Episode 082 – When to Hire Your First Cleaning Employee
When to Hire Your First Cleaning Employee
Are you an owner operator? Tired of cleaning all day, billing/planning/selling all night and waking up every day to repeat without an end in sight?
Michelle is ready to make that jump from cleaning all the accounts herself to hiring employees so that she can stop cleaning and start building a business. Today Mike shares his wisdom with Michelle Read of on When to Hire Your First Cleaning Employee.
BONUS TIP: It’s not what you can do, it’s what “a cleaner” can do
Before Mike jumps into answering the question there are a couple of overarching concepts he needs to cover.
So many people do the math of, if I make 20$hr and work 40 hours a week that’s about 40k a year and if I hire someone that’s only 20k a year.
Here’s where the magic happens…If you hire 2 people and double the accounts, you’re now making the same amount but not working more than 5 hours a week to manage those employees.
1 employee cuts your salary in half, but if you get 2, you now have time to grow your business, get more accounts, hire more people and before you know it, you’re the business owner and entrepreneur you’ve always wanted to be.
If you are doing all the cleaning yourself, there is only a finite amount of time in the day and so your income gets capped with how many hours you can physically be working.
SO then the question remains, do you hire 2 people right away?
Listen in to hear what Mike has to say about what you need to know before hiring 1, 2 or 3 employees.
The second concept is whether or not you are charging enough.
People get squirrely on raising prices because the misconception is that you have to double your prices to double your income.
They let fear and misunderstanding keep them from making the profits they need to hire employees or worse, earn reasonable wages!
BONUS TIP: You don’t have to double prices to double your profit.
But that’s not the case. If you are only working on 10% profit, then all you have to do is raise your prices 10% to double your profit.
Even if half your customers leave, you’re still making the same money, but doing HALF THE WORK!
A prevailing thought pattern is raising prices is tied to loyalty to your customers. Cleaning is not a necessity it’s a nicety.
It’s your time, you have to charge what you need to. If they can’t afford it they can clean themselves or say no thank you.
Finally, don’t make the mistake of doing all the “extras” that you didn’t agree to do as you go. Have a clear and predetermined agreement to what you do and don’t do.
That sets you up for success when your customers ask you to do just a little bit more.
You can always offer an A la carte cleaning option for the extras. You should be getting paid for your work!
Michelle shares the love in the Lightning Round
As her grandma always said – Be a good listener
Don’t take too long to figure out what you want
Be a pleasant person to be around.