In this part 5 episode, I sum up the cost and value concepts with an excerpt from the Solo Elite Membership. It's a clip from a membership call that allows you understand the mindset needed to price effectively. I want to invite you to join the Solo Elite Membership. What is it? It's the only system for solo cleaners to optimize your solo cleaning business to earn six figures without the drama of employees! Or if you want to earn full time income through part time cleaning without employees. Get access to this game-changing training for only $97 per month or $997 per year in the Solo Elite Membership at smartcleaningschool.com. Members get access to the full ISO Model Course to optimize your solo business, live Q&A community calls, access to the Solo Elite Community, bonus podcast content, access to private coaching and more!

The first lesson of Blueberry Pie covers the 3 types of Buyers: Those that want your product or service and value it enough to pay what it's worth. Those that want your product or service and do not value it enough to pay what it's worth. Those that don't want nor value your product or service. The sooner you can learn to accept this and focus on finding Buyer #1's, the sooner you will hit your goals. Do you remember how my interview with Marcia Davidson went? I didn't answer her question about the ones that wouldn't pay her prices. They were Buyer #2's. ​The second lesson of Blueberry Pie is the ability to separate the emotional from the logical. Buyer #1 and #2 will NEVER buy your pie. When they say no, they are not saying no to YOU. They are saying no to your product or service. They are not offending you, judging you, or belittling you. They just don't want what you are offering. Once you accept that, you can gain the confidence to start saying "next". Beth Lane referenced that most solo cleaners (from her point of view) are introverts and empaths. This makes it extra hard for them to accept this second lesson.

I was talking with Robert Pierce from my Solo Cleaning School Elite Membership. He's doing amazing. Robert works as a manager at Target and it's been in retail for 25 years. He found me on the Side Hustle Nation Podcast and decided to start a solo cleaning business. Robert understood the value of investing into his new business as he wanted to shortcut years of trying to figure it out himself. He joined the Elite Membership and has subsequently built his solo cleaning business in 6 months to a lean, professional, and profitable company. I was so impressed talking to him as he shared how close he is to achieving his goal and dream of getting out of retail! I was so excited to hear this. We talked about his plan and how many clients and profit he needs to hit this goal. ​The main reason for the call was for strategic coaching. He was taking on 1-time and recurring house cleaning clients, but like me, he wanted to get into commercial more. He had a recent opportunity with a tool & die shop. It was set up like any industrial building. Picture a large steel box with offices in the front and huge warehouse and/or manufacturing space in the back. There's a filthy bathroom in the warehouse area and the office space isn't the most pristine either. These are blue-collar workers, running a useful service to the community. Robert did an estimate for cleaning the offices and warehouse restroom 3 weeks ago with no feedback. He wondered if his prices were too high. Our conversation was excellent and I knew it would help others as well. Robert gave a very realistic price of $200 per visit. He estimated the job would take 4 hours per visit and he wanted to charge an hourly rate of $50. Thus, he gave a flat rate price of $200 per visit. I agreed with Robert on his method and the price was reasonable for the work he was proposing to do. However, I knew it was overpriced! Listen to what Robert shared next. "Ken, I found out that this facility had a janitor that cleaned prior. I figure he was there for 8 hours to clean the place and made $12 per hour. I'm guessing the tool & die shop paid $100 per day to have their facility cleaned. I'm asking $200. I figured it would be fine since I'm an outside contractor and would be fully insured." Robert already knew why they weren't calling him back. This was all the opening I needed. He is absolutely right at his $200 price is completely reasonable. I taught him that in the Elite Membership. But... there are two angles to come in on a price. One is COST PRICING and the other is VALUE PRICING. Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website

There are thousands of questions asked every day across the cleaning communities worldwide. I can say experientially that the two most frequently asked questions deal with how to clean and pricing. This is no surprise as both of these questions are asked by newer people and the answers come with actual experience in cleaning and making pricing mistakes over time. I didn't have social media communities to ask. I had to learn the hard way through trial and error. It's my firm belief that social media handicaps newer cleaning owners into relying on other people too much. I would prefer if the groups functioned this way. A new cleaning owner asks a question. They receive an answer that makes sense. They ask a second question. "How did you get that answer?" Now they learn the mindset behind the question and this new person can actually grow to the next level. This new cleaning owner now understands the what, the how, and the why behind their initial question. That is my precise goal with this pricing series. I have learned so many lessons over my two decades as a business owner. I have shared these lessons in over 400 episodes of this podcast for free. In fact, I have found over 10 episodes with messages themed completely around pricing mindset. ​ In this first 5-part Pricing Mindset Series, I am helping you build a foundational mindset on price and value. This is essential. 1. Pricing Series I – It's Not Your Prices It's Your Process: In last week's episode, I taught the VERY first mindset about price. Price and value are not the same. People pay a price based on that price being less than the value they perceive the item or service is worth. People perceive a value based on the trust they have in the provider of that item or service. Every time someone tells you your prices are too high. They are really saying that I don't value your service and I don't trust you. You must understand this in order to move forward. 2. Pricing Series II – Do You Charge by the Hour: In this episode, I take you back to an article that I wrote for our local cleaning company. It was written FOR our prospective customers in their language so they understood the win-win in accepting a quote by the job instead of an hourly quote. It's vital for YOU to understand WHY to charge by the job and just as vital for your customers. I didn't unpack the YOU part as much in this repeat episode from 2021. So here is a short addition. Charging by the job is the only way to optimize your solo cleaning business. The entire ISO Model hinges upon charging more per client over time, getting faster at every cleaning, and knowing your numbers so you can constantly increase your take-home profits. Charging by the hour removes your ability to do 2 of those 3 aspects to optimizing. You may ask. "What is optimizing? Why do I need that?" Optimizing is the only way to earn a full time income of $60,000+ per year profit without killing your body, having no time to yourself, and having to deal with the drama of employees. If you don't optimize, you BETTER hire and scale. Otherwise, you will be crushed by the weight of your solo cleaning nightmare. Optimizing is the art of becoming more productive, efficient, and profitable. I learned this an engineer and applied it to my cleaning business. Now it's the ISO Model and the foundation for the Solo Elite Membership. 3. Pricing Series III – Blueberry Pie: This episode is one of the most popular I've made. It's a simple story of a blueberry pie door-to-door salesman. I teach what the word value means compared to price. I also show you that a no isn't a rejection of YOU. They simply don't want your pie or your cleaning service. Develop a Go For No Mindset to win. 4.

​I shared this exact post in a free Facebook cleaning group and thought it valuable enough to include on the podcast. Here's the post. I'm new to this group but not to cleaning. I love this industry and helping newbies. I see pricing posts all the time and wanted to share some insights that I just shared with another member on her private question. The question goes something like this... "Is this price too high, too low? "People are so cheap. How do I get them to value what I do as a professional cleaner?" Here's my response that will help you overcome these pricing objections. It's not your price. It's your process. When people ask for price first and quibble over price first, one of two things is happening psychologically. They don't trust you yet. SOLUTION - Remove your price list first. Don't lead with that. Lead with YOU. Lead with your unique solution to the community. Lead with your personality. Lead with how your service will make their lives better. This builds trust. The price question will come up, but not right away. In my experience, my best and highest-paying clients didn't even ask about price until the end of a phone call or in-person meeting. They were so excited to get their problem solved through my service. They don't respect cleaning as a craft or field of expertise and are treating it like shopping around for the cheapest widget. SOLUTION - Either EDUCATE these people through your content (Google, FB, website, blog, in-person presentations) or AVOID them to find better clients. They are easy to identify! There is an abundance of potential clients that want a professional cleaning service that solves their problems. It's nice to be here. I pray that speaks to you. This is good for solos to hear as they consider scaling or those already doing it. This post was well received with many exclamation points in agreement. I want you to study the 2 reasons you are struggling with cheap prospects. Have you dealt with each scenario? How did you deal with them? Did you try to appease or lower your prices? Did you get mad and complain to someone on Facebook? Did you learn what you could from the scenarios and become a stronger business owner? Do you realize that knowing who you don't want is many times more valuable than knowing who you do want? Are you struggling with pricing and cheap clients? Would you like to find the best ones that appreciate you and pay your prices? You need the ISO Model and the Solo Elite Membership! You can optimize your solo cleaning business to earn over $50,000 profit cleaning less than 20 hours per week without employees or subs or drama! Get access to this game-changing training for only $57 per month or $597 per year in the Solo Elite Membership at smartcleaningschool.com/elite. Members get access to the full ISO Model Course to optimize your solo business, plus access to the Solo Elite Community, bonus podcast content, access to private coaching and additional courses at 50% off! You can also sample the membership with our brand new "Backstage Pass", which is found at smartcleaningschool.com. Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website

In early 2020, I was a brand new podcaster and member of my local chamber of commerce. My solo cleaning business was not making us much money and the pandemic was mere weeks away. That all changed with one breakfast with Ken Byler when he taught me the mindset to "Get a Name for Doing". I highly recommend listening to this original 2020 podcast to get a sense of where I was mentally at this point. I didn't just sit on that advice. I took action right away. Fast forward to 2024. Last week, I was asked to speak at a chamber event for new member orientation. My topic was to share this advice I got from Ken Byler and how it helped me. I stood in front of the room as the 2023 Small Business of the Year award winner. Our local company, C3, has tripled in the last 2 ½ years. Our family was able to go to Florida the past two Februarys. I can attribute so much of this success to Ken's advice and my action. This podcast is the recording of my chamber talk and serves as a follow-up to my 2020 episode. You'll notice the slight title change from "get" to "got". I now have a name for doing in my community. I also want to stress the value of you joining your local chamber and following this advice especially if you plan to serve commercial. Would you like to get a name for doing? If you answered yes and you want to optimize your solo cleaning business to earn six figures without the drama of employees! Or if you want to earn full time income through part time cleaning without employees. Get access to this game-changing training for only $97 per month or $997 per year in the Solo Elite Membership at smartcleaningschool.com. Members get access to the full ISO Model Course to optimize your solo business, live Q&A community calls, access to the Solo Elite Community, bonus podcast content, access to private coaching and more!

I have been a huge fan of the Tim Ferriss Show lately because I love the long-from interviews with world-class performers as Tim dissects how they accomplished what they've accomplished. I LOVED a recent interview with Kelly Slater. If you've never heard of Kelly Slater, he's an 11-time world surfing champion and highly regarded as the GOAT in the sport. I listened to Kelly's interview and was mesmerized by his mindset, attention to detail in his craft and his health, and most importantly, the simplicity of life he lives. I have two life lessons to share from Kelly that really impacted mine. Tim was asking about Kelly's goals. Kelly response was awesome. He shared how nice it is to be in a position where he can mentor the young guys in the sport as he loves the sport and wants to be an ambassador. He stressed how vital it is for him to "always stay humble because when you're humble, you're teachable. When you're teachable, you can continue growing." He said the best way to learn is by teaching. Kelly went on to say. "If you think you know something, go teach it. That's when you will really know it." There is SO much wisdom in Kelly's words that I want to repeat it. Are you humble? Are you teachable? Are you learning and growing? Are you taking what you know and teaching it to others? This is the process of becoming the best in the world. I am not the best at this, but I am doing my best to teach you all what I know through this learning vehicle called a podcast. I find it amazing that I am constantly learning more by teaching it to you! In a latter question, Tim Ferriss asked Kelly about money and houses. Kelly stated that he is the middle child, but was forced to become the family leader because other members of his family had emotional and other issues. Kelly has made gobs of money over the years. Wikipedia reports his career surfing earnings over $4M! He shared his love for traveling and the many homes he's purchased in multiple countries over the years. Tim asked Kelly what his happy ending looks like. I love Kelly's answer as it reminds me of the "Mexican Fisherman". I'll paraphrase. The happy ending comes when all the lessons are learned. Kelly has done it all, spent a lot of money, but it never lead to happiness. He joked that what he'd love to do is simply buy a simple van and travel around to his surfing events in it, keeping a simple life of competitive surfing and helping others in his sport. He has learned so much in his 49 years and wants to stay humble, stay teachable, stay learning, and stay teaching. Over a lifetime, he'll collect a book of lessons and that's how he defined a "happy ending". This is beautiful. This episode is a self-check. Are you humble, teachable, learning, and teaching others? If you are not, these podcasts are a waste of your time. If you are not, you'll never grow your cleaning business beyond where it is now. Sure, it may grow short-term, but it will crumble in the long-term. I urge you to ask those that know you best if they think you're humble and teachable. This is the 2nd window from "The Four Windows". Once you know and get honest with yourself, make the decision to get better. Go and learn the lessons you need to learn to lead toward your happy ending. Then teach it to others and be a difference maker. Would you like to figure out what makes you tick and how to create an action plan for 2021 that will enable you to WIN?! Check out the "2021 Smart Goals Workshop" and access your free goals worksheet.

This episode wraps up our 4-part coaching series to teach you what it means to be truly coachable. This episode is a clip from a recent Solo Elite Membership Call addressing the 4 characteristics that determine how coachable YOU are. I hope you listen and learn. Then I hope you evaluate your own level of coachability. What was the result? Are you truly coachable or not? If you answered yes and you want to optimize your solo cleaning business to earn six figures without the drama of employees! Or if you want to earn full time income through part time cleaning without employees. Get access to this game-changing training for only $97 per month or $997 per year in the Solo Elite Membership at smartcleaningschool.com/elite. Members get access to the full ISO Model Course to optimize your solo business, live Q&A community calls, access to the Solo Elite Community, bonus podcast content, access to private coaching and more! You can also sample the membership with the "Backstage Pass", which is found at smartcleaningschool.com.

This is a great follow up to "The Value of Coaching with Josh Melton". Josh has been coaching me through Marco Polo in 2023. I ask him questions and he responds. I am very coachable, so the content of my questions evolves over time from basic how-to questions to leadership and how my coach thinks questions. My goal is understand the Mind of Josh. How would Josh handle this situation? I have learned and grown as a student because I apply and take action on what Josh teaches me. I take notes on how the situation went and what I could have done better. The business improves. Do you see what I've done. I never have to ask Josh the same question twice. Here is the value of the coaching. Josh has the experience that I don't. He has the revenue and the team that I don't. He has the leadership that I don't. What do I have? I have the humility to submit, to be teachable and coachable, to take action on the advice from my coach. I learn from the coaching and action that I take. I take ownership and therefore grow to the next level of leadership, coachability, teachability, accountability. I grow and get closer to winning. My mindset takes a step closer to my coach's. Meanwhile, my coach continues to grow so he always has plenty to teach. This is music to any coach's ears. We all want our students and mentees to succeed. Here's the problem. Many of you are UN-teachable. You are UN-coachable. You won't take action or you won't take right action with the right resistance as Josh would say. You make the same mistakes over and over again. We try harder to help you get it and in the process, we get frustrated and give up. Do you know why? We want success for you more than you want it for yourself. "That's not true, Ken!" I do want to succeed. Answer me this. How many books have you read on leadership, business development, or people skills? How active and involved are you in your community through business networking, chamber events, and community service? How helpful are you and how good is your name in your community? How many social media posts, phone calls, and emails have you made to attract your ideal customer? How well do you know your numbers? How many times have you asked the same question on how to clean this or how to price that in a Facebook group? How much time do you spend growing and learning from a coach or mentor? How much action do you take and how fast do you take it? How eager are you to Go for No to get to Yes's faster? Do you see the level of ownership it takes to truly be coachable and teachable? How would you grade yourself? I will be transparent. I would grade myself at a 7 for the majority of my entrepreneurial journey. There is one reason it was this low. I was too slow to take action. I spent too much time overthinking. I thought that I was learning how my coach thought, but how could I? I wasn't taking much action and action is the only way to acquire the knowledge. Napoleon Hill calls it Applied Knowledge. This allows you to get feedback from what you applied, which yields new questions. I grade myself much higher now. I 'm a 9. That's why we've grown so fast and I never ask Josh the same questions twice. That's why my questions have moved from HOWs to leadership questions. This is what it takes to truly be coachable. Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website

My wife and I were enjoying breakfast at Postively 4th Street Cafe in Ocean City, NJ. We love this place and especially the lattes. Oh my, they are good! During our connecting time, we were searching for ways to improve our business and effectiveness as parents. I asked the question. "How can we become 10 Talent People in each area of our life?" This is a reference to a story that Jesus teaches in the Book of Matthew. I'll read it. Matthew 25:14-30 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ We are Christians, so this has significant meaning to us. When I asked the question to my wife, "How do we become 10 Talent People", it was our desire to be the 5 talent servant who invests his five to make 10. We want to make 10 talents in every area of our life. From this question, multiple breakthroughs occurred. I'd like to share one of them with you as I believe it will help you a ton. In the Four Windows episode, I painted the image of a window with cross lattices that makes 4 individual panes of glass in each window. Each of the 4 panes represents something in our life. Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website

This original interview was released in April 2022 right after our family got home from our first month-long trip to the Gulf Coast of Florida. I hired Josh to be my coach to take me from a solo optimizer to a commercial cleaner with a team that would allow me to go to Florida for a month. He did and we went! The reason we succeeded is my coachability. In fact, the reason anyone succeeds to higher levels is determined by the value they place on coaching and how coachable they are. This episode kicks off a 4-part series to help you transform into a truly coachable person. This will elevate your business to the levels that create the freedom that you want. ​ 1. Coaching Series I The Value of Coaching – Josh and Ken dig into Ken's business transformation from a solo optimizer to a delegated team that enabled Ken's family to go to Florida for a month. We talk about coaches and advice and how we value them. This is a great kick off to this series. 2. Coaching Series II We All Need a Coach – Ken covers the 4 windows of knowledge and proves that everyone NEEDS a coach. The question is this. Will you be coachable and acquire one? 3. Coaching Series III Are You Truly Coachable – So you want to be coached to the next level, do ya? You believe in the value of coaching and you want it. Ken has one question for you... 4. Coaching Series IV 4 Characteristics of Coachability – This final part is a clip from a Solo Elite Membership Call where Ken and Whitney dive into the 4 main ingredients needed to be successful. Once you complete this series, there will be no doubt that you face a choice. Are you going to hire a coach and do what they teach or not? If you choose to be coachable, check this out! You can optimize your solo cleaning business to earn six figures without the drama of employees! You can also earn full time income part time without employees. Get access to this game-changing training for only $97 per month or $997 per year in the Solo Elite Membership at smartcleaningschool.com/elite. Members get access to the full ISO Model Course to optimize your solo business, live Q&A community calls, access to the Solo Elite Community, bonus podcast content, access to private coaching and more! You can also sample the membership with the "Backstage Pass", which is found at smartcleaningschool.com.

In a recent Solo Elite Membership Call, we talked about one of the biggest struggles in the cleaning industry. This struggle is especially challenging for newbies. And it's not just pricing and how to price. This clip from the Solo Elite walks you through how to remove the emotion around the pricing you give. Wouldn't that be an awesome skill to learn? It will take a few vital other skills. 1. You MUST be willing to track your cleaning times and analyze them. This allows you to properly estimate ALL future jobs accurately. You can develop a quoting algorithm that allows proper pricing to be predictable. Say that 5 times fast! 2. You MUST know your numbers from your business profit and loss. This allows you to evaluate how much you should be charging per hour or how much profit margin you need to create in your pricing. In other words, you need to know what it costs you to clean 1 hour. Once you know this, you can add profit and charge what you need to. 3. Simply OFFER your prices. Offer this and other price options to cover the various possibilities for the customer to hire you. Hit send. This process gives you an actual pricing process that you know is fair and reasonable. You don't have to wonder if you've priced too high or low. You will know that it is just right and in their hands to say yes or no. Either way, there is no emotion. You offer your "Blueberry Pie" and "Go for No". Make sure to check out those classic Smart Cleaning School episodes. Once you learn how to track, price, and offer, you too will take the emotion out of pricing. Would you like to access membership calls and content like this one? You can optimize your solo cleaning business to make six figures without the drama of employees You can also earn full time income through part time cleaning! Get access to this game-changing training for only $97 per month or $997 per year in the Solo Elite Membership at smartcleaningschool.com/elite. Members get access to the full ISO Model Course to optimize your solo business, plus access to the Solo Elite Community, bonus podcast content, access to private coaching! You can also sample the membership with our brand new "Backstage Pass", which is found at smartcleaningschool.com.

In a recent Solo Elite Membership Call, we talked about finding your ideal customer and niching. Unfortunately, most new cleaners will take anyone and anywhere. This is not ideal because you allow others to dictate the terms of your business. You need to set your own terms to be a real business. One of those terms is WHO will you serve and WHY? I use the analogy of fishing to parallel how to find our ideal customers. ​ 1. What type of fish do you want? This comes with experience as you learn the types of customers you prefer to serve. It could be determined by their demographics like their income level, their location or neighborhood, or their age. It could also be determined by their psychographics, like their attitude on money with spending verses investing. You can identify to types of customers that are the least amount of drama as well. Over time, you will identify your ideal client. 2. Where does this fish swim? You need to do the research and find out where your ideal customers hang out, whether that's in person at meet-ups or online on social media groups or even in local organizations and clubs. This will tell you a lot about your fish. 3. How do you lure your fish? Be a giver and give what helps your fish. Consistently show up in this pond and be known as a generous person. Attract your ideal customer with the types of lure (information) that will speak to them. Once you find your ideal customer and create the demand that they MUST have you as their cleaner, they will pay your prices. This is a huge secret of the ISO Model and the coaching you receive in the Solo Elite Membership. Would you like to access membership calls and content like this one? You can optimize your solo cleaning business to earn full time income through part time cleaning without the drama of employees! Get access to this game-changing training for only $57 per month or $597 per year in the Solo Elite Membership at smartcleaningschool.com/elite. Members get access to the full ISO Model Course to optimize your solo business, plus access to the Solo Elite Community, bonus podcast content, access to private coaching and additional courses at 50% off! You can also sample the membership with our brand new "Backstage Pass", which is found at smartcleaningschool.com.

Much time is needed in this podcast episode to clear the names of several members of Total Life Freedom Philly. Before I share the final installment of 'Who Paid for Lunch Clue', I must share a few things that happened in my cleaning business since my last update. It will be short. Trust me! First of all, I was asked to lead an education piece for my local MCBA networking group. I taught on the "They Ask You Answer" process. I have LOVED this book and implemented it into both of my websites for Carfagno Cleaning and Smart Cleaning School. The group enjoyed the discussion as it gave them much to think about. I had a one-time cleaning job booked at a historic barn & wedding venue. When we got there, the plumber was replacing some parts and had the water turned off to the entire barn. The plumber was willing to give us an hour to "do our thing" with water, but I had to decline as we needed at least 5 hours of water. Ultimately, I rescheduled the job and wasted 2+ hours of my day and potentially $750 of other work I could have scheduled. Here's what I found out. The plumber was due to work on Monday at the barn, but got held up at had to postpone to Tuesday. I was scheduled for all day Tuesday. The plumber lets the barn know late on Monday that he can't make it and he'll come over in the morning. This is find in his isolated world, but in the greater picture, Tuesday was already booked. This plumber should have called the barn and worked out a suitable reschedule date like I did. He didn't and unfortunately, it only cost me not him. If this makes you angry, don't let it. It's my fault. I should have called to confirm the barn Monday night or Tuesday morning to make sure I'd have water. Things happen. I just wish that this plumber was more professional. ​ Okay, the time is here. I love my mastermind community, Total Life Freedom. There are 100 members all over the US and some out of country. Last fall as the restaurants were beginning to open, TLF Philly decided to get together for the first lunch. At the end of lunch, our beloved pastor paid for the table. It was an act of generosity that I so appreciated. I have struggled with accepting gifts, so I declared that I'd pay for the next TLF Philly lunch and made a podcast episode about it called,"Allow a Giver to Give." I had no intention of this free lunch to turn into anything. But that all changed when we met for the second lunch (Don't Fight Google or Facebook, Fight for Lunch). A few of us had the idea to try to pay, but a "Benevolent Benefactor" beat us to it. In my haste, I filed the case with Carfagno & Carfagno, a private investigatory firm in the Philly Area, one of the nation's finest. Our goal at Carfagno & Carfagno was to crack the case of 'Who Paid for Lunch Clue' on January 13th, 2021. Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website

My Total Life Freedom local friends and local networking friend Eric Laylon intersect for a second episode. In "Don't Fight Google or Facebook, Fight for Lunch", my friend Eric Laylon from ReachLocal shared great marketing tips and stats on the digital giants. I followed this with a story of who paid for lunch. In this episode, I am copying the format! Last week in my local MCBA meeting, Eric ran the business education segment and taught on the benefits of using Alignable for marketing. I've personally avoided it, but Eric gives some great points and tips that may have persuaded me to look into it more. Thus, I wanted to share it with you. LinkedIn is a business platform for business owners and professionals (employees). Alignable is for small business owners locally (not nationally like LinkedIn). The platform is already niched to local and small business owners, which makes it a natural marketing companion to in-person local networking. Alignable has niche groups that you can join of "like interest". Eric says he has gotten so much more business through Alignable vs LinkedIn because of the platform's ability to hyper-niche. Eric explained that you can set up your profile with "who you'd like to connect with". Then, Alignable takes your preferences and puts you in front of those people. Eric uses the premium $30/mo version because the free version limits you to the # of people you can connect with. I thought Eric did a great job presenting Alignable and it really intrigued me. What do you think? Do you use this platform? I'd love to hear about it if you do. ​A few leads came in this week. The first one was military-like. My friend James Hardy of the Carpet Guys was in an online group and saw a request for a house cleaner. He was in the process of typing in my name and website when something else caught his attention. The owner of a local cafe gave my name first. He recommended me and then texted me. "Ken, do you clean for the cafe?" I said no, but I do clean the owner's home. Then he told me about the recommendation to Steven Hunsberger. I thanked him and shared that Steven is the president of my chamber and we're friends. Then I contacted Steven and he felt so embarrassed that his friend Ken and the only cleaner of 400 members in his chamber didn't come to mind when he was looking for a house cleaner. There are multiple takeaways here. First, I am so thankful that I was triangulated by multiple friends to recommend me and they all knew each other! Another is that I have done a poor job in communicating that I clean houses to Steven in all of our interactions including our recent breakfast! Steven knew that I cleaned offices, but had no idea that I did houses too. We talked on the phone and I answered all of his questions in hopes of educating him on the various options he had for hiring a house cleaning service. Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website

In this episode, I have an important lesson to share from a new friend of mine in the digital marketing space on the power of Facebook and Google. Eric Laylon is a consultant with ReachLocal. He understands the online landscape more than almost anyone that I know. He's a new member of the MCBA networking group and had a chance to share a presentation on his work. I asked many questions as I wanted to understand a little more of the trends he's seeing in 2021. Google drives 85% of all online traffic and still dominates the online search landscape. Bing is #2 because Comcast uses them as a default, but they use Google ad platforms. Google will continue to dominate. If you're not visible on Google, you're not visible. Google My Business is a free way to create SEO for your business through images, reviews, articles, and deals. Ads are an excellent paid option to generate leads. Eric says you should be investing 3-5% of revenue into marketing for average returns. 8% is aggressive and 3% is slow growth. Invest 60-70% of this marketing budget on digital. This is what the large companies are doing in 2021! Facebook is similar to google. They have 223 million users in the United States alone out of 331 million people. That's 67% of the US is on Facebook. A business page is free and allows you to create interest for your product or service for free. Ads (like Google) are an excellent paid option as well. Thank you Eric for teaching and sharing the trends and stats for 2021! My takeaway is simple. If you ever want to be found in your cleaning business, you have to be on Facebook and Google as they represent 67% of the country and 85% of all online searches. And you can access both for free through a Facebook business page, personal page, Google my business profile. That was quick and to the point! Let's dive more into my own solo cleaning business. I have used digital marketing to grow my solo cleaning company in 2020. I tried everything, but focused on Facebook and Google My Business digitally while attending local networking to round out my marketing strategy. I didn't use any paid advertising and grew my company by $60,000 in revenue in 2020. Going forward, I plan to continue. I did get an idea this past week that I had originally planned in 2019 and never did it. I am the only cleaner in a 300 - 400 member chamber of commerce. Many members know who I am now since I've been helpful in leading webinars for the chamber, but I figured that the majority do not know me. I could cold call them and try to fleece them for business. I don't operate like that. Here's what I'm going to do. I'll make a list of the members that have an office that is a good fit for my office cleaning company. These are buildings under 5,000 - 6,000 square feet that need cleaning weekly or less. Once I have the list completed, I'll send emails with personal videos to the owners or contacts through the chamber to say hi and introduce myself. From there, I'll see who has any interest in connecting more with me. I'll schedule Zoom calls or breakfast meetings with the ones who want to know me. Then I'll add these new friends to my twice-monthly newsletter. I am guessing that 150 of the members fit into my demographic out of 400. Out of the 150, I wouldn't be surprised if I can connect and add 30 to my newsletter. Who knows from there. Those 30 could be 10 clients at $500 - $800/month in the future, which is over $60,000 of annual revenue! Either way, I make new friends. Win-win. Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website

At the end of 2020, I attended my first lunch with local Philly-based members of the mastermind I am a member.When this meal was paid for by another member, we were all grateful and a few of us learned a lesson to allow others to give. But what none of us expected was that this would be the first of multiple lunches where the lunch itself became secondary with who would get the privilege to pay for it! The next 4 episodes are a fun replay from this Smart Cleaning School humor. Enjoy! Before we end, I would like to thank our podcast sponsor. Are you a residential company with a team wanting to scale your house cleaning company on your own to 7-figures and beyond? You can do this, but why would you try. Debbie Sardone shared her proven system to getting residential cleaning owners to 7-figures faster, with more profit, and better, career cleaners in "CBF Success Stories with Debbie Sardone and Friends". I highly recommend CBF to any residential cleaning company looking to scale to 7 figures. Check out the Smart Cleaning School's CBF Exclusive Deal. Get Debbie's impactful "Succeeding on First Time Cleans" for 50% OFF and a free CBF discovery call with Debbie or one of her certified CBF Coaches! Just go to smartcleaningschool.com/resources and you'll find "Featured Sponsor" at the top of the page. If you want to scale your residential cleaning business to a million dollars, get CBF now! ​ As we begin 2023, I want you all to know where I am putting my energy. #1. I am growing our local cleaning company, C3 in the Philly Area. #2. I am helping solo cleaners optimize their solo business to earn full time income through part time cleaning without the drama of employees! Get access to this game-changing training for only $57 per month or $597 per year in the Solo Elite Membership at smartcleaningschool.com/elite. Members get access to the full ISO Model Course to optimize your solo business, plus access to the Solo Elite Community, bonus podcast content, access to private coaching and additional courses at 50% off! You can also sample the membership with our brand new "Backstage Pass", which is found at smartcleaningschool.com.

John Maxwell is internationally acclaimed and sought after for his gifting in the instruction of leadership development. He has spawned thousands of leaders through his system. I may never physically meet him in person, but his books and talks have mentored me for over a decade. There is one specific annual exercise that I would like to wrap up 2019 and I hope you'll join me. Check out John's blog article first Here's what John is doing right now and I'll quote him directly from the blog. "I steal off to my study while everyone else is watching television or napping. There on my desk waiting for me is my appointment calendar from the preceding year and a yellow legal pad. Starting that afternoon and continuing that week up until New Year’s Eve, I spend time reviewing my calendar. I review every appointment, meeting, commitment, and activity—hour by hour—from the previous 359 days. And I evaluate each of them. Right now, I’m in the midst of this process. I’m looking carefully at my speaking engagements and considering what I should do more of, what I should do less of, and what I should eliminate altogether. I’m looking at the growth opportunities I pursued and judging which gave a high return and which didn’t. I’m looking at all the meetings and appointments I had, to determine which ones I should do more of and which I should eliminate. This week, I’ll also consider how much time I spent doing things that I should have delegated to someone else. (I’ll also look at what I delegated and reconsider whether I should pick anything back up or delegate it to someone different.). I’ll evaluate whether I spent enough time with my family. I’ll also make a list of all the things Margaret and I did together this year, and take her out to dinner one night so we can reminisce and enjoy them once again. With this annual process, I try to account for every waking hour I had the previous year. What’s the value of that? It helps me to develop strategies for the coming year. Because I do this every year (and have for decades), I’m continually becoming more focused, strategic, and effective. Even if I have a difficult time or relatively unproductive year compared to what I desired, it’s never a loss, because I learn from it and improve upon it in the coming year." Most people allow their lives to simply happen to them. They float along. They wait. They react. And by the time a large portion of their life is behind them, they realize they should have been more proactive and strategic. My yearly process is just one method that I use to be strategic and intentional. I’ve found that this is a perfect time of year for reflecting and setting goals." Here's John's advice for us for 2020 - "Start by sitting down with your calendar for 2019, along with any to-do lists or journals from the past 12 months. Make note of each event, appointment, and activity. Then evaluate every item on your list. What did you enjoy? What were some of your proudest moments? What did you spend too much time on? What didn’t get enough of your time? In what areas were you especially effective? Where did you fail? What can you learn from your mistakes? Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website

This goes back to my introduction episode and going into more mindset on honoring what you currently do and have. Every seed sown comes up. The message here is simple for you to ponder during Christmastime... what are you sowing into the ground with your current job or business? What about your relationships? Every action you take will leave a ripple in the pond of your community. Which ripple are you making... one toward good will or bad? Merry Christmas to you and your family!

This is the last business update on my new solo cleaning business for 2019. What a way to go out! Andrea Szlavik of A2Z Realtor Pa assures Ken that he is not a cleaner who happens to do business. He is a business person that happens to clean. This is a big difference. Let's dive into this week in my business! We had a business showcase presentation from Laney Landis this week at MCBA. She is the 5th generation owner (over 200 years in the family) of Old Village Paint. I was mesmerized at the history of this American Pre-Civil War paint company. I happened to record this meeting as I wanted to learn each member's business better. This was very fortuitous as Laney was sad she didn't have a recording of her showcase on her family company. Afterward, I told her of my bootleg recording and sold it on the black market for a can of paint. Just kidding. I sent it to her after the meeting and she was so pleased and thankful. As I've shared many times, always look to sow good seeds. I also connected with a few other members after this meeting. James wanted to set up a 1-to-1 breakfast meeting to get to know each other's stories better. Charley wanted me to start sending me cleaning referrals. Paul wanted to connect. I am becoming a trusted face & member and others recognize that and want to get to know me better to refer me. I met Andrea Szlavic on NextDoor last week and she added me to her realtor preferred vendor list. I was very thankful and asked if she would like to grab a coffee and connect. She opted for breakfast at a brand new local spot called Sammy's Bullfrog Cafe in Harleysville, It was a productive meeting where we shared our business stories with each other while enjoying the new flavor in town. We discovered a common connection as well. I had attended the Growth Now Movement LIVE! Conference in Reading, PA with Justin Schenck. While at this conference, I met another Keller Williams realtor at the same office as Andrea. It's a small world, after all. At the end of the meeting, I asked her this question. "Why did you add me to your preferred vendor list without meeting me or seeing my work quality first?" Her answer floored me and became the title to this episode. "Because you set yourself apart by reaching out to me first on NextDoor. That told me that you were a business person that did cleaning verses a cleaning person that tried to do business. Most cleaners don't take that initiative." As we parted, she assured me that she would get me out to her team's office in the spring for a real estate cleaning presentation. Then instead of getting in my car, I went back into the cafe and asked to speak to the owner. They were hesitant as they assumed I wanted to complain. Then I told them that I enjoyed the experience and would like to leave the cafe a 5-star review on Google. The hostess introduced me to my breakfast waitress, who was also part owner in the brand new cafe! She was very grateful and told me where to leave these reviews and asked for my cleaning business card. I left one on the cafe's bulletin board and went home. Once I got home, I followed up by giving 5-star reviews on Google, NextDoor, and Facebook for Andrea and the Bullfrog Cafe. Andrea and Kayla (my breakfast waitress) were so thankful. Again, these are good seeds! Read the rest of this episode at the Smart Cleaning School website