Latest / Cleaning Business Life / CBL EP 187 She Built a Cleaning Business AND a Nonprofit — Here’s Why it works.

Transcript

CBL EP 187 She Built a Cleaning Business AND a Nonprofit — Here’s Why it works. · Cleaning Business Life

0:58
SPEAKER_04: Welcome back, everyone.
1:00
SPEAKER_04: My name is Shannon Miller, and I am your host.
1:02
SPEAKER_04: And I am with my co-host, Jamie Rumco.
1:04
SPEAKER_04: And most importantly, we're here with Ms.
1:06
SPEAKER_04: Danelle Watts, who owns, well, owns and runs a brand new entity, Robin's Helping Hand.
1:12
SPEAKER_04: And she's going to tell us about her story and how come she has a dual entity business model.
1:18
SPEAKER_04: And I'm excited to chat with her.
1:20
SPEAKER_04: Ms.
1:21
SPEAKER_04: Danelle, welcome to the show.
1:23
SPEAKER_01: Bye.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
1:26
SPEAKER_04: You are so welcome.
1:27
SPEAKER_04: I am so excited to have you here.
1:29
SPEAKER_04: Now, there is a little bit of a backstory on why you started what you're doing today.
1:35
SPEAKER_04: So you have a regular cleaning company that you operate, and you also have a non-for-profit, correct?
1:43
SPEAKER_04: Correct.
1:44
SPEAKER_04: And you give away free cleanings in your community.
1:48
SPEAKER_04: So can you share the story behind your mom and how she inspired what you've built?
1:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: So Robin's Helping Hand is a not-for-profit organization that I founded to assist individuals and families with free cleanings, free basic cleanings, as well as care packages, I call them care essential bundles for families and individuals who are navigating illness, chronic illnesses, and disabilities.
2:16
SPEAKER_01: So my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer February of 2021.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: About a year prior to that, she was actually also diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: Not to be confused with illness.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: I learned MS and muscular dystrophy are two different things, but muscular dystrophy, from what I've gathered, your muscles deteriorate.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: And there are a dozen different forms of it.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: And I think she was diagnosed with limb girdle muscular dystrophy.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: So the muscles breaking down in her lower limbs, her trunk area, her legs, her thighs, where she would, had she still been with us, she'll be confined to a wheelchair.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: So I was her sole caregiver.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm the oldest of three.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: I was her sole caregiver.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: So after her stent in the hospital from a completely different medical situation that she had, she spent all of November, December of 2019 in the hospital, and she came home January 2nd, 2020.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: So they released her to my care because she wasn't able to care for herself.
3:24
SPEAKER_01: She had to learn how to bathe, clothe, eat, like things that we take for granted.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: She had to learn all over the essentially like a baby.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: So she was releasing to my care.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: Um at the time, I was a full-time employee at a financial institution here.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: And I actually started cleaning to cope with my mom's illness and her disease.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: So I would go to work nine to five, banking hours, and I would come home, care for her, and then I would just clean, like bathroom, kitchen.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: And at the time I had no children.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: So it was myself, my now husband, and my mom.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: And I would just come home and clean like a mad woman.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: And so we came up with, well, I came up with the idea of just start a cleaning service.
4:12
SPEAKER_01: At first I was apprehensive about it because I wasn't sure if people actually use cleaning services.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: I was ignorant to that.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: And finally, uh, I started Neat and Tidy December of 2021.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: I did neat and tidy, which is my cleaning services, on the weekend, uh, Saturdays and Sundays, and I worked at the bank Monday through Friday.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: So I was a busy girl.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: I was a busy girl.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: So I will work Monday through Friday at the bank, Saturday and Sunday, I would clean and still take care of my mom.
4:46
SPEAKER_01: So that's how Neat and Tidy started.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: So fast forward, my mom passed March 16th, 2023.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: We had our service, and while I was going through her things, you know, cleaning her stuff out, I actually saw a flyer for cleaning for a reason.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: Right?
5:04
SPEAKER_01: Right, right, right.
5:05
SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: So I partnered neat and tidy with cleaning for a reason.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: I still do it to this day.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: However, when I announced on my Facebook page that, hey, I'm partnering with cleaning for a reason, I had different people with different illnesses that wasn't cancer reaching out to me for those cleanings.
5:24
SPEAKER_01: At the time, I didn't think about it.
5:26
SPEAKER_01: I just like, well, you know, at the time, this particular organization only caters to cancer patients.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: But I knew I wanted to give back in her honor.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: I just didn't know what or how.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: Right.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: Right?
5:41
SPEAKER_01: So um, you all are in Arizona, right?
5:45
SPEAKER_04: I'm in Arizona, Jamies and California.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: So in the South, in January, we had this big winter storm where everybody was, we don't, we don't do snow down here.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: We don't do snow, we don't do ice, we don't do any of those things.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: So when that type of weather comes, everybody is in the house.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: So one day I was on chat, and I know people are probably gonna give me grief for that, but I was on chat GPT and I put in nonprofit organization for cleaning service, and I just went through there.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: And I was on chat for like a week straight, gathering information on how to start a nonprofit, and it hit me a nonprofit organization with cleaning because you already this is a this is a field that you already know.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: So it's nothing new cleaning homes, but instead of going strictly with cancer patients, let's let's let's you know go out a little bit more because you do have cancer patients, but I also have an aunt that has lupus.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: So when I speak to her, some days or some weeks are better than others, and she can't do anything.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: So I open it up for more than just cancer patients, just anybody with a chronic illness or a disability.
7:03
SPEAKER_01: Because again, had my mom still been here, she would have been battling muscular dystrophy and probably be confined to a wheelchair by now.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: So that's basically the the makings and foundations of cleaning for uh Robin's helping hands, Robin's helping hand and um the start of Neat and Tidy, my for-profit cleaning business.
7:29
SPEAKER_04: Very cool.
7:30
SPEAKER_04: That is a very heartfelt story.
7:34
SPEAKER_04: So, first of all, air hugs.
7:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
7:37
SPEAKER_04: That your mom passed away.
7:38
SPEAKER_04: That's just uh it's hard.
7:40
SPEAKER_04: It's it's hard.
7:41
SPEAKER_04: And you're you're doing some good, you're good, good work there.
7:44
SPEAKER_04: And in in those early days, when you were just getting started, what do those look like?
7:49
SPEAKER_04: So I know that you and I were talking before we started to film, and you said that Robin's helping hand it's been around roughly uh 30 days.
7:58
SPEAKER_04: Is that correct?
8:00
SPEAKER_04: Maybe.
8:01
SPEAKER_04: Not that way.
8:02
SPEAKER_04: It's brand spanking you with a baby.
8:04
SPEAKER_04: Brand and so what do you have like an intake form?
8:08
SPEAKER_04: Can they go to your website?
8:09
SPEAKER_04: How do you qualify someone as being able to get a free cleaning?
8:14
SPEAKER_01: So I do have an intake form.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: I have a link tree.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: I was trying to find different ways to make it accessible for everyone because everybody's not on Facebook.
8:25
SPEAKER_02: Right.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: So I've decided to just build a link tree.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: Linktree has the intake form.
8:33
SPEAKER_01: Um, nothing too extravagant.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to, you know, give blood or give me your firstborn or anything like that.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: No, just I know.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: I know what yeah, they can be a little much.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: I have no use for your toes, so I don't need your toes.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it's just the intake form of basic information.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: You have the option of checking the boxes is a chronic illness or disability or other.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: If you want to give me a little bit more information to explain what your illness or disability is, that's completely fine.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, you also have the option of um, if you would like a care essential bundle, which is my little household cleaning bundle, you get a roll of paper towel, some toilet tissue, dish soap, a sponge, disinfectant wipes.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: And there's another thing on there.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: I can't remember, but if you give me a minute, I'll think about it.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: But it's just my way of okay, after we refreshed and cleaned the environment, okay, here's a little care package for you to maintain that that order that we put in for you to make sure that everything is can stay as clean as possible for you.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: So that's a good yeah.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: It's an intake form, and yeah, and they get to talk to me.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: I know that's so awesome.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: I it would be also great whenever you could go to like maybe partner with the hospitals around in your area or something like that.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can definitely see this really taking off for you.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: What an inspiring story.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
10:18
SPEAKER_04: And you said you had a couple of extra packages.
10:20
SPEAKER_04: Is that the only one that you have right now?
10:22
SPEAKER_04: Or is it the it's it's free cleaning and the package, or is there other offerings that you have?
10:29
SPEAKER_01: At the moment, that's the only offering that I have for the not-for-profit.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: And then cleaning.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, Shannon.
10:37
SPEAKER_04: No, you're totally fine.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: They get one cleaning.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: Yes, they get one cleaning, one basic cleaning.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: And speaking to just different people and listening to you all as well as other cleaners, you have to be specific with the cleaning.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: So I started putting basic because even when I'm with my cleaning for a reason uh patients, I get asked to do some deep cleaning stuff, and it's like, I don't have time for that.
11:06
SPEAKER_01: Right.
11:06
SPEAKER_01: But I'll do it for you.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: I'll do it for you because you actually get two cleaners with cleaning for a reason.
11:11
SPEAKER_01: But with me, it's like, okay, yeah, you have to do basic because when I get internal vision, when I start cleaning, I do everything.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: I know, you just get to go.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: I would do, I'll just get to go and so basic cleaning.
11:24
SPEAKER_01: Uh, of course, I want to make sure the kitchen is up to par and clean, the bathroom is clean, as well as whatever living area or main space that they like to be in, get that clean for them.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: Good.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: I love that how you structured it, make sure there was boundaries put in there.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: Uh and it's all for the good of everything.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: I really like the story.
11:50
SPEAKER_04: I think it's awesome.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jenny.
11:53
SPEAKER_04: On the neat and tidy part of your business, do you just do regular maintenance?
11:59
SPEAKER_04: Do you specialize in move-out cleanings?
12:01
SPEAKER_04: What are you doing with neat and tidy?
12:03
SPEAKER_01: So, neat and tidy is primarily deep cleanings and maintenance cleanings.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: I personally don't require you to do a deep cleaning for my service.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: You can go with a basic cleaning.
12:19
SPEAKER_01: You just understood or understand that you know you won't get certain things, or it'll be certain aspects of the service that won't apply.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: Like what hand washing the baseboards and stuff like that.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: Right.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: So if you have a basic cleaning, you're not getting baseboards done.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: You're not getting your refrigerator out.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: You're not getting your cleaning out.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
12:51
SPEAKER_01: If there's something that you want, we can add that on, but you have to let me know ahead of time because of scheduling, right?
12:58
SPEAKER_03: Right.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: Right.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: So I have basic, I have deep cleanings.
13:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, I do move ins and move outs.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: And that's basically it.
13:08
SPEAKER_01: That's that's the meat of it.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: Oh, and I do have one particular package I like to call the ultimate cleaning experience or housekeeper for a day, where from 8 a.m.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: to 5 p.m., I'm yours.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: You rent it out a person for a day, basically.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: And we get the deep cleaning done.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you want some organizing, and I have to limit to that.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: I've learned that.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: Limit to debt because if you say organizing, you will be remodeling an entire home or entire room.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: That's so true.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: Well, you said organizing.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: Well, limit the kitchen pantry.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to do two walking in closets of clothes.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: But you you have to put a limit on those things like that.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: But yes, I do have those are the three main packages.
14:02
SPEAKER_01: The tidy up is the basic, the neat and tidy is the deep cleaning, and the ultimate cleaning experience, which is housekeeper for a day, where you just rank me down for it.
14:12
SPEAKER_04: So, for a point of reference for the audience, what are you charging for housekeeper for a day?
14:15
SPEAKER_04: I always ask because I'm curious, there's different price points.
14:18
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: So I want to preface this to say this is for my area.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: So everybody's areas is different, but for housekeeper of a day, that's$800.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
14:31
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: So I know some people are that's not a lot, or that's too much.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm it's for the area.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: So even with that, I'm having to look at the area of what everyone else is charging, whether they're charging too much, whether they're charging too low.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: But once I give the price and let them know, okay, this is what you get for that.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: 98% of the time they book and go for it.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: And some people, you know, well, that's a little bit too much.
14:58
SPEAKER_01: Well, okay, well, I can do this for you, but it won't include this.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: So we'll I'll downgrade them to the neat and tidy.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: And for the most part, they go for it.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: So is it safe to say that uh you no longer work for the bank?
15:14
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, the bank has been gone.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: I so the funny story with that is, okay, it's it's kind of sad, but it's kind of funny as well.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: So my mom passed March 2023.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: So we got the diagnosis of her being terminal September of 2022.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: So my husband, I'm talking to him, and he said, Well, I'm gonna say this.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: And at this time, he wasn't my husband.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: We didn't get married until September 2023.
15:44
SPEAKER_01: So at the time he's my fiance, he said, Well, I'm gonna tell you this.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: It looks like you're gonna be putting in your notice earlier than expected because you need to leave the bank to take care of your mom.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: Because my plan was, okay, after we get married, I'll quit.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: So he was like, No, make this year your last year.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: Wrap up whatever it is you need to wrap up and put your notice in because your mom needs your undivided attention now.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: So it was New Year's Eve, December 31st, 2022 was my last day in corporate America.
16:22
SPEAKER_04: I love it.
16:22
SPEAKER_04: I love it.
16:23
SPEAKER_04: I love, I love welcome to the cleaning industry.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: The 2013 spent out so January 2023 is whenever neat and tidy full time.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: Hey, full time.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: I absolutely love it, and there was some, I don't say it was hard, but it was a little bit more difficult because again, I'm only at the time two days.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Saturday and Sunday.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: I know I could book Saturday and Sunday, but going in January 2023, I was like, okay, I got a whole seven days.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: Not included, well, five, I'll say five days because take time off of myself.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: I have a whole week that I was scheduled and I got to, you know, now you mean to make some money here.
17:15
SPEAKER_01: But fortunately, we have been business, has been good, business has been great.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: I am a solo cleaner.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: I did have uh part-time cleaners, but uh we welcomed our baby girl last year.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: So for the year of 20.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: So for the year of 2025, I closed me and tidy down, and that's another thing with customers.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: I think I have my customers spoiled because I was like, hey, going on maternity leave.
17:41
SPEAKER_01: So what does that mean?
17:43
SPEAKER_01: I'm not cleaning.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have to who's gonna clean my house basically.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: I have other people, but I just really don't.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I spoiled you all.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: So, okay, so if you all look good for waiting a year, then you know, okay, and everybody, and I when I tell you I have everybody back, once I sent out the messages, hey, I'm coming back, when's the next availability?
18:10
SPEAKER_01: Put me on the schedule, how much you need.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: It's like okay, well, here it is.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: And I sent everybody their uh information, their invoices, and I'm back on schedule.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: I really like that.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: I I so not only are you a new wife, you also have a new child, and now you're running a neat and tidy business while taking care of your child and your husband, and you decided to go ahead with Robin's helping hands of your nonprofit.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: I have goosebumps everywhere.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm almost gonna cry.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know why.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: I just love that for you.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: And it gives a lot of our audience that are still solo cleaners, and there's nothing wrong with that.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: The the that this is a very inspiring story that you can come back and be better than ever.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
19:15
SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
19:15
SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
19:16
SPEAKER_04: So, have you had any really big challenges in building your business?
19:20
SPEAKER_04: I mean, has there any been anything unusual?
19:23
SPEAKER_04: I mean, obviously, closing down for a whole year, that was a pretty big challenge.
19:26
SPEAKER_04: Like I got a little nervous.
19:28
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I'm happy that they all waited for you.
19:30
SPEAKER_04: Is there anything else that was a big challenge?
19:33
SPEAKER_01: That was the for that segment, that was the biggest challenge because okay, essentially giving up my customers for them to go somewhere else.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: And when I do decide to come back, they may not come back to me because I've been gone for a year.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: So I weighed that weighed on me a lot during that time period.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: But before then, when I was first starting out, it was getting the customers, okay.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: Am I going to be able to sustain this?
20:07
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you've done your research that you could do, you put yourself out there.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: So let's see who's going to, who's going to book, who's going to accept you.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: So in the beginning, that because I've always been a nine-to-five girl.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: Hey, if you were to, if you were to ask the Danielle previously if she was going to own a business, let alone clean houses for a living, absolutely not.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: No, give me my regular paycheck, let me clock in, let somebody else be the boss, and just go on about my way.
20:47
SPEAKER_01: But that getting the customers and going back to what I said previously, I'm the lessons of boundaries.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: You can't do everything.
20:59
SPEAKER_01: Some people you will have to turn down for a number of reasons, whether it's beyond your scope, whether it's just too much of a house or too much of a task for you.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that that pretty much sums up the beginnings of it.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm still learning.
21:18
SPEAKER_01: Like to say, I've bought a lot of lessons, meaning lost money for whatever reason.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: I've been there for you know, it just wasn't worth whatever it was that they were paying me at the time, breaking stuff.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: Just uh everything that's a whole variety of that I've been through almost, with the exception of hiring, learning how to hire, and maybe one day, maybe one day.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm still learning it.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm still learning it.
21:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm still learning it.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: I really am.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: I would like to now that well, we have Robin's helping hand, trying to stretch myself between the for-profit and the nonprofit.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, if you're wanting to put more attention to the nonprofit to make sure it's on the up and go, yeah, you're gonna have to hire.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: So that is something that's in the pipeline I'm working on as well.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: Even if I can get one or two helpers, because I have a set recurrence schedule.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: So I don't need a big crew at the moment.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: And those cleanings that I do need uh more people, I do have contractors that I can reach out to and get them to assist me with those bigger cleanings.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: That's where collaboration really comes in so nice.
23:11
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
23:13
SPEAKER_04: So we talked a little bit about what your mission was and who you primarily serve.
23:19
SPEAKER_04: And then do you when hypothetically, do you are you selected?
23:24
SPEAKER_04: Everybody who comes through the funnel when they're applying for a free cleaning, or are you turning people away?
23:29
SPEAKER_04: Are there terms and conditions to that?
23:31
SPEAKER_04: Are you just taking them all in, giving them a big hug and saying, there you go?
23:35
SPEAKER_01: So once the intake form is in, they fill out the intake form, I give them a call, and I get a little bit of information from them.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: I will go and do a walkthrough if it's a hoarding situation or situation that needs remediation.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: You know, there may be, for example, there's no ceiling.
24:02
SPEAKER_01: Or there's open wiring.
24:04
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: Things of that nature.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, it's beyond my scope.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: We can get together and we can get some resources in for you that could be able to help you possibly.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: And if those things are taken care of, you're welcome to come back and resubmit a form.
24:22
SPEAKER_01: And we can go with the basic cleaning for the um for what the nonprofit is for.
24:28
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that.
24:30
SPEAKER_04: So have you had anybody want a second free cleaning?
24:35
SPEAKER_01: So I've actually only done one.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: I've served my first home last week.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: Was it last week?
24:40
SPEAKER_01: It was about last week.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: You mentioned the hospitals.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: So I have reached out to cancer clinics throughout the city.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: And one of the social workers she's actually sent me my first home.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: So with speaking to her, thank you.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is great.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: Can I ask you what what's the do you live in a big metropolitan city area city?
25:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm located in Memphis, Memphis County.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: I used to this is beside that.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: I used to live in Covington.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: I was in Shelby County.
25:17
SPEAKER_00: I I used to live in Shelby County.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: You were there far from India.
25:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: I went to school and everything there.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: High school.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Yes, through and through.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: So I love that.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: So there you're connected to a social worker now.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: And it seems like you're learning how to more dabble in getting the connections to make those connections.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: So as Shannon was asking me, so I actually served my first home.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: I sent the information to a couple of social workers.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: And she sent me my first home.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: And as I said, she did the NSA form.
26:02
SPEAKER_01: Well, the social worker, and you have, and they have the option, if they can't do it themselves, welcome loved ones or caregivers to fill out the form for them as well.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: But I do have to speak with the recipient to make sure they're okay with me coming and to get information about, you know, what their home is like and what they're looking for.
26:22
SPEAKER_01: So with this particular home, I did not do a walkthrough.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: We scheduled a day and I came out.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: And I, for I guess for privacy purposes, I call her Miss Lady.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: Miss Lady was very nice.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: She was very excited to speak with me.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: She said that that was something that she truly needed and wanted to have done was have her home clean.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm a little bit biased.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: When I walked in, I didn't see anything to clean.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: I'ma just be honest.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: I didn't see much of anything to clean.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: She had been in that home, I think she said for 50 years.
27:07
SPEAKER_01: It was a small home, but I was trying to figure out, okay, what am I going to do with that?
27:12
SPEAKER_00: It's a masculine.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: Those are always so hard to clean.
27:16
SPEAKER_01: Like, what am I doing?
27:17
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, oh, but the dust.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: The funny thing with her is she wanted to interview me.
27:24
unknown: Oh.
27:25
SPEAKER_01: Now, me personally, on the business side, you booked me, you paid your money.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: There is no interview.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: But with her being 85, she's 85.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: She said her birthday would be May 14th.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: She'll be 86.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: She's oh, she's an older older lady, so they have their ways of doing things.
27:46
SPEAKER_04: They do more distinguished.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: So for 15 minutes, she interviewed me.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: Boy, you think you have all your boundaries, everything's crossed, and then you come up to the little cute old ladies, and then it's like, you got me.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: I gotta talk to you.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: And then you get to tell me, yeah.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: I want your life story and don't leave anything out.
28:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: Okay, definitely.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, but she is a cancer patient, and something that she wanted me to share with everybody.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: She has had cancer for 25 years.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: That's a she said you you make sure you tell people when they're diagnosed with cancer is not a death sentence.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: I've had cancer for 25 years, and I was speechless.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: I was like, there's 25, that's over two decades, going on three decades of battling cancer.
28:48
SPEAKER_01: But when I went in there, it's like, okay, I'm searching.
28:52
SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know what?
28:54
SPEAKER_01: Just pretend there's something to clean and just do what you would normally do.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: But afterward, also with neat and tidy, and I offer this with anybody that I clean with, I want you to do a walkthrough behind me because I'm not perfect.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm human, right?
29:10
SPEAKER_01: So I want them to go back and not only see what I've done, and if there's anything that they see that could be done differently, or something that I missed, please tell me.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: Not only are you welcoming into your home for the profit side, for the for-profit side, you're paying for a service, but for the non-profit side, you're welcome into your home for a reason, which is to clean your home.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to see what I've done and to make sure that you're satisfied.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: But my favorite thing, oh, it smells so good in here.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: It feels so clean in here.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Miss Black.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: It feels uh even if it is clean, it feels, it feels like it.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: It feels like it.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it does.
29:56
SPEAKER_01: So it's so yeah, that's my so that's my first home.
30:00
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, after this air and we share and some other things that I have coming up, once the word gets out a little bit more.
30:09
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, I have more homes to uh care for.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would love to follow along.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: I think I I think a lot of our listeners would love to follow along too.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we'll we'll revisit this in in six, seven months.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: Sometime.
30:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
30:30
SPEAKER_03: Sometime.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, I would love to see where this goes.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: I think this is a great thing that you're doing.
30:37
SPEAKER_04: So I have a question on the Robin's helping hand.
30:42
SPEAKER_04: How are you gathering?
30:44
SPEAKER_04: You're just donating your time and efforts because it's just you right now, and you're not actively fundraising for that element yet.
30:50
SPEAKER_04: I know we were talking before we came on camera for that.
30:54
SPEAKER_04: So you're just donating your time and your energy for that right now, and then eventually you'll maybe air quote, take on donations for helping the expense.
31:05
SPEAKER_04: I know some people do, some people don't.
31:07
SPEAKER_04: We've seen a lot of things on the internet on Facebook that we were all just discussing about before we came on here.
31:13
SPEAKER_04: So is it are you just do you allocate a certain percentage of your gross?
31:18
SPEAKER_04: How are you deciding how many you're gonna do?
31:21
SPEAKER_01: So, since in pilot phase right now, currently, so let's just say, for example, homes do start coming in at a rapid rate or whatnot.
31:34
SPEAKER_01: So I would probably do about one to two a week because I still have my knee and tidy business that I have to cater to those customers.
31:43
SPEAKER_01: And I do have a home life that I have to uh care for as well.
31:47
SPEAKER_01: So maybe one to two homes a week.
31:49
SPEAKER_01: Um, solo.
31:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm actually in the process of working with Volunteer Odyssey.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: It's a nonprofit here in Memphis that volunteers go through and sign up to become volunteers for different nonprofit organizations.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm still working out the kinks of that because I'm dealing with personal homes, addresses, and background checks and things of that nature.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: So I'm in the process of working through that.
32:17
SPEAKER_01: So, as far as the extra help that will come once I get that base taken care of.
32:23
SPEAKER_01: But as far as the products, I just set aside a certain amount a week for cleaning supplies and for the care package bundles.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: But I kind of essentially use the same cleaning supplies as I do for Neatness Heidi.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: It's just, I just have a separate, I guess you want to call it like a little box or tote for those supplies.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: So I won't commingle my business supplies with the nonprofit supplies.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it sounds so good and organized.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: I cannot, I think this is going to, I think this is really going to be something.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: I think so.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: I I'm really excited to see this.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it just it really has my and I know if my mind is like, oh, that's a good idea.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: If my mind's doing that, I know our listeners' minds are sitting there like, oh.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: But to separate the two, boy, you I'm see, I'm not organized enough for that.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: To over here we have this business, and over here we have this business.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: It's all that's very like you already have it down, your structure down already.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: You're that that week that we were snowed or iced in, that was my priority to structure it.
33:40
SPEAKER_01: Because as I said, once people come in, I don't want to just be looking and stretching my head trying to figure things out.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: No, before I bring people in, let me work through any of the things in it.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: So once I step away from the physical side of cleaning and having to step back, okay, it can go on without me being in the field and without me having to figure out those types of things.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: And I think personally I'm kind of like that.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:13
SPEAKER_04: Definitely.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: Robin's helping hands nationwide, just like another cleaning for a reason.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: I really could see that.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: I there's no limit to that.
34:26
SPEAKER_04: I think Debbie ended up selling it to the ISS.
34:29
SPEAKER_04: She stepped down and then gave it to the SI.
34:32
SPEAKER_04: They either sold it or gave it.
34:34
SPEAKER_04: I don't remember.
34:35
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think it's absolutely off off.
34:38
SPEAKER_04: I can't even talk.
34:39
SPEAKER_04: Awesome.
34:44
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, I can imagine at some point there'll be some sort of balancing that happens between the two businesses.
34:51
SPEAKER_04: It's, I mean, it's relatively new, so there probably or maybe has been a hard part for balancing both of those businesses.
34:58
SPEAKER_04: Or right now they probably just are cohesive and they just run together, right?
35:03
SPEAKER_01: Right now, I don't see myself having any difficulties per se.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: I will say for both sides, it's just the people aspect.
35:15
SPEAKER_01: And I know this is is probably sound, it sounds bad as it's it is not as bad as it sounds, but it's just making sure we were talking earlier as far as board members, because the nonprofit organization, I have to have uh a board, right?
35:33
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to make sure that everyone's intentions are pure and aligns with the mission, and not detour from what the mission is, is to make sure that those vulnerable populations have a clean environment, clean spaces to live in.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: So if that's the mission, I prefer not to have board members that want to sway away from that or hijack it and make it into something that is not.
36:03
SPEAKER_01: So that's something, yeah, that that's a worry that I have.
36:06
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna be honest with you.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: But as long as I can um vouch and streen my potential board members or anyone that wants to be a part of Robin's Helping Hand, I think I'll be good.
36:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm not in a rush because, again, I'm still in the poly phase, I'm still building, and I don't want to bring people in and I'm still what they say, creating the foundation of the home because Robin's helping hand is considered a home, right?
36:34
SPEAKER_01: So I want to make sure the foundations is laid and it's good and it's strong and it's structured before bringing in other people, and I don't know what I'm doing, or I'm not completely done with what it is that I'm supposed to be doing to make sure that it's sound and structured.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: So for both sides, with that, it's the people aspect of it, with that, and meat and tidy.
37:00
SPEAKER_01: For a minute, I was looking for help, looking for cleaners, and they always fell through in some type of way.
37:07
SPEAKER_01: So instead of getting my hopes up and being let down, let's just focus on being a solo cleaner right now.
37:13
SPEAKER_01: That way, you can still dictate, well, not dictate, but you can still navigate and you can get the business of you'll take care of the business without having to rely and depend on other people for your business because your reputation is what you have.
37:38
SPEAKER_01: And if you're known for showing up late, not doing a good job, or just things like that, that goes into your reputation, and people may not want to book you for your services because of your ill reputation.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay, oh, I like that.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: So everything has to align.
37:55
SPEAKER_00: Do you have a mission statement?
37:56
SPEAKER_00: Are you working on that?
37:58
SPEAKER_01: You know, for Robin's helping hand, yeah, yes.
38:05
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I do, but um not sure.
38:10
SPEAKER_01: It's a lot.
38:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, it's okay.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: But I can say the beginning of it is Robin's helping hands.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: Um for uh individuals and families facing serious illness or disability.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: I like that.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: And you just you know, putting people on the board.
38:37
SPEAKER_00: Now, what is the board for?
38:39
SPEAKER_00: I I'm curious to know.
38:40
SPEAKER_00: You have to, is that something for a nonprofit that you have to have as like a board member?
38:45
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know that.
38:46
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yes.
38:48
SPEAKER_01: From my understanding, and Shannon, feel free to chime in.
38:52
SPEAKER_01: It's for governance, basically, to make sure you are following protocol, procedure, laws, and everything because according to nonprofit accordingly to the law, because nonprofits are like the government.
39:10
SPEAKER_01: Like you want to follow the rules and follow the law and make sure everything is on the up up.
39:15
SPEAKER_01: If not, you're gonna get in some trouble.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: Right.
39:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, and then it's goes back to like kind of not doing it for the right reasons.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: You're not you're saying you're a nonprofit, but you're really yeah, I got you.
39:27
SPEAKER_00: I understand now.
39:29
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
39:29
SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to make that clear with the audience, too.
39:33
SPEAKER_04: So, what kind of things are you doing to take care of yourself while you're doing all of this emotional work?
39:39
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I we all know we've done, we've all done a charity cleaning here and there, and it's like it's it's taxing emotionally.
39:45
SPEAKER_04: Are you you're not doing more cleaning?
39:48
SPEAKER_04: What are you doing to help yourself relax and decompress after you're doing some of these heavier cleanings?
39:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh honestly, like a part, I could mentalize.
40:03
SPEAKER_01: Okay, like so I just take it in and on one side, yes, a little emotional because with Miss Lady, for example, the first home, she had a lot of resemblance of my mom as far as some other things that she shared with me.
40:21
SPEAKER_01: It was mirrored my mom a little bit.
40:25
SPEAKER_01: But on the other side, I just take it all in.
40:29
SPEAKER_01: I have this little mental box that I put it in and I close it and I don't think about it.
40:36
SPEAKER_01: That's that's the honest truth.
40:38
SPEAKER_01: Physically, um, I do take two days off a week, Sundays and Thursdays.
40:44
SPEAKER_01: Sundays, I go to church and I spend more time with my family.
40:48
SPEAKER_01: And Thursdays, I like to call my self-care day.
40:51
SPEAKER_01: Um, I go to therapy.
40:52
SPEAKER_01: I've been in therapy for the last five years.
41:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it was five years.
41:01
SPEAKER_01: I think I've been in therapy for five years.
41:02
SPEAKER_01: So I do go to therapy, self-care days, beauty care, my nails, spa treatments, things like that physically, but mentally I shut it out.
41:14
SPEAKER_01: I probably need something better, a better way to do that.
41:18
SPEAKER_01: But I do compartmentalize.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: That's something that I just do.
41:21
SPEAKER_01: That's something that I've learned to do since my mom became ill, even up to the day of her passing.
41:29
SPEAKER_01: I handle the little box.
41:33
SPEAKER_01: Yep, I have the handle task, the handle task at hand, and then I go and process it later.
41:41
SPEAKER_01: But to my knowledge, from as much information as everyone shares with me, there has not been just a case where I've had to just let me step outside and get myself together because this is too much.
41:58
SPEAKER_01: Everyone is nice, there are a lot more women.
42:03
SPEAKER_01: So, of course, I call them a little sweet old ladies.
42:06
SPEAKER_01: There are a lot more women that I I can't I encounter, so they have a bit of optimism for themselves.
42:16
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna say for me, it's kind of hard to get in that emotional space with that, because everyone deals with it with a smile on their face from what I see.
42:29
SPEAKER_01: So I don't have a real way, or I haven't had a situation to where I had to go get myself together because this is overwhelming, this is too much, or this is reminding me of my mom, or this was something triggering to me.
42:43
SPEAKER_01: And if I did see certain things, like she was on oxygen as well.
42:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, if I do see an oxygen tank, it triggers a little bit, but not so much that I have to go step out and get myself together.
42:57
SPEAKER_00: Emotionally, right.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: Express right.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: I if anything, I feel like it would be like oh, you're like, oh, you know, you know, yeah, yes, yes.
43:06
SPEAKER_04: That oh I was asking because I am not good at compartmentalizing anything.
43:13
SPEAKER_04: I've I've blown them off like on people's couches.
43:15
SPEAKER_04: Like I stopped going because we were part of cleaning for a reason when I had W-2s, and my very last house was a lady who had worked for the same employer for like 20-something years, so she could move up to my area, and she hated her job.
43:28
SPEAKER_04: And the biggest impact, and I've shared this story before that she had out of the whole visit because the cleaning tech was late, so I was trying to stall.
43:36
SPEAKER_04: Like so I suppose it's on the couch, right?
43:38
SPEAKER_04: And then you know, so we sat and we chatted, and she told me how she had to give away her African girl who she had since the hatchling.
43:45
SPEAKER_04: She was getting ready to get rid of the dog that she had just adopted because she wanted to come up here and hike because I'm not too far from Sedona.
43:51
SPEAKER_04: She was telling me all of these transitional things.
43:54
SPEAKER_04: So at this point, like I'm not good with this information because then I'm like starting to like my eyes are watering.
44:00
SPEAKER_04: I'm like fanning myself and finally, you know, but the biggest thing was, you know, don't wait to take action.
44:07
SPEAKER_04: And you know, I waited 20 years in a job that I absolutely hated.
44:10
SPEAKER_04: And I wish I had done it sooner because her life was cut short.
44:13
SPEAKER_04: She was terminal, she didn't have much longer to live.
44:16
SPEAKER_04: But it's just this interesting dynamic of what people do.
44:19
SPEAKER_04: But I spend a lot of time, as much as I can possibly imagine.
44:23
SPEAKER_04: Jamie knows I'm out and just like, where are you?
44:25
SPEAKER_04: I'm out in the world.
44:27
SPEAKER_04: Walking around, I'm just walking.
44:29
SPEAKER_04: So I think it's great that you have a way of channeling what that energy is because it does, it does impact you and it does add up after a while.
44:40
SPEAKER_04: And there's like little ways that we have to do things to kind of give ourselves self-care.
44:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, it sounds like you also go to therapy, though, too.
44:48
SPEAKER_04: So therapy is, I think it's fantastic.
44:51
SPEAKER_04: You're one of the rare ones who thinks that this is stuck with it.
44:55
SPEAKER_04: Part of what life should be.
44:56
SPEAKER_04: Because if you you have a lot of things that you have to deal with, especially the last five years with your mom and everything passing away, it's good that you have an opportunity to get that off of your chest, so to speak.
45:08
SPEAKER_04: So for the for the vision in the future of this, because we're gonna we're gonna come back and circle back around in about six months or so, where would you love to see both your business and your nonfor profit in the next few years?
45:20
SPEAKER_01: So voluntary.
45:23
SPEAKER_01: You're based, I would love to even if I don't expand across the United States, I would like to expand within the mid-south.
45:36
SPEAKER_01: So Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Alabama, maybe Missouri, just that little area.
45:46
SPEAKER_01: I would love to see Robin's Helping Hand expand out, volunteer base with the with the business and with the company, with the organization as well.
45:57
SPEAKER_01: But I would love to see it expand to get the name out and for people to see that this is something that's beautiful, that's blooming in a time from a dark time, expanded.
46:10
SPEAKER_01: Not sure how that will work, but that will be something that I will be interested in seeing.
46:15
SPEAKER_01: I also, in the middle of cleaning, I do some of my best thinking when I clean.
46:20
SPEAKER_01: I actually also do like just like wait.
46:24
SPEAKER_00: It's our therapy almost, right?
46:27
SPEAKER_01: I have to write that down.
46:28
SPEAKER_01: So I would like to start in the future a life skills uh program.
46:36
SPEAKER_01: So foster children, individuals that were, for example, my mom, she had to learn how to do everything all over again.
46:45
SPEAKER_01: Start a program that teaches the basics of cleaning, of washing dishes, doing laundry, unfolding clothes.
46:54
SPEAKER_01: You'll be surprised.
46:56
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people don't know how to sweep and moffle floor.
46:58
SPEAKER_01: It's just something that we would think, well, that's common sense.
47:01
SPEAKER_01: No, a lot of people don't know how.
47:03
SPEAKER_01: So the future of Robin's helping hand, I would like to add that as a program as well.
47:10
SPEAKER_00: That's a great idea.
47:11
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
47:12
SPEAKER_01: So that is something that, yeah, every couple of years from now, because I have to get the um I guess you would call it the compassionate cleaning program.
47:22
SPEAKER_01: I guess that's the type of program that it is.
47:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, get that up off the ground and get that successfully going.
47:28
SPEAKER_01: And knee and tidy to scale it, grow it.
47:33
SPEAKER_01: I want to eventually step back and put in a couple of helpers so they can over so they can do the the day-to-day base, the day-to-day operations of knee and tidy.
47:43
SPEAKER_01: And I become, I guess what you would call admin.
47:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:47
SPEAKER_04: Absentee ownership.
47:49
SPEAKER_04: Woo-woo.
47:51
SPEAKER_01: That's the goal.
47:53
SPEAKER_04: Well, those are all the questions I have.
47:55
SPEAKER_04: Do you have any questions for us?
47:56
SPEAKER_04: I always like to ask the guests if they have any questions for us.
47:59
SPEAKER_04: We're happy to answer.
48:01
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you say you've been in cleaner for so how did you get your start with cleaning?
48:06
SPEAKER_04: I actually was a jewelry designer by trade.
48:10
SPEAKER_04: I had a store in my downtown location.
48:12
SPEAKER_04: I live not too far from Sedona.
48:15
SPEAKER_04: And it's a it's 2007, 2008.
48:19
SPEAKER_04: And I was a silversmith by trade.
48:21
SPEAKER_04: I I loved, I felt very privileged to have done it for as many years as I did.
48:25
SPEAKER_04: And I did not want to move from my area, and the economy was tanking because I love jewelry, but it's not a necessity.
48:32
SPEAKER_04: So I got hired on at the local Merrimaids here, and we got in a squabble over$2 a pay.
48:39
SPEAKER_04: And I was like, screw you, I can do this on my own.
48:42
SPEAKER_04: And that was like I've hit the ground running, and that's what I sold my first company, started a second company.
48:48
SPEAKER_04: I'm getting ready to start a third company.
48:51
SPEAKER_04: I have five businesses, you know.
48:53
SPEAKER_04: So there's the coaching side and the digital asset side, and there's a publishing side.
48:57
SPEAKER_04: I have eight, eight, I eight books.
49:00
SPEAKER_04: So that that's yeah, it's just I've been in the clean.
49:03
SPEAKER_04: I love the clean industry.
49:04
SPEAKER_04: My April Fool's yesterday was when I was quitting the industry.
49:09
SPEAKER_04: And people were like, What?
49:13
SPEAKER_04: I was talking about how you're leaving.
49:18
SPEAKER_04: And some people actually didn't read it all the way and congratulating.
49:21
SPEAKER_00: Congratulating you for going cleaning in space.
49:25
SPEAKER_00: I was like, wait, what?
49:29
SPEAKER_00: This money.
49:31
SPEAKER_04: That's that's how I ended up in the cleaning industry.
49:33
SPEAKER_04: I because I didn't want is that your dog or my dog?
49:39
SPEAKER_03: That's your dog.
49:40
SPEAKER_03: I'm trying to.
49:41
SPEAKER_04: So but that's how I ended up in the cleaning industry is I started working at Mary Mays.
49:45
SPEAKER_04: We got in a squabble over two bucks, and here I am 16 years later.
49:49
SPEAKER_04: And ironically, the Marymaids that I work for is going out of business.
49:53
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that just happened?
49:55
SPEAKER_04: That just happened.
49:56
SPEAKER_04: Barbara, I worked for Jean and Bruce because Barbara owned it and she was a Nazi.
49:59
SPEAKER_04: See, I've heard that story.
50:00
SPEAKER_04: I don't understand why she was.
50:01
SPEAKER_04: Then Jean and Bruce bought it, then they sold it to someone else.
50:04
SPEAKER_04: I don't remember their name.
50:05
SPEAKER_04: Then they sold it to the lady who lives in Scottsdale, who had five Marymaids, and she ran it into the ground.
50:10
SPEAKER_04: It's she's only had it like six years, but it's going out of business.
50:15
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
50:17
SPEAKER_04: So it's it's funny, the whole evolution of Shannon in 16 years.
50:22
unknown: Pretty well.
50:24
SPEAKER_00: Uh I was a janitor during COVID.
50:28
SPEAKER_00: I was a janitor at my son's school.
50:32
SPEAKER_00: So everybody was afraid of cooties.
50:35
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, yeah, we had so they wanted to see somebody on site there, wiping down the window, the the doors and the doorknobs and all the high-touch places.
50:48
SPEAKER_00: And well, they didn't want to renew my contract for the next year because it was like, okay, you did your thing.
50:55
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, dang.
50:57
SPEAKER_00: So I had a job.
50:58
SPEAKER_00: I was also a part-time janitor as a W-2 employee at my church.
51:06
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, they would only give me 10 hours a week.
51:10
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, this, there's gotta be something better.
51:15
SPEAKER_00: But I did have little ladies coming up to me.
51:17
SPEAKER_00: Do you do houses?
51:18
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, absolutely not.
51:20
SPEAKER_00: Like I was, but I remember I was sitting in my parking lot and the the parking lot of the church after I was done, and I was just like, give me what am I supposed to?
51:33
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm so much, I'm I'm to be so much more than what this is.
51:37
SPEAKER_00: This what I don't know what this is.
51:39
SPEAKER_00: And as I was praying, there was a a van that drove by and it was a cleaning company, and it was all ding, I just just like that.
51:51
SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh, that's it.
51:53
SPEAKER_00: And that's how, and it's in the name were Christian ran company above all cleaning services.
52:00
SPEAKER_00: Not only that, it started with an A because I remember remember back in the day whenever you know everything was alphabetical.
52:07
SPEAKER_00: So and very early on, I got connected with Shannon and was charging only$25 an hour.
52:20
SPEAKER_00: You know, I didn't know any, I didn't know anything, was having friends come help me, like woo-hoo, let's go clean some houses, paying them cash.
52:28
SPEAKER_00: Just then I got I ran in, I got introduced to Shannon, and she was like, you don't have to be like that.
52:39
SPEAKER_00: And I ended up hiring her as my coach and mentor.
52:44
SPEAKER_00: This was before she had we were still doing like in-person Zoom meetings, and that was so normal at that time because it was coming, we were coming out of COVID, so there was a lot of Zoom, like all of my doctor's appointments were always on Zoom, so it wasn't nothing to it, and I just grew scale, and this was in 2022, and I just actually sent something over to Shannon a few minutes before this came on, and we have super surpassed our first quarter this year of record breaking.
53:25
SPEAKER_00: We're doing record-breaking things, and yeah, that's how it all all evolved.
53:34
SPEAKER_00: And I've been able to buy my own house.
53:44
SPEAKER_00: Good times, a little nerve-wracking, but it's a good time.
53:47
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
53:48
SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love the cleaning industry, and I love teaching people how to get to this point, you know, and sharing my uh successes, my losses, my everything.
54:05
SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
54:08
SPEAKER_01: Well, congratulations.
54:09
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you too.
54:11
SPEAKER_00: You too.
54:12
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
54:13
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot, and that's a lot of I am literally writing down Robin helping Robin's helping hands because I think that is so great to not single out somebody just with breast cancer, but in no shade to that in that industry or that group, but to help all.
54:39
SPEAKER_00: To help all that are going through.
54:43
SPEAKER_00: I think it's so beneficial.
54:45
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I love it.
54:48
SPEAKER_00: I love this industry.
54:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I'm going for any time soon.
54:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I'm not here.
54:58
SPEAKER_04: It's awesome.
54:58
SPEAKER_04: Well, welcome to the 23rd trade.
55:01
SPEAKER_04: I think it's the first time in history that women are gonna dominate a field entirely, and there's gonna be millionaires and people who are doing five or ten million in the next couple of years, and we're starting to see more and more of it.
55:13
SPEAKER_04: It's exciting.
55:14
SPEAKER_04: And I know we have robots that are coming out in the next three years, so that's gonna be an interesting take on if it's gonna be successful or not.
55:23
SPEAKER_04: But yeah, it'll it's gonna be, I think we're in the right time frame of time itself to kind of be on the wave of what's happening with our industry.
55:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I do too.
55:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm so happy we're here.
55:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm so happy we're all here.
55:42
SPEAKER_04: Well, ladies, thank you so very much for your time, Mr.
55:45
SPEAKER_04: Nell.
55:45
SPEAKER_04: When this airs, I'll send you over a link.
55:47
SPEAKER_04: If you want to share it to your web page, you're more than welcome to.
55:52
SPEAKER_04: But yeah, any any other questions?
55:54
SPEAKER_04: I'll see you in about six months.
55:55
SPEAKER_04: I'm very curious to see um what ends up happening here too.
55:59
SPEAKER_04: Anyways, take care, you guys.
56:01
SPEAKER_04: Bye you guys.
56:02
SPEAKER_04: Bye.