Writing a Business Plan – Cleaning Business Chronicle – Part 1
When I was asked by Small Business Care to chronicle starting up my business I wasn’t sure how to go about it. For one thing if it failed it would be a short lived chronicle. The second was how to do this in near real time without giving up any competitive advantage. So last time we talked about the general process I went through. Now that I have a name, Bright House Cleaning, and some details finalized I will dive deeper into writing a business plan. This post has gotten a lot longer than expected and it will be released as a 4 part post. So much for me not wanting to share too many details of my plan!
Why Now?
Before we get to writing a business plan though I want to say that like most small business owners I wanted to own and build something myself. After working for medium and large companies for so long I lost the drive to make someone else money. So far this process has rekindled my business spirit.
Background Research
Before I jumped into this endeavor I researched lots of options, franchised restaurants, other chains, other industries. What I liked about a professional house cleaning company was that with so many professionals working longer hours and having less time for family house cleaning demand is increasing. Like any other business there are challenges. In my research I found that finding qualified employees is difficult, retaining them even tougher, on top of that the cost of finding and acquiring customers can be difficult.
Know Your Industry
The reason for writing a business plan even if you are going at it alone is so that you can hold yourself accountable. By this I mean you have all your t’s crossed and I’s dotted. Imagine going into business and then finding out what you thought you needed for advertising say $1,000 a month was really $5,000 a month. That could really be a drag on your business. So I recommend doing all the research you can.
I joined 15 Facebook groups related to starting businesses, running businesses, running a service business and even a few on running a professional house cleaning business. I am sure more than a few groups got annoyed with all my questions. You know what though the information I found made it easier to complete this plan with the right amount of detail. On top of Facebook I found posts on Quora, and random forums to do research.
Strategy
One aspect I didn’t mention in the first post and I should share now is why I planned to have 2-3 locations so quickly. One reason is that I am spending a lot of time to find an existing business to buy and then rebrand. The thought is that this one location can be small with 5-10 employees but with some existing customers. This will allow some initial income stream instead of completely starting from scratch. This will be one of the biggest challenges in the beginning as I then have to start a second location as well as making sure all of our processes are the same.
While buying an existing business is risky. The hope is that I will be able to limit risk while also leveraging some local awareness. The plan will be to create a new brand from scratch and as that brand takes off slow down and then stop any marketing for the original brand. Risky – yes, but so is every aspect of running a business.
On to the Business Plan
I have read many times over that writing a business plan should be short and I fully agree. If it is too long you will never update it let alone read it. For mine I then had linked detailed breakouts for sections that need more information.
For instance when getting into more detail of the SW tools I planned to use and how they would operate together. I had to make sure all those tools made sense together and helped my business. Similarly I had sections that got into details of how to advertise and where and how much. As well as how I would find my customers. Would I rely on word of mouth? A simple website but not worry about SEO or would I have an active social media presence? Many options to choose from but only a limited amount of time in a day or money for me to invest in.
Audience
The next part I focused on was who the audience as. As I wasn’t seeking outside investment I didn’t necessarily need to share it with anyone. Though as I planned a second location and need the other manager to be on the same page as me I wanted them to be aware of the plan. I needed to convey what the strategy would be and how to get to our goals.
Get it done
Before you start the document it can feel intimidating. Who really liked to write 5-10 page papers in High School or College. This is important to your financial future so time should be taken to do it right. What I did was a simple one page plan to start and then I came back with a detailed plan. This let me setup guide lines for the process. It also helped remind me of areas I needed to do more research on.
About Bright House Cleaning –
Recently opened up their house and maid cleaning service in Maryland. They have an ambitious plan to have 3 locations by the end of 2018 or early 2019. This will enable them to cover most of their state. We will be following up with them once to twice a month to gauge their progress. We feel these real stories of how startups are fairing will help in discovering industry best practices and also lessons learned.
About Small Business Care:
At Small Business Care we continually work to find tools and solutions for small businesses. We are always looking to profile successful small businesses. The tools the use and general strategies on how to improve your business. On Tuesdays we usually have a post on technology tools for small businesses as part of our “Tech Tuesday”. On Friday’s we focus on financial issues that small business are likely to see for our “Finance Friday”. Saturdays will be “Startup Saturday” where we will either follow a startup on their journey or do a one posting on a new company. We have a range of experts in various fields to help make sure your small business avoids these major missteps.