#180: How to Hand Off Clients Without Losing Them, with Meghan Caicedo

Hello, my friends.

I cannot wait for you to hear this conversation with Megan.

It is jam-packed with so much actionable advice, especially for newer owners.

Caveat: little censor warning here.

I do say a few cuss words, so if you have little ears, pop those earbuds in or save this one for later.

Definitely!

Any fellow Canadians, leave some love down in the comments from Megan as well.

Enjoy.

This is Filthy Rich Cleaners presented by ZenMaid, the podcast where real cleaning business owners share what works, so you can earn more, stress less, and make your business filthy rich.

Hello, everyone.

Welcome or welcome back to the Filthy Rich Cleaners Podcast.

I am your host Stephanie from Serene Clean, and today's fabulous guest all the way from Canada, Miss Megan Caicedo.

She is the owner and founder of Caicedo Cleaning.

She's been doing it for four to five years.

Her husband actually works with her now, which I'm really excited to hear all about.

That Megan, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you for having me.

Yes, ma'am.

How is the weather in Canada?

Is it lovely right now?

Yes, well, lovely by my standards—it's raining—but still better than I mean as a Wisconsinite born and raised until a few years ago, it was probably pretty similar to Alberta, I would imagine.

Yeah, so I wouldn't know.

I would miss the summer for sure in the fall, but not so much the winter.

So now tell me, Megan, what did you do before you clean?

I tried a couple things.

I worked at McDonald's for four months; only survived four months, and then I switched over to senior home, and that was during COVID, so I was doing sanitizing of all the two hundred something rooms in that place.

And I did that for about nine ish months.

And then I remember just getting to a point where I was like crying after every shift because it was like there's something about like having to be there for like eight hours.

Hours a day, like doing the same thing, running into the same people, and it's just—it was exhausting for me.

And I just got to the car; my mom picked me up, and I was crying.

And I was like, "I just can't do this anymore."

But there—my parents are like, "Don't ever quit!"

So she actually ended up getting me a job working for a group of realtors who needed a cleaner for like move-in and move-out.

Like leave on good terms."

So then I kind of switched over to that, like doing kind of as-needed casual basis.

And I started that at like $25 an hour, and I kind of did that on and off, like in between school during the summers, for like a couple years ago, I guess.

Before I really decided that I wanted to do this, is what I want to do.

That's amazing!

And what a good hookup to get with the realtor for move-outs, especially.

Did anything particularly rough happen?

Is that where one of your horror stories came from?

Yeah, tell me about that.

Yeah, yeah.

So I never had really any issues with any of the cleans except for one, and with the realtor job, like they just.

Told me okay, this house has like a move-in this day, and you have to get it clean by noon because that's when they get the keys to the house.

So I actually never got to do any walkthroughs, but again, never had any issues with that.

The one place was.

Far out from where I live, so it's probably like a 20-minute drive.

I don't even think I charged extra to go out there and so I went out there.

It was this really big house, and they apparently said that they had a bunch of people come and do a clean beforehand, clearly did not.

I went into the bathroom.

The smell was so bad.

There was like caramelized pee all around the toilet.

And there was like feces in the jetted tub, and then there was no way to drain the jetted tub.

And I went to the kitchen and I started like vacuuming up mouse poo.

I texted the realtor and I'll say, "Hey, this is gonna be more than 30 an hour.

It's got to be fifty."

And then I did it for like two hours, and then I was just like, "I'm gone."

And the worst part was that the owner was actually there, and he was not happy that I left.

Oh my gosh!

I think, like, okay, this is not meant to like shame anybody.

But I feel that if my home had that situation, right?

Like, literal.

Shit, shit in the tub.

I'd probably leave the house while it was—I wouldn't be able to face the person that I was asking to clean that.

Oh my goodness!

Yeah, yeah.

He was like, "Where are you going?"

And I'm like, I'm just gonna—I'm gonna take a break.

Just talk to the realtors; they'll let you know what I'm doing.

Just left not to have that confrontation.

Yeah, because you just don't know how people are gonna react, especially if they do feel that you're being no—like, you know—that's just a total line.

I'm really happy that you left that job because, you know, we had it—we had to settle for by myself 100%.

But it sounds like since then, not too many poopy issues?

No, not too many.

I did have one —not too long ago—and it was probably the worst house I've ever done.

And that one was the only one I didn't do a walkthrough for.

And that's when I like started the business.

It was such a bad place—totally beat up.

It had like student renters in there.

I think I spent there were two people, so me and then my first employee.

Which didn't turn out to be very great, but we were there for like a total of I don't know fifteen to seventeen hours.

Not together, but like, total, yeah.

Man hours is what you call it.

Yeah, so we were there, and then like.

The whole bill came to about $1,200 for this guy, and he didn't pay for anything.

A week or two, and usually that's like it's okay.

Most of my clients pay like the day of.

He didn't, and I tried to reach out.

I tried to call him; no answer.

I was terrified that he ghosted me, so I ended up like looking up who his realtor was, and then talking to the guy's realtor.

And he's like, "Why are you texting me about him?"

Like he's a stand-up guy."

I've been with him since high school, so I was like, "Well, it's because he's not getting back to me," and he has like a thousand dollar bill that he has to pay, and he's not paying it.

So that was the only way I could get him to pay the bill.

I drove by the house like once a day, and he was never there, so I had to go through his realtor to actually get it paid.

But that was other than that; like it's been pretty good.

Okay, have you implemented anything since then?

Perhaps a card on file, my dear.

No, not really.

I do QuickBooks, and I don't know if that like keeps a card on file.

I know a lot of them just prefer to e-transfer.

They don't pay through QuickBooks, so I don't.

I don't enforce it.

Some of them just do the e-transfer anyways, and then I reconcile that.

It would be a backup; it wouldn't be you have to charge the card on file.

It'd be to save it, just to protect you.

And the only reason I'm bringing this up is, I had to literally play Dog the Bounty Hunter, and this is what.

Like what the situation you're describing is what had to happen to me to finally be like, okay, I need to change.

And at least for like one-offs, like especially moveouts because they're moving, they don't give a shit.

Like if they don't want to pay, like you're out.

I mean, and they're the most expensive jobs too, so it's like high risk.

And then to not have to do all that run around.

So because you're using QuickBooks, I definitely.

I mean, it's possible, and just make it part of the onboarding.

And I know for myself, I was really scared that people were going to throw a fuss and not want to do that.

Like, I'm not gonna give you my card, but it's like if they're letting you in their house, they can certainly trust you with their credit card number.

Honestly, it's been you know five years since we've implemented that and nobody throws a fuss.

Like everybody just like this is the process: you put a card on file.

So I'm just—I'm gonna say—like I just don't want you to get burned again.

Oh, I know!

I know.

I'm scared about that, and I have no idea how to go about like having that backup.

I don't even have like client policies; I don't have a cleaning checklist.

I—the only thing I have—is like an actual document that I get employees to sign to like Hiring, onboarding.

I guess okay.

Well, yeah, I'm pretty fresh.

I'm like four months in of being officially a cleaning business, which is why I'm so excited you're here because I think that this is going to be a wonderful conversation.

For newer owners of, like, walking through, like, you know, all of the things that are overwhelming to start a new, business, and all of the things you need to put in place, and the goal is, of course, to be able to put things in place to protect you from getting burned, right?

Like, and you guys not having to touch the same hot pan that I've touched so many times.

So, we'll go into that a little bit more throughout the call, of course, but I want to hear about, yeah, the history, and obviously, you are, you mentioned that your husband is now working with you, so talk me through that.

What has that been like?

And, ah, you're you're hoping to have him full-time with you.

Well, he kind of already is full-time with me.

I officially Actually, like I said, I officially started the business like four-ish months ago.

I think in May.

But like I said, I'd been cleaning for years prior and then decided that I think this is what I want to do.

I clearly cannot like keep a normal job.

I tried Starbucks; quit after three weeks, just like you're making me a business owner?

Yes.

I cannot fathom that like three grande drinks are more than what I make in an hour there.

So it's like yeah, no, I'm gonna go back to doing my own thing.

So I went to do that and like started telling all my old clients, all the realtors: "Hey, I'm here if you need me.

I'm full time.

I'm committed to this now."

And I tried to do it a year ago, and I chickened out because I was like once it came to hiring, I was scared about you know taxes and like keeping track of things and stuff.

But I've got a really good accountant now to back me up for that.

So yeah.

In May, I officially started it, and then I got so crazy busy within the first month that I'm like, I need help.

So I kind of jovially told my husband, "Hey, would you like to quit your job at the casino to like work with me?"

He's like, "Bet," and I was like, "Okay, let's do it."

Then, so I got as busy as I could to the point of breaking, and then I was like, "Hey, you can quit now.

This is like the rate; it's going, it's gonna pay the bills."

So he did, and he's been taking over all the BnBs because we have a bunch of BnB clients.

So we're doing that, and now I have also four employees, but I'm not giving them a ton of hours.

It's like three to fifteen per week.

And summer was super crazy busy, so I probably don't need four at this point.

But I mean, I've hired them.

They're great.

The first one I actually hired; she didn't disclose to me that she didn't have like a vehicle.

She just said I have reliable transportation.

Who is in fact her brother?

But the issue that I had with her is: she yes, she was very slow, but I kind of expected that from a first-time employee.

And she was very thorough; like she was a good cleaner.

But when we were in clients' houses, like probably every ten minutes there would be a Sigh from her, and I'm like, "I don't like that."

And then she'd come up to me and be like, "Making my arms about to fall off."

I can't get this stain out of the wall," and I'm like, "the client's upstairs!"

Yeah!

Oh my goodness!

I don't like, so I never had to fire her I don't like big signs.

I know.

Yeah, I never had to fire her thankfully because I found out she didn't have a car, and then I was like, "Hey, this isn't gonna work."

So now my other employee, she's amazing.

I'm scared to lose her because she's going to school, but I'm gonna be like, "I'm gonna keep you no matter what.

I will give you benefits.

I will increase your rate.

Like I don't want to lose her."

Oh, that's fantastic!

And so many times when I have these conversations with owners, like you don't need 20 great people right the first day.

You need one.

You need one because that gives you that like bolstering.

And it's not like you should put all your eggs in one basket, but it just helps you feel like okay, I'm not alone.

Like this is this can happen," you know?

And Sounds fantastic!

Oh, she is.

But my number one elite employee is for sure my husband.

He's been very well trained and I was gonna say it was hard for me when I first when he quit, and then I was like, how am I going to include him in the business?

Because I was Very concerned how my other clients would take a male maid into their homes, especially like with kids or anything.

And not that he's not trustworthy at all; that is not the thing.

Like he's so friendly, and I'm sure most of my clients would love him.

But it's like I've never—I struggled with the idea of like having a male cleaner or hiring future male cleaners.

So that's why I've kind of like shelved him to the BNBs and the move outs.

I rarely ever take him to a residential.

I try to keep like females in that area.

So that's one thing I struggle with, and I don't know if that's just a me problem or I'm just—sure?

I think let's talk about it—the open one.

Yeah, no, I think we should talk about this because I'm in a lot of cleaning Facebook groups as many of us are, and I've seen this come up time and time again, right?

And I will say firsthand: I have not had a male residential cleaner since the first year of business, and that is not my intention.

It is not done.

Intentionally, it is simply we have commercial work.

In a hundred percent of the time, the men who apply at my business apply for the commercial work, right?

So I would have—a male house cleaner.

That's—that's not an issue to me, but it is a valid fear.

However, I think by not facing it head-on, we are only perpetuating, frankly, the stereotype that one man can't do a good enough job or that they can't be trusted, you know.

And especially the way I see it—and you put this on your intake form and I'm really happy that we're talking about this—is that you have a fear of your clients potentially not wanting a male house cleaner, right?

And have you ever asked them?

Have you ever asked your regulars what would you think about this?

I've asked a couple of them to like: is it okay where this is going to be like a little bit of a bigger clean?

Do you mind if I bring a helper?

And by the way, he's my husband, which he's in fact male.

And they have all said yes so far, but I have never actually actually, tried to replace me with him for a solo clean.

I've never actually replaced me with any of my employees.

I've gone to all my cleans; never sent any of my employees to anybody's house by themselves yet.

Which I know is holding me back and it's burning me out.

But I'm—I'm like my greatest asset is me.

Oh, we got a little control freak on our hands, ladies and gentlemen!

And there's yeah—but you know what?

The thing is—you haven't put the systems in place to make it not be so.

That's what I want to talk through: of like what needs to occur so that you feel confident that they can do this right because it's a valid.

Fear if you just give all—like here you go, clients off to these other people—and then if they suck in any way, then it's going to prove to you.

And that's why, like, what you do next—the next step that you do—is so crucial because you're either going to show yourself it can.

Be done, or you're going to prove to yourself, oh no, it can only be me; I have to be on every job, right?

So that's why what you're about to do is important.

Super duper important.

So when it comes to the man thing, I think it is 100% valid for a client to say "I'm not comfortable with a male cleaner in my home."

That is up to that person.

So I think what you do is you simply say this is a male cleaner.

You know?

I know some listeners might be like, "that's that's effed up," like blah blah blah.

I don't think it is.

You know, as a woman, I don't think that is inappropriate.

However, I will say when I call and hire an electrician, or hire a plumber, or hire—I'm getting some work done in my house.

I didn't once ask if it's going to be a man because it doesn't matter, right?

So if we allow those service workers in our home with no issue, then what's the difference between a cleaner?

I understand a cleaner is gonna be here longer; they're gonna be you know deep deep in your home, that type of thing.

What you certainly could do when you first bring on a client—if you are going to send your husband—if it is a mixed gender, like if you send your husband and another one of your employees—I wouldn't say anything.

I wouldn't because I think that's only going to perpetuate, like oh we need to like not have men cleaning.

But I would say if you're going to send him alone the first time to that house, give a heads up.

I think that is courteous again.

We don't know anybody's you know history and why they may or may not be comfortable with that.

So I don't think it's a bad idea.

But I would love in the comments, guys—if you guys want to chime.

In on this topic, I think it's a really pertinent one.

But yes, tons of companies have fully male clean; they got two guys going in and cleaning and killing it.

And a lot of customers love it because a lot of times the guys are willing to, you know, nudge a little furniture and vacuum and do some like heavier stuff than than ladies would necessarily.

So I will say that I think this fear is simply because you haven't asked, and so I would just start asking, communicate.

You know, be, and also at the end of the day, this is your stinking husband.

If I if my cleaner said hey, I'm gonna send my husband, I would imagine that he's trustworthy because I trust her, and that would be crazy if you know your husband came in and was acting a fool.

So yeah, so I think I understand your fear, but I think you just have to full send it.

And the beautiful thing is, you're already doing what you need to do to transition your all cleaners onto your clients from you right?

So that is the guy.

Thing now, when it comes to any cleaning thing.

Okay, so the reason that currently you do not feel comfortable sending another cleaner is why?

Tell me why.

Mostly because I'm worried that they won't see the things that I see, do the things that I do, connect with the client in the way that I do, and maybe just overall don't do as good of a job.

And that's kind of been reinforced when I went with another cleaner to do an initial clean, and she texted me back and said, Hey, this wasn't done; I was disappointed in how it was not done properly, and whatever.

And I was like, I'm so sorry; I'll go back for free and I'll fix it.

So I was like, this is why I can never send anybody by themselves or like.

Maybe I just need to train better or something like that.

And I have other clients when I wanted to switch over to like being a business, they're like okay, but if you do and you get people, please like only clean my house.

I don't want anybody else.

I don't like it when people or companies send other people, and then I have to tell them all over again like hey, like don't go to this room or like make sure this is done properly.

And it's like I don't know.

I just feel better doing it myself.

I have answers for everything you just said, Han.

And I'm so happy we're talking about this because I believe that probably every single owner-operator or somebody who used to be an owner-operator like myself went through exactly what you're going through right now?

And so how is it that I'm able to be away from my company?

How is that possible when some of our clients I started cleaning their house, I was their cleaner, right?

So it can be done, but there like everything you just described, there is a way to do it so that your customers.

Do not receive any lower service.

Not only that, what I'm about to describe allows you to set up your business so that anybody can go into any home and do it to that client's satisfaction, right?

Because that when you think about a scaling business, every single one of my clients, all of them will eventually have another cleaner, right?

You are not going to have the same cleaners on every single house until they all die, right?

Like that's not going to happen.

So if we know that as morbid as that is, they're all gonna die or they're gonna quit, one or the other, right?

So, if that is the case, but that's a really good way, like a really good way, a way of thinking it that helps me relinquish the control.

Or also, like if that, like, when I think like that, if that is the reality of the situation, how do I make it successful within that reality?

If I say that every single one of your cleaners is going to leave eventually, okay?

That's a fact.

We don't know.

But we do know that it's going to happen.

So how do we make it that Megan doesn't have to be the one cleaning, or Stephanie, or Sally, or whoever else the owner is listening right now?

How do we make it that they don't have to step in?

You know, like meaning permanently, of course, temporarily sometimes you have to, of course, but we want to build the business so that is not necessary.

And the way that you do that, there's going to be two things, well, really three things, but let's do three things.

So number one is going to be I know I've beaten this dead horse, but I'm gonna beat it again because it's the way is going to be standardized checklists.

You need to be using checklists, maybe not you, but all like what you do in a home if you're doing everything like completely custom and every single home differently.

Like if you are not working off of "this is what we do" and "this is how we work," you're not going to be able to scale because how can another person succeed in that right?

So how do we set up a new person?

To our company to be successful and actually be able to get what they need to get done, done.

And to the level of our expectations, they need to have something to work off of, right?

And just think about it: like I've always thought there's a book I read, I believe it's called "the Power of Habit," potentially.

Or well, I can't remember if this is what I'm thinking, but basically, the fact is like surgeons use checklists, right?

So if somebody is doing a heart surgery and needs a checklist, why do we think that as cleaners we don't?

It's so integral to making sure that everybody across the board is doing the same thing.

So like we literally fill out checklists and leave them behind at every cleaning.

And I know that sounds tedious, I'm gonna tell you your clients are going to feel so much less anxiety when they see that your cleaner did exactly the same list of things that Megan does.

So, if I were you, I'd implement the checklist on all of your clients right now that you clean yourself, start doing the checklist because then, when you do eventually hand it off, and they see...

Oh, when.

Tina comes in and does it.

She does the same list as Megan, like she's doing the same things they're visualizing.

Otherwise, what's going to happen if there's no checklist?

They're gonna start looking around and being like, "What's different?"

What's different?

Whereas if they have the list and they see, they're not necessarily gonna do that look around, right?

So that's gonna be number one.

And there are of course digital checklists that you can use.

I am a fan of the physical checklist still because of leaving it behind for the client.

It also helps you quality check.

And for us, we train our cleaners: if you check off that box, it means that we are holding you accountable to that to our level of standard, right?

So it's an internal way to control: "Hey, this is what you're held accountable to."

Because the problem without a checklist, they can say, "I didn't know," "I didn't know I was supposed to do that," "I forgot."

You can't forget when you have a literal list.

So, when it comes to like holding people accountable, they like I never want them to be able to say, "I didn't know" or "I forgot."

Like how can we remove that from ever happening?

Right.

So it's just such an integral part, and also you can sell on it.

Like when we send our estimates or anything, we send the checklist along.

So it's just it's useful in about ten different ways, and that's why I'm hammering this.

And I think you should start doing it now with all of your clients so that you can then make that transition easier.

So that's going to be number one.

Number two is going to be: you said you are afraid that they're not going to know things about the client.

You are right; they are not going to know things about the client, about that house, or don't go in that room.

The dog's name is, you know, Jeffy or whatever you said before we started recording.

They're not going to know these things.

They're not going to know that this client is very particular about the corners of the floors or the shower grout, or whatever, right?

And that is setting our clean.

It's not their fault.

It's not the cleaner's fault.

It's our fault because we're not giving them the information that they need.

And this is where a software comes in.

A scheduling software is built for this.

Client notes are built for this.

And of course, you can simply text them to the cleaner.

Not a good idea because that's not scalable.

We want to be able to set it once and have one universal source of truth.

Which for us, of course, is going to be our ZenMaid notes.

And every single client note has the same exact information.

And every time a client communicates something, whether to their cleaner who's standing in front of them or to us in the office, it goes into the notes so that the way I see it, somebody's gonna call in sick.

Maybe that cleaner doesn't leave, but maybe they're sick.

And we always tell our cleaners: at the end of each appointment, they're supposed to sit and update any notes out of new things.

Right.

Let us know if there is anything new or different, and we're really trying to emphasize the team aspect of it all.

Of course, these notes are so that your teammate can come in and do the clean just as well as you and set them up for success.

And you know you can get that back from them.

And that is a huge opportunity for you to scale but then not have inconsistency or incongruency because there's nothing worse.

So what your client said?

The reason they don't want somebody else coming in, they didn't say it's because it's a different person.

They said it's because they don't want to explain themselves again.

So we don't forget that first part, but we listen to the actual problem: they're sick of repeating themselves.

So just don't make them repeat themselves, right.

You know, all of those things that yeah, you know, everything about the house, right?

And then on your intake process, how can we build our intake process so that all of a sudden they never have to repeat themselves again?

Right.

It's by having good client notes and just making sure the cleaner has access.

To say the notes right, so that's going to be the second thing, and then of course quality checking in communication.

Right, so for us, if we have to switch, how we transition—like when I transitioned all of my clients, because I had clients who were like Stephanie.

It's you or nobody, right?

Like and I was just like okay.

Right.

They're not willing to pay for another person.

Yes.

And so they said, like, I've had clients say that be like, I'm not willing to pay the amount I pay you for somebody else.

Well, that's kind of not nice to somebody else.

They don't know how great that somebody else is.

So here's the thing: they're attached to which I totally understand.

But what you could do is just to lessen your like the first step.

There's a few like this is not a just like dump them.

You know, that's not what I'm suggesting.

What I would suggest is, could we cut your cleaning time in half by bringing somebody with you?

Right, so these four-hour appointments all of a sudden take two clock hours.

It's still the same price because it's for labor hours, right?

So, right, that will get you literally half of your field.

Time down, right?

And then after two to three times, do you need to run and leave early?

And communicate that to the client, like, "Hey, she's seen your house three times."

You know?

Got really double booked, or what?

Somebody else.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna have her do the last hour, right?

And just slowly start that transition.

And all of a sudden, especially when you have that checklist and/or you come back around in quality, do whatever you need to do to make them feel comfortable of saying, "Hey, Tina did the clean by herself."

I quality checked at the end; I thought it was fantastic.

Of course, I want to hear: is there anything specific?

And if they cannot articulate anything, they're just like, "It's not Megan."

Well then, they're just being a control freak.

Because my very last client that I had on me—I kept her for a year past every other client because I well, one she tipped fucking good, so I didn't want you.

Like always, give me like great shit, see you like $100 every other week or whatever it was.

And she like my whole office was outfitted from her house because I mean they had a movie theater in their house; like they are—they're incredible.

They're still clients to this day.

And she was like Stephanie: "I don't want anybody else."

And actually, she was one of my first clients that I gave to my very first cleaner who all of you guys have.

Have heard the story?

Well, she was shit-tastic, right.

And so it like she was like I don't want anybody, only you, Stephanie.

So like she had a bad experience with my company that I stayed on her for years, and then I was finally like I cannot, like I just can't do this, right?

Like I can't clean anymore.

Okay, this is what is happening.

And she came with me multiple times.

I said, Kelly, like this is you know, you're getting this person.

I cannot clean anymore.

Okay, this is what is happening.

And she so she wanted the owner.

She wanted the owner in her house.

It was very much alike.

I'm special.

I get the owner, and she is special.

She's fabulous, but she can't have me, right?

So so it's something they're going to say to you, and as long as you put these protective mechanisms in place, they're worried about quality.

They're worried about annoying communication.

They're worried about not being trustworthy.

They're worried about somebody skipping out and not showing up, right?

But you're the backup all of a sudden, right?

So you have backups in place that type of thing.

So all of a sudden can Megan be the backup now and then you're doing quality checks and just doing a really good job of that.

And then if you do ever have to switch a cleaner on a client we always communicate so we've learned the hard way people do get attached to their cleaners.

So if we're sending a new cleaner, we do give them a heads up because, like, hey, Amber called out today; she is sick.

We're gonna send Ashley.

Just so you know you know, like, just as a courtesy.

And that's what that looks like.

And so your marketing and messaging going forward needs to be every single person is held to the high standard of my company and we follow this is why we follow standardized checklists?

So every clean is done the exact same high level, right?

Like, that's how we sell at Serene Clean.

So that nobody ever expects that it's gonna be me showing up.

So, your current clients know this.

This in this current cohort of clients that you have are going to be the most difficult because they've had you, all right?

You get a new client, yes.

Send somebody else in, or you like what I would suggest.

You and this other cleaner go to the first time clean, and that becomes their regular client.

That's how I would do it.

Is like, because of course, you're going to need multiple cleaners on the first clean.

And then, this is Tina's client, and you load Tina's schedule up until she's good.

And then, you hire somebody new, and you just repeat until you're feeling confident enough to not go to those first times at all, right?

So I'm not saying this is an immediate thing, but you absolutely can put things in place to make this happen.

Yeah, I definitely think we're on the verge of transitioning into something like this.

Because I did send my very first cleaner to her first clean by herself because I wasn't available, but she had been to that place like four times with me already, so she already knew her way around, and then I just kind of ran around at the end of it and just double-checked.

But I think again, that's where the checklist would be helpful because I'm kind of looking around, I'm like, oh, she does.

What I do, but for some reason there's something I can't put my finger on it; it's not what I would have done.

It looked.

Looks good, but it's not exactly how it looks when I'm finished with it.

Quick little break here!

If you have ever been listening to the Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast and thought "Oh my gosh, Stephanie would die at this story," well guess what guys?

I want to hear that story.

Okay, we are looking for guest applications for the show, and I know many of you have never been on a podcast before, but those are my favorite episodes.

To be frank, it's the owners who are just here to share their stories.

So, if you are an owner who wants to share, their story, or perhaps you would like to have a free.

Consulting call with me and ask me your questions live for everybody else to learn from, that is also an option.

And then finally, if you know somebody in our industry, you have a friend or somebody that you look up to and have learned from, who you think would be a great guest option for us.

Please go to the link down in the bio and we would love to see you apply or nominate them, and we will take it from there.

And I would.

Love to have a conversation with you and get to know you more closely.

Back to the show, and the nice thing is about a software is if there's a particular way that you like things done, like whatever it is that you're having a hard time saying put your finger on, take a picture of that room, attach it in those client notes of like this is what it should look like at the end.

Like we've had to do that for some clients with the way they want their beds made because they're particular.

Like, this is what the bed should look like at the end, right?

And we have, yeah, we have that exactly, so it's just like again, how can we make it so that anybody could go in if they can clean they can be successful in this home, right?

Because it's not just cleaning stuff, it's like hey, you.

Weren't supposed to lock the door, or you didn't lock the door or all of the things that around cleaning that make it difficult to have people in your home and trust them.

Right?

Like, my cleaners I love them very much, but they had a new cleaner in my house last week Monday and she left the door cracked when she left, and I didn't.

Realized because I was in a meeting and I hyperventilated.

When I say I lost my shit and ran around my, house, counting my pets, because I have—you know, I have like four animals, and then I'm like, "hey, she did a great job, but please."

And she also did break shit in my house that.

Day, so she was having a rough day, but I'm like, make sure that never happens again, yes.

So, yeah, that's the other thing, too, like I'm scared to give out door codes to all these people, like that they know and can access my clients' houses.

So if you are scared of that, then you shouldn't hire that person.

If you think you can't trust them with a door code, then they shouldn't be on your company.

You know what I mean?

Oh, it's not that I don't trust them; I'm just worried that my clients would be like, well, I don't want local people having my door key.

I gotcha!

I don't like...

Well, I also understand.

So, are you doing background checks or anything on these people?

Like how are you doing?

Like vibes?

That's okay, we're cool with vibes too.

Yeah, yeah, I don't even.

Do you like to do an interview per se?

I do what I call a trial clean.

They still get paid for it, but I get there and I like kind of get a feel for their work ethic.

I try to talk to them and see, like, how good are they with like compatibility, I guess.

Like how well they work with me, how do they take instruction?

And if it like goes well that first time, they show up on time, they're really good, they're thorough, they're receptive to feedback, then I'm like okay, well let's keep going.

You know, I understand their hesitancy, but every cleaning company in the history of all cleaning companies that has ever had an employee, they have to get into the house somehow, and that's how.

And the thing about hiring a company is they get to come after you if something goes wrong, right?

Like, and that sounds bad as the owner, but it's like say that, like, listen if any.

Insurance—that's what it's for.

I do not think that's going to happen, but God forbid!

That's why you hire a company to protect yourself from that.

And actually, it's twisted as the thing about hiring a company is we've got insurance; we have these things in place to protect you as the homeowner if something were to happen.

So, again, your current group of people, like when I think of all the clients that started with me—one—the prices were like half of what they are.

So, we only have probably five or six that are still with us—if not less honestly.

Yeah, probably even less because eventually they move on.

They got pretty much an individual cleaner in me, even though I was a business, and now they all moved on to individual cleaners because that's what they want.

And there are so many clients out there that they don't need that right?

And if they do want that, they can go get an individual cleaner right?

And so when it comes to like your marketing and messaging, you really need to oomph.

Up, what makes it worthwhile for them to not go for an individual cleaner?

Right.

Because all of these things that they like about it, you can answer those.

That we can actually those a lot of them are weaknesses, right?

Because when Megan's sick, guess whose house doesn't get cleaned?

Those clients, right?

Because that's what happens with an individual cleaner; they have to get rescheduled, right?

Like they and so and there's so many other reasons why you know a company is fantastic.

But if until you can articulate at number one but two actually stand behind it, right?

So adding these little things in place, right, like client guidelines, like employee documents, policies, procedures, checklists.

Once you add those things, and all of a sudden you can like sell on that of like, yeah, it's a machine.

Like we got this.

So every Everything that you just said about how you feel and how the client feels is valid, but there's also an answer and a solution for it.

It doesn't just say well I guess we can't we can't ever do anything about it yeah.

Yeah, that makes sense.

That makes a lot of sense.

And right now, like I'm, I have to grow my clientele a lot more if I want to start handing off some of my cleans to other cleaners.

Because I'm right now, we're trying to make sure that the bills are paid and that we have enough for like monthly expenses and stuff.

So clientele needs to grow.

Like we need to scale for sure.

And I'm like, how do I do that?

I don't post a lot on social media.

I know I do need to, and I've considered trying to do like targeted ads like to my specific area which has a very high need for cleaners.

But a lot of them are like oh solo cleaner or they just it's hard to find somebody to trust.

So I'm like, how do I make it as easy as possible to like?

Get myself out there.

Do I do?

Do I do door knocking?

Do I do cold calling?

Do I send emails?

And I've tried a little bit of all of them, and so far only word of mouth has worked and Facebook groups.

Okay, so number one, those two avenues are always going to be there for you, even seven years in.

Word of mouth is still our second highest lead procurement avenue, so that's always going to exist.

Facebook will always exist.

Facebook is still our third, even though we don't have a ton of community groups like you guys probably do in our area.

We're just so rural, but I know they're they're amazing avenue.

However, we cannot rely on word of mouth to be steady.

We also can't rely on Facebook groups to be steady, right?

It can be very sporadic.

What I did notice because of course I take a little peek at all of my guests before they are on.

I looked online.

I looked at your website.

I looked at your online presence that type of thing and correct me if I'm wrong.

Do you have a Google My Business?

I do not.

This is where we should start.

Okay, because it's completely free.

And when it comes to people who are searching for a company, they are most likely to Google.

They—they are—are in the mood.

They are researching; they're not just posting on Facebook.

They may post on Facebook, right?

Absolutely.

But that's because into like, Facebook group getting clients via Facebook crew if I could speak, Facebook group is individual cleaner behavior.

Not saying companies cannot get clients that way, but the powerhouse is always going to be Google My Business and our website, right?

So you need to get verified through Google My Business ASAP so that's how you show up in the maps.

Because when I looked up cleaning companies in your area, when I look—I mean—the cleaners they do have—you've got competition, of course—but many of them only have that are showing up; they got six five-star Google reviews.

The next one's a hundred.

2017.

The next one's 87.

So if Stephanie were to go look for a cleaner, I'd Google and this is who would pop up.

You're not even showing up, right?

And those people are highly like they—if you're Googling—you're actually thinking about it.

You're reaching out for quotes, right?

So like you're just not even showing up, and so only like you're literally cutting off the main head of the dragon when it comes to leads.

So, I would do that first thing.

And the beautiful thing about Google My Business is, like I said, it is free, and you can post on it just like you would social media.

So what I want you to do is immediately do that—get all of your clients to leave you a review on there.

Like every single client, like I don't care what you need to get them to leave a review, harass them, stand out in their driveway with like a knife or something—I don't know.

Don't actually do that—a mob, a mob!

Don't leave me alone.

So get those Google reviews and then start uploading images and videos every single week on it.

Treat it like social media.

Right, and this is something I see so many companies do wrong, and if I click into your competitors, they're doing it wrong too.

The before now okay, so this one's doing it okay, but most of them don't do it.

Okay, which is they upload on Google My Business, you hit upload on the photos right?

And you select your before and you select your after, thinking great they'll be next to each other they'll see your work.

No, that's not how it works at Google.

They put them randomly, so all of a sudden you just got a bunch of dirty toilet pictures and you don't have the afters anywhere to be seen.

So go into Canva, pick a template that's your brand colors, put your logo on it, put the before and after in the photo right.

Boom, you probably already do that okay, good to know.

Yes, because otherwise it's gonna fling them all over the place.

So do that.

Pictures of you and your cleaners, and this is going to help a ton.

If your husband's gonna be in this thing, he needs to be in this thing.

Meaning you guys as a couple that I can trust you, need to be on Google My Business, you need to be on your website.

So, moving on to your website.

Obviously, get video reviews.

I've made content about video reviews; go watch those.

But your pictures on your website are gorgeous.

First off, that house with the spiral staircase—I could die!

It's stunning.

Thank you.

I want to live in that house.

It's like totally my style.

One of our B&Bs?

Yeah.

It's stunning.

It's gorgeous.

So what I will say about your website is that one: there is no strong like offer or no-brainer offer.

So if you're willing to do an offer that, like, to incentivize people, go get that free quote right.

Number two, I would move up your—you do have some proof-like social proof—it looks like—I would move that above the fold.

So what our clients say—move that right under your main banner because that's what people see first—and then get into your our recent work and our services—that type of thing.

And just for the structure of the homepage, number seven, whatever I'm—I don't even know a number on.

You guys need to be on this website and about you.

Who is Megan?

Who is your husband?

Why do you guys care about this?

What makes you different and special?

Because when I'm hiring somebody to come into my house, I want to know about them.

Why, you know, like why should I hire you of all of these options?

Because every single person says that they're reliable, detailed, affordable, and customized cleaning solutions.

So you nothing on your website is screaming "why you."

You know, so I think it needs to scream "why you."

Also, I love your colors; pink and orange are gorgeous together.

So I really thank you.

Yeah, I think that you've got a good baseline.

What I would do is I would go to Claude or whatever your AI of choice and do a full website audit.

If you did you build your website yourself?

No, my brother-in-law did.

Okay, well tell your brother to go hook it up to Claude using an M.

Okay, so this is a little thing I want to make a whole YouTube video on, but I recently, I hooked up AI to my website to rebuild it and redesign the whole thing, and Claude can literally!

Do it for you.

It's amazing with the plugin, but I digress.

That's a side note.

The thing is, I want to see pictures of you guys because that's what's going to make this stand out.

Additionally, when it comes to your services, they're not selling me.

They're not selling me because it's just a blurb about our services: residential cleaning, regular home cleaning, kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, and living spaces.

Cool.

That's what Sally with a cigarette can do off of Facebook, right?

So, like, this is where the checklist, no offense to Sally or anybody who's smoking.

But how do we stand out so we can charge more than Sally?

We need to list what we're going to do.

What is Megan's packages?

What is a deep cleaning?

What's different because when I go to get a quote from you, it says select a service.

I don't even know what I want because I don't know what's included, right?

So, I want you to specifically list out once you get your checklist figured out what is going to be included in every package, so that it's unambiguous.

Understood, and one that's good for SEO too is to get some more content on these.

So I would love to see pages for each of these services if you're like—you should have a page for each of these—so that will help.

And then finally, your quote, your quote request—I would add more to your form if possible because it's not saying anything about why do they need this?

Like describe your cleaning needs but what is stressing you out?

Like what we like to do in our request form is to get at the emotion.

Of it because there's probably some emotions.

If this is a residential cleaning client, or well, commercial too—they are, everybody, got feelings because they're pissed off about something, right?

And we want to know so that when you call them, you are prepared to fulfill that need, right.

Like what's the worst thing that's happened?

Like why is this so stressful for you to do this yourself or what are you frustrated with your current cleaner or whatever is going on right?

So also, I'd love to see some, like you know, like bedrooms, bathrooms, that type of thing.

I know that you would go do walkthroughs, but it would be cool for you to be prepared.

Maybe you do calls—you know—you call people immediately, but it is nice to get a little bit more context on the form.

But you know—that's that's a lesser thing.

So I know I just did like a basic like website thing, but I was like, I want to tell you all of these things.

So since we're talking about procuring clients, yes, absolutely.

And then of course your personality and—and you are adorable; you should be on video.

Like you should be on video talking about your business: why people should hire a cleaner?

It doesn't need to be why they should hire you.

Why should they hire a cleaner?

Like what is it about it that's so wonderful?

Like we can all probably talk about that for hours.

So start doing that.

Turn that into little clips.

It doesn't have to be fancy.

Just hey, I'm Megan.

I own this cleaning company and these are the top three reasons I think people should hire a house cleaner.

List it out.

Post oh, Marty, cringey yeah, I know, but you know what's beyond cringe, money, guys.

Get over, like go make money.

Dude, you have to!

You have to!

And you don't have to.

I mean, obviously people are being successful without making video content.

But the reason I'm suggesting it: you don't have social proof.

So if you don't have social proof to show to make people trust you, the only other option to make them trust you is either one word of mouth, which is social proof.

So throw that over there in that bucket.

Is seeing you?

Is hearing you right?

So if you can only build trust these two ways, right?

And right now you don't really have this one, so you have to do this one while you build this one up.

As you build this one up, you don't have to do this one as much because all of a sudden your reviews are doing that work.

But if the goal for you is, I need to grow this thing so that we're making money again.

You're going to keep getting word-of-mouth clients.

That's great, but the word-of-mouth clients are going to be like Megan is so great, not your cleaning company is so great.

And we don't.

Necessarily mean we want that.

But if the goal is for you to be out of the field, then we can't have it just be like you gotta have Megan.

No, Megan's the best, right?

Like that's not what we necessarily want for your big scaling endeavor.

That makes a lot of sense.

Thank you.

Yes, and then as for school, I wanna ask you because you are unsure what you want to do.

So, what are you going to school for, and what does that look like when it comes to time and what the goal is here?

So I'm kind of in.

A little bit of a multidisciplinary degree.

I started on music; I'm a piano player and singer, and I did that for about three years before I was like sick and tired of going to music classes only when I have so many other interests.

So I switched to a general bachelor of arts with a focus in religious studies, English, and Indigenous Studies because I'm part indigenous.

I'm part Cree actually.

That's amazing!

You can't tell it because of the white yeah.

Not my mom's white, so yeah, I'm doing that, and I only have a year and a half left.

And like now that I've started the business, I'm like great.

How am I gonna find the time to be able to go back?

Even if I step back from cleaning and I'm just like taking over admin kind of thing, I still have to be available.

But I guess that's where my husband would come in, because then he'd be home all the time.

But yeah, but again, like can I achieve that?

Before the winter semester starts, and I don't know if I can.

Maybe I'm gonna have to wait till next fall.

Okay, so I got it, and I'm not in a rush.

I still want to finish it; like it's still a major priority for me.

I'm just unsure of when, like the timing, and how do I prioritize what I'm doing right now to get to that point?

So when it comes to you mentioned that there is some money of it all, and this I'm going to always come back to this analogy: that the money is like a pie, right?

Every client that we get is a pie, and right now, when you or your husband is cleaning, your household is taking the majority of that pie home.

Of course, there's the taxes and all of the other expenses, right?

But you're not paying a cleaner, right?

And as soon as we pay a cleaner who is not you or your husband, most of that pie goes to, the employees.

They, not you, know, for that would have gone to you for the cleaning portion, because you guys are only taking the owner's slice of the pie, right?

Which is a smaller slice?

So, then we have to add more pies in order for our slices to equal.

What it used to be.

So that being said, you have something that a lot of people don't have, which is a fantastic husband who is willing to do cleaning.

And so if he is cleaning, that income is still coming to your household, right?

So that's not a normal situation and that can fulfill your guys' financial needs and get you out of the field.

So, if I were you, and I'm like okay, I gotta still make this money as we grow the business and fulfill these.

Cleaning hours, then I would be transitioning as many of my clients, meaning yours, onto your husband, and that will immediately open you up.

So I mean, how many hours are you cleaning a week?

Oh, this is what I wanted to ask you about another thing: is that I have open availability Monday to Sunday, and almost always it's getting filled up, and I try not to book myself.

More than two houses per day, but sometimes that's not always possible.

So I just fit it all in one week and I cram it, and then I just hope that I can get help for one or two of the cleans.

And then my poor husband is doing the Airbnbs, and I'm not available to help him because I'm booked with residential cleans.

So I'm struggling to find a balance where okay, this is going to be a day off, and it has to be, but then we have Airbnbs that are like, no, we have.

Weekend ones and sometimes we have weekday ones, and I can't say no to those per se.

So, okay, I don't know how to get me and my husband days off at this point.

Okay, so I think what you should do is pick a day for each of you.

It may not be the same date.

I mean, again, you're the one who's not saying no.

That's the thing is keep that in mind.

And I see that as somebody who couldn't say no.

But would I?

I will say what I would do: protect one day a week for you guys.

I would because I think you're gonna do you?

Do you have kids?

No, fabulous, fantastic!

This is great.

No offense to all you people with kids, but like it's a lot easier without them, right?

Because you guys don't have them anytime soon, you can just go balls to the walls, right?

Which is fantastic.

So, so what I would do is sit him down and be like, "what day do you want?"

Right.

And if he's doing Airbnbs on the weekends, maybe it's a Tuesday that he has off, right?

And like, you protect that by all costs, no matter what.

He gets Tuesdays off or whatever the thing is, or afternoons, or what?

Like a couple afternoons, whatever that looks like.

And you pick one day for you that you protect at all costs, and that doesn't get booked.

If that is Saturday, fantastic, right?

Or, or whatever.

Because then you're not both out there cleaning, whatever.

You guys want to decide.

Now, I think that if you are telling me that you are able to book yourself solid, you are telling me that you are cleaning 40 hours a week minimum, right?

Like, from the sounds of it, I'm able to book one to two.

Houses per day, Monday to Friday.

Okay, so and then I help my husband on the weekends, which usually averages three BNBs per day.

Okay, got it.

So what I would suggest is: is he cleaning during the week or is that just BNBs right now?

It is during the week.

Yeah.

Okay, yeah.

Which happens of course flips happen during the week.

So when he is not cleaning BNBs, if he is willing to clean more, which it sounds like he is, have him start coming to all of your cleans.

Or one of your other cleaners come to all of your cleans.

You need to get some of these clients transitioned.

If you transition them to him, and then his day is booked.

You guys are still bringing in that money into your house.

Right.

That is number one.

Number two, I think you could raise some prices.

I think you can price higher because clearly you are booking people.

Like what you could do is simply have, if you could have three clients making you the money of five current clients.

But it's less clients.

That is the ideal.

We want be able to price ourselves as high as we can, like it's a tipping point, right?

But it's so much easier to keep you know the three clients happy than five clients or ten versus thirty.

You know what I mean?

Like you're not going to book everybody and that's okay because you're you're making more money with less work and that allows you then to pay cleaner, like all of the things that come from higher prices, right?

Yeah, and I actually just switched over to like flat rate for all my new clients, which I know that you recommended.

And now that's averaging about fifty to like sixty dollars per hour, but my older clients that I've had for a couple years they're still at forty, and I don't want to change.

I mean, I do want to change it, but I just changed it from thirty-five to forty, and that was the one that's like, well, I don't want to pay more than that if it's not going to be you, and I'm like, but you're like at forty, and everybody else is at like, yeah, they don't even know, and so this is another reason.

I'm telling you right this, right now to prepare for this is that most of your clients now will not be your clients in two years because in comparison to what you started them at it feels unreasonably high.

All of your new clients don't know the difference and they're already higher, right?

And like so that when I look again why don't I have all of those clients?

Not only because I'm not cleaning for them but because they started at thirty dollars an hour, our new clients are at sixty dollars an hour, right?

So like for maintenance cleans and so so there is no fucking way I could ask somebody who paid thirty to pay sixty like and then be okay with that because it's double what they think was a fair value.

Right?

So it's just that the context of it all.

So I just want you to know that I'm not suggesting that you like go raise all these prices right now because you just did.

But know that will there will come a time, and that time is going to be when you are successfully booking clients in at fifty or sixty dollars an hour consistently.

And you're out of space.

And what we need to do is look at every single tech, how much money could we make out of one tech?

Like looking at your husband's time, how can we make as much money as possible out of his time?

And if there's no more spots, well, all of a sudden we gotta start looking at these types of things.

So just keep that in mind.

You don't need to do it now, but it will have to happen eventually for you guys to keep growing, and it will just happen naturally because if you do price increases right.

And I would suggest yearly price increases.

That's what we're doing is every single year now, like we just make it known, like we do price increases right or at least start looking at them.

You know?

So I think what I would do for you guys is he should start coming to all of your cleans and or even a couple days a week, transition them onto him.

That starts to open you up.

Let's see when does the next winter semester start?

It's September now.

The September semester already started by winter, I mean, like in January.

Oh yeah, girl.

This can happen.

Yeah, no.

Question at all.

I think this can absolutely, oh yeah!

Oh, no question at all.

Okay, let me tell you one thing: I talk to people all the time who stop cleaning within a month, right?

Like because they have to; they're about to pop out a baby, right?

So just pretend you're about to pop out a baby and then you must, you must get it done, right?

And so like there's no choice.

Like right now, you're giving yourself the option that it could not work.

What if it had to work?

Like what if it had to work?

Then all of a sudden, we stop thinking, like, "well, I just won't" because you're going to keep kicking that can.

Down the road, girl, and then it's going to be the next semester, and it's going to be the next semester because you're scared.

And I understand your fear, but there's solutions to literally every aspect of your fear, and you don't have to load your husband completely up because Airbnbs are volatile.

You have other cleaners; you have people who could take these hours right now.

I know financially you can't give them all to them right now, but you have your husband that can do a hybrid, right?

Take some of them.

That keeps the money in house for you guys.

You have these other cleaners, but you got some great ones sounds like well there you go!

Like literally we could we could clear this thing out, but you have to get the structure in place.

You have to get the checklist.

You have to have a you know.

We're gonna be really talk about training, but like you have to have that transition go well.

At least go to every client's house twice and then immediately quality check the first clean, the first clean that they are on themselves.

Go QC it right.

So if you can do be diligent about this transition period.

Then you can set yourself up for success, and not have them come back.

And finally, if you do not have a scheduling software, I'm not even going to say necessarily ZenMaid, even though I think it's the best.

You need to get a scheduling software because the client notes are where you dump everything.

Next time you go to every single client's house, I want you to put everything about that client down, like on a piece of paper.

Text it to yourself.

I don't care how you do it like Keep the note.

That one's already done.

Okay.

Awesome.

Excellent.

So.

I do have an amazing scheduling software.

Yes, fantastic!

So you're already there.

Just make sure that as you bring new clients on, you keep that discipline with the notes and as things change, make sure you tell your cleaners to update the notes right.

So I think I think this can absolutely happen.

You need to get card on file.

You need to start getting client guidelines signed.

If you do not get them signed, even if you say hey by getting this email you acknowledge it, like it's probably not going to stand up, and they're gonna be pissed.

So I recommend getting things signed.

We use Sign Request; it's eight dollars a month.

I've used it for years.

It's like DocuSign electronic signing, so you don't have to do this all by paper.

If you want to see our client guidelines, it's literally right on our website.

You can click on Serene Clean's website.

Okay, I would love to because I have no idea how, oh yeah, write up, absolutely go steal everything!

I don't care they're there for ya, and anybody else listening.

Our client guidelines are there, and of course, everybody is different.

Like, your policies are probably different, but the thing is, you probably don't.

A lot of these policies, so it's going to make you think.

Oh shit!

I don't have that.

What do I want for this?

And then as for your employee documents, same thing.

Obviously, I have lots of them.

You are in Canada; things are a little bit different.

Of course, their employment laws are much more stringent than the U.S., so it's not a bad idea to consult with a one-off attorney, employment type of stuff just to make sure because it's a different country.

I don't want to recommend you anything that's not correct.

However, again, if you're going to grow, it's just to protect you.

You know?

Because if they're gonna do it like Cleaners are.

If there's a will, there's a way for them to try to fuck you over.

You know, not even intentionally, right?

You need to set yourself up for success because you don't know the next psycho coming through the door.

You don't, right?

And they could really try to screw you up.

So getting your policies in place and getting them signed is like the first step of protection.

And I'm assuming you already are insured, but just making sure the insurance is there so that protective level.

But truly, when I think about like you being out of the field, it's checklist quality control that's systematic.

Training, communication, and reminders, that type of stuff.

Leaving the checklist behind, like that's it.

You know what I mean?

And just telling you, like it doesn't.

It's not.

It's a dream.

Yeah, it's a reality.

I promise you, it can.

It can.

And it's like try one client and then try another.

Like this week, it is a Tuesday.

Can your husband come to a clean later this week with you?

Right?

Can you talk to that client and be like, hey, he's going to be taking over the clean after next?

Just, I just want you to know he's going to be following this checklist just like I do.

This is what I do in your house, but I want to make sure he does it the exact same way.

And then I'm gonna check in on that first clean to make sure you're happy.

Sound like a plan?

Cool.

And then do it like that.

That's what it needs to be.

Okay.

You got this, girl!

I know you can do this.

I know you can do it.

Is there anything else that comes to mind before we wrap up?

I don't think so.

No, we kind of went over everything.

Like my biggest thing was the policies and the checklist, which I will definitely be creating now.

Definitely be.

Checking out your client policy as well because I have no idea how to do that.

Remember AI is your best friend, girl.

I mean obviously I'm not going to say AI everything but it can be a great brainstorm and start.

What I like to do is like have a kind of prompting session with like this is what I'm thinking.

Like, is there any gaps in what?

Like, what other things could I put into this?

Like, ask me questions about how I want to run my company and the policies, and then you just start speaking into your phone and it can put it together of like what you want it to be.

So yeah, there's just so many things in place that can make these things easier, and they really just start making your brand more personal.

Get Google My Business verified; it can be a little annoying to get verified.

I understand that, but it's so worth it.

Just don't give up on it if it gives you trouble.

Keep trying because it is like it is going to be the lifeblood of leads as you continue to grow.

And yeah, get those client reviews.

But yeah, you're killing it, girl!

I know that you can do this, and you care very deeply about your clients' experience, which is going to come through in how you handle this.

But what happens in the next couple months is gonna really change the trajectory of things.

I know you can go back to school and get this done.

I believe in you.

And oh!

Oh, last thing: make sure you're not using your cell phone if you are currently using your cell phone number; you need a business number because the only like...

I know I see your face right now.

Okay?

To our listeners, I see that guilty little face.

Go sign up for Open Phone, which is now Quo.

Even though it's a stupid name, go sign up for it.

It is so freaking cheap and you can get a business number right now.

Do it while you're smaller and before you start printing more marketing material and everything like that because one, it protects you; it is not safe to be putting your cell phone number out there.

You don't know what psycho is out there.

And number two, it allows other people to help you with admin someday when you are sick or your husband needs to manage things.

There you go, right?

And it's beautifully—it works beautifully on a computer.

You don't even need a phone.

Like we don't have phones anywhere.

We just do it all through the computer.

So yeah, yes.

So do that too.

That's my final piece of advice.

Okay, okay.

We've been just treading water at this point.

We're out there.

We're in the water.

We don't have floaties, but it's like okay now we need to actually structure this.

To make it work to make it scale.

I have some goals in mind.

Let's see if we can do this in the next four months, and we'll really crack down on it.

Hell yeah!

Please guys, leave Megan some love down.

Tell her she can do this.

Give her some good words of encouragement because I know it can be done.

Obviously, we see it done every day.

You're a very intelligent woman.

There's no reason that you can't do this.

So I have complete faith.

And of course, my email inbox is always open.

If you have questions or you get stuck and you're like oh no, this client said that they hated me and then they cursed my family or something like that.

So like, so don't worry.

It may happen.

You're still a good person.

It's gonna be okay.

But you're going to do this thing, hun.

If people want to thank you, follow along on Facebook or your website.

What are those socials?

It's Caicedo Cleaning dot ca.

So CAICEDO or Cesado answer both.

Love it.

We'll definitely link that down below, Megan.

Thank you for being vulnerable and allowing me to ramble on because I know I know that this has been helpful to somebody.

Like these questions are so important for us to answer.

So thank you for allowing me to do this.

Of course!

Thank you so much for having me.

This was so exciting.

Yeah, it's very exciting, guys.

Hit that like, hit that subscribe.

Leave Megan some love down in the comments.

We'll see on the next episode of Filthy Rich Cleaners.

Bye, guys.

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Until next time, keep your work clean and your business filthy rich.