Cleaning Business Life

CBL Episode #96 We were shocked when we saw this post...What & Why you need to supply for your W-2's

• Shannon Miller & Jamie Runco • Season 2025 • Episode 96

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Could a simple pair of gloves be your business's best defense against costly fines and legal troubles? Explore the critical importance of providing proper personal protective equipment (PPE) for cleaning techs with us, Shannon Miller, and my co-host, Jamie Runco. We dive into the essential responsibilities of ensuring your team is equipped with the necessary safety gear, such as gloves, to protect them—and your business—from potential OSHA involvement. Through real-life stories and personal anecdotes, you'll learn how a small oversight could lead to significant consequences.

New to the cleaning industry and feeling overwhelmed by the "ick factor"? You're not alone. Many newcomers experience a heightened aversion to germs, impacting their performance and glove usage. Jamie and I share practical strategies to tackle this challenge, from leveraging noise distractions during tasks to managing glove supply efficiently through subscription services. We also discuss the importance of considering employees' comfort levels and potential allergies, ensuring a smooth operational flow and addressing common hurdles faced by cleaning businesses of all sizes.

Discover the essentials of setting up an efficient cleaning kit, whether you're a solo cleaner or managing a team. We cover everything from reliable cleaning products like rubbing alcohol and white vinegar to the practical equipment that ensures quality and consistency. Learn why microfiber cleaning cloths and the Hoover Portavac are our favorites, and how choosing the right tools can significantly enhance your cleaning efficiency. Join us for insights and practical tips that promise to elevate your cleaning business success to new heights.


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Speaker 1:

I'm Shannon Miller, your host and cleaning business coach, with over a decade of hands-on industry experience. That's 15 years for 2025. And I'm also joined by my incredible co-host, jamie Runco. Together, we bring you real-life stories from cleaning business owners and guests who have been in the trenches just like you. You'll leave with small, actionable steps that you can implement today to boost your profits and simplify your cleaning business and your life. If you're ready to turn your hustle into a thriving, sustainable business, you are in the right place. Let's dive in. Recording in progress. Hello, hello, hello, jamie, and my name is Shannon Miller and we're going to talk about what supplies should I pay for with my cleaning techs.

Speaker 1:

Let me give you a little backstory of how this came into fruition. So, as you know, we spend a lot of time in our group and other people's groups, cleaning groups and there was the cleaning business owner and, yes, I'm going to indirectly call you out and, if you don't like it, we can a private conversation. But you were, you were anonymous and you had asked if it was your responsibility to supply gloves to your crew of five. Now, mind you, we won't even go there about the crew of five and if she was responsible for supplying these supplies to her cleaning techs. Now, if you're working in a team of four to five, if you only have one team of four to five people, you're actually doing seven to eight houses a day.

Speaker 1:

Most homes have three bathrooms, so that's 24 bathrooms Hypothetically I'm not saying one person. Obviously, if you have a team of four or five, they're going to divvy up the wet work versus the dry work, but it's still a lot of bathrooms to have to clean without gloves if you want them. Some of the old school cleaners who've been doing this a while probably still don't wear gloves even after COVID, and that's a decision they can make. But when you have W-2s, it is your responsibility as the cleaning business owner to provide all that they need to be successful. If you don't supply them all that they need to be successful, then guess what? They won't be successful.

Speaker 2:

And all those training dollars are wasted. I was shocked whenever I seen that. I mean, and I see why they posted anonymously, because I think deep down inside they knew what the answer was going to be, and that person did. They got tore to pieces on you need to supply if they decided that they don't want to work.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, if they decided they don't want to wear them, that's, that's on them, but they have to be in a place like, like with my, my employees. They go, they, uh, once a week they go and they get all their supplies, all their rags, all their um filter, you know just everything. That is something that I have to supply. They're sitting right there on the table for and there's boxes and boxes and you know my colors are black and hot pink, so they're hot pink gloves, but they are supplied. If you have W-2 employees, you have to supply everything.

Speaker 1:

There's a gray area when you first get hired on. We can discuss that in another podcast. But from a legal standpoint, especially in some states, if you have true w-2s and you don't supply them with gloves because it's a safety ppe right? We all learned what that was on covid they could actually group together and sue you and file a complaint and guess who's going to come knocking on your door yeah, and not to mention that you'll get dinged by the labor board?

Speaker 2:

No, it's even worse?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the labor board will be involved. But guess who comes knocking on your door? Osha.

Speaker 2:

Have a couple OSHA audits there are only a few things that scare me, and that is the labor board, osha and the IRS. Those three industries scare me. I have a little fear from them. I do not want them poking around. I've heard that it's very unpleasant, so I fly right. I do everything by the book. I don't. I don't try and cheat the system, because I don't want somebody coming up to me and saying oh, guess what? You didn't supply, supply gloves for this long, all of last year. Let's say just as a hypothetical, but yeah, could you imagine that? That?

Speaker 1:

fine. Oh, it's huge. It's a five thousand dollar fine. Initially at least here in Arizona it is when I had my offices. We had a dock area that you could load and unload. So my husband built stairs so that they wouldn't have to walk up the handicap ramp right. Instead of walking around, they could just open the gate and walk straight up. Well, I had someone get upset with me one time for whatever reason, and they reported me to OSHA and I had to replace the stairs. I couldn't take the stairs away. I had to build in new stairs at my own expense and I had to put side rails on there because that was considered non-safe and illegal at my own expense.

Speaker 2:

And because I had already established, and it's your own brick and mortar.

Speaker 1:

Right Because, yeah, and I didn't even own this building, I rented right. So because I had established precedence, right, I was now responsible for fixing the needs of my employees. So learn from my mistake ended up having to walk up and down the ramp, which was the long way. This is before you know.

Speaker 2:

We switched models and did all the crazy things that we now operate with, right, but yeah, it's, I haven't heard this one and let me tell you your stories are. What has kept me in line is because, oh, my goodness, I don't want. Okay, the one with the eyewash. Do you know that even one of my employees was like, oh no, you got the eyewash Right? I have an electric faucet, basically that sticks down in a tube with a little thing at the bottom so that you're able to wash out your eye, my whole thing with the eye wash was the fact that I had running water in my unit.

Speaker 1:

It wasn't non-running water, so it was just I'm like well, why do I have to? I have water right here to wash out their eyeballs, why do they need it? No?

Speaker 2:

it's just the fact that that was even brought up like it's just good to implement those things before, because we all know it's 2025. And I am trying. One of my many goals is trying to get into a brick and mortar. That's for another topic, for another time, but I would like to have this all implemented before I even go in that direction. Right?

Speaker 1:

But since we're talking about OSHA, just like you need an SDS binder for each team that goes out, especially you in California, and it's your responsibility to check it to see if there's any updates, so once a year you have to put it on your your calendar check updates for the following, whatever chemicals you use, and then you just print them out, stick them in and s a sheet protector, slap it in there and get.

Speaker 1:

Give each one of them a binder sds so that if there's an emergency, that they could figure it out. But nine times out of ten I'm telling you, if there's an emergency, nobody's reading the sds. They're like just get it out of my eye, let me see one second.

Speaker 2:

Let me look at this blender that I I have, but now let's try and find what did I bring my reading glasses?

Speaker 1:

it's like trying to figure out how a fire extinguisher works after you have the fire in full blaze mode. It's just like do I take the pin out first, do I? You know, it's a whole dynamic so you want to think about. But the reason why we want to discuss what you're responsible for providing for w2s, not 1099s, um is because of the nuances of this individual in this group who felt it wasn't her responsibility to pay for any PPE for the safety of her own W-2s. So make sure that you are supplying them with what they need. Now, if you have someone who has a really high ick factor, then what the ick factor is is they're new to the cleaning industry and everything has cooties on it and they go through a whole box of gloves at home. That's the ick factor. So they're constantly. They don't wanna touch anything. They have anxiety about touching anything. They're reaching their hands on the toilet. They're telling, they have anxiety and they're.

Speaker 2:

They've changed their gloves, like you know, 50 times and when we, you, you're laughing because you have experiences, because I, I've, I have, I, I, whenever they first start off. Yes, you're gonna have to stick your hand in the toilet, right, you're gonna have to supply them with gloves and, um, sometimes you'll get the. I can't do it, okay, yes, I have. That might not be the employee for you, but, um, I think it was more of the way, the, the, and the feel of the, the pumice, the pumice stone, or the sound of it touching the. I, I run some water, do something, you know, throw some white noise in the background.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

It's an interesting dynamic.

Speaker 1:

So if you have true W-2s, it is your responsibility to provide them and if they go through a lot of gloves, you can come to an agreement that you're going to get 10 pairs of gloves is very generous per house, so you're going to have to allot them out until they get comfortable and learn how to not rip them every time. And I know the fashion right now are the nails that are super pointy. Those people I've seen them clean, but I've never seen them clean without ripping gloves. So you're you know, and I would bring that up to them hey, I'm supplying this many gloves because you have pointy fingernails. You may have to kick in if this is a concern for you. You always want to have a buy-in and you want to get the, you know. Hey, I'm letting you know that this is what it is and I will say milliliters do.

Speaker 2:

it matters whenever it comes to getting gloves. Getting them from the Dollar Tree might not work, and you might go through several hundred if you're running a team of five.

Speaker 1:

That's crazy there actually is an allotment of. Let's see if it put it here. I looked at how many here. Let's cheat. I had notes in chat GPT and I didn't copy and paste it, so let me pull up my chat GPT really quick. But there was an allotment on how many gloves each size business would go through on there, which I was impressed. Let's see. Bonus offer cleaning supply checklist, it said. I believe it said supplier list request. Oh, it said recommended quantities. Oh, okay, yeah, this was kind of cool that it just brought. I didn't even ask. I was like, oh, this is extra information. I know, I know, for small business, this is hypothetical. This is AI.

Speaker 1:

It's not perfect, yeah, but small businesses, as in one to five cleaners, will go through a box. A hundred box. I'm sorry, I can't even articulate. We've been talking for hours. A box of 100 per cleaner per month is what it's saying, hypothetically speaking. Medium sized business? Well, we're going to ask Jamie at the end Medium sized business, which is? It considers 6 to 15 cleaners. I actually consider that a large business, but a case of 1,000, 10 boxes of 100 are used per month. Large businesses are 16-plus cleaners, multiple cases based on employee count and usage. So, jamie, how many boxes a month do you go through, for you have five girls right now, or six.

Speaker 2:

It's on and off. So six, yeah yeah, it's six right now. Anyways, we go. I make sure that I am on. I again live in a small town. I can't always get over here to the Costco, so I use Amazon a lot and I'm on subscribe and save and I get a case every month and I have yet to run out of them.

Speaker 1:

How many boxes come in a case for the audience? 10, 12?

Speaker 2:

12. Yes, okay, and I don't go through a whole, I don't go through all 12 of them a month, but I make sure that we're always just like, because the girls, you know, they love their Swiffers, but I only supply so many. I supply some of the blue, some of the yellow and, of course, my personal favorite, the feather duster, and I just I'm on subscribe and saves on those, on all of it. So, and I'm just now getting to where I know I've been in business long enough about what I need to keep totally stocked on everything.

Speaker 1:

So I know that 12,.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I know that 12, and then for those 12, there's 100 in each of those boxes and we go with the, we go with the six milliliter, milliliter and, um, I think it's millimeter, millimeter. Yeah, it's an n milliliter would be liquid yeah no, yeah, milliliter, millimeter, yeah millimeter. Millimeter.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, maybe I was trying to put both of them together, maybe I like the thicker gloves versus the thinner gloves, but yeah, it's all a matter of preference. And then in your hiring process, since we're talking about gloves, it should be a question on your application Are you allergic to latex? Because there's always one fluffy bunny who is, and it's OK. You just need to know, because then you have to supply a different type of glove for them, right? That would be something that you would need to know, just like one of the questions I used to ask is are you allergic?

Speaker 1:

I don't use yellow, I don't use Lysol products anymore, but I'm like are you? I would ask them are you allergic to yellow number five? And they're like what do you mean? I'm like it's in Lysol products, which is what we use, I we use. I actually had a girl this is what started me to transition out of the chemical into natural stuff um who was allergic to yellow number five. So we she and I went around experimenting on what she would have a reaction to and what she didn't. And I, you know, I'm very thankful for that transition. It's really um been a lifesaver and a game changer for me.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. Definitely that's how that happened.

Speaker 1:

Um some of the things that, uh, we're going to talk about it's, these are all options. You don't have to have these. I've seen people pull up with full on suitcases. It's like the roadies from a concert. They got all like suitcase after suitcase.

Speaker 2:

I've some people will throw out a cart and will it in and just like, oh and I, that gets pricey Whenevery. Whenever you you're starting it for a solo cleaner, sure, go have at it. Or, or a content creator we see a lot of content create. That's, that's good. But whenever you start getting employees, that is not financial, financially feasible. Right, those carts, I've looked into them because I, like you, know the shiny objects. Oh, especially whenever it comes to cleaning, I am a geek over.

Speaker 2:

I try and I got it down to what we use in our, in our, my company now, but that took a little while. It took a little while. Like you, know what works, what doesn't work. What millimeter type glove do you need? You know those. Those take a little time and experience. If you, especially if you're just now starting off in this industry, and if you're just now starting off over trying to get um employees yeah, you need to you need to make sure that something like gloves they have to have um and um the products that you use in. Somebody tried to bring I I think it was some Lysol, I think so. Anyways, it don't matter. I seen it in their bag. That's my bag. I pulled it out and put it in her front seat and I was like that's not what we use in this Right. I mean, that's not how you were trained, we don't. What are you doing?

Speaker 1:

Those are decisions that W2s are not allowed to make, and there's a reason why. Having the systems in place, you have tried and true product that you know works. This is always the problem too, and people will still do it to this day. If I supply the products, will I have a discount? You can't. You can't guarantee quality. You're using a product that's probably been sitting on the shelf since the nineties.

Speaker 2:

And that's what I say too. I would I'm like as gingerly as possible, I tell them, basically, you just call it the professional Right, no't, yeah, no, I know what, I know, what works right, you know, and that's. But that's what my employees are trained on is to use the products that I use and, um, I love supporting, uh, those small businesses making their own all natural cleaners out there.

Speaker 1:

Perfect, it's just, and we can talk about those two people I haven't. So here's a basic list of what you need in your kit and I know a lot of people talk about, you know, only carrying one bag. I believe in carrying one bag and two buckets and a high duster and a mop, and usually I'll you know, if I were, if I were still cleaning, I'd bring the port-a-vac, which I absolutely love, but everything else you really don't need a suitcase or a carry-all cart. You just need a little bit of ingenuity to think about what you need. So the number one thing I put down was rubbing alcohol and white vinegar mix. Now, this was a big topic in COVID. Everybody wanted a certain percentage of right white vinegar Cause that was stronger and you'll notice when you go to Walmart. Now they actually have 90% and 70%. When they before COVID, everything was 50%. So you, if you put white vinegar in with the rubbing alcohol, it makes a perfect cleaner for shiny objects, mirrors, chrome, anything that you want to disinfect. If you want to disinfect your toilet, you can use it on that. It's a really inexpensive product used. Obviously, when you spray it don't inhale. That's not good for you.

Speaker 1:

Another one of my favorite products and, by the way, I'm not getting any perks by mentioning any of these things. These are just what I like. Another product I like is Barkeeper's Friend and I will be honest, I didn't use Barkeeper's Friend for a long time because to me it smelled like vomit. Yeah, I'm just going to lay that out right there in the lab. And it took me a long time to be comfortable with the smell and not smell that smell. It took. I mean I had to start off with liquid before I could even use powder. I mean I would just the powder is.

Speaker 2:

It does. It works very well.

Speaker 1:

It's a superior product. It does have crushed up stone in it so it can scratch. Please, please, read your SDS sheet to know what it will work. Do and not research your product. And what I like the? Um, the mop buckets. I like the the red mop buckets that you can get at Walmart. I usually throw the gray spin mop thing that comes with it out in the trash or I leave it behind because I don't like those. Um, I prefer flat mopping is the way to go, and I know people are like I can't flat mop. It takes practice. I like the flat mops from microfiber.

Speaker 1:

Wholesale High dusters. These are a game changer. You should decide what protocol you're going to have for high dusting. Some cleaners do it Monthlies. They always have to be high dusted, so you decide if you're going to do it quarterly or every visit. A four foot ladder is always good to have. You can get them at Costco. I don't know how much they are, but if you want cheaper workman's comp, then tell them you won't go above a four foot ladder. Hydrogen peroxide is a game changer. You can usually get that at Walmart as well. It kills mold. It actually helps loosen up buildup in the bathrooms. There's a lot of uses for hydrogen peroxide. Yes, it does have to be kept inside a bucket inside of your car if that is your work vehicle, because in the heat it expands, it'll leak out and then the hydrogen peroxide will get all over on your car and you'll be like, oh no, yeah, yeah. And then I like Pure Evergreen Cleaning Products from Kimberly Gonzalez. It's a superior product worth every penny.

Speaker 2:

And they're cozy bliss, mm-hmm, oh, it's so good, it is.

Speaker 1:

And I also and I don't remember her name, so you'll have to to. I think it might be Cassandra, but I'm not sure the five and one Nicole, nicole.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, sorry, yeah, no, nicole it is a citric acid base cleaner, right, but um, I've almost been able to, just I. I really don't need to use Barthkeeper Friend anymore.

Speaker 1:

That's that stuff works and that's great, because then you don't have to rinse, right, you can just shush some water instead of having to rinse the powder.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that stuff is I don't know. I was, I thought, One of these times I'm going to have to order from her to try out her stuff. I haven't had a chance to yes, please.

Speaker 1:

I from her to try out her stuff. I haven't had a chance to. I'll do it. I'll try it out in my house. An assortment of brushes I like old toothbrushes and really thin brushes to get all the nooks and crannies and like ovens or faucets or weird spots.

Speaker 2:

Boy, I wish I had it here. We have, we have both. So I have those the long crevice cleaners. But there's a and it comes up under Amazon again, a subscribe and save. It comes up as gun cleaner, toothbrush gun cleaner, and it has a stiff bristle at the end and a very thin small bristle at the other end to get in those really small nooks and crannies. They're great for on deep cleans, move in, move out cleans.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, I like those too. Rinsing cups this seems to be a pondering with you guys, and I'm not quite sure why. The rinse-a-roo is a big thing For expedience sakes. It's going to take 15 minutes or so to figure out how to load that thing. Then you have, like, the whole liability issue.

Speaker 1:

It get two cups from Jack in the box. They're plastic. You can get a drink it's iced tea or lemonade or whatever your favorite drink is. Take them, wash them, stick them in your wet kit. You can put your toilet brush in one and use the bottom as a rinsy cup and you have to step in the tub or the shower to rinse it. Just in case for those of you who have not figured that out yet, you have to step in to rinse it off. I when, when we did a lot of volume um, my husband's a plumber and we would have them hook up uh, shower heads for rinsing, just for expedient, we would pay for the whole thing. We just would add it onto their bill as a little extra subsidy to pay for whatever it was oh, I will call it that right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh neat.

Speaker 1:

That way everybody's happy and you know. But the rinse and rue thing can be challenging and it only works in certain circumstances. You guys all know that I like the microfiber cleaning cloths. They are made here in America. I'm actually hoping to be able to visit them in person coming up this summer. We'll have to see. And I prefer the red microfibers or, believe it or not, the purple microfibers. They have different thicknesses and, for those of you who don't use microfibers, microfibers can hold six times their weight in liquid.

Speaker 2:

Yeah yeah, we have so many microfibers. As a matter of fact, I need to go through some of the old ones and you know they do lose. They do you know, know after a while. So again another subscribe and save right.

Speaker 1:

And then, um, I also like window cleaning cloths. Now some people use microfibers, some people use the, the special window cleaning cloths that you buy from the e-cloth. I like the good old-fashioned huck class that you get from the rag lady and she's a recycler, so you're doing a good thing. It's not ending up in the landfill. You do have to wash and dry them a couple times to get all the chemical out, because they're, um, old surgical class. They've not been used, but once they open up the packaging, the surgical cannot use them. All right, yes, what is it? White rags? You can take an old towel that you find. If you, if this is low budget, you can buy them white rags. You could go to yard sales and cut them up and then find a grandma who wants to earn some extra money and sew edges around each rag for you 50 cents, whatever. Or you can buy them pre-done from Amazon. Whatever's easiest. Don't just Basically like a washcloth.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So you're recycling and it's not ending up in landfill. Flat mop heads go with the flat mop. I don't know why it's numbered down there on the list, oops. And if you're doing flat mopping, usually, depending on the style of flat mopping you're doing, it can take anywhere from four to six, sometimes eight, mop heads to clean a whole house. If you're doing just the bucket method, two or three of them is plenty. It does take practice to learn how to swivel your core muscles to go backwards.

Speaker 2:

Yep, I will say that that's another. Again, we're not affiliated with any of these people, just saying what we use. And I just noticed that there is a new mop out. Normally I go, always go with microfiber or wholesale, but there is a new mop where it clips down onto the mop. It comes up. It's um, I'll get to it, but the girls it comes with, uh, automatically three mop heads, um, and they're much cheaper than your normal, because from microfiber wholesale they're about 45 bucks and you get the two, three mop heads, or maybe it's two, and then the dust mop, the one dust mop with it.

Speaker 1:

You have the sun coming in on the side. Yes, let me know how that mop works. I'm curious, I'm always curious about new product?

Speaker 2:

Oh, exactly, and again, these are just things that I found that has worked in my business, and I have learned how to cut cost because of this Right.

Speaker 1:

And then there is the Hoover Portavac. You can usually get these for about a hundred bucks off Amazon. They're pretty indestructible. We finally had one break out in the field. It was like eight or nine years old, so it had been used every day for almost every day for eight or nine years before it finally died. You can actually change out the engine if you wanted. I didn't want to get a new engine, so the frame was cracked, so we just tossed it in the trash. We cut off the cord, because the plug-in cord is actually can be recycled and used into a different machine.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, so back to the mop. Sorry, you got oh, did you find it, mr Siga? Professional microfiber and I don't know.

Speaker 1:

I wish I could show you I'm going to pull it up right now, since we're looking. Yeah, mr Siga, so I turned it into airplane mode. Ok, mr Siga, mr Siga, s I G A. Yes, oh, s I G AS I G A, mr Siga. Mr Siga is a manufacturer and supplier of household cleaning products, including cloths, brushes, sponges and dust pans. Oh, I've seen these, let um. Oh, I've seen these. That um, let me know how they are in use of ease. They have this weird setup it is.

Speaker 2:

It takes a little practice, just like with any, especially with flat mopping. That's a whole different special bucket, it it don't. I already had, I already had buckets. I have buckets from you, you know gosh, everywhere it looks like it's just a one and done thing.

Speaker 1:

They're not going over the floor several times.

Speaker 2:

So this would be great in commercial and it's great for whenever you're going, like, say, on the front door, you pop those off, it comes with three. It don't come with the bucket so you have to get the bucket yourself. The girls already have their bucket, but it comes with three mop heads. And at the end, whenever you're pulling everything towards the end, you know whenever you're done mopping, you've already vacuumed and sometimes you get those little particles on the floor and so you can pull it, you can pull it towards you and then, right at the very end, pop those up and then take that microfiber just like a cloth and then swipe it up and put it in your dirty bag rag and you're good to go.

Speaker 1:

We're the only weird ones that get excited about new cleaning. I'm all scrolling down reading it. I'm like, oh, this is awesome, that might be an alternative. If you guys do buy the Sigamop, please let me know how it works out in the field. I'm curious to see if it's scalable or not. And then there's vacuums. I'm curious to see if it's scalable or not. And then there's vacuums. Pick something that you like. As far as vacuums, some people are diehard Dyson, other people are Shark fans. We used Oryx. Oryx can take a beating and they're really easy to fix if they break. But if you have a canister vacuum, there's some care that needs to happen, as when we discussed with the bed bug thing, and obviously the warranty will be voided if you tell them that you're using it for commercial use. If you're from Shark I don't have my name, I don't know what I'm talking about. But yeah, those are some of the items. Did I miss any of the items? I'm sure you have a couple more items that you guys carry we have to have the magic erasers.

Speaker 2:

Oh, magic, yes, that's an absolute must um for the longest time. Oh, I, I did not use magic erasers. I'm have still wool, but that is only to be the zero, zero, zero, zero still wool. That is only to be used on um more of like deep cleans, because now, now, once the deep clean has been done, or move in, move out, clean, once those are done, you don't really need it after that. So that's the only time that I make my employees carry the still wool. So there's always still wool there. You mentioned we have gum brushes too.

Speaker 1:

I didn't mention that either.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, toilet bowl brush. Oh, there we go, that would go, yes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I get the ones with the lid on it. That fits into their bag. It has no splash back on it, and most people if my client has a toilet bowl cleaner in their house, we use theirs. So you know it's not being used constantly. And yes, we do take everything out after every client's home and sanitize. Um, ain't nothing to it. It takes two seconds and you know, probably a little longer than that, but it's just that once you get it down and so used to going, it's nothing but a thing. It's not even, oh, I, you know nothing but a thought. Uh, there are other specialty products that we do have. Some people like um, they want their, their uh, bio clean I didn't put that one in there either. Oh, bio cleans very good, that's a good natural cleaner. That's up there with, you know, the pink stuff, bars, keeper friend and bio clean. Those are the three and it's all about preference.

Speaker 1:

That is right. It's not something that we carry around normally, but yeah, no, um, but those.

Speaker 2:

I see that a lot in the groups that that is the three top. Some people claim that bio clean uh works a lot better all day long for them and I I just um.

Speaker 1:

Like I said, I use cassell cleaners um, five in one and um yeah, that's not, and obviously gloves, you would need a husky bag, um, and that would pretty much. If you wanted the short version, just what I listed off earlier that that pretty much covers the gist of it some ideas too right, because some people, you know, prefer other.

Speaker 2:

Clean. These are just yep, what we use right, right.

Speaker 1:

There's no affiliation at all. It's usually just products that we love. That's, that's all that says that is it but that that's the gist of it.

Speaker 1:

So try to remember. I don't know. I hope that this individual, after you know me going back and forth with I'm assuming it was a her decides to provide gloves and not have the excuse that I'm not charging enough and I can't afford more gloves. I'm not charging enough and I can't afford more gloves, which leads me in a panic because if you're not charging enough to supply gloves, you probably shouldn't be operating. I mean, gloves are a minimal charge out of your cost of goods sold, so, um yeah, and I hope that they're not running a whole team of five in one house, right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, she was. She was running. If you go back in the conversation that we had, we're not going to say what group this was in. Yeah, she was running. Uh, four to five people teams in one person's home, which means that you've invaded their space and they're going to have to either leave or move all the way out of the way and they're going to spend less than an hour there and it's it's just stressful to be able to get out and on top of that, you know it was like I would imagine it was a super low price.

Speaker 1:

Again, if you are that person and you want to go ahead and chat it out with me, I'm happy to do it, but I'm just calling you out because this is what I see. I don't want anyone else to do what you're doing. I'm here to help change the industry and the only way to change the industry is to call people out who have bad behaviors. And it's not that you're an awful person, it's just I see a behavior that needs to be corrected and I got to look out for everybody in our industry, not just one individual. Yes, absolutely, applying gloves is most important If they're wearing contact lenses. I always used to suggest to the girls and guys, you know. Hey, I would wear glasses because this is a shield that is something that is there.

Speaker 2:

I not very rare, very rarely, but it is provided. It is there just in case they need down to booties. If they wanted, wanted booties, I got booties. Masks, I have masks, protective goggles, we have it all. We got to make sure that our number one client, which is our employees, are protected. They don't get a lot of sicknesses. We treat them well so that they will take the sword for you really and they will.

Speaker 1:

They're the golden unicorns and you're gonna make a lot of money off each and every one of them. And when you give me the, the and I'm gonna be blunt if, when you give me the crap, that you can't afford gloves for your golden unicorns, I'm gonna call you up. You you need to supply the basic entities of someone being able to do their job. It's like working in a bar and not having a dishwasher behind the bar. Oh, you're going to have to go in the back and wait for them to come through the dishwasher. Back there You're not going to be able to serve drinks, right? So what do they do? They move a small mini dishwasher, a glass washer, up in the front right the bar. You can't have. You can't be a server in a restaurant without a tray. I mean, you can make it work, but it's a lot of trip.

Speaker 2:

Then you're, then your person's gonna quit, right, yes and an apron and an apron and an apron and it's all about preference, but an apron it, you know that is, you know that is pretty, you know I, we supply, I don't know. Yeah, I agree 100%. Yeah, one one employee of mine last year I have it broke down of what they made for this company, which, which is $67,000, and that is one that is a team lead. But still, I just and if you can't supply the something as simple as gloves, then I don't know what to tell you. Yeah, yeah, reach out, reach out right, because they they're, they're out there breaking their backs and when they're left scrambling, when they're left scrambling to to get just something, they're not, they're not going to stay with you very long no, and you're investing a lot of money and I call them golden unicorns for a reason.

Speaker 1:

It's because they are your golden unicorn. You're going to earn income off of them. Office staff you're not going to earn income off of them. Office staff you're not going to earn income off of them. Your cleaners are going to. That's where your income comes from. You want to make them happy, worship the ground they walk on. That's the whole business. On the back they work. It's the 23rd trade. But yeah, I don't. I don't know. We'll see how long this business owner remains in business and, um, I disagree with her methods and I'm just calling you out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I agree because I seen it too.

Speaker 1:

So beautiful. Well, jamie, until next time. Thank you everyone for coming in. And oh, the algorithm. If you have time, I'm trying to remember to do this to every episode. We're making some changes this year. If you are on Apple or amazon and you want to give us, or wherever you're listening to us, um, if you give us a review and you download our episodes, we would love you.

Speaker 2:

It makes the algorithm kick us up and it says you are valuable and we love that yes, yes that that you're getting some value out of these podcasts and, shannon, I know you put everything into it, so thank you so much for doing all this for us.

Speaker 1:

You're so welcome.

Speaker 2:

Take care Bye.

People on this episode

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Jamie Runco

Host
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Shannon Miller

Host