It's been a while since I shared a business update from Carfagno Commercial Cleaning also known as the C3 Experience! This podcast started exactly 3 years ago as the Solo Cleaning School because I was starting my second solo cleaning company. If you are unfamiliar with my story, please go back to the "Introduction to the Solo Cleaning School". I encourage you to continue listening from the introduction as this podcast is a "how did Ken do it" course for free. The other major episode to check out is "A New Freedom Vision", which is where I declared that I was done solo cleaning and that we were going to take a family trip to Florida for a month. I started sharing monthly updates with Coach Josh with our family and business progress on transitioning from solo to a team with systems. It was very difficult, but "The Fight Was Worth it"! There, I've given you a 3-year C3 update referencing 3 popular episodes.  

Here's the C3 update. I don't clean houses anymore. We do still have 2 residential accounts, but I've delegated them to my son for extra money. We currently service 18 commercial locations and just hired our 5th team member. We are so thankful for these amazing people. They have found a part-time job that pays them well and provides them with the flexibility they desired. Each of our team members has a goal and we are actively working together to help them win and achieve. One of our team members was living in a toxic situation with a duplex neighbor. They wanted desperately to get out. The part-time money from this cleaning job has been a huge blessing in helping them make an offer on a new house that has no neighbors. Another team member saved up her part-time cleaning money to take a vacation to Myrtle Beach to see her sister for the first time in a while. I love these stories and it really motivates me to continue finding more amazing team members and customers. We added 2 new locations in June, 2 new locations in July, and lost 2 locations in August. Our revenue for commercial cleaning is currently $12,000 per month, plus we have $777 per month of residential. C3 is currently at $153k in annual revenue. We have 15 of 18 locations delegated to the C3 Team. I personally clean 2 vet hospitals every weekend with my kids. 

This all sounds great, right? Yes, it does. We're very thankful. However, I pulled some numbers from the end of the summer when I was traveling a lot. We may have hit a few trailing goals. We did not set or hit any leading goals. This is a dangerous sign and told me that we were running an unhealthy business. What do I mean by that? Coach Josh continually tells me that we must be always rowing with both paddles in the water. The business needs to be adding new team members and new locations on a regular basis. People will quit, even ones achieving goals. This happened in July when we had to replace a team member. Customers will fire you. This happened in August when we lost 2 in the same month. We can never rest on our laurels. I'm going to share with you Smart Cleaning School how poorly our leading indicators look for future growth. First, I'll share them. Then I'll teach you what all this means.

Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website