I know I said I would blog more regularly and have a look, it has been almost two whole months since my last blog!!! Where has this year gone??? It is going by so fast it is just unbelievable.
Really though this last 15 or so months have been such a rollercoaster ride for us that it truly doesn't surprise me. With the announcement that we would have to move interstate, to having to repaint our old house, get it on the market and sell it and then find a house to buy here, move here, my dear Mum passing away just two weeks after we did move, then the juggling and trying to work out a school holiday routine with all the kids, Christmas, Hubby's never ending overseas trips for work, Hubby's dear Dad passing away in NZ and having to make a trip over there and then us deciding to take on a business, it has just been so overwhelming and truthfully something I never thought we would have to deal with in such a short space of time.
Deaths in the family are never easy on anyone, but I think that is how we decided that we needed to do something to hopefully enable us to work together in our own business. A franchise wasn't necessarily the way we wanted to go, but as neither of us have ever had our own business it seemed a safer option at the moment. We still have no idea of really how to run a business but I guess it will be something we learn along the way lol.
Our official start up date is next Monday. I am more than a little nervous, I tell you!! Since it is going to be only me running it, I am very aware of the fact that I need to make enough money to actually pay the franchise fees each month. Even though it is house cleaning, something I have been doing for many, many year, I am really nervous about doing it and expecting to be paid to do it lol. I have no idea why! I just think that there is a vast difference to cleaning your own home to cleaning someone else's. In my own home, near enough is good enough. I'm not a cleaning nazi and I tend to have many dust bunnies occupying various corners of my home and I am fine with that. Cleaning someone else's home however, they will for the most part want their dust bunnies evacuated and I will have to be much more fastidious than I am at home. Can I do this?????
The other thing I am nervous about is that I am not a salesperson. I have always hated feeling pressured to buy something and I refuse to place pressure or sales tactics on people. I go by the theory that if someone wants something they will buy it and no amount of pressuring is going to make them buy something from someone they don't like. So having said that I will be going into this just being me. I figure people will either like me and want me to clean for them or they won't. Simple as that.
Another lady in this area recently took on one of the franchises a couple of suburbs over. She has been running it for about two months with the same desire to build it up to enable her husband to leave his job and work with her. I have been told that she hasn't needed to advertise herself as yet, she has just been going off of the leads that the company have given her and she is at the point where she needs to take on a part time cleaner to help her out. I have my fingers crossed that I too will be able to get to that point, just as fast as she has. The only difference is that she is offering lawn mowing (courtesy of her husband, doing it after he finishes his normal job) and also carpet cleaning which we are not offering at this point.
I will be offering house cleaning, vacate cleans, dog walking, ironing and holiday pet minding services. For the vacate cleans we will have to either hire a carpet cleaner or get someone in to do it for us.
I guess at the end of they day we just have to think positive about it all working out. We have the comfort in knowing that hubby's income is fine for us to live on and all I need to do is get the business expenses covered each week. Its not like he has left his job and we are having to live on the income from the business, now that would be really scary!!!
Geez I can ramble on can't I!!! Lol sorry.
I was going to share school holiday happenings but I might leave it there and make a real effort to get back in the next day or two and share some photos etc with you.
Hope everyone is happy and well.
Take care!
