Benjamin

Built a residential cleaning business from 0 to $90,000/month | sharing insights on the journey ❤️

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

Living by the mantra that everyone is replaceable is really important in a labour intensive business.

If your managers feel that you have become reliant solely on them. They will demand more and more money to continue in their role.

It’s important to spread responsibilities across a team and always have someone ready who can jump into a leadership role if someone starts making unreasonable demands as a manager.

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

There is nothing better than once you’ve got over 200+ Google reviews with a good rating. You no longer need to pander to people who do not deserve to receive a service from your company.

There is no need to be rude or unpleasant just because you’re paying for something. We have a strict no A hole policy now

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

26 cleaners on the books! It feels really cool to be responsible for 26 people being able to pay their rent, take family out for dinner or go on holiday.

When I finished school I always wanted to start a business where I didn’t need to hire people.

Man I would’ve missed out on how awesome having a team is

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

@homecleaningguy Yep the office has been laughing about it all day 😂

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

Some of the people that we have had as clients are certifiably insane.

We have cleaned for a lady for 8 months and she always would follow the cleaner around and nit pick things or complain if they left 10 minutes early. The cleaner was fine with it so I left it.

The cleaner moved away and we sent a replacement team. She realised that they had not dusted one of her cabinets and ran outside while they were packing up and harassed them in the street. The team said they will never return.

I have cancelled her bookings and she is now seeking compensation for the harm caused to her by having to find company. She wants us to pay for the first 2 months of cleaning with another company 😂

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

I see a lot of people who are “looking” to start something. Usually in my case it is a house cleaning company.

They have a million questions about things that don’t matter. It’s a form of procrastination seeking endless advice before starting a business when it is something where the start up cost is close to 0. Very different if it’s a project that requires a very large check to be written.

With low-cost to start service businesses the only way to learn is by doing it. You’re not going to know what’s important until you’re in the game. Your risk is 0 and the worst that can happen is it fails and you move onto the next thing.

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

I think the market you’re in plays a massive role in success.

I could not imagine competing in a major city. Everyone is too smart and it’s hard to have an edge compared to smaller locations.

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

@sgm_offcial I haven’t tried that. I turned off google ads about 2 years ago but probably time to revisit

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

Facebook and Instagram ads are as much about branding as they are about closing leads as soon as they come in.

Conversion rates on these platforms are naturally lower as the leads you get don’t have the intent that a Google lead will have. Hence why the leads are a lot cheaper.

I would say 50% of our leads that come from our Google profile saw us on Facebook/Instagram first.

They didn’t fill out the form but we were the first cleaning company they thought of when they needed someone.

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

@pjmcgeary Yep video content that really hits hard on that we are a small local business

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

@homecleaningguy @pontodotdev Yes I think so. But I don’t think there are many businesses that are as easy to scale to $1-$2M in revenue so quickly. Once you remove yourself from the day to day it’s a pretty easy business to manage and you can pull a lot salary from it as it’s not very cash intensive

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

Today is one of those days I would’ve been crashing out over 18 months ago.

Multiple call offs, clients cancelling last minute, client complaints.

Now it doesn’t bother me at all. I almost enjoy it as it’s a rush trying to organise everything on a short time line.

Your ability to handle stress increases as you take on more responsibility.

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

@pontodotdev All the other business owners at similar revenue to me can’t believe the headaches that come with the day to day of house cleaning

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

First $100,000/month USD incoming!

It sucks the Australian dollar is so bad. I’ve been doing over $100,000 AUD for a while now but no one on here would care because 90% are based in the US 😂

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

We are going to be getting office space!

With our full-time operations manager getting started it will be a great place to meet.

It’s only small but we only need it for in-person interviews with candidates and management meetings.

Best part is it’s only going to be $50/month!

A friend of a friend owns it and has his accounting firm in there which isn’t client facing very often. So we can use it as we please 🙏

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

How much of your income do you put towards your investments? I’m current saving about 55% of my income.

What is everyone else doing?

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

Tyler is so good

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

Over the last 24 months we have only had 4 months where revenue wasn’t higher than the previous month.

That is the joy of a recurring revenue business. You get paid for the leads you close potentially over years.

It makes growth a lot easier and you don’t need to stress if you’re going to have enough work for your team next month.

[Benjamin @ben_2446]

Working crazy long hours does not move the needle as much as you think.

When you look at the work you do in the 11th and 12th hour of a day. The quality is usually a lot lower.

Could that time have been better utilised resting and having more energy for the 8-10 hours the following day?

Consistency is way more important. If you show up everybody single day and log your 8-10 hours working on the right things. Over a year that compounds a lot more.