Latest / Cleaning Business Life / Episode #5 - From School Sanitizer to full Fledged Cleaning Business Owner in just over a year!! Jamie Runco- Above All Cleaning

Transcript

Episode #5 - From School Sanitizer to full Fledged Cleaning Business Owner in just over a year!! Jamie Runco- Above All Cleaning · Cleaning Business Life

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm a I'm a good I'm a good comeback story.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, as we all know, there's a lot of people that are in the business industry, especially women, that uh have been down a rough road and I've been down that road.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, let's do this.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, welcome, welcome, welcome to Cleaning Business Life, where you get profit strategies for growth.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Shannon Miller, and I am CEO of Clean Freaks University, where I teach other cleaning business owners how to run the back end of their cleaning business instead of being run over by their cleaning business.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: And today I'm joined by my co-host, Kimberly Gonzalez and Jamie Rumco, and we're gonna get started.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Kim, take it away.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, Jamie.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the podcast.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for being our guest.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: We are so excited.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: I was excited just to do questions and ask you the back end of how everything got started.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, Jamie, say hi to everybody.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, so I'm Jamie with Above All Cleaning Services.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And thanks for having me.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is the first time I've ever done anything like this.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So a little nervous, but I'm also really excited to share share my story.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good comeback story.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: So this is for everybody that's uh been down a hard road, and I've been down that hard road.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: So wait, we got some questions for you.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: Can we ask you a few questions?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm ready for my yeah.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Shannon, I'll ask this first question.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: And if you want to ask the second question, we can kind of go back and forth.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Not a problem.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: So, Jamie, um, one of the questions I have that I was thinking about was out of all the jobs, so you know, all the jobs that are out there in the world, what got you to the point of starting a cleaning business?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: Did you love to clean beforehand?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Was it the flexibility in schedules?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: Was it the money?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: What was it?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was really weird how this all came about.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, COVID.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh whenever, you know, they were first, you know, we were doing the online schooling for the for my son.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And uh at his school was hiring whenever they opened back up, you know, they had to mask and well, they had a COVID wiper downer door.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I had to wipe everything, you know, wipe this, wipe that.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And for the first, you know, I was like, oh, this is cool.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: I thought maybe I'd get the gig for like forever.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'd be at the school for the rest for the rest of my life.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Not the case.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: They they ended up letting me go after, you know, COVID kind of led up.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then um my church that I attend now, that's whenever everything kind of it was hiring.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's when everything's kind of took a turn for me.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I they hired me as a janitor, and I ended up becoming a member there.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the more I started going and attending, people were asking me, do you uh do you clean houses?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, no, absolutely not.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: I was I was there, I was like, who I think that just seemed weird to me at the time, like to walk into somebody else's house and like have and then I started thinking about it because I'm in credit card debt, and I'm like, well, who's gonna how you know they only let me have 10 hours every 10 days there?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So or or every, I'm sorry, every 15 days, something like that.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I'm like, I need to, I needed something more, and you know, we're all from a small town, um, and population's 11,000, and the jobs are scarce, and uh so I took a little spin and was like, oh, I'll just put this ad on um Facebook over here in this community, a small community, which is population 700.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: I said, you know, I'm going into residential, you know, and then people are asking me, how much do you charge?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I said,$25 an hour.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's how we all do it, right?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I got people left and right, and at first I would I seen real quick where this was gonna go.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: I seen real quick, I I said, nope.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I my my my schedule got real full real quick, of course.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that's how it all began.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's all how it all began was just that one little post.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Jamie, um, tell the audience where you service.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: I know we all say that we're in a small town, like I'm in northern Arizona.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: You service a really um, I don't want to say private community, but it's very, it's it's pretty small up in in you're in northern California.
• 5:17
  unknown: Yeah.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um are you past?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're in the almost.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, you got to engage a lot of uh your four-wheel drive to get to a lot of these places.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever I say that we are in the sticks, we are literally people live a lot off of grid here.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I service off-grid homes.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we are almost all the way up to the Oregon border.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's beautiful up there.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's been life-changing for me, and I've lived all over America, so this is definitely the most beautiful place I've ever been.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's a postcard, it's the most beautiful place I've ever been.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's very harsh though.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh a lot of rain, of course, you know.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um but we are Humboldt County, we are Northern California.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Humboldt County is the biggest uh county in California.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: But so it's huge.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: So whenever you say, oh, I humble I service Humboldt, you can't you can't service all of Humboldt.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's Southern Humboldt, Southern Humboldt.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I am uh in the Fortuna area, Fortuna around Eureka.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Eureka is probably about 30 30 minutes away from me.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and then even then it's you're you're getting to 45 minutes to an hour away from me, yeah.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha of the area that I service.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: So you obviously didn't get into the cleaning industry for the money initially, correct?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, I think we all make that blender, right?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I, you know, I I just honestly I really seen really quick that there was a need here for it, you know, definitely all the ladies, all the little ladies at my church, and I was just like, my heart, you know, I was like, oh, you know, servant's heart.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I was just like, you know, this will be cool.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Not only can I help out my people at the church, especially it started, it was geared towards the elderly at first, and then it just kind of it kind of grew from there.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um like I said, I I you know, I I realized real quick that this was gonna be something.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: This was gonna be something.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that's whenever I I I just happened upon the maids network.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was researching it like you would not believe like how really quick how to to do professional cleaning because we all know this is not like cleaning your house at all.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like how to be professionally clean.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I would the amount uh of my nose re researching and researching and you're referring to the maids network Facebook.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then I uh yes, the maids, yes, gotcha, my my favorite, yes, and uh yeah, and that's really helped me a lot.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: I I love um I love the groups that we're all in for sure.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'm gonna ask question number two.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: You're censor your first guest, so we're just gonna go by the numbers because it'll just make it easier.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, looking back six months ago, um, that's roughly when you and I really actually started to work together.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um where did you see the biggest change in your business?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: And what were the three big things that changed?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I don't know if I can well, you know, the three the the biggest change is I I learned that 1099s needed to hold their own insurance.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't I don't know.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm just I'm literally winging this.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm learning as I'm gone, like, oh, they have to have their own insurance.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: I had no idea.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then you know, whenever you look into uh getting workmen's comp insurance, especially where I'm at, it was it was scary.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: The the this the sticker shock of it was crazy to me.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I can't afford this.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: How am I gonna do this?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh I I think that uh that's a big change, right?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I think a legitimate business is huge.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: That means that you have skin in the game and that you're serious about what you're doing.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, exactly.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you're you're you're making yourself, hey, I'm here.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: I care about my company name, I care about my employees because we know that I did just have an employee fall down the steps and break her leg.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's it was good that you're insured and it was all.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: I was, I mean, I I was there, I saw it, but you know, and she told me the whole time, like, I don't have time to get my t-shirt off.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: I said, quit worrying about that.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was like, quit worrying about, we got this, you know, it's this is you're gonna be taken care of.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, yeah, so uh that's one of the the things that I got it, you know, really make sure that you have skin in the game.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um you want to invest in your company and yourself.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be a great leader.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: I want to, I not just a good, you know, my company name, but these these girls and guys um that I have working for me are are the the true above all cleaners.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're the ones that are making all this happen for us.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: So and I I um make sure to give them a lot of recognition and uh support and but those are that's that if I if I could have changed uh the biggest change is jumping from 10 uh 1099 to uh an actual uh workman's comp insurance company um and uh really getting the grit pounding the pavement and doing that.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: So would you say that's like your advice for new business owners that you like if you're able to give them this advice, would that be one of your best things that you would tell them to like for the employee part?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: Would that be your best advice for new businesses?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Just make sure that you're just doing it legitimately.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, a lot of people throw that 1099 around.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it irks me a little bit.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be honest, it irks me because it, you know, are they a true 1099?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, do they carry their own insurance?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Are you allowing them to wear your these are all things, but you know what?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: At the same time, this is something that I I also learned, you know.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it's you you really you gotta you gotta, yeah, you gotta pay to play.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And and it's really that it's it's really, yeah.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to pound the pavement, that's how you that's how you start doing it.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's um there's a lot of dynamics that change.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna uh Kim has an appointment that she can't miss, so she's gonna um hop off and it'll just be you and me, and we'll finish up the interview here.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: You guys enjoy your day.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so sorry.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: It was kind of it's okay.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: We'll catch you next time.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I've said everybody's fabulous.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: She looks great.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um let's go a little bit over.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: So there were three big things that would change in your business.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: First of all, you were working in your business and you didn't have any employees.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then the next thing you know, you had helpers, but then you transitioned them to W-2s.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then now, for the most part, I mean, you still kind of dip your toe back in from what I've seen.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: You're working on your business and not in it.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Is that probably the biggest three things that have changed with your business?
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm I'm I've become instead of working in my business, I become, I would say, a hybrid.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you're almost mop-free within a year, which is phenomenal.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: So um kudos to you.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Pat yourself on the back.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: You've you've done a lot of work.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's been a lot of sacrifice.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: There has been a lot of sacrifice.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it it's not a nine to five job.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh, you know, I have also, you know, family has been put on the back burner, just a lot of sacrifice.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that it won't always be like this.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: It won't always be like this.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I, you know, I'm just getting to the point to where I can, hey, I'm I want to spend time with my family.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm thinking in my head, I'm not saying this, but I don't do.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: I want to spend time with my family.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Can you guys go over and do this?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: You over here, you over here.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm starting to have my systems in place.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh being um taking that transition from pencil and paper on on a calendar.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know, get down on a calendar to going all digital was huge for me.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a big learning curve.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: It is, it's the biggest adjustment you make when you are running things from pay pen to paper to having a whole digital system.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's time consuming, entering in all of the clients, making sure that people are checking in and out and that you're managing the time of the jobs.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, though the it is it is a transition, and you've done a phenomenal job.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I've had a lot of help too.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: I had a lot of help in that.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh, you know, I that's uh that's something else that I can and tell people is to not be afraid to invest in yourself, right?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not just yourself, but into your company.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: You have to, you have to have somebody that has been there and done it, and you're basically paying to copy and paste.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right, it makes it easier than just AIY.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Not, I mean, if you can find somebody that'll give you free advice, great.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: That I mean, there's very rarely, but uh you need a mentor, you need a coach, you need hot somebody to to hold your hand and uh kind of basically what you're doing is copy and pasting somebody that's been through this uh process and you know I'm sure that they have paid right now.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: They paid their dues, yeah, and the same thing they copied and paste, you know.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so emulating and copying is the biggest form of flattery.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: We've all heard about that.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: So um if you were to give any advice to any brand new business owners, clean business owners, what would you what would you tell them if they wanted to hire help?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: What would be the first couple of steps that they should take?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's probably besides price, um, that's probably the number two question asked inside the group is I need to hire, I don't know how to hire, I don't know how to do it, I don't know any of that.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's we know it's a multi-step process, but if you could just give the audience a basic overview for new business owners who are just stepping onto the cleaning business scene um and and they want to hire help, what was what would be the best advice that you could give them?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Start handing your business cards out to everybody, your barista, your waiter and waitress, your the moms whenever you go pick up your kids at school.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Showcase that you're, you know, make a post.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when hiring, uh you know, in the beginning, I you know, I was hiring whoever anybody that had a pulse, right?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody that's breathing, come with can you help?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, um also make sure that you know, whenever you do uh have somebody that I'm not a great trainer.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't know.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm not very good at I'm sure you have systems in place now versus when you were in the beginning.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Guilty of hiring a warm body because it was necessary, but there you have systems in place now to qualify a genuine helper versus someone who's just there for the cash for the day.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: There's a huge difference between the two.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um, if you were to give them, I mean, you for example, I'm sure you have your business card on the front.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: It says, you know, above all, clean on the back says we're hiring um people who love to clean or whatever your tagline is.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I was just looking for a little bit of advice for somebody who's brand new, who's just stepping into the industry.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: So advertisement, um, handing out your business cards.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: What other advice can you give them?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely advertisement, uh, business cards, uh networking.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Networking is big.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh join your local chamber.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just now learning how well to start utilizing my chamber.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: They will help you.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Go join your local chamber, start networking, get in there, rub your elbows with people, see if they can't help you.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um once you do hire, you know, you you you need to make that decision of whether or not you want 1099s true 1099s, you know, or you know, are you gonna make that leap and go into W2s?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, networking's big for me.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, that's a that's that's where I probably pulled the most people.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then from there, people will just take your name, your your cleaning name, and and they'll so they'll throw it all over social media for you.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, my friends hiring, you know, especially here, you know, people get to know they're starting to get to know who I am, um who I am as a company.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you work for above all cleaning services.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody one of my my new employees has a shirt on.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, uh that's that's how to jump in the game.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I did, anyways.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I even asked my husband, can you ask some of your the guys?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Does any of their girls need work?
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh yeah, so I got some applications like that.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Building relationships and collaboration is so important, especially since COVID happened, uh really building on those relationships and having relationships with another.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I know in the past our society was always take, take, take, take, take.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's all about giving before you receive reciprocity.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: You guys all hear me talk about that, but it really is important to always have your feelings on because you just never know when your next golden unicorn cleaner is gonna land in your lap and you're gonna be like, Yes, I love them.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, I I think that's awesome.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you there's you know traditional things too, like indeed um putting it out on your website and you know, making it easy for people to apply.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, when they um start to apply, don't wait till Friday um because then they'll move on to something else.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you we want to be able to hop on.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: You want to jump on it.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: You you jump on it very quickly.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, you you I carry around uh applications in my car now.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Boom, here you go.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: You need a job?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, let's not even think about it.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Here you go.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because you don't want to miss that opportunity, especially as we transition into the central bank trend digital currency.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: It looks like it's going to be a for sure thing.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to shave more jobs off the economy, which is going to be great for the cleaning industry because people are going to be looking for jobs.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it I think it's going to be really beneficial for us.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, let's see what the next question is.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, give your advice to newbies on the top five things that you would um advice that you can give them to best help them in their endeavor.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, if you're very, very first starting out, um, the first very thing, first thing I did was I went and um I did a fictitious business.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: I got an EIN number.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: I I did a I got a little thing run in my in my newspaper that I'm opening.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um D B A?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, DBA, DBA.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: And um that's doing business as for those of you who do it.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, doing business as in uh yeah, and you get you know, I ended up getting a number.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: You can use your so it depends on we won't get into that, but anyways, um networking.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's join your chamber.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, the chamber of commerce.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um learn how to utilize it.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: It took it it took me a while because I I was I was also in my business cleaning.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I I felt like I never had time to do anything.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um get out and be somebody in your society, go out and do free cleanups, do do free cleans, do something where you can get a spotlight on you.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's right.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: It eventually becomes free uh coverage, free uh uh market.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there you go, free marketing.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um be be legal.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean that there's nothing more than that says that I I got my ducks in a row.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm here, I'm professional, then being legitimate, which is having insurance and getting you know getting all that stuff in.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, learning how to price, right?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Learning how to price.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Learning how to price and learning how to bid.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, honestly, getting a mentor.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, that's probably one of the biggest takeaways from all this.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: That I wish I had done it maybe even sooner.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: I it just I don't know.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I could have done it sooner, but um it you you have to have you make an investment.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's not like, oh my gosh, I can't afford this.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm throwing my money away.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: You are not throwing your money away.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: That money is an investment, and that money comes back to you 10 times and it 10 times over, and it'll it continues to come back to you, but you're gonna continue to reinvest in yourself.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you should on average, if you find a mentor, you should be able to 10 extra business um from where you are and and where you're gonna go.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and finding someone that really does resonate with you is important.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a lot of people on the scene now.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, everyone's a cleaning business coach.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: There's like I think 10, 12 big ones now.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like where before it was just like three, right?
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, but I was like, I was friends with all these people, and now I'm all my my messages are hey, Jimmy.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, gosh, I mean, I mean, you know, I get it, but you know, yeah, I I'm super glad I I got lucky.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: I got lucky and found my person, you know, my my coach.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: I got I I got lucky.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was a lot of research, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of, you know, you'll get there.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: You'll get there.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: You you you if you want to take this seriously, just research.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Google is your friend.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Google to a certain degree you can research, but that at some point you're gonna have to take action, sitting on your laurels, waiting for the world to stop because you want to step out.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: And come give it to you.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: And give it to you.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: You have to um the American dream, right?
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: The the premise behind when I grew up and what how you grew up is the fact that you know, you could be anything that you wanted to be.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: We weren't a communist or socialist country, keep my fingers crossed, that never happens.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but that you could truly desire and be an entrepreneur.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's still to this day, um, in other countries, women are not allowed to work um in this industry or have a job at all.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel very fortunate here in America to be able to have those opportunities.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: And we have more and more entrepreneurs coming on.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: They estimate in the next year that 55,000 other cleaning business owners are going to come on the scene in the next 12 months.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's awesome.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna make our industry really grow.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: The United States is actually the largest consumer of home cleaning in the world.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think I believe the UK and Australia would be the second and third positions.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, top five things that you could best help them.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: So being legit, having insurance, finding a mentor, um, learning how to network, these are all things that go hand in hand.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that those are really important.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then uh question number five is what are your six month goals from now?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: So from now into six months.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: So that would be what is it?
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's April, right?
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: April, May, June, July, August, September.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: So roughly right when school kicks back in.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Where where do you see you're in your business?
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: I am for the very first time.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to, I believe I will have all my systems in place so that I can step away and leave the state.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome, awesome sauce.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Have some trust and um, which I do, uh, have trust in my crew and my team leader, Cassandra, um, to have everything just run smoothly for me.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Or for above all, I should say, above all cleaning services.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, I'm going to go visit um some family in August.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it's uh my first time, it's a little nerve-wracking, but you know what?
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's my six-month goal.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: And next year it's going to be two weeks.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: And awesome.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's exciting.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: So definitely.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: So being able to have your business run by itself and um it is a phenomenal step considering where you started.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: And let's remind the audience you've only been in business just over a year, ladies and gentlemen.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: Months.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: This this woman has worked really hard at getting all of the pieces together, all of the systems in place, hiring people, getting them trained, having them take responsibility.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: And here she is, you know, getting ready to take her very first vacation and visit with family.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's phenomenal.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: So congratulations.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of yeah, a lot of hard work, a lot of community, a lot of community support, though, too.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of yeah.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then question number six, what are your one-year goals?
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can tell you what I think your one-year goal is going to be, but you can go ahead and no go.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see what you're let's see a year.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: I see you hitting the 250k mark.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Ah, oh, that would be great.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I see it happening.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, those are big, yeah.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: And and working on your business and not in it.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: So you'll be you'll be the manager, and then eventually when you hit enough income, you can hire in a manager and you can maybe take a step back and not have to be involved in the day-to-day operations.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that'd be great.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Take it down to uh, you know, maybe be able to work on uh work on my business maybe 10 hours a week, 20 hours a week, something would be great.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that would be great.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh mine was uh also, you know, 100 clients.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Be able to take on 100 clients.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's a good goal to have.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I want to be able to have a crew.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: I would like to have to see uh seven.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm almost there, but not quite.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um these are little goals, I guess I know that I can reach.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not stretching it to you know 250.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's like, oh my goodness, I could never do that.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I I here I am.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: I never thought I could I could be where I'm at now.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: I it just it's in my it's mind-boggling.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah, those that's it right there.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's my mindset is everything.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a firm believer in it.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I I see you doing that.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll we'll have to have you come back next April and see if you really did it or not for sure.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let's see where where we're at in April.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then um the very last question, yeah.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: Next April, we'll have to have you come back on the podcast and um we can see.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: I I bet you even exceed the 250k mark.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then the very last question you have is why do you love your business?
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: This is your first entrepreneurial endeavor ever, correct?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, this is my baby.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: This I I love this like I love my family.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I this is my baby.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: I put everything into it.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I mean, I love everything about it.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: I love that everybody has come together to help brand me.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I I just uh I love the name.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um my the the name me and my husband were sitting there, and above all, which I am a person of faith, and that has a little bit something to do with that.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: I love hearing that.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um I just love everything about it.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's not, I mean, there's not too much this I will say this morning I had to go over and collect some money before this podcast that I don't like, I don't like to have to do.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it was um a move out clean and I needed to make sure that before you move out, I get paid.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no doubt.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: But um uh no, uh all the all the clients are great.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh like I we're very small, so um you know I'm I'm with some very known people in my area and um they're very influential and they support me and they from day one they have supported me and they I couldn't ask for a better team.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um my my new my new uh employee just told me that she is like without you I would I don't know where I would be.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: She was like, I thank you.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: She goes, you're such an empowerment to women, and I was just so blown away because I never in a million years thought I'd be that person.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know who I thought I was gonna be, but this is I think who I'm supposed to be.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: And awesome.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's very humbling to have someone point out that you are assisting them when you didn't even realize you were making an impact in their lives.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: It almost makes me want to tear up.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because I was just like, because they you know, it's not just them, it's their families as well.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you had uh you yes, you have no idea that the amount of people that you are helping, and um that's it, yeah.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: But they're they're worth every every hard-earned cent that they make, because this isn't the very easiest of jobs, but you know, treat treat people well and it'll come back.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: It comes back to you, yeah.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: It comes back to you.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's well, that is so awesome.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Jamie, for joining um myself and Kimberly, who had to check out a little early today.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you coming on and being our very first guest.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: You were our guinea pig, and yay know I love you.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: So uh exactly.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: And um, we'll have to have you come back on and so the audience can know whether you hit the 250k mark or not by next April.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really curious to find that out, and we'll talk to you soon.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: You take care.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, thanks.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.