He says local marketing is a hidden gem because you’re competing against local businesses only, not the entire world, so it’s a bit easier to manage. To find his customers, Neel focused on digital marketing. Overall, it took Neel two months to get up and running. He bought a template for about $100, researched how to host a website and published what he says was initially “a crappy looking website.” Neel’s first step in doing so was creating a website-a tall task as he had no technical background. In early 2013, he established MaidThis in Los Angeles, a cleaning service that specializes in Airbnb and residential cleanings.

After reading through the post carefully, Neel decided to give it a try himself.

In the post, the author laid out the detailed steps he’d taken to get going. He took a number of paths as he tried different side hustles-creating an eCommerce site, blogging about pet hair vacuums and more-before stumbling across a post on Reddit from someone who started a cleaning company. It was also a decision guided by his desire to provide for his parents. For Neel Parek, the decision to start a side business wasn’t just so he could quit his day job and travel the world while still having an income-although that was part of it.

Airbnb cleaning business