Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Cleaning Up in a Dirty Business
    Cleaning Up in a Dirty Business
    Cleaning Up in a Dirty Business
    Ebook92 pages1 hour

    Cleaning Up in a Dirty Business

    By Cora Schupp

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    In Cleaning Up in a Dirty Business, bookkeeper and entrepreneur Cora Schupp offers a straightforward solution for you to gain control of your career and increase your earnings. Cleaning companies can be very stable and profitable, and they require minimal start-up costs. Leaving no corner undusted, Schupp guides you through everything you need to know about starting your own cleaning company—from how to land your first big client to hiring the right staff and marketing.

    Sparkling with wit and encouragement, Cleaning Up combines practical advice with fun cartoons and Schupp’s personal stories, including common problems you might face and how to over- come them. An easy-to-follow action plan helps you break the barrier between dreaming and action—and tidy up when you’re done. As a bonus, you will receive free downloads of all the tem- plates you need to start your small business, from budgets to cleaning checklists.

    WITHIN YEARS of building both a janitorial service and janitorial supply company from scratch, Cora Schupp quickly found herself among the top five percent of female wage earners in Canada, holding competitive contracts with dozens of department and grocery store chains as well as managing a staff of more than 100 people. After selling both successful businesses in 2005, Schupp settled in New Westminster, BC, where she currently performs professional accounting and bookkeeping services for a variety of clients, including Learning Curve Series founders Curve Communications Group Ltd.

    PRAISE FOR CLEANING UP IN A DIRTY BUSINESS

    "Cora is an incredible author because she puts her best effort into everything she does. She is a hardworking, knowledgeable woman, the best mother, and a good wife. Her organization and business smarts always helped her stay ahead of the curve. The success of her company for over twenty years speaks volumes about her experience and personality. She is a helpful person who will go above and beyond her limits to help somebody."
    Neena Jaura, The Janitor Room Supply House

    "Easy read, practical advice. When we started our business I took the Self-Employment course at Douglas College. It would have been beneficial to have had this book as part of the curriculum to guide us. A must read – follow the steps for a successful start to any new business."
    Mike and Shelley Trellert, Wet Whistle Corporation dba: Purified Water Store

    "After reading Cora Schupp’s book, Cleaning Up in a Dirty Business, I can only agree with her helpful insights into this growing industry. As a food expert and entrepreneur with over forty years of experience, including sanitary guidelines within businesses, I can only agree with the knowledge available in this book. I strongly recommend this book to those in need of knowledge regarding organized sanitary guidelines. This book explains everything from the business and human resources side to the cleaning side of things. This is an easy read that will spread success to those who wish to use it."
    Dieter Thiem, MD Veggie Foods Inc

    "Cora works harder than anyone else I know to make sure her business succeeds. Her business advice has helped me tremendously with my own startup. I highly recommend Cleaning Up in a Dirty Business to anyone looking to start a successful janitorial business."
    Chelsea Badr, Hidden Gem

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCora Schupp
    Release dateMar 2, 2015
    ISBN9780968432235
    Cleaning Up in a Dirty Business

    Related to Cleaning Up in a Dirty Business

    Related ebooks

    Careers For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      How to Make a Million (or More!)

      Apr 4, 2019

      Christina Stembel didn't just bend the traditional business model for flower companies; she snipped it in half. Stembel grew up on a farm in Bremen, Ind. (population 4,500), so it's tempting to say that she founded Farmgirl Flowers to get back to her

      15 min read

    • Article

      Cleaning Up

      Feb 28, 2018

      Cleaning Up
      9 min read

    • Article

      Special Feature Bounce Back and Thrive

      Jul 6, 2020

      Being a business owner is difficult, to say the least. You have a lot of pressures facing you - growing your business, raising kids and finding time for yourself are all challenges. When COVID-19 came to the world, for a lot of business owners, it wa

      8 min read

    • Article

      6 Fantastic Business Ideas for Moms

      Dec 24, 2020

      Rather than work a 9-5 job every day, what if you could be your own boss and make your own schedule? That's where business ideas for moms play a major role. Starting a work-at-home endeavor is a rising trend that is only going to become more prevalen

      6 min read

    • Article

      8 Side Hustles to Consider This Summer 2021

      Jun 24, 2021

      “Side Hustle” has become quite the buzzword as of late. Granted, people have had a lot of time in the last year and a half to sit inside, potentially sidelined from their 9-to-5 due to the pandemic. This time and freedom have helped people turn their

      6 min read

    • Article

      Jeanette Sklivanou

      Jun 12, 2023

      Jeanette Sklivanou
      4 min read

    • Article

      The First 90 Days

      Feb 1, 2018

      The First 90 Days
      14 min read

    • Article

      THE Baby whisperers Sssshhhh

      Jun 12, 2023

      THE Baby whisperers Sssshhhh
      3 min read

    • Article

      Muse

      Oct 18, 2022

      Muse
      5 min read

    • Article

      Q &A

      Jan 1, 2017

      QUESTIONS FOR Ann Kaplan (Rotman MBA ‘05), CEO, iFinance Canada What prompted you to launch Medicard Finance (now iFinance Canada) 20 years ago, and how has your business model evolved over the years? In 1996, the indications were that Canada would b

      5 min read

    • Article

      Charmaine Li

      Apr 4, 2022

      Charmaine Li
      2 min read

    • Article

      Now Is The Time

      Jul 29, 2021

      Now Is The Time
      5 min read

    • Article

      Lessons Learned

      Feb 7, 2020

      Lessons Learned
      5 min read

    • Article

      What Have You Learned From Business Mistakes?

      Oct 4, 2021

      Asif Ahmed Managing Director of Acclivity and author of The Finance Playbook for Entrepreneurs www.acclivity.co “When I first started out in business, I hadn’t fully appreciated the importance of having contracts in place to support every legal relat

      7 min read

    • Article

      Double Vision

      Oct 20, 2020

      Double Vision
      3 min read

    • Article

      Get Started Now!

      Mar 9, 2021

      Get Started Now!
      3 min read

    • Article

      Make It Work For You

      Aug 1, 2022

      Make It Work For You
      6 min read

    • Article

      When Life Is Preparation

      Sep 19, 2023

      When Life Is Preparation
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Cleaning Up in a Dirty Business

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Cleaning Up in a Dirty Business - Cora Schupp

      1

      Why Owning a Janitorial Company Is a Great Idea!

      After years of running a janitorial service company, I found myself among the top 5% of female wage earners in Canada, earning $90,000 per year in 2004 (and my husband pulling an equal share) with no post-secondary education. I had contracts with a chain of department stores and 13 grocery superstores. I had over 100 employees working for me and was my own boss. I built my company from scratch – and so can you.

      How did I get my start? Newly married in a small northern town named Kitimat, BC, in the late 1970s, my husband and I scraped together a down payment on a house by doing janitorial work in the evening. The contractor who built our house also had a janitorial service, so we both worked full-time during the day and rushed to our evening jobs after a quick dinner. We dreamt of moving to the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, where there were better educational opportunities for our children, more social and cultural advantages, and better weather.

      After a couple of years, we decided that the only way we could leave Kitimat was to gain some experience owning a small company. We started cleaning apartments that had been vacated, then we moved on to construction cleanup, before finally picking up a couple of small contracts. I was nine months pregnant when I dropped off our first signed contract! It was for cleaning the offices of a natural gas company. I did all the bookkeeping for our small business, which included payroll, taxes, Workers’ Compensation, etc. Eventually we sold our company for a healthy profit and took the plunge to the Lower Mainland.

      We moved to Surrey, BC, in 1986, right before the World Exposition, or EXPO, started. We bought a small existing janitorial company that included an old truck, a buffing machine, some odds and sods of mops and buckets, and two little contracts. Buying this company turned out to be a good investment because we did such a great job that the clients were happy to be our references. Within three months we were grossing $10,000 a month.

      From these small beginnings, we took on contracts with the chain stores. We were able to save for our retirement, educate our children, own a lovely home with property, and we still had time to travel.

      I decided to write this book in an effort to help those of you who have always dreamed of owning your own business but didn’t know where to start. If you use my model for success, you will be well on your way to becoming a business owner. The type of person who had to do everything the hard way, I can save you not only money but also a lot of stress and heartache by sharing my own experiences.

      Why a janitorial service? It is one of the few businesses that neither depends on a thriving economy nor suffers the ups and downs of a seasonal or fickle market. It does not require a lot of startup capital or a lot of training. Although janitorial duties are not glamorous, all businesses need to keep clean. Believe me, you will never run out of work.

      The ability to set your own hours and work schedule is invaluable. Running a janitorial company doesn’t tie you down to a monotonous Monday to Friday, 9 am – 5 pm routine. As long as the job is done, most clients don’t care what time you come (unless they are locked at certain times). It is never boring because each place is different, and each client has different needs.

      You can schedule your clients around your own personal life instead of the other way around. Once your team is trained, you can move forward and take on more clients, which frees you up later in life to do the quoting, ordering, hiring and training, and leave the heavier work for younger folk. That way you can be in control of your retirement.

      There is dignity in service, and you are not just the cleaning lady or the janitor but a self-employed tax-paying business owner, creating jobs and contributing to society.

      You may be questioning whether you have what it takes to run a successful company, so let’s look at a few urban legends out there.

      You need an education. You do need to be able to read, write and do math. Computer skills like using spreadsheets and word processing are necessary but can be obtained through short courses at local colleges. Most of your education will be the school of hard knocks, with a degree of Trial and Error 101 thrown in.

      Thousands out there are looking for work. You aren’t thousands; you are only one, but a special and unique individual that no one can replace.

      4 out of 5 businesses fail. Yes that is true, but that also means 1 out of 5 does succeed and yours is going to be that one!

      You are too old/young. Don’t even get me started on this one.

      You need connections. What you actually need is to start out small, get a good reputation, and build on it. Success doesn’t come overnight, but everyone has the right to make a living and prospective customers respect that. Once your business is growing, connections will come naturally.

      A good work ethic is more important than money or education. Constancy is a virtue that is very important in your path to success; those who are grounded, secure, and committed to long-term goals will reach their ultimate vision.

      That vision or

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1