For a Maid Service Business: Your initial staffing needs will depend on how much capital you have, how large a business you want to have, and the volume of customers you can reasonably expect to service. Many independent maid services start with just the owner. Others will start with the owner and an appropriate number of maids. If you handle the administrative chores, chances are you won't need to hire office help right away.

For a Janitorial Business: You may be able to start with no employees--or just one or two part-timers. If you have the capital available and the business lined up, you may need to hire more. You may also want to consider an administrative person to handle the records and answer the phone during the day; after all, if you're working all night, you need to schedule some time to sleep. As your business grows, consider a marketing/salesperson, a customer service manager, and crew supervisors as well as additional cleaning personnel.

For a Carpet Cleaning Business: Depending on the strength of your pre-opening campaign and your startup budget, hire at least one service person and possibly two as you're getting started, along with an employee experienced in clerical work who can book appointments and handle administrative chores. Though one person can likely handle most of the residential jobs you'll get, you may want to consider staffing each truck with two people: a senior technician and a helper. The helper can assist with the prep work for each job (unloading equipment, moving light furniture, etc.), mix chemicals, empty buckets, clean up afterward, etc. This will make each job go faster, which is more efficient and cost-effective and also generates a greater degree of customer satisfaction.