Beginner's Business Mindset

In March 2002, Teresa and I joined the Quixtar business as Independent Business Owners (IBOs). It was the first business we ever owned. I was excited. I was ambitious. I had discipline. I had it all, right? Nope. I didn't have a business owner's mindset. I did not think like an entrepreneur.  We started learning from Diamond IBOs. We saw the Diamond lifestyle of total freedom of time and money and we wanted it for our family. We heard this from our mentors, from CDs they gave us, and from Diamonds on stage. "You will be in 5 years based on the books you read and the people you associate." This was the starting point of our business owner's mindset. We were learning the fundamental truth that humans highly influence other humans. We are all creative miracles with immeasurable possibility. We all have the same brain and nervous system which the late, great Zig Ziglar said surpassed the world's best  supercomputer of his era. As I learned this stuff, I asked the question. Why are the poor, poor and the rich, rich? There are many factors, so please don't dig too deep into this. I starting reading success stories from the poorest of the poor ascending through the poverty to become wealthy and influencing millions. I also heard of trust fund kids with all the money in the world descending into drug addiction and losing it all. That quote became truth to me. "You will be in 5 years based on the books you read and the people you associate." As I read those stories of success, they all had this in common. Other successful people helped them change the way they thought so that they could get where they got. Does this make sense? I was learning that I had an incredible brain and potential. But I wasn't tapping into it. I needed to start associating with different people that thought differently. I needed to turn off Sportscenter and the news and start watching successful people that I admired. I needed to put down magazines and Dean Koontz books and read wealth mentality books. I'm not the same person I used to be. I've been reading books to grow my mind and success for over 20 years. I've been associating with mentors that stretch me in every area of my life. I'm still becoming the person that I want to be in 5 years. In today's language, I needed to find mentors on podcasts, social media, YouTube, and attend conferences. That's what this podcast episode is all about. If you are brand new to the cleaning industry, I hope you choose to follow this show and absorb the mindset so you can grow!

Here's another popular quote that is very similar. This one is from Jim Rohn. "You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with." This one is a tough pill to swallow. Do an audit of your relationships. Who are the closest five that you spend the most time with? What do they think about money? How much do they earn? Take the average of those five... there you are. What do they think about marriage, family, faithfulness. Take the average... there you are. How much time do they have outside of work with their family? Take the average... there you are. This was a sobering truth that I found. This is where the poor have a major disadvantage. They grow up around way more than five with poverty mindset. That's why they stay poor. But if you read the success stories, the path from poverty to wealth is always the same. They found mentors in person, through audio, or their books that they spent a lot of time with. This started influencing them to think differently, to believe differently, to take actions in their life differently, and ultimately to get better results. The other common thing that happens in these success stories is crabs in a bucket. Once they start changing and moving away from their comfortable life, they make their friends and family still in it, uncomfortable. They try to pull them back down to their level. Does this make sense? I have lived this for two decades and sometimes I forget the most basic beginner's business mindset. We must choose the people we spend time with. If you're a parent, we must help our children choose five friends that we want to influence them. This is deep stuff.

A few weeks ago, I went to breakfast with my 35-year-old cousin who just bought his 5th property in his real estate cash-flow plan. My 17-year-old son went too. We went to talk about real estate. Let me correct. I brought my son to breakfast to get mentored by our cousin in real estate because he has a goal to buy his first property by age 20. This same 17-year-old has a podcast editing business and went to Podcast Movement 2022 in Dallas, Texas with me. He was the youngest attendee of 2,000 podcasters. I got so many compliments on his potential. Am I surprised? No. I've been influencing him and teaching him entrepreneurship since he was 11. We've been feeding him growth mindset books, encouraging him to listen to podcasts, and attend conferences to get him around more mentors. He even joined a mastermind community with entrepreneurs nationwide to challenge and stretch him. He has allowed people to surround him that own real estate, have podcast editing companies with large teams, run membership communities, sell courses, write books, host podcasts, and so on. He is surrounded by goal-setters and dreamers. Yes, he is 17. Age is not a requirement for business owner's mindset. But business owner's mindset is a requirement for a successful company of any type.

Kenny's podcast editing business - Outsource Your Podcast
Kenny's new podcast - Podcast Editor's Growth

Let's begin your training. I will be your mentor and would be honored to become one of your five! Go to episode 1 of the Smart Cleaning School and press play. You will learn proper business mindset in growing a successful cleaning company from me and from the many successful cleaning business owners that I've interviewed. Start reading as well. Go to my resources page and read every book on my recommended book list!

You may be thinking about starting a cleaning business in the future and contemplating whether it's a good idea or not. Regardless of where you are, you need to become the kind of person that is ultra successful in a cleaning company if that's the business that you want to be successful at. How do you do that? Find mentors in the industry. Connect with them, get around them, buy their courses, subscribe to their coaching. I've already mentioned several of them on this podcast. Listen to great podcasts that change the way you think. This podcast is a great one and there are so many other good ones too. Read books that get you better at dealing with people or goal setting or business strategy or sales or whatever. (1) Figure out what you want. (2) Find mentors that can help you get there. (3) Become a lifelong learner, reader, listener, wealth of connection networker. (4) Take action, think big, failure will happen, face your fears. Take action, learn, adapt, change. This is a formula that'll help any business succeed. You can do this. You can have a ultra profitable solo cleaning business like I have had. You can have an ultra profitable seven figure cleaning business or an eight figure cleaning business. You could have a cleaning business that's ultra profitable that supports other dreams, community efforts, and ministries. There is no end to the size of the dream that you can accomplish. But it all starts with a beginner's business mindset. "You are the average of five people You spend the most time with. You will be in 5 years based on the books you read of the people you associate." I'm so glad that you're spending some time here on the Smart Cleaning School because now I am one of the five people You spend the most time with and I do not take that lightly. Connect with me 1-to-1 as I would love to have a chance to become your mentor (email to [email protected]).

My cousin Seth said something profound to confirm why he is on the path to real estate success and financial freedom. He said . "While I was reading books and beginning to find my mentors, I turned off the tv. The past 4 years I've been completely engrossed in changing the way I think. I don't have time to watch Netflix or sports. I care about my future. TV wasn't helping me become a better person."

Check out my interview with the T-Bag Company Founder, entitled "Respectful, Reliable, Responsible with Damon Washington". You can purchase any of the T-Bag products at a 10% discount through the Smart Cleaning School Resources Page at smartcleaningschool.com/resources.