Smart Cleaning School

 Today is November 22nd, 2021. It's an emotional day for me. One year ago, my father went home to be with Jesus. I was the one that held his hand, prayed into his ear, and told him it was okay to go home to be with his wife as he took his last breath. It was the most bittersweet moment in my life. On one hand, I lost the man who raised me. Yes, he was my grandfather, but he was so much more. I am Kenneth Joseph Carfagno III. I was named after him. Ken Senior otherwise affectionately known to me as "Pop-Pop" was only 40 when I was born. My dad was 18 and still figuring out how to adult in the world, so my Pop-Pop took me under his wing. He is the one that raised me up and encouraged me to achieve. He is the one that showed up at my sports events. My dad did too of course, but not as often as my Pop-Pop. He is the one that was tough and demanded excellence out of me. He is the one that taught me life skills around the house. He is the one that showed me how to love by staying happily married from age 20 to his death at 84. He is the one that believed in me and challenged me to be better. He is the one that I loved more than any man on this planet. He is the man that I called father. One year ago, Kenneth Joseph Carfagno, Sr left this earth and thus left a huge void in my heart. 

But on the other side, my Pop-Pop was a life-long Catholic and didn't have any assurance of his position as a citizen of heaven after he died. He just did the best he could and hoped he was good enough. That changed a few weeks before his death when he truly accepted Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. When he breathed his last breath, I turned to the nurses who had tears streaming down their faces. The one in total shock and awe. The other said this. "I have seen so many end-of-life scenarios in my time in hospice nursing, but I have never seen what I just saw." I was in a state of total peace after my time of prayer and conversation as I walked my father home and asked her what she meant. "Your father's pulse, breathing, and other vitals were rising and falling with every word you uttered to him. He not only heard everything, but I have never seen anybody with the connection the two of you just had." I was speechless.  Make of this what you want, but you'll never convince me otherwise that the Holy Spirit wasn't operating and ushering my father's spirit with Him to heaven.

This is a short episode and I want to thank you for allowing me to share the gift known as Pop-Pop. It's been a whole year and I still grieve and cry. We just sold his home of 50 years, the one that I grew up in, and took whatever keepsakes we wanted. Life is so short and this last 12 months have shown me this. If you have lost one or both of your parents, my heart truly goes out to you. I understand how painful it is. Here's my consolation. It's not over for you to make the impact on your loved ones the way Pop-Pop made an impact on me. If you've been semi-absent or too busy to get to the relationships in your life, it's not too late to start. 

I want to end this episode with a few funny stories about my Pop-Pop and share his favorite piece of advice to me. He would say this. "Kenny, winners never quit and quitters never win." This advice has helped me so many times in life. I hope it speaks to you. Thank you for listening and go make a difference. Be the "Pop-Pop" in someone's life. 

 I attended a recent Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce event called Reinvent. Four CEO's were in panel format in a local theatre to discuss their leadership models through and after the pandemic. I was so impressed with each speaker. Jenny Fujita of Fujita & Miura Public Relations, Inc shared mostly on the modern home-based workforce and proper well-being of the individual. Mark Bergey of Bergey's Auto spoke on personal and leadership development during a supply chain shortage. Mark is a self-admitted podcast junkie, so I immediately connected with his message. I loved his passion for growing as a leader and the man runs a company with close to 1,500 employees! Craig Edsill of the Clemens Food Group has over 4,000 employees in multiple states. He taught me a wonderful crisis and leadership model they used during the pandemic - Discuss, Decide, Support. It's so simple. Take the time with your team to brainstorm, mastermind, and debate in the discuss phase. Make a decision as the leader and do not go back to the discuss phase. Go forward. Have everyone put aside their personal differences and support the decision to make it happen. I loved this! Finally, Dave Freeman of QNB Bank shared the status of available money in the banking system for lending. They are seeing a major decline in the need for money due to the stimulus cash in 2020/2021. This has hurt banks, but he was confident of the return to normal. Every speaker talked about being flexible in your leadership style as nothing is business as usual anymore. 

Somewhere in the middle of the panel discussion, Jenny Fujita dropped a MAJOR value bomb that I had to thank her for personally after the conference. I'll paraphrase.

"I've been working from home for 9 years. I'm a mom, wife, and I run a PR firm. I have to run errands during the day in each of my roles. Sometimes, I go the post office to drop off professional packages and sometimes I'm at the grocery store or the kid's school. I'm out and about. Regardless of my day's plan, I dress for success every day no matter what. Even though I work from home and many of the newbies show up on Zoom calls in pajamas from the waist down, I get ready for work as if I were going to the office. Do you know why? Because I am going to the office. So what if my office is downstairs. When I'm on Zoom calls, I can still see myself on camera and it gives me more personal dignity and self-confidence when I'm dressed up for work. Since I'm dressed up, I can go to any of my errands always looking professional. What if I'm at the post office and run into a friend or potential prospect? I want to present myself at all times at my best level because I never know who I'm going to meet."

This was a punch in the gut as I get lazy on my work-at-home days. I am talking a big game about being a professional company, but often go to the store or post office in sweat pants or jogging shorts. I need to take this message more seriously. I am an ambassador for my business every where that I go. The way I look makes a difference. The way I smell makes a difference, so I better shower! The way I interact with others makes a difference. The way my vehicle looks makes a difference. Everything makes a difference. Here's the question that people think but don't ask. "If he takes this much care in his presentation when he's not cleaning, how good is his cleaning?"

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I have mentioned my dear friend and cleaning customer Dennis Gehman of Gehman Design Remodeling many times on this show. That's because he is such a blessing to me.  I thoroughly enjoy our breakfast conversations as we both leave sharper and more ready for our day when we do. We had the opportunity to meet for breakfast earlier this week for the first time in a few months, so we had a lot to catch up on. We usually pray to start our meal and toward the end for the Lord's favor on our lives and businesses. 

There was one segment of our conversation that was so rich that I had to pause to take some notes for a future podcast. Here's how it went.

"Dennis, I hear so many time management and business coaches teach us to maximize our output by delegating the tasks we don't need to be doing. It might cost $500 to have a graphic designer do a logo for me, but if I did it myself it would be 25% as good and take me at least 10 hours. My time is worth as a minimum $100-$200 per hour based on some of the higher rates I earn in cleaning and coaching. If I spend 10 hours to save $500, I actually am spending 10 hours. This 10 hours costs me $1,000 - $2,000 in lost income or opportunity cost. Therefore, do I delegate the logo or not. Clearly I do."

Dennis agreed with everything and wondered where I was going. I continued.

"When I was in high school, my Pop-Pop taught me how to refinish a dresser, basic gardening, and basic car maintenance. We'd buy the oil and filter at the part store and do oil changes in the garage by putting the car on the ramps. It cost about $10 in supplies in 1993 and 2-3 hours of our time. The same oil change cost $30 in the shop, so it saved me $20 and that was a lot as a 16-year-old. I continued changing my own oil and doing basic maintenance into my early 20's based on what my Pop-Pop taught me. But eventually, I got to the point where my time was more valuable and have been paying my mechanic to do my oil changes and maintenance. Last week, my rear window stopped working. I made an appointment to get it fixed knowing it would cost me $300 in parts and labor. My wife convinced me to do it myself to save $250 as the part was only $50 and there were YouTube videos teaching how to do it in an hour. I was further convinced when my friend Barry from church offered to help me do it at his house since he just completed the same repair on his exact same Honda Pilot. The job took 3 hours total in time from leaving my house to back again and $50 in parts. Again, my time is worth $100-$200 per hour, so I had an opportunity cost of  $400-$600 for a project that costs $300 in the shop. This was a mistake, right?"

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 I have been journaling for most of my adult life. This "journaling" has constituted many forms over the years. In high school, I took course notes and sketched in my art pads. As an engineering student in college, I transcribed complicated math formulas and mechanical processes along with pictures. I didn't have a laptop, so all of my notes were written and they were vital when it was time to take my exams. I started writing more about my life, family, and personal goals after college when I was an engineer and ran an Amway business side hustle. I attended conferences and took tons of notes on business hacks, tips, and strategies. I read my bible as a new Christian and wrote down lessons I was being taught. As a new husband and father, I would write my personal feelings and convictions about these new experiences. All in all, I have over 100 notebooks in shapes and sized packed away in boxes up in my attick. They are the written "diary" of my life. 

Why am I talking about this at all? The topic came up on a recent call I facilitated with team leaders of cleaning companies that I help. One of the team leaders was dealing with so many personal challenges in her family and wanted to share. We listened intently. The more she shared, the better she started to feel. She had a place to let out her feelings and that was invaluable to her. At the end, I suggested that she start journaling and shared 3 distinct advantages. Writing down your thoughts, feelings, and goals engages your brain so much more than keeping it to yourself or typing it out. It serves as a time capsule to go back to whenever you want to. Lastly, it allows you to always share your feelings to yourself like holding up a mirror when you talk. She was excited and realized it was time for her to start capturing the details of her life. Let's talk about these 3 benefits in more detail, then you can decide if it's right for you.

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 Denai Wolfe is the first ever three-peat expert guest in the Smart Cleaning Tribe.  She came on this May to talk about basic accounting and teach our members how vital it is to read basic accounting sheets. I'll bring more of this expert call to you down the road. This 18-minute clip reveals an excellent mindset on money and why we ever opened a cleaning business. Plus, Denai shares a few great examples of what knowing your numbers can do for your bottom line.

"The real reason you started your business was to make money. Admit this to yourself." - Denai Wolfe 

Denai used this acronym to help us understand a healthy relationship with money and our businesses. She called it WIN.

W - How much money do you WANT to make? 

I - How much IMPACT do I want to have in the world?

N - How much money do you NEED to make?

Connect with Denai Wolfe at the The Chic CFO to learn of free and paid resources she provides. 

 J. Paul Getty was the wealthiest person in the world for 3 decades from the 1950's to the 1970's! His list of accomplishments are mind-blowing. At the end of his life, it's estimated that his net worth would be worth $27 billion is today's dollars.  He was very wealthy. I heard this quote when I was a new business owner in the Amway business in 2002 and it has stuck with me for 20 years. 

“I'd rather have 1% of the effort of 100 men than 100% of my own effort.” - J. Paul Getty 

At the time I heard this, I was an engineer working full time and earning $50,000 per year off 100% of my own effort. I saw Amway business owners with teams of 100+ people earned 1-4% off the production of each team member and earning $500,000 per year. This quote hit me right between the eyes. However, I went another route as a solo cleaning specialist after my days as an engineer and multi-level marketer. I decided it was best for me to optimize what I could produce. In other words, how much could I make in how little time could I produce off 100% of my own effort? In my first solo cleaning business, the results were strong. I earned $55,000 and $70,000 per year profit off 2 days cleaning per week in each business respectively. Both provided a decent engineer level lifestyle so I could enjoy time with my family. However, it would never create freedom and lifestyle money. It would never create time, money, and location freedom. This is what I desired. 

I'm in a different position now where I am growing a cleaning business and I'm learning a lot about myself. This is an episode for the solo cleaner who is thinking about scaling and has fear or would never scale and has arrogance about it like I used to. Let's break down some numbers. The average cleaning technician can create $50,000 of annual revenue for a cleaning company. If you're a solo, that's $50,000 for you. Applying J. Paul Getty's advice, the numbers are totally different. A cleaning team of 100 people would produce $5M in revenue. If you only earned the 1% that Getty quoted, you'd earn $50,000 per year without having to clean.  But the reality is much better. A $5M company ought to pay out 15% to the owner. This is $750,000 per year income for the owner and they don't have to clean.  Let's play a game of Would You Rather.

Would you rather work solo and optimize your business on 100% of your effort  working 2-3 days per week for $75,000 per year income? Or would you rather build a company and team to $5 million revenue, lead, and earn $750,000 per year income working on your business to lead your team? In the first example, you have no pressure of employees. You do all the work and have a simple life. You just better make sure to stay healthy, travel for short stints of a few days at a time, and budget really, really good. In the second example, you build a massive company, earn more than you can imagine, and live a life of total freedom. They each have their pros and cons. This episode isn't looking to persuade you, rather get you thinking. 

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My friend Charlie Schofield from BQ Basement Systems was sharing a 30-second commercial and introduction at a recent MCBA local networking group meeting. He said something so simple that I wrote it down and knew it would be a podcast!

"It's rained a lot lately. Have you had anyone come and check out your home for potential water getting into your basement. Water can crack the foundation and that is a nasty problem to fix."

I did a quick google search and found the answer I was looking for on another basement systems company blog. Here's the link to give proper credit.

"When water from rainstorms, melting snow, broken water lines, landscaping, and bedrock collects around the house, this exerts “hydrostatic pressure” against a home's foundation. This pressure can cause foundation walls to crack and bow, which can result in foundation leaks."

I can totally see this happening. The water collects underground against the basement foundation which is concrete. The sitting water alone wedged between the soil and concrete creates the same type of pressure that allows power breaks to function. This creates one method of compression on the foundation floor. The water also seeps into the basement walls and onto the floor. Concrete is rock. When it is wet through, it expands. This puts more compression force on the foundation floor. The combination of these compressive forces causes cracking and bowing of the concrete over time. I hope that made some sense. Here's the simple version. Water along the edge of your foundation or seeping through your walls is bad. You need a professional to proactively fix it before you crack your foundation. In other words, don't allow the crack attack to happen.

I thought about this and wondered what the foundation and water represented in our busineses. I have an answer to share. Go back and listen to "Introducing the C3 Experience". In that episode, I thoroughly explain the need for a mission and vision statement for your company along with core values. These collectively communicated and implemented in your company is the foundation. It is a strong concrete floor to build a massive house and business on. Then I considered the potential cracks and what could cause them. I'll use my own core values to show you.

• Arrogance - Are you losing your desire to learn more, thus believing you're always right. This cracks away at all 3 of my core values - Ownership, Excellence, and Safety.
• Compromise - Are you cutting corners to get something done. This cracks away at excellence and safety in hopes of reaching more ownership. It doesn't work this way. You can't sacrifice one or more core values to obtain another.  Rushing to get the work done takes ownership, but it compromises safety and excellence as an example
• Entitlement - Do you have the belief that you deserve something or are owed something? Are you grateful for the role you have. This undermines ownership at it's core tenant of taking full responsibility for your thoughts, actions, and results. 

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 This original episode featured a blast from the past. I've been sharing coaching updates with Coach Josh all summer. This episode features a clip from a call with Coach Herb from 2008 when he told me that I couldn't afford employees. What's different about my company now, 13 years later as I scale? If you listen to my last coaching update [Kenny insert Sept coaching report link], the answer is nothing. I still can't afford employees. My income has dropped from $70,000 per year solo to $50,000 per year with employees. It's true that this business has MAJOR upgrades and systems to have the foundation to house a $300k-$500k business. However, the same basic problem exists. I need 10 more offices to support all of the new investments I've made into my company. It's obvious. I wanted to grow. I need to grow. This episode is a reminder to me and anybody out there that we all need to work hard at keeping the pipeline full. 

September is in the books. It's time for another business update. Afterward, I'll share a clip from our final coaching call from September to close out the summer. Now that October is here, it's time to crank it down! I have 4 months left to build and delegate my cleaning company before my self-imposed deadline of February 1, 2022.

 I'm going to come right out and admit. I did NOT hit my goal for September and I know why. I got lazy. If you've followed this podcast since the beginning, I've been building my marketing machine using Google My Business, Facebook, and local networking. It's worked very well to the tune of $60,000 in increased revenues solo in 2020. I was working my marketing hard. My pipeline grew and I reaped the benefit in 2021. I hit my optimizer goal as a solo cleaner by January 2021 earning $70,000 profit on 2 days cleaning per week. I stopped marketing and simply helped anyone that found me through my marketing machine. This generated more house and office leads that I really didn't care if I got or not. Then June happened and I got A New Freedom Vision. I hired Coach Josh and it was time to scale my business with a team. I have shared with you that I built out a few systems over the summer including a hiring and payroll system, a financial system using Quickbooks Online, and a simple office cleaning training system. I also built my foundation with mission, vision, and values (see "Introducing the C3 Experience"). My cleaning business was now ready to grow with a solid foundation and the beginning of the systems that I'll need to support a $300,000 revenue business.

I had offices and house inquiries coming in, so I'd answer them and select which I wanted to bid on. I mentioned to friends personally and in network meetings that I was hiring and was referred a few people. I hired one of them. I was growing today off of yesterday's work. But I wasn't doing today's work by building my pipeline for tomorrow. We as entrepreneurs allow this to happen and don't realize it until your leads dry up.  This happened to me in September. I realized it on my own and shared it with Coach Josh. By the way, I was supposed to complete his coaching homework to create a Project 100 in a week back in July. It took me 6 weeks to make this list of 100 offices I'd like to clean. Why did it take so long? I was arrogant thinking that I had a pipeline that I didn't see was drying up. This was my first major blind spot in September.


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 We had an interesting conversation in our Smart Cleaning Tribe recently that I wanted to share. I'll play the full clip in the podcast, but here's the scenario. Kate is a very successful cleaning business owner with 18 cleaning techs (cleaners). On this particular Monday, she had 2 call out. It put Kate into crisis mode. Can you relate? What would happen if 2 of your cleaners called out or quit on you? As I listened to Kate describe her employee scenario, I thought of the term negative employee margin. 

Let's relate this example to something easy to grasp. Money. You've got $5,000 coming in to your budget. Your expenses are $4,000. You have $1,000 left over. You have positive cash flow or margin. You feel peace. Most of you listening would say, "Ken, that's not me. I'm stretched." I would say that most of America would agree. So here is scenario #2. You've got $4,000 coming in to your budget and $5,000 in expenses! This creates stress, anxiety, fear, worry, doubt, anger, helplessness, etc. You have negative cash flow or margin. Can you feel the difference. Let's bring this back to Kate.

Kate has 18 employees. I asked her how many she absolutely needs to complete the jobs on her schedule. She thought and answered 15. This is great. Kate has 3 extra employees to clean at any given time, so she has a positive employee margin. If 2 call out, she still has 16 to get the work done. Right?! Nope. Here's the part that she shared on the call as well. Kate has a vacation schedule that allows up to 2 on vacation at all times. They rotate as a team to give everyone an opportunity. This is also great for business. Right?! It is and it isn't. Kate has happy employees taking vacation, but she has a math problem.

18 employees - 2 employees on vacation = 16 employees available at any given time. Add 2 call outs and Kate has 14 employees to do the work of 15! This is not positive margin anymore. Kate has negative margin.  This is why Kate feels the lack of peace. Do you relate. We talked on this call about Resource Management for her team. How can Kate always create a positive employee margin? We talked about flex cleaners, extra office staff, hiring more, cutting or changing the vacation policy, etc. Overall, it gave Kate a different take on how to create peace in her business.

Would you like to join our cleaning family and be with amazing cleaning company owners like Kate? The Smart Cleaning Tribe is an exclusive membership for cleaning business owners growing teams who desired a cleaning family to help them set goals, hold them accountable, and grow in every area of their life.