Latest / Cleaning Business Life / Stop Being Needed: The Growth Trap That Keeps Cleaning Business Owners Stuck | Ep. 205

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Stop Being Needed: The Growth Trap That Keeps Cleaning Business Owners Stuck | Ep. 205 · Cleaning Business Life

• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Recording in progress.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: I was waiting for it to say.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: That was Zoom.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: I am Jamie Runko, your co-host.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_03: I am the owner of Above All Cleaning Services up here in Northern California.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: I am with our incredible host, Shannon Miller.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: And today we're going to be talking about stop being needed for every aspect of your business.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's an unusual phenomenon because you create something to be needed, right?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're creating a job initially.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're creating a company initially.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're creating and being a CEO initially.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And the dynamic of you're fully in your business, you're fully invested, you're doing the thing, you're operating, you know, 50 hours plus a week.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: You're physically tired.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: What this episode is about is not being needed.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not being the bottleneck, creating systems in place so that people can make their best decisions.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Many people have heard me talk about Nordstroms when I worked there.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it used to be that they gave you this postcard and it said on the front of the postcard, welcome to Nordstroms on the back of the postcard.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: It says, make your the best decision possible.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Use your best judgment.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to be able to get where your team, if you want to, if Jamie wants to go to Mexico, Cabo San Lucas with me next year.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Her business is going to have to run by or Puerto Vallarta or wherever.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: She's going to have to be able to run by herself.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's going to be involving setting up systems in place so that things can run by itself.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: We were just talking about doing laundry at the office.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And at some point she might want to get away from doing laundry at the office.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they take home their laundry and do their own laundry.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's a system, right?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh things like things.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so because the thing they thought was success actually becomes it does.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: It becomes a prison, you guys.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_03: If everything is depending on you, congratulations.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: You have made yourself a glorified job.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: You've built yourself a job.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: You did not build a business because you it's so reliant on it on you.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: You're a job with a really demanding boss.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's the irony of it.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: So this we're gonna talk about how to become not needed in your c in your business, in your company.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Jamie, I'll let you begin.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_03: So why being needed feels good, right?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: Let's be honest, there's something emotionally r rewarding about being needed.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_03: People call you, people ask for your advice.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: People depend on you.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: It feels good, it feels important.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: I I think they call that the hero complex because you're the hero.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: You're saving it every single time.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm needed on I nobody else can think about this and do the thing.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: When in reality, and you hear me reference McDonald's all the time, any person in any part of McDonald's can work at any position in the house.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that's their manager's not really needed.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: The manager is needed for customer service or if something goes down, right?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: The the the armored car pulls up to get the safe deposit.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And even then, I think that's gonna, as we get away from cash, that's not even gonna be a thing, I would imagine, the next 15 to 20 years.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I I believe they call that the hero complex.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: There might be even another more sophisticated name, but that comes to mind.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And for for a lot of us, especially us as women, we've conditioned our entire lives to believe being needed equals being valued and or being valuable.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: You get to where you don't want to be valued, you don't want anybody to need you because you just want to hang out in the closet by yourself.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Don't get there like that.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and and it's true, everyone comes us to us for answers, so we must be doing something right.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, everyone needs our help, so we must matter.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's where things get dangerous and kind of sticky and like, mm, right?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes things that look like service are actually people pleasing, and I'm guilty.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Shannon Miller, people pleasing anonymous, eight years in or 12, 10 years in is when I realized I was a people pleaser.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Shannon, and I have been a people pleaser for people pleaser.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes what it looks like is in leadership, it really does tie into your ego.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're the hero, it's tying into your ego because it's feeling some innate emotional thing that you have going on in your head.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and that's what that's gonna make people feel uncomfortable.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_03: And but not all people, but a lot of people.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: What do they call that?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Buckets?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Five buckets of the ego.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: I remember reading that somewhere.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember where.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: I um you don't have to sound familiar.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it'll come to me later.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: I guess.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm riding the buckets.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, five five ego buckets or five buckets of your ego.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: And if we're being honest, there can be a little ego attached to being the person who everyone depends on.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's true.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, here it is.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: It is the hero and the fixer.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um always has an answer.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: The one who always saves the day, and before you know it, your identity becomes wrapped up in being needed.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't want to be needed, you want to be able to be autonomous and it running by itself.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: You don't do it.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and the problem is the more people depend on you, the more you the more important you feel.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's a it's a a dopamine hit.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_03: And that doesn't necessarily mean you're building something healthy, you guys.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: My gosh.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes, you know, helping because and I'm guilty of this.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we're genuinely helping because we can see a quick fist.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, okay, you catch me in Messenger, I'm like, oh, it's just this, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it you don't want to be that person who has to help everybody all the time because then you're always needed and it becomes a vicious cycle.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we're helping because it feels good.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes they can't they can't live without Shannon or Jamie.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: They I can't tell you how many times in Messenger, oh, can you help me this really quick?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, here's my here's my calendar link.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you it'll tell what the spots are available because I no longer have the opportunity.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I wish that I did.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: I wish there were so happy that you did that finally.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: But I've been telling her forever, you guys.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_03: You need to say, here's my calendar link.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: But it and I still, it's a habit that I have to kind of let grow on me because I'm still like, oh, I'll just fix it really fast.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: But then it becomes this whole like all day conversation.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I don't have all day.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: I got all these things I have to get done.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: It does.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_03: I that means every problem still lands on your desk.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: Every emergency still comes to you.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_03: You've become your bottleneck.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: That that's what that term means.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_03: You have become your own bottleneck.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_03: Every decision is requires your approval.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: I recently just had to, I opened up on who's allowed to send invoices and who's not.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_03: That was a big decision for me.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: I remember that.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's like and they're doing just fine.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's running, it's like something's happening here.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's running without me.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_03: There's some a couple of things that I need to put in place.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like, who does the ordering?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_03: Who does inventory?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I showed up today with you guys that are listening while you're cleaning right now.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_03: I showed up with my pen in hand, my paper.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: I'm taking notes because uh I the I still need to put some things in place to go take that vacation down to Mexico with Shannon.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: But you don't want to become exhausted, overwhelmed, or resentful.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it there be though there will be days where you're like, oh my God, I can't believe I'm doing this.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: This totally sucks.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Then there'll be days like, and it's high low, a typical entrepreneur.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yay! Oh, yay! Um and it's it's not really because people are asking too much, it's because you like Jamie mentioned, you are the bottlenecked.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: You've trained everyone to come to you, including yourself.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm guilty of it myself, to believe you're the only one capable of solving the problem.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: When in reality, now when people ask questions, if the if the calendar link doesn't work, I'm like this episode right here covers this topic.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've got 200 of them.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I think there's like 300 videos on YouTube, but and that's the hard truth.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, it is.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: We become compliant, we're okay, we'll ask the same questions over and over again in Facebook groups when we should research bursts.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's just habit, right?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, it is.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that people start wanting you to do it for them.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: They do.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like you have to implement this yourself.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: I can tell you now, for I I believe we're going on five years in January that I've been opened.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like a month ago that's for I know.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's just maybe two years ago, it feels like, but not five.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: But I that whole uh every there's a certain time of every month I see a trend.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_03: I see a pattern with me.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: Every right probably right in the middle of the month, um Shannon, Erica, all of my coaches know that they're going to I know that I'm going to have a freak out moment.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_03: A stressful I just can't do this.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: I'm why am I not getting anywhere?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_03: But it it's a it's something that I've seen, so I'm still going through it, but I know that at very every right around the same time every month, I've seen that I have this problem.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Now it's up to me to fix it.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's up to me to fix it to since now I see the pattern to stop the pattern.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_03: Stop being the bottleneck, stop doing these freak out moments.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_03: Every month it always ends up being okay.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: Every single month.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: Jeez, imagine that.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_03: Imagine that.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're listening today and you find yourself exhausted from carrying everything, ask yourself this first.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_03: Am I helping because I am needed?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's needed, or am I helping because being needed just feels good?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: Because those two answers will take you down very, very different paths.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I think on some level being helpful feels good.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it is, it's a dope way to do it.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it then it falls into the ego realm, and it it's like, you know, like I said, uh people please are anonymous.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, this is this, just do this really quick, and then it becomes this whole long dissertation.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's also people need to learn how to problem solve.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: That is something that I'm learning, like I said, every month, same time around, each and then it's like, oh duh, I did this last month, oh I did this, I I see a pattern.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, okay, Jamie, do do the problem solving yourself.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: True, and it and it really is one of the paths to freedom.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it leads it it leads to burnout though.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: It does.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to choose wisely.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Every cleaning company owner knows the phase.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: You answer every text, you solve every problem, you approve every schedule, you every complaint, you become the fixer.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: And at first it feels responsible, then it becomes exhausting.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_03: Like with me.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: There's times whenever I go to my house in my bed with the covers up, and I put my phone on do not disturb, and I just like just I I need a moment.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that's because you've been taught everyone that you're the solution to every problem.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: You you are when you're when you're doing that.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you do need to have a little bit of self-care and have some time out.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I always recommend going out in the trees or wherever, wherever you're located.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: But the worst part is people stop so stop solving the problems because they know you'll do it for them.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that's I'm guilty.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm absolutely guilty of doing this.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why if you message me and we have this long back and forth, I'll just stop.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because I I can't I can't spend the time anymore.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: I just, it's I got all I got podcasts, I got book publishing, I got children.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: So your own home affairs.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure that the goal is not to become necessary.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: The goal is to be an absentee owner.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: And someone pretty famous in our industry talks about being mop-free all the time, you know, giving up the broom.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's true.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And and we're at a point, an inflection point in our industry where that's actually more of a possibility than ever before.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there is a difference between the business models.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's the remote model where you hire in and you don't know any of your customers, you don't know any of your cleaning techs.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's a different business model.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about the middle traditional W-2 service provider with, you know, that has customers that you've engaged with and talked with over the time.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's a different feel.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to figure out what you're gonna do.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Some people like business model A, some people like business model B.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter to us either way.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: But your business shouldn't need you all the time to make major decisions.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to remember her name off the top of my head, but there was someone who is doing 2 million a year right now, and she said the biggest bottleneck for her was the payroll, like relinquishing that responsibility of doing the payroll.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it used to take a lot of time.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: I believe she has 75 cleaning techs with her right now, and having to go through and making sure that you don't take any phone calls when you're doing payroll so that Gusto is right and handing that responsibility over.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: She mentioned how like nerve-wracking it was because you don't want to overpay your payroll.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: You want to make sure you have enough money to cover payroll and then getting the money into the other accounts.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's a whole process of yeah, like I just sure is it and it's gut-wrenching when you start to have a really large payroll.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: When I had Castle Keeper Cleaning, my payroll was 20 grand plus every single week, and it just becomes like this.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: Just come on, make it through.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I I we get we, you know, with 10, 10 employees were just like uh still it's in breath every week.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's it is, but now someone else has that responsibility, and she's like, I should have done it earlier.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, all now that person comes to her and she has the stress.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: So but because payroll is stressful, right?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and you know what?
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: But learning it too, you gotta learn it first and then offset it.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm almost there to where I'm able to do that, and and that's gonna be freeing.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_03: But it took a I wanted to know every ins and out of it, but yeah, a healthy business should need your leadership, is what it means.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: It it it should not need your presence every second of every day.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what we're doing.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_03: Doing it live, you guys.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_03: I am putting these processes in place.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm literally doing this as we're speaking.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: This is where because I am Cheryl.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_03: Cheryl asked me what is your what where do you think your problem is?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: You're making the money, you're doing all these things, you you hiring.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, oh yeah, sure.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: It's me.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_03: I'm the problem, I'm the bottleneck.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: Everything relies on me, you know.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: So and we're gonna get healthy with this.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: It it takes steps.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: You can't do it all.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: It sure does.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: It sure does.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I think a lot of business owners secretly become addicted to being needed.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's something that should be discussed because we want to feel important and we want to be needed, and we're groomed and conditioned to be needed.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if people need you, they can't leave you, right?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: They're at least you you're constantly needed.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: If clients need you, they'll stay.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: If employees need you, they'll stay.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: If family needs you, they'll stay.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, family really doesn't have a choice, but that's results.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: At least that's the story we tell ourselves.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, it's uh it's yeah, is that is that really that's not a healthy leadership?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_03: No, that's not healthy leadership.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_03: Healthy leadership creates capable people, right?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_03: Problem solvers.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: That that's a that's can they problem solve?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: It does, it doesn't create dependency.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Problem solving is entrusting your team to make the right decision for you while you're out doing other things is so important.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't have to make every decision, they should be capable enough employees.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the development process of they they move up the ladder, become team lead, or maybe become an office manager, or maybe they do this, or maybe they do that.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: But the only way to do that is to empower them to make them better than when they came in.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't, you don't want to create dependency.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we call customer service when it's actually people pleasing.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: And we were just talking about this two podcasts ago about customer service and AI bots and how the AI bots have still improved, but there's still certain circumstances that are not covered in AI, and trying to figure out what the right word is to get a human because and then we overcompensate because you know, oh, okay, well, we'll do this, we'll do this, we'll do this.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: And some people are never pleasable, they're just awful individuals who happen to come into our orbit who did snuck in.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_03: I'm definitely definitely dealing with one of those right now.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: But and and it's really not leadership, it's uh it's about control.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: So you gotta be able to let go of control.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: When we first transition from us to them, the first thing I hear all the time is they'll never clean like I do.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: And you're right, they will never clean like you do.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's that's not the point.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_03: Not anymore, it's not.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: Not anymore, it's not.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_03: And they won't.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_03: They're not you are it.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_03: If you're a cleaner, if you start it with the mop a bug, and not everybody starts that way, you guys.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_03: Some just know how I just they hire and they're not the cleaner.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_03: But if you start it as the cleaner, the nobody in your mind is gonna be as good as you are.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: You need to drop it down about 10%.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: Drop it down to about 90%.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_03: But there's also gonna be somebody out there, one of your employees, is gonna be 10 times better than you.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_03: 10 times better than you.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, okay.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of entrepreneurs who come out and say, smart, hire people who are smarter than you.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a good one.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hire people who are better than you at cleaning.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Hire people like after a while, when I first transitioned out of the field, they're like, What are you doing?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Oh, I'm helping.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, move out of the way, Shannon.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna be out.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_03: Move it out of move me out of the way.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: It happens, like, you know, don't no, no, no, no, you're messing.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, get out, get out.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is so and and you and you start to watch employees become stronger, the clients will respect your boundaries more, systems improve, and you don't have to be the emergency response department for every situation.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: They can handle and put out the fires for you, but sometimes constant involvement hinders you and it slows everybody down, and that can be a hard truth to swallow.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: So what's the real goal here?
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, it's simple, really.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's simple, but it's not because it's the this right here, your head gets in the way with your emotions over control.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: And when in reality, you end up having golden unicorns that you never saw.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Before because they're like, get out of the way, Shannon.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I've got this, right?
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they do function when you're sick, when you're on vacation, when we go down to Puerto Vallarta, when you're spending time with your family, with our kids running wild on the beach, when you're focusing on growth or you're building whatever the next thing, Jamie invented a chemical.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm waiting for your commercial.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I am.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Above all naturals, and it's a great product.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Or simply when you're taking a day off.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, a business shouldn't collapse because the owner took a day off, you guys.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: So it doesn't have it.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: If it does, that's not freedom.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's not freedom, that's dependence, right?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want to have them be dependent on us.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Dependency is expensive.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Chaos is expensive.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Every decision has to go through you, cost your time and your mental capacity in your brain.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Every interruption costs focus, especially when you're in the back end creating above all naturals.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Every fire costs energy, and eventually it becomes limited by your capacity.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: So ask yourself these questions.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: Here's a challenge for everyone listening.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_03: Ask yourself, what breaks if I'm unavailable for 48 hours?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: What's gonna happen?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's the first milestone, by the way.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: I can't I I'm gonna tell you guys that I I I have I no longer working in the business.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_03: And it took a lot of steps, and sometimes I jump back in and then I back out, and then I'd be back in.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: And then it but it got longer and longer periods to where and it didn't happen overnight.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_03: It took a lot of steps to finally come and be able to dress.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: I I I went to my dresser drawer and got rid of all of my t-shirts, my my work shirts.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_03: I brought them here, I cleaned them, I said, have at it, girls.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_03: So what decisions only I can make?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_03: What problems am I solving repeatedly?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_03: What systems don't exist because I'm compensating for them?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_03: Where am I confusing being needed with being important?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: Where have I become the bottleneck?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be surprised when you write those down.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: Those answers will tell you exactly where your next system needs to be built.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Having the same problem show up over and over and over again tells you there's a flaw in the system, and then it becomes a system problem.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it's always systems before speed, even though we would like to sprinkle it with a whole bunch of stuff being a mess.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Step back and start over again.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's that's always the case.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: So, ladies and gents, here are closing thoughts.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: If you're exhausted from carrying everything, maybe the answer isn't working harder.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe the answer is teaching the business to stop needing you.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for most of us, the goal wasn't to build something that was dependent on you.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was the goal to scale so that you have passive income coming in so that you can do other things, right?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership is a stepping in, and leadership is actually stepping back and empowering others to do the job that they were hired to do.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: So teaching, trusting, building systems, creating independence, and understanding your value is not measured by how many people need you.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Your value is measured by what you've built and when you're not in the room.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you're watching on YouTube, don't forget to, I always forget to say this, to like and hit the notification button and subscribe so that other business owners can see the videos.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: And if you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, please share this episode with another claying business owner or leave us a review, please.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: Woohoo!
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_03: We need the algorithm to tell everyone that we are worthy of being inside of this great space that we have created together.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_03: And Shannon?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: More resources, coaching courses, and training.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: Visit Clean Freaks University.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: And uh you know what?
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: Remember this system of the day.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Systems before speed, you guys.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Boundaries protect profit, and remember build a life you want to participate in.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: See you guys next time.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Bye, you guys.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.