Self Doubt As a Business Owner

How do you overcome self-doubt when starting a business? Are you often second-guessing yourself or wondering if you’re the right person for the job? 

Not sure if it’s the right time to start a cleaning business? It’s okay, we’re here to help.

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Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer. You can find this and 400 other answered questions in this series on our YouTube channel.

Self-Doubt as a House Cleaning Business Owner

Self Doubt as a Business Owner, House Cleaner ThinkingSelf-doubt is very real, and when you start a business, self-doubt will creep in. Then you will start second-guessing if you’re the right person for the job, and if you are in the right profession, and if this is the right time.

There is a house cleaner that wrote into the show and she asked this question. She said, “Due to COVID, is this a terrible time to start a cleaning business? I’m getting mixed answers, what are your thoughts? How do I assure my customers that I’ll follow the CDC rules? I live in an area where there are many surrounding retirement communities. I could probably get quite a bit of business from them, but I’m worried that they will be afraid.”

Is This a Bad Time to Start a Cleaning Business?

Self Doubt as a Business Owner, House CleanerSo, here’s the situation, is this a terrible time to start a house cleaning business? The answer is no. The reason being there are 74.5 million households in America alone. That’s just America, there are houses all over the globe.  Well, they all need to be cleaned.

Either the homeowner needs to clean them, the kids that live in the house need to clean them, or they need to hire outside help to help come clean the homes. So, there are lots of homes to clean.

How Many Homes Do You Need to Clean?

Self Doubt as a Business Owner, Holding Cleaning SuppliesNow, how many homes do you need? Well, if you clean two homes a day and you work five days a week, that’s going to be 10 homes that you’re going to clean. So, 10 homes and you’re in business.

So, is there a market?

The answer would be, yes there is. Is this a good time? Yes, it is better than any other time. So now we have to go back to the part of the mixed message. Now, I need you to be on the same page as me. We got to work this out right now.

If you’re going into business and you’re listening to other people who say, it’ll never work, this is the wrong time, you’re not right for the business, then you yourself will take on those self-doubts, and those self-doubts will eat away at you until you talk yourself out of being in business.

Lots of Small Businesses Fail

Self Doubt as a Business Owner, Worried WomanLots of small businesses fail, I don’t know why they fail, it’s a variety of different things. But the self-doubt will tear you apart and it will shred your business. So, you, need to be 100% sure moving forward that that’s what you’re doing, is that you’re moving forward.

Because if you’re not sure, you’re going to be waffling back and forth and that’s not forward. So, when you go into business, you need to go forward into business and make sure that it happens.

If You’re Not Sure, No One Will Be

Self Doubt as a Business Owner, Man Consoling WomanIf you are not sure, your family and the people that support you will not be sure either.

So, when you have a bad day and you’re like, “Ah, I don’t know if this is the right business for me.” They’re going to talk you out of it, and if you are not sure when you go to a customer’s house and you try to sell them on your services, they’re not going to buy because they don’t feel like you are sure.

Now, when you come forward and you say, “This is my business, this is what I’m doing, I’m doing it no matter what.” What happens is people are like, wow, okay. Well, that’s the person that I want, the person that’s absolutely sure of their business.

A Lot of People Said I Couldn’t Do it

Self Doubt as a Business Owner, Cleaning ToiletNow, when we got started on YouTube, there were a lot of people that told me that I was too old to have a YouTube channel, and they told me that there was no interest in house cleaning.

They said, there are too many videos on YouTube already and so creating another video, it’s never going to be seen. Then they told me no one wants to watch a video on house cleaning.

Okay, well, I’m here to share with you the fact that it’s possible there are people that are not interested, it’s also possible that there are people who are, but I moved forward as if I’m going to do this no matter what.

Thank You for Helping Us Make it This Far

Self Doubt as a Business Owner, Excited Man and Woman Watching LaptopWe just crossed 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, so thank you to the Savvy Cleaner team, you’ve done an amazing job keeping the show going.  Thank you to the audience, the questions that you’ve asked, for participating, for jumping in and leaving your comments below.

We have created an interest, a dialogue and a discussion that we would not have had if I was waffling like, hmm, I don’t know, should we make a YouTube show or not? I moved forward and here we are.  Our shows are a podcast, a YouTube show and it’s also a blog.

I know, three different pieces of content every single day because I was sure, I was sure there was a market moving forward. You need to be as sure moving forward in your business.

Have a Frequently Asked Questions Page

Self Doubt as a Business Owner, Frequently Asked QuestionsNow the next question was, how do you let your customers know that you’re following the CDC guidelines? Well, you have a website and it’s called a frequently asked questions page, and you list all of the CDC guidelines that you follow.

Then when you go to a customer’s house, you follow those guidelines. They’re going to watch to see if you have your personal protective equipment on. They’re going to see if you’re cross-contaminating from room to room with the cloth that you use. If you follow the guidelines and if they see you following the guidelines, there won’t be any questions.

There are a Lot of Retirement Communities

Self Doubt as a Business Owner, Bingo GameNow the next part, the retirement community. Yes, there are a lot of retirement communities, there are a lot of seniors and lots of them need your help. So, are they going to be afraid?

Yes, some are going to be afraid, and no, some are not going to be afraid. That’s the answer. So the reality is I’ve talked to lots of seniors through this pandemic and there a lot of them are terrified like, “Ah, I don’t want anyone coming into my home.”

Then there are other seniors that are like, “Ah, what’s the big deal? I’ve been living all my life and I’ve seen all kinds of germs and there’ve been all kinds of sickness and I got better and if I get sick, I get sick, and if I don’t, I don’t, and if I die, I die.”

There are All Sorts of People With Different Opinions

Self Doubt as a Business Owner, House CleanerSo, there are all sorts of people with different opinions across the board and you are going to get to deal with them. So, some are terrified, some are okay, it’s fine. But I would not let any of that stop you from starting a cleaning business.

If this is the way that you are going to move forward with your career and your life to support your family, I say, go all in. Don’t let the self-doubt in your head stop you, and don’t let mixed messages drive you away from your dream.

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