Cleaning Business Life
Cleaning Business Life
is your go-to weekly podcast, co-hosted by Shannon Miller, founder of Klean Freaks University, and Jamie Runco, CEO of Above All Cleaning Company in Northern California.
This podcast is designed to support cleaning business owners at every stage of their journey—from launching a startup to scaling to seven figures. Whether you're just starting out or already running an established business, you'll find actionable strategies, proven systems, and expert advice to help you streamline operations, boost profitability, and grow with confidence.
In each episode, we cover critical topics like:
- Building effective systems and structures that drive sustainable growth.
- Product reviews and recommendations to equip your team with the best tools.
- Exclusive interviews with industry leaders sharing tips and success stories.
- Q&A sessions addressing your most pressing business challenges.
- The latest industry trends to keep you ahead of the curve.
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Cleaning Business Life
CBL Episode #99 The Crime of Heather Nelson and Tipping...
Heather Nelson is Cleaning Business Owner who was Arrested Over Christmas Bonus Dispute: A Wake-Up Call for the Industry. ( Link to article is down below or just google it:)
Should cleaning professionals rely on holiday bonuses and tips, or is it more sustainable to set fair prices from the start? This critical question is at the heart of our latest discussion with Jamie, where we examine the nuances of tipping culture and its impact on the cleaning industry.
In this episode, we break down a shocking case involving Heather Nielsen, a house cleaner who was arrested after assaulting a client over a withheld Christmas bonus. The incident, which also involved her taking blank checks to cover rent, exposes the risks of unrealistic expectations and financial desperation in the industry.
We emphasize the importance of professionalism, integrity, and self-worth while encouraging cleaners and business owners to attract clients who genuinely value their work. Additionally, we tackle the complexities of tipping—cash versus credit, ethical concerns.
https://www.14news.com/2025/01/12/housekeeper-accused-assaulting-83-year-old-employer-who-denied-her-500-christmas-bonus/
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Welcome back, miss Jamie. That's who I am. Hi, long time no see. Right, I love that red. It looks great on you. Today I want to talk about should cleaners, or you as a cleaning business owner, expect a Christmas bonus and or a tip, or you, as a cleaning business owner, expect a Christmas bonus and or a tip? By now you guys have probably all heard about Heather Nielsen, who was a house cleaner who assaulted her 83-year-old client which is a no-no and she stole from her because the 83-year-old client didn't give a Christmas bonus, slash tip and it is all over the news. So the first harmful thing this does for our industry is the fact that you know we already have a hard enough time with transparency and being honest and having integrity, and then you have unscrupulous individuals like this who do these entitlement moves is what I called it. So, jamie, what do you? What's your thoughts on tipping in general and Christmas bonuses and all that stuff? What's your thought on that?
Speaker 2:I believe that we should already you know we're not the cheapest people to you know, I feel like it's therapy Like this is a small price to pay for therapy to help you know somebody to come into your home. So I it's not expected on our end and if it happens that's awesome, that's great, I celebrate it, but it's not expected and I just want to say real quick that that lady what was it? Heather Nielsen Nielsen? Yeah, in Florida.
Speaker 2:Uh, yeah, I just, you know, I'm gonna call you out because you have made me so angry amongst, I'm sure, thousands of other cleaning business owners to have tarnished that. That, just so, it's an elderly person and you know they're. Sometimes these elderly people are on a fixed income, you know, or or they're, they're, they're living off of their social security or whatever the case may be. And for you to just expect I've seen it in the groups people just really boohooing a lot around Christmas time. Last year I got a bonus, this year I did not, and it was just. We should, as a whole industry should be charging enough to not have to expect any tip Right.
Speaker 1:I concur a thousand percent and this is what it says Nielsen, heather Nielsen, 29. Oh, here I'll start at the beginning. I apologize. A 29 year old and this is from the New York Post. Better give them snaps where it's due.
Speaker 1:29 year old Florida housekeeper robbed and assaulted her 83 year old employer on Christmas Eve when the elderly woman said she couldn't afford to pay her once trusted worker a holiday bonus. Heather became irate when her initial request for a $500 bonus that's a lot was rejected by her octogenarian boss and decided to take what she wanted anyway. She responded by physically wrenching the victim's checkbook from her hand, stealing a check from the checkbook and then, I guess in an effort to ruin other people's Christmases as well, stole Christmas cards that were set to be mailed out containing checks obviously addressed to others. So this is wrong on so many levels and you should never expect a tip. Tip is to ensure promptness. That's actually what it means. Tipping became a way of earning extra money because for a long time, when you were a server and a bartender, I started waiting tables when server wage was like $2.21 or something like that an hour, and it was just so that you could, you know, make money doing what you were doing and what you love. This reflects poorly on us as an industry as a whole, and I agree with Jamie a thousand percent If you're not charging enough to begin with, then you shouldn't expect a bonus Now.
Speaker 1:There's a lot missing to the story. We don't really know what transpired. Maybe she was more of a housekeeper in her defense, maybe she was an errand runner and maybe she assisted with other duties. And that was the agreement. It doesn't say. It just says housekeeper, because we always get the slack. It's always the housekeeper's fault, right. But on the same level, to come out and blatantly ask for a $500 Christmas bonus is ridiculous, I'm like oh, I can't do that.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, honey, it's been tough this year, right?
Speaker 2:And you hit her an 83-year-old lady and take her check and what are you writing it in front of her, like I'm taking this anyway she took the check I have looked at her reviews, of course, the spurt when, as soon as you posted that in the uh, the maids network I, I, I even posted on there I said did anybody else go run look to see if Heather was in any of these groups? Thankfully she wasn't. She was not in this group. However, her business name has came up. So I looked at her business page, which she has one, and this is not her first incident, ladies and gentlemen. Oh, she has. From back in August. She has somebody putting on Facebook saying do not trust this person. Make sure you guys are reading your reviews there. That's a good, that's a good thing to say. Make sure you're reading people's reviews because it can really tell a lot about that individual and how their business is ran, what their company's about.
Speaker 2:But whenever it comes to tipping you guys, you I just see so much like entitlement anymore. You're not entitled. There's nothing worse than going to somebody's home and cleaning and mad about the fact that you're cleaning because you took the job in a moment of desperation for peanuts, right. You know what that's not. If you want to be a real cleaning business owner, there has to be enough funds to not only pay yourself but to run the whole business and making sure that you're able to pay your rent, your car payments, etc. Etc. Etc. I promise you these clients don't fill them up in the moment of desperation I seen that the other day too to let your your schedule fill with people that will value you, that look at you and you know if they decided not to tip, I, you know, I've had clients for several years and, um, not all of them tip. There's just not in them.
Speaker 1:It's just you know Well, allegedly Nelson Heather Nelson wrote a check for $1,400. That's circumstantial. There hasn't been proof. So she demanded a $500 Christmas bonus. Didn't get it, got mad, took the checkbook this is all speculation Took the checkbook from the homeowner's hand and then subsequently ripped out a check. I don't know if she wrote the check in front of the person or took's hand and then subsequently ripped out a check. I don't know if she wrote the check in front of the person or took it home and wrote the check. Um, and then she, uh, she wrote herself a a check for fourteen hundred dollars. And then it gets even better. She used the victim's credit card to pay her rent and make other purchases. So, um, credit card, uh, you know all that stuff's online. Online in the bigger cities you can just put a card through and do your thing. It actually shows a picture of this woman's wrist in the New York Post and it shows her being arrested. Obviously, you know it's not the Pert Walk, but she's arrested and there's questioning going on. And then she was caught. Yeah, she was caught. Yeah, she was caught. So on camera.
Speaker 1:This person is no longer in our industry. I pray that she's not allowed back in our industry, especially if this is a history with her. Um, there might be something wrong with her, I'm not sure, but please don't take it to this extreme. And this comes down to communication as well. Communicating, charging, your worth, knowing what the real cost of running a legitimate business are all of these are attributes to having smooth running shifts. Don't hurt somebody because you feel entitled to more money and more compensation. If you feel resentful when you're doing your cleaning jobs, it's time for you to politely let them go or hold on to them until you find a newer, higher paying customer, which is what I always suggest you do in the pricing not the pricing blueprint masterclass, the bootcamp, the price increase bootcamp class that I offer, and you should be giving price increases at least annually so stuff like this doesn't happen. There's clearly more to the story than we're being told. We're just being shot because it's you know, it's a glory post, right? They're showing that's shocking.
Speaker 2:It is shocking and just total disgust, right.
Speaker 1:Total disgust over that it should never be violent. Ever there should be. You know, legal no-transcript had a history of doing this in the past, so I'm wondering was it the same type of deal assault and battery and then stuff?
Speaker 2:Not an assault or battery, but at the home she stole money, she stole checks, something like that. I don't want to. But if you go to her Facebook, I'm sorry, I'm going to call her out because can't you know? Um, I can't remember where I've seen it, but yeah, she, it was. Um, it started off really good. And then, you know, five-star review, not a lot of in-depth thing. But then somebody posted that do not hire this person. Uh, she, she's a, a thief of some sort of another. I just skimmed it. But, um, like I said, as soon as you posted that, I of course went and made sure that she wasn't a in our, our group, and then I wanted to see if she was happened to be in anyone else's group. And, um, I won't say which group she is, but, uh, at least her company, her company was.
Speaker 1:So I went and looked and, yeah, yeah, there it is so, yeah, that's why we're having this conversation about bonuses and tips, and there is a difference between bonuses and tips. For us, a tip is to ensure promptness or you're just wanting to give a little extra and it's not required. We always say it's not required. We do say that if you're interested in doing that, we will help you participate in the act, should you choose to do it, but it's never required and a bonus is typically given out when there's one particular cleaner who cleans for the whole year and that house is usually considered a bonus. At that point it's on above and beyond and I usually try to encourage cash transactions.
Speaker 1:I really don't want to be involved and have the man tax, the extra gratis that you're getting but, yeah, there's a difference between a tip and a bonus and then setting clear expectations with your staff or you as the cleaning business owner.
Speaker 1:That, if you're working in a team and I've had this happen before when I worked in teams is the first girl would get all the gear into the house first, cause she knew that the house tips and she would snatch the tip Cause it was always in cash, shove it in her apron and the other person would be new or newer and didn't know Cause, this person repeated the same thing over and over again until one day the client had asked him hey, are you guys? You know you're getting that tip and they're like what are you talking about? I never got a tip. So then it becomes this whole friction thing on your crew. So then it can become really caustic and you have to nip it in the bud. So you had to have a tipping policy in place and then cash bonuses are king. So I like to have cash tips be given. Sometimes it's not and there's a reason why?
Speaker 2:Because we run payroll. The first thing that my accountant it's like oh I hate tips, right, and I get it. Because you know what I get to whenever I it goes on to a credit card, I have to put it in my you know whatever, but it automatically takes pulls that I try to hold back 30% on. I do it a little different, but it takes that 30% right off of there, you know. So then I put it into their payroll account and then you're getting tipped again. So cash is king, like you said, shannon.
Speaker 1:Right, and making sure that you're teaching your cleaning tax to say thank you, regardless of if it's big or small. All tips are appreciated, and I know I shouldn't have to say this, but this is just the way our society is. Saying thank you goes so much further than just pocketing and go. Uh right, you want to make sure that you're saying thank you and that you really are grateful for what you've gotten. They don't have to give you anything, thank you, and that you really are grateful for what you've gotten. They don't have to give you anything. It's not a requirement upon service. It's just part of the gesture of you're providing a service. Especially in today's society where everybody is asking for a tip. It's really annoying. I mean everybody, the to-go people, the other people, the Uber people I mean everybody's asking for a tip, and I totally get that too, because there are and those are, opportunities as well, but it's like everybody wants a tip for something.
Speaker 2:They uh, there's a, the sushi place here. They got reamed. So they I mean they got almost boycotted. I don't know if they I mean I'm sure they're still in business because they're sushi, but and really good sushi Yummy that they were automatically going to automatically putting gratuity onto their check and everybody was like wait a minute isn't a tip earned and not just given? Why are you automatically on everybody's food ticket? So that's where that entitlement and why to it's, I don't know, is that legal?
Speaker 1:Well, the reason why they're adding a tip on it. First of all, you're technically it's a gray area the laws are still going through the Supreme Court and all that stuff. But the reason why they want everyone to be tipped is so that they can offer a lower wage, because restaurants actually don't have to pay full minimum wage. They pay a restaurant wage. Right, and I see that changing, probably in the near future.
Speaker 1:Anytime you go to Europe, there is no tipping. It's automatically included in the wages, um, and then if you try to tip um, then it's refused cause I don't want to get in trouble. Um, at least that's how it was a couple of years ago. That may have changed, right, right, but yeah, it tipping is it's, it's over the top. You tip every. I always tip um, just because that's just my nature, yeah, but I certainly wouldn't snatch something from someone who's 83 and then make a demand of $500 and then get so pissed off at whatever went down that I write myself a check for $1,400 allegedly, and then I pay my rent off her credit card and then I do all these other things. It's just really wild to think that this person felt that was okay and that she wouldn't get caught. It's just like crazy that's.
Speaker 2:that's such an ugly. Um, that's ugly, that's your heart is ugly, Especially on elderly. I just the entitlement is just mind boggling. So, yeah, make sure that you and if you don't know how, if you think that you're pricing too low again, I say this all the time because I've been there. Where you're, you're in there cleaning, you're like I know I could be making so much more as you're mopping the floor.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm doing this for a hundred bucks, this right 1300 square foot house for? Or 25 an hour, right? Uh, that's whenever I, I that's kind of whenever I was introduced over to you, shannon, and we just instantly hit it off. And that's how I changed from that whole line of thinking and thinking. I could never possibly get some of these numbers that she was throwing at me, like, oh, that's how much you would charge. Well, now I'm even, I may be about 20, anywhere between 20 to 50, 100 more than Shannon now, but the cost of operations is really high in California, if you're in.
Speaker 1:California. You need to charge top dollar.
Speaker 2:You have to, and the clients that we have taken on, uh, really understand that. They understand that it's not that money does not go to me, right, that doesn't go to me the whole. Whenever I'm charging you 275 for a bi-weekly clean or whatever, 27, $275 does not go to. It goes to. You know, there's a lot to running a business and we have to. We have rents and payrolls and insurances and work comps and just everything you know. So be sure that, especially when you master your craft and but what I mean by that it was whenever you have you're, you're beyond you're you you know what chemicals clean what and you know that you're either all natural or whatever works, um, that's mastering your craft.
Speaker 1:becoming a golden unicorn is what I like to call it, yeah.
Speaker 2:When you're cleaning 1,000 square feet per hour.
Speaker 1:You've become a golden unicorn.
Speaker 2:After your first job, you should automatically say, okay, once you got in the trenches and did all that, take that money and go get some insurance. You can then start bumping yourself up. Give yourself a raise the second that you get that insurance, give yourself a raise Whenever you get bonded. Give yourself a raise Whenever you get work comp. Give yourself a raise when you start hiring people you're going bonded. Give yourself a raise whenever you get work comp. Give yourself a raise when you start hiring people you're. You're going to give yourself a raise to where it just you're. You're stacking it up and then you're going to just let it go. Did you hear my thing?
Speaker 2:you're going to be charging top dollar. Don't feel this entitlement or this woo-hoo. Oh I, just during the Christmas time, some of these people that just you know, should I say something about. You know, last year I got a bonus. This year, year, I did not. I'm shocked.
Speaker 1:I saw some of those posts.
Speaker 2:I just I was like just taking it back and a lot of these people just really. And then some would agree with like I know how you feel, uh, I you know. And then some I'm sure it felt like they were rubbing it in. But I let me tell you, whenever my employees got tipped, I shared it everywhere. I was so happy for them and they were the smiles on their faces and just they knew that they had been so appreciated throughout the year and they got their bonuses from certain clients.
Speaker 2:Some of them could not, some of them could not afford to give bonuses, it's just but the ones that did, uh. So I feel like some of these people may have felt like it was being rubbed in their faces, but I don't think that it's. I. I feel like more along the lines like, woohoo, look at me, I got, I got this bonus this year. Look how much I'm so grateful to all my clients. I seen a lot of so grateful and they're holding up lots of hundreds and and that's awesome. I don't think you should feel like, oh well, that that can be you.
Speaker 1:That can be you Very easily.
Speaker 2:And if they don't't, well then you know that you're charging top enough top dollar to be like, yeah, okay, well, you know that's how it is just, and then maybe look at it at the long term, like, well, this, this person makes me, this one client brings in about seven thousand dollars a year for me, so am I to really just boohoo about this? Just go on, you know, yeah, right.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, we don't really know the whole story, what happened with Heather Nelson, but she it was extreme and I attribute it to the entitlement disease that our society currently is experiencing. There was also another post, and I'm not going to call these people out, but it's just they had made some custom mugs or something and they gave them out as gifts and they didn't get any recognition. They were really upset over the fact that they did not receive even a thank you and like then, it's this whole dynamic of gift giving, right, it's this I stopped. The only reason why we gift give today is because I have an eight and a nine year old. We stopped giving gifts a long time ago because it's just, it's such a material and this is my opinion.
Speaker 1:The consumerism is great for the economy. We, as Americans, have too much stuff as it is. We don't need any more things. So my mentality is is I? If I don't need it, then I'm going to? You'll see me on Facebook, facebook, I give stuff away all the time. My husband's like why don't you sell it? I'm like I'm not waiting around, let someone enjoy it I'm done with it, right?
Speaker 1:yeah, so it's just this whole dynamic of making sure that you're present and that you're not feeling entitled to something more than what you should be it's been entitled to. Sometimes people get busy at the holiday. Sometimes people get weird. I have a really weird thing that I've been struggling with. My brother passed away in 2019. He his birthday, is the 22nd. He passed away on the 29th, so the Christmas holiday I used to give out cards 450 cards every single year since he passed. I have not I bought cards. Every year. I get a new sack of cards and I never, and so it's this weird. So people are going through a lot of like things, so that's why I haven't mailed any cards I have the cards my little.
Speaker 1:Finally this year took some of the cards and cut them up and made an art thing. I was like, well, at least the cards got used that way. It's just this whole dynamic where you think that you're entitled to some sort of recognition. Just when people ask me why I'm doing what I'm doing, I always say I'm just happy to be here. And they're like what I'm, like I am.
Speaker 1:I feel grateful that I'm able to help impact our industry and make an impact in someone's life by teaching them how that they can provide for others and by teaching them how, what their margins are, by teaching them how that they can provide for others and by teaching them how, what their margins are, by teaching them how to run a smooth running operation, by teaching them and they can buy a house on a short moments notice. But all these things, I feel privileged to be here and I think that sometimes we forget to be grateful that we're here and we're vertical and we're upright and that we're healthy. Um, so many people are not healthy right now. There's a lot of things going on in the world that are just really messed up. So being grateful and not feeling that you're entitled to more than what you're entitled to.
Speaker 1:It's just like that person who made those mugs yes, she probably should have gotten a thank you if it really bothered her that much. She could have said hey, did you guys get that mug? I left it there. I hope you got it, and that would have been a prompt instead of coming to Facebook going I don't know what to do. They didn't acknowledge my gift. I'm like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then, yeah, I did all this and nothing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, and sometimes it happens and and you know, and I think also Shannon, going back to what we were talking, what you were just now talking about I knew we this is why we and you align very well is because I knew the moment that I started seeing success and I was like that feeling that you get of seeing somebody become successful, or paying it forward, as I like to call it, because that's what I feel like I'm doing.
Speaker 2:I am so eternally grateful to be here, like to be where I'm at, and to be able to pay it forward to those that are just starting out. And just, you know, that's where my heart blooms at and there's this feeling of just overwhelming joy all through my body that I love paying it forward. I don't feel like I'm entitled, I um and we hope that you guys don't feel entitled to to, and if you do, start raising your rates and going, go to Shannon or to somebody that resonates with you, right, you know, find yourself a coach and a mentor that you know. This money is not going to be lost. This is it.
Speaker 1:you'll get it back 10 times definitely, but that's how we have to say so. With um with the tipping and um the bonuses. You should create some sort of holiday policy about tipping. I would reiterate and remind everybody that tips are not guaranteed and that it's considered a bonus this time of year and that you would prefer cash. We usually send out an email memo about tips prior to the holiday starting. Hey, just a friendly reminder. If you're considering doing this, please offer it in cash or a gift card, you know, or that type of thing, so that that way there's not one girl walking in shoving it in her apron and then the other girl goes oh, we're just happy to be here, right? And it just becomes this whole thing of resentment because the person A cheated person B out of I don't know hundreds of dollars, a tip, right. So creating a policy about what that is, and so make sure that it aligns your business goals, and then that's basically the very short version of for tipping and bonuses. Do you have anything you'd like to add, miss Jamie?
Speaker 2:No, no, I, you know we nailed it. Hey, no, that's, that's basically, and if you guys do just reach out, Reach out to us, and we love to hear any feedback. So yeah, Definitely Well.
Speaker 1:This concludes today's episode on Christmas bonuses and or tips throughout the year. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't forget to subscribe and like that's for YouTube, Don't forget to subscribe and like that's for YouTube, Don't forget. Don't forget to download and subscribe to our podcast. We love to get those five-star reviews. If you have any questions, reach out. Bye.
