How To Start a Home Cleaning Business

If you’re someone who wants to start their own business,
well, we have an idea for you! Let’s face it, cleaning your
home is a pretty dull chore. Though everyone likes a clean
house, not many people actually enjoy the process – or have
the time – to do it themselves.

By starting a cleaning
business, you will be able to solve this problem for people
– in a super lucrative way! However, starting a business is
no easy task, so we’re here to help you through the process
and give you step-by-step instructions to set you on the
right path!

1. Check Your Bandwidth And Plan Your
Legal Structure

First things first, you need to see
if you’re able to spend the time to do it yourself – at
least at the start. Sure it sounds like hiring a team from
the start would be the smart way to go – however, if you do
the initial work on your own, you’ll have a much better
handle on how the business works – which helps managing the
business more effortlessly in the long run. All you have to
do is take a little time to understand the different nuances
involved in cleaning and make sure you already have – or
learn – the skills needed to do it.

Plus, when you’re
out on the job on your own, you interact a lot more with
clients on the daily. This is especially important for a new
business because it is through these initial clients that
other people in your community will hear about your business
and its services. So not only do you build a personal
connection with your clients, but you also instil a sense of
trust in new ones that come your way!

Aside from this,
another important aspect is for you to understand which
legal structure works for you.

By this, we mean the
way you set up the ownership and operating practices of your
company. There are plenty of different ones, but the most
common is either a sole proprietorship or a
franchise.

2. Sole Proprietorship or
Franchise?

The differences and true meanings of sole
proprietorships and franchises are somewhat hard to
understand. And deciding how to structure your company can
be a little tricky and confusing.

So to break it down
for you – and help the decision-making process easier for
you – we’ve listed here the meaning of these terms and the
pros and cons of each!

• Sole proprietorships are
  businesses owned by a single individual. This type of
  structure allows you to operate your business using your own
  name or with a registered company name.
• A franchise,
  on the other hand, is a business model where the owner of a
  business gives you a license to conduct business using their
  name, trademarks and other identifying factors of their
  business. An easier way to think of this is brands like
  Mcdonald’s and Green Acres.

The Pros Of A
Franchise

There are many pros that make starting a
franchise well worth your time.

• A franchise
  allows you to create a customer base far quicker – since
  people already know about the brand.
• Franchises
  often receive help from the main brand to help develop the
  business outlet.
• Since there is already a brand
  recall factor, there is a lower risk associated with
  starting a franchise.

The Cons Of A
Franchise

When it comes to a franchise, the downsides
are:

• You do not have much room to do things on
  your own as a lot of the business decisions are dictated by
  the main company’s policy.
• While the risk is lower,
  they still do have a hefty startup cost
  involved.
• There is also sometimes less freedom
  involved in the location of the business since the main
  company would not want one location encroaching upon the
  territory of another already existing franchise.
• You
  will have to pay royalties and other fees to the owner of
  the central business in order to maintain your franchise
  license. In this way, you don’t get to keep a big part of
  your earnings for yourself.

The Pros Of Running
Your Own Business

Being your own boss is just one of
the many perks associated with a sole proprietorship. Aside
from this, some other perks include:

• You have
  much more flexibility to make your business
  decisions.
• You don’t have to pay any franchisor’s
  royalties or other fees. What you make is solely for you and
  your business, and you can choose to invest the money in any
  way you’d like.
• You get to choose where you want to
  set up your business.

The Cons Of Running Your
Own Business

The downsides of having your own
business are:

• The serious risk involved in
  starting a business from scratch.
• Finding the right
  staff and location that also fits into your
  budget.
• All of the time and effort you spend in
  marketing and getting word of your business out
  there.

3. Choose A Name And
Register

Before you get down to choosing a name for
your cleaning business, you must make sure it is available
for use. For example, if your name is similar to another
local business, you could face legal trouble and lose a fair
amount of your customer base.

One way to check if the
name you want is available is to do a background check using
ONECheck. With ONECheck, you will be able
to:

• Find your business name,
• Check out
  your web domain,
• Check on trademarks,
• Check
  on social media handles for your business

How
To Register As A Sole Trader

If you decide to
register as a sole trader, then there are a couple of points
you should be aware of:

A. Document with GST
number

Goods and Service Tax is a fee that is
collected from your customers after the sale of the goods or
services that your business provides. Then you pay the GST
to your suppliers when you purchase any goods and services
from them – that relate to your taxable activity.

When
you file
your GST returns, you must figure out the difference
between the amount of GST you collected from customers and
paid to your suppliers. But remember, you do not have to
register for GST just because you started a
business.

If you are a business entity and any of the
following points are applicable to your business, only then
do you need to apply for GST:

• You carry out a
  taxable activity, and your turnover was at least $60,000 in
  the last 12 months, or you expect it will be at least
  $60,000 in the next 12 months.
• You carry out a
  taxable activity, and you add GST to the price of the goods
  or services you sell.

Once you register for GST,
you need to:

• Begin charging GST to your
  customers
• Make sure you file GST
  returns
• Payback any GST you owe to the
  government.
• Maintain good records of your
  GST.

B. NZBN – New Zealand Business Number
document

If you’re self-employed (a sole trader), a
partnership or trust, and you’re currently in business in
New Zealand, you’re eligible to
apply for an NZBN. A business can be non-profit and can
also be carried out free of charge.

You can get an
NZBN for your own business or on behalf of a business; you
have the authority to act for (for example, as a business’
accountant or bookkeeper). To do this, you will need to know
your business type.

4. How NexDo Helps Small Business
Owners

• Guaranteed bookings and
  income

With
NexDo, we manage and deal with all bookings. This helps
regulate your income and also removes the stress of managing
these activities from you.

NexDo’s services are fixed price
with a set checklist for every service. In this way, service
providers know exactly what checklist to follow and how much
they’ll be earning. We don’t charge per hour, so all that
matters is whether the job is done
correctly.

NexDo advertises all services to
the market, and we then assign these jobs to service
providers who are registered with us. We only take between
15-20% of the job value, and the rest of the earnings are
all paid to the service providers.

Some of our service
providers end up earning around $45-$50 per hour on
average!

• NexDo Takes Care Of Marketing
  And Advertising For You

Since we vet
our professionals thoroughly, we ensure that we do
everything we can to help you get your footing in the
market.

• Flexibility in terms of location
  and working hours

Our service providers
are given the flexibility to choose where they want to work
and how much they want to work. We only assign jobs to our
service providers based on their
availability.

• No startup costs to join
  NexDo

Unlike the franchise model, to
join us and become one
of NexDo’s service providers, there are absolutely no
startup costs involved.

NexDo’s support team is always
available to attend to calls. Whether it’s about the service
provider running late or a customer needing some upgrades
& extras to their chosen service, our support team will
sort it out directly with the customers, leaving the service
provider to do what they do best!

5. How to register
as a service provider with NexDo

Sounds too good to
be true, right? Well, it is that good! So if you’ve decided
you’d like to be a part of our team, you should:

1.
Pre- Requirements –

• Own or be able to obtain
  market standard equipment, like power washers, specialised
  deep cleaning tools etc.
• Cleaning experience – we
  promise quality cleaning for all of our customers. Hence, we
  need people who already know how to clean
  professionally.
• Have a smartphone for the NexDo app.
  It is through the app that our service professionals receive
  job updates.
• The service providers must have their
  own modes of transport.

2. Vetting
process

In order to vet any professionals who join
the NexDo team, we first and foremost insist on a check by
the Ministry Of Justice – to ensure that there are no
criminal convictions recorded. It’s free to request a copy
of your own criminal record.

To get your background
check from the MOJ:

• You can request your own
  criminal record check online.
• Before you begin, you
  must have the following documents ready:
  • A valid
    identification
  • A signed and dated Authority to
    Release Information Form Remember when completing the
    authority to release information form, you must
    ensure:
    • That your ID contains a
      signature
    • That the signature on your ID matches your
      authority to release information form and
    • You have
      written the correct date of signing the proof of signature
      form.

These documents are
all uploaded as part of your online application. Note that
each document cannot be larger than 6MB. You also cannot ask
for your record over the phone or without the form. If
you’re unable to apply online, you can still complete a
paper form.

The MOJ uses a copy of your ID to check
that the right person has filled in the form. So remember
that your ID must:

• Be a clear and readable
  copy
• Exactly match the details in your form –
  write your name on the form exactly as it is on your
  ID
• Not be defaced or damaged in any
  way.

As a best practice, you should use one of
the following as your ID:

• Your New Zealand
  driver’s licence. This can be current or expired within the
  last 2 years but must not be cancelled or a temporary
  licence.
• Your New Zealand passport. This must be
  signed and can be current or expired within the last 2
  years, but it must not be cancelled.
• Your overseas
  passport. This must be signed and current.
• Your New
  Zealand firearms licence. This must be
  current.

Apply
Now

If you don’t have any of these, you’ll need to
ask someone to confirm your identity, or you will need to
complete a statutory declaration. Usually, the request is
processed within three working days.

And so there you
have it! Starting your own business sure is scary, but by
following these easy steps, you should be up and running in
no
time!

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