She Didn’t Plan to Start a Cleaning Business… And Then It Took Off

Brought to you by expert maid service owners

Tips and advice shared here, have helped us grow our own maid services. With eight current and former cleaning business owners in our team, including our CEO and founder Amar, we know the maid service industry inside and out.

We partner with amazing leaders in the cleaning industry like Debbie Sardone, Angela Brown, Courtney Wisely and Chris Schwab and more, to provide you with the latest industry insights.

We’ve built the easiest-to-use scheduling software, built specifically for maid service owners! Check out ZenMaid

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube

Introduction

Stephanie: Hello everyone, and welcome back to Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast, the cleaning business podcast. And in today’s episode, we will be meeting with Brenna Sledge, and she is the owner and founder of Busy B’s Cleaning Company, and she is in Nashville, Tennessee. And Brenna has had such an incredible growth trajectory and truly has such a heart for giving. And I can’t wait for you guys to hear about all of her giving initiatives and how we can use giving and being really community involved as a core part of our business. I know it has been for Serene Clean, and that’s why this conversation, I’ve been looking forward to so much. So, Brenna, thank you so much for joining me. This is gonna be awesome.

Brenna: Thank you so much, Stephanie, I’m so excited to be here and just so honored that you came alongside with ZenMaid to do this podcast. I’ve been listening to it constantly, and it’s been such a source of inspiration and resources. And I’m just so thankful. I wish we would have done this years ago.

Stephanie: Well, I certainly been learning a ton too. That’s the beauty of it, is we never stop learning, always being a student of the game and of others. And really, for our listeners, it’s like, not everything that you hear is going to resonate with you. Take what you like, try it out, and maybe it doesn’t work out, but the whole point is to give you guys ideas and to also have enjoyable conversation and talk about some of the terrible things that have happened to us.

So let’s start off, tell us your story, because you started your cleaning business, like one would think the most horrific time to start a business, which is 2020, so can you give us your backstory?

From Massage Therapy to Cleaning Success

Brenna: Absolutely. So we are coming up on five years this August. So like a lot of other people, ironically, we completely did this by accident. So I went to school, and my trade before this was massage therapy. So I had my own massage therapy business in the State of Missouri for a few years, and of course, the pandemic hit in 2020 and my husband is military. We have moved around a lot in the last decade, so that’s where we were currently stationed at the time. And unfortunately, in my line of work, you can’t do body work and social distance, so I was out of work at the time.

When we were really quarantining, I started thinking, like, Is this really what I’m meant to do? What am I going to do if this doesn’t resolve quickly? And ironically, while we were at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, we had our own Airbnb, and that’s kind of what opened the door for me to get my feet wet in the cleaning industry and hospitality specifically. My husband and I, we owned, managed, cleaned everything from start to finish, our own Airbnb, and it also was flourishing despite the pandemic. And so that’s what kind of got me started.

The Birth of Busy B’s Cleaning Co.

Brenna: We moved in the summer of 2020, in the heat of the pandemic. I had three children at that time, and I was really just looking for a way to get out of the house. Our neighborhood page had a Facebook group for the neighbors, and someone just posted randomly one day like, hey, I really need some help cleaning. I don’t want to hire a company, just an individual. And I hopped on very quick, and I said, I would love to help you.

After I cleaned for her, a couple days later, a week later, I was getting these cold messages on Facebook from complete strangers, and they were like, “Hey, I would love to get an estimate from you.” And I’m like, for what? Who, what do you need an estimate for? What is going on? And so I found out that the neighbor had recommended me on another local Facebook group, and it just was total accident. I didn’t expect this, but I really love it. I haven’t looked back.

So it started in August of 2020, heat of the pandemic. I was obviously wearing a mask and gloves and all of those things. And then as the pandemic started to conclude, thankfully, I no longer had to wear a mask. And I remember going into clients that I’d been serving for months and months and months, and they’d ring the doorbell, and they’d be like, we never knew what you looked like.

Rapid Growth and Expanding Team

Stephanie: How many employees are you guys at now?

Brenna: Over 20 at the moment, and it’s ever evolving. Every week it’s different. This is the most we’ve ever had, and we’re growing every day. I always tell people we are always hiring. I’ll never turn away someone that is interested and willing.

Stephanie: Well, first of all, what a incredible story. And yeah, just kind of stumbling into it, if you will. But clearly, this was meant to be. You’re only five years in. I’m about to hit six years in. And the point of me mentioning that is for our listeners to know that this can be a very quick thing sometimes, and sometimes it does tumble a lot faster than you think it’s going to. Doesn’t mean it always happens that way. A lot of times it’s the opposite. But it really can be a whirlwind.

Partnership with Vacation Rentals

Stephanie: I know that you now partner with a vacation rental, like a luxury vacation rental company.

Brenna: I do yes. So that also, like I said before, the Airbnb industry was so fun. It was addicting, almost, to have that ownership side, dealing with the guests, the cleaning, the laundry. I loved that. I feel like this job, if you will, is so much bigger than just a job. I feel so passionate about it, I wake up every day thankful to do it. It’s always something different.

With the Airbnb company that we’ve partnered with, we have partnered with several along the way, but the one we’re with now is absolutely phenomenal. It’s called Kalos Dwellings, and they are a luxury boutique property management company here in Nashville, and also in Florida. They have over 60 properties in Nashville, and over 130 in Florida. They rightfully have about three cleaning companies that they use to manage all of their properties, and Busy B’s is one of them. Nashville is not the same Nashville it was 30 years ago. The bachelorette parties, the bachelor parties, the birthdays – Nashville is up and coming. And if you have an Airbnb in Nashville, you’re gonna stay very busy.

Finding Strategic Partnerships

Stephanie: Did they find you? Or did you solicit them? Because I’m sure everybody’s like, Oh my gosh, yes, especially if you’re in an area that this is good for.

Brenna: I don’t want it to sound cliche, but social media has been such a huge resource for us, and that’s how I found Kalos. They had posted in a local Facebook group for a position, and I applied telling them I know this is kind of different. You probably weren’t looking for a cleaning company owner to do this role, but my role has evolved with the company through the last year, which has been so fun. They gave us the freedom to have feedback and enter new ideas and just really have the freedom to create our own role and find what our niche was. The partnership just kind of blossomed through it.

Lessons Learned from Pricing Mistakes

Stephanie: Being that you have this kind of behind the curtain experience for vacation rentals, what do cleaning business owners screw up greatly, and how do you wow owners?

Brenna: I have blown it. I remember, before I got connected with Kalos, there was a company in Nashville that had just a handful of properties, and they had a flat rate that they wanted to pay the cleaning company to come in. I was desperate. I shot myself in the foot because I would go and not realize that this Airbnb that they wanted for a flat rate fee was a three story, 19 bed situation, and they wanted it done in four hours. I was like, this is impossible. I would be stuck there making 19 beds with two other people until two or three in the morning. And I lost a lot of money that way.

Busy B’s, we actually have learned the hard way, and we charge per man hour or per woman hour, because we have ladies at the moment. I always ask on the front end now, do you have a budget that we need to stay mindful of, and if so, divide that by our hourly rate, and that determines how long we can stay at a clean. I always get very leery of any company that says this is our max, we cannot exceed it, and we want it done in X amount of time. When you are paying your employees an hourly wage, it’s really protected us from some scenarios in the past where I was losing hundreds of dollars because I was having to pay for the help and couldn’t get it done in the time that they wanted.

Dealing with Scope Creep

Stephanie: A lot of times, it seems like some owners think that’s more than their cleaning fee, as if that’s really relevant to my costs of doing business. We dropped over half of our vacation rentals actually, because there was a lot of scope creep – meaning here’s the list of things we agreed upon, and then they just kept adding: can you do this while you’re there? Can you change a light bulb there? Can you shovel snow or haul firewood? A guest had forgotten their fishing pole, and it was like floating in the lake, and the owner was like, “Can you just grab it? It’s right up right in the water.” And we’re like, No, we can’t. He was upset about it. How do you deal with that?

Brenna: I’m so glad you brought that up, because I remember in a previous episode, you mentioned that you’re not allowed to talk to the clients anymore, because you’ll clean the gutters, you’ll paint the walls, you’ll change the light bulbs. I’m the same way. My best advice would be, obviously, we’re a fully insured company. I blame it on the insurance all the time. I’ve gotten really good at setting the boundaries and the expectations at the walk through, the very first initial communication. So for our insurance company in particular, we are not allowed to do exterior window cleaning or carpet shampooing or anything that we can’t reach on our own two feet.

I tell clients on the front end, we’re not going to climb up on furniture. We’re not going to help you move furniture. I had a story about that. When I was first starting, I had my first employee, it would be me and him, and we would go into these first time move-out cleans. The movers would still be there, the clients would still be there, and they would start asking us to help load the moving truck. Unfortunately, we agreed. He was helping a client carry a very heavy piece of furniture downstairs, and the client actually fell. And I was like, oh no, we cannot be doing this anymore.

Building Company Culture Through Giving

Stephanie: Let’s segue into the whole community involvement thing. For me, that is the most, other than being a beloved boss and a great place to work, that for me is the tops. We do employee chosen local nonprofit donations every single month. So everybody takes a turn, and we go around the circle. It’s your month, which local nonprofit are we going to donate to? We can obviously use that in our marketing, but it’s been almost six years that we’ve done that. That’s what builds culture.

Brenna: Yes, absolutely, I feel like you and I are so similar in that way, that we are just as much passionate about the giving side and the serving side, as we are about being successful business owners. My very first giving opportunity was through Cleaning for a Reason, and I found out about that through ZenMaid. That really opened the door for me to be like, hey, there’s actually organizations that exist for this sole purpose of cleaning companies being able to give in this way.

As I got involved with Cleaning for a Reason, I started looking for the local options as well. We’re technically Nashville, but I started in a small town called Nolensville. We actually have a local organization called Art Helps Cancer, and they’re a nonprofit organization that provides handwritten notes and gift baskets and maintenance, lawn care, cleaning services to anyone that’s a resident of our area undergoing cancer treatment. We’ve been partnered with them for a couple of years now.

The other organization that has come to be really near and dear to my heart is called the Isaiah House. It’s when children are taken by CPS or DCS, they are awaiting placement for foster homes. The Isaiah House is a place where children go instead of just in some cubicle somewhere awaiting placement. They’re able to get a home cooked meal, they have volunteers who are 24/7 willing to help the children. We were able to partner with our local Isaiah House in cleaning that home for them for free.

International Impact

Stephanie: You also mentioned something about international giving. Can you tell us about that?

Brenna: The other opportunity that I’ve come across recently is Edu Kenya. This is another nonprofit organization based in Kenya. They have built a school there in one of their communities, from primary school through high school. The founders of this nonprofit also are from Nolensville, where we’re located, and we were able to commit to become a sponsor with this organization. There’s 10 employees of this school in Kenya, working at the school to clean it, keep things up, so that their children can receive this education. Busy B’s was able to recently commit to paying the annual wage of one of the moms whose child goes to this school, and it was like $160 a month. Of course, the American dollar goes way further there, but it’s such an honor to be able to provide this blessing. I didn’t even know that existed a month ago, and here we are.

The Power of Giving

Stephanie: That is so amazing and inspirational. I hope it’s intriguing for you guys, some creative thought processes on how could you give immediately, regardless of the size of your business, and really just making this part of your company culture. What you just said about the more you give, the more things come your way. I have 1,000% experienced that. If you hold money like a fist and hold on to it tightly, nothing’s gonna get out, but nothing’s gonna get in. If you open your hand, opportunities can flow in. Every time I’ve been called to give, I just blindly follow it. I know that sounds really reckless financially. I’m not saying blow all your savings, but if I feel that tug in my heart, I listen to it because it’s telling me this is what I’m supposed to be doing right now.

Brenna: I’ve found that the more I give, the more opportunities I see to give, and there’s really no limit to it. Just yesterday, I got a call from a family member that they work with someone whose roof had collapsed in their home and insurance wasn’t going to cover the cost. And I’m like, done. We’ll come, it’s fine. You will be blessed tenfold and more if you’re just willing to serve, no matter the sacrifice. I want to be right there alongside my team. Our employees, they never work for free. I’m never going to ask them to do that, but they know that the company will pay them to do this service for others, and I think that’s so important.

Employee Satisfaction and Flexibility

Stephanie: Let’s talk about employee satisfaction. How do you keep your team happy?

Brenna: I’ve always heard that your employees are the best clients you’ll ever have. So if you really pour into them and meet them where they are, it’s always going to be a blessing to the company and return to you. One of the things that we’ve done is we allow our employees to make their own schedule. I’ve made a quick little online availability form. The first question is, do you want to work this week, yes or no? If it’s no, great, I don’t need to know, that’s your business. If it’s yes, it’ll take them through what days and times are you available.

I would say over a third of the employees that we’ve hired ended up coming back to Busy B’s because of the freedom of making their own schedule. I’ve had so many people tell me, “You are the best boss I have ever had.” And I’m like, that makes me feel so good. We have the obligation to be serving our team just as much, if not more so than the people that we clean for.

Technology and Software Solutions

Stephanie: What about technology? What are some of the softwares that have been game changers for you?

Brenna: There’s so many resources out there. ZenMaid, thank God for ZenMaid, because I would not be where I am today without it. One of the really cool things we experienced last month, we had been using Grasshopper for years and years for text messages, but then we got stuck in the shutdown of the SMS registration. I was distraught. Somebody on ZenMaid recommended Open Phone. I am blown away. Their SMS registration process was simple, there are actual people on the other line of customer support, the aesthetics of the app are so much easier to navigate. There’s Zapier integration with ZenMaid so your contacts can transfer over.

Stephanie: We’re automation psychopaths, we want everything automated because you have to, you can’t scale without it. I’ve used ZenMaid since day one in my business. I cannot imagine life without them. The business has grown, or ZenMaid has grown with the business. We do a ton of commercial, vacation rentals, so much residential – we’re talking upwards of 200 appointments a week. In managing thousands potentially of clients over the years, there’s no way it could have been done.

Other tools we use: Zapier to help softwares talk to each other, MailChimp for email marketing, Sign Request as our alternative to DocuSign, Gusto for payroll – I could not recommend them more highly. QuickBooks Online for bookkeeping, and ClickUp – I should just have a ClickUp tattoo. ClickUp is project management, task management software, but you can truly make it do anything. That’s where we have all of our CRM and lead management.

Trainual is one we added in the past six months that has been amazing for documenting standard operating procedures, processes, systems. Our new hire employee orientation is in there. It’s our brain of how do you do this thing in Serene Clean, and then I can assign it to anybody in any role. I never have to teach somebody again how I do my testimonial graphics or how you schedule them out on Facebook.

Final Thoughts

Stephanie: This conversation has been really great. I’ve been loving talking to newer owners because the challenges you’re facing and the lessons you’ve learned, so many of our listeners are probably like, this is so relevant to me right now. It’s clearly possible.

Brenna: Thank you truly. If anybody wants to check out your social media, check out your website, where can they find you?

Brenna: Absolutely. So we have a Facebook page, Busy Bee’s Cleaning Co, and of course, we’re based out of Nashville, Tennessee. We also have an Instagram, I believe it’s Busy B’s Cleaning Co, and we have a very beautiful website, newly formed. It’s called busybscleaning-tn.com

Stephanie: Awesome. We’ll make sure to link all of those below. And if you ever come to Savannah, Brenna, our favorite thing is to be on rooftop bars and watch the bachelorette parties go by because you can hear them for blocks.

Brenna: You’ll really enjoy Broadway. You can hear and see the pink for miles.

Stephanie: Brenna, thank you everybody for listening to another fantastic episode of Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast. Don’t forget to hit that subscribe, hit that like, comment down below what your favorite part is, and we’ll see you in the next episode. Thanks so much for watching.

Note: This transcript has been edited for clarity and readability

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• ZenMaid
• Cleaning for a Reason
• Art Helps Cancer
• The Isaiah House
• Edu Kenya
• OpenPhone
• Zapier
• MailChimp
• SignRequest
• Gusto
• QuickBooks Online
• ClickUp
• Trainual
• Busy B’s Cleaning Facebook
• Busy B’s Cleaning Instagram
• Busy B’s Cleaning Website

QUICK TIP FROM THE AUTHOR

Simplify and enjoy your scheduling with a scheduling software made for maid services

• Have a beautiful calendar that's full but never stressful.
• Make your cleaners happy and provide all the information they need at their fingertips.
• Convert more website visitors into leads and get new cleanings in your inbox with high-converting booking forms.
• Become part of a community of 8000+ cheering maid service owners just like you.

Start your FREE ZenMaid trial today and discover the freedom and clarity that ZenMaid can bring to your maid service! Start your FREE trial today