Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2013. The company figures it cites are from that month: 125 employees, more than 1,000 homes and businesses cleaned a week, 80% of customers on subscriptions, about 400,000 dollars a month in revenue, and its expansion plans.
At first glance, starting a cleaning company might not seem very profitable, given the crisis and how saturated the sector is. A little under three years ago, two bankers from Citibank and Bank of America had this business idea. They knew it wouldn’t be easy to leave their jobs and start out in this business, but they also knew they had to go big. All or nothing: either we’re a huge success or a huge failure. That was the thinking of Mike Scharf and Mike Russell, the founders of MyClean, a cleaning company that offers the traditional cleaning service for homes and businesses, taking advantage of new technology.
Some residents’ associations have had to do without a doorman or a cleaner on the payroll. Even many middle-class families that used to have their own cleaner decided to let her go, because they couldn’t commit to having her on fixed days. All of this is what these entrepreneurs analyzed in order to offer a service adapted to what people need today.
They noticed that most people choose a cleaner or cleaning company largely by word of mouth or through direct advertising, whether in mailboxes or in the press, and that there was no reliable company online you could call today and have a cleaner at your home tomorrow. Their original idea was to make hiring a cleaning service as quick and easy as ordering a pizza.
It didn’t take them long to make a name for themselves in New York City, thanks to a good early web and social media strategy, including LinkedIn, where they contacted large companies directly.
(Read: Innovation isn’t always about finding new ideas, but recognizing the ones we already have)
They admit the beginning wasn’t easy, above all because their original idea failed: at first they subcontracted a large share of their jobs to outside companies, and many customers weren’t happy with the service.
Now they have set up the business so that they oversee every part of the cleaning cycle themselves, from handling orders to having supervisors check many of the jobs the cleaners do.
Although their original idea was that customers wouldn’t have to make any commitment, they later designed several subscription packages in which customers get generous discounts if they sign up for a given period.
MyClean currently has 125 employees on the payroll, from cleaners to supervisors, and it also has a mobile app where customers can book the service on the spot from their phone. Its staff is estimated to clean more than 1,000 homes and businesses every week. Eighty percent of its customers have bought a subscription package.
Even though its services cost more than those of other cleaning companies, “non-subscribers” don’t mind paying a little extra given how easy it is to book online.
MyClean now bills around 400,000 dollars a month (between 4 and 5 million a year) and will soon start expanding to other cities. They don’t rule out doing so in other countries, or even setting up a franchise system.
The founders’ advice for starting a business
In essence, they say:
At the beginning you have to be willing to supervise all the work personally and be well prepared for the setbacks that inevitably come. But with persistence, changing what doesn’t work and improving the parts of the business that aren’t going as well as they should, things work out in the end. We took a risky bet when we left our jobs to start this business, but to succeed in life you have to take risks.
Further reading
- A sushi chef shares the secret of mastery in business
- 10 reasons why small businesses fail at the start
- Michael Dell for entrepreneurs: more craziness and less asking for advice
Featured image: Alan Levine, CC0 1.0, via Flickr.
