One of the most critical factors in learning how to start a cleaning business is understanding the need to properly track your financial progress from day one. Far too many entrepreneurs start out understanding many of the operational requirements of how to start a cleaning business, but overlook a lot of the “desk duties”. Deciding to set up a proper accounting and financial tracking system from day one is incredibly important to determining your business progress.
Don’t feel that this needs to be a daunting task. When we start to discuss accounting and bookkeeping, many entrepreneurs start to break out in a nervous sweat. This doesn’t need to be complicated. What’s important is being able to look at your business as an entity that generates income for you. After all, that’s the real reason for being in business, isn’t it?
There are many inexpensive software packages on the market that you can select from when choosing how to start a cleaning business. While many business owners still use paper ledgers or simple spreadsheets, there are desktop and online applications that you can choose that are configured out of the box for small business owners. While it may take you the better part of a day to configure your software choice and get used to the options, functions, and reports, it will pay large dividends in the long run.
One of the best options for new business owners learning how to start a cleaning business is QuickBooks. You can select from a desktop or a web-based version. The desktop version requires a one-time purchase while the online version requires a monthly fee. The online version is available from $12.95 per month and allows you to access it from anywhere you have internet access. The desktop version currently runs around $180.00 for the basic version and will need to be installed on your desktop or laptop computer.
After choosing your software of choice, you’ll spend some time learning its functionality. Over the next few months, we’re planning to put together a training course specifically for setting up QuickBooks for a cleaning business. When that’s available, we’ll post it on the site, however, in the meantime you can use most of the functionality of QuickBooks right out of the box.
While you’ll primarily be using your software for day to day tasks such as booking your deposits and entering and paying bills, the real power of setting up an accounting program when deciding how to start a cleaning business it the ability to see your business as a financial entity. You’ll want to spend some time each week and once a month looking at your profitability reports, referred to as a profit and loss statement in QuickBooks. This will allow you to take a real time look at money in and money out and adjust your business practices accordingly. Are you spending too much on gas? Are cleaning supplies eating into your profit margins? These reports indicate where changes should be made and in the long run, how to put more money in your pocket.
Again, while it will take some time to initially configure your accounting software of choice, don’t underestimate this critical step in learning how to start a cleaning business.
If you’re interested in QuickBooks, here’s a great video walk through to help you decide which version is best for you:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8bctY50fCI
