Years ago, I had an office in New York extreme house cleaning services near me, right down from Madison Square Garden. My little office was on the fourth floor of a small commercial building. There were several small businesses housed on my floor. My small business neighbor was also my accountant. I’ll never forget the words Tony the Accountant said to me one afternoon when he peeked into my office for a chat. He said, “Always ask yourself, what can I do to make money TODAY?”
Your Primary Task Each Day: I’ve gone back to that statement over and over again throughout the years. Sometimes as business owners we get so mired in running our business, that we forget to consistently make money at what we’re doing. It may sound crazy, but it’s true. The bills have to be paid (money going out); the marketing pieces have to be prepared; the uniforms have to be washed; the truck has to be dumped; the equipment has to be repaired; etc.
But when you first get up in the morning, running around like a mad person to start your daily business tasks, stop and ask yourself that same question that Tony proposed to me: What can you do to bring in a dollar today in your foreclosure cleanup business? Whatever else you may have on your plate should really take a back seat until you have done the primary task that will add money to your bank account that day.
If you don’t succeed, you will have put out a ton of feelers that may turn into cash the next day or later in the week.
What Services Do You Offer in Your Foreclosure Cleanup Business?
Are you offering services that will allow you to bring in cash on a daily basis? Are these services within your immediate control? Or, are you, instead, offering services that make you sound good, official, but that require you to depend on others to perform those tasks? Can you personally winterize, change locks, handle repairs, do the gutter cleaning, handle the painting? Or do you need a crew to assist you in getting those jobs done TODAY?
Take Inventory of Your List of Services: If you are a new foreclosure cleanup business, take inventory of the list of services you have included as part of your foreclosure cleanup business. Do you need to scale back to be in control of making money TODAY?
As your business grows, of course you will add more and more services to your cache of foreclosure cleanup duties, and you will add more workers. But, when you’re just starting out, consider offering only those services that you know you can handle yourself. Why? So you can wake up knowing you can put money in your pocket TODAY, all by your lonesome, if you have to.
Your business won’t seem as big, but you will be making more money. And that’s what business is about: making money, profit, being able to pay yourself a decent salary, consistently.
Take Action Today: For example, using Tony’s question (What can you do to make money today?), you can wake up on a Saturday morning and decide you want to put $300 in your pocket before night fall, all by yourself, in your new real estate and foreclosure cleanup business. Put your lawn mower on the back of your truck (a truck that should hold your company’s magnet signs), and hit every home and business within a ten mile radius, offering a Special Today Only rate for lawn care.
Worst Case Scenario: Those eventual customers that may say no today will now know your business name and have your company flier, which should list all of your real estate and foreclosure cleanup services.
Remember, you should already be targeting your primary foreclosure cleanup client base via email, snail-mail, phone, and through your online marketing efforts. But, keeping in mind your primary focus of making money TODAY, if your price is right, you will be busier than you can shake a stick at with just lawn care — and you will come home with that $300 bucks in your pocket!
