Episode 771 – Why Backing Into Your Goals Can Be the Most Effective Way to Accomplish Them
Welcome to the podcast Cleaning Nation! Today, we have Tracey Ervin of Acme Cleaners TNT. She started her cleaning business back in 2007 in Columbus, Ohio. Today, she is chatting with Mike today about whether her next best move would be to switch from residential cleaning to commercial, or to get out of cleaning personally and hire a team to do the cleaning. Listen in as he coaches her through the best way to approach this issue and get really clear on the problem she is trying to solve.
Switching from Residential to Commercial Won’t Solve All Your Problems
When we are getting burnt out, it can be easy to think that changing small things in our business can help us feel better. The truth is, doing that is the equivalent to shifting your weight in a really hard chair. Sure it will feel better for a few minutes, but eventually, another part of your body is going to start hurting again because the issue isn’t you shifting your weight, it’s that you have a hard chair to sit on! In the case of Tracy, she wants to switch from residential to commercial thinking that will help her feel better about where she is in her business. But the truth is, the first question she needs to be asking is if she wants to change small things about her situation or if she wants to get out of cleaning all together. That’s the option that’s most likely to get her the results she wants.
Focus on the Pain of Your Target Customer to Find Them
A dual income family with three kids living in a big home with pets is going to have a massively different pain than a retired couple who lives in a small condo and travels a lot. These are the things that are important to get clear on before you start to go headlong into new clients. Especially if you are switching niches. Getting really clear on what you’re hoping to do for your client- give them back their freedom, take something off the list, make their home a safer environment, etc. is going to very much affect the kind of customer you are going to attract.
Back into What Your Goals Are to Have the Life You Want
To accomplish what you really want to accomplish, you have to back into your goals. First, ask yourself what do you want to do with the money you earn. If it’s to live in a nice house, drive nice cars, and go on two vacations a year, do the math and figure out how much that will cost. Then, you are making the money so that you can have the life you want, not just making money to make money. It’s also more likely that the money will go to the places it needs to go. Once that is figured out, you need to make about five times that amount in order to hire a team, have enough profit for you, pay your employees, be able to pay for insurance and all the legal stuff, products, advertising and other ways to grow your business. That then becomes your goal. And with that goal in mind, you are not only giving yourself some great reasons to get out of cleaning, you have a really clear path to get there.
Final Takeaway: Clarity is always necessary before you can really move in the direction of your goals.
Love the idea, but find it overwhelming? Want to learn the next steps like, what to actually say on the call? Jump on a call with one of our coaches and learn strategies on how to grow your cleaning company and start loving your job every day! Book here