September 11, 2024 • 40 mins
How do you transform personal adversity into a thriving business? Join us on the Ladies Kickin' Ass Podcast as we welcome the phenomenal Libby DeLucian, a serial entrepreneur whose journey from a custody battle to a million-dollar business will leave you inspired. Libby's story begins with professional organizing and expands into the realms of residential and light commercial cleaning, all while navigating immense personal challenges. Her strategic use of peer groups and coaching underscores the importance of guidance and support in fast-tracking business growth.
Have you ever thought traditional recruitment methods were inefficient? Libby did, too, leading her to revolutionize the process inspired by the book "Exponential Organization." Facing the dual challenges of business growth and pregnancy, she developed a streamlined recruitment method that scaled her business and evolved into a successful recruiting SaaS software during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now serving hundreds of home service companies, this innovative tool transforms the hiring process, and Libby’s story demonstrates the profound impact of mentorship and curiosity in tech entrepreneurship.
Authenticity and core values are the heartbeat of Libby's business philosophy. Throughout this episode, she shares actionable insights on embedding these principles into your company culture. From the index card test to showcasing real employees on social media, Libby emphasizes a people-first approach that attracts talent and fosters a thriving work environment. Discover how prioritizing your employees can lead to exceptional customer service and unparalleled business success. You won't want to miss this episode filled with practical tips and inspirational stories from a remarkable entrepreneur.
Want to connect with Libby?
Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn YouTube
Free WootRecruit Recruiting Toolkit
Learn more about ASCEND - Applications being accepted through June 25th!
Connect more with Tanya & Ladies Kickin Ass…
Facebook LinkedIn YouTube TikTok Website Insta
Join: BadAss Inner Circle
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Ladies Kickin' Ass Podcast, where we
help you ignite your innerbadass and create the service
business of your dreams.
I'm your host, Tanya Wilson,and together we'll dive into
inspiring stories and expertcoaching to set your journey on
fire.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome back ladies, welcome back ladies.
I'm so excited to have anincredible guest on the podcast
today.
Libby delucian is a verymulti-faceted woman and I'm
super excited for you to hearall the different areas where
she's decided to step out and bean entrepreneur.
She's what I would consider aserial entrepreneur.
She has passion in a fewdifferent lanes, which I think
it's really really super cool.
And, like we always do with allthe guests on the podcast, we
want you to see what it lookslike to be able to bust into the
(00:56):
home service industry, and itdoesn't mean that you have to be
the person out doing theservice with things.
You can actually own thisbusiness and, like Libby's going
to explain to you today, sheeven created software for the
business where she saw there wasa need and a lack in the
marketplace.
So, so excited to have Libby onthe show today.
Libby, why don't you go aheadand give us a little bit of your
(01:16):
background into the journey ofgetting into the home service
industry?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, awesome.
So I am a, or I come from afamily of entrepreneurs.
Um, I've really I've never beena w-2, um, except for my own
business.
That's a whole different topic.
But, um, you know, I I ownedbusinesses prior to owning a
home service business.
I've owned a bar, restaurant,um, but I went through a really
(01:45):
horrible, horrible divorce,separation, and I was fighting
for custody of my kids and Ineeded something that was a very
low startup, something that letme control my time, so I could
drop off our kids, pick them upfrom school and my job not be
(02:05):
used against me for a custodybattle.
And so it's a very deep story.
But how I got into home servicewas because it was a very low
startup, it was a very lowoverhead and to really get going
, but it was something that Icould actually do myself to get
started, but you don't have todo it yourself.
But that's really how I started.
(02:28):
I started first professionalorganizing.
There's a great money in thatindustry, it's a very high
hourly rate you can earn, butthere's literally no startup
when it comes to organizing.
And then, a few years later, Igot this grand idea that I
wanted to make money withoutworking, and so I added the
(02:50):
cleaning division to organize it.
So we do residential and lightcommercial cleaning as well, and
from there it just took off.
It actually it exploded.
The organizing side explodedthe residential, because it's
recurring revenue was reallygreat for the business.
But I knew nothing aboutcleaning when I started, so
(03:13):
don't even think that you haveto know anything about the
industry.
I joined peer groups.
I read every book I could getmy hands on and I just started
to ask questions and get curiousabout you know how does the
business work?
I would hire them.
I would hire companies to comein and service my house so I
could watch them, I could gothrough the sales experience, I
(03:36):
could figure out, like how dothey treat a lead Because I
actually had no idea, because Ihadn't come from the home
service industry at any part ofit, and I grew from zero to
three million to to a million inthree years, which I was for a
cleaning.
That's pretty substantialgrowth.
It was a wild ride.
(03:57):
I made a ton of mistakes, youknow, but I couldn't have done
it without finding a peer group,a coach, some guidance.
My solution was to buy myanswers or my solutions versus
trying to figure them out.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I honestly think that is a very, very powerful story
right there, because a lot oftimes we waste a lot of time
trying to figure everything outwhen there's somebody out there
that knows how to help you.
That's like, especially in theworld that we live in now, with
podcasts and all the stuff thatwe have, like you can learn so
much from free podcasts all thetime.
(04:34):
That's really one of the bigreasons why this podcast exists.
Like I want to be able to giveback, because I was that woman
once upon a time too, that wentto start a business.
You know, you're good at theperson that I had partnered with
.
You're really great at runningthe field side of stuff.
Now you need to run thebusiness and I'm like, how the
hell do I build a website?
(04:55):
How do I set up my QuickBooks?
How do I make this phone ringLike, how do I do any of this
stuff?
And so we spend a lot of timethat we could be growing by
trying to learn how to dosomething from scratch.
Did you find a peer group whenyou were looking for one that
was very home services centric,or were you just kind of open to
(05:17):
like going to as many things asyou possibly could?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
could A little bit of both.
I found a specific peer groupthat really helped me, specific
to residential cleaning, andthen I did join some other peer
groups that were not specific toresidential cleaning.
They were specific to homeservice.
Recurring home service, like Ithink in the group, was like
pool and lawn care andlandscaping, and I learned so
much from both groups.
So I think they both has itsbenefits of going very industry
(05:52):
specific and then also, you know, getting a little bit wider
with that, because it alsoseparated me from my competitors
.
Yeah, absolutely.
I was incorporating some thingsthat I learned from the lawn
care guys into residentialcleaning, and no one had ever
seen that.
They're like, oh my gosh,that's amazing like I sold it
(06:12):
from the lawn care guys.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I think sometimes the people that we maybe don't
think about the most that we canlearn from it.
Sometimes you're like, oh mygosh, like it's a light bulb
moment that maybe somebody likeyou said that it separates you
from the competitors becauseit's something that somebody in
this industry has never put touse before.
I remember when we decided withmy septic company to finally
just like go digital witheverything in that this industry
(06:39):
.
It's so difficult to findpeople that still do digital
things and even to to this day,like we've been like that for
years, obviously, but even tothis day people are just rave
about like communication was sogreat and all the stuff.
Well, we've got it set up towhere it's all automated at this
point, and so it's like thoselittle things that you can do to
always be out and about infront of your competitors.
(07:01):
But don't ever think that youhave to stagnate yourself with
just your industry, because ifyou're only learning from them,
you're not kind of seeing someof that outside of the box stuff
that you are able to learn.
So when you had your Organizeit company, at what point was it
that you decided like maybethere's a opportunity to be able
(07:23):
to build a software company tohelp support this industry.
Is that because of a lack thatyou saw there, or was it just
that you wanted to incorporateall those outside of the box
ideas into something that wouldhelp other people grow?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So somebody asked me this just I think it was
yesterday because I started toorganize it.
It now has three locations.
I have two SaaS companieswriting a book, doing some other
things and everyone's like, wasthat your intention?
And absolutely no, it was notmy intention.
But I think, with even addingthe cleaning division to
(08:00):
Organize it right how that cameabout and then adding my first
SaaS company, it all came fromkeeping an open mind and being
curious.
So what is that keeping an openmind?
I never thought about addingcleaning until one of our
organizing customers said, hey,do you not clean?
I need a really good cleaningcompany.
(08:21):
Do you have anyone on your team?
And I was kind of like, huh,let me check on that.
And the same thing happenedwith the SAS product.
I had no intentions of buildinga SAS and what happened was
right.
When I started the cleaningdivision, I got pregnant with my
(08:42):
daughter because it was a fewyears into organizing.
I had remarried and I reallygot.
I got pregnant with my daughterand I had cleaned my way into a
job.
So for those that are in thefield, started something and
it's kind of like it feels likeyou're trapped and you can't get
out.
Now, that's what I did tomyself and we were so busy.
(09:03):
I cleaned my way into a job.
I was trying to recruit thetraditional way and it was
absolutely stupid.
Um, it was just like, and I I'mlike what?
What is going on here?
This is horrible.
Um, the amount of work andeffort and no show rate.
And I said there's got to be aneasier way.
Um, you know, it's all.
(09:24):
It's also amazing what happenswhen we're desperate, because I
think when fear and desperationsit in, that's really where
innovation starts to come toplay.
Um, and I went to the kind ofwent back to the drawing board
because I would clean all day,run to a Starbucks to change my
clothes, because I alwaysinterviewed in business attire
(09:46):
to you know all sweaty in SouthFlorida to just run there for no
one to show up for an interview, like no one.
And I'm like this is, this isdumb.
So I went back to the drawingboard and my organizing side
kicked in and I said I'm goingto create a process because
that's all software is.
That's all any really softwareis.
(10:07):
It's a process that someone hascreated that then use tech to
automate it or simplify it.
And so I created a process andI read this book and it was
called Exponential Organizationand it's the theory of round,
where all unicorn companies anda unicorn company is 100 million
(10:28):
in 10 years how unicorncompanies are created?
Because we all have the sameamount of time in a day.
So when we want to createsomething that's super powerful,
we have to leverage either timeor an asset, and what that
means is I just want you guys tothink about, like Airbnb and
(10:49):
Uber.
They are unicorn companiesbecause they were able to
leverage an asset.
They're leveraging our asset.
I have an Airbnb.
Or if you're an Uber driver,they're leveraging your car.
So, as I'm creating this process, I'm like I have no more time.
I already have two kids.
I'm pregnant with my third.
I'm so scared that I'm going tofail, right, and but I have no
(11:13):
more time because I'm runningthe office.
I'm in the field still and Isaid, well, if I listened to the
book, I have to leveragesomething and who has the time?
The applicants have all thetime something and who has the
time?
The applicants have all thetime.
So I created the process thatleverages the applicants time
and I gave a presentation on it.
(11:33):
It worked amazing for ourcompany.
That's one way I grew from zeroto a million and three years
and it.
You know, when I gave thatpresentation on it I didn't
think anything of it.
I don't know if you're like meat all for any of the listeners.
When you make something,everybody's like, oh my God,
it's great, it's amazing, andyou're just kind of like I mean,
it's OK because we made it.
(11:54):
We don't ever, we don't.
Sometimes we don't think likethat of ourselves.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
And I just thought it was OK.
And my business mentor that Ihad acquired when I started my
cleaning company, she said Iwant you to come to our
conference and teach on thisprocess.
I said, okay, like sure, and Idid.
And one of my friends I'dalready I'd already knew him.
He was in the audience.
He was like this was the bestthing I ever seen, like ever,
(12:21):
can you build this for mybusiness?
Um, and that was March of 2020when COVID hit, I remember,
because we weren't even sure wewere in Dallas, that we could
fly home because they'd shuteverything down, shut the
airports down.
I said, sure, I don't even knowwhat, like what we're going
home to.
And I built it for him.
We took that process.
(12:42):
I, I took him from 17 texts to32 texts in a matter of like two
months and he was.
He came back to me and he hadsaid hey, are you you want to
build this thing and offer it toother people?
He's like it's amazing.
And again, it's keeping yourmind open, like creating those
(13:03):
conversations but also beingcurious to like just not always
say no, but also not always sayyes, keeping your mind open to
listen and then say, hey, let me, let me think about that.
That sounds really interesting.
Let me research it, be curiousabout it.
I went back to him and I waslike, yeah, sure, let's go.
So we took all that year ofCOVID and built it and tested it
(13:23):
.
We offered it to our friendsfor free to see does this work
for everybody?
And we went live in 2021, rightin January of 2021, with our
recruiting SaaS software andwe're recruiting for hundreds
and hundreds of home servicecompanies now.
It has been an absolutelyincredible ride, and this girl
(13:45):
sitting right here didn't evengo to college.
I graduated high school.
I just look at myself like I'mjust some little Mexican Indian
girl that grew up in Oklahomathat if I can create a SaaS
product like anybody can createa SaaS product, you don't need
all this coding and developwhatever.
(14:07):
At the same time, I didn't knowwhat I was doing at all and I
went and found a mentor in theSaaS space to help me, to guide
me.
Like, how do you price a SaaSproduct?
Like, how do we market it?
Because I was marketing it tomy current circle and they loved
it, and so now we havefranchises on board.
(14:28):
Like it is killing it, it'scrushing it and it was a
complete accident.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
That is such an awesome story and maybe, if half
of them show up, you're lucky.
So what is it about yourprogram that you created that
helps alleviate some of thestuff?
Because, libby, that is one ofthe number one things that gets
asked in the community istalking about the pain points of
hiring and how you findqualified people and how you get
(15:20):
them to show up and what kindof you know like where, where
the hell do you even go to findthese people?
So I'm so interested in whatthis, this software, is.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
So, again, it's leveraged by the applicant's
time.
So the first thing I want tosay is not an ATS.
And what does that mean?
Because everybody's like, well,I don't even know what that is.
So if you're using things likeJazz HR, you're using things
like Bamboo HR.
Those are ATSs.
And my stance on ATSs is they'rebarbarically outdated, like
(15:54):
barbarically outdated ATSs,don't have the functionality and
they're also not user friendly.
What it is is an applicanttracking system, and I make a
lot of not friends in this spacebecause I say that about ATSs
and that's the majority of whatsoftwares are.
Right, they're an ATS, they'reslow and they still require some
(16:17):
of our input from the office orfrom the owner or from
whoever's leading thatrecruiting process.
So we're not an ATS, we are asoftware that is powered.
We call it a flywheel.
It's powered because a flywheelcontinues to move the engine
with momentum.
It is powered by an applicant.
It is the sexiest processyou've ever seen and the reason
(16:41):
I built it that way is becauseit has to be for the applicants
to want to continue to gothrough that engine, to move
through that process, to show upKind of like wow.
So all of it's guided by videofor that applicant experience.
It's sexy, so the applicantwants to apply if it resonates
with them.
But it's also fast.
(17:02):
It's like the Uber ofrecruiting.
I can remove an applicant off ofthe market faster than my
competitors because of thisprocess, and great applicants
are only on the market for sixdays and you don't know where
they found you in those six days.
So you could apply and show upto my job or my interview within
30 minutes because the softwaredoes all of the automatic, all
(17:26):
of the automations of qualifying, disqualifying, inviting them
to the interview, all that jazz.
The offices are doingabsolutely nothing until that
applicant shows up at their door, and we even have a process for
dealing with no shows andleveraging your time on that
aspect as well.
The other part that makes thisdifferent is that it actually
(17:50):
works.
What do I mean by that?
Most ATSs or recruitingsoftwares are made by men in
suits who have never owned aservice company, who don't know
what the hell they're doing.
This was made by a home serviceowner who was out in the field
scrubbing toilets, desperate toget out of the field, and so we
(18:12):
had to make a process thatactually worked and it's proven,
it's tested and it's trusted byhundreds, like 700 companies to
get results.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
That is incredible, so, so incredible.
So is everything set up withjust automation.
It's all automated through ituntil they show up for interview
time and you know that theyalready meet the qualifications
of what you need.
I'm looking at this.
Let's give an example here.
I'm looking at this.
I am constantly looking for CDLlicensed service technicians
(18:48):
for my pump trucks.
So it's like one of those whereit's like they might have
worked for a septic or sewercompany in the past but they
don't have a CDL.
So by the time they get hereand show up, I'm like, oh great,
now we've got this big trainingthing, which we have a training
program, but most of the timewe want to find them.
You've already got the license,we just got to train you in
this industry and we're ready torock and roll.
(19:08):
So you can even detail it downas far as that stuff to make
sure that the people that areshowing up for interviews are
all people that have alreadybeen screened for all of this.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Yes, for all of this.
Yes, screen for qualifications,right Qualifying screening, not
screening for core values orcharacteristics, because that's
part of that.
That's what should happen inthe interview, but 100 percent
yes.
Now there's another side torecruit.
That is the most popular.
One of the most popular sidesis we have our software, we have
(19:39):
our SAS, but I also have aservice side to recruit, which
is the recruiting software.
What is that?
Hey, we have our SaaS, but Ialso have a service side to
WootRecruit, which is therecruiting software.
What is that?
Hey, libby, like I freakinghate all of it.
I don't want to write my job ad.
I don't want to post or repost,because even with an ATS, we
have to repost, post budget.
What's the budget?
Are we within budget?
We have recruiting Sherpas thatyou can add on to have a
(20:02):
completely done for you process,and so that is like one of our
most popular parts of WeRecruitas well.
You have to have the softwarestill, but that recruiting
Sherpa will manage, like yourcalendar, your budget.
Are you within budget?
How many do we have scheduledall aspects so that you don't
(20:24):
have to worry about anything butgrowing your company Because it
takes up.
We said our service side savesabout $750,000 to a
million-dollar company.
About eight to ten hours ofoffice work a week.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Wow, that's huge.
That is super huge, andespecially for service companies
, because I know like there's alot of mid-sized service
companies.
They don't have like an HRperson on staff.
It's typically the owner thatis hiring everybody with stuff.
So something like this and justthe automation and leveraging
this stuff.
This is such a greatconversation because so much in
(21:03):
the home service industry.
I think people feel like theyhave to bootstrap it and they
got to figure it all out Like westarted with this interview
about how you have to doeverything on your own and
create everything on your own.
This is why I love to introduceamazing women like Libby on the
podcast.
That is, they've already solvedsomething for you.
So this is another thing thatyou can integrate into a
(21:24):
business to help you be able toget the right people on the bus.
We definitely need to have that, because these businesses
aren't built by us.
They're built by the peoplethat we hire to come into the
community, which it is, and thecompany to make sure that you've
got really great qualifiedpeople in there.
(21:44):
If you keep hiring people justkind of like, well, this is the
best that we could find, which Iknow a lot of people are at
that point you almost like areshooting yourself in the foot
because you got to start overagain in four months, when they
don't work out, because theywere the best you could find.
So I think this is a reallyamazing, amazing software.
Thank you for sharing so muchabout that.
(22:05):
And in the spirit of hiring ofstuff, you know, I think one of
the most important things withina business that you can ever
possibly do and we talk about itall the time here on the
podcast is creating anincredible culture where people
actually want to come and workfor your company too.
So when you have been buildingyour teams, libby, what is
something that you've reallyfocused on in building like a
(22:27):
really strong company culturewithin the business?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
So the first thing I want to say is for all of us in
the home service industry we allthink that we're in the service
of like cleaning or home repairor construction or even septic,
but in reality we're not.
That is not the industry we'rein as a home service provider.
We are in the recruitingindustry.
(22:54):
So why?
Because if we can hire andattract and retain the best
talent, we will win.
We will beat our competitorsand we will win.
And that takes care of quality,that takes care of all these
other issues, right, being heldhostage to our company by bad
employees.
So when we and I think that wewere taught by some mentors and
(23:20):
coaches you know that, oh,recruiting maybe isn't on the
forefront, it's your quality,right, it's your sales, it's
your pricing.
But if we can change ourmindset and say you know, we're
not actually in the business ofcleaning houses, we're in the
business of recruiting, we canrecruit the top talent and
retain them faster than ourcompetitors, we will win this
(23:42):
race.
But here's where the problemlies is that most of us look at
it like the thing I have to dowhen someone quits, the thing I
have to do when someone no-shows, or I fire them instead of the
thing I get to do and get reallygood at.
So that is how, also, you startbuilding.
(24:02):
Your culture is to always berecruiting so that you can have
a team of A players that fityour culture.
But on the flip side of thatthe owner, you have to know what
your values are before you caneven start to hire for your
values.
I think one of the hardestthings for at least for me, was
(24:24):
when I first started I justcopied my core values like from
things I saw on the internet,because I'm like, oh, that's not
important, like, oh, I don'tneed that yet I need to go clean
, I need better quality, rightand I think until I got serious
about what were our values andthen I had to live those, eat
those, breathe those.
(24:45):
I couldn't hire for them, so Iwasn't hiring right.
Yeah, I did a really, reallygreat exercise.
This is just recently, in thelast two years, and it's a book.
It's called Vivid Vision.
It's by Cameron Herold.
(25:20):
No-transcript wanted thiscompany to look like, feel like
what I wanted my employees tosay about it, what I wanted our
customers to be saying, what Iwanted the media to be saying,
because then that guided me inevery decision and every person
I hired and every person I fired.
It guided them as well in thedecisions they made.
(25:40):
So I think, to really buildthat great culture it's not
games, right.
It's not contests, becausethose are band-aids, those are
short fixes to long-term issues.
So getting really real withwhat your values are and then
living those, eating those andbreathing those in front of your
(26:01):
employees at all times, becauseif you're not doing that, then
I would beg to say the corevalues you have are not true to
you.
Go back to the drawing boardand really get deep with what
those are and then start holdingpeople to those.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, and I think one of the big things when creating
those core values, because ifyou go into most companies and
you look at their values, thatthey're so proudly displayed on
their wall, you're like howauthentic is this to you as the
owner of the business?
Because if you're present,especially in a home service
(26:41):
company, everyone startsbehaving around modeled behavior
.
And if you have just thrown,like you say at the beginning,
like just a bunch of shit thatyou found off the internet
together and something thatlooks really pretty on the wall
and we think we should be doingthis, but if you don't
authentically hold that and havepassion around those things, no
(27:05):
one else is gonna mirror thosethings.
It is really to a point whereyour employees need to be able
to tell you right off the batexactly what those core values
are that they stand for.
Every single day within thebusiness.
It's something that we talkabout every single morning when
we're having morning huddles andtalking about stuff within our
(27:25):
department meetings.
We're always talking about whatthose core values are and if
you don't have them displayedwhere someone can see them and
you aren't living them andyou're not recognizing people by
those values.
They tend to be just somepretty wall art.
So if you haven't done that, Ithink a lot of times with home
service too, they're like well,there's only three of us, so
(27:46):
we'll do that later when it, youknow, it actually matters.
It's like systems and processes, like get that shit together
when it's just you and thenwatch your team scale
exponentially.
You know, instead of trying toplay catch up the entire time.
Once now you've got a team of13 and you have nothing written
down and you got to takeeverything out of here.
(28:06):
So core values absolutely areeverything in hiring.
I think something, too, that Ilove to share with you and get
your feedback on is leveragingour social media within our
business to really demonstratewhat the core values of our team
look like, what I have learnedso much, and especially in our
industry I'm in the Phoenixmarket.
(28:28):
I am the only septic companythat consistently uses social
media period and inconsistent, Imean, like the other company
that kind of uses it probablyposted in 2021.
But it is a beautifulrecruiting tool because when
people start doing researchabout your company when you are
(28:49):
hiring, they want to see are youreally what you say you are?
You know you're.
You say you're doing epic shitover there at the septic company
.
How are you showing that?
You know, like we like to showthe cool and the funny things
that we find on jobs, we like toshow the people that are in our
business.
We always do spotlights onpeople.
We appreciate people and theycan see that and feel it through
(29:11):
our social media presence.
What is your take on usingsocial media to really create a
excellent culture and to be ableto demonstrate that in the
recruiting process?
Do you think that's a good wayto go?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Absolutely.
One great test to test evenyourself and your team is to do
the index card test.
And that is give them an indexcard, ask them to write the core
values down.
See how many people can writeall of them down.
Right, we should only havethree to five.
But the index card test is agreat test to say are you living
(29:48):
those core values or are theyjust pretty words on a wall?
And then with social media, weuse social media a ton.
We use social media a ton.
We post daily, if not multipletimes a day, for our home
service company.
But I have a rule.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
I have a rule as in you're not allowed to use a
stock picture of a fake personon my social media.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I don't care if you're our in-house marketer.
I don't care if you're ourin-house social media marketer
if you're an agency we're payingfor ads.
Do not use a picture of a fakeperson.
There are all these stockimages that go around within the
cleaning residential side thatare just like make me want to
vomit.
We know that that's fake.
Nobody cleans in yellow rubbergloves like that and it's
horrible.
But here's the downside is thatthe people who are applying for
(30:46):
your job 89% of people whoapplied for your job will check
out your social media.
They will check you out onlineHands down 89% of people.
So what are they seeing when youpromote it to them on, like,
say, indeed or any other jobboard, and then they go and look
(31:07):
you up online over here andit's like, well, you said you're
all about employees, but youdon't even show one of your
employees online or on yourwebsite or on your social media.
You say you're all aboutemployees, but do your reviews
reflect that?
If you go, look at our reviews?
Because we have things benefitsin place where if they mention
our cleaners by name, thecleaner gets an incentive and
(31:30):
you're going to see like Winner,maria Jessica, why?
Because we're highlightingthose people so that when
perspective, good fits arelooking, us see, oh, they are
all about their employees.
Years ago I got out of that.
I care about my customers and Ido care, but I care about we're
a PCR company, a people,customers, results driven
(31:53):
company.
So people come first, thencustomers, then results, and
that, for us, has fixedeverything and that, for us, has
fixed everything.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yes, I think, as a owner or CEO of a business, even
if you're in a leadershipmanagement role, take care of
your people.
It is not your job to take careof the customers.
That's your people's job is totake care of the customers.
If you do a really good jobtaking care of your people, you
don't have to worry about that.
It is far and few between thatyou have upset or distraught or
(32:23):
something didn't go right,because when you take care of
people and you see people inyour business, they want to go
above and beyond for you.
They want to show up, they wantto do a good job.
At the end of the day, everybodywants to be a part of something
.
Everybody wants to help buildsomething, be a part of
something, feel like they'recontributing in some fashion.
(32:43):
And the more you can shift yourfocus to not the tasks but to
the people, it does make amassive, massive difference.
Like if somebody leaves mybusiness and decides oh, I'm
going to go to a differentpumping business, which I can
fairly say I have never knownanybody that has done that.
That has worked for one of mycompanies Because you're not
(33:04):
going to go work for a betterseptic company, because I want
to treat all of these peoplelike they're part of my family.
We are a small company andthat's what people in the trades
and home service industryreally, really look for.
You know, get to know theirfamilies, get to know their
kid's name, ask them how theirweekend was.
Genuinely care about yourpeople and it just it's amazing
(33:27):
what will happen to yourbusiness.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Absolutely Love that.
I always say you know, I don'tcan 100% offer the best job in
Fort Myers.
Oh, I like that.
So that's our goal.
And now we have multiplelocations of our cleaning
(33:52):
division and our organizingdivision.
So again, I know that I may nothave the best job in the world,
but I know I can offer the bestjob in Fort Myers.
And why is that?
We have great pay and we careabout our people to another
level, but that's the benefit ofworking with a home service
company that really puts thesethings first.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yes, absolutely Well, what a great conversation today
.
Libby, I want to thank you somuch for your time and all of
your information that you haveshared with us today, and just
this has always been like amajor pain point for me.
I've been in the home serviceindustry for 15 years.
I know plenty of women thathave, and men that have been in
this that you know recruitingand that culture building thing
(34:33):
can be really, really difficultfor them.
But it really does start at thetop.
It starts with those values.
It starts with the way that youtreat the people that are
coming in, the way you show up.
If you talk the talk, you gotto walk the walk, because if you
want people to test you, thisis the industry to be in to find
out about that.
They will tell you who you areand how you behave.
(34:55):
So I really love that aboutthis industry and there's just
so much opportunity here, andthis is why we continue to keep
talking about it, because onewomen have a beautiful touch on
coming into a home serviceindustry and building a culture.
By nature, I think most womenare really good community
builders and so I think when youreally look at your business
(35:16):
like that it is like the sky'snot even the limit in what you
can actually create and offerthe best jobs in the world.
My company definitely doesn'toffer the most glamorous sexy
job in the world, but my pumptruck guys can make easily over
six figures a year just by theopportunities that are put in
front of them.
(35:36):
So that's a pretty good payingjob for somebody in their early
20s to be able to find if theywant to come in and do a really
great job.
So thank you so so much forwhat you've been able to give us
and, living at the end of everyone of these podcasts, I'd love
to always just have a moment ofconnection with you in asking
you a what it really means toyou to be someone that is out
(36:01):
there living a mission,something that you enjoy doing
on a daily basis, the reason whyyou're building businesses, the
reason why you choose to dowhat you do.
So when you hear the phraseladies kicking ass, what does
that mean to you in your life?
Speaker 3 (36:19):
So for me, what it means in my life, to me and my
life is you know, I think thatsometimes women we were really
hard on ourself, right, but wecan definitely kick some ass.
But we also have superpowers.
Superpowers as in like, we'renaturally empathetic where that
is the number one sought skillfor male CEOs and we tend to shy
(36:46):
away from that because we don'twant to be a woman.
We don't want to be.
But instead of leaning intothat empathy, who we are and our
natural tendencies as women,like you said, building
communities can create thedifferentiator you need from
your competitor to get greatemployees.
And once you realize you can dothat and it comes natural
instead of trying to not beyourself or not be so girly or
(37:09):
womanly, um, it can reallycreate so much for you that what
it means to me is like now um,my husband works for our company
one of our companies.
My mom works for one of ourcompanies.
My 26 year old works for one ofour companies.
My mom works for one of ourcompanies.
My 26-year-old works for one ofour companies.
My sister leads the sales inanother company of ours.
It gives me so much pride andpassion to be able to do this
(37:36):
not just for strangers like toemploy strangers but to employ
my own family and then to teachother women that you know your
past doesn't have to define you.
You define who you are.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Oh, that's beautiful and that's super heartfelt,
because if if you stay downevery time, things have kind of
come a wrong angle at you.
You know, look at what we wouldbe missing in the world with so
many women that have done suchgreat things.
So I absolutely love that.
That was an emotional one forme.
So thank you so much forsharing that, libby, if people
(38:13):
want to connect with you online,where is the best place for
them to find you?
Speaker 3 (38:17):
at Sure.
I mean, libbydcom is a website.
It's kind of just a catch-alllanding page to all my
businesses.
But I'm the only Libby DeLucianin the world, so if you can
figure out how to spell my lastname, I'm very easy to find on
social media.
But yeah, libbydcom or LibbyDeLucian is every one of my
(38:38):
social media handles.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
All right, excellent, and we'll tag all those in the
show notes everybody.
Thank you so much again, libby.
I appreciate it, and until nexttime, ladies, keep kicking some
ass.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Thanks for being part of the ladies kick and ask
community Cheers to all youbadass women out there.
Keep rocking your power,igniting your fire and making
waves in the service industry.
If you loved today's episode,please do me a quick favor.
Take a screenshot, post it andtag us at Ladies Kicking Ass.
Be sure to include the link toyour favorite episode.
(39:15):
Your support in spreading theword means the world to us as we
aim to empower even more women.
Hit that subscribe button tostay tuned for more kick-ass
episodes.
And don't forget a five-starreview is the ultimate high five
.
Connect with us on social media.
All the links are in the shownotes.
Thank you for being part of ourtribe.
Now go kick some serious ass,lady.
Welcome to the Ladies Kickin' Ass Podcast, where we
help you ignite your innerbadass and create the service
business of your dreams.
I'm your host, Tanya Wilson,and together we'll dive into
inspiring stories and expertcoaching to set your journey on
fire.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome back ladies, welcome back ladies.
I'm so excited to have anincredible guest on the podcast
today.
Libby delucian is a verymulti-faceted woman and I'm
super excited for you to hearall the different areas where
she's decided to step out and bean entrepreneur.
She's what I would consider aserial entrepreneur.
She has passion in a fewdifferent lanes, which I think
it's really really super cool.
And, like we always do with allthe guests on the podcast, we
want you to see what it lookslike to be able to bust into the
(00:56):
home service industry, and itdoesn't mean that you have to be
the person out doing theservice with things.
You can actually own thisbusiness and, like Libby's going
to explain to you today, sheeven created software for the
business where she saw there wasa need and a lack in the
marketplace.
So, so excited to have Libby onthe show today.
Libby, why don't you go aheadand give us a little bit of your
(01:16):
background into the journey ofgetting into the home service
industry?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, awesome.
So I am a, or I come from afamily of entrepreneurs.
Um, I've really I've never beena w-2, um, except for my own
business.
That's a whole different topic.
But, um, you know, I I ownedbusinesses prior to owning a
home service business.
I've owned a bar, restaurant,um, but I went through a really
(01:45):
horrible, horrible divorce,separation, and I was fighting
for custody of my kids and Ineeded something that was a very
low startup, something that letme control my time, so I could
drop off our kids, pick them upfrom school and my job not be
(02:05):
used against me for a custodybattle.
And so it's a very deep story.
But how I got into home servicewas because it was a very low
startup, it was a very lowoverhead and to really get going
, but it was something that Icould actually do myself to get
started, but you don't have todo it yourself.
But that's really how I started.
(02:28):
I started first professionalorganizing.
There's a great money in thatindustry, it's a very high
hourly rate you can earn, butthere's literally no startup
when it comes to organizing.
And then, a few years later, Igot this grand idea that I
wanted to make money withoutworking, and so I added the
(02:50):
cleaning division to organize it.
So we do residential and lightcommercial cleaning as well, and
from there it just took off.
It actually it exploded.
The organizing side explodedthe residential, because it's
recurring revenue was reallygreat for the business.
But I knew nothing aboutcleaning when I started, so
(03:13):
don't even think that you haveto know anything about the
industry.
I joined peer groups.
I read every book I could getmy hands on and I just started
to ask questions and get curiousabout you know how does the
business work?
I would hire them.
I would hire companies to comein and service my house so I
could watch them, I could gothrough the sales experience, I
(03:36):
could figure out, like how dothey treat a lead Because I
actually had no idea, because Ihadn't come from the home
service industry at any part ofit, and I grew from zero to
three million to to a million inthree years, which I was for a
cleaning.
That's pretty substantialgrowth.
It was a wild ride.
(03:57):
I made a ton of mistakes, youknow, but I couldn't have done
it without finding a peer group,a coach, some guidance.
My solution was to buy myanswers or my solutions versus
trying to figure them out.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I honestly think that is a very, very powerful story
right there, because a lot oftimes we waste a lot of time
trying to figure everything outwhen there's somebody out there
that knows how to help you.
That's like, especially in theworld that we live in now, with
podcasts and all the stuff thatwe have, like you can learn so
much from free podcasts all thetime.
(04:34):
That's really one of the bigreasons why this podcast exists.
Like I want to be able to giveback, because I was that woman
once upon a time too, that wentto start a business.
You know, you're good at theperson that I had partnered with
.
You're really great at runningthe field side of stuff.
Now you need to run thebusiness and I'm like, how the
hell do I build a website?
(04:55):
How do I set up my QuickBooks?
How do I make this phone ringLike, how do I do any of this
stuff?
And so we spend a lot of timethat we could be growing by
trying to learn how to dosomething from scratch.
Did you find a peer group whenyou were looking for one that
was very home services centric,or were you just kind of open to
(05:17):
like going to as many things asyou possibly could?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
could A little bit of both.
I found a specific peer groupthat really helped me, specific
to residential cleaning, andthen I did join some other peer
groups that were not specific toresidential cleaning.
They were specific to homeservice.
Recurring home service, like Ithink in the group, was like
pool and lawn care andlandscaping, and I learned so
much from both groups.
So I think they both has itsbenefits of going very industry
(05:52):
specific and then also, you know, getting a little bit wider
with that, because it alsoseparated me from my competitors
.
Yeah, absolutely.
I was incorporating some thingsthat I learned from the lawn
care guys into residentialcleaning, and no one had ever
seen that.
They're like, oh my gosh,that's amazing like I sold it
(06:12):
from the lawn care guys.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I think sometimes the people that we maybe don't
think about the most that we canlearn from it.
Sometimes you're like, oh mygosh, like it's a light bulb
moment that maybe somebody likeyou said that it separates you
from the competitors becauseit's something that somebody in
this industry has never put touse before.
I remember when we decided withmy septic company to finally
just like go digital witheverything in that this industry
(06:39):
.
It's so difficult to findpeople that still do digital
things and even to to this day,like we've been like that for
years, obviously, but even tothis day people are just rave
about like communication was sogreat and all the stuff.
Well, we've got it set up towhere it's all automated at this
point, and so it's like thoselittle things that you can do to
always be out and about infront of your competitors.
(07:01):
But don't ever think that youhave to stagnate yourself with
just your industry, because ifyou're only learning from them,
you're not kind of seeing someof that outside of the box stuff
that you are able to learn.
So when you had your Organizeit company, at what point was it
that you decided like maybethere's a opportunity to be able
(07:23):
to build a software company tohelp support this industry.
Is that because of a lack thatyou saw there, or was it just
that you wanted to incorporateall those outside of the box
ideas into something that wouldhelp other people grow?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So somebody asked me this just I think it was
yesterday because I started toorganize it.
It now has three locations.
I have two SaaS companieswriting a book, doing some other
things and everyone's like, wasthat your intention?
And absolutely no, it was notmy intention.
But I think, with even addingthe cleaning division to
(08:00):
Organize it right how that cameabout and then adding my first
SaaS company, it all came fromkeeping an open mind and being
curious.
So what is that keeping an openmind?
I never thought about addingcleaning until one of our
organizing customers said, hey,do you not clean?
I need a really good cleaningcompany.
(08:21):
Do you have anyone on your team?
And I was kind of like, huh,let me check on that.
And the same thing happenedwith the SAS product.
I had no intentions of buildinga SAS and what happened was
right.
When I started the cleaningdivision, I got pregnant with my
(08:42):
daughter because it was a fewyears into organizing.
I had remarried and I reallygot.
I got pregnant with my daughterand I had cleaned my way into a
job.
So for those that are in thefield, started something and
it's kind of like it feels likeyou're trapped and you can't get
out.
Now, that's what I did tomyself and we were so busy.
(09:03):
I cleaned my way into a job.
I was trying to recruit thetraditional way and it was
absolutely stupid.
Um, it was just like, and I I'mlike what?
What is going on here?
This is horrible.
Um, the amount of work andeffort and no show rate.
And I said there's got to be aneasier way.
Um, you know, it's all.
(09:24):
It's also amazing what happenswhen we're desperate, because I
think when fear and desperationsit in, that's really where
innovation starts to come toplay.
Um, and I went to the kind ofwent back to the drawing board
because I would clean all day,run to a Starbucks to change my
clothes, because I alwaysinterviewed in business attire
(09:46):
to you know all sweaty in SouthFlorida to just run there for no
one to show up for an interview, like no one.
And I'm like this is, this isdumb.
So I went back to the drawingboard and my organizing side
kicked in and I said I'm goingto create a process because
that's all software is.
That's all any really softwareis.
(10:07):
It's a process that someone hascreated that then use tech to
automate it or simplify it.
And so I created a process andI read this book and it was
called Exponential Organizationand it's the theory of round,
where all unicorn companies anda unicorn company is 100 million
(10:28):
in 10 years how unicorncompanies are created?
Because we all have the sameamount of time in a day.
So when we want to createsomething that's super powerful,
we have to leverage either timeor an asset, and what that
means is I just want you guys tothink about, like Airbnb and
(10:49):
Uber.
They are unicorn companiesbecause they were able to
leverage an asset.
They're leveraging our asset.
I have an Airbnb.
Or if you're an Uber driver,they're leveraging your car.
So, as I'm creating this process, I'm like I have no more time.
I already have two kids.
I'm pregnant with my third.
I'm so scared that I'm going tofail, right, and but I have no
(11:13):
more time because I'm runningthe office.
I'm in the field still and Isaid, well, if I listened to the
book, I have to leveragesomething and who has the time?
The applicants have all thetime something and who has the
time?
The applicants have all thetime.
So I created the process thatleverages the applicants time
and I gave a presentation on it.
(11:33):
It worked amazing for ourcompany.
That's one way I grew from zeroto a million and three years
and it.
You know, when I gave thatpresentation on it I didn't
think anything of it.
I don't know if you're like meat all for any of the listeners.
When you make something,everybody's like, oh my God,
it's great, it's amazing, andyou're just kind of like I mean,
it's OK because we made it.
(11:54):
We don't ever, we don't.
Sometimes we don't think likethat of ourselves.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
And I just thought it was OK.
And my business mentor that Ihad acquired when I started my
cleaning company, she said Iwant you to come to our
conference and teach on thisprocess.
I said, okay, like sure, and Idid.
And one of my friends I'dalready I'd already knew him.
He was in the audience.
He was like this was the bestthing I ever seen, like ever,
(12:21):
can you build this for mybusiness?
Um, and that was March of 2020when COVID hit, I remember,
because we weren't even sure wewere in Dallas, that we could
fly home because they'd shuteverything down, shut the
airports down.
I said, sure, I don't even knowwhat, like what we're going
home to.
And I built it for him.
We took that process.
(12:42):
I, I took him from 17 texts to32 texts in a matter of like two
months and he was.
He came back to me and he hadsaid hey, are you you want to
build this thing and offer it toother people?
He's like it's amazing.
And again, it's keeping yourmind open, like creating those
(13:03):
conversations but also beingcurious to like just not always
say no, but also not always sayyes, keeping your mind open to
listen and then say, hey, let me, let me think about that.
That sounds really interesting.
Let me research it, be curiousabout it.
I went back to him and I waslike, yeah, sure, let's go.
So we took all that year ofCOVID and built it and tested it
(13:23):
.
We offered it to our friendsfor free to see does this work
for everybody?
And we went live in 2021, rightin January of 2021, with our
recruiting SaaS software andwe're recruiting for hundreds
and hundreds of home servicecompanies now.
It has been an absolutelyincredible ride, and this girl
(13:45):
sitting right here didn't evengo to college.
I graduated high school.
I just look at myself like I'mjust some little Mexican Indian
girl that grew up in Oklahomathat if I can create a SaaS
product like anybody can createa SaaS product, you don't need
all this coding and developwhatever.
(14:07):
At the same time, I didn't knowwhat I was doing at all and I
went and found a mentor in theSaaS space to help me, to guide
me.
Like, how do you price a SaaSproduct?
Like, how do we market it?
Because I was marketing it tomy current circle and they loved
it, and so now we havefranchises on board.
(14:28):
Like it is killing it, it'scrushing it and it was a
complete accident.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
That is such an awesome story and maybe, if half
of them show up, you're lucky.
So what is it about yourprogram that you created that
helps alleviate some of thestuff?
Because, libby, that is one ofthe number one things that gets
asked in the community istalking about the pain points of
hiring and how you findqualified people and how you get
(15:20):
them to show up and what kindof you know like where, where
the hell do you even go to findthese people?
So I'm so interested in whatthis, this software, is.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
So, again, it's leveraged by the applicant's
time.
So the first thing I want tosay is not an ATS.
And what does that mean?
Because everybody's like, well,I don't even know what that is.
So if you're using things likeJazz HR, you're using things
like Bamboo HR.
Those are ATSs.
And my stance on ATSs is they'rebarbarically outdated, like
(15:54):
barbarically outdated ATSs,don't have the functionality and
they're also not user friendly.
What it is is an applicanttracking system, and I make a
lot of not friends in this spacebecause I say that about ATSs
and that's the majority of whatsoftwares are.
Right, they're an ATS, they'reslow and they still require some
(16:17):
of our input from the office orfrom the owner or from
whoever's leading thatrecruiting process.
So we're not an ATS, we are asoftware that is powered.
We call it a flywheel.
It's powered because a flywheelcontinues to move the engine
with momentum.
It is powered by an applicant.
It is the sexiest processyou've ever seen and the reason
(16:41):
I built it that way is becauseit has to be for the applicants
to want to continue to gothrough that engine, to move
through that process, to show upKind of like wow.
So all of it's guided by videofor that applicant experience.
It's sexy, so the applicantwants to apply if it resonates
with them.
But it's also fast.
(17:02):
It's like the Uber ofrecruiting.
I can remove an applicant off ofthe market faster than my
competitors because of thisprocess, and great applicants
are only on the market for sixdays and you don't know where
they found you in those six days.
So you could apply and show upto my job or my interview within
30 minutes because the softwaredoes all of the automatic, all
(17:26):
of the automations of qualifying, disqualifying, inviting them
to the interview, all that jazz.
The offices are doingabsolutely nothing until that
applicant shows up at their door, and we even have a process for
dealing with no shows andleveraging your time on that
aspect as well.
The other part that makes thisdifferent is that it actually
(17:50):
works.
What do I mean by that?
Most ATSs or recruitingsoftwares are made by men in
suits who have never owned aservice company, who don't know
what the hell they're doing.
This was made by a home serviceowner who was out in the field
scrubbing toilets, desperate toget out of the field, and so we
(18:12):
had to make a process thatactually worked and it's proven,
it's tested and it's trusted byhundreds, like 700 companies to
get results.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
That is incredible, so, so incredible.
So is everything set up withjust automation.
It's all automated through ituntil they show up for interview
time and you know that theyalready meet the qualifications
of what you need.
I'm looking at this.
Let's give an example here.
I'm looking at this.
I am constantly looking for CDLlicensed service technicians
(18:48):
for my pump trucks.
So it's like one of those whereit's like they might have
worked for a septic or sewercompany in the past but they
don't have a CDL.
So by the time they get hereand show up, I'm like, oh great,
now we've got this big trainingthing, which we have a training
program, but most of the timewe want to find them.
You've already got the license,we just got to train you in
this industry and we're ready torock and roll.
(19:08):
So you can even detail it downas far as that stuff to make
sure that the people that areshowing up for interviews are
all people that have alreadybeen screened for all of this.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Yes, for all of this.
Yes, screen for qualifications,right Qualifying screening, not
screening for core values orcharacteristics, because that's
part of that.
That's what should happen inthe interview, but 100 percent
yes.
Now there's another side torecruit.
That is the most popular.
One of the most popular sidesis we have our software, we have
(19:39):
our SAS, but I also have aservice side to recruit, which
is the recruiting software.
What is that?
Hey, we have our SaaS, but Ialso have a service side to
WootRecruit, which is therecruiting software.
What is that?
Hey, libby, like I freakinghate all of it.
I don't want to write my job ad.
I don't want to post or repost,because even with an ATS, we
have to repost, post budget.
What's the budget?
Are we within budget?
We have recruiting Sherpas thatyou can add on to have a
(20:02):
completely done for you process,and so that is like one of our
most popular parts of WeRecruitas well.
You have to have the softwarestill, but that recruiting
Sherpa will manage, like yourcalendar, your budget.
Are you within budget?
How many do we have scheduledall aspects so that you don't
(20:24):
have to worry about anything butgrowing your company Because it
takes up.
We said our service side savesabout $750,000 to a
million-dollar company.
About eight to ten hours ofoffice work a week.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Wow, that's huge.
That is super huge, andespecially for service companies
, because I know like there's alot of mid-sized service
companies.
They don't have like an HRperson on staff.
It's typically the owner thatis hiring everybody with stuff.
So something like this and justthe automation and leveraging
this stuff.
This is such a greatconversation because so much in
(21:03):
the home service industry.
I think people feel like theyhave to bootstrap it and they
got to figure it all out Like westarted with this interview
about how you have to doeverything on your own and
create everything on your own.
This is why I love to introduceamazing women like Libby on the
podcast.
That is, they've already solvedsomething for you.
So this is another thing thatyou can integrate into a
(21:24):
business to help you be able toget the right people on the bus.
We definitely need to have that, because these businesses
aren't built by us.
They're built by the peoplethat we hire to come into the
community, which it is, and thecompany to make sure that you've
got really great qualifiedpeople in there.
(21:44):
If you keep hiring people justkind of like, well, this is the
best that we could find, which Iknow a lot of people are at
that point you almost like areshooting yourself in the foot
because you got to start overagain in four months, when they
don't work out, because theywere the best you could find.
So I think this is a reallyamazing, amazing software.
Thank you for sharing so muchabout that.
(22:05):
And in the spirit of hiring ofstuff, you know, I think one of
the most important things withina business that you can ever
possibly do and we talk about itall the time here on the
podcast is creating anincredible culture where people
actually want to come and workfor your company too.
So when you have been buildingyour teams, libby, what is
something that you've reallyfocused on in building like a
(22:27):
really strong company culturewithin the business?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
So the first thing I want to say is for all of us in
the home service industry we allthink that we're in the service
of like cleaning or home repairor construction or even septic,
but in reality we're not.
That is not the industry we'rein as a home service provider.
We are in the recruitingindustry.
(22:54):
So why?
Because if we can hire andattract and retain the best
talent, we will win.
We will beat our competitorsand we will win.
And that takes care of quality,that takes care of all these
other issues, right, being heldhostage to our company by bad
employees.
So when we and I think that wewere taught by some mentors and
(23:20):
coaches you know that, oh,recruiting maybe isn't on the
forefront, it's your quality,right, it's your sales, it's
your pricing.
But if we can change ourmindset and say you know, we're
not actually in the business ofcleaning houses, we're in the
business of recruiting, we canrecruit the top talent and
retain them faster than ourcompetitors, we will win this
(23:42):
race.
But here's where the problemlies is that most of us look at
it like the thing I have to dowhen someone quits, the thing I
have to do when someone no-shows, or I fire them instead of the
thing I get to do and get reallygood at.
So that is how, also, you startbuilding.
(24:02):
Your culture is to always berecruiting so that you can have
a team of A players that fityour culture.
But on the flip side of thatthe owner, you have to know what
your values are before you caneven start to hire for your
values.
I think one of the hardestthings for at least for me, was
(24:24):
when I first started I justcopied my core values like from
things I saw on the internet,because I'm like, oh, that's not
important, like, oh, I don'tneed that yet I need to go clean
, I need better quality, rightand I think until I got serious
about what were our values andthen I had to live those, eat
those, breathe those.
(24:45):
I couldn't hire for them, so Iwasn't hiring right.
Yeah, I did a really, reallygreat exercise.
This is just recently, in thelast two years, and it's a book.
It's called Vivid Vision.
It's by Cameron Herold.
(25:20):
No-transcript wanted thiscompany to look like, feel like
what I wanted my employees tosay about it, what I wanted our
customers to be saying, what Iwanted the media to be saying,
because then that guided me inevery decision and every person
I hired and every person I fired.
It guided them as well in thedecisions they made.
(25:40):
So I think, to really buildthat great culture it's not
games, right.
It's not contests, becausethose are band-aids, those are
short fixes to long-term issues.
So getting really real withwhat your values are and then
living those, eating those andbreathing those in front of your
(26:01):
employees at all times, becauseif you're not doing that, then
I would beg to say the corevalues you have are not true to
you.
Go back to the drawing boardand really get deep with what
those are and then start holdingpeople to those.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, and I think one of the big things when creating
those core values, because ifyou go into most companies and
you look at their values, thatthey're so proudly displayed on
their wall, you're like howauthentic is this to you as the
owner of the business?
Because if you're present,especially in a home service
(26:41):
company, everyone startsbehaving around modeled behavior
.
And if you have just thrown,like you say at the beginning,
like just a bunch of shit thatyou found off the internet
together and something thatlooks really pretty on the wall
and we think we should be doingthis, but if you don't
authentically hold that and havepassion around those things, no
(27:05):
one else is gonna mirror thosethings.
It is really to a point whereyour employees need to be able
to tell you right off the batexactly what those core values
are that they stand for.
Every single day within thebusiness.
It's something that we talkabout every single morning when
we're having morning huddles andtalking about stuff within our
(27:25):
department meetings.
We're always talking about whatthose core values are and if
you don't have them displayedwhere someone can see them and
you aren't living them andyou're not recognizing people by
those values.
They tend to be just somepretty wall art.
So if you haven't done that, Ithink a lot of times with home
service too, they're like well,there's only three of us, so
(27:46):
we'll do that later when it, youknow, it actually matters.
It's like systems and processes, like get that shit together
when it's just you and thenwatch your team scale
exponentially.
You know, instead of trying toplay catch up the entire time.
Once now you've got a team of13 and you have nothing written
down and you got to takeeverything out of here.
(28:06):
So core values absolutely areeverything in hiring.
I think something, too, that Ilove to share with you and get
your feedback on is leveragingour social media within our
business to really demonstratewhat the core values of our team
look like, what I have learnedso much, and especially in our
industry I'm in the Phoenixmarket.
(28:28):
I am the only septic companythat consistently uses social
media period and inconsistent, Imean, like the other company
that kind of uses it probablyposted in 2021.
But it is a beautifulrecruiting tool because when
people start doing researchabout your company when you are
(28:49):
hiring, they want to see are youreally what you say you are?
You know you're.
You say you're doing epic shitover there at the septic company
.
How are you showing that?
You know, like we like to showthe cool and the funny things
that we find on jobs, we like toshow the people that are in our
business.
We always do spotlights onpeople.
We appreciate people and theycan see that and feel it through
(29:11):
our social media presence.
What is your take on usingsocial media to really create a
excellent culture and to be ableto demonstrate that in the
recruiting process?
Do you think that's a good wayto go?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Absolutely.
One great test to test evenyourself and your team is to do
the index card test.
And that is give them an indexcard, ask them to write the core
values down.
See how many people can writeall of them down.
Right, we should only havethree to five.
But the index card test is agreat test to say are you living
(29:48):
those core values or are theyjust pretty words on a wall?
And then with social media, weuse social media a ton.
We use social media a ton.
We post daily, if not multipletimes a day, for our home
service company.
But I have a rule.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
I have a rule as in you're not allowed to use a
stock picture of a fake personon my social media.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I don't care if you're our in-house marketer.
I don't care if you're ourin-house social media marketer
if you're an agency we're payingfor ads.
Do not use a picture of a fakeperson.
There are all these stockimages that go around within the
cleaning residential side thatare just like make me want to
vomit.
We know that that's fake.
Nobody cleans in yellow rubbergloves like that and it's
horrible.
But here's the downside is thatthe people who are applying for
(30:46):
your job 89% of people whoapplied for your job will check
out your social media.
They will check you out onlineHands down 89% of people.
So what are they seeing when youpromote it to them on, like,
say, indeed or any other jobboard, and then they go and look
(31:07):
you up online over here andit's like, well, you said you're
all about employees, but youdon't even show one of your
employees online or on yourwebsite or on your social media.
You say you're all aboutemployees, but do your reviews
reflect that?
If you go, look at our reviews?
Because we have things benefitsin place where if they mention
our cleaners by name, thecleaner gets an incentive and
(31:30):
you're going to see like Winner,maria Jessica, why?
Because we're highlightingthose people so that when
perspective, good fits arelooking, us see, oh, they are
all about their employees.
Years ago I got out of that.
I care about my customers and Ido care, but I care about we're
a PCR company, a people,customers, results driven
(31:53):
company.
So people come first, thencustomers, then results, and
that, for us, has fixedeverything and that, for us, has
fixed everything.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yes, I think, as a owner or CEO of a business, even
if you're in a leadershipmanagement role, take care of
your people.
It is not your job to take careof the customers.
That's your people's job is totake care of the customers.
If you do a really good jobtaking care of your people, you
don't have to worry about that.
It is far and few between thatyou have upset or distraught or
(32:23):
something didn't go right,because when you take care of
people and you see people inyour business, they want to go
above and beyond for you.
They want to show up, they wantto do a good job.
At the end of the day, everybodywants to be a part of something
.
Everybody wants to help buildsomething, be a part of
something, feel like they'recontributing in some fashion.
(32:43):
And the more you can shift yourfocus to not the tasks but to
the people, it does make amassive, massive difference.
Like if somebody leaves mybusiness and decides oh, I'm
going to go to a differentpumping business, which I can
fairly say I have never knownanybody that has done that.
That has worked for one of mycompanies Because you're not
(33:04):
going to go work for a betterseptic company, because I want
to treat all of these peoplelike they're part of my family.
We are a small company andthat's what people in the trades
and home service industryreally, really look for.
You know, get to know theirfamilies, get to know their
kid's name, ask them how theirweekend was.
Genuinely care about yourpeople and it just it's amazing
(33:27):
what will happen to yourbusiness.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Absolutely Love that.
I always say you know, I don'tcan 100% offer the best job in
Fort Myers.
Oh, I like that.
So that's our goal.
And now we have multiplelocations of our cleaning
(33:52):
division and our organizingdivision.
So again, I know that I may nothave the best job in the world,
but I know I can offer the bestjob in Fort Myers.
And why is that?
We have great pay and we careabout our people to another
level, but that's the benefit ofworking with a home service
company that really puts thesethings first.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yes, absolutely Well, what a great conversation today
.
Libby, I want to thank you somuch for your time and all of
your information that you haveshared with us today, and just
this has always been like amajor pain point for me.
I've been in the home serviceindustry for 15 years.
I know plenty of women thathave, and men that have been in
this that you know recruitingand that culture building thing
(34:33):
can be really, really difficultfor them.
But it really does start at thetop.
It starts with those values.
It starts with the way that youtreat the people that are
coming in, the way you show up.
If you talk the talk, you gotto walk the walk, because if you
want people to test you, thisis the industry to be in to find
out about that.
They will tell you who you areand how you behave.
(34:55):
So I really love that aboutthis industry and there's just
so much opportunity here, andthis is why we continue to keep
talking about it, because onewomen have a beautiful touch on
coming into a home serviceindustry and building a culture.
By nature, I think most womenare really good community
builders and so I think when youreally look at your business
(35:16):
like that it is like the sky'snot even the limit in what you
can actually create and offerthe best jobs in the world.
My company definitely doesn'toffer the most glamorous sexy
job in the world, but my pumptruck guys can make easily over
six figures a year just by theopportunities that are put in
front of them.
(35:36):
So that's a pretty good payingjob for somebody in their early
20s to be able to find if theywant to come in and do a really
great job.
So thank you so so much forwhat you've been able to give us
and, living at the end of everyone of these podcasts, I'd love
to always just have a moment ofconnection with you in asking
you a what it really means toyou to be someone that is out
(36:01):
there living a mission,something that you enjoy doing
on a daily basis, the reason whyyou're building businesses, the
reason why you choose to dowhat you do.
So when you hear the phraseladies kicking ass, what does
that mean to you in your life?
Speaker 3 (36:19):
So for me, what it means in my life, to me and my
life is you know, I think thatsometimes women we were really
hard on ourself, right, but wecan definitely kick some ass.
But we also have superpowers.
Superpowers as in like, we'renaturally empathetic where that
is the number one sought skillfor male CEOs and we tend to shy
(36:46):
away from that because we don'twant to be a woman.
We don't want to be.
But instead of leaning intothat empathy, who we are and our
natural tendencies as women,like you said, building
communities can create thedifferentiator you need from
your competitor to get greatemployees.
And once you realize you can dothat and it comes natural
instead of trying to not beyourself or not be so girly or
(37:09):
womanly, um, it can reallycreate so much for you that what
it means to me is like now um,my husband works for our company
one of our companies.
My mom works for one of ourcompanies.
My 26 year old works for one ofour companies.
My mom works for one of ourcompanies.
My 26-year-old works for one ofour companies.
My sister leads the sales inanother company of ours.
It gives me so much pride andpassion to be able to do this
(37:36):
not just for strangers like toemploy strangers but to employ
my own family and then to teachother women that you know your
past doesn't have to define you.
You define who you are.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Oh, that's beautiful and that's super heartfelt,
because if if you stay downevery time, things have kind of
come a wrong angle at you.
You know, look at what we wouldbe missing in the world with so
many women that have done suchgreat things.
So I absolutely love that.
That was an emotional one forme.
So thank you so much forsharing that, libby, if people
(38:13):
want to connect with you online,where is the best place for
them to find you?
Speaker 3 (38:17):
at Sure.
I mean, libbydcom is a website.
It's kind of just a catch-alllanding page to all my
businesses.
But I'm the only Libby DeLucianin the world, so if you can
figure out how to spell my lastname, I'm very easy to find on
social media.
But yeah, libbydcom or LibbyDeLucian is every one of my
(38:38):
social media handles.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
All right, excellent, and we'll tag all those in the
show notes everybody.
Thank you so much again, libby.
I appreciate it, and until nexttime, ladies, keep kicking some
ass.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Thanks for being part of the ladies kick and ask
community Cheers to all youbadass women out there.
Keep rocking your power,igniting your fire and making
waves in the service industry.
If you loved today's episode,please do me a quick favor.
Take a screenshot, post it andtag us at Ladies Kicking Ass.
Be sure to include the link toyour favorite episode.
(39:15):
Your support in spreading theword means the world to us as we
aim to empower even more women.
Hit that subscribe button tostay tuned for more kick-ass
episodes.
And don't forget a five-starreview is the ultimate high five
.
Connect with us on social media.
All the links are in the shownotes.
Thank you for being part of ourtribe.
Now go kick some serious ass,lady.
Popular Podcasts
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.