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