Latest / Cleaning Business Life / CBL Episode #106 Interview-Crunchy Cleaning & Crafting Success: Eco-Friendly Entrepreneurship with Kathy Borie

Transcript

CBL Episode #106 Interview-Crunchy Cleaning & Crafting Success: Eco-Friendly Entrepreneurship with Kathy Borie · Cleaning Business Life

• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Welcome Kathy Bure from Crunchy Cleaning Right.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Yes, Articulation Cleaning by Kathy.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Crunchy Cleaning by Kathy.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Now, for those of you who don't know, Kathy has been in business over a decade.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: She's over in the Poconos where they filmed Dirty Dancing and has a pretty large clientele base and a pretty large YouTube channel.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: We can put her contact information in the show notes when we post the podcast.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: And what inspired you to come up with the name Crunchy Cleaning for?
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: you.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: First off, I want to say thank you so much for having me on.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I'm really excited.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Happy New Year, all that good stuff.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: So like crunchy is kind of like not a slang, but kind of like another term for hippie granola, eco-friendly, eco-minded life set or mindset lifestyle.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Think about, like when you eat a granola it's crunchy.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: So it's like a crunchy mom or a crunchy recipe or a crunchy lifestyle.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: So when I first moved to the Poconos since I always loved nature growing up and then I moved to the Pocono Mountains from the big city, I'm like wow, I really need to find out more about nature and the area and I started finding groups on Facebook.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: So I found a crunchy mom's group.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: This was before I was even a mom so I joined it and then I got pregnant and then I had my two kids and I really really dove into more of the eco-friendly lifestyle, more so than what I was doing before.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: I had kids, but my kids were more of my reason for it and I just always loved the term crunchy.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: I'm like that's kind of cool and it kind of has a cool alliteration with my name, with the whole.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: It sounds the same.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: You know the sounding of it and after being a stay-at-home mom for a few years, I wanted to get back into the workforce and not depend on my husband's money anymore.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: But I needed a flexible schedule to work around.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: You know, my kids were little and I had to find babysitters.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: And then eventually they went into preschool and I told my husband one day.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: I said you know what I?
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: think I'm going to start cleaning, because people are always asking about are there cleaners, are there cleaners?
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: But I'm going to do it with my stuff which is like vinegar and baking soda that I had at the time, and I'm going to do it with my eco-friendly products, because I don't want to do the Lysols and the bleaches, and there is a demand for it, especially in the bleaches.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: And there is a demand for it, especially in the crunchy group that I was in, and I mentioned it to my husband and he said well, yeah, you're Portuguese.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Portuguese girls like to clean, go for it.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: So I'm like, yeah, like a true husband.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Go get it woman.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I love that, yeah.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: And then a little by little, by little, you know, I went and I got my.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: EIN and insurance and I got it registered through the state and I did everything you know legit and little by little.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: In the first year or two it wasn't that busy at all, like my kids were in preschool and I was actually substitute teaching and then my mind started to click like I can actually really make a go of this.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Let me actually put more effort into it and make like a logo and make like a website and really get more.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Since I already have some things going, let me just push it more out there and little by little, you know, it just grew.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: I put the work into it and now, almost 10 years later, I feel like the my brand is just building more and more and I just want to keep it going.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Definitely.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: What were some of the challenges when you first started your business that you initially came across?
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Well, I work solo.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: I like to work on my own.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it's the only child in me I have a hard time delegating.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: I guess time delegating, I guess.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: So schedule wise, being a mom and working around, like you know, with a three and a five year old, and you know preschool and kindergarten, and just trying to coordinate schedules, that that even now it's still a little challenging.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: But they're older now, so now it's like they could stay on their own if they need to.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: But, and physically, the toll on my body because I'm going to be 50 this year I don't like to say the number, but you know I've been blessed every day to wake up, so I got to look at it that way.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: Just physically it's a physically demanding job and I don't think people realize the physical aspect that goes into it.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Especially if you want to do it right, if you don't want to cut corners, if you want to do it properly, it can be physically and mentally draining.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: So that that's a challenge.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: So that's something you know.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: You have to kind of deal with every day, from the beginning, all the way up until you know, 10 years later.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, are you really picky about who you take on as a client now?
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Um, I'm picky to the yes not because I want to be like oh, you're not good enough for me picky.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: No, not like that at all Right.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Right, if any clients are watching.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: It's not that it's more space and time wise, right, because I work alone, I need to be mindful of how much time I'm going to put into it, because I don't want to cut corners and half-ass it and I don't like to speed through a job.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: So I need to know, like I don't want to choose a house that's 8,000 square feet, I'm not going to pick up a house that's 4,000 square.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: It's just too much.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: And then the next day I have clients and then I don't have enough recuperation time on my muscles, you know.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: So I'm mindful of do I want to tackle on that job or don't I?
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Nope, I can't fit it on my schedule, sorry.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: And then I'll give them.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: You know I'll contact other cleaner friends of mine and say hey, call that person, they need a cleaner.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: And I pass it on to somebody else.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: You collaborate a lot in your area.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: I try to yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't me personally, I don't view other cleaners as my competition, even though technically they are right, you know, because that person may take that client that I was trying to bid for, I get it, but in the long run I'm my own competition first and foremost.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: My mind, my self-doubt, my you know what I can do, what I can't do all of that we're.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: We are our own worst enemy and worst critic in that way we can be you know what I mean.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Right, like we're all like self-doubt, self-talk, like we have to get, we have to work on ourselves first.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: So I'm my own worst competition in that way.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: But there's so much work to be done, there's so much homes and just in America that there's more than enough for everyone.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: I think, and I think if you do a good job and you're just good at whatever niche you do, or even if it's not a niche, even if you just do the same type of cleaning the next person, if it's your personality that shines through, if it's your employees personalities, if you just do a great job, if you do a little bit extra, whatever you do, if you do it with heart, it's going to come through and your clients are going to appreciate it and keep coming back so I that's.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: I don't feel that those other cleaners are my competition.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: I I kind of feel like, hey, here, take a job.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: If you don't, they may look at me like I'm their.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: I don't know what they think of me.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: I don't know good or bad Right.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: We try and we try and get it out to everybody, especially I think everybody here isn't from a small town, right, and we do.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: You know, collaboration over competition.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we're trying to.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: I never look at I'm the same way, so I can relate to you on so many levels with that yeah, yeah, I mean we, you know, obviously in paperwork competition, but I just mentally, I just try not to focus on that and I I try to focus on my path and I don't worry about other people's paths.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: And and I see posts from other cleaners and sometimes I'm like, ooh, you know, watch how you word that.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Or like maybe don't put those pictures public.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Like look at your image, what are you portraying?
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Like in my mind I'm thinking like coaching wise, like how to help them, but then I don't want to step on someone's toes either.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: So it's hard to uh say something to someone professionally so much heart without offending somebody.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: Um, I think we're in the era of a lot of offending.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, um, I don't know.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, uh, you're all natural, obviously, yeah, um you got kind of like that you make your own stuff, don't you, if I remember correctly I do.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: I make my own stuff for home.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: I do make my own stuff for a couple clients that like it, um.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: And then I, you know, I buy eco-friendly products that I see out there on the market, um.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: And then there are like, for example, for, like, oven cleaning, I prefer to use vinegar and pumice stone and stainless steel scrubbers.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: I don't do easy off.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: I haven't bought easy off in like 20 something years, I don't.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: I just don't like it.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Um.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: So for things like that I'll make my own vinegar solution in the Pumice Stone or even shower glass, shower doors, I'll use vinegar.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: But then I also buy eco-friendly products that I see on the market.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: But I look at the ingredients and I try to research it to make sure they're not greenwashing and not trying to dupe over.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: You know like, oh, we are eco-friendly but we're not.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: So I try to be very mindful of that and I try to buy as much eco friendly as I can.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: So even when it comes to, let's say, disinfecting toilets, I won't use bleach on that, I'll stick with hydrogen peroxide or, is appropriate, alcohol or force of nature.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: I'll use other products that are disinfectants, maybe have a little bit of a longer dwell time, but at least it's healthier for my lungs than than bleach would be.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: So I I I try to be as mindful of products that I'm going to use as possible.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: You have a lot of uh awards under your, your brand, yeah no, no, no, she's a cleaning influencer officially.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: There it is I mean you should be given a trophy.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: I mean there's when you call her phone and you listen to her voice.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: I ramble uh, it's a long message, but it's like I am an award-winning cleaning business and the Poconos I service she gives you the whole thing, so there's no question over what service area.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: I'm servicing.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Right, this is what I'm doing.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Don't bother me with other questions.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: No, I mean, it took me a while to actually start saying like calling myself award-winning, because then I I was reading something about an article about because I don't want to come off cocky, but I'm very proud of that.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: You know, because the very first time I won was in 2016.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: And it was after a couple, like a year of being open and I had like four clients that year and I was substitute teaching Like I wasn't even really.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: I posted maybe once every two months Like I wasn't but my clients that I had really liked me and they started tagging me on more things.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: And that's when I started really delving more into it.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: And somebody nominated me.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: I didn't even know the Pocono record it's our local newspaper had a yearly award.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Like I don't follow, I don't read the news much, Right, I didn't even know.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: And they messaged me, they emailed me, saying congratulations, you want I go one, what are you talking about?
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: And I saw the newspaper and there's my name and I'm like holy cow, that's pretty cool.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: And then every year, when they come out for it, you can nominate people.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: So I get the link, I share the link and I'm like, hey, you want to nominate my business?
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: So then I get nominated and then it's like I'm in the top five or whatever.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: And then when it's voting time, I'm like, hey, you want to vote?
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: And then people vote, and then I I went there's other cleaners too that are in that category as well, and then I email them and I congratulate them and and then I I you know I vote for my other small businesses in the area that I like, like cafes and dry cleaners, and it's.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: It's really nice that local newspapers do things like that once a year to help small businesses, you know, get out there more.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: So I think it's really cool, so I'm really proud of it.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, same I for our local chamber they do.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: I was up for nominee or up for best small business of the year, but I actually ended up winning the 2023 Best Green Cleaning Company of the Year Award.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: That's awesome yes.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: I'm very proud, Obviously.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: I have it hanging up in my A little brown plaque in the back, and then here it is got the mayor signs.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: And I had to find space to hang mine up.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: I still have them like on a shelf.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I had to go up on stage in front of a whole bunch of people and try and talk.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: I thought I was going to pass out.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Isn't that fun.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: I totally can relate.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: That's fun to be recognized.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: It's a good time and it sets you apart a little bit.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: You know it's not bragging it's not bragging.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: I think it's just like pride.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: It's like you know, I'm prideful.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: You know, yeah, it feels good.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it really does.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's nice to be, you know, recognized by the community, you know.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: It is.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Yes, definitely.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: It makes all of that hard work worth it.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, with your collaboration that you do locally, do you have like a messenger group that you communicate with them?
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Or is this all text message?
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Do you have people inside your little messenger group?
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: If you have one With other cleaners, you mean, yeah, there is actually, yeah, a girl started a Facebook group for like Pocono cleaners.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: A girl started a Facebook group for like Pocono cleaners.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: So then I'll post on there like hey, this person reached.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: Or whenever somebody texts or message me saying they need a cleaner, and if it's out of my area or just a job I can't fit, I do tell them.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: Like you know, unfortunately I can't do it.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: I can't.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: But let me, is it OK if I can get your information and pass it on?
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: And then I'll post it on the group or I'll text a couple cleaners that I've connected with throughout the years, so yeah now, how big?
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: how big is your service areas?
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: What?
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: What's the population?
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: And over there, oh good question, I'm not sure.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: But I I know that the I mean back in the 80s.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: I'm from New Jersey, like 10 minutes from Manhattan.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I grew up and I always heard of the Pocono Mountains being the like, you know the, the getaway for the New Yorkers.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: You go to the mountains and everything, and, and growing up, a couple times we did come out to the Pocono Mountains and my dad used to come out here hunting, um, and then in the last I guess the last, especially the last five years since COVID, it exploded even more like it became an influx of New York and New Jersey, like trying to get away from the city.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: It really did though it really did.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: Like you know a lot growing up, when homes are so close to each other and you don't get that much yard, you know, and you really have to get away to see trees Over by Ohio and by Cleveland.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: So I know, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: So when you go to the mountains.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: it's like oh yeah, it's nice, that's what happened here too, Uh huh.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, here to Humboldt County, it's gotten much.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: So yeah it's really.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: It's really exploded a lot.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: A lot more Airbnbs have popped up throughout the year.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: So, a lot of Airbnb cleaners.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, it's just a lot more influx.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: I don't know number wise, but I know that the Pocono Mountains has has really like maybe the last 10-15 years, but especially the last five, has really built up a lot, which is nice for the tourist aspect, but it sucks for the nature aspect of it.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that really sucks yeah, it kind of breaks my heart to see a lot of trees cut down for a lot of people that'll climb the trees out here and um.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: They've built actually tree house homes to save, to save the trees um, or they'll lay down, you know they're protesting out here for for it's super.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: You know it's hard to get to and they keep it that way.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Do you take on Airbnbs?
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: I?
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: have years ago when I wasn't, when I didn't have as many clients as I do now I had.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: I had in the past, I do have one now, but they rarely call me.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Only because I feel like if you're going to do Airbnb cleaning, in my, in my opinion, from what I see, you have to be a hundred percent just Airbnb cleaner, like at their beck and call which, if that's the route you want to do a hundred percent, do it because there is money to be made.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Personally, I just I've been residential commercial since I kind of started that now I have biweekly, weekly and monthly clients that if our Airbnb calls tomorrow and says, oh, can you show up, I have a last minute, blah, blah, blah, and I'm like, yeah, no, I can't, I have my client that I booked two months ago, you know.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: So it's.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: I feel if you're going to do Airbnb, you just kind of solely have to be at their beck and call.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: You know, can you stop by and get this extra laundry?
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Can you stop by and go to the dry cleaners?
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, no, I got stuff, other stuff to do, so I can't.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: So just scheduling wise, I don't take them on much at all, unless I could, unless there's one literally right there, right down the street from me, I could swing by maybe, but it just.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: It just doesn't work with my schedule and that's okay.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: You know there's different schedules for different I agree.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: I think, as cleaners, we have to.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: I think if, especially if you're going to start a cleaning business, you have to think about what, what route you want to take.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Like, if you want to just stick to commercial, stick to commercial.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: If you want to just stick to residential and a little bit, you know you have to, so so that you can budget your time accordingly and then don't be scared to say no if you can't do something right, I say no all the time.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: It's my favorite thing nope, nope, not having it.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: Nope, sorry, nope, nope, sorry, sorry.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: I will say that I can now, but whenever.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: First starting out, I was like this big giant, well, that would just take open up and swoop up everything that I have.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, everything that came to me.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I learned a lot in the beginning.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: When it's kind of that mix of desperation where you're like 15 bucks an hour for 4,000 square foot home, yeah, I'll do it, and it's like what in the world was.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: I thinking 25.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: Yes, I was there.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, how was that?
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: That's how you learn.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it is.
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: It's a very, a lot of learning.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: And then, um, you end up learning that, uh, you know, do you want to be, uh, recognized as green, eco-friendly cleaning company or you want to be?
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: Um, just you know, there's yeah, not yeah so many micro, yeah, paths that you can take once you figure out your your yeah like yeah, your town or yeah yeah.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've had clients where they've.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: They've like I'll get tagged on on on posts when somebody's like looking for a cleaner in a group and I'll get tagged and I've had a couple people chime in going oh no, I need somebody who uses like real products.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: I'm thinking to myself like what Really?
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Somebody kicked me out of their house and said oh, you don't use bleach.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: Nope, it's not clean.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: But the way you said it was just like oh, you didn't.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's okay, it's like okay, you want to be ignorant, go ahead.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: That's where I find that as professionals yeah, that's where I find that as professionals, at least in my mindset I want to put the various platforms that I can use, whether it's Facebook or TikTok or Instagram or my website I want to be able to at least inform as much as I can Like the dangers, the benefits, and not saying one is worse than the other, but it really is in many regards.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: But I do want to kind of help educate as well.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: A lot of hospitals nowadays don't even use bleach anymore.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: They use hydrogen peroxide for disinfecting for that sole purpose of unscented and non-toxic.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: So I feel that in this age of social media, if you can at least try to get information correct, the correct information out there as much as possible, to just try to help people, yeah, I think it's.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: It's not our duty, but like at least for me, I I try to as much as I can, and now it's up to you whether or not you want to take that and for you do whatever you want to do in your own home, I don't care.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: But, um, I also find that people, clients need to respect and value what cleaners can provide, especially cleaners like us who know what we're talking about and know what we're doing and are educated and have been in it for a while and we know like, don't undermine what we're saying, don't look at us like we're some uneducated, like French maid costume wearing like it's just dust.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: If it's just dust, then you do it, I can tell you all about how that dust got there.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, it's actually consider, don't undermine it, right?
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Yes, I do.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: I consider us the 23rd trade.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Uh, it's.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: We pay a lot of money to educate ourselves, whether formally or informally.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: It takes thousands of dollars to to learn how to do this, the right way to be efficient to to know not to do this, to right way to be efficient to to know not to do this, to know not to do that tools to use, what to use on what surface.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: And I think the big thing when, um, when we spoke last was during covet, it was the bleach.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: We couldn't get bleach anywhere because arguments ensued over whether bleach was a cleaner.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: I'm like it's a disinfectant.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you start to clean first and then disinfect.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: It was, you know.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: We saw some crazy things during COVID, so I would like to believe some of the homeowners have furthered their education, but in many levels they don't know the proper mixture.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: They mix in chemicals because they don't like the smell of the one chemical.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: I'm like that's bad.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Some of these tiktok hacks do you know?
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: I can't wait for it to get.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: I know that everyone's talking about the tiktok ban.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: I've been a big fan of it and I'm actually relieved because it does give out so much misinformation for our industry and I'm hoping, if they do bring it back, there'll be some criteria, rules to follow, not, yeah, putting chemicals down the toilet because you know it gets into the mindlessness.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: You're like I just watched a whole hour, yeah.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: It's like mixing the comet with the ammonia and I'm like the skin irritants.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: It's just mind-boggling.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: And then I try to like make videos where I counter.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: I don't want to come off like I'm counteracting or making fun of somebody.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: I don't want to come off like I'm so much smarter than you Like I don't want to come off that way.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: But I want to tell people, like, stop following the stupid shit, the stupid stuff.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: It's just because visually it looks pretty to mix all the purples of fabuloso and all the purples and all the pinks and all the greens, all of that's going to the waterway.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: We're all drinking that in some way, shape or form.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: That's irritating your skin, that's irritating your lungs.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: God, you don't know what the woman or man is wearing behind the scenes.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: They're probably in a gas mask because they can't.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: And if they have kids in the house like and oh, and then they expect other cleaners, like, can you clean that way?
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, are you?
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: I've seen one where I'm pregnant and it's just one of the things that I just love is seeing the colors and I'm like you're pregnant and you're sitting there just inhaling it.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: I don't get it.
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: The chemical pneumonia that you're getting right now is yeah.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: And it's weird because we're in an age where we know better and I almost feel like it's getting dumber.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Right, we're not a society that has a lot of common sense.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping it swings back the other way, definitely.
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: Well, that's what we're here to try.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: You know, all you can do is keep doing what you're doing, kathy is, and educating people.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: I do have a question here.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: So you're eco-friendly, what about the tools that you use?
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you are you super hyper into?
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: There's some people that are my vacuum has to be, you know, stamped, stamped green, you know.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: Oh no, I'm not.
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: I have a shark navigator and I disinfect and empty it out, like before.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: I have to use it for my commercial clients and for my residentials.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: I use their vacuum, but I try to be as conscious as I can within what I can afford and within what I can do, you know.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: I like to also say that the danger is in the dosage too, you know water.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: Water can kill you and water is as eco-friendly as possible, right?
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: So even though I don't have, I'm not going to have bleach, I don't want to use bleach, I don't have it, but I have to try to.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: I try to look at the products of what I use and be as mindful as I can with it.
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: So I disinfect my tools as much as I can, you know.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: But I'm not going to gut out my vacuum cleaner after every single use and hope that it air dries in time for the next day.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: So you know I'll wipe it out in the winter.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know I'll empty it out.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: I'll clean out the canisters and I disinfect as much as possible.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: But I try to also tell people too like you can't live in a bubble.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: You can't disinfect every single nook and cranny of your space.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Not everything should be sterilized.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: You do need a certain amount of germs, you do, you know.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: So I try to be very mindful of how to clean and what to use on what surfaces.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: But I hope that my clients also realize you can't live in an Ikea bubble like an Ikea showroom bubble.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: So it's like you know it's kind of that toss up of.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: I personally like this route better for me, but you know my house isn't spotless.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: When my kids were growing up, I'm like go play in the mud and dirt.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: They ate mud pies.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: I'm like go, I don't care if they get dirty with Go go.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, earthing here.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: Well, that's where the whole.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: Because this is why I moved here.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: I see a lot of similarities.
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I moved here, my husband brought me here and I felt it changed my whole life.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm so taken back by the beauty of it and I've traveled.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: My mom and dad my mom was a rainbow.
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: We went to rainbow festivals, and so you know, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: So you know, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's where the whole like the whole crunchy eco mindset comes from, where it's like nature in itself is its own.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: You know, natural medicine.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: There's so many things that can help you naturally where you don't have to constantly be medicated.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: And over this and over, like when you said like Sharon Shannon with the whole COVID thing years over, like when you said like Sharon Shannon with the whole like COVID thing years ago, like bleach was hard to find, meanwhile the hydrogen peroxide was right there on the shelves and I'm like why, why are you not?
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: It's on the CDC list as a disinfectant, just read like you know it's right there.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: So you know, I feel like it's just people become over, over, over consumed with things and sometimes it's not the right thing to be over consumed with.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: And that's why I was also saying the dangers in the dosage where, even though natural remedies are amazing and I would always first go naturally first before I go running to a doctor, me personally, like, if it's a cold, let it run its course.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: It's a couple of days, you'll be fine.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: You know, like I'm not going to just like automatically call it.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: He sneezed.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: We have parents that are like that I know, I know.
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: I'm like the first child, and then you have the second child.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: It's okay.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: It's okay, let your body do its thing.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: Obviously everybody's different, everybody.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: You know everybody is different, obviously, but that falls in line with the whole.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: Like keeping your house in a bubble, it's like no, you go out there and get dirt in your hands, it's not going to harm you.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: But again, the danger is in the dosage, because I think a lot of times I've also seen eco cleaners where they love eco cleaning so much that they think everything eco-cleaning is safe and it's like well, not everything either.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: You know you can't go guzzling tea tree oil.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to let my cat lick the bottle of eucalyptus oil, you know.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: So the dangers in the dosage too.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: You know one drop of eucalyptus oil in a diffuser is not going to harm anything.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: A thousand drops in an enclosed room with the door closed is not going to be good for him.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: So you know that's where education falls into play.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: Just because something is natural doesn't mean that it can't harm you either.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: So you know bleach is bad, but then you know poison ivy is bad.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: So you have to kind of figure out a happy medium and know what to use on what surfaces and how to use use it properly right at the time.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: Oil and eucalyptus oil are both bad for pitties.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: They can't.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: I and I've seen, yeah, yeah, lavender oil and they put their little chihuahuas right next to the lavender diffuser.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: I'm like you're gonna give your dog issues.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, oh yeah I mean, I saw them a year later and the poor little dog had liver issues.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: I'm like I don, I don't.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, buddy, I tried.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, I have a cat and I use the diffuser sparingly, very sparingly, once in a while, and whenever I do use the diffuser I'll put like one or two drops.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: The room is open, the door's open, he can walk in and out when he wants, you know.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: You have to know like again, danger is in the dosage.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: You can't use too much of it.
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: The same concept of if I'm going to be mopping a floor, I'm not going to be dumping pine salt and then not wiping it up afterwards because he's going to walk on it and then he's going to lick his paw.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: So it's that's why, you have to be mindful and careful.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: When COVID, before COVID happened, we would have Senior Citizen Day, which where they, on a certain day of the month, the seniors would come into Fry's, which is our major supermarket here, and they would go shopping because they would get a discount and they would always they put the disinfectant wipes right at the entrance so no one could get around everybody wiping off their carts.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: I actually used to walk up.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: I don't do it now, but I used to walk up to the shopping cart and I'd be like lick, I'm like, there you go, I'll clean, Give me that cart.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: I don't do it anymore since COVID, but I used to.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: They're like oh, my God, Don't be in a bubble.
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, like I said, we go out here and we do earthing.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I just grounding as well, grounding barefoot in the redwood forest.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: Oh, I love it Sucking it.
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: It does something to the whole, it does.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: Vibe.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: I love it and that's that's why I think eco-cleaning is so vital too.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: Because if, if you love nature and you appreciate nature and you want to be take, you know you want to take care of nature as much, much as possible, I personally can't then imagine dumping fabuloso and pine soil all over the place if I'm admiring trees, because that those clash in my mind those don't go in my mind.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: But it's not, yes, yeah.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and the cases of cleaners getting sick with COPD and asthma all that's been on the rise Down the road.
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes Be mindful of what you are using.
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and really think about what you're when you're in this business, what direction you're going to take, and think about the end result.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, just the here and the now.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree.
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: So where do you see crunchy cleaning in the next five years?
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: Oh, so physically, I know, like you know, I'm not going to be doing this forever.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: I do enjoy cleaning, though that's the thing I really do enjoy doing it as long as I can physically keep out there doing my thing great.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: I do want to focus more, as every year goes by, just on more of the social media aspect of maybe affiliate marketing or partnering up with companies that make products that I like and I already have been doing that for years with several different products and companies that I like anyway and just maybe just more sharing videos and sharing information, and if I can make a buck off of it, that'd be great too.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: So, more virtually, as it goes down the line, you know as physically it gets harder I can use, you know, my videos and photos and messages and blogs and website, just more virtually as well.
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: So you're looking for more of like an exit strategy.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: And yeah, long short term.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I know, Short term, long term goals.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, would you ever consider selling the brand?
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: Oh god, no, this is my baby um, I thought about that years ago.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: I was like how does that work?
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: And then it's like I just I don't know if it's the only child in me, it's the, the selfishness.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: I just don't know if somebody would would continue taking care of it the way I have, like as a business owner.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: I look at this this is a baby that I created.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: Like there was no Shannon Miller, your business before you created.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: There was no Jamie Miller business before you created it.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: Like there's cleaners all around, but each cleaner has their own unique whatever.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: So their business was not around until they created it.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: So to me it's like my little baby and I can't imagine just kind of going here you go and then watching somebody else do something different and I'm in the background going.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: You know, I think I'm saying that now.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: I'm saying that now.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: If Shark Tank, if one of like you know the Shark Tank guys came out, if Mark Cuban said here's $5 million, I'm like, okay, here, take the sweatshirt, that's fine, but take care of it, though.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: Take care of it for me.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: So I don't know, we'll see mark cuban or laurie grenier.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: Love her too.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: All of us.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: So are you planning to expand or introduce any new services?
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: Are you just going to strict with just the residential and the commercial?
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: Like are you going?
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: To offer cleaning, carpet cleaning, feng shui cleaning, swedish death cleaning any of those things?
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: I have heard of Swedish death death cleaning.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: I actually have a client of mine who once a year in January has me do like a deep spring clean for the beginning of the year, like there's a term I forgot what she called it but she has me do is to start off the new year like that, but I haven't looked at branding those as like extra add-ons.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: But those are great ideas when it comes to like carpet cleaning and I just don't have the space or storage for more equipment honestly, so I just don't.
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: I don't venture off into other things.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm already bursting, so I don't venture off into into extra things where I need, like, more tools in that regard.
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: And more money, yeah, and.
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: I have a huge storage.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: And yeah, yeah, yeah, and then hiring is always one of those things where I'm like do I hire?
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: I'm just at this age now that I'm just like.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: You know I don't want more stress, I don't want to have to deal with hiring and then drug testing and then insurance and background checks, and you know it could make me more money, I'm sure.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: But in the long run I think my mental health would be more important.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: So for now I'm OK for solo.
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, see.
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: I know that's great.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: There's nothing wrong with that, neither.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: No, no, no, no, no.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: I I'm always looking at people that have employees like a little bit of jealousy, like oh man, I wish I had that like the thing that you have to actually want to do it.
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: But it's okay, we all have our own paths, so that's cool yeah, it takes a lot of finessing it's great that it's.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: It's a firm decision, right.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: So, right now, where you are in this place and time, this is your decision.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that it will be something different down the future, but it's good that you've picked something.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: So often I see in this industry they don't pick one thing, they pick 15 things.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: When you're spread too thin, you can't do a good job because you're not focused on one thing or two things, right, yes, what keeps you motivated as a business owner?
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: Money Yep.
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: I'm going to put it out there.
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: We love it.
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: Listen, I love my husband's like.
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: I love chasing money.
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: I can't agree with you more.
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: That's why I got into the everybody's like well, why'd you get into the cleaning business?
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: Money, right, I need it.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: I want it, do you want?
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: Do you want the politically correct like Hallmark answer for my children?
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: Yes, for my children.
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: For the flexibility.
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: Yes, that is hilarious Money Listen there's a book that I read years ago.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: It's an amazing book.
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: It's lisa I forgot her name but it's called um, oh my god, what's.
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's called you're a you're a badass at making money, or you're oh, I know who you're talking about.
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: I have her book.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: What, what?
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: You're?
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: You're a bad something making like you're a badass at making money, oh my God.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: I'm totally she has a series of books.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: There's a badass at making money a badass at making decisions a badass at.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: It's a green book, I've seen a yellow and I think there's a red one.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: We'll have to link it afterwards, but I have a lot of audio credits oh yeah.
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: I have like 14 audio book credit, oh hers is awesome.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: It's the.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: You're a badass at making money something.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: It's a great, great read it.
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: In a nutshell it just tells you get out of the mindset of feeling bad about making money.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: Money is not.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: You know how?
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: People say money is the root of all evil.
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, of course it is if you don't know how to use it positively and doses.
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, if you don't use money to help you or your family or your friends out, it can be the root of all evil.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: Absolutely it can.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: But I should not feel bad for requiring to be paid for a job that I did.
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: I should not feel bad for asking for this much money if I know that I could provide the service.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: Don't make me feel bad.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: Don't make me feel like I have to barter, like I'm running a yard sale over my quote.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: No, I'm running a business.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: I don't feel bad.
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: It feels like that, but you know what?
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: I mean the book really opened it really opened my eyes to think I should not feel bad as being an entrepreneur, because I need money to survive, I need money to feed my family and if I didn't have it, I would be asking you to take care of me.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: So money should not be looked upon as bad for wanting it or for earning it or for working for it.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, what keeps me going First off, it's money.
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to lie, but of course it's my family and my flexibility and the, you know the, the luxury in that regards, of of choosing my own schedule.
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: But that all stems from money, yeah, and that's a richness that right there is.
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: The richness is that you, I'm sitting here at my house right now.
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, you know, um, while I, I know, um, I have a job going on right now and I know it's being taken care of.
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's gotta be money.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, of course.
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and for the flexibility I, I, I struggle with being felt guilty because I don't have employees.
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying it's like.
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: Or I just bought a house we just talked about this the other day.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: You know there's, there's times whenever I feel like guilty, so I can really do that.
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: But yeah, but yeah, and you know what there's nothing.
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: And there's nothing wrong with donating time.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with doing something like doing an extra add on with no, I do those all the time to my clients.
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: I do extra little things that that maybe other companies would charge for I I don't.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: I'm like no, I got you, girl, I do.
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: I do that because I generously like to help my clients.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: I want to help, I want them to come home and be like you know.
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: So there's no or?
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: if you want to do like a free cleaning, that's totally fine.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: If you want to do that, if you're able to afford it, if you have the time, that's absolutely fine.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: But I find that in a lot of times we see these in cleaning groups where cleaners are like they were upset about something that I did.
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: I went back and I fixed it, but then they said can I get $50 off?
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: I'm still not happy.
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: Can I get $100 off?
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: What?
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: do, I do and I'm like no, don't give away money.
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: You did the job.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: No, we got to get out of that mindset.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: We're not finagling at yard sales.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: I'm not selling tchotchkes.
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: Uncle Sam doesn't care that I'm.
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: You know that I'm giving somebody a freebie.
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: I'm running a business.
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: We need to get into that mindset as cleaners.
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: You know my my plumber's not going to give me a discount because I don't like the screw that he used or whatever Like.
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: No, he's running his business.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: We need to be in that same mindset.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: There is a perception with the house cleaning industry in general that we're a discounted service and we're not.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: You can see it because every time you get a coupon book, what do you see?
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: Discounted services for cleaning.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: And every time someone asks me, can I have a discount or you should, I can't believe this is what you charge.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, you know, when you you're still working and they say, yeah, I go.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: So if I asked you to take a discount off your paycheck because I felt that you didn't deserve what you were making, would you consider doing that?
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: And they usually are always silent.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: I've only had one person that retorted back, but I was just like why are you asking us to take a discount Because you don't feel you know, it's only a broom sweep and a quick dust.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, excuse me.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: When you won't even take the hit off your own paycheck, why are you asking us to do it ourselves?
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: And it's a perception that we are not worthy.
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: A lot of it's in social media.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: A of it's in the movies anytime you see a maid.
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, how many movies have come out about house cleaners?
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: And yeah, I was a single mom and I put they were awful to me and I persevered.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: It's this whole like gut-wrenching, like yeah, storyline that's perceived and it's it's reinforced.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: We you mentioned the French maid.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: I'm going to French maid and it's going to be so funny because I flooded with my feather duster- in my high heels and my little outfit.
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: Or then.
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: Or then you get the other stereotype where it's like, well, you're probably an illegal if I give you cash.
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: You're under the table.
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: And it's like not every single, oh yeah, I've seen those too.
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: I've seen those comments where it's like, a lot of times actually there was a comment about this the other day in one of my cleaning groups where it's like, well, solo cleaners don't pay taxes and it's like yes, they do.
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: I'm sure there's people that are being shady, but not everybody is like that.
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: So the Less than 1%, yeah, the stereotype-.
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: Everybody else is legit.
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the stereotype that solo cleaners aren't legit because you know you work on your own, you can do whatever you want.
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: Those stereotypes just drive me crazy.
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: It's a very strange industry.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: Whenever I think about industries, I always think like HVAC.
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: Oh, you know HVAC, plumbing, electrician, trade schools right, those are like you know and then it's like oh you're a cleaner, oh you clean toilets.
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going to laugh all the way to the bank, baby.
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: Yes, I am Make money money.
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: Make money money.
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: Bring me them toilets.
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: Bring me the toilets right.
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: It's just so bizarre, it's so bizarre it can be, but it's a good story about a client or a situation that has stuck with you oh, my god, that stuck with me.
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: I I you know, I really love and appreciate all my clients um, past and present.
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: I have clients that moved 10 years ago and we're still Facebook friends, we still talk, and I don't know.
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: There's been a couple of times where, like one time, I was at a client's house and she had gotten a call that a friend of hers had passed away and I was in one area and she's in the other and I just hear her like screaming.
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: So I drop everything and I go to her.
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: I'm like what's going on?
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: And she starts telling me and I immediately sit her down.
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: I'm like sit down, I hug her, I give her some water.
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: And I was there for like maybe 20 minutes just talking and consoling with her and making sure she was okay.
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: But then before I went and finished doing what I was doing and then I left afterwards and I just thought to myself I'm like these are the moments that I think to myself you have to have some sort of a connection as a human.
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: You can't just walk in there, clean and leave, and I don't know if other cleaners would do this.
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: Obviously, I would hope that somebody would at least be, you know comforting of someone, but the other day I saw this thing about like AI and robots being the future robot cleaners.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: You know, like robot clean, like the Roomba vacuum, but now, in a robot form, clean your house and I think to myself.
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: But I think like there's no connection.
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: There's no human connection there, you know there's.
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: You know, if a client gets injured and I'm there in the home, I can at least try to help them.
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: Or if something, or if their pet needs some extra cuddles, I can give them some extra cuddles, or there's a human connection, and I would worry if robots were to take over or something like that.
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: So when it comes to my clients, I just really love, I appreciate forming connections with them, but I know that it has to be a professional level and it can be tough, because if they drop me or they move it's kind of like a little stab in my heart.
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: But you know, those are the memories that I try to keep with me, the positive ones, and and knowing that at least I can be there to help them.
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: My client the other day told me she's like Kathy, you have no idea, you're not just here cleaning my home, you're like a couples counseling and I'm like what are you talking?
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: about and she's like no, seriously, me and my husband we don't have to argue about like cleaning stuff, because we know you're coming once a month and you could tackle the things that we don't get to.
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: And you and you just make us happier.
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: When you leave, we're happier.
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: You're like a couples counselor and I'm like oh my god, see, it's like little connections.
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: We're a mental health therapist.
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, basically what we are, yeah, yeah put that on our resume put that on the resume health and cleanliness all in one swoop.
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: So what?
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: What would you wish more people knew about running a cleaning business?
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, read, read labels, read labels, read labels.
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: Educate yourself.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: Google research, follow people in the industry that know what they're talking about.
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: Don't follow every single TikTok hack that you see and then do it out of the passion of wanting to serve and help.
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: Obviously it's for money, but you have to love what you're doing, because if you don't love what you're doing and if you're not a people person, it's going to come out horrible.
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: And when you put your love and your passion behind anything you do, it's going to come out the way you put it in.
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: So if you put in passion and love, your work is going to show passion and love.
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: So if you're going to start a cleaning business, it is backbreaking work, it's mentally work, scheduling all of that, supplies, expenses, all of that.
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: It's hard work.
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: But if you do it because you genuinely love to do it, you're going to be good at it and then get paid.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think a lot of times we're seeing it now the remote model is really popular and they're trying to dehumanize the industry and I think eventually it'll probably go in that direction.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: And you see them struggling in other cleaning business groups and they've never.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: You could tell we were just discussing this the other day you can tell that they've never cleaned.
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: They have no connection to the customer, they have no connection to the cleaning tech and they can't figure out why they're not making it and yeah and you just go.
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm not going to be answering this question, keep on scrolling, because they don't listen anyway, and you're just like figure it out or you won't it's not just cleaning toilets, even when, even when it comes to like um, quoting, like I see that there's, there's apps, there's websites that can you can key in numbers and all this and all that and then send out quotes, which is great, it's helpful to like send out like generic quotes and stuff like that.
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: But I also feel that you do have to have a little bit of a personal thing with the customer, with the client, Like you have to physically discuss, either on the phone or through text, like so what exactly are you looking for?
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: Because maybe not everything can be keyed into a software program, you know.
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: Maybe you need a little bit of the, you know.
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: And then that's why, whenever somebody reaches out and says, oh, what are your charges?
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: And I said, well, let's talk, because every home is different, every client is different.
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: You may not want that space clean, you may want that space clean, but that space is different than this, you know.
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: So everything is different.
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: So that's why that that personal connection is so vital in this industry.
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: So vital so vital.
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: Without it, it's, it's gonna fail.
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: Not everything is like rosie the robot.
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: What was that from the Jetsons?
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: She'd pop out lunch too.
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: I was like yeah.
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: As helpful as that is, you know, like the little Roomba vacuum, that's great but that's not going to get like deep into crevice.
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: You know that's not going to.
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: You know you still need a personal connection, you know.
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: To know and to be able to see.
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: I don't know if robots will ever be able to catch up, and God forbid, you know something, medical emergency does happen.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, it can happen anywhere at any time.
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: It's it can catch you off guard for sure.
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: And then, what is your favorite eco-friendly cleaning product, your all time favorite?
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: Oh God, do we have time?
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: So many?
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: Well, vinegar is a Mac daddy.
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: God, do we have time?
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: There's so many.
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: Well, vinegar is a mac daddy.
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: You can use it on almost everything.
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: Not all surfaces, but majority of surfaces.
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: You can use vinegar, and vinegar is just so great.
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: Hydrogen peroxide is a top one as well.
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: Hydrogen peroxide and a puma stone.
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, those are the top contenders, top three or so.
• 51:49
  Speaker 2: So yeah, and water, because you need water for almost all of them anyway.
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: Most of cleaning products are like yeah, baking soda, that's a good one.
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: There are some really really great and there's lots of.
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: It's very versatile with eco-friendly, which is what I love.
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: So it's very cost effective too, because baking soda you can make a paste, or you can put it down a drain to unclog or you can eliminate odors, so it's like three or four different things you can do with one product and then three or four different things with one.
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: So it's very versatile where normally with the more commercial products you'd have to buy one just for mirrors and then one just for tile and then one it's like you can use alcohol for all of those you know.
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: So it's very versatile and cost effective.
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: She's talking about rubbing alcohol, not alcohol that you drink.
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: It's a propyl alcohol.
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: It's a propyl alcohol.
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: For those of you who are listening, don't take the vodka.
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, you can clean the vodka, you should talk about rubbing alcohol.
• 52:48
  Speaker 3: You got to save that other alcohol.
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: That's for other purposes.
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: Make sure we put that disclosure out there is appropriate isopropyl.
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: However, and then um, what is your least favorite cleaning task?
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: What you absolutely hate?
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: I can tell you mine.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: If you want to know mine, first go ahead.
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: Good lines I hate clean lines yeah, those are tedious.
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: I don't like those.
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: I don't like I.
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: I have in my terms and conditions.
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: If you have those plastic flims, I won't, I'll just swiffer right over it.
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: I'm not because they break apart and I'm not gonna be responsible.
• 53:23
  Speaker 3: They've been there for 25 years and hanging in the sun, oh my god, just buy new ones.
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: There's like $10 a pack or whatever.
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: Just buy new ones.
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: Physically, the one that physically hurts me not hurts, but the one that is oven cleaning because, like I said, I don't use Easy Off.
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: So I'm in there with the Puma Stone and the scouring stick so I'm like scrubbing.
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: So I mean it could take me maybe 10 or 15 minutes or 20 minutes on an oven, depending on how bad it is.
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: Where Easy Off you'd spray, walk away, come back and in three minutes you're done.
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: But again, I don't like Easy Off.
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: So physically an oven is more labor intensive, but I love the outcome of it.
• 54:03
  Speaker 3: I love seeing the befores and afters I'm like oh, I did that Find refrigerators, especially those newer refrigerators, where the on the bottom with the freezer and then you have to lay on your back you know, get in there steaming or yeah, whatever you know it's.
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: It's cleaning is physically.
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: You know it's tough.
• 54:29
  Speaker 2: It's tough if you want to do it right.
• 54:30
  Speaker 2: You're going to be sore.
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you're going to feel like you got into some sort of fight or you ran a marathon the next day.
• 54:38
  Speaker 3: I suggest taking some magnesium, yeah, yeah, for recovering.
• 54:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, morning and night, yeah.
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: It's, you know it's physical.
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: But then sometimes I you know it's.
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: Whenever I go for my yearly checkups, my doctor's like, yeah, you're fine, you know you can drop a few pounds where you're doing okay, but you're a cleaner, you're active as it is.
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: And I'm thinking to myself why aren't I like ripped and toned Like, if I'm as active as I know I am?
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: How come it's a different type of physical activity.
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: It's not, I can't run on the treadmill, but I can probably clean for five hours.
• 55:15
  Speaker 2: Running on the treadmill won't hurt me after three minutes, but I can clean for five hours, so it's very strange.
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: It's a strange dynamic.
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: It's mostly consumer-based.
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: What is one piece of advice for someone considering hiring a cleaning service?
• 55:30
  Speaker 2: Research them.
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: Make sure, if you want to hire somebody in your home, in my opinion, find out that they're registered and insured registered through the state to make sure they pay taxes, liability insurance.
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: Now, obviously it's up to the client.
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: If you don't want to deal with any of that, then hire whoever you want, but if you want to make sure who you have in your home background checks, make sure they have liability insurance.
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: Cause if the cleaner knocks over your flat screen TV and breaks it, are they going to pay it out of pocket or do they have insurance?
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: So definitely yeah.
• 56:03
  Speaker 2: Research.
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't tell you how many times I've walked cleaning business owners through like their cleaning tech broke something and then the cleaning business owner doesn't want to own up to it.
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: I'm like you hired this person.
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know what to tell you you got to research and it's not just like, it's not just asking the cleaner and the cleaner goes oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm all good Like no, let me see documents.
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: I want all good, like, no, let me see documents.
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: I want to physically.
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: Can you show me paperwork so that I know it's true?
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: Because there's so many nightmare stories that I hear on groups not just the cleaners of like I hired this guy to paint and I put down a $5,000 deposit and then he took off and he didn't finish or this guy started my debt.
• 56:48
  Speaker 2: Or they'd say never call him again.
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: Or they'd say hey, yeah, sure, I am insured.
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you can say it all day long exactly.
• 56:56
  Speaker 3: Get that certificate of insurance is what I tell people, yeah, yeah research, research, yep.
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: Search your company doing the research.
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what is your go-to tip for maintaining a clean and healthy home?
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: I think like opening your even in the wintertime a little bit, yeah, yeah.
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: I just had my door open yesterday like 15 minutes having all that freezing cold air rushing through.
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: But I definitely I like to always tell my clients to, right before the winter and right before they turn on their ACs, I say, just keep in mind, when you turn on your heat and your AC it's going to blow out dust that's been cooped up in there for months.
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: You know that first time when you turn on that heater it kind of has that like a smoky, not smoky, it has that like dusty smell.
• 57:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it has that dusty smell.
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would tell, at least once a year, get an HVAC or maybe not once a year, maybe a couple years, depending if you can afford it an HVAC in there and gut it out and get it cleaned out.
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: Or if you can't do that, because that does get costly, at least take the grates off and kind of get in there as much as you can, Because even though I'm coming in every two weeks to clean your house, dust is going to settle.
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: You can't escape dust, it's just it's, you know, it's your skin, it's your hair, it's just it builds up.
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: But keep in mind that it'll get sucked into your heater and your air conditioner.
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: So when you turn it on and if it shoots out, don't automatically blame the cleaner that just left saying, hey, my house is dusty again, Well, that's because you just turned something on.
• 58:25
  Speaker 3: That just pushed it all out, thank you, filter Filters.
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: That's the word.
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: Thank you, filters.
• 58:34
  Speaker 2: You want to try to keep your filters cleaned out, if you can, yeah but, it happens.
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: You know, just be realistic.
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: Be realistic.
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: Don't.
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: Don't live in a bubble.
• 58:44
  Speaker 2: At least you know, have a hygienic home where you can at least live comfortably, because homes are to be lived in.
• 58:50
  Speaker 2: I tell that to my clients all the time.
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: Don't beat yourself up.
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: Homes are to be lived in.
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: As long as it's hygienic, livable, you can walk through, and healthy, you're okay, you'll be fine.
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: Definitely.
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: Do you have any questions for us?
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: Can we do this again?
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: Yes, we can definitely do this again.
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: Oh, I love this.
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: I want to check out your podcast more now too.
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: This is awesome.
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: I want to see what else you got.
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 59:16
  Speaker 3: I do well this can leave a review.
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: Yes, session with Miss Kathy and we'll get all of her contact information and, um, we'll get her photo up and it'll actually be mentioned on the YouTube channel and then it'll be mentioned in the podcast as well, and when it releases I will send you over the link.
• 59:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, awesome.
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: Thank you again, Jamie and Shannon.
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.
• 59:40
  Speaker 2: This was awesome.
• 59:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was great.
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: This was a great oh thank you, thank you All right, bye guys, bye.