End of Tenancy Cleaning Dream – the Road and the Journey

I had just moved to London a few years back. I was working various part-time jobs. A pizza delivery driver (so many freezing nights spent on my trusty-rust C90, lol), a kitchen porter, and a waiter at a 5-star hotel. The last job had only a glamorous title and location. I didn’t like the job, but… it paid the bills.

I had no idea there was this thing called a “self-employed end of tenancy cleaner”. A professional cleaner, carrying out deep cleans at tenants’ properties before them vacating the property and handing it over to the landlord. You’ve got your own vehicle (hmm, money to buy?) and tools and work on your own terms and time.

Wait, is this even possible? I am a little ole kitchen porter/delivery driver/waiter, and then suddenly, I become a small business owner. Really? Indeed, being a self-employed professional cleaner is like running a tiny business, but a business it was. You issue invoices; you get paid, you bank the earnings, you get an accountant to calculate your taxes, expenses, spreadsheets – the whole shebang.

It sounded so distant and impossible at the time. Almost like a dream.

But what was there to lose? My kitchen porter job? I decided to jump into the unknown.

I had a little sum of money saved through my last two years of hard work. I used my savings to put down a deposit on an old used Citroen Berlingo. I needed a mini-van so I could 1) look professional; and 2) I needed a vehicle that could fit my gear – vacuum cleaner, mops, window cleaning poles and squeegees, buckets and trays, spray bottles, clothes etc. I used the rest of my hard-earned money to buy the cleaning equipment to carry out end of tenancy cleans.

Now, the most important bit – how do I get customers?