A cleaning service is the perfect business for a college student because it requires very little skill, has an extremely low startup cost, and allows you to manage everything from your dorm room.

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HOW TO GET STARTED

When I first started cleaning, my startup supplies were less than $100 and were bought at Wal-Mart.

My products were a little on the expensive side because my cleaning service only used natural green works cleaning supplies but traditional cleaning products do a better job when scrubbing down surfaces.

I had my own printer to make flyers but you can always print at the school library.

A car will be needed in to run a successful business but if you do not have a car try and team up with a friend who does and you can share the profits.

To be fair, make sure that you reimburse them for gas money.

HOW TO ADVERTISE

The majority of your business will come from placing flyers on cars, in newspaper boxes, and leaving them at business locations.

Placing flyers on cars and in newspaper boxes will be relatively simple. Choose middle class to upper middle class neighborhoods and luxury apartment homes.

I would also place the flyers on professor’s cars on campus because they have very busy work schedules and they afford your services.

Offer your services to local businesses at a low price in order to leave your flyers at their locations. I found that physicians’ offices were the best locations because a large percentage of their patients will be older and less able to clean.

I also submitted my cleaning service to Google places and this led to two to three calls a month.

If you do not have a lot of time then Google places will be all you need if you are looking to make around $200 a month.

The last and most important form of advertising is word of mouth. Make sure that you do a good job during every cleaning and you will see your business grow.

USE CONTRACTS

Contracts are a must have for a cleaning service because they will state how much the service will cost, the time and date that the cleaning will be performed, if the customer will provide supplies, and if any valuables must be moved before the cleaning will start.

I highly recommend that you require all customers to remove anything that is fragile or valuable from the area that you will clean so that you are not liable for any damaged or stolen items.

Sample contracts can be found through a Google search.

HOW TO CLEAN AND METHODS OF PAYMENT

Cleaning will be relatively simple. When you receive a call you must go out and survey the property so that you can give a quote. Once you and the customer agree on a price then you can write out the contract and schedule a cleaning.

I recommend that you make your prices divisible by either twenty or fifty so that your customers can always pay in cash.

Do not charge them something like $117.86 because it will be hard for them to come up with that amount and they will most likely write a check.

Remember to take before and after pictures of the rooms that you clean so that you can compare them to one another and show your customers the huge improvement.

The actual cleaning is easy. Just scrub well and try to leave the place spotless.  If you do a good job then word will spread about your cleaning service and you will see yourself making plenty of money in the future.

Any ideas for an easy start-up business? Share in the comments!

(Photo credit: greenlagirl/Flickr)

(Note: You may have to pay applicable taxes on any extra income you earn.)