Episode 1290 – How to Grow Your Cleaning Business with SOPs (Without the Boring Binders)
Struggling to grow your cleaning business or feeling overwhelmed with training and chaos? In this episode, Mike Campion and Lindsay Bjorklund dive into why SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) are the secret sauce for systematizing and scaling your cleaning company. Learn simple, step-by-step strategies to create SOPs without overthinking it—no giant binders required. Discover how to use tools like Loom and ChatGPT to quickly build training guides that actually work. Plus, hear why letting your team improve the systems might be the smartest leadership move you make. If you’re ready to stop repeating yourself and finally build a cleaning business that runs like a well-oiled machine, this episode is for you!
Why Every Cleaning Business Needs SOPs (And How to Start Now)
Standard Operating Procedures, or SOPs, sound fancy, but they’re really just step-by-step guides for how to do stuff. In this episode, Mike Campion and Lindsay Bjorklund break down why every cleaning company needs them to grow and run smoothly. Spoiler: if you feel like you’re always putting out fires or saying “I just need to get organized,” SOPs are your new best friend. They’re not just for big companies—they’re for anyone who wants fewer mistakes, better training, and more time.
You Already Have Systems (Even If They’re a Mess)
Here’s the wild truth: if you think you don’t have any systems, you actually do—just messy ones. Even “winging it” is a system, it’s just not a good one. Lindsay shares how to start fixing this. No need for a thick binder. Just start small. Record a video of yourself doing a task, or write out the steps. It doesn’t have to be perfect—just out of your head and into the world.
A Hack for Fast SOPs (You’ll Thank Us Later)
Got a video? Cool. Use tools like Loom or Zoom to record your process, then transcribe it. From there, toss it into AI (hey there, ChatGPT 👋) and boom—you’ve got a rough SOP. Is it perfect? Nope. Is it better than nothing? Absolutely. It saves you time, helps your team, and gives you a solid starting point. This is how real pros create simple systems that work.
Let Your Team Help (No More Micromanaging)
Here’s the fun part: once someone on your team takes over a task, let them own the SOP. Why? Because they’ll improve it. Lindsay says her team often makes the systems better than she ever could. Plus, it gives them pride and ownership. Trust your people. When they’re in charge of their own playbook, they do better work. This is leadership magic.
Just Start—Messy Is Okay!
Mike and Lindsay wrap up with this challenge: stop listening to podcasts (yep, even theirs!) and go make your first SOP today. Don’t overthink it. Train someone live, record it, and clean it up later. That’s how real cleaning business owners scale up, stop repeating themselves, and finally get their lives back. Want to grow your cleaning business faster? Start with systems.