Smart Cleaning School

 My Total Life Freedom local friends and local networking friend Eric Laylon intersect for a second episode. In "Don't Fight Google or Facebook, Fight for Lunch", my friend Eric Laylon from ReachLocal shared great marketing tips and stats on the digital giants. I followed this with a story of who paid for lunch. In this episode, I am copying the format! 

Last week in my local MCBA meeting, Eric ran the business education segment and taught on the benefits of using Alignable for marketing. I've personally avoided it, but Eric gives some great points and tips that may have persuaded me to look into it more. Thus, I wanted to share it with you. LinkedIn is a business platform for business owners and professionals (employees). Alignable is for small business owners locally (not nationally like LinkedIn). The platform is already niched to local and small business owners, which makes it a natural marketing companion to in-person local networking. Alignable has niche groups that you can join of "like interest". Eric says he has gotten so much more business through Alignable vs LinkedIn because of the platform's ability to hyper-niche. Eric explained that you can set up your profile with "who you'd like to connect with". Then, Alignable takes your preferences and puts you in front of those people. Eric uses the premium $30/mo version because the free version limits you to the # of people you can connect with. I thought Eric did a great job presenting Alignable and it really intrigued me. What do you think? Do you use this platform? I'd love to hear about it if you do.

A few leads came in this week. The first one was military-like. My friend James Hardy of the Carpet Guys was in an online group and saw a request for a house cleaner. He was in the process of typing in my name and website when something else caught his attention. The owner of a local cafe gave my name first. He recommended me and then texted me. "Ken, do you clean for the cafe?" I said no, but I do clean the owner's home. Then he told me about the recommendation to Steven Hunsberger. I thanked him and shared that Steven is the president of my chamber and we're friends. Then I contacted Steven and he felt so embarrassed that his friend Ken and the only cleaner of 400 members in his chamber didn't come to mind when he was looking for a house cleaner. There are multiple takeaways here. First, I am so thankful that I was triangulated by multiple friends to recommend me and they all knew each other! Another is that I have done a poor job in communicating that I clean houses to Steven in all of our interactions including our recent breakfast! Steven knew that I cleaned offices, but had no idea that I did houses too. We talked on the phone and I answered all of his questions in hopes of educating him on the various options he had for hiring a house cleaning service.

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 As I sit down to record this podcast, I grabbed a Clif Bar from my lunch bag to further establish my point. Right on the label, it says this. "We're Planting 1 Million Trees." This is the mission of the Clif company to appeal to those that love and want to maintain our environment. How many people have never eaten a Clif bar that would buy it when they read this across the label in a store? That is exactly the message I'd like to share in this re-introduction podcast!

I launched this podcast in October 2019 as the Solo Cleaning School with the vision of "Moms Helping Moms Helping Moms". At this point in my life, I was newly resolved to build my second solo cleaning company and potentially sell it again. I wanted a place where solo cleaners could visit and feel like they had a place to belong. I've been a solo cleaner for 16 years at this point and I know that solos feel "so-low" in our industry. Many feel like they're beneath the larger employee-based companies. Others feel like they are working with no goals to win and no way to change. Thus, they feel stuck. My initial vision was to provide a home for these solo cleaners and give them a vision they could grab onto. When you started, you were likely a mom and you cleaned for moms. You're helping moms and they're helping you by providing you income. I grew this vision by introducing the third group of moms. There are successful solo cleaning moms that have been doing this for years. What if they helped you as you got started and eventually, you could be the successful mom helping other moms (in solo cleaning) help moms (clean their homes and provide them peace of mind)? Many of you latched onto this vision and I was here to help you make the impact you were meant to make. 

Over the course of the past 18 months since launching this podcast, many things have changed in my life. First of all, my second solo cleaning business has grown to the Optimizer level and I'm highly considering bringing on employees in 2022 to run my company once it's fully optimized. What?! Ken, tell me that isn't so! It is so. I am working 2 days per week for close to $6,000 per month profit now. It's amazing, but I want to have more time and location freedom than that. I want to help more people in more locations. I can accomplish this in one of 3 ways. I can find and train up solo cleaners local to me and sell off parts of my business to them to collect passive income payments over a few years. I can sell my business outright like I did before and also collect a cashout along with monthly passive income payments for a few years. Or, I can keep my income stream and hire employees. This would alter my business model from $6,000 profit per month on 2 cleaning days per week to $2,500 profit per month on zero cleaning days! Plus, I have been networking like crazy over the past 18 months and have developed a name for myself. I have the potential of growing this company to $6,000 per month profit with employees and not cleaning at all and beyond. For now, I just want to optimize my company and use this year to decide which of these 3 paths I'd like to take.

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 This statement will resonate with many of you. Do you have customers right now that you know are sucking the profits right out of your business? If you don't resonate, you will soon! I've been doing this solo cleaning ISO Model journey for 16 years as you already know. I would like to share 4 types or categories of clients to keep a pulse in your business. 

• Group 1 - The low-paying, high drama clients are easy to spot and optimize out of your business.
• Group 2 - Meanwhile, the high-paying, low-drama clients are easy to spot and clone in your optimizing efforts.
• Group 3 - But there are two other categories that are harder to spot, but they rub you wrong just the same. One is the high-paying, high-drama client. You make great money and have the ability to speed up easily. However, they cancel often, forget to pay, ask for a lot of extras, communicate frequently. This causes you to expend emotional energy on these clients more than you should. It's hard to give these up, but you must in order to optimize.
• Group 4 - The other type hard to recognize is the low-paying, low-drama. They are the easiest clients. They pay on time, only communicate when there is an adjustment or a question, easy to satisfy. However, they don't pay much and if you try to keep these clients as an optimizer, you have to significantly increase their price. That's a hard thing to do. Are you resonating now?

As I've shared in previous Carfagno Cleaning updates, I just crossed from Stabilizer to Optimizer in my solo cleaning business. This is exciting as I can now go 100% toward my 2021 SMART goal of a $6,000 profit per month business cleaning two days per week! As I've stated of the 4 types of clients, there have been 2 of the 15 clients I have that fit the latter categories. One is a housecleaning client that is low-paying and high-drama. I did not get rid of this client as a Stabilizer as I needed every dollar for my family. However, I'll be doing price increases in mid-to-late 2021 and this client will be one of the ones getting a large increase. I'll make sure to have a house on the waiting list that is high-paying and low-drama ready to replace them. The other client is a commercial client. It's a much tougher one as it's a low-drama, high-impact client. I'm cleaning for autistic kids in a school setting. But it's also low-paying. I've done all I can to optimize and speed up this job to no avail. It was one of the first offices in my Stabilizer growth in 2020 and I underpriced it. Had I priced it correctly, I would not have gotten the job. No matter. I was able to earn $500 per month for over 6 months. I've known that a substantial price increase was coming to this client and it was sad. To compound this matter, I got some great news. I've shared that my company has gotten into the jet stream of the local veterinary hospital tribe. I've been hired by two and submitted a third proposal last week. The doctor replied to my proposal this week with this. "Thank you for the detailed proposal. I'd like to start with Option 2 as soon as possible." Option 2 is for $975 per month and it's biweekly. This great news immediately sparked calendar controversy. Adding this office every other week would overwork me and my two kids legally and physically for our weekly Saturday office cleaning schedule. Something had to give. I was either going to put this client on the waiting list and find a way to fit them, eliminate another office client, or hire someone to help. At this point in time with my goals, I came up with the best solution. I would fire my $500 per month low-paying, low-drama client.

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

Before you listen to this article, please check out my Carfagno Cleaning article, "Home Trends that Intersect with Cleaning". I credit my friend Mary Ann Alig of Fox & Roach Berkshire Hathaway Realtors for the content that drove this article and this podcast episode. Mary Ann shared 8 home trends that realtors are seeing for this new decade. Trends like these tend to change every decade and currently include barn vs pocket doors, white interiors, shiplap, matching furniture, accent walls, rose gold, open concept, and multigenerational homes. In my article, I showed how these trends affect cleaning professionals. I also hint to all business owners how important it is to know your industry trends so you can stay ahead of them.

There is one trend that I'd like to dig into on this podcast. It's the rise of the multigenerational home. Fast Company in a 2019 article states, But for complex reasons that still puzzle researchers, multigenerational households are now on the rise once more. As many as 41% of Americans buying a home are considering accommodating an elderly parent or an adult child, according to a survey conducted by John Burns Real Estate Consulting. Living with your parents (or your adult children) has plenty of potential benefits–everyone tends to save money, it can potentially benefit health outcomes, and you get to spend more time together." Did you hear me? 41% of Americans are considering this in the 2020's. That's more than a trend. It's a paradigm shift. I want all cleaners out there, regardless of your business model to hear me. If you don't get in front of this shift and ensure your company is a leader in multigenerational house cleaning, you could be out of business in 10 years! It's crazy! Now, I'd like to talk to the solo cleaners that are actually doing the sales and cleaning. 

How do you position yourself to acquire clients like this? It's simple really. When you clean for one generation like a millennial couple or retirees, you must earn their trust to stay there long term. When you clean for two generations like a family with kids, you need an even greater trust factor. And if you follow where I'm going here, you need even more trust to clean for 3 generations under the same roof. The answer is trust building. The better you are at trust building, the more completely you can serve 3 generations under the same roof. This leads to more money per client and referrals to others just like them. Imagine this. You have a client like I do. Andy is the dad. His adult children live with him and his father Don lives with him. I have invested time during cleaning visits to get to know all 3 generations. Don has even become a friend and mentor to me locally. I do a great job at their home and have earned a lot of trust. Do you think Andy will refer me? And by the way, he owns a local restaurant and knows a lot of people. Yes, he will. I am positioned nicely to reap a harvest with multigenerational homes because I clean them now with good reputation. I can share that on my website and with new prospective clients. I urge you to do the same.

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

I shared in my last business update that I increased the monthly service price of one of my commercial clients by $350 per month. Plus, I was on the verge of adding a new house and veterinary hospital as clients. The estimate with Melissa went well. She never had a house cleaning service before, so I eased her into it. I had her read articles from my website and was able to direct some of her questions to other articles I've written. This really increased my credibility before I even showed up at her home. During the estimate, I also pointed out things I liked in the house that I genuinely liked. I can't go into detail, but one thing was a wedding anniversary gift her husband bought for her. It was in their bedroom and I asked the husband for the website. He was pleased to oblige. I shared what we do for anniversaries and the honeymoon retreat location we go. He was thankful in return. That gesture between me and them build trust, but it was genuine. It wasn't mechanical. Look for opportunities to do that in your business. Make your estimate more than mechanical, but relational. At the end of the estimate I went through my availability and how the proposal process will go with the options I'll put together. She was very impressed. This customer found me through the marketing machine I've built through Facebook, Google My Business, my website, and in-person networking.

I also completed the proposal for a new veterinary hospital. It was super difficult to create this proposal as the client wanted many details covered in the hospital that I don't normally do in the recurring service. Therefore, we worked out a list of these details and I balanced them evenly between 4 rotating visits and offered prices for weekly, biweekly, and monthly cleaning. She was very thankful with my detailed proposal and options.

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

The original "Pros of Solo Cleaning" was so popular that I ran a 'Best Of' replay recently. I covered 10 pros that are very persuasive if you're evaluating a cleaning business for yourself. Here are the 10 pros listed out. Check out the original podcast for the details of each pro.

1. Money - A new solo cleaner can set up a part business earning $400-$500/week part time. As they progress through my ISO Model Signature Solution, they can increase their part time income to $1,000/week, increase to full time and earn double that, or transition to hiring employees. The part time money potential is amazing if you do it right.
2. Flexibility - You can schedule jobs when it works for you. You're the boss. If you want days, clean houses. Nights or weekends, clean small offices.
3. Low Startup - For under $1,000, you can get your DBA, make your business liability deposit, and invest in your basic equipment & supplies.
4. Tax Advantages - Your cleaning expenses are tax deductible. You can even write off your mileage and home office. If this is a side business to the family or you're only source of income, the tax advantages alone can make it worth
5. Learning - Once you get the hang of cleaning and your system, you can listen while you clean. It's up to you what you put in. I recommend audiobooks on business, finance, and personal growth and podcasts on the same.
6. Service to Others - You get all of these advantages as you serve moms that NEED your help. It feels great to help people.
7. Easy to Learn - You can do something you already do (cleaning your house) for money.
8. Burns Calories -  did you know that a 3-hour house or office cleaning burn 600 calories? Think about it if you clean three houses a day that's 1,800 calories you are burning per day. I used to eat 4000 calories a day, pigged out and never gained weight. As a optimized and had more time in my office I started gaining weight.
9. It's Therapy - Many find the act of cleaning something dirty very calming and therapuetic.
10. You are Needed - There are tons of Alicia & Emily's wanting to hire you! - It's always needed, listen to Moms Helping Moms Helping Moms and listen to Alicia & Emily's story.

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

Do you remember "Back to the Future" starring Michael J. Fox? Marty McFly ran in his panic from the Libyans and got Doc Brown's Delorian to 88 miles per hour in the parking lot. He escaped 1985 and entered 1955. The whole movie focused on saving his 1985 family from perishing by helping his mom fall in love with his dorky, bullied dad. Marty also had to figure out how to get back to 1985. It was a fun movie that was super popular in the 80's and still is today. In one scene, Marty visits the 1955 version of Doc Brown at his house. Doc Brown was paranoid and thought Marty was crazy-talking a time machine until he described the Flux Capacitor. Marty yelled through the door that he was in the bathroom, bumped his head, and that's how he got the idea of the Flux Capacitor, the last piece of the invention to take him back in time. Doc Brown came out of the room, showed Marty the drawing he made of the Flux Capacitor, and believed him.

The Flux Capacitor is a made up, science fiction device that gave the time machine the ability to travel through time. All the time machine needed was radioactive fuel or Plutonium. Plus, it needed to reach 88 miles per hour and in 1985, Doc Brown found a Delorian and modified it with Plutonium intake and the Flux Capacitor. One of my favorite lines in the movies is when Doc Brown sees the VHS video from 1985 and hears himself describe. "No, no, no, no. this sucker's electrical. But I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 Gigawatts of electrical energy. The Flux Capacitor stores..." The 1955 Doc Brown then freaks out. "1.21 Gigawatts! 1.21 Gigawatts! Great Scott." The scene is amazing as the two must create the power that the Plutonium nuclear reaction created in 1985. They decide to use lightning from the clock tower and the rest is history... or future... I guess.

That was a fun movie analogy, but it's so profoundly true for my ISO Model. My ISO Model is the Flux Capacitor in your solo business vehicle. The Flux Capacitor allowed Doc Brown and Marty to go where ever they wanted to go in time. So does the ISO Model. If you hook it up right in your vehicle and power it with 1.21 Gigawatts of internal motivation, goals, and perseverance, your business will go where ever you want it to. But the Flux Capacitor isn't just a black box. We know it works for Doc Brown in the movie and the science is legit (in the movie). The point is that the Flux Capacitor does work and it does take you where you want to go if you hook it up right and feed it 1.21 Gigawatts. The ISO Model is the same. You have to hook it up right in your business, understand it, and utilize it. Here's how the ISO Model works...

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This episode released 1 year ago and has been one of my most popular and mindset-changing episodes ever. This one really sets solo cleaners free and it is just as relevant as it was last year. I'll be releasing follow-up episodes in the future to help you even more with this overcoming mindset.

This message is short and sweet. I teach often and have created my own solo cleaning business niche of presentation cleaning and first impressions. That's what I do. Yes, I clean. But what I do is create peace of mind through presentation cleaning. What does that mean and why is it worth so much? I'm glad you asked. We are all emotional creatures and make our decisions as such. I've shared on previous podcasts that the busy mom doesn't have time to clean, yet dirt and clutter cause her stress and anxiety. My cleaning niche goes beyond basic cleaning and science. Check out the podcast, "Art Trumps Science". I add the art of first impressions to remove the stress and anxiety. This provides my clients with peace of mind. Similarly, I clean the first impression areas in offices to impress their clients, prospects, and staff every time they come into the office. This also has a value. What if a financial company loses a several million dollar client because their office "image" didn't match the website? My presentation cleaning investment can earn that client and easily pay for cleaning for the entire year! That's the point.

Now that you understand that your cleaning itself can go beyond science, I want you to see that you have a part to play before you ever clean at all. You need to be congruent and have integrity. If you're a presentation cleaner, everything about your cleaning business MUST be presentation level. Just about every Saturday morning, my kids and I are cleaning out our totes and I'm constantly cleaning and disinfecting my vacuum cleaning and gear. At this point, my kids could answer WHY in a second. "Dad, you've told us that presentation starts with you and all the stuff we bring in here." I couldn't have said it better. I went on to explain to them and now to you. When you enter a home of office, you have to leave your equipment somewhere. What happens when you're vacuuming and the client sees your cleaning tote? Or, what if you're cleaning a bathroom and they see your rags or vacuum equipment. Would they be grossed out and wonder how you can clean anything if you can't keep your own gear clean? This is a wake-up call for many of you!

That goes beyond your gear. What about your personal appearance? Do you look professional? Do you smell or have bad breath? Is your hair neat and clean. What about your vehicle? Is it clean and presentable. Is trash falling out when you open it? Would you be embarrassed if your clients saw the inside of your car?  Do you arrive with glaring music and flicking cigarette butts out the window? Do you ask where the client would like you to park? Is your social media presentable? People DO look at everything these days and every detail builds trust. You can't just presentation clean. You must be a person of presentation as presentation starts with you. If you take this advice to heart, you too can earn $100 per hour cleaning like I have in presentation cleaning.

Go to the Solo Cleaning School  tab of website, access the free resources such as the "Solo Cleaning Quickstart Guide" and "How to Earn $100 Per Hour Cleaning Houses" Masterclass, and sign up for a free coaching call with Ken to ask your questions. Plus, you can access the ISO Model Course and more for $50 per month in the Solo Cleaning School Elite Membership.

I have been a huge fan of the Tim Ferriss Show lately because I love the long-from interviews with world-class performers as Tim dissects how they accomplished what they've accomplished. I LOVED a recent interview with Kelly Slater. If you've never heard of Kelly Slater, he's an 11-time world surfing champion and highly regarded as the GOAT in the sport. I listened to Kelly's interview and was mesmerized by his mindset, attention to detail in his craft and his health, and most importantly, the simplicity of life he lives. I have two life lessons to share from Kelly that really impacted mine.

Tim was asking about Kelly's goals. Kelly response was awesome. He shared how nice it is to be in a position where he can mentor the young guys in the sport as he loves the sport and wants to be an ambassador. He stressed how vital it is for him to "always stay humble because when you're humble, you're teachable. When you're teachable, you can continue growing." He said the best way to learn is by teaching. Kelly went on to say. "If you think you know something, go teach it. That's when you will really know it." There is SO much wisdom in Kelly's words that I want to repeat it. Are you humble? Are you teachable? Are you learning and growing? Are you taking what you know and teaching it to others? This is the process of becoming the best in the world. I am not the best at this, but I am doing my best to teach you all what I know through this learning vehicle called a podcast. I find it amazing that I am constantly learning more by teaching it to you!

In a latter question, Tim Ferriss asked Kelly about money and houses. Kelly stated that he is the middle child, but was forced to become the family leader because other members of his family had emotional and other issues. Kelly has made gobs of money over the years. Wikipedia reports his career surfing earnings over $4M! He shared his love for traveling and the many homes he's purchased in multiple countries over the years. Tim asked Kelly what his happy ending looks like. I love Kelly's answer as it reminds me of the "Mexican Fisherman". I'll paraphrase. The happy ending comes when all the lessons are learned. Kelly has done it all, spent a lot of money, but it never lead to happiness. He joked that what he'd love to do is simply buy a simple van and travel around to his surfing events in it, keeping a simple life of competitive surfing and helping others in his sport. He has learned so much in his 49 years and wants to stay humble, stay teachable, stay learning, and stay teaching. Over a lifetime, he'll collect a book of lessons and that's how he defined a "happy ending". This is beautiful.

This episode is a self-check. Are you humble, teachable, learning, and teaching others? If you are not, these podcasts are a waste of your time. If you are not, you'll never grow your cleaning business beyond where it is now. Sure, it may grow short-term, but it will crumble in the long-term. I urge you to ask those that know you best if they think you're humble and teachable. This is the 2nd window from "The Four Windows". Once you know and get honest with yourself, make the decision to get better. Go and learn the lessons you need to learn to lead toward your happy ending. Then teach it to others and be a difference maker.

Would you like to figure out what makes you tick and how to create an action plan for 2021 that will enable you to WIN?! Check out the "2021 Smart Goals Workshop" and access your free goals worksheet.