CBL EP 157 2025 Reflection's

In this reflection episode, Shannon revisits the real stories that shook the cleaning industry in 2025 — including the Maria Perez tragedy, the $20 hush money assault case, and the Heather Nelson checkbook theft — and unpacks what they taught us about safety, responsibility, and leadership.

She also shares publicly for the first time that Maid-Broker gifted 62 free cleanings this year — and why integrity, boundaries, and protection matter now more than ever.

This is not about fear — it’s about standards, systems, and building our industry the right way.

If you believe cleaning work deserves respect, safety, and accountability, this conversation is for you.

 🎧 Episode 143 — The Maria Perez Story
 🎧 Episode 151 — Maria Perez Pt. 2
 🎧 Episode 107 — Predator & $20 Hush Money
 🎧 Episode 99 — Heather Nelson Theft Case

Chapters

• 0:00 Tempo: 120.0

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:03

This is a reflection episode. Not for shock value, but because you're exposed to things in the cleaning industry that we can no longer ignore. From wrong address tragedies to safety risks, ethics, boundaries, and responsibility. Today we're talking about what really matters, what we learned, what has to change, and why cleaners deserve protection, standards, and leadership. Let's get to it. It traveled fast, comments, reaction, shares, far more moving than I expected. Some of those posts got over a hundred comments, a lot for me. Which told me something important. We're ready for real conversations in this industry, not just how-tos, not just hacks, not just highlight reels. Today's episode is about reflection, what this year exposed, what we learned, and why leadership in this industry must be rooted in responsibility, not rush. I believe every industry hits a moment where growth meets responsibility, where we stop struggling at the hard stories and start asking what we can do better. Cleaning is not simple work. For many of us who've been out in the field, you guys know exactly what I'm talking about. It's personal work, it's very human, it's home-entered work. And when things go right, it's absolutely beautiful. Like a chef's kiss. But when things go wrong, it becomes headlines, trauma, lawsuits, or tragedy. We can no longer sweep that under the rug. We're going to have to look at this head on. If you listened to the show before, you'll remember these episodes. Number 143, the Maria Perez story. A house cleaner attempts to enter the wrong home and never comes back out. One wrong door, one missed verification, a life gone. For those of you who do not know or remember, Maria Perez died in her husband's arms after attempting to enter the wrong home. Episode 151, Maria Perez Part 2. We dug into what failed address checks, communications, safety steps that could have prevented a tragedy. Episode 107, the$20 hush money case. A 73-year-old predator assaults a cleaner and tries to pay her off with a mere$20 bill. 20 bucks. A story that forced us to ask do we prepare cleaners for real world danger? Or we do we just hope that nothing happens? And then there's episode number 99, Heather Nielsen and the tipping from Christmas. And this actually was a serial criminal. She had a lot of things that she had attempted to do. You guys can Google it, but it was a cleaner who stole a checkbook after not receiving a promised Christmas tip. Not sure of the dynamics of what went on between her elderly client and herself. And it's not to justify, but to show what happens when ethics, pay structure, and desperation collide. These stories are not gossip. These were all real life stories. They were lessons and they were warnings. They remind us safety protocols are not extra. Boundaries are not mean. Boring. Systems are not boring. They're protective. We talk about these because ignoring risk does not reduce it. Systems do. Protocols do. Safety matters. This year the industry was loud with shortcuts. Remote cleaning model, hands-off business. Just hire 1099s. You can run this from your phone while you're in the Eiffel Tower or in Egypt or in Vegas. And listen, I'm not anti-innavent innovation. Scaling is absolutely beautiful. When you have a well-oiled running machine, woohoo! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. Freedom is beautiful. The goal is to be an absentee owner and make a legacy for yourself that you can either sell or give to your family. But let's say the quiet part out loud. Freedom isn't free, it's built. With insurance, with liability structure, with training, with vetting, with boundaries, with accountability. I could go on and on and on. You don't buy freedom, you build it sustainably. Shortcuts look shiny until something goes wrong. Then everyone wishes they had some sort of system. This isn't calling people out, it's calling the industry up to lead smarter, safety, stronger. There's something I kept quiet all year. We gave away 62 free cleanings. This is actually something that I write into my budget, and it's allocated. And we typically do these in August and September. There's no announcement. There's there was no look what we did, look, look, look. There was no cameras, there was no marketing strategy, there was no videos, there was nothing. Just people helping people. Single parents who were drowning, seniors who were overwhelmed, people who got behind, people who got sick, homes filled with medical equipment with no brand bandwidth to breathe. One woman told us, you didn't just clean my house, you gave me back a piece of myself. I almost cried. Another said she finally slept through the night. That's when it hit me. We don't just clean homes, we restore dignity. I'm kind of like choke up. We restore peace. We restore breathing room. We didn't share it because we weren't gonna do it for praise, but reflecting back now, something good has to be visible. Not to brag, but to model what is possible with integrity. Let me say this clearly. We need more responsible voices, people who value safety over speed, protection over profit, humans over hype, sustainability over shortcuts. And maybe that's why this post resonated. Because people are tired of overnight success messaging. We want real, we want safe, we want built correctly. We're entering a new era, ladies and gentlemen. We're responsible, we're entering a new era where responsibility becomes cool again. Imagine that. Here's what I'm talking and what I'm going to take into next year. Cleaning has always been and always will be trust-based work. Homes are sacred spaces. Protocols aren't optional, they're life-preserving. Systems prevent crisis, ethics matter even when no one is looking. Leadership is measured by who is protected and who is not impressed. Take a moment, reflect with me. What is the one standard you refuse to compromise next year? Say it out loud, practice it in front of the mirror, write it down where it's visible. Standards make decisions easier, they reduce chaos, they build safety. If this episode resonated, share it with one cleaner, one cleaning business owner, one person who needs this conversation. Not for the numbers, but just for awareness. And if you haven't listened to the full case breakdowns, here they are again. Episode 143, the Maria Perez Story. Episode 151, the Maria Perez Story Part 2. Episode 107, Predator and the$20 Hush Money. And episode 99, the Heather Nielsen theft Case. Because we're not here to fear this industry, we're here to build it right. This is Shannon. Thank you for reflecting with me. Thank you for caring. Thank you for helping raise the bar for cleaners everywhere. See you in the next episode.