Business Lessons from a Housecleaner

My mom was chief nurse in an exclusive spa in Brazil and her 3-month stint for quick cash in the United States turned into a very profitable 11-year housecleaning career in that country.  I learned a lot from my mom about being an independent worker but trained through higher education, I perceived freelancing as an option for those who couldn’t handle the challenges of full-time, “serious” work.  I know better now of course and since becoming a freelancer last year, I’m constantly referring to my mother’s strategies and ethics, which won her some very satisfied clients.  I figured I’d share a few lessons, especially with those who are just starting out.

Remember that you are your boss

It wasn’t until long after my mom had ended her housecleaning career that I realized that she didn’t work FOR anyone in the traditional sense of the word but that she was in fact a service provider in charge of a roster of clients.  She could fire a client at any time and for any reason (and she did).

This is important to remember as you’re switching from full-time employee to freelancer because you might be so deeply rooted in the employee role that you forget that you can set our own rules but also that you now have all the responsibilities.

Set the rules before starting the job – and be clear about it

A recent article here at FreelanceSwitch emphasized the need to establish what it is that you don’t do.  My mom was quick to do just that.

“I’m a housecleaner,” my mom would say to a potential new client.  “I dust, vacuum and do bathrooms.”  When asked to do laundry, take care of kids or dogs, my mom would say, “sure I can do that.  My fee for that is X.”  Often she’d tell me about new clients who tried to squeeze extra work out of her and how she had to be firm with them: “Listen, I’m a housecleaner.  I’m not a babysitter or a window cleaner or a dog walker.  If you’d like me to do any extra work you will need to pay me extra for it or you’ll have to hire someone else.”
In the current economic mess many people are taking what they can since we all have to make ends meet but don’t get carried away.  If you don’t draw a line you are better off going to work in a fast food joint because you’ll make more money that way.  There is always a little room for flexibility but if you are hired to design a 1-page website and your client asks you to do the logo, the marketing and the copywriting without paying you extra money, then they’re just exploiting you and they will waste your time.  In fact, if they’re asking you to do extra work without extra pay, they’re already wasting your time and showing you they don’t respect your work.

Find out what pricing structure is fair

Most housecleaners my mom knew were paid by the hour.  Their clients not only thought that they were getting their money’s worth but also that they were in charge of their workers.  What these clients didn’t know was that while they were at their own jobs their cleaners spent some of those hours taking naps in the clients’ beds, soaking in their jacuzzis, watching TV and stealing supplies from the clients’ stock.  My mom charged by the house (the project) because in the beginning it took her longer to do a house but as she became more used to the house and kept it clean by her standards, she’d complete her work much quicker; she was still doing the same amount of work, just faster.

All of my mom’s clients were completely happy with her work as well as with the fact that she was 100% ethical, honest and trustworthy, which made her irreplaceable.

As a new freelancer you might ask more experienced freelancers how their pricing scheme works (start right here at the FreelanceSwitch forums).  In any case, with experience you’ll find out what works for you and for each type of job.  I’m finding that charging by the project works best for articles and business plans for example since they require more in-depth research but for editing it is best to charge by the hour since the little research involved includes fact checking or reference to writing guides.  It would probably be more profitable to charge by the hour for the projects that require extensive research but that’s not fair to the client.  Research for an article, for example, often involves chatting with friends and it’s just not reasonable (if at all possible) to log every second spent talking to a friend about my project versus the time we spend talking about personal items.

Identify your client and charge accordingly

A little guy around the corner might be stretching his budget to afford your minimum fee but a Conde Nast might be skeptical of your skills if your proposed fee is much lower than those of other professionals.  When you come across a client bigger than the ones you’re used to, do some research into standard fees for that client’s market and charge accordingly.

My mom would add that if you don’t charge enough your client might get the feeling that they can walk all over you too.  On the other hand, she did compromise for close to a year by charging her minimum fee to one of her poorer clients who became ill and lost her income.  Eventually, though, my mom found the client as good a replacement cleaner as she could within the client’s budget.  After all, as nice as my mom is she was running a business, which she couldn’t keep successful if she were to lower her prices even for a single client because part of her business format was to keep clients in a certain economic segment and she couldn’t lose focus.

So there you have some business lessons from a housecleaner.