From Pandemic Pivot To Seven Figures In Cleaning

We celebrate the Tiptons crossing $1M in cleaning revenue while balancing kids and day jobs, tracing their path from a pandemic pivot to commercial project management. The conversation digs into college turnovers, a $40k warehouse clean, a $93k month, vendor strategy, and the mindset that kept them steady.

• pandemic pivot and first wins through Google Local Services
• lessons from running a daycare and why margins matter
• quoting by listening and scoping before pricing
• $40k warehouse project and using deposits to secure vendors
• building a contractor bench and backups for speed
• college housing turnovers, bid cycles, and capacity proof
• recurring property contracts and emergency cleanup premiums
• team structure with VAs, SOPs, and automation
• balancing residential routes with growing commercial demand
• modeling cancellations, slow seasons, and outpacing losses
• faith, partnership, and resilience through tough months
• practical advice for new students: know your numbers, don’t quit

If you got any value from this conversation, let us know in the comments. Hit the notification button. Find us at Cleaning Business Universe

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
What if we told you guys that two of our cleaning

(00:03):
business university studentsjust hit over$1 million in
revenue with kids with nine tofives and zero cleaning business
experience when they started?
Now, most people say thebusiness model is too good to be
true.
Now, I don't know why that's thecase, but you're gonna hear
exactly how they hit one milliondollars in their own cleaning
business, including a multiplefive-figure project.

(00:23):
We're gonna go back and do alittle bit of reverse to learn
more about that project.
They completed in a single day.
And if you guys stick aroundtill the end, we're gonna go
over their biggest wins andlessons that got them to that
million dollar mark.
And without further ado, we'regonna welcome in the Tip Tins.
We're gonna allow you guys tounmute yourselves.
One second, and there you go.

(00:44):
What's going on, guys?
Welcome in.
We wanna give you guys a hugecongratulations on all your
success.
Um, we're gonna congratulate youguys.
Before we get started, thepeople gotta hear it from your
own mouths that heard it fromus.
But what was the latestmilestone you just got you guys
just hitting your cleaningbusiness?
One million dollars.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03):
Let's go, let's go.
Say that louder.
Now, this is the third interviewthat we're having with the
Tiptons.
That's the funny thing.
This is the third interview thatwe've had.
We had one in 2020 and thenmaybe one in 2023.
24 when you guys did that bigproject, commercial project.
And then now again.
So congratulations to you guys.

(01:23):
And it's funny because we lookedback before joining, we looked
back at like the first video.
Yeah, like the things you weresaying.
What do you say he might play ittonight?
Um we're good.
All right, we good then.
She said we good.
But the point that he was tryingto do, because he doesn't play
it now, the point was in thatinterview, you guys were saying

(01:46):
that you were doing, I think,510 to 15k months.
I think you had a spike of 19k.
And so we were like, what'sholding you back?
Why not just go all in with themarketing?
And you, I was like, unless youdon't have the people for it,
you're like, we have the people,they're begging us.
So from 15k months then to nowhitting a million dollars,
that's definitely been ajourney.

SPEAKER_04 (02:08):
How does it feel?
I mean, it's it doesn't feelreal sometimes.
It's right.
I I had to look at it, I didn'teven realize that we had hit the
milestone.
I was like, hold on, we shouldbe pretty close.
Cause I told her at one point wewe tried we need to be there
before the end of the year, andthen I happened to check and I
was just like, whoa.
And I just sent her ascreenshot.
I ain't saying it's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 (02:26):
It wasn't we weren't we weren't in the same room or
anything.
It was just like us, he sent methe screenshot and it was a lot
to process.
It was a lot to process.
We were inspecting that and wewere shooting for that this
year, with you know, being fiveyears in the business, but we
still haven't really lost thestep.

SPEAKER_02 (02:42):
Yeah, yeah, it's just yeah, we definitely could
tell because when you had sentus that screenshot, it was like,
I think we are about to bethere, or we just they were
talking about something elsethough, about the the colleges
that they were doing, and thenthey just sent it over slowly,
like, oh yeah, this happened.

SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
It was like, wait a minute, this is a no, that's how
it happened here too.

SPEAKER_02 (03:01):
That's how it happened here too.
Like, can we go back to 2020right around the pandemic when
we first launched CleaningBusiness University?
You guys were some of ourearlier students, and I know
during that time it was achallenging time for everyone in
the world, right?
So we got the pandemic, peopleare losing their jobs, trying to
figure out what they're gonnado.
And that was right around thetime you guys started your
journey.
So take me back, and what was itlike when you guys were going

(03:24):
through that journey to decidewhat was the next steps for you
during the during that phase oflife?

SPEAKER_00 (03:28):
We were looking at replacing our main income, like
Jonathan was our breadwinner,and that was we were losing
that, and there was like ahiring freeze.
I'm sure everybody remembers,like nobody was hiring because
nobody knew what they were doingnext.
We didn't know like our kidswere in school, but the schools
were hybrid, and our countyhadn't really made a final

(03:50):
announcement about whether theywere gonna do hybrid or remote.
We didn't know what washappening with our family, with
work, with anything.
And so y'all posted that onInstagram, like that's really
Instagram and at the right time.
You did, it really did.
And I remember you you guystalking about how your your
cleaning business helped you payoff debt.

(04:11):
So you launching the courseabout how you did it, that just
and it like you can go back tothe the first video, the first
interview.

SPEAKER_04 (04:18):
I was reluctant.
I was just like, cleaningbusiness.
I was like, you found a classonline.
I was like, that don't work.
Like that's just online don'twork.
So I I you know I said the samething four years ago when we
talked.
I was just like, you know, wewere our backs against the wall,
so we had to give it a shot.

SPEAKER_01 (04:35):
Yeah.
Well, we appreciate you taking achance.
Now look, no problem.

SPEAKER_00 (04:39):
Hey, y'all, we shouldn't know.
I I think about that sometimes.
I don't know like what madey'all launch when you did, but
it was all aligned.
Like it was all like that day onInstagram.
I just happened to be scrolling,and there you there it was.

SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
We didn't think anybody cared about the cleaning
business journey because itwasn't sexy and no one was
really talking about it then.
Now, eight years later, I getads from all walks of life,
like, hey, cleaning business.
I'm like, We I was doing thisbefore you was born, little boy.

SPEAKER_01 (05:11):
Like because at that time we were just speaking about
our debt-free story, so mostpeople just knew us for that,
and we would sprinkle in thecleaning business here and
there.
And Anthony would be like, Ithink people are interested.
I'm like, I don't think so.
We didn't want to hear anythingabout that.
Most people want to hear aboutbecause most people can relate
to debt, right?
That's just like a social normhere in America.

(05:32):
We all have that, but I'm like,I don't think everybody wants
the cleaning business, so let'sjust test it out and see.
So we appreciate you guys beingsome of the first people around
us and staying connected to letus know and see your growth
throughout, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 (05:45):
Thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 (05:46):
So, one of the things we all right, let's go
back to that earlier stagebecause I think that's super
important before we get to themillion-dollar mark.
So, you guys get the program,you start going through it, but
at the other time, but duringthat time, you also had another
business.
So, can you walk us through whatthat looked like, what that
business was, and anything youwant to share about it?

SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
We were in a position where the business I
was working for closed, and Imean it was it was a daycare
business, and we had parents whowere doctors and parents who
owned restaurants who were likedelivering foods.
But I mean, you know, I ifeverybody remembers, some people
don't want to go back.
But if you remember, you know,they were categorizing people as
essential workers, not essentialworkers, and families were

(06:24):
getting desperate.
They were like, if this daycarecloses, you know, I have to, I'm
supposed to be there, I have tobe there.
You know, they were asking, isanybody doing nanny services or
anything?
Does anybody feel comfortablecoming to my home?
So basically, someone reachedout to me and said, you know,
the daycare is closing.
Do you have plans of absorbingit?
And we were like, Do we haveplans of absorbing?

(06:45):
You know, and this was rightaround the time I don't know if
we were already havingdiscussions about maybe taking
your course or whatever, butthey were thinking we'd already
taken we were already in theprocess of taking the course and
like starting with the basicslike our EIN and all that stuff,
like you know, the dailychecklist of like actually
starting, taking the courses,checking off the work, and then

(07:06):
it was crazy.
And then we said, well, let'sjust do another EIN and another
business account and another,and knowing the business, I knew
how licensure and all that stuffworked, and we just it was
crazy, but it was a crazy time,and we started two businesses at
the same time.

SPEAKER_02 (07:22):
Did you guys?
I mean, you worked at thedaycare, you didn't own it
though, right?

SPEAKER_00 (07:28):
The daycare that closed, I was the director at.

SPEAKER_02 (07:31):
So you had some experience in the industry, but
working and owning is as you sawlike two different things.

SPEAKER_00 (07:38):
You know, I fooled myself.
I had been working in childcaresince I was in college, and um,
so I was like, I had always saidI could, I would do this so
different, I could do this somuch better.
I could I, you know, I finallygot my shot to do it better.
And and honestly, honestly, itwas an opportunity to serve, and
I did just what my heart wantedto do.

(07:58):
I served, and but I found thatthere's not a way really to
serve and be extremelyprofitable.
So, lesson learned there.
We served the families, thescholars that we had, and we
served them until they went tokindergarten and I've kept
people employed for three years.

SPEAKER_02 (08:16):
And you know, that's commendable because you took on
something that you had noexperience doing.
So, but you the cleaningbusiness, the cleaning business
and the daycare.
And I worked in IT for 15 years,and working in IT and starting
an IT firm is completelydifferent, right?
So when people come to us andthey're like, Oh, I clean, I'm
like, cleaning and owning anactual business is really not

(08:38):
the same thing, right?
So I commend you guys for takinga shot and taking a leap on
trying two different things thatyou weren't sure was going to
work out, but you guys are like,we're gonna try to see how it
see how it lands.
So how long commend you guys fordoing that?

SPEAKER_01 (08:51):
And how long did you guys keep the daycare open for?
For three years.
Three years.
Three years, and then what madeyou decide to close it?

SPEAKER_00 (08:57):
Um, like I said, we the towers we had were becoming
kindergartners.
Yeah.
Okay.
And we just were like, do wewant to try to those of you who
may or may not know the daycarebusiness, but like you have to
have your wait list built up foryears and years, like pregnant
families have to have, you know,their babies on the wait list to
fill those spots.
And we didn't do thatbacklogging work because really

(09:19):
it was like an urgent situation.
Yeah.
And it was a lot of otherthings, like people were getting
like supplements and things likethat for being essential
workers.
So I was dealing with thevouchers and all of it to the
stuff.
Yes, yes, you contract with, youknow, just things like that.
And I was just like, Yeah, Ithink I'm that's it.
Thank y'all.
Graduate that we did agraduation thing, and and all of

(09:39):
our employees were ready to moveon to different things, and it
was it really just worked,worked out.
Not to mention we own theproperty that we housed the
daycare in, so we were ready todo something different with that
property as well.

SPEAKER_01 (09:50):
Oh, okay.
And so how were you able to orwere you even able to manage the
cleaning business and daycaretogether, or did the cleaning
business kind of take a backburner?
It did for three years.

SPEAKER_04 (10:02):
And it was less demanding at the time.
Yeah, it was kind of onautopilot.
We wasn't really we had our VAshandling everything on that side
of it, and we were just wewasn't really if you remember
from the past videos, we weren'treally doing a whole bunch of
marketing, like not a ton of it.
Um, so so yeah, it was kind ofon autopilot, and we there's
definitely some missedopportunity there.

SPEAKER_02 (10:24):
I was gonna say you would learn from all of those
opportunities.
I bet you in the next thing youstart, it won't have it won't
happen the same way because youknow how to do this now.
So let's transition a little bitgoing from the daycare to
starting the cleaning businessnow.
You had around the time you weredoing in 2021, because I went
back and watched the interview,you guys are doing around$15,000
months at that time back in2021, and now you guys have hit

(10:46):
over a million dollars in intotal growth.
But when did you realize thatyou guys were building something
that was sustainable andsignificant?
Because at the$15,000 marketseemed like you guys are still
like now I'm playing around withthis thing, and then yeah, so
when did you when did you guysfigure out like, all right, this
is a real thing that we couldreally focus on and grow around
what year and what revenue markyou think?

SPEAKER_04 (11:04):
I think once we consistently were hitting in the
23s, the 25s, like in thatrange, yeah.
Okay, we got we got somethinghere.
And then once we started, youknow, I guess we'll get to this
too, but once we started pickingup some commercial, some
guaranteed contracts that werebuilt in that weren't gonna, you
know, for built in for a year,wasn't gonna change for a year.
Once we saw some of that stuffcoming in, we we knew we had

(11:25):
some.

SPEAKER_00 (11:26):
And not to mention, we fell in love with the project
management part of commercial,like that that was something
that we didn't know.
Yes, that was something wedidn't know that we one we
didn't know it was a thing, andthen we learned about it and we
got some projects under ourbelt, and we really fell in love
with the process, and so thatwas something we were like we
need to lean in here a littlebit more.

(11:47):
That was 2023 or 2024 when whenthat was.
It was 2023, yeah.
Because we had our firstcommercial because we had the we
had our first commercial like2022, and that was a long-term
reoccurring commercial project.
Uh, but our big project that wegot with the warehouse uh where
we did like it was the uh 40kand like a couple days project

(12:11):
that was in 2023, and we werelike, we want more though.

SPEAKER_02 (12:14):
We hit that 40k project.
That was the last headline thatyou guys had done.
Can we dive into that a littlebit on well actually?
So, what were the numbers onthat on that project like once
you guys were all said and done?

SPEAKER_04 (12:25):
It was right at 40.
It was right at 40 for two fortwo for like days.
And you guys were cleaning awarehouse, cleaning, yeah,
pressure washing, some junkremoval, stripping and wax, a
little bit of everything, floorcare.

SPEAKER_00 (12:39):
We call it we consider that floor care, yeah.
Yeah, floor cleaning and so thedeep cleaning of a warehouse for
it.

SPEAKER_04 (12:44):
Without some carpet, a little bit of yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (12:46):
Now, was this the biggest job you've done before?

SPEAKER_04 (12:49):
At that time, yes.

SPEAKER_01 (12:50):
At the time, at that time, was that the biggest job?
So, what made you comfortable tosay yes?
Because many people, and we seesometimes people get scared and
not we got the phone call.

SPEAKER_04 (12:59):
She she she wasn't wanting to move on it at first,
and I was like, because it justsounded like it could go a lot
of things can go wrong in aproject that when she when she
was like, Let's go with it, andthen she was like, I got, but
she also took the paperwork sideof it, the documentation to
protect our business, and shetook all that over and she did
the numbers, she just came to mewith the numbers.
So that when when she was in, Iwas in from the beginning.

(13:20):
I was like, this sounds like agood go to me.

SPEAKER_00 (13:24):
We've never done anything like that before, and
so I didn't want to say yesuntil I really, really knew.
And one of the things that wehad to do first was kind of do a
little bit of research.
And once I realized how muchtime this is gonna take to even
do the prep work to say yes, Isaid, if we're gonna take this
on, this is gonna cost themmoney.
Like we're talking big money,and they wanted it in a hurry,
yeah, and they wanted it in ahurry, and I was like, Jonathan,

(13:45):
we're gonna do this.
I'm gonna it's gonna take mesome time and I'm gonna have to
lay it out.
We're gonna have to lay it outright.
And he was like, Go with it.

SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
Okay, so they they called you, but they didn't have
a number though.
They're asking you how much doyou charge for a deal?

SPEAKER_04 (13:56):
Yeah, they were basically telling us everything
that they needed, and they werelike, Man, if you all can handle
everything, we'd rather keep itall under one, you know, write
one check and be done.

SPEAKER_00 (14:05):
This is a project management company out of state.
They were managing the buildinghere where we live, and they
were just they started, theywere like, We Googled you guys,
we found you all on Google.
You clean, yes, and we werelike, Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 (14:19):
You clean, yes, we do.

SPEAKER_00 (14:21):
Then they were like, Great, great, like, and they
were asking, like, kind of like,what all does this clean
include?
Because this is what we need.
And so we were saying, Tell usmore.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (14:29):
Tell us what you need.

SPEAKER_00 (14:30):
Yeah, tell us what you need, tell us more.
And we were still kind of, Ithink we had done one like deep
clean commercial project at thispoint.
So we knew like windows may besomething they need, carpet
cleaning may be something theyneed.
So maybe we were going back andforth with like, what about
this?
What about this?

SPEAKER_04 (14:44):
I mean, we had painters lined up at one point.
They ended up finding somebodyelse to do it cheaper, but we
were even gonna do paint forthem and tiles and everything.

SPEAKER_00 (14:51):
So we had we had people in our pocket, like we
were like, look, we'll negotiategetting a deposit for you to
clear your calendar, like, justtell us if you can do it.
And that was part of our initialresearch, like using our
connections that we have made inthe industry, and we had every
job they needed.
We had a professional in ourpocket and then a backup.
We called them with our numbers,and they said yes, they gave us

(15:12):
dates, we put people on thecalendar, we got it done.

SPEAKER_01 (15:15):
And that's how you execute it.

SPEAKER_02 (15:16):
We gotta highlight that for a little bit because
number one, you said the companywas a project manager from out
of state, looking for a projectmanager, looking for a project
manager, essentially.
Yes, yeah.
So if you think about thebusiness model, what they were
doing, they managed to build itfrom out of state, and all they
did was call somebody else to dothe job all the same exact day.
That's all they did.

SPEAKER_00 (15:35):
They say, Can you guarantee the work is gonna get
done and get done well and getdone in this time?
We were crazy enough to say yes.

SPEAKER_02 (15:42):
You gotta be crazy enough to say yes in order to
figure it out, right?
If you say no, you're nevergonna learn.
As you guys are listening tothat conversation and tell you
exactly what they want, and allyou're doing is just listening.
So when people ask, like, oh,how do I go on a quote?
It's like, do you even know whatthey want?
Listen to the conversation,they're gonna tell you
everything they want, and thenfrom there you could go back and
figure it out.

SPEAKER_03 (16:00):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (16:01):
You didn't get off that, you didn't stay on that
phone and say, All right, let meprice these numbers and give you
a quote.
Most companies don't even dothat in general when you call
them for an information, right?
So they're gonna go back, pricein the numbers, whatever it is,
and get back to you with aquote.
So I commend you guys.
And that project you said was44k, but you said that also
wasn't your biggest project.
So we gonna was that your biggerproject was what year was that?
2023.

(16:21):
So we went from doing that firstproject at this time.
I'm assuming it went well.
How did you find the you saidyou had people in your back
pocket, right?
People that you trusted.
How'd you get thoserelationships over the course
of, I mean, it's been only whattwo, three years at this point?

SPEAKER_00 (16:35):
Some of them were like people who knew people who
knew people, like word of mouth,yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (16:40):
Cleaner that that cleaned our house, who was one
of our first cleaners, herhusband was a contractor and and
did some of that extra work thatwe didn't have anybody, like the
floor care and all that stuff.
And then some carpet cleaningpeople that we've met through
business connections who've donesome carpet cleaning for us and
then jumped in and do the floorcare.

SPEAKER_00 (16:59):
A realtor who a handy woman service who did like
she does like what do they callit when a realtor needs not
touch points, but like the lastchecklist that punch list.
She does like strictly punchlist kind of thing, handyman
things with like femalehandyman.
Do you call them handyman?

SPEAKER_03 (17:16):
Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 (17:17):
And so um they knew like they could do light work,
but they also had connectionswith more in-depth things, and
so just using our connections,making phone calls.
And then you researched thepressure washer people, yes, and
then we did some things we hadto do some research because some
of the people we knew weren'tavailable that quick, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (17:33):
It was quick.
It was a good distance to drive.

SPEAKER_00 (17:38):
Okay, some of our day ones didn't want or not
didn't want to do it, but theycouldn't, and then with it being
so quick, they were like, Look,we can't clear our calendar for
this, you know, we're not movingpeople.
And we were like, But the moneyis so good.
Like, promise, you know, we'llgive you a deposit.
Like, I was demanding this fromthe company because everybody

(17:59):
was saying the same thing.
We kind of already have peopleon our calendar, this is a quick
move.
How do we know this is not gonnaget canceled?
I was negotiating on theirbehalf, saying, Look, we have
people ready, but we needsomething, yes, we need
something to guarantee.
Yes, and and they agreed, and sowe took deposits and we put
money in people's hands, theyshowed up, and that deepened our

(18:19):
our relationship with thoseprofessionals even more because
they could trust us.

SPEAKER_01 (18:23):
So I assume that that wasn't the only opportunity
that you guys get.
So, how do you now, even withthat, continue to evaluate what
opportunities you take versusnot?
Or is it like yes to everythingat this point?

SPEAKER_04 (18:35):
If it was me, it'd be yes to everything, but
luckily she's she balances meout and yeah, and don't let that
happen because I'll I'll take onalmost anything.
But no, but yeah, so we youknow, just figuring out where
the biggest needs are.
That's kind of how we got intothe college terms.
Once they reached out to us, andwe're like, hold on, this is all
right.
Hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_02 (18:53):
How did they reach out to you?
We need that's gonna be aquestion because that's gonna be
the question of how they findyou Google Open Service Ads.
So they saw Google Oval ServiceAds, they saw you clean, then
they called you.
Yep.
All right, cool.
Just gotta break that down.

SPEAKER_04 (19:04):
Yeah, and then talking to them, talking to
other cleaners when we'rereaching out to hire for that,
cleaners don't like that job.

SPEAKER_00 (19:10):
College kids are nasty, they and smaller, small
tools or individual cleaners,they don't they can't do it on
their own.

SPEAKER_04 (19:20):
And and that a lot of times the jobs are
underquoted to get the to getthe job, so they're not being
paid adequately for the job asfar as I can see that.
Once I realized people don'tlike that, I was like, oh, but
we like it.
Yeah, that's like two and a halfweeks of of craziness, but it's
a huge payoff at the end.
So we started reaching out tomultiple properties and just

(19:40):
seeing how many we could get.

SPEAKER_00 (19:42):
So the first it was a college that contacted you
guys to do turnovers, like Iguess in August before they
that's when the clean start inlike August, but they start
getting quotes to make adecision in spring.

SPEAKER_01 (19:55):
Oh, okay, okay.
And then you've done it now forother colleges as well,
turnovers because you've done itwith this.
Did they refer you or did youjust like go after the other
college?

SPEAKER_04 (20:05):
We started reaching out, so we did it, we've done it
in two different cities, but uhsame, it's pretty it's
predominantly the same school,but they have different private
companies that own theseproperties, but we've done it in
two different cities.

SPEAKER_02 (20:16):
So someone that's like, all right, I want to get
into this because they're gonnaask, how do I get into this side
of things?
So who are you calling at thispoint?
Are you calling the admissionsoffice?
It's like a point of contact,janitorium department.
Who are you calling to say, hey,here's who we are, what we do?

SPEAKER_04 (20:31):
If you Google college housing specifically,
college housing in our area,like where we are, it's a huge
university and multiple othersmall colleges.
So it's gonna be now there'sregular people who live there,
but it's predominantly collegehousing.
And you'll be able to find theseprivate companies who own these
properties.
And we reach out to the themanager, the maintenance.

(20:51):
Sometimes the maintenance guyruns it and makes the hire.
Um, but we reach out to thosepeople and just and just see
when they're accepting bids.
I I don't feel like they justtake the lowest bid.
Like they really want to talk toyou and see, you know, what type
of projects have you done beforeand kind of see where you are,
so they don't just take likeI've actually had one
maintenance guy say, now we'rein you're in business to make

(21:11):
money, so make sure you don'tunderquote this.

SPEAKER_02 (21:18):
What a nice guy.
Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 (21:21):
I think it's funny that you guys decide to pitch
other companies and stuffbecause usually in our hands,
just think about it.
You assume that these companiesor colleges have their own
cleaning people, right?
You would assume that why wouldthey hire a mom and pop like me?
Like, why would they be going onGoogle?
These students are payingthousands of dollars to be
there.
So I think that that's a goodpoint.

(21:42):
It kind of breaks opens ourminds to the fact that no, you
could be that person forWalmart.
You just never know.
You just assume that they gotsomebody, yeah, yeah, and it is
not a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 (21:57):
Right, you don't make yourself known.

SPEAKER_04 (21:58):
And it's just such a huge demand that they most time,
most of the time, our first yearit was several companies on the
properties, several cleaningcompanies on the properties.
If you depend on one company andthat defaults through, you're in
a huge bond before moving there.
So this year we did have aproperty to ourselves.
Um, so that was like huge.
Um, I guaranteed them that wehad the resources to take it on

(22:21):
and and and be able to handleit, even if people called in or
whatever.
Did you have the resource or youjust have to yeah?
Let's talk about your teams fora little bit.

SPEAKER_02 (22:27):
What does the structure for your teams look
like today?

SPEAKER_04 (22:29):
So if you look on launch 27, it's I just cleared
out some people.
We ain't using nobody else'snames anymore either.
I cleared out several companies,so it's probably about 25 teams
in there.

SPEAKER_02 (22:38):
Then those teams have people under them.

SPEAKER_04 (22:40):
Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 (22:41):
Okay, with the mix of it seems like commercial is
now becoming your your laneright now.
So that was after the$40,000product project, and you guys
started doing I had a questionabout the teams before you
continue.

SPEAKER_01 (22:52):
Oh, okay.
So with the teams, did you findall of them kind of the same
way?

SPEAKER_00 (22:57):
Of like Indeed or whatever, interview and hire for
residential, and then theytransition to social media, word
of mouth, and what like ourfavorite is when a cleaner calls
us because another cleaner said,Yeah, and there's some horror
stories out there that likewe've had cleaners they like
reach out to us and say, Well,such and such isn't paying us or

(23:19):
paying us on time or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 (23:21):
They've heard from other cleaners that we pay them
on time, they can always reachout to us if something don't
look right, you know.
We don't know.

SPEAKER_01 (23:27):
So most of them, did you hire them specifically for
commercial or did you hire themfor residential and they do
commercial?

SPEAKER_04 (23:33):
We do have residential cleaners who don't
want to fool with commercialbecause of the time frame or
whatever, and then we havecleaner uh cleaners that we also
just specifically forcommercial, and then we have
some that do both.
So it's a it's a good mix, it'sa good mix, right?
And we have a team that onlylikes post-construction, so we
you know right, we have a goodmove and move outs and those
type of stuff.

(23:53):
They want to put theirheadphones in and get it done.
How long is your longest aroundanybody that lives there?

SPEAKER_02 (24:00):
Heard it all before.
How long has your longeststanding cleaner been with you
guys?
And I got I got the notes to myinterview here.
She's still willing to.

SPEAKER_04 (24:08):
I wasn't sure.
But sporadically, but uh yeah,one who does consistent work
2022.

SPEAKER_02 (24:14):
Hiring philosophy changed or has it changed, or
has it changed at all where youguys are today?

SPEAKER_04 (24:18):
We don't have an active post on ND right now, or
it might be active, but we'renot putting any money towards
it.
So if they just happen to comeacross it, we don't really so
right now it's surprisingly,it's been people reaching out to
us saying, Hey, we've heardabout you guys, can we get some
extra work?
Or they'll see us um or I'll goon um Facebook and post, hey, we
need a cleaner, blah blah blah.
And then several so many peopleum reach out to us, and then

(24:40):
eventually I'll get back toeverybody, even if I give the
job to somebody else.

SPEAKER_00 (24:44):
But now, since we do have so many people reaching out
to us, we've given our VA asystem for filtering and keeping
who's at what stage.
So even if they call us, we haveher schedule.

SPEAKER_04 (24:56):
She does all those.

SPEAKER_00 (24:57):
Yeah, we gotta schedule the the initial call
and just run the business and umhave a spreadsheet of just where
everybody's at in the process.
So some people who heard of usand they're really excited to
work with us, and you know, theymay have heard some big things
like you know, I just got offthese turns with top with you
know our business or whatever,and they are excited and heard
it went well and they'reinterested, but then they don't

(25:18):
get past, you know, they don'tschedule uh yeah, yeah, uh, you
know, so we still now we haveour VA just do all that
filtration, and once we get to,you know, they've done the whole
process and we're ready to moveforward with them.
That's when we kind of thinknow.

SPEAKER_02 (25:31):
Are your cleaners how you structure it where when
you're talking about suppliesand cars and aprons and
whatever, are you guys givingthem any of the supplies or
anything like that to do some ofthese cleanings?
Very little.

SPEAKER_04 (25:43):
We don't give them anything.
You might have contracts wherethe building supplies and it's
just in the contract, and theyjust need the hands to come in
and get it done.
But we don't we don't hardlygive them, we don't hardly give
them anything, right?

SPEAKER_02 (25:55):
Okay, but most of the time they either have their
own supplies or buildingbuilding supplies, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (26:00):
And if it's something that the building,
like especially with commercialor post-construction, if it's
something they require, we haveit in writing, so everybody's
clear on where it's coming from,right?

SPEAKER_01 (26:09):
Right and Google local services.
I know you mentioned that.
Are you marketing in any otherplace or have you marketed any
other place?

SPEAKER_04 (26:16):
Not paid, no.
Everything else is posted onFacebook, posted on Facebook,
word of mouth, that type ofstuff.

SPEAKER_03 (26:21):
That type of word of mouth.

SPEAKER_02 (26:23):
So right now where the business is.
I know we've we just talkingabout commercial for quite some
time now, but I want to stick onthat because it seems like
that's where majority of thebusiness is coming from at this
point.
So you guys are all in oncommercial, is it like 50-50,
60-40?
Like, what's the split betweenresidential and commercial at
this point?

SPEAKER_04 (26:38):
It's it hasn't all the way caught up to the
residential side, but it's it'sgetting close.
So if I had to call it be like55, 45.
Yeah, it's it's getting close.
Yeah, it's getting close.
And um, do you no?

SPEAKER_01 (26:47):
I was just gonna say, do you think you would do
commercial?

SPEAKER_04 (26:49):
No, no, because we have some long time clients who
have been with us almost fromthe beginning, uh, like from
2021.
So we we we won't want to letthem, we won't want to let that
go.

SPEAKER_01 (26:59):
Or just stop marketing on the residential
side is what I mean.
Would you ever stop?
I don't stop marketing.

SPEAKER_04 (27:04):
Our Google Local Service has has both, but we
we'll just keep it like that foryeah, because we still we still
have those a few cleaners whothat's all they really want.

SPEAKER_00 (27:11):
Oh, you know, and then also the time thing, like
um, some of a lot of them aremoms and they're like, I gotta
get this in.
For school gets cool, yeah.
So the residential works reallywell.

SPEAKER_02 (27:22):
So right now with the commercial properties that I
know you mentioned you're doingsome some cold calling to the
local facilities, you're gettingreferrals from a lot of people.
Are there are they normally justcalling you from Google at this
point?
Like, where are the majority ofthe commercial properties coming
from?

SPEAKER_04 (27:34):
Yeah, I would say Google.
Google has been a huge thing,and then network uh getting
people that we know have put ournames out there.
I think one of our biggestcontracts came from uh somebody
in our neighborhood was theproperty manager.

SPEAKER_02 (27:46):
So what was what was that contract?

SPEAKER_04 (27:48):
So that is not even a set price because we do their
move in, move outs.
Sometimes there's 15 to 20 ofthem, but we do their clubhouse
three times a week.
So it, I mean, I don't Iwouldn't I don't even know the
dollar amount.
Yeah, yeah, it ranges, it justdepends on the month.

SPEAKER_02 (28:01):
Is that like a recurring contract with you
guys?

SPEAKER_04 (28:03):
Uh-huh.
Three times three times a week,clean the clubhouse.

SPEAKER_00 (28:06):
I mean, we had that one four years ago three years.

SPEAKER_04 (28:08):
Three years, yeah.
Oh wow, this would be the thirdyear.
We're going on to three years,going on three years.

SPEAKER_02 (28:12):
And that was from a referral, like over the over the
course of the three years.
Do you know what the totalamount has been?
On average, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (28:18):
No, if we had to if we had to call it out, probably
close to four thousand a month.

SPEAKER_02 (28:22):
Oh wow.
Over the course of three years,if you do your math, okay.

SPEAKER_04 (28:24):
And then some of them are a little bit bigger,
you know, some months are alittle bit bigger, just
depending on what's going on.
And then at one point we tookover their their hallways for
their ground.
They didn't have agroundskeeper, so they needed us
to do the hallways.
Man, I I wish they would let usdo that all the time.

SPEAKER_03 (28:37):
Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (28:40):
So with that, with a contract like that, you got
cleaners.
So it's like, all right, we gotthis building, we do um a couple
of times a week.
You just send your cleans and godo it, or do you have to be
there and watch them and thingslike that?
How's it work with thecommercial side when it comes to
stuff like that?

SPEAKER_00 (28:52):
In that regard, they're independent contractors
signed, you know, to a space,just like if you had a
reoccurring, you know, bi-weekresidential client.
Yeah, you're assigned to that,and you know, we have our
backups if anything comes up andwe let the property manager or
whoever know who's comingdifferent if that does happen.

SPEAKER_04 (29:09):
And look, that team, we don't hear anything from that
property manager unless shewants to add something.
Like it goes, we give them ahigher percentage than most of
our cleaners, but it's also apeace of mind because we don't
hear anything, so it's worthspending an extra money.

SPEAKER_01 (29:26):
That sounds real good.
Now, you guys have been in ourcommunity for the past five
years, honestly, and we likeappreciate that you've poured
into the community and thingslike that.
Has there been things thatstudents have done that helps
you in your business or help youwith like mindset that students
have said at this point sinceyou guys have been there some of
those all the time?

SPEAKER_04 (29:46):
I try to know, I try to tap into as many calls as I
can like, even if I forget thatit's one coming.
If I see that notification, I'mtapping in and I'm listening
because it's you're never toobig or too whatever to learn any
from any any stage.
I mean, I've learned stuff.
For my kids.
My son took my kids teach mestuff all the time.
I'm tapping in so I can just incase I can catch one, you know,

(30:07):
anything.
So I've learned a lot from uhlistening to our all the calls
that um you all have from uhother uh members.

SPEAKER_01 (30:15):
And the the time is something that's important
because that's something thatcomes up a lot for people.
The amount of time that you'reputting in now versus when you
started, do you recall thedifference?
Like how much time are youspending on the business at this
point?

SPEAKER_00 (30:28):
I think we maybe had said like 10 hours a week in the
beginning.
It's less than that.
Definitely less than that, butit's it we're using that time
differently as well.
So, like, you know, then I thinkit was just like a lot of hiring
and making decisions, you know,just like the little decisions.

SPEAKER_04 (30:44):
Now it's more like putting together tasks for our
pro for our automations, yeah,things like that.
Hey, let's can't have a list ofcalls that she can make when she
logs in to you know try to pickup some new properties or
something like that.

SPEAKER_00 (30:59):
Yeah, any adjustments to SOPs, any
adjustments to documents, um,customer care.
That's not every week.
Well, that no, that's not everyweek, but um, but that's that's
what I'm just it's more youtrying to think of the time
spent, yeah.
Yeah, it's just that we spendthe time differently.
So even though it may be alittle less than 10 hours now,
just the time is is spent.
It's like bigger picture stuffnow, right?

(31:20):
Yeah, so before it was moreautomate so much and delegate so
much.

SPEAKER_02 (31:23):
So before it was more task-based, but now it's
more strategic type processes.
Yeah, okay, right.
And that's and that's gonna be,you know, that's gonna be the
mindset, and that's the wholepoint of it, right?
If I'm spending 10 hours when Ifirst start, the 10 hours I was
spending at year five should notbe the same 10 hours, right?
Because now you should haveteams in place, you should have
systems in place, you shouldhave automations in place where
now you're thinking aboutstrategic level of your entire

(31:46):
business.
So that's that's the goal.
That should be the goal foreverybody.
Spend less time working in thebusiness and more time working
on the business, as they say.

SPEAKER_03 (31:53):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (31:54):
You guys mentioned some of the things that you've
done.
You mentioned some of thecontracts, you mentioned some of
the projects.
What has been your was theclubhouse your biggest project,
or was there like what led tothat that screenshot you had
sent us?
I'm curious on that one.
So post and we can explain whatthe screenshot was too, because
I don't think I posted itanywhere.
Can I post it now?

SPEAKER_04 (32:12):
No, no, we didn't no we didn't post it to the group.
No, I just sent it to the so Idon't I don't even remember what
month it was, but was it was itAugust?
No, it wasn't August.
Was it August?
August or September.
But it was a$93,000 month.
So that was our biggest, thatwas our biggest month to date.
I mean, I couldn't even believeit when I when I when I saw it.
So it was pretty, it wasproject, um, the turns projects

(32:36):
and post-construction.
We had a little bit ofeverything.
Um, emergency.
Oh, so we didn't even talk aboutthat.
So emergency commercialcleanups, I guess you would call
it.

SPEAKER_01 (32:46):
So we now you add some extra money on that because
it's an emergency.

SPEAKER_04 (32:49):
So we're trying, yeah.
So we have a business partnerwho who calls us every time he
has emergency cleanup in thestate of Tennessee.
So Memphis, Nash, everywhere.
So we cover the whole state onthat.

SPEAKER_01 (32:59):
And hold on, let me ask you, what's emergency
cleanup?
Like a tornado or like bat batbathroom.

SPEAKER_04 (33:06):
A pipe first, bathroom.
But we need it now.

SPEAKER_00 (33:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Clean it now.

SPEAKER_04 (33:11):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (33:12):
It can even be somebody didn't show up that was
supposed to show up.

SPEAKER_04 (33:14):
Yeah, just yeah.
Or a spot strip, like uh the fixof spot on the floor, and you
would be amazed how much theypay for 30 minutes worth of work
on that type of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 (33:23):
So well, I paid$350 for somebody reprogrammed my car
keys, so and that was a fivedollars.
You're right on it's not aboutthe time, it's about the
knowledge.

SPEAKER_03 (33:34):
Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 (33:36):
And that's another thing, too, when it comes to
like investing yourself.
People are like, oh, well, whatcan I do in the business?
Like, what are you going to dowith the information?
And the tip ends are literallyshowing you guys what they did
with it.
But that$93,000 month willdefinitely want to congratulate
you guys.
It's amazing, absolutelyamazing.
And is that where you see thebusiness going, or is that like
we we just killed it with thisand we're just happy to have it,

(33:58):
or is that like we kind of stayaround this range, or we hope to
stay around this range?
Like, what's that?
I would love to stay around thatrange, but but um um that was an
anomaly for the most part.

SPEAKER_04 (34:08):
That was it was you know that's that's for people,
that's for people who have adifferent business setup, in my
opinion.
But to sprinkle those in a fewtimes a year, that's great.
That's doable, that's doablebased on special projects and
and stuff like that.
So it's doable to sprinkle themin, but you know, to be around
at 50-60 would be golden for us.

SPEAKER_02 (34:30):
Yeah.
So you guys did that$93,000 amonth, and that is that's
absolutely amazing.
So right now, you guys just hita million dollars.
So I want to talk a little bitabout mindset a little bit
because people don't don't theydon't want to hear that part.
That's the boring stuff, that'sthe corny stuff, but I feel like
that is the most important part.

(34:52):
So what go ahead?
If you go back to the beginningof the interview, you said
things were not in the bestposition during that time.
You said people were gettinglaid off.
You were facing a a jobtransition, and coincidentally
enough, five years ago, we're ina similar market as five years
ago.
Government just shut down,people are getting laid off, and

(35:13):
even worse, they're getting laidoff and they're getting replaced
by AI and technology as well.
When you guys think about themindset and you think about you
think about where you are todayand growing this business, what
has been the biggest internalshift you guys had to make?
Because I don't think you make amillion dollars in a business.
I think you become people whocan make a million dollars in a
business before you're able todo it.

SPEAKER_03 (35:31):
Look at you drop in my own.
I like it.
It's overurgitated.

SPEAKER_01 (35:36):
It's overurgitated.
I didn't make that that'sregurgitated.
Before you answer that, was thisyour first business?
Yes.
Yes, the clean business was yourfirst business.
Okay, so go ahead.
How what was the mindset shiftor how did you through the years
get there?
What did 2020 look like versusnow?
Mindset shift was.

SPEAKER_00 (35:52):
I mean, that that's that's the crazy part is like we
we talked about this.
I and I think it also coincidedwith like we just celebrated uh
being married 15 years.
We did anniversary, we loveblack love.
Yes, we did a lot of reflectingand you know, just thinking back

(36:13):
like there may be people thatare in similar situations.
I I've seen a lot like on socialmedia, like you know, government
workers and stuff like they arepanicking.
And so just reflecting back onwe were in this position, and
that's that's reallymind-blowing to consider that
we're not panicked this time.
Um, regardless of what happenswith school uh for our children,

(36:39):
because that was a big thing.
It was like, what are they gonnatell us in 2020?
What are they gonna tell us?
Where are they gonna tell us ourchildren have to be?
That determines what shiftssomebody has to work, you know.
Um, you know, all those things.
And now it's like we can putthem wherever we want them to
put them, but you know, we canwe can we can we can pay a
tuition somewhere that we preferinstead of waiting for our

(37:02):
school district to tell us whatto do next.

SPEAKER_04 (37:04):
And and I remember uh she she said also told me
she's like next time that thiscomes up, she she actually said
it, she was like, it won't be ait won't be a problem.
Yeah, it won't be it won't be aproblem next time this comes up.
Yeah, so and and we can be readyto you know get a walk in the
papers.

SPEAKER_00 (37:21):
Yes, so we mine I told him if it ever comes up at
your nine to five again after,and this is like after we
started the business, if ifwe're ever in that position
again the next time or beforethe next time, you'll just
retire.
We'll be ready for you toretire.

SPEAKER_01 (37:35):
So what gives you that confidence?
Do you think that's learned?
Do you think that's just likepersonality?
What do you what gives you that?

SPEAKER_00 (37:41):
Definitely not personality because I wasn't
thinking that possible.
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (37:45):
Okay.
Is it listening to podcast?
I don't know.
Like, what do you think givesyou that?

SPEAKER_04 (37:51):
Yeah, I mean, we we see that it can be done.
We see that it can be done andand and if you work together and
put in the work and and createsystems to work for you, the
possibilities are endless,really.

SPEAKER_00 (38:04):
And I'll say when we started that pro when we decided
this is what we're going to do,we're gonna take this course,
and then also when we got, youknow, the inquiries about the
the daycare in 2020, they'relike, Are you absorbing the
business?
What are you doing?
And we decided to do this crazything, take this crazy leap.
We sat down and we prayedtogether, and it was a very
serious talk with God, and wewere like, we don't know what

(38:25):
we're doing, but all roads leadto this next step, and so every
step we take, show us the nextone.
And as we take these steps,we're gonna be looking for all
the confirmation and all thethings falling in place because
we can't lean on our ownunderstanding here.

SPEAKER_04 (38:42):
No, and it was months where I remember some
other when you she was talkingto God, and I remember I was
like she was right there, andshe was like, Now I know you
didn't put us right here some ofthose tough months.
She didn't put us right here forus to you know not make it, and
and and we and we talked to himand pulled through.
So that's there are some toughmonths.
That's true.
That was some tough, there weresome tough months.

SPEAKER_00 (39:03):
He has proven himself, God has proven himself
faithful, like we really did.
We took him with us on that leapin 2020.

SPEAKER_02 (39:10):
What would be one of those tough moments where you
guys had to dig deep and comeout on the other side?
Because we talk about ourmoment, you know, month eight,
nine in the business very early,where then we we didn't
understand business and wedidn't know that what the next
side was.
Next side was us going from 5k amonth to 10k a month, like, oh
wow, this is working out.
And then, you know, obviously weare where we are today.

(39:31):
But what was some of those toughwhat what was one of those tough
months for you guys to sit downand like what we doing here?
What does that look like?
So somebody might be facing ittoday.

SPEAKER_04 (39:39):
It was after the interview, we thought everything
was going smooth after we talkedto you all in I guess 2021.
It was everything was goingsmooth.
We were uh getting up to the20,000s a month.
And I mean it dropped back downto under 10, 9, 8 cancellations
left and right.
And it was just like we got tofigure out something to you know

(40:00):
get through these through theseslow periods, and it's always a
slow, slow time.
Now we understand that wedidn't, like you just said, we
didn't know that at the timeit's some slow months that you
need to when it's springcleaning to put something back
for those slow months.

SPEAKER_00 (40:13):
Yeah, outpacing your cancellations, outpacing your
and we're outpacing like yourgrowth, knowing your numbers and
being able to outpace the slowmonths, being able to outpace
your cancellations, any troublewhere you have to discount or
whatever, like outpacing thelosses is what we had to learn.
And we didn't even know that wasa thing at the time.

SPEAKER_02 (40:33):
And it's only so much that you guys are gonna
learn from a course or aprogram, and a lot of it's just
gonna be learned life experiencebecause you can sit here and
talk to someone 24 hours, sevendays a week, but until you get
that first bad review, or tillyou get that upset climate,
until you get that cancellationor the cleaner doing this.

(40:53):
Until you face those things, youcan have the playbook in your
head, but until you get punchedin the mouth, we're gonna see
how you're gonna react to it.
Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 (41:01):
Exactly.
Right.
Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 (41:03):
It's true though.
It's true.
That's why I tell new studentsthat all the time.
I'm like, I can't, I can't tellyou everything, and even if I
do, it's no value to you.
Yeah, it sounds weird to say,but everybody wants to know
every single thing.
And I'm like, once it happens,like you you kind of grow with
it.
Yeah, there's certain things,but you gotta figure it out,
essentially.

SPEAKER_00 (41:20):
Yeah, there's okay, and also I think layered on on
top of the work, the the stuffthat was going crazy with the
business we had dealt with deathin the family.
We had real life, new baby inthe family.
Like it was like a lot, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (41:32):
It was a lot, it was life, life continues, right?
Life continues.
Regardless, you've got thisbusiness, things are happening.

SPEAKER_00 (41:38):
Yeah, there is no PTO.
There is no PTO, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (41:43):
I know.
I said PTO the other day.
I was like, I'm taking PC.
He was like, What do you mean?
We don't have no PC.
I was like, Yes, we do, becauseI'm my own boss and I'm gonna be
in bed.
I said, Did you submit yoursheet?
Did I get approved myself?
Nobody approved this.
She said, I approved it myself.
Because he ain't never gonnatake PTO, but baby, yes, I am.
So I'm like But as a couple thatlike working together and kids,

(42:08):
and how has this success likechanged your family dynamics?
If if any, has it changed it inany in any way?

SPEAKER_04 (42:14):
I love the flexibility that it gives us as
far as what we do with our kidsfor schooling or vacations that
we take or when we decide totake trips, not necessarily
vacation, it could be a work,you know, get away and work from
home.
Stuff like I love theflexibility.
She can decide if she wants togo pursue more schooling and
more degrees or go work outsidethe home, she can.

(42:36):
But if she doesn't want to, thisjob allows us to have that,
those choices, those options.

SPEAKER_02 (42:42):
Do they say like mommy daddy working type of
thing, or do they do they comeand that's like a
three-year-old?
Well, like a three-year-old.
Well, I'm talking about that'show our kids come and sit on my
lap, like you're working.
I'm like, Yes, I'm working.
So do they see that dynamic andknow when you guys, I mean your
kids are older, but do they seethat dynamic and know when you
guys are working and stuff likethat?

SPEAKER_00 (42:59):
They respect it.

SPEAKER_04 (43:03):
They definitely see it, they want to contribute so
bad.
Like if they see a cleaner goingsomewhere, they'd be like, hey,
there's a you need to get thatnumber.

SPEAKER_03 (43:11):
There it is.

SPEAKER_04 (43:12):
My son is finding my son.
If he sees uh apartments goingup, he's like, hey, they got a
sign, Dad.
They got a sign.
You need to write down what thatwhat that comes.
So like they are they want tocontribute any way they can, and
and he's and we do chores.
He's talking about, oh, so thisis a like if we tell him to do
something, oh, so this is a deepclean today, huh?

SPEAKER_03 (43:32):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (43:34):
What do you know about that?
Yeah, get your phone, hold on,hold on.
You can you should be payingyour we go, we're gonna talk
offline.
We're gonna talk offline.
Your kids should be getting paidto clean.
That's hilarious, literallygetting paid to clean.
We ain't wrong.

SPEAKER_01 (43:47):
Yeah, what's the Saturday music is playing?
This is a deep clean.
We know what this is.
I'm gonna hit y'all up offline.

SPEAKER_02 (43:52):
We're gonna make sure your kids are set up right
so they can be getting paid forthe work that they're doing.

SPEAKER_03 (43:58):
Oh god.

SPEAKER_01 (43:59):
But I know I know we're close, close on an hour of
time, and we want to be mindfulof that.
But some some things that wewant to just talk about looking
forward and stuff like that.
What is the biggest mistake yousee newer students make that you
wish you could save them from?

SPEAKER_00 (44:10):
Not knowing your numbers, not knowing your own
numbers, which leads tounderbidding.
Just it can lead tounderbidding, it can lead to a
lot of trouble.
Yeah, a lot of people.
You have to know your ownnumbers, and that was one of the
things we were talking aboutwhen we were at that period
where we were like, good God,it's tight.
Like, we don't know, we did notknow our numbers.
And I think I read some book, Idon't know what book it was, but
it was talking about the keyfigures you need to know in your

(44:30):
business.
Those are not the unlucky lossesin business, those are to be
expected.
And so once you get a number forwhat you're losing every month,
because there is a percentagefor everybody, even when you're
doing well, once you get anumber of what you're losing

(44:51):
every month, have to be able tooutpace all your ill.
So knowing your numbers iscrucial, and even in the
beginning, it can be a littlerocky and not consistent.
I get it, but study yourbusiness.

SPEAKER_01 (45:02):
Okay, and as as Tony said, we're kind of in similar
times of 2020 versus now, maybenot as bad.
So, for someone that may belistening or will listen to
this, what would you tell themabout taking taking the leap?

SPEAKER_00 (45:15):
What's the harm in learning a new skill?
What's the harm?
What do you what what's theharm?

SPEAKER_04 (45:19):
What do you lose?
Okay, and jump, I'll just jumpto go for it.
Like, you really if you don'tput yourself out there and and
and try it, you won't you won'tknow it.
So it's definitely worth theleap.

SPEAKER_00 (45:30):
And I think I heard one of you guys say, I think Ant
said, like, you know, get aclean that pays one bill.
You know, start there, startthere.
What you know, what fees do youneed paid?
What car payment?
Like, just start small, get aclean that pays one bill.

SPEAKER_02 (45:45):
I wish it was as easy today as it was back then
because it was a lot easier totell someone that when we didn't
have an interview with somebodythat made a million dollars.
What do you mean?
Like when when we were talkingabout the clean the business?
Yeah, we were talking about thecleaning business, like pay one
bill because we didn't haveanybody to compare ourselves to.
So now when we do interviewslike this, like I had somebody

(46:06):
today that was like, How fastcan I make a million?
I was like, Why?
That's the wrong question to askyourself.
Because I can't tell you thatyou don't even know that you
don't even know much about thebusiness in order to get started
because you're trying to jump tostep Z before you even started
at even A or B.
So now this question here, Iwould love to know the 2020 tip
is could see you guys now.

(46:26):
What would surprise them mostabout where you ended up?

SPEAKER_00 (46:31):
That we even jumped so far into commercial that's
wild because just starting thecleaning business, we had no
experience in the cleaningbusiness, period.
So that we were walking soconfidently into this, like we
we we followed your blueprint soblindly, and to jump into a
portion where we had to learn onour own that's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 (46:52):
And kind of going against the norm because uh at
first when we talked aboutcommercial, we have picked up a
contract or two.
We didn't want to go completelyall in because we were under the
misconception that you neededemployees, W-2, to be able to
handle uh commercial and base.
You can handle the same, you canfollow the same blueprint we
learned from your course and useit on the commercial side for

(47:15):
the most part.

SPEAKER_00 (47:16):
And I would just be I would tell them you'll still
like each other.
You might disagree, but you'llstill like each other.

SPEAKER_02 (47:24):
This might be a little cheesy, but I had tweeted
one of the biggest blessings inmy life today is that I have a
family-owned business and I dolife with my partner and I do
business with my partner.
If you think about it, in life,the person that's gonna have
your back the most is the personsitting next to you.
And in business, you don't wanta snake, you don't want somebody
that's gonna backstab you.
You want to have somebody thatyou could blindly trust.

(47:46):
So you got the best of bothworlds here.
Somebody was like, is yourprogram only for couples?
And I'm like, I was like, no, wehave single people who do well.

SPEAKER_01 (47:55):
Absolutely.
But it's just like people thathave a spouse and don't do it
with them, they just run it ontheir own.
We've just seen that too.
We had a few people like that.
Anything, I guess, beyondfinancial success that you're
most proud of with this journey.

SPEAKER_00 (48:07):
Being able, like Jonathan mentioned, just like
the freedom to be able to comeand go as we please, spend time
with our babies, like we wantto, and we want to.
I love our business name, likehow people know who we are and
know what we've established inour area.
Like, I'm so proud of that.
That's something that I guess Ididn't really think of because

(48:28):
you think of yourself as stillnew and trying to get people to
trust you.
And now, like five years later,we have professionals who know
who we are and they are willingto work with us because they
know who we are.
I would never take that like forgranted.
I really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_04 (48:42):
I I can't believe that and yeah, it's a lot of
pressure, but when we look athow much we like, and I guess
just you know, just people likeshe said, people are dependent
on us to pay their bills, tofeed their families.
So, like it's it's a lot ofpressure, but it's also like
grateful for the opportunity tobe able to provide those
opportunities.

SPEAKER_01 (49:01):
Any, I guess, final encouragement.
If you guys have time, we willallow for some questions, but we
also want to um talk about someother stuff.
But any final encouragement forstudents or maybe people that
may be on the let's focus onstudents, students that have
joined CBU and anything that youwould tell them that you wish
you know listen to or anythinglike that.
Don't quit.

SPEAKER_04 (49:20):
That's the that's the key right there.
Now you don't quit because youlike I said, it's gonna be some
tough moments, but you gotta getthrough the gotta push through,
and that's how you get to thepeaks.

SPEAKER_01 (49:29):
Don't quit, don't quit.
So thank you guys so much.
We still want to talk some moreand answer questions, but just
wanted to make sure we get thatapart.

SPEAKER_02 (49:36):
But if you guys are still on here, obviously you're
we'll wrap up.
But we got some things from fromthe tipped ins as well.
So you're still on here,obviously, the tipped in story
isn't just inspiring, it's proofthat the business model works
when you start and stayconsistent, starting from zero
and building a million-dollarbusiness with kids and building
a business that gives themoptions.
And this is what's possible whenyou stop making excuses and

(49:58):
start taking action.
So, if you got any value fromthis conversation, let us know
in the comments.
Hit the notification button, letthem know how well they um, and
obviously, you guys can find usat Cleaning Business Universe.
Have a good night, everybody.
Bye, good night, all right, bye.