Latest / Cleaning Business Life / CBL EP 181 (1 of 3) Charity Cleaning Code of Conduct - The Standard You Don’t Break

Transcript

CBL EP 181 (1 of 3) Charity Cleaning Code of Conduct - The Standard You Don’t Break · Cleaning Business Life

• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Cleaning Business Life.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Shannon Miller.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to continue with our series of charity cleanings.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to talk about the code of conduct, the standard that you don't break.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: What I am seeing, and I felt that this needed to be addressed, is there is a new fad.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: I want to call it a fad.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Of I'm doing charity cleanings, look what I'm doing, look what I'm doing, look what I'm doing, look what I'm doing, look what I'm doing, look what I'm doing, look what I'm doing.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do you get my point?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I get it, you're doing it for likes and social media clout.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Totally, completely understandable, but there's a fine line of conducting yourself professionally and conducting yourself unprofessionally.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to bring this out, not because I want to call anyone out directly, but I want people to acknowledge that there's a certain standard that needs to happen.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And what I'm seeing, and what is upsetting to me, is people are making derogatory statements with the homeowner present.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: They're making other derogatory statements about the condition of the home on film and they're releasing it all over the internet.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're treating these people like they're an ends to a mean without any sort of consideration for feelings or emotional capacity in that moment.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's disturbing.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's not cool.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought we would come out and talk about a code of conduct.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: So when you are doing a charity cleaning, I would like to believe that you would have enough gumption to conduct yourself in a professional manner.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm seeing is not that.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard curse words said about a homeowner because they were lazy.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard things stated that this is disgusting.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard things like, oh my God, this is such bullshit.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard it, I've heard it all.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not how you should do charity cleanings.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: We we did 110 charity cleanings last year alone with my business.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Did you hear me talk about it?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: These were people in my own community that just needed a leg up.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: They needed someone to come in, manage the situation for them until they could get things back around.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Typically, what I've seen in the last year for here in my area, and we just did one last weekend.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's something upset the rhythm of their daily life, is typically what I have found.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I have a huge senior base in my community, and yes, there is a need.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: I see it all over the United States.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: But in my community, what I've seen, and this might be true in your community as well, it's usually a mom who is married, and then they have a partner and their partner relapses.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I've seen a lot of this in the last like year.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's drug addiction is awful.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: It affects everyone from every demographic.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter who you are, it affects everyone across the board.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: And this particular individual last week had one of those episodes.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: It happened right after Christmas.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: So January and February were spent just kind of muddling through, figuring out what she was gonna do next.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we came in and we did, I think, we folded between the the two of us, because I helped out with this charity cleaning.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say we probably folded 40 loads of laundry.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's a lot of clothes, but they were young kids, and you know how young kids have it.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: We must have done 19 loads of dishes.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: They had to be hand washed because the dishwasher, you know how long those cycles take.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So everything got washed, dried, put away.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Was it organized as best as we could manage?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Did we get all the clothes put away?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: No, we did not, but we did get them folded and they were in a basket.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: So there was some sort of order to the chaos.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: There is a need for a community cleanings.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure why people have chosen the cleaning industry to take the brunt of all of the charity that we're doing, which is fine.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't see many other trades doing it.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I just heard a little blurp on the radio about contractors stepping in for vets, which I think is fantastic.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: I've always been an advocate for seniors, vets, and children, always.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And what I'm seeing though is we're seeing a lot of people do the charity cleanings and it's all over the internet, and they're filming this stuff, and there's like instead of having two to three people in there, they've got 15 different cleaning companies and they all have cameras going.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a Hollywood studio.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's utterly ridiculous.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I get that everyone deserves their moment in the sun, but it's become more, in my opinion, and you guys, I'll I'll be happy to battle it out with you in Messenger if you'd like.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's become a commercial element of, oh my God, look at this, look what I've done, instead of genuinely helping this individual.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought I would give you guys some context to where I'm going because charity cleaning sounds simple, it really does, but there's a lot of moving parts in a charity cleaning.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And there is a huge difference between a normal charity cleaning and a hoarding cleaning.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you have never done one, please do not dip your toe in the water until you become educated and or certified.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: In some states, you need to be certified to do that type of cleaning.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: So you're you're helping someone who's gotten stuck, right?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: It happens.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: We see it all over the internet.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're doing something good, which is great.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you're giving back to your community at large.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm huge at that because I think that you should be able to give back, especially being a business owner.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And all of that really is true.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: But what most people don't think about is how you show up in these moments to represent your business.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're coming in and you're talking about it's me, it's me, it's me, it's me, look what I've done, look what I've done, look what I've done, look what I've done.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: You're not conducting yourself in the most professional and compassionate manner.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about you.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's not really about the cleaning, it's not really about the person that's getting the cleaning.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: It really is about you.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to realize that what you or your cleaning techs do represents your business at large.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: So please take a deep breath and have some compassion at what you're doing.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: People get themselves stuck all of the time.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Things, people have stuff that go on that you would just never even dream of unless they told you.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So if you treat charity like it doesn't count the same way a paid job does, that inconsistency is going to show up.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the charity clean doesn't get as clean clean as it could because people, there's a lot of infighting going on between the companies that are all presenting themselves at the charity cleaning.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you're starting to scratch your head going, what is going on?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's no leader on the job, right?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Occasionally you will find a charity clean that's publicized that there is a leader and it does run smoothly.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen a couple of those.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, bravo, bravo.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: For the others who are attempting to do it, who have no management skills, who have no leadership skills, take a deep breath.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Learn how to lead.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: We learn by serving others.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: You're the bottom pushing the top up.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's how it works.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: There is no I'm the leader and I'm in charge, and you're gonna listen to what I say.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: That is not leadership.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: That is something that has to be developed over time.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes what I've seen is business owners are lowering their standards.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So they're getting it cleaned, but it's not really habitable yet, depending on the circumstance and what type of cleaning they're getting.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: There's not a lot of detailed work.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a marked difference between before and after because some of what they're taking on is beyond the cap capacity of what a normal cleaning company should be doing, which I question.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of things are not like sanitized.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not seeing a lot of the PPE being used correctly.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: For example, I saw videos of a bunch of people wearing hazmat suits.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: They're outside eating their lunch, still inside the hazmat soups.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's making me think about this whole situation.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot wear a hazmat suit.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: For those of you who this is not obvious.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you when you go to a job, you typically work in short shifts.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'll give you the short scenario.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: You want to bring one to three suits per person per day.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it takes, especially if you're gonna eat.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: So the easiest way to eliminate three suits is to do four-hour shifts.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: So they're in a four-hour shift, the second crew comes in and does the second four-hour shift.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Things are on rotation, right?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: But once you use that suit, you can't go outside, eat your lunch in the same suit, and then go back inside.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're contaminating yourself and your food.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: So in case that wasn't obvious, I just that's from the people in the back who are like, what is she talking about?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't want to rush the job, but you also want to make sure there's some sort of organization and that you have the proper PPE.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm seeing a lot of cross-contamination going on.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm seeing a lot of chemicals being mixed.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not seeing a lot of rinsing happening at all after all this.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that that could very well be because there's no water on the property.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen that happen.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've had it happen to me.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: So you're also when you're not holding the same standards to yourself, you're not holding the same standards to your team.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that directly impacts them because they think that the next charity clean, they can do whatever they want, right?
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then your standard becomes flexible, right?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: You decide what your standards are.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna do wall washing, get the wall washing done.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not gonna do wall washing on that one, then don't get it done.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: But don't make a comment about how the walls are still dirty and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's not, that's not how it works, right?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: It becomes unreliable and it just leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: So a real code of conduct is gonna be simple.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: You show up on time every single time.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're not concerned whether you got your donuts or not.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Girls, ladies and gentlemen, eat before you go.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Please do not have your hazmat suit on.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Please do not let us see your videos where you're eating donuts.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to see it.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to have to comment on it.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh my Lord.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Show that you respect the owner's home and that they're that you respect their possessions and how you move through the work.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: We we want to see the before and afters and how you handle mistakes if they happen.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Typically with charity cleanings, there's not a lot of mistakes happening.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: You kind of have open range, and there's a lot of things that can be done versus not be done.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to worry about typically when you're doing those types of cleanings, you're not worried about if you're gonna scratch someone's faucet, you're not worried about if they're going to hurt something because it's all been covered in debris for a long period of time, and more than likely that damage is already there.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: So the key to having a code of conduct and consistency is that it doesn't change.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're having the same standards in a regular cleaning, a deep in, deep cleaning, a move out cleaning, and then charity cleanings.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm seeing the charity cleanings kind of go on the extreme side of almost hoarding cleaning.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I reiterate if you are not comfortable and do not know what is required for a hoarding cleaning, do not step your toe in the water unless you gain experience from someone and make sure that you have to be licensed and that you're wearing the proper PPE.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not really based on price, it's not based on a situation, and it's not based on whether you're being paid because professionalism is not conditional.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean that with the most sincerity.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I want to be really clear.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Charity cleaning is not the place to lower your standards, it's the place to reinforce them because this is where your leadership shows up the most.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Something to think about.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where people see who you really are as a business owner.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you come in and you're making comments about a homeowner with them being present because they're helping you, because it's an overwhelming job.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of have to question your professionalism.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Are you really doing the cleaning for compassion because you're compassionate?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Are you just doing it for likes and hearts?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Free work should never look like it's careless work.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of stuff that has to happen.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: As anyone has ever done one of these cleanings, there's a lot of, there's a lot of wheels, cogs in the wheel to make it go around.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: If not, the cogs go kind of like this, right?
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm I'm we won't even talk about donations.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: I I can talk about, I can go on for like 90 minutes about donation and fundraising for charity cleanings and what I think and where I see this going.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a team and they're watching you handle this, remember that your team, if your team and you are doing this, everybody's watching.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: The internet's watching, your team is watching you, the neighbors are watching you, the homeowners are watching you.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Are we taking this seriously?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Are we showing up the same way as we would with a paying customer?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Or are we cutting corners when it's free?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're just not going to do it.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the scope of the job does take longer, and you need to be up front with the homeowners.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen multiple charity cleanings where they didn't get as much done because there was infighting on the job, or there was no structure, there was no leadership, or whatever was going on.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: You need to be up front when you first walk into the job and say, hey, I've got this many people.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I anticipate as covering today.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then you decide if it's going to be a day two or day three, and then you let the homeowner know.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that way they're not disappointed.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because whatever you follow, allow is becomes the standard, and you want consistency in your business.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Your reputation is not built on your best day.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Your reputation is built on your worst day and how you handle things.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's built on consistency, how you show up when no one's paying you.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because people talk, we all talk, and communities talk, and how you handle the situation, it sticks.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: So if you do a bad job handling the situation, we're all noticing because we're all watching.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure you're putting some heart into what you're doing.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that you're not doing that now.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to offer you a different perspective on what I have seen.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I am not the only one.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: I just think that you guys should hold the standard.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: It should be the same type of cleaning if you're if you're getting paid versus not getting paid.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's super important that you're offering the same type of cleaning in every single cleaning.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: So if you take one thing from this episode, let it be this.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Set your standard, define how you show up, and do not break no matter the situation.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because consistency is what turns a cleaning business into a real business.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's just my opinion.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you're ready to build a business that actually runs on systems and not stress, check out my books on Amazon.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: You can just search my name, Shannon Lee Ann Miller.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the link is in the description.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: I look forward to your comments, concerns.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to you soon.