Smart Cleaning School

"Hi, I'm Ken and I'm an overthinker." I constantly make simple things complex. That's what an overthinker does. We complicate the most simple task to the point that we cannot take any action to complete it. Another term for this failure disease is procrastination as Dr. Schwartz talks about in "The Magic of Thinking Big". The rare person that can take the complex, make is simple, and take massive action are the most successful in life. Our president, like him or not, is a great example of this. Unfortunately, I'm an overthinker and so are most of you!

Recently, I did new member to the Solo Cleaning School Elite On-Boarding Call a few weeks ago with Carrie Miyazono. She is a super bright and coachable young lady. Carrie just earned her black belt in Tae Kwon Doe, instructs at my friend Ken Hoop's Martial Arts School, and works nights to pay the bills. She is a warriorette. Ken recommended her to my podcast and she is literally the first that I know about that listened to every episode from the beginning to now and she's going through a second time. She has an advantage over other solo cleaners starting out. She has a niche, which is cleaning martial arts schools. And she has a school owner, Ken Hoops, that will refer her to other schools. Carrie had a few questions as she got started. She is a classic overthinker and was building her business in her mind verses taking action. She was already cleaning for Ken, but stifled on how to grow her business. That's where I come in as her new coach. I layed out a super simple strategy to break through the overthinking. In other words, I stopped her from making the simple complex and helped her see how the complex can be simple. Here was my advice. It is viable for many of you listening.

1. Do an amazing job for Ken and make him so thankful he selected you to clean his martial arts school.
2. Ask Ken for permission to take before & aftre pictures of the work you do. Put these on your free Facebook business page and Google My Business listing.
3. Continue impressing Ken, show him the pictures, get feedback. Then ask him for a recommendation letter and introductions to a few other school owners in the area. Get the recommendation letter text in a Google and Facebook review for your online profiles with Ken's help.
4. Connect with these school owners. They will NOT be cold calls as they all know and think highly of Ken Hoops. Trust me. If you knew Ken Hoops, you would too. And if you're in the Chanhassen, MN area or have interest in confidence training for your kids, check out his school! Let these school owners know you clean currently clean for Ken, link them to your recommendation letter and online profiles. 
5. Start a mailing list newsletter and place these school owners on the list, so they get updates from you and your business with practical gym cleaning tips every 2-4 weeks. This keeps you top of mind. 

I assured Carrie that she WILL get business from this process. This gave her so much energy as she realized how complicated she had made things. Then I asked her how much money she needed to quit her overnight job. I took that number and showed her how just 2 new martial arts schools would replace that income so she could be a part-time solo cleaner and martial arts instructor. Carrie was so pumped up. If you relate to this advice, there are a few options. You can certainly reach out to me. I have a link on my website for listeners to ask me coaching questions. The other option is to take the plunge like Carrie did and join the Solo Cleaning School Elite Membership for $50 per month, so you can access my coaching and full ISO Model Training Course for solo cleaners! I hope to see you there!

Make this a play on the year 2020. No one could have ever guessed 2020 would go as it did. There was a major pandemic that shut down the country for months. Riots broke out across the country. A presidential election turned into a 2 month battle in court. On a personal note, I lost both grandparents and nearly lost my mom. No matter what goals you set for 2020, few of us were able to hit them. In fact, I've been connecting with cleaning owners from all over the country all year and most were just trying to get back to where they were as 2020 started! At the end of 2019, I shared an important strategy planning episode called "Think Week". I followed that up with a 5-part goal-setting series prior to the pandemic. (Goal Setting I: What is Your Why? / Goal Setting II: Why Set Goals? / Goal Setting III: Make Your Goals SMART / Goal Setting IV: The Accountability Roadmap / Goal Setting V: Kill Parkinson) I highly recommend that you re-listen to each of these 6 episodes as you close 2020 and prepare for 2021.

This episode is a little different. It's hard to look ahead. As you may know, I wrap up each year with a Think Week. This year is different... obviously! I have been achieving my #1 goal all year. Therefore, I already have my "thinking" done for 2021 planning. Instead of teaching you how to think and set goals for next year, let's talk about something related. I was having a conversation with a newlywed couple at breakfast during our honeymoon retreat. I shared when you are starting out in life, every decision seems like a major one. You feel like each decision you're making will last your entire lifetime. But the truth is that our lives change often. Looking ahead, our steps don't seem to make any sense. That's what faith is. God numbers and plans our steps. We must trust in Him (if you're a person of faith). But then I told the newlyweds that looking back, everything is crystal clear. It all makes sense looking back. I've been married close to 20 years and I can see major decisions I've made and which have majorly impacted my life. I shared how a contractor picks up different tools along the way and when he gets to the job site, he has all the tools he needs to complete the job. I related this analogy to this young couple as the "job" is God's purpose in our life. The "contractors" are us and the "tools" are the decisions we make along the way. I added that my engineering training has allowed me to flourish in my solo cleaning business and I could have NEVER planned that one. It just happened. "Life sometimes happens and maybe that's another way that God remains anonymous." This analogy made a ton of sense to the newlyweds and even more sense to me. I said. "Hark, I need to make this a podcast episode." They gave a strange expression and my wife smiled.

As you approach 2021, I want you to obviously do your best to plan your goals as I've taught in the above-listed Solo Cleaning School episodes. But I also want you to consider yourself a contractor collecting valuable tools along the way. 2020 was hard. I guarantee you picked up valuable tools that make no sense now, but they will! 

In my last Carfagno Cleaning update, I shared about my honeymoon getaway with my wife, my grandfather in the ICU, and some wins in my solo cleaning business. I've already shared a "Tribute to My Father" in a previous episode as well, so you know how that ended. I have a few other updates from this week in business.

As I've shared previously, Matt and Laura are a young family with a small child and both working full time. They have kept up the cleaning of the home, but it's getting overwhelming. They've never hired a cleaning service, so they turned to Dr. Google for the answer. Google lead them to my company, Carfagno Cleaning, only because I focused on it this year. Check out "Google My Business Rocks". Matt was highly impressed with my Google profile and called me on the spot. I answered this call while on my honeymoon. Normally, I'd let it go to voicemail, but I was answering everything due to my grandfather. Matt had some basic questions, so I referred him to my website. He pulled up the site on the spot and said. "Wow, you're legit! This is a great website." These are great responses and as you can imagine, increased my value to Matt. He wanted to know about the basic models of cleaning, maid versus cleaning services, costs of each. I referred him to the article I wrote on the question. This impressed him even more. Then I covered some of the basic FAQs from my website over the phone. He booked me for an estimate on the spot and was already talking about hiring me. I did the estimate this week with Matt and Laura. It was fun as they were so engaged. They loved how I customize a home into options to make my higher-end service affordable to everyone. As I left, I promised an email proposal with cleaning options by the end of the week and I met that promise. They are most interested in monthly cleaning. They are a perfect fit and would be the final house I need to complete my 2020 goal for houses. I did want to share this direct feedback to you, my podcast listeners, from Matt and Laura. Remember, they are a young 30's ish couple with two incomes, a dog, and a baby. "We love how you customize our house. When I heard that over the phone, I felt confident we'd get an excellent cleaning at a price we could afford. We knew you were legit and have passion for what you do."

A few weeks ago, I received an inquiry from Erin. She is a local realtor referred to me by my BIB friend and realtor, Mary Ann Alig. She was the selling agent for her niece and nephew and wanted to gift a move-in cleaning to them. There wasn't a way to see the house as it was under contract until the house closed. Therefore, I pulled the real estate listing online and looked at the 50+ pictures to give Erin a ballpark price estimate. We went back and forth until we agreed on a price of $350 and booked it for Thanksgiving week. When I showed up at the house, I conducted my formal walk-through estimate to negotiate a final price and cleaning list with Erin. I never compromise on bathrooms and kitchen deep cleaning, so this portion came to $250. Then I figured out how much I could do in the 10 rooms with only $100 to work with on our pre-agreed-to price. It worked out to about 10 minutes per room based on my formulas. Thus, I proposed a detailed deep cleaning on the bathrooms and kitchen surfaces (outsides only) and a quick dust, vac, and mop of the rooms for $350 to hit the goal. Erin still wanted the inside of the refrigerator and cabinets done. Here's how this went down.

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This was my 4th episode of the Solo Cleaning School Podcast. My goal was to share the top tangibles and intangibles that made solo cleaning so awesome. I also wanted to balance this with the Cons of Solo Cleaning. This has been one of my most popular episodes, so I wanted to bring it back. Enjoy!

I've shared about my mastermind community many times. Total Life Freedom has members all over the US and for some cool reason, there are a few in my area. We formed up TLF Philly and held our first local lunch get together recently at Chili's in King of Prussia, PA. We had a wonderful time and discussed big ideas, what's working and what's not in our businesses. We laughed. We shared. At the end, the bill dropped and John Stange took it and as quickly as he could be paying with his credit card. A few of the others objected until I stepped in. I shared my lifelong struggle with this and told them to allow John the honor to give to us. They understood and John was so happy. We allowed a giver to give. This is powerful. Now let me explain the mindset.

In the classic book, "The Go-Giver" by Bob Burg, he lays out the "5 Laws of Stratospheric Success". The final law ties it all together. "The Law of Receptivity states that the key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving". This is vital. You cannot give if no one receives. If you refuse to receive, you literally stop a giver from giving. There is a natural and beautiful symmetry between the two and each are vitally important. It's unhealthy to only receive and never give as this stops the blessing from flowing from you and to you. It's equally unhealthy to only give and never receive. Bob is very clear that we must learn to acquire the skill of each, giving and receiving. When we do, we can function in the stratospheric success.

I have personally struggled with this my whole life. I never wanted to ask for anything, for any help. I would do it all by myself. My wife would have to force me to ask for help when we had to move. I would not ask for money, for help, for even advice. Why? Well, my men's accountability partner Billy Altman answered that for me a few years ago. He said. "Ken, you're a firstborn. You're independent and that's a good thing. But you're not asking anyone for help. Do you know what that's called?" I replied. "No, Billy." He uttered one word that changed everything. "Pride!"

That stung badly because he was right. I was literally holding back givers from their deep desire to give. This is a big problem as givers need receivers. I changed course right away and have been a much better receiver over the past few years. And guess what?! I've been a much better giver too and my success has catapulted. I wonder if this is a coincidence. By the way, the TLF Philly group of John Stange, Emily Brunner, John Schuchman, and Brad Imming will meet up at least quarterly and we'll each get the opportunity to give!

Would you allow this giver to give? I am offering up 30 minutes of my time each week to answer questions for any listener to this show. Just go to my website to request your time slot.

2020 has been a year none of us will ever forget. Is that not the understatement of the year!? We had a global pandemic, government shutdowns, trillions in stimulus, panic, fear, riots, election chaos, and it's still not over. None of this even scratches the surface of how I'll remember 2020. For me, it's the permanent end of my childhood and the time for me to prove out the legacy left to me. What does that even mean... "the end of my childhood"? In 2020, both of my grandparents on my father's side passed away. On the surface, this may seem extraordinary that I still have grandparents living... and it is. It's so much deeper. Ken Sr and Gabriella Carfagno were my Nana & Pop-Pop for 43 years. In reality, they are the true mother and father in my life. I spent every weekend with them growing up. They are the ones I sought approval and affirmation, especially my Pop. Their loss ends my extended childhood, where I still had a father to go to for counsel. Pop was the patriarch of the Carfagno Family and now he's gone. I'm now left to stand on my own and become the new patriarch, but I don't stand from the ground. I stand upon his shoulders. This episode is a short departure from cleaning as I want you all to pause and reflect on what you have already. What are you grateful for? Your family? Your health? Your business, where ever it is? 

Here's the text of the eulogy I gave at my Pop-Pop's funeral:

I would like to thank my dad, Ken Jr, my uncles Bob and David, and my brother Dominic for allowing me the honor to remember our father and Pop-Pop today. Ken Carfagno, Sr was always larger than life to us. We have always felt that Pop was the greatest man that ever walked this earth except for Jesus himself. I am so grateful that I got to spend every weekend with Nana and Pop-Pop growing up. They made me who I am.

Ken was the youngest of five children from Jerry and Concetta Carfagno. Nana Concetta ran out of Italian names, so she named her 5th after the 1930's singer & actor Kenny Baker who she thought was very handsome. Who knew that name would carry on 4+ generations? Ken married his high school sweetheart, Gabriella Corbett on October 20th, 1956 after going steady for over 4 years. They raised 3 boys and half the neighborhood on both Anchor Street and Harvard Road! Nana and Pop were inseparable for over 63 years of marriage. None of us could ever say one's name without mentioning the other. They were Mom and Dad, Nana and Pop. That's how interconnected their souls were. When Nana passed away this February, a huge piece of Pop died with her. Although we're grieving, we know they're together again.

Pop was only 40 when I was born. He was young, full of energy, joy, and life. Nana and Pop raised me as their 4th son (even though I was a grandson). Pop taught me humility, gratitude, how to be a man, how to live a righteous life, how to keep God at the center of your life and make church-going & prayer a discipline. He taught me how to be faithful to one woman your whole life, how to love, how to honor, how to live, how to share wisdom with those you love, how to provide for your family, and how to invest in your future. He was the only man to truly recognize my potential and creativity and he fanned that flame throughout my life. When I met Teresa in 1998, he did the same for her and over time built a very special relationship. Nana and Pop never treated her as an "in-law". She was truly their daughter.

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Let's get back into the driver's seat of my own solo cleaning business, Carfagno Cleaning. I have kept my promise from the introduction to this podcast. I will continue updating you every week with progress from my own solo company. 2020 has been a great year as I've hit several growth goals. Carfagno Cleaning is cranking as a solo cleaning company. My brand and reputation is established. I'm known my many in my community as the cleaning and disinfecting expert. I'm known as a presentation cleaning expert and that my prices reflect that. My marketing machine is fully operational with Google My Business, local networking, an interactive optimizer's website, and a proven sales strategy. I'm finalizing my 2020 desired cleaning schedule of all-day Saturday offices and 3 houses per day, every other Thursday and Friday. I'm getting close to this goal, which will give me a great schedule and over $90,000 in revenue.

This update is different. I am combining multiple weeks that all seem to mesh together. I got back from the TLF Mastermind Retreat in Pittsburgh on October 9th with big ideas to close out 2020 and beyond. But my life took another track. In late October, my Pop-Pop went into the ER for a life-saving procedure. He's been in the ICU ever since. I'm the family point of contact and have been fielding doctor calls daily and updating the family. I've been making difficult decisions on his potential end-of-life care. I've had my phone on loud ringer 24/7, never knowing when I'd get a call and got many in the middle of the night. I've coordinated his care and taken the lead in the family. I'm exhausted. 

I'm so thankful that I put in the work this year for my cleaning company to be where it is. I can simply show up to all scheduled cleanings and collect money. We are profiting over $5,000 per month from cleaning alone on a few days per week. New leads come in each week that are filtered out or in by my "Optimizer's Website". I'm attending all local networking that I can attend. I'm setting up new estimates and taking on new 1-time jobs as they are available. This has given me the freedom to take care of my family and Pop-Pop, while in the hospital. Does this motivate you? Would you like a solo cleaning business that's fully operational, optimized, and automated? Make sure to check out this podcast form the beginning to see how I did i

I'd like to share a few updates from the past few weeks in business and in life. The first update is a win from my website. Becky was a lead from my wife. She purchased a table off my wife, Teresa from Facebook Marketplace. When she discovered we owned a cleaning business, she mentioned that she was interested in cleaning. Teresa asked me what to say to her. I told her to link to my article on how much my cleaning services cost and why. Becky loved the article and how in-depth my website was. She filtered herself in and we set up an estimate. They were a lovely family. Becky invited me to sit on the back porch to discuss the cleaning in an interview format. Be prepared for that as some families will expect it. To date, I've done it around 10 times in 15 years. After our conversation, we walked around the house for me to ask questions and take notes. I promised cleaning options and prices in a proposal by the beginning of the following week and met that promise. Unfortunately, Becky and her husband had to say no because of price. She indicated that she really, really wanted to hire me, but the cost was too high. This has happened dozens of times and in some situations, they call back months later. I asked Becky if I could add her to my mailing list. She was excited to get bimonthly cleaning tips! 

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Have you ever played an instrument? I've been playing the guitar for a few years as a hobby. I'm no Santana, Van Halen, or Hendrix, but I can play the basic chords to play the majority of songs. I don't know about your instrument, but mine falls out of tune as the weather changes. I have picked up the guitar on many occasions to play a favorite song and it was off. Personally, I can tell by the G chord. If that chord is off at all, the whole song is off. Let me take this further. I enjoy singing with the songs as I'm the rhythm guitarist for the family worship band. I know pretty much NOTHING about musical theory, but I do know this. My voice is perfect for the key of G. How do I know this? My son and other musical scholars told me. When my guitar is out of tune, I have so much trouble matching my voice key to the music. Have you ever experienced this?

Let me relate this to your solo cleaning business now. I shared an important mindset episode called "Excellence Vs. Perfection". In this episode, I helped many cleaners break their perfectionist habits. Perfectionism is doing the best job you can to make you happy. Excellence is doing the best job to make your client happy. At first, you may think they are the same. That's not the case. Perfectionism is a disorder and falls under the OCD category. I would know. Check out my episode, "My Lifelong Struggle with Tourette Syndrome" so you know I understand. A perfectionist is cleaning to satisfy the itch they have to make the house look perfect. You can never accomplish it and many solo cleaners spend 5 - 8 hours cleaning a 3-hour house. This does not make the client happy. No one wants you in their house that long. If they pay by the hour, they are mad. And if they pay by the job, they feel guilty you're still there. The pursuit of perfection is never achieved. It's selfish in nature to scratch the itch. Excellence is another story. You have the client in their proper place. Your goal is to provide the best service tailored to their specific needs. 

Do you remember the guitar story? It's difficult to sing and play a song when the guitar is out of tune. Once you figure out what key to play and the guitar is tuned, your song sounds great. Likewise, once you figure out the song that client likes, you can tune your cleaning system to that client. The outcome is called excellence. They are so happy with you because you "get them". When they make requests, you do them, and continue doing them, they trust you more! They feel heard! This is exactly how I optimize my solo business. I have to figure out which type of music each client likes and then tune my instrument to play it better and better every time. 

Over 15 years, I have created a cleaning system that plays great for most clients. However, I am always ready to fine-tune my cleaning system to play a slightly different key for a slightly different type of client. This process is constant as I strive to get faster while playing an awesome song! Come join me in 2021 as I optimize my second solo cleaning business with this strategy!

I've been working on my brand new www.carfagnocleaning.com website as I have time for two weeks. I finished it this week! I'm so happy with it. Let me take you back first. I ran Carfagno Cleaning for 14 years without a website. I've always kept a company profile, but on other company sites like HomeAdvisor, Facebook, and LinkedIn. After getting back from the Total Life Freedom Mastermind Retreat in Gatlinburg, TN in October 2019, I launched my first website for my personal solo cleaning business. The first version was okay. I just wanted a place to hold my blog articles, share some basic profile information, and provide ways to connect with me. Honestly, I invested way more time into growing my Google My Business profile, acquiring reviews, and then linking viewers back to my website. It's been a solid one-two punch as I've stabilized my new solo cleaning company.

During the pandemic, I've been writing many teaching-style articles and going on local webinars. I have also spent hours on phone calls with cleaning prospects collectively, answering the same questions over and over. I have known for some time that my website needed to modeled after the book, "They Ask, You Answer". I highly recommend this book as you start to switch from stabilizer to optimizer. Here's the basic concept. Most companies hide or protect their information so competitors can't steal or undercut them. Some hide it to use in their sales process. This book shared a giving philosophy. People are research-oriented and like to learn as much as they can on their own. Provide them that! I also learned from my good friend, Courtney Wisely of Rescue My Maid Service, that Google ranks websites higher with site retention over 2 minutes. She figured out that the most engaging way to keep someone on your website is to have a video. If you look at her website, she has a 2-minute explainer video that is engaging. As a result, viewers stay on her site. I wanted to do the same thing. My main goal was to create the ultimate optimizer's website. I want prospects that hear about me to find my website and then feel like they've entered a school environment and had an experience. My new website does that now. It does all the work for me and filters out the wrong and filters in the right! I'm not going to walk you through every page and piece of my website as I did that on a Facebook Live for members of my Solo Cleaning School Elite Membership recently. However, I did take a 15-minute clip from this paid training and put it on my Solo Cleaning School YouTube channel. Make sure to check out this BONUS CONTENT! This was a huge accomplishment for me this week in my cleaning business!

I set to work right away from there by reconnecting with prospects that I'd previously sent proposals for cleaning. I checked in with them and shared my new website, asking if they had any questions. I also reached out to my chamber president to see if I could be of any assistance. Last time I did that, I was invited to help facilitate Zoom webinars for the chamber during the pandemic. This lead directly to 3 new clients! Steve Hunsberger wasted no time! He immediately found a use for me by inviting me to share my chamber experience on a few separate calls as our chamber merges in another local one. I will be sharing my tips on how to get the most from your chamber. It will be fun.

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I had a conversation with my daughter yesterday that really gave me the push I needed to share this episode. I won't go into any details, but I'll just say that my daughter is 12 and she has dealt with a form of OCD that has caused her some pain. This pain has created a very special bond between father & daughter that I would never remove. We sense each other in a extra sensory sort of way. She knows when I am hurting and likewise and we each have a supernatural ability to calm each other. It's a benefit of the lifelong struggle I never thought possible when it started at 10 years old for me. She came to me with a recent struggle and instead of commiserating and allowing her to pull the victim card, I got bold with her and said "You need to get tough!" She was surprised. I went on to tell her that there are no perfect people and that God has a beautiful way of turning our greatest struggles into our greatest victories IF we allow Him to. There are tons of wonderful people with disabilities that have to work harder than we do just to get dressed and start the day, yet they recognize that they will literally have to outwork others in every area to win. They choose not to be the victim. I told her that I've struggled for 33 years, but it has made me stronger. I've had my pity parties, but for the most part, I've used my disability as fuel to win. I challenged her to change the way she thinks. "Stop coming to me with the struggle and asking how to get rid of it. Instead, embrace it and use it as fuel to turn your 'I cant's' into 'How can I's'"! She was energized after this conversation and I truly believe my 33 years of struggle lead me to that one piece of advice that will alter the trajectory of her future. I know for a fact that there are others listening to this episode struggling with the same thing. My prayer is that it gives you hope and a new resolve to embrace your disability, use it as fuel to win, and fight harder every day to achieve the God-given dreams you were put on this planet to achieve. With that, let me share my lifelong struggle with Tourette Syndrome.

I remember playing Nintendo after school with Mike in the 5th grade with this sudden insatiable desire to stretch my arms completely out. When I did it, I felt better. It was like an itch that got worse and worse that needed to be scratched. The movement of my arm scratched the itch. I was full of big ideas and creativity. I was an only child, always playing alone so creativity was my best companion. My mom was finishing her psychology degree and newly married. Many changes were happening in my life. I can remember playing ping-pong with my dad in the basement and the itches expanded to my legs. Now, I had to stretch my arms and legs constantly. These nervous tics only grew from there to nose snorting, squeezing eye blinks, licking my lips, biting the inside of my mouth, neck and head twitches, hand stretching and knuckle cracking. It happened so fast that my 10-year-old brain overloaded and my psycho-analyzing mom could not keep up!

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