SMART CLEANING SCHOOL
  • Solo Elite
    • Goals Workshop
  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Real Estate Presentation

You Must Let Go of Your Control

1/12/2023

0 Comments

 
This is a powerful follow up to my last episode, Building Blocks, I shared a story about Legos and building your cleaning company in blocks that are duplicatable. I had developed a building block as an optimized solo cleaner, but there was no scaling needed. I shared in Building Blocks that we created our first scalable building block in 2022 which was comprised on 16 commercial locations and 8 employees. This block earned my family $40,000 income on $166,000 in annual revenue. This is not a good percentage to keep because the first block is very unprofitable. The second block nearly triples our income. There is something vital that I did not mention that really deserves its own episode. How was I able to trust others after being a solo cleaner for 15 years? How was I able to delegate, create systems, and get others to do just as amazing a job cleaning as I did solo? Do you ever find yourself asking that question? Here's the simple answer. You must let go of your control or you'll never succeed with a team. 
I had lunch with a new friend of mine. Randy Moyer is owner of Moyer Specialty Foods in Souderton, PA. They sell trail mixes and all sorts of goodies that I was so thankful Randy sent me home with that day! I had posted on Facebook a few weeks previously that I was scaling my business and the E-Myth was a big help. He commented that the book helped him successfully scale past $1M several years ago. We had some common friends and decided to meet. That lunch was amazing. Randy is a very interesting guy with a lot of personal freedom. I consider him a new mentor and am thrilled to have the opportunity to highlight his amazing company.  Randy mentors many entrepreneurs. There was a point in the lunch while I was telling my story that Randy stopped me and said this. "Ken, that right there is why so many solopreneurs and small businesses fail. You figured it out. You have already overcome the most difficult thing. Now all you have to do is grow." Would you like to know what story I told him?

Here's the story I told him. "Randy, I was a solo cleaner for a long time. I cleaned everything myself with near perfection (like a level 10 out of 10). I inspected my work after every cleaning and did well. When I set this New Freedom Vision to go to Florida for a month with my family, I was deafly afraid. How was I going to find others that could clean like I did while I was gone? As the months leading up to the trip were torn from our 2021 calendar, I felt the pressure big time. We had invested a lot in overhead to be able to hire, but we needed $5,000 per month in new revenue as the first part of our Florida goal. We hit that in December 2021. This left me with 60 days to delegate 10 offices. I was even more pressured. The deadline of the goal created the pressure. That's when I figured something out. I was onboarding 6 new office locations. I was amazed at the level of cleaning other professional commercial cleaning companies in my area were offering. I literally found dirt and dust not just missed a time or two. These former companies missed them every time for months. That's when I realized that the level of service being paid for my professional companies was around a 3 or 4 on my scale of 10. This blew my mind. I don't need to clean to a level 10. No body could afford it for one. And another thing, it's not possible to train. I realized that I could train to a level of 8 and call this excellence, where 10 was perfection. Heck, the customer would pay a little more for the C3 Experience and get double the cleaning benefit from a level 4 to an 8. I could then train employees to clean 80% as good as me. This allowed me to create a cleaning scorecard and training strategy. This was a win-win. The customer gets a better cleaning. The employee doesn't have to be perfect. Mistakes and missed spots are allowed. I hired 7 people in December 2021 and January 2022. I trained 5 of them in the C3 Experience and inspected their work every week. Then I left for Florida. We did it. But then something else happened. We were gone for a month in another state. I couldn't physically see every location every time like I did as a solo and like I did before leaving. It was excruciating that first week, but nothing bad happened. I trusted and prayed for our team and they performed. The second week was easier and by the end of the month I had so much peace that I knew this was going to work. I had learned how to give up control over my business and trust other people to run it. I had also given my company to God and said, 'this is not mine. Lord, you own it all. Help me run it better.'  We got home and I've never looked back or gone back. The control is gone. I feel like I can grow this to $500k, $1M, and more."

Do you understand how I released the control over my business?
  1. It's not my business. It's God's and I manage it for Him. I truly believe this. It's why I have a mission as a 10-Talent Steward.
  2. I set a deadline to leave the business. I had to hire, train, and trust. This forced me to take action. I realized that a level 8 was the perfect level to train others to.
  3. I couldn't be there to check for a month. Nothing broke. No one complained. In fact, one company knew I was gone and told me that my employees were cleaning "as if Ken was cleaning". I no longer had to check quality every time. I could do it every other week or once a month.

These 3 lessons helped me overcome my control freak, perfectionist mindset. What about you? Would you like to do the same thing, but you're afraid or too controlling? Would you like to talk about it. Book a free coaching call with me on the Smart Cleaning School website at www.smartcleaningschool.com. Make sure to check out the many free & paid resources available on the website as well. I look forward to helping you overcome your control too!  
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Podcast

    "Helping cleaning professionals make the impact they were meant to make."
    ​

    The Smart Cleaning School Podcast develops YOUR business owner mindset and inspires YOU to grow your cleaning business. 

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Business Owner Mindset
    Goal Setting Series
    Growing Your Clients
    Growth Mindset
    Initialize 1: There Are Systems For Solos
    Initialize 2: You Need Clients Fast
    Initialize 3: Getting Great Clients
    Lessons From Ken's New Business
    Optimize 1: Optimizer's Dashboard
    Optimize 2: Optimizer's Toolbox
    Optimize 3: Optimization Cycle
    Pricing & Marketing
    Safety
    Science Of Cleaning
    Solo Cleaning & Optimizing
    Solo Owner Interviews
    Stabilize 1: Science Of Cleaning I
    Stabilize 2: Science Of Cleaning II
    Stabilize 3: Art & Health Of Cleaning
    Vision & Goals

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019

© 2025 Smart Cleaning School
​​[email protected]
  • Solo Elite
    • Goals Workshop
  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Real Estate Presentation