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How I Built a $125K/Month Cleaning Business — Transcript

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0:00imagine going from zero to making nearly
0:03a million dollars a year in just three
0:05years of starting the business and
0:07accomplishing all of that while
0:09traveling all over the globe you can
0:12have a local business be managed
0:14completely remotely if you pick the
0:16right model and hit three main pieces of
0:18criteria and I tried a lot of these
0:20industries which are like remote and
0:22everything flopped so now we're probably
0:23doing around between 100 and 150 000 per
0:26month in Revenue there's actually fast
0:28forward buttons in business you can have
0:29and you can see everything through the
0:31dashboard over here someone's already
0:32figured this out why am I doing
0:34everything myself yeah we've made
0:35millions of dollars with this exact
0:37sales script I love finding those types
0:39of Industries we're picking up the
0:40phones at competitive Advantage this is
0:41definitely one of them you mentioned a
0:43secret strategy to sales I'm dying to
0:46know what that is stick around and I'll
0:48show you exactly how I did it and how
0:49you could do the same
0:51foreign
0:53tell us where Neil was before made this
0:56came into the picture and what Drew you
0:59to starting your own clingy business yes
1:01I was actually working in Corporate
1:03America I was working in finance and
1:04private equity in normal nine to five in
1:06the cubicle and uh yeah yeah I dress up
1:09every single day go to work early in the
1:11morning leave late at night time it was
1:12one of those types of jobs heavy on the
1:14computer heavy on Excel yeah and when I
1:16was there I realized that this is just
1:17not really the life I wanted you know
1:19two years of vacation every year being
1:20overworked underappreciated I just
1:22wanted something more for myself and I
1:24knew I wanted to start some sort of side
1:25hustle I didn't really know what it was
1:27going to be but I knew I had to fulfill
1:29some key characteristics I was looking
1:31for in my Lifestyles okay that's awesome
1:32and one other thing I want to touch on
1:34is the finance world right Finance
1:36private Equity yeah that I can imagine
1:38just from my own experience knowledge
1:39takes a lot of time training while
1:42you're doing that you're also building
1:43the side hustle made this how did how
1:45did you do that like what do you want to
1:47highlight in part of that moment
1:48yeah there's a lot that goes into it I
1:50made a lot of mistakes and I finally
1:52kind of cracked the code of what would
1:54make this a what I call remote local
1:55type of business interesting you want to
1:57learn more absolutely but don't share
1:59now you guys keep watching because we've
2:01got a ton of other things coming up so
2:03where are we Neil so we're now in my
2:06home office this is where I get most of
2:07my work done sweet not a lot of room no
2:10not necessarily needed right I really
2:12need you just need a laptop and some
2:13Wi-Fi and you're good to go that's what
2:15he's us where the magic happens I guess
2:16all right well and then obviously you
2:18haven't been here for too long but
2:20you've always had an home office before
2:21uh what were the startup costs for made
2:24this back in the day break it down for
2:26us absolutely so I probably spent under
2:29a thousand dollars to get going that's
2:30all you really need for this type of
2:32business it's pretty lean there's not
2:33like trucks Vehicles wraps nothing like
2:35that you just need internet connection
2:37so sweet I spent probably like 100 bucks
2:40on a WordPress template and built my
2:42first website I didn't know what I was
2:43doing like I found hosting and I got a
2:45really crappy website and just got it up
2:47as something like version one and now
2:48now it's so much easier because there's
2:50all these AI tools that make spin up
2:52websites a lot of different tools to
2:53make easy websites for less than 100
2:54bucks either oh yeah yeah and uh my logo
2:57was so bad I was on the Microsoft Word
2:58and I just came up with a name from
3:00Reddit and I just have to made this with
3:03the exclamation mark and that was my
3:04logo that was it they didn't give me
3:05much thought no and I don't think you
3:07really need to I think people overthink
3:08these small things you could always make
3:10changes as you go the real cost for me
3:12though is the amount of time I spent
3:13hundreds of hours of researching stuff
3:16trial and error to get anything's going
3:17now could I have done that much faster
3:19in hindsight yeah for sure but a lot of
3:21your earlier stages in business is just
3:23kind of figuring it out figuring out
3:25what to do and just that's the biggest
3:27cost in reality it's not the money it's
3:30the time spent yeah you only have so
3:32much time absolutely gorgeous Place tell
3:35us just in a snippet where we are and
3:37why here specifically yeah this is one
3:39of our clients Airbnb homes so our
3:41specialty is actually Airbnb turnovers
3:43and so this is one of the homes that we
3:44actually take care of and spend a client
3:46for a long time and how many clients do
3:48you have today as we speak I know just
3:51throw it out yeah it'd be well over 400
3:53clients well the other question that is
3:55next is the importance of picking up
3:58every phone call in this business oh
3:59yeah we want more clients we want more
4:01homes to take care of and clean how did
4:03you build a system around that to make
4:05sure that absolutely every phone call
4:06from a prospective client is answered
4:08you know what's funny for this industry
4:09I always tell people that picking up the
4:11phone is a competitive advantage and I
4:14love finding those types of Industries
4:15we're picking up the phones at
4:16competitive Advantage this is definitely
4:17one of them if you try to call the top
4:1910 competitors in your city for cleaning
4:20seven of the morning they won't even
4:22pick up three of them I pick up and am I
4:24yeah shocking right if you try any home
4:26Home Services uh it's very rare to find
4:28someone who actually picks up and is
4:30really good at sales so with that in
4:31mind you just got to pick up the phone
4:32then you're already ahead of the game
4:34right so what we do to make sure we
4:35always pick up the phone is we use
4:37Global Talent to service this local
4:38location so call us get routed to my
4:40team in South Africa and they are the
4:42ones who pick up the call and what about
4:43time zone I'm I'm guessing they're
4:45answering 24 7. yeah so we always handle
4:48things is within business hours of the
4:50location oriented so if it's our
4:51location our Branch's location if
4:53they're Pacific Time or east coast time
4:54whatever remote team members you hire
4:56are going to be for that location that's
4:57one aspect of it but really you know if
5:00we don't pick up the calls I found that
5:02our close rate dropped significantly so
5:04get this if we pick up the phone call on
5:06the first couple rings right our close
5:08rates around 50 to 60 percent if we
5:10don't pick up and call them back in a
5:12few minutes the close rate jumps down to
5:1416.5 percent so it's a massive massive
5:18difference in what your close rates are
5:19for phone sales so we have a system of
5:21just not only finding remote team
5:23members but also linking everything
5:24together so let's say we miss a call
5:27automatically we use AI technology to
5:29text the customer and say hey I'm sorry
5:31you missed it and depending on what
5:32their answer is we can provide them
5:34guidance on here's how to book online
5:35here's what to do gotcha well I can't
5:37wait to hear more about the specific
5:39tools that you use and how you built
5:41everything around
5:43when did you know that it was time to
5:45quit and go full time to pursuing made
5:47this yeah I think the number is personal
5:50for everyone it's what I call the
5:52freedom number right A lot of times if
5:53you ask people hey how much do you want
5:55in monthly income coming in to feel
5:56comfortable the most common answer is
5:57ten thousand dollars a month all right
5:59it's kind of like if you ask someone
5:59pick a number between one and ten and
6:01everyone says seven yeah right but the
6:02real number what I call the freedom
6:04number is probably a lot less so for me
6:06the number was relatively small it was
6:08around three thousand dollars a month
6:10and I hit that around the end of year
6:12two you know in hindsight I probably
6:14could have hit that way quicker if I
6:15actually knew what I was doing uh but I
6:17did it but I hit that number I just side
6:19hustle too yeah there we go and I booked
6:21a one-way flight down to South America
6:23Colombia I quit my job and I just
6:25started traveling that's it yeah and I
6:28was supposed to travel for one year I
6:31loved it so much and it's becoming seven
6:32years of travel across 50 countries I
6:35also was able to build my business and
6:36get this in the first year of me
6:38quitting my job to travel we tripled the
6:40business in terms of size yeah well I
6:42think that kind ties into the secret
6:44sauce that you are using implementing
6:47that is sending new customers his way in
6:49droves you guys and keep watching to
6:52find out what that is because when you
6:53hear it you're going to be like how in
6:55the world did I not know this before
6:57so we were at your customer's house
6:59beautiful in terms of the clientele in
7:01the homes that you take care of we went
7:03to your home office as well where all
7:04the magic happens as we talked about
7:06tell the audience where we are today
7:08because we're on the 33rd floor downtown
7:10L.A downtown Los Angeles Skyline
7:12beautiful view in the background uh this
7:14is a common co-working space I work from
7:16so the business I'm in is fully location
7:18independent that was the goal when I
7:20started it and a lot of that means I
7:21could kind of work wherever I want I do
7:23love working at home but sometimes a
7:24change of pace is pretty sweet and this
7:26is a normal that we're from as well
7:28let's dive back into the interview and
7:30the question that I have in my mind is
7:32how you took a local service based
7:35business and share with our audience as
7:37much as you can on how that transition
7:39happened and so forth absolutely I mean
7:42when you think of a local business you
7:43don't normally don't think oh let me go
7:44and make that remote right that's not
7:46what you want to do and especially
7:48cleaning that's the most old-school
7:49industry the cool part about the model
7:51is if you figure out the right remote
7:52local method which is what I'll talk
7:54about you could turn any specific local
7:56business fully remote and uh you know
7:59when I first started I mentioned that I
8:01wanted to pick a business that suited My
8:03Lifestyle right that's kind of reversing
8:05the formula of starting with what is
8:06your ideal lifestyle like finding
8:08business models would suit it and I
8:11wanted to be fully location independent
8:13that was a big big thing for me and I
8:15tried a lot of these industries which
8:17are like remote and everything flopped
8:19and what was kind of working was this
8:21cleaning business I just happened to
8:23start on the side and when I decided to
8:24really look at I realized huh most of
8:27the pieces in this I'm already kind of
8:29doing remotely because I was working at
8:30a corporate job all the calls to route
8:32to my phone the cleaners to go straight
8:34from their home to the job site there
8:36was just a few key pieces I need to
8:38switch up to actually make a filler mode
8:40which was totally doable with how fast
8:42technology has moved and that this is 10
8:44years ago now it's even easier to do
8:46this yeah I will tell you there's
8:48probably three main characteristics
8:49involved because not every single local
8:51business can be fully remote I was going
8:53to say what does one look for to
8:55identify a service space business that
8:58can go remote so why don't we save that
9:00later you guys keep watching what are
9:02some challenges of starting your own
9:03business like managing the time while
9:05you're doing your full-time job and then
9:07you're working on something on the side
9:08kind of what did you learn through the
9:09process when I was working at nine to
9:11five this was the first time I was
9:13actually starting my own business and I
9:14think there's a lot of things you don't
9:15know and one thing I realized in
9:17hindsight is a lot of people who are
9:19working a nine to five to have that
9:20employee mindset and you know we're
9:22always taught you just got to work
9:23harder and grind and that's kind of what
9:24I was doing I was doing everything
9:25myself for my business while I was
9:28having a nine to five it was just a lot
9:29to do and the reality is in business
9:31it's a little bit different you know you
9:32there's actually fast forward buttons in
9:34business you can have which don't really
9:36exist in the nine to five and it took me
9:37a while to realize that wait can I just
9:39like pay a coach or someone to tell me
9:41what to do someone's already figured
9:43this out why am I doing everything
9:43myself yeah and it's a big deal earlier
9:46on business that's the struggle people
9:48get into they think they got it figured
9:49out themselves the rally is they don't
9:51the treasure maps kind of already built
9:52people have done it before why not just
9:54speed up the process a lot more so key
9:56takeaway if you don't know what you're
9:57doing don't necessarily spend months
9:59potentially Years Learning it get
10:01somebody else that's already done it
10:02find a sherpa it's kind of what I would
10:04say so like you know let's say you're
10:05going to go hike Mount Everest yeah
10:06you're not going to show up with all
10:08your pack and say all right there's the
10:09mountain I'm just going to go to it
10:10right you're going to hire some local
10:11Nepalese dude who's going to be able to
10:13guide you along the way tell you what to
10:14do say step here don't step here why not
10:16just do that in business it'd be so much
10:18faster give us the breakdown on Revenue
10:20I know you've got multiple locations
10:22right now with the franchises but maybe
10:23just focus on yours specifically what
10:26the average industry is and the the ebb
10:29and flow of you know low margins to high
10:31margins and how that's affected yeah
10:34absolutely and it totally varies
10:35depending what stage of business you're
10:36at so my business now is pretty mature
10:38I'm able to manage it with a few hours
10:40per week 10 years now 10 years I can't
10:42believe it's already been a decade but
10:43yeah it's been 10 years already since
10:44the start of the business so now we're
10:46probably doing around between 100 and
10:48150 000 per month in revenue for my La
10:50location alone now each franchise
10:52location is of course different but
10:54that's typically the growth rate we're
10:55at right now and then margins on that
10:58vary from a low to high what yeah and
11:00again when you start your business
11:01you're probably over investing in
11:03marketing and growth so maybe the
11:04margins are less we're at around 25
11:06profit margin at the moment and I'd say
11:09industry standard varies between let's
11:10say 12 and a half to 30 for this kind of
11:12remote local type of model gotcha not
11:14bad what do you tell people watching who
11:17always ask the question well I don't
11:19have the money therefore I can't start
11:20any businesses right can you start this
11:22particular business with zero to very
11:24little money you've had a thousand bucks
11:26what if I have less how would you spend
11:28it now with your 10 plus year experience
11:30what would your advice be yeah let's say
11:32first of all you have to choose your
11:33business model wisely right if you don't
11:35have that much money to spend you're
11:36limited in terms of what you can do so
11:38you're going to pick what I call remote
11:40local type of business which is one
11:41where the labor dispatches the job
11:43directly right you're not gonna have an
11:45office you'd want to spend money on that
11:47you don't want to spend money on
11:48vehicles equipment supplies so what
11:50business model lets me do it from my
11:52computer so I don't go overhead where
11:54the labor is going to dispatch to the
11:55job site directly cleaning for example
11:57like me this is one of them but there's
11:58a lot of other there's mobile car
11:59washing there's mobile pet room there's
12:01a lot of things you can do using that
12:03premise now if I was getting started 10
12:05years ago and I had absolutely no money
12:06yeah the first thing you absolutely need
12:08is still a website so I'd figure out a
12:10way of spinning up a website and there's
12:11so many ways you could do a free trial
12:13website now or website for 20 bucks next
12:15I'd go online and try to find labor now
12:18there's tons of ways of actually finding
12:20labor but the easiest way without
12:22spending money would be going to like
12:23Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace
12:25finding people advertising their
12:27services next would be our I gotta find
12:29customers and we'll get into actually
12:30all the cool marketing tactics on being
12:32able to do that but I would run some
12:35marketing tactics and funnels and
12:36there's things where you don't need
12:37money to do to get customers and that's
12:40how it start from ground zero you'll
12:42mentioned remote a few times already in
12:45the beginning of this interview and I
12:46just want to know what do you mean like
12:48does every business have the ability to
12:50go remote be in the local business to
12:52answer directly no not every business
12:54can be remote you have to have a remote
12:56local business and explain exactly what
12:58that is but what I realized when I was
13:00doing let's say e-commerce Drop Shipping
13:02all these kind of things is those are
13:03traditionally remote businesses but it's
13:05really hard because you're competing
13:06against the entire world when you're
13:07doing that when it comes to a local
13:09business you're competing against owning
13:10against your local market right that
13:12makes it a lot easier to get new sales
13:14the reality is with how fast technology
13:17is moved you can have a local business
13:19be managed completely remotely if you
13:21pick the right model and hit three main
13:23pieces of criteria number one the labor
13:26has to dispatch to the job directly
13:28right you might have a lot of places
13:29with your where your staff has to report
13:31to a location let's say you have a gym
13:33like of course your staff has to be
13:35there and there's the actual physical
13:36location this can't be a remote local
13:38business so you think what are the
13:39business models where the staff could go
13:41to the job site directly a lot of Home
13:43Service hits this category if you think
13:44about it because of course you're doing
13:46the work at the client's home the second
13:47one would be not a lot of capex or
13:50overhead right if you have a gym or
13:53office space or places where you're
13:54holding a lot of supplies it's really
13:56hard to be remote if you have to go to a
13:58place to give people supplies and the
13:59last piece is Key Management pieces have
14:01to be able to be done remotely picking
14:03up the phones we talked about routes to
14:04my team in South Africa or if cleaners
14:07need help that could route to my remote
14:08team and everything's done via phone
14:09call even customer quotes if you think
14:11about it all of that gets done over the
14:13phone and that's how you could find a
14:14remote local business intern a
14:16traditionally old school business
14:18to be remote that's really cool let's
14:20talk about boots on the ground marketing
14:22right as opposed to digital have you
14:24been doing that are you still doing that
14:26the pros and cons of that and cost and
14:28so forth My Philosophy when starting the
14:31business was I want it to be fully
14:33remote a lot of that makes digital
14:35marketing the go-to Avenue the reality
14:37though is that you need to combine
14:40digital marketing along with what I call
14:42boots on the ground or offline marketing
14:44it really is a combination if you
14:45relying just on one that's the easy
14:47recipe for disaster so we don't do
14:48door-to-door knocking we don't do things
14:50where like me the owner has to break my
14:53back and going to do it but we do things
14:54through automation which allow for
14:56offline stuff so for example
14:58um we do flowering of certain
15:00neighborhoods like once we a home is
15:01cleaned we probably have a good sense
15:03that that neighborhood's a great place
15:04to flyer right because we've already had
15:06a client there it's a good demographic
15:07so we can automatically flyer the
15:10neighbors around that house that's the
15:12five step that you mentioned earlier
15:13yeah the five rounds five rounds yeah
15:15five rounds for the neighbors and put
15:16them on an ongoing sequence a lot of the
15:19things we're doing are for Rio current
15:21customers I remember there's initial
15:22sales there's customers who are
15:24recurring customers and reoccurring
15:26reoccurring means a customer is booked
15:27with us who wants the book again now how
15:29do I make sure they book again after
15:31surprise and Delight the customer so we
15:33have ways online of doing one-click
15:35sending of brownies to these customers
15:36handwritten postcards
15:38around this would be boots on the ground
15:40to try to get more and more business and
15:41build a great system for them cool the
15:44thing is I think a lot of people try to
15:46find what's the one best tactic honestly
15:48all of them can work as long as you know
15:50how to track it and as long as you have
15:52a good idea of where to go track can go
15:54from there absolutely I can't wait to
15:56show to have you show us more details on
15:58that because I think you mentioned
15:59there's someone on the computer system
16:00that you want us to view and take a look
16:02at yeah all the automations and funnels
16:04be awesome keep watching we'll show you
16:05guys those details you have staff across
16:08eight countries at this point in time
16:09what are the challenges that come with
16:11that and how do you what do you use to
16:13make things work like clockwork
16:15essentially so when I first started out
16:17again I didn't really know what I was
16:18doing so with a lot of the stuff I'd
16:20onboard them and not have a great
16:21onboarding process for them a lot of
16:22things we use now are just the
16:24technology to be able to communicate
16:26with people around the world so for
16:27example let's say someone calls in we
16:29use a service called dialpad which will
16:30route that person to my team in South
16:32Africa we slack for internal
16:34communication tool it's a lot of
16:35different Technologies exist now which
16:37did it 10 years ago when I saw started
16:39that makes life a lot easier for
16:40everyone the hard part though honestly
16:42is not really just figuring out the
16:44technology to use it's the back end
16:45stuff like what are the processes and
16:47systems to get team members to talk to
16:49each other how do you have communication
16:50be seamless across different people who
16:52are in different countries right a lot
16:54of that kind of stuff is just developing
16:55the right documentation the right
16:57systems the right onboarding and that's
16:59what takes more time rather than just
17:01figuring out the technology cool
17:03how much are you spending on marketing
17:05in general right now and what are you
17:08seeing as far as Roi you know new
17:10customer acquisition basically on online
17:12marketing as opposed to this marketing
17:13the concept I'm kind of kind of talk
17:15about is called capturing Demand versus
17:16creating demand never heard that before
17:18yeah capturing demand would be like
17:19people online who are already searching
17:21for let's say a cleaning service right
17:23where are they going Google Yelp
17:25Thumbtack that's the easiest leads to
17:26get right because they're already
17:27searching you just got to get in front
17:29of them next is creating demand that's
17:30kind of what we're doing here where
17:32people might not think they need a
17:34service but then they get something in
17:35the middle and they're like you know
17:36what maybe I do need a cleaning the cool
17:38part about that is that you're hitting
17:40them one to one there's no other
17:41competitor right because they they think
17:43I need a cleaning oh these guys send me
17:45a postcard I'm gonna go with them so the
17:46goal is to combine them both and they
17:48both have hugely different return on
17:49investments we're spending at Scales
17:52it's a little bit more more mature it's
17:54about five percent of Revenue and that's
17:57for your La location all right La
18:00location specifically yeah typically
18:02when someone's starts a business in
18:03their earlier stages I recommend them
18:05starting higher 15 to 20 of the revenue
18:07on just marketing here's the reason this
18:10business is a recurring Revenue business
18:12if you get business that first year it
18:13stays the second year and third year as
18:15long as you keep them happy yeah right
18:16so overspend that first year to scale up
18:18your marketing and then you can level it
18:20down after over time Blitz time with
18:23Neil let's just jump into these
18:24questions they're fun icebreakers you
18:26don't have a lot of time to answer so
18:27this is the tricky part what would be
18:30the worst buy one get one free sale of
18:32all time vaccines what negative thing
18:34would your last boss say about you uh
18:37you know I found out about starting a
18:39cleaning company on Reddit so probably
18:40that I was on Reddit too much when I was
18:42supposed to be working oh all right
18:44that's a great answer why should someone
18:47not do what you're doing if you like not
18:50traveling if you like the stability of a
18:52nine to five that's probably a great
18:54reason to stay in a job but I don't
18:55think entrepreneurship is for everyone
18:56nothing wrong with that what would you
18:58tell your previous boss I would tell him
19:00honestly thank you I actually really
19:03liked my previous bosses they were great
19:05to me it wasn't the right fit for me but
19:07they were nice people name one object
19:09that you would like for to eternally
19:11disappear from planet Earth one object
19:13can I say mosquitoes that'd be a great
19:15one I'm gonna go with mosquitoes that's
19:16a good answer female mosquitoes that's
19:18the only ones that bite is that yes
19:20today I learned so customer reviews
19:22absolutely freaking important right 100
19:25of your real estate agent like me
19:27whether you're doing airbnbs in
19:28residential cleaning the question is how
19:31do we how do we get them and get the
19:32positive ones absolutely so I'd say
19:34there's an automated piece and then
19:35there's an unautivated piece of an
19:37element of it two of them so there is an
19:39automated review system
19:41so after each cleaning the customer
19:44would automatically get a text message
19:46and in that would say hey how was your
19:47experience here's a happy face or sad
19:49face they click it it'll automatically
19:51go to the next page where it says tell
19:53us more about it and if it's a good
19:54review or not it'll go on to Google
19:57Facebook or let's say Yelp with one
19:59click so how long is the process for me
20:01as a customer to go through that process
20:02and get to the review point 10 seconds
20:04so okay so super quickly we're trying to
20:07make this as seamless as possible now
20:08here's a trick which is huge I think in
20:12getting reviews which most people don't
20:13even think about if me as the company
20:15calls the customer and I've never been
20:16to the customer's house the person's
20:17like cool you're calling from made this
20:19that's great thank you you guys did a
20:21great service they don't know me they
20:22don't know my face but who do they know
20:24the cleaner the cleaner so here's the
20:26trick you're trying to make this as
20:27personal as possible if they clean or
20:29ask for a review the customer is way
20:31more likely to actually leave the
20:33reviews to the company absolutely and
20:35here's the other tricks is you could
20:36attach bonuses to it if you want you
20:38could attract attach incentives to it if
20:40you want and that's the easiest way to
20:42Skyrocket the number of reviews you have
20:43tell me more about bonuses and
20:45incentives what do you mean what are you
20:46talking about yeah a lot of our
20:47locations might offer the cleaner let's
20:49say 25 if someone leaves an online
20:51review and it doesn't have to be a
20:53five-star review uh it could be just
20:55being hey just get someone to leave a
20:56good review for you in whatever way it
20:58is and we'll give you a bonus for it now
21:00for the technicians or the cleaners
21:01that's great for them they just say hey
21:03I just need to ask this person for
21:05review on top of that the company will
21:07automatically text the customer to make
21:09it easy for them to leave review it's
21:10really a win-win for everyone that's
21:12awesome well this is a perfect
21:13opportunity for me to give you guys a
21:15quick shout out to upflip.com if you go
21:18there that's where you can find proven
21:20blueprints courses in everything
21:22business from A to Z and how you can
21:24build scale and really be successful in
21:27anything you do so take a moment check
21:29it out all those resources are there for
21:31you what would you do differently now
21:33that you have 10 plus years experience
21:35and running and managing this business
21:36what would you do differently if you
21:37could go back I think I would have quit
21:39my job earlier I think if I just bet on
21:41myself off I could have got more
21:42traveling in you know I did go to South
21:44America I traveled a lot I traveled
21:45across 50 countries but I think just
21:47doing that earlier and just having a
21:49little bit more of that experience
21:50earlier I think I would have got to the
21:51same place faster and I would have grown
21:53my business faster if I just bet on
21:54myself earlier what stopped you from
21:56doing that then now that you look back
21:57was it just fear fear not really knowing
22:00the next step like I didn't really have
22:01a guy that was figuring out on my own I
22:03didn't know if I could do it so even
22:04though we hit like my freedom number I
22:06was so scared like what if this thing
22:08went bust what's going to happen to me
22:09so I thought you know what let me just
22:11stay a little bit longer cushion up my
22:13bank but now that I know what I know now
22:15I could have grown so much faster if I
22:16just went full time on this way sooner
22:18so you just then at that point not
22:20knowing what you needed to know hire
22:21someone that would walk alongside you is
22:23that what you're saying hire alongside
22:24me join the system figure out that
22:27there's other people who've already done
22:28what I want to do like I'm not
22:29Reinventing the wheel here the
22:31cleaning's been around forever right
22:32someone once told me that there's people
22:34less wise than you who are probably
22:36already accomplish what you want and
22:37that kind of really stuck with me when I
22:38realized it's not really about how smart
22:41you are or any think it's really just
22:42about getting going and conquering that
22:44fear and actually trusting yourself and
22:45I wish I knew that a little bit earlier
22:47on awesome well well said show us what's
22:50going on on the computer side of things
22:51you know digital marketing I know we
22:53talked about how important it is for
22:55clients to just experience the
22:56convenience side of things and I know
22:58there's some things we need to look at
22:59and see in person so take it away
23:02absolutely so if you look over here this
23:04is our online booking form and it's a
23:06gamified booking form that will make you
23:08click through and this just helps with a
23:10lot with conversions and getting people
23:12online to book easily without even
23:13calling in so once someone books we
23:15could drop them into a lot of different
23:17automated funnels so if you ask me the
23:19secret for marketing the Secret's not
23:21really where to find the lead just how
23:22do you follow up with the customers once
23:24you actually get the leads in that's the
23:25key all right that's the secret sauce
23:26here so what we have is a dashboard
23:29where let's say anyone online who books
23:31or doesn't book gets dropped into this
23:33dashboard we could constantly follow up
23:35with them and work the leads so you'll
23:38look at you'll see some opportunities
23:39here these are all people who are on
23:41dramatic quote follow-up sequence that
23:43haven't signed up for service haven't
23:45signed up yet so we're hitting them with
23:46multiple emails automated text messages
23:49phone calls from our team and you can
23:51see everything through the dashboard
23:52over here that we use to follow up with
23:54them you asked me for about
23:57um how to get reviews right so here's an
23:59automated system where we could just
24:01send review requests and track reviews
24:03here comment on them and just lets us
24:06get higher volume of reviews as well all
24:08right tell me about this huge it says
24:11franchise operations manual you wanna
24:13lift it uh sure I mean I could probably
24:15work out with it what do they what do
24:18they call them uh Russian Twists exactly
24:20twist whatever you want to call them did
24:22you write this whole thing or a little
24:25bit of rip-off and duplicate I would
24:27expect that a little bit of duplicate
24:29but a lot of this is just like the
24:31hundreds of thousand dollars of mistakes
24:32I made earlier in my career and we fixed
24:34it systemized it and put it in this
24:36operations manual for everyone okay so
24:38this is a thousand plus Pages here uh
24:40get this this is not even as long as it
24:43would be because now we have it online
24:44the cool part is franchisees could kind
24:46of rip this and put it into their own
24:47location for their own team members
24:49we'll provide them to the template my
24:50business model isn't how do I sell the
24:52most franchises it's how do I make my
24:54franchisees the most profitable and
24:56luckily the way everything is set up
24:57incentives are aligned and it makes so
24:59much sense and I do think someone's
25:01starting out if they want you to move
25:02faster I think franchising is a
25:04fantastic move it's almost like getting
25:05the business with the guard rose on and
25:07bowling right like you're not gonna
25:09reinvent the wheel you don't got to
25:11reinvent the wheel though they'll keep
25:12you from going to The Gather or going to
25:14zero so I do think it's a de-risk way of
25:16getting into business so if I wanted to
25:18start one in my hometown in Bellingham
25:19can you give me a discount or maybe hook
25:22our viewers up tell you what I'll do for
25:23you for you and the viewers everyone's
25:25gonna get six thousand dollars in
25:27marketing credit off of your French
25:28recipe with made this exclusively for
25:30upflip viewers you're gonna do that for
25:32us and how's that money going to be used
25:33to help my business scale and grow a lot
25:36of brownies man lots and lots of
25:37brownies ending which then results in
25:39more customers exactly yeah so we
25:41actually spend it on uh digital
25:43marketing for you so as part of the
25:45franchise system we do search engine
25:46optimization for you we do social media
25:48marketing for you we do all your email
25:49marketing for you and all of this is
25:51done in a discounted flat rate package
25:53so we do that for you guys and as part
25:56of being a part of upflip all the
25:58viewers are going to get access to that
25:59too for free we're going to come back to
26:01that but that is an incredible
26:02opportunity let's talk about engaging
26:06our customers right a lot of businesses
26:07use mainly lists and if there is a
26:10prospect incoming they capture the email
26:12they get 10 000 emails on their mailing
26:15list and then they use that to grow
26:16their business Share value absolutely do
26:18you do that if so what other alternative
26:21tools it means do you why is that
26:22important let's let's elaborate on that
26:24yeah and I think capturing leads is
26:26incredibly important right you're not
26:28going to close every single sale and
26:29even if you do these are customers in
26:31the future it could be customers again
26:32right so capturing the email address and
26:34phone number is key but what's even more
26:36key is the follow-up sequence after that
26:38so with that let's say we capture a lead
26:40that comes in and maybe we actually have
26:42the home cleaned because we converted
26:44that sale how do we get more business
26:46from that sale in an automatic way so
26:48the first thing we do is we make sure
26:50that customer is happy right we mail
26:51them a automatic postcard which is a
26:53little looks like a tangerine but just
26:54automated and we also make sure we fly
26:56the neighbors next door automatically we
26:59call it five rounds and we just say hey
27:00we just cleaned your neighbor's place do
27:02you want a job as well would you want to
27:03clean a job as well five arounds why is
27:05that called five rounds because we just
27:07hit the five houses close five just five
27:09and if you think about it this home is
27:10probably our ideal target market it goes
27:13to stand that probably the homes around
27:14are going to be a Target demographic as
27:16well so why not get in front of them so
27:18we tried to stay in front of the
27:19customers at least two to four times per
27:21month so we send messages to the
27:23customers via email and we actually put
27:25them on a drip campaign so this part's
27:26Keys it is a one month reminder email
27:29and a call and we can do ringless
27:31voicemails automated text or actually
27:33calls from the sales team in South
27:35Africa they say Hey you haven't had your
27:36place cleaning the month it's probably
27:37dirty why don't we come out again but we
27:39also put them on a three month six month
27:41nine month 12 month reminders and this
27:43goes for two years so they get the
27:45newsletters they get our automatic
27:47mailings and phone calls you're gonna
27:48get postcards in the mail the goal is
27:50just to stay in front of them yeah right
27:51so when they the home's dirty again and
27:53some his wife's getting mad at them they
27:55could say oh my God made this they've
27:57been emailing me let me call them so try
27:58to make the content more light don't be
28:00a stiff company but besides that it's
28:02more just staying in front of the
28:03customers consistently I think a lot of
28:05business owners mess up on this they get
28:07the sale once they don't really do that
28:09good of a job of staying in front of the
28:11client and just based off the system we
28:13have we do it automatically for us and
28:14for the franchisees as well I want to
28:16help our viewers understand more
28:18specific steps of the onboarding process
28:21absolutely give us an Insight so when
28:24you're recruiting and this is whether
28:25recruiting technicians in your company
28:27which could be cleaners or other
28:28laborers or remote team members the key
28:31with this is to get them to jump through
28:33multiple Hoops before they reach you and
28:35your next stage so I'll give an example
28:37yeah let's say we're recruiting for
28:39cleaners we have an elaborate five-step
28:41recruiting process for this to make sure
28:42they get through the funnel some pieces
28:44of it would be let's say you do an
28:45initial call and do phone screenings
28:47with them make sure they're validated in
28:48what they're doing do you have a license
28:49are you legal to work here yeah after
28:51that we invite them to a zoom he knows I
28:54don't do it on the same call I want to
28:56see if they actually show up the main
28:57thing is I'm looking for three main
28:59characteristics when it comes to a team
29:01member I'm looking for good reliability
29:03communication and attitude you have to
29:06have all three of them or this is not
29:07going to work so a lot of the steps of
29:09what we teach and what we do with this
29:11funnel is to to check a lot of those
29:13three factors so
29:15exactly I just came up with an acronym
29:19so we uh screen them on that second call
29:22we might send them out to a test job a
29:24paid test job to see how they perform
29:26check their communication after that we
29:28could do a proper onboarding with our
29:29technology and let them know how
29:31actually things work and then monitor
29:33how they do there's a lot of different
29:35steps in that yeah and we have an
29:36automated process through a Trello
29:38dashboard we created which guides people
29:40on what questions to ask how to qualify
29:42them what their score is and like
29:45honestly this is the biggest trick in
29:46this business if you know how to find
29:48biggest trip keyword biggest trick yeah
29:50I said you know yeah if you know how to
29:53find the right labor your business is
29:55smooth and a lot of people when they
29:57started like myself I didn't know what I
29:58was doing at all and we were just
30:00onboard whoever came in and who applied
30:02and who had a post I said yeah come on
30:03come aboard and that's how you get into
30:05trouble in this business and that's what
30:06a lot of novices don't really know is
30:08this is a people business you got to
30:09invest a lot into the people
30:11so one of the ways that we can have
30:14mentors in our life is books right we
30:15always mind asking this question is what
30:17has been an inspirational book for you
30:19as an entrepreneur watching this what's
30:21one book you'd recommend they read and
30:23why see I love this question because
30:25there's so many books uh and so many
30:27things so these are my favorite books
30:28right over here
30:30um so if I was really gonna pick one and
30:31you're making me pick one yes funny
30:33enough I'd probably pick a book called
30:35The one thing boom oh yeah so Keller
30:38Williams it is yeah yeah
30:40it is Gary Keller it is Gary yeah yeah
30:42he's a real estate guy the premise of
30:44the book is pretty simple is not all
30:46tasks are created equal right I think we
30:48always think oh I just got to work
30:49harder and I'm going to get more things
30:50done that's again like employee mindset
30:52that's not really true some tasks are
30:54worth way more than other tasks how do
30:56you figure out what that is I remember
30:58there's been months where let's say like
30:59I don't feel the motivation to work as
31:01much or I'm traveling and I'm not going
31:03to I found that if I just do the one
31:05biggest impact item that day the
31:07business don't move forward so that's
31:08kind of the premise of the book of just
31:10understanding not all tasks are made
31:11equal and focus on the one big lever
31:13that you can pull that makes the entire
31:15difference give us an example of
31:17implementing kind of the one thing
31:18mentality in your business yeah so let's
31:21say I realize I'll go even super small I
31:24know that let's say we have a franchisee
31:26who's going to sign on and we're at the
31:28very end stages and I I don't feel the
31:30motivation to do anything that day but I
31:31know pushing that forward is closest to
31:35my goal I'm just going to push that
31:36forward follow up with the franchisee
31:37the rest yeah because the rest of stuff
31:39which is like update my CRM or send out
31:42the email blast these are lower on the
31:44priority list in reality for my final
31:45goal so as long as you realize that and
31:47you prioritize that first thing to do
31:49it's going to make such a huge
31:51difference in what you do and what have
31:53you been enjoying really enjoying as as
31:55being an entrepreneur and doing your own
31:57thing like what's the beautiful side to
31:59all that people watching
32:01as opposed to just doing there's nothing
32:02wrong with being an employee yeah
32:04working and enjoying that job that's a
32:05blessing that's a gift absolutely but
32:07there's also something bigger I think
32:09here that we're talking about that I
32:10want to hear from you yeah you know
32:12honestly in terms of Lifestyle like I
32:15don't think I could go back to doing a
32:17normal 100 Vibe uh the reason is because
32:19I get to set my own schedule right so
32:21I'm kind of a night owl I like working
32:23late waking up a little bit later and
32:25doing that and that's when I'm the most
32:26productive so I think control over my
32:28schedule if someone says hey we're going
32:30on this epic trick somewhere I can say
32:32great let me just work remotely and I'll
32:34go do it over there there's a lot of
32:35flexibility plus you realize that every
32:38amount of work I put in is coming back
32:40to directly benefit me doesn't go to the
32:42man it goes straight to me I think
32:44that's a level of motivation which makes
32:45you feel like you have a lot more
32:46control over your life whether you
32:48actually do or don't is completely
32:49different but I think it just it's kind
32:51of empowering you know like I've made
32:53this money myself I've done this myself
32:55I could have control over my schedule
32:56and it feels very empowering I think
32:58that's an understated benefit of being
33:00an entrepreneur yeah and the bigger
33:01picture too is not just you now it's the
33:03franchisees that have joined the the
33:06ship yeah and whatever you do directly
33:08in a way impacts them in a positive way
33:10right and their family and their lives
33:12and their goals and aspirations I think
33:13I think there's a lot of Ripple effects
33:16um from doing something like franchising
33:18or even home cleaning right like you can
33:20save a lot of people time for cleaners
33:22they have a lot more jobs and income
33:24coming in for our remote team members
33:26especially when they're making US
33:27dollars in a lot of their countries it's
33:29so huge I think there's just so many
33:31Ripple effects that happen from starting
33:32a business that you don't even think
33:34about you only know when you actually
33:35get into it what is your goal for me
33:37this give me a five ten year Vision yeah
33:40we're on track to hit around 30
33:42franchisees by the beginning of this
33:44next year we are currently at 17
33:45locations and my goal is really to focus
33:47on growing the franchises right so I
33:49love working with the franchises a lot
33:51of them are people who want to get out
33:52of the Rat Race a lot of them people who
33:54um you know they're kind of destined for
33:56more with entrepreneurship but aren't
33:57really sure what to do or how to get
33:59into it my goal is to help them and
34:01actually get out of the Rat Race So my
34:02goal is to scale the franchise business
34:04specifically and just pick the best
34:05franchisees that's awesome dude yeah
34:07it's a pretty good goal and I think that
34:09ties in well to the next question and
34:11that is sort of a moment in your life
34:12when
34:13it was tough you wanted to give up you
34:15know we all go through that whether it's
34:17business related or personal yeah
34:18Financial physical anything you want to
34:21highlight to us and how do you kind of
34:22overcame that I think that would be
34:24pretty encouraging and inspirational to
34:25a lot of us yeah you know when I was
34:27first starting I uh honestly everything
34:29I did kind of flopped I tried the
34:30e-commerce I tried Drop Shipping I tried
34:32digital marketing and like nothing was
34:33really working I remember getting really
34:35down on myself because at the time I
34:38just wanted to keep the grind I want to
34:39help my parents but it just wasn't
34:41working and I think a lot of people get
34:43into that right you hit failure after
34:44failure and you're like why should I
34:46keep going this is kind of because she
34:47had to just stay in this job right I
34:49remember
34:50um after college I was working at this
34:52this firm and there was a guy there his
34:54name is Paul I'll call him partner Paul
34:56uh and he was 52 or 53 years old and he
34:59was set to retire my co-grade is like
35:01dude partner Paul is 20 million dollars
35:03in the bank wow and I remember thinking
35:04this guy's made it he's figured out the
35:06American dream this is what it is and
35:08within one year of retiring he had a
35:10heart attack and died
35:12and if you think about that that really
35:14set the tone for my early career of
35:16realizing like time is very precious and
35:19even though I was getting down to myself
35:20things weren't really going well what is
35:22the alternative is it you know slaving
35:25away for 30 years is it working the
35:27grind and not being able to provide
35:28something else that's out of my job and
35:29I think that story has always really
35:31resonated with me and has kind of kept
35:33me going to actually try the next thing
35:36and try the next thing and try the next
35:37thing and uh I think that's all people
35:39need you know sometimes there's business
35:41models which are easier and harder and
35:42you know those are different things to
35:43talk about as well but a lot of it is
35:45just having the motivation to keep going
35:46even if you're not getting early success
35:48right early on we will inevitably make
35:51mistakes you know I don't know what I'm
35:53doing but I'm learning you said that a
35:55number of times I just want to highlight
35:57one of the biggest ones that you you
35:59made you learned a lot from it what was
36:01it I think the biggest mistake I made
36:04would be not really betting on myself
36:06earlier on what do you mean so what I
36:08was doing is when I had started business
36:09I kind of did my tone a little bit and
36:12take it well and even with may this I
36:14started it and it started to get real
36:15attraction from it and when I was
36:17getting traction I was kind of afraid to
36:20spend big I kind of wish I told myself
36:22dude just reinvest it back into the
36:23business to grow faster because the big
36:25money comes later I do think it kind of
36:27goes back to fear I wasn't sure if this
36:29was going to work or not therefore I
36:30said you know what let me hedge my bets
36:31and let me just take out half do it and
36:33have done to it yeah and I think I would
36:35have grown so much faster save to one to
36:37two years of growth or sped up growth if
36:39I just kind of bet on myself earlier on
36:41and I wish I told myself that earlier on
36:44you mentioned just briefly a secret
36:47strategy to sales right essentially I'm
36:49dying to know what that is let's dive
36:51into that yeah well you know I mentioned
36:53earlier that as long as you pick up the
36:55phone it's a competitive Advantage so it
36:56ties into that absolutely and once you
36:58once they pick up the phone the question
37:00is how do you get them to not only close
37:01the sale but convert to a recurring
37:03customer so we have a system we've
37:05developed in battle tested I think we
37:07made millions of dollars with this exact
37:09sales script with us and our franchisees
37:11we have training programs around it for
37:12a franchisees and it's something that we
37:14teach everyone because it just works
37:18I'm calling I'm looking for a cleaning
37:20business
37:22um hey this is Neil from made this
37:23cleaning how can I help you hey Neil
37:24moved to LA uh hate cleaning and your
37:28top top choice on some of the platforms
37:31I noticed you on so I just wanted to see
37:32kind of about your service and so on so
37:34yeah absolutely and by the way I'm going
37:36to pause the different sections just
37:37explain to you the Keynotes the script
37:39is very long but there's some key
37:41psychological elements that they should
37:43have in this all right so first I want
37:45to build a rapport that's the first
37:46thing I want to do there's a million
37:47other companies out there you could call
37:48but why are you going to work with me
37:49probably because you like me on the
37:50phone right so I'm gonna I'm gonna say
37:52perfect hey thanks so much for reaching
37:54out first of all what's your name my
37:55name is Paul Paul nice to meet you man
37:56my name is Neil and welcome to Los
37:58Angeles thank you dying to move here
38:00yeah
38:01so Paul tell me what is it you're
38:03looking for in your home to get cleaned
38:05it's a 1500 three bed two bath our yard
38:08is pretty small anyway we're not
38:10cleaning the yard the house specifically
38:12and uh you know I just want to focus on
38:14the kitchen the laundry rooms the
38:15bathrooms essentially okay everything
38:17else is not a big deal for us I do have
38:19three daughters so to clarify this is
38:21you're moving in you want to get the
38:23place very clean I'm guessing it's
38:24probably Dusty because you've just moved
38:25in you want to get that knocked out the
38:27main points of the home kitchen
38:28bathrooms you mentioned these are the
38:30main focus areas will make happy perfect
38:32so one thing I did over here is I
38:34clarified what you actually wanted to do
38:36so now I know you're hearing I'm hearing
38:38you but also a lot of times the
38:40customers like to call and they like to
38:41be the one saying I want to pay this
38:42amount of money this is what I want done
38:43here's the thing those customers don't
38:45actually know what they want they don't
38:46know the business as much as you so now
38:48I'm kind of taking control of the
38:49conversation asking you the questions I
38:51need to know to be able to price the
38:53services on my end make sense yeah let's
38:56say great uh amazing and I think I got
38:58all the notes over here he told me are
39:00you looking for a monthly weekly or
39:02bi-weekly service probably monthly
39:04monthly yeah awesome and here's a tip
39:07which has made us millions of dollars
39:08you notice that I did not ask if you
39:11want a one-time service
39:12oh you're right I didn't even realize
39:14that psychologic trick monthly bi-weekly
39:16weekly and you're like I guess I want
39:18monthly I didn't give you the option for
39:19one time I heard the options and I
39:21answered with absolutely this is how we
39:23get people on the recurring plan to
39:24begin with then with our follow-up
39:26sequence we make sure they stay happy
39:27and there's a lot of things we do for
39:28that but on the initial sale this is
39:30what we do okay and let's see I'll throw
39:32out a price for you and say great you
39:34want monthly service great um yeah your
39:36first cleaning which is going to be deep
39:37clean is going to be around uh 280 for
39:40the first time cleaning I don't know man
39:42I've looked around on Google and all
39:44that and that seems a little on the
39:45steeper side for me you know okay even
39:47though I like what you're saying I like
39:48the options you're giving me can you do
39:51anything on the on the price point yeah
39:53so
39:55the worst case it's a no so in this case
39:58I want to show you the value we have I
40:00don't want it to be an Apple's Apple's
40:02comparison where you're looking at us
40:03and a bunch of other companies right so
40:05this is what I'm going to do I'm going
40:06to say hey Paul you're totally right you
40:08could probably go to another company and
40:09have it way cheaper but there's some
40:11risk in that what you're really paying
40:13for with us is peace of mind you notice
40:15our reviews we're really good at what we
40:16do on top of that you get our guarantees
40:19now guarantees are that if there's
40:21anything missed we'll have someone come
40:23out for a free two-hour Requiem For You
40:24on top of that only two percent of the
40:27cleaners in our system uh who apply
40:29actually make it onto our system so
40:30you're getting the best cleaners in the
40:31market background checked and everything
40:32sounds like it on top of that Paul I
40:34know you just moved here and I want to
40:37make sure this is important for you I
40:38want you to try us out see how you like
40:39it if you like it continue if you're not
40:40it's okay scripts do work scripts work
40:43and with that script
40:44um you could close a lot more sales
40:46convert them to recurring and just have
40:47a booming business cool
40:49well this has been awesome I've learned
40:51a lot I always do I trust that our
40:53viewers have what would you like to
40:55leave with our viewers as far as pieces
40:57of advice for entrepreneurs anything on
40:59your heart mind and soul whatever you
41:00want to say yeah
41:02um honestly when I got started I got so
41:05stuck into like I said watching YouTube
41:07videos podcasts courses everything
41:09without just trusting myself and getting
41:11going if I could have told myself
41:13something back then the advice would I
41:14would give would be just trust yourself
41:16worst case it fails you learned a bunch
41:18you keep going but trust in the process
41:20and keep going that's how you actually
41:21achieve the success or lifestyle you
41:23want out of just the nine to five sweet
41:25man it's been a pleasure thanks so much
41:27likewise well that's a wrap I hope you
41:29enjoyed this episode if you want to
41:30learn more about starting and growing
41:32your cleaning business make sure you
41:34check out episode 135 with Chris he's
41:37doing an incredible phenomenal job thank
41:39you so much for watching take care
41:43wow is that a Hollywood sign oh yeah
41:46[Music]
42:01foreign
42:03[Music]

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