Smart Cleaning School

Kevin Smith is a close friend of mine. We originally met at a Speed Cleaning conference in Dallas, TX lead by Debbie Sardone. There aren't many men in house cleaning and Kevin is over 6 foot tall. Therefore, it wasn't hard to spot him. We connected right away because of our mutual faith and the way we honor God with our businesses. It's been over 3 years since we met, yet we've stayed connected through text and phone calls. Kevin's company Grace Home Cleaning in Omaha, NE was doing $100k in total revenue. They do over a million now and he shares in this episode a few mindsets which unlock how he was able to do this. 

The episode is split int 2 parts. The first part is a snippet of an interview I did with Kevin where he talks about his company's foundation on God. He shares a great story of an employee who breaks a house shower door and how he handled it. This story lead into the main takeaway from this interview. Kevin says. "I am steward and God owns Grace Home Cleaning. It's a family here. We keep praying and it's grace for a reason." In the second part of this podcast, I share a clip from our Smart Cleaning Tribe where I hosted Kevin as an expert a few weeks after the interview. During this expert call, there were2 questions that Kevin's answer profoundly impacted our Tribe members. I want to share those two answers with you.

1. If you want to HAVE a million dollar business, act like it now!
2. To endure the hard times, lean on God and your mentors. Both are a choice.

• Is your cleaning company striving toward a million dollars in annual revenue? Would you like help with your goals, be held accountable to those goals alongside others doing the same as you, and gain access to amazing experts like Kevin? Apply for the Smart Cleaning Tribe!

It's grace for a reason. We are Grace Home Cleaning and we're a family. Kevin sees his employees as his kids and his employees see Kevin as their dad.

I have shared multiple times on this podcast that I am a huge Tim Ferriss fan. "The Four-Hour Work Week" really changed the way I viewed my work and freedom goals. I also listen to his podcast. They are what's called "long-form" interviews in the podcasting world as he spends between 1.5 - 2.5 hours per interview. Joe Rogan conducts his interviews the same way. By spending so much time, Tim and Joe can really dig deep into their guest's life stories. I LOVE hearing these stories of challenge, obstacles, overcoming, learning, and victory. I always hear some one-liners and zingers too that I share on Instagram or Facebook. Plus, I hear some mindsets that I feel compelled to share here on the Smart Cleaning School Podcast. This episode is one such example, similar to "When You're Humble, You're Teachable".

I encourage you to check out "How to Reinvent Yourself" from the Tim Ferris Show where he interviews former NBA star and member of the Big 3, Chris Bosh. In 2010, LeBron James made the decision to take his talents to South beach. Chris Bosh came with him from Toronto to join Dwyane Wade and Lebron. The Big 3 went on to win two out of four NBA titles in four consecutive years. I was always perplexed by Chris. He was a star in Toronto and seemed to disappear in the Miami hype with Lebron and D-Wade. He even changed his game to adapt. Chris was unselfish and ultimately, it paid off with 2 championship rings. Therefore, when I saw the interview with Tim, I had to check it out.

Here are some observations about Chris from the interview.  He is a voracious reader. Chris is so articulate and interesting. At one stage of the interview, he broke down why the league changed from playing bigs in the paint to shooters behind the arc (3-pointers). As I watched the game change as a fan, I was disappointed in the changes and never understood. That's when Chris broke it down. It was all sabermetrics and statistics. As an engineer, I loved it. This new style of play was more probable of winning games. It also had less injury and demanded a different type of athlete. I loved how intelligently Chris broke down the progression of the game to a non-basketball fan in Tim Ferriss. 

Tim shifted gears to life after basketball. This is the part that really taught me some valuable life lessons. Chris is a current ambassador for the NBA and has found himself complaining. Then he talked to a CEO who had survived cancer and got a totally different perspective and stop complaining. Previously, he had gone to Africa and India and saw real poverty. Chris made this comment. "India made the projects look like a five-star hotel." Chris then said this and it made Tim pause. "What do people say? You think you got problems? Well everyone put their problems on the table. You'll pick yours back up real quick." This is so profound as we all think we're going through the worst thing in our life. But there was always someone better off and there's probably 10 more that are worse off than you. Those 10 worse off souls could be in your community or somewhere else in the world. It's all perspective. If you're carrying a load right now and you feel like you can't push through. Get some perspective from Chris Bosh. He played with at least 3 Hall of Famers in LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Ray Allen and won two championships. Chris also won an Olympic Gold Medal, was an 11-time NBA All-Star, along with many other accolades. And he was complaining. 

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One of my favorite movies when I was in high school was Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray as Phil Connors and Andy MacDowell as Rita Hanson. I liked it because it was hilarious. How could you not like a movie with Bill Murray who still makes me laugh from "Caddyshack" and "What About Bob?" I grew up in Pennsylvania as well, so Groundhog Day was a thing that we actually celebrated every February 2nd. Let me elaborate on the plot. A Pittsburgh weatherman, Phil Connors was assigned to go to Punxsutawney on February 1st. He has this assignment every year and he lothed going. The small town hicks as he called them drove him crazy. He was too big for this town and he made his contempt known. Phil was a total jerk and made every effort to get through the day of February 2nd, 1993. He scarred everybody in his path. When he finally laid in bed, he was so thankful that the assignment was over. Phil then awoke to the Sunny and Cher hit, "I've Got You Babe". Was it Deja Vue all over again as Yogi Berra once said? Yes it was. Phil experienced February 2nd all over again and everything was exactly the same as yesterday. It was the worst nightmare in Phil's life, but it was really happening.

This character is the total opposite of the last "Don't Be Like" episode. In "Don't Be Like Clark W. Griswold". Clark was a total optimist. He never saw the potential for bad, only the potential for good. There wasn't a shred of realism in him. Phil Connors is a total pessimist. He sees only the bad in the forsaken town he was stuck in and none of the good that was all around him. As Phil wakes up day after day, you can see the transition. First, Phil realizes what is going on. He is stuck in Punxsutawney on February 2nd, 1993. This caused severe depression and in the first several days, he just tried to end his life. He was successful each time, except that he woke up to the same Sunny and Cher "I've Got You Babe" song again. He had hit rock bottom and many times people with serious mental problems need to get there before they can start climbing out. Do you know anyone in your life that hit rock bottom and did a total 180? It happens all the time. And it happened to Phil Connors. Along the way, he found the futility of trying to kill himself. He had to accept his fate. He was in Punxsutawney hell. That's where Rita enters in. He thought his producer was attractive, but didn't really care for her. He stopped trying to kill himself and made it his aim to impress Rita.

Phil had every part of February 2nd timed to the second. He could save the cat as it fell from the tree. He studied Rita and learned about her as much as he could. Then on a new day, he would wow her with his understanding of her. This started to win her affection. Over time, Phil's heart changed like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. He turned into a man of extraordinary skill and compassion. Some calculate (the movie doesn’t say) that Phil Connors endured 12,403 Groundhog Days or 33 years and 358 days. It took that long for Phil to change before he experienced February 3rd! It's a crazy story line, but makes for a fun movie. Phil changed from the cold-hearted, pessimistic man to a warm-hearted, optimistic one in a mere 33 years. In the end, he wins the girl and sees the beauty in the small town that he hated before. Do you see the lesson here?

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I had a limited mindset on how much money I could make for many years. It was my Upper Limit Problem that Gay Hendricks defines in "The Big Leap". I earned $54,000 at the peak of engineering in 2005 and thought I was rich. Up until then, I never earned over $20,000 in a year. That's mostly because I was in school and working was part time. But earning $45,000 out of college was huge! Earning $54,000 just five years later was mind-blowing income for me. I got comfortable at this level. When I was fired that year and realized that $170,000 in debt and no income wasn't good, I needed to make money. But what did I do? I built my cleaning income to $40,000 over the next 2 years and stayed there. At $40,000, I was living the same lifestyle that $54,000 in engineering provided. Why? Welcome to the world of business tax advantages and owner perks! When our need for more income came in 2011 (4 years of $40,000 income), I did what seemed right. I asked my wife to start making money to "help the family". I really manned up!

We had already decided that Teresa would be a stay home mom and homeschool no matter what. Teresa was pregnant with our 3rd child in 2011 and struggling to keep it together at home, so when I threw out the idea of her babysitting or doing a small business idea for more income the response was not thrilling. How dumb! "Honey, you already take care of 3 kids. How about taking on 2 more?" She got anxious and overwhelmed and I got mad. I thought that she didn't want to help support the family. It was a cause of tension in 2011 because of my Upper Limit Problem.

What is an Upper Limit. It's a self-imposed limit on our capabilities. "I can never earn more than what I earned before. I can't make $100,000. I can never weigh 130 pounds again. I can never..." You fill in the rest. This is negative self-talk that we create upper limits in our minds that prevent us from breaking through. It took me some time and coaching from mentors to realize that if it's going to be, it's up to me! I realized that we needed more money because we wanted to eliminate the debt monster that was crippling our family. My dream increased and my income did not support that new dream. I had to move and take action. My response to the need as I said was to get my wife to produce more income since my upper limit challenge got in my way. I didn't believe that I could earn any more! 

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Recently, a listener to the podcast took me up on my free coaching call option on my website. Niki Kempf of Custom Cleaning in Dyersburg, TN had some pretty big questions. Niki was close to pulling the trigger on a coaching program for $10,000+ and decided to hold off. She left that situation discouraged as her family has big dreams and no idea how to get there. Our call was awesome. I didn't ask her about her business or what she wanted her business to look like. Instead, I asked her about her dream. She shared an awesome vision. First of all, she is recently married and Niki and her husband want to grow their personal ministry to help people coming out of rehabilitation programs. She wants to mentor them, possibly hire them, and definitely donate to organizations that support them. She wants to get her husband out of his job to help her in the cleaning business. This lit her up! Then she told me something amazing. They have a dream to give away 80% of their income. Whoa! I shared the JC Penney story and how he was known for giving away 90% and living off 10%. This is the opposite model of the church/tithing model where the Christian tithes 10% and lives off 90%. Niki loved this. Then I built her dream as I shared a story of a cleaning friend doing something similar. Jessica comes from a rough situation where she dealt with abuse. She has a huge dream to help battered women in her area. She wants to hire woman coming out of the shelters to get them back on their feet. Then she wants to start a non-profit where her cleaning business funds a portion and both the cleaning business and non-profit could be in a commercial building that she buys. Jessica would have a building for everything she wanted to do and the income to do it. Niki LOVED this even more. That's when I shared the Home Depot story.

"Niki, let's say you wanted to hang a picture in your living room. You walk into Home Depot and find a worker. You ask him where the tools are for hanging pictures. Instead of telling you, he asks you a question back. In fact, he asks several questions. How large is the picture frame? How much does it weigh? Is it fragile, made of glass? What type of wall are you hanging it on? Is it plaster or dry wall? If it's plaster, how thick is the plaster and is there brick behind it? If it's drywall, can you locate the studs or will you be able to use studs? You would look at this Home Depot employee like he had two heads. You'd wonder why that all mattered as you simply want to hang the picture frame and need the tools."

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The original episode was published very early in my Solo Cleaning School Podcast before I changed the name. I was pausing to reflect upon a major crossroads in my business when I met two coaches at the same time. I chose the less traveled and it made all the difference. As you know, I've hired a new coach. Josh Melton of the Athens Cleaning Company is guiding me down a new road. Meanwhile, I still have my original coach from this Best Of episode, Vincent Pugliese. In fact, I've introduced my two friends and coaches and they appeared on this podcast together. Check it out after re-listening to this popular and sentimental episode.

Greg Shepard is a serial entrepreneur. He is the owner of Dallas Maids along with 2 other cleaning companies which he founded or co-founded. In this interview, we dive into the subconscious mind and the limitless power we all possess to win at business and life. Greg sounds like a modern day Napoleon Hill, who wrote "Think & Grow Rich". You will love how I probe Greg for his Why and vision behind each step in his journey. And I know you'll love his resolve to earn his next life's dream to sail around the world by building a 4th cleaning company in Toronto, Ontario. This interview was fascinating to me!

Resources: Greg recommended the books, "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell and "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" by Harv Eker.

I shared in my last Carfagno Cleaning update, "Stay, Scale or Sell " that the seasons are shifting from Spring to Summer. As promised, I'm departing from my weekly business updates to allow space for other impactful episodes like my interview, "The Cleaning Journey to Nineveh with Josh Melton". I will continue bringing you updates, but during this Summer season of me earning my freedom, I'll be starting this new monthly podcast segment.

Purposely, I mentioned the prior podcasts. In "Stay, Scale or Sell", I laid out my case for Why I need to scale my cleaning company. In the interview with Josh Melton, I saw a man with the same story as me and the same business if I were to scale. After the interview, I reached out to Josh and asked him if I could hire him to coach me to his level. Thankfully, Josh accepted. For the remainder of 2021, I am launching this new segment, which will be a monthly freedom report with my friend and coach Josh Melton. The format may change from month-to-month, but the objective is the same. How is Ken doing toward his goal to enjoy freedom in Florida with his family for a month in the winter? This segment will keep you updated. Plus, I will add actual clips of our coaching calls between Josh and myself. I'm so thankful to Josh. He has built a professional commercial cleaning company with over 60 employees, mostly part-time professionals needing extra money. He calls it his "Chick-Fil-A Model", but more importantly, Josh has an ongoing 6-figure income in the same types of offices I clean and he doesn't have to clean or manage. I wanted this and Josh was willing to help me! Here's the coolest part for Josh. He has wanted to help others do what he has done in a coaching program down the road called the "6-Figure Commercial Cleaner". Josh is also the co-host with his business partner Chad Brown that you should definitely check out! It's called the Entrepreneur Adventure Podcast. In the clip of my first coaching call with Josh, I share some recent wins and my need to start hiring. I also share his take on the pros and cons of the business model I'd like to scale.

There are some updates from June that I would like to share. I will do so in bullet form to make it easier to follow!

• My marketing machine is still working well. I still have house cleaning referrals coming in and unfortunately, I need to reply to all of them with this. "I am taking a waiting list on all new houses. Would you like to be on the waiting list or would you like me to refer you to a cleaning friend as I cannot take any more houses?"  I have done this at least 5 times in June. Honestly, it's inconceivable to think I would turn down work. But I need to because my goal is financial and time freedom through my commercial cleaning business. Where does that leave me with houses? I don't know. I will likely hire someone or train a solo cleaner to take them over.

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Recently, I was given the opportunity to share an education segment for the MCBA local business networking group. As the co-chair of this committee with Shelby Leight, I have the freedom to share topics I believe will benefit the group. I chose the topic of creating multiple streams of income because I've been on a quest personally to build out a healthy income portfolio of businesses and investments. I've very new at this since we just got of debt last year. Nevertheless, my curiosity lead me to start this discussion and it went really well.

I started with a story about people losing their incomes in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. I recounted some examples of cleaning business owners and others that I personally know who were hit hard. Everyone in the room related as they all knew someone too. As a group, we went through every year where people felt a significant recession. Thankfully, we had so much wisdom in the room (that's a nice way to say age) and we went back to 1975. Here were the dates: 1975 (gas shortage), 1986 (stock market crash), 1993 (short recession), 2001 (9/11), 2008 (the Great Recession & crash), and 2020 (Covid). We all agreed that history and math teach us something. We have experienced these life-altering shifts every 8-12 years since at least 1975 and we're going to experience them again.

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Josh Melton has been a friend of mine in the industry for several years. We are both Christian husbands and fathers with a heart for men's ministry. Outside of cleaning, Josh has been involved in many side hustles including a coaching program to empower and strengthen men. Likewise, I am an author and was involved in a coaching program to help Dads. Can you see why we'd connect so well? How about this one. Josh built his commercial cleaning business to the level I'd like to attain, which is 6-figures of profit without having to clean. But he did that to earn his freedom to focus on other projects he felt more called to lead. That is also me 100%. During this interview, Josh and I share our stories and ultimately how God has been trying to turn our eyes toward Nineveh. What does that mean?

Here's the short answer. Read the Book of Jonah in the bible or at least watch this short cartoon summary. It's great! Jonah was sent by God to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh. He chose to turn away from God and go his own way. Essentially, God ran away from God's plan. This decision met Jonah with adversity and destruction. Yup, this is the story of the man that was eaten by a whale! That's Jonah. Eventually, Jonah turned toward God and went to Nineveh and all was corrected. Jonah lived out his life in blessing. Josh and I talk in this podcast about our common cleaning roads to Nineveh. It really connected Josh and I even more. I loved this interview and I know you will too.

Josh Melton is the co-owner of the Athens Cleaning Company and the co-host of the Entrepreneur Adventure Podcast.

Resources: In this episode, Josh mentions the janitorial software Swept that his company uses and loves. He also endorsed the book, "Traction" by Gino Wickman.