I’ve recently started doing coaching calls live on the Remote Local Podcast.
As a part of this series, I recently sat down with Dan Kats of Shorely Clean, a local cleaning business. I met Dan on Twitter and have been quietly watching from the wings as he tries to grow his company.
Dan operates the business alongside his W2 job and despite a fantastic start, has been running into difficulties scaling. Specifically, he is wondering how to go from $10k months to $20k months and beyond.
The growth phase of a business is often overlooked in the vast sea of content available for startups which is why I wanted to highlight a few key pointers that I gave Dan over the course of our conversation. I think many of you will be able to benefit from them too.
Hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA)
Onboarding a VA to take over your daily operational tasks can help you get back to doing what matters most: scaling your business.
I can’t say enough how much hiring one full-time can maximize their potential. In Dan’s instance, he needed someone to help him find and hire cleaners as well as stay on top of their schedules. He initially wanted to bring someone on part-time to save a little cash, but ultimately you want a VA who is going to be able to take a ton off your plate.
That way, Dan can hone in on closing sales and running more marketing campaigns, things that he should be focusing on as the owner.
Tapping into New Markets
Shorely Clean focuses mainly on residential cleaning, but Dan is interested in expanding into the short-term rental space. It’s our speciality here at MaidThis, so Dan had a really granular question for me: how to deal with linens at properties that don’t have a washing machine?
I told him to only work with customers who have on-site machines. Or, to find a local fluff and fold service to partner with. This is of course a very specific situation for a very specific industry, but a takeaway is this: be flexible and willing to cater to a different market and you could end up landing a whole new group of potential customers.
Balancing Luck and Hard Work
I loved the last question that Dan asked me on our call: how much of your success to you attribute to luck or just hard work?
It’s a tough one, but I am a firm believer in a combination of luck, hard work, and opportunity.
On a higher level, we’re very lucky to live in a country like the United States, where an entrepreneurial spirit is common and encouraged. The amount of opportunity that I have as compared to my parents (who grew up in India) is unbelievable.
I also somewhat stumbled into the cleaning industry, which I credit to luck and good timing. I figured out a business model that would work and I just decided to go for it.
If I had to put a number on it, I would say that I attribute 50-70% of my success to luck. The lesson here? Keep your door open so that when opportunity comes knocking, it can step right into your life, effortlessly.
Photo by Edward Howell on Unsplash
This article was written by Neel from MaidThis Franchise, a remote-local franchise opportunity for people looking to escape the rate race and reach financial freedom. Learn more here.
