I think I am going to start an offline business cleaning garages.

I've been cleaning with my wife now for 12 years. I also started detailing cars on the side to fill in spots here and there if need be for the past 7 years or so. Last year I added in carpet cleaning for kicks. Junk removal/garage cleaning is definitely needed. We see the homes that often have lots of excess "stuff" in them that people want to get rid of.

Why am I here? Because I personally love marketing and ever since I was a telemarketer 16 years ago and ran a telemarketing department for a few years I have always wanted to be involved in marketing. I've marketed my own service businesses to the point where my wife and I never have to do any advertising and we stay more than covered up with work. In fact, we have a waiting list for people wanting us to clean their house. We choose not to hire employees because we actually like the work, love actually making a difference in people's lives, and detest the thought of dealing with employees. That's just our decision. But, the workaholic that I am, I have goals of one day having my own marketing business and scaling back the physical labor somewhat.

Anyway, I just want to encourage you to go after it. Don't let anyone hold you back, including your own self-doubt. Realize that the majority of service providers out there suck. Seriously. Here I sit with a waiting list of customers, and I've tried to GIVE AWAY leads to other businesses, and they won't even contact me back. If you can show up and physically fog up a mirror, if you have the intelligence to be able to tie your shoes, and if you have the relational intelligence to be able to call people back and speak professionally with them, you will beat out most of the competition. I could write a book, and in fact am putting together a training course to help people get started in their own offline service businesses, because so many people jump out there and start an (insert name of service here) business without any clue on how to relate with the very people they hope to serve.

Marketing is a huge part of the business, and where most people fail. If they get marketing down and get people interested in what they have to offer, then they have to learn the skills to show the prospect the benefits and motivate them to act. That kills a bunch of other deals. Then if they get the job, they actually have to show up. Well, there went the rest of your competition. You have nothing to fear. Just do it. I'm a hustler and have been my whole life, which drove me away from the poor upbringing that I had. I learned from watching the poor people around me that many of them were just that because they wouldn't hustle. I'll outwork just about anyone, in just about anything. If you're willing to work hard, you'll do great.

Thanks for your words, Mwind076,
I was lucky enough to get a job pretty quick,

My goodness....I told a guy who was "down and dejected" to go down to "O-Reillys Auto Parts" and some "BLUE MAGIC Headlight Lens Restorer". Get a few Fiber Rags and go to a local Used Car Lot and tell the owner you can help him get $500 MORE for each of his older vehicles (cars or trucks) AND....THEY WILL SELL FASTER!

How? By making the headlights SPARKLE LIKE NEW!

Tell the owner you'd like to demonstrate...at NO obligation. Go do ONE lens...ask him how it looks and tell him you'll do a pair of headlights for $35.

Then....go get some "Black Plastic Renovator" .....charge $5 per Door Handle....$10 per Mirror and...$25 per bumper.

The guy now has a "route" of 32 Used Car Lots....8 per day for 4 days a week. (He takes "3 day weekends")

Each day he makes $800 to $1200 from the 8 used car lots!

Look around! Money-Making ideas are EVERYWHERE!

Don Alm....possibility guy

Don's story reminds me of a local business guy who's worth $490 million. He sat on a bench outside a university admin building after being refused bursuries or a scholarship and didn't want to go home.

A guy on a nearby bench struck up a conversation with him and chatted about why he was there and what his goals were. They talked for an hour and the guy (who turned out to be a pastor with the university) asked him if he beleived that he was going to acheive his goals.

He told the pastor "That's why I'm here, I know I can if I don't go home."

You already know the ending and there's a long middle part of the story but the pastor helped him get funding and recently he told his story in a local business mag. He said "I achieved because I beleived"

Could you help me with my cleaning business? I have hit a brick wall and need some help from someone with your experience.

i have a friend who does home cleaning... she developed a handful of about 8 clients, and she runs her whole business from her cell phone using text messages.

Once I watched her book her self for 3 days and set up a whole weeks pay from text messaging casually while she was having a conversation with me. This person doesnt even know anything about the internet...she just took a few months out of her life to develop a handful of house cleaning clients....and now when she wants to work all she has to do is go through her text list telling people "I have a free day wednesday, if you want me to come out...".

Also she gets referrals out the ying yang... someone might say "Well, not for me, but my mothers house needs cleaning really bad if you wouldnt mind doing me a favor and going over there, I'd ike to surprise her...". Things like that.

Text is her preferred method of communication...She can be anywhere anytime setting up a days work for herself and hasnt had a job in years.

Now as far, Rob, as you saying telemarketing scares you:

Think of it this way.... you really have a service to offer that these people may be interested in.

A service like this you could do with flyers on doorsteps, since it residential... I know a few months back my garage was a mess for months at a time, and I would have gladly paid someone a hundred bucks to come clean it out, and that person would have also gotten to haul away an old drumset I had with a few missing parts, some old printers that only needed ink, an old vacuum cleaner , and all kinds of stuff I had collected that wasnt being used anymore...3 Bikes that were perfect, just with flat tires...

So I can see personally where a certain percentage of people would have called in that flyer. I certainly would have, but as far as telemarketing... its really not scary, it's all about "perspective". You are just honestly calling to honestly see if a person could honestly use your service.

It doesnt have to be a sales pitch...the best telemarketing is TRULY a "courtesy call".

In carpet cleaning, you are literally offering to come and clean a spot in their home for FREE in exchange for introducing your service.... usually takes 15 minutes to do the spot... and you just talk to them about the condition of their carpet while you work... Sometimes you might even be able to tell them its in great condition and they feel good... but then you tell them that regular maintenance will KEEP it that way, and tell them a TRUE horror story (that you TRULY want to help them avoid) about what happens when people dont maintain their carpets...and how they can avoid that.

WALA, you get a job...

Telemarketing is portrayed one way by the masses, but myself; I never make it hard, for me its as easy as just asking a simple question "Could you folks use some help with your internet marketing there?" basically...

The answer is yes or no...if no then "Okay well, glad you have it handled...I appreciate you taking my call today Bob, have a great day".

Nothing hard about that. Its truly a "courtesy call" to see if I can help them.

2-3 out of a hundred dials (acrtually about 40 greetings because they all dont answer) say "Yes, actually we do need some help, but I dont have time right now".

"No, problem Bob, I can set up an appointment for wednesday or tuesday afternoon, which one of those would work best for you?"

You see Rob, you can try to "FAKE" and use all kinds of techniques, which is a way of approaching it, that I can teach after having worked with a ton of call center owners, but if you do it like I personally do.... It's just a sincere courtesy call, to really see if someone could use your help or not. Not big spiel.

No tricks, no BS, no hard rebuttals, and no sales experience required.... Just a person calling another person saying "Hey I mow lawns, and Im looking to drum up some business, I was just wondering if you folks could use some help with your lawn care... "

Here's how it works Rob.... Some guy that turned down 3 other people just last week, thinking he was going to do it himself...comes around to the weekend, and he still hasnt done it...so monday you call him, while the other guys are ignoring him because he already said no, and he says "Sure, I really need to get this done, I have been planning to do it myself but just havent got around to it...My neighbors are going to start complaining, when can you come out?"

Rob, its just a matter of dialing enough numbers, saying hello to enough people, being nice to them all...not selling, just "offering", and people will say yes to you if you do that. Most will say no, but you come across those who say yes.

The ones who say no dont bite... you can wish them all a nice day, and share an uplifting moment of niceness with them.

Nothing scary. Alot of telemarketers and salespeople are braggers.... they brag about this line they pulled or that technique that you must master....and it scares you. Then you hear all the ones who failed because they listened to all that advice instead of just being sincere.... and THAT scares you...

There is nothing scary about the advice Im giving you here....and it works. You will get business taking it.

You are imagining all the people who will say NO, and they "will", but thats no big deal.... Try imagining for a few minutes how it would feel to run across someone who says "Yeah, Im glad you called".... Why?

Because they WILL!

Also, don't give prices up front. Doing so turns you into nothing but a number. When someone contacts me looking for a price on house cleaning, I give them a price range but let them know that I need to look at it and do a walk through to give them an exact price. That gets you in the door, and then people will buy based on liking you instead of liking your numbers.

It's interesting o see that one of the most active threads isn't about marketing at all.

Anyway, I spent about two years making a serious living (while running a retail store full time) placing classified ads in a local ad network, offering to buy various things like slatwall, retail fixtures, used office furniture, and a few other things. Each ad was offering to buy one item. In the same set of newspapers, I ran ads offering to sell these things at a huge markup.

For example; For a few years there were air purifiers that were being sold by MLM call Alpine (later EcoQuest). There were tons of these things sitting in people's garages because they thought they would sell them at $599-$699.
I ran an ad saying I was buying them. Any quantity, any condition. When the person called, I would offer them $75 if they were used, and $150 if they were new. About 75% of the people who called either got mad and hung up, or tried to sell me at retail.

But I ended up buying a few thousand of these things. In the same paper I advertised buying them... advertised them "Like new for $350". I sold them faster than I could get them. Some I upsold to new ones, some I didn't. Some I repaired. A few I threw away and lost money. But I made a boat load of money buying and selling these. And I did the same ting with lots of other items too. Me...a van...a few dollars...and a classified ad.

And you know what? Not one person ever mentioned that I had two ads in the same paper.One buying, and one selling. Weird.

Now, this was about 20 years ago, so it wouldn't work today. Why? Because there are no classified newspaper ads you can still run. Vans are extinct. And nobody needs to sell anything to raise fast cash. That's a joke.

My single most profitable enterprise doing this was getting a few calls from companies tearing down malls or retail plazas. I would walk in with $100, agree to do all the work tearing down fixtures, slatwall, furnishings....and run ads selling the stuff at a huge discount.

I also had great luck buying furniture and TVs from hotels. A quick steam cleaning, and VIOLA! like new furniture. I eventually stopped doing any of this because my other business was a little more profitable...and a lot less work.

I have a friend that buys used vacuum cleaners from door to door vacuum cleaner dealers, and sells them to vacuum cleaner retailers. He drives a huge trailer, used to haul horses, cross country about 6 months out of the year.
Maybe $200,000 a year. The possibilities are endless.


By the way, midasman09 has lots of very easy to sell little marketing packages. These would get you quick cash without a whole lot of expertise or salesmanship.

Cleaning's a great biz to get into. "Where's there's muck, there's brass" as they say up North (England). There's always money to be had from cleaning, in good times and bad!

Go for it.

R Wow man, you got screwed. Unless you've professionally cleaned before, if you're friend is just handing out cleaning jobs to any able bodied person as if that's all it takes to clean, then he doesn't have a very good business. Cleaning isn't just grabbing a bottle of Windex and some rags, especially in homes with lots of higher end materials. If you don't know what you're doing, you will underbid yourself and possible damage something. There's nothing wrong with the cleaning business, some are just run poorly.

Heck, just driving that far for a job in the first place is sketchy. Wow.