July 2021 Freedom Report with Coach Josh

​July was a crazy month. As a family, we had a ton going on. We had Kid's Camp and Youth Camp at retreat camp centers for 4 of our 5 kids for 5 days each. During one of those camps, Teresa and I slipped away for 4 days to the beach.  I had a 5-day father / son camping trip with my son to the Adirondacks that I do with each son. This was with my 8-year-old Kye.  It was glorious being off the grid for 5 days with no phone or social media! We just connected, camped, swam, boated, ate, heard campfire stories, songs, and devotions, and did shooting sports and hiking! Awesomeness! Coach Josh was also away in Florida for 2 weeks, so we had to move our coaching to Marco Polo and email. Even with all of this going on, I had BIG goals!

The first step in this process was putting our money where our mouth was. On July 7th, we booked it! Booked what? We booked a rental house on the Gulf Coast for a whole month next winter! The house is awesome with 7 beds, a porch, and a short 8 minute ride to the beach.  There's a pool table too. Our kids are so excited and so are we! We've never done anything like this before.  July had to be a big month to get this "Freedom Vision "cranking.

Before I go into the details of our month and share tidbits from coaching, let me give you the end results. We started the month with no employees, no payroll, no systems, a new accounting firm client for $3,000 per month that we had to staff, and no clue! The month ended with no new clients, which is the sad news. But we fully outsourced and completed our Quickbooks migration from desktop to online and have an accountant walking us through whatever we need for a year. Our financial system is now automated! I can't believe it! We hired a payroll service and a background check company. I built out a basic onboarding  system, job description, and training system. Teresa and I were trained how to use the online payroll dashboard to submit employee hours. I found out that I wasn't submitting payroll correctly for the state and local taxes. Thankfully, my new payroll company fixed it for me and I'm paying a penalty for the remainder of the year. That's a relief. I hired my first employee. Leah works full time at a daycare and is a college grad. She wanted a part-time job to make $500 per month and found me through a referral. It works out perfectly. She started training on July 29th! It's crazy! I also was privy to systems used by my coach. I am so grateful for this. At the end of the month, Josh introduced me to his HR & Finance Manager. We talked for over an hour. I helped him by teaching him the ISO Model to increase revenues in their company. He taught me their onboarding process and is sending the documents, videos, and other forms & ads I need to start a strategic hiring process. I also completed a branding change from Carfagno Cleaning to Carfagno Commercial Cleaning and my C3 Experience. My friend Billy designed a new logo and I upgraded my proposal to new offices prospects with my new branding. As I even share this, I'm dumbfounded at how much I got done this month when at times it felt like nothing was happening! Last but not least, I added a key member to my team. For the first time in 16 years, my wife Teresa is stepping up to help the family company. She is a busy homeschooling mom of 5, so I NEVER asked her involvement. I am grateful that she is helping with admin and is taking over the QBO and payroll components from me! I am working hard to delegate as much as possible to focus on growth of new clients and new team members!

That was a lot to share. Here are my August 2021 goals. We will fully train Leah to be independent and cleaning 3 offices per week. We will add at least a $1,000 per month new recurring professional office revenue for me and my kids to clean since we have the time with Leah taking over 3 of the ones we were doing. We will register and complete our janitorial software for our clients and employees using Swept. Lastly, we will hire 1-2 new part-time team members to delegate more offices to. The journey to Florida has begun! August will be fun!

There are a few lessons from the month that I would like to share.

• In the beginning of the month, Josh coached me through the  "Traction" book to create a signature solution for my company brand and a niche. We agreed and settled on the niche of small professional offices and cleaned by part-time professionals. My signature solution is a play on our new brand Carfagno Commercial Cleaning. It's called the C3 Experience, where we provide 5 levels of cleaning expertise and trust for small professional offices in Montgomery and Bucks Counties.  This coaching lead to the logo design, proposal upgrade, and it will eventually tie into my revamped website and newsletter content.  This is a big decision because it forces me to stop accepting house cleaning clients. I want small professional offices only.
• Josh coached me on every step of the hiring process as I've already shared. I was so overwhelmed with hiring, but with Josh and his team, I feel so much more confident. Systems are definitely the key and Josh has great systems that he was willing to share with me.
• I learned that people flake out. I had Jaime all set to be my first employee. She is a full time college administrator and single mom with 20 years of cleaning experience. She was excited, but when it came time to get her started, she changed her mind. Fortunately, I was sharing the opportunity at my networking groups and church. I found Kim through group and Leah from a friend at church. I literally had NO systems and just called them each to do an informal phone interview. I talked to Leah's boss because she is a friend and she raved about her. I know Kim well too. When Jaime flaked out, I opened the door to the others and I chose Leah and here's why. Leah is the right personality for what I need. She is a S-C on the DISC, which means she is detail-oriented, consistent, and loyal. Kim is a high D, which means she is outgoing and more task-driven. High D's are often in leadership. Based on the 3 candidates, I decided to hire Leah for the first cleaning position, keep Kim mind for a spot in September as she could clean and possibly be a team lead or quality checker while I'm in Florida. Jaime won't be joining me now, but she has tremendous admin and HR skills and was interested in a potential management position with my company down the road. I am learning that you have to always be marketing for employees.
• The accounting firm fell through in the beginning of the month. I was sky high excited to get a new $3,000 per month client. Thankfully, I had made an impact on the HR director who wanted to hire me. She shared that I lost to a cleaner with family ties to a key shareholder. There is nothing that she nor I could do. I assumed that my price was too high, but she confirmed that the price was fine and was confident that they'd be looking for a cleaner again soon. I thanked her and brought the scenario to my mastermind and Coach Josh. They agreed that I should get her a thank gift and card. I dropped one off a week later.
• Shelby Leight from my MCBA networking group referred me to her family business, who just lost their cleaner. I showed up a few days after the referral to do a full walk-through. The proposal took 8 hours! It was a 5,000 square foot building with lots of details, but it took long because it was my first proposal with my brand change. I submitted the price options for $1,100 - $2,500 per month and felt great about it. Even if I don't get the job, I upgraded my proposal as a result. I even took the new format and updated my accounting firm proposal and sent it to the HR director at the end of the month. This was a great reason to follow-up and provide an upgraded image of our company.
• I responded to an inquiry for housecleaning that I called back to say no. In the process of trying to help this homeowner find someone, I was honest about my plans. I mentioned that I was getting out of housecleaning to focus on professional offices. He said this. "I own a chain of dental clinics in Southeastern PA. If I give you a few of my offices to clean, would you come to my house and give me a discount on biweekly house cleaning." This was a no-brainer. We booked an estimate at his house in early August. This could certainly be my $1,000 per month that I need for my goal.
• Another home owner tried to reach me 3 times while I was at the beach. He needed a 1-time cleaning. I responded that I don't have anything until next month. He asked when in August and was willing to wait and pay top dollar. This man had found me on Google, watched my videos on my website, and made up his mind.

Overall, July was a great first full month of coaching with Josh Melton. He is a blessing in my life and I'm so thankful to him. Make sure to check out the clip included in the podcast where he gives me homework to make up my "Project 100" list and hire my first employee.