My question would be; have you ever signed a “do not compete waiver”?
Also, in my situation, when starting, and even now (if I need it) I’ve have my father in laws biz to fall back on while building my client list. He knew my goals from the start and was able to give me flexibility to take off mostly whenever needed to take on cleaning jobs. (This has even given me a couple extra skill sets to offer).
When I first started my biz, I was working for a Service Master franchise and my boss didn’t want to get into windows, and I was the lead carpet cleaning tech, since it was no conflict of interest, I started gaining my first clients by selling to my existing carpet clients. I still work for most of them now!
My point…if you feel like starting on your own, 1-come up with a good marketing plan to grow
2- be willing to work odd hours at first if needed 3- consider having something to fall back on or carry you through the slow times at first.
Also, one more question, do you have any of your own tools, equipment yet? If not, I can share how I built my starter pack with next to nothing, otherwise, best of luck to you!