CLEANING BUSINESS TIPS
Tips, ideas, and advice for cleaning business owners
Read practical guides on growing a cleaning business, improving profit, solving common problems, and building a company that is easier to manage.
Practical advice for running a cleaning business
These articles share practical lessons about growing a cleaning company, improving profit, managing day-to-day challenges, and making better business decisions. The guides focus on clear steps cleaning business owners can use as their company develops.
Browse cleaning business tips
Read practical articles about growing a cleaning company, improving profit, solving common problems, and becoming a better business owner.
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Should YOUR Cleaning Business Perform Sub-Contracted Janitorial Work?
Want to maximize the control, profit and financial security of your cleaning business?If so, aim to be the janitorial business owner who holds the cleaning contract…
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Do You Ever Feel Like A Punching Bag?
Do you ever feel like a punching bag… in your cleaning business?Well, if so, you’re not the only one, because that’s exactly how we felt.Let me…
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Picture Something!
Would you do me a favor? Here it is…. Picture something. That’s right, I know it may sound lame, but stop for just a second and…
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Maintain Forward Motion
My father, now nearly 90 years old, always says to me, ‘Don’t worry Dan, just keep trying do your best everyday, and you’ll be fine.’ What?…
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A Watched Pot Never Boils
You’ve probably heard this expression before, well, probably not with the word cleaning in it – but, hopefully it still rings some sort of bell. Here…
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Too Many vs. Too Little
I’d lean towards too many – you might want to too! What in the world am I talking about? Ok, let me explain. Some strategies we suggest…
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Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect …Really!
How can I say such a thing? Well, let me explain.. Picture, for a minute, your neighborhood driving range with an army of ‘weekend warrior’ golfers…
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Lawyer Is Not A Dirty Word in the Cleaning Business!
That’s right, lawyer doesn’t have to be a dirty word in the cleaning business. Ever heard the expression, ‘If you want to be successful, watch what…
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I Got A Bulldozer Last Night
It’s true. Last night, my wife gave me a bulldozer. Let me explain… It was one of those small trophies- the kind you get for playing…
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Reinvent Your Cleaning Company Before It’s Too Late!
Scary, I know, but let’s be honest; today isn’t like yesterday. Yesterday , you might have been able to “pick and choose” which buildings you wanted…
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You’re Not In The Cleaning Business
That’s right, I’ll say it… You’re Not In The “Cleaning Business” ..at least, that’s not the whole truth by a long shot! Don’t get me wrong.…
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Cleaning Business Owner Confesses ‘Stop The World, I Wanna’ Get Off!’
Ever felt that way? Has the ‘stuff’ you’ve got to get done today got you spinning so fast -you feel like shutting the whole thing down…
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ONE Secret To Success in the Cleaning Business?
I wish there was one secret – really, I do. Life would be so much easier. I could simply whisper it in your ear and poof…
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I Can’t Believe We Lost THAT Cleaning Account!!
Ever gotten a phone call or certified letter informing you that one of your big customers is dropping you?It can be devastating, leaving you completely blown…
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The Secret To Getting Things Done in YOUR Cleaning Business!
It sounds straight forward enough.Create marketing.Sell better.Hire better.Train more.Inspect accounts.Repair equipment.Stay in budget.etc etc etc, right?…So, with a short list of to do’s as overwhelming as…
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Use this SUPER-Power in Your Cleaning Business!
Take your pick:1. The question isn’t ‘What CAN you do?’ – it’s ‘What WILL you do?’2. Quit talking , and start doing !3. And, of course,…
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Could Ice Cream Biz Hold KEY to Success in Cleaning Biz?
There’s a place that sells soft serve ice cream near where I live.Don’t ask me how I know…. lolAnyway, in the last 2 or 3 summers,…
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Small Goal Setting Tip for BIG Cleaning Business Success!
Standing in awe – admiring the Great Wall of China, sprawling over 4,000 miles, as far as the eye can see, a man asks: How in…
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Should You Do ‘Sub Contract’ Work for a National Cleaning Management Outfit?
I got a call one day – it went something like this…Yes, this is Steve with a management firm out here in California.We’ve just picked up…
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Cleaning Business Tip: Cut Out The Static!
It’s too much.It’s not just mind-numbing TV shows or the so-called experts yelling at us all day on talk radio – or the endless online surfing…
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Where Cleaning Businesses Can Find Time
I don’t have the time.I can’t find the time. There’s never enough time. We’ve all heard people say these things – you may have even found…
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Run Your Cleaning Business Like you Were Selling it
Ever noticed someone in your neighborhood getting ready to put their house up for sale?You know the drill.They start frantically plowing through off a list of…
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What Cleaning Businesses Should Worry About MORE Than Results
Stop worrying so much about results. Surprised to hear me say that? Well, don’t be – I mean it.Excessive worrying about results in your cleaning company…
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How the Janitorial Business Has CHANGED
Here’s the way it was…. Independent cleaning businesses used to reign supreme.Why?Well, among other things – customers liked the quality , reliability and responsiveness of doing…
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‘String’ Theory 101 for Cleaning Businesses
Don’t worry – this isn’t the String Theory physicist use to help explain, well, just about everything in the universe.No, this is ‘string’ theory for cleaning…
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Why CLEAN Beats NEW
Here’s WHY. Because — CLEAN is within reach — within your control. Now, if you were lucky enough to be born rich and have always been…
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PLAN for ‘Where They’ll BE’ NOT ‘Where They ARE’
More than ever, this advice applies.With the speed of change today – not planning for where things are headed – is business suicide.What works well today…
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Go in KNOWING
When you go in to fix a problem in your cleaning business… Go in KNOWING: Knowing WHAT you want to solution to do BEYOND…
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THIS Can Help Your Cleaning Business
In an effort to say MORE while saying less…. the THIS I’m talking about is.. – an OBJECTIVE look at your operation. Disappointed? …
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THEN I’ll Be Happy
It’s an easy trap to fall into. Our grown children, 25, 26 yrs old often do it.They’ll see either one of their grandparents and sigh…’Oh, man,…
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It’s Not ONE Thing, It’s EVERY Thing
It would be easier to think the difference between most cleaning companies and the really great ones – was just one or maybe two things.That’s right,…
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DTM – Dump the MIDDLE-men!
WHEN you can, IF you can – Dump the MIDDLEmen.And, who are these MIDDLEmen?They’re the national management outfits (NMO’s) who see their job as little more…
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MORE Important Than Answers
Getting answers used to be a problem. Not any more. Now, simply hop ONLINE and one can find a tidal wave of answers to even the…
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Some Answers Cleaning Business Owners Know
Some questions are better answered by others. For example, complicated legal or accounting issues. Some questions are answered pretty quickly and confidently by the owners of…
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The Part of Working SMART That Makes Sense
People often think working SMART is learning insider tricks or shortcuts to do less work -or better yet, figuring out how to have other people do…
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Numbers WITHOUT Meaning
When I was 25 yrs old, a wise businessman – my boss and mentor, said to me – ‘The numbers have got to MEAN something to…
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Pros vs Amateurs
In watching sports, you can learn a lot by identifying the differences between professional athletes and amateur ‘weekend warriors’. Pros focus on accuracy . Pros know…
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Insulate Your Cleaning Business!
What do we mean by insulate ?Well, let’s look at a more common use of the term.In our homes, we insulate around doors and windows to…
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You Can’t ‘Drop Ship’ Cleaning!
Go online and buy anything you want, anytime.Go online and have what you want delivered in mere days, and, in some cases – for free.Go online…
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Do the OLD Cleaning Business Strategies Still Apply?
I read an article recently suggesting – America’s love affair with cars is over .It offered all sorts of reasons; everything from young ‘millennials” more interested…
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Ask Your Embarrassing Cleaning Business Question
We all have them. In fact, over the years, most of us have plenty of times when we have a question about something in the cleaning…
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Power of One Simple Rule in Your Cleaning Business
It doesn’t take a bunch of rules to make a big difference. Don’t believe me? How about a practical example – not related to cleaning.Let’s say…
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Knowing WHEN to Say NO in Your Cleaning Business
We mostly think of saying YES as the way to growing a successful cleaning company. “And, YES, it is important, saying Yes that is – to…
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Get to the POINT
We generally have one – a point, that is.We want to explain something. We want to convince someone.In business, we might want to train, motivate or…
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Less ‘Dealing WITH’, More ‘Directing OF’
What am I talking about?The work.The older I get, the more clear it becomes, that…the less time I spend frantically trying to ‘deal with’ today’s work…
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UnTapped Value of Practice
When I was young, I belonged to a forensic team.You may wonder what the heck ‘forensic’ even is.You’re not alone. Hardly anyone I’ve run into over…
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What’s Working and What’s Not in How You Run Your Cleaning Business?
Not everything works well. No shame in that; it’s how we learn.The shame is in continuing to do the ‘stuff’ that’s NOT.The BIG reason it happens…
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Go BEYOND Expected in Your Cleaning Business
How many pages does the report have to be?What’s the earliest I can leave?How far do I have to go?When we ask what the LEAST we…
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Cleaning Business Owners Need to ‘Sharpen the Saw’ Too
Stephen Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, tells the story.Long story short, a lumberjack, unwilling to ever take time to sharpen his saw,…
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What is Your Cleaning Businesss Foundation?
First of all – I’m not going to be talking about religion today, so relax, but I am going to be sharing something I noticed in…
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Cleaning Business Building Tip
There are a handful of key strategies to building a profitable cleaning business. You know the ones… – Choose a targeted list of prospects- Create a…
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The Secret to Successful Partnerships in the Cleaning Business
Before I reveal the secret, let me state the following:1) The secret isn’t limited to the cleaning industry2) The secret isn’t written on a ‘stone tablet’…
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Should You Go UnderCover?
You know the show – the one where the ‘boss’/owner disguises himself and pretends to be one of the workers.It’s interesting.They always struggle. They don’t ‘catch…
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Passenger or Driver?
Yep, you guessed it – it’s that ‘talk’You know, the one where I point out how easy it is to feel like you’re simply a ‘PASSENGER’,…
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What Janitorial Software Can and Can’t Do
It’s an interesting topic really.It forces us to think about the critical role janitorial software can play in growing a professional and profitable cleaning business.At the…
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Tired of TV Sharks Biting Entrepreneurs
I can’t stand watching ‘the Sharks’.I know, I know – everyone loves ’em, but not me. Here’s why…Sure, they can be interesting and funny at times,…
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How to Start a Cleaning Business is Easy Compared to THIS!
I read an article recently suggesting – America’s love affair with cars is over. It offered all sorts of reasons; everything from young ‘millennials” more interested…
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They Come and Go
We’ve all had them; the miserable, disagreeable, hard to please person, who is, unfortunately, (for now) your primary contact – at one of the buildings you…
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Common questions about cleaning business tips and advice for company owners.
This category includes articles about growing a cleaning business, improving profit, solving common business problems, setting goals, managing time, making better decisions, and becoming a stronger cleaning business owner.
A cleaning business is more likely to grow profitably when it prices work carefully, controls labor costs, keeps clients satisfied, builds repeatable systems, tracks important numbers, and avoids taking on more work than the company can manage well.
No. The articles are written for cleaning business owners and managers whether or not they use CleanGuru.
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Some articles may explain how software can support bidding, scheduling, timekeeping, checklists, inspections, invoicing, and daily operations. The articles are still intended to provide useful information whether or not you use CleanGuru.
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