Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good
Neighbor podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jim Schaller.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome Good
Neighbors to episode number 35
of the Good Neighbor podcast,the Stero.
Today we have Good NeighborMichelle Spitzer from MadePro.
Michelle, welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Well, thank you very
much for having me.
It's an honor.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yes, pleasure to get
to know people out here in the
neighborhood.
So why don't we just start offby can you share with our
listeners a little bit what youdo over at MadePro?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Obviously you're
clean, but Well, we are a
residential and commercialcleaning company serving all of
Southwest Florida, from justsouth of Tampa to the Everglades
, plus on the other coast, inthe Fort Lauderdale area.
Plus we offer MadePro MuscleServices for the bigger jobs,
(00:55):
such as carpet cleaning, tileand grout cleaning, upholstery
cleaning, power washing and evenwindow washing.
So we provide those additionalservices as well.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Wow, when you say
cleaning, you mean cleaning, you
do everything.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Everything.
Yes, wow, wow, we'll take youto the dirty work so you don't
have to.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I like that, I like
that.
Nobody likes dirty work.
But you do, see, there you go,absolutely Perfect.
So how did you get involvedinto the cleaning industry?
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Oh, wow, well, good
question.
Well, I moved from ChampaignIllinois back in 1995.
I had family that was alreadyliving here and when I arrived I
had this crazy idea of cleaninghouses independently while I
re-enrolled to finish my collegeeducation.
(01:46):
I had enrolled in HodgesUniversity, and so I was just
going to clean houses part-timeto make a little extra cash
while going to school.
And I was in the businessmanagement program and I had the
fortunate opportunity to havemy professor.
I was Dr Gene Landrum, and ifyou don't know who he is, he's
actually the original founder ofthe Chuck E Cheese franchise
(02:10):
and he had a veryoutside-of-the-box approach to
teaching his students.
He wanted students to learnreal-life practices with
real-life business examples, andone of our first homework
assignments was to write abusiness plan.
So I decided to write abusiness plan on turning my
cleaning into an actual business.
(02:31):
And, lo and behold, as I'mwriting this business plan, I
thought I was on to somethingand I decided to implement it
and I became Michelle's ClassyCleaning and then I built up a
really nice-sized littlebusiness.
We started out by dispatchingout of a Winn-Dixie parking lot
Wow, eventually getting ourfirst office space.
(02:56):
But three years after inceptionof Michelle's Classy Cleaning.
I received a postcard of themail and it said look who's
coming to town maid pro.
So I thought I had newcompetition and so I prepared a
list of questions.
I was going to secret shop them.
I wanted to know who's invadingmy territory or my space and to
(03:17):
my surprise, I was actuallytalking to one of the original
founders of maid pro and reallycaught my attention.
That postcard was actuallysoliciting existing cleaning
companies to convert and be apart of their fairly new
franchising opportunity, andthey invited me to come pay a
visit at their headquarters inBoston, massachusetts.
(03:39):
Although I was three monthspregnant with my first child, I
decided to take a chance and govisit them and I was really
impressed with the people, thesystems and I went for it they
gave me, since I had an existingblock of business and they were
fairly new at franchising.
(04:00):
I paid a dollar to make itlegal, and so it was probably
the best investment I could haveever made, because I'm
currently the second largestrevenue producing Maid Pro
within the Maid Pro organizationand there's probably over 250
some franchise across the nation, including Canada.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Wow, that's a great
story and it sounds like
everything just kind of fell I'mgoing to say fell into place,
but it kind of laid a path outfor you from school and writing
the paper to the franchise Z andgetting to where you are today.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
It's been quite the
journey.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I bet, have you had
any?
I want to say challenges alongthe way.
Obviously, starting a newbusiness is very challenging.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
A business is a
series of hills and valleys.
When there's a hill, things aregoing great, but then there's
also those hiccups along theroad because life occurs.
Two examples one was back, Ithink, around 2008, the Great
Recession.
I mean that's when everythingjust stopped and clients were
(05:11):
calling and cancelling servicesbecause they were losing their
jobs or having lots of revenuein their businesses.
So I had to quickly downsidesin order to survive that
recession and that was reallydifficult, especially when you
had to reduce people's hourlywages and salaries.
That was not an easy thing todo, but we made it.
We survived, we rebounded backquickly.
(05:34):
It made us stronger on handlingour financials and making sure
that we're being good stewardswith the revenue.
So that definitely was, in thelong run, a good lesson to learn
.
The most recent COVID, I meanthat threw us all for a loop
because we had to although wewere considered an essential
(05:56):
business and we never had tocompletely shut down, but we had
to pivot and restructure ourwhole way of doing business.
We had to show.
We had to earn people's trust,to show how we're keeping the
community safe so they'll allowus to even come into their home,
and we came up with somecontactless cleaning procedures
(06:18):
and even including drive-throughdispatch.
I mean, we didn't let everybodycome into the office.
We set up a table outside inthe back alley and they would
drive up and get their workorders and their supplies and
exchange cleaning clause.
So it started there.
We did temperature checks thewhole nine yards.
But then we would also practicesocial distancing.
(06:40):
When we were in the customer'shome we educated our clients to
social distance.
Be in another room while we'rethere cleaning.
We just wanted to make sureeveryone was safe, including our
customers and our employees whoare out there in the field
fighting germs.
That's what we did, in fact,and we also really emphasized
(07:03):
within our cleaning proceduresitself to do your high-touch
cleaning, like making sure we'redoing all the light switches or
the door knobs and your remotecontrols and so forth.
So we did really step up to theplate and, as a result, we
still practice those procedurestoday when it comes to cleaning,
(07:23):
although we don't have tosocial distance anymore and we
can let welcome our pros intothe office and have that team
camaraderie, which is nice tohave back.
But we did pivot, we didsurvive through that and we did
a really good job at educatingour clients, to help them feel
safe, that it's okay to let uscome in and do our job, because
(07:46):
we're here to cool terms.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
That's it.
That's it.
Any attention to detail isincredible, because that's
important as well.
Now, are there any I'm going tosay myths or maybe
misconceptions that we couldbust for people today in regards
to the cleaning industry?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Sure, you know, I
think a lot of people think it's
okay to hire an independentperson to come in to clean their
home and that is amisconception completely.
I mean they're really taking ona huge risk when you're having
someone that you don't know,who's not licensed, who probably
has not gone through a criminalbackground check and God forbid
(08:26):
if there's a slip and fall inthe home and they're not covered
by workers comp.
Who do you think is liable?
You, the customer?
So they're really taking a hugeliability and a risk by hiring
someone that is not aprofessional cleaning company
that has all of thoseprotections Plus payroll taxes.
I mean, technically you'resupposed to be paid.
(08:47):
You know you have to be able totake care of their payroll
taxes and a lot of times that isdone under the table and that
can get you in trouble with theIRS.
So hiring a good professionalcleaning company like Maid Pro
we're licensed, we're insured,we're bonded, our pros go
through a criminal backgroundcheck.
We take that very seriouslybecause we are going into a
(09:09):
private personal home and wewant to make sure that our
clients are taken care of andthey're protected.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
And yeah, that's,
that's an important thing,
because a lot of people don'tthink of that.
They have a friend or a friendof a friend that comes over and
cleans and, like you say, godforbid something happens in the
house.
You know that's, you're on thehook for it.
That's right, wow.
So so are you seeing any, let'ssay, trends or anything going
(09:37):
on in the industry that havechanged over the years?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Well, I think that
people are seeing cleaning more
as a necessity than just aluxury.
I mean it's, you know, you'vegot a lot of working
professionals out there, youknow, both the mom and dad are
both working and there's justnot enough time in the day so we
can help take the stress off ofa mother so that she can be a
(10:02):
better mom, a little bit lessstressed.
So by having someone take careof those household chores, you
know.
And also trending which makesmade pro it a cleaning service
and necessity is, you know, weeven help elderly who live in
their homes unassistedly alittle bit longer, or it might
even brighten their day becausethey're lonely and have someone
(10:23):
to, you know, check in on.
So that's what I see trendingis we're seeing we're being more
as a necessity versus a luxury.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, a lot of people
, just like you mentioned, don't
have the time nowadays.
They're so stretched so thinand so busy running around with
the kids, the family, work,everything that you know they
they don't have time to cleantheir house and that's probably
the last thing they want to bedoing when they do everything.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
And then there's even
people that might be suffering
from an injury or an illness andthey just can't do it
physically.
So you know, we can come in andtake care of those household
chores so they can focus onhealing.
And so that's a necessity.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yes, yes.
So so I know you're very hardworking.
You put in a lot of time andwith work.
What do you do outside of work?
What do you enjoy to do on yourfree time?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Oh, three things.
Well, I have a boat, so I liketo go boating.
I started fishing during COVIDbecause everything else was
closed down, so that's a newhobby.
And I also like to golf, so Ido like to have fun too.
There's got to be a goodbalance.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
You do, you get, you
get out and enjoy Southwest
Florida, for for the paradisethat is, which is absolutely so.
How did you end up?
I know you touched on itbriefly, but how did you end up
in Southwest Florida?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Well, I used to work
for Blue Cross, blue Shield, and
they basically eliminated myposition when they started going
into the managed care theycompletely transitioned into.
So when my position was nolonger going to be available, I
decided to move to SouthwestFlorida, follow my parents.
They were already here, plus mybrother was already here and
(12:02):
the family dog was already here.
So I decided to come here andbe with my family and finish my
stop and go college education.
Because I had only had myassociate's degree and I decided
I may as well finish, go toHodges, get that bachelor's
degree.
And who knew at the time thatit was going to evolve into a
(12:22):
business opportunity?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
You never know.
You put yourself in thosepositions and things happen, and
it's definitely happened foryou because you had mentioned
all of South Florida, prettymuch right.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Yeah, I have five
locations.
We have a location in Sarasota,location in Fort Charlotte, a
location in Fort Myers, napleswhich service is also Marco and
then we also have a location inFort Lauderdale.
So we cover everything fromBradington to the Everglades and
then across Alligator Alley toFort Lauderdale.
(12:58):
Wow, it's a pretty widespreadarea.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Keeping Florida clean
.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Absolutely One more
time excellent.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
So what's one thing
that our listeners should know
about you or you'd like to sharewith our listeners?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Oh, our mission
statement?
I really see BaitPro as a wholelot more than just an average
cleaning company out therescrubbing floors and cleaning
toilets.
What we really do is we improvethe quality of people's lives
in so many ways, like I hadmentioned before being a
(13:35):
necessity helping an elderlyperson live in their home a
little bit longer, helpingsomeone heal if they're
suffering from an injury or anillness, brightening someone's
day, reducing stress.
So our mission statement isthat we're here to make a
difference in our community andthat's what we're all about.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
That is great and
that's what it's all about.
It's about making a differencein the community.
How would our listeners goabout getting hold of you?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Easy.
You can find us online atmaidprocom or feel free to give
us a call at 239-596-5200, andit's that easy.
We can provide an estimateright over the telephone based
on averages, so it's prettysimple to schedule services with
maidpro and get clean today.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Very good, michelle.
It's been a pleasure getting toknow you and your story is
truly inspiring, because, evenif you don't know what you're
gonna do tomorrow, you just keeppushing forward and things will
work out.
And thank you for keepingSouthwest Florida clean.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
My pleasure and thank
you for having me.
It was fun, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Thank you for
listening to the Good Neighbor
podcast, Estero.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpesterocom.
That's gnpesterocom, or call239-296-2621.
296-2621.