This book is aimed at helping others learn how to start a small, independently run commercial or residential cleaning business. As the saying goes, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he feeds himself for a lifetime." It is my hope that by writing this book, I will teach someone how to think, act, and to work like an independent businessperson. Before there were factories and assembly lines and huge multinational corporations, there was the family with its small spot of land from which the family drew it sustenance. The landowner worked the land and grew crops and raised livestock and poultry which he sold to neighbors and nearby townspeople. Mother, father and children were all involved with the task of providing for the family. This was the original spirit of America-the spirit of freedom and independence. Somewhere along the way that spirit of freedom and independence got lost in the shuffle. The Industrial Revolution ushered in an age of dependence and reliance on the act of working for someone else in order to feed one's own family. Later there came the spirit of depending on the federal and state governments to act as a "safety net" to help families in dire straits. The citizens of the world must change their thinking and change it quickly. At the time I started writing this book in January, 2014, the unemployment rate for the United States of America was hovering around 7%. I looked at this figure and thought, there is something wrong here. I realized that we as Americans and the citizens of the world have surrendered our freedom and independence in return for the dependence on others for our own financial security. Childhood obesity has risen at an alarming rate of the last three decades. Type 2 diabetes now threatens the health of generations to come. Our children spend more time at the computer than they spend exercising. Nobody wants to work anymore. Nobody wants to exert him- or herself in performing any physical activity. That is not to say that the entire population lives sedentary lives. There are millions of workers who perform jobs that are physically demanding. There are those among us whose jobs require them to clean the homes and offices of doctors and lawyers and many other professionals. Why not take it a step further and start your own business of offering cleaning services to others. There is no shame in working in the cleaning industry any more so than there is in working in a factory. The real difference is that by owning your own cleaning business, you can earn considerably more money than you would by working for someone else. This brings us to the heart of the matter. You might be paid seven to ten dollars an hour for cleaning someone else's home or business while working for someone else. With you own cleaning service business you can make upwards of fifty dollars an hour. Of course there are expenses involved with running your own business. You simply charge a price that allows for expenses and a tidy profit to boot. Many are tired of living under the cloud of uncertainty, wondering when the axe will fall and they get their lay-off notice. There are those forward thinking persons who are thinking of starting a small business but don't know where to find information and details on doing so. Th eaim here is to offer guidance to those who do want to break away from the nine to five treadmill of living from paycheck to paycheck. I started with the aim of providing as much detailed information as I could about starting and running a cleaning service business. Let's not kid ourselves here. You will have to do further research to work out the details of running your own business. I have not gone into minute detail about operating your business. This is more of a broad overview aimed at inspiring you to look further and to dig deeper into the industry and learn as much as you can.
About the Author: Robert Donaldson has worked many jobs over the course of his lifetime. He has held many jobs from migrant agricultural field worker to computer systems design engineer. Along the way, Robert learned that there is great dignity in doing jobs that require physical effort. He also learned that it is better to work for yourself than it is to work for someone else. Therefore, over the years, he has owned and operated many businesses including a publishing company, a cleaning business, an electronics design and manufacturing business, and many others. Robert's experience in many industries makes him uniquely qualified to offer first hand information to those who have considered starting and operating their own commercial or residential cleaning business.