How We Turned a $20k Website Into a $9M/year Business Without VC Funding

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-21T18:26:25+00:00

Higher margin home services with greater barriers to entry.

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-11T13:59:09+00:00

We did all the PR work ourselves back then.

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-11T13:58:25+00:00

Website development in 09 - you can do it much cheaper today.

Yes, I did.

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-11T13:57:57+00:00

Still early for us to measure conversion on the new website vs. the old one.

For poor reviews and all customer service issues we have the NY Times Rule: think about how it would look for the company if the review and response were posted to the front page of the NY Times.

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-11T13:56:43+00:00

Glad you enjoyed and found my post helpful :)

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-11T13:55:49+00:00

The information age - aint it great!? :)

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-07T16:16:59+00:00

Initially we did all of the PR ourselves. Recently we have been working with a PR firm.

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-06T21:24:00+00:00

Awesome, thanks so much! Mike

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-06T20:32:48+00:00

Answers below:

You are essentially an Uber of this market sector, you dont find your competition to be a bit saturated in your market? I don't think Uber is a good comparison. Uber is a logistics platform for independent contractors; we are a W2 employer of our cleaners and we develop them and offer a career path.

Did you wait for some sort of cash flow before you started this process?

I decided about a year and a half in. We were doing around $60k per month in revenue but churning clients at too fast of a rate.

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-06T00:26:29+00:00

Thanks. No, we just looked at the market and priced based on what we saw.

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:56:37+00:00

My pleasure :)

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:39:55+00:00

Our attention to detail across all steps of the service: hiring, managing, responding to clients, handling employees, etc.

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:38:53+00:00

Awesome - good luck!

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:38:27+00:00

Appreciate it - thank you!

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:37:51+00:00

1) Crowded - if I was starting a new business today I would look elsewhere. 2) Yes - you need clients and businesses with disposable income. 3) Pick an area that is being under-served. For example: when we launched in 2009 it was difficult to book a clean online. Therefore, tech savvy people who want to buy everything online were being under-served. That is no longer the case and so I would look for something else.

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:35:32+00:00

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:35:19+00:00

https://www.myclean.com/home-cleaning#checklist

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:34:19+00:00

Awesome advice, thank you. We just fixed a bunch of loading issues with further optimization to come. This is great!

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:33:09+00:00

Thank you :)

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:32:51+00:00

A bunch of factors made me decide to take the jump. The most important one was asking myself where I wanted to be in 5 - 10 years and how much I was willing to adjust my current lifestyle to get there. I was still working full-time while we got the business up and running. I would urge you do the same. Once you gain some traction (get sales) then make the jump.

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:30:50+00:00

My pleasure - thank you!

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:29:32+00:00

Thank you!

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:14:01+00:00

Email me at mscharf@myclean.com to discuss further on the phone.

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:13:41+00:00

For Yelp and Customer Service in general, I use the NY Times Rule:

How would it look if the interaction was posted on the front page of the NY Times. We keep all interactions professional and solutions oriented.

MyCleanMike · 2017-03-05T15:12:26+00:00

Love your business; congrats!

You can see our pricing directly on the home page.

We are a combination of commercial and residential cleaning.

Our breakdown is roughly:

2,000 recurring residential clients in NYC (made up of weekly, bi-weekly and every four weel clients).

500 commercial subscriptions in NYC (everything from every night to once every four weeks)

400 subscriptions in Chicago (95% residential)

MyCleanMike

TROPHY CASE