Let's go back to the beginning. This introduction episode is still the most downloaded of the podcast. Thank you for joining me on this journey.

Would you like more information on CBF and the potential of growing your residential cleaning business beyond 7 figures? Check out my interview with the CBF Founder, entitled "A Buffalo Charges the Storm with Debbie Sardone". Debbie is offering free consultations to listeners of this show through the Smart Cleaning School Resources Page to see if CBF could be the right solution for you.

I was asked by the members of the Smart Cleaning Tribe to be the March 2022 expert to talk about real estate presentation cleaning. This is where I cut my teeth in cleaning. I was taught in Upstate New York by the realtors and stagers of Coldwell Banker how to clean professionally for realtors. I learned so many important lessons like this. There is a clear 80/20 Rule with real estate agents. 80% are looking to just get a cleaner in there to make it look nice. They want cheap and fast. Do not go after these customers. There are also 20% of realtors that understand that selling a house that they worked very hard to earn the listing requires a team. They need and collaborate with this team to sell at maximum price. I also learned how the real estate business works and how to communicate with realtors to show them I understood how hard they worked to get a listing. I learned about the emotional buyer and the emotional seller and how vital first impressions were. I learned the language of the real estate presentation cleaner and worked with the 20%. This partnership allowed the realtors I worked with to sell their homes at a 10% higher sales value before the inflated time period of Covid. They made higher commissions and I earned some of the highest cleaning rates in the country, earning between $100 - $150 per hour cleaning houses! This knowledge lead to a membership and eventually a course that I sell on my website. I hope you enjoy this clip from my expert call with the Smart Cleaning Tribe over the next 2 episodes. 

I was asked by the members of the Smart Cleaning Tribe to be the March 2022 expert to talk about real estate presentation cleaning. This is where I cut my teeth in cleaning. I was taught in Upstate New York by the realtors and stagers of Coldwell Banker how to clean professionally for realtors. I learned so many important lessons like this. There is a clear 80/20 Rule with real estate agents. 80% are looking to just get a cleaner in there to make it look nice. They want cheap and fast. Do not go after these customers. There are also 20% of realtors that understand that selling a house that they worked very hard to earn the listing requires a team. They need and collaborate with this team to sell at maximum price. I also learned how the real estate business works and how to communicate with realtors to show them I understood how hard they worked to get a listing. I learned about the emotional buyer and the emotional seller and how vital first impressions were. I learned the language of the real estate presentation cleaner and worked with the 20%. This partnership allowed the realtors I worked with to sell their homes at a 10% higher sales value before the inflated time period of Covid. They made higher commissions and I earned some of the highest cleaning rates in the country, earning between $100 - $150 per hour cleaning houses! This knowledge lead to a membership and eventually a course that I sell on my website. I hope you enjoy this clip from my expert call with the Smart Cleaning Tribe over the next 2 episodes.

Are you new to the Smart Cleaning School Podcast? If not, please bare with me. I started as a solo apartment cleaner in 2005 and moved into real estate presentation cleaning in 2006. This opened up the doors for solo house and small office cleaning in late 2006. I grew and optimized my first solo cleaning business through 2017 to a 2-day per week cleaning job earning over $50,000 per year in profit. I loved having 5-day weekends to spend time with my family.  Check out the introduction episode to hear more of my story. We sold that business in 2018 for $80,000 so our family could move back to our hometown closer to family. I have fully detailed my selling process in the double episode, "How I Sold My Cleaning Business I & 2". We started and grew a new business in the Indian Valley of PA from 2018 to another optimized solo business working 2 days per week and earning $70,000 per year in profit by early 2021. This podcast documents that entire process if you'd like to learn how to do it yourself.  Everything changed when we got our "New Freedom Vision", which was followed by numerous monthly calls with Coach Josh, and culiminating with the victory episode called "The Fight was Worth It". Here's the short version. We desired as a family to take the ultimate trip. We wanted to go to Florida for a month in the middle of the Pennsylvania winter. It was a fight, but it was worth it. I encourage you to to back and listen to the episodes I've mentioned. I believe it's important to walk beside me as we scraped and struggled to build the team that would allow us a month away. In this episode, I want to hone in on one statement my wife Teresa said to me as we were packing up on the last day in Florida. 

This episode was inspired by my friend and upcoming guest on the Smart Cleaning School. Vincent Pugliese is a coach, speaker, author, and mastermind leader. I was at his Total Life Freedom Retreat in St. Augustine in February as I've mentioned in a few recent episodes. It was so helpful and inspiring to be around 20 other entrepreneurs from around the country with ranging backgrounds and experiences. Together, we brainstormed and helped each other solve many of our current challenges. I'll be diving into one major takeaway I got in an upcoming episode called, "Yeah, That's Fear". Stay tuned. I want to share a breakout session that Vincent lead that really stretched me. 

I was in a 4-person mastermind breakout group that I mentioned in "Confidence Creates Success", where we each helped the others grow the next level. One of the members was Matt Peet. Matt has become a good friend and is a conference videographer extraordinaire! He does all the video work for one of my favorite conferences, Podcast Movement. You've got to check out his website, Re-Peet Productions, to get a flavor or how talented he really is.  I'd even recommend you check out his portfolio section and scroll down. The actual wrap-up video from our Total Life Freedom Retreat is on there. It's so good! As we were unpacking his goals to attract other conference venues as clients, I sensed a little apprehension. We challenge each other in these Freedom Zones! I could tell that Matt wanted to grow and gain more clients. I could tell Matt wanted to hit some personal goals. But that's what I heard. He WANTED them. I said this. "Matt, I sense that you really want your goals to happen. That's awesome. Over my lifetime, I've only ever accomplished the goals that I needed to happen. Do you need these yet?" It was a question that got each of us to reflect, including me. Let me share what I mean.

There are multiple pieces of glass and mirrors on a car. They are designed for visibility and safety. The windshield allows you to see what's in front of you. The side windows allow you to see what is coming at you from the sides. The side-view mirrors allow you to see your blind spots. The rear windshield gives you visibility behind you and rear-view mirrors allow a quick glimpse of what's behind you. There are so many coaching metaphors that have been used based on what I just described. The world has been tough over the past 2 years. If you watch the news, it's easy to get fearful, depressed, or pessimistic. Step into this episode with me. I want to share two analogies from the car to give you new perspective

Two recent conversations have ignited my excitement about our industry. In my interview with Ricky Regalado, he shared industry growth stats that floored me. Has the number of new cleaning business owners doubled due to the pandemic? A few short months later, I met with commercial cleaning industry leader Ed Selkow for coffee. Our conversation lasted 3 hours and I took so many notes. Ed will absolutely blow your minds when I bring him on the Smart Cleaning School Podcast for a multi-part interview series. He impressed on me something else. Technology is becoming a major part of our industry. We need to learn and grow with it or we'll be left behind. I can't wait to tap into Ed's brain to discuss this topic. In today's episode, I wanted to get the ball moving on where our industry is going.  I consider myself an ambassador for the cleaning industry. I want to lift up the experts and resources and teach the newbies proper business owner mindset. I believe this is important work so that every new cleaning business owner can skip years of common pitfalls and mistakes. They can grow into the professional, business-minded leader our industry needs.