Cleaning Business Life

CBL Episode #60 Mastering Operational Efficiency: Unlocking the Secrets to a Well-Oiled Cleaning Business

May 10, 2024 Shannon Miller
CBL Episode #60 Mastering Operational Efficiency: Unlocking the Secrets to a Well-Oiled Cleaning Business
Cleaning Business Life
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Cleaning Business Life
CBL Episode #60 Mastering Operational Efficiency: Unlocking the Secrets to a Well-Oiled Cleaning Business
May 10, 2024
Shannon Miller

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Join us on a riveting journey through the maze of business organization, where we reveal the secrets to running a seamless operation. Imagine a world where staff changes don't send your business into chaos, drawing inspiration from McDonald's legendary systems. We dive into the meat of the matter, discussing the art of interchangeable roles and the power of effective backend management. You'll discover personal strategies to keep from being an overworked business owner, and we’ll reflect on the necessity of adapting your business practices over time through engaging stories, including a nostalgic look back at tech products from yesteryear.

The twists and turns of managing a cleaning supply business come to life as we recount a theft incident at a Colorado Springs Air Force Base, underscoring the need for tight inventory control. You'll hear firsthand about the pitfalls of not compensating employees properly, with lessons learned from Taco Bell’s "cleaning parties" litigation. We call on state departments to step up their game, providing more digestible resources for entrepreneurs grappling with the legalities of business operations. This chapter is an eye-opener, emphasizing why knowing labor laws isn't just smart—it's essential for your wallet and your peace of mind.

But it's not all cautionary tales and legal speak; we celebrate the tools that keep us on track. From checklists that guarantee spotless results to choosing the right organizational tools, learn how a well-structured business plan can lead to reduced stress and more efficient operations. We share anecdotes from family life and the challenge of learning sign language, illustrating how orderliness extends beyond the office walls. And as we plan our upcoming podcast episodes and navigate our daily routines, you'll get a glimpse into the real-life balance of business ownership and personal care that keeps our show—and our lives—humming along beautifully.

The Growth Gear
Explore business growth and success strategies with Tim Jordan on 'The Growth Gear.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Questions? Feel free to reach out!
Kimberly Gonzales: info@purevergreen.com
Shannon Miller: cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com

Join my FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583362158497744
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIjMz_-9YyiFvNVIgb61iYg

To order All-Natural Cleaning Products: www.PÜREvergreen.com
See Shannon's latest courses: www.KleanFreaksUnversity.com

Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Send us a Text Message.

Join us on a riveting journey through the maze of business organization, where we reveal the secrets to running a seamless operation. Imagine a world where staff changes don't send your business into chaos, drawing inspiration from McDonald's legendary systems. We dive into the meat of the matter, discussing the art of interchangeable roles and the power of effective backend management. You'll discover personal strategies to keep from being an overworked business owner, and we’ll reflect on the necessity of adapting your business practices over time through engaging stories, including a nostalgic look back at tech products from yesteryear.

The twists and turns of managing a cleaning supply business come to life as we recount a theft incident at a Colorado Springs Air Force Base, underscoring the need for tight inventory control. You'll hear firsthand about the pitfalls of not compensating employees properly, with lessons learned from Taco Bell’s "cleaning parties" litigation. We call on state departments to step up their game, providing more digestible resources for entrepreneurs grappling with the legalities of business operations. This chapter is an eye-opener, emphasizing why knowing labor laws isn't just smart—it's essential for your wallet and your peace of mind.

But it's not all cautionary tales and legal speak; we celebrate the tools that keep us on track. From checklists that guarantee spotless results to choosing the right organizational tools, learn how a well-structured business plan can lead to reduced stress and more efficient operations. We share anecdotes from family life and the challenge of learning sign language, illustrating how orderliness extends beyond the office walls. And as we plan our upcoming podcast episodes and navigate our daily routines, you'll get a glimpse into the real-life balance of business ownership and personal care that keeps our show—and our lives—humming along beautifully.

The Growth Gear
Explore business growth and success strategies with Tim Jordan on 'The Growth Gear.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Questions? Feel free to reach out!
Kimberly Gonzales: info@purevergreen.com
Shannon Miller: cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com

Join my FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583362158497744
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIjMz_-9YyiFvNVIgb61iYg

To order All-Natural Cleaning Products: www.PÜREvergreen.com
See Shannon's latest courses: www.KleanFreaksUnversity.com

Speaker 1:

This show is brought to you by the Maids Network. Want to get serious in your cleaning game? Join my group. It's one of the larger Facebook groups just for cleaning business owners. I look forward to seeing you there. The real Shannon and Kim talk about stuff that's going on. They're having some technical issues and I'm hoping that what we recorded actually saved oh my gosh. And if not, we're just going to. We're going to work on something and we'll fix it anyway. Yes, welcome to Cleaning Business Life. We really do know what we're talking about and what we're doing. Just sometimes technology doesn't always cooperate like it's supposed to right, and we're still learning.

Speaker 2:

There's stuff that we're trying to improve and learn, just like you guys are, and so right, it's a whole process. You guys only knew the back end of what Shannon and I do.

Speaker 1:

Oh my God, it's a lot when I try to explain to my husband. He goes. So cause he I I've mentioned my husband thinks that I hang out on Facebook all day, twiddling my thumbs, you know, replying to messages, and he goes. He asked the other day and he goes, so what'd you do? I'm like I downloaded 17 videos and then I had to upload and populate them and edit them and he just looked at me like, and you can't do, obviously, 17 videos in one day. I'm not a professional editor. The maximum I could do in a day is five.

Speaker 1:

And then I'm like, oh, I've hit my max, but it's a lot of up and down, moving stuff over, making sure it's the right file ending, making sure I haven't said any curse words. You know all of the normal. You know oops.

Speaker 2:

The raw Kimberly and Shannon today.

Speaker 1:

So what we'll probably do this unedited is you can really see the real Shannon and Kim. So welcome to Cleaning Business Life. And today we are talking about the mastery of organizing your business. A lot of times you will hear me reference McDonald's, mcdonald's, mcdonald's no, I do not like McDonald's food. No, shannon doesn't eat fast food. However, mcdonald's is brilliant at putting systems in place that work and that every position in the house, in the back of the house, is doable by another individual, so that way, if one person can't man the ship, someone else can step in and do it just as easily. So having some organization in your business is key, as well as having systems in place that really work, not just systems by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. And they say you should do this.

Speaker 2:

I know I see so many times in businesses that they don't train, you know, for the whole around thing. And if it's like you said, if people were out and they don't have that coverage, then it's like stuff falls apart and things can't get done and it's just not worth it. It's not worth it.

Speaker 1:

Or you get the poor business owner who's already worked a full day doing whatever, has to step in and fix it because the delegation didn't happen, the system in place didn't happen, the expectation didn't happen. And automation is best as you can if, whether you're a beginner or not, there's baby steps to take. You hear me talk about it all the time. I always give the low-tech method with the idea that eventually in the future you can put some automation in your business so you don't have to manage that piece any longer. But it does take some trial and error and using systems that work.

Speaker 2:

Exactly Um, and so that's one of the reasons why being organized in your business is so important, because when you are the business owner, you have so much other stuff on your plate. And I know right now I'm having to go through a couple changes and Shannon knows about these changes and it's a lot like I'm being pulled from what I'm supposed to be doing and I'm having to like right now and I still like doing this. I'm drawing pictures like as we're talking, you know, because I've got to get this done, because you know I've had some stuff happen, and so getting these systems in place so you can run your business smoothly.

Speaker 1:

And at some point Kim won't be able to hand do those anymore. It'll have to be either.

Speaker 2:

I see that coming soon. I know, I was like it's a lot of money to have somebody do this and I don't mind doing them once in a while, but it gets expensive paying somebody else to do them. So yeah, I agree Down the road. Enjoy your pictures now.

Speaker 1:

Right, they're one of a kind pieces like Picasso's. It's for the example, when you remember when you bought your iPhone I don't know if you guys can see this and iPhone actually used to give you a charger and headphones included in your price. This is an old box. From it looks like an iPhone 6X and it's 512 gigabytes. So yeah, it's from a while ago. But I opened this up and there was a pair of headphones in here. I was like, oh, I totally remember when they gave us those. There's headphones and a charger. I'm like, oh my God, that's awesome. It probably came with a cord, but I clearly used it. But I was like it doesn't things change and evolve? So I see Kim stickers coming into evolution soon.

Speaker 2:

I actually have stickers, shannon, do you? Yes, I do, I have stickers. I have lots of stickers. Anybody that orders actually gets stickers from me, right?

Speaker 1:

yeah. I might have to start putting them on pages right, you might have to do that or you can give. Remember I used to also with the mac, get the apple stickers. Yep two, two per purchase. I believe that there might actually be in this package. Oh, yep, here let's check it out.

Speaker 2:

Stickers I still have I get mine all the time when I buy my before, when I bought my macbook and all my phones because you and I are both maccies so it's like I always look forward to my stickers. Did I keep them and put them on things?

Speaker 1:

No, but it was kind of a I didn't get stickers this time, when I bought my new phone.

Speaker 2:

I didn't get a sticker with my MacBook, my new one. I was really bummed because it's like a it's my iPad Passage, so enjoy your pictures, people.

Speaker 1:

But, yes, being organization in the evolution of your business. So start small. Like Kim, kim had time in the beginning. It was very heartfelt. I've gotten some of those heartfelt thank you cards with little drawings on them. I'm sure they're floating around here somewhere. But eventually Kim's going to have to change the program and not be able to do it any longer. Even if she farms it out, it still won't be the same and it's time consuming. So you have to. You know, as you grow and scale, you have to kind of figure out where you're going to pivot so that you can keep on marching on Exactly.

Speaker 2:

So there's a lot of tools that you guys can use to implement in your business. One of the things that you know, obviously, shannon and I've talked about before is scheduling software. Having the scheduling software because that will take one less thing off your plates. Because the scheduling software, along with the CRMs, is really nice because they send notifications out to your customers hey, you know what. We're going to be there in 24 hours, you know. This is a reminder of your time. It also does it sends out a receipt. So when you run their card or you collect the check payment and you put the check payment in the number, it sends them a receipt. So and it's it helps free up that time.

Speaker 1:

So having those things in place will free up time, so that way you can work on other things and training and improving your business, um, I remember, huh, I remember having to call the night before and when you're doing 30 or 40 homes the following day, that's 30 or 40 phone calls that you're making. We didn't have text back then, okay, we had to call right, most people still had landlines back then, Back in the day. I always feel like we're referencing my parents. We had to wear bread bags to get to school right.

Speaker 1:

Through the snow.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we didn't have. Like you know, obviously, when I had my company we had, you know the text and stuff, but you know when Shannon was doing it, so you had to use the pick up the phone and call all those people and remind them doing it. So you had to use the pick up the phone and call all those people and remind them. So, using these systems in place, yes, it's a little pricey, but what Shannon and I always emphasize is like you're paying to free up more time to work in your business and making more money when you. So when you free up that time, you're working on something else to bring you more money.

Speaker 1:

Right, working on it instead of in it. And it's exhausting after a long day. I mean, the last thing I want to do is be chatty with somebody right, Exactly.

Speaker 2:

On the phone you're like, let's get it done. Another thing too is having somebody that like the inventory, like you're managing your your supplies. Having somebody do your inventory for your supplies is huge and everybody's like, well, why, why would I need to have somebody that needs to manage my supplies? Well, let's say you are out and you realize you only have one bottle of cleaner. I've had that. I had people message me Kimberly, I didn't order my Pure in time and I should have ordered it and I'm like down to nothing. I had to go to the store and use something else and I was just so upset that I had to use something else. So really have somebody do your inventory of your supplies because it'll save you a lot of headaches and it keeps things flowing so you're not stressed out.

Speaker 1:

That and it it also prevents shortage. I think, as the way our economy is right now, shortages happen everywhere. I mean I find tags everywhere we go. It's really amazing to me. And that way you're keeping pars on what you need to have and you can standard pars, like for anyone who's been a bartender, way back in the day we used to have to count the alcohol that was, you know, locked up, and the reason why they kept it locked up is because the shortage shrinkage right. You just, you know, vodka alcohol is a great markup and you make a lot of money off alcohol and it.

Speaker 1:

It's easily walked out the door, especially if someone comes in with a backpack, but you want to make sure that you are locking your supplies up. So we used to actually have we had an outside shed, um, you know, but prior to that, when I had my office, it was actually a locked room and there was a camera on it and you could see who was coming and going, just because you would have one or two cases of stainless steel polish which we no longer use, but they were five bucks a bottle and if you have two cases, that ends up adding up. You know two cases types 24, and then you're like well, who took the stainless steel? And I was like I like I don't know right, and the cleaning tech doesn't care because they're not paying for it. So, and it does keep things, um, in line so you can adjust what your chemical costs are going to be and you'll know what your chemical costs are know your expenses when you do that.

Speaker 2:

you know you know to have that in in place. Funny story um, I have a company, a pretty big company in Colorado Springs. It's actually on the Air Force Base, a department of it and he orders my stuff. And so he called me one day and he goes I've got to order some more stuff Because they hire, like the contract, out to do the cleaning. And he goes I think the ladies really love your cleaner because they stole a bunch of it.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:

So I don't get orders from him anymore because I think that they liked it so much they kept stealing it and he has to lock it up. He still locks it up, but they have to have access to it to clean it. So, but yeah, lock up your stuff, have inventory so you know exactly what's going in. So even when you're doing um cleaning, so if you have your cleaning bags and at the end of the day know what's going in your bag, so you know stuff's not walking. So have your little list ready to go.

Speaker 2:

Definitely Um team task we follow a note, we follow you guys, just so you know.

Speaker 1:

We follow like little notes because shannon and I just our brains sometimes go all over the place totally, and that would be even worse than actually having some sort of focus with, like squirrel, squirrel um team tasks. So when you have tasks for your team to do and this is a gray area and it depends on what state you live in so way back in the day when I was a Marymaid, they actually made us drive to the office. We had to see if we were driving that day our car, because if you drove you got extra money and then you had to load in the kits and then you had to get your paperwork I mean, this is old school stuff and then we would drive to the house and then you know, we do the two or three houses and then we come back and we have to offload and fill up the kits. We never got paid for the loading or the unloading of the car, so the cleaning of the kits became like a thing, like because no one wanted to clean the kits, because they weren't getting paid for it.

Speaker 1:

So make sure that you, if you still use that method, that old Marymaids method, make sure that you're paying your cleaning techs to do it, or you don't have to pay your cleaning techs to do it. You can pay a high school person if your office is monitored by camera and they can come in and do laundry, if you do laundry on site and they can clean up the kits and clean up the office and that type of stuff, just to make sure that those tasks are getting done. There are other tasks, like don't get yourself in trouble. Way back when in the 80s, taco Bell of all places used to have that what they're called cleaning parties, and so what?

Speaker 1:

happened is yes, this was back in the day in the 80s. Taco Bell, which was not paying very much money. Back in the 80s, I think, minimum wage was probably like $4.35. $4.25. Yes, it was low and the cost of living was lower, obviously, but they would make you come and I never worked for Taco Bell, I just know this because it was in the news and I followed the story. They would make everybody come to this party that they were having and they were forced to clean up the restaurant for free in exchange for food.

Speaker 1:

Well, finally someone got wiser and reported them and then they realized you know, one person had, you know, like if you ever see the blind side that the franchise owner was a talk about owner and they, how many franchises did they own? It was 1344 or something. So they had like a franchise owner who had all of those locations, who was having all of these cleaning parties once a week. They got dings for all of this back pay and to pay, of course, once their share of back taxes, and then they know it was a whole dynamic. So make sure you're not doing something that you might consider legal when it's not. Make sure you go to your Department of Labor to find out if what you're doing is legal, and ask questions. Don't do the Taco Bell cleaning party. It was just really awful.

Speaker 2:

And each state is different. So even if you come to Shannon and I, we're not going to know all 50 states' legal laws to Shannon and I, we're not going to know all 50 states' legal laws. So our first advice is to please check with your state to know what their laws are. Oh my gosh, Because we can't help you because we don't know, like we can help you for our state, but maybe not for Hawaii or for you know, Texas or whatever. So always check with your state first.

Speaker 1:

And I always felt that the state could do a better job of giving you like okay, you're a brand new business owner and at some point you're going to want employees. Please watch. And it's an email sequence Please watch this video for week one. Please watch this video. That they never want to. And then when you watch the videos, you're like yawn, like videos have to be entertaining.

Speaker 2:

I need to get some young blood in there.

Speaker 1:

I suggested it multiple times and it's not happened yet. So we'll see. So yeah, having team tasks done and make sure you're paying them for team tasks that was the whole reason behind the Taco Bell story and have a checklist. So when I had the two offices, we had certain standards, so like if we had people walk in randomly, they wouldn't see all of this dirt everywhere and like it was unclean. I've walked into and I won't name them. I've walked into a couple of other cleaning business owners here, into their office because we were having a meeting, we do collaborations and I was shocked at the condition of their office. I'm like you have people here. It's like this should be de-cleaned. Make sure that you're holding the standard and that everyone is holding the standard and based on that, I won't ever refer them, because I've been to that office recently and it still is not de-cleaned.

Speaker 2:

Having that checklist is so important and I have the same thing. I have what's called closing duties for Pure and we have a checklist that has to be done. So, like tables and computers have to be sanitized and wiped down, floors have to be swept. All the shelves get wiped down twice a week. So, like in our area it is clean, like you can like lick things, it's so clean. But that's part of the closing duties and those have to be done. So you have to time manage and my staff knows like that they have to time manage before they have to leave, that this stuff has to be cleaned and done.

Speaker 1:

But there are a couple of them and it's the most prestigious thing you could get because of their cleaning standards. I mean you could lick the floor, Literally. Those are good owners. They take the time, they initiate with their employees, so make sure your cleaning techs are you or following some sort of protocol, some system in place to make that happen.

Speaker 2:

That checklist will come in handy. And if you're atypical like me, then you love list. I'm a list person. Are you a list person Person?

Speaker 1:

I used to. I'm guilty.

Speaker 2:

I probably have like 50 notebooks.

Speaker 1:

I thought about getting one of those remarkable. I have one of these and I've got one of those. I have no, I have no pads for everything, but I am trying to get better of not doing like tasks related. I'm on the computer, at the laptop. Usually you can see me typing because I'm taking notes about what we're talking about. But as far as creating new courses and stuff, that's all still hand done because the juices flow better, I get you know. I have the God moment when I'm in the shower and I get the great idea mark.

Speaker 2:

You need a white. You need one of those like kid crayons, like one of the crayons I use for the bathtub, so you can like write it up there or by my bed.

Speaker 1:

It's great. And sometimes I wake up I'm like that was incredible.

Speaker 2:

Yep, get my notes back and I do have an iPad and I do a lot of notes on my iPad, but sometimes I'm a doodler so I have to have my mark. Everybody knows that I have markers like I have every single marker, you know but sometimes I just need a doodle and write down my ideas that comes to me and I don't have my iPad with me right now.

Speaker 1:

Right, I'm not as good on the iPad. I do have the capacity, I have the pencil, I have the all of the bells and whistles and I'm more. I'm still an old school pad and paper, pen and paper. And then make sure that you have tools in your beginning structure of your business, and some of the tools we just talked about was a digital calendar system. There is a CRM system, so there's free ones if you're not familiar with, like SurveyMonkey or MailerLite. What are some of the other ones, kim?

Speaker 2:

I don't even know, because I haven't used them in so long. One I remember is SurveyMonkey that was the one I remember, but I haven't used it or MailChimp MailChimp is another one. Mailchimp, that's what it was, mailchimp.

Speaker 1:

The only problem is is when you get to a certain number, now that's no longer free. You have to pay for the premium service, which is fine, and just know that if you know it's like the Google reviews, you have to pay for the reviews to maintain them, or they'll just take them all down and you'll have to start from scratch.

Speaker 2:

You're like I just got a notification, like when we were on our first podcast, that said you reached your 10,000 emails already for the month. Now you have to pay. So I've already reached my 10,000 free emails. So now, every time I send an email out for the rest of the month I've got to pay.

Speaker 1:

Right and I have to budget that in. Yeah, no, it sucks, it's, it's another at expense, but people are. It's just the way the economy is going. So there, what are other tools would they need to make themselves more organized? So what are other tools would they need to make?

Speaker 2:

themselves more organized. I would say, like for organization, not only in the soft, like the CRM industry, and then, just you know, for supplies. I really think, like for me I love organizing. So bins, labels, keep stuff rolling, you know, I just like everything has a place. I always say everything has a place, and when something is out of its place it needs to find its home.

Speaker 1:

So like know, where all your stuff goes, and it'll make everything run so much smoother. I have a rule of putting it back. I actually won't. I've stopped searching for items for the other members of my household and they come running up to me all the time. I'm like I'm not looking.

Speaker 2:

I have a basket by my stairs and so like, if I see stuff cause sometimes my ADHD brain kind of gets like sidetracked and I've been off my meds so I'm like it's been really bad. So what I do is I have a basket and I put stuff in the basket and then what I do is I carry the basket around, like the little little homie woman. I carry the basket around and I just put stuff away as I go. So it's like my go-to basket. But yeah, have a system put in place, you guys. It would be so much more easier for you. Things will run smoothly. You won't have people like biting each other's head off, like where's this, why is this not done? Why didn't we get this in, like you know? Um, I have, I don't.

Speaker 2:

If those of you can see, I have a whiteboard and it's super organized and I have a little thing back there that says order. And I kind of got on my staff yesterday because we got an order for some shower steamers in our new jars and she was like, well, where's the jars for the box, like the where's the box? And I said, oh, it's over there where it should be, and she goes. No, it's not, she goes we already used all those and I was like was it written on my board that we need one or more? It should have been written on my board last week and it wasn't. So, having those systems in place so you know when to order stuff, like I have a whiteboard. So whatever your system is for what you need for orders, then you know, put that in your, in your plan, so you don't have a mishap like me struggling to try to find stuff last minute.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's not fun, and that basket lady would have a full-time job at my house.

Speaker 2:

She'd be like Shannon's like. I need two. I need three big baskets. Let's just make it a laundry basket.

Speaker 1:

Totally. Those are some of the things that you would need to keep yourself organized, being organized yourself. If you are not an organized person, you're going to have to write things down so that you remember. You know, my nine-year-old daughter can remember everything because her life is not as full as mine. I cannot remember a lot of things. I legitimately get, you know, 2000 emails every day. You get text messages, messages. If you looked at my phone right now and I someone made a comment the other day I have 598 messages having opened on my phone and that's like once a week. That's you know. So you have to constantly go through. I'm going to be deleting and I'm all in purging mode right now, so I'm trying to get rid of extras. You know, clutter email clutter, message clutter, voicemail clutter. I'm just going through line by line and I wrote myself a note.

Speaker 2:

I'm like okay, check, but yeah, make sure you have some sort of system in place that works for you.

Speaker 1:

My system might not necessarily be good for Kim and Kim's system might not necessarily be good for me. But have something and start to take baby steps, even if they're small steps. If you take little baby, baby, baby steps, you'll eventually get where you need to go. Milk no, she didn't Sign language for chocolate milk.

Speaker 2:

I know she was like the first episode. She was signing like you know the milk and she was going, you know, and I'm like no, no milk, I'm like no no milk.

Speaker 1:

I like that. But she just did this sign. Like what would you just say? What was that the word? We were. I have a nine-year-old who's learning sign language and Kim is very proficient, so we were going over chocolate milk. That's what my nine-year-old taught me how to do. It was pretty. It's pretty entertaining. You have to actually see Maya do the chocolate milk on her face, concentrating so hard.

Speaker 2:

Because we're able to watch our videos. You should watch our videos. Sometimes we have the funniest faces and our dogs like to join us sometimes, and chickens.

Speaker 1:

Definitely. So yeah, making sure that you have some sort of organizational process, and it will. What will happen is you'll do something and then the next thing you know you're going to have to cram it through. Like having your contracts or your customer agreements be deliverable digitally is a big deal, whether you deliver it through Jobber, whether you deliver through DocuSign, whatever. However, you deliver it or you hand deliver it. Whatever you're doing, each, each one of those tasks takes time. If you're not prepared, you don't have your document ready, then you have to come up with a document, so then you have to take time to do that and then you have to load the document in. So there's all of this learning curve. We were just on because we were having technical issues, because my Zoom is full for some reason, even though I deleted. So we were on sessions trying to figure. I was on sessions, have to go back and learn right.

Speaker 2:

So my system is broken, yeah, and you're always improving your system. So maybe what you're working on now and you want to improve it, you improve it. You up your systems, you change your systems. You can change CRMs. There's always room for improvement, you guys, and be open to it. It's kind of scary sometimes to take that leap of faith into doing something new and trying something new and I know Shannon's probably like, oh, I got to learn this new system and I'm like it's just you have to jump in and take that leap of faith and just go for it. And I really I want to just mention on here we got a review for our podcast and I was super excited by that which gives us I don't know if you guys understand that it gives us a good full cup. For that. Thank you for reviewing us and leaving us remarks, because sometimes we wonder if anybody's listening to us. Huh, shannon.

Speaker 1:

Right. Well, you, if you actually go and you pull up cleaning business life, we actually have one official review on there, so, and it's nice to get the testimonials inside the groups as well we love, love, love testimonials and reviews. Five-star reviews is what we're looking for. Five stars would be nice. Five stars. If you're going to do it, do it right, but making sure that you you get them in it does make your cup very full. I mean, we, you know, had an impact on this person's life and it just like you know, you get like and just fully there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's. I love it when you guys take that leap of faith. You listen to us and you take that leap of faith and you make that jump into the next step and we appreciate you guys doing that. So make that jump. You guys get organized, get your systems in place, get your checklist in place. You'll thank us, trust us.

Speaker 1:

Right. So to reiterate some of the systems or organization you'll need, you'll need to have you know, your basic stuff. You'll need to have some sort of contract agreement process. You'll need to have a CRM process.

Speaker 1:

You'll need to have a digital calendar process. You'll need to figure out how to pay your taxes when they're due process You'll then you'll need a process for your bookkeeper, a process for your accountant. Remember, bookkeepers are for books, accountants are for taxes. Um, then there's, you know, your your hr process. I mean there's all of these. All of these things fit together to make this ball of cleaning structure process and certification processes and COVID certifications, and then chemical knowledge. You're always learning.

Speaker 2:

Don't forget that You're always learning something.

Speaker 1:

Every day you're learning something, so those are just some of the organizational things that you will need and, like I said, I believe there's like 250 items. That if you were to start from scratch and get to where we are today, there's like literally 250 items to complete that organizational task. Have fun with that, you guys. I was like have fun with that, right, 250 items, like holy shit. So it's a lot. There's a lot to it. There's lots of baby steps. Once you get it and it runs smooth, you can go. I did it.

Speaker 1:

I'm up free and then you add one more thing right, and then there's something new that comes along, new bells and whistles with the technology. We'll see how this go. The ai, I think, is going to really change the industry in the next year or so I agree.

Speaker 2:

Speaking of which, I don't like that new ai messenger thing.

Speaker 1:

That's frustrating, it's in my way yeah, it's, totally is, but but it does what there's. There's times where I've messaged people and it won't let me message them because we're not Facebook friends.

Speaker 2:

And like what?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm like don't work, don't work, don't work, right, but yeah, being organized, picking away and then doing it, and at some point I'm sure I could probably do. You know, step one, step two I mean it's all listed in the course, but I mean the top like 10 organizational items you need.

Speaker 2:

I like that. Another podcast. We've been writing podcast ideas for the next episode. We're excited.

Speaker 1:

Beautiful.

Speaker 2:

Well, if we have, another day it's sunny I'm going to go finish getting my orders done and interview some people and then get my nails done and then hopefully have some daylight left to go garden. No, she probably my nail lady would probably be upset if I went to garden with my nails being done, Nevermind.

Speaker 1:

You should. You should do gardening first and then go get nails done. That's bye everybody. Bye you guys. Thanks for tuning in. Cleaning business life is sponsored by pure evergreen cleaning products. That's p-u-r-e-v-e-r-g-r-e-e-n dot com pure evergreen cleaning products.

The Importance of Business Organization
Business Operations Tips and Legalities
Importance of Checklists and Company Standards
(Cont.) Importance of Checklists and Company Standards
Organizational Tools for Business Success
Podcast Planning and Daily Routine