Latest / Cleaning Business Life / Invisible Businesses Don't Get Referrals | Ep. 204

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Invisible Businesses Don't Get Referrals | Ep. 204 · Cleaning Business Life

0:59
SPEAKER_02: Woo! Hello, everyone.
1:04
SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to the Cleaning Business Life Podcast.
1:07
SPEAKER_02: I am your co-host, Jamie Ronko.
1:10
SPEAKER_02: I have a cleaning business up in Northern California called Above All Cleaning Services.
1:15
SPEAKER_02: And we are with the host, the creator, the founder of the Cleaning Business Life Podcast, Shannon Miller.
1:23
SPEAKER_02: And today we are going to be talking to you guys about your cleaning business does not need more followers.
1:32
SPEAKER_02: It needs visibility.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I should take a bow when I get that introduction.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm getting better at the introductions.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: I still have not delivered the laundry, which I'll be doing after the third podcast today.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: But just pretend you don't see it.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: It's like looking for Bob Ross on the other side.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: A lot of business owners think that they they need they think they have a marketing problem.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: And it really comes down to a visibility.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Marketing, there's layers of it, right?
2:04
SPEAKER_00: That and and it really business comes down to relationships.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: We won't even talk about that here.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about visibility, but it's you think you need more likes, you know, more comments, more engagement.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: And really, it's just a visibility, just trying to get the algorithms to work with you instead of against you.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: Because and when you start to figure it out, guess what?
2:23
SPEAKER_00: It changes.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: Sure does.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: Sure does.
2:30
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, today we're talking about local visibility, not becoming an influencer, not a content creator.
2:40
SPEAKER_02: We're not talking about dancing on TikTok or chasing the viral content.
2:46
SPEAKER_02: We're not talking about any of that.
2:49
SPEAKER_02: What we're talking about today is practical ways cleaning business owners can become more visible in our local communities and generate more opportunities because of it.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: Yep, because you know what?
3:04
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, people can't hire you if they don't know you exist.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: No.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: No.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh they cannot.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the biggest mistakes I see is people lump visibility and marketing in the same bucket, and it's not.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: There, there is as you know, there are multiple buckets that you need to do because it's all it's all layered legitimately.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: I remember, and I'm gonna giggle a little bit here, I'm gonna put Jamie in the hot seat when she went to her very first chamber meeting.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: I thought she was gonna have a panic anxiety attack.
3:40
SPEAKER_02: Well, I did too.
3:41
SPEAKER_02: Literally.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: It's just like, what do I do?
3:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, just do it.
3:48
SPEAKER_02: No, her tips were and then it worked.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: This was her tips are go in front of the mirror and you know, talk it out.
3:58
SPEAKER_02: And it worked.
3:59
SPEAKER_02: And then my sister was like, I just pretend everybody out there is naked or something like that.
4:05
SPEAKER_02: I was like, What, what?
4:06
SPEAKER_02: And I could literally could feel whenever I was talking, like everything went in my ears, and I couldn't hear anything, and I could feel the redness.
4:18
SPEAKER_02: You know how you can feel when the like coming up, and I'm like, oh, I know I'm blotchy, and then that's all I could think about.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not laughing at her, I'm laughing with her because I remember because I went through it with her indirectly, and it's just the whole dynamic of leading in, and now she talks all the time with like everybody, right?
4:41
SPEAKER_00: So it took a while to get there, and and that was part of the visibility.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: Like, who is this person and why is she here?
4:50
SPEAKER_02: Why is she up there just turning beet red?
4:53
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, and that it was uh I was determined to get my visibility to know like you said, the people don't know you exist unless you say something.
5:07
SPEAKER_02: Uh there might be some uncomfortable situations like that, and and now I do it all the time.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: So I I can remember uh specific things where people asked me to speak impromptu in front of a large group, and I I was like and I had had a glass of wine, so I was much more braver than I should have been.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: I was beat, right?
5:26
SPEAKER_00: I've like when I flash, I don't get splotchy, I get like red.
5:30
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: It's like a really bad hot flash, like, oh my god, this is awful.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: But but marketing and visibility are similar, they're related, they're like cousins, right?
5:42
SPEAKER_00: But and then but they're not identical.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: And you can spend hours creating content, which you don't have to do anymore, thank God, and still have little visibility where it actually matters because getting people to getting the eyeballs on your stuff that you're making is a visibility issue, not just a marketing issue.
6:00
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
6:01
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes the opposite is true.
6:03
SPEAKER_02: There are owners who barely post online, but everybody in town knows who they are.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: It's because they've been there forever.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: That's the that's the thing about small towns.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: Like I've been here 20 and back, right?
6:14
SPEAKER_00: So, but it took me a while when I first came here like you're from California, we hate you.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh yeah, yeah.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: It's so funny how that they do that.
6:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:25
SPEAKER_02: Um I local hometown, you know, people in my area know who I am now.
6:32
SPEAKER_02: I just at Starbucks, and I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but this will eventually start happening to you whenever you put yourself out there a little more, like I do in front of people.
6:46
SPEAKER_02: I had somebody honk, a lady and her kid were sitting and they were waiting in line at Starbucks, and they honked.
6:56
SPEAKER_02: You're the you're the pink, the cleaning lady, the pink.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: That's all she could get out.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh hi, yeah, yeah.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: Jamie the mini celebrity there.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna give autograph.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: It's so funny how it all started.
7:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:12
SPEAKER_02: It really, really, it's funny how it all started to.
7:16
SPEAKER_02: And it's all about visibility and putting putting one foot in front of the other and pushing through those uncomfortable moments.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: Right.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: And and it really is visibility versus advertising, and there's a huge difference.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: Being president, having people know you, and it's a little more challenging in larger markets because there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of you.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: So that's a different path on what you would do.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: You're still gonna take the same steps, but it's gonna take you longer to get there because you're having to swim through more people, right?
7:52
SPEAKER_00: Right.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: And then there's recognition versus promotion.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: Jamie just mentioned she was at a light, and I'm surprised they didn't make her give an autograph right then.
8:00
SPEAKER_02: That was funny.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: And then um, why familiarity creates trust?
8:05
SPEAKER_00: People know Jamie in her town now, and I believe we talked about it in one of the episodes, I don't remember which one where she like hang she was hanging out at Starbucks because there was Wi-Fi there, and she lives rurally.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: So it was like this whole dynamic on why she was hanging out at Starbucks, and and the importance of being remembered.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jamie pulled up to the light, and they're like, Oh my god! So she could only get out that you're the pink, the cleaning lady, the pink.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: So all of those work, and it's because Jamie has spent a lot of time building relationships with others, creating the visibility, giving she sponsors the baseball team or the football team.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: I can't remember, I think you maybe do both now.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: And she does things with her church, and there's a lot of visibility that happens that it seems like it's gonna be a big expense, but it's worth it in the long run because they keep seeing your name over and over and over.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: And we're so saturated with everything that goes on.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: Our attention spans are even shorter than they were five years ago.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: So all of this works.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: In my town, we have a lot of that too, but it's a little bit different because we're a lot, Jamie.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: Did you did you say something?
9:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
9:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you froze for a second.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: I froze.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, the internet.
9:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so visibility matters, and where do you start, right?
9:35
SPEAKER_02: Where do you guys where do you start?
9:38
SPEAKER_02: I I'll tell you a a little how how I started.
9:44
SPEAKER_02: It started with a pink steering wheel cover.
9:48
SPEAKER_02: That's and I would go and drop deposit checks every day, and then they the bank started knowing me as the pink steering wheel lady.
9:57
SPEAKER_02: And then it was like, oh, that's above all cleaning services.
10:00
SPEAKER_02: So that bank started talking, and then right next door is Starbucks, where I would get Wi-Fi, and then I had my above all cleaning services in the back of my windshield of my my car, and I would stand out there with my shirt, and that's where I would do a lot of my work, and I believe I only had maybe one or two employees at the time, but that is where I did, believe it or not, that was marketing.
10:30
SPEAKER_02: That was the very beginnings of the marketing.
10:33
SPEAKER_02: I joined my local chambers, I got the balls to get up and and speak.
10:42
SPEAKER_02: And every month we have this thing called a mixer where you go and rub the elbows of the who's who, other cleaning or other business owners, I'm sorry.
10:54
SPEAKER_02: And I just started that's it just started taking off from there.
10:58
SPEAKER_02: There's some things that I learned that you can't do.
11:01
SPEAKER_02: Like I learned that you can't put put flyers in people's mailboxes.
11:09
SPEAKER_02: That's a big no-no.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: That's a big no-no.
11:12
SPEAKER_02: This is way before, you know, there is there is so don't do that.
11:15
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of things that I did, I literally pounded the pavement, and I had no idea about marketing and how to do any of this.
11:51
SPEAKER_02: Like I, you know, I never managed people and da-da-da-da.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I think to recap on the logo in the back window, and I've said this multiple times: if you cannot afford a lot of marketing, the cheapest thing that you can do is have someone install a logo for the back of your window.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily on the sides or the hood of your car, which you could get a wrap, but they're expensive.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: But if you're totally DIY, low budget, 500 bucks will get you a nice logo on the back of your car and they will see your car everywhere, and they'll start to correlate and recognize that this person drives all over town and it's and they're in front of you're in front of them, so you're like there, you're just present, so you start to see it.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: And it really is the cheapest form of advertisement and visibility that you can get all in one.
12:46
SPEAKER_02: But so whenever you're doing your Google business profile, is doing more work than your social media.
12:55
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna tell you guys, if you do not have a Google business profile, you need to get one.
13:01
SPEAKER_02: It is in it was the first one of the very first things I did within the first five months of me being opened.
13:11
SPEAKER_02: And that that was a game changer once, and then once I started getting that first five-star review uh on my profile, that was like, okay, I started getting bummed up.
13:27
SPEAKER_02: I see so many cleaning business owners.
13:30
SPEAKER_02: Yes, you have a a Facebook, uh Instagram, a TikTok.
13:37
SPEAKER_02: That Google business profile is so imperative whenever it comes to this.
13:43
SPEAKER_02: That's the first thing that people go to anymore.
13:46
SPEAKER_02: I've recently looked at my statistics, and people are starting to look you up on Chat GPT.
13:54
SPEAKER_02: So it's very important to have that.
13:58
SPEAKER_02: Cause they do.
13:59
SPEAKER_02: They they someone will search house cleaner near me.
14:04
SPEAKER_02: They're not looking at your Instagram or they're not looking at your Facebook.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: They're wanting that is the per that is a hot lead.
14:12
SPEAKER_02: That's what we call a hot lead.
14:14
SPEAKER_02: They're specifically searching, they're ready to buy.
14:18
SPEAKER_02: That is a hot lead.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Right.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: It's like putting your flag into the ground and staking your spot.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: That's what a Google My Business Profile page is.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: Even if you don't have a website, you should at least have that.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: I highly recommend that you get a website, but that's again another layer for another discussion.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh because you don't own the social media, other people, Zuckerbox does, and you could come there and have your stuff gone one day.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: It happens.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: It every once they do a weird update, and boom, several people get shook off the carpet and they have to start from scratch.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: So make sure that you have a Google My Business profile.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot like, and then set up on Yelp, which everybody loves and hates, set up on next door, which also everyone loves and hates.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: And we won't continue on advertisement and all that other stuff.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: But these are things that you can start that are low budget to get you going until you get more income in and you can take the next step.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, what are some other things that you can do for visibility, Jamie?
15:19
SPEAKER_02: Oh, we uh like I said, sponsorships are huge.
15:25
SPEAKER_02: And it's not saying to anybody like, oh, look at me, look at it's a great people love to see that you're supporting them.
15:35
SPEAKER_02: They're do you sub do you support their local youth?
15:40
SPEAKER_02: They we here we do local cleanups, beach beach day cleanups.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: There are times whenever our local news anchors will be out there to say, look, that's free, that is free advertisement.
16:02
SPEAKER_02: They'll they'll question you and and oh yeah, so I my my team out here is doing free beach cleanup.
16:11
SPEAKER_02: There's also I've seen people do adopt a highway, where you adopt a part of the highway and and you're out there, and and it's just voluntarily only for your employees.
16:27
SPEAKER_02: But it makes your employees also feel like they're part of it.
16:30
SPEAKER_02: There's that company cult culture, you know, and you just clean up part of the highway and keep it nice, but it there again is that visibility of your stake.
16:43
SPEAKER_02: A lot of networking is done at my local church, believe it or not.
16:47
SPEAKER_02: A lot of my business came from my church.
16:49
SPEAKER_02: Being being supported at supportive at the mom's groups in your your where your kids go to school at.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: That creates a lot.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, I'm going to be.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: Not the in-person moms groups.
17:04
SPEAKER_02: Oh, if you heard, yeah, you can do that, or I do in-person because my son's still in school.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: Right.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: But the people love that.
17:14
SPEAKER_02: As a matter of fact, I have a phone call later on today with my son's the administrator at my son's school.
17:22
SPEAKER_02: And it's like, what can you do to help get involved with your community?
17:27
SPEAKER_02: Because your community loves seeing businesses support.
17:35
SPEAKER_02: Think of it like from think of it from a consumers perspective.
17:41
SPEAKER_02: Put yourself in their shoes.
17:43
SPEAKER_02: Whenever I see a business doing something for a non-profit, we'll say, I'm going to go with that business.
17:54
SPEAKER_02: That is just like, wow, look at them go.
17:57
SPEAKER_02: You know?
17:59
SPEAKER_02: So that shouldn't be your social media.
18:05
SPEAKER_02: It's more out there.
18:06
SPEAKER_02: You just gotta kind of be out there pounding that pavement a little bit, don't you think?
18:11
SPEAKER_00: I think what you were mentioning is so important.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: I see it a lot, and you probably see it as well in the Facebook groups.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: There, I I started my business, I did A through Z.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: I'm not getting any businesses because they don't go and do in-person relationship building for visibility.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: I cannot emphasize this enough, and I know some of you are rolling your eyes right now as I'm talking.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh my god, Shannon, you want me to go?
18:37
SPEAKER_00: Like it, and it's exhausting.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: I've been there.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: You've worked all day.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: So much more.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: You're you all you want to do is sit down on, and nobody wants to give you a chair.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: You're at a chamber meeting, so you're standing, your feet are killing you, you've worked all day, you're all sweaty.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: You try to kind of gussy yourself.
18:51
SPEAKER_02: I want to cry.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: Right.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: And and Shannon's saying you need to go to these chamber meetings, and and people are like, So, is your house super clean?
18:59
SPEAKER_00: You're like, Yeah, my house is super clean, right?
19:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you're like, oh yeah, right.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: Like 45 minutes, so let's make this quick, right?
19:07
SPEAKER_00: It's there is a dynamic.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you how many times I've walked into a chamber meeting.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: I got a job because I happened to show up that day, building relationships no matter where you are.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: Who was it that we were talking about?
19:18
SPEAKER_00: I think it was Cheryl, the Cheryl interview.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: She was talking about how she built her whole business on relationship building.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: We can do a whole episode on that.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: It's the the visibility piece of your local chamber of commerce, of your B I groups, of whatever you can, your church, whatever you choose to be visible in, is where that in that six degrees of separation is gonna start.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: And then it'll be another six degrees of separation, and then it'll kind of expand and compound and expand and compound until like everybody knows Jamie's at Starbucks doing well.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: She doesn't have to hang out with Starbucks anymore because she has an office, but that's where she started.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: That's how she got visibility.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: She took the time to create relationships.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: First, it was the bank, and that's ended how she ended up getting the bank contract.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: Just like, yeah, she comes through every day making the deposits.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: Maybe she can clean her bank, right?
20:12
SPEAKER_00: So that and that's how things start.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: So don't, I don't want to say box yourself in, but don't put yourself in a compartment behind your keyboard because you don't want to deal with anybody.
20:24
SPEAKER_00: Part of our industry, and you'll hear me say it a thousand and one more times.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: We are human-based.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: People want to deal with other humans.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: How many people have chatbots that are AI and everyone gets pissed off because they can't, they want to talk to me.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I had to turn mine off.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: Blah blah blah.
20:42
SPEAKER_02: Can I just talk to a human?
20:43
SPEAKER_02: I was like, okay, sorry.
20:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I yes.
20:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:52
SPEAKER_02: I had P somebody come in yesterday.
20:55
SPEAKER_02: This is from this is from the Starbucks era.
20:58
SPEAKER_02: He came into the office and just wanted to to to see the office, and and boom, there's uh another another contract.
21:08
SPEAKER_02: And I was just like, wow, this is just it's so meaning out.
21:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
21:14
SPEAKER_02: And then what did not happen all overnight?
21:18
SPEAKER_00: I wish it did.
21:19
SPEAKER_02: I do too.
21:21
SPEAKER_02: It takes a lot of that.
21:22
SPEAKER_02: This is a long term.
21:25
SPEAKER_02: This is a long the best marketing that you can do and and for the long haul.
21:32
SPEAKER_02: It's so long because you're building trust with your your community.
21:37
SPEAKER_02: The more and more they see you out there, the more and more they trust you.
21:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's not I see a lot of people saying, Well, I'm very introverted.
21:48
SPEAKER_02: Introvert.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: And I I you know get into just like Shannon told me, speak in front of practice, practice in front of a mirror.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: I thought probably it was the stupidest idea at at the time, but now looking back at it, it's like duh, duh, yeah, of course.
22:09
SPEAKER_02: Get in front of start trying to feel comfortable in your own skin and the confidence, the confidence will slowly come.
22:20
SPEAKER_02: I'm confident now.
22:22
SPEAKER_02: Like, oh, I got this, you know, not to be cocky, not to to be cocky, but I the confidence is there because I I know what I'm talking about now.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: Right.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: And I think that a lot of that stems from our childhood.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: How many of us have had traumatic events where we had to talk in front of the class and then we got ridiculed?
22:40
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: Because the teacher didn't.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: Or you're in the new kid.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Right.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Or you're the new kid.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: So it and it's traumatic.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: So then you get to as adult, like as you don't think it's gonna happen, but there's always that little thing in the back of your mind going, could it happen?
22:52
SPEAKER_00: It it does take practice.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: I wish that they taught speaking for more visibility as as part of the course curriculum for school so that it wouldn't be so awful as an adult.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, my poor son.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: I know.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: I've blundered it.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: There's been many times where I've had to slap it together.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: Trying to as I'm read.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: But it it happens, it really happens, and we are human.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: And there, I I would like to think that in Prescott we still.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: Go to chamber meetings.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: If I don't go to chamber meetings, I make sure that someone goes on my behalf.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: There is there's a visibility thing.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: I have, you know, I had the banner at the school.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: My goal for fourth quarter is to have a banner at every school in the district.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: So I'm planning, I'm working on that, I'm having those printed up, and I'm working on negotiations on how much that is.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: So every school in my area will have my banner for my company.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: And I consider that local visibility.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: I consider that actually cheap because for nine months out of the year, everybody's driving past that two times a day.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, you couldn't ask that.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: And then that but look at who are we targeting?
24:01
SPEAKER_02: We're targeting busy moms, busy dads.
24:05
SPEAKER_02: They're like, oh my gosh, I need that.
24:08
SPEAKER_02: And I need that in my life.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's great.
24:12
SPEAKER_02: It's great trust, great visibility.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: And then let's talk a little bit about Facebook group etiquette.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: There is you do displays back and forth and back and forth.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: And as tempting as it is, like I try not to post crazy things on my personal page because I use my personal page for business.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: Granted, everybody who's friends with me, if you're a friend with me, I'm warning you, I share a lot of dogs.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: This is just something you have to put up with.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: If you want to be part of Shannon's world, I share hundreds, if not if not thousands, of dogs every year.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: It's my thing.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't have to like it, you can unfriend me, you can do whatever.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: But I'm just warning you if you become my Facebook friend, you will be subjected to this.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: But and that's probably the only real personal thing I share.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: But there is an etiquette that has to happen.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: You cannot air all of your dirty laundry as we have seen with some people.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I can't believe they shared that.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: So if you have a business and you're in the social media realm, you cannot share all of your dirty laundry.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: Because I promise you, they'll remember it.
25:26
SPEAKER_02: You I you're you're whenever you put up, oh, I, you know, I own a cleaning business.
25:34
SPEAKER_02: I can help you.
25:35
SPEAKER_02: I see it all the time in the mom's group.
25:36
SPEAKER_02: I guarantee you that these people that are asking for house cleaners and room, they're going through right over to your profile picture and they're researching you.
25:47
SPEAKER_02: Right.
25:48
SPEAKER_02: Whether you got it blocked or not.
25:49
SPEAKER_02: And if you got it blocked nine times out of ten, they're gonna be like, I don't know.
25:53
SPEAKER_02: What are they hiding?
25:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what are they hiding?
25:56
SPEAKER_00: So if you're a business owner, and I've seen this, I'm not gonna name names, but this particular person is a business owner in Chino Valley, and I see her post and she makes really derogatory statements, or she's always begging for money.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if this is a trend on Facebook.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: Do not beg for money on Facebook.
26:19
SPEAKER_02: Ever, especially if you own a cleaning business.
26:22
SPEAKER_02: Any business.
26:25
SPEAKER_02: Well, I give I say c the cleaning business because that's all I'm in.
26:29
SPEAKER_02: So that's any business.
26:31
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: Don't don't and we we're starting, it's a trend, and I'm I'm hoping that the trend goes away because we just watch in horror with our eyes really big, going, oh my goodness.
26:42
SPEAKER_02: It's shocking.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: Right.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: Come to social media and beg for money.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: I I'm gonna do these things, and I need to I need you to give me money.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh my god.
26:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, I'm going through a real hard time.
26:53
SPEAKER_02: Well, everybody's going through a hard time.
26:55
SPEAKER_02: Uh that's whenever you get pivot and and and do for yourself, and and then if people help you out, then that's great.
27:04
SPEAKER_02: So, but some of the best visibility opportunities happen completely outside of social media, you guys.
27:12
SPEAKER_02: That's you know, friends, people, your community.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: That's who's supporting you.
27:18
SPEAKER_02: Right.
27:19
SPEAKER_02: That's that's who's making who's paying the bills, really.
27:24
SPEAKER_02: So you want to make sure that that visibility is strong because community visibility beats internet fame all the time.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: And building strategic partnerships and referral relationships tell people you you can't assume someone is gonna give you a referral if you don't say, Hey, I really appreciate the referrals, and you have to reward that person.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: It's reciprocity, right?
27:55
SPEAKER_00: The give before you receive.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't spend the time, if you spend all your time behind the keyboard, I'm not saying that is wrong, I'm just saying if you're looking for more visibility in your immediate area and you don't want to plateau at a certain amount, you need to get out there and start building relationships.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't have and if you need relationships that are referral relationships, because those guys are gonna refer you, and you have to re you have to reward the mouth that feeds you, the hand that feeds you.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: So make sure that you're you're picking people who resonate with your business style.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: There is a business owner, and this was a big discussion in one of the Facebook groups here.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: There's a business owner who is legitimately taking advantage of a lot of people.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: He shouldn't be in business.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: There's been several people who've sued him, but yeah, he's still out there practicing business, and this is okay.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Right, it's just wild.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: So this then this person is mad because they got taken for 20 grand, and he's out there filming him, antagonizing him on the curb on the busy street.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, what if this guy falls over and gets run over?
28:55
SPEAKER_00: Don't do stuff like that.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: No man, file a lawsuit, do those types of things, but doing what you're doing is antagonizing.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: And I I, you know, first what if he whips out a gun and shoots the guy?
29:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh my gosh, and that's just that's how it is.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: You gotta, yeah.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you gotta be careful.
29:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you gotta you gotta be careful, guys.
29:17
SPEAKER_02: Safety, safety, safety, please.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: And then there's a feast and famine cycle.
29:22
SPEAKER_00: As things start to plateau as you get more seasoned in business, it's not a feast or famine.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, it will be, so you're gonna have to balance it out so that you're not in the feast or famine cycle.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a hard wave to ride.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: You're riding the wave, it goes up and then it comes down.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: So you have to you have to account for attrition, then so you're gonna have to get more visibility, and it's it's a cycle.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: You have to hit these points every month.
29:45
SPEAKER_00: You should plan out when the chamber meetings are on your calendar.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: So you have it send you a reminder, have Chat GPT link it to your calendar, whatever you choose to do, and then reinforce consistency beats intensity every time.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: If you're consistent and you show up to every chamber meeting or every BI meeting or whatever social networking in-person event you're doing, they're gonna start to see you and remember, like me, oh, you're that cleaning lady.
30:14
SPEAKER_00: I have this job, and that's how I've landed$5,000 jobs just by showing up.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we need to have this done.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: So that's important as well.
30:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it really is.
30:24
SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, commercial.
30:26
SPEAKER_02: I've landed several commercial contracts over that.
30:29
SPEAKER_02: Uh and we could talk about that later.
30:32
SPEAKER_02: But yes, these these out there, but you do gotta put yourself out there.
30:40
SPEAKER_02: Well, look at now.
30:41
SPEAKER_02: I I have been called upon to be a judge for a chili cook-off that they're having in July.
30:53
unknown: Right.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: That's visibility, ladies and gentlemen.
30:57
SPEAKER_02: That it's it's a visibility thing, and I get to hand off the award and you know that that's it.
31:07
SPEAKER_02: Don't always have to be scary.
31:08
SPEAKER_02: And once you start, once you start going, I it there's still I still get a little bit of anxiety, still, even still to this day.
31:18
SPEAKER_02: But I know that if I put one foot in front of the other, I know even if I have to fumble through it, I'll get through it.
31:25
SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
31:27
SPEAKER_02: I just kind of laugh at myself later, like, oh geez.
31:31
SPEAKER_02: Like I do with Shannon, like, gosh, do you remember whenever I first started this?
31:36
SPEAKER_02: That was funny, right?
31:39
SPEAKER_00: Right.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: So these are some things to consider when you're looking for visibility, local visibility.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: And um, before we wrap up today's episode, if you're watching on YouTube, because I always forget to say this, don't forget to like and subscribe, hit the notification button.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: It really does help us reach more cleaning business owners who really need this information.
32:02
SPEAKER_02: And if you're listening on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, your any of your pop favorite podcast platforms.
32:11
SPEAKER_02: You guys share this with other cleaning business owners so that we can get a lot more reach.
32:16
SPEAKER_02: And then we can you can show, like, hey, uh, you you can be the one that be like, hey, I'm the one that showed you guys who they are.
32:25
SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
32:27
SPEAKER_02: As always, you guys, thank you so much.
32:30
SPEAKER_02: Keep keep sharing, keep uh watching, and we'll talk to you guys soon.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for supporting the show.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: We appreciate every single one of you.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: Take care.
32:43
SPEAKER_02: Bye.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: Bye.