I remember this season of life like it was yesterday. I was overwhelmed with cleaning work, cleaning all the time, and we had no money either! The business that was supposed to be my way out of the nine-to-five had turned into a nightmare. Yes, I loved serving people. Yes, I had flexibility to go later or move appointments around. But I was a slave to our house cleaning business. I was solo, and I was feeling SOooo LOW.

Can you relate to this? Are you working endless hours in your house or office cleaning business with little to no hope for a way out? Are you feeling stuck? Do you want your time back? I did bad. I didn't just WANT it. I NEEDED to have time back with my family. And that made all the difference. Most solo cleaning companies believe the only way out is to delegate their cleaning through a team of employees or subcontractors. This is absolutely a path and it's a great one IF you do it right. However, I was wise enough to understand my numbers. I studied them, I tracked my times, evaluated my customers and their locations, and I realized something. There is another way!

It's called the ISO Model for solo cleaners. Did you know that you can earn $50,000 profit cleaning less than 20 hours per week without any employees or subs? It's true and you CAN do it. I know because I've done it twice now in two different states. Our first solo house cleaning company in Upstate New York earned our family $60,000 profit on 2 days per week cleaning by myself. Our second house and office cleaning company earned us $70,000 profit cleaning 2 days per week by myself. I was solo for 16 years. The ISO Model works! Today, we're growing a team to clean professional, financial, and medical office spaces in the Indian Valley of PA through Carfagno Commercial Cleaning. This best-of episode is a flashback from the early days around 2011, right after my wife and I made the decision to optimize instead of scaling. It was an inflection point in our lives. I couldn't keep driving full-speed toward a cliff I couldn't see... overwhelm, overwork, injury, no money bankruptcy, you call it what you want. But that's where we were and the change we made, changed our lives.

I really loved my Monday and Friday mugs that I had in my cabinet. Oh my goodness. It's sad to say now, but I don't have them anymore. One cracked and broke. It was the brown Friday mug with beige lettering. I think one of my kids did it. The beige Monday mug with brown lettering lasted until 2021. I was still using it on Monday mornings. But it cracked somehow and Teresa eventually persuaded me to part with it. It was very sad because I knew what those mugs represented. As you'll see in this best-of episode, these Monday and Friday mugs were only allowed out of the cabinet when I was home with my family on a Monday or a Friday. You see, it was always my dream to be home with my family. These mugs represented slice of that dream. It was amazing! That's what optimizing my solo cleaning business allowed me to do. But I'll tell you... I'm not too sad anymore about losing my Monday and Friday mugs. Today, I could celebrate all 7 days of the week. I have a Captiva Island mug and my wife has an Oasis Church mug now. These represent the two month-long family trips we took in February 2022 & 2023. I like these mugs way more than the Monday and Friday ones. We've earned the dream we once held of being home together as a family. I am so grateful looking back at where we were and now experiencing what we've already accomplished. But we're not done! We're heading toward another dream now! Check out this best-of episode and see if you can find some kind of a mug or anything that represents your dream and keep it in front of you like I did.

Read the rest of this article on the Smart Cleaning School website and hear Ken's BIG ANNOUN