Well guess what?
I already did!!
Sweet, So what do I do?
Well first, let me ask you, do you enjoy cleaning?
If you answered No, then no offense, but go ahead and leave this blog right now, or not, I’d love to have you, but I just don’t think starting a cleaning company is for you. If you answered yes, than rock’n’roll. You see, in my opinion, when you start a company, you should really enjoy all aspects of the company, otherwise the chances of failure are extremely high. Passion equals success. If you just grab a domain name and hire a couple cleaners and say abracadabra, go clean, while you sit back and collect some checks, it’s probably not gonna work out too well. You should be a cleaner first. Get in there and scrub some toilets and bathtubs. Create a cleaning system that you enjoy and that’s efficient. Then you can pass that system along to your new hires. See, I actually enjoy cleaning. In college I was the one who always cleaned up the night after we had a party and sometimes during. Yes my roommates loved me. Maybe it’s my OCD, I’m not really sure but as crazy as it sounds, I actually really enjoy cleaning. Sure, cleaning other people’s toilets isn’t the highlight of my day but seeing their toilet shine after I’m done, is.
The best owner I ever worked for was the owner of a Restaurant. Not only was he a great guy, but he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. Sure he did a lot of schmoozing with the guests, he was the owner for Pete’s sake, but when the, you know what, hit the fan, there he was. I once saw him taking care of an over flowing toilet in his Restaurant’s bathroom, in a Corneliani suit. Another time he was bussing tables when all the other employees were busy, and he didn’t hesitate to help the dishwasher wash the dishes by hand when the dishwasher broke. The point is you have to have passion for everything in your business, and sometimes you have to just swallow your pride, and get the job done.
Another aspect of the business is people. Sure, you’ll be cleaning people’s homes, but it really is a service based business. You’re serving people. Are you a people person? I’m not judging you, but you really have to ask yourself these questions. As a Server in the Restaurant Industry for over twenty years, I truly enjoyed serving people. Making someone’s day by giving them great service, made my day as well. I would get butterflies in my stomach. Sure there were difficult guests but finding a way to please them, finding a solution for them did something for me spiritually. It’s hard to explain, but if serving people isn’t your thing, than starting a Cleaning Business probably won’t be your thing either, and that’s okay.
The last aspect of the business is the technical side. Do you enjoy creating websites? Do you enjoy starting a business from scratch? Do you enjoy coming up with a cool business name and logo? Do you enjoy blogging? Do you like hiring and managing different types of people? Are you organized? Are you prepared to do what it takes to acquire and keep your clients? Do you have enough time and energy to start a business? Do you have the right temperament and stress threshold to run a business day after day?
I hope you aren’t discouraged, and more so enlightened. Are you still with me, ready to get your Clean on? Awesome!! So lets get you a name for your business. How do you choose the name of your cleaning company?
Well I can tell you how I chose my name, I didn’t, I let the name come to me. Someone whispered the name of my company into my ear. Was it God, was it my spirit animal, was it the crazy ghost who lives in my basement? I don’t know, but what I do know is someone or something whispered that name into my ear, and I listened. Detail and Clean, Detail and Clean. Hey, ya know what, I’m going to call my Cleaning business Detail and Clean!! I did help my whisperer out a little bit though. See, as I sat in front of my computer and contemplated what I should do with my life, I turned off the negative voices in my head and welcomed the positive ones. I started brain storming. I at least knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. What kind of business to start was the problem. I searched and searched for the perfect idea, than an original idea, than a far fetched idea. When I came back to reality, I asked myself what I could do, what would I enjoy, and what would bring value to the people? A cleaning company kept rearing its clean little head. Cleaning wouldn’t be a bad gig, I thought.. I told my Ma my idea of starting a cleaning business and she loved the idea. She loved the idea so much that she said she would help me clean. I was electrified. I started researching and putting together the specs, and later that night the whisperer came. Detail and Clean was born!!
Did your whisperer come to you yet? I hope so. So how important is your business name? In my opinion, you have to like your name, but what’s truly important is how well you perform while working under that name. You could have the coolest name on the planet, but if your company doesn’t perform, well, thanks for playing. On the other hand, you could have the worst aesthetically pleasing name in the whole wide world, but if you’re giving incredible value and service, well, I’m picking that company every time!! It reminds me of the band Korn. Like them or not, they said something brilliant. To paraphrase, they basically said, it doesn’t matter what your name is, it’s the music that matters. Guys, their name is Korn like Corn, the vegetable, but they rock (at least they did when I listened to them in the early 2000’s lol), so Korn rocks, and Korn stuck.
So there you have it. Pick a name that you like, or can at least tolerate, but really concentrate on the value you can provide behind that name. Do that, and I guarantee you can’t go wrong!!
Btw, the World doesn’t need anymore Agitation…
So why be mean, when you can clean.
