How to Make Money Cleaning Closets
Nobody likes to clean a dirty closet. That’s exactly why people will be willing to pay big bucks to have it cleaned!
Okay, before you laugh or worse, leave this website; lets analyze it a bit. Let’s try and figure out if this business could make you $100k per year. That’s WELL above the median household income, so I know most people would be happy with that.
I really don’t know any closet cleaners or their earnings, so my guess is as good as yours. But if I were going to start a closet cleaning business; here is what I would ask myself: Is there a market (can money be made)? What’s the competition like? How much are my start up costs? How would I get customers? And finanlly what is my profit potential?
As lame as cleaning closets might sound (actually I think it might be fun to see what everyone stores in their closets); it just might have some merit.
First of all, its a very niche service. If I were to just say I am a general cleaning guy, I might get business, but people that needed their closets cleaned might not think of me. However, if I can market my business properly, EVERYTIME someone sees their dirty closet they would think of me — The Closet cleaning specialist!
In business, the niche business always wins. Take a look at 1-800-Got-Junk; all they do is remove junk…and they do about $100 million in revenue per year. Watch this short video about 1-800-Got-Junk:
Plus, if I clean closets, people might want to get rid of their junk which you could turn around and sell on eBay…a second revenue stream!
What’s the market like?
Is there money to be made? This is a tough one to answer. As cited, 1-800-Got-Junk does close to $100 million a year, but what about closets?
Maybe closets is too narrow, I don’t know, but my guess is that there are lots of people with cluttered or disorganized closets that would be willing to have them cleaned. And even more if you target “organization”.
Okay, I concede the market may not be actively seeking your services, but I believe there IS a market, and could certainly grow espcially if you include commercial closet cleaning/organization. So, YES, there is a market, but its one that needs some marketing.
What’s the competition like?
Competitors would include home cleaning services, janitors, and the customers themselves. After all, most people just end up cleaning their own closets. So, you dont want to target customers that already have a maid.
You should target individuals with one big messy closet that needs to be cleaned just this once. However, I do not believe I have seen any “closet cleaners” driving around. Oh I am sure there are some, but I expect that your direct competition is limited. This is great for you!
Start up cost?
$50 for cleaning supplies. $100 (or less) for marketing. That’s it. Just pound the pavement and get some customers.
How would you get customers?
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Word of mouth.
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Flyers.
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Big sign on the side of your truck that says something like “CLOSET CLEANING”.
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Ad in newspaper.
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Yellow pages (maybe later as the business grows).
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Start with neighbors, friends, family; then pass out the flyers from door to door and drive your truck around with the big sign.
Once you get started that way and make a little money, you can do some newpaper advertising and more flyer marketing. This is probably all you really need to start the business. The reason is that your strategy has already been chosen. You are a “closet cleaner” NOT just a general janitor or maid. Your business defines your niche, and therefore your marketing will have more bang for its buck.
How much money with this business make?
Okay, so will it make $100k in a year. Lets break it down. First, what will you charge? This will depend on the size of the closet and how big the mess is. However, I would suspect that people would be willing to pay $200-$300 for a really messy closet.
So lets say you deliver a 1000 flyers for a cost of $200. If you get a 1/2 % repsonse rate (a pretty low rate), that’s 5 closets (1000 x 0.005). Five closets should give you revenue of at least $1,000. So, you profit $800 for five closets or $160 per closet.
You would have to clean 625 closets in a year to make $100k. Is that doable? That’s 1.71 closets per day. That might be a bit hard to achieve by yourself. However, if you leverage your time by hiring employees, then cleaning this many closets would be a cinch! So, I would contend that YES you can make $100k per year cleaning closets, but you would definitely need to hire a few employees to do so.
Or if you really don’t want to clean ANY closets, just hire employees from the get go and make them do all the cleaning. This costs more, but you could keep your day job and still do this.
What do you think about this idea? I want to hear your opinion! Do you have any other business ideas that you would like me to analyze?
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