Episode 720 – Wisdom From Someone Who Has Made All the Mistakes You Are Making
Hi Cleaning Nation! Having new cleaners on the podcast is always great because they are growing and learning right along with you. They also have the wisdom to be learned from as they are figuring out what does and doesn’t work in the cleaning business world. Today, we have Sarah Gaborik who started Coastal Cleaning Crew in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida in January of 2020. She specializes in vacation rentals and residential cleanings. Come listen in as she and our own Tracey Thompson chat about the ups and downs of starting a cleaning business during covid, learning from mistakes, and how to use them as an opportunity to do better.
Training Cleaning Employees the Right Way
One of the toughest issues Sarah had to face in the first 14 months after starting her business was how to properly train cleaning employees. She is a very visual, hands-on learner and assumed those she hired would be the same way. After months of frustrating experiences of trying to go in and show potential employees how to clean without the desired outcome she was hoping for, she finally realized she needed to get a better system in place. She also realized that she couldn’t expect everyone she hired to have the same learning style as her. She started writing things down in detail so that those who learned better through reading would be able to perform at a higher level. She immediately started seeing positive results and began to understand the power of systems. Not only that but she realized that having systems that set her employees up for success improved the overall culture of her team as well.
How to Change the Momentum in Your Own Cleaning Business
The biggest thing that Sarah would advise someone who was in her previous position of being a solo cleaner who was trying to grow her business, would be to know yourself and take yourself out of the spotlight. Understand that when your business grows, it’s not going to be all about you and the type of cleaner that you are personally. It’s going to be about you as a business. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t still involved. You still represent the business, as do your employees, but in your case, you represent that on a higher level as a business owner rather than a person who goes into houses and cleans.
Once you make that mindset shift, it allows you to look outside yourself and ask what does your business really need to grow. What kind of people are you looking for and what do you need to provide those people in order to build that culture and success you’re all wanting to achieve.
Biggest Takeaway for Sarah
The biggest aha for Sarah came when she realized that in order to grow, she needed to get outside her comfort zone. Often the hardest, most uncomfortable decisions she made ended up making the biggest difference in the growth of her business. She learned to lean into that discomfort and trust that if she is going outside of that, it probably means she is moving in the right direction.
Along with that, she learned the power of being willing to get it wrong. To do your crappy 1.0 version as Mike calls it and get it out into the world until you can get a 2.0 version and so on
Final Takeaway
Systems, core values, and getting out of your comfort zone are the keys to growing your business and building a company instead of having a job where you clean every day.
Want to know more about these tools and what you can do to get out of your own way and improve your mindset? Go to growmycleaningcompany.com to listen to our FREE webinar or growmycleaningcompany.com/talk and book a call with one of our coaches. They will get you set up with all the tools, systems, and more to build the business you’ve always wanted.