Start an ironing service... official MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

Forth_Ironing

I thought that just wanted to check it is all a bit overwelming to start up a business just worried that I will forgot to do something x

mrsmadmand

Got my first customer! Woohoo!!! Iron Angels is OPEN for business...:D

gill37

mrsmadmand wrote: »

Got my first customer! Woohoo!!! Iron Angels is OPEN for business...:D

That's fantastic. Didn't take u long to get a customer. Can I ask where your customer saw your advert? I too have an ad on netmums but haven't advertised in shops yet.

Good luck!

mrsmadmand

gill37 wrote: »

That's fantastic. Didn't take u long to get a customer. Can I ask where your customer saw your advert? I too have an ad on netmums but haven't advertised in shops yet.

Good luck!

Thanks! Lady saw the advert in local newsagent. Feeling the need to put more adverts up in a couple of other shops now!

gill37

mrsmadmand wrote: »

Thanks! Lady saw the advert in local newsagent. Feeling the need to put more adverts up in a couple of other shops now!

Can I ask what u are doing about the polythene covers and hangers? Are u providing hangers (I saw asda had packs of 10 for £1 so I might go for those).

mrsmadmand

gill37 wrote: »

Can I ask what u are doing about the polythene covers and hangers? Are u providing hangers (I saw asda had packs of 10 for £1 so I might go for those).

Decided not to buy any at the moment - I don't like the wire hangers anyway (not envrionmentally friendly and also I dont find them particularly useful!) so I've said on my 'blurb' that if customers provide their own hangers I will happily hang stuff, otherwise it gets folded. As for the polythene covers, well again I dont think they are very friendly on the environment and as I'm not supplying hangers I didnt see the need. However I have taken a tip from another MSN'er (cant remember who now, sorry!) and purchased a few big blue I*ea bags which I've written IRON ANGELS, PLEASE RE-USE on in permanent marker. I can fold t-shirts neatly in those (2 side-by-side) and they are also big enough to accommodate bedding. At 40p a pop I am happy to supply these as oppose something that will just end up in the bin.

At least that's my plan this week.....if I get a glut of customers demanding hangers/covers then I reserve the right to change my plan!:D

hogshead

Sainsburys & Morrisons both have Russel Hobbs Steam generator irons for sale. Sadly the paper I noted £'s on I have lost!!!!

mrsmadmand

Just done my first customers ironing!! :j

Been ironing for nearly 20 years but have to admit I was nervous about ironing someone else's clothes! Spent longer than I do on my own stuff thats for sure...

Anyway, 20 items and it took me an hour exactly. so thats £12.50 per hour.

Im happy - i'll be even happier when I return the clothes and pocket the cash!

SazM030306

Here's the Sainsbury's ones..
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/shop/home_and_garden/home_electrical/small_kitchen_appliances/list.html?sort=price_desc&fnav=8233&SRC=HP&POD=HPA3&ID=141211&hnav=4294966374&pageNumber=1
One is out of stock though.

Well done mrsmadmand! I'm the same with hangers and no wraps. I use the basket/bag that the customers send the ironing in to fold it into. Some do send the Ikea bags though! Nice and big. I've been going just over a year now. Pretty quiet since November.

marthamonkey

I've been lurking on here for a while and taken quite a bit of advice from people's posts so I thought I'd share my experience of setting up an ironing service.

I decided to go ahead with this a couple of months ago and I was doing my preparation up to Christmas but only "launched" once the kids went back to school in January.

I did my research - looked at what competition there is in my area (there's a few - but there are a LOT of houses round here so I think there's scope for another one). I also spent a lot of time thinking about my pricing policy. There seemed to be so many ways of pricing - by basket, weight, hour, item etc etc. When I used to use an ironing lady a few years ago I paid by hour and I always thought that made it more affordable as if I'd been paying by item it would have been more expensive. In the end, I decided to charge £11 per hour but also offer a per item charge if people preferred. I'm going to try and steer them towards the per hour rate. I've set a minimum order of £11.

I tried to think of a business name - trouble is every name you think off is taken! In the end I came up with my name as I was drifting off the sleep so I took it as a bit of an omen! When I checked the internet the next day there was one with the same name at the other end of the country. I took someones advice on a previous post who said as long as you are not in the same territory then it shouldn't matter, so I went ahead with that name.

I looked at other peoples websites to see what kind of information they had on it. I wrote some T&Cs (nicked a few and wrote some of my own). I set up my own website using Wordpress. Fortunately I'm also an IT teacher and have created websites before so this was the fun bit! I also set up a Facebook page, but there's not much on there apart from a link to the website. I just wanted to get the page for future use.

I created my own flyers using Adobe Illustrator. To get the best graphics I subscribed to a website where I could download royalty free clipart for a month, so I got loads of ironing images that I can use in future. I got 1000 flyers printed by a local printer and was really pleased with them.

I put adverts on Thomson Local and tried yell.com twice, but that just doesn't seem to ever appear. I also took other peoples advice and put adverts on netmums and gumtree. I also registered for free on a website called bizwiki which I think alot of other directory listings site use. It's been a month now and it is still showing as "awaiting approval" so I think that takes a while to kick in.

I also set up a business on Google Places. Tip for that - add some coupons and it will put you up the rankings. I added a coupon for 50% off first booking (which I am offering anyway) and 10% off for pensioners. I'm now on the second page of google maps when searching for an ironing service in my town.

I considered insurance and decided against it. I spoke to my house insurer who said I wouldn't be covered for damage while ironing. My car is already insured for business use. So, as I'm only going to be doing this part time I decided I would limit my liability via T&Cs to £35 and just pay for any damage myself (not that I'm expecting any damage).

I've decided not to provide hangers or covers. I don't think it's unrealistic for people to provide hangers and I don't see the point of the covers personally - I never had covers on my clothes when I had them ironed. If anyone questions this, then I'll sell it as an "environmentally friendly" policy

I thought about how I would transfer the ironed clothes. I have a large S-Max and I rigged up a pole on some wire across the back. It's OK but sags a bit with clothes on, so I may have to do something with that.

I thought I would buy a clothes rail but I don't think I will now. I bought one of those tripod clothes hanging things from Tesco and it was only a few quid. I use it all the time for my own ironing and I think that will do fine.

I've been delivering leaflets on and off for 3 weeks now - think I've done about 800. I've been targeting the larger houses and apartments. It's been all fairly new estates so far as I figure that's were the wealthy/ young professionals/ divorced men who can't iron will live.
So far I've had one missed call that didn't ring back, and one bloke speak to me about it as I was delivering the leaflets. It's a little disappointing as I have no bookings yet, but I didn't expect loads so soon. I'm going to keep at it. I figure that if I could get a couple of customers then I may get some by word of mouth.

Spending so far for anyone who is wondering how much it costs:
Website domain name and hosting: £26
Leaflets printing: £55
Royalty Free Graphics : £20

I still need to buy a steam generator iron which I am intending to spend about £150 on, as I was advised by my ex ironing lady to get a good one. I'm waiting to get my first booking before I buy this.

So - that's were I am - all prepared but no customers yet! Keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll let you know how it goes. Hope my experiences have helped.