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This Cleaning Business Makes $23K/Week — Transcript

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0:00Can you make $100,000 a month with a
0:02cleaning business?
0:03>> Now more than ever is the best time to
0:05start a cleaning business.
0:06>> You can start a job tomorrow [music] and
0:08I promise you, you will have your first
0:09customer within days.
0:11>> Well, these three did. Starting with
0:12very little money and while having a
0:14full-time [music] job, I probably spent
0:16under $1,000 to get going.
0:18>> Monthly revenue was 60,000. Now we're
0:20like [music] 120 a month. By 2025, 83%
0:23of homeowners in America will have a
0:25in-house home cleaner. [music] In the
0:26first year of me quitting my job to
0:28travel, we tripled the business. Here's
0:30a [music] tip which has made us millions
0:32of dollars.
0:35Today, we're breaking down how they did
0:37it and how you can do the same. Let's
0:39dive into your story about Queen Be
0:41Cleaning Services and how you ended up
0:42starting it. Yeah, we can we can work
0:44and and
0:44>> Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So, it's it's
0:46it's a pretty fun story. You know, I was
0:47selling cars at the time. Um you know,
0:50making good money. My wife was the one
0:51who started the idea. He she's like, "We
0:54should start a cleaning company." I just
0:55didn't see myself doing it. I said no.
0:57But I'm glad that she convinced me
0:59because I decided to start uh the
1:02website and just taking the calls myself
1:04and 3 months in, you know, she was
1:06making more money that I was and at that
1:08time I decided to quit my job [music]
1:11and go full in.
1:12>> Is it a good time to start a cleaning
1:13business or not?
1:14>> I think it's the best time to start a
1:15cleaning business. To give an idea of
1:17how much of the demand is, our last year
1:20our our [music]
1:21monthly revenue was 60,000. Now we're
1:23like 120 a month. So, it's like double
1:25and sometimes we turn jobs away. So, you
1:28can start a job tomorrow [music] and I'm
1:30promise you you will have your first
1:32customer within days.
1:33>> Tell us just a little bit about yourself
1:35and um anything else you want to add?
1:37>> Yeah, so I'm Austin, the CEO and owner
1:39of Spruce Cleaning and Spruce Home, Inc.
1:42uh a parent company for all things
1:43cleaning.
1:44>> How has your sales and revenue changed?
1:46What can you share on that? Where are
1:47you at today and expected for end of
1:49this year? sales and revenue has grown
1:51month after month roughly between 18 and
1:5425%. Um, and we plan on continuing to
1:56grow that with more ad spend as we go.
1:58[music]
1:58>> Awesome. We'll dive into that more.
2:00>> Tell us where Neil was before made this
2:03came into the picture and what drew you
2:05to starting your own cleaning [music]
2:07business.
2:07>> Yes, I was actually working in corporate
2:10America. I was working in finance and
2:11private equity, a normal 9 to5 in a
2:13cubicle, heavy on the computer, heavy on
2:15Excel.
2:15>> And when I was there, I realized that
2:17this is just not really the life I
2:18wanted. you know, two years of vacation
2:20every year being overworked,
2:21underappreciated. I just wanted
2:22something more for myself and I knew I
2:24wanted to start some sort of side
2:26hustle. I didn't really know what it was
2:27going to be, but I knew I had to fulfill
2:29some key characteristics I was looking
2:31for in my lifestyle.
2:32>> What were the startup costs for made
2:34this back in the day? Break it down for
2:36us.
2:36>> Absolutely. So, I probably spent under
2:39$1,000 to get going. That's all you
2:41really need for this type of business.
2:42It's pretty lean. There's not like
2:43trucks, vehicles, wraps, nothing like
2:45that. You just need internet connection.
2:47So,
2:47>> sweet. I spent probably like a hundred
2:49bucks on a WordPress template and built
2:51my first website. I didn't know what I
2:53was doing. Like I found hosting and I
2:54got a really crappy website and just got
2:56it up. It's something like version one.
2:58And now it's so much easier cuz there's
3:00all these AI tools that make spin up
3:01website a lot of different tools to make
3:03easy websites
3:04>> for less than 100 bucks either.
3:05>> Oh yeah. Yeah. And uh my logo was so
3:07bad. I was on the Microsoft Word and I
3:09just came up with a name from [music]
3:10Reddit and I just typed made this with
3:13the exclamation mark and that was my
3:14logo. That was it.
3:15>> You didn't give it much thought.
3:16>> No. And I don't think you really need
3:17to. I think people overthink these small
3:18things. You could always make changes as
3:20you go. The real cost for me though was
3:22the amount of time I spent.
3:24>> Hundreds of hours researching stuff,
3:25trial and error, getting things going.
3:27Now, could I have done that much faster
3:29in hindsight? Yeah, for sure. But a lot
3:31of your earlier stages in business is
3:33just kind of figuring it out, figuring
3:35out what to do, and just that's the
3:37biggest cost in reality. It's not the
3:39money, it's the time spent. Yeah. Yeah.
3:41You only have so much time.
3:43>> Absolutely. All right, Chris, let's talk
3:45about uh your startup cost and break
3:48down the 5,000, how you invested that.
3:51>> For sure. So, the original invest
3:53investment was $5,000. So, it was $4,000
3:55for a a Honda Accord. I remember there's
3:57a [music] black cord. 2003, I remember
3:59it very well. A professional backing it
4:01was $500 bucks. Uh about another $300 in
4:05uh supplies and [music] the rest was
4:07just uh flyers and business cards. And
4:09so, that's it. What are some challenges
4:11of starting your own business? Like
4:12managing the time while you're doing
4:14your full-time job and then you're
4:15working on something on the side kind of
4:17what did you learn through the process?
4:18When I was working a 9 to5, um this was
4:21the first time I was actually starting
4:22my own business. And I think there's a
4:23lot of things you don't know. And one
4:25thing I realized in hindsight is a lot
4:27of people who are working a 9 to5, they
4:28have that employee mindset. And you
4:30know, we're always taught you just got
4:31to work harder and grind. And that's
4:32kind of what I was doing. I was doing
4:34everything myself for my business while
4:36I was having a 9 to5. It was just a lot
4:37to do. And the reality is in business
4:39it's it's a little bit different. You
4:41know, you there's actually fast forward
4:42buttons in business you can have which
4:44don't really exist in a 9 to5. And it
4:46took me a while to realize that wait can
4:47I just like pay a coach or someone to
4:49tell me what to do? Someone's already
4:51figured this out. Why am I doing
4:52everything myself? And I think earlier
4:54on in business that's the struggle
4:56people get into. They think they got it
4:57figured out themselves. In the reality
4:59is they don't. Treasure map's kind of
5:00already built. People have done it
5:02before. Why not just speed up the
5:03process a lot more? So key takeaway, if
5:05you don't know what you're doing, don't
5:06necessarily spend months, potentially
5:08years learning it. Get somebody else
5:10that's already done it.
5:11>> Find a sherpa is kind of what I would
5:12say. So like, you know, let's say you're
5:13going to go hike Mount [music] Everest.
5:15>> You're not going to show up with all
5:16your pack and say, "All right, there's
5:17the mountain. I'm just going to go to
5:18it." Right? You're going to hire some
5:19local Nepalese dude who's going to be
5:21able to guide you along the way, tell
5:22you what to do, say, "Step here. Don't
5:24step here." Why not just do that in a
5:25business? It' be so much faster.
5:27>> Is it a good time to start a cleing
5:30business right now? I would say now more
5:32than ever is the best time to start a
5:34cleaning business. They predict by 2025
5:3683% of homeowners in America will have a
5:39in-house home cleaner for cleaning
5:42services is supposed to be growing by 20
5:44billion annually [music] or 20 sorry 20%
5:47annually for a total market cap of 20
5:49billion by 2025. The fastest growing
5:51market right now in the country.
5:52>> So clearly a pretty cheap business to
5:54get into
5:54>> remotely. Yes. Uh it is a very
5:57accessible industry right now. Chris,
5:59what what's one thing that you did early
6:01on in the game that helped set you up
6:04for where you are today and continuing
6:05to grow?
6:06>> Just online marketing. Uh a lot of
6:08companies still want to grow uh you know
6:10by referrals and what not and you still
6:12grow but very slow. If you invest money
6:15right from the get- go, you will scale
6:17so fast but at the same time try to
6:19protect your reputation. I think if you
6:21put marketing but then protect your
6:22reputation, get reviews, right,
6:24>> that that's a a perfect recipe for
6:26success. When did you know that it was
6:29time to quit and go full-time to
6:30pursuing made this?
6:32>> Yeah, I think the number is personal for
6:34everyone. It's what I call the freedom
6:36number, right? And a lot of times if you
6:37ask people, hey, how much do you want in
6:39monthly income coming in to feel
6:40comfortable? The most common answer is
6:41$10,000 a month. It's kind of like if
6:43you ask someone pick a number between 1
6:44and 10 and everyone says seven. Yeah.
6:46>> Right. But the real number, what I call
6:47the freedom number is probably a lot
6:49less. So for me, the number was
6:51relatively small. It was around $3,000 a
6:53month and I hit that around [music] the
6:56end of year two. You know, in hindsight,
6:58I probably could have hit that way
6:58quicker if I actually knew what I was
7:00doing. [music] Uh but I didn't. But I
7:01hit that number. I It's a side hustle,
7:03too.
7:03>> Yeah. There we go. And I booked a uh one
7:06flight down to South America, Columbia.
7:08I quit my job and then just started
7:10traveling. That's it.
7:11>> Yeah. And I was supposed to travel for 1
7:13year. I loved it so much. I ended up
7:16becoming 7 years of travel across 50
7:18countries. if I also was able to build
7:20my business. And get this, in the first
7:21year of me quitting my job to travel, we
7:23tripled the business. What
7:24>> in terms of size?
7:25>> Yeah. Well, I think that kind of ties
7:27into the secret sauce that you are
7:30using, implementing that is sending new
7:32customers his way in droves, you guys.
7:34And keep watching to find out what that
7:36is because when you hear it, you're
7:37going to be like, how in the world did I
7:39not know this before? Tell us about your
7:42spruce revenue and profit margins. Let's
7:45just focus on spruce cleaning. [music]
7:46>> Okay. uh Swiss cleaning, uh we're
7:48averaging between 100 and 115,000 a
7:50month. Uh it fluctuates of course based
7:53on the month. Um but yeah, that's our
7:55revenue
7:56>> sit at 45%.
7:58>> Okay.
7:58>> Which is one of the highest in our in
8:00our industry.
8:00>> Man, you know your numbers.
8:02>> Give us the breakdown on revenue.
8:04>> Yeah, absolutely. And it totally varies
8:05depending what stage of business you're
8:06[music] at. So my business now is pretty
8:08mature. I'm able to manage it with a few
8:10hours per week.
8:10>> 10 years now.
8:11>> 10 years. I can't believe it's already
8:12been a decade, but it's been 10 years
8:14already since I started the business. So
8:16now we're probably doing around between
8:18100 and 150,000 per month in revenue for
8:20my LA location alone. Now each franchise
8:22location is of course different. [music]
8:24Um but that's typically the growth rate
8:25we're at right now.
8:26>> Mhm. And then margins on that vary from
8:29a low to high what?
8:30>> Yeah. And again when you start your
8:31business you're probably overinvesting
8:33in marketing and growth. So maybe the
8:34margins are less. We're at around 25%
8:37profit margin at the moment. And I'd say
8:39industry standard varies between let's
8:41say 12 to 30 for this kind of remote
8:43local type of model.
8:44>> Gotcha. [music] Now that
8:49>> how do you come up with how much to
8:51charge?
8:52>> Yeah, definitely. So, this is what I did
8:54and I think everybody should do that. I
8:56mean, I didn't know anything about
8:57charging. I actually I remember the very
9:00first job it was a move out. My wife
9:01hated me for it. I think we charged $90
9:04and uh she literally spent like 12 hours
9:06with another lady. Oh, no.
9:08>> And uh and so after I was like, "Okay, I
9:10need to I need to find out what is the
9:11market paying." Mhm.
9:12>> So, what I did, I called uh companies in
9:14my area uh and I said, "Hey, how much
9:16will you charge me for a three-bedroom,
9:17two bathroom?"
9:18>> And I got some quotes. Then from there,
9:20I kind of said, "Okay, well, I I'm not
9:22at that level yet because I don't have
9:24that uh reputation." But now, I know I'm
9:27really under bidding [music] and I
9:29should charge more.
9:30>> So, I will say, you know, call a few uh
9:33companies in your area and uh you know,
9:35we get a different quotes. That way, you
9:37you see how much uh are charging and
9:39that will give you a good number. Does
9:41every business have the ability to go
9:43remote and be in a local business?
9:44>> To answer directly, no. Not every
9:46business can be remote. You have to have
9:47a remote local business. And I'll
9:49explain exactly what that is. But what I
9:52realized when I was doing, let's say,
9:53e-commerce, drop shipping, all these
9:55kind of things, is those are
9:56traditionally remote businesses. But
9:58it's really hard cuz you're competing
9:59against the entire world when you're
10:00doing that. When it comes to a local
10:02business, you're competing against
10:03owning against your local market, right?
10:05That makes it a lot easier to get new
10:07sales. [music] The reality is with how
10:08fast technology has moved, you can have
10:10a local business be managed completely
10:13remotely if you pick the right model and
10:15hit three main pieces of criteria.
10:17>> Number one, the labor has to dispatch to
10:20the job directly, right? You might have
10:21a lot of places where your where your
10:23staff has to report to a location. Let's
10:25say you have a gym, like of course your
10:26staff has to be there and there's actual
10:28physical location. This can't be a
10:30remote local business.
10:31>> So you think what are the business
10:32models where the staff could go to the
10:34job site directly? A lot of home service
10:35hits this category. we think about it
10:37cuz of course you're doing the work at
10:38the client's home. The second one would
10:40be uh not a lot of capex or overhead,
10:43right? If you have a gym or office space
10:46or places where you're holding a lot of
10:47supplies, it's really hard to be remote
10:49if you have to go to a place to give
10:50people [music] supplies. And the last
10:52piece is key management pieces have to
10:54be able to be done remotely. Picking up
10:55the phones, we talked about routes to my
10:57team in South Africa or if cleaners need
10:59help that could route to my remote team
11:01and everything's done via phone call.
11:02even customer quotes. If you think about
11:04it, all of that gets done over the
11:05phone. And that's how you could find a
11:07remote local business and turn a
11:08traditionally old school business to be
11:10remote. That's really cool. [music]
11:17>> What about your monthly overhead though
11:18now that you're at 22 to 25 employees?
11:21Uh what is the overhead monthly just to
11:23cover costs? And what's the most
11:25expensive thing every month?
11:26>> Oh, so our most expensive thing is the
11:28labor. Um it really is it's it comes
11:31down to you know we have to pay uh good
11:33wages otherwise we don't keep good
11:35[music] people
11:36>> or expense on labor is about 60%.
11:38>> 60 a month
11:40>> and and then I will say supplies that's
11:43another 10%.
11:44>> And marketing operations [music] another
11:47another you know 10%. So you end up with
11:50uh ideally 20% on the lowest 15% net.
11:53>> Gotcha. Okay. So your profit margins are
11:55in that 20 to 20%. Correct. The business
11:58owners in this video took very different
12:00paths, but they all had one thing in
12:02common. They set up their business
12:04properly early on. Therefore, if you're
12:06not quite sure how to do that, Busy can
12:09help. Busy lets you launch your business
12:11the simple way, forming your LLC, filing
12:13[music] everything with the state, and
12:14making sure your business is official
12:16right from the start without hidden
12:18fees, confusing fine print, or getting
12:20lost in the paperwork. They'll even give
12:22you a professional business address with
12:24digital mail scanning so that you can be
12:26organized and legit from day one. And
12:28unlike a lot of companies in the space,
12:30Busy's pricing is fully transparent.
12:32There's no subscriptions quietly
12:34renewing year after year. You [music]
12:35get clear upfront pricing and you only
12:38pay for what you need when you need it.
12:40If you're serious about building
12:41something real, make sure your business
12:43gets off to a clean start. Click the
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12:47with Busy. Gorgeous place. Tell us just
12:49in a snip at where we are and why here
12:51specifically.
12:52>> Yeah, this is one of our clients Airbnb
12:54homes. So, our specialty is actually
12:56Airbnb turnovers. Gotcha. And so, this
12:58is one of the homes that we actually
12:59take care of and it's been a client for
13:00a long time.
13:01>> And how many clients do you have today
13:03as we speak?
13:04>> I know. Throw it out there.
13:06>> Yeah. It'd be well over 400 clients.
13:07>> Well, the other question that is next is
13:10the importance of picking [music] up
13:12every phone call in this business. Oh,
13:14yeah.
13:14>> We want more clients. We want more homes
13:16to take care of and clean. How did you
13:17build a system around that to make sure
13:19that absolutely every phone call from a
13:21prospective client is answered?
13:22>> You know what's funny for this industry?
13:24I always tell people that picking up the
13:25phone is a competitive advantage. And I
13:28[clears throat] love finding those types
13:29of industries where picking up the phone
13:30is a competitive advantage. This is
13:31definitely one of them. If you try to
13:32call the top 10 competitors in your city
13:34for cleaning, seven of them won't even
13:35pick up. They won't even pick up. Three
13:37of them might pick up and it might Yeah.
13:39Shocking, right? If you try any home
13:41home services, uh it's very rare to find
13:43someone who actually picks up and is
13:44really good at sales. Mhm.
13:45>> So with that in mind, you just got to
13:46pick up the phone and you're already
13:47ahead of the game, right? So what we do
13:49to make sure we always pick up the phone
13:50is we use global talent to service this
13:52local location. So calls get routed to
13:54my team in South Africa and they are the
13:56ones who pick up the call.
13:57>> And what about time zone? I'm I'm I'm
13:59guessing they're answering 24/7.
14:01>> Yeah. So we always handle things within
14:03business hours of the location we're in.
14:05So if it's our location or franchise
14:06location, if they're Pacific time or
14:08East Coast time, whatever team members
14:10you hire are going to be for that
14:11location. That's one aspect of it. But
14:13really, you know, if we don't pick up
14:15the calls, I found that our close rate
14:17drops significantly. So, get this. If we
14:19pick up the phone call on the first
14:21couple rings, our close rates around 50
14:23to 60%. If we don't pick up and call
14:25them back in a few minutes, the close
14:27rate jumps down to [music] 16.5%.
14:30>> So, a massive massive difference in what
14:33your close rates are for phone sales.
14:34So, we have a system of just not only
14:36finding remote team members, but also
14:38linking everything together. So, let's
14:40say [music] we miss a call.
14:41Automatically, we use AI technology to
14:43text the customer and say, "Hey, I'm
14:45sorry you missed it." And depending on
14:46what their answer is, we could provide
14:48them guidance on here's how to book
14:49online. Here's what to do.
14:53[music]
14:55>> How is Airbnb cleaning different from
14:57household commercial offices, etc. For
14:59sure. So we used to charge very little
15:02for it and get a lot of pressure from it
15:05and essentially we try to not take those
15:07customers but I figured what can I do to
15:12solve their problem and at the same time
15:14position myself a guy to go to. Mhm.
15:16>> So I start actually asking those
15:18customers, what is something that you
15:19need so to make your life easier? And
15:22they're like, oh, if I can get someone
15:23to inspect my unit, someone to do the
15:25laundry, someone to do the supply, I
15:28crunch my numbers and then instead of
15:30offering [music] just cleaning, I offer
15:32to them, which is like a co-hosting. So
15:35most of my customers, they live in
15:37either [music] China, Europe, uh I got
15:39other people, you know, on the east
15:40coast.
15:41>> And so we literally it's a hands off uh
15:44system for them. you know, we take care
15:45of everything uh from welcoming the the
15:47[music] host, you know, doing the
15:49laundry supplies and any problems in
15:51between stays.
15:52>> What would be the average cost? I mean,
15:54let's say I have a 1,000 square foot,
15:56two-bedroom, two bath villa on the ocean
15:58or something. How do you how do you
16:00figure out the price? Where are the
16:01margins on Airbnb cleaning versus house
16:03cleaning?
16:04>> That's that's a good question. So, um if
16:06you offer everything, like I said, not
16:08just cleaning, if you offer only
16:09cleaning, the the margins are very
16:11small. So when you make the most money
16:13is when you charge a percentage of the
16:15management fee. [music] So for example,
16:17we charge in between 10 to 20% uh of the
16:21gross of the unit who that generates. I
16:24see.
16:24>> And then we take care of everything.
16:25>> Okay, you guys, we're here at this
16:27gorgeous building that is currently an
16:30Airbnb house.
16:31>> Your crew is here. Chris, why don't you
16:33take us inside and kind of explain what
16:34they're doing and anything else you want
16:36to share with us?
16:36>> Absolutely. This I'm going over.
16:38>> Come on. So, how many people usually for
16:40this size of a house would be working
16:41here?
16:42>> We send about three people per unit cuz
16:45usually we deal with big units like
16:47this,
16:47>> you know, it's like three, four bedroom
16:49with two, three bathrooms. So, we
16:50usually spend about 3 to 4 hours in each
16:54home because we literally had to deep
16:56clean it top to bottom uh to make it uh
16:59guest ready again. So, we change the
17:01laundry supplies, you know, all the
17:03supplies for the for the bathrooms and
17:05uh also the kitchen supplies. So we we
17:07take time to [music] do it because we
17:09want the customers to get five star
17:11reviews.
17:11>> So what would a customer pay for this
17:13kind of job?
17:14>> A job like this will it will run about
17:16400 to 500 per per turnover, but that's
17:19included everything. That's laundry,
17:21[music] uh supplies, and cleaning.
17:23>> And what would you then I guess profit
17:26or net profit after everything?
17:28>> Um you end up with about 20% uh of that.
17:32So be $80 per job and we do about uh 18
17:35jobs of this somewhere. Yeah.
17:37>> Mhm. How much really cost me to to
17:39operate? We pay very good. You know, we
17:40pay our cleaners 22 24 an hour. Antony
17:43actually makes 25 cuz he's been with us
17:45for a long time and he's really our best
17:47employee. But it's an average between 24
17:48to 25. So if we take an hour, sometimes
17:51it takes 2 hours, but let's say two 1
17:53hour, it's um two people. So that means
17:56um that means it's going to be uh $50
17:58cost, right? So that's just on labor.
18:00But then as far as supplies, all the
18:02cleaning supplies are super affordable.
18:05So now you're talking $50 in in labor,
18:0930 in supplies. Um, and sometimes here
18:12locally, we didn't have to pay parking,
18:13but Seattle is very notorious for
18:15expensive parking. We pay that out of
18:17pocket. So that's, you know, you're
18:18talking $20, maybe 30. So total expense,
18:21you know, as far as for me, it's $100
18:23per hour, but we charge about 350 per
18:26cleaning for turnover. So that's a great
18:27ROI. Obviously, sometimes [music]
18:29some units take longer, right?
18:31Especially when they throw parties. When
18:33that happens, we actually let the owner
18:34know, hey, so we have only 2 hours left
18:37here, but unfortunately, they threw a
18:39party and it's going to take longer than
18:412 hours, so we have to readjust the rate
18:44in order to be fair. Um, and all all we
18:46need to do is let them know and they're
18:48okay with it because we still need to
18:49clean the unit before the other guest
18:51comes in. Our average ticket price for
18:52Airbnbs is always on the low end that
18:54the minimum we charge is 250. That is
18:57the smallest amount uh the smallest unit
19:00and that's the lowest we charge. Someone
19:02host you know they say well you know I
19:04only pay uh 100 bucks per cleaning and
19:06and whatnot. Unfortunately that doesn't
19:08work for us. We really strive for giving
19:10you quality and [music] giving you
19:12quality takes time. To give you guys an
19:14idea 250 that's our lowest ticket and uh
19:17for this unit is 350 3 actually 380. So
19:20when you do this over and over, you
19:22know, we sometimes with these units,
19:23especially in summer, which is the high
19:25season, we're doing every day. So it's
19:27back to back to back to back. So it's
19:29certainly a huge ROI compared to a
19:31normal occupied home because you know an
19:33occupied home, we just clean it maybe
19:34once a month, maybe twice a month if if
19:36that. This one sometimes four times a
19:38week, five. So it's certainly way more
19:40money that that is to be made in this
19:42industry.
19:43>> So [music] we were at your customer's
19:44house. Beautiful in terms of the
19:47clientele and the homes that you take
19:48care of. We went to your home office as
19:50well where all the magic happens as we
19:51talked about.
19:52>> Tell our audience where we are today cuz
19:54we're on the 33rd floor downtown LA.
19:56>> Downtown Los Angeles was skyline.
19:58Beautiful view in the background. Uh
20:00this is a common co-working space I work
20:01from. So the business I'm in is fully
20:03location independent. That was the goal
20:05when I started it. And a lot of that
20:07means I can kind of work wherever I
20:08want. [music] I do love working at home
20:09but sometimes a change of pace is pretty
20:11sweet. And this is a normal office that
20:12I work from as well. Let's dive back
20:15into the interview and the question that
20:17I have in my mind is how you took a
20:19local service-based [music]
20:20business and share with our audience as
20:23much as you can on how that transition
20:25happened and so forth.
20:26>> Absolutely. I mean, when you think of a
20:28local business, you don't normally don't
20:30think, oh, let me go and make that
20:31remote, right? That's not what you
20:32wanted to do and especially cleaning.
20:34That's the most old school industry. The
20:36cool part about the model is if you
20:37figure out the right remote local
20:39method, which is what I'll talk about,
20:40you could turn any specific local
20:42business fully remote. And um you know,
20:45when I first started, I I mentioned that
20:47I wanted to pick a business that suited
20:49my lifestyle, right? That's kind of
20:50reversing the formula of starting with
20:52what is your ideal lifestyle like
20:53finding business models would suit it.
20:55>> Mhm.
20:56>> And I wanted to be fully location
20:58independent. That was a big big thing
21:00for me. And I tried a lot of these
21:02industries which are like remote and
21:04everything flopped. And what was kind of
21:06working was this cleaning business. I
21:08just happened to start on the side. And
21:09when I decided to really look at it, I
21:11realized, huh, most of the pieces in
21:13this I'm already kind of doing remotely
21:15cuz I was working at a corporate job.
21:17>> All the calls to route to my phone, the
21:19cleaners to go straight from their home
21:20to the job site. There's [music] just a
21:22few key pieces I need to switch up to
21:25actually make it fuller remote, which
21:26was totally doable with how fast
21:28technology has moved. And this is 10
21:30years ago. Now it's even easier to do
21:32this. Yeah. I will tell you there's
21:34probably three main characteristics
21:35involved because not every single local
21:37business can be fully remote.
21:42[music]
21:45So this is the clean laundry. This is
21:47going to be the kitchen and it's going
21:49to be the bathroom. So I'm just going to
21:50drop this one right here. Here I have a
21:52team of two girls. So that's Lupita and
21:54Oitis. Uh usually that's how it works.
21:57So, we have one cleaner doing the
21:59kitchen. They already finished the
22:00bathroom. As you can tell, it's was
22:02widest as you can get. Uh, everything,
22:06every cranny needs to be super clean.
22:08This one super clean, nice and shiny.
22:12Here's the shower. It has to be perfect.
22:15So, it's very important that you guys
22:16clean top to bottom. They also check
22:19this, right? Nothing. Same thing here.
22:22Nothing. We have to clean inside inside
22:25the washer, inside the dryer.
22:28Clean the filters. Has to be completely
22:30clean. Like it's brand new. Very
22:32important.
22:34Really take the time to actually do it
22:35right. Uh we don't want the guests to
22:38get bad reviews and we don't want to
22:40come back and they're clean for free.
22:42What are they doing right now is clean
22:43the kitchen. Sometimes there's stuff in
22:45the refrigerator. We need to get rid of
22:47that. And let's take a look see if
22:48there's any food left over in the
22:50fridge. Like here. Perfect example. Hey,
22:53there's a some keto bread. I don't I
22:56don't like it.
22:59Some bagels,
23:02proolone cheese,
23:05more cheese, yogurts,
23:08you know, prolong.
23:12I get asked like, do you really get rid
23:14of all this food even though it's clean?
23:16We have to. I mean, it's it's like the
23:18next guest obviously doesn't want to
23:19have that in in their in the unit
23:21[music] and we don't really know who was
23:23here. So, we just dispose of it. Unless
23:25it's sealed, you know, the girls can
23:27take it, you know, and like I said, get
23:29the kila some some fancy liquor. I'll
23:30take that home. Why not?
23:32>> That's the speaker.
23:33>> Also, one of the things that they need
23:34to do at the beginning is check for any
23:36damages, right? Sometimes the previous
23:38guest, sometimes they break stuff. And
23:40so before we even start cleaning, we
23:43need to take pictures, document it, and
23:45then send it over to the guest to say,
23:46"Hey, the TV is broken or the the the
23:50remote." They took the remote, so
23:51there's no remote for the TV. Um, things
23:53like that. Once that we check that and
23:55we're good to go, all we need to do is
23:57clean after, take pictures, and then
24:00into the next one.
24:01>> Let's talk about boots on the ground
24:02marketing, right? [music] Uh, as opposed
24:04to digital.
24:05>> Have you been doing that? Are you still
24:07doing that? and the pros and cons of
24:08that and cost and so forth.
24:10>> My um philosophy when starting the
24:12business was I want it to be fully
24:14remote. A lot of that makes digital
24:16marketing the go-to avenue. The reality
24:18though is that you need to combine
24:21digital marketing along with what I call
24:23boots on the ground or offline
24:24marketing. It really is a combination.
24:26If you're relying just on one, that's
24:28easy recipe for disaster. So we don't do
24:30door-to-d dooror knocking. We don't do
24:31things where like me the owner has to
24:34break my back and go in and do it. But
24:35we do things through automation which
24:37allow for offline stop. So for example,
24:39um we do flying of certain
24:41neighborhoods. Like once we a home is
24:43cleaned, we probably have a good sense
24:44that that neighborhood is a great place
24:46to fly, right? Cuz we've already had a
24:47client there to get demographic. So we
24:49can automatically fly the neighbors
24:51[music]
24:52around that house. That's the fivestep
24:54deal you mentioned earlier, right?
24:55>> Yeah. The five rounds.
24:56>> Five rounds. Yeah.
24:56>> Five rounds for the neighbors and put
24:58them on an ongoing sequence. A lot of
25:00the things we're doing are for
25:01reoccurring customers. Now remember
25:03there's initial sales, there's customers
25:05who are recurring customers and
25:06reoccurring. Reoccurring means the
25:08customer is booked with us who wants to
25:09book again.
25:10>> Now how do I make sure they book again?
25:12I have to surprise and delight the
25:13customer. So we have ways online of
25:15doing oneclick sending of brownies to
25:17these customers, handwritten postcards.
25:19That's the boots on the ground. This
25:20would be boots on the ground to try to
25:21get more and more business and build a
25:23great system for them. The thing is I
25:25think a lot of people try to find what's
25:27the one best tactic. Honestly, all of
25:30them can work as long as you know how to
25:32track it and as long as you have a good
25:33idea of where to go.
25:34>> Track and go from there. Absolutely. I
25:36can't wait to show to have you show us
25:38more details on that cuz I think you
25:39mentioned there's something on the
25:40computer system that you want us to view
25:42and take a look at.
25:43>> Yeah. All the automations and funnels.
25:44It's going to be awesome. Keep watching.
25:46We'll show you guys those details.
25:48[music]
25:50>> On the sales and revenue side, Austin,
25:52let's talk a little bit about what
25:53contributed to that growth, that
25:55sustained continued growth. We need the
25:57concrete technical stuff
25:58>> a factor of things. So initially we saw
26:00that decline. So what we did is we
26:02invested some of our money into website
26:04development ad spend and then optimizing
26:06our pages on Google, Facebook, Yelp,
26:09Instagram [music]
26:10etc.
26:11>> Mhm.
26:11>> And with that people kind of trusted our
26:14our image more less searching. I mean I
26:16think our time spent on pages went up
26:19like 30 or 40 seconds [music] and in
26:21turn we saw a higher booking volume by
26:23hundreds literally hundreds of bookings
26:25per month. But you how much more did you
26:27started spending to our ad spend
26:29results? Uh I think we only increased it
26:31by like $1,800 on Yel alone.
26:32>> You did the statistics behind the $1,800
26:35spent on the ad spend and the actual the
26:38ad click through to our website was
26:40insane.
26:41>> So you just improved everything online.
26:43>> Yeah. And boosted your market.
26:44>> Yeah. I mean we we utilized our
26:46platforms that you know you're given.
26:47You're given your Google page or given
26:49your Yel page.
26:50>> Just optimized how we use them and how
26:52we structure our ads.
26:54>> Okay. and we'll dive into the details,
26:55you guys, about the specifics of what
26:57he's talking about later on in the
26:58video.
27:03Let's talk about how your customers
27:05today find you. What platforms are
27:07successful for you? What are you guys
27:08spending? And anything else you can
27:10share on that?
27:10>> Yeah, for sure. You know, so we only use
27:12three channels of marketing. Okay. So,
27:14our main one is Google ads, specifically
27:17Google local leads. So, very important
27:19for home services. It's a new platform
27:21that Google came up with and you get
27:23shares by call. But the cool thing about
27:26this platform is that these customers
27:28are ready to buy. The other second
27:30platform it will be Facebook.
27:32>> Mhm.
27:32>> And the third one will be Yelp.
27:34>> Yelp. Okay.
27:34>> Mhm. So we're spending about $4,000 in
27:37Google Ads, about 7 750 in Yelp, and uh
27:421,000 in Facebook.
27:43>> Got it. What's bringing in most? Is it
27:44Google?
27:45>> Google for sure. Yes.
27:46>> Well, don't say much cuz we got that
27:48hack coming up.
27:48>> Oh yes, for sure. I have a hack for you
27:50guys. You're going to love it. Everybody
27:52who has a home service business, this is
27:54the key to grow your your your business
27:57to the next level.
28:02>> By how much did you improve or increase
28:04your profit spend or not profit spend,
28:06marketing spend on Yelp and a few other
28:07platforms?
28:08>> We doubled it.
28:09>> So, you doubled it? Wow.
28:10>> We doubled it. And I actually have a and
28:12we actually have a dedicated person here
28:14>> um that sits through interviews or
28:16assists through hires, posts job
28:18postings, reviews interviews, uh puts
28:20them through the onboarding process and
28:22then we have cleaners dedicated to
28:23training. So we've the pandemic has
28:25restructured how we onboard people and
28:27it's like an assembly line. You you
28:29start there, you get there, you're done
28:31in a week. You're cleaning by yourself
28:32in a week and we've I think added 20
28:35cleaners in the last two months.
28:37>> Wow.
28:37>> Yeah. So, I mean, ju just go full force
28:41and put together, you know, whether it
28:43be just you and your twoman team working
28:44longer days. And I say that because
28:46you're going to have to. Um, but anyone
28:48that's watching this video already knows
28:49what's required to succeed and then
28:51they're willing to put the work in as it
28:53is. Um, but just put more plans together
28:56and don't take no for an answer. How
28:58much are you spending on marketing in
29:01general right now?
29:03>> And what are you seeing as far as ROI?
29:05You know, new customer acquisition based
29:07on online marketing as opposed to this
29:08marketing. [music]
29:09>> The concept I'm kind of talk about is
29:11called capturing demand versus creating
29:12demand.
29:13>> Never heard that before.
29:14>> Yeah. Capturing demand would be like
29:15people online who are already searching
29:17for, let's say, a cleaning service,
29:18right? I see that. Where are they going?
29:19Google, Yelp, Thumbtac. That's the
29:21easiest leads to get, [music] right? Cuz
29:23they're already searching. You just got
29:24to get in front of them. Next is
29:25creating demand. That's kind of what
29:26we're doing here. where people might not
29:29think they need a service, but then they
29:30get something to know. They're like,
29:31"You know what? Maybe I do need a
29:32cleaning." [music]
29:33>> The cool part about that is that you're
29:35hitting them one to one. There's no
29:36other competitor, right? Cuz they they
29:38think I need a cleaning. Oh, these guys
29:40send me a postcard. I'm going to go with
29:41them.
29:42>> So, the goal is to combine them both and
29:43they both have hugely different return
29:45on investments. The amount we're
29:46spending at scale, since we're a little
29:48bit more mature, more [music] mature, is
29:50about 5% of revenue.
29:52>> Mhm.
29:53>> That's for your LA location. All right.
29:55a little specifically focus on that.
29:57>> Typically, when someone starts a
29:58business in their earlier stages, I
30:00recommend them starting higher, 15 to
30:0220% of the revenue on just marketing.
30:04>> Mhm.
30:05>> Here's the reason. This business is a
30:06recurring revenue business. If you get a
30:08business that first year, it stays the
30:09second year and third year as long as
30:11you keep them happy.
30:12>> Yeah.
30:12>> Right. So, overspend that first year
30:13[music] to scale up your marketing and
30:14then you can level it down over time.
30:18>> [music]
30:20>> what's given you the best return in
30:22terms of building your client base and
30:24what's your spend monthly on, you know,
30:26marketing in general?
30:28>> So, I hate to keep on going back to
30:29Yelp, but Yelp is our single-handed
30:31driving force for customer acquisition.
30:33>> Um, and right now it's for every,000 we
30:35spend, [music] we incur $35,000,
30:40but that's just because of our
30:41placement. So, for example, we spend
30:43huge we only spend $2,900
30:45a month on ad spend and we make $110 to
30:49$15,000 and that's our only ad channel.
30:52Yelp,
30:53>> we don't use anything else. Just
30:54>> print advertising.
30:55>> None.
30:56>> Putting postcards on doors?
30:57>> Nope. Just Yelp.
30:58>> With all that we've talked about
31:00>> and that's why we're doing that course
31:01is because it works. You just need to
31:03figure out how to use it. That's all.
31:04>> That's incredible. Don't you think it'll
31:06be saturated or too too many people on
31:07one platform will eat up the business?
31:09>> No. Because there's so many different
31:11service industries. Cleaning is one of
31:1325 to 30. They can still apply the same
31:16rules for their market. They everyone
31:17has a need. Everybody has needs to get
31:19their power back on. Everyone needs to
31:21get their carpet shampooed,
31:22>> right?
31:22>> Every business needs to use that same
31:24platform. Just figure out how to use it.
31:29>> What are you doing that's working on
31:31Craigslist?
31:32>> So, specifically tech technical stuff.
31:35Uh well I I disclose my prices right
31:37there on the on the price uh on the on
31:39the ad. That's you know from others.
31:41Yes. Everybody if you go to Craigslist
31:43you can see other people say hey we
31:45clean houses we do this. We do that. Um
31:48if you want to see my ads it will say
31:50the prices are this and it starts from
31:52this. What that does it filters everyone
31:55who's not uh you know ready to pay for
31:57my prices and whoever calls they're
31:59already the prices so most likely to buy
32:01from me.
32:01>> Nice. That's a good trip you guys. Yeah.
32:07>> All right, you guys. We mentioned a hack
32:09earlier in the video that Austin's going
32:10to share with you. So, Austin, what
32:12would that hack be? [music]
32:13>> If you have a Google or Yelp page, you
32:16have to upload photos to show your work.
32:18If you aren't showcasing your work right
32:19now, you're obviously doing something
32:20wrong and start doing that now. I
32:22recommend four to five photos a week.
32:24And when you're using your captions,
32:26Yelp let me know that Google and Yelp
32:28use captions as a local SEO generator.
32:30So, when you're putting words or writing
32:32captions in your photos, you make sure
32:33you're using keyword terms that relate
32:35to your industry. Uh, we put deep clean
32:37or deep house cleaning in all of our
32:39photos because that ranks us higher on
32:41Google and Yelp as a like a basically a
32:43passive SEO generator. So, Yelp allows
32:45you to add a page deal. And how their
32:47formula works in their algorithm is they
32:49see that user purchase that deal and
32:52then when they leave you a review, it
32:54sticks because the system recognizes
32:56they actually went to your page. It
32:58recognizes they left the review. They
32:59put the two together that they use your
33:01service. They don't have to do any guess
33:02and check. And that has been confirmed
33:04by Yel Corporate. So, it does work.
33:07>> And I know there's more, but you guys
33:08just take those two, execute on them,
33:10and your business will grow. You agree?
33:13>> Basically,
33:18>> what systems and SOPs do you have in
33:20place to continue growing? I mean, I can
33:21imagine there's a lot. So, what do you
33:23software scheduling?
33:24>> There's quite a bit of softwares, right?
33:26you know, you have to have a scheduling
33:27software, uh a phone system, internal
33:30communication system, uh ticket system
33:32for your customer so nothing gets missed
33:34through the cracks. Uh there's a lot of
33:37uh softwares that you need to put in
33:38place in order to run this all machine.
33:41>> Which one or two can you mention name?
33:42>> Uh one of the great question uh most
33:45most of my minutes I run it from my
33:47phone using an app called Slack. Okay.
33:49>> So inside of Slack, it's a internal
33:51communication platform where I have
33:53channels used for about every scenario.
33:55cancellations, new charges, everything.
33:58So,
33:58>> you got Slack. What else is on?
33:59>> I have Ring Central. So, that's just for
34:01having the virtual assistants answering
34:03the phone in the Philippines. And um
34:05ultimately, I have Jober, which is what
34:07I have for my you know, all my jobs,
34:09screen creating the invoices, keeping
34:11all all organized and and my routes.
34:13>> Would you guys like to have your own
34:15sevenfigure cleaning business like
34:17Chris? Well, Upflip and Chris partnered
34:20up and developed a complete blueprint
34:22that you can use to start your own
34:25sevenfigure cleaning business. Paul,
34:27this blueprint reveals critical
34:29information that I've learned over the
34:30years through my mistakes and failures.
34:33It covers things like how to dominate
34:34your area using Google Ads and SEO, how
34:37to find Airbnb customers that pay you
34:39good money for your services, how you
34:41can outsource your customer service
34:43department to other countries so you can
34:45scale your company even faster. It also
34:47teach you how to hire and train your
34:50cleaners so they become efficient. And
34:52also, it comes with all the manuals,
34:53templates, and instructions to how to
34:54run your business smoothly. It really is
34:56a step-by-step framework and how to
34:58start, grow, and explode your cleaning
35:00company to 7 years. Guys, you know that
35:03everything we do is top-notch, and this
35:05course is no different. It's like buying
35:07a franchise. It has everything you need.
35:10It covers all aspects of starting,
35:12growing, and scaling a successful
35:14cleaning business. And on top of that,
35:16you get Chris's support. So don't delay.
35:19The price will go up. Click the link in
35:20the description below. Right, Chris?
35:22That's right.
35:23>> Show us what's going on on the computer
35:25side of things. You know, digital
35:27marketing. I know we talked about how
35:28important it is for clients to just
35:30experience the convenience side of
35:32[music] things. And I know there's some
35:33things we need to look at and and see in
35:35person. So, take it away.
35:36>> Absolutely. So, if you look over here,
35:38this is our online booking form. And
35:40it's a gamified booking form that make
35:42you click through. And this just helped
35:44people a lot with conversions and
35:46getting people online to book easily
35:47without even calling in. So once someone
35:50books, we could drop them into a lot of
35:51different automated funnels. So if
35:53[music] you ask me the secret for
35:54marketing, the secret is not really
35:56where to find the leads. It's how do you
35:57follow up with the customers once you
35:59actually get the leads in. That's the
36:00key. All right, that's the secret sauce
36:01here. So [music] what we have is a
36:03dashboard where let's say anyone online
36:05who books or doesn't book gets dropped
36:07into this dashboard, but we could
36:09constantly follow up with them and work
36:11the leads.
36:11>> Mhm. So, you'll look at you'll see some
36:14opportunities here. These are all people
36:15who are in automatic quote follow-up
36:17sequence
36:17>> that haven't signed up for service
36:19>> that haven't signed up yet. So, we're
36:20hitting them with uh multiple emails,
36:22automated text messages, phone calls
36:24from our team. And you can see
36:25everything through the dashboard over
36:27here that we use to follow up with them.
36:29You asked before about um how to get
36:32reviews, right? So, here's an automated
36:34system where we could just send review
36:36requests to Randy Track reviews here,
36:39comment on them, and just lets us get
36:40higher volume of reviews as well.
36:46>> You know, let's say you have a system in
36:48place, the business continues growing,
36:49and at some point you realize, okay,
36:51this system is no longer the next step
36:53to continue scaling. What what things do
36:55you look for as a business when you know
36:57it's timed, okay, we need to implement a
36:59new system?
36:59>> Mhm. Well, that's a great question.
37:01Let's say for example uh calling the
37:03calling feature right when when I
37:05started I was using uh Google voice and
37:06it worked great but then I started
37:08realizing there was a lot of miss calls
37:09I'm like what's happening and I was like
37:10oh because we're already on a call
37:12there's no way for me to forward another
37:13to another caller so I was like well
37:15calls I don't want any miss calls right
37:17uh a call could be potentially worth
37:19thousands of dollars right
37:20>> so I decided to implement a different
37:22system that is more robust allow us to
37:25take on more calls there's a call
37:27waiting feature for us so it really it's
37:29it's just a better system so it really
37:30comes time when you're you you listen to
37:32your employees. That's one of the thing
37:34I actually learned this from a book from
37:36Paul Acres uh lean lean um and it's all
37:40about cutting waste and so the way I do
37:42it because I cannot test everything I
37:44ask my employees you know there are the
37:45fuel workers tell me what can I do what
37:48can we improve same with my customer
37:49service I talk to my VA say hey tell me
37:52what can I do what software do we need
37:53to make your life easier when you're
37:55about to test a new system don't cancel
37:57the other one just try for a month and
37:59see if it's actually going to be a good
38:00fit most of us give you 14-day trial
38:02really you do almost everything. So you
38:04can use those those 14 day try it see if
38:07you like
38:07>> transitional period and if you like it
38:09then you make the move
38:14>> but what platform are you using and how
38:16are you getting that list of 1500 people
38:18well it's very important this is another
38:19tip guys uh that it's it's it's
38:21phenomenal um and many people don't do
38:24that it's you have to have a CRM meaning
38:27uh a customer relationship manager
38:30software where you keep all your
38:32customers and all leads that have
38:34contacted you throughout the year.
38:36Doesn't matter if they didn't become
38:37your customers, you still keep their
38:39information because when you have these
38:41slow months, you just when you do the
38:43text marketing uh or email marketing in
38:46any case, right? But text marketing is
38:48the way to go guys at 90% open rate.
38:50That's what I've seen on my
38:51>> 90%.
38:52>> Mhm. So, it's pretty [music] good.
38:53>> What platform are you using for CRM? And
38:55then is it different for text to send
38:57out that text or is it all through the
38:58CRM?
38:58>> All through the CRM. So, I use a
39:00software is called GoH High Level.
39:02Pretty simple. uh platform all I do is
39:05download the list of customers and I I
39:08segment and for example I have the
39:10existing customers who don't need my
39:12services because I mean they they
39:13already
39:14>> purchasing use my services right
39:16>> um I segment the ones that canled or the
39:19ones who contacted me or or or or there
39:22was just leads and then I send a text
39:24blast to all and I promise you guys if
39:27you work your database it's a gold mine
39:29there you know there's a lot of people
39:31who don't know that But if you shake the
39:33tree, like I like to say, you shake that
39:35tree, you'll get some fruit every time.
39:38Let's talk about engaging our customers,
39:40right? A lot of businesses use mailing
39:42lists and if there is a prospect
39:44incoming, they capture the email, they
39:46get 10,000 emails on their mailing list
39:48and then they use that to grow their
39:50business, share value. Absolutely.
39:52>> Do you do that? If so, what other
39:54alternative tools and means do you? Why
39:56is that important? Let's let's elaborate
39:57on that.
39:58>> Yeah. And I think capturing the leads is
40:00incredibly important, right? You're not
40:01going to close every single sale and
40:03even if you do, these are customers in
40:04the future who could be customers again,
40:06right?
40:06>> So capturing the email address and phone
40:08number is key. But what's even more key
40:10is the follow-up sequence after that.
40:11[music]
40:11>> Mhm.
40:12>> So with that, let's say we capture a
40:14lead that comes in and maybe we actually
40:16have the home cleaned cuz we converted
40:18that sale. [music] How do we get more
40:19business from that sale in an automatic
40:21way? So the first thing we do is we make
40:23sure that customer's happy, right? We
40:25mail them a automatic postcard which is
40:27it looks like a tandin but just
40:28automated. And we also make sure we fly
40:30the neighbors. next door automatically.
40:32We call it five rounds and we just
40:34[music] say, "Hey, we just cleaned your
40:35neighbor's place. Do you want a job as
40:36well or do you want a cleaning job as
40:38well?"
40:38>> Five rounds. Why is that called five
40:39rounds?
40:40>> Cuz we just hit the five houses. Just
40:42five. And if you think about it, this
40:44home is probably our ideal target
40:45[music] market. It goes to stand that
40:47probably the homes around are going to
40:48be a target demographic as well. So why
40:50not get in front of them? [music] So we
40:52try to stay in front of the customers at
40:53least two to four times per month. So we
40:55send messages to the customers via email
40:58and we actually put them on a drip
40:59campaign. So this part's key. Yes, it is
41:01a one-mon reminder email and a call.
41:04[music] And we could do ring list,
41:05voicemails, automated text, or actually
41:06calls from the sales team in South
41:08Africa to say, "Hey, you haven't had
41:10your place cleaned in a month. It's
41:11probably dirty. Why don't we come out
41:12again?" But we also put them on a 3mon,
41:146 month, 9 month, 12-month reminders,
41:16and this goes for 2 [music] years. So,
41:18they get the newsletters, they get our
41:20automatic mailings and phone calls.
41:22They're going to get postcards in the
41:23mail. The goal is just to stay in front
41:24of them, right? So when they the home's
41:26dirty again and someone's wife's getting
41:27mad at that and they could say, "Oh my
41:29god, made this uh they've been emailing
41:31me. Let me call them." So try to make
41:32the content more light, don't be a stiff
41:34[music] company. But besides that, it's
41:35more just staying in front of the
41:37customers consistently. And I think a
41:38lot of business owners mess up on this.
41:40They get the sale once, they don't
41:42really do that good of a job of staying
41:44in front of the client. And just based
41:46off the system we have, we do it
41:47automatically for us and for the
41:48franchises as well. [music]
41:54How seasonal is it? Are you consistent
41:56throughout the year? And if you do have
41:58slow seasons, Chris, what do you do to
42:00shift during that slow period to still
42:02continue to be profitable and make it?
42:04>> Yeah. So, we do have a slow season which
42:06is uh you know the winter time, the
42:09winter months. So, okay. Yeah. December,
42:11January, February usually slow. So, what
42:13I do to help you know during those times
42:16I use a lot of text marketing. Uh it's
42:18been three years since I discovered it.
42:20Instead of using email marketing, text
42:22marketing, [music]
42:23people responds to text. So what I do, I
42:25offer, you know, crazy deals. You know,
42:27get $50 off today,
42:29>> you know, and I send that text to, you
42:31know, uh 1,500 people at least 10% will
42:35reply to you and say, "Yes, okay,
42:37>> I want to I want a service." So what I'm
42:39trying to do during those times is just
42:41keep my employees busy so they make
42:43money. And you know, I I take a little
42:44bit of a a hit on discount my prices,
42:47but at the same time, I'm taking care of
42:48my employees.
42:49>> So when the good season comes around,
42:51you know, they're they're ready there
42:52for me.
42:57>> Are you implementing any strategies for
43:00lead generation besides the Google and
43:03the Yelp?
43:04>> Are you actually doing outside of that
43:05something else to just bring more
43:06business?
43:07>> Absolutely. So the way we do it, I have
43:08my BS script data from Zillow. I told my
43:11BS, okay, go and go to Snowomish County,
43:14scrape all the uh results that you see
43:17for realtors in this area, come up with
43:18a list, and then we call call them, just
43:20set up an appointment, and then that's
43:21what I go. So definitely that's what we
43:23do for Legionary.
43:24>> So your VAS do uh on Zillow, they do
43:27look for Airbnbs as well or
43:28>> uh No, not Airbnbs, just property
43:30managers, realtors, real estate agents,
43:32all that. And then we come up with a a
43:34spreadsheet and then literally call and
43:36and call email. And so that's what we
43:38do. what percentage of, you know, new
43:40business coming in is coming in from
43:41that strategy.
43:42>> So, it's not, you know, that crazy, but
43:44we get about, you know, if we contact
43:47100 realtors, at least 10 or 12 are
43:50going to say yes. So, it's not bad. You
43:52know, it's not that crazy, but it
43:53certainly helps. And then what I like
43:55about working with realtors is that
43:56these homes are empty. They're just
43:58stage, so there's no grease. There's no,
44:00you know, the bathrooms are fairly
44:01clean. So, the job is fairly simpler
44:03versus anited home.
44:08talk to us about the workflow with Queen
44:10B. You get a job request, the
44:13scheduling, the phone calls, the setup.
44:14How does that work? Just really quickly
44:16fly through that.
44:16>> Yeah. So, usually works like this. We
44:18get a call, we provide a quote over the
44:20phone and once that the customer agrees
44:22to the price, we collect the credit
44:24card. You always want to collect the
44:25credit card. You don't want to chase
44:26your money. You know, with that, we put
44:27them into a calendar or a scheduleuler.
44:29So, we look at the calendar based on zip
44:31codes, right? So that way uh the VA when
44:34we get a call okay look at the zip code
44:36look at the calendar and see what spot
44:38is available with that route and then we
44:40assign it at that point the cleaners get
44:42a notification on their phone like do
44:44you have a new job this is the address
44:45and then and then they can accept it
44:47okay they can reject it in case they
44:49can't do it right so essentially that's
44:50what happens let's say they accept the
44:52job what happens now it's uh they go and
44:55clean and to make sure that every time
44:57everything gets done correctly so
44:59there's nothing miss
45:01Well, in the same app actually has a
45:03checklist.
45:04>> So use that
45:05>> we use a checklist because you
45:07[clears throat] know we used to do paper
45:08paper uh checklist but what happened you
45:11know the cleaners they will just check
45:14>> check and then and then they'll leave it
45:15and then customers will call like well
45:16they forgot this and so we figure okay
45:19let's let's figure out there's an app
45:21that allows us to do that and there is
45:23and so job is so you put a checklist and
45:25they cannot complete job if they haven't
45:28complete the checklist. So they really
45:30have to take their time.
45:32make sure everything
45:40runs [music] and then we send them the
45:42review request.
45:43>> Mhm.
45:43>> And then the following day, that's when
45:45we call them and say, "Hey, just want to
45:47make sure that everything went fine.
45:48Would you be interested in signing up
45:49for recurring service?"
45:51>> So, in a nutshell, that's pretty much
45:52the workflow, how it how it works.
45:54>> Earlier on, you mentioned just briefly a
45:57secret uh strategy to sales, right?
45:59essentially. I'm dying to know what that
46:01is. Let's dive into that.
46:02>> Yeah. [music] Well, you know, I
46:03mentioned earlier that as long as you
46:05pick up the phone, it's a competitive.
46:06>> So, it ties into that.
46:08>> Absolutely. And once you once they pick
46:09up the phone, the question is, how do
46:11you get them to not only close the sale,
46:12but convert to a recurring customer?
46:14[music]
46:14>> So, we have a system we developed and
46:16battle tested. I think we made millions
46:18of dollars with this exact sales script
46:20with us and our franchises. We have
46:22training programs around it for our
46:23franchises and it's something that we
46:25teach everyone because it just works.
46:26>> I want to be the customer.
46:27>> You want to do role play? Perfect. Let's
46:29do that.
46:29>> I'm calling. I'm looking for a cleaning
46:31business.
46:32>> Um, hey, this is Neil from Alisting. How
46:34can I help you?
46:34>> Hey Neil, moved to LA. Uh, hey cleaning
46:38and you were top top choice on some of
46:41the platforms I noticed you on. So, I
46:42just wanted to see kind of about your
46:43service and so on. So, we could
46:45absolutely. And by the way, I'm going to
46:47pause the different sections just
46:48explain to you the key notes. The script
46:50is very long, but there's some key
46:52psychological elements that you should
46:53have in this. All right. So, first I
46:55want to build rapport. That's the first
46:56thing I want to do. There's a million
46:58other companies out there you could
46:58call, but why are you going to work with
46:59me? Probably because you like me on
47:01[music] the phone, right? So, I'm I'm
47:02going to say Perfect. Hey, thanks so
47:03much for reaching out. First of all,
47:04what's your name?
47:05>> My name's Paul.
47:06>> Paul, nice to meet you, man. My name is
47:07Neil and welcome to Los Angeles.
47:09>> Thank you. We dying to move here.
47:11>> Yeah.
47:12>> So, Paul, tell me what is it you're
47:14looking for in [music] your home to get
47:15cleaned?
47:16>> It's a 1500, three bed, two bath. Our
47:18yard is pretty small anyway. You're not
47:20cleaning the yard, the house
47:22specifically. and uh you know I just
47:24want to focus on the kitchen, the
47:25laundry rooms, the bathrooms
47:26essentially.
47:27>> Everything else is not a big deal for
47:29us. I do have three daughters.
47:31>> So to clarify, this is you're moving in.
47:32You want get the place very clean. I'm
47:34guessing it's probably dusty cuz you've
47:35just moved in. You get that knocked out.
47:37The main points of the home, kitchen,
47:39bathrooms, you mentioned these main
47:40focus area will make you happy. Perfect.
47:42So one thing I did over here is I
47:44clarified what you actually wanted to
47:46do. So now I know you're hearing. I'm
47:48hearing you. But also a lot of times the
47:50customers like to call and they like to
47:51be the ones saying, "I want to pay this
47:53amount of money. This is what I want
47:54done."
47:54>> Here's the thing. Most customers don't
47:56actually know what they want. They don't
47:57know the business as much as you. So now
47:58I'm kind of taking control of the
48:00conversation, asking you the questions I
48:02need to know to be able to price [music]
48:03the services on end.
48:05>> Make sense?
48:06>> Yeah.
48:06>> They'll say, "Great. Um, amazing." And,
48:08uh, I think I got all the notes over
48:09here. Tell me, are you looking for a
48:11monthly, weekly, or bi-weekly service?
48:13>> Probably monthly. Monthly.
48:15>> Yeah. Awesome. And [music] here's a tip
48:17which has made us millions of dollars.
48:19You notice that I did not ask if you
48:21wanted a one-time service.
48:23>> Oh, you're right. I didn't even realize
48:25that.
48:25>> Psychological trick. Monthly, bi-weekly,
48:27weekly. You're like, I guess I want
48:28monthly. I didn't give you the option
48:30for one time.
48:30>> I heard the options and I answered with
48:32what available.
48:33>> This is how we get people on the
48:34recurring plan to begin with. Then with
48:36our follow-up sequence, we make sure
48:37they stay happy. And there's a lot of
48:38things we do for that. But on the
48:40initial sale, this is what we do.
48:41>> Okay?
48:42>> And look, I'll throw out a price for
48:43you. I'll say, "Great. you on monthly
48:45service. Great. Uh yeah, your first
48:47cleaning, which is going to be deep
48:48clean, is going to be around uh $280
48:51than [music] first time cleaning.
48:52>> I don't know, man. I've looked around on
48:53Google and all that, and that seems a
48:55little on the steeper side for me, Neil.
48:57>> Okay.
48:57>> Even though I like what you're saying, I
48:59like the options you're giving me. Can
49:01you do anything on the on the price
49:02point?
49:03>> Yeah. So, this is got to ask. Got to
49:06ask. Worst case, it's a no. So, in this
49:08case, I want to show you the value we
49:11have. I don't want it to be an Alles
49:12comparison where you're looking at us
49:13and a bunch of other companies, right?
49:15So, this is what I'm going to do. I'm
49:16gonna say, [music] "Hey, Paul, you're
49:18totally right. You could probably go to
49:19another company and have it way cheaper,
49:21but there's some risk in that. What
49:23you're really paying for with us is
49:24peace of mind. [music] You notice our
49:26reviews. We're really good at what we
49:27do. On top of that, you get our
49:28guarantees.
49:30>> Our guarantees are that if there's
49:32anything missed, we'll have someone come
49:33out for a free 2-hour recan for you. On
49:35top of that, only 2% of the cleaners in
49:38our system uh who apply actually make it
49:40onto our system. So, you're getting the
49:41best cleaners in the market, background
49:42checked and everything. Sounds like it.
49:44On top of that, Paul, I know you just
49:45moved here and I want to make sure this
49:47is of order for you. I want you to try
49:49us out, see how you like it. If you like
49:50it, continue. If not, it's [music] okay.
49:52Scripts do work. Scripts work. And with
49:54that script, um, you could close a lot
49:56more sales, convert them to recurring,
49:57and just have a booming business.
49:59>> Cool.
50:03people watching right now realize how
50:05difficult it is and challenging
50:06especially in these times to find
50:08reliable employees. Right. Right. So,
50:10how do you where do you look for them?
50:13How do you find employees whether they
50:15stay or not?
50:16>> And then how do you take care of them to
50:17keep them as much as possible?
50:19>> Back in the day, we I was only relying
50:21on on Indeed. So, I was running ads on
50:23Indeed, attracting some people and I
50:25still do, but now I combine other two
50:27platforms cuz really I cannot grow if I
50:29cannot find people. So, I'm spending uh
50:31ads on Indeed. So that's number one. Uh
50:34Craigslist ads, that's number two. And
50:35then Facebook group, guys. Facebook
50:37groups, it's been actually uh great
50:39performer.
50:40>> Uhhuh. Uhhuh. I actually uh I think we
50:42got two of best cleaners came from a
50:44Facebook group. So totally free. So
50:47definitely just combining these three
50:48platforms and and just constantly uh be
50:50recruiting. So again, one of the things
50:52that I, you know, I I've been able to do
50:55and keep my current employees, you know,
50:57with us is just, you know, creating that
51:00company culture that I mentioned on the
51:01previous video is just really, you know,
51:03celebrating their birthdays, you know,
51:05taking them to uh, you know, family
51:06gatherings every now and then.
51:08>> So, so yeah, it's I think this is one of
51:10the best things I I've done, really make
51:12everyone part of the family like like
51:14align them with the single that we had
51:16so we all embrace it and we move forward
51:18with it.
51:21Let's talk about hiring employees,
51:24especially through the pandemic. People
51:26don't want to work necessarily,
51:28>> right?
51:29>> Uh it's tough to get them back in
51:30retention, etc. How do you find these
51:33people? Which platforms you use? And the
51:35process of vetting them, knowing that
51:37they're going to be a good employee.
51:38>> This is a tricky question, and I think
51:40whoever's probably going to watch this
51:41is having the same problem we have,
51:43>> right?
51:43>> You're going to spend money. Again,
51:45you're going to spend more money. You're
51:46going to have people say they're
51:47interested and just not show up. We had
51:49two people actually not show up today
51:50for interviews. Um, so it's a numbers
51:52game. You're going to have to just do
51:53sheer volume. So you're going to reach
51:55out to 100 people. Instead of usually
51:57getting, you know, 20 or 25 interest, it
51:58can probably be eight. So just expect
52:01that low return, but just don't give up
52:03on it. Um, I would advise to pick one or
52:07two platforms and stick to those. When
52:09it comes to job hiring, don't go through
52:11like a several others. Do not do Indeed,
52:14>> okay?
52:14>> Don't do Indeed, guys. It's a waste of
52:16your money,
52:16>> okay? They they're the most expensive
52:18and the return we've done a study I
52:20think we spent two grand and we got like
52:22eight applicants okay 8 to 10 between it
52:24wasn't it was barely over double digits
52:26and using Zip Recruiter and I'm not
52:28endorsing Zip Recruiter this is not an
52:29ad just experience just experience
52:31you'll get the best return for your
52:33money so the money spent returns way
52:35more qualified candidates and that's
52:37what we're using right now we don't shut
52:38down our ads they're always running
52:39right now so if you're willing to work
52:41we will hire you we need to work
52:42>> it's like a constant waterfall right you
52:44never shut that off yeah we call it the
52:46trolling net so that trolling that's
52:47always trolling the sea and yeah so it's
52:49it's always running so if you're willing
52:51to work we'll hire you at any given day
52:53>> I want to help our viewers understand
52:54more specific steps of the onboarding
52:57process absolutely [music] give us an
52:59insight
53:00>> so when you're recruiting and this is
53:02whether you're recruiting technicians in
53:03your company which could be cleaners or
53:05other laborers or remote team members
53:07>> the key with this is to get them to jump
53:10through multiple hoops before they reach
53:12you in your [music] next stage so I'll
53:13give you an example let's say we're
53:14recruiting for um cleaners. So, we have
53:17an elaborate five-step recruiting
53:18process for this to make sure they get
53:19through the funnel. Some pieces of it
53:21would be, let's say, you do an initial
53:22call. We're going to do phone screenings
53:23with them. Make sure they're validated
53:25in what they're doing. Do you have a
53:26license? Are you legal to work here?
53:27[music]
53:28>> After that, we invite them to a Zoom
53:30call. You notice I don't do it on the
53:32same call. I want to see if they
53:33actually show up. The main thing is I'm
53:35looking for three main characteristics
53:36when it comes to a team member. I'm
53:38looking for good reliability,
53:40communication, and attitude. [music]
53:42You have to have all three of them or
53:43this is not going to work.
53:44>> Mhm. So, a lot of the steps of what we
53:46teach and what we do with this funnel is
53:48to to [music] check a lot of those three
53:50factors. So,
53:53>> exactly. I just came up with an acronym.
53:56>> So, we uh screen them on the second
53:58call. We might send them out to a test
54:01job, a paid test job to see how they
54:02perform, [music] check their
54:03communication. After that, we could do a
54:05proper onboarding with our technology
54:07and let them know how actually things
54:08work
54:09>> and then monitor how they do. There's a
54:11lot of different steps in that. And we
54:12had an automated process through like a
54:15Trello dashboard we created which guides
54:17people on what questions to ask, how to
54:18qualify them, what their score is, and
54:21like honestly this is the biggest trick
54:23in this business. If you know how to
54:24find biggest triple word,
54:26>> biggest trick.
54:27>> Yeah, I said you know, yeah, if you know
54:29how to find the right labor, your
54:32business is smooth. [music] And a lot of
54:33people when they started, like myself, I
54:35didn't know what I was doing at all. And
54:36we would just onboard whoever came in
54:38and who applied and who had a pulse. I'd
54:39say, "Yeah, come on. Come on board." And
54:41that's how you get into trouble in this
54:42business. And that's what a lot of
54:43noviceses don't really know is this is a
54:45people business. You got to invest a lot
54:47into the people.
54:53>> Today we're how many employees do you
54:54have? What do you pay them? And how do
54:56you retain them to stay with you? And
54:58>> Yes. Yes. Good question. So as of now,
55:00we have 22 cleaners. They all range from
55:02$19 per hour. You know, the the people
55:04who doesn't drive. Okay. The drivers get
55:0620 to 22. If they drive a car, it's $20.
55:09if they drive their car is 24.
55:11>> So, you know, it really works out well.
55:13Sometimes they want to use their car and
55:14they make a little bit extra money.
55:15That's that's fine by me. So,
55:17>> do you offer like any incentives, any
55:19creative ways of
55:20>> Yes, this is something very important.
55:23You know, last few years I didn't have
55:24what is called I was not paying
55:26attention and creating a company
55:28culture.
55:29>> Now, you know, it's very important to
55:31keep your employees uh you know uh feel
55:34appreciated. So what I've been doing,
55:36you know, since pre-COVID, you know,
55:37taking him to picnics, you know, carnas,
55:40of course, every Saturday, uh, you know,
55:43we take him to bowling, uh, game, uh,
55:45every 3 months or so. And, you know, we
55:48celebrate their birthdays every time.
55:49You know, I have a software that tells
55:50me, "Okay, this cleaner's birthday is
55:52tomorrow. We get them a cake. We
55:53celebrate real quick in the morning and
55:55we all good [music] to go." And that, my
55:56friends, is being the key for me to keep
55:58the employees longer.
56:02>> What about retention? [music]
56:04How do you
56:05>> on people on hires?
56:06>> Yeah. How do you reduce your turnover?
56:08>> So, you should need to work for your
56:10employee. And that is an owner's job.
56:12I'm her employee. She's my boss. My
56:14secretary is my boss. If I she's not
56:17happy, my company does not run. We do
56:19not profit. So, how I look at working
56:21for all 40 of the people here at Spruce,
56:24it is my job to make you happy, not the
56:26other way around. So I wait my I tell
56:28every new interview or new hireer, hey
56:30if you ever have a problem or you're not
56:32happy here, I need you to let me know
56:33because I need to fix it for you. So I
56:36think customer I don't want to say
56:37business owners are lazy,
56:38>> but they need to put more effort towards
56:40making sure everyone's so listen to
56:41their voice like their concerns. You
56:43know, they're going to voice them to
56:44you, but how are are you going to
56:45actually fix them or you just asking to
56:46be nice? And I make it a daily effort to
56:48make sure everyone's happy and then pay
56:50add frequent pay incentives. I
56:53>> tell me about yours. Well, we already
56:55started high in the country. So, we
56:57start at 22 an hour still. I mean,
56:59that's the highest in the country in our
57:00industry by $7. Wow. Um, if you prove
57:04yourself in the first month, you're
57:05jumped up to 23. If you start training
57:08up to 24 and I think there's only one
57:10cleaner is at 25 right now, but for
57:12cleaning houses, that's still
57:14>> Yeah. It's not your margin.
57:16>> It's marginally higher. And it shows,
57:18okay, I I I voice this to all our
57:19cleaners is, hey, I get the job. I've
57:21done it for years. Mhm.
57:22>> I want to make sure you're getting
57:23compensated fairly for some of the work.
57:25You got to clean toilets. Sometimes
57:26toilets are not pretty. I get it. So, I
57:28think owners need to understand what the
57:30job is being asked and does it fairly
57:32reflect the value they're getting paid
57:33for. If you figure that out and make
57:35sure they're being happy, they're happy,
57:37they're not leaving.
57:38>> You have staff across eight countries at
57:40this point in time. What are the
57:41challenges that come with that? And how
57:43do you what do you use to make things
57:45work like clockwork essentially?
57:47>> So, when I uh first start out, again, I
57:48didn't really know what I was doing. So
57:50with a lot of the staff at onboard them
57:51may not have a great onboarding process
57:53for them. A lot of things we use now are
57:54just the technology uh to be able to
57:57communicate with people around the
57:58world. So for example, let's say someone
57:59calls in, we use a service called Dialad
58:01which will route that person to my team
58:03in South Africa. We use Slack for
58:05internal communication tool. So a lot of
58:06different technologies exist now which
58:08did it 10 years ago when I started that
58:10makes life a lot easier for everyone.
58:12The the hard part though honestly is not
58:14really just figuring out the technology
58:15to use. It's the backend stuff like what
58:17are the processes and systems to get
58:19team members to talk to each other? How
58:20do you have communication be seamless
58:22across different people who are in
58:24different countries? And a lot of that
58:25kind of stuff is just developing the
58:27right documentation, the right systems,
58:29the right onboarding and that's what
58:30takes more time rather than just
58:32figuring out the technology.
58:37>> In terms of managing a team, Chris, what
58:39tasks are good to delegate to staff
58:42>> and then which ones do you handle
58:43personally yourself? So from now I try
58:45to delegate as much as possible really
58:47from the customer service that's the
58:48first thing I delegated. Uh my wife's
58:51now you know finally out of the field
58:52and delegating all the job to the girls.
58:54So really to delegate as many things as
58:57possible so you can really focus on the
58:59money making uh activities which in my
59:01case I'm always looking for contracts
59:03right I'm I'm visiting uh apartment
59:05managers or property managers visiting
59:08realtors putting myself out there you
59:10know you cannot just be waiting for
59:11people to call you if you combine that
59:14versus actually going out and you know
59:16and say hey my name is Chris I run this
59:18company blah blah blah they always give
59:20you an opportunity so that's what I do I
59:21just like look for more contracts
59:23>> we we in real estate we probably the
59:24rain maker, right? You're readying
59:26more clients outside. That's correct.
59:33>> What do customers look for typically out
59:36of a cleaning company?
59:37>> I think this is actually very important
59:39to mention. They're not really looking
59:40for the for the cheapest price.
59:41>> They're not looking for some do, right?
59:44But people that really have, you know, u
59:46homes, they actually live there. Um they
59:48were looking for quality. You know,
59:50essentially, you're not selling them a
59:51cleaning. you're giving them their time
59:53back because essentially they're not
59:54going to spend three two three to four
59:56hours, you know, we're going to do it
59:57for you so you can do other things.
59:59>> So, it's all about the quality and then
1:00:01just make them feel that when you know
1:00:02when they want to finish. I love when
1:00:04they get this text like you guys did
1:00:06amazing. My house has never looked this
1:00:07clean before. So, it's a really good
1:00:09feeling to have that, right? And just
1:00:10give them time back. [music]
1:00:12>> So, customer reviews absolutely freaking
1:00:14important, right? wonder whether you're
1:00:16a real estate agent like me, whether
1:00:18you're doing Airbnbs and residential
1:00:19cleaning, [music] the question is how do
1:00:21we how do we get them and get the
1:00:23positive ones?
1:00:24>> Absolutely. So, I'd say there's an
1:00:25automated piece and then there's an
1:00:26unautomated piece element of it.
1:00:28>> Two of them. Cool.
1:00:29>> So, there is an automated review system.
1:00:32So, after each cleaning, the customer
1:00:35would automatically get a text message
1:00:36and in that we say, "Hey, how was your
1:00:38experience? Here's a happy face or sad
1:00:39face." They click [music] it, it'll
1:00:41automatically go to the next page where
1:00:42it says, "Tell us more about it." And if
1:00:44it's a good review or not, it'll go onto
1:00:47Google, Facebook, or let's say Yelp with
1:00:49one click.
1:00:50>> How long is the process for me as a
1:00:51customer to go through that process and
1:00:53get to the review point?
1:00:54>> 10 seconds.
1:00:55>> So, okay. So, super quick. We're trying
1:00:57to make this seamless possible. Now,
1:00:58here's [music] a trick, which is huge, I
1:01:02think, in getting reviews, which most
1:01:03people don't even think about. If me, as
1:01:05the company calls a customer and I've
1:01:06never been to the customer's house, the
1:01:07person is like, "Cool. You're calling
1:01:08from made this. That's great. Thank you.
1:01:10You guys did great service." They don't
1:01:12know me. They don't know my face. But
1:01:13who do they know? The cleaner. The
1:01:15cleaner. So, here's the trick. You're
1:01:17trying to make this as personal as
1:01:18possible. If they clean or ask for a
1:01:20review, the customer is way more likely
1:01:22to actually leave the company, quote
1:01:24unquote.
1:01:25>> Absolutely. And here's the other tricks
1:01:26is you could attach bonuses to it if you
1:01:28want. You could attract attach
1:01:30incentives to it if you want. And that's
1:01:31the easiest way to skyrocket the number
1:01:33of reviews you have.
1:01:34>> Tell me more about bonuses and
1:01:35incentives. What do you mean? What are
1:01:36you talking about?
1:01:37>> Yeah, a lot of our locations might offer
1:01:39the cleaner, let's say, $25 if someone
1:01:41leaves an online review. And it doesn't
1:01:43have to be a fivestar review. Uh it
1:01:45could be just be, hey, just get someone
1:01:46to leave a good review for you in
1:01:48whatever way it is, and we'll give you a
1:01:49bonus for it. Now, for [music] the
1:01:51technicians or the cleaners, that's
1:01:52great for them. They just say, "Hey, I
1:01:54just need to ask this person for
1:01:55review." On top of that, the company
1:01:57will automatically text the customer to
1:01:59make it easy for them to leave review.
1:02:00It's really a win-win for everyone.
1:02:06>> We've interviewed other companies as
1:02:08well. Uh reviews are very important.
1:02:10>> They are, right?
1:02:11>> It is. They are. How do you get them and
1:02:13how do you deal with negative ones? Talk
1:02:15to us about the process. First of all,
1:02:17getting revvious. Well, you know, this
1:02:19is this is something key. I started
1:02:20doing it last years when I, you know, I
1:02:23I hired more people to help me on the
1:02:26administration side of it. So what we do
1:02:28you know we call the customer uh the
1:02:30following day just to make sure that he
1:02:32was uh happy with the service to do any
1:02:34any any any problems and then at that
1:02:37point we kindly ask in a subtle way if
1:02:40if we can give us some feedback uh
1:02:42whether it's good or bad you know it
1:02:44helps us to improve our company um how
1:02:46do you deal with bad reviews uh very
1:02:48very very good question you know some
1:02:50sometimes there's people you cannot make
1:02:52happy no matter what you do you can bend
1:02:54over backwards and at that point the
1:02:56best thing you can do just respond
1:02:57professionally and ask him if there's
1:02:59something else you can do for them.
1:03:00>> So, you respond to each comment,
1:03:02>> each comment online.
1:03:03>> It's very important, you know, people
1:03:05see that. It's been one of my keys to
1:03:07being such a fast growth because we have
1:03:10a a good reputation online and and we
1:03:12try to protect it.
1:03:14>> All right. Tell me about this huge It
1:03:16says franchise operations manual. You
1:03:18want to lift it?
1:03:19>> Yeah, sure. I mean, I could probably
1:03:21work out with it. You know,
1:03:22>> what do they what do they call them? Uh,
1:03:24Russian twists, Ukraine twists, whatever
1:03:26you want to call them.
1:03:27>> Did you write this whole thing or a
1:03:30little bit of ripoff and duplicate would
1:03:33expect that little bit of duplicate, but
1:03:34a lot of this is just like the hundreds
1:03:36of thousand dollars of mistakes I made
1:03:38early in my career and we fixed it,
1:03:40systemized it, and put it in this
1:03:41operations manual for everyone. Okay, so
1:03:43this is a thousand plus pages here. Uh,
1:03:46get this, this is not even as long as it
1:03:48would be cuz now we have it online. The
1:03:50cool part is franchises could kind of
1:03:52rip this and put it into their own
1:03:53location for their own team members and
1:03:55drive them the template. My business
1:03:56model isn't how do I sell the most
1:03:58franchises. It's how do I make my
1:04:00franchisees the most profitable and
1:04:01luckily the way everything is set up
1:04:03incentives are aligned and it makes so
1:04:04much sense. And I do think someone
1:04:06starting out if they want you to move
1:04:08faster I think franchising is a
1:04:10fantastic move. It's almost like getting
1:04:11into business with the guardros on in
1:04:13bowling right like yeah you don't got to
1:04:15reinvent the wheel. You don't got to
1:04:16reinvent the wheel. They'll they'll keep
1:04:18you from going to the gutter or going to
1:04:20zero. So, I do think it's a d-risk way
1:04:21of getting into business.
1:04:22>> So, if I wanted to start one in my
1:04:24hometown of Bellingham, can you give me
1:04:26a discount or maybe hook our viewers up?
1:04:28>> Tell you what, I'll do it for you. For
1:04:29you and the viewers, everyone's going to
1:04:31get $6,000 in marketing credit off of
1:04:33your franchise fee with made this
1:04:35exclusively for uplift viewers.
1:04:37>> You're going to do that for us. And how
1:04:38is that money going to be used to help
1:04:39my business scale and grow?
1:04:41>> Lot of brownies, man. Lots and lots of
1:04:43brownies sending which then results in
1:04:44more customers back to us, right?
1:04:46>> Exactly. Yeah. So we actually spend it
1:04:48on uh digital marketing for you. So as
1:04:50part of the franchise system, we do
1:04:51search engine optimization for you. We
1:04:53do social media marketing for you. We do
1:04:54all your email marketing for you. And
1:04:56all of this is done in a discounted flat
1:04:58rate package. So we do that for [music]
1:05:00you guys. And as part of being a part of
1:05:02uplip, all the viewers are going to get
1:05:04access to that too for free. We're going
1:05:06to come back to that, but that is an
1:05:08incredible opportunity.
1:05:12>> [music]
1:05:14>> Tell me about your quality service
1:05:16guarantee because not everyone does
1:05:17that. And why is it important for those
1:05:19looking to start the cleaning business?
1:05:21>> Absolutely.
1:05:21>> To have that as part of
1:05:22>> um you really want to make it easy as
1:05:24possible for the customers to do
1:05:25business with you. And one of those
1:05:26things is like offering peace of mind,
1:05:28right? And say, "Hey, we do charge a
1:05:30high fee, right? But we're going to make
1:05:32sure that you're happy. If we miss
1:05:34anything by any chance, just give us a
1:05:36call. We will go back to recan at no
1:05:38charge." We really want to make sure
1:05:39that every customer is happy. So we're
1:05:41really making a great effort to do that.
1:05:42>> Do you pay for this or is this you
1:05:44market it and say we guarantee or what's
1:05:46behind this quality service guarantee?
1:05:48>> Oh, it was just really just to convince
1:05:49the people to say, hey, you know, um
1:05:51because usually my my biggest objection
1:05:53when I'm on the phone is like, oh, maybe
1:05:54it's just too much. I'm it's not in my
1:05:56budget.
1:05:56>> I see.
1:05:57>> And then that's when I say, well,
1:05:58listen, you know, I have the quality
1:05:59service guarantee. You can choose to go
1:06:01with another cleaning company, but if
1:06:02everything goes wrong, then you're going
1:06:03to have to call me. I'm going to have to
1:06:05redo it.
1:06:05>> What is your goal for this? Give me a 5
1:06:0810 year vision in the quick. Yeah, we're
1:06:09on track to hit around 30 franchises by
1:06:12the beginning of this next year. We are
1:06:13currently at 17 locations and my goal is
1:06:15really to focus on growing the
1:06:17franchises, right? So, I love working
1:06:18with the franchises. A lot of them are
1:06:20people who want to get out of the rat
1:06:21race. A lot of them people who um know
1:06:24they're kind of destined for more with
1:06:25entrepreneurship but aren't really sure
1:06:26what to do or how to get into it.
1:06:28>> My goal is to help them and actually get
1:06:30out of the rat race. So, my goal is to
1:06:31scale the franchise business
1:06:33specifically and just pick the best
1:06:34franchises.
1:06:35>> That's awesome, dude. Yeah, it's a
1:06:36pretty good goal and I think that ties
1:06:38in well to the next question and that is
1:06:40sort of a moment in your life when it
1:06:42was tough you wanted to give up. You
1:06:44know, we all go through that whether it
1:06:45was business related or personal,
1:06:47>> financial, physical. Anything you want
1:06:49to highlight to us and how you kind of
1:06:51overcame that? I think that would be
1:06:52pretty encouraging and inspirational to
1:06:54all of us.
1:06:54>> Yeah. You know, when I was first
1:06:56starting, I uh honestly everything I did
1:06:58kind of [music] flopped.
1:06:59>> I tried e-commerce, I tried drop
1:07:00shipping, I tried digital marketing, and
1:07:02like nothing was really working. I
1:07:04remember getting [music] really down on
1:07:05myself cuz at the time I just wanted to
1:07:07escape the grind. I want to help my
1:07:09parents, but [music] it just wasn't
1:07:10working. And I think a lot of people get
1:07:11into that, right? You hit failure after
1:07:13failure and you're like, why should I
1:07:14keep going? [music] This is kind of
1:07:16cushy. I could just stay in this job,
1:07:17right? I remember um after college, I
1:07:20was working at this this firm [music]
1:07:22and there was a guy there, his name is
1:07:23Paul. I'll call him I'll call him
1:07:24partner Paul. Uh and he was 52 or 53
1:07:27years old and he was set to retire. And
1:07:29my co-orker is like, "Dude, Partner Paul
1:07:30has $20 million in the bank." Wow. And I
1:07:33remember thinking, "This guy's made it.
1:07:34He's figured out the American dream.
1:07:35This is what it is." And within one year
1:07:37of retiring, he had a heart attack and
1:07:39died.
1:07:41And if you think about that, and that
1:07:42that really set the tone for my early
1:07:44career of realizing like time's very
1:07:46precious, and [music] even though I was
1:07:48getting down on myself and things
1:07:49weren't really going well, what is the
1:07:51alternative? Is it, you know, slaving
1:07:53away for 30 years? Is it working the
1:07:55grind and not being able to provide
1:07:57something else outside of my job? And I
1:07:58think that story has always really
1:08:00resonated with me and has kind of kept
1:08:02me going um to actually try the next
1:08:04thing and try the next thing and try the
1:08:06next thing and uh I think that's all
1:08:08people need. You know, sometimes there's
1:08:09business models which are easier and
1:08:10harder and you know [music] those are
1:08:12different things to talk about as well.
1:08:13But a lot of it is just having the
1:08:14motivation to keep going even if you're
1:08:16not getting your early success.
1:08:17>> Right.
1:08:21>> In terms of scaling a cleaning business,
1:08:24what does it need for it to scale? there
1:08:26systems tools could imagine there'd be a
1:08:28lot. So give us a quick snapshot.
1:08:30>> Oh for sure. Well one of the best thing
1:08:31first things you need to have in place
1:08:33is cleaners right without workers you
1:08:35know you can't okay getting a customer
1:08:37is easy. It really is but if you don't
1:08:40have fuel workers you know you have to
1:08:41be doing it and so you really need to
1:08:43have cleaners first. So definitely get
1:08:46uh at least two or three. And then the
1:08:48second part is will be having a
1:08:49scheduling software. So keep
1:08:51[clears throat] everything organized so
1:08:52that way you remember to create the
1:08:54invoices charging people at the right
1:08:55time. So I think those two are the most
1:08:57critical parts that you need at the
1:08:59beginning.
1:08:59>> I can imagine a nightmare of schedules
1:09:01you know 30 40 units having to be
1:09:02cleaned. How did you deal with that
1:09:03initially?
1:09:04>> Oh it was it was chaos just like you
1:09:06said cuz there was like really no
1:09:07software out there you know back in
1:09:082015. So I was trying to kind of patch
1:09:10everything. I was doing the scheduling
1:09:12on Google calendar. I had the invoices
1:09:14on Google Sheets.
1:09:15>> Uh it was just all over the place until
1:09:17I found a software and then from there
1:09:18it was fairly easy to scale. help them
1:09:20grow and scale. Okay,
1:09:22>> let's talk about a road map to $1
1:09:25million. Give us technical steps of what
1:09:27to do.
1:09:28>> Of course. So, you're going to want to
1:09:28start with a website. Don't spend a lot
1:09:31on it going forward. And that sounds
1:09:32weird, but what I mean is don't hire a
1:09:34firm that's probably going to charge you
1:09:3620K when for one, you don't need a
1:09:38$20,000 website for your service-based
1:09:39industry, especially when you're just
1:09:41starting out. Plan to upgrade it,
1:09:43whether it be by monthly or quarterly
1:09:44[music] or annually. But make sure
1:09:47you're upgrading it as you go and as you
1:09:49grow. After that, work on ad spend.
1:09:52Figure out what channels you want to
1:09:53optimize and use so you're not wasting
1:09:55your money. So, we don't use Facebook.
1:09:56We don't use YouTube. Uh we strictly use
1:09:59again Yelp and Google. Others will
1:10:02succeed in other areas. For example, if
1:10:03you're a a pressure washer or painting
1:10:05company, Instagram is going to be your
1:10:06funnel. It's more visually based.
1:10:08>> Uh cleaning does fall under visual, but
1:10:10people look for Yelt for cleaners, not
1:10:12Instagram. So, we don't really use those
1:10:15streams. and figure out how much you
1:10:17should be spending. Don't throw $2,000 a
1:10:19month on a spend budget because for one,
1:10:22you can't handle that traffic if it does
1:10:23come and two, you don't know how you
1:10:25optimize your ads yet. You're going to
1:10:27figure that out through trial and
1:10:28tribulation. And then scale, which
1:10:30everyone tells you scale, scale, scale.
1:10:32Figure out a good process on when you
1:10:34should be hiring more help. So, we
1:10:36typically try to hire four to five new
1:10:37cleaners a week right now. If you're
1:10:39just starting out, you probably want to
1:10:41do once a month. And if you can do one
1:10:42consistent cleaner a month for the first
1:10:44six months, that six will, you know,
1:10:46compound to two a month to three. But
1:10:48just don't rush it. Put together a plan
1:10:50and you're going to see your revenue go
1:10:51up. Again, customer satisfaction goes a
1:10:54long way. If you're growing, but you're
1:10:56also getting bad reviews, you're never
1:10:57going to hit a million. People trust
1:10:59good reputation. And as a whole, you
1:11:02know, people kind of follow what people
1:11:04choose. And that goes for anything,
1:11:05whether it be Rotten Tomatoes for movies
1:11:07or Yelp for service. Get those reviews.
1:11:10get that presence known so you're, you
1:11:12know, trusted by the mass and that
1:11:14social awareness.
1:11:18>> What are the one to two biggest factors,
1:11:20Chris, that contribute to your growth?
1:11:23>> I think the two biggest factors is uh
1:11:25having a customer service. It really is
1:11:27is that the most important one and the
1:11:29second one? It's simple and a lot of
1:11:31people and a lot of uh small business
1:11:33owners overlook that.
1:11:35>> But if you think about it, you know,
1:11:36when people are looking for this type of
1:11:38service, they don't have the time to be
1:11:39calling around. So if you answer the
1:11:41phone call, you get it. So that's like
1:11:43the number one, the most important one.
1:11:45And I think the second one just
1:11:46investing, you know, 10% out of the
1:11:48gross back into the uh marketing. So
1:11:51Google ads, jel ads, kly ads, I'll never
1:11:54stop that throughout the year. I have
1:11:55that. So I think those two things, so
1:11:58exceptional customer service and uh
1:12:00online marketing, you you'll you'll grow
1:12:02any business fast.
1:12:07Austin, for somebody watching this right
1:12:09now who's in cleaning business uh and
1:12:11wants to reach their first million, I
1:12:13want to turn to you so that you can give
1:12:14us those answers. What's your personal
1:12:16experience? Because you only started
1:12:17with 300 bucks,
1:12:18>> right? And this is a tricky question
1:12:19because obviously it's going to apply to
1:12:21different people. Um,
1:12:23>> don't fall for this scammy people trying
1:12:25to sell you on SEO optimization or weird
1:12:28software. Do it the right way. It's it's
1:12:31it's the long way I guess is get a
1:12:33website built. start reaching out to
1:12:35customers and invest the money you make
1:12:38back into your company. You want that to
1:12:40compound. So if you make, you know, 25k
1:12:42profit and you go spend it on a Cancun
1:12:44vacation, it's not returning anything.
1:12:46So you could put half that towards ad
1:12:48spend or optimizing your website.
1:12:51>> Rule of thumb is make it better. Like we
1:12:53are still to this day making our system
1:12:55better and it's just [music] showing
1:12:57that. So make it better, reinvest and
1:13:00just keep your eye on the prize.
1:13:01>> Awesome. Yeah. And uh for those viewers
1:13:03that reached out to you Austin from our
1:13:05first episode interview of you uh
1:13:07question is how did you help them our
1:13:10viewers with your experience just in a
1:13:11nutshell?
1:13:12>> Yeah we had a huge outreach and a lot of
1:13:14customers asked do you have any tips or
1:13:16tricks or things to avoid when starting
1:13:18up your cleaning business cleaning
1:13:19company out in Chicago reached out and
1:13:20he needed help with his logo and he
1:13:22wanted me to do a website audit. I had a
1:13:24couple minutes free. So I went through
1:13:25his website and I looked at his logo
1:13:27sent him an email what he needs to
1:13:28change.
1:13:28>> [music]
1:13:28>> Two months later, he sent me an email
1:13:30saying, "Hey, I just made my first 25K
1:13:32in revenue. Thank you so much." And it
1:13:34work like that. It's It's really that
1:13:36easy. It just takes a little bit of
1:13:37navigating and then you can do it.
1:13:39>> Early on, we will inevitably [music]
1:13:40make mistakes. You know, I don't know
1:13:42what I'm doing, but I'm learning. You
1:13:44said that a number of times.
1:13:45>> Uh just want to highlight one of the
1:13:47biggest ones that you you made. You
1:13:49learned a lot from it. What What was it?
1:13:51>> I think the biggest mistake I made would
1:13:54be not really betting on myself earlier
1:13:56on.
1:13:56>> What do you mean? [music] So what I was
1:13:58doing is when I started business, I'd
1:13:59kind of dip my toe in a little bit and
1:14:01take it out. And even with made this, I
1:14:03started it and I started to get real
1:14:04traction from it. And when I was getting
1:14:07traction, I was kind of afraid to spend
1:14:09big. I kind of wish I told myself, dude,
1:14:12just reinvest it back into the business
1:14:13to grow faster cuz the big money comes
1:14:15later. I do think it kind of goes back
1:14:16to fear.
1:14:17>> I wasn't sure if this was going to work
1:14:19or not. Therefore, I said, you know
1:14:20what, let me hedge my bets and let me
1:14:21just take a hack, do it, and have done
1:14:23it. Yeah. And I think I would have grown
1:14:25so much faster, saved 1 to two years of
1:14:27growth or sped up growth if I just kind
1:14:29of bet on myself earlier on. And I wish
1:14:31I told myself that.
1:14:36>> Why do you think cleaning businesses
1:14:38fail, Chris?
1:14:39>> Um, what happened?
1:14:40>> I think the number one reason cleaning
1:14:42business fail is because the lack of
1:14:44customers. So, they don't know how to
1:14:46bring more customers. So, it really
1:14:48comes down to that. And then the little
1:14:50customers they have, eventually they
1:14:51cancel. Is it a good idea or do you
1:14:53think there's a downside to growing a
1:14:55cleaning business too fast? Like what?
1:14:57>> Um yeah, I think uh you know that also
1:15:00creates you know a lot of problems when
1:15:02you're growing too fast. I guess what
1:15:04you need to focus at the beginning is
1:15:05put your processes in place and then you
1:15:07stick to them and then that will make it
1:15:08even easier for you and actually you
1:15:10still scale fast but you know in an
1:15:12organized way.
1:15:13>> Process growth disaster
1:15:15>> disaster. It's a recipe of disaster. Um
1:15:17I think uh it happened to me in the
1:15:19first year. We were growing fairly fast
1:15:21without systems and I had everything
1:15:22inside my head.
1:15:24>> Uh it was like terrible
1:15:25>> only for so long.
1:15:26>> Yeah. For so long and then uh but that's
1:15:28when you start implementing systems and
1:15:29what can you do to make things better?
1:15:31>> Super important.
1:15:35>> How do you deal with customer disputes
1:15:36as a business owner and does that happen
1:15:38often when they dispute prices you know
1:15:41experiences etc?
1:15:42>> Yes it actually has happened way off
1:15:44more often during the pandemic than ever
1:15:45before. ways we kind of go about
1:15:47disputes is the customer technically is
1:15:49always right and you want to at least
1:15:51listen to them techn technically there
1:15:53are going to be times where a customer
1:15:55is obviously in the wrong but you cannot
1:15:56lose your temper or lose your head when
1:15:58it comes to that issue find a resolution
1:16:00whether it be a discount or a rec clean
1:16:03or some type of additional package at no
1:16:05cost um and see if they can't resolve it
1:16:07there or if they're just not being like
1:16:10understanding just drop it better not to
1:16:12feed into the anger or the negativity
1:16:14and you know look at make yourself look
1:16:16bad to other prospective clients or
1:16:18customers. When you say drop it, is that
1:16:20a full refund? Thank you so much. Kind
1:16:21of leave it at the best. Just don't
1:16:23respond. Uh give an initial response
1:16:25obviously, but if it just keeps on going
1:16:26down the rabbit hole, just
1:16:28>> just let it be.
1:16:29>> Those people that complained have ever
1:16:31have and once you've figured it out,
1:16:32resolved it, have they ever left a a
1:16:34positive [music] review behind that?
1:16:35>> Yeah. Uh it's like a 70%, you know,
1:16:37chance they're going to, you know,
1:16:39reverse that. But they want to show that
1:16:40you care. Okay.
1:16:41>> They want to make sure that the c the
1:16:43business owner isn't just all about
1:16:44money and he wants to see or she uh see
1:16:47the customer with a positive, you know,
1:16:48experience.
1:16:49>> What would you do differently now that
1:16:51you have 10 plus years experience in
1:16:52running and managing this business? What
1:16:54would you do differently if you could go
1:16:55back?
1:16:56>> I think I would have quit my job
1:16:57earlier. I think if I just bet on
1:16:58myself, I could have got more traveling
1:17:00in. You know, I did go to South America.
1:17:01I traveled a lot. I traveled across 50
1:17:03countries. But I [music] think just
1:17:04doing that earlier and just having a
1:17:06little bit more of that experience
1:17:07earlier, I think I would have got to the
1:17:08same place faster and I would have grown
1:17:10my business faster if I just bet on
1:17:11myself earlier. What stopped you from
1:17:13doing that then now that you look back?
1:17:15Was it just fear?
1:17:16>> Fear. Not really knowing the next step.
1:17:18Like I didn't really have a guide. I was
1:17:19figuring out on my own. I didn't know if
1:17:20I could do it. So even though we [music]
1:17:22hit like my freedom number,
1:17:24>> I was still scared like what if this
1:17:25thing went bust? What's going to happen
1:17:26to me? So I thought, you know what? Let
1:17:28me just stay a little bit longer,
1:17:29cushion up my bank. But now that I know
1:17:31what I know now, I could have grown so
1:17:33much faster if I just went full-time
1:17:34[music] on this way sooner.
1:17:35>> So, you just then at that point, not
1:17:37knowing what you needed to know, hire
1:17:38someone that would walk alongside you.
1:17:40Is that what you're saying?
1:17:41>> Hire alongside me, join a system, figure
1:17:44out that there's other people who've
1:17:45already done what I want to do. Like,
1:17:46I'm not reinventing the wheel here.
1:17:48Cleaning's been around forever, right?
1:17:50Someone once told me that there's people
1:17:51less wise than you who will probably
1:17:53already accomplish what you want. And
1:17:54that kind of really stuck with me when I
1:17:56realized it's not really about how smart
1:17:58you are or anything. It's really just
1:17:59about getting going and [music]
1:18:00conquering that fear and actually
1:18:02trusting yourself. And I wish I knew
1:18:03that a little bit earlier on.
1:18:04>> Awesome. Well, well said.
1:18:10So, for those watching right now who uh
1:18:12want to get into this cleaning business,
1:18:14uh what would be two three pieces of
1:18:15advice to to them?
1:18:17>> Well, the first thing is uh definitely
1:18:19start investing in paid ads. Even though
1:18:21we grow fast, I think I spent maybe a
1:18:25year and a half, almost two years doing
1:18:27free ads, you know, meaning Craigslist
1:18:29ads, flyers, posting on Facebook groups.
1:18:32It works. It really works. But if you
1:18:34really, really want to grow your
1:18:35business to the next level, you need to
1:18:37start looking into paid advertising.
1:18:39Google came up with this new platform
1:18:41[music] which I mentioned earlier,
1:18:42Google local leads that is specifically
1:18:44for home service business. They charge
1:18:46you per call. uh if they don't buy the
1:18:49service, you can challenge the the lead.
1:18:51I tried it for like a month. I said,
1:18:53"Let's this let's try it again." Uh I
1:18:56was blown away, you know. I remember
1:18:58that was on August of 2018.
1:19:01>> 2018. Okay.
1:19:02>> Uh-huh. By September, I was now
1:19:04struggling finding people because now I
1:19:06had found like the best source of
1:19:08business. Uh so now I had a problem of
1:19:11finding employees, which is a good
1:19:13problem to have.
1:19:17So clearly you're being blessed, I can
1:19:20say, via consultants that you connect
1:19:22with and find the right ones and you
1:19:24spend and invest in them. How much have
1:19:26you spent on consultants that have
1:19:27connected you with everybody else?
1:19:29>> My tax accountant says 38,000.
1:19:31>> Okay. In total,
1:19:32>> that's not a scary number.
1:19:33>> No. Well, it can be a scary number for
1:19:35someone that's just starting. I get
1:19:36that, but I've been here a little
1:19:38longer. It's about who you're taking
1:19:40advice from. There's people that have
1:19:41been doing it. And how I see it is I
1:19:43rather invest in building a team of
1:19:45qualified professionals that can help me
1:19:47all sectors. Um, and like legality is
1:19:49huge. I wish I would invest in legality
1:19:52earlier, but I didn't.
1:19:52>> Having the right legal team.
1:19:54>> Oh, yeah. It's huge for trademarking
1:19:55your name so you don't get a soul
1:19:56underneath your We almost lost Spruce
1:19:58when we were franchising. Someone tried
1:19:59taking it underneath our our feet cuz I
1:20:01didn't trademark Spruce.
1:20:02>> Wow. [music]
1:20:02>> So do those concrete things first. And
1:20:05yeah, it's hire the right people. You
1:20:07don't know everything. You're never
1:20:08going to know everything. So against all
1:20:11that pride pill, reach out to have some
1:20:13help. And I think it's important to
1:20:15really see who you're around. And I know
1:20:16that's like the typical thing to hear is
1:20:18surround yourself with people you want
1:20:19to be like. It is 100% true. I look up
1:20:21to my adviserss and they they respect my
1:20:24decisions and they they'll give me sound
1:20:25advice when I need it. And that's the
1:20:27the advice they've given me has gotten
1:20:29me here. So when I when I hit a
1:20:30roadblock, they they advise, hey, you
1:20:33need to do this.
1:20:34>> Yeah, you guys, this is huge. I mean,
1:20:36this guy started with 300 bucks, right?
1:20:38And now we're talking an evaluation of
1:20:40close to 14 million. Of course, you know
1:20:41what you're doing, but it's the
1:20:43consultants that have been helping you
1:20:45get here. And
1:20:46>> yeah, it's ironic, money is less
1:20:47important when you start seeing it
1:20:49develop. So, I I want people to
1:20:50understand money isn't everything. So,
1:20:52just look at the growth of your company
1:20:54when you're building it. That will be a
1:20:56sure sign indicator that you're making
1:20:57more the larger it gets.
1:21:03Now, we're going to head back to the
1:21:04house, drop off all the laundry. And
1:21:07before we do that, I'm going to give you
1:21:09tips that are going to help you,
1:21:10especially if you want to get started
1:21:12into the Airbnb cleaning business. So,
1:21:14tip number one, right? When you're
1:21:15starting, it's going to be very hard for
1:21:17you to charge the rates that I have. I
1:21:19had to start from the bottom, and that's
1:21:20okay. At the beginning, you're going to
1:21:21have to get anything and everything just
1:21:23to get experience. Don't be afraid to to
1:21:26not do it, but make sure that you get
1:21:27reviews because the reviews are going to
1:21:29help you get your reputation higher. And
1:21:31then the moment you start getting better
1:21:33reputation, you're going to stop taking
1:21:35on the smaller units. These units can
1:21:38only charge so much per night. Sometimes
1:21:40they only charge 150 120 per night. So
1:21:43that means they can only afford $60, $80
1:21:45per cleaning. Otherwise, it will not
1:21:46make sense to them. You [music] want to
1:21:48stay and keep these type of units. Three
1:21:51bedroomedroom, two bedroom,
1:21:52threebedroom, fourbedroom. Why is that?
1:21:54because these units usually charge 350
1:21:56to 400 per night. They can absolutely
1:21:59pay you 250 or 300 per per service
1:22:02because they can afford it. Tip number
1:22:04two, this is don't do the laundry on
1:22:07site. A lot of host will tell you,
1:22:08"Okay, I want you to do the cleaning and
1:22:10laundry on site." That's a no. 99% of
1:22:13the time you will finish cleaning first
1:22:15and now you're going to have to wait for
1:22:16the laundry to finish. It's going to
1:22:17kill your profits. It's going to make
1:22:18you waste time and you're not going to
1:22:20like it. You're going to get burned out
1:22:21pretty quickly. laundromats in my in my
1:22:24area, they charge me 2.97 per pound. So,
1:22:26what I do, I tell them, hey, listen, I
1:22:28have a professional laundromat that's
1:22:29going to do your linings. They're going
1:22:30to be taking care of well, they charge
1:22:32you 297, but because I'm going to do the
1:22:35traveling and do the packages, I'm going
1:22:37to charge you 379. So, I make a dollar
1:22:39per pound without really touching any
1:22:40inventory. That's really not what makes
1:22:42me money. It's just an advantage for me
1:22:44to not worry about the laundry, [music]
1:22:46and that saves me so much time. All
1:22:48right. And point number three, this is
1:22:50important. Act like you are the property
1:22:52manager to them. A lot of these people
1:22:54don't live here. For example, the owner
1:22:56of this unit is always traveling. Right
1:22:58now, he's in Bhutan, Asia. He doesn't
1:23:00have time to be deal with this. So, what
1:23:02I do, hey, if I see any problem, take
1:23:04pictures, document it, send it to him.
1:23:06There's something broken, take pictures,
1:23:08document it, send it to him. They'll
1:23:09have peace of mind. They don't have to
1:23:11worry about anything. And if there's
1:23:12anything wrong, you're going to act the
1:23:14point of contact to take care of those
1:23:15problems for them. And that's how you
1:23:17make money in this industry.
1:23:21I mean, is it just you or three, four
1:23:24things you could say that really
1:23:26contributed to you getting to this
1:23:27point?
1:23:28>> Um, so I do want to shout out Jackie
1:23:30behind me. She is my secretary
1:23:32technically, but my
1:23:34>> Hey, Jack.
1:23:35>> Without her, this would not be here. Um,
1:23:37she's been with with you for quite some
1:23:39time, almost since the beginning. She
1:23:40actually was a cleaner when we first
1:23:41started. Um, so she basically runs
1:23:43Spruce Cleaning as of now. Uh Brian who
1:23:46is my confidant. He's my right-hand man
1:23:48for everything when it comes to figuring
1:23:49out logistic issues. Um and then
1:23:52obviously the team here at Spruce, we
1:23:54all put a lot on the table and I think
1:23:56it's because they trust what we're doing
1:23:58and we're we're selling on the fact that
1:23:59we're not cleaning forever. You know,
1:24:01work hard right now. We're going to hire
1:24:02to work within the offices or be a part
1:24:05of the franchise sales team. There's
1:24:06there's room for growth for everybody
1:24:08and I I'm not trying to sell them on a
1:24:09pipe dream. I want people to do better
1:24:11and we want the medium income to be
1:24:12higher here.
1:24:13>> That's awesome. And people love that.
1:24:14And that's why we're succeeding. It's a
1:24:16team- based effort. And I just want to
1:24:17reiterate team. Don't be a boss and
1:24:20bossing people around. Have a little bit
1:24:22of humility. Let be told what to do from
1:24:24your own staff because you're not
1:24:25perfect. And once you get that
1:24:26controlled,
1:24:28>> we've grown so fast. And I think that's
1:24:29important.
1:24:30>> That's awesome. Awesome. Yeah. I mean,
1:24:31I've heard business owners contribute
1:24:32more success to themselves. And it's
1:24:34awesome that it's all about the team.
1:24:35And
1:24:36>> it's not about me. I'm going tell you
1:24:37that right now. It's not even partially
1:24:38about me. I just make small, bigger
1:24:41decisions dayto-day. They do all the
1:24:42hard heavy lifting and I I recognize
1:24:44that daily.
1:24:45>> And what do you tell people watching who
1:24:47always ask the question, well I don't
1:24:49have the money, therefore I can't start
1:24:50any businesses, right? Can you start
1:24:52this particular business with zero to
1:24:54very little money? You've had a,000
1:24:55bucks. What if I have less? How would
1:24:57you spend it now with your 10 plus year
1:24:59experience? What would your advice be?
1:25:01Yeah, let's say first of all, you have
1:25:03to choose your business model wisely,
1:25:05right? If you don't have that much money
1:25:06to spend, you're limited in terms of
1:25:07what you can do. [music] So you're going
1:25:08to pick what I call remote local type of
1:25:11business, which is one where the labor
1:25:12dispatches to the job directly,
1:25:14>> right? You're not going to have an
1:25:15office. You'd want to spend money on
1:25:16that. You don't want to spend money on
1:25:18vehicles, equipment, supplies. So what
1:25:20business model lets me do it from my
1:25:22computer, so I don't have overhead, but
1:25:24the labor is going to dispatch to the
1:25:25job site directly. Cleaning, for
1:25:26example, like me, this is one of them,
1:25:28but there's a lot of other. There's
1:25:29mobile car washing, there's mobile pet
1:25:30grooming, there's a lot of things you
1:25:31can do using that premise. That's right.
1:25:34Now, if I was getting started 10 years
1:25:35ago and I had absolutely no money, yeah,
1:25:37the first thing you absolutely need is
1:25:38still a website. So, I'd figure out a
1:25:40way of spinning up a website. And
1:25:41there's so many ways you could do a free
1:25:43trial website now or website for 20
1:25:44bucks. Next, I'd go online and try to
1:25:47find labor. Now, there's tons of ways of
1:25:49actually finding labor, but the easiest
1:25:51way without spending money would be
1:25:53going to like Craigslist or Facebook
1:25:55Marketplace, finding people advertising
1:25:57their services. Next would be, all
1:25:58right, I got to find customers. And
1:26:00we'll get into actually all the cool
1:26:01marketing tactics on being able to do
1:26:02that. But I would [music]
1:26:04run some marketing tactics and funnels.
1:26:06And there's things where you don't need
1:26:07money to do to get customers. [music]
1:26:09And that's how I'd start from ground
1:26:11zero.
1:26:16>> When a cleaning business is struggling,
1:26:17what would your one piece of advice to
1:26:19them be in terms of identifying it,
1:26:21getting over it, and growing?
1:26:23>> I guess it really comes down to what you
1:26:25say. You know, identify what is really
1:26:26causing the problem. what's stopping you
1:26:28from moving the needle forward and then
1:26:30fix it. In my case, let me give you a
1:26:32good example. When we started, I did not
1:26:34like the fact of doing in person
1:26:35estimate was I was the bottleneck. I
1:26:37decided, you know what? Let's change it.
1:26:39>> Let's make it faster. Let's make it
1:26:40easier. So, I start selling over the
1:26:41phone and then voila. Uh my wife was not
1:26:44a fan of that cuz she's like, "How can
1:26:45you sell it without seeing the home?"
1:26:47I'm like, "Obviously, we're doing it
1:26:48this way and it's not working either.
1:26:51>> Let's try to see the other place." So,
1:26:53always try different things, right? You
1:26:54never know. you might you str you know
1:26:57lock at the first time you change and
1:26:58then you know move on from that
1:27:00>> is that the only way you price people
1:27:02can't get a proposal online via form
1:27:04>> um so so I actually have three different
1:27:06ways so um and then I found out that
1:27:08there's different types of customers I
1:27:10have a booking form where you can
1:27:11literally go and buy you don't want to
1:27:13talk to anyone you can definitely go and
1:27:15sit and do that put your baggage
1:27:17whatever
1:27:18>> uh and then select it and and then we'll
1:27:19go and take care of it the other way is
1:27:21like people don't like to put the credit
1:27:22cards online so I have a quote form as
1:27:24well for Interesting.
1:27:25>> So like, okay, just give me your
1:27:26information and then we'll email you and
1:27:28then we'll call you to provide you with
1:27:29a quote. And then number three is over
1:27:31the phone.
1:27:32>> Hey, you know, tell me how big it is,
1:27:33how often you need it, do you have any
1:27:35pets? Then based on that, I tell you the
1:27:38price. And of course, I said, hey, you
1:27:40know, this quote is, you know, subject
1:27:41to change based on the actual condition
1:27:43of the home.
1:27:47>> All the entrepreneurs watching this,
1:27:49three pieces of advice in general.
1:27:51>> Again, make sure your customers are
1:27:53happy. Make sure your staff is even
1:27:55happier because they're the ones doing
1:27:56the work for you, making you the money.
1:27:58Second, um, always strive to better your
1:28:02platform. Regardless if it is your
1:28:03system and operations, your website, how
1:28:06you talk to your customers, [music]
1:28:07write scripts out. Make sure they're
1:28:09perfect. Uh, third, slow. I I reiterate
1:28:13this so many times. Stop rushing for
1:28:15something. You're going to make money if
1:28:17you do it right. Uh, money isn't always
1:28:19everything, but if you're going to, you
1:28:20know, do it, do it right. take the time
1:28:23to learn it and make sure the experience
1:28:25that you're giving is perfect from start
1:28:27to finish,
1:28:27>> man. Awesome. This has been great. I
1:28:29really enjoyed it more than the first
1:28:31time.
1:28:31>> Thank you. Thank you again.
1:28:32>> It's our pleasure.
1:28:33>> Well, this has been awesome. I've
1:28:34learned a lot. I always do. I trust that
1:28:36our viewers have. Uh what would you like
1:28:39to leave with our viewers as far as
1:28:40pieces of advice for entrepreneurs?
1:28:42Anything on your heart, mind, and soul?
1:28:44Whatever you want to say.
1:28:45>> Yeah. Um, honestly, when I got started,
1:28:48I got so stuck into, like I said,
1:28:50watching YouTube videos, podcasts,
1:28:52courses, everything without just
1:28:54trusting myself and getting going. If I
1:28:56could have told myself something back
1:28:57then, the advice I would give would be
1:28:59just trust yourself. Worst case it
1:29:01fails, you learn a bunch, you keep
1:29:02going, but trust in the process and keep
1:29:04going. [music] That's how you actually
1:29:05achieve the success or lifestyle you
1:29:07want out of just the 9 to5. Sweet, man.
1:29:09It's been a [music] pleasure. Thanks so
1:29:10much. Likewise.
1:29:12>> Looking for another path to cleaning
1:29:13business success? Make sure to check out
1:29:15episode 207 where two desk workers break
1:29:17down how they turned $158 into $58,000 a
1:29:22month window cleaning company with zero
1:29:24experience. Like and subscribe. We'll
1:29:26see you next time.

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