Do I need a company name or can I use my own name for my house cleaning business?
What name you use for your business is entirely up to you – but comes down to how your business is structured and how you intend to pay your taxes. Your company name is part of your brand and as you grow your business you may want to add a company name to your marketing efforts. This will become necessary as you create a web page, make business cards, flyers, car magnets and do advertising.
As a small start-up (your first few months in business or if you are a one man or woman show) it is okay to use your personal name.
This way when you are paid, the money will go in to your personal bank account rather than a business bank account and you will file your personal taxes either single or jointly with your partner/spouse.
This keeps the taxes part super simple because you are not registering company name, and then paying yourself as an employee and then paying a self-employment tax. As your house cleaning business grows and you expand, consider adding a company name to your branding and then consider upgrading your company structure and tax structure to match.
You can add a company name to your worksheets and your flyers if you want for now – though it is not necessary.
I’m Angela Brown Oberer – I go by Angela Brown (Brown is my maiden name) for my house cleaning company because Angela Brown is an easy name to remember – and if people remember your name, and can pronounce it easily, they can refer you to their friends. It’s an easy name for their friends to remember as well.
Think of this scenario: Megan and Ken who are neighbors, are standing at a school bus stop waiting for their kids, and they start talking about their day. Ken, a stay-at-home Dad has been cleaning his house all day and is pooped. Needs to get a house cleaner. Megan, a savvy woman who works from home has a house cleaner she highly recommends, but doesn’t have the house cleaner’s contact information with her.
“You should call my house cleaner, her name is Angela Oberer.”
While Megan remembers the difficult name, Ken does not. Not sure he heard it correctly, Obgur? Oberay? Oburrer? Ober? Obrer? Oberger?
…and the referral never goes through.
Instead Megan says: “You should call my house cleaner, her name is Angela Brown, or Jenny Jones, or Tom Sparks.”
So much easier to remember, and refer. Also if she refers the company “You should call my house cleaner she has a company called Life Long Cleaning” Ken gets home and can’t remember if it is Long Life, Life Long, Longer Life something like that… and as he googles it finds a different company and hires them instead.”
Make it super easy for people to find you.
Megan, brings with her the next afternoon to the bus stop, a worksheet I left behind. On the worksheet, Ken sees all of the things I do while cleaning a house, my contact information is at the top and presto. Ken can call me too.
What is your name?
Do you have a name that is easy to pronounce and easy to remember? If not, choose one to use for your business and add it to your personal bank account so when checks are written to you using that identity, they are cashable. The form you will use at your bank is a simple DBA (Doing Business As) form.
For twenty years on my bank account I had name Angela Brown listed. When I got married fourteen years ago I added, Angela Brown Oberer and Angela Oberer to the account. Any check written to those names will be cleared in my account.
I also have those same combinations of names registered on my PayPal account with two separate email accounts so I could accept paypal for payment in my business.
In 2015 the bank contacted me and said I qualified for a “Simple business (free) checking account” that could include a company 
name and allow me to deposit checks from my cell phone via a mobile phone app. Now checks written to Life Long, Angela Brown, Angela Brown Oberer and Angela Oberer are all cashable under that account.
I still have my house cleaning clients write checks to “Angela Brown” for the sake of ease, and I now deposit them immediately via mobile phone app. This saves me so much time and a trip to the bank every day. The money goes into my account by 4:00pm each day. Boom! Done!
Make sure whatever name you choose for your house cleaning or maid service business, that it is added to your social media accounts, bank accounts, purchasing accounts and taxes. This way it all links back to you.
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