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$300 Turned Into $14M Cleaning Business — Transcript

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0:00how about we share with you guys how you
0:01can start a cleaning business and make
0:03two million dollars in three years
0:06this is a progress update with austin
0:08miller the owner of spruce cleaning who
0:10achieved these phenomenal numbers with
0:12an investment of only three hundred
0:14dollars
0:16[Music]
0:18in this video we're going to be talking
0:20to austin who scaled his business to a
0:22hundred and eighteen thousand dollars a
0:24month
0:25his amazing customer service strategies
0:27and his mastery over yelp has given them
0:30market control of more than 18 percent
0:32here in washington state i would say now
0:35more than ever is the best time to start
0:36opening business for every thousand we
0:39spend we incur
0:4135 000
0:43let's talk about a roadmap to one
0:45million dollars give us technical steps
0:47of what to do yelp will be there they're
0:49going to help you answer any questions
0:51you may have while you develop your
0:52business
0:53today austin will share how you too can
0:55start a cleaning business without any
0:57background experience
0:58what mistakes he made that you guys can
1:00learn from how he's looking to scale his
1:02business to more than 300 locations by
1:042025 and how you can leverage yelp to
1:08rule the service industry so austin what
1:11would that pack be
1:13this is where we're getting to a point
1:14in our business where it's pay to play
1:16why not just go out open your locations
1:18run them separately versus the franchise
1:20model and in turn we saw a higher
1:22booking volume by hundreds which is one
1:25of the highest in our in our industry
1:27without further ado you guys like this
1:30video subscribe to our channel if you
1:31haven't already hit that bell so that
1:33you don't miss any videos and let's go
1:35talk to the man himself he's always
1:36working last time we interviewed him
1:38it's always working and that's an
1:40awesome thing
1:42austin how you doing what's going on
1:43guys hey let's do a second interview i
1:45look forward to it likewise
1:48[Music]
1:52you guys should check out the first
1:53episode we did with austin uh make sure
1:56you do that first and austin for those
1:57that haven't seen it tell us just a
1:59little bit about yourself and anything
2:01else you want to add yeah so i'm austin
2:03the ceo and owner of spruce cleaning and
2:05spruce home inc a parent company for all
2:08things clean uh how has spruce been
2:10since we first interviewed you
2:12it's been good so it was actually a
2:13little rocky initially with the whole
2:16start of the pandemic
2:17but we came up on top with
2:19record-breaking revenue conversion rates
2:20and more on that note how has your sales
2:24and revenue changed so what did you
2:25share on that where are you at today and
2:26expected for end of this year sales and
2:28revenue has grown month after month
2:31roughly between 18 and 25
2:34and we plan on continuing to grow that
2:35with more ad spend as we go awesome
2:37we'll dive into that more
2:42tell us about your spruce revenue and
2:44profit margins let's just focus on
2:46spruce cleaning okay uh spruce cleaning
2:48we're averaging between 100 and 115 000
2:51a month uh it fluctuates of course based
2:53on the month um but yeah that's our
2:55revenue
2:56marks sit at 45 okay which is one of the
3:00highest in our industry man you know
3:01your numbers
3:04[Music]
3:05on the sales and revenue side austin
3:07let's talk a little bit about what
3:08contributed to that growth that
3:10sustained continued growth we need
3:12concrete technical stuff a factor of
3:14things so initially we saw that decline
3:16so what we did is we invested some of
3:18our money into website development ad
3:20spend and then optimizing our pages on
3:22google facebook yelp instagram et cetera
3:26and with that people kind of trusted our
3:29our image more less searching i mean i
3:31think our time spent on pages went up
3:34like 30 or 40 seconds
3:36and in turn we saw a higher booking
3:37volume
3:38by hundreds literally hundreds of
3:40bookings per month but you how much more
3:41did you started spending time oh our
3:43aspen results i think we only increased
3:46it by like eighteen hundred dollars on
3:47the up alone you did the the statistics
3:49behind the eighteen hundred dollars
3:50spent on the ad spend and the actual the
3:53ad clicked through to our website
3:55was insane so you just improved
3:57everything online
3:58yeah and boosted your money yeah i mean
4:00we utilize our platforms that you know
4:02you're given you're given your google
4:03page you're giving your yelp page
4:05just optimized how we use them and how
4:08we structure your ads okay and we'll
4:09dive into the details you guys about the
4:11specifics of what he's talking about
4:13later on in the video
4:14[Music]
4:18for somebody watching this right now
4:20who's in cleaning business and wants to
4:22reach their first million i want to turn
4:24to you so that you can give us those
4:25answers what's your personal experience
4:27because you only started with 300 bucks
4:28right and this is a tricky question
4:30because obviously it's going to apply to
4:31different people right um
4:33don't fall for this scammy people trying
4:35to sell you on
4:36seo optimization or weird software do it
4:40the right way and it's it's the long way
4:42i guess is get a website built start
4:45reaching out to customers and invest the
4:48money you make back into your company
4:50you want that to compound so if you make
4:52you know 25k profit and you go spend it
4:53on
4:54a cancun vacation it's not returning
4:56anything so you can put half that
4:58towards ad spend or
5:00optimizing your website
5:01rule of thumb is make it better like we
5:04are still to this day making our system
5:06better and it's just showing that so
5:08make it better reinvest and just keep
5:10your eye on the prize awesome yeah and
5:12uh for those viewers that reached out to
5:14you austin from our first episode yeah
5:16you love you uh question is how did you
5:19help them our viewers with your
5:21experience just in a nutshell yeah we
5:22had a huge outreach and a lot of
5:24customers asked do you have any tips or
5:26tricks or things to avoid when starting
5:28up your cleaning business cleaning
5:29company out in chicago reached out and
5:31he needed help with his logo and he
5:32wanted me to do a website audit i had a
5:34couple minutes free so i went to his
5:35website and i looked at his logo sent
5:37him an email on what he needs to change
5:39two months later he sent me an email
5:40saying hey i just made my first 25k in
5:42revenue thank you so much and
5:44it worked like that it's really that
5:46easy it just takes a little bit of
5:47navigating and then you can do it that's
5:49awesome it's good for other business
5:50owners to give back to other business
5:52owners and spread them when time permits
5:54yeah i have no problem helping but
5:56that's busy yeah a little bit so but do
5:59reach out do comment below
6:01we are very focused on responding to all
6:03those comments and providing value in
6:05that way
6:08what's giving you the best return in
6:10terms of building your client base
6:13and what's your spend monthly on you
6:15know marketing in general so i hate to
6:17keep on going back to yelp but yelp is
6:19our single-handed driving force for
6:20customer acquisition
6:22um and right now for every thousand we
6:24spend
6:25we incur
6:2635 000 dollars
6:29but that's just because of our placement
6:30so for example we spend huge we only
6:32spend 2 hundred dollars
6:34a month on ad spend and we make a
6:37hundred and ten hundred fifteen thousand
6:38dollars and that's our only ad channel
6:41yelp we don't use anything else just
6:43print advertising none putting postcards
6:45on doors nope just yelp with all that
6:48we've talked about and that's why we're
6:49doing that course right because it works
6:51you just need to figure out how to use
6:52it that's all that's incredible don't
6:54you think it'll be saturated or to too
6:55many people on one platform or eat up
6:57the business no because there's so many
6:59different service industries cleaning is
7:01one of 25 to 30. they can still apply
7:04the same rules for their market everyone
7:06has a need everybody has need to get
7:08their power back on everyone needs to
7:09get their carpet shampooed right every
7:11business needs to use that same platform
7:13just figure out how to use it
7:17let's talk about a
7:19road map to one million dollars give us
7:21technical steps of what to do of course
7:23so you're going to start with the
7:23website
7:24don't spend a lot on it going forward
7:27and that sounds weird but what i mean is
7:28don't hire a firm that's probably gonna
7:30charge you 20k when for one you don't
7:32need a twenty thousand dollar website
7:33for your service based industry
7:34especially when you're just starting out
7:36plan to upgrade it whether it be
7:38bi-monthly or quarterly or annually but
7:41make sure you're upgrading it as you go
7:43and as you grow after that
7:45work on ad spend figure out what
7:47channels you want to optimize and use so
7:49you're not wasting your money so we
7:50don't use facebook we don't use youtube
7:53we strictly use again yelp and google
7:56others will succeed in other areas for
7:57example if you're a pressure washer or a
7:59painting company instagram is going to
8:01be your funnel it's more visually based
8:03cleaning does fall individual but people
8:05look for yelp for cleaners not instagram
8:08so we don't really use those streams and
8:10figure out how much you should be
8:12spending don't throw two thousand
8:13dollars a month on a
8:15spend budget because for one you can't
8:17handle that traffic if it does come and
8:19two you don't know how you optimize your
8:21ads yet you're going to figure that out
8:22through trial and tribulation
8:24and then scale which everyone tells you
8:26scale scale scale figure out a good
8:28process on when you should be hiring
8:29more help so we typically try to hire
8:31four to five new cleaners a week right
8:33now if you're just starting out you're
8:35probably gonna do once a month and if
8:36you can do one consistent cleaner a
8:38month for the first six months that six
8:40will you know compound a two a month to
8:42three but just don't rush it put
8:44together a plan and you're gonna see
8:45your revenue go up again
8:47customer satisfaction goes a long way if
8:49you're growing but you're also getting
8:51bad reviews you're never gonna hit a
8:52million people trust good reputation and
8:56as a whole you know people kind of
8:57follow what people choose and that goes
9:00for anything whether it be rotten
9:00tomatoes for movies or yelp for service
9:04get those reviews get that presence
9:06known so you're you trusted by the mass
9:08and that social awareness how would you
9:10like to get a hundred new customers in
9:12the next 100 days clickfunnels has given
9:15away 96 hours of their brick and mortar
9:17training for free it features 17
9:20businesses and shows how small
9:22businesses are filling their business
9:24with dream customers using simple online
9:27sales funnels you guys grab it while
9:28it's free the link is in the description
9:30below
9:32[Music]
9:35is it a good time to start a cleaning
9:38business
9:39right now i would say now more than ever
9:41is the best time to start opening
9:43business regardless even if you don't
9:44buy a franchise through spruce and i'm
9:45not selling you on one right now they
9:47predict by 2025 83 of homeowners in
9:50america will have a in-house home
9:52cleaner for cleaning services is
9:55supposed to be growing by 20 billion
9:56dollars annually or 20 sorry 20 annually
9:59for a total market cap of 20 billion by
10:012025 the fastest growing market right
10:03now in the country so clearly a pretty
10:05cheap business to get into remotely yes
10:08it is a very accessible industry right
10:10now wow you guys there's more to
10:13hear about all kinds of businesses on
10:15our newly launched
10:16upflip.com podcast so do check that out
10:19it's upflip.com forward slash podcast we
10:22talk to people like him we dive into
10:23more details and it's all for you so
10:25that you can optimize your business
10:26scale it grow it and be successful go
10:28check it out
10:32how do you navigate through the pandemic
10:34what adjustments did you have to make to
10:36you know keep
10:37being profitable and keep moving forward
10:40right and i would just say be patient
10:43be patient with customers and be
10:44understanding again it's a pandemic
10:46we've never really been through one
10:48bring value so you're going to have to
10:50cut off a little bit of your profit
10:51margin to return that value to your
10:53customer they're going to take that a
10:55lot better and you're probably going to
10:56win more sales and then again just
10:58understand people are going to be a
11:00little more angry unfortunately
11:01especially in the service industry
11:03they're going to expect more for a lot
11:04less so don't let that go to your head
11:07just keep on giving that you know
11:08five-star service to every customer
11:11and
11:12bite your tongue when needed you can
11:13still make it through it you're still
11:14going to make money but again take that
11:16profit down a little bit and return it
11:17to the customer
11:19give us an example of how you did that
11:20we
11:22gave well we cut our hourly prices by a
11:24little bit okay so we gave more time to
11:26the customer so we lost a little bit
11:27money but gave more time so we can do a
11:29basically a deep clean for everybody
11:31instead of just a regular clean so when
11:33a customer gets their clean like wow
11:34this is what i got for this
11:36perfect um
11:38so our prices go down they're going to
11:40pick us a lot of people's prices never
11:42changed so we are still extremely busy
11:45as you saw 700 bookings in august as
11:47well and there's some people still
11:48closing their doors so
11:50you know this is business it's not
11:52always going to be about profits
11:53sometimes it's going to be about
11:54survival and you need to figure out when
11:55that goes to switch and then make that
11:58that change because right now it's
11:59survival it's not about profiting it is
12:01you need to pay bills right but that's
12:02not the you don't want to max out
12:04profits you want to survive and that's
12:05what we did we change gears to pure
12:08survival we keep our lights on we eat
12:10and
12:11we'll be here when the dependent is over
12:13and probably on top
12:19you're ambitious goal 300 locations by
12:202025
12:23what are you doing and how are you
12:24focusing in certain areas cities has
12:26anyone reached out and what will it cost
12:28so obviously we're gonna kind of target
12:30metro areas so south dakota or nebraska
12:33may not be our first choices so we're
12:34really gonna dominate the west coast
12:36because that's where we're from okay
12:37we're gonna go down south and then
12:39circle back up to the east coast and
12:40we're gonna really drive a very very
12:41aggressive marketing uh plan so it's
12:44gonna be a little expensive up front but
12:45it's gonna really just push to as many
12:47eyes as we possibly can get in front of
12:48that our prospective buyers how tell us
12:50about that marketing approach if you if
12:51you can uh there's literally firms that
12:54work with i franchise our franchise
12:56group that will take your company and
12:58create videos scripts everything you
13:00need
13:01to sell locations okay so you're just
13:03basically writing that check this is
13:05where we're getting to a point in our
13:06business where it's pay to play
13:08very strong pay to play so you need to
13:10again
13:12sit up
13:13or sit down and if you're not willing to
13:15write the checks or write the checks and
13:17play ball with the big leagues go home
13:18yeah no we're at that point where you
13:20can certainly do that which is awesome
13:22sort of there's still those those risks
13:24um you know anybody that spends 110 000
13:26there's risk behind that can we afford
13:28to do that and i sometimes thought we
13:29could again we're still doing retail so
13:31we were really spreading ourselves then
13:32and i asked my one of my counselors like
13:34should i do both or do one he said
13:36you're young do it now okay just do it
13:38okay here we are
13:40[Music]
13:43i wanted to switch gears here a little
13:44bit and talk about the difference
13:46between a retail based business and
13:49service based business what are some
13:50challenges between the two
13:53let's talk about that a little bit it's
13:55completely different you want to talk
13:56about learning curve i don't know
13:57anything about retail i still don't i'm
13:59learning service base is cut and dry you
14:02provide a service to a customer at your
14:04best possible outcome i'm talking cus
14:06customer service is great the price is
14:08perfect you do it on time and it looks
14:09good done
14:11you paid retail you have to have kpis
14:14you have to have inventory management
14:16you have to have insurance you have to
14:18have bars codes that are uh gs1
14:20certified you have to have partnerships
14:22shipping times cancel dates distribution
14:25distribution yeah thanks for bringing
14:26that behemoth of a thing which ice
14:28logistics it is insane it's a nice
14:30problem to have um but it is so much
14:33more detailed and service base is a
14:35little more
14:36flexible when you get into retail it's
14:38it's it's not it's not your game anymore
14:40it's their game you're playing ball with
14:41them so
14:42there's profits there there's definitely
14:45profits there uh
14:46more than in service
14:48this is because you can scale way larger
14:50and it's volume based so you know a
14:52cleaning service may only want you twice
14:54a month whereas a product they're gonna
14:55buy your product maybe twice a month you
14:56know three times or more of just just
14:59one product so
15:00yeah there's definitely difference
15:01there's definitely money it just depends
15:03on how you want to take it
15:08austin last time we talked to you you
15:09just launched your new product line
15:12how much of the product sales is part of
15:14your revenue in general
15:16and what are the profit margins on them
15:18the sales are obviously completely
15:20separate as they're two server entities
15:22so they don't really contribute to a lot
15:23of that monthly revenue you're seeing
15:24from swiss clean that's all clean okay
15:27since our last video that we did after
15:29launching our products we've done about
15:3080k in sales
15:32and we just secured a very large
15:33partnership with that retail chain that
15:35we can't disclose until the you know the
15:37t's are crossed and that either dotted
15:38what do you expect profit margins to be
15:40on those products
15:41i can't disclose
15:42no yes it's retail unfortunately um more
15:46than cleaning so i can say roughly 16.
15:48we can do roughly 60. okay spruce is 45
15:52man which is very high in our industry
15:54but the way we structure our company
15:56we can take home a little more
16:01all right let's talk about the process
16:03of choosing uh manufacturers supply
16:05contracts on the retail side of things
16:07how do you connect with those companies
16:09uh you know what anything else you want
16:11to share i would originally said
16:13go to china
16:14but now that we have the pandemic uh a
16:16free gym for you that our consultant
16:18told me a year ago was to keep
16:20everything in state the reason why is
16:22you're not gonna have to face any of
16:23those supply chains issues that everyone
16:25else is that are bigger than us so if
16:26you're a new product company or someone
16:29that's trying to get into products try
16:30to source everything in state right now
16:32because you're gonna have that that that
16:34leverage that let's say clorox or my
16:37other big competitor is method they all
16:39source from china and they're all
16:40screwed right now so i can walk them to
16:42a store that we're working with right
16:43now but hey i have 20 000 skus i could
16:46put on your shelves tomorrow and i'll
16:48give you a discount they're not going to
16:49vet me any more than they would two
16:51years ago they're going to say hey if
16:53it's the criteria we'll order to be able
16:56to say i have product ready for your
16:58store
16:59you're saving them because shelves are
17:00looking bare and they'll take in the
17:02heartbeat
17:05so you're you're just in the development
17:07of your retail-based business right the
17:09products 16 17 squeeze what's your
17:11marketing strategy for
17:13them currently uh well we have the
17:15subscription box so we're going to be
17:16working with some very well-known
17:18influencers and celebrities
17:20with some fun giveaways and interactive
17:23models to really
17:24kind of showcase cleaning the importance
17:27of it
17:28and then some very interactive shelf
17:30design
17:31through our retail partners that we're
17:32working with right now
17:33so you're reaching out to like
17:34celebrities via what
17:36uh well source we use a consultant group
17:38that works with retail companies uh tlk
17:41but they have a large network of
17:42celebrities they use in la wow and
17:44basically we found them they've been
17:45great to us since we started
17:47um you pay them and they just introduce
17:48your product to like i think they did a
17:51cupcake company with kim kardashian
17:53uh we can't afford kim so we're not
17:55using that herb but uh
17:57yeah so we're using some obviously some
17:59celebrity endorsements and then working
18:01with some really cool influencers that
18:02actually clean their homes
18:03and it's been a fun time
18:09so you're launching a yelp business
18:11course to help small business owners uh
18:14why branch out into that arena and how
18:17do you build such a course let's go back
18:20with to the origins of really that idea
18:22yeah so it was actually due to uplift uh
18:25the amount of outreach i got through our
18:27first video was insane so i
18:30outreached to yelp and asked hey can we
18:32do a course kind of highlighting these
18:34things for more than just the people
18:36seeing up flip and sponsor it they love
18:39the idea yelping's tricky and a lot of
18:40other platforms can be tricky especially
18:42during a pandemic
18:43um so
18:45we're just taking a full force getting
18:46them kind of cutting out the fat and
18:48going straight to how to do
18:50the best
18:51possible like route to develop your page
18:53for your services service industry only
18:55unfortunately but to optimize quickly
18:57but it's yelp specific it is yelp yelp
19:00will be there they're going to help you
19:01answer any questions you may have any
19:02frustrations
19:04and we're hoping we can do a continued
19:06course
19:07as a support line while you develop your
19:09business it's a toy you gotta figure how
19:11to use and once you learn how to use it
19:13it's a blast it's turnkey once you
19:15figure out it's like taking out like
19:17turning on a faucet and then turning it
19:19off and you don't need anymore so the
19:20course is going to be on zoom uh we
19:22understand some people may have some
19:23threats with being in person so we've
19:26made this all on zoom it's gonna be one
19:27hour long and it's gonna cover
19:30mostly yelp with a little bit of google
19:32and what we're gonna kind of help you do
19:34is optimize your page with free tools
19:36and we're gonna help you optimize it
19:37with paid tools and how to
19:40budget accordingly so you're not wasting
19:41money with those paid tools because i've
19:43spent a ton of money
19:45making the mistakes that i do not want
19:46you guys to make so we're going to have
19:47ad spend strategies basically breaking
19:50down when you should increase your ad
19:51spend and when you shouldn't and where
19:54you may want to scale back to figure out
19:55what's going on
19:59let's spend a little bit time here for
20:01our audience what was the process like
20:03to start the whole franchising process
20:05and then how long did it take so the
20:08initial process was can we afford it um
20:10because what i was told is it's
20:11expensive it's a lot of legal
20:13documenting it's system and operations
20:16and it just requires a lot of marketing
20:18dollars so once we figured that we could
20:19afford it the question was who would
20:21represent us to do it because there is
20:23no way an individual like myself can do
20:25that alone um without doing it poorly
20:28and i want to do it right because when
20:30we do it i want to streamline and just
20:31hit the ground running okay um what were
20:34your first steps to take them we reached
20:35out to i franchise and uh they evaluated
20:39our company so they got to see if you're
20:40even willing or are you franchisable
20:42they said you guys will sell a ton of
20:44locations we love your program okay he's
20:47like just prepare for a huge hurdle and
20:49he's like what are your goal i told him
20:50i want to be the number one selling host
20:52keeping franchise in the nation ever he
20:55laughed he's like i think you guys can
20:56do it so if you have the money to
20:57franchise and they think your franchise
20:59a bowl
21:00it's turnkey for them how much
21:03so for us to start with 110 000. well
21:05okay i got a really good deal on my ftd
21:07developments or your legal documents
21:08through a consultant i found on upwork
21:10and how that worked was he was doing
21:12that consulting for our spruce product
21:14company and he knows how to do franchise
21:16development through his law firm so he
21:18got me an insane price literally half
21:20off
21:20i think i paid 20k for the ftd okay
21:22which is originally 45. so we got a way
21:24lower but typically for a full franchise
21:26is 150k and that does not include
21:28marketing spending times how long did it
21:30take for you to be almost in all 50
21:32states a year a year okay a whole year
21:35of development
21:36um and again it's just not operations so
21:38they're basically breaking down your
21:40entire company
21:41to where
21:42anybody could read it and do what i
21:44spent four years building so it takes
21:46time and i get i believe in slow is good
21:49not people don't rush anything yeah it
21:51was good so it was always good
21:55how many product skus do you have
21:57currently uh total 16 right now and
21:59what's the most popular uh it's
22:01definitely gonna be all-purpose cleaner
22:02uh just the most versatile product we
22:04have on all surfaces and then our disk
22:06scrub brush which is so cute
22:09oh this one came out of nowhere yeah
22:10this one right here actually it's pink
22:12box can we take a look yeah of course of
22:14course here you open it check it out how
22:16much would this uh retail for retail
22:18probably at 450. okay so all uh recycled
22:22plastics and why do you think this is a
22:24hot item just
22:25let me ask you do you like touching wet
22:27food
22:27no in the same place no i don't of
22:29course well i don't either you just want
22:30to scrub it up before you put it exactly
22:32just safety measures precautions of
22:33course and then you just throw in your
22:34dishwasher you're done gotcha dishes of
22:36course not the brush who comes up with
22:38this though is it your team a random
22:40thing on a night i designed that 11
22:42o'clock at night one take my designer
22:45put together the cad design and it was
22:47in production a week that was just one
22:48of those crazy hit me like that it was
22:50out the door so true entrepreneur right
22:52here you guys everything he says is
22:54value so this is awesome
22:57[Music]
23:00let's talk about hiring employees
23:02especially through the pandemic
23:04people don't want to work necessarily
23:06right uh it's tough to get them back in
23:09retention et cetera how do you find
23:11these people which platforms you use and
23:13the process of vetting them knowing that
23:15they're going to be a good employee this
23:16is a tricky question and i think i was
23:19probably going to watch this is having
23:20the same problem we have right you're
23:22going to spend money again you're going
23:24to spend more money you're going to have
23:25people say they're interested and just
23:26not show up we had two people actually
23:28not show up today for interviews
23:29um so it's a numbers game you're going
23:31to have to just do sheer volume so
23:32you're going to reach out to 100 people
23:34instead of usually getting you know 20
23:36or 25 interests it can probably be eight
23:38so just expect that low return but just
23:41don't give up on it um i would advise
23:44to pick
23:45one or two platforms and stick to those
23:47when it comes to job hiring don't go
23:49through like several others do not do
23:51indeed
23:52okay don't do indeed guys it's a waste
23:54your money how come
23:56they're the most expensive and the
23:57return we've done a study i think we
23:59spent two grand and we got like eight
24:01applicants okay eight to ten between it
24:03wasn't it was barely over double digits
24:04and using zip recruiter and i'm not
24:06endorsing zip recruiter this is not an
24:08ad just experience just experience
24:10you'll get the best return for your
24:11money so
24:12the money spent returns way more
24:14qualified candidates and that's what
24:15we're using right now we don't shut down
24:17our ads they're always running right now
24:18so if you're willing to work we will
24:20hire you we need the work it's like a
24:21constant waterfall right you never shut
24:23that up oh yeah we call it controlling
24:24that so that's what that's always
24:26trolling to see anyway yeah so it's
24:28always running so if you're willing to
24:30work we'll hire you any given day
24:35so clearly you're
24:37being blessed i can say via consultants
24:39that you connect with and find the right
24:41ones and you spend and invest in them
24:42how much have you spent on consultants
24:45that have connected you with everybody
24:46else my tax account says 38 000. okay in
24:49total it's not a scary number no well it
24:51can be a scary number for someone that's
24:53just starting i get that but i've been
24:55here a little longer it's about who
24:57you're taking advice from there's people
24:58that have been doing it and how i see is
25:00i rather invest in building a team of
25:03qualified professionals that can help me
25:04all sectors um and like legality is huge
25:08i wish i would invest in legality
25:09earlier but i didn't have the right
25:10legal team oh yeah it's huge for
25:12trademarking your name so you don't get
25:14it sold out underneath your we almost
25:15lost spruce when we were franchising
25:16someone tried taking it underneath our
25:18feet because i didn't trade marks bruce
25:19wow so do those concrete things first
25:22and yeah it's hire the right people you
25:25don't know everything you're never gonna
25:26know everything so against all that
25:28pride pill reach out to have some help
25:31and i think it's important to really see
25:33who you're around and i know that's like
25:34the typical thing to hear surround
25:35yourself with people you want to be like
25:37it is 100 true i look up to my advisors
25:40and they
25:41they respect my decisions and they'll
25:42give me sound advice when i need it and
25:44that's the advice they've given me has
25:46gotten me here so when i when i hit a
25:48roadblock they they revise hey you need
25:50to do this yeah you guys this is huge i
25:53mean this guy started with 300 bucks
25:55right and now we're talking an
25:56evaluation of close to 14 million of
25:58course you know what you're doing but
26:00it's the consultants that are helping
26:02you get here yeah it's ironic money is
26:05less important when you start seeing it
26:06develop so i i want people to say money
26:08isn't everything so just look at the
26:11growth of your company when you're
26:12building it that will be a sure sign
26:14indicator that you're making more the
26:16larger it gets
26:20how do you deal with customer disputes
26:21as a business owner and does that happen
26:23often when they dispute prices you know
26:26experiences etc yes it actually has
26:28happened way off more often during the
26:29pandemic than ever before ways we kind
26:31of go about disputes is the customer
26:34technically is always right and you want
26:35to at least listen to them technically
26:37technically there are going to be times
26:39where a customer is obviously in the
26:40wrong but you cannot lose your temper or
26:42lose your head when it comes to that
26:44issue
26:45find a resolution whether it be a
26:46discount or a re-clean or some type of
26:49additional package at no cost
26:51and see if they can't resolve it there
26:53or if they're just not being like
26:55understanding just drop it it's better
26:57not to feed into the anger or the
26:58negativity and you know look at make
27:01yourself look bad to other prospective
27:02clients or customers when you say drop
27:04it is that a full refund thank you so
27:06much kind of leave it at the best just
27:08don't respond uh give initial response
27:10obviously but if it just keeps on going
27:11down the rabbit hole just
27:13just let it be now those people that
27:15complained have ever have and once
27:16you've figured it out resolved it have
27:18they ever left a possible review yeah
27:20you had that yeah uh it sounds like a 70
27:22you know chance they're gonna you know
27:24reverse that but they want to show that
27:25you care okay they want to make sure
27:27that because the business owner isn't
27:28just all about money and he wants to see
27:31or she uh see the customer with a
27:32positive you know experience
27:35[Music]
27:37all right blitz time 10 seconds uh no
27:39more to answer these questions when you
27:41have the business idea for spruce what
27:43actually clicked for you to make that
27:45step and make it happen the opportunity
27:48the opportunity yeah pure opportunity
27:50market size okay what can't you start
27:52your morning without coffee my dog
27:54what's your morning routine look like
27:55roll out of bed roll downstairs throw on
27:59shorts
28:00socks slides hit the office looking like
28:02mark zuckerberg thanks okay what's been
28:04the most uh beneficial business book for
28:06you uh hugs mother
28:09excuse my language is that the title
28:11yeah it teaches about hospitality it's
28:13really good there you go okay um what
28:16are some mistakes i didn't expect that
28:17what are some mistakes that you made
28:19uh and what was the process like to
28:20correct it i know it's a loaded question
28:22but i should have delegated sooner
28:24uh my secretary actually forced me to
28:26promote her the secretary or else she
28:28was quit and
28:29that's her that's for her she did that
28:31not me so okay listen to people delegate
28:34quick what's the best part about being
28:36you or an entrepreneur i love my life i
28:39love the freedom that i get being an
28:40entrepreneur and i also love being able
28:42to job create job opportunities for
28:44people and kind of just see how big can
28:46you take it that's my favorite thing
28:48what's your weakness
28:50i don't have a free life i need to have
28:52more fun okay and what's your strength
28:54i work hard harder than most people i
28:57know i laser vision little voucher for
28:59that
29:04what about retention
29:06how do you want people
29:07on hires yeah how do you reduce your
29:09turnover so you should need to work for
29:11your employee and that is an orange job
29:14i'm her
29:15employee she's my boss my secretary is
29:16my boss
29:17if she's not happy my company does not
29:19run we do not profit so how i look at
29:22working for all 40 of the people here at
29:24screws
29:25it is my job to make you happy not the
29:28other way around
29:29so i wait my i tell every new interview
29:30or a new hire hey if you ever have a
29:32problem or you're not happy here i need
29:34you to let me know because i need to fix
29:35it for you
29:36so i think customers like that i don't
29:38want to say business owners are lazy
29:40but they need to put more effort towards
29:41making sure everyone wants to listen to
29:43their voice like their concerns you know
29:44they're going to voice them to you but
29:45how are you going to actually fix them
29:47or you're just asking to be nice i know
29:49i'm making a daily effort to make sure
29:50everyone's happy and then pay
29:52add frequent pay incentives all right
29:55tell me about yours well we already
29:56started high in the country so we'd
29:58start at 22 an hour still and that's the
30:00highest in the country in our industry
30:02by seven dollars well um
30:04if you prove yourself within the first
30:06month europe jumped up to 23. if you
30:08start training up to 24 and i think
30:11there's only one cleaner there's a 25
30:13right now but for cleaning houses that's
30:15still
30:16yeah it's not your car it's marginally
30:18higher and it shows okay i i voices saw
30:20our cleaners just hey i get the job i've
30:22done it for years
30:24i want to make sure you're getting
30:25compensated fairly for some of the work
30:26you've got to clean toilet sometimes
30:27toilets are not pretty i get it so i
30:30think owners need to understand what the
30:31job is being asked and does it fairly
30:34reflect the value they're getting paid
30:35for if you figure that out make sure
30:37they're being happy or they're happy
30:38they're not leaving
30:43let's talk about the difference between
30:45why not just go out open your locations
30:47run them separately versus the franchise
30:48model
30:49cost and liability i mean why would you
30:51take the effort to go to a different
30:52state that you don't know when you could
30:54just give someone else the licensing and
30:56agreements that they know that hometown
30:58and run it for you that's a win-win for
31:00anybody so
31:01it's a no-brainer to just do franchising
31:03it takes a lot off your plate
31:05and it allows you to build that brand
31:06awareness a cost across the country at a
31:09fraction of the price you don't put any
31:10that's all franchisee cost you're not
31:12paying that they're buying in the user
31:14name you're making more money what's the
31:16cost
31:1635 000 if you buy into spruce okay again
31:20on the median size there are a lot of
31:22cleaning companies are higher and there
31:23are some that are lower but our support
31:25is where we're going to reign supreme
31:26i'm bringing all of our cleaners from
31:28the field into our offices to be a
31:30support hub for all of our franchisee
31:32buyers you're going to have the best
31:33support than any other company
31:38let's talk about just briefly about the
31:40evaluation on the company last time we
31:42interviewed which was about a year ago
31:43we were roughly around 10 million
31:46break it down to us i know you've got
31:47multiple revenue streams now what are
31:50those companies worth right so in total
31:5214 and the reason why is they all have
31:54their own separate valuation but spruce
31:57inc is the parent company that umbrellas
31:59all of them
32:00so franchising
32:02that accounts for a large portion of our
32:04value because
32:05when prospective investors see that they
32:07see the expansion rate
32:10tenfold because we're already registered
32:11and licensed in all 50 states or almost
32:13all states so when they see that they
32:15see expansion efforts streamlined then
32:17you have a retail line okay well
32:19you already already signed and improved
32:21with the big name brand so we have the
32:23reputation and the symbolism and
32:25branding on our bottles so it just all
32:28three of our companies strategically
32:30tied together for that purpose is to
32:31when we decide to sell or if we ever
32:33sell we have that brand power which
32:36vertically grows our evaluation we're
32:38not just one entity or three with all
32:40separate
32:41footprints in the home cleaning market
32:43whether it be house cleaning service
32:44yeah house feed products or house
32:46cleaning franchises we're in all three
32:48and we perform very well in all three
32:50all with a three hundred dollar
32:52investment with a box about three four
32:54years ago now yep i couldn't pay my
32:56parking
32:57bill on the street of seattle that's
32:59insane
33:00[Music]
33:04all right you guys we mentioned a hack
33:05earlier in the video that austin is
33:07going to share with you so austin what
33:08would that hack be if you have a google
33:11or yelp page you have to upload photos
33:13to show your work if you aren't
33:14showcasing your work right now you're
33:16obviously doing something wrong and
33:17start doing that now i recommend four to
33:19five photos a week
33:20and when you're using your captions yelp
33:22let me know that google and yelp use
33:24captions as a local seo generator so
33:27when you're putting words or writing
33:28captions in your photos you make sure
33:30you're using keyword terms that relate
33:31to your industry
33:33we put deep clean or deep house cleaning
33:34in all of our photos because that ranks
33:36us higher on google and yelp as in like
33:39a basically a passive seo generator so
33:41yelp allows you to add a page deal and
33:43how their formula works in their
33:45algorithm is they see that user purchase
33:47that deal and then when they leave you a
33:49review it sticks because the system
33:51recognizes they actually went
33:53to your page it recognizes they left the
33:55review they put the two together that
33:57they use their service they don't have
33:58to do any guess and check and that has
34:00been confirmed by yelp corporate so it
34:02does work i know there's more but you
34:04guys just take those two execute on them
34:07and your business will grow you agree
34:09basically
34:10[Music]
34:14by how much did you improve or increase
34:16your profit spend or not profit spend
34:18marketing spent on yelp and a few other
34:19platforms we doubled it until you
34:21doubled it we doubled it and i actually
34:23have a yeah and we actually have a
34:24dedicated person here
34:26um that sits to interviews or sits
34:28through hires posts job postings reviews
34:31interviews uh puts them through the
34:32onboarding process and then we have
34:34cleaners dedicated to training so we've
34:37the pandemic has restructured how we
34:38onboard people and it's like an assembly
34:40line you start there you get through
34:42you're done in a week you're cleaning by
34:44yourself in a week
34:45and we've i think
34:47added 20 cleaners in the last two months
34:49yeah so i mean
34:51just go full force and put together you
34:54know whether it be just you and your
34:55two-man team working longer days and i
34:57say that because you're gonna have to
34:59um but anyone that's watching this video
35:01already knows what's required to succeed
35:03and then they're willing to put the work
35:04in as it is
35:06but just put more plans together and
35:08don't take no for an answer
35:11[Music]
35:13i mean is it just you or three four
35:16things you could say that really
35:17contributed to you getting to this point
35:20um so i do want to shout out jackie
35:22behind me she is my secretary
35:24technically but my
35:26hey without her this would not be here
35:28um she's been with with you for quite
35:30some time it's almost since the
35:31beginning she actually was a cleaner
35:32when we first started okay um so she
35:34basically runs spruce cleaning as of now
35:36uh brian who is my confidant he's my
35:39right hand man for everything when it
35:40comes to figuring out logistic issues um
35:43and then obviously the team here at
35:45spruce we all put a lot on the table and
35:48i think it's because they trust what
35:49we're doing and we're selling on the
35:51fact that we're not cleaning forever you
35:52know work hard right now we're going to
35:54hire to work within offices or be a part
35:57of the franchise sales team there's
35:58there's room for growth for everybody
36:00and i i'm not trying to sell them on a
36:01pipe dream i want people to do better
36:02and we want the medium income to be
36:04higher here that sounds and people love
36:05that and that's why we're succeeding
36:07it's a team-based effort and i just want
36:08to reiterate team
36:10don't be a boss embossing people around
36:13have a little bit humility and let's be
36:15told what to do from your own staff
36:16because you're not perfect and once you
36:18get that controlled
36:19we've grown so fast and i think that's
36:21important that's awesome awesome yeah i
36:22mean i've heard business owners
36:24contribute more success to themselves
36:25and it's awesome that it's all about the
36:27team and it's not about me i'm going to
36:28play that right now it's not even
36:30partially about me i just make small
36:32bigger decisions day to day they do all
36:34the hard heavy lifting and i i recognize
36:36that daily
36:40all the entrepreneurs watching this
36:42three pieces of advice in general
36:44again make sure your customers are happy
36:47make sure your staff is even happier
36:48because they're the ones doing the work
36:50for you making you the money
36:51second
36:53always strive to better your platform
36:55regardless if it is your systems and
36:57operations your website how you talk to
37:00your customers write scripts out make
37:02sure they're perfect
37:03third
37:05slow i reiterated this so many times
37:07stop rushing for something you're gonna
37:09make money if you do it right uh money
37:12isn't always everything but if you're
37:13gonna you know
37:14do it do it right
37:16take the time to learn it and make sure
37:18the experience that you're giving is
37:19perfect from start to finish yeah
37:21awesome this has been great i really
37:22enjoyed it even more than the first time
37:24thank you again it's our pleasure i hope
37:26you guys really enjoyed this what an
37:28incredible businessman gave you a ton of
37:30advice and just for full transparency we
37:32love you a ton sometimes we get paid for
37:34our videos sometimes we don't this one
37:36happens to be where we got paid just a
37:37little bit i hope you enjoyed this video
37:39lots of awesome business advice if you
37:42haven't already like the video subscribe
37:43to our channel and hit that bell button
37:45so that you don't miss any of our videos
37:47thank you so much for watching you guys
37:49take care

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