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The Clutterbug Story with Cassandra Aarssen

6/29/2020

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I am excited to introduce my friend and YouTube superstar, Cassandra Aarssen to Solo Cleaning School. I invited her to be an expert guest in the SMART Cleaning Tribe that I lead for team cleaning companies needing accountability around goals. Cassandra was a busy mom of two small kids when she started her home organizing business. At the time, she was also running a daycare with 9 children for extra money. She saw home organizing as a way to make extra money and possibly get out of the daycare business. It did WAY more than that! Her husband recommended that she record a video with her phone and upload to YouTube. Cassandra has continued this discipline for over 7 years and 750 videos! In this interview, she shares the Clutterbug story. You may be thinking... 'Ken, she isn't a solo cleaner. Why should I care?' For one, she was a solo operator of her home service business like you and I. Secondly, she turned her local brand into a global one that now earns her hundreds of thousands of dollars. 
   

Check out these power quotes from Cassandra!

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I'm Being Punked with Letra Grayer

4/30/2020

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Letra was working for a large national cleaning service when her boss recognized an entrepreneur's heart inside of her. Instead of offering a promotion, Letra was offered mentorship and the opportunity to go solo. This is unheard of. Businesses don't launch other businesses unless they are franchises or financially incentivized. That's why Letra thought she was being punked.
Check out this solo cleaning story and the plan she formed recently in her marketing with a little help from yours truly. Plus, be sure to listen for these quotes during the interview!

​"If I wanted to get to the next level, I had to get out of my comfort zone."

"You can't grow without taking risks."

If you're in the Houston, TX Area, make sure to check out Letra's company, Ms. Moody's Cleaning Service!

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If You Have A Gold Mine with Dionne Austin

1/30/2020

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​Dionne was a struggling single mom. She was willing to do anything to make it, including moving to a different state and trying out a crazy business... cleaning houses. If you're a mom listening to Dionne's interview, I fully believe you will be encouraged to know it's not easy but you can do it!

Dionne shares how surprised and honored she was when I invited her to join the Solo Cleaning School as a founding member. The idea of paying for a membership forced her to take personal leadership for her future and she dropped this insane metaphor - 

"Don't worry about how much the shovel is going to cost if you have a gold mine."

It's a great message as cost and investment have completely different meanings. Cost implies consumption. You buy and use it up and it's gone. On the other hand, investment implies growth. You buy and use it to get more of what you need. Dionne illustrates this perfectly as to why she decided to join our School!
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I Felt Limited with Ronita Jefferson

12/16/2019

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After 20 years of working in the medical field, Ronita was offered an opportunity to work part time as a solo cleaner. The position was commission based, so she started earning part time close to her full time job income. This built her dream that she could leave corporate America to start her own solo cleaning business, Divine Commercial Cleaning Services. Within a few years, Ronita felt like she was back in corporate America because of the choices she made in her cleaning business. She took on a high paying client in another town which required daily driving 60 miles each way. In her own words, she could not grow any more due to three things:
  1. "I'm a solo cleaner."
  2. "I couldn't get out an advertise my work."
  3. "I felt limited."
This was the point in her journey where I met Ronita and started coaching her through this difficult time. Her interview shares the rest of the story.
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My Secret Weapon with Roland Downs

12/5/2019

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"You have to master your own lane." - Roland Downs

Roland knows that his wife Dina is extremely professional and understands the language of business. In his follow up with accounts that he's cleaned and helped grow, he gets feedback that the gym owner didn't think he was legit as a cleaner. Dina gave the image of a business person and secured the account. That'a Dina's lane. Roland knows he is the master of custodial arts (as he says in his Facebook intro) and he will be the best cleaner they ever had. This is how Roland uses his secret weapon.

However, as Roland states. "The problem is when either one of them tries to cross over. She tries to micromanage me or I try to micromanage her. That's when it falls apart. It just doesn't work." Our spouses have a significant role in our solo family cleaning business. Look at me. My wife started the company.

Roland dives into some cleaning science in this interview and gives us the takeaway that there are 3 parts to excellence in cleaning - 33% cleaning science, 33% right equipment, and 33% technician. Never overwork any one of these or you will LOSE time, quality, and in the case of the technician, you will injure and wear out the body. This is such a huge tip that it is worthy of it's own episode.

Finally, let's wrap this up with a Pro Tip from Roland on using Instagram. He records his cleaning excellence with before & after pics and live videos of him cleaning various areas of gyms. He starts to follow gyms (targeting) and posts these images and videos. The gyms that like his stuff multiple times, Roland will reach out to them in person, phone, or email. It's quite brilliant!
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I Try to Do the Best with Marcia Davidson

11/21/2019

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Two years ago, my friend in the cleaning coaching world, Debbie Sardone, referred Marcia Davidson to me. Marcia was not ready to scale her business and needed my help in making her solo company extremely profitable. Marcia struggled as a single mom for the entire time, trying to hold onto $15/hour temp jobs to pay the bills. She desperately wanted to grow her solo cleaning business, but circumstances held her back. In this interview, you will see how Marcia turned the corner this past summer and has a totally booked calendar.

The biggest takeaway from this episode is Marcia's mindset of always giving the best. The majority of her recent new client surge had experienced sub-standard cleaning. Then they gave Marcia a try and she gave them deep cleans every time. Marcia elevated her quality to stand out and as she says, "They got hooked."

Resources:

  • Debbie Sardone is highly successful cleaning business owner and founder of the wildly popular Cleaning Business Fundamentals course, which gives cleaning service owners the blueprint, materials, and coaching to get over 7-figures If you're a solo cleaner that would like to transition to employees, I recommend a free consultation with Debbie.
  • Homestars is the Canadian version of the US-based HomeAdvisor for lead generation.
  • Business Calendar 2 is the automation tool we use to streamline our various Google calendars and task lists.
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Trust is Everything with Beth Lane

11/11/2019

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In this episode, Beth Lane of Lavender Fields Cleaning Service joined Solo Cleaning School. She has been working in this amazing profession for 21 years and has a world of experience that she graciously shares with us today. She uncovers several key points for new solo cleaning moms to use as they grow their business.
  1. How Not to Run a Business - Beth shadowed a friend for 3 days and with her banking experience, knew one thing... how not to run a cleaning business. Beth took these lessons and began her own solo cleaning company.
  2. Solo Cleaners are Introverts - Beth believes that the overwhelming number of solo cleaners are empaths and introverts, which means they are deep feelers, creative, detailed, and quiet. These traits lead solo cleaners to rely on other avenues to do the marketing for them verses talking to people directly. Beth also believes that these personality traits also cause solo cleaning moms to take things so personally.
  3. Angie's List & HomeAdvisor - Both Beth and Ken share experiences using these online lead generator services and how their effectiveness has bottomed out over the last 3-5 years. 
  4. Questioning Your Prices - Facebook groups are a wonderful resource, but there are many "opinions" on there, especially on price. Ken describes his observations on prices. You really need specific counsel on price for your business verses general opinions. This is a fundamental reason why the Solo Cleaning School Premium Membership exists.
  5. Trust Factor - Solo cleaning is not all mechanical. It's an emotional business that has it's foundation built on trust & integrity. Beth believes that the trust factor is the #1 reason why she has been able to add & retain great clients for many years. "If they like you and trust you, they'll overlook a cobweb. If they don't like (and trust) you, they're gonna be nit-picking every thing you do."
Beth is a trustworthy and experienced cleaning service owner, servicing the Melbourne, Florida Area. Feel free to reach out to her and let her know you heard about her on the Solo Cleaning School Podcast.
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Hi, My Name is Kevin LaCombe

10/28/2019

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Kevin LaCombe shared a simple marketing strategy, "Hi, My Name Is...". It worked big time for Kevin & Cherie in their first month in business. They added two small commercial clients on the same day to add $35,000 in annual revenue and earning close to $90/hour doing it! All they did was share their business with the people they already knew. I call this the A & B lists in our Solo Cleaning School premium membership. As Kevin says. "It's not an easy business, but it's simple."
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My Goal is to Create Peace for My Family with Andrea McCoy

10/16/2019

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In this episode, I spotlight my first solo cleaner. Andrea McCoy runs Peachy Clean in St. George, UT. She is a mom of 6! She explains why she started her solo cleaning business and the various mind shifts she has made over her 3 years in business with my help to increase her rates from $25 to $65 per hour! We also talk about the power of keeping your hand on the marketing water pump and setting a goal for peace.
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    Author

    The Smart Cleaning School Podcast helps cleaning business owners from start-up to the struggling solo to the striving seven-figure get SMARTER in their businesses, reshape their mindset, increase productivity, clear the overwhelm, and get clarity through SMART goal-setting & personal accountability. Ken Carfagno is a lifetime learner and teacher. His mission is to help visionaries make the impact they were meant to make.

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