Latest / Charleston's Leading Producers / #33 | Nicole Musap

Transcript

#33 | Nicole Musap · Charleston's Leading Producers

0:00
SPEAKER_00: I don't think anyone's gonna ever do it for you.
0:02
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people look for permission, like permission to put their family first or put God first.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: It's like you have to have your standards so concrete and your boundaries so concrete when you start a business, or you will be bulldozed and run over.
0:20
SPEAKER_01: And I've had many instances in the past where I was just hey leaders, I'm Jake, a loan officer obsessed with business growth and finding out what's actually working in our market.
0:33
SPEAKER_01: If that sounds useful, hit follow.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: Now this week's leader.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: All right, we're recording.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: Nicole, thanks for coming on and doing this with me.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for having me.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: So you run Two Maids of Somerville, a home cleaning service that you launched just last year.
0:58
SPEAKER_01: We're recording in August of 2026, but you had a really interesting path into entrepreneurship, yes?
1:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: So you went from submitting 70 plus resumes and job applications stacked on top of each other to owning your own cleaning company, two maids there.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: So I'm curious, what was the moment you knew that like you had to build something instead of continually continually applying for something?
1:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was like you said, I applied for 70 plus jobs, and this was over a span of several years.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: And I just realized that the job market was getting harder and harder, even for qualified applicants, because everything is kind of changing to AI.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: So to even get in front of somebody in an interview is like slim to none.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: So that was my issue.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: If I could just get an interview, I could probably land the job, right?
1:56
SPEAKER_00: But I only got one interview out of 70.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: And it was a job that I wasn't really feeling that good about either.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, no, that's that's not it.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: So the other 69, I just never even got called for an interview, nothing.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's when I started getting scared, honestly.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: I was getting more and more fear around being able to provide for my family, is being a single mom.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I shouldn't have all these issues.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm college educated, I have skills, I have so much to offer a company.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: And it was honestly just like a fear thing.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: I was like, this isn't gonna work.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: And I honestly can't even picture myself working for someone else any longer.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of like the light bulb moment where I'm like, I need to do something different.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: I I love that.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: I feel the same way.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: So I was a teacher before taught high school, before I started, you know, doing uh doing loans, and I could not imagine walking into like an actual job interview at this point where they have a stack of like all the same resumes, and you know, they're just trying to figure out you're basically just you know pulling a resume out and hoping for the best anyway.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: Um but what was your background actually in marketing?
3:13
SPEAKER_00: So I've been doing marketing for small businesses on and off for the last 15 years.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: That was kind of something that was my skill set, but I wasn't super passionate about it.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: I deviated many times from that, kind of just trying to find something that aligned more with who I am and my soul.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: That took me on a whole different journey.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: I was doing health and life coaching, trauma coaching.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: I published a book in 2019.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: I was doing professional matchmaking.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: So I was just trying to find like what works for Nicole, where she's happy, helping people, and making good money.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: And I was finding some aspects, but the money part, it was just never, never where it needed to be, especially after inflation and everything.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: I noticed a massive change in just like my quality of life.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: So that was a huge part of it.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: So we have to get into actually, you know, two maids and what you do and how you run things, but I also need to pause on two things that you just mentioned in there.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: The book and the matchmaking, because both interesting.
4:20
SPEAKER_01: What was the book that you wrote?
4:22
SPEAKER_00: The book uh is a personal development book.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: It's called Feel It, Heal It, Let It Go.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: And when I was doing trauma-informed coaching, mostly for women, I had talked a lot about my past, my childhood.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: My mother was an alcoholic, and I wanted a resource for those that I was coaching so they could see how I got through those obstacles and things like that.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: So I published a book.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: It's like part about my my life and how I did it.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: It's part journal and it's part like really great like tips and things that helped me go from like zero to a hundred and just being able to move on and and move through my life and be a successful, like confident human being, you know.
5:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: What's the name of it?
5:12
SPEAKER_01: Say one more time.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Heal it, heal it, let it go.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: Taking power back from your pain.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I want to read it.
5:20
SPEAKER_01: That sounds amazing.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: So, and then you mentioned journaling too.
5:26
SPEAKER_01: Do you still journal?
5:26
SPEAKER_01: I just I I'm just starting to dabble in the journaling.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, first thing in the morning when I get up, I grab a cup of coffee, nobody else is up in the house.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm the first one up, and the first thing that I'm trying to do is journal.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: Is that still a practice of yours?
5:40
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: It's definitely still a practice of mine, is a huge part of my book, too.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: And it's like we can put all the little notes on our phone and we can listen to all the things, but putting that pen to paper, it really does transform things that you would just never think.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: And then you're looking back on it, and that's a part of healing and growth too, because sometimes we don't know how far we've come until we're reading entries from like two, three years ago, and we're like, whoa, I've come so long.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you just are writing and you let it flow, and things come out that you don't even know where they came from, and it's like another healing modality.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: So that's awesome that you do it.
6:21
SPEAKER_00: I think it's really important for everybody to do it.
6:24
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's pretty good.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: And I know you're you mentioned, you know, being a single mom.
6:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, when are you putting that?
6:30
SPEAKER_01: Because you're a single mom, you're running a business.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: When are you fitting in journaling?
6:35
SPEAKER_01: That's the hard part, right?
6:36
SPEAKER_00: I have learned to do this in the mornings.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, I used to have a lot of stress and anxiety, and I'm not gonna sit here and say it's all gone because it's not, but when I have slower mornings, it helps set my day.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: So in the morning, before I respond or react to anything, I get up, I pray, I meditate, I journal, and then after that, I start my day.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, and matchmaking.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: What was going on there?
7:08
SPEAKER_00: Tell me about that little uh interesting stories around matchmaking.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: That's something that I kind of fell into because I was doing coaching.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: And once I learned more about this matchmaking position, it kind of fell into coaching.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: It's it is coaching, basically.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, I would meet with clients every day that were looking to find a partner, right?
7:31
SPEAKER_00: But there's always underlying issues, like why they can't find a partner.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: And it's either something from their past, they don't feel good enough, or they're traumatized from past relationships.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: So it started out like this fun little thing.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: And then I was like, this is just another area of coaching.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of something that I really enjoyed as well.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: It was very entertaining, never a boring day, and um very, very hard too.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: Very, very hard, probably harder than what I'm doing now.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: So that was just not sustainable, but it was a really cool, a really cool point in my life doing that.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think of like tough clients that I work with.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: I would imagine matchmaking clients are some of the toughest clients.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: They really are because they think they know what they want and then they get it, like what's on paper, right?
8:27
SPEAKER_00: And they realize they don't want it anymore.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: I I would my mind just goes to like, yeah, of course you want that, but you're like not that at all.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: So is it harder like to define what people actually want or what they can get in matchmaking?
8:46
SPEAKER_00: So cool that you said that because that is the biggest disconnect with matchmaking.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: It's when you're looking for something that you are not encompassing yourself.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: That's where almost all the problems are.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: So if somebody is looking even for somebody that like is in shape and they're not in shape, that's a disconnect.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: They're looking for somebody who is successful and makes great money, but they're not there yet in their career or something like that.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: There's always a disconnect with that, and that made it really challenging.
9:19
SPEAKER_01: So I could talk about that all day, but let's get into what happens at Two Maids.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, so you've said before that a clean home creates room for God to move in your life.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: Do I have that quote correct from you?
9:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: First, what does that actually mean and how does it influence your business?
9:40
SPEAKER_00: So raising three children, I realized very quickly how a clean house is not just clean toilets.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: It's mental health, it's mental sanity, especially when you have kids.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: And then when I got a divorce, I realized even more how important it was to like keep up the house and for everything to be orderly and good, and how hard that was when you're by yourself doing a million other things.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: And I gathered a really cool group of friends post-divorce that were in the same stage of life as me.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: And some of them were going through things.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: And the first thing to go is kind of your house.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: And I would go over to their house, I would help them, I would clean their homes for them.
10:29
SPEAKER_00: And I realized at that point I was like, this is a lot more.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, this means so much more.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: And I felt like it was kind of God speaking to me, like, this is a way that you can be of service, and it really does matter.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: And at first I was like, cleaning houses, how does how is that serving?
10:49
SPEAKER_00: Like, how is that helping enough?
10:50
SPEAKER_00: But it it really is.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: It I feel like it it changes people's like whole day.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: And I would even venture to say their whole life.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's really that important because this is where we spend the most of our time, and we need to live in like a clean, orderly, peaceful, calm environment.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: Well, you mentioned the journaling.
11:11
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think there's such a connection between a clean space and just like a clean mind as well, and like how all of those things work together.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: So I found it really interesting that you're running in a running a business, you know, from that mindset of like a clean space, but then you're also talking about journaling and health and fitness and how all of these things really relate together.
11:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I have to confess, like, I turn the video on and literally I'm taking things that are like right here and I'm just pushing them behind the camera, you know, like it's something that um I'm sure all of us need in our lives, and we just have so much shit everywhere.
11:53
SPEAKER_01: It's it drives me crazy.
11:55
SPEAKER_01: We're all completely just oversaturated, right?
11:58
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: That's so true.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: Too much stuff, way too much stuff.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: So what does a cluttered space actually do to our minds?
12:08
SPEAKER_00: There are actually studies on this.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: I don't have the exact numbers, but I have looked into this before I started my company.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: That there is like your therapists would notice a difference, I think, if your home was cleaned regularly.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: It really does impact mental health that much.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: And I just think that's that's crazy because it's like something that a lot of people overlook, but it's that important that it really does impact your happiness, your sense of calm, your mood, your joy.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: I know depending if you're type A, you're type B, like I cannot sit down and relax at night unless my home is clean.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: And I know a lot of my clients feel the same exact way.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: And if you can do that, that's awesome.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's that's a sense of freedom that I don't have.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: But I know a lot of people are in that same boat.
13:02
SPEAKER_01: And subconsciously, it might even be happening too, because like I read a lot about, you know, you mentioned the health and fitness side of things, that acute stress on your body, like when you're working out, is good.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: But the chronic stress of you know, constantly replaying things in your brain or putting your body through stress like that, you know, that that's not good.
13:23
SPEAKER_01: So this kind of stress is good, acute stress can be good.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: Um, and that clutteredness, like you're talking about, or just you know, not cleanliness, is that like chronic stress, you know, that just slowly breaks down your brain and causes problems.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: Um you mentioned raising three young kids while growing this business.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of people that listen to this podcast, you know, they can relate to the struggles of a family life and entrepreneurship.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: So I'm just curious, as somebody who focuses a lot on being centered and working all of these things together, um, how do you work to find balance between the demands of your job?
14:08
SPEAKER_01: And it's funny, we were actually starting this podcast and we were both like, yes, oh my God, I was just dealing with this.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: And you were like, I'm just dealing with this.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, all right, let's just let's just pause and be right here.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: But how do you find that balance between the demands of the job and the demands of your family?
14:22
SPEAKER_00: I don't think anyone's gonna ever do it for you.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people look for permission, like permission to put their family first or put God first.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: It's like you have to have your standards so concrete and your boundaries so concrete when you start a business, or you will be bulldozed and run over.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: And I've had many instances in the past where I was just used and used and used, and I was like losing myself, my relationship with God, my relationship with kids.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: And I made a vow to myself when I started this business.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: I was like, nothing will take me away from God, nothing will take me away from my kids.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: God, kids, Nicole, business.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: And I make that very clear with my employees, my customers.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: Like, if you're calling me at 8:30 at night on a Friday or a Saturday, I'm not picking up the phone.
15:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I know that's really hard for a lot of business owners, especially when you're like really getting into the groove and you're making good money and you're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: It's definitely two different mindsets that you have to have, but you have to remember that the only reason that I'm here on earth really is to be a guide to my children, do what whatever God wants me to do.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: And the rest is just kind of outside noise.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: So I think it's all about perspective, really, but that's just how I do it.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: Really strong boundaries and just knowing like what really matters in life.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: Your faith is obviously really important to you.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: You've mentioned it a few times.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: Have you did you grow up that way?
16:04
SPEAKER_01: Have you always um, you know, walked with faith, or is that something more recent in your life?
16:11
SPEAKER_00: So I grew up Catholic, Italian in New Jersey.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: We did the the Bible school, we did the church on Sundays.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't recall, recall one thing that I learned at CCD, I think it was called, or any of that.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I would say I got nothing out of that part of my life growing up.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, when I got older, I really lost my relationship with God.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: I just put him on the back burner, didn't say my prayers, and just wasn't a thing, just wasn't something that I was thinking about anymore.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: And then I started to have um children.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: And I was like trying to think like how I wanted them to be raised.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: And I was actually talking to a pastor one day that I worked with, unrelated to religion at all, but I was just telling him, I was like, you know, I really want them to believe in God and and have faith and all this stuff.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, but I don't really know like how to go about that.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, well, you kind of need to figure that out for yourself first if you're gonna model that for your children.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, man, I was like, he he's got a point.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: So I kind of was diving into that a bit, and I got pregnant with my first child, and I ended up getting really sick.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: I got like this crazy megaflu or something, and I couldn't take any medicine because I was pregnant, and I was young too.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: I was like 21, 22.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, I got this, I got this, and it got like really, really bad.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: And one night I literally I was like burning up, but I had the chills at the same time, and it was like nothing I had ever experienced before.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: And it was like strange because I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna make it through this.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: Like, I've never felt this sick in my life, and I was just on my bed and I started praying, and I was like, hey God, it's me.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: It's been a while, you know.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: But I really feel scared right now, and I just was praying and praying, and literally almost instantaneously after that prayer, the symptoms went away and I wasn't sick anymore.
18:19
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you know, um maybe it's time to get back into my faith.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: So got back in my faith, and it wasn't like this whole crazy cool journey after that.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: I I got married and this and that, and I was much, much closer with God, but nowhere near where I am today.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't until my marriage was kind of disintegrating a bit that I picked it back up.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: I started going to church again by myself.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: And during my divorce is really where it just took off because I had I had nothing else.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: I I only had God for like many years.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: So my relationship just kind of skyrocketed with God after that.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: It's a great story, and I love to see all of the pieces working together for you.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: So the faith, the business, and you know, the health and wellness.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: Um it's it's really cool to listen to um and just see the success you're having.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: One thing I didn't ask about yet that we have to get into is just who are the clients that you serve mostly with two mates?
19:23
SPEAKER_01: Who do you work with mostly?
19:25
SPEAKER_01: And just tell me a little bit more about the business itself.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: Mostly all of Somerville.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, we really try to focus in Somerville.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: We do do some Monks Corner, some North Charleston.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm also affiliated with some property management companies, and we'll kind of go all over for them.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: But I have like a designated team for that.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, but our recurring cleans that happen like every week or every two weeks or every month.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: That's mostly in Charleston area, and it's it's everybody, everybody that you can imagine.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: No, no set demographic.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: We we serve everybody.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: Is it all residential cleaning?
20:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right now it's all residential.
20:03
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, and there's a lot, most of the people who listen to this are in the real estate industry.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: And the one thing that I've heard is like people need cleanings for like stagings and move in, move out.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: You do that as well?
20:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we love realtors and we are really good with our communication.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: And we have a good online system too, if they choose to use that.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: We have some realtors that use it, some that don't.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: But we're we will be there.
20:31
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's really important in real estate is that sometimes you're like, did they clean it?
20:36
SPEAKER_00: Did they not clean it?
20:37
SPEAKER_00: Are they there?
20:37
SPEAKER_00: Because like you guys aren't always able to go right there after and check everything.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: And it's important to know that we're gonna be there and we're really good at that.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: We're really reliable.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: So I've learned um that one of the toughest demands of the cleaning industry is running the team of the actual cleaners.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: And I actually only know this from because I listen to Alex Hermozzi all the time, and he talks about this.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: So love that.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: And Layla uh uh love Layla too.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it is that true?
21:11
SPEAKER_00: Is that one of the toughest parts of the industry?
21:15
SPEAKER_00: One thousand percent.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, it is, it's the biggest challenge.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, the challenge is hiring good people, keeping good people, and then also being a good leader.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people go into business and they don't know how to be a leader, they don't know how to manage a staff, and that's super cool if you can hire somebody that's good at it and that does it.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: But if you're choosing to do it yourself and you have no leadership skills and no like management skills, then you're not gonna you're not gonna make it very far in business.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: When you started, did you start right away with a team or were you out doing the cleanings?
21:56
SPEAKER_00: Both.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, I started hiring right away.
21:59
SPEAKER_00: I always had Like a couple people, but I've I was cleaning up until like two months ago.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, I was jumping in way more than I probably should have, but I just didn't want to let people down, and I needed to keep the momentum of the company going in the beginning stages, and I think that's attributed to my success today, but it was very, very hard to do that.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: What is that?
22:24
SPEAKER_01: What is that feeling like of okay, I'm pulling myself out of the actual cleaning of this business?
22:32
SPEAKER_01: So, not even necessarily logistically within your business, but even more so emotionally.
22:39
SPEAKER_00: It's huge.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I give those girls so much credit.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people don't understand how hard cleaning is.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: It's very physically demanding work, and a lot of it is not even noticed.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: Like, we notice the smell, we notice the toilets, the showers, but like we're we have a checklist of like over 40, 50 different things for every house.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of it's not noticed, it's just like that kind of feeling when you walk in, you're like, Oh, I feel so clean.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: Because we did 50 different things in every room, but I think it was really good for me emotionally too, because running every single department of the business plus being the physical labor, that will wear you out very, very fast.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was very happy to slowly come out of that.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: And I still jump in on cleans and stuff here and there, but it's like it's cool.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: It's it's like, all right, uh, I can help out, I can do this.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: But like every single day, you have to be you have to be made for it, and you can't be worrying about thousands of other things while you're doing that.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: And you also partner with cleaning for a reason, correct?
23:50
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we do.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: Tell me about that organization and just um uh your partnership with them.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's through the Two Maids franchise, and it's for um people that are going through health issues, particularly cancer, and were able to clean their homes for free um through our program.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: It's really awesome way to kind of give back.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: And like I said before, um, especially we have a lot of customers that are disabled or elderly and they're not able to physically clean for themselves.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine what patient uh cancer patients are going through.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: So it's a really cool way to be able to help them and they don't have to worry about the house on top of their health because that's just craziness.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: Um looking at the bigger picture, um, I'm still just so fascinated by this whole journey and this whole story.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: So I want to try and pull out one more piece of advice um for people who are listening.
24:56
SPEAKER_01: So when you look at somebody who is trying to rebuild after a season that maybe set them back.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: So whether that's a divorce, whether that's a job loss, whatever that might be, looking at the big picture, what's the one mistake that you would say you see people make who are trying to rebuild after a big life change?
25:22
SPEAKER_00: They're trying to fix everything, they're trying to fix a thousand little things or make a thousand little things better.
25:30
SPEAKER_00: And I know everyone has different faiths and beliefs, but the second that I started putting God first and letting everything else work itself out, that's the only time the needle moved for me.
25:45
SPEAKER_00: I tried so many times on my own to this false sense of control.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: I have to control this, I have to fix this, I have to make this better.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: Like stupid stuff that I thought was going to improve my quality of life or get me out of that hole.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: Nothing ever worked until I put God first.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: And I learned that in a sermon one day.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: It was like the lights went on, and the pastor was just like, put God first.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: That's your only job.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: Just simplify it to that and see what happens.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: Do it for six months, just do it, commit to it.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I'm gonna commit to it, and that's when everything changed.
26:22
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing how drastically your life can change in in six months, six months or a year, you know.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: And when you're in it, sometimes it feels like it's taking forever, like you're only taking baby steps.
26:36
SPEAKER_01: But then when you zoom out and you see, like, I'm a completely different person than I was six months ago, a year ago, you know, and I've been on this planet for 40 years now, like that's a very small amount of time.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: Um so I find that really interesting.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: But the hard part is walking through those first few months, you know.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, but you mentioned the word control, which I thought was so interesting, you know, giving up and it kind of relates to like cleaning, right?
27:05
SPEAKER_01: Because going through and cleaning is a form of control.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, it is.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: I'm just trying to think through like what do I need to let go of control-wise?
27:20
SPEAKER_01: And like you're just having me think about my own personal life.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: What do I need to be in control of, you know?
27:28
SPEAKER_00: It's funny because as a business owner, controlling is like not controlling, but just being on top of everything, right?
27:36
SPEAKER_00: Is a good quality.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you need some of that.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not gonna sit here and say you could be so laid back and loosey-goosey when you're a business owner because that's just not true.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: But if you really think about it, we don't control anything.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: There's things that we can be really on top of with staff or like everyday operations that need to be in a certain order and things like that, but we don't really have control of everything.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: We don't have control of the next five minutes, we don't have control of tomorrow.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: We don't have control of our health, we don't have control of anything that happens to us.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: So, in a way, it's kind of freeing because we don't need to waste all this mental energy and capacity worrying because that's just a wasted emotion.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't change the outcome of everything.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: So we just surrender, surrender control.
28:31
SPEAKER_01: That's so well put.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, just as we're wrapping up here, I got just a couple more questions, but is there anything else you would want people to know about the business that you run, two maids of Somerville?
28:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think we talked about a lot of it.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, we are a fully licensed, bonded, insured cleaning company.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, we take a lot of pride in our work.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: We have great communication, and we've been serving a lot, a lot, a lot of people in Somerville.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: And it's been really, really cool to see our growth and expand without cutting corners.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: And we are continuing to grow really fast.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: So just um, I know it's hard to trust some new people on the block sometimes, and everyone has um certain perceptions of cleaning companies that may have wronged them in the past or or things like that.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: But um, we have a really great group of people that that care, and I I think that's just important to kind of note what makes us different um from everybody else.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: I want you to think back just real quick to the Nicole that just filled out 70 applications um and only had one person respond to all of those and just made the decision.
29:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go in on this two mates thing.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: So you don't know what you're getting yourself into, you don't know if it's gonna be a success.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: Um, what would you tell that version of Nicole?
30:04
SPEAKER_00: Go for it, sister.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: Take the risk, just free fall into it because what you're doing now clearly isn't working.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's time for a change.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: That's what I would tell her.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Just trust, surrender and trust.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: Very well put.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: So you've got incredible advice.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: I've really enjoyed this.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: If anybody who's um been listening wants to reach out, just ask follow-up questions, um, maybe book two maids for their next uh home cleaning or just ask about anything that you know you might have mentioned today connect further.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: How can they get in touch with you?
30:40
SPEAKER_00: We are at two maidscleaning.com.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: We're also on TikTok, which I would love for people to join us on TikTok because I post the silliest, stupidest stuff on there, but people seem to like it.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: I think we're two maids.sumerville on TikTok, and then we're also on Facebook.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
31:07
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'd love to have you on again and just talk about social media strategy.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: Can we do that again sometime?
31:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that would be awesome.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: I'd love to.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
31:15
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate your time today.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: It's really been awesome.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening to Charleston's Leading Producers Podcast.
31:26
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31:32
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31:38
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31:43
SPEAKER_01: New episodes every Wednesday.
31:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm Jake Cummings, and see you next week.