Tag Archive | home cleaning service

Working as a Couple

Aug14

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

working as a couple

Working as a Couple (Male/Female)

This is why working as a couple is the right way to go in the home cleaning profession: Firstly, if you are a single male wanting to work in the domestic cleaning industry you should attempt to team up with a female, or you may find that you won’t get any work (or perhaps not as much as you would like, unless you are gay). This is because when a woman is at home by herself with her children, she feels that her safety is threatened if you are male and she doesn’t know you. So team up with a woman so that you will be able to find enough work. Continue reading →

Getting To and From your Bookings

Aug14

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

getting to and from your bookings

Getting to and from your bookings

You WILL need a Car

The only way to be really successful in this type of business is to have your own car or van so that you can get to and from your bookings. Seeing as you will not have to transport heavy equipment you can still be very successful with a small car – you don’t have to have a van. But due to the fact that you will need to carry a Kit with you that includes a vacuum cleaner, you should at least have a car. Your main source of income will come from people that live in upper middle to upper income areas, which are not always accessible via Public Transport, so unless you have your own reliable form of transport it would be wise not to start this business until you do. Plus it would be very difficult to carry all your supplies with you on the train or bus. Continue reading →

Building your Roster

Aug13

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

 Cleaning – fortnightly roster pdf form

building your roster

Step by Step Instructions on Building your Roster

This business is not just about cleaning. It involves:

  • cleaning
  • quoting (making sure that your client understands how teams of two work)
  • communication by phone, face-to-face and written
  • follow-up with the client
  • diary skills

Continue reading →

Questions and Exercises

Aug13

August Focus: Domestic Cleaning Business

questions and exercises

Questions and Exercises

The following questions and exercises are good to do ahead of time so that you can get a better idea of the business that you are going into: Continue reading →

Assertiveness in Practice – Part III

Aug12

August Focus: Domestic Cleaning Business

assertiveness

Assertiveness in Practice

Developing your Skills of Communication

Let us look at a few practical strategies on setting boundaries and delivering those boundaries using good communication skills. Once you know what rates to charge for the different cleaning services you need to stay within these boundaries with every client that you deal with so that you get used to setting boundaries and keeping to them. If you are asked to do extra work and the rate that you are charging does not cover these extra requests then just look your client in the eye and say ‘I can certainly do those things for you during a Spring-Clean. Would you like to order a Spring-Clean, Mrs Jones?’ If they ask again, just repeat your offer to do a Spring-Clean. Then, if they insist that you do the work they want without ordering a Spring-Clean, you simply say ‘no, these services will need to be charged at a higher rate’ clearly, calmly and without emotion. Stating what you will or won’t do for the fee that the client is paying needs to be done clearly and precisely, without any negative emotion. Good communication only becomes aggression if you add negative emotion to your delivery of what you are trying to say. Continue reading →

Assertiveness – Part II

Aug12

August Focus: Domestic Cleaning Business

Assertiveness - Part II

Learning to Become Free through Assertiveness

Next, assertiveness requires you to have very clearly defined goals in life and that you know what your purpose is. If you have no idea about these things you will not be able to become assertive. If you do not know what you want the first step to take is to work out what you don’t want from life until you have narrowed down your list to what you do want from life. Underlying what you want will be your reason for being here. If you are able to define this you will be able to assertively say no to those things in life that you do not want that go against your purpose, and assertively speak up for those things that you do want in life that fit in with your purpose. Continue reading →

Assertiveness – Part I

Aug12

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

Assertiveness - Part I

Assertiveness in Self Employment

Part of the reason why you are considering becoming self-employed by attending my workshop or reading these articles is because you probably want more freedom, and this means having more independence and control over all the areas of your life. To have total freedom you will need to develop an assertive personality, one that does not allow others to impose their intentions on you should that not be your desire, and one that is able to make things happen so that life gives you what you want.

Basically, having an assertive personality boils down to being totally centered and contained within yourself, and not leaning out into the world looking for acceptance from sources outside of yourself. It means that the greater majority of the time you are calm and relaxed, with very few events that are happening around you pushing you off-balance. It sometimes comes naturally to those people who have been properly nurtured and supported while growing up, but for those that haven’t you will need to develop this attribute yourselves.

From the moment we are born we are told what to do, how to do it and when to get it done. We are taught to conform, to fit in and to be a part of society. All the structures around us, from governments to religious and educational institutions want to make sure that we do. They set rules and regulations that are so stifling that in the end the people just acquiesce and go along simply because they would rather not think about, rally against or fight these laws. But if you desire to free yourself of the imposed shackles of these societal institutions you will need to develop your own viewpoints, know what you want and be able to ask for it. Part of becoming free is being able to go against the status quo and to take an individual stand on life.

The setbacks and restrictions you face along the way strengthen you, and although they may feel overpowering at times, in overcoming them you develop an individuality that defines you and sets you apart from others. So if you find that you have experienced much opposition in your life try not to see it as such a bad thing. If you have been able to go beyond those forces that were against you, you will have developed persistence, tenacity and strength. These three characteristics will give you the power to manifest whatever you want out of life.

To further develop your assertiveness you must see yourself in a non-judgmental way and not criticise or condemn yourself for what you do or have done, or what you don’t do or haven’t done. Eventually you should become able to look at all of your life, see it for what it is, and be accepting of and know who you are. You may desire to make changes to aspects of whom and what you are, but basically you are settled in the knowledge that this will come with time and is something that you are quite capable of doing.

Assertiveness is the ability to take yourself out into the world and be who you are with those around you, while at the same time not being pushed off centre by their reaction to you. If you are assertive you can be yourself, talk about your life, have opinions of your own and not be attached to whether or not other people accept you for those things. You can basically leave it up to others to react to you in whatever way they choose to react. And, when you have truly mastered detachment their reaction will not matter to you.

If you cannot do this then you are not allowing the beauty that is within you to be free to be. You will be projecting to the world that you have no worth, no value or no capabilities. This is basically fear, and as the saying goes ‘a life lived in fear is a life half-lived’. The first part of assertiveness then is to accept yourself as you are, wherever and however that may be. If you are around someone who makes you feel ‘less than’ in some way, ask yourself ‘what is it about this person that intimidates me?’ When you have worked this out you will then discover an area within you that you need to accept. For example, if someone asks you out and you feel that you can’t accept because you aren’t good enough for that person, ask yourself ‘what is it that is holding me back?’ If it happens to be that they are very wealthy and you aren’t, then you will need to work on accepting that you have value to offer without having to have loads of money. Once you can do this for yourself on all levels, you should also give those around you the very same acceptance.

 

You can read in next article about: Assertiveness – Part II

Collecting your Payment Assertively – Part II

Aug11

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

Collecting your Payment Assertively - Part II

Handling Jobs that Take Longer

Working at jobs that require more hours and a higher hourly rate – never, ever work at jobs where you are required to work for more than a day without getting progress payments from the client. If the client requests you to go to their home and work for more than one day at a time always make them pay you a progress payment as you go along. There have been cases where clients have set out to have someone do four or five days work knowing that they had absolutely no intention of paying them for the work that was done. So when the time came for the cleaner to collect their money on day five, the client in the example that I am thinking of found something wrong and even completely lied about damage done in their home just to cut the poor cleaner out of getting paid what they had worked hard for. Although it doesn’t happen very often, some clients will attempt to have you work without paying you.  Always get your money daily before leaving the house, and make sure that it is cash. Some will also try to tell you that you quoted them a different hourly rate to what you are expecting to collect, so perhaps you should hand them the Terms of Business at the start of the booking to make sure that you know that they have been informed of all the prices.

What to do if the client says that you quoted a different rate – get out your Terms of Business that contains the Rates chart and show them that the rates are standard, hourly and unchanging. These rates are dependent upon the type of clean and whether or not you or the client provided the products and equipment. If the client has an email address you should send them a Terms of Business, a Rates chart and a Service and Commitment form. Then make it a requirement that they tick the receipt box to show that they have received the information, so they legally will not in be a position to argue with you about prices. You will also know undoubtedly that the email has been received, and this will help you in your negotiations with them.

What to do if the client does not give 24 hrs notice – You are also entitled to charge them for late notice if this happens. You will occasionally have a client who will constantly cancel at the last minute. When it does, charge them for late notice and then decide whether or not it is best to keep this client at all.

What to do if the client wants to pay by cheque – Your client is entitled to pay by cheque and will request to do so when their cleaning is a tax deduction. You will need to be prepared to accept a cheque, as well as provide these clients with a receipt or invoice with your business name and ABN printed on it. I do not recommend that you accept cheques from new clients until you have been cleaning for them for a while. I strongly advise NEVER to accept a cheque for a Vacate clean, a Renovation clean or a Builders clean. Also, don’t be beguiled by some posh, fancy, expensive home. Just because the client appears to have money is no guarantee that they will pay you – they sometimes got the look of having money from conning other people out of theirs. ALWAYS ASK FOR PROGRESS PAYMENTS IN CASH.

I am now going to discuss how to develop an assertive personality. Being assertive will allow your business to succeed and is just as important as being able to perform the work to a high standard and quality. You will need to have these skills to be able to succeed on your own in business. It is my aim to help you develop them.

 

 

You can read in next article about: Assertiveness – Part I 

Questions Regarding the Last Few Articles

Aug9

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

Questions Regarding the Last Few Articles

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?

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

Terms of Business

Aug9

August focus: Domestic Cleaning Service

 Terms of Business

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 →