Professional house cleaning is a major industry. The global cleaning industry is currently valued at over $55 billion, and that’s expected to double by 2030. That means it's a great market for new entrants, but you'll need a house cleaning pricing guide to make sure you charge properly, which is exactly what we provide here.

[su_note note_color="#dbeafc"] Read from start to finish or click any of the links below to jump to the section you need right now.

• Case study: Queen Bee Cleaning
• How much to charge for cleaning a house
• What kind of house cleaning services should I provide?
• Ways to charge for professional house cleaning
• Sign up for our exclusive 7-Figure Cleaning Business Blueprint[/su_note]

Case study: Queen Bee Cleaning

Chris Mondragon’s wife started cleaning houses in 2015 to make some extra money. Their company, Queen Bee Cleaning, took off so quickly Chris quit his job and helped build it into a $1.5 million empire. Today, Queen Bee is also top-rated on Nextdoor, Yelp, Houzz, Thumbtack, HomeAdvisor, and Porch.

We'll share Chris’s insights to help you create a cleaning pricing guide that will allow you to make a great living in the house cleaning services industry. We'll cover the types of services and different ways to charge—and share a pricing list.

Keep reading for a rare opportunity to learn Chris's unique pricing strategies from his UpFlip-exclusive course. You'll discover exactly how he prices his cleaning services, which skyrocketed the growth of his business to $4.5M in record time.

How much to charge for cleaning a house

House cleaning prices for a home should be between $100 and $800, but each house cleaning service will have different prices depending on the size of the home, the type of cleaning, and where you live.

There are three typical ways house cleaning prices are calculated by a house cleaner:

• Hourly: $25 to $90 per hour, per cleaner
• Flat fee: $100 to $800 weekly or biweekly for standard cleaning of a single-family home
• Room rate: $100 for 1 bed/1 bath + $10 to $20 for each additional bedroom and bathroom
• Per square foot: $0.05 to $0.10 per square foot

Now that you know how much to clean a home, let’s discuss the different kinds of house cleaning services.

What kind of house cleaning services should I provide?

A housecleaning service will normally offer other services besides just cleaning homes for people who live in them. They may also provide services for Airbnbs, moving, apartments, and commercial spaces. For instance, Queen Bee also offers:

1. Airbnb cleaning
2. Carpet cleaning
3. Disinfecting services
4. Home cleaning
5. Move-in cleaning
6. Deep cleaning
7. Move-out cleaning
8. Office and commercial cleaning

Chris told us:

[su_quote]If I was to start today, I would probably focus on Airbnb cleaning because it has a higher profit margin.[/su_quote]

For standard house cleaning services, Queen Bee includes:

• Dusting all furniture, walls, fans, counters, and other hard surfaces
• Vacuuming all floors
• Mopping wood, marble, tile, and linoleum floors
• Mirror and window cleaning with a glass cleaner
• Cleaning and sanitizing all bathroom surfaces including toilets, sinks, tubs, and showers
• Sanitizing all kitchen surfaces including inside the microwave and the front of the fridge
• Spot-cleaning cabinets
• Changing linens (if fresh linens are left out) and making beds
• Emptying the trash and relining the trash can before exiting each room

These are just some of the house cleaning services Queen Bee offers. You can find Chris’s complete cleaning services checklist, including 11 add-ons, in our Cleaning Business Master Course.

Let's look at what you might offer as the owner of your own house cleaning business, starting with Airbnb cleaning.

What should I include in Airbnb cleaning services?

In addition to your standard offerings as a house cleaning service, Chris suggests maintaining an inventory of your own supplies to replace toiletries, kitchen essentials, and linens. For the laundry portion, you'll need to have someone do laundry or partner with a laundry service.

He also told us:

[su_quote]I charge extra for the toiletries and linens, but it basically takes me the same time as a normal home clean.[/su_quote]

Check out our interview with Chris below:

[su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Iip7BHXwg"]

What should I include in carpet cleaning services?

Carpet cleaning services focus only on rugs, carpets, and other floorings. You'll need to assess your time differently from other services and have the special cleaning equipment to do the job best.

Chris shared his cleaning pricing guide for carpet cleaning, and it includes five main cleaning points with time and price for:

1. Rooms
2. Hallways
3. Landings
4. Each stair
5. Rugs

It's typical for a carpet cleaning business to have a minimum amount, such as $99 for two bedrooms.

What should I include in disinfecting services?

Disinfecting services are focused on cleaning surfaces with medical-grade cleaning products. The goal here is on keeping the space particularly clean in a way that helps to minimize germs. I would imagine this is popular for businesses or households that have had a COVID outbreak.

Christ told us:

[su_quote]Eliminating germs & pathogens requires more than just a wipe of a towel with bleach. We use an electrostatic sprayer to apply the disinfectant. The sprayer ‘loads’ the mist with a positive charge, making the disinfectant stick to all surfaces killing 99% of the pathogens. Our hospital-grade disinfectant is an EPA-certified product safe to use around children and pets [that’s] safe on all surfaces.[/su_quote]

What should I include in deep cleaning services?

Deep cleaning services should include everything you do in standard house cleaning, plus baseboards and behind furniture. Chris also includes dishes in his standard deep clean service and offers a variety of additional offerings.

How much does a deep clean cost?

Deep cleaning services are normally charged at a premium compared to a standard cleaning price. For Queen Bee clients, deep house cleaning costs between $199 and $319 above the standard house cleaning prices.

So, once you know how much you'll charge for regular services, it's easy to decide how much to charge for deep cleaning a house.

What should I include in a move-out cleaning service?

Move-out cleaning is a service offered to renters to help them save time and money by helping them get their deposits back. These services include:

• Thoroughly cleaning all counters, cabinets, and appliances
• Cleaning bathrooms, including toilets, sinks, and showers
• Cleaning floors and carpets
• Wiping down light switches, walls, and doorknobs
• Disposing of any expired food items
• Deep-cleaning the oven

Chris recommends using the move-out checklist provided by the client's landlord as the basis for bidding on the cleaning job and told us:

[su_quote]I charge $279 to $479 more for move-out cleaning costs than my standard cleaning rates.[/su_quote]

Want more great tips like this? Check out all of our UpFlip courses.

What should I include in office and commercial cleaning?

Offices and commercial cleaning jobs are different for every building. Chris recommends touring the property and establishing the following:

• Square footage
• Number of desks
• Percent of floors that are carpet and tile
• Number of windows
• Number of toilets and sinks
• Square footage of counters
• Kitchens in the building
• Parking lots
• Special requirements

These jobs can be more complex, but businesses need more routine cleaning services, which could be a win for you. Commercial buildings also tend to be better suited for pricing per square foot because you can assign a price per square foot to each task and then just multiply quantities. It might look like the table below. (Note that sqft = square feet.)

Task	Quantity	Price Per Task	Total
Carpet (sqft)	6,000	.1	$600
Tile (sqft)	10,000	.2	$2,000
Desks	60	1	$60
Windows	600	.1	$60
Toilets	50	5	$250
Sinks	10	2	$20
Kitchens	2	10	$20
Counters (sqft)	100	.1	$10
Parking lots (sqft)	50,000	0.2	$1,000
Special Requirements	N/A	0	0
Total			$4,020

House cleaning prices vs. operating costs

Every cleaning company will have costs associated with operating. One powerful difference between a successful cleaning business and other cleaning companies is how well the business owner manages their cleaning costs. Your house cleaning prices need to cover the following expenses:

1. Payroll expenses, taxes
2. Marketing costs
3. Cleaning supplies
4. Fuel
5. Repairs
6. Rent
7. Utilities
8. Professional fees

Based on Queen Bee Cleaning Service's annual expenses, you might expect your total overhead costs to be approximately 87% of the amount that you make if you have employees. If you are a single-person house cleaner, the total overhead will be between 30% and 50%.

In the following sections, we share a few examples. You can use similar math regardless of what type of cleaning business you run. Queen Bee is primarily house cleaning, so I refer to house cleaners in these sections.

Let's look at each of these to give you an idea of what they are for Queen Bee and what you can expect to pay when you start to charge for housecleaning.

How labor impacts house cleaning prices

Labor typically accounts for approximately 50% of the costs of running a house cleaning company. Whether this amount is going to you or your employees will vary. If you have employees, you'll typically need to pay them either an hourly rate or billable hours.

Just make sure you don't try to consider them independent contractors. Chris told us:

[su_quote]I was misclassifying the maids and got a hefty fine.[/su_quote]

To help establish an hourly rate, check what house cleaning companies in your area pay their housekeepers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a lot of data on the hourly rate of the house cleaning industry, too. In most places, a house cleaner will be paid an hourly rate of $15 or more.

Remember to train your staff well because employee efficiency can impact both quality and overhead.

Assuming the following:

• Employee pay: $15 per hour
• Employee hourly rate, revenue: 50%
• Number of people on cleaning crew: Two

You'll want to charge the customer no less than $60 per hour. That is far lower than the cleaning rates for many house cleaning companies. The reason is that a house cleaner has other costs that go into the standard cleaning fees.

Payroll expenses, taxes

On top of employee pay, your house cleaning price will also need to cover the costs of payroll expenses and taxes. The government requires employers to collect:

• Income taxes: You'll need to withhold these for all employees using the information in Publication 15-T.
• Payroll taxes: The employee pays 7.65%, and the employer pays 7.65%.
• State taxes: There are seven states without income taxes. You'll have to collect these from employee pay unless you live in Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, or Wyoming.
• Other deductions: Insurance, 401K, etc., will be deducted if you offer them.

There are a lot of tasks associated with compliance, so you may want to outsource your human resources. Most of these services start around $39 per month plus $6 per month for each employee.

The 7.65% tax increases the $60 per hour fee to $65 per hour, which is starting to get closer to the cleaning rates of industry leader Molly Maid, which charges $75 to $96 per hour for a basic cleaning package.

Your revenue will also need to cover other costs such as cleaning supplies, which we'll discuss next.

Cleaning supplies

Based on standard cleaning services, you'll probably need to spend an average of $3 to $5 per hour on cleaning supplies. You'll be buying these in bulk to save money, but Chris estimates that the supply list for many cleaning companies will be around $900 for startup costs.

That means a rate of $70 per hour, which gets us even closer to the price your house cleaning service needs to charge.

Vehicle, fuel, insurance, and repairs

Local businesses will have to drive to provide weekly cleaning to residential and commercial clients. That means you'll need to maintain the vehicle and meet insurance requirements. At Queen Bee, these costs are approximately 17% of the revenue.

This is why your credit score is so important to businesses. Bankrate estimates that insurance costs 25% more for an average credit score than excellent credit, and those with poor credit spend twice as much as any other group.

If you add 17% to the $70 cleaning crew rate, that brings you to $81.9 per hour—without any administrative costs, marketing costs, rent, or other utilities.

Marketing and administration costs

The Small Business Administration advises spending 5% to 15% of your desired revenue on marketing your cleaning business (or any other business). Chris doesn't think you need to spend that much, though

If you have good software, you can automate many of your tasks and reduce the final cost of operating. Chris runs his marketing for between 2.4% and 6.2% of revenue per month, with the lower percentages during the holidays.

Pro Tip: To learn some of the ways Chris uses marketing, check out our blog on getting clients, and don’t miss our original report on small business marketing budget statistics that will help you make the most of your marketing spend.

Rent

Chris’s rent and utilities are based on running a home-based business. These are marvelous because they are mostly legal accounting maneuvers. If you store supplies in your home or do office work out of it, you can claim the space you use and the energy associated with it on your taxes.

There are a lot of rules governing this, but if you choose the simplified method of claiming, you get an allowance of up to $1,500 a year. If use your the actual expenses, it can go higher (but may increase the chances of an audit). You'll want to measure the square footage of the space used.

You don't have to include the costs of operating from home in your house cleaning cost, but if you do, it will raise the hourly rate by about $1 per hour.

Utilities

If you have a home-based business, you'll be using the energy associated with work as a write-off, but if you have a separate location where you store everything, you'll need to cover those costs.

Utilities shouldn't be too much unless your cleaning business does a lot of laundry or manufacturing in-house. To give you an idea, Chris only spends about $300 per month on utilities.

Professional fees

Local companies will often need a lawyer and an accountant to help them structure their domestic services correctly. You'll want to budget for these. Chris assumes approximately $1,000 per month for his cleaning company, but different cleaning services will have different needs.

Ways to charge for professional house cleaning

There are a variety of ways to charge for a cleaning service. We'll cover the most common pricing strategies cleaning businesses use, including:

• Charging by the hour
• Pricing per square foot
• Pricing per room
• Comparing house cleaning prices in your area
• Offering weekly cleaning subscriptions with discounts
• Proposing household chores as add-ons
• Giving free estimates

How much to charge for house cleaning per hour

The hourly rate for house cleaning is the easiest pricing structure to use, but it can create fluctuations in costs based on how long it takes to clean the property. This works best if the client provides all the cleaning supplies and just needs someone to help. You might want to do this if a client wants specific eco-friendly or other specific cleaning supplies.

You'll probably want to charge higher for the first hour. I typically assume that it will cost me $50 just to drive somewhere. Based on Queen Bee's pricing guide, Chris has established that cleaning services prices should be approximately $70 for the travel costs and booking fees.

To calculate how much you want to charge, assume:

• 2,000 hours per year
• 65% profit margin when you are the worker or 15% when someone else is doing the work
• Your income goals (let's say $100K per year to start)

Divide your income goal by the hours in a year to get an hourly rate. See the example below:

$100,000 / 2,000 = $50 per hour

$50 per hour would be revenue, though. To calculate the profit, you'd need to divide the hourly by .65.

$50 / .65 = $76.92 per hour

Let's make it a nice even number, so it's easy to multiply and make it a straight $80 per hour. You need to add your first-hour fee, though. Let's use the $70 Chris uses, and that will make the first hour $150, and each additional hour $80.

That means you need five hourly cleaners to make the same $100K profit you would if you were doing all the cleaning yourself. Now, if you have five employees plus yourself, you can make $200K per year after paying your employees their house cleaning rates per hour.

How to calculate cleaning cost per square foot pricing

The price per square foot is straightforward to estimate. Given that almost every address has a public record, you can look it up to see how many square feet their house is. Then to charge by the square foot, multiply the square feet by 20 cents (or divide by five).

Example: How much should I charge to clean a 2,000 sq ft house?

2,000 x $.20 = $400

2,000 / 5 = $400

Example: How much should I charge to clean a 3,000 sq ft house?

You can make it more complicated and separate it by carpet and tile, where the carpet is 20 cents and tile is 25 (examples for easy math).

(2,000*$0.20) + (1,000*$0.25) = $650

As you can see, the square foot billing can change based on the type of cleaning.

How much does it cost to clean a house per room?

Another easy way is to price by the room or by the fixture. Chris charges a fee per room plus fees for other specific tasks. For instance, he has a table that details:

• 1- to 10-room pricing
• Full restroom pricing
• Half bath pricing
• Add-ons like full window cleaning

Each has a specific price, so he can quickly estimate based on the number of rooms, restrooms, and add-ons. You should really check out how he does it on the Queen Bee Cleaning Service booking page.

Pro Tip: Chris uses Booking Koala to automate the whole booking process. Check it out, and let us know what you think!

How much do other cleaning services charge?

Professional cleaners have plenty of sites to help evaluate the average house cleaning cost in their areas. Many of the sites are the same ones you'll use to find customers for your house cleaning service.

For instance, Thumbtack makes it easy to establish the rates house cleaners charge in a particular area. While you're on the site, you might want to sign up to provide cleaning services.

Offer weekly cleaning service discounts

Whether you are a residential cleaning business or offer commercial cleaning services, your cleaning company can benefit tremendously by offering regular cleaning services at a discount to loyal customers.

House cleaners benefit from offering discounts for routine cleaning in the following ways:

1. Increased efficiency: Less travel time, more cleaning jobs completed per day, reduced house cleaning costs.
2. Better forecasting: Order your own cleaning supplies with more accurate forecasts.
3. Better scheduling: You can schedule house cleaners working each day more effectively.
4. Better cash flow: The more of your cleaning jobs that occur on a recurring basis, the better your cash flow will be.
5. Reduces churn: CB Insights says that subscription models change the customer retention dynamic from mostly churning to mostly retention.
6. Increases lifetime value: The value of a customer increases consistently over time.
7. Reduced marketing costs: Your cleaning company will be able to spend less on marketing when you have higher retention rates.
8. Lower overhead-to-revenue ratio: As a cleaning company's recurring jobs grow, the overhead stays the same until you have to invest in more equipment or administration.
9. Happier customers: Everyone (except maybe hoarders) loves a clean home! Someone coming in each week and cleaning their home will delight customers.

When you have long-term relationships you may want to have a commercial cleaning contract. Chris doesn't use them, but a lot of his suggestions still work for contracts.

We used the pricing from Queen Bee Cleaning Service to show how their subscription model increases the revenue over the course of a year. As you can see, offering a 10% monthly, 15% bi-weekly, and 20% weekly discount can dramatically increase the revenue of a house cleaning business.

How much do house cleaners charge for add-ons?

Customers might want you to offer other services like appliance cleaning. Anticipate this and have easy ways to calculate cleaning cost estimates. Some of the most common add-ons are:

• Deep house cleaning
• Appliance cleaning
• Laundry
• Dishes
• Indoor and outdoor window washing
• Carpet cleaning

You can add each of these to the house cleaning cost to help improve your revenue per cleaning job. A $200 cleaning job easily turns into a full day if someone wants all the add-ons. It will increase the cleaning rate to potentially as high as $1,000 and make it so your cleaning crew only has to clean one house that day.

That's great for reducing expenses!

How much do house cleaners make for estimates?

Whether you are doing a deep clean, home cleaning, or post-construction cleaning, people love free stuff, and businesses should, too!

Chris told us:

[su_quote]Most people don't know the square footage of their house.[/su_quote]

A free estimate gives you a chance to view the property, manage the risk of underestimating with a flat rate, and establish the square footage and whether it needs a deep clean. Plus, it gives you a chance to develop a relationship, ask questions, and help your customer develop a plan. This may increase overhead costs, but it builds loyalty.

Sign up for our exclusive 7-Figure Cleaning Business Blueprint

Knowing how to correctly price your cleaning services determines if your business will grow and prosper, or fail before it even gets off the ground. Chris will show you the best pricing strategies so you can start earning $10,000 a month in just three months as you launch your business! Sign up for our exclusive seven-figure cleaning course today by clicking here.

What type of pricing do you plan to adopt with your cleaning business?

Did you know that you can start a candle business for less than $100 and grow it into $500K in annual revenue?

Jocelyn and Jen started RXLA as a side hustle making gifts for coworkers, then started going to farmers markets, and eventually opened a candle store and expanded their offerings on their way to bringing in a half-million dollars per year.

We’ll share strategies for how to start a candle business with just a little money, smart marketing, and responsible scaling.

Click on any of the links below to jump to the section that interests you, or just continue reading.

[su_note note_color="#dbeafc"] Click on any of the links below to jump to the section that interests you, or just continue reading.

• Candle Business Case Study: RX Candles Los Angeles
• Candle Industry Summary
• How to Start a Candle Business
  • Step 1: Learn How to Make Candles
  • Step 2: Define Your Candle Making Brand
  • Step 3: Create a Candle Business Plan
  • Step 4: Secure Funding for Your Candle Line
  • Step 5: Get Business Insurance
  • Step 6: Gather Supplies
  • Step 7: Create an Online Store
  • Step 8: Market Your Business
  • Step 9: Sell Candles
• Things to Consider When Starting a Candle Business
• Ideas for a Candle Making Business
• How to Start a Candle Business With No Money
• Open Your Own Candle Business [/su_note]

Candle Business Case Study: RX Candles Los Angeles

Jocelyn started RX Candles in 2013 as a hobby. When the business venture received crowdfunding, she invited Jen to help create soy candles. The candle brand opened a local craft store, but the pandemic caused it to shut down.

They are still recovering from the hit they took from closing the retail store, but increasing their offerings and selling wholesale has helped them reach $500K in annual revenue with 50% gross margins.

Customers loved their homemade candles so much that they asked for other products, services, and ways of buying. As the sisters gained confidence in their products, they realized they needed to listen to their customers and provide the services they—and other potential customers—wanted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVuJHWKpKCU

Keep reading to learn more about the candle industry.

Candle Industry Summary

According to Grandview Research, the candle industry was worth approximately $13.6B in 2023 and is expected to reach $20B by 2030.

How much does it cost to start a candle business?

The candle industry has a low barrier to entry. According to Crowdspring, you should expect to spend between $9.5K to $78K to start a candle business, with an average of around $44K. But we’ve interviewed two business owners who say they started candle businesses for $100

A candle maker’s startup costs will vary depending on the cost of living in their location, supply and materials costs, and other factors.

Is candle making a profitable business?

A candle making business can be highly profitable, with gross margins of 50%. Ingredients, packaging, and marketing are some of the primary costs that will impact your profitability.

Can you make money selling candles from home?

Yes, you can start a candle business from home and make decent money, but it may be more cost-effective to utilize a fulfillment center to fulfill your orders. There may be restrictions in your town or homeowners’ association that impact the ability to run a home-based candle business.

Who are the major candle makers?

It’s helpful to research the major players in the candle market because you can identify gaps in the industry and ways to market your own products. The major candle makers include:

• Yankee Candle (Newell Brands)
• Luminex Home Décor & Fragrance
• Bolsius
• MVP Group International, Inc
• Gies
• Talent
• Universal Candle
• Qingdao Kingking Applied Chemistry Co., LTD
• Vollmar
• Empire Candle Co., LLC
• Hyfusin Group Holdings Limited
• Diptyque
• Dandong Everlight Candle Industry Co., Ltd.
• Fushun Pingtian Wax Products Co., Ltd.

While the major players in the industry get most of the revenue, there is always room for new entrants to make a great living selling candles.

How to Start a Candle Business

It helps to have a path of action before you start a candle business. Follow the steps below to start a successful candle making business:

1. Learn how to make candles.
2. Define your brand.
3. Plan your business.
4. Secure funding.
5. Get business insurance
6. Gather supplies.
7. Create an online store.
8. Market your business.
9. Fulfill orders.

Step 1: Learn How to Make Candles

Before you can start selling candles, you need to know how to make them. Jazmin, another successful candlemaker, explained how to accomplish it in our interview. Watch the interview below:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/UzZ5aTbiLh0

Let’s look at what you’ll need to get started.

Tools and Materials for Candle Making

Good tools and candle making supplies can make the job more fun and more efficient. At a minimum, you’ll need:

• 10 pounds of wax
• Pouring pitcher
• Pot to put the pitcher in to create a double boiler
• Thermometer
• Containers to hold the candles
• Scented fragrances
• Wicks

Jen told us:

[su_quote]Candle brands will want to scale responsibly, which means as the business grows, you’ll want to invest in better tools for efficiency.[/su_quote]

How to Make Candles to Sell

You can start by buying a candle making kit, but as you learn, you’ll want to pick your own wax and essential oils. The candle making process normally follows the steps listed below:

1. Fill a larger pot with water and the pouring pitcher with wax flakes.
2. Hang the pouring pitcher on the inside of the larger pot to effectively create a double boiler.
3. Wait for the wax to melt, which will take 45 minutes to an hour depending on the temperature.
4. Pour the wax into candle molds.
5. Add scents and wicks.
6. Let them dry.
7. Package the candles.

Jazmin told us:

[su_quote]When you make candles, only about 20% of the scent will actually be smelled, so you need to be aware of that [when adding scents], otherwise you won’t be able to smell it.[/su_quote]

Step 2: Define Your Candle Making Brand

You’ll want to create a coherent brand for your candle making business. Some of the things you’ll need to consider include:

• Target market: Who will buy your candles? Will you be mass-producing candles or creating a luxury brand image? Identifying your target market makes marketing and branding efforts easier.
• Brand identity: What makes your candles unique? What sets them apart from other products on the market? Your brand identity will include your business name, logo, colors, and physical and digital design. Learn more about candle business names here.
• Brand story: What inspired your candle business and the branding for it? A good story helps you connect with customers and create a more meaningful experience.
• Brand values: What does your candle company hold dear? Think about how you operate your brand and what you want it to tell people. Your values should guide everything you do, including your materials, packaging, and shipping methods.

Creating a brand won’t happen overnight, but after continually telling your story and showing your values.

Step 3: Create a Candle Business Plan

Every business should have a workable plan to help guide decisions. When writing a candle making business plan, you’ll want to include the following:

• Niche: Explain what makes your small candle business different and describe the target audience that your products appeal to.
• Validate your business idea: Explain the research you have performed to establish your candle business will appeal to your target audience. Learn how to validate an idea.
• Business structure: New businesses normally choose a limited liability company or sole proprietorship as their business structure.
• Budget: Estimate your costs to start a candle business and operate it for one to three years. The budget will help you understand how much funding you’ll need until the business can support itself and your lifestyle.
• Business bank account: Open a business bank account to help separate your personal and business expenses. You can also get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to open a business bank account and access materials at wholesale prices.
• Marketing plan: A marketing plan spells out how your candle business will approach products, pricing, placement (where you sell the goods), and promotion of your candles.

The biggest thing to remember about writing a business plan is it should be easy to understand, well-documented, and as short as possible.

Download our free business plan template and work through it while watching the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Seac5PbUZXk

Step 4: Secure Funding for Your Candle Line

Jen suggests self-funding when you start a candle brand. Other small business funding options include crowdfunding, a standard business loan, a Small Business Administration loan, or an interest-free loan from friends and family.

Learn how to get business loans here.

Step 5: Get Business Insurance

You’ll want to get insurance when you create candles. Candles can start fires, and small business owners risk lawsuits from customers or employees. We suggest starting your business insurance search with Simply Business because it compares rates from the leading insurance companies.

Learn more about small business insurance here.

Step 6: Gather Supplies

New business owners will need to get the candle wax, different fragrance oil blends, packaging, and any equipment they don’t already have.

Depending on your startup capital and business needs, you may be able to buy most of the products on Amazon, or you may need to reach out to manufacturers.

Step 7: Create an Online Store

You’ll want your own website for candle sales. That means you’ll need a domain name and a website builder. Then you’ll need to create a home page and product pages for each type of candle you sell. You might want categories like:

• Scented candles
• Luxury candles
• Decorative candles
• Fragrance oils
• Tea light candles
• Container candles
• Birthday candles
• Liquid candles
• Insect repellant candles
• Flameless candles
• Pillar candles
• Aromatherapy candles

Read more about the different types of candles on Styles at Life.

Step 8: Market Your Business

You’ll want to market your candles to your target market. Each small candle business will have a different marketing strategy depending on their target market, but most candle companies will include a combination of:

• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• Content marketing
• Traditional marketing channels

Jen explained that their marketing strategy consists of local farmers markets, pop-up shops, social media, and email marketing. She also explained:

[su_quote]I feel like our biggest mistakes were not going digital fast enough. If we had a website and collected emails from the beginning we would have grown much faster.[/su_quote]

Step 9: Sell Candles

Fulfilling orders is another crucial part of running a candle line. When you’re selling online, this will mean packaging and shipping the candles to consumers or other small business owners.

When you sell at local markets or a local craft store, you’ll still need packaging, but it could be a decorative box and branded bags as opposed to a box that is ideal for shipping.

Things to Consider When Starting a Candle Business

When considering how to start a candle business, you’ll need to consider:

• Where am I going to sell my candles?
• Am I going to hire employees or do it all myself?
• What technology do I need when starting candle business operations?
• What will my pricing strategy be?

Let’s look at each of these.

Find a Location for Your Candle Business

There are a variety of places you can sell your candles. If you are wondering how to start a candle making business at home, you can do so using this guide and sell them on your website. Other options include:

• Retail stores
• Gift shops
• eCommerce platforms
• Flea markets
• Your local farmers market

A candle business makes different amounts of money depending on the locations they sell their products and the cost of doing business for each type of store.

Hire Employees for Your Candle Business

A dedicated candle maker may grow to the point of needing to hire employees. When you do, you’ll need to get an EIN if you haven’t already. This is how the IRS identifies employers.

You’ll also need to have payroll software and optional benefits. Many accounting software providers include payroll resources, but if you want to consider other options, check out our article where we compare the 15 best HR companies.

The Department of Labor requires employers to display poster notices for employees, either electronically or physically in the workplace. A comprehensive employer guide for how to display these posters is available on their website.

You’ll also need to follow the following requirements:

• The Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) requires any business with employees to pay a payroll tax.
• Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) allows business owners to verify the identity and employment clearance of every person they hire.
• Meeting Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) standards and enforcing workplace safety are necessary for any business.
• Worker’s Compensation Insurance is required to protect your business and employees in case of injury.

Keep reading for information on the technology you’ll need.

Implement Technology to Run a Candle Making Business

When following this step-by-step candle business guide, you’ll need to implement some technology. Most of the technology that RXLA uses is for marketing purposes. They mentioned using Klaviyo for their candle brand email marketing.

Create a Pricing Strategy

One of the easiest ways to ensure you’ll make good money is to keep your candle startup costs low and charge market value for the products. You’ll want to target a gross margin of 50% for your candle business. To calculate the price easily:

1. Add up the total costs for a batch of candles
2. Multiply the cost by 2.
3. Divide by the number of candles created.

That should put you right at 50% gross margins.

Your pricing strategy can be created in a few different ways. The primary ways of pricing candles are:

1. Cost of doing business
   • Add up all your costs and divide them by the number of candles you make.
   • Add the amount you want to earn for each candle sold based on the time it takes you to make, sell, package, and ship each candle. So if you spend four hours making and shipping 200 candles and want to make $100 per hour, that’s $2 per candle you add to the costs.
2. Competitors pricing
   • Look up comparable products and price your items based on them.
3. Luxury candles
   • Create a brand story that makes your particular candle more valuable. This is the strategy that Jazmin used.

Whichever strategy you use, make sure you are realistic about how much time you are willing to dedicate to it. If you are only going to spend a few hours a day, you can’t make as much as if you treat it like a full-time job.

Ideas for a Candle Making Business

Candlemakers primarily target women, but according to the National Candle Association (NCA), both men and women consider candles appropriate gifts. They say the most common times people buy candles are:

• During the holiday shopping season, which is when 35% of sales occur
• Housewarming gifts
• Gifts at dinner parties
• With thank you notes
• For adult birthdays

How to Start a Candle Business With No Money

To start a candle business with no personal finances, you’ll normally need to focus on selling candles using a “print”-on-demand or drop shipping strategy. Once you have built up some money from candle sales, you can start reinvesting in the supplies and equipment to start making your own homemade candles.

The good news is that it’s inexpensive to start selling candles. Both of the business owners we talked to have started with $100.

Open Your Own Candle Business

Making candles might not seem like a profitable business, but it has the potential to blossom into a high income. Jocelyn and Jen started crafting candles as gifts, sold them in farmers markets, opened and closed a brick-and-mortar store, and were late to the digital marketing game, but they still reached an impressive $500K in annual revenue.

Their story teaches us valuable lessons about resilience, adaptability, and the power of listening to customers. They found ways to overcome challenges and expand their offerings. You can use their candle business tips to succeed too.

The candle industry is ripe with opportunity. With global revenue projected to soar in the coming years, candle business owners can sell candles to make a great living. And the beauty of it all? Given Jocelyn and Jen started with $100, a candle business is one of the best businesses to start from home.

As you embark on your candle making journey, remember that success lies not just in the quality of your product but also in the strength of your brand, the efficacy of your business plan, and the dedication to continuous improvement.

Whether you dream of creating luxury candles or catering to a specific market segment, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination and determination.

So ignite that spark of creativity, pour your passion into every candle you craft, and watch as your business illuminates not just spaces but lives, one flickering flame at a time.

More data is coming out to suggest that an economic slowdown is occurring. Gas prices are rising. The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates the fastest since the 2009 recession. Small business owners are increasingly concerned about rising inflation. It’s going to be okay. You just need to recession-proof your business. We’ve talked to many business owners who found ways to beat the odds when federal and local governments closed down the economy during the pandemic. One of my favorites is Jazmin Richards, who started Blk Sunflower with less than $100 after losing her job at the beginning of the pandemic and made $300K in less than 18 months. We’ll share insights about preparing your small business for an economic cycle with slowing growth. We’ll discuss what to do when a recession hits by discussing: [su_note note_color="#dbeafc"]

1. What happens during recessions
2. The definition of recession-proof 
3. Recession-proof Industries, companies, and jobs 
4. What to do in a recession
5. What to do with your money
6. How to protect your money
7. How to make money during a recession [/su_note]

What happens in a recession?

A recession is typically considered at least two consecutive quarters of declining GDP growth, which means that the U.S. economy is currently in a recession.  Recessions have occurred when the economy falters, and you will normally see:

• Eight to 12 months, or three quarters of declining demand. (The longest was the Great Recession at 18 months.)
• Unemployment rising to over 5.5%, but potentially as high as 10.8% 
• A 4% to 6% decline in year-over-year GDP, which is calculated on a modified income statement.

The nationwide shutdown in 2020 was an exception to the rule because it was only two months long, but unemployment rose to over 15% and GDP dropped 3.5% in 2020 because of the closures. During recessions, businesses and consumers change their behavior to adjust to the downturn. Economic research shows that people and businesses tend to make the following changes:

1. People and companies reduce discretionary spending.
2. People look for ways to earn extra income.
3. Some increase their savings if they have extra income, then savings account balances decrease.
4. Companies reduce hiring and then cut jobs when they cannot cut costs any more.
5. The stock market declines.
6. Banks increase requirements for loans and reduce lending to prevent defaults.
7. Total personal income decreases.
8. The Federal Reserve normally lowers interest rates, but interest rates, gas, and supply chain issues are responsible for the current decline in GDP.

Next, we’ll discuss how businesses can make it through recessions.

What is recession-proof?

Recession-proof is a term used for a company, job, or industry that is considered less impacted by a downturn in the economy. Business owners, investors, and consumers will tend to gravitate towards the sectors of the economy that are not impacted by a recession. These businesses include: [su_note note_color="#dbeafc"]

• Consumer staples like hygiene products
• Discount retailers
• Food 
• Gas
• Utilities
• Investments like bonds
• Education[/su_note]

These are all industries that see stable or increased demand. Other industries would be recession-resistant because they are less damaged by recessions than others. For instance, health care has a certain resistance level because essential care will never disappear. A diabetic that stops taking insulin will die, so they keep taking it even if they can’t afford the medication.

What jobs are recession-proof?

For people looking for long-term job security, you might want to consider these investment-proof jobs when you fall on hard times:

• Teachers: Elementary through high school education doesn't stop because a recession occurs. According to Capital News Service, most recessions create increased demand for higher education because more consumers want to increase their job prospects by investing in their education. 2020 was an exception because people were worried about the transmission of COVID.

• Health Care Professionals: Nurses, doctors, and specialized care providers are also recession-proof careers. This goes for therapists, psychiatrists, and social workers, too.
• Government Employees: Jobs like firefighters, police, first responders, and social workers that work for the government are normally recession-proof jobs because the demand for their services stays the same or increases during a recession.
• Public Service Jobs: People still need garbage pickup, electricity, water, and other essentials to keep their home and community livable so these services make it through a rough patch virtually unscathed.
• Financial Service Providers: Taxes still have to be made, and auto insurance is still required by law. There have been two bank runs in the last hundred years, and the last one saw massive numbers of bailouts. Make sure to go with a conservatively run financial institution, and you should be fine.

When a recession hits, you won’t want to be heavily invested in new construction, home furnishings, car sales, travel, and printing businesses because they are the least recession-resistant services.

What companies are recession-proof?

Companies that do well during inflation tend to supply needs, not discretionary goods and services. Investors tend to look for recession-proof stocks during recessions. These will normally be companies that are in the industries mentioned above. They may also look for stocks with low debt-to-income ratios or investments with better interest and dividends. U.S. News recommends these electronically traded funds to get stock picks that are recession-proof investments:

• Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS): Every country has different economic conditions. International investing can be done at a discount when the dollar is strong. When the dollar weakens again, you can see huge gains in these stocks.
• Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC): These are a mix of Procter & Gamble, Coke, Pepsi, Costco, Walmart, and other companies that people buy from regardless of uncertainty. Economic data show that these companies have built a recession-proof business.
• iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond (SGOV): Short-term bonds are currently performing better than long-term bonds. The peak levels are at the two-year mark. You can buy them on Treasury Direct if you prefer.
• Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): Dividends are like interest paid on stocks, but you can opt for dividend reinvestment to increase your equity. When the prices go back up, you have more stock.
• Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV): Healthcare spending is a major piece of the economy, regardless of what the rest of the market is doing.
• Vanguard Utilities Index Fund ETF (VPU): As we’ve mentioned previously, utilities are recession-proof businesses.
• SPDR Gold MiniShares (GLDM): Many people invest in gold to hedge against inflation when they see uncertainty.
• Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): Recessions often occur in different areas at different times, so investing in international stocks might pay off.

Coin laundromats also do well because people still need to wash their clothes. Watch our interview with a laundromat owner below. [su_youtube url="https://youtu.be/4Uh_qWSTmoY"]

What are recession-proof Industries?

Industries that do well in a recession include: 

• Grocery stores: They sell food, and it’s the absolute last thing in life people can give up.
• Convenience stores: People always need gas to get to their job, and most gas stations have a contract with the gas company where the gas company keeps the gas revenue, and the market keeps the profit from the products in the store.

Check out our interview with a gas station owner who turned a $1 million investment into eight gas stations in three years. If you have the funds to invest, it’s one of the industries that do well in a recession. [su_youtube url="https://youtu.be/PZhL6_U9pWI"]

What to do in a recession?

During a recession, you want to pay more attention to market data. The average duration of a decline is short enough that most businesses can ride it out and make a profit over the long run. To make sure you have the best chance of navigating a down market, consider the following ideas:

1. Save money as soon as your company is running a profit.
2. Create a subscription service; it tends to increase the average revenue per client.
3. Pay off debt every month so you can ride out a down market.
4. Keep a look out for amazing investment opportunities for your portfolio. Sometimes people sign over their business just to keep from declaring bankruptcy.
5. Sell underperforming assets.
6. Renegotiate with vendors and landlords.
7. Don’t buy anything you don’t need.
8. Ask your employees to help. Dan Price almost had to lay off 20% of his company, but his employees opted for pay cuts. Everyone kept their jobs, and he paid them back after they weathered the storm.
9. Lower profit margins if necessary. Sometimes lower prices will matter enough to keep customers you would lose otherwise. Remember when everywhere offered $10 pizza? Pizza places used that strategy to protect their stores from closing. Then, after the 2009 recession passed, pizza prices gradually doubled.
10. Consider reducing the products and services you offer. Alternatively, add products and services businesses have requested.

Each business is different, but you should always be prepared for a recession. Industries tend to consolidate during recessions. The smallest businesses shut down and bigger businesses look for merger opportunities. During the great recession, banks holding 6% of total deposits shut down, leaving greater profit opportunities for the ones that took over their assets. During the same time, 2.4% of small businesses shut down. If you have the funds, a recession can be a great time to expand. Next, we’ll examine what to do with your money during a recession.

What to do with your money in economic downturns

I don’t think anyone would advise hiding your money in a mattress. If you need it quickly, leave it in your savings account. Otherwise, you can consider investing in stocks, bonds, or businesses. 

Stock Market

One common reason why people lose their retirement funds is they pull out of their portfolio when it’s too late. Don’t do it. If you’ve already lost more than you are comfortable with, ride it out. If you think your portfolio has reached an all-time high, just turn it into cash and wait until the market hits a bottom. All time highs are the safest time to pull out. Like Warren Buffet said: [su_quote] A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. [/su_quote] Look for great buys after leading indicators show a sign of change. Leading indicators are business statistics like:

• Purchasing Managers Index: Shows companies are buying materials.
• Durable Goods Orders: Shows demand for industrial products.
• Jobless Claims: Weekly and monthly reports that show how many unemployment claims are being filed. When both weekly and monthly align, it is a good thing. Weekly will show changes first, but monthly will show confirmation that the weekly wasn’t an anomaly. 
• Consumer Confidence Index: This shows how confident consumers are. If consumers are confident, the economy will likely trend higher unless unforeseen events occur.

You can find most economic reports on the Census website.

Bonds

Treasury bonds have durations of one month to 30 years. They are some of the safest investments in the world because the faith of the U.S. government backs them. Treasury Direct also sells TIPS, which tracks the consumer price index, and I-bonds, which are a combination of fixed rate and variable rate.  They are both long-term bonds, but TIPS can be sold on the open market. These are the best options if you want to earn some interest in safe investments.

Buy Businesses

When businesses start going under, it’s your chance to get assets at ridiculously low prices. People who bought neighborhoods in Las Vegas for $50K per house have turned $1 million investments into $8 million or more.  The same can be done with businesses. Just make sure you are analyzing the business strategically. Be cautious when they don’t have documentation of their debts. Read our blogs about buying a business, including:

• Questions to ask
• Business valuation
• How to buy a business

Next, we’ll discuss how to protect your business during a recession.

How to protect your money in an economic downturn

Protecting your financial stability is critical during recessions. We’ll discuss a few options to protect your business funds. 

Increase Savings Rate

Reduce your salary and keep the savings in an interest-bearing account. It may not save a ton, but you'll weather the downturn if you save more money.

Decrease Unnecessary Spending

Everybody has waste. Whether it is making your employees drive the vehicle back to the shop, buying too many supplies, or having weekly team meetings with a huge lunch budget, there are bound to be expenses you can cut.

Reduce Employees Hours

If your business has multiple employees, you can reduce their hours. Try to do it fairly because nobody likes being singled out. If you value the employees, you want them to stick around until the money starts flowing again. Some air conditioning companies offer pay packages that allow you to bank your overtime for the slower months. It helps your employees maintain a more simple budget year round. It also helps you earn more interest.

Reduce Employee Pay

Most employees would rather take a pay cut than find another job. If you do this, try to reward them when the business recovers by paying them more than when they agreed to the pay cut. If you don’t, you’ll be hiring just when you thought you had weathered the storm.

Layoffs

Nobody loves firing people, but you can lay off people. If you have to do this, you’ll still be paying a percentage of their wages. They might even come back if you invite them back when business picks up.

How to make money during a recession

Making money during a recession is the same as any other time. You just have to be more determined.  Assuming you meet normal business profit margins, you’ll probably barely make a profit. There are some things you can do to help prepare to make more profits once the recession passes.

Systemize Your Business

Make the best of a slowdown. Recessions are times to look at how you can improve your business. Start with these:

• Automate accounting and bookkeeping.
• Improve your marketing strategy.
• Add a subscription plan.
• Review your services to see which ones lose your money.

Get Rid of Underperforming Assets

Look for items you don’t use and get rid of them. Some low-hanging fruit might be:

• Work vans that are in the shop too often.
• Scrap metal you never took to the recycling yard.
• Equipment you bought thinking you need it, but you never use.

Run Promotions

You can run promotions to current customers if you aren’t getting enough business. You can also visit sites that help customers find skilled contractors or freelancers. It might not pay as much upfront, but it will help make money while business is slow.

Develop New Skills

There are a lot of businesses that have similar skills and tools. For instance, a pressure washer that does driveways could also wash cars or building windows. Taking on new skills will diversify your income and help you be better insulated for the next recession.

Keep Your Morale Up

During downturns, people tend to have more anxiety, depression, and sometimes a single rough spot can destroy a person’s life. Don’t let that happen to you. If you feel down, go for a walk, see a friend you haven’t seen recently, or get a therapist to help you think through your experiences.  Just do something to keep your mind off your struggles. Some things are beyond your control. I hope this blog has helped to give you some ideas about how to recession-proof your business. What strategies have worked best for those of you who have run a business through multiple recessions?