Latest / Cleaning Business Life / What a Trash Can Can Teach You About Business | Ep. 211

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What a Trash Can Can Teach You About Business | Ep. 211 · Cleaning Business Life

0:58
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back everyone.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: This is Shannon Miller with Cleaning Business Life.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: I am your host today, and today is 4th of July here in America.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: So if you were here in my home country, happy, happy, happy 4th of July.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: It's the 250th anniversary of our country.
1:14
SPEAKER_01: I love you all.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: I went to the grocery store the other day, and I had an observation in your mind.
1:21
SPEAKER_01: You know how when you go to the grocery store and you have no kids, you have no husband, you have nobody with you to distract you, and then your mind starts to wander.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: As an entrepreneur, you automatically will constantly work things out in your mind and your subconscious.
1:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, mine happened to be the other day when I was at Walmart, and it made me think of Walt Disney.
1:43
SPEAKER_01: Now, this whole episode is not going to be about Walt Disney or the Disney experience or how expensive it is or how long the lines are or how there's three locations, none of that.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: It's Walt Disney, the person who created Disneyland, was a very proficient observer of human nature and of people's patterns and what they did and what they didn't do.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: So I'm in Walmart, I've done my grocery shopping, it's early in the morning, it's probably like 6 a.m.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: I'm pushing the cart across the bumpy asphalt, and that's when I started to think about Walt Disney.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: And he actually observed people so much so when he was developing his theme park that he wanted to know how many steps it would take before someone would not throw something in the trash can versus throwing it into the trash can.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: So I'm out there with my cart and I'm putting the they have several cart returns.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: And I will preface this: I am a sometimes cart returner.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: So if you see me and I'm not returning the cart, it's not because I want to be lazy, it's because I have other things that I'm doing, safety first.
2:48
SPEAKER_01: I don't want my kids running around the Walmart parking lot, people have been run over in it, those types of things.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: So sometimes I return the cart safety first, sometimes I don't.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: But it made me ponder, because the parking lot was not very full, how far away the carts are from certain spectrums of the parking spaces.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: So Walt Disney came up with this process because he observed people in part.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: He actually went out and did field tests to see how many steps it would take before someone would not throw something in the trash.
3:23
SPEAKER_01: And it came down to seven steps.
3:25
SPEAKER_01: Seven whole steps is what he counted in the thousands of observations that he made before someone would not so throw something into the trash can.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: So at any Disney property, every seven steps in either direction, the hypothesis is that you will run into a trash can.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: So you will not throw the trash on the ground, but into the trash can.
3:47
SPEAKER_01: So I started to wonder if that was the same that was true with Walmart and the shop shopping cart scenario.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: Now, granted, hypothetically speaking, if everyone would turn the carts, this wouldn't even be a conversation.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: It would be a non non-topic in the podcast.
4:03
SPEAKER_01: But it made you really think.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: So I counted at that time, I believe there were six shopping cart returns in the three aisles: my aisle, the one next to me, the one over, to return a cart.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, wow, I wondered if they've measured this.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: And then it made me think about Disney and all of the questions that he had asked.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: And he had asked a lot of questions.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: I have notes because I don't want to not forget to say something.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: And as an entrepreneur, you you start to think about systems and like, can I make this easier?
4:36
SPEAKER_01: Input versus output.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: You're you're hiring people to do a specific task or to produce the end product, right?
4:44
SPEAKER_01: And when you're hiring someone to do an end product, there's all of these little many steps that have to get you there, right?
4:51
SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to know what kind of questions he went around and asked.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: So Walt Disney was an observer.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: Yes, he created these really awesome places that people still go to today.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: It is really awesome.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: There's VIP clubs, there's normal admission, there's weight lines or express.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: They maximized every situation that there was inside of that park to get as much money from you as they possibly can, providing you, air quotes, the experience.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: Now, I know some of you guys go to Disneyland every single year.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: I grew up in Southern California.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: I've been to Disneyland hundreds of times.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: It's not something that I have experienced lately, but it's awesome to think of how much detail he went into to observe other humans.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: And you probably have heard of this trash can story before.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure it's all over the internet.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: If you typed in YouTube and Disney trash can story, you would have another person who talked about how it's every seven steps.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't obsessed with trash cans.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: He was obsessed to see how many steps it would take before someone would just chuck it out into the wilderness, right?
6:06
SPEAKER_01: And then it would cause someone to have to pick it up because he was meticulous at best about everything being groomed and perfect all the time.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: There was an incident, I don't remember who I was talking to the other day, where they talked about at Disneyland, even if there was no one around, if you were not smiling, you could actually get written up.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: That could be a whole different podcast.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: But these are the extreme measures that they went to to give you the Disney experience that you are paying for.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: And I don't really think that he was obsessed with trash cans.
6:37
SPEAKER_01: I think that he was obsessed with people and their behaviors.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: So he wasn't judging them.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: He was simply studying them.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: And the, you know, the mommies, the daddies, the kids, the grandparents, everybody.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: He was, he just watched everybody because he wanted to know, because he wanted his environment to be controlled and provide the Disney experience, how many steps it would take.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: How do people actually behave?
7:02
SPEAKER_01: And my and I live in northern Arizona.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: You guys all know I'm not shy with it at all.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: We still get people, tourists, that will be on the highway, highway 69, and someone will take their bag of McDonald's and just chuck it out the window of their car right there on the highway.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: And we're like, what?
7:20
SPEAKER_01: Because we I live in my bubble, right?
7:23
SPEAKER_01: So in the bigger city, it's in Phoenix, it happens all of the time.
7:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, you just chucked your trash the window.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: Why did you do that?
7:32
SPEAKER_01: Right?
7:33
SPEAKER_01: There's a whole concept behind that thought process on um why they're doing what they're doing.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine them being frustrated inside their cars when they chuck that trash out the window.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: I can't say that they're distracted, except for the fact that they just couldn't pull up to any random trash can at that particular moment in time and dump that trash and put it in the trash can.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: They just chose to roll down their window, chuck it out the window, and keep on driving.
7:58
SPEAKER_01: I was like, wow, that's just shocking.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: So it's so that's a shortcut, right?
8:03
SPEAKER_01: Humans are inclined to take shortcuts.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: When Disney started to observe how he could keep his Disneyland pristine, he had to figure out how to prevent people from dumping their trash randomly.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: And how he did that was observing what people did.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: So that way he could walk around at Disneyland on any given moment in a given any given day and realize that it was still pristine, right?
8:30
SPEAKER_01: Thinking of edge cleaning.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: It's pristine! If you're out there, I still want to interview you.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: What shortcuts did they naturally take?
8:37
SPEAKER_01: What did they ignore?
8:39
SPEAKER_01: And what happens when nobody thinks that anybody's watching?
8:42
SPEAKER_01: And that's when we catch a lot of people because everybody's on camera now.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: I've seen some horrific things.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what were you thinking?
8:47
SPEAKER_01: It's all on camera.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: It's just like, come on, give me a break.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: You had to have known there was a camera there, but we still see things that are shocking all of the time.
8:57
SPEAKER_01: So he wasn't studying opinions, he was studying reality and what people would do in their own natural environment.
9:05
SPEAKER_01: He wanted to understand how people actually behaved, not how they said they behaved.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: And that's so true because how many times have we seen something on camera?
9:13
SPEAKER_01: We're like, I don't know about that, right?
9:17
SPEAKER_00: So he didn't ask why people littered.
9:22
SPEAKER_01: He asked what conditions made littering more likely.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: And then he changed the environment, hence the reason for the trash cans in every seven steps.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: One of the stories is often told is how far people would carry that trash.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: So he went to parks, fairs, family gatherings, you name it, he went and he observed and he made notes.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: And that's how he determined in Disneyland to have a trash can every seven steps.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: Because eventually convenience always wins.
9:51
SPEAKER_01: Um that's why sometimes I put the carts away and sometimes I don't, right?
9:55
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's more convenient for me not to versus have to.
9:59
SPEAKER_01: And especially when my brother was alive, he was handicapped towards the end.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: I didn't, I had I could barely get him in the car, let alone worry about the cart.
10:07
SPEAKER_01: So I would always have someone chaperone me and like, hey, if you would like your electric cart back, can you walk with us outside and retrieve the cart for me so that I don't have to do this?
10:16
SPEAKER_01: I have my hands full, I got kids, I got my brother, my mom might may have been with me, my mom may not have been.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: So at what paint at what point does inconvenience change behavior?
10:32
SPEAKER_00: And that's actually a completely different question.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: So I brought up the example of people throwing trash out their window on the highway, and it really is true.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: At what point does that make it convenient versus non-convenient?
10:44
SPEAKER_01: And I can only think of that maybe they just do that wherever they go.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: I would like to believe that's a not a you know, not just us type of thing, um, that they go wherever they go, they throw litter everywhere.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: What's amazing to me is that someone has to pay the price to pick up the litter.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: It either has to be a city worker or maybe another person who picks it up, who went behind the car, who witnessed the whole thing.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: There's all kinds of things that can go on.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: But once he's understood that answer, he ended up changing the system.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: So I think initially he had trash cans every, I want to say 30 or 40 feet, but he was still seeing litter when he was walking around the grounds of Disneyland.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: And he was like, So how do I he goes, I can't hire any more bodies than what I have.
11:26
SPEAKER_01: How do I stop this from happening?
11:28
SPEAKER_01: So he uh he determined that how far it would take before convenience won, and it was seven steps.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: He didn't really ponder like why people won't do the right thing.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: I think if you are in a good frame of mind, you will do the right thing.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: Um taking action versus not action.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: What do they say?
11:47
SPEAKER_00: Don't if you see something, say something.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: It's not even that employees won't listen.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think employees are out there with their little porter brooms and scooper items.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: I can't really think of the name of them.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: I haven't had enough coffee.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: You guys know what I'm talking about.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: You it's one handle, and I you can tell me in the comments.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's like a little shovel, a handheld shovel, but it's flat, so it lays flat.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: What is that called?
12:16
SPEAKER_01: Brain fart!
12:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm having a brain fart because I haven't had enough coffee.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: Here I'll have a sip.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: And it also comes with a broom sweeper.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: I think it's called a porter's sweep, from what I remember.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: It only takes a little bit of coffee to get me back on track.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: So you you start to think what most people will ask, right?
12:38
SPEAKER_01: Why won't people do the right thing?
12:40
SPEAKER_01: Why won't employees listen?
12:42
SPEAKER_01: Why won't customers read the emails?
12:45
SPEAKER_01: Why won't applicants follow directions?
12:47
SPEAKER_01: And for those of you who are listening, who are applying for jobs, there's a reason why you have to go through all of the madness.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: Now, I won't get into the whole philosophy of why you have to spend two hours of your time applying to work someplace.
13:01
SPEAKER_01: But if someone is saying, fill this out and you don't fill it out because you don't feel like it, that's gonna be an indication that you won't finish your job either.
13:08
SPEAKER_01: Just something to think about, a little off topic.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: So Disney asked a completely different question.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: What are actually people gonna do?
13:15
SPEAKER_01: So he wanted to know what people were gonna do.
13:17
SPEAKER_01: So that's why when he set up his rides, I'm sure there was a math equation for that to figure out how much space and how far along and how long the line would be, and why people pay for VIP passes versus non-VIP or express.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: I don't even know what they're called anymore.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: It's been that long since I've been to Disneyland.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: And then the other except reality, Disney positioned seemed to be people are gonna do what people are gonna do.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: So that's my point.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: The people who are gonna throw trash on the highway are gonna throw trash on the highway.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: It's just part of what it is.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: And we get to pick up after them.
13:50
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of an unfortunate situation, but no one's gonna let that sit in the highway.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: So he decided that he was gonna design something around that to prevent the trash from being all over the park.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: And then he stopped fighting human nature with that one change.
14:07
SPEAKER_01: The cleaning business owners do this all the time too.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: If you have a bump in the road in one of your systems, it's time for a tweak, right?
14:14
SPEAKER_01: So then you have to eliminate whatever that tweak is to make it run smoothly again.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: And then a couple more months down the road, something else will happen with the same structure, and you'll be like, oh, I thought I fixed this already, and then you have to tweak it some more.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: And then eventually it'll be a smooth running machine and there won't be any issues, and it'll be like, I did it! I absolutely did it.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: So we often expect people to be exceptional instead of designing businesses that work with ordinary human behavior.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: This is true because you are teaching others how to deliver the end result.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: People hire us for cleaning, they're looking for what that end result is, and it's amazing to me what the cleaning company's interpretation of that end result is versus what the customer's interpretation of what that is.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: And it really blows my mind on the communication.
15:09
SPEAKER_01: So, and and this happens a lot.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: I see this with not dazzle home glow.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: I'm in that group, I'm not allowed to comment because I never answered the questions, but somehow or another, I'm in there and I see all these horrific things.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: I don't think I've ever been allowed to make a comment in there once, which is fine.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: But it's the the homeowner will hire them because it's all by the hourly.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: And you have to look at too, when you go with HomeGlow, all of their marketing is geared towards the lower end of the market as far as clientele.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: They're not at the high end of the specter spectrum, which is which I prefer for us to all deal with.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: So they have these people who pay by the hour, they pay for this membership, they pay for all these things, and half these guys don't read their contracts.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: And the cleaning techs who were working these poor jobs haven't read the contract either that they signed, and they haven't realized that, hey, this is for regular maintenance service.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: These poor girls walk in and it's hazmat, post-construction, move out.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: I mean, these are not regular cleaning items, as you guys have all heard me preach.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: These are like more money items.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: And then they decide that, oh, everyone should be able to do the first I'll hire for five hours, and then they're like, you should be able to do this in three or two hours.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, wow, that's an expectation, right?
16:29
SPEAKER_01: And it's not even an easy clean more nine times out of ten.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: It's like horrific.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: I haven't cleaned my house in 18 months.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: Dishes in the sink, toys everywhere.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: I get it.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: Life happens.
16:41
SPEAKER_01: And people are busy, they really are busy, busy, busy.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: So it's hard to keep up with everything.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: They're distracted, they're tired, they're emotional, forgetful, and they're most importantly, they're human, right?
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes, especially in Home Glow, they expect cleaners to be more like robots.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: You do this, and I'm only gonna pay you this, and you're gonna like it.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, wow, I had no idea that's how you felt, right?
17:05
SPEAKER_01: So um it can be frustrated when when the two can't meet in the middle and there's lack of communication.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: And Disney didn't expect perfect people.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: He expected people in general to act how they're normally gonna act.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: So he tried to prevent that behavior by providing more convenience, hence the reason for the Disney experience.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure this kind of evolved.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, I haven't seen any of the dynamics from this one point of context versus the Disney experience as a whole.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's this whole thing with it.
17:41
SPEAKER_01: And I know there's some Disney experts out there, and you guys can leave a comment.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: Um so that's why he built systems around human behavior instead of wishful thinking.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: And it's true, he wanted to prevent people from littering all over the park.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: Most cleaning business owners built businesses that require people to be exceptional.
17:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh Disney built systems that assumed people were human.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: Something to think about.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: So let's get back to this cart thing.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: The shopping cart proves that changing the environment often changes the behavior without changing the people.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: So I guess if I was get loading up my groceries and I had the kids with me and the shopping cart return was really close, the probability of me returning it with the kids with me is gonna be higher versus if I had the kids with me and the shopping cart return was really far away, I probably wouldn't return the cart.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: Or if my little wanted to return the cart that was really far away, I wouldn't let him.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: Or I might let him if there was no traffic in the parking lot, but then that would be questionable because people speed through the parking lot all the time.
18:48
SPEAKER_01: So, same parking lot, same customers, same carts, moving the return cart closer.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: More carts get returned.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: It's easier for them to gather up the baskets, bring them back inside the store so that customers inside the store still have access to baskets, even though I've never been in a Walmart that I recall that has ever run out of carts.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: Costco has never run out of carts either, but I have had carts run out at Fry's or Safeway.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: So the customer, and this is a very valid point.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: So, did the customers become better people by not returning the carts?
19:23
SPEAKER_01: No, they didn't.
19:24
SPEAKER_01: They're the same people, same behavior, just like with Disney, it's the same people with the same behavior.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: Or did they become worse?
19:31
SPEAKER_01: No, they didn't become worse, they're the same, right?
19:35
SPEAKER_01: The system changed, which is what prompted a different response.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: I hope that makes sense to you.
19:42
SPEAKER_01: So the environment changed, the behavior changed, and that's one of the biggest lessons that cleaning business owners can learn.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: If they had more cart returns, in my example, or if they had more trash cans, Walt Disney concluded that you would there would be less trash, less likely to end up on the ground of Disneyland versus if the trash cans were farther apart.
20:02
SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you how many times we've been to the fair or whatever, and the trash cans are overflowing.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what happened?
20:06
SPEAKER_01: Did they not have anyone show up today?
20:08
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's just trash everywhere, right?
20:11
SPEAKER_01: And every business has its own version of the cart returned.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: So that's just something to think about.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: And I actually think that this is a good social experiment.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: So next time you are in Walmart and you're going, Am I gonna return the cart?
20:25
SPEAKER_01: Am I not gonna return the cart?
20:26
SPEAKER_01: You can think of me when I'm talking about Walt Disney and the trash can.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: And the the metaphor of the trash can obviously is the cleaning industry, there's the correlation there.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: And every business has trash cans.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: They're just disguised, right?
20:41
SPEAKER_01: They're hiring, scheduling, training, communication, payment collection, quality control.
20:47
SPEAKER_01: So instead of asking yourself, why do people keep making mistakes?
20:53
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they should ask where there's a trash can, right?
20:55
SPEAKER_01: Is it easier to prevent the bad human behavior by providing more convenience, or does it work the other way around, right?
21:28
SPEAKER_01: Where's that friction, confusion, and trying to make that right behavior just perfect so it's right where it needs to be.
21:37
SPEAKER_01: Anytime there's a point of friction in your business, it's something that needs to be addressed.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: You guys have all heard me mention my contract bundle.
21:45
SPEAKER_01: And the reason why I have such a long, extensive contract is every single line item in those contracts is a blunder that I made.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: It cost me a lot of money.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: It's the reality of what it is.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: Cost me a lot of money.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: I had to go to an attorney.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: He had to help me formulate, you know, get it out of my head onto paper.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: This is way before AI.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: I had to make sure it was legal because I didn't want to, you know, do something illegal on accident.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: I try to be as transparent as I possibly can.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: But those, every when you buy my contract bundle, it's every line item in there is a blender that I made.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: And every single contract is so learn for me.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: And don't make those same blenders.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: So make your trash cans close, don't make them too far away.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: And most problems we call our people problems are actually systems that are waiting to be implemented.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: So, for example, and I see this a lot, the client forgets to pay.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: And the client forgets to pay conveniently, and it's just payment is due when services are rendered.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: It's not two days later, five days later, eight days later, unless you've pre-arranged that payment plan.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: And this usually happens either with commercial, what's I still can't believe that commercial is 30 days, net 30.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: It really needs to change.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: It's just utterly anyway.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: I won't go down that tangent, but it really needs to be less than 30 days.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: Short term rental cleaning should be paid if you are doing multiple turns in a week.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: It should be paid at the end of the week.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh, hypothetically, it'd be great to be paid the same day.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh hosting is every 30 days.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: A net 30 because you're taking it right off the top.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: And these are things to think about on why you're not getting paid.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: Are you you allowed this customer not to pay you on time?
23:33
SPEAKER_01: You didn't keep a credit card on file.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: You didn't make them sign an agreement.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: You didn't do all these things.
23:37
SPEAKER_01: So once you get those things in place, it makes it easier for the next new client that you have.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: Now, there is a whole concept about what to do with legacy clients.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: You can go through the podcast and listen to it.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: There's over 200 episodes.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: So you can find which one it references there.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then maybe it's a payment system.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: So you have to have a payment system in place so that you can make sure that you get paid on the same day.
24:01
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe your employee misses steps.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: I haven't had it happen too often in all my years in the industry, but every once in a while they'll build a primary or a master or the preferred, I think is what everyone's calling the master bath bedroom now.
24:18
SPEAKER_01: And they'll have like the master bath and there'll be a shower and a tub and a sink, usually a princess or a him and her sink, which is fine.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: And then the the cleaning tech will be newer and they won't have the the discourse to go and look for the toilet.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, so then the homeowner will end up calling and saying, hey, so and so didn't clean the toilet, and you're like, what?
24:39
SPEAKER_01: And it's because it was behind the door was closed.
24:41
SPEAKER_01: And the cleaning tech took you literally when you said, if the door is closed, don't clean behind it.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's the disconnect is with training, right?
24:48
SPEAKER_01: So, like I just said, the toilet, the toilet door was closed, so they figured they didn't have to clean it when in actuality someone had used it and they were waiting for it to air out.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's all of this dynamic, these little nuances that keep coming up.
25:01
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe it's accountability.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you have a cleaning tech who is a really good cleaning tech but can't take criticism.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: Well, are you looking at how you're delivering the criticism?
25:10
SPEAKER_01: The sandwich method, something good, something bad, something good.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: You guys have all heard of it, and applicants disappear halfway through the hiring process.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: That happens a lot.
25:19
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we make the application process too complicated.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they're just doing it because they're on unemployment and they have really an o intention and you just seem DZ peasy.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of reasons why, but I would look at that process.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: Ask the clients.
25:33
SPEAKER_01: The clients ask the same questions over and over and over again.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: You could actually answer my top 12 most asked questions of 2026 on your website.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: I know someone else who does this and has had a lot of success with it.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: So that could be something that you do too for your so you don't have to keep asking the same, answering the same questions over and over again.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you create a PDF that you send over that's attached to your phone, you just send it over to new potential clients, like I'll call you back and here's my blah, blah, blah.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: And it I guess the question is, are you paying attention to what those little bumps in the road are?
26:09
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes the biggest opportunity isn't changing your people, it's changing your business design and not the whole business doesn't need to be burned to the ground and start fresh, like a Phoenix, right, in Harry Potter.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: It just needs tweaks.
26:22
SPEAKER_01: And it gets uncomfortable when you have to like an address something that you thought was working smoothly and it's not.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it genuinely is a design problem.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: Design work is harder, it's easier to blame employees, customers, applicants.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: Because then if we blame everybody else, then we have to take responsibility for ourselves, right?
26:42
SPEAKER_01: So, really, when it comes down to it and it costs you money, then you have to look at who's messing this up.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: Why does this continue to happen?
26:48
SPEAKER_01: What about this process keeps producing this result?
26:52
SPEAKER_01: And um the goal isn't perfect people, the goal is better systems.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: That's why Walt Disney did it every seven steps.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: Don't ask me how many trash cans are on site, because I did ponder that, and I'll have to ask Chat GBT because that would be one of the analytical questions I would ask.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: So if you have a trash can every seven steps, how many trash cans does Disneyland have on it, right?
27:15
SPEAKER_01: That's how my brain works.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: And and the trash can story really is one example of many of the things that Disney did to create the Disney experience.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: And Main Street used forced perspective, right?
27:28
SPEAKER_01: It was everybody wanted to be on Main Street.
27:30
SPEAKER_01: That's where the parade was, that's where the the light show was, that's where a lot of things happened.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: There was little stores, you could watch old movies.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there was all kinds of things.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: But most of the guests never noticed the force perspective, but they felt it.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: And feeling is awesome.
27:47
SPEAKER_01: And that might be something that you think about like what is the guest experience when they're done and they come home and they feel, not only do they see, but they feel the experience that you have provided for them.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: The employees are this is another Disney thing as well.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: The employees are not allowed to point with a finger because it could be considered offensive in some cultures.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: They have to point with two fingers.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: So that way it's not offensive, just something to look up.
28:12
SPEAKER_01: Those are three things I mentioned about Disneyland.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: So the guest experience was important.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: He cared about sight lines, landscaping, parking, signage, and what guests saw and what they didn't see.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: And again, I go back to the Disney experience.
28:25
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't obsessed with details, he was obsessed with cause and effect.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: What creates frustration for the customer, what creates delight, what creates confusion, what creates an incredible experience.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: So every interaction in your business creates an emotional experience, whether you design it that way or not.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: Something to think about.
28:48
SPEAKER_01: Your estimate creates a feeling, your website creates a feeling, your onboarding process creates a feeling, your communication creates a feeling, your invoices create a feeling.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, you're not invoicing and you're getting paid right away.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, your follow-up creates a feeling, and every single system creates an emotional experience, whether you intended it to or not.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: And I actually think that that could actually be a whole podcast in itself.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: Might be something I think about.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: So every system creates a feeling.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: I know that's a really feely type subject, but um And so we spend a lot of time studying customers, employees, applicants.
29:29
SPEAKER_01: We should spend a little more time absorbing ourselves.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: And am I creating friction?
29:33
SPEAKER_01: Am I causing friction amongst my cleaning techs?
29:36
SPEAKER_01: Am I changing the rules after the rules have been established, which is really annoying to your cleaning techs?
29:42
SPEAKER_01: Where am I making things harder than they need to be?
29:44
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes, as our brains, because we're entrepreneurs, we overthink and add and we make it too.
29:49
SPEAKER_01: If it's too simple, it's too complicated for Shannon.
29:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm guilty, guilty as charged.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: So we're the ones moving the trash cans farther away, and that's not meant to make you feel guilty.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: It's meant to help you build a better business.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: And on this 4th of July, I'm grateful for all the people who looked at the world differently.
30:10
SPEAKER_01: People who asked better questions, people who built something that outlived themselves, legacy.
30:15
SPEAKER_01: You guys hear me talk about it all the time.
30:17
SPEAKER_01: Whether that's Walt Disney or the owner of a small cleaning company trying to build something meaningful, meaningful, meaningful annunciation of the seashells on the seashore.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: And that's actually part of the American dream.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: So wherever you're spending this 4th of July, I hope you stay safe.
30:33
SPEAKER_01: I hope that you enjoy your family and friends.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: And maybe ask yourself one question this weekend: what could I make just a little bit better for your customers, for your cleaning tax, for your family, and for your friends.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed today's episode, please consider leaving us a review.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: It tells the algorithm gods that we are worthy.
30:53
SPEAKER_01: If you're watching on YouTube, please don't forget to subscribe, like, and share the video.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: And until next time, remember, I gotta look look at my notes here.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: Because I gotta remember what it is.
31:07
SPEAKER_01: People are gonna do what people are gonna do.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: The smartest businesses stop fighting reality and start designing around it.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: I hope you guys all have a happy 4th of July signing off.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: Take care.