Quit corporate to be a housekeeper?

[woodenbatandball]

I work in a corporate job! Middle management for a middle wage! My job is insanely fast paced, stressful and has me working in the evenings and weekends. I'm seriously considering quitting and starting up my own cleaning/dog walking business. I won't earn as much, but I will save in nursery fees and my sanity! Has anyone else done similar? I've hired cleaners myself and know what would be good offering. Am I mad? I've done a lot of soul searching and I'm disillusioned with the 'women can have it all/girl boss rhetoric' what I actually want is a clear mind, quality time with my child and to not feel anxious about work! All helpful ideas and suggestions and opinions welcome!

Rude

I've just quit my corporate job with nothing to go to yet. I was getting heart palpitations every time I heard Teams or Outlook. Not sure what to do next!

I think life is short and you shouldn’t stay in a job that makes you miserable!

However I would think carefully about giving up a salaried job to go self employed. There is a lot of risk and it sounds like you don’t have the backup of a partner also contributing to the household? Do you have savings as I assume it will take a little while to build up a client base so you won’t earn as much to start with?

If you cost it out and think it’s doable then go for it! Especially if you have previous experience of running your own business. Can you return to your corporate career in the future once your kids are older?

I would be very cautious about doing this.

Your area may be affluent, but many companies are cutting higher level jobs at the minute and the job market is quite stagnant. When economies have to be made, cleaners are one of the first things to go because it's a nice to have not a necessity.

Can you move jobs instead?

What will happen to your clients if your child is ill? The best cleaners I've had over the years are ones that have childcare in place. If someone is happy to spend £ to have the cleaning load lifted from them then they mostly won't be thrilled to be binned off for a sick child.

@rookiemere it’s not been my experience at all (that people cut you, as you’re considered a ‘nice to have’).

My clients’ openly admit they’d sell a kidney before losing me 😂.. you could assume this was idle chatter, but during Covid not only did no one drop me (regardless of their furlough situation), many paid me whilst I wasn’t legally allowed to clean - in order not to lose me.

I think I’ve lost 4 clients, in 15 years;
1 for retirement (cost and time available to do their own), 1 as children now grown (so more time) 1 I don’t think they could ever comfortably afford me - but had taken me on, alongside 2 other ‘better off’ friends and so strung it out for a while. The other I think took umbrage when I was sick and couldn’t rearrange asap - so an expectation clash and best for both of us that we parted ways.

conversely, i have ended around 10 - 15 arrangements, usually due to poor paying, messing me about or thinking they ‘own me for a couple of hours’ … e.g ‘will you watch my shop!’ ‘Will you split my session with my neighbour?’ (two separate clients, after being told I had no space for their neighbour and them not being used to being told ‘no’ by ‘the help’)

The rest are respectful, fab payers, good communicators and operate in the same head space I do - I am an individual so flexibility for appts/sickness needs to be allowed (within reason). I offer the same back - kids have chicken pox? No problem ill come double next week etc

I think it's a great plan, as long as you have done all the sums and worked out that you can still pay the bills. Make sure you flex the numbers so look at worst case scenarios as well as bumper times. Take into account gaps in earnings due to sickness and holiday, plus a gradual build up of business.
Are you a good cleaner? Fast, reliable?
Is there any chance of redundancy in your organisation? Do you have savings to tide you over?

Speaking as a former freelancer, you need to stop using so many exclamation marks, it is seriously unprofessional.

But I digress. What 'corporate' job do you do, exactly? What sector are you in and what are your skill sets?

Thanks @MarmaladeSideDown appreciate your critique of my !!! use. Work as a corporate ! User!

@Hoppinggreen yes, I've worked for myself before so understand all the implications that go alongside working for myself.

I have done rough costings, working out income and outgoings/expenses. Seems
viable. Have a small amount of savings that would allow me to build up a customer base over three for four months.

@crustybreaddarling I'm not worried about my child being ill. She is rarely ill and if she is, I have people/childcare I can ask to help out. The bigger concern is if I would ever get ill. In ANY industry illness happens.

@TeachesOfPeaches totally feel you! Unless you've been there you don't understand. I'm glad you've made a decision to live a more enjoyable life. No job is secure, corporate companies however 'nice' are more than happy to drop people out of the blue! The security of corporate job isn't that secure anymore!

DH family had a FT housekeeper who did everything and as pointed out a housekeeper is very different to a cleaner. I always found my cleaners through recommendation.My last one who was with me 8 years found a FT job. I thought about replacing her but as I had been retired for 2 years decided not to as at that point the only cleaner who a friend could recommend didn’t have a time slot. I wouldn’t employ one off FB but people do, good luck.

You need to do some market research, here you would be snapped up but I'm sure that's not universal across the country. I would also suggest looking into working for much older people, families are looking for reliable cleaner/home helps to keep houses clean, change sheets, laundry, sometimes fetch groceries, sometimes work alongside carers and crucially report back any issues - it's well paid, far cheaper than residential care!

my friend quit her job 4yrs ago and has started a cleaning business. She doesn’t earn a lot, but is happier. My dog walker works 3 days and earns a decent enough wage. I would rather get a less stressful office job personally as I wouldn’t fancy either job, and my friend is kind of regretting it now she can’t get much of a mortgage as her plans have changed

Brilliant, you have done so much more than lots of people who start a business do.
Go for it !

Argh.

Too many exclamation marks.

Link

Have you asked family members about helping out with childcare? Do you think that they will be reliable?

I would be very reluctant to give up a career with progression, guaranteed salary etc especially as a single parent. It’s a big risk.

@SouthLondonMum22 are you a single parent too?

What a strange response. Not very helpful!

What type of work are you doing and what salary?
Can you speak to your manager about cutting back hours? I manage a team who earn over £50k a year and they never have to do weekend/evening work. I wouldn’t want them to feel under pressure to do so either and it would mean that we are under staffed.
Sounds like you might need to put better work boundaries in place and speak to your manager about workload.
As to quitting and going self employed the grass is not always greener but if you want to give it a go why not. Personally I can’t imagine doing a cleaning job. I’d rather work in a shop or McDonald’s but the thought of cleaning other people’s houses makes me feel 🤮 but that’s just me as I hire someone to clean my house as it’s my least fave thing to do.

your life sounds like my life. I do love my job and it's never boring but very stressful. I don't even want to apply for the next job up as my life is already so stressful and my brain may explode. feel so trapped and my mental health is hanging on by a thread and i owe it to my husband and son to keep it together. I can't do fewer hours at work as we need the money to pay the mortgage - thanks to Liz Truss.
I hope you find success going another way. I've considered something similar but working for a local authority has its own benefits and I don't have any particular skills I want to sell apart from my academic qualifications and professional experience.

You are not mad. Go for it. Put in same amount of effort as you do now at work and you will surprise yourself. The other benefits eg no childcare etc wil also be a fab bonus. Good luck.