Latest / Cleaning Business Life / CBL-Episode #10 - You're Fired :(

Transcript

CBL-Episode #10 - You're Fired :( · Cleaning Business Life

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Recording in progress.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, welcome, welcome to Cleaning Business Life, where you can learn profit strategies for growth.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Shannon Miller from Clean Freaks University.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: And with me today is my co-host, Kimberly Gonzalez.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Kimberly, take it away.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, hello, hello.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Let me just say I am happy for some sunshine today.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you all, but we have been getting rain non-stop.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I'm living in Seattle, literally, and this is Colorado.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: So let me just say that there is sun out today, and you know where you're gonna find me out in the sun with my chickens.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: But let's get started.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Today's topic is you are fired, and we are excited because Shannon and I know how important it is to be fired.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know about you, Shannon, but I get expired, excited when I get to fire myself.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely it's it's not as um traumatizing as when you're working for somebody and there you get fired.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: I've been, I think I've been fired like twice in my entire life.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And one time I totally deserved it because I took told them to stick it where the sun didn't shine.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the second time, um, there was a validation process.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I jumped from one restaurant industry um management company to another, and I missed um there was a validation process, and I missed one question out of 155, and they fired me, and I was like, and then they wanted their sign-on bonus back.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, not happening.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And this is when you knew that you were gonna be an entrepreneur, right?
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then I started to really think about you know, taking steps on getting to where I wanted to go, and here I am all this time later, and um, it's it's not as bad as that event, but there are moments where you need to fire yourself um to make it better for yourself so you can start fresh the next day.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's a trait that a lot of entrepreneurs have.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we pick the can down the street and then the can only go so far, and then we have to reflect, and then then we kick the can some more.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: So and I fired myself yesterday.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: I was exhausted between trying to do like all my farmers and markets and events, and then you know, we sell our products online.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I know for myself yesterday I pretty much fired myself.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: I was done, and it really just gave me, you know, a whole just re-evaluation of some things that I needed to look at.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: So um, why is firing so important, like for yourself as a business owner?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think reflecting, right?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Reflecting back and reprioritizing.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that's huge.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think that we need to like take a step back and like really look at the bigger picture and reflect, you know, what do I need to change?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know for me, I needed the rest.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: I was absolutely exhausted.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think I have teenagers now and that they're off school and I still have dogs.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I got up and let my dogs out at like five in the morning and then came back and went to sleep.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think I woke up till 8:30, which is very unusual for me.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I know that rest was super important and needed.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: What is rest to you?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Because I know you have kids.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's a secret fan, it's a secret fantasy to be able to sleep in until 8:30 for sure.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Do you go right in your closet?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Do you go in your closet with the bottle of wine, like kidding, for your day of rest?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I just did.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: I did that.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, mommy's in timeout.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot come in here, and I'd be having my little bottle of wine just to drink a little bit to calm my nerves.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, mommy's in timeout.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: I need my rest.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: No, I haven't done that in a very, very long time.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: But yes, um, I'm sure I've done that in the past.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: But yes, um, having a lot of, at least for me personally, as an entrepreneur and a cleaning business owner and a cleaning business coach and all of the stuff that I do every single day, having more time to reflect on what my next 10 moves are going to be.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you already sit down with your business plan every year, I'm assuming.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you might follow Jack Canville's um strategies for success, right?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: His the premise behind his strategy is that you create 12 goals and then you check in either monthly or quarterly to see if you've accomplished them.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually a really cheap book and get it right on Amazon.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's like four bucks.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but having time to reflect yourself, I know many of us are mom preneurs.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: We have kids, husbands, dogs, cats, chickens, birds, whatever.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Husbands that are kids.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then take yeah, and and those take up a lot of your time.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: So for me personally, having time to reflect, like when I go, like I went on vacation with my littles, that gave my brain time to wander around and figure out what I was gonna do next.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then I come back and I'm fully charged, and I'm like, yes, right.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't get those times and you don't give those opportunities to yourself, whether they're large or small, you will get burnout.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you do need to fire yourself because you're an awful employee and you don't see it until someone like yells at you and you're like, God, I was just a dick.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and then it's because you're overtired and you're overworked and you feel unappreciated, and we all have the same cycles.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: I wish I could say every day I felt appreciated, but some days I don't.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, I know that you would probably tell me, Shannon, if I was overworked and you knew it and you could see how just how I was communicating to you.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: I would hope that you would tell me, Kim, you need to fire yourself because I think that's important.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: If friends see that, it's okay.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like give them permission to let you fire yourself because that's important.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: So you could fire me, Shannon, if you need to, you know.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you're fired.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: What was it?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Who used to say that?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: You're fired.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's right.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Donald Trump used to say that all the time.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and it became like this whole thing, but in in retrospect, I have a girlfriend who is an online digital creator herself, and she has a VA who works in the Philippines.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: He's super duper nice.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: I've worked with him a couple times, and she's going down this bulleted list of things that she wants him to accomplish before she comes back from vacation.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: She's taking a whole month off.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I finally had to say, I'm like, you know, I love you, and I'm gonna tell you this because I we've worked together for three years now, and we meet once a week and da-da-da-da-da.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: I go, this list, if I were your VA, is overwhelming.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: I would check in with your VA to see if he, I guess he just wants to pick a place.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna tell you everything is great.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And in actuality, you gave him 152 items to complete in less than 30 days.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: What's that?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you wait, because she just went full board because she wanted to have all these things accomplished.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So when she came back, she could push forward.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you gave him too much.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're exactly like I love you to death, but you're fired.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um you don't know until someone points it out to you because she was like really irritated over the fact that he wasn't gonna be able to produce all these things.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: I go, You gave him 152 items.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: I know my VA is like coming to me.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, Kimberly, what do you have for me today?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Kimberly, it's been a week.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still waiting for some things to do.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Give me some things, and I know that I need to work on that.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's like part of my my progress of um, you know, we'll go down further and we'll talk about that, you know, into rehiring yourself.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: But I know that's important to have um, you know, some help.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, you talked about like taking a step back and reflecting and taking time to look as a business as a whole.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know that that's important for any business, um, just to really like look at your business, look at yourself.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Check in with yourself, check in with your mental self.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because I know that it's mentally draining and it can mentally just exhaust you.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you could say things that are not nice.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: You are just you're just not healthy.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where you need to take a step back and reflect at yourself, reflect at your business.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: What are some things that you need to do to get healthy again?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I know one of them that I like to do, and Shannon, you know this, and I'm sure our listeners do, is that I love to go outside and hang out with my chickens.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: I know it sounds something so silly, but um, that's something that I enjoy.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Or even just going outside for a hike or you know, just being outside hot springs.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm planning a hot springs trip.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know, like Janet, what are some of the things that you like to do when you do have your time?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because I know it's hard right now with your time.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it I'm very similar to you.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: I I will, if you give me the opportunity, I will be outside every single day.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: I just like to be amongst the trees.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: I like to be next to the water.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: There's something very calming for me, and that's that's my sweet spot.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: When I'm there, my brain is just like, and then there's times where I'm regenerating, and sometimes I'll bring a notebook and sometimes I won't.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'll leave my cell phone in the car and then I'll come back in an hour because I've sat there and just had time to myself, right?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: But um in the ebbs and flows, like with any entrepreneur, um, you you look at some of the bigger people who've been in the digital world for a while, and you they talk about their team.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I don't have a team.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: One day I hope to have a team, but right now, you know, it takes a while to build a business up and you know, make it profitable and all the other stuff.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes we can have a VA for a little bit of time, and sometimes you can have a VA, or sometimes we don't have a VA at all.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you have two, and you're like, Yes, I have two, right?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: But um I can't even get my one for my one to give her stuff to do for my one, but yeah, totally.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have to be able, as Kim just mentioned, you have to be able to delegate those items.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to have two lists.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: What am I gonna complete?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: What is the VA gonna complete?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: And is it, and if you reflect back to my story I just gave, is it doable for the VA to complete 152 items in less than 30 days?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And these were big, big pieced items, they weren't like small, like put the pencils over here and put the paper over there.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: These were step-by-step digital video, upload the video, add the audio, put in the cut in, put in that outro.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, these were like heavy duty things.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, you gave him way too much.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: I would check in with him.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: And she doesn't need to, she just had tunnel vision because that she just wanted to be able to come back and have all these things completed because you know she had taken time away, and then there's guilt involved, right?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because we all go through guilt about taking vacation.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but these are some of the things that you know you need to do is learn to delegate.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you can afford it, um, hire someone.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can't afford it, here is a biggie.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I know you guys have heard me mention this in the past trading, trading and bartering services, bartering is um it's super important.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: Let us let us repeat that to them.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Bartering and trading services, it's so important.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: You guys can do that, and a lot of people love to do that.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be afraid to ask, do it, it will help.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: And make sure you're clear with the bartering.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've had a lot of really wonderful bartering experiences, and I've had a couple of like, oh like, what was I thinking?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: So um, make sure it's clear, especially if it's a big large ticket item.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, make sure it's on paper and there's some sort of contract because there's nothing worse than giving and giving and giving and giving and giving, and you're not getting written down.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then they go, Oh, well, you weren't really clear about what that was.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I had eight months instead of two months, or expectations for your bartering.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, it and it if you can't afford a VA or someone who wants like bookkeeping, I often mention that you could probably trade for bookkeeping.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just let I didn't let her go, she told me she's 82, and she was helping me out with my books, and she just did it because social security wasn't enough.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And she finally came to me and said, you know, I've been doing this for you for a year, and I really appreciate you know what you've paid me because I didn't pay her full because she didn't want very much, she just wanted somebody to supplement her income, and she goes, I wanted she she had met somebody, and this is a total romantic story, so I hope that they get married because I think it's so cute and I was gush over stuff like this.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: She um had met somebody and they wanted to spend what time they had left of their golden years.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna start to cry.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, how old is she?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: She's 82.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and how old is he?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: He's 79.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: He was a younger man, so they were us women like our younger men, right?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, she just wanted the supplement, and she had um some retirement and he had some money too, and so they were gonna they were gonna travel.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, Oh, you go, girl.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, go, go.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: You you just you never know what people's priorities are and where they are in your circle of influence, right?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: So delegating um if you can, and if you can afford it, hire.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can't afford it, then trade.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's always ways to negotiate how things get done.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: If I've learned anything from watching all the political craziness, is that people negotiate for things.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's um a lot of trading that happens that I did had no idea because I was just naive and stupid, that that deals are worked for favors.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's the currency of the government, right?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: I traded, like we were at um one of the gals that works with me, which I love her dearly, her name's Ruthie, and she just we did a farmer's market together, and we were just going and trading, like she was giving out cupcakes, you know, to the vendors, and the vendors were like giving her like jams and jellies and pies, and like it was just such a great thing.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I think people like to do the trade, you know, I was giving stickers away.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then somebody gave me a bunch of like tomato plants, which I love because I love to garden.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: So don't be afraid to ask for bartering or trading because people like to do it, you know, and all you can get is a no, big deal, move on to the next person, doesn't matter.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I know one of the things that I talk about a lot, um, and I I talked about it, um, I think we talked about it both um in one of the other podcasts we did was brain dumping.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: And how brain dumping is like so critical and important, especially those like my brain with ADHD brain.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like my brain is like a stock marker ticket, like ticker, and I feel like it just doesn't stop.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like hear voices and like it's like all these things.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that was the first thing I started feeling like the anxiety was building up in me this morning, and I'm like, I was having a hard time breathing.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I need a brain dump.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I stopped exactly what I was doing because I was like literally bouncing from things, ADHD brain.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I got a pad and a paper, and I just brain dumped.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't care what was on the brain dump, I just put everything that was on my mind and I put it down.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: And let me tell you guys, it is helpful, it helps you breathe, it helps your brain breathe a little bit better.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: And getting it all out, and it doesn't even have to make sense.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: You can just write whatever it is.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I know with the the technology and stuff, you can use your if you have an iPhone, you can use your notes.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you don't happen to have a pad of paper, I'm just old school and I I like the process of the paper.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: It um helps with critical thinking, it helps read your creativity.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: You can type, but it doesn't get the same feeling.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I'm one of the weirdos that still likes paper books, right?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: I like the smell.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I go into an old bookstore or Shannon at a bookstore.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: I love the smell of the paper.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just one of those, like, oh my god, there's all the small chair, and I just love to go.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: I can oftentimes my littles will be like, What are you doing?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm snipping some paper.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, whatever, where's the kids' video games?
• 15:19
  unknown: Right.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: There are methods to the madness and um getting the brain dumped out there, and then finding uh someone to answer your questions.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of time we're lucky when um I got into this industry, there was no Facebook.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've often mentioned there was only two books on the market for cleaning, and they never talked about the back end, they just talked about the basic stuff.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Ask questions, try to educate yourself and try to take notes, whether that's on your phone or on a pad of paper, because when you ask the same questions over and over again, people are not likely to respond because you didn't take notes.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, you know, and it's like I'm appreciative.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: I ask Shannon some questions, you know, for things and feedback.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: And it's okay, ask questions, it's important.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: You learn, but as long as you like keep your notes, like you said, write your notes down so you're not repeating the question.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely, and then collaborating, and I know I've mentioned this that collaboration is the new currency, and it legitimately is, it all depends on who who you know and what's going to happen.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Is try to build your own community.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I've mentioned this a couple of times in the couple other podcasts.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: It really is the time of collaboration.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you um don't have employees to help yourself out for one reason or another, um, get to know your other cleaners in your area so that they can step in and help you out if you were to land a large project.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: You there's many times where you know that's saved both Kim and myself for such things.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: That was in our podcast, let's let's be friends.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just let's just be friends.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: That was like our last week one.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, check that one out.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: If you haven't um watched it or listened to it, check it out because again, collaboration.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm writing myself notes here so I can remember.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it sometimes we are our best employees and sometimes we are our worst employees.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: So know when you're on one side of the spectrum or the other, and sometimes it is okay to fire yourself because you can always rehire yourself.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: You probably might not be able to negotiate for more pay right away.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, darn it.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: I must pay myself today, but that's a yeah.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Your benefit package might not be the same.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: You you just never know how that's gonna work out, things change.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: So um, but just be aware.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely, if you're a good one or a bad one, I don't know if I'd make a good employee.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: I would have been an entrepreneur for a long time.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I'd be a good employee.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'd probably be a bad employee.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: I thought I actually thought about like, I mean, many of you guys know that my husband had cancer last year, and we've just been bombarded with bills between that and our AC like infurnace going out, and like we literally, Shannon and I were just talking about this this morning before we started recording, was the money pit.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like thinking, man, we've shot out so much money and we're still far in debt.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I need to go get another job.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I started like going on indeed, and I was like trying to look for some jobs, and I'm like, how am I gonna do this?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, who's gonna hire somebody that's been like you know an entrepreneur for so long?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't even know, I'm so used to you know, my schedules in the morning and my routine.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I don't know how I do it.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd probably be late.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: I probably wouldn't be, you know, I'd forget my uniform, or I might have an attitude, or I'd question you, why are we doing it this way?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And when you can do it this way, right?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's an entrepreneur brain.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is like, what are you doing?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we doing it this way?
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: But then yeah, there's a lot of dynamics.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: So delegation, um, if you can, um, and you can always trade.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: And may and sometimes when you're hiring a VA, and I'm always picking from experience.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, sometimes you're gonna get one that works out.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: I just know that it's a multiple-step process.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the more times you go through the process, start a list so that you don't go, well, why isn't this person working out?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can start to look for other attributes that you liked about you know, VA number one and VA number two, too.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: So then that way when VA number six or seven comes through, you can go, oh, well, this person has all the qualities of the first six, right?
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's being able to delegate time blocking is in huge.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you don't have a digital calendar system, Google offers one for free.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um put in stuff that you know, like I have a main digital calendar, but I still am pen and paper.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: I have, you know, here it is, right here.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Here is the podcast schedule that we were just going over.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, sometimes I'll make it into the digital calendar system and sometimes I won't.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: And the main reason because we were just talking about this, because when you sit down and you're a mompreneur, you your husband comes up and asks you a question because you know, you're easy game.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: You're sitting down and you're like they think you're on Facebook, right?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Your your kids one by one will come up and ask you, then the dogs want something, then the birds will squawk, and then there's all of this dynamic.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't even know how I accomplish anything.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: I know I have like little post-notes and notebooks everywhere, like you were doing, and just to keep myself organized.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, like these are some great steps for rehiring yourself.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you want to rehire yourself, you know, time manage better blocking, you know, like we were talking about, like, you know, set some time on your schedule and really time block.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: I know that time blocking is important for me.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: I know in the morning, you know, I've got my morning routine.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: I get up, I make my bed because to me, making the bed is the most important thing.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Granted, if you have a if you have a golden retriever, and I'm sure if you guys are on my Facebook page and you've seen my golden retriever, sometimes he just gives me a dirty look in the morning because it's early and I'm like, so I have to make the bed around him.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: But no, that's my first thing is making the bed.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then I do my push-ups, my wall push-ups.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: I love doing wall push-ups, and it just gets me pumped and gets my brain flowing.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: So time block that stuff in the morning, you know, set that time aside, even if it's going for a walk for 15 minutes, you know, because again, you're resetting yourself throughout the day, even if you're busy, busy, busy.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know Shannon is very strict on her time blocking, and I love that she has those boundaries set up.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that's important.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that's part of time blocking, is setting those boundaries up.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so if somebody's like, hey, can you can we talk in about 20 minutes?
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'm sorry, I'm already time blocked for something that day.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Can we do it this day?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: So really set your boundaries for your time blocking.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's because the littles, you know, you only have a six-hour window when they're in school.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I have to be really stringent and selfish with that time.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: So um, I need to make sure that you know I'm getting those things accomplished.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: And occasionally, you know, that's there's interruptions that happen, but that's that six hour window every single day.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: So legitimately, you know, six times that's 30 hours a week that I can focus on my business to work on my business and not in my business.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of guys are still working in your business and that's okay.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's no crime in that.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Just make sure that you're taking steps to get out of your business if that's what you truly desire.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Some people want to be all the way to the end and that's okay.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: But other people want to have a seven figure business, which we can talk about later.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then there's that if you really need to fire yourself then you can hire a manager who's going to run and you can talk about uh there's dynamics to that to running a$1.2 million dollar business or a$5 million business.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: That person has to be paid mucho dinero.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: So because it and they have to kind of they have to be from the cleaning industry because you've got you want someone who's going to take some reins and not like mess it up and rob you.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: So exactly.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I know like those of you guys that are in your cleaning business and like maybe you're at the beginning stages and you're still cleaning and you're trying to manage all the office stuff, the back end stuff.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: I know something that I did is when I woke up and I woke up early, you know, my morning started really early.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then what I would do is for an hour before I would even leave for my cleaning jobs is I would work on the office stuff.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what do I need to do?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Emails I would go through the emails and work on documents.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: So like my agreements what do I need to change in my agreements let's and then at my beginning stages I was already working on my employee handbook because I knew down the road I wanted to hire employees.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd already started that time blocking every morning I started putting maybe spending 15 minutes working on the employee handbook and the next day 15 minutes.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: So and then coming home I would time block and you know wash the cloths and then I would work on the emails and process you know the checks and get the checks signed and go to the bank.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're just starting out that's a great way to set your setup for time blocking for your cleaning business.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: And as you grow things will obviously change and you'll delegate stuff.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely it's uh time blocking is super important.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I who doesn't like to well I like to be up early by myself when no one's really bugging me.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um it gives me time to you know do my thing.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Minus the dogs.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just you know pick what works best whatever system works best for you.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it's and I I remember way back when this is probably over a decade ago there was some guru I can't remember and he was like talking about time blocking and I didn't quite understand the whole concept behind it was still new and it was the new hot thing.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like what is this guy talking about?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: And and basically the premise behind what he was teaching and he was offering a teaching it was some outrageous amount of money.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like I I don't know but the the premise behind what the training was is that um it even if you time block and you have this larger goal you need to be able to think ahead.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to work backwards on your larger projects and then you have to work on them a little bit at a time especially if it's an item that is overwhelming to you.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like for example I had 15 cleaning business owners come to me at the end of the year freaking out because they didn't do their books.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like why didn't you get a bookkeeper?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well I need help with my books.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like I'm happy to do it but I'm going to charge you for it I don't have time to do your books for you.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean I can look at your books and tell you what I see but I don't I'm not your babysitter right yeah 15 different businesses came to me like oh my God I didn't know I had to file all this stuff I'm like sorry that happened but those you still got to do it you get to suck it up and I mean that was my first thing that was my first thing I didn't think right so wait pull those up again.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah those are that those of you guys are watching on YouTube and stuff like that look how big those are big girl panties these are my big girl panties I actually got these from my employees a long time ago I had had a particularly rough week so one of them um went to the embroidery they knew her and they printed out these panties and gave me a big less the big bottle of champagne and they gave me over the hill pills and all of other but I they're still hanging out in my office and I call them my big girl panties because I have to remind myself that I need to put them on to be my big girl self right so it's not meant to offend anybody.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know we're not being PC right now and everyone's really sensitive so I don't want to offend anybody no it's it's a term yes and it's just you know it's a prop that my employees gave me a long time ago.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and Shannon like I think hopefully by now our our listeners know that we like to joke around and we're playful and we're fun.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: So yes I I'm hoping but for those of you who are new I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah listen to the past ones you'll get to know us really quickly.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Ask anybody definitely so um do you have anything else to add for the yourself?
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think the last one I wanted to go over was just like we talked about taking time to pull the weeds I use you use that analogy when we were planning this morning.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: When we were planning this morning and I love that analogy and I actually use that analogy for a lot of other things um was time to pull some weeds.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that when we like right now oh my gosh right now my garden if you guys can see my garden it's my anxiety level through the weeds is nuts.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm actually going to delegate somebody and hire somebody to come do my weeds because I don't have time.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: But just to give you an idea the weeds are like overcrowding like my tomato plants and my um cauliflower plants and what's happening is that the weeds are actually strangling them and they're not able to grow.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of like your your life when you have all these things that are on your plate and they're actually those are the weeds and they're strangling you and you can't breathe and you can't come up for air and you can't grow.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: How are you to grow as a business owner?
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: How are you to grow as an individual when these weeds are just strangling you and so that's when you need to come in you need to figure out what weeds so what are some things that you could take off your plate what are some people that you need to remove from your life maybe that are like tearing you down they're hurting you they're not encouraging you in your journey they see it as jealousy um they see it as competition those are the weeds that need to be gone they need to be pulled because what happens when you pull those weeds you're able to thrive again you're able to breathe you're able to grow you're able to get that sunshine and you're going to do better for yourself for growth.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: So um find those weeds that you guys need to pull and you know that's you can use that as part of your brain dumping exercise figure out make a list what are those weeds that need to be pulled so you're able to grow your business definitely so um we hope you guys enjoyed this podcast Shannon and I have worked very very hard we are excited we got a lot of wonderful fun topics that we've got planned um so we thank you guys please make sure you guys subscribe and share and share and download and download to be the big thing with Buzzprout.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes download download download so we thank you guys for supporting us and loving us and we just hope you guys just have a wonderful blessed day.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to us thank you see you later alligator by besties cleaning business life is sponsored by pure evergreen cleaning products that's P-U-R E V E R G R E E N dot com pure Evergreen cleaning products