Latest / Cleaning Business Life / CBL EP 177 Systems = Freedom — The 3 Systems Every Cleaning Business Needs

Transcript

CBL EP 177 Systems = Freedom — The 3 Systems Every Cleaning Business Needs · Cleaning Business Life

• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, welcome back to the Cleaning Business Life Podcast.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: I am joined with Shannon Miller, our host, and my name is Jamie Runko.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: And today we are gonna talk about systems build freedom and the three systems every cleaning business owner needs to have.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Woo-hoo!
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's there, there's actually seven big systems, but I figured we'd talk about three, three of the biggies.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something that every cleaning business should have.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you if you even if you're on a small scale, it's just you, me, myself, and I is what I say when I go out to lunch with myself.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, How many?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, three.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, if I could go back and talk to whenever myself, whenever I first started this business.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: If you're just starting out, you guys, these have this in place so that later on, whenever you decide that you want to scale, because your schedule is only so full, whenever you know, can go only so far if you're a solo cleaner.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is for people that want to scale.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Have these systems in place before you even and if you don't have it, don't panic.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, because we're gonna walk you through this.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Or think about it.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be, you know, if you if you don't have it, don't panic.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's you'll get there.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: But but freedom, freedom makes this so it's not a job, right?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Freedom makes it so you have an actual asset that you can sell.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really big into talking, you'll hear me talk about all the time on my cereal box about legacy, creating legacy, financial freedom for you and your family that you could either sell or gift to your family.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you could be an absentee owner.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: I could just make you an annual payment or you know, buy it a lot now.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: It happens a lot where there, and then it gives you the freedom to do other entrepreneur endeavors, as we've seen with several people in our industry.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it's freedoms from working nights, freedom from constant client texts, freedom from going to every single job yourself.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And the uncomfortable truth is most cleaning business owners don't actually have a cleaning business, they have a J-O-B, which I've heard some people reference as just overbroke, which isn't if you have a great job and you love it, then it doesn't, it's not the same category.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about schlepping it every day where you're not like you're not happy about doing what you're doing.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: They have a cleaning body, they have a cleaning job that they own, and the reason for that is almost always the same.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: They never built any systems.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: True.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a lot of people think systems are something you build when you get bigger.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're not going to get there, you'll get there.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: I remember I was like, oh well, I'll get that.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: No, I I I knew as soon as I came in on this, I first of all, I needed help because I wanted to be big.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I looked at people that were inside this industry after I did all the the amount of research that I could I I like dove in so hard.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: I found somebody that I resonated with to help me get to where I wanted to go at a much faster pace.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: I remember I'm a little older, so I started, and there's nothing wrong with that neither.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: I I am almost 50, so I woo, I made it.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Did not think I'd make it here, you guys.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: But the race behind that.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: We won't talk about it today.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And making sure that I found somebody that I resonated with to help me get to where I needed to go much faster than a typical like doing bootstrapping it, doing it all yourself.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: I ri I wanted something that I could copy and paste and make it my own, but I needed some guidance.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I got connected with Shannon and everybody actually in the industry.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't just Shannon, but that's who I resonated with.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we grew it, but I had to learn how to put systems in place.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody, whenever I remember whenever I first started this, and you could be thinking the same thing too.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, what's a system?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what is what is that?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: What do you want me to do?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Why do I have to do that?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because we don't like, let's be real.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we mo most of us start off.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: I hear stories all the time from you guys.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: You start off, you know, as a side hustle, side gig, just trying to put some extra food on the table, and now you're starting to see that this is there's something here to this, just like I did, just like probably Shannon did.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: There's something here to this, and this could be a really great retirement fund or a really great, but you know, what if my son won't decided that, you know, whatever he wants, he wants to sell it or keep it going, or you know, I don't know.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: But this is where it all starts.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta have the at least these three systems.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: They think systems that are something you do once you have most people think that you the systems come from like well, you have to have 10 employees or 20 employees or 30 employees.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: But if you set the systems up now, there's less work later.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: You'll still have to tweaks to your systems because as you advance and grow each time, uh depending on what stage you're in in your business, you will have to adjust those systems to hold the capacity, right?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: The first system you create is like, for example, the first system I had was the paper calendar.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Who gum no I'm dating myself?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, like oh, I didn't lay out my paper calendar.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, I have this spot and this spot and this spot.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is before Jobber or anything, right?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is how long I've been in the game.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: So you guys can't see it.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: I got my well, anyways, I have my paper calendar from whenever I think 2021 to 2022, just as a reminder of how far we've come.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: But yes.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think I have a calendar.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: That was my first system too, until I learned.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then you get a digital calendar system and life changes, and you're like, oh my gosh, this saves me so much time.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then Jobber has actually grown year over year after year of offering different things to make it easier for us to be successful because the service industry was not valued.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now it is because everybody and their mother's in it.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: But it it's it's an it's awesome to see the the change.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: So systems are a thing that allows you to grow.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have systems, you'll not be able to grow.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be in your business instead of working on it.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And without them, you just stay stuck in the same cycle forever.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: It just repeats like Groundhog Day every single day.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's like Groundhog Day.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, Mrs.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Smith, how are you?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, cleaning, scheduling, fixing problems, answering text, and then wondering why you feel so exhausted and so burnt out.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, don't forget the social media post and and advertising and and you guys, it's so.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, today we're gonna talk about the three systems that every cleaning business needs if they want to actually build some freedom.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not theory, these actually work, these systems.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's not it's not fancy corporate nonsense.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: They're just real systems that make your life easier and your business stronger.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: You want a strong business, you want to make money, you want the profit, you want to see where you can go, you want to buy a house if that's what you want to do, you want to find your kids' school baseball team if that's what you want to do.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: These are opportunities that you can create for yourself by just having systems in place.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, and it makes it easier.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: So if you guys are listening and think, oh my gosh, I don't have a system yet.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: What should I ever do?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Do not panic.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Don't panic.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: We've all been there.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: We've all been there.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: We've all been there and we've all started somewhere.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and this is a great business to be in.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: I I will say that.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite industry.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: I will say that I I'm building the system that I also want once the system is built, that somebody else other than me because I'm my b own bottleneck right now, yeah.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Other than me that can answer, that they can look and they can follow along.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: And they can answer the phone, they can do scheduling.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: You have to start somewhere, and it's just take it slow, we'll get there.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Once you understand that you'll these three, you'll start seeing exactly where your gaps are.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And and they'll be, unfortunately, they'll be painful most of the time.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they're not, and you're like, Whoa, I caught it in time.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're gonna fix this bad boy, right?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh I can't tell you how many, uh yeah, the the growth is painful.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: It can be.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: It can there just uh it goes up and down, up and down.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, there's panic.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um you evolve over time.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: You're not the same person that you were in 21, 22 as you are today.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not the same person I was in 2010, 2009, 2005.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, whatever person.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, not at all.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you do, you evolve over time.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: We're here to talk about three systems though.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: This the system, right?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, what is it?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: The very first one that people contemplate, and I actually saw this on a post I made on social media today, is your hiring and training system.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, there should be a system for your customers.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, there should be a payment system, yes, there should be boundaries.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: But your very first important big growth, like this is the big one, right?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is it, is your is your hiring and training system.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it and it that's gonna grow and evolve as you grow and evolve.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: So initially it's just gonna be you, you're gonna be the hirer, the interviewer, the reference check, the background check, you're gonna be the trainer, you're gonna be the validator, you're gonna do the follow-up, you're gonna be the payroll person, you're gonna be it to help that person with you.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And eventually that person's either gonna grow with you or they're gonna move out, and then another person will come in.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And this each time you do it, the cycle repeats itself.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: The cycle actually runs smoother.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's that's ideal, actually.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes not, but you'll be able to fix it.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: As you go along, you're you'll hear me say my onboarding often, and what I mean is my hiring.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: I I used to hire, I'm gonna tell you, I just used to hire somebody that anybody that had a pulse and that was bringing hands and could move and read or write.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: There was no system that that was the system.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: I I was the system it lived inside of my head.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: And again, uh you guys will hear me talk about this too, is taking it from outside of your head and putting it is probably one of the harder things to do.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: But remember that we are trying to create that freedom of okay, that's already down there, you know, it's already out.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: They know what to do when you know that, you know, this, this, and this happens.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: So whenever it's time for me, not just for me to hire, but whenever I have an office administration, I want them to know how to onboard and where everything's at.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: So it has to be out of your head.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's it's hope, but it's not hope and desperation, hopefully.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: No, you'll you'll learn, you know, there you'll learn whenever your schedule is full, that desperation does come in.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, oh, I should have hired a month ago.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Why did I do this?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Don't happens, and then as you grow, you will start to anticipate where your growth spurts are going to be.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people talk about pre-hiring, but this is just for the newbies.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: We can get on to the other hiring down the funnel later.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: But um, it really is, it's and hopefully it isn't just hope and desperation that there is hope and it doesn't cause any desperation.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: They they post a job ad, is usually the first thing that happens.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: They get a few applicants.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: I remember doing mine because I didn't have an office at Starbucks.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, same.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then they hire someone because they need help immediately, like yesterday.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, oh, the the live polls.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, thank you.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: You're here, right?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just excited you showed up to the interview.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'll imagine to the and then they throw up into a house and they say, follow me around and watch what I do.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm guilty of this as well.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a system that's survival mode.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: And many of us get into this industry in survival mode, so this seems in completely natural.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to say this to to scare you guys off because you know what?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: When you first start hiring, it's scary.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: It is scary, uh, especially because this is your baby.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: You, this is your name.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: You've worked so hard for this, and then uh I see a lot of times in the groups like that's it, that's why I just decided to stay solo.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's because you have not learned how to put the system in place.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly why.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it does, it takes a lot of practice.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: It does, and it does take some technical stuff.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's some paperwork involved, like clear job description.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: What is that?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that means if you are requiring your cleaning tech to get on their hands and knees, is that going to be for a long period of time or a short period of time?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was brutal.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: I came from the Merry Maids franchise.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we did all of the floors on hand and knees, and that's actually the model I copied.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I used to make all of the girls, I now see how utterly ridiculous it was, but hindsight's always 2020.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then you would have people, well, I can't do that.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, your job description you signed right here on this date, is that not your signature?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And you look at them and they go, Oh, I didn't read what I signed.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, then we don't want to have that conversation either.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: So a clear job description, you need to have a structured interview process on what the right things is that they're saying, because we all know that people can say anything with a smile.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: But when in actuality is, you want me to reach my hand in that toilet with a glove, I don't know if I want to do that.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: Or a pumice down.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: I I found, you know, you find these things out later on that they're like, oh, I can't do this on the I'm like, well, he was like chalk on uh nails on the chalkboard.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I this isn't gonna work.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, because you're gonna have to do it's it's absolutely true.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have to have training checklists and you have to decide what tasks are gonna do by day.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: There usually is a five-day or three day.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know some people have claimed they can do it in 12 hours versus 20 hours.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever works for you, it just has to be a proven system.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have to have cleaning standards, right?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we were reminded the other day what cleaning standards were.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: We went in, I went into a house and I had listened to a podcast about someone talking about checking the back of the bathroom doors.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, it's been a while since I've done that.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: I held the hole on every bathroom door.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh my gosh, when was the last time you wiped these down?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: No, I never wiped them down.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, or you're the light switches.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, light switches handle, you know.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: So having a a checklist is imperative.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: This is how you are copying and what you do in your business.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Some people do spot cleaning on baseboard, some people do not.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's an upcharge, or they'll just, you know, they dust, of course, high and low dust.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: But but you need a checklist for these people.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then there needs to be a probation period.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: So there's always the working interview, and you can get that mini course right there on my website.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: But there needs to be, I feel now where the industry isn't.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And for a long time I didn't want to do working interviews, and you have to check about the legalities of the working interview in your state before you say, I'm gonna do working interview, and then get yourself in trouble with the labor board.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Having a working interview and then having a probationary period gives you a lot of grace to cover yourself.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Again, check your state because every state has different labor laws, and there's lots of weird I don't want to say they're weird, they're normal for that state, but it's unusual for my experience or what I've seen, where people just there's a probationary period, but then there's no probationary period.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or you have to hire them, and if the background check doesn't come out good, then they can come claim unemployment.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure you're not in one of those states before you say, Well, Shannon said.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or yeah.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Do your due diligence.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: Don't, you know, uh every state is different.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: And in my state, every county have their own.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, follow your state and your county and your town guidelines.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: And don't let this uh yeah, just don't let this be a deterrent from you uh learning.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: It does, it's a very learned thing to do.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know, most of us never ran a business.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: I've never even managed people, I've been never been a manager of anything.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: I was not in the restaurant industry, you know.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: I just I it wasn't I knew how to clean.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and you kind of fumble and learn your way through it unless you hire a coach.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: I will say that this is in the Structure Scale Profit Cleaning Academy.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the whole thing from start to finish.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: I have purchased that not once but twice because I really wanted to I was I was gung-ho about it.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like I wanted to make sure that I got everything that my mind could take in because I wanted to do this right.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: So and it's she's actually in the in the third version of it, and it's got like 244 lessons now.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a big, it's a it's a big, it's a big one.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: It is, and and it's well, because it's it's evolved around time, so it's just like what we're talking about.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's her system, and and like I said, Shannon is not the same person that I met four years ago, and it's totally different, but and it's all for the better.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: So so much, but whenever you you put all these systems in place, things start happening, like good things.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're like, oh well, they they start learning how to actually clean and clocking in and clocking out, and then you're able to do stuff over here and like do payroll.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, this is crazy.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: This is crazy that I'm sitting here doing payroll, and somebody is out in the field, not only making themselves money, but I I just that used to blow my mind so much that not only are they making themselves money, but they're I'm making money somehow.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, this is crazy.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: For the moms out there, it's the moment when your toddler is in preschool or kindergarten and you have you suddenly have a space of six hours, and you're like, What do I do with myself?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like that with your baby because this business is your baby, and now you have uh other responsibilities slide in, but that's that moment that you could go, well, what do I do I just go yippie and you know?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, you don't.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's where you're you're building, you're building out your freedom, right?
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: You're building it out because it's not gonna be like this.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I keep I keep telling my my own family, like that it's not gonna be like this forever.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I know I'm building something here.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: I I know I am, there's no doubt.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: So and with that though, comes number two, which is the pricing.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: In order to get to that place, while somebody while you're sitting there working in the office making schedules, answering the phone, because let's be honest, whenever you're out in the field working, you can't answer that phone, you can't answer them text, and they're going on to the next person.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to have your pricing system down.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like you, you, you need, and if you don't, yeah, it's okay.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's not the end of the world.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: But try and make it.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I know your livelihood is on to this, but at the same time, try somehow to make this I I don't know if fun is the word, a good time, I don't know if that's the right word that I'm looking for.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: But enjoy the m every m every pain, every moment, and know that you're not alone.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but if your pricing is inconsistent, everything else in your b business becomes unstable.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Your profits will swing, your scheduling becomes so chaotic, your Employees, they I've had this happen.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: Your employees get frustrated because jobs do take longer than expected.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: You have to know your production rates.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll get to that.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: The reason this happens is because making cleaning business you're pricing it at emotionally, you guys.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: You have no structure.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: You have no structure on you're just, okay, it's come, you know, they gave you the sob story.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: You're not holding up to well, my minimum is$120 starting off, and then you you ended up dropping it down.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I can do it this once for$80.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Since it's this sweet little lady that's on a fixed end, you know, you gotta it is, it's hard, but it it's right there.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: Once it's you know, your pricing is down, it's right there, you follow the script.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's not mathematical.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: They look at the house, you look at the house, you guess, and they and then you you adjust it.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: This moment that you pull up to the driveway, you're like, oh yeah, they're not gonna be able to afford me.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just drop it down just so that we can get the schedule full or get my employee's schedule full.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: If you're doing that and it makes no sense, rhyme or reason.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm gonna tell you, Jobber, we might be able to drop it down in the show notes.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: I have three months free.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: Jobber will let you know if you are in the red on your employee on the every single house.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: It'll let you know exactly what your power profit margins are and what you need to adjust.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, don't adjust what you think that the client can afford.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: I've done that.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Have you?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: It ends up biting you in the butt because it's an emotional decision.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Anytime I make an emotional decision based on my business, I end up eating it for whatever reason.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: You try to do a good thing, and then then it becomes this whole like battle of wills.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you did 70, why can't you go down to 50?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's no big deal.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a broom sweep, and you're just kind of shushing some dirt around.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's not that, and they're not taking into account we you guys hear us talk about the drive over there, the the supplies, the insurance, your cell phone, all of that adds up.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's not including how much the lead costs you.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not even covering your lead costs, which has lowered immensely in the last 12 to 18 months, it's you know, it gets expensive, especially if you have 20 leads coming in, you just popped out a couple hundred bucks for each one of those or a little bit less.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: It costs money.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be able to make up for it.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: So then if you're you're you're paying for the lead and then you're giving a discount, and then you're they're listening to the sob story.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, it's funny, nobody a large portion of our population still does not have the mentality that cleaning should be an expense.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: It should be a a thing thought of after the fact.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: When in actuality they go on vacation every year, they have the you know, the the boat on the side of the house, they have the RV and the quads and the brand new car that just got delivered, but for some reason they can't, you know, that the cleaning isn't like but they have to have the cleaning, right?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: They have to have the clean, they don't want to pay for the cleaning, so they give you this ridiculous story nine times out of ten.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: I've watched them do it for 15 almost 16 years.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then you start taking in because we we want a people please.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, oh my gosh, that's just terrible, right?
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: What in reality they do it with everybody, that every single person who comes over here.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: We had it happen with a very popular, I'm not gonna name their name, anesthesiologist who bought their second home here.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: And my husband went over there, tried to help them out, and then he didn't want to pay the bill.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: It was just like, but he didn't just do it to him, he did it to all of the tradespeople who worked, including cleaners.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so then we all, because I'm I know everybody, right?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: So then we all were talking about this one property.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you know, if you take this property on, please use caution.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: Buyer beware or sell or beware, actually.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's just you need to just be careful because they have a tendency of not wanting to pay.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just that's all I said.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to get into all the juicy bits of all of the stuff, but that it's a repeated pattern.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: There are people out there like that.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: They had plenty of money, but they just didn't feel that they should have to pay.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's that too.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: There is, and and before long, if that you guys, it if your pricing makes sense no sense, nobody can come in and help you on that side of things.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: They they they have they don't know what they're doing.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: You'll either bankrupt yourself out of your of your job you've created, or you're gonna figure it out real quick.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: I talk a lot about how I charge$25 an hour, and I was like, yes.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: Until one day I was like, God, I'm having to put in all these hours.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not making the money that I wanted.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: I figured out how to bid at a flat rate.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: That was the evolution of the pricing blueprint masterclass.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: So that you have to know your production rates.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: You need you need to also know if this also calculates into your final price, your square footage calculations, your clear service tiers.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that's regular maintenance, top to bottom, move out cleanings, and then your standardized pricing formulas.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't, you will bankrupt yourself because you're not taking into account of all of the costs it run, it costs to run a legitimate business.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Jamie, nine times out of ten right now, is even higher price than I am because it costs more money for her to do business where she's at.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that it's just what it is.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: It is, yeah.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it's honestly, I believe that in my area, we are high the highest in my area.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I was telling my husband this.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: I have no problems with that at all.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: I don't feel guilty.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't feel bad because it does in my area, we can tax so much.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, it's absolutely and not only that, I you know, I to run a legitimate business where I have all my I's dotted, my T's crossed, it costs money.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you'll you'll find that as you build and grow, the it starts, you know, you you make you can make a cash eating machine or a cash producing machine.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: But you these are things that you absolutely have to know, which is your production rate.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's your production rate is how many square foot can you clean in an hour?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of clean is it?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: Is it a standard clean?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because your production rate will be different than if it's a top to bottom or a move out clean.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: I track now most people I will say for like a move out clean, we're right around 300 300 square foot per hour.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes yeah, yeah, that's about normal.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: I will say it's about the seven to eight hundred square foot per hour for just a maintenance cleaning.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: So if I can hit high considering most of everybody's at 600, so yeah, that's pretty good.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if we could hit 800 board basing in canary right now.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: But that's um, and I'm okay with that.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm okay with that, and then you'll start learning okay, if they're doing that many square foot an hour, I'm actually making no less than 75.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: Some some of some of my employees m can make about a hundred to a hundred and twenty-five dollars an hour, and it just blows that.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: I I wish I could clean like that.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: I can't I mean I could if I got back into it like I used to, but that is just blows me away.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: But that's all once you you start learning all those uh those production rates.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh how square footage that's the only time that square footage plays into your flat rate pricing is whenever because I I think that's one of the um bidding a job by the square foot.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Excuse me, I got a tickle in my throat.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's water in my eyes.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's when it I I the the w the least one that I like is when you charge by the square foot.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: It throws people off because they're like, well, you're not cleaning the whole house.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right, exactly.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that doesn't count.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: What about the garage?
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't count.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: What about the enclosed patio, even though you want it swept?
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't count either.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Or or and then the houses get it's just uh it's a very and I think a lot of people they some people do, I see it in the groups, but they not a whole lot.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's like the least liked whether you charge hourly, which remember that the national average, you guys, is about fifty-five dollars an hour per labor hour up to what is it, 65, 75, 85, 90, something like that per hour.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: I can't remember.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's but uh seems over.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so now we're gonna talk about the third system, the client management.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: You have to have something that manages all those clients.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: You can no longer, I I almost picked it up, but you guys can't see it.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: You you guys can't rely on the pen and paper anymore.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: And if you if you are, kudos to you, especially in this.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: It must be because of the background that you have.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I yeah.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm all uh that this is the one that saves your sanity, right?
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the it stop the texting at 10 p.m.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: system that stops.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely uh and and without it, you don't have any clear boundaries, and I'm really big at boundaries.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then your phone becomes a command center for your entire business at 11 o'clock at night.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it's usually for something minimal, like someone didn't put the pillows back on my bed the right way, and I'm just now noticing.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Clients texting texting you schedule changes, questions about services.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I want to have an I've just decided now at 11:01 p.m.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: that I want to have cleaning for tomorrow morning.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Can you make it happen?
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: Last minute cancellations, we're we're going to Hawaii, you know.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I forgot to tell you.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I forgot.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not there.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: I just had that happen to me today.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then, or suddenly your business is running your life instead of the other way around.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want it to take over every segment of your life.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: You want family time, quality time, time to eat lunch by yourself if that's what you choose to do.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Real client management systems include things like clear service policy, scheduling software, get jobber, automated reminders, get jobber, um, communication boundaries that can be get jobber, and you can physically do it in person or verbally, depending on how you choose to.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then standard responses like you have no water on your property because we had a monsoon come in and it it kicked out the short of the pump.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: What do I do?
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, stuff like that.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: Jobber holds all the notes, all of my and we get pictures, two-way texting.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that you can get that on the lowest tier now.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'll have to look.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: But and even if you didn't get Jobber, is it have something?
• 35:55
  unknown: Right.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: There's Zenmade.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much out there.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people use ZenMade.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people, I see a lot of them out there, but Jobber and Zenmade are probably about the two most common ones that I do see.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: But you are like, you guys are building something amazing.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: The freedom will come.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: And don't forget, you know, I've been there.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: I've had my husband look me and look at me and is like, you care more about the business than you do.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I'm um, hang on, I'm building something here, you know.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm building, you know, so I've been there.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: Don't forget about your family.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: And and you need these structures in place.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: It took me a that that really humbled me whenever he told me that.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, you know what, I am let's structure this out, let's let's do it, let's structure it out so I can have a little just even if it's a day to block off time with my family and or whatever it is that you guys want to do.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: Because it get this business can creep in.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_02: And so let's ask the audience a couple of questions here.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: First question If you disappeared for two weeks, would your business keep running?
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh, that's a very good question.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think it'd stop?
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: You think it would be on fire whenever you came back?
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like Dumpster fire is always the thing in the back of your mind, regardless if you're seasoned at this or not, because you're like, is it gonna go down?
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: Is it gonna go down?
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: Even when you've been doing it for 10, 15 years, you still in the back of your mind go, is I haven't heard from anybody.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is everybody okay?
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second question is if you hired someone tomorrow, do you actually have a training system ready for them and in place ready to go?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right, so that you can leave, right?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, and we're and the third one is your pricing based on a real formula, or is it still an emotional based guess?
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: Is it your best guess?
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, are we still doing that?
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: Is it still emotional?
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: Are you still pulling up to your walkthroughs?
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: Are you still doing walkthroughs?
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, automatically like thinking, okay, we're gonna have to adjust this price.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely when you walk on.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the big takeaway freedom in business does not come from working harder.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: I even know a lot of us as women are told you need to work harder, you need to work harder, you need to work harder.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: It comes from building systems because systems remove chaos and um systems create consistency, and the systems allow you to step out of the daily grind so you can actually look at the whole picture.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're listening to this and thinking, okay, I definitely need to fix some of this, this is actually a good thing because now you're aware.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: And because once you start building systems, your business stops feeling overwhelming, and you have a goal and goal in mind to get to the end of the tunnel.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it really starts to feel intentional instead of put together with bubblegum and spit.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, those seriously.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: So this episode helping you identify a few gaps in your business.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's the first step, you guys.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, we wanna we wanna be able to put something down so that somebody can come in so that we can go for two weeks.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds like such a long time.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: Even talking about that's like that means that I still need to work on some things.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because every system you build buys you a little more freedom.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: So every step you take towards the end result will get you there, definitely.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: And even small, it doesn't have to be big steps.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: I see people make these whole like SaaS things and other items, or like I they make big bold steps.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, there's a lot of micro steps before they got to the big step.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: They're just getting from A to Z.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: They're not they're not telling you about all the nitty-gritty that happened to get there.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how real businesses are built.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: Sure is.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: So if you guys found any value in this, we sure would love for you guys to give us a five-star review so that we can get out there to these audience.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: And we look forward to hearing for any of your questions.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe one day we'll do a QA or something.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: So make sure that you're subscribed to Shannon's newsletters that she sends out and ask some questions and we'll run them through on somewhere down the line.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: So we will talk to you soon and see you next week.