Some Financial Security Advice in today's economy.
There are many people today that are unhappy with life. Many would like to leave the the insecurity and the boredom of the jobs they have. Even those individuals who have relatively secure jobs often find they are unhappy with the work they are doing. Unfortunately, many of them feel trapped, locked into the routine of the 8-5, day after day.
Their greatest fear is that they will run out of money; be unable to put the kids through college, be unable to retire in comfort. They read magazines, investment guides, etc.; looking for the best investments, hoping the 'market' will be UP when they need to sell.
There are many people who would prefer instead to choose their own path, enjoy the rewards of their own effort, building a business for themselves instead of developing someone else’s.
There are many reasons for choosing self-employment:
1. Some people have the goal of increasing their earnings;
2. Others desire to have more time with their families,
3. Some want time for their other interests in life.
These goals are achievable to anyone who is willing to invest time and effort in a commercial cleaning business to make money by cleaning office buildings and other facilities. The start up costs can be low - just a few hundred dollars, and the potential is unlimited.
Every so often I like to publish stories of people who have taken the BIG step and, at one level or another, started their own business. Here are 4 stories to inspire you:
Kyle started his cleaning business when he was 15 years old. He started out delivering newspapers for his local newspaper when he was in the 6th grade, and a couple of his clients asked him if he’d be interested in mowing their lawns for extra money. That's how it all started, in a completely different market.
As he started gaining more lawn care customers, the idea of turning this into a business popped into his head. When his sister wanted to join the business but didn’t want to do lawn care, he decided to launch his cleaning service division. That’s when things really took off, and he hasn’t stopped since.
At age 21 he has a staff of about 15 and services four counties, and is in the process of opening a second office. He says, “I just really like the cleaning industry. It can certainly be challenging at times, but the reward of being able to provide people in my community with jobs and being able to provide quality service to our clients is great.”
Diana, a stay-at-home mom. She started her business in August of 2008. Having been a stay-at-home mom for many years, she was ready to go back to work. Diana knew a lot about cleaning and so decided that opening a cleaning company would be the best choice for me.
She currently has 18 employees and was on target for $650k in annual revenue for 2014. She’d would like to double her revenue over the next several years, putting her around the $1.25M mark by the time she hits her 10-year celebration.
How did she get started?
“I had experience cleaning, and I love figuring out the best way to do it. As a stay-at-home mom, I was making my own laundry detergent and homemade soap and was already experimenting with different cleaning methods.”
Jenny started her business when I was 27, a single mom, and flat broke! She started researching to find a business that she could start easily and required no startup money (She didn't have any), and allowed her to work flexible hours (She couldn't afford day care). The only business that seemed to meet these requirements was a cleaning business.
She made up her mind to give it a try and made up some crude flyers which she delivered to about 200 homes in one day. By the end of the week she had received 5 calls and landed 2 accounts. She started off cleaning just homes; then, incorporated commercial work into her business.
A tale of 2 brothers. After finishing college, Jack began working as a stockbroker in training. Finding that this was a tough row to hoe, Jack began washing windows on the weekend to help supplement his income. Cleaning windows was proving to be more rewarding than trading stocks for a living.
Jack began a new business venture by starting a window cleaning business with his brother Joe. They began by visiting with homeowners in neighboring areas and passing out brochures offering their window cleaning services. By making a personal connection with homeowners, Jack and Joe established themselves as the neighborhood window cleaners.
At the same time, Joe was pursuing a college degree in business. After graduating from college, Joe directed his efforts entirely on the goal of servicing the growing client base. With Joe's assistance, the service business grew rapidly. They began looking at different avenues to grow the business and help smooth the seasonality of the window washing business in their area. As a result, snow-plowing, gutter cleaning, pressure washing, and servicing the window cleaning needs of local builders became a part of the package.
4 Stories - 4 different sets of circumstances. But in each case, self-employment was their 'ticket' to personal and economic freedom. How about you? Are you thinking it's time to start a business of your own?
