Nannies

That is, you&#146;ve still got 70 percent of the market just waiting for someone like you!

But aren&#146;t housekeepers and commercial cleaners everywhere? What makes me think I can compete for the business and get paid well? Haven&#146;t those big cleaning companies cornered the market? Let&#146;s look at several myths and facts that exist about cleaning business today.

Myth: There&#146;s no money in the cleaning business.

Fact: There&#146;s a lot of money in the cleaning business. There&#146;s a big need out there and not a lot of qualified people available to fill it. Those variables ALWAYS equal $$$. The trick is targeting your clientele and maximizing your profit potential. Many people fail in the business because they aren&#146;t prepared going into it. Done properly, most professional cleaners can expect a minimum of $30,000 to $40,000 in their first year. The sky&#146;s the limit thereafter! As business builds and reputation grows, an industrious husband and wife (or other partnering team) who doesn&#146;t mind working 40 hours a week can make $100,000 or more.

Myth: The wealthy all have full-time housekeepers.

Fact: The traditional, nanny-type housekeeper is a person of the past. Twenty or thirty years ago, the wealthy might have hired a housekeeper to stay home all day with the children, to cook, clean and perform other duties normally assigned to the wife. This type of woman was usually a mother herself who supplemented her income by working part-time for the wealthy family. The work was menial and the pay minimal, but as the years went by, these women found themselves becoming attached to their employer&#146;s children and were eventually viewed as an integral part of the family. Oftentimes, these women would take trips and spend vacations with their employer and share in other, non-monetary benefits. Because of this relationship, loyalty and dependability were the employer&#146;s dividends &#150; despite low pay. As more women have entered the workforce in pursuit of higher pay and benefits, the number of middle-aged women willing to work as housekeepers and nannies has declined. The majority of the woman who served in this capacity have now past retirement age, leaving a void for many older, wealthy homeowners. This translates into a perfect opportunity for qualified house cleaners.

Myth: I cannot compete against big cleaning companies.

Fact: Current cleaning companies are only as successful as they are because homeowners and businesspeople are left with no other choice. As we said previously, franchised companies represent only a third of the market. The new, modern housecleaner has clear advantage by being a polar opposite of what these companies offer: impersonal, sloppy, and expensive service. Many of the young women who work for franchises are hired with little or no education, given a broom and told to go to work. Turnover is tremendously high and they perform poorly in their duties, leaving the customer generally dissatisfied. As the work ethic in this country continues to decline, so does the quality of worker who is servicing the homes and businesses of America&#146;s social and economic elite. The hardworking, conscientious, concerned cleaning lady has been replaced by a generation of minimum-wage, could-care-less, service workers.

housekeepers