Prefer to listen? Listen to this article instead → This post is based on my YouTube video of the same name.
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already thought about what it would take to grow your cleaning business to $10,000 a month or more in net income. Or maybe you haven’t started yet, but you’re ready to take that first step. Either way, I’m here to help you get there as fast as possible.
And to be clear, I’m talking about $10K in net income, not gross. That’s what you as the business owner actually take home after expenses — the number that actually changes your life.
Before we get into the “how,” take a second and think about what your life looks like once you hit that number. What does it let you do? What freedom do you gain that you don’t have right now? Keep that picture in your head, because it’s what will keep you consistent when the work gets repetitive.
The opportunities in the cleaning industry right now are bigger than ever. Demand for every type of cleaning — residential, commercial, deep cleaning — keeps climbing. I moved across the country eight years ago and started my second cleaning business from zero, and I hit $10K a month in net income within my first two months in a brand-new market. Here’s exactly how I did it, and how you can too.
Go After the Right Clients
Not all clients are created equal. If your goal is $10K a month, you have to be deliberate about who you target — people and businesses who actually value your service and are willing to pay for quality.
For residential cleaning, that usually means busy professionals or families in higher-income neighborhoods. For commercial, I look for offices, retail spaces, or medical facilities that need consistent service — ideally clients who want cleanings at least a few nights a week. Consistency is the whole game in commercial.
When you talk to prospective clients, position yourself as the solution to their problem, not just another cleaner. Something like: “I specialize in helping busy families keep their homes spotless without lifting a finger,” or “I make sure your space stays clean and professional so you can focus on running your business.” People are busier than ever and they value their time — lean into that.
Networking is the other half of this. Attend community events, join your local chamber of commerce, and build relationships with real estate agents who need cleaners for their listings. One of my coaching students, Jaci, put it perfectly: once you build real rapport with people, they become free advertising. Relationships like these open the door to the value-driven clients that the most successful cleaning businesses are actually built on.
Price for Profit
Pricing is the single biggest lever between where you are and $10K a month. Reverse-engineer your goal against your market.
In a lot of markets, you can hit $10,000 a month and beyond even as a solo cleaner. In my market, if I went back to cleaning solo, I could easily earn $12,000 a month working 40 hours a week — that’s $144,000 a year. In markets with a lower cost of living, that number can be tougher to hit solo, but you’ll often get there just by hiring one person to clean alongside you. I call this the small-team approach. Scale from there with more cleaners, and the ceiling keeps rising.
The point is: in every market, $10K a month in net income is attainable — provided you price correctly and pick the business model that fits your goals and your market. One of my coaching students, Sara, targets value-driven clients almost exclusively, and a single post-construction job from one of those clients brought her business $5,100. That’s what pricing for profit looks like in practice.
I’d also encourage you to think about premium add-ons. I don’t recommend becoming a one-stop shop for every service a client might want — stick to general cleaning as your core. But within that lane, there’s room to offer things like deep-cleaning tasks or organizing. When I cleaned luxury residential properties, I even started calling myself a “home manager” for some of my clients. I was mostly still just cleaning, but reframing the service let me charge more because it sounded — and felt — more exclusive. Today, since we only do commercial work, every client gets a fully custom quote. It’s these small strategic choices, repeated consistently, that keep a business priced for profit.
Scale Smart
Once you have a solid client base, scaling is the next step. Some of my coaching students hire from day one; others clean solo for a while first. Either path works, but it starts the same way: streamline your processes, both on the cleaning side and the business side.
If you’re not organized in how you operate, that’s not fair to the people you eventually employ — it just sets them up to get frustrated. This doesn’t mean you need complicated systems. It mostly means understanding how to operate efficiently and having a clear way to communicate job expectations to your team. This is exactly the kind of thing a platform like CleanRev is built to handle — recurring schedules, checklists, and client communication in one place, so every job runs the same way whether you’re on-site or a team member is.
When you do start hiring, go slow. Test people’s skills gradually before handing them more responsibility, and build a real training program so new hires don’t get overwhelmed — that’s one of the biggest drivers of retention. Your reputation lives and dies by the quality of work your team delivers, so vet carefully, run background checks, and give people the support they need to actually succeed.
Scaling can also mean eventually branching into additional cleaning niches. Early on, I’d recommend sticking to one and mastering it before you expand. And never underestimate referrals — your current happy clients are one of the best resources you have for finding more clients just like them.
Track Your Numbers and Adjust
This is the step owners skip most often, and it’s the one that quietly kills momentum toward $10K a month. Keep a close eye on your income and expenses — your profit margins — and review them every single week.
If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to pivot. If you underbid a job, figure out how to talk to that client about adjusting future cleanings rather than going backward and asking for more money after the fact — that’s a bad business move, but staying stuck in an underpriced situation is worse. Have the conversation.
Tracking your numbers also shows you what’s actually working — which marketing efforts bring in real clients, which client types are the most profitable for your business. When you find what’s working, double down on it. That’s how you accelerate.
What Will $10K a Month Buy You?
None of this requires luck. It requires going after the right clients, pricing for profit, scaling smart, and staying disciplined about tracking your numbers and adjusting along the way.
So I’ll ask you again: what will your life look like when you hit this goal? What will it let you do? What freedom will you have that you don’t have today? Keep the answer in front of you, set clear goals, track your progress, and celebrate the wins along the way. More profit really does equal more freedom — and it’s closer than you think.
Written by Bethany Jean Montlary — CEO of CleanRev Inc. Bethany has built multiple 6- and 7-figure cleaning businesses over 25+ years and coaches cleaning business owners on her YouTube channel, The Professional Cleaner. Want personal help going from $0 to $10K a month faster? Work with Bethany →