Despite universal emancipation and feminization, some women prefer the career of their beloved wife and mother to all types of activities. And this is really the oldest profession in the world! But time passes, the children get older, no longer need to be monitored every minute.
And the woman thinks about where to spend her time, and it is desirable with benefit for the family budget. The ideal option is your own business. For a housewife, you can come up with thousands of options for your business, because, in fact, a woman who has devoted several years to creating the perfect home comfort is a universal specialist.
What type of activity to choose? Today, many entrepreneurs are opening carpet cleaning companies. Let's see how such a business is suitable for a housewife.
Business: Carpet Cleaning
All types of cleaning companies appeared in our country relatively recently. A few years ago, citizens combined going out to barbecue in their own car and cleaning the carpet in a nearby pond. The owners of large and heavy products had to negotiate with laundries or car washes. And those who did not have a car, had to do cleaning with the help of improvised means - a brush, powder, soap and snow in the yard.
With the development of private enterprise, small firms appeared that provided carpet cleaning services. At first there were not many, but this market is developing rapidly, which means that an increasing number of people are striving to occupy an incomplete niche.
Options for developing your own business
1. Cleaning carpets at home with improvised means. Not very professional, but the initial costs are minimal. However, this degree of cleaning will not suit every customer, so you should not expect a large number of orders.
2. Cleaning carpets and other similar coatings using professional appliances. Here you will need to purchase equipment for the home business - a special multifunctional vacuum cleaner. The costs are greater, but the effect is completely different - the degree of purification is higher, therefore, an increase in orders and good competitiveness.
3. Carpet cleaning business in offices, shopping centers, shops and other organizations. Here you will have to spend money not only on multifunctional, but also very powerful equipment that can work quickly and efficiently over large areas. In this case, earnings will increase.
4. Opening of a carpet cleaning workshop. In fact, this is a small enterprise where several people work. It is necessary to ensure the delivery of products to the workshop and back, rise to the apartment, removing dirt from the coating. In such workshops, special equipment is installed - machines for knocking out dust and wet cleaning. It is quite expensive - 1.5-2.5 million rubles for one unit. But through it you can pass 15-20 carpets daily, which will provide a decent level of income.
Business for a housewife
Which option is suitable for an ordinary housewife? Almost every entrepreneur who has achieved success in this area goes through all four stages - from small to large.
However, you can and even need to skip the first step. Of course, he is the safest (there is no risk of losing the initial capital), but at the same time there is the opportunity to establish itself in the market as an amateur, which should not be addressed.
You should not start the first business in your life for a housewife right away with the opening of the workshop (even with available funds).
First you need to make sure of your own strengths and the availability of the right amount of time free from other worries.
Essential Skills
Unfortunately, some believe that such a business does not need special skills and knowledge. In fact this is not true.
Of course, it is not required to receive a special education, although such professions exist (cleaners, washing machine operators), but it is necessary to get acquainted with the specifics of the work.
There are dozens of types of carpeting, and for each of them you need to know the cleaning technology: temperature, chemicals, steam, etc.
If you do not possess such information, you can easily spoil the product. In this case, the owner will have to reimburse the damage.
A personal car and a driver’s license are also welcome. A carpet cleaner weighs a lot, and carrying it in public transport is problematic.
Equipment
So, you need to start a business gradually, so we will not consider the huge workshop carpet washing machines. What equipment do you need to purchase? It should be immediately explained that household multi-function vacuum cleaners are not suitable - for your own business you need a powerful unit that can operate the entire shift without overheating and the risk of failure.
So what works:
1. Professional vacuum cleaner or carpet washer. The average price is 15-30 thousand rubles.
2. Extractor. Cost - 60-90 thousand rubles.
3. Foam extractor - a multifunctional device for foam cleaning of various surfaces, including carpets. The average price is 90-120 thousand rubles.
These are the main types of equipment. There is no clear boundary between them, as there are machines that combine some or all of the functions.
In addition to one of these units, you can purchase a dry cleaning (from 4.5 thousand rubles) and a hairdryer for drying (from 10 thousand rubles).
Consumables
If the equipment needs to be purchased once, then chemicals for cleaning will have to be bought constantly. Therefore, it is important to choose the best option for price and quality. So, what consumables will you need to clean your carpets:
- low-foam or high-foamy means (depending on the type of apparatus) for carpet cleaning - 2-2.5 thousand rubles per 5 liters;
- universal stain remover - 800-1000 rubles per liter;
- dry cotton or paper disposable napkins - 450 and 6000 per package, respectively (50 pcs.);
- highly concentrated product for extractors - from 3 thousand rubles per 4 kg.
First stage
In order for the home-based carpet cleaning business to start generating tangible income, you must adhere to the right pricing policy.
First you need to determine your market segment: let's say you want to buy a regular professional washing vacuum cleaner, therefore, you can carry out dry and intensive wet cleaning, steam treatment (if the device has this function), but not dry cleaning (it needs an extractor or pneumatic dry cleaning )
After that, you need to study your part of the market: prices, additional services, advertising - and draw appropriate conclusions, in particular, about whether there are prospects in this direction.
Then you need to purchase equipment for the home business, register as an individual entrepreneur (usually this is enough at this stage), advertise your business and set a price slightly lower than the market price. Later it can be raised to the average market, but at the first stage, you need to work a little to create your own client base and reputation.
Advertising
In order for a home-based housekeeping carpet cleaning business to be profitable, you need to properly advertise it. How can I do that? Immediately begs advertising on local television and in newspapers.
It’s hard to say how effective it will be, but you will have to pay a lot for it, since in order to achieve at least some effect it is necessary that the commercials and printed texts appear regularly. It is much easier at the initial stage to stick up ads on the porches and distribute booklets in crowded places. You can do this yourself, so you actually have to spend only on listing.
Profitability
How to achieve business profitability? Cleaning carpets at home cannot bring much loss, but you need to make sure that this business generates income.
So, in theory, everything looks simple:
- the cost of equipment at the initial stage is 30-60 thousand rubles;
- consumables - once 10-15 thousand rubles, monthly replenishment - 5-7 thousand rubles;
- the cost of cleaning one meter of carpet - from 100 rubles, natural carpets - from 160 rubles;
We consider: to clean one carpet 3 × 4 will cost from 1000 to 2000 rubles. A day you can process no more than 5 carpets, therefore, the revenue will be 10-20 thousand rubles, which is not bad.
With such income, the equipment will quickly pay off, the business will begin to bring real income.
Now go down from heaven to earth. Cleaning 5 carpets per day involves a full load during the working day, and you must immediately understand if the housewife has enough time.
In addition, it is assumed that you really have these 5 orders - sometimes there can only be 1-2 calls per day or none at all.
Further. Registration as an individual entrepreneur involves a lot of expenses on taxes, payments to an insurance company, a pension fund, etc. This is a very tangible amount that you can afford to pay only after reaching a certain income.
So what do we have in the end. The carpet cleaning business can be profitable and highly profitable (even taking into account taxes and other payments) only if it is fully loaded. How can this be achieved?
In the absence of the required number of orders, you should consider expanding the range of services, for example, you can not only clean carpets, but also upholstered furniture, curtains, wash windows, etc. Thus, in the service sector, another small cleaning company will appear, which will have the potential to grow into a large company.
