We had the fun of cleaning an antique slot machine that was handed down to our homeowner by her father when he passed away.

The very first nickel slot machine was created in 1893 by Gustav Schultze. This particular slot machine we cleaned is from the 1960′s and was one of the first of its kind to allow a player to play with 5 nickels at once. Now I have never put money into a slot machine so I don’t even understand the significance of this but it sure sounds pretty cool.

Now the home owner does have a rider on her insurance policy for this piece as it has an official appraisal and is worth $24000! So one of the first questions that we ask a home owner on the very first day of every job is “do you have any riders on your insurance policy?”

Not only is this important to know when cleaning something as you may decide not to use an aggressive cleaner on something that has antique value for fear of removing delicate finishes but you will want to charge more for handling the item. You have a lot more at risk when you are handling a single item that if damaged could cost you a ton of money.

On one job I was paid $1500 just to bubble wrap and transport a table valued at $18000+ to another speciality contractor to be refinished. I charged more than just Xactimate pricing when I clean a piece like this slot machine.

If you are a cleaner or restorer what is the mosty expensive or most unique item you have been asked to clean?

Why?

Because they fail to do the one thing that they have to do in order to develop a good, solid, long lasting relationship and that is to make a connection.

A client wants nothing more than to feel that their needs, wants and concerns are cared about and that they will be cared about in the process. A client isn’t stupid either. They will know if you are just going thru the motions or if you are genuine. They can tell if you really care about them or if you just want their check to clear. The cliché “fake it till you make it” won’t work for you in this instance. Your client has a choice and you want to be their choice every time hands down.

Think about it. How many times have you walked into a business and felt like you mattered? An even scarier question, how many times have you walked into a business and knew immediately that you didn’t matter at all?

There are companies small and large that do this beautifully. You know the ones. There’s the coffer shop that has your drink made before you even step thru the door. The car wash that remembers your favorite fresh car smell and makes sure that the driver’s seat is always put back in your favorite spot before you get in to drive away. And even the online store that ships your orders to you next day for free.

You go back to these places and would never consider going anywhere else because you have a connection with them and know that your needs, wants and ultimately your happiness matters to them. That you matter to them.

So how do you make a strong, solid, long lasting connection?

1. Create Outrageous Value~ Give your client over the top outrageous value. Deliver above and beyond their expectations and deliver more than you promise to the point that they think WOW every time they interact with you or your business.

2. Ask Them What They Want~ Don’t sit and wonder what your client wants or needs or worse yet think you already know. Check in them to make sure you are both on the same page. Ask them what they want from you and then give it to them.

3. Listen When They Talk~ You client knows better than anyone what you need to do to connect with them. So ask them constantly. Check in verbally often and then take action on what they tell you. If you don’t’ they will know you really don’t care and feel you aren’t listening to them.

4. Atmosphere~ Make sure that the culture and atmosphere in your company makes your clients feel welcome and cared about. Even if your business doesn’t have a retail store front and you only talk to clients on the phone this is vital. Atmosphere is portrayed in your décor, cleanliness, tone of voice, words, smile, actions and location of a retail establishment. Be sure it says you matter.

5. Education Based Marketing~ Your client is not a mindless drone. They are a person who wants to be able to do the right thing and make an informed decision when it comes to spending their money. So it is your job to inform them why your business is the best place for them to spend their money and there is no better way to do that than to educate them about your product, service, etc. and what they need to be looking for from you. It’s a great way to ethically brag about yourself and your business while creating reciprocity with your clients.

6. Be Ethical~ Creating a strong company culture that always puts ethics first. If you want a relationship and connection with your clients then they have to know, like and trust you. Never waver on this. If a client feels treated badly and let’s face it, this can happen in the best of businesses, fix it immediately. Once you have lost a client’s trust it can be all but impossible to earn it back.

Gone are the days of transactions in business. Clients are way savvier than that and demand that you earn their respect and their money by being in a relationship with them. And the good news is that there are so many terrible businesses out there doing just the opposite that they actually make it quite easy for someone like you that cares and wants to connect to swoop in and be the hero.

If you nail this in your business you will be guaranteed success and never worry about competition again.

It depends on what services are you going to do completely in house and what aspects of the cleaning and restoration are you going to sub to others? So you need to have decided at this point what services you are definitely going to offer. Remember the more you offer the better chance you have of getting the job as insurance companies don’t want to deal with a bunch of different contractors on each job and the homeowners want one go to company so they feel like they are in good hands.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t sub out specialty things like textiles, grand father clocks and artwork. I’m just saying the more you handle within your company the more control you have over the job and the insurance company as well as the homeowner will see that.

The equipment and supplies that you will need will depend on what you decide. You can start out small and always grow into more in house services too. I like this concept because it means you don’t have a huge initial outlay before you even know if you are really that crazy about contents and structure cleaning. I will talk about the supply side of things in my next post.

Another good thing to think about is that if you even just dabble into the cleaning side of restoration it can help you secure reconstruction jobs as well if that is your main focus by getting your foot in the door so to speak.

Now that being said let us talk about equipment. J

I am going to talk about several pieces of equipment from several companies and let you know what I have found that I like to use. That doesn’t mean other equipment isn’t any good it means this is what I’ve found I like.

And as far as the little pieces like hammers, screw drivers, scissors, etc. I’m not going to get into great detail about most of these little tools as their cost is very nominal in price at about $50-$100 total.

Industrial Hepa Vacuum~ This is a must have piece if you will be doing any kind of restoration cleaning. Not only will it remove soot particles without smearing on things like fabrics, paper and unfinished wood but it won’t throw what you are removing right back into the air. It is so vital to remove even the tiniest bit of smoke or soot particles as they will cause odor.

There are many different types and models. Pullman Holt is the brand that I like but there are many others out there as well. I use the large canister type mostly but also really like the back pack model. Whatever you use you just need to make sure that you have a good assortment of attachments that come with it. The price of a good Hepa Vacuum can range from about $500-$1500. Replacement filters for these little babies can also be something to consider when deciding which model to buy. Mine costs about $350 each to replace but some can cost as much as $800 each when you need to replace them.

The price may also determine which type you use at first as well as the size you choose. The backpack style is definitely cheaper in price than say the canister is. And they have a 3 gallon and a 5 gallon model that are priced differently as well. What I like most about the Pullman Holt is their quality. I have had mine for 9 years and have never had any problems with it. It takes a beating and keeps on going.

Air Scrubber~ There are several different sizes of air scrubbers. I use the Hepa500 from Dri-Eze because it is so easy to move around and travel with. The size of your air scrubber will determine how much volume of air space that it can handle. So you may need more Air Scrubbers if they are smaller and you have a larger area to clean but if they are smaller they may be easier for you and your team to manipulate.

The purpose of the Air Scrubber is to remove the millions of particulates in the air from the loss be it fire, water, sewer backup, etc. After a fire in particular the air inside the structure is extremely full or debris and you nor your team should be breathing that. The proper amount of Air Scrubbers should be running as long as you are in the structure. The cost can be from about $550-$1200.

Air Compressor~ You will need this to blow out certain items that can usually only be cleaned using dry processes or to remove loose soot particles before wet cleaning an item. The Compressor can be basic. The one I use is a Makita from Home Depot and it is a small portable one. Mine cost about $280.

Ozone Generator~ Ozone is a proven deodorizer and works very well. However I will tell you that I don’t like to use it. It leaves a chemical smell on object that takes several days if not weeks to air out and it is very dangerous and can kill humans, animals and plants. Cost is about $800.

Hydroxyl Generator~ Hydroxyl is a natural process that is used to deodorize and disinfect areas and surfaces. I have used Hydroxyl for almost 3 years now and find it to be very effective on all odors. The thing I love most about this machine is that it is completely safe for humans, plants and animals to be in the area while it is being used unlike Ozone.

Unlike Ozone there is no chemical smell after you shut the machine off. It actually smells like nothing just fresh air. Ozone also can damage many things like leather and rubber where Hydroxyl does not. It is completely safe. Hydroxyl not only deodorizes contents but all structure components as well.

The downside is that this machine runs about $3000. This is something that can be rented however to ease the financial burden.

Airmover~ There are several models and types of airmovers. And they range in price from about $200 to $800 depending on the make and model. You can also rent these for as little as $20 per day from a commercial rental store.

The important thing here is to buy a professional airmover not a fan from Home Depot. You will need airmovers to use Ozone and Hydroxyl Generators as well as to dry out items that have maybe gotten wet from the fire department putting out the fire. You will also need one or two for your drying room to dry contents that you have wet cleaned.

Dehumidifier~ This is definitely a piece of equipment that you can rent just like the airmover. The Dehu is not something that you will need on every job either if you are dealing with mostly fire clean ups. You will always need them on water, sewer back and possibly trauma scene clean ups. In case you have never used one before they are for pulling moisture out of the air that is usually put there by the airmovers that you have set on the jobsite. It costs about $70 to $120 per day to rent and anywhere from $1400 to $4000 to buy.

Ultrasonic Machine~ This is my favorite piece of equipment to play I mean work J with. The Ultrasonic is the most valuable brilliant piece of equipment when doing contents cleaning and restoration. Not only can you clean items faster but also better than you ever could by hand.

Now this little baby is quite expensive at about $13000 to $16000. However you can rent them as well. You may even be able to partner with a blind cleaning company to lease use of one they might have. This would be a piece that I would highly recommend that you buy as soon as you can. I have seen them for as little as $5000 used.

Now they come in many sizes so you want to be sure to get one that would be big enough say to fit a large laundry hamper in. This size will allow you to clean items like electronic as well. If you are going to clean electronics with it you will need to use special chemicals and deionized water.

You can find table top models that are much cheaper but really don’t do you much good for contents cleaning as most contents wont fit in them and it will slow up your process a lot.

Electronics Cleaning System~ The Odell system for electronics cleaning is a really good system. As is the Fireline portable system pictured to the right. The price of these systems can range from $700 to as high as $25000. So this is not a purchase that I would recommend until you are definitely serious about contents.

Electronics are a high profit item however it also an easy item to sub out to another company that has all the big expensive equipment. You still make good money when you sub it out but defiantly not as much as if you did them in house. But just like the Ultrasonic Machine I would recommend making sure you are ready to make this kind of big investment especially when you can lease or rent these for way less than purchasing and save your cash flow in the beginning.

Esporta System~ This lovely little unit is used to clean laundry, shoes, purchases, belts, hats and pretty much anything that we call soft items. It can also clean stuffed animals, some toys, etc. The Esporta Machine can run as high as $80000 so again this would something I would purchase after I had my company up and running to the point where I was able to be serious about taking on laundry type items.

You can also use this machine to do these types of damaged items for other companies as well to make some money.

 I personally have always used a garment cleaning service for my soft contents because I do my contents mobile. This is definitely not something that you need in the beginning or even at all. There are many contents cleaning and restoration companies that sub this kind of work out rather than handle it on there own. I do want to stress however that there is really really good money to be made in laundry.

Truck Mount or Portable Cleaning Unit~ When cleaning contents you will be dealing with upholstery, mattresses, certain drapes, pillows and rugs. These items will most likely need to be cleaned using a professional steam cleaning unit.

There are basically two types. One is called a truck or trailer mount and the other is a hot water extraction portable unit.

Now I want to make sure and clarify that I am not talking about going to the grocery store and renting a Rug Doctor when I say a portable cleaning unit. Those types of unprofessional units will only damage contents not clean them. 

I have pictured here a van and two different types of trailer mounted units as well as a very good professional portable unit. The price range for these can be anywhere from $70000 to $4000.

 I want to stress that you do not need to own any of these units to be able to clean contents and structure. This is a very easy item that you can find a good sub contractor to do for you. 

I have used a portable from US Products and several truck mount type cleaning units and they have all been really good. I am not going to get into which truck mount unit is better than another because that would be a very long post with way too many opinions I am sure.  

I also want to touch on textiles for a moment. I am actually going to direct you over to my friend Lisa Wagner to let her give you the expert opinion on rugs. Textiles are a very unique piece of contents cleaning and restoration and should only be handled within your company once you have a trained Textile Pro on your team and the right equipment to take care of them. Lisa does offer world class training and education if you want to delve into that niche.

Well I know that this was a long post but I hope you gained some value and tons of knowledge about what equipment is need to clean contents as well as structures that have been damaged in a loss of some kind. Please don’t be shy let me know if you have any questions or need any help finding any of these pieces.

Next we are going into the supplies you will need and how much you will need to initially invest in them.

~Annissa

And this is what I found:

A Customer:A person or organization that buys goods or services from a store or business. A party that receives or consumes products

A Client: One that is under the protection of another :dependant on.

This really fits how I describe the difference between the two. You see a customer is a transaction and a client is a relationship.

Customers are what we get when we take a persons money and do nothing to create a connection with them and not worry about ever getting them to spend their money again with us sometime in the future.

A Client is what we create when we make a connection and build a relationship with a person or business that can benefit from using our products or services. It’s what we get when we get to know the person who may someday hand us over their hard earned money knowing that we will be there for them and take good care of them. A Client is what we create when we create an experience around the relationship we build with them.

So ask yourself…Do I have customers or clients in my business?

I hope you answered the latter. If not you need to go back to the drawing board and create a system that enables you to turn those customers into relationships.

To really get the magnitude of this topic you really need to think about the lifetime value of a client vs. just having a customer.

Let’s use a pest control business as an example. Say an average client will spend $150 a year on services keeping the bugs away. And let’s say your average client is with your for 10 years and refers another 5 clients to use your services. That is a lifetime value of $9000.

Now let’s consider that you treat this client like a customer instead and they only have a transaction with you not a relationship and that one transaction goes badly. It is estimated that customers will tell twice as many people about a bad experience than a good one. So that means that by having this person or business as a customer not a client you just lost $16,500! As you can see having customers not clients has an exponential effect on your bottom line. Now if you are a Restoration contractor you can add another zero or two to this equation.

Not to mention is costs a lot more money to get a client than to keep one. Let’s talk about keeping a client.

In order to get a client you need to build a relationship in the first place. To be able to keep a client and have them referring their family and friends you need nurture and care for that relationship on a regular basis. The way we build relationships are thru experiences.

“People may not remember exactly what you said or did but they will always remember how you made them feel” Tony Hsieh

The question then to ask yourself is how are you making your clients feel before, during and after doing business with you?

Do they feel important?

Do they feel that you care about them?

Do they feel like they can trust you?

These are such critical questions that we all as business owners need to explore. Do we have the customer or the client?

A book that I would highly recommend you put on your must read book list is The Starbucks Experience by Joseph A. Michelli. This book has the principles to help you turn the ordinary into the extraordinary for your clients who will love you for years and years to come.

You can do this in a variety of ways. It can be gotten in writing or maybe even in video format. Video is my favorite because it is so powerful to see and hear people talking about how fantastic your company is rather than reading words. This can be difficult to get as some people are just too shy and don’t want to be on camera in which case a written testimonial will suffice.

There are two reasons why getting a testimonial are so important. One is you will have social proof that your company is a rock star and that your clients are happy with your products or services. The other is you will definitely know if you are doing everything right for your clients and more importantly what you are doing wrong.

Why is knowing the wrong more important?

Because then you can fix it. You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken right?

Too many businesses just assume that they are delivery what their clients want and don’t ask them. Getting a testimonial is also very powerful for your Team or Staff as well. If your Team members know that they are expected to gather a testimonial from each and every client asking how their experience was don’t you think they are going to be very focused on taking extraordinary care of their clients so they gat a raving review?

This is also very powerful for your clients especially if you and your Team let them know at the beginning of your relationship with them that you will wow them with an exceptional experience as you plan on getting an outstanding testimonial from them at the end. This is a great way to set the tone for the client right in the beginning letting them know that you plan to wow them. It also let’s them know that you care and that they are not just money going into your bank account. Their feelings matter to you as the owner and that is how you make a connection.

Once you gather these testimonials you need to read each and every one of them. If there are improvements to be made do them immediately. If you and your Team are doing certain things that your clients love then do more of them.

Trust me this will set you apart from the majority of businesses today. Think about it. How many times have you been asked by a business that you just gave your money to if you had an extraordinary experience with them? I’ll bet not too many. Most businesses are afraid to ask because the answer might me I’m not happy. How powerful is that to know? It may be more important than knowing what you are doing right. Because you can be doing 5 things right and doing just 1 wrong thing may be what’s turning your clients away.

I would be willing to bet that some of the answers that you get will shock you. You have to remember that you are not your client and what may be important to you they may not really care about. But what you will also find out is the little details that really do matter to them.

It’s important to not create work for your clients in this process. Make this an easy thing for them to do. Have a written set of questions for them to answer with an area at the bottom of your form for them to just share any thoughts with you that they would like to.

Here are a few examples of some questions to ask when gathering testimonials:

1. What product or service did you buy from Xyz Company?
2. Would you do business with Xyz Company again?
3. How did you hear about us?
4. What were one or two important benefits that you got from Xyz Company?
5. How could we have made your experience with our company any better?
6. Will you recommend our product or services to others?
7. Anything else you would like to share about your experience with Xyz Company?

These are just few examples but I think you get the idea. You want to also have an opening sentence or two explaining why their feedback is important as well as a thank you statement at the end.

The little details that you will derive from these testimonials will help you create the most amazing experience yet for your clients.

This is so important for us to be able to make a real connection with our clients especially in restoration work. We deal with our clients at a very emotional and difficult time in thier lives. They have never needed our understanding, compassion and to know that we care about them then right now.

And that is where the magic happens.

In the little details that make your client feel special, taken care of and like they matter to you. You can give them hope that things will be normal again soon. These details may be something that you would never think of on your own and you wouldn’t know if you didn’t ask.

And the not knowing could be the difference between your success and your failure to give your clients a WOW! experience.

A mentor of mine taught me that success leaves a trail. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel you just need to walk down the path already forged by someone who has been there done that and successfully achieved what it is that you want to accomplish.

So the first thing you can do is find someone who has achieved what it is that you want and then study how they accomplished it. Who did they talk to, interview? Did they take a particular class or did they hire a coach? (This by the way is something that I would recommend that you do) And most importantly did they write a book?

I believe that words are incredibly powerful and that you can never read too many books.

I could literally live in a book store with a comfy couch and a latte…just sayin…:)

A person can give themselves a college education with a library card. Think of how powerful it is to be able to have a what to do manual right in front of you and even more importantly written by someone who has maybe been in your shoes and can relate to what you are going thru.

Being in business is tough and sometimes lonely if you feel stressed or just don’t have anyone to bounce ideas off of. In college classes they don’t really teach you outside of the fundamentals of a balance sheet and business plan. And there is so much more than that to know to survive and thrive in your business.

Most business owners open up their doors because they want freedom and have a dream. Not because they are great managers or marketers. Which are two very important elements to possess if you want to have success in your business. In fact a lot of business owners don’t understand the first thing about their financial books or how to track their profit centers.

The good news is that there are a lot of great marketers, financial advisors and managers that have written books for us to learn from. The more information you have the more informed decision you can make when planning your goals within your company as well. You may be a seasoned business owner or just a newbie doesn’t matter. We all have a learning curve as times are changing in how we do business.

Now there are many books that I could recommend for you to read but let’s start with just a few. If you don’t like to read then buy books on audio and listen to them while driving to the office or on the treadmill.

Here are 5 books that I feel are a must read for any business owner:

1. Good To Great by Napoleon Hill
2. Change Your Thinking Change Your Life by Mark Victor Hansen
3. The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
4. Triggers by Joe Sugarman
5. All Marketers Tell Stories by Seth Godin

It is so important to learn to think outside the box especially when it comes to marketing your product or services. These books can help you develop your own way of doing things in your business that are in alignment with your goals both personally and professionally. If you aren’t sure how to set goals there is a great book written on goal setting by Jack Canfield. These books can also give you a solid foundation to build from. Because most of the time it’s whats between our ears that needs the most work.

You should also read as many books about your particular business as you can. It will make you a better business owner the more you understand your particular market sector.

Look we can’t know everything about everything and we don’t need to if we know where to find it. School is never out for the Entrepreneur and you shouldn’t want it to be. Business would be boring if we stopped growing and learning. Innovation would come to a halt and new ideas would cease to exist.

We don’t always have the answers when we hit a road block so seeking the help of an expert is key.

So go online or to the book store and start expanding your mind just a bit.

Enjoy…:)

Ps. If any of you have already read any of these books I would love to hear what you thought of them??

And trust me you want to look into as many of these programs that are in your area and get on them if they are good. 

The software is Xactimate. 

Xactimate is the insurance program that the majority of insurance companies use. If you are going to be on a preferred program with say they actually require that you use Xactimate billing. It’s important that you get this program and use it in your company. It will make things smoother for you and make you more usable by every insurance company across the board. You can use it on more than one computer. I believe the current fee is a $250 setup fee and then $150 a month or $125 a month per computer. It’s not very expensive compared to how much money you can make with it. So you will definitely want to call Xactimate and get that setup right away.

This program is setup to communicate with insurance companies and in the way that they want to be communicated with. 

You see when billing an insurance job you need to be able to break your charges down in the manner by which the insurance company processes them on their side. If you don’t you create more work for the adjuster and become a pain and that is not what you want. 

What you want is for them to want you on every one of their jobs because you make their job easier. If you make their job more difficult than it already is they are going to potentially recommend that the insured they are working with consider working with another contractor. And if the job is one that is being run thru their PSP program you won’t get it unless you use Xactimate. 

To understand how valuable this software is you need to understand how insurance companies process their claims on their end. 

Insurance companies only pay for the property that was damaged by the loss that occurred. So if a room has two walls that need repainted they will only pay for those two walls not the entire room. Or if 17 lineal feet of floor trim is damaged they will pay to replace only 17 lineal feet not the entire room. This is assuming that it is able to be matched. 

So the insurance company estimates repairs by the square foot, lineal foot and sometimes by the individual each item. You obviously need to understand which is which in the insurance world but Xactimate will automatically break those down for you by an area after you enter the entire dimensions of a room. The program also allows you to put in special things like notes and pictures attached to the particular item entered. 

In Xactimate you can also easily break your bill down by the room and by the line item. And enter all the details that you want. And trust me you want tons of details on each billing. When you are doing billing to the insurance company I want you to remember that they are not standing on the job site. They are not seeing everything that you have done like the homeowner has. For this reason you want to be very, very careful and detailed in your explanation of charges on your bill. The more detail you can give on a bill the less chance that you are going to have the adjustor call you or question you about anything. They will feel more comfortable pushing it right through so that you get paid right away. 

Getting your scope of repairs and cleaning out to the insurance company very quickly is important.  Not only does the adjustor want to process the claim quickly and get it closed. The faster you get your bill to the insurance company then the faster that you are going to get paid for the job. And that is what having a specialty program like Xactimate will do for you.

So as you can see to use an excel spreadsheet or a program like say Quick Books to send in your restoration billings you could be sabotaging your own invoices and thus success.

Stayed tuned and we will be covering the #7 question soon…Equipment and Supplies.

~ Annissa

How many employees you will need in your restoration business completely depends on the services that you are going to offer.

If your services are contents and structure cleaning, you will need a crew of 5 to 7 people to clean, inventory and pack a job in a good time frame. You can start out with just 2 or 3 employees of your own and hire temps to fill out your crew at first. Just be sure that your temps are always supervised by a trained certified Team member.

A good labor pool for this kind of sometimes sporadic and temporary work I have found to be college students and stay at home moms. Not only are they usually very hard workers they can be grateful for any down time that you may need to afford them as they aren’t usually needing or wanting fulltime all the time work.

Your Team will need to be much bigger and diverse if you are planning to go further with your restoration services and do reconstruction work. However it doesn’t have to be as you can use sub-contractors for many aspects of the construction process. But just like using temporary labor for cleaning you will need to be sure and keep control of your job so that you can ensure the quality and timelines are kept up with. Having 2 to 5 carpenter/emergency type technicians is average.

It is also very important that especially when you are first hiring your Team and growing your business that you hire Team members that can be versatile and cross trained. For instance you may have an Emergency Specialist that is also a Cleaning Specialist. Or you might have a Carpenter that is also an Emergency Specialist. Just be careful that you don’t frustrate your Team by pulling them back and forth between too many types of jobs so they feel like a yo-yo. That is why you need to think about this aspect when you are interviewing potential new Team members and look at their personalities and what type of environments do they operate well in.

You may be going from a one person show to having a Team. So there will be many things for you to be thinking about and preparing for. So there are several administrative house keeping things that I want you to be thinking about.

For instance the additional accounting needed. There are federal regulation pertaining to employer criteria and there may be some at your state level as well. There are a couple of ways you can go about handling this aspect.

You can hire a CPA or Accounting service to handle all of your payroll setup and required filings or if you are a do it yourself type entrepreneur you can set things up yourself. It really is not difficult just can be a little time consuming to learn in the beginning and to get things setup initially.

If you are the do it yourselfer I highly recommend that you use an accounting software like Quick Books for payroll. Not only is it inexpensive for small employers but it is brain dead simple to learn and use. Contact your local state employment agency to find out rules or laws that you may need to adhere to. You should also find out if your state has any small business employment tax workshops you can attend. They are generally free of charge and can be very informative about your state requirements.

On a federal level you will need to setup an Employer Identification Number with the IRS for. Then you need to file an SS4 form setting up your 941 account.

Make sure that you have an employee handbook and mission statement for your team to follow as well. I feel this is really important even if you only have one or two employees. You can write your own employee handbook quite easily in a Word document. It doesn’t have to be a ton of pages just write down some basic guidelines for your team to follow in regards to hygiene, safety sexual harassment and conduct on the clock. It’s important to start off on the right foot by letting your Team know what you expect of them. And this will give you a starting point that you can expand on it as your Team grows.

Having very clear and written down job descriptions is also very important to have from the get go. Again this doesn’t have to be a huge document but you need a starting place for your new Team members to be able to have a clear picture of what they need to be doing in their job performing.

Having these few simple guide lines setup i.e.: employee handbook and job descriptions will help you hire the right people for the job.

Here is an excerpt from my Firehouse Manual that talks about hiring your Team and getting started on the right foot.

1. Do Background Checks: If you are on a preferred program list they require that you do these checks on every single employee before hiring them. If a potential employee has any felonies, assaults, thefts or sexual assaults on their record you are not supposed to hire them. If you have someone on your staff with this kind of record you can actually be removed from their program permanently. We follow these rules in our company across the board because it’s just a good practice.
2. Hire Only A+ players: We refuse to work with anybody except the best people on the planet. If you keep your expectations high they will apply!  Do multiple interviews and always check references. But most importantly ask them about their goals. Do they even have any? What do they enjoy doing for work? Try to connect with them on a level that allows you to see a little of who they really are and you will see very quickly if they are a right fit for your company. Be frank and open about you expectations and requirements of the position they are applying for.
3. Have Uniforms: Clean and Professional every single day! Project the image your company wants your client to see.
4. Training and Your Dream Team: Creating a dream team is not impossible. In fact many companies have theirs already in place. First you need to decide what you dream team would look like. And you need to be willing to invest in it. The return is far greater than you can imagine.
5. Weekly and Daily Meetings: Communication is the biggest complaint we hear from staff and the easiest thing to do. It takes consistency and a can do attitude. Meetings where you and your team get together on a regular basis and communicate about the little things can make all of the big things work better.
6. Dream Manager Program: Do you have a dream? Do the people you work with or your team have dreams? I am sure they do even if they don’t know it. Part of building a great team is connecting with each other and finding out what is most important to them. What are their aspirations? Their Dreams… Tony and Mary Miller created a program called The Dream Manager that can help you help those you work with come to life and really start living full on again. It’s a great program.

I hope you have found this information helpful on getting you on the road to hiring your first employee.:)

Do you have any other questions for me? If so comment below and l will answer them here.

Talk soon,
Annissa

More is just more it’s not necessarily better.

I will never forget a phone conversation that I had recently with a consulting client about the road blocks that were keeping him from launching his new contents division in his cleaning company. He told me he was having trouble finding a building big enough. I asked him how big the buildings were that he had been looking at and he told me 2000 to 2800 square feet. I asked him how much space he thought he needed and he said at least 4000 just for the cleaning areas and about 3 to 4 times that for vault storage.

When I told him he could easily setup shop in under 800 square feet the phone went silent with disbelief.

Some of you reading this will completely disagree with this last statement. But I would challenge you to think outside the box here with me.

Our Company processes a complete household of contents in just under 7 days in a cleaning warehouse that is a little less than 320 square feet.

In fact, I feel that the smaller your cleaning area is the more efficient you are. If you have all of your equipment spread out over 1000 or 2000 square feet that means you have more movement going on to clean, pack and process each and every job. Wasted movement that you are wasting money on.

You also need to remember the bigger the building the more it will cost you in overhead. Like utilities, insurance and upkeep not to mention the cost of purchasing or leasing all this extra space.

Thinking that you have to have a huge warehouse in order to be successful at processing and cleaning contents is a limiting belief. And one that is simply not true.

Now having a huge warehouse is fine as long as it is setup in the right way so your work area is super efficient. But what I don’t want you to think is that all of that space is required or you won’t be able to get the job done.

It can also make you be more efficient being in a small space out of necessity. No different than when you live in a small house you have to be organized and efficient with the use of your space because there isn’t very much of it. So when looking at your warehouse space think about how much area do you really need to work in? Don’t think you have to use all that space just because it’s there. What I actually want you to think about is just the opposite. How small of an area can use?

To begin with you need to plan and draw a layout of your work area with your equipment in place. Design is very carefully for productivity. This planning stage will also help you get a better feel for your space needs.

When you are in the planning stages you need to decide what equipment you are going to buy outright and what are you going to rent or lease. There are also some pieces of equipment that you may decide to downsize to save space.

As for storage of cleaned and processed contents you have a few different options. You can have a nice big warehouse space setup with vaults or bays to organize and store your jobs. Or you can rent storage units and store and organize completed jobs that way. You can still make a profit on charging the insurance company for storage just not as much as you would if you had your own warehouse.

What I really want you to get out of this is that you don’t need a ton a space and whatever you do don’t let this be a stumbling block for you getting off the ground. Start in a small space and work your way up from there.

You may even find you don’t need all that space after all.

What are some things that you feel would be a draw back to a not having a huge warehouse of your own? How about some advantages that I haven’t mentioned?

~Annissa