Cleaning Business Life
Cleaning Business Life is your must-listen weekly podcast for cleaning business owners who want to scale smarter, not harder.
Hosted by Shannon Miller, founder of Klean Freaks University, and Jamie Runco, CEO of Above All Cleaning Company, this podcast delivers the strategies, systems, and insider knowledge you need to build a thriving, profitable cleaning business.
No matter where you are in your journey—whether you're launching your first cleaning company or scaling to seven figures—Cleaning Business Life gives you the tools to streamline operations, maximize profits, and grow with confidence.
Each episode dives deep into topics like:
✔️ Building scalable systems that create efficiency and long-term success.
✔️ Product reviews & recommendations to equip your team with the best tools.
✔️ Expert interviews with industry leaders sharing real-world insights.
✔️ Q&A sessions tackling your most pressing business challenges.
✔️ Industry trends & strategies to keep you ahead of the competition.
Tune in every week and take your cleaning business to the next level! 🚀
Want to get a hold of us, please email us at cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com
Cleaning Business Life
CBL Episode #107-A 73-Year-Old Predator, $20 Hush Money, and Why Your Safety Protocol Matters
Note: I misspoke, the victim's name was not released at the time of the recording of this podcast!
If you are a victim of sexual assult, here is a national 800 hotline: https://rainn.org/about-national-sexual-assault-telephone-hotline
Or Call 800-656-4673 (HOPE)
A shocking case from Louisville, Kentucky serves as a critical safety wake-up call for cleaning professionals and service providers everywhere. When a 73-year-old man allegedly assaulted a house cleaner he hired through Nextdoor, posting a $250,000 cash bond after his arrest, we knew this story demanded immediate attention.
Safety protocols aren't just recommendations—they're essential lifelines in an industry where workers regularly enter strangers' homes. Your gut instinct exists for a reason, and that sixth sense deserves your full respect. Those goosebumps, that feeling something's "off"—these are evolutionary protection mechanisms alerting you to potential danger before your conscious mind processes it. People emit energy before harmful actions, and developing sensitivity to these warning signals could save your life.
Practical safety measures must become non-negotiable habits. Implement location-sharing through apps like Life360, establish check-in protocols with trusted contacts, collect comprehensive client information, require signed agreements, and consider payment upfront. For business owners with teams, your responsibility extends to protecting your employees through tracking systems and clear safety guidelines. Remember the power of "no"—you have every right to refuse service to anyone who raises red flags, regardless of potential income loss.
As we track this case through the justice system (with a possible follow-up episode after the March 31st court appearance), let it strengthen your resolve to prioritize safety. The cleaning industry presents unique vulnerabilities, but with proper protocols, awareness, and boundary-setting, you can significantly reduce risks. Your life and wellbeing are worth far more than any cleaning job or client relationship. What safety measures will you implement or strengthen today?
Story of Man who held his house cleaner in container:
It can be crowed when trying to figure out who you are going to learn from
Up your cleaning game, join over 6000 Cleaning Business Owners most of whom are located here in the United States.
Questions? Feel free to reach out!
Shannon Miller: cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com
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See Shannon's latest courses: www.KleanFreaksUnversity.com
Hello everyone. I want to discuss in this episode how important it is to be aware of your surroundings and how safety is the utmost importance. This is a short episode on the man who was arrested for raping a house cleaner in Louisville, kentucky. More than likely, there will be a part two of this little miniseries.
Speaker 2:Jamie, jamie, jamie. I feel like I haven't seen you in forever.
Speaker 3:Hello, it was. It has been forever, though.
Speaker 2:It has the week's over. In a week Goes by and then I'm like I haven't spoken to her all week and I've just. You know, you're busy, I'm busy, we're doing or we just hi how you doing.
Speaker 3:You know check in. So what are we talking about today?
Speaker 2:Right, we're going to talk about something that's pressing and important, and the person who's probably going to be released this Saturday will be moved and put in a different spot for release. I don't remember if it's an interview or regular I'll have to actually check but this is really important. It's top of the mind and it reminds everyone to really have protocols in place for safety. Jamie and I have spoken about this relentlessly and we're going to get back on that soapbox to remind you that stuff like this goes down all of the time and you need to be made aware, and I've had a couple of people say I, you know, would have whipped out my gun. And you know, I know some of us carry in Arizona. Typically, I'm not bringing anything inside of someone's house, it's something that's kept in my vehicle. There are a couple of you that I know very well, that I, you know I love very well, who actually openly carry, and that's great.
Speaker 2:If you are considering doing something like that, check your laws first and become educated. Carrying a firearm is a skill that is diminishable, so it's not something that you can just whip around like in the movies and remember how to get that thing going. You need to it's practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, because I have a concealed carry permit that I went to a class for and I still go out and I practice. I'm still don't think that I'm a thousand percent, and that's just me being obsessive, and you know, I'm not, I'm never going to be a sniper, but it's. The reality is. Is we as women because we're mostly women-based need to protect ourselves? So if you're going to consider and go down that path, follow the protocol, whatever the rules are in your state. Um, california is really brutal.
Speaker 3:I don't remember what the well, I will say that, um, in humble county, we are the we we carry most guns per capita in the county, so it's like the wild, wild west out here. However, yeah, you got to check your laws. Some of us cannot own a firearm due to legal issues, but we're talking about safety. But we're talking about safety and the reason why this has been brought to the forefront is because we there's a thing circulating around on the internet right now and social media about a 73 year old man that is being accused he was arrested, but being accused of rape raping cleaner. He hired a cleaner and door off of next door, um, she was looking for babysitting and cleaning jobs and he said that he needed his house cleaned. I mean, and they go into detail about what? Not real detail, of course. We're just. It's just coming out by the time this hits?
Speaker 3:yeah, it'll be. We'll probably know more about it, hopefully, because I'm going to keep track of this. This man is accused of raping his cleaner that he hired off of Nextdoor and he taped her up and everything and pushed her on 73-year-old man. So we are talking about safety today, right, and what kind of protocols you need to implement in your business to protect yourself if you're a solo cleaner, or your employees, your company, right?
Speaker 2:It's really important that you're looking out for your girls and guys. And then there needs to be the safety protocol. We've talked about Life360 on multiple podcasts. Jamie, I think at this point you should probably get an affiliate link.
Speaker 2:I'm going to start with all the people that I have on there. But there's, it's this poor person. Her last name is I saw it here Konkin. It doesn't state how old this individual is, not that that makes a difference, it just gives you more of the pretext of the story. I'm guessing, if she's looking for babysitting and housecleaning she might be younger. But the first and foremost thing that you should pay attention to is always I cannot emphasize this enough Always, always, always, listen to your gut. I it can't. God gives you that sixth sense for a reason. It's that fight or flight If thing is, if things aren't yeah, it fills off.
Speaker 2:You get goosebumps, like all of the hair on my arms are standing up right now. If you get any of those feelings when you're interacting, whether male or female, that is your brain telling you that something is not right and that you need to take action because there is danger, imminent danger. People give off an energetic field before they do something. People give off an energetic field before they do something and if you're aware of your sixth sense and you've developed it, it will come at you faster. They could be 100 yards away and you'll be able to feel it, but sometimes we don't feel it until they're in our close proximity. Like you guys have all heard me about the guy who punched me trying to protect my cleaning tech. Right, and I wasn't paying attention to that sixth sense, and if I had, I would have stepped away and handled things differently. It was a learning experience for me for sure. Fucking hurt It'll never happen again.
Speaker 3:It'll never happen again because you start that day forward. You implement it. Something inside of your business, right, right, ever happen again because you start that day forward. You implemented something in your inside of your business, right right.
Speaker 2:It's a called the code of conduct policy and basically it states if you misbehave, um, whether good or bad or unintentional, we have the right to pull off that job and we will just bill you for the full cleaning. And if it's a volatile, if it's a violation of human rights like this, then we're going to call the police and have you arrested. On top of it.
Speaker 3:What is astonishing to me is this 73-year-old man gets arrested, goes to jail and then posts his $250,000 cash bond only Right and is on an ankle monitor. That and you know, you know it's. He's not supposed to talk to the his victim. Which is cleaner, yeah, but man, that's a piece of paper that just isn't. I don't know. Sometimes it is just not good enough.
Speaker 2:Well, I know that they did the title for likes and shares and everything like that, but it says man accused of raping woman he hired to clean his home, put on house arrest. First of all, there was no accusation. If you had to put up a bond, that means that charges were pressed. If you're on house arrest, something happened where you're not allowed to leave your house, you're they put an ankle monitor on you. You're not arbitrarily going, good faith going.
Speaker 3:I'm going to stay in my house. I'm serious, they're seriously watching you. You are in some serious trouble.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 2:So you can't go out of your house. If you go out of your house, I think it's only to the property line. So if you have, you live in a city. Louisville is a city. This happened in Louisville, I'm assuming. Louisville, kentucky? It doesn't really. Yeah, it says West, wlky. So that is West. I don't know, I'm not that familiar with the area, please forgive me, but it does say Kentucky, louisville, kentucky.
Speaker 2:So Richard Konkin posted Bond on Monday, right after the incident happened. He's not to have any contact with the victim and um arrest citation. Responded to a woman's ad on next door where she sought babysitting or home cleaning jobs. I'm reading this yes, no. Around 1 30 pm, while she was cleaning the upstairs bedroom, conkin allegedly came into the room, pushed her down on the bed and held her down by her wrists, according to the police. As she struggled, conkin was said to have told her not to scream or it would be worse. At this point you have nothing to lose and you better start resisting really fast. And obviously this is circumstantial and I'm just flying off the cuffs here, but every situation is different. I'm not saying she did the wrong thing or the right thing, but your brain needs to kick in to overdrive. If you're in that situation, right.
Speaker 3:And you need to watch out for these red flags. Some of the red flags that I look out for is they don't want to give you their full name or they're being you know. You're on the phone with them. They don't want to sign your agreement, right you? You're not getting on our schedule without those two things. These are. These are red flags, and if you're not there yet of making people sign agreements or um, you're learning how to do this. These are some red flags that you need to be looking out for. If you're learning how to do this, these are some red flags that you need to be looking out for. If they're not wanting to give you their full name, there's something wrong with just an address. Make sure we're asking these questions. Make sure you're asking full. They got to have a full name. That way we can get back to there.
Speaker 2:You know, just um. And then it's a citation noted that he offered to pay her an extra 20 bucks to keep quiet. I have, I could say so many things about that it's just I'm it's not a funny situation, but it's. It's laughable because in his mind you can see where he was going. I have done something wrong. I'm going to compensate by offering you 20 bucks to keep quiet.
Speaker 2:And it said the police said the woman's wrists were bruised and that she had cuts to her knuckles, which she claimed happened during her struggle. So we're missing a big chunk of the story. We're only being told what really went down with it. So if her wrists were bruised, he must've been grabbing her pretty hard. And it just like you know. And it says court records show that Konkin was arrested on the same evening and charged with first degree rape. I didn't know. There was different levels of rape and that's my own naivety. He was booked into the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections and is being held on a 250 cash bond. Conkin is scheduled to appear at 9 am on March 31st. So that's legitimately next Monday, I believe, or Tuesday Monday. So I'm curious that there might be a part two to this story because it depends on what they decide to do.
Speaker 3:I think we probably should maybe visit this here after a while too, don't you think? I would love to revisit this story and see where it's at, because this is for us, this is for us cleaners. Boy, nothing makes me more mad than than um, just the way that somebody has just totally taken advantage of this poor lady. But we really got to make sure just make sure that you know you let somebody know where you're going and when to expect you back.
Speaker 2:You need to let your mom, your significant other, you need to let someone know where you are at all times. You need to get Life 360. Someone needs to be able to have access to that information so they can keep tabs of you. It's not like in the movies where who was it? Queen Latifah has the equalizer. I'm watching her um sitcom and they you know um, what's his face? Um harry, I believe his name is harry. Um has access to all this techie stuff because he's a techie guy and they're able to access people's phones and wild stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Um, make sure that you have a protocol in place to protect yourself. So let your mom know, let your grandma know, let your neighbor, anybody that if you feel uncomfortable at all, let them know where you are and have them check in with you. When I used to go do bids in person, I would tell my husband I'm like, hey, I'm going to go do this bid here. If I don't show back up, or can you call me in 30 minutes just to check up on me? Then that lets that other person know that there's not an opportunity because someone is keeping tabs on you. Right, you got to look out for yourself. We live in a society where it's every man for themselves and we are more likely to film the tragedy than offering assistance, and it's really, it's a really bad conclusion and we don't do that yet, thank god. But in the bigger cities, you know how many times have we seen tragedy happen? And they'll whip out their phone and film it.
Speaker 3:I'm like you guys are awful humans it's like, yeah, finish up, finish what you're doing. While I video, you go ahead, kill the person.
Speaker 2:I got it on video all right, I'm gonna put it all over reddit and it's just like I stay out there. That's a whole rabbit hole. It's not for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I listen to, and if you ever are listening, I listen to. Smosh Reddit reads I love that show.
Speaker 2:It's about to be great. I can't handle it.
Speaker 3:I just listen to that show. I don't go on to Reddit myself, but their reads are so funny, especially when am I the assholes? And some people's logic thinking is just but yeah, with this guy here, uh, I would really like to do a recap on this to see, uh, what happens, you know, as it unfolds. Um, but this is a good time also to try and get a uh. If you don't have one, get a uh, a booking platform, some sort of booking platform. Me and Shannon use Jobber. It's a great tool that works very well and you know, if the vibe is off, like Shannon said, you'll feel it. You'll feel it in your heart, your heart. It just you can feel something's not right. So that's why you make sure you let people know where you're going to be at.
Speaker 3:This is a good time to implement a booking platform. Get your payment up front With those booking platforms, you know. Just make sure you get your your, your payment up front and let somebody know where you're going and when you're going to stop. You know. That way, there's a paper trail of, and proof that this person was on my schedule and you know this is people for people with employees too. Where's this employee at. You know her, you know you can see with our booking platform, you can see I. I can see if they're clocked in, like the clock's going around and around and around and it's like, okay, they're there, um, and they can leave me notes. It's a great way to communicate through that too. Plus, we have Messenger and I have 360.
Speaker 2:Right. So I make sure that everyone is safe, because it is your responsibility as an employer to provide safety to your employees. If you're solo, they do give some tips here. In the article it says if the service involves going to someone's home duh, we're always in someone's home Consider bringing a friend, co-worker, assistant if working alone, checking with someone before and after your appointment, which we just mentioned husband, grandma, your mom, your roommate. Be cautious if a client asks personal questions unrelated to work or if they make you feel uncomfortable in the service and leave. And this is why Jamie had mentioned getting payment up front, because if you do have to leave, then at least you're recovering some of your costs. Not only are you going to be traumatized by the event and possibly emotionally scarred, at least you got paid for that. And then it says report any suspicions to your employer and law enforcement.
Speaker 2:There was a story and I keep bringing this up every time we have these little episodes that come up. It's to remind you that there was a guy I don't remember what state it was, I don't know if it was Kentucky or Alabama he inherited a large lot of land I mean, there were like hundreds and hundreds of acres and his housekeeper. He kidnapped her and he kept her. I don't remember I believe this is like eight years ago. He kept her tied up on a dog chain and she couldn't escape. He had had her chained up for weeks and we won't go into all the graphic details, but he was doing some not so nice things to her.
Speaker 2:And how she was rescued is. There was an Amazon I believe it was either Amazon or UPS truck came to make got lost. This is divine providence. It gives me goosebumps. Went to the property and was at the wrong side of the property and heard her the wrong side of the property and heard her hammering on the walls like get me out, get me out, and that's how she was able to be saved. So you just don't know with people. So use caution. Provide yourself with some sort of recourse of safety protocols.
Speaker 3:Jamie, yeah, no and don't do not be afraid, right, no, if it's off, don't be afraid to tell them. No, I, uh, my, my schedule is full, uh, you don't have to provide, you don't even have to provide them nothing.
Speaker 2:Don't be afraid to say no, um reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.
Speaker 3:Yes, and um, no, takes a lot of practice to get to. I I know that because I was that person that said yes to everything. Because emotion we're women, mostly women-based, and we go by emotions and it's taken me quite a while to just you know, whenever I'm on the phone I come up with something like that. So I don't know, I'm sorry, my schedule is full.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just oh, no.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry, my schedule is full. Uh, yeah, I just oh, no, I'm really sorry I'll be out of. I just uh, yeah, I'll be out of town. Then, okay, I don't know. Um, just uh, that's a. That's all. I just wanted to make sure that people know that it's okay to say no to these people, right.
Speaker 2:Right, and I believe there was another incident I want to say in Florida where it was a husband and wife that were working as a team and they were both held at gunpoint by a gentleman who hired them to clean their house. So you just need to protect yourself, and we could probably cover that in another story. I'd never followed up with that one. I think that was, I want to say, in December of last year, but these incidences seem to be a little more frequent. Always be aware, always go by your guts and have the safety protocols in place. So Life 360, letting somebody know, telling people no, you have the right to refuse service for anyone. You just just because someone goes I want to do business with you Doesn't mean that they're going to be a good fit. How many nightmare clients I'm raising my hands have we had where you're just like?
Speaker 3:what is going on? I had a jinx, a jinx house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah my house is not that dirty. It's no big deal. It's just a broom sweep and I don't understand why you're charging all that. It's like because you've never had your own cleaning business, yeah, so, yeah, that's. That's a very short version. We might do a part two, depending on how he's arraigned. I'm very um interested in finding out what goes on with this gentleman, and I hope that he's punished. Oh, to the fullest. I hope so for the woman that he did this to. It's traumatic, yes.
Speaker 3:Can you? Oh, I just, I just just think about it. I mean this guy somehow, even at 73, you know, sometimes they don't matter, they're just strong as strong. And I've seen a lot of people posting oh 73, look at him. You don't know until you're in that situation exactly what you would do, and I'm sorry. He obviously overpowered her and was able to duct tape her hands together. And then she's lucky, she's alive, she's lucky she was able to actually get someplace and press charges. Good for her.
Speaker 2:I don't think the age either, because the guy who punched me was 83. He got up faster than I ever and it was the fastest I've ever seen a senior citizen move and we were nose to nose. It took like three and a half seconds for him to get up and get in my face. I was like whoa where?
Speaker 3:did that go? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Carries us. For a lot of reasons. He clearly I'm thankfully. It could have been way worse for me.
Speaker 3:He could have pounded me into the pavement and I would have been done. Yeah, no, and by the edge, just hit you wrong. You hit somebody wrong up on the nose. That nose goes back there. Oops, I killed you, oops.
Speaker 2:Sorry. Yes, we're probably going to do a part two. Just protect yourself and be aware, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 3:Gentlemen, no, seriously, yeah, everybody Okay.
Speaker 2:We'll talk to you guys later, you will.
