solo cleaner

 This statement will resonate with many of you. Do you have customers right now that you know are sucking the profits right out of your business? If you don't resonate, you will soon! I've been doing this solo cleaning ISO Model journey for 16 years as you already know. I would like to share 4 types or categories of clients to keep a pulse in your business. 

• Group 1 - The low-paying, high drama clients are easy to spot and optimize out of your business.
• Group 2 - Meanwhile, the high-paying, low-drama clients are easy to spot and clone in your optimizing efforts.
• Group 3 - But there are two other categories that are harder to spot, but they rub you wrong just the same. One is the high-paying, high-drama client. You make great money and have the ability to speed up easily. However, they cancel often, forget to pay, ask for a lot of extras, communicate frequently. This causes you to expend emotional energy on these clients more than you should. It's hard to give these up, but you must in order to optimize.
• Group 4 - The other type hard to recognize is the low-paying, low-drama. They are the easiest clients. They pay on time, only communicate when there is an adjustment or a question, easy to satisfy. However, they don't pay much and if you try to keep these clients as an optimizer, you have to significantly increase their price. That's a hard thing to do. Are you resonating now?

As I've shared in previous Carfagno Cleaning updates, I just crossed from Stabilizer to Optimizer in my solo cleaning business. This is exciting as I can now go 100% toward my 2021 SMART goal of a $6,000 profit per month business cleaning two days per week! As I've stated of the 4 types of clients, there have been 2 of the 15 clients I have that fit the latter categories. One is a housecleaning client that is low-paying and high-drama. I did not get rid of this client as a Stabilizer as I needed every dollar for my family. However, I'll be doing price increases in mid-to-late 2021 and this client will be one of the ones getting a large increase. I'll make sure to have a house on the waiting list that is high-paying and low-drama ready to replace them. The other client is a commercial client. It's a much tougher one as it's a low-drama, high-impact client. I'm cleaning for autistic kids in a school setting. But it's also low-paying. I've done all I can to optimize and speed up this job to no avail. It was one of the first offices in my Stabilizer growth in 2020 and I underpriced it. Had I priced it correctly, I would not have gotten the job. No matter. I was able to earn $500 per month for over 6 months. I've known that a substantial price increase was coming to this client and it was sad. To compound this matter, I got some great news. I've shared that my company has gotten into the jet stream of the local veterinary hospital tribe. I've been hired by two and submitted a third proposal last week. The doctor replied to my proposal this week with this. "Thank you for the detailed proposal. I'd like to start with Option 2 as soon as possible." Option 2 is for $975 per month and it's biweekly. This great news immediately sparked calendar controversy. Adding this office every other week would overwork me and my two kids legally and physically for our weekly Saturday office cleaning schedule. Something had to give. I was either going to put this client on the waiting list and find a way to fit them, eliminate another office client, or hire someone to help. At this point in time with my goals, I came up with the best solution. I would fire my $500 per month low-paying, low-drama client.

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

Before you listen to this article, please check out my Carfagno Cleaning article, "Home Trends that Intersect with Cleaning". I credit my friend Mary Ann Alig of Fox & Roach Berkshire Hathaway Realtors for the content that drove this article and this podcast episode. Mary Ann shared 8 home trends that realtors are seeing for this new decade. Trends like these tend to change every decade and currently include barn vs pocket doors, white interiors, shiplap, matching furniture, accent walls, rose gold, open concept, and multigenerational homes. In my article, I showed how these trends affect cleaning professionals. I also hint to all business owners how important it is to know your industry trends so you can stay ahead of them.

There is one trend that I'd like to dig into on this podcast. It's the rise of the multigenerational home. Fast Company in a 2019 article states, But for complex reasons that still puzzle researchers, multigenerational households are now on the rise once more. As many as 41% of Americans buying a home are considering accommodating an elderly parent or an adult child, according to a survey conducted by John Burns Real Estate Consulting. Living with your parents (or your adult children) has plenty of potential benefits–everyone tends to save money, it can potentially benefit health outcomes, and you get to spend more time together." Did you hear me? 41% of Americans are considering this in the 2020's. That's more than a trend. It's a paradigm shift. I want all cleaners out there, regardless of your business model to hear me. If you don't get in front of this shift and ensure your company is a leader in multigenerational house cleaning, you could be out of business in 10 years! It's crazy! Now, I'd like to talk to the solo cleaners that are actually doing the sales and cleaning. 

How do you position yourself to acquire clients like this? It's simple really. When you clean for one generation like a millennial couple or retirees, you must earn their trust to stay there long term. When you clean for two generations like a family with kids, you need an even greater trust factor. And if you follow where I'm going here, you need even more trust to clean for 3 generations under the same roof. The answer is trust building. The better you are at trust building, the more completely you can serve 3 generations under the same roof. This leads to more money per client and referrals to others just like them. Imagine this. You have a client like I do. Andy is the dad. His adult children live with him and his father Don lives with him. I have invested time during cleaning visits to get to know all 3 generations. Don has even become a friend and mentor to me locally. I do a great job at their home and have earned a lot of trust. Do you think Andy will refer me? And by the way, he owns a local restaurant and knows a lot of people. Yes, he will. I am positioned nicely to reap a harvest with multigenerational homes because I clean them now with good reputation. I can share that on my website and with new prospective clients. I urge you to do the same.

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

I shared in my last business update that I increased the monthly service price of one of my commercial clients by $350 per month. Plus, I was on the verge of adding a new house and veterinary hospital as clients. The estimate with Melissa went well. She never had a house cleaning service before, so I eased her into it. I had her read articles from my website and was able to direct some of her questions to other articles I've written. This really increased my credibility before I even showed up at her home. During the estimate, I also pointed out things I liked in the house that I genuinely liked. I can't go into detail, but one thing was a wedding anniversary gift her husband bought for her. It was in their bedroom and I asked the husband for the website. He was pleased to oblige. I shared what we do for anniversaries and the honeymoon retreat location we go. He was thankful in return. That gesture between me and them build trust, but it was genuine. It wasn't mechanical. Look for opportunities to do that in your business. Make your estimate more than mechanical, but relational. At the end of the estimate I went through my availability and how the proposal process will go with the options I'll put together. She was very impressed. This customer found me through the marketing machine I've built through Facebook, Google My Business, my website, and in-person networking.

I also completed the proposal for a new veterinary hospital. It was super difficult to create this proposal as the client wanted many details covered in the hospital that I don't normally do in the recurring service. Therefore, we worked out a list of these details and I balanced them evenly between 4 rotating visits and offered prices for weekly, biweekly, and monthly cleaning. She was very thankful with my detailed proposal and options.

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

The original "Pros of Solo Cleaning" was so popular that I ran a 'Best Of' replay recently. I covered 10 pros that are very persuasive if you're evaluating a cleaning business for yourself. Here are the 10 pros listed out. Check out the original podcast for the details of each pro.

1. Money - A new solo cleaner can set up a part business earning $400-$500/week part time. As they progress through my ISO Model Signature Solution, they can increase their part time income to $1,000/week, increase to full time and earn double that, or transition to hiring employees. The part time money potential is amazing if you do it right.
2. Flexibility - You can schedule jobs when it works for you. You're the boss. If you want days, clean houses. Nights or weekends, clean small offices.
3. Low Startup - For under $1,000, you can get your DBA, make your business liability deposit, and invest in your basic equipment & supplies.
4. Tax Advantages - Your cleaning expenses are tax deductible. You can even write off your mileage and home office. If this is a side business to the family or you're only source of income, the tax advantages alone can make it worth
5. Learning - Once you get the hang of cleaning and your system, you can listen while you clean. It's up to you what you put in. I recommend audiobooks on business, finance, and personal growth and podcasts on the same.
6. Service to Others - You get all of these advantages as you serve moms that NEED your help. It feels great to help people.
7. Easy to Learn - You can do something you already do (cleaning your house) for money.
8. Burns Calories -  did you know that a 3-hour house or office cleaning burn 600 calories? Think about it if you clean three houses a day that's 1,800 calories you are burning per day. I used to eat 4000 calories a day, pigged out and never gained weight. As a optimized and had more time in my office I started gaining weight.
9. It's Therapy - Many find the act of cleaning something dirty very calming and therapuetic.
10. You are Needed - There are tons of Alicia & Emily's wanting to hire you! - It's always needed, listen to Moms Helping Moms Helping Moms and listen to Alicia & Emily's story.

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

Do you remember "Back to the Future" starring Michael J. Fox? Marty McFly ran in his panic from the Libyans and got Doc Brown's Delorian to 88 miles per hour in the parking lot. He escaped 1985 and entered 1955. The whole movie focused on saving his 1985 family from perishing by helping his mom fall in love with his dorky, bullied dad. Marty also had to figure out how to get back to 1985. It was a fun movie that was super popular in the 80's and still is today. In one scene, Marty visits the 1955 version of Doc Brown at his house. Doc Brown was paranoid and thought Marty was crazy-talking a time machine until he described the Flux Capacitor. Marty yelled through the door that he was in the bathroom, bumped his head, and that's how he got the idea of the Flux Capacitor, the last piece of the invention to take him back in time. Doc Brown came out of the room, showed Marty the drawing he made of the Flux Capacitor, and believed him.

The Flux Capacitor is a made up, science fiction device that gave the time machine the ability to travel through time. All the time machine needed was radioactive fuel or Plutonium. Plus, it needed to reach 88 miles per hour and in 1985, Doc Brown found a Delorian and modified it with Plutonium intake and the Flux Capacitor. One of my favorite lines in the movies is when Doc Brown sees the VHS video from 1985 and hears himself describe. "No, no, no, no. this sucker's electrical. But I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 Gigawatts of electrical energy. The Flux Capacitor stores..." The 1955 Doc Brown then freaks out. "1.21 Gigawatts! 1.21 Gigawatts! Great Scott." The scene is amazing as the two must create the power that the Plutonium nuclear reaction created in 1985. They decide to use lightning from the clock tower and the rest is history... or future... I guess.

That was a fun movie analogy, but it's so profoundly true for my ISO Model. My ISO Model is the Flux Capacitor in your solo business vehicle. The Flux Capacitor allowed Doc Brown and Marty to go where ever they wanted to go in time. So does the ISO Model. If you hook it up right in your vehicle and power it with 1.21 Gigawatts of internal motivation, goals, and perseverance, your business will go where ever you want it to. But the Flux Capacitor isn't just a black box. We know it works for Doc Brown in the movie and the science is legit (in the movie). The point is that the Flux Capacitor does work and it does take you where you want to go if you hook it up right and feed it 1.21 Gigawatts. The ISO Model is the same. You have to hook it up right in your business, understand it, and utilize it. Here's how the ISO Model works...

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

This episode released 1 year ago and has been one of my most popular and mindset-changing episodes ever. This one really sets solo cleaners free and it is just as relevant as it was last year. I'll be releasing follow-up episodes in the future to help you even more with this overcoming mindset.

This message is short and sweet. I teach often and have created my own solo cleaning business niche of presentation cleaning and first impressions. That's what I do. Yes, I clean. But what I do is create peace of mind through presentation cleaning. What does that mean and why is it worth so much? I'm glad you asked. We are all emotional creatures and make our decisions as such. I've shared on previous podcasts that the busy mom doesn't have time to clean, yet dirt and clutter cause her stress and anxiety. My cleaning niche goes beyond basic cleaning and science. Check out the podcast, "Art Trumps Science". I add the art of first impressions to remove the stress and anxiety. This provides my clients with peace of mind. Similarly, I clean the first impression areas in offices to impress their clients, prospects, and staff every time they come into the office. This also has a value. What if a financial company loses a several million dollar client because their office "image" didn't match the website? My presentation cleaning investment can earn that client and easily pay for cleaning for the entire year! That's the point.

Now that you understand that your cleaning itself can go beyond science, I want you to see that you have a part to play before you ever clean at all. You need to be congruent and have integrity. If you're a presentation cleaner, everything about your cleaning business MUST be presentation level. Just about every Saturday morning, my kids and I are cleaning out our totes and I'm constantly cleaning and disinfecting my vacuum cleaning and gear. At this point, my kids could answer WHY in a second. "Dad, you've told us that presentation starts with you and all the stuff we bring in here." I couldn't have said it better. I went on to explain to them and now to you. When you enter a home of office, you have to leave your equipment somewhere. What happens when you're vacuuming and the client sees your cleaning tote? Or, what if you're cleaning a bathroom and they see your rags or vacuum equipment. Would they be grossed out and wonder how you can clean anything if you can't keep your own gear clean? This is a wake-up call for many of you!

That goes beyond your gear. What about your personal appearance? Do you look professional? Do you smell or have bad breath? Is your hair neat and clean. What about your vehicle? Is it clean and presentable. Is trash falling out when you open it? Would you be embarrassed if your clients saw the inside of your car?  Do you arrive with glaring music and flicking cigarette butts out the window? Do you ask where the client would like you to park? Is your social media presentable? People DO look at everything these days and every detail builds trust. You can't just presentation clean. You must be a person of presentation as presentation starts with you. If you take this advice to heart, you too can earn $100 per hour cleaning like I have in presentation cleaning.

Go to the Solo Cleaning School  tab of website, access the free resources such as the "Solo Cleaning Quickstart Guide" and "How to Earn $100 Per Hour Cleaning Houses" Masterclass, and sign up for a free coaching call with Ken to ask your questions. Plus, you can access the ISO Model Course and more for $50 per month in the Solo Cleaning School Elite Membership.

I have been a huge fan of the Tim Ferriss Show lately because I love the long-from interviews with world-class performers as Tim dissects how they accomplished what they've accomplished. I LOVED a recent interview with Kelly Slater. If you've never heard of Kelly Slater, he's an 11-time world surfing champion and highly regarded as the GOAT in the sport. I listened to Kelly's interview and was mesmerized by his mindset, attention to detail in his craft and his health, and most importantly, the simplicity of life he lives. I have two life lessons to share from Kelly that really impacted mine.

Tim was asking about Kelly's goals. Kelly response was awesome. He shared how nice it is to be in a position where he can mentor the young guys in the sport as he loves the sport and wants to be an ambassador. He stressed how vital it is for him to "always stay humble because when you're humble, you're teachable. When you're teachable, you can continue growing." He said the best way to learn is by teaching. Kelly went on to say. "If you think you know something, go teach it. That's when you will really know it." There is SO much wisdom in Kelly's words that I want to repeat it. Are you humble? Are you teachable? Are you learning and growing? Are you taking what you know and teaching it to others? This is the process of becoming the best in the world. I am not the best at this, but I am doing my best to teach you all what I know through this learning vehicle called a podcast. I find it amazing that I am constantly learning more by teaching it to you!

In a latter question, Tim Ferriss asked Kelly about money and houses. Kelly stated that he is the middle child, but was forced to become the family leader because other members of his family had emotional and other issues. Kelly has made gobs of money over the years. Wikipedia reports his career surfing earnings over $4M! He shared his love for traveling and the many homes he's purchased in multiple countries over the years. Tim asked Kelly what his happy ending looks like. I love Kelly's answer as it reminds me of the "Mexican Fisherman". I'll paraphrase. The happy ending comes when all the lessons are learned. Kelly has done it all, spent a lot of money, but it never lead to happiness. He joked that what he'd love to do is simply buy a simple van and travel around to his surfing events in it, keeping a simple life of competitive surfing and helping others in his sport. He has learned so much in his 49 years and wants to stay humble, stay teachable, stay learning, and stay teaching. Over a lifetime, he'll collect a book of lessons and that's how he defined a "happy ending". This is beautiful.

This episode is a self-check. Are you humble, teachable, learning, and teaching others? If you are not, these podcasts are a waste of your time. If you are not, you'll never grow your cleaning business beyond where it is now. Sure, it may grow short-term, but it will crumble in the long-term. I urge you to ask those that know you best if they think you're humble and teachable. This is the 2nd window from "The Four Windows". Once you know and get honest with yourself, make the decision to get better. Go and learn the lessons you need to learn to lead toward your happy ending. Then teach it to others and be a difference maker.

Would you like to figure out what makes you tick and how to create an action plan for 2021 that will enable you to WIN?! Check out the "2021 Smart Goals Workshop" and access your free goals worksheet.

The business week started out great. I recently upgraded one of my commercial cleaning clients by $350 per month. When I got the call at the Airsoft field about another veterinary hospital, I was thrilled. Yes, that's right. The Airsoft field. Here's a short bonus funny papers. My oldest son, Kenny, just 16 recently and we decided to do a birthday party for him. It involved 7 of his teenage friends, Airsoft guns, gear, a 3-hour battle at the Airsoft field, games at home, food (lots of it), cake, and presents. Due to shutdowns in December, we had to move his party to late January. It was well worth the wait. I decided to sacrifice my Honda Pilot over Teresa's family van. I took 4 of Kenny's friends directly from church to the Airsoft field. We met the other 3 there. I helped them get set up and left in the hands of the field referrees to play for 3 hours. I then went to the car to chill out, stay warm, watch from the parking lot, and get some work done on my laptop. While I was waiting, I got a call from a local veterinarian looking for cleaning. She told me that she used to work with Ruth at another hospital I clean. Ruth saw her post on the veterinary private group and proudly referred me. The first takeaway is that I am worthy of being referred. My work and customer service are excellent, which is why I was referred. Are you doing likewise at every house and office you clean? The call lasted for 20 minutes as we learned about each other's background. I learned that she had recently opened a new hospital after working for others for years and she invested heavily into cleaning using her staff (but they needed a break). She learned that I also cleaned for another vet. We worked out a few scenarios of how I could help. I even gave examples of how much I currently charge for other vets and how much it may cost her. She invited me for an estimate a few days later. That estimate went outstanding. We're working on a rotational cleaning schedule that I'll quote her several options for next week. Back to the teenagers... After the call, I realized something vital. My Pilot was equipped to seat 8, but not 8 with Airsoft guns and gear and certainly not 7 teenagers and me! I underestimated the choice of using my Pilot. I called Teresa for an audible. She drove over the field to drop off some gear that Kenny forgot and took most of the gear off my hands. The boys were so stoked after playing for 3 hours and ready for mass quantities of chili, candy, and cake. They were also filthy and muddy. This is where the sacrifice came in. My car still has mud marks all over the back seats, carpet, and vinyl trim. It's everywhere! The ride to our house was hilarious as myself and 7 high school boys cramped into my Pilot. We all joked it was like one of those clown cars in the circus. The rest of the day was great. I knew teenagers could eat, but even I was surprised when they ate an entire pot of homemade chili and like 3 bags of corn chips. My wife had designed "Minute-to-Win-it" games with ping-pong balls, dice, straws, candy, and other dollar store items for the boys to challenge each other. I was MC and scorekeeper. They needed one more player, so one kind teen allowed my 9-year-old son Kolby to be his teammate. Guess what?! Bryce and Kolby won! The night ended with cake, presents, man-hunt outside, and stupid YouTube videos The last boy was picked up at 8:30! Teresa and I were exhausted, but my son was happy and I got a new potential big client! The combination of this client and the increased one ends my commercial cleaning goal before I start optimizing.

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

 Teresa and I went on a honeymoon retreat in the Amish Country, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was so quaint and beautiful. The rolling country hills with farms, horse and buggy, small antique shops, and farmer's markets were such a breath of fresh air to our normal busy and chaotic life. We planned multiple day trips from our wonderful bed and breakfast called the Barn at Strasburg. Sight & Sound's Esther was on the list for sure. We've been eager to see one of these captivating representations of the biblical account. We booked that. We found many covered bridges that we arranged on a map to visit. We even found a working Amish farm to visit. We checked out the pictures and reviews on Google and decided to make a few hours of it! We were excited to see the Amish make butter, see the schoolroom, the farm. The pictures and stories online really painted a story of what the place would be like. We were excited to see it! But, oh man... the TRUE story did NOT match the pictures.

The pictures showed the house and the farm and the covered bridge out front. You go into the house for a 45-minute tour and then walk around the farm or get a tour of the countryside with a bus. We went to visit and followed the GPS. "Teresa, why is the GPS taking us to Target?" Teresa was perplexed as we drove into the Target parking lot. She spotted a few of the buses. "There. I see some Amish Farm buses parked. It must be close." We drove closer to Target and then it hit us like a ton of bricks. This Amish Paradise (shout out to Weird Al) was right in front of us. It looked exactly like the pictures on Google and the website. It was quaint, beautiful, and very Amish, except for one small detail. IT WAS IN THE TARGET PARKING LOT, 40 FEET FROM TARGET! That's right. You heard me. The Amish Farm was as advertised, but apparently, Target moved in right next door. The covered bridge was off to the side of the Target parking lot. We stopped the car and looked at the Amish Farm. We looked at the Target. We looked at the farm. We looked at Target. "Teresa, we can't go here. This is ridiculous!" As we left, we noticed one more irony. Here's this Amish Farm with home-cooked country food that is next to a Target. And across the street was a Cracker Barrel. You can't make this stuff up. On the whole, we were both very disappointed with the Amish Farm and didn't do the tour. They lost our business because they were dishonest. There was NO hint of Target in their pictures. Somehow, they got the right angles to miss the gigantic Target building 40 feet away! 

I learned a lesson from this experience.  The story did not match the pictures. How does your story, your true story of what you offer in your solo cleaning business match the pictures you are putting online? Do they line up? This is called integrity and excellence. Are your customers getting discouraged when they hire you because the story doesn't match the pictures? If so, you better fix that quick.

Would you like to schedule a free call with me? I leave 1 30-min slot open per week to connect with listeners! Go to the bottom of the Elite Membership registration page to schedule a time!

 Let's journey together into an update of my own solo cleaning business. 2020 was a great year. I started at $29,000 in total cleaning revenue, which was the beginning of the Stabilizer Phase of my ISO Model. After hitting multiple 60-day SMART goals, I ended the year at $80,000! That's a $51,000 increase in 1 year! Our profit tripled to just under $5,000 per month on 2 cleaning days per week. As you follow my podcast this year, I'll be showing you how I take this $80,000 Stabilizer business, cross the Optimizer threshold, and convert it to a $90,000 revenue, $6,000 per month profit on 2 days per week solo cleaning business. This is my SMART goal for 2021. This Optimizer business will be worth over $100,000, which means I could sell it again like I did in 2018! Please do not take that as a brag. I'm excited and grateful. This has been a journey. If you're new to my podcast, make sure you check out my 2020 catalog of podcast episodes as they take you on the $51,000 increase journey.

I have a few business updates and wins to share with you. My goal is that you gain understanding and belief that you can do it too. 1-time leads started coming in early this real estate season. I did a handful of 1-time jobs for realtors in 2020 and really impressed them. I've built my reputation and now my name is on multiple realtor's preferred vendor list. My friend Jim Hardy of the Carpet Guys called me on Thursday. He was doing upholstery work for a post-construction project in a house. The homeowner needed a cleaner too and Jim thought of me. I arranged to meet the owner on Monday, gave a quote the same day, and booked it for $350 next week. Lon called me on Friday to have me do an estimate for an empty office condo. He dropped off the key and I did the estimate on Saturday. I sent the quote out on Monday and Lon checked with the office owner. Unfortunately, they said no to the $475 price tag. Dianne called me on Tuesday and I did a phone ballpark estimate for her. She is selling to retire in Florida. I asked questions on the house layout and her goals then worked out a $350 - $700 ballpark price. She booked me for two weeks. This job will likely go for $550. I just added $900 in 1-time cleaning in 5 days. The cool part about 1-time cleaning is that I don't need it! It's all bonus cash that goes directly to savings. I am earning over $7,000 per month in recurring revenue that pays all of my business and family expenses. Many cleaning companies have some recurring and mostly 1-time. I don't like my business like that. It's stressful and you're always looking for work. I like it being automatic. And quite frankly, that's why cleaning is such an awesome business!

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

I still remember the car ride to Gatlinburg, TN with my wife when she told me this story. I had no idea that one story about shopping at the discount racks would turn into a podcast episode that has helped solo cleaners understand their value in the marketplace.  

 In my first full year as a solo cleaner, I worked a lot but we had no money. You've heard my story on this podcast a dozen times! We just lost our car to repossession. We had $170,000 in debt and no house! We earned under $2000/mo, lived in a ghetto, had bill collectors calling every day. We lived 5 hours from our closest family and we were new parents. In December 2006, we had no idea how we'd pay for our rent, let alone get a Christmas gift for our 2-year-old Kenny! That's why I'd like to introduce my dear friend Sean Rogers. We were in the Amway business together. After a Nite Owl (business mastermind session after hours at TGIF), Sean gave me a hug and followed it up with the Italian handshake. He had slipped me a $100 bill and said, "Get your son a Christmas present." I was in tears. How did he know we had nothing and couldn't even afford the air we were breathing? My guess is that Sean is a Christian and he was being obedient to what God told him. 

Teresa was in tears as well when I showed her in the car. It was a miracle. We'd be able to get Kenny the Imaginarium Train Set he wanted, thanks to a friend that was a giver and was well-off financially. The impact of that $100 bill was huge. $1,000 wouldn't do it today. That simple gesture of $100 gave us so much hope in our future and resolve to pay it forward.

If I met you on the street and gave you $100, would you cry? Would it change your month, year, or decade? For some, no. But for many others out there, big time. I want to challenge you to grow your business to the point where you can give outrageously. I want you to earn so much that you can give hundreds away and not impact you one bit. But to the ones you gave the cash, their lives were filled with hope. Why else would you be building your business? We are put on this earth to help and love our fellow man. Let's all learn from Sean Rogers and do likewise. Grow your business and pay it forward!

My step-dad's awning company is All Seasons Awnings & Fabric Structures (Marmora, NJ).

Are you new to cleaning or considering your own solo cleaning business? Make sure to check out my free Solo Cleaning Quickstart Guide on the homepage!

 In this episode, I have an important lesson to share from a new friend of mine in the digital marketing space on the power of Facebook and Google. Eric Laylon is a consultant with ReachLocal. He understands the online landscape more than almost anyone that I know. He's a new member of the MCBA networking group and had a chance to share a presentation on his work. I asked many questions as I wanted to understand a little more of the trends he's seeing in 2021. 

• Google drives 85% of all online traffic and still dominates the online search landscape. Bing is #2 because Comcast uses them as a default, but they use Google ad platforms. Google will continue to dominate. If you're not visible on Google, you're not visible.
• Google My Business is a free way to create SEO for your business through images, reviews, articles, and deals. Ads are an excellent paid option to generate leads.
• Eric says you should be investing 3-5% of revenue into marketing for average returns. 8% is aggressive and 3% is slow growth. Invest 60-70% of this marketing budget on digital. This is what the large companies are doing in 2021!
• Facebook is similar to google. They have 223 million users in the United States alone out of 331 million people. That's 67% of the US is on Facebook. A business page is free and allows you to create interest for your product or service for free. Ads (like Google) are an excellent paid option as well.

Thank you Eric for teaching and sharing the trends and stats for 2021! My takeaway is simple. If you ever want to be found in your cleaning business, you have to be on Facebook and Google as they represent 67% of the country and 85% of all online searches. And you can access both for free through a Facebook business page, personal page, Google my business profile.

That was quick and to the point! Let's dive more into my own solo cleaning business. I have used digital marketing to grow my solo cleaning company in 2020. I tried everything, but focused on Facebook and Google My Business digitally while attending local networking to round out my marketing strategy. I didn't use any paid advertising and grew my company by $60,000 in revenue in 2020. Going forward, I plan to continue. I did get an idea this past week that I had originally planned in 2019 and never did it. I am the only cleaner in a 300 - 400 member chamber of commerce. Many members know who I am now since I've been helpful in leading webinars for the chamber, but I figured that the majority do not know me. I could cold call them and try to fleece them for business. I don't operate like that. Here's what I'm going to do. I'll make a list of the members that have an office that is a good fit for my office cleaning company. These are buildings under 5,000 - 6,000 square feet that need cleaning weekly or less. Once I have the list completed, I'll send emails with personal videos to the owners or contacts through the chamber to say hi and introduce myself. From there, I'll see who has any interest in connecting more with me. I'll schedule Zoom calls or breakfast meetings with the ones who want to know me. Then I'll add these new friends to my twice-monthly newsletter. I am guessing that 150 of the members fit into my demographic out of 400. Out of the 150, I wouldn't be surprised if I can connect and add 30 to my newsletter. Who knows from there. Those 30 could be 10 clients at $500 - $800/month in the future, which is over $60,000 of annual revenue! Either way, I make new friends. Win-win.

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

 Today is a very sad day for me. My Nana passed away 1 year ago on February 22nd, 2020 and my Pop-Pop passed away 3 months ago on November 22nd, 2020. They were married for 63 years and raised me to be the man that I am today. I miss them tremendously. If you are interested, check out the podcast episodes where I read the eulogies for each of my grandparents. My Nana - It Was All a Blur, My Pop-Pop - Tribute to My Father. I don't want to make this episode about me and the grieving I'm still doing. I wanted to share an important mindset shift that I hope you hear loud and clear. 

Have you ever been on a vacation to a gorgeous, picturesque location? Of course you have. Do you take pictures? Let me give you some examples and see if you relate. Teresa and I took our kids to the Philadelphia Zoo a number of times. When we browse the pictures a few weeks later, there are countless pictures of elephants, eagles, and giraffes, yet only a few with my kids in it. Worse yet. There's barely any of Teresa or I as we're the picture takers. We've gone to the beach, the mountains, the amusement parks, and the museums. We were in the moment with our family and excited to be at this location. So I took tons of pictures of the scenery and the rides and shells. Sure, I took a bunch with the kids too. But there weren't many of Teresa or I. As I think back, we had other important people with us on many of these trips. My mom and dad, Teresa's mom, my sisters, my grandparents, dear friends to name a few. But where are the pictures with THEM in it? Oh, there's one out of 50. I took my Nana and Pop-Pop to an Independent Living Facility for a tour in December 2018. In fact, it was my Nana's dream to live in this particular one, so I took her. I have videos of every possible room combination as my goal was to get footage to show Nana and Pop after. I focused on the rooms, not the people in the rooms. We had Christmas with many family members a few weeks later. I have pictures and videos of the kids tearing up the presents, but hardly anything of the most special people sitting on the couches and chairs watching it. Among those people were my dad, my Nana & Pop, my uncle, Teresa's mom, and us. I could go on and on. You get the point. After my Nana died a year ago, I was searching for recent pictures and videos of her to hold on to her memory. I had little. Really, I just had the videos from the tour and Christmas. I'm so thankful that I did a pan of the room in each case because I got footage of my cherished and missed grandparents. But the video was from 14 months prior! I had nothing at all for 2019! Why?! 

Here's why! We live in the moment with the people we love the most. When we capture images, we have an incorrect mindset to capture the moment by capturing what we've looked at. Another way to put it is this. We're capturing the main object of the moment, like the opening of Christmas gifts. We're not capturing the moment with the people. I want to impress upon you how fragile life is. It can vanish in a vapor. Those that you love are not always going to be here. Yes, take pictures and videos of amazing views. But focus instead on the amazing people with you. Capture them. You won't regret it. What if you lose one of your family members or dear friends like I have and you don't have the images to go back to? Live in the moment with the people you love and focus your camera on the people. It's always the people! I promise you that!

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

This is an article I wrote for my solo cleaning company, Carfagno Cleaning. I encourage you to check out my cleaning website for ideas on how you could build An Optimizer's Website. 

Would you like to schedule a free call with me? I leave 1 30-min slot open per week to connect with listeners! Go to the bottom of the Elite Membership registration page to schedule a time!

 I'm not sharing as many of my own solo cleaning business updates as my own personal goals are beginning to shift. I am following my own ISO Model System. I am almost through the Stabilizer Phase of the plan, which focuses on growth and earning enough profit and experience to remove ALL financial stress from your family. In 2021, I'll be optimizing my company to $6,000 per month profit on 2 cleaning days per week without employees. Here are a few updates from the past week. 

One of my new 2020 clients hired me to replace an amateur cleaner during the pandemic for peace of mind and optics with their staff and clients. They hired me at $800 per month with the intention of dropping to my 3rd proposal price option of $650 per month. Well, they just dropped it for January as they still don't have their full staff back in the office. Plus, I spent the second half of 2020 deep cleaning, disinfecting, and maintaining this office. They are very happy and I am glad to drop the price to serve the company and owner! It builds trust and I'm more concerned with the long-term. 

In "How to Do a COVID Clean", I shared my strategy for cleaning a house or office after a positive test. Well, that was put to the test recently. One of my clients (a vet hospital) had a positive test of a vet tech. I changed my cleaning for that week and focused on deep cleaning & disinfecting the high-touch points around the hospital. They were very thankful that I offer this service. I only charged them $100 extra as well.

Before I get to the meat of this episode, here are a few more updates. I met with my good friend and client, Dennis Gehman for breakfast this week. Dennis is the founder and owner of Gehman Design Remodeling in Harleysville, PA. Dennis is a Master Builder (like a real one, not the Lego Movie) and his company is a home design & remodeling leader in Montgomery & Bucks Counties of Pennsylvania. It's always great to connect with Dennis. He is like a dad to me and always has wise counsel on being a better dad, leader, and business owner. I so appreciate our time together. I also checked in with Matt & Laura this week. They were the perfect new house cleaning client from "An Optimizer's Website". However, I found out sad news from Matt this week and pray that things will get better with their family. In the meantime, they cannot add cleaning to their to-do list. I added Matt to my newsletter so he could stay informed on cleaning tips I send out twice per month.

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

I love listener questions! Here's one I got a few weeks ago that was a perfect excuse to teach on the topic of affiliations.

"Hi Ken, I listen to your podcast religiously! I got "legit" (DBA, EIN, sales tax ID, etc) at the end of last year, and fully launched at the beginning of January. I previously was a manager for Pizza Hut in my area for 15 years. I started working there when I was 17. When covid started the franchise in my area completely folded. I began working for a janitorial company and was getting a lot of positive feedback. I have a one-year-old son and needed something flexible to work opposite of my husband. I had toyed with the idea of starting a business for a long time (I have a business degree). I just got my solo cleaning business up and running. Your tips have been instrumental! What are your thoughts about joining the BBB? Someone from my local chapter just cold-called me asking me to join."

Kelly DeYoung, True Integrity Cleaning, Akron, NY (Buffalo Area)

There are countless affiliations you can join for business credibility and trust. I am not putting down anyone. I'm merely sharing from my own experiences. I am listing several into 2 categories: Industry and Local

• Industry
  • Association of Residential Cleaning Services International (ARCSI), a division of ISSA (International Sanitary Supply Association) - I was privileged to host the chair of ARCSI as an expert in the SMART Cleaning Tribe. Alonzo Adams (Busy Bee Cleaning Services, West Chester, PA) has an incredible business owner & millionaire mindset. He attributes so much of his industry success to the association with our industry's professional organization for house cleaners. ARCSI has certification courses for cleaning, disinfecting, and many others. They also provide amazing networking opportunities with other cleaning service owners so you can find your community and grow together. ARCSI is a recognized and highly respected organization that adds a ton of credibility to any house cleaner. If you're primarily in office or janitorial cleaning, ISSA is the organization to join. ARCSI is a division of ISSA. I was so green starting my business and also prideful and ignorant. I didn't need help, nor did I know about ARCSI. After having Alonzo on the Tribe, I will be joining in 2021. 
  • Solo Cleaning School Elite - I created this affiliation and offer advanced training and community for new cleaning startups and solo operators. Solo cleaners tend to go-it-alone. This school pulls together like-minded solos that would like to optimize their profits on fewer workdays through the ISO Model that I created and demonstrated in 2 of my own solo cleaning companies.
  • SMART Cleaning Tribe - As I mentioned with ARCSI, cleaning owners need to find their Tribe. I built this cleaning family for the owners desiring community, masterminding, and accountability around their personal and business goals. There are many other training and mastermind communities available to cleaning service owners. The SMART Cleaning Tribe is the ONLY one focusing on the SMART goal. We grow together, celebrating our goals every month.

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

Do you struggle with selling and not charging enough? Do you believe you offer something special to the world? Listen to this "Best Of" episode called "Blueberry Pie". This is one of my favorite episodes of this podcast. I've used this mindset to teach multiple solo cleaners the value they can offer.

This is a story that will cost a cleaning supplier a lot of money. First of all, I hope you all know me by now. I am not vindictive. I did not have a bad experience with the company I'm going to mention. However, I chose to do my 3-stars out of 5 review to the world because it will illustrate a vital lesson on the lifetime value of a client. I purchased my Mosquito Carbon Lite vacuum cleaner from my friend Joshua Burnstein, owner of Sawgrass Cleaning Solutions, Boynton Beach, FL. Joshua is a authorized distributor for Mosquito, which he does as a side hustle. I now use him exclusively to take care of my vacuum needs. But I almost didn't and here's what happened.

My Mosquito has a uniquely designed tapered hose to maximize power and flow for my 160 cfm motor! That's nerd talk, but it means my vacuum really sucks! All of my hoses start to wear down after 2 years. They tear between the ribs and I have to cut a piece off to keep it working. This particular hose has been cut a dozen times to the point where it's barely long enough to vacuum with. I put off ordering a new part from Josh as he told me the replacement part is $100 with shipping! When I could wait no longer, I did a Google search to see if I could get the part cheaper anywhere else. There were a few at $100 and one at $45, which ranked high on Google SEO. It seemed like a reputable supplier, Salamone Supplies out of Menomonee Falls, WI. I researched the company and found the part I needed on the website for a great price. I told Josh and he was highly suspicious as he knew the part wholesaled for $80 on the low side. He wished me good luck. I apologized for jumping ship as I had to try. I ordered the part. To the credit of the company, they contacted me via email and was kind and cordial in their replies. They received the order, but soon realized that they had the two parts mixed up on their website. The part I ordered for $45 had the part number and picture correct for the part I needed, but they had the wrong price listed. They emailed me to let me know of the mistake and asked if I'd like to receive the $45 incorrect part or the part I needed for their price of $90 + shipping. 

Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website