Do You Have to Love Cleaning to Grow a Successful Cleaning Business?

We are regularly asked whether it's necessary to love cleaning to start and grow a successful cleaning business. The short answer is no, but it helps.

Here's a dirty little secret: I don't love cleaning.

My first seven years in this industry were part-time, and focused mostly on bookkeeping; I helped with cleaning only on occasional weekends. When I joined Steve full-time, however, I went “all in” on learning about cleaning, and regularly doing front-line work.

While I quickly discovered I don't love cleaning, I found certain elements were actually quite enjoyable—being able to focus on one thing at a time, seeing the results of my labor, and getting to know our clients and their employees.

As our business grew, I slowly removed myself from day-to-day operations to focus on human resources and marketing.

Whether I'm cleaning toilets or writing blog posts, however, one thing hasn't changed: Running a business is hard work. That's why, regardless of industry, entrepreneurs must be passionate about something. Otherwise, it's too easy to quit when the going gets tough (and it will get tough).

Do you have to love cleaning to be successful?

A Love of Cleaning Can be a Detriment

I talk to a lot of residential cleaning business owners that started their business because they really do love to clean! But what becomes difficult is turning that love for cleaning into a sustainable business. There is so much more to the business than the actual service of cleaning.

So to be clear, your passion doesn't have to be for cleaning. In fact, it can be problematic to start a cleaning business only because you love cleaning.

Running a successful cleaning business requires much more than cleaning skills. If you're a one-person shop, you must oversee everything from accounting and human resources to marketing and sales. And the larger your staff grows, the less cleaning you'll do.

Your time can never be singularly focused on cleaning. If it's your passion, however, you may spend too much time working “in” your business (doing the actual cleaning) and too little working “on” your business (the big-picture and administrative tasks necessary to grow a business).

What's more, a passion for cleaning won't necessarily translate into an ability to sell cleaning services. It also doesn't equal skills in managing finances or employees. Therefore, a love for cleaning must be balanced by business acumen (or at minimum, a desire to learn those skills).

Love cleaning but not the many other aspects of entrepreneurship? You may make a better employee of a cleaning company than the head of one. It's like a retired athlete who tries his hand at coaching, only to discover he loved playing the sport more than managing other players.

Even if you remain actively involved in cleaning every day, doing it in and day out could diminish your love for it. If cleaning currently relieves stress or adds joy to your life, turning it into a business could change the nature of that relationship. In this case, cleaning may be best as a fun hobby or personal outlet, not a business.

What Drives You to be Successful in Your Cleaning Business?

The good news is you don't have to be passionate about cleaning to own a successful business cleaning business. But as I said earlier, you do need to be passionate about something. If not cleaning, then what will drive you even when times are tough?

For me, being of service was key. Prior to cleaning, I worked in retail management and was used to solving customers' problems and creating a great customer experience. While my work changed, the underlying passion remained the same—helping customers achieve their desired results.

If you're not passionate about what you're selling, what could keep you motivated? Maybe, like me, you love being of service. Perhaps you're driven by making the world a more beautiful place, one home at a time. Or it could be that you're deeply enthusiastic about leadership and making meaningful jobs for hard-working employees.

Every successful business owner must have a core belief that keeps them pressing on, especially during the difficult days. This underlying passion not only keeps you going, but also reflects in your enthusiasm for the work. Your clients will feel it and be more excited to hire you. Your employees will see it and become more invested in your company's success.

What You Need to be Successful - Besides Passion

Passion alone is not enough to create success. Yes, it's helpful to like cleaning and/or customer service, and it's important to enjoy management and leadership. But there are a few other fundamentals needed to start and grow a profitable house cleaning business:

• Business plan: A critical document for any business, a business plan is the roadmap for where your business is headed and how you'll get there. It outlines how your company is organized and managed, the services it provides, how it stands out from the competition, its financial projections, and more.
• Marketing plan: You can't grow without new clients. A marketing plan is a concrete, actionable guide for you'll differentiate and promote your company to continue winning new business over time.
• Operations manual: An operations manual allows you to systematize your day-to-day business activities for maximum efficiency and, therefore, maximum profitability.
• Training program: As your company grows, so must your team of employees. Your success hinges on their ability to perform well, which is why it's imperative to have a thorough, consistent, and quality training program.
• Customer care program: It costs far less to keep an existing customer than it does to find a new one. Customer retention depends, in large part, on customer service. Having a well-documented program in place goes a long way toward providing exceptional service.

Loving or being skilled at cleaning isn't required—or even necessarily enough—to create a successful house cleaning business. It may put you on the path toward success, but you become unstoppable when you combine it with a passion for service and/or leadership, along with the fundamental building blocks above.

FREE VIDEO - Top 10 Lead Sources for Cleaning Business