Amy Boggs, owner of Sparkling Palaces, Portland’s Premier Green House Cleaning Company shares 10 Great Tips for Home.  Yet another professional ARCSI Member taking Home Cleaning to the Next Level!

Christine McDannell, serial entrepreneur with another GREAT IDEA!
Notice the genius of integrating her Green Cleaning Company with Adopt a Christmas Tree!

by Steve Levenstein

The Maid Taxi was a clever concept – until hordes of “Otaku” (fans of costume roleplay) descended upon the service, displacing those genuinely disabled the Maid Taxi’s were designed to serve.

For disabled people in Japan dependent upon caregivers, it must have seemed like a dream come true. Just imagine if you will, a small fleet of wheelchair-accessible minivans decked out in luxury appointments available to pick you up and take you wherever you want to go. Oh, did I mention, the vans were piloted by comely young ladies dressed as French maids?

You’d be forgiven for thinking the Maid Taxi was dreamed up by Hugh Hefner as a way to get around town in his old age – sort of a flightless Playboy jet – but no… it was actually conceived by a Japanese company called KEC Hire Hokuriku with very altruistic motives: assisting the disabled while adding a little extra joy to the experience. All well and good until word got out to a certain sector of Japanese society obsessed with All Things Maid: the Otaku!

From all corners of the country they came to the city of Kanazawa, wrapped in fake bandages covering nonexistent wounds or limping on borrowed crutches… sometimes both. Why the play-acting? Well, for the fun of it, of course, cosplay (costume play) being what it is. Also, KEC Hire Hokuriku specified that the Maid Taxi service was only available to disabled people, quoting Japan’s Road Traffic Law that forbade vehicles designated as being for the disabled from being used by the able-bodied. Even the steep 5700 yen (about $52) per hour fee didn’t dissuade determined Otaku from getting their maid fix.

Maybe it was wear & tear on the minivans; maybe it was wear & tear on the maids – or at least, their frilly outfits – but a mere three months after inaugurating the Maid Taxi service, KEC Hire Hokuriku threw in the towel. It remains to be seen whether another company will now do the obvious: start up another Maid Taxi service catering ONLY to Otaku. The way I figure it, they’d clean up! (via Japundit and Dark Diamond)

Steve Levenstein
Japanese Innovations Writer
InventorSpot.com

by Steve Levenstein

Japan has exported cars and electronics to the West for decades, but it’s only recently that the nation’s dynamic culture, led by Pokemon and other Anime has also made the trip. Their success has led a few enterprising types to try transplanting some of the more offbeat aspects of Japanese culture into foreign soil. Can it work? Your on-the-scene reporter visited the I Maid Café in Toronto, Canada today to find out first hand!

Maid cafes have sprung up all over Japan since the first one opened in 1998, catering mainly to so-called “otaku” (fans of costume roleplay for example) who feel more comfortable dealing with a subservient maid then with other people in social settings. Imagine how surprised I was to discover that here in Toronto, Canada, just a few minutes away by car, is an actual maid café!

As for the food, it was quite tasty, accented by the glass of cool Mint Coffee my wife & I shared. The service, while decent, didn’t really differ from that of any other normal café. I’m not sure what we expected and it might be too much to ask that we be greeted with the “Welcome, Master and Mistress” emoted by staff at Japanese maid cafes. As well, neither foot rubs nor complementary ear cleaning were in the offing – maybe I’ve overly researched the topic of maid cafes!

Then again, what percentage of I Maid Café’s clientele really expects the full-on Japanese theme café experience? Considering the lack of local competition, I Maid Café does a good job of bringing a little Japanese weirdness to far-away Toronto. (images via I Maid Café)

Steve Levenstein
Japanese Innovations Writer
InventorSpot.com

Redefine Your Brand

Over the next year I want you to seriously consider the first word of this chapter title redefine.  Think about it, did you know, there are residential cleaning companies that focus purely on cleaning churches.  There are cleaning companies that do nothing but cleaning funeral homes out.  About the company, whose tagline is “serving the downtown eight lead.”  How about positioning yourself as home health experts would keep your home clean, sanitized and healthy.  Did you know that there is an SI seek his to describe businesses that refer to themselves as a state cleaning.  We don’t clean homes, we only clean estates.  Now coming from the five-star hotel background myself about this one.  Graceful, elegant, charming company providing turndown service and a minute he services for the affluent homeowner.  In other words, what are your brand, who are you who you trying to serve and wire you in business.

We’ll deal with Nick is in your unique selling proposition in the next chapter.  So for now, I want to focus on the bigger issue of the branding of your company.

Redefining your brand encompasses many factors.  First, wire you in this business?  There are almost as many answers to this question as there are registered owners of residential cleaning companies in America.(24, 164, at last count(.

I love cleaning!  I am in this business to build a great company.  I am in this business to build a great company and by other companies or to start other divisions or other companies.  I am in this business to build it and sell it.  I am in the business to build it and pass it on to my children.  I want to build it and start a franchise.  I want to build my business, and then license the systems I’ve created or create a consulting firm.

Earlier I mentioned briefly, the idea of commodity.  Commodity thinking again has a powerful place here when you think about branding your company.  The commodity minded owner will tend to have the following beliefs:

1.  Timebase labor and pricing.  Exchanging time for money.

2.  Using coupons for nominal amounts such as $10 off the first visit.

3.  Price consciousness versus value orientation.

4.  Doing the work yourself.  Struggling to get out of the employee mentality.

5.  Technician focused, that is, managing the minutia or the details of the day-to-day grad.

6.  Today focused.  Lacking the proactive skill of envisioning this week, next week, next month.

7.  Working harder, not smarter.

The more entrepreneurial, owner will have the following beliefs:

1.  Value based upon results of services, not just time served for my.

2.  Values attraction marketing for pre-qualifying potential new customers.

3.  Services and multiple offers focused.

4.  Values development of passive revenue for the company.

5.  Focused on growing the business.

6.  Tomorrow focused, being proactive rather than reactive.

It is an example of the value minded business owner in residential cleaning.

The value oriented business owner asks they are prospective customers.  The following questions:

if we were able to give you back six hours per week, what would that mean to you?

If your child’s toys for sanitized every week, will that do for you?

When we win your trust over time and you believe are cleaning crew, what would that mean to you?

What are your top three reasons for contracting a cleaning service today?

Revisit your business plan, as it relates to your brand.

Is my goal for being in business still clear?

Am I laser focused on how to make money?

Am I crystal-clear on my target customers?

Am I maximizing profit potential from every customer based upon my brand?

Am I leveraging every current customer for referrals for new business?

Am I exhausted, risking burnout, working harder rather than smarter?