Recession-Proof Income: Cleaning Up in the Commercial Office Cleaning Business. Douglas Smith
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Recession-Proof Income: Cleaning Up in the Commercial Office Cleaning Business
Douglas A. Smith
Table of Contents
Laying the Groundwork—A Foundation for Success
I dedicate this book to my mother, Alene Campbell Smith, whose example instilled in me the value of education and hard work, and to Josephine Grant without whose love and kindness, I could not breathe.
Foreword
If I had a crystal-ball I could not have predicted the current worldwide recession that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic or the prominent role that cleaning and disinfecting would take on in our daily lives. When I sat down to write Recession Proof Income in the summer of 2017 my goal was to write a book that would help people earn a decent income in both good and bad economic times by establishing a commercial office cleaning business.
When I submitted my book to the publisher for consideration, it did not include a Foreword. The Foreword was added just as the book was heading for final publication. I felt it was necessary given that we are in the midst of a global pandemic that has killed thousands and has left many millions unemployed.
I wanted to assure the public that I am not an opportunist seeking to capitalize on this global crisis. Seeking to profit from such human suffering is amoral and contrary to my spiritual beliefs. I completed my book in early 2019 and signed a contract with my publisher in November that same year. It has taken nearly a year for the book to go through editing, typesetting, cover design, printing, marketing, etc. The publication and release of the book at this time is a mere coincidence.
It would be dishonest of me to deny that I recognize this pandemic has created a changing point for the commercial office cleaning business. It has produced a worldwide demand for individuals and companies that provide those services and has provided a tremendous opportunity to earn big profits.
However, I believe it will be important to the success of a person just starting out in the commercial office cleaning business to remember that this opportunity is not just about money and profits. This business had become essential, if not critical to man’s physical health and overall survival. We should be humbled that this pandemic and the resulting demand for our services gives those of us involved in this industry the unique opportunity to directly affect the wellbeing of all humanity.
Good luck in this endeavor and Godspeed.
Douglas A. Smith
June 4th, 2020
Introduction
In the mid-1990s, I was reintroduced to the commercial office cleaning business. I say reintroduced because when I was a teenager, growing up in rural West Virginia, I had a part-time job, cleaning doctor’s offices in the evening, while my best friend had a job cleaning a barbershop. The money wasn’t great, just enough to keep us up to date with the latest records and other teenage junk. Little did I know then, that as I got older and more educated, I would revert back to this teenage occupation as my primary means of earning a good adult living.
While working as a purchasing agent for a major Washington DC building contractor, I met this guy who worked in my building. A quiet and unassuming person, he worked in the mail room for another company within the building. However, every evening, after leaving his day job, he would go and clean a small private school in suburban Virginia. One day, we were standing in front of the building, taking a break and talking. He began to tell me a story about a guy, who during the Great Depression drove a new Cadillac every year, wore expensive suits, and smoked fat cigars.
While others were jumping out of windows, riding the rails, and eating at soup kitchens, this guy was enjoying the good life. How did he do it? What did he know that those suffering did not? They say that most truths are simple. Well, this guy’s truth was no different. He realized that no matter how good or bad the world’s economy was doing, with few exceptions, the people who work all day in an office building or other businesses are not going to stay and clean them at night.
This simple truth remains a fact today, just the same as it did nearly a century ago. No matter the upturns or downturns in the economy, the opportunity to earn a good living by providing this basic but highly necessary service will remain for the foreseeable future.
I listened as this guy spoke, and I took it all in and kept it in the back of my mind. Well, a few years later when I got tired of working for someone else, I began to look around for opportunity. I thought about selling real estate, cars, etc. After a long while, I began to realize that the best thing I had to sell was my labor. The work I was trained to do offered lots of opportunity to earn a living, but it wasn’t recession proof. Any downturn in the construction industry could leave me in a precarious financial situation.
One day while meditating on the problem, I remembered my conversation from years earlier with the guy who worked in my building. As I began to seriously consider the idea of starting my own commercial office cleaning business, I quickly became overwhelmed. Where would I start? How would I start? Would I quit my job? What tools and equipment would I need? Where would I find jobs? How much money did I need to get started? Unfortunately, there were no books available on how to start a commercial office cleaning company.
Drawing upon my education, business experience, and after much trial and error, I was able to start my own company. Soon, I started to pick-up jobs and began to earn a steady income. With repeat customers and a steady flow of new one-time customers, I was soon earning more money than I ever earned working for someone else. After about three years, I was earning in excess of $100,000 a year, and after about seven years, I sold my business for a nice sum of money.
Fortunately, you do not have go through the trial and error that I did in order to start your very own commercial office cleaning business. In this book, I have laid out concrete steps, detailing everything you will need to do to get up and running quickly without a complicated business plan, and more importantly, without breaking the bank.
Filled with suggestions from real-world business experience, this book will show you exactly how to start your business. We will show you how to choose your market, lay the groundwork for a successful business, and most importantly, how to find customers and begin reaping profits. So buckle up, sit back, and enjoy the ride because you are now on your way to cleaning up in the commercial office cleaning business. I wish you every success in your new venture.
Douglas A. Smith
Copyright © 2020 Douglas A. Smith
All rights reserved
First Edition
NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING
320 Broad Street
Red Bank, NJ 07701
First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2020
ISBN 978-1-64801-165-8 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-64801-166-5 (Digital)
Printed in the United States of America
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