Cleaning Business Life
Cleaning Business Life, is a weekly podcast co-hosted by Shannon Miller, founder of Klean Freaks University, and Jamie Runco, CEO of Above All Cleaning Company, based in Northern California.
This podcast is dedicated to helping cleaning business owners at every stage, from startup to scaling to 7 figures. Whether you're a new entrepreneur or an established business owner, you'll discover proven strategies, systems, and methods that will help you streamline operations, increase profitability, and grow your business.
Each episode dives deep into essential topics such as:
- Effective business systems and structures that drive growth.
- Product recommendations and tips on using the right tools for the job.
- Expert interviews with industry leaders sharing insights and success stories.
- Q&A sessions where we answer your pressing business questions.
- The **latest trends** shaping the cleaning industry today.
Tune in weekly to level up your cleaning business and stay ahead of the competition!
For additional resources, including Kim's exclusive real estate cleaning packages, visit her website at [purevergreen.com](http://purevergreen.com).
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Want to get a hold of us, please email us at cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com
Cleaning Business Life
CBL Episode #76- Are you BOOT-STRAPING Your Cleaning Business? Strategic Hiring, Employee Appreciation, and Networking for Growth
Ever wondered if you should hire staff even when business is slow? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Jamie Runco of All Above Cleaning, who shares her transformation from solo cleaner to thriving business owner. Jamie's personal journey provides invaluable insights into bootstrapping your business, recognizing market demand, and the never-ending hunt for exceptional employees. We break down the strategies of bootstrapping versus saving up for payroll and emphasize the importance of fostering a strong company culture, compensating fairly, and aligning with core values during the hiring process.
This episode is packed with actionable tips on keeping your cleaning business growing through strategic hiring. Hear how Jamie underscores the significance of employee appreciation and continuous recruitment to avoid stagnation. Learn the benefits of networking within the cleaning industry to share resources and support each other during staffing challenges. Plus, discover why investing in mentorship and online courses can streamline your hiring process and guide you through business growth. Whether you're starting out or looking to expand, Jamie’s experience offers a roadmap to success.
Up your cleaning game, join over 6000 Cleaning Business Owners most of whom are located here in the United States.
It can be crowed when trying to figure out who you are going to learn from
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Shannon Miller: cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com
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recording in progress. Welcome, welcome, welcome. This is shannon from cleaning business life and today I have wonderful miss jamie runco from all above cleaning in northern california, my new bff, who has been brave enough to co-host while kimberly is dealing with her puppy situation. And today we are going to talk about should I hire if I don't have enough work for that person? We've all experienced it. Jamie, what's your input on? Should you hire or should you wait? Should you try to get more clients? Should you negotiate? What should you do?
Speaker 2:I think that I may be different than everybody else. I didn't wait until I had the $10,000 in the bank account.
Speaker 1:Bootstrapping works too. You just have to have the stomach for it.
Speaker 2:At first. You know I think like a lot of people At first. You know I think like a lot of people. Most we all start off as solo cleaners and hey. But the second, I did that as whenever I first started off I was a solo cleaner and I seen, really quick, I can envision that there's a need for that here, there's a market for that here. And instantly I knew that I wanted to grow big. Instantly I was like I can do this, I can do this. I know that it's like poking for oil, poking around, poking around, poking around, and then all of a sudden it just and that's what I did. So you know, I I got some friends. I don't suggest that, but I got some friends we all do it you guys want to go cleaning with me?
Speaker 2:and um, it just evolved and it was like it just went.
Speaker 1:It like wildfire and um what were some of the steps that you took? When you first realized that you needed help, you went to family and friends. What else did you do?
Speaker 2:I knew I wanted to be Legit. I researched I YouTube was my best friend and Facebook really was my best friend, and Facebook really. I joined all the cleaning business groups and just researched, researched, researched until my head felt like it was going to explode and then, whenever I thought I had it, I did it all over again just to make sure I wanted to be legit. So after that, after I did all the research, I seen a lot of people weren't insured and I was like, nope, I'm going to be insured. So I insured myself with just general liability. And then I went to once I started taking it really, really seriously. I went and got work comp insurance and then I got bonded because then I started getting four, five, six employees and before you know it, I'm sitting here talking on a podcast about it.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it. I think it's awesome. There are different paths that you can take. You can bootstrap it or you can save up and cover the payroll. Do whatever method works best for you. There is no definitive. If you do it this way, you're doing it wrong. That is one of the great gracious things about being in the cleaning industry is you can. You can bootstrap it and go all the way and make it to the finish line, or you can do the other route and make it all the way to the finish line. So, um, going back to our question, should I hire if I don't have enough work? You should always, always, always, be looking to hire that golden unicorn, and people get really frustrated. You see it in a lot of groups. I can't find help, I can't find help, I can't find help, I can't find help and you can find help. It's a mindset thing and it's knowing what to look for when you're looking for a cleaning tech. Yes, supposedly everyone can clean. We can talk about that topic on another podcast.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think you should constantly be hiring, whether you have the work or not. I think that you manifest and you will grow into that. And we always start everybody off. I never tell people, hey, this is a full-time job, it's not, it's part-time hours with full-time pay, but it is hard work and you also have to make sure that you're compensating well. Company culture is huge yes, it's huge and your core values. You hire based off of that. Always be running an ad for both sides.
Speaker 2:If you got those clients, remember back to whenever you got how you got clients. They didn't just fall out of the sky. Same thing with, uh, getting hiring, I was like, hey, you're like what? Yeah, um, always ask them where you're, where you heard of us from. But going back to hiring, the same goes for whenever you want to hire, you just constantly just like how you went for those clients, you go for that for hiring If you want to get out of the cleaning part of it and run your company. And that's where I'm at right now. I'm able to sit here and do this while I got five jobs going on out in the world right now.
Speaker 1:And Jamie takes on a lot of really big jobs, so you never know what's going to end up on her schedule. So, as far as having a system in place, I don't have work or I don't know what to ask. So kind of questions would you ask someone who was looking for, um, a cleaning tech? I mean, I can, I can rattle off what I would ask for, but let's hear from you.
Speaker 2:Uh, I have a list. It's around here somewhere. Um, honestly, I I had to really invest in myself because I needed to. I this was coming at me so fast and I was growing. At a rate, I felt like I was trying to do a pull up and couldn't quite get over the bar. You don't want to do that. So I hired a coach and a mentor, which was Shannon, and she helped me through the whole process.
Speaker 2:So, the questions I just constantly be holding on to applications, driving around with them I love it whenever somebody sees the pink and black and cause that's my business colors and, whether you like it or not, it pops out. So people are coming at me all the time. Oh, I see you guys all the time. Starbucks parking lot yeah, it's a great marketing tool.
Speaker 2:Wi-fi right, it's like I don't want to drive all the way home because I live in the sticks, and it's like I'll just sit here and get some work done and if something comes up I can shoot over there. Well, people come up to my car and, hey, are you hiring? Boom, I got an application and my application is pretty intense because I don't want to just hire a breathing body right, I don't want somebody with a pulse, somebody that's going to align with my core values, company culture are we all going to mesh well together? But I do hand out. I'm always taking applications and a lot of them will weed themselves out because they look at the application and go, oh oh, I didn't know, I didn't know it was this intense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like five pages long or whatever, yeah yeah, no, I want to get to know you.
Speaker 2:I do introductions on my social media, getting to know her posts and I think a lot of people see that. Oh, she really treats her employees well and they resonate with that and that goes back to company culture. Yeah, and they want to to. Therefore, they want to hire somebody that investing in their employees yes like I do, and it is.
Speaker 2:It's a big investment and, um, it's a great investment. It's. It's here, you know, it's right here in the heart. Um, yeah, but but the questions I don't know. I just always have an application, a card, like you always say. My number is blasted everywhere. You can get a hold of me and call me and ask for a job ask for a job awesome, and there you don't have to do it.
Speaker 1:The low-tech method. Both jamie and I live in rural towns, so we do things a little bit differently. You can have an automated process so that you're not having to manage that piece. But my whole point is, when you do the person to person, you have a connection because these guys are like golden unicorns. They just float around. It's really hard to find somebody who's like into cleaning right, you can find good cleaners, but finding the golden unicorn that really wants to contribute to your business and help you grow, those guys might just walk up to you at the grocery store and can I have an application? So having an application process on your website so it dumps it in your email, and not waiting. Don't wait four or five days to call them back. Those times are long gone. You should be hopping on it, hopefully the same day, if not the following day, wouldn't you agree, jamie?
Speaker 2:Yes, and you know. I also like to say you know that this is a very flexible job, so we're always there to be able to. This resonates moms and dads. It resonates with busy moms that, hey, I got kids, so do I, and I always have to be there in time to pick them up for school. It's a very flexible industry and it's not, oh well, I'm scheduled from this to this. It's just really flexible. Yeah, I definitely agree.
Speaker 1:So it's ideal for busy moms or dads, because we have had dads step into it and some of the dads are better than the moms. So it just depends on what, what you know what I mean, where your, where your demographic is for sure.
Speaker 2:As far as cleaning techs.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Our, my husband. You know he's better at other things. You know, and, and, and you know well, cleaning is not for everybody. Yeah, you know he's better at you know he's better at other things, you know, and and you know well, cleaning is not for everybody yeah, you know he's better at to. You know the sales or or um helping me put some policies in place for my employees. We like to bounce those. So he he's, you know, and there's more than just cleaning techs involved in this too.
Speaker 1:So yeah, there's a whole team that you need to have and learn and all these different systems in place. But, yes, so to answer the question, should I hire if I don't have enough work? Yes, you should always be looking for the golden unicorn, should always give people the time of day, because you just never know when they're going to land and you could have I mean, if you think about it, each employee potentially can gross you, depending on where you are on the spectrum of price, anywhere from 75 grand to a hundred grand per cleaning tech. So and we're watching everything creep up because inflation has become so high.
Speaker 1:So, if you can do the math, how many do you need to hit for a million? Right, it's, it's, you just need 12, or you know my math, we know that I can't add when I'm doing these. So if you had, if you hypothetically had, someone pulling in a hundred thousand for you, or even 70,000, not 700,000,000. You would need, um, I think, 12 to hit 840,000. So you would need probably 14 to 16 to get the set to the seven figure mark. That's how much income your cleaning tax can pull in, revenue wise for you. Yes, your clients are where your base is, but who's earning you the money day in and day out, and the ground that should be worshiped are the cleaning techs, those guys who pull in the money for you.
Speaker 2:They're the biggest they're your biggest client.
Speaker 1:They are your biggest client.
Speaker 2:They really are. They're the face of your company. They're the face of your company, um, and they really do on every faucet they do and and a lot of them will. If you're, if your company culture, is you they, they will take the sword for you right developing company culture.
Speaker 1:a lot of people get into this game. They don't have any contact with their cleaning tech unless something goes wrong or a VA does it. They never have an appreciation day or ice cream socials or today's your birthday or thank you so much for working extra hard today. I know you worked your hiney off blah, blah, blah because and you see them all over in the mail I have this Booking. Koala is known for this, because everybody now wants in the cleaning industry and they have no company culture. That's been provided and I'm not trying to criticize them, but I'm trying to make everyone aware that you need to have something, something that shows that you're involved in your business, whether it's you or a liaison through an office manager, or however you do it. You need to have contact.
Speaker 1:We're humans, where this is a human industry, and I think that people forget, because we can't walk on water, that mistakes are going to happen, and that's when a mistake happens. It's an opportunity to learn. We were just talking about customer service last night. It's for you to learn and pivot, so keep that in mind when you for you to learn and pivot, so keep that in mind when you're starting to consider and trying to figure out your numbers and what you need and what you don't need. But you need to have a system in place, um, that has, like your, your funnel, that you're hiring and that it's going along, and initially, when you're new, it might be everything that's done manually and then, as you grow, you can have an automatic process.
Speaker 2:we hope one could hope, but uh yeah that is too funny, but yes, it's um but you can also delegate that off to somebody.
Speaker 2:There's oh there's so many things that you just you need to know whenever to delegate. I need to run this business and decide where do you want to take your company? Do you envision it being bigger? Do you always just want to be solo cleaner? You know, I've always envisioned being at the from day one. I just I don't know. I seen where it was going and, um, I envisioned big. So and you will pivot grow, pivot grow and um have employees and love on them.
Speaker 2:I do I love on them so much. I make sure you know when this is once you get a little bigger or you know um, I wanted to make sure that they felt so appreciated. So if they, they, I got everybody um pedicures, manicures, um lashes. Uh, if they need a tire, go get you some tires. If you need an oil change, go get you an oil change. There's all sorts of things um, and it comes with just time, but when you're first starting out, yep, always, always hire always yeah, if you're not hiring, you're not growing.
Speaker 1:It's really. And when you have a wait list, it's time for you to increase your rates. Um, you'll hear us talk about that all the time. But yeah, if you're not hiring, you're not growing, you're, you're stagnant. And you should, and you're, you're starting to see some of the big boys. I mean, I saw a business the other day on Facebook I don't I'm not going to name names, but they were. They did 3.2 million and they had 48 cleaning checks. I was like, oh my God. Obviously, their hiring process is automated. But yeah, there you, there's a, there's money to be made in this industry. So don't hold back, don't be shy, don't be afraid. And that's the biggest hurdle is, most people have never hired anybody. Who've stepped into the cleaning business. People don't have a lot of HR experience because they don't have management experience when they step into this industry. This is all stuff that you can learn. It's not the end of the world. It can be overwhelming initially because you're like you want me to do what?
Speaker 2:Wait, wait, wait. Yeah, let me take notes. Yeah Well, no, not. I think that's whenever you need to think about hiring a coach and mentor, whether it be with Shannon or somebody else. It just you need to start thinking somebody to help you do that. Somebody that can has it's a copy and paste Right, someone who's been down that road.
Speaker 1:Right. Sometimes you have people who've not done it and they say they have and you're like, okay, I, I need to. I need to know if you're legit or not. I've hired a coach in June and I'm working with somebody to help me lose all the weight again from when I broke my ankle. So I thought you know I'd be easy peasy and I'd be able to shut it off. And I was just like, especially once a week, you know on Monday, and we talk for like I don't know 15 minutes and we chat and we go over recipes and whatever. But there you need to have someone assist you going through the process, someone who's been there, right, you don't want someone who hasn't been there and then, if you don't want to, you can DIY it.
Speaker 1:The information is there on the internet, but you're going to spend hours and hours, and hours, and hours and hours. And do you really want to spend all those hours trying to put the wheel together when? Or you could just have the wheel already invented and you go you need this, this, this and this. There's courses too. I have courses on the website. You know, onboarding like a superstar is an audio course that you can take. I believe it's $9 and it walks you through the process of hiring your first W-2. It does not walk you through the process of a 1099. That's a whole different game and I try to differentiate between the two. I'm not a coach that says you need to have W-2s. I know other coaches are like you need to have them. Whatever business model you choose, I want you to be successful with so it doesn't, so do I, and so do I.
Speaker 2:And networking is so huge. Get involved with the other cleaning techs or cleaning business owners in your area. I cannot tell you. We are, our industry is so competitive, but yet, whenever we were also, we also come together, because you never know, you can't you, you might need them extra hands to hire you know running shorthanded or you haven't fully vetted somebody, or you know we have.
Speaker 1:You guys have all heard me talk about it. I have a messenger group I believe there's 30 different little teeny micro cleaning companies in all in this area and we talk a lot of things um private conversations that we don't want the public to know about. Sometimes it's uh hey, stay away from this person, they're not balanced or whatever exactly this person has burned me, me, me and me and me.
Speaker 1:We all have to tell this back. Right, and I'm not here to criticize or any of that stuff, but you should be made aware. Or I'm looking, I landed this post-construction job. It needs 12 people and I only have eight. Can anybody help fill in? This is what it pays and that works too. Anybody help fill in? This is what it pays and that works too. In the old days, we never did that. It was every man for themselves. I was this big whale that went around scooping up everything in my path. I didn't care about anybody but myself, and then, when I sold, I was like I'm not doing that anymore. I'm ready to do this and this is what I spend a lot of my time doing. But, yes, you should always be hiring, because if you're not hiring, you're not growing. Right, right.
Speaker 2:No, preach it. Preach it, that's right. Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1:So if you don't have a strategy to hire. You need to figure out your strategy, whether it's the old school method of in-person or you can go to hiring events. I've done hiring events in the past. It gets a little complicated, you know, because we do background checks. So what we did background checks, I don't do them anymore because I don't have W2s, I work on the 1099 model. So those are important elements to consider, like step one, do this, step two, do this, step three, do this and and always be looking, because you just you never know Mary could come in tomorrow and say my husband won the lottery.
Speaker 2:Here is your two weeks notice and you're like no, yeah, oh they're jumping right back in, right After not being in it for two years or something. You know it's just man. After not being in it for two years or something, you know it's just man. Yeah, always be hiring and there should be what is that? There should be some stuff in your area, is it small business? Nacog is good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the administration for the United States is okay. It's more of a general broad. It covers the whole nation. But NACOG is good. It's usually retired individuals who can help you business-wise. There's Indeed, there's usually events that are happening that are local.
Speaker 2:You decide whether you want to participate or not.
Speaker 1:SBDC, which is Small Business.
Speaker 2:Development Center. Oh, there we go. Sorry, development Center, and that's free. I know it's hard whenever you're still working in your business to be able to go and do those kinds of things.
Speaker 1:so this is why you need to be hiring and and so you can invest in yourself to become a better leader, a better boss, better company culture definitely, and I know initially and this is off topic because I hear this a lot too is, if I hire someone, they'll never clean as good as me. You're never going to find anybody who's going to clean good as you. We are the unicorns. Yes, you have to let it go. It's hard to let it go. Well, my clients aren't going to like it Too bad. They want to keep you for themselves.
Speaker 2:They don't want you to grow. They don't, yeah, and they don't. A lot of people don't want to do uh word of mouth because they're afraid they're going to lose you because you're going to grow bigger. Um, not every, but not all your clients are going to support and they have to get used to those small little imperfections that um that you never missed. That are going, yeah, that are, yeah, that we never missed and it's just, it's part of the um, the growing it's, you know, yeah, too bad.
Speaker 1:Yes, so there's a transition that has to happen and, um, it's a learned process for sure. So, yes, we both agree that you should always be hiring, and if you're not hiring, you're not growing. You're stunting your own growth by your own self-sabotage. We've all done it. I've done it up here. So take it from me personally Don't, don't hold yourself back. The only way to grow is to have help and know you're never going to find anybody who's going to clean as good as you. And there is a transition that has to happen. There are steps to follow. Those are actually covered inside the Structure, scale and Profit Cleaning Business Academy. If you want to learn those steps, by all means. But there's a process to everything, and learning the steps in the process makes it more efficient for you to delegate that task to someone else.
Speaker 1:So never be afraid of hiring. Make sure that you're vetting whoever it is that you're hiring, that you're not hiring someone who is having some issues with their personal life. Make sure you're hiring someone who's well-rounded. Make sure you're hiring someone who can communicate, who wants to be there. There's nothing worse than having someone be in a job that doesn't want to be there and they're throwing their stuff around. You're like dude, what's wrong with you? Yeah, like I'm just happy to be here, I'm ready to go. What's your problem? So, um, always, always, always, be hiring.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, this concludes episode number one with Miss Jamie. Thank you so much for joining us. Jamie runs Above All Cleaning in Northern Arizona. Northern California If she was in Northern Arizona. I'd see her all the time Because Arizona is way smaller than California. So in Northern California you can look her up and I look forward to chatting with you soon. Bye.
