Cleaning is a skill that anyone can pick up and learn, but that doesn’t mean you can create a successful business doing the job. There are already close to 20,000 cleaning companies in the United States. If you want to start a cleaning business, you need to do more than the bare minimum to generate business.

However, there is a lot you can do to get started in the cleaning industry the right way. Follow the guide below to create the best cleaning business you can and set yourself up for success.

Create a Business Plan

A solid business plan is the first step to business ownership in any industry. If you just start a company without goals or a roadmap, you’ll flounder about making best guesses about what you think works.

If you want to get started the right way, you need to develop a plan for success. A business plan will help you figure this out. Here are a few things to consider when creating your plan:

• Target customer
• Revenue goals
• Marketing strategy
• Types of services

Use your plan to determine your future goals, milestones along the way, budgets, and everything else relevant to your business. You don’t want to spend forever doing this, but you do need to figure out as much as possible during the process.

You won’t follow this roadmap completely, but it will help you get started and make the right choices. As time goes on and things change, you’ll need to change your roadmap to adapt to those changes.

Fund Your Venture

You won’t be able to start a cleaning company on a budget. You must buy equipment, cleaning products, marketing space, and more. While you may not need to spend a small fortune if you don’t start in an office, you will need some money to get started.

You’ll need to get funded if you don’t have the budget to handle this yourself. The first place many people start is the bank. Take your business plan to your local lenders and see what they can do.

You can also start with a partner willing to put up the money. That person can act as a silent partner or take a more active role in the business.

Form Your Business

You’re ready to set up your business structure once you get your business funding. You may be able to start as a freelancer if you work on your own, but you need to set up a structure if you want to grow your company.

In most cases, a corporation will work. You’ll eventually want to hire employees to continue growing. A corporation will give you the business structure needed to do this.

Find the articles of incorporation needed from your state government to do this. If you need help getting this filled out, contact a lawyer to make sure you do the paperwork right.

Buy Products and Software

You’re ready to start buying products once your business is set up. Once you create a business bank account and deposit your initial money, start looking for the equipment and cleaning products necessary to clean properties.

You could stop with just that, but it doesn’t make sense to do so when you also have software available. Many software programs are dedicated to the cleaning industry that makes life easier for every small business owner.

You can use his software to automate many business tasks, handle finances, and much more. Check out http://www.bookingkoala.com/maid-service-software/ to learn more about software that can help.

Form a Team

If you want to start a real company, you probably want to find help first. You aren’t an expert at everything. Because of that, finding experts to handle things you aren’t great at is a great way to jumpstart your progress.

Here are a few key roles to hire for, no matter what types of business you want to get into:

• Bookkeeper
• Lawyer
• Cleaning staff
• Marketing

Of course, these are only a few roles you can hire for. You can start small with the work you need help with the most and expand later to fill positions you don’t need to handle yourself anymore.

Market Your New Business

Once you have a team in place and products to start cleaning, it’s time to start getting your first customers. Look at your business plan to see who you want to target with your services. Once you find that information, figure out how to reach them with your marketing material.

The first place to start is a website. Having a website and a local presence will help you show up on Google Maps. That means local searchers who need cleaning services can find your business on the search results.

Paid advertising is also available if you want to get new customers fast. You can invest in search ads or social media marketing. In either case, you’ll probably lose money initially as you make your cleaning service more well-known.

However, you can capitalize on that exposure to build an excellent local reputation and get referrals from satisfied customers.

Now You’re Ready to Start the Best Cleaning Business

You can’t just form a company and start getting customers from day one. There is a massive amount of competition in the cleaning industry, so you need to do everything possible to create the best cleaning business you can from day one.

The guide above contains a few of the initial steps you need to take if you want to get started right. Keep them in mind to get started on the right foot and get your first customers.

Check out the blog for more tips that will help you start a new company.