[CMS]

Ok.......so how do I put this without appearing to blow my own trumpet?

I've thought long and hard about this since someone posted earlier today something to the effect that I should start a cleaning consultancy.

Firstly, I haven't got a big ego and am somewhat flattered (no, embarrassed) that anyone thinks my advice is worth paying for.

Some of you know that CMS Limited chooses to support a charity each year (there's a page on our website) and this year we are supporting Dogs Trust (formerly the Canine Defence League).

I don't personally want to make any money out of this but if I could make a few quid for our chosen charity......then why not?

There are a few 'Cleaning Manual' type things floating around on ebay. Some are good and some aren't but I think that for a 'newbie' the cost could be a bit steep (I think I saw £58 floating around somewhere).

I thought of producing a number of 'fact sheets' going through all the stages of running a cleaning company right from 'Getting the appointment' through 'quoting', setting up a contract, quality monitoring etc. etc. and so it goes on.

I was thinking maybe one a month to be made avilable with all the supporting documentation, letters etc. This could be available for a paypal payment of say £2-3 per 'lesson'.

It's just a thought and if only 10 people bought it each month we would have another £360 to donate to the Dogs Trust.

What are your thoughts?

Would anyone find my advice worth paying £2 for? I think the systems and documentation I use are worth that to a newbie, don't you?

Please don't reply back saying "who the hell does he think he is?" or words to that effect. I absolutely DO NOT think that I am better than anyone else. It's just that I have the time to do this and want to boost our charitable donation.

My wife has just come up with a good idea...............

Maybe if I came up with the 12 'subject matters' and posted them I could then produce the first months for free. Then if you want the other eleven you 'buy' them.

Any comments?

[*Chris Browne]

i think its a cracking "win win" idea and i cannot think ofanyone else better suited to take on such a task.


chris

[lynngc]

hi karl,
well things have certainly kick off tonight.  LOL.

firstly, lets just say, before i found this forum, i had purchased the point2point handbook and cd.

which i read front to back several times over.

ok here's the good bit.......if you want to run an agency then it's fine.  
      
i don't, ok,

it gives a bit of info into the domestic side of cleaning, wow!!!!!

the cd templates were very handy though, although i had to alter them to suit my wording and there mistakes also.

at the time i thought it was good value for money.

but the guidence from you guys is far more value, tried and tested and free.

i had an e-mail earlier this evening from someone asking me what i thought about point2point,  will this person please reveil them selves.

i will not devulge any info without not know who you are.....

personnaly, anyone planning on buying it, don't.


ok now to karl,
i would purchase your methods, more for the real cleaning business side of things.

lynn

[CP CLEANING]

Hi

Ive just registered tonight on here as a newbie, and im looking forward to reading all the threads, so as a newbie who is just starting out i would gladly pay a few pound a month for some information from an experienced person, also knowing it is going to charity is a really good idea.

CP CLEANING

[Art]

Karl,

 That's a great idea and for a good cause.

So when do you plan to produce the first edition?

Arthur

[Tim Downer]

Karl

A lot of what you have said over the months has made sense to a lot of us on the forum, and you have always been kind and generous in giving people your time ad your comments/advice.
Even regarding your web site - Risk Assessments on there and the cost calculator - and two of us today have bigged up the cost calculator!! Both must have taken you a lot of time to produce. And how many of us would freely put this up on our web sites for all to see??

You said that you are not better than the rest of us - but you do have the experience that we haven't had....and you do have a way of putting your thoughts across that do make sense and if you could produce the articles that you mentioned in the same way, a lot of us would pay for that experience and you would make some pennies out of it too......but.....fair play to you for giving it to charity, a worthy cause too.

Well done mate and i hope a lot of us can donate a lot of money to that charity.

Regards

Tim

Why are the last couple of posters still on at this time of the night??    

Good night to you all and catch up with you all in a couple of hours time!! 

[AJCleaningServices]

Karl,
Just go ahead and do it.
Kind regards,
Arthur

[Fox]

CMS

You know me - always one to find a question!

It's just that I have the time to do this

I know you enjoy helping others and you want to boost the money you donate to charity but if you have spare time on your hands would it not be better to spend it growing your business? You could donate some of the profit made from these sales to boost your charitable donation and at the same time grow your business which is your main goal for retirement.

Afterall you being a business person will understand more than most that any spare time should be invested back into your business - your not going to retire on the sale of fact sheets now are you?

Obviously this post is just an observation and my opinion - of course it matters not to me what you do with your time - I am just curious what the motivation is.

Fox

[D woods]

HI CMS
We use a firm of specialist working at height health and safety consultants
every time they come out to one of our sites they charge us £600 per day
per man.

In December last year I had to consult with a specialist employment solicitor
he charged us £170 per hour

I think the advise you give on this forum is every bit as valuable as the advise
I pay other specialtists to provide for me , so I think you may want to
charge a tad more than £2-3 .

[Ian Gourlay]

Karl.

I think I would be happy to subscribe.

As Ive said before your Sales Method post was excellent.


Better Copy it before it gets pulled

[garyj]

Oooo, come on Fox, 2 quid AND it goes to a worthwhile cause.

I'm an 'old hand' and I'd pay £2 to read Karls late night ramblings.

[lisa123]

nice piccy gary!
 its funny seeing what people look like, they are never what you would expect 

I'd buy Karls business brain neverming fact sheets, but i cant afford millions and squillians of £££

 

[Fox]

Garyj  -   I never said that it wasn't a good idea and I never said it was wrongly priced.  I just wanted to know what the motivation was and why he would spend time on that rather than growing the business!  It will afterall take a bit of time to put together.

So for you I suggest get off your high horse and stop brown nosing! And for the rest of you who think I am a nasty c*w with that statement then you would be right!!!

Fox

[Ian Gourlay]

I can think of lots of reasons.

To be helpful.

To put somthing back.

to test the market before publishing worldwide.

However having to produce copy every month could be the hard part.

[CMS]

Now, now you lot.........................

Firstly, Fox, I have the time for a number of reasons.

Yes, I want to build a business and sell it. CMS is a new business and it's growing well but you have to remember this...................it's the third time I've done it. I sort of retired early a couple of years ago but couldn't leave it alone.

So if I spend a few hours each week putting together something that helps newbies AND a charity, then so what. I'm still involved with cleaning.

Anyway, since I made that post the other day I've given a lot of consideration to this. I might go a little further and produce something a bit more than that (hush hush at the moment).

Watch this space!

[Tim Downer]

MMmmmmmm......sounds interesting!!  

[Prestige1]

I will just add my 2 pennies worth, to me to suggest selling advice goes against everything this board is about, loads of people benefit from these postings and its a two way thing, one person may know a lot about a topic and give his/her advice on it, and then that person then becomes the recipient as another person helps them, so its a give, and receive thing. the minute you start adding a price tag, no matter what the good intentions are, you start a process that will ultimate destroy the information process, although CMS knows a lot about the cleaning industry, imaging if some one pays for advice on a cleaning issue, and then CMS posts a question related to marketing? Would the person who just paid for info who has a degree in marketing give advice to CMS for free? I doubt it, and then you will see destruction process start along with ill feeling. And I for one will get fed up of that. Every person on this board has something to offer, it’s not all cleaning issues.  Take a look at Martins posts before and after he set up his cleaning consultancy? I rest my case. I don’t want to sound pedantic about this topic but I for one think things should stay as they are. A community of well intended people giving help to each other in what is a difficult industry.
There, I am off me soap box now; I shall light blue touch paper and wait for the replies. Kind regards Phil

[AJCleaningServices]

...Take a look at Martins posts before and after he set up his cleaning consultancy? ...

VERY GOOD POINT, Phil!

I would, still suggest to Karl (CMS) to go ahead with his idea,  creating something similar to point2point “stuff”, just for commercial cleaning sector.

Kind regards,
Arthur

[D woods]

HI CMS
Why dont you offer an on-line consultancy service that people can pay a monthly
subscription fee if they are intrested.

[CMS]

I think that Prestige1 has a very good point. As a regular contributor to forums (not just cleaning ones) I agree with everything he says.

For the record though, these 'factsheets' (for want of a better word) were not going to be offered through this forum. They were to be offered through the 'charity' page on our website.

However, as what was just a seed of an idea has caused such controversy I am not going to bother.

It makes me wonder though, when i read other posts on here.

Do we see Mancharry giving free advice on building websites? Of course we don't. He's on here to sell his website building services - and I doubt very much if that's going to charity.

It's a sad day indeed when you can't even try and do some good anymore without someone trying to knock it.