Finding a good and unique business idea is very difficult in today’s world. Thanks to advanced technology, more and more people are deciding to start a business. That is the main reason why all the industries are, more or less, highly competitive. Fortunately, there are still certain options that you can put into consideration. Have you ever planned to start a pool cleaning business?
Of course, we do not want to say this sort of business is not competitive at all. You will also need to work on your reputation, advertising, and other stuff. However, something that may attract you is the low costs of starting the business. Despite that, more and more homes across America have a pool in their garden. This only confirms that all the homeowners in the United States can potentially be your target audience.
Anyway, before you even register your business, there are a couple of steps you will have to make. We will highlight the most important ones that will make the entire process a lot easier. Let’s go!
1. Develop a Good Business Plan
Everything starts with an idea! However, if you want to turn your idea into reality, then you need to have a good business plan. This document helps you analyze everything relevant associated with your business.
Before everything, you need to find out how much money you will have to invest. As mentioned, costs are not going to be high as for some other business models. However, you will need to have a clear vision of all the startup and ongoing costs.
Another thing you need to determine is who your target audience is. As a small business, you won’t manage to immediately offer your services to everyone. For starters, you should focus on your neighborhood and figure out how high the demand for a pool cleaning service is.
In the end, you will need to determine some other essential details. Before everything, determine the name of your company and try to imagine how the logo will potentially look. Despite that, you need to determine how high the costs of your service should be in order to profit. However, there is one crucial thing here – you must not be too expensive. We do understand your desire to make money as soon as you can. Yet, if you are more expensive than your competitors, why would people hire you? You will have to analyze the market to discover the average price of the service that you offer.
2. Determine the Marketing Channels You Will Use
A marketing plan is also part of a business plan, but we would like to additionally say a couple of words about it. As mentioned, you will primarily need to work on your logo design and try to make your company recognizable among people. Brand awareness is crucial, and it will allow you to raise the prices of your services a bit more than your competitors.
On the other hand, you need to go digital as well! Use social media networks and paid ad campaigns to reach your target audience. You can, for instance, target people that live in your neighborhood and have a pool in their backyard. Thanks to the algorithm that Facebook, Instagram, and other use, something like this is going to be possible to do.
Anyway, when you determine the marketing plan, you must calculate how much money you will need to spend. These are some sort of ongoing costs because marketing investments never stop. As mentioned, boosting your brand identity will help you attract a group of loyal customers that will invite you any time they want their pool to get cleaned.
3. Now Form a Legal Entity
There is no perfect tip that we can provide you with here. The only thing that we can say is that you can choose between the most popular business structures. You can decide on partnership (in case you start a business with a friend), limited liability company or LLC, sole proprietorship, and corporation. First-time pool cleaning business owners would often decide on LLC because the costs are relatively low. This business form even allows you to complete certain legal procedures alone, but if that seems challenging, you can always hire an LLC agent.
4. Register Your Business for Taxes
Taxes are one of the things that all business owners hate. However, you should ensure that everything you do is legal! The first thing you will have to do is to register for the so-called EIN. After that, we suggest you get familiar with all the state and federal taxes or simply hire an expert that will take care of this.
In case you register your business as LLC, you may manage to get taxed as an S corporation. This will ensure that your taxes are relatively low! However, you will have to meet certain requirements in order to do that.
5. Get a Business Bank Account
Using a personal credit card for your business can be quite risky. In case something bad happens, you will risk your property, car, and other valuables in case your business gets sued. Of course, we hope something like this won’t happen, but it is good to know this information.
Choose the bank that gives you the best offer. For instance, don’t use banks that charge high fees. Despite that, focus on those banks that will make the entire accounting and tax filling processes a lot easier. The good news is that many of them will meet your expectations!
6. Get an Insurance
Bodily injuries, property damage, product damage, and other stuff are accidents that happen in all business fields. We hope you will never experience something like this, but it is much better to solve those problems even before they appear. The best way to do that is by getting insurance.
All the pool cleaners will need to have auto insurance, tool coverage, general liability, and surety bonds. In case you do not know which insurance company is going to be beneficial for you, or you simply want to gain more information about different forms of insurance, we recommend you check out businessinsuranceusa.com after reading this article. There you will see all the necessary information that every pool cleaner should know.
