOU BY THE CLIENT is placed where item seven (7) is indicated.

Finally, refer to the guidelines as to how much to set aside for the running costs of your business for how much you need to calculate for MARKETING FEES, PRODUCT COSTS, CAR COSTS, PETROL COSTS, INSURANCE COSTS ETC, and place this amount where item eight (8) is indicated.

Once you have done this for every job that you have performed in the week that belongs to this particular timesheet, add up your total hours, client fees and Marketing Fees across the bottom of the page, and the front of your Timesheet is complete.

It is recommended that you fill out the questions on the back of your timesheet as well. These questions relate to changes in your roster that your client asks you for, such as changes to the number of hours or the day of service. You can also keep track of the things that occur at the jobs you work at in case at any time in the future you have a problem with your client, you have a written record of everything that was said and done. By keeping a diarised account of everything that goes on in your business you can judge where you are making your errors, both in your work and in your marketing. This information will allow you to keep statistics on your business.

You can read in next article about: Insurance

Seven Principles of Prosperity

Aug10

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

~♥~

Always KEEP A MINIMUM OF 10% of what you earn

CONTROL YOUR EXPENDITURE

Expend a MAXIMUM OF 90% of what you earn

MULTIPLY YOUR WEALTH

Put your assets to WORK

Invest in a HOME

ENSURE a future INCOME STREAM

PROTECT YOUR WEALTH from erosion

BE INVOLVED & MONITOR your PROGRESS

~♥~

You can read in next article about: Running Costs

Budgeting for Business and Personal Needs

Aug10

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

How does a Small Business Owner prepare their Budget?

When you are a paid employee you are on a ‘fixed income’. Under these circumstances you would approach your personal budgeting from the angle of ‘I know that I will earn so much money this week, how am I going to distribute it?’ A small business owner’s budget is prepared from a completely different angle. You must ask yourself ‘If these are my proposed expenses, then how much income do I need to generate via my bookings so that I may meet my expenses?’

In this article I have included a Budget Planning Form to help you determine your personal overhead expenses and your projected business expenses. Complete step one to determine your total monthly personal overheads. Complete step two to determine your projected business overheads. In step three combine the totals to determine the minimum weekly sales volume necessary to ascertain your break-even point. Review example A for a copy of a complete budget planning form.

EXAMPLE ‘A’

Sunshine Carpet Cleaning Owner: John Smith

BUDGET PLANNING FORM

STEP 1 Weekly Living Expenses STEP 2 Projected Business Exp.

Rent or Mortgage Payment div. by 4.3 145 Business Savings 100

Insurance: Medical 7 Materials/ Purchases 120

House and Contents 3 Telephone/Mobile/Pager 50

Savings 40 Insurances/Superannuation 30

Food/Clothing 90 Printing/Stationary 70

Household Items 10 Car/Business Loan 100

Gas, Electricity, Water div. by 4.3 35 Truck or Car: Petrol 40

Telephone 12 Maintenance 20

Education/Entertainment 25 Insurance 20

Personal Loans/Credit Cards 61 Taxation/Accountant 120

Doctors, Dentists, Prescriptions 5 Wages: Office Help –

Holidays and Gifts 5 Field Help –

Miscellaneous 10 Office: Equipment –

Other – Rent –

Other – Miscellaneous –

Total Personal Expenses $448 Total Projected Biz Expenses $770

STEP 3

Total Personal and Projected Business Expenses $1,218

Minimum Sales Volume Required $1,300

How to Work with your Budget

Use your Budget Planning Form to establish how much you need to earn each week. Once this is done place the estimates alongside the appropriate section of your weekly budget under ALLOTTED. Set your weekly goal, and write it at the top of your form next to GOAL. You can then forward plan for up to three months ahead, forecasting and allowing for monthly, quarterly and yearly bills.

Deposit all of your earnings for the week into your Business Account. Write this amount next to BUSINESS EARNINGS DEPOSITED. Then in the BALANCE column of the BUSINESS EXPENSES half of the form move downwards, deducting the allotted amount for each section from the sub-total directly above it. When you arrive at the section marked WAGES write the amount you have drawn for your own wages on the LIVING EXPENSES form under DEPOSITED. Go through the same process for this form also.

Whenever you draw a cheque or make a payment for one of the sections listed, write down the amount paid under DRAWN. Then record the Cheque No. in the appropriately marked column, and record the date that the cheque was presented in the column marked SPENT. Most times you will actually spend the amount either paying your bill by cheque or by drawing and spending the cash amount drawn. However, there will be times when you draw the cash out but you don’t end up spending the full amount, at which point you would carry the outstanding balance forward to the following week.

Whenever you do not draw on the amount allotted to a particular bill, write the amount allotted under SAVED, and carry it forward to the next week. You will find that this column builds up over a period of time until it is time to pay the allocated bill. At this point, write your cheque, filling out the details in the first three columns and deducting the amount from the forwarded column, remembering that you will also be adding that particular week’s allotted contribution as well.

There will be times when you need to pay a bill before the amount saved covers the amount required. At this point your FORWARDED column will go into a negative balance on paper, but you bank account will stay in credit because of the money saved towards other sections on your list. It is important that you work with your budget sheets rather than your bank balance though, as they will give you structure to your saving and spending. Your budget sheets also allow you to know that you can only reward yourself for earnings over and beyond your regular commitments. You will probably find however, that once you begin to see results using this system you would rather contribute more towards your savings and investments than waste your money by spending it unproductively.

There will be times when you earn a lot more than the goal you have set yourself for the week’s takings. When this happens my suggestion is this:

Determine the effect that your increase will have on the amount of tax you need to pay and set an appropriate amount aside for the taxman. That is, if you still work within the tax system and aren’t running a not-for-profit organisation. The rules are different if you run a not-for-profit organisation, so look into it if you can. There are lots of videos on youtube about whether or not tax is mandatory (it’s not), so check them out.

Put half of what is left over into a savings account.

Take the remaining amount and do something that you have always wanted to do, or buy something you have always wanted to buy. This is ‘motivation money’; it is your personal reward for being productive. Take a weekend away with that special someone in your life, buy yourself the latest CD that you like or spoil the children. This reward money will motivate you to continue your high level of performance.

You can read in next article about: Seven Principles of Prosperity

Making Your Business Profitable

Aug10

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

Asking for and Managing your Money

You may ask ‘How much do I charge for a particular job?’ The answer to that is dependent upon not only the type of service but also how good your negotiation skills are and what the client agrees to pay. The service is worth whatever you are able to charge, and that is dependent upon your ability to negotiate and your choice of people to negotiate with (and your quality of service, of course).

You can choose to be flexible with some people if you feel that it will land you the job, or you can set your fees at a certain rate and stick to them. The choice is up to you. Personally, I would set my fees and stick to them, because if two clients know each other and you charge less for one than the other, eventually they will compare prices and one of them is going to be very upset with you. The fee for service will depend on the type of service needed and the length of time required to do the job. Many times you will be asked to quote on services other than Regular Maintenance cleaning. Also, some pensioner clients want someone who not only does the cleaning but will also listen to them, someone who will be a friend, a confidant, someone to be with when they are at home alone.

Generally, your hourly rate starts at around $25-$30 if you are working in Sydney, but you are able to ask for more money if the client requests a Spring-Clean. What enables you to charge a better price is your skill in presenting and doing the service, as well as asking for the money. This skill is one you should learn for any service you provide. Feeling good about charging is a vital part of being financially successful. If you cannot look your client in the eye and say “that’ll be $200 for your Spring-Clean Mrs Jones”, before you start the job, you are already behind the eight ball. Not being able to ask for the amount of money that the job is worth is a sign that you need to work upon your self-esteem and your attitude towards money.

Money has had a bad rap from the media and the Church, and the general population of society has been taught that it is not OK to charge. Spiritual law says that ‘the love of money is the root of all evil’, and that ‘the meek will inherit the earth’. However, some teachers of spiritual laws have been implied that charging for your services is not spiritual and have also implied that it is better to wait until you die before you experience wealth and abundance. Well, I ask you this – are you waiting to die before you would like to share in all of life’s experiences? I know that I am not.

Wealth has been given the image that the only way it could have possibly been created is in a dishonourable or dishonest way or through the exploitation of others somehow. Generally, those who do manage to create a wealth of abundance for themselves (through their own efforts) are sneered at, and it is assumed that the wealth was created illegally or criminally somehow. Jealousy and laziness are often behind the comments made by those who do nothing about creating their own abundance.

You will earn very good money in your new domestic cleaning business, and if you follow these guidelines you will go on to become very successful, not only in this business but also in any other venture you try as well. If your money is managed well it will allow you to gather together as many of life’s experiences as you can. This could include travel, education, entertainment, investments or just the simple enjoyment of being independent in both your finances and your career.

If you have difficulty charging it is not because you are a cleaner, but rather because you have not developed your own identity and value. In order to overcome this, practice not doing anything for anyone without charging for it. Do it for one month, and if you can’t do it for a month, do it for a week. All sorts of objections within yourself will come up, like ‘am I worth it?’ ‘Why would anyone want to pay me to do this for them?’ and ‘Why should I be paid so well?’ The next time someone asks you to do something for them that you would normally go ahead and do and then feel resentful of, tell them that there is a charge for your help now. If they look horrified or try to make you feel guilty for putting a price on your effort, tell them that you are working on raising your prosperity consciousness and they just have to go along with it or they can find someone else to help them out. You have to become comfortable with charging or you are not going to raise yourself to the next level in your own development and you won’t be able to make a success of being self-employed.

Once you have overcome the fear of charging for your services, you will then need to address the issue of setting financial goals for the week and distributing the income once it is made.

You can read in the next article about: Budgeting for Business and Personal Needs

Questions Regarding the Last Few Articles

Aug9

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

Answer these Questions and Test your own Preparedness

What factors that are within your control will determine the length of time that it will take to build your client base?

At what time during your business will you find that you do the most number of Special Cleans?

Why should you accept these requests?

When you are doing the quote and have given the client your version of the ’Terms of Business’ and ‘Service and Commitment’ form, what specific points should you explain to the client about your service? How do you think this will influence the client? What do you need to watch out for and how will these forms protect you?

After a job is completed there is something that is recommended that you do in order to retain the booking. What is it and how would you ensure that your client was happy before you leave the house?

Some clients are not at home when you do their work. If you discovered that your client was unhappy with your work after you had been there, when and how would you offer to solve the problem?

Why is it important to write down your list of services?

What is the benefit of separating the services, both for you and for the client?

At what point in your business could you go from charging by the hour to by the job, if at all?

What factors would influence whether or not you can charge by the job?

What is required of you to do when you clean a Bathroom at a Maintenance clean? (List in logical order)

What is required of you to do when you clean a Kitchen at a Maintenance clean? (List in logical order)

When should you provide your own products and equipment?

You can read in next article about: Making Your Business Profitable

Service and Commitment

Aug9

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

Service and Commitment Form

The form you see below will assist you in communicating how you operate your business to your client. You can either send this form out in the mail with your terms of business, or hand it to your client at the time that you do the estimate while in their home. Take whatever information you need to from what you see below to assist in the prevention of problems arising with your clients. They were used in my business, and helped clarify the boundaries that needed to be put in place to make sure everyone played by the rules. You may want to make yours sound less legal and more conversational though, as some people found the wording on my documents too harsh. Continue reading →

Terms of Business

Aug9

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

Wording for your Terms of Business Forms

Written below is the wording that you can use on your terms of business forms. You should only use whatever reference to yourself is appropriate though i.e. if you work on your own then you say ”I”, ”me” or ”my” wherever you see a choice between that and “We”, “our” or “ours”, but if you work as a couple then you would use the latter reference to yourselves.

This form came into being from years of having run a domestic cleaning business, and contains all the points that you will need to include when you do the same. Obviously, you’ll need to create your own logo and letterhead on which to put this text, but feel free to copy what I have written below. You will also need to look up correct costs for the insurance mentioned in the wording below if you don’t live in Australia, as well as the correct phone number to call in your own country for your clients to get in touch with insurance companies that provide Domestic Workers Compensation insurance.

Here is the wording: Continue reading →

The Build-up Period – Part II

Aug8

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

Keep Good Records!

If you give an estimate over the phone remember to write it down next to the client’s name, address and phone number. If you forget what you said when you were on the phone, the client may try to argue with you about your fees, so make sure that you write down everything that was said by both of you. You can then correctly remind them of how the conversation went, and you will have an assurance that will be lacking if you can’t remember what was said. Continue reading →

The Build-up Period – Part I

Aug8

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

Have Patience!

Now that you have begun your new small business there are a few things that you need to be aware of at the beginning. Your business will build gradually over a few weeks, and whilever you are following these guidelines there will be a constant flow of new work from clients that will respond to your various forms of marketing. However, if you do not follow these guidelines then you may not be as successful as is possible in this industry. You may lose those clients that you neglect or handle badly, which means that not only will they not become Regular clients but you will not be able to offer those clients other services from which you will earn more money. So if you find that the number of repeat bookings has slowed down you can more or less be sure that it is due to your own contributing actions or behaviours. Continue reading →

Handling the Inquries Whilst Working

Aug8

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

Handling the Inquries Whilst Working

Handling the Inquiries Whilst Working

When a client calls you their inquiry and booking is usually made during office hours – the same hours that you are out working. It is not wise to be taking calls from new clients while cleaning for others, so it is better to let your messagebank service take your calls if the client that you are cleaning for is present while you are working. If not you can quickly take the new inquirer’s number and call them back in between bookings. Continue reading →