My First 10 Hires: The Hilarious (and Horrifying) Truth About Finding Good Cleaners

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Introduction

Hello everyone, welcome or welcome back to the Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast. I’m your host, Stephanie from Serene Clean, and in today’s episode, we are doing some story time – my first 10 hires. I thought it would be so fun to take a little walk down memory lane and share with you guys all of the torment that I went through in 2019 at 23 years old with my first hires.

Because, as we all know, hiring is one of the most challenging parts of our cleaning businesses – managing employees and dealing with a bunch of tomfoolery. And I will say that you will be surprised potentially to hear that three of these first 10 hires are still with me today. Isn’t that crazy? Six years later, they are still with me – pretty wild, but the other ones, not so much. And so this is the story of every single one of them.

I thought it would be a blast to share with you guys and also commiserate, because I know that so many of you guys want to give up on hiring and just go back to being an individual cleaner, because you’ve just had it with these employees, and “nobody wants to work anymore.” Not true, guys, not true. Lots of great people are out there, but we have to sift through the rubble to find the diamonds in the rough, right?

Hire #1: The No-Show

Transporting back in time. It’s April 2019, Stephanie is opening her business. She’s about to turn 23, she doesn’t know anything about anything, but she is so full of hopes and dreams.

Hire number one actually never even showed up. That’s right, I offered a job to this woman, and she really made me feel super excited. She was so positive. And I set up training in ZenMaid. Because I already had ZenMaid, I assigned her to my apartment to show up for orientation or onboarding. And guess what? She ghosted me, and guess who cried like a baby about it, and wanted to give up? Stephanie. But I didn’t give up. I dusted myself off, and I tried again.

She showed up years later for an interview, and I’m not gonna say I’m proud of this, because I would do it again. I did call her out and ask her to leave the interview, because we were doing group interviews. There was a group of people, and she showed up to the interview, and I pretended to not recognize her, and I looked at the list of names, and said, “Weren’t you the one who never showed up?” And she got super flustered, and I asked her to leave. So that felt good. And no shame, no shame. I’d do it again because she hurt me. Maybe I’m just not mature enough yet, but whatever.

Hire #2: G – One Month Wonder

Number two, I’m just gonna call these people by their first initial to protect their anonymity. So let’s call hire number two, which technically was the first one who actually made it through getting hired, G.

I hired G on May 13, 2019 and her termination date was June 20 of 2019, so she made it a whole month and a few days. From the get-go, I was getting complaints. I was putting her onto clients’ houses that I had been cleaning because, as a side note, I was still working at my full-time job throughout the day. It was so scary to basically trust somebody to take care of my little baby business. It was just born, an infant, and I’m already trying to get other people to be cleaning for me, because I had no choice. I couldn’t add clients in the nights and weekends anymore. I was already full. I started getting clients very quickly, so that’s why I needed to hire right away.

She was working part-time, and she was getting complaints. I was sharing these complaints with her, and she’d say, “Okay, I get it. I’ll do better on this.” But she also oftentimes had a lot of excuses. I was just so uneasy. I literally had a pit in my stomach every single day, because either she was calling out and I would have to rearrange and go to these cleanings myself, or I would just be like, “Oh my gosh, is the quality good?” It was just so stressful because I knew she wasn’t doing a good job, but I didn’t know what to do. This was my very first employee, I just did not know how to handle anything.

The Fateful Day

On the fateful day of her termination, she had two cleanings. Both of them were recurring clients, and the cleanings were in Black River Falls. Luckily, I had to run to that town for my job, and I thought, “Let me go check in at her second cleaning of the day.” At this point, it was the afternoon, and she had already clocked in and clocked out at the first appointment. Shout out to ZenMaid – I had ZenMaid from day one, and I could see GPS tracking that she had physically clocked in at these homes.

She was still clocked in at home two when I show up to do a quality check, right? And guess who’s not there? G. She is clocked in. She’s not even at the house. So I get into the house. We have used checklists from day one, leaving them behind. She had filled out the checklist and said she did everything, and she didn’t clean a thing. All right, that feels worthy of an F-bomb. She did not clean anything. And this client had a giant black dog that shed everywhere. So there was black hair everywhere.

The next hour and a half, I frantically cleaned that entire house. I didn’t even have supplies with me. I mean, I was MacGyvering it. I can clean a house with just about anything and some water. So I just frantically cleaned the place so that it would pass somewhat moderate standards. And the client, luckily, did not show up. This was before Ring doorbell cameras were a thing so they couldn’t see all this chaos happening.

I get done with it, and I’m sitting in the driveway at this client’s house, and I text G and say, “Hey, how’s it going? I see that you haven’t clocked out at the client’s house.” And she was like, “Oh yeah, I totally forgot. I just finished up. Can you clock me out like 15 minutes ago?” And I send a picture of the outside of the client’s house, and I’m like, “Well, that’s funny, because I’ve been cleaning here for two hours. You clearly did nothing at all.” And she was like, “I guess I’m fired then.” And I was like, “Yeah,” and that was it. She didn’t give two cares.

The First Client’s Experience

I had suspected that the first client had had a bad cleaning as well, but I didn’t know what to do. It was tough because what if she did do a good job, and I just showcase to the client my ineptitude because I did not quality check this house? It was a 20-minute drive out.

I sent the bill, and I said, “How did the cleaning go?” And that client responded, “Oh my gosh. We don’t even know how to handle this right now. Our son was home the whole time that G was assigned to this appointment, and apparently she had clocked in in the client’s driveway, sat there for four hours on her phone in her car so that she could trick the GPS tracking, and clocked out. She didn’t even enter the house.”

I don’t know why she wouldn’t just quit instead of going through all that trouble. I apologized to the client, and they stayed on as clients. I told them, “She’s been terminated, and I’m so sorry about this.” So that was my very first hire.

Hire #3: M – The Ghoster

Because I had been suspecting G wasn’t working out, I was already hiring. I’m looking at the dates here. We are on to employee number three, M. Her hire date was June 13, 2019, and G’s last day was on the 20th. So there was a little bit of crossover. Clearly, I had known or suspected that G was not going to work out, so I was already hiring. Side note, look at this – I’m hiring all the time, regardless of if I have somebody or not. I didn’t know if I had hours for M, but G wasn’t doing so well.

M started on June 13 and she actually was a great cleaner. And again, I had no training at all – we’re talking like, show them for a day or two and then be QC’ing them. But truly, here’s a checklist, work off of that. She was a really good cleaner. And actually some of the clients we got at that time, we still have today, and they had all positive stuff to say about her work.

Her termination date was July 12. So literally, one month later. My reason for termination? She ghosted me. She just stopped responding or going anywhere. So just totally vanished into thin air.

Hire #4: S – Nine Months of Red Flags

So now I am 0 for 3 on anybody sticking around. Back to square one. Stephanie’s cleaning everything.

Next hire is S. S started on July 3. So again, you’re seeing these staggers – I’m getting an inkling that somebody’s not working out, or I’m seeing that we’re having a demand, and I’m getting ahead of the problem. S was my first male hire as well. M was fired or out of my system on the 12th. So there’s a little bit of crossover there. S took on all of M’s clients, and again, I’m cleaning as well too.

S actually stayed with me for nine months, and he was one of my fires – I fired him. This one was really interesting. There were so many red flags. He would hit on the clients. He would flirt with the clients. And I just became too friendly with him because we worked together. It was like a co-worker almost as opposed to a boss-employee relationship. That was not good.

This was a challenge for me in the beginning – it’s really hard when you’re cleaning alongside your employees to not almost treat them like just a co-worker. You become that co-worker relationship, and it makes it difficult when you do need to discipline or talk about quality or anything like this. It was just way too casual of a relationship with this person.

The Insubordination Incident

His termination date was April 14, 2020. This is really relevant, and it’s just crazy to think about this, because COVID started in March of 2020, and things started coming out with different things like COVID Pay or the whole unemployment system. It was a chaotic time.

What I mean is, having a business during this time was pure chaos. Never knew what anything was going on or how to handle anything. This was a situation where I still had work for people. I ended up getting commercial work. A lot of our residential we could not do, at least during April and May – people didn’t want us in their houses or it was a complete shutdown, but we could still do commercial. I had gotten the PPP, which was like a grant to cover payroll costs. So I had the money to pay people for their payroll.

However, information was coming out that you could basically lay off your employees, and they would have COVID Pay. This time was so chaotic. And again, I’m only in business for a year at this point. By this time, I had six to seven staff members.

What S had done is in our group chat, he put out for everybody to see, basically telling people, “We should not be working right now, because we could be getting unemployment. This is a great time to be unemployed,” and pressuring me to lay them all off so that they could sit and not work. That’s the definition of insubordination.

It was so shocking. I felt so disrespected and taken aback by this behavior. I couldn’t believe that he had done this. But looking back now with hindsight, of course he would do this. Why would he respect me as a leader? I wasn’t acting like a leader. I wasn’t acting like a boss, and now, all of a sudden, he does something that would cross a boundary, but I had not established what boundaries were at all with these staff members.

Though he shouldn’t have done that, it makes a lot of sense, because I had not established any reason not to talk to me that way. I had nine months of him being allowed to speak to me in any way that he wanted to, and speak about things any way that he wanted to, so this was totally me not standing my ground and holding people accountable to their actions, or setting expectations on professionalism. That’s on me. So I fired him. I just texted him, “You can’t do that,” and I fired him. It hurt. I saw him as a friend, and it was not good.

Hire #5: Crystal – HR Director Today

Employee Number five is the very lovely Crystal Davidson. She is my HR Director now. As you can see, she literally was my 5th hire ever, and she’s still with me to this day, and she has risen to what she is.

She started with me as a part-time cleaner, just cleaning nights and weekends, very part-time. We’re talking less than 10 hours a week, doing move-outs, things like that. A year later, she said, “If you need any help administratively, I’m interested in making a career change,” because she had a wonderful career already. And I was like, “When can you start? How much do I need to pay you to make this happen?” And here we are, six years later.

Hire #6: K – Commercial Only

Next hire is K. K was lovely. She was super sweet, and she was strictly for commercial cleaning only. The reason I hired her is we got our first big commercial account during that time period. It was a Monday through Friday account for the evenings.

She ended up lasting for seven months, and she quit. That was because of a new work opportunity that arose for her that made more sense, and the physicality of the work was an issue – she had some shoulder injuries. Overall, she was super sweet. Honestly, it was a great experience.

She actually worked with S at his normal or full-time job. That’s how I got her – through word of mouth and S talking about working there. No regrets there. She was super sweet and wonderful. Getting seven months out of anybody at that time was pretty impressive. So very happy with her. She ended up quitting in March of 2020. Still Facebook friends with her. Super sweet.

Hire #7: April – Payroll Administrator Today

On to hire number seven, which is the wonderful April West, who is still with me today. She is my payroll administrator, and she started, of course, as a part-time cleaner on September 23, 2019. Still with me six years later. So pretty amazing that I got these wonderful women so early on.

She started part-time. She has triplet daughters. The beautiful thing about the people who started this early who are still with me – truly, there was no training. It was watch me clean for a day, go do it yourself. That was what I had the capabilities to do because I was just so overwhelmed. They were very adaptable and responsible people.

Hire #8: P – Commercial Cleaner

November of 2019 brings me P. P was a commercial cleaner as well. I hired her on November 9, and I’m not sure how long she lasted. I don’t have the termination date, but definitely less than six months. The physicality of the job was too much because her shoulders couldn’t handle the mopping and things that all these commercial accounts required.

She was a wonderful lady as well, a bit older, and the physicality of the job with shoulder injuries, back injuries was too much. She ended up reaching out and wanting to work for me again. I did want to hire her, but her personal life was kind of chaotic. I really liked her, I really enjoyed her. Just the physicality of the job was an issue, and she did not last very long.

Hire #9: S2 – Asked for Fraud

November, same time period, November 5, so actually right before P. This is number nine, S2. This is Lady S and she was hired to do residential and commercial, and she ended up working for me less than a year. She quit during COVID, and this is why I know this.

She quit for personal reasons. That’s what I had listed, but I will say she called me, and this is why I’m keeping everybody anonymous, because she asked me to do some shady stuff. She reached out to me and asked if I would list it as she got laid off during COVID. She quit right before COVID Pay stuff was announced. She reached out to me weeks later and said, “Hey, it would be really cool if you said that you laid me off instead of me quitting so that I can get this unemployment, juicy COVID pay.” She asked me to commit fraud.

The audacity, right? Obviously I did not do that. And I think I called it out: “Hey, that’s not cool. You can’t ask me to commit fraud. Why would I put myself at risk for you? You quit. You’re not benefiting me at all. One, two, it’s illegal. I would never do that in the first place.”

Employees Will Ask for the World

The things people will ask of you – I know people get annoyed when I say that employees are like children. We all have this inner person, and we are going to sometimes test that line. People are going to ask you for crazy stuff. As owners, they’re going to ask you for pay advances. They’re going to ask you for money for things that’s not even an advancement. They see that you have money, and they’re going to ask you for it, just because you’re the boss. They think that you have money, even if you have $4 in your account.

They’re going to be asking for things all the time. “Can you buy me this? Can you do this? Can I have this? Can you commit fraud for me?” They will literally ask these things. I want you to keep in mind that this is just what we’re going to deal with, and try not to have too emotional of a response. Be straightforward and say, “We don’t do pay advances” or, “No, I will not commit fraud for you.”

A lot of times when we’re emotional, we start to over-explain and ramble. I’m the biggest rambler. This is where ChatGPT is so useful if you want to word vomit everything and your anger or self-righteousness, pour it into ChatGPT and say, “Make this efficient and professional.” It will give you back the correct thing that you should be saying.

So before you furiously text back, just vent to ChatGPT and then give the proper response to this person. Because it’s not worth it. They don’t care. Employees don’t care. All right, especially former employees, they really don’t care. They owe you nothing. So stop getting so emotional over them.

Hire #10: Ashley – Still a Cleaning Technician Today

Hire number 10, Miss Ashley. She is still with me today, and she was hired on November 29, 2019. She is still a cleaning technician for me today, so she is my longest cleaning technician. Obviously, April and Crystal are still with me, and they’re managers. Ashley has just been a wonderful addition – just so hard-working and so customer-minded.

Literally, out of my first 10 hires, three of them are still with me, and I’m really proud of that. And honestly, sometimes I can’t believe it. We often fondly reminisce, “Whoa, that was a mess!” It’s kind of like we went through war together or something, and we’re bonded because of it. We love to look at where it is now, because now it’s just a totally different company.

It was just me. I got an office in September or October because we had commercial, so we got our little office that was a shoebox. I can’t believe what these women have gone through with me and for me. They all started at 12 or $13 an hour, and obviously they all make a lot more than that now – they’re all over at least $20 an hour.

Loyalty and Growth

They’ve stood by me, and I’ve made good on the promise that I will reward your loyalty. I will reward your patience, and give you so much as an employer. That is what I’ve done, and I’ve tried to stay and abide by that promise, and I will continue to do so.

They have all been this intertwined part of Serene Clean. They are part of Serene Clean because they have helped shape it. They were there from pretty much day one, where it’s just little Stephanie, just trying to figure stuff out and not knowing what the right thing is to do, but just trying to do my best by everybody, and making mistakes and screwing up, but just trying my best and learning as I go, and making changes and improvements as time went on.

In that first year, it was just crazy. We’re talking about April to November is when I hired my first 10 people. And three of them are still here. That’s just crazy.

Keep Hiring to Find the Right People

Hopefully this has been entertaining to you guys. I hope that this inspires you to just keep hiring. You’re going to find somebody. You need to get hiring in place. That’s why I’m such a fan of group interviews, especially in the beginning, because you do not have time to be individually meeting with people or getting ghosted by people. Group interviewing is going to be such a wonderful tool for you if you are still cleaning. And really, if you are not still cleaning, it’s still great, because we need to have a great filtration process.

We need to see lots of people. Stop reading and combing over resumes. It doesn’t matter. Can they even show up to an interview? That’s when I’ll start considering even looking at them, frankly, because it’s just stop wasting your time.

There’s great people out there. There’s really crappy people out there. You’re going to come into contact with both. But do not let the crappy ones take away your zest for this business. This business is hiring. This business is managing people. This is part of your role, and if you are not ready or willing to do that, stay an individual cleaner.

It’s All About What You Want

As an individual cleaner, you’re never going to have a million-dollar company. You’re never going to be able to live remotely, if that’s what you want to do. You’re never going to be able to have as big of an impact. I’m not saying that being an individual cleaner isn’t wonderful – you can make bank, but you are physically doing the labor.

It all just depends what you want, what your long-term goals are. The name of the game and the price we pay if we want to grow this thing is we have to be able to handle the chaos that is staffing, and to not lose our enthusiasm, to not lose what makes us good people, because we’re so cynical because we’ve gotten burned.

That was that person. Don’t put that on this new person. You can learn and see what red flags and warning signs to look for. But a lot of times it’s us, as I’ve described here. There were things that I absolutely was not prepared for. There’s only so much that you can do, so just keep learning from every bad experience and don’t make the same mistake again as much as possible.

That’s my story time, guys. Let me know what you think. Leave something in the comments. Give me a like. Hit that Subscribe. Join the ZenMaid mastermind. Are you not there yet? Why not? We have a great time over there on Facebook. We’ll link it below, and I’ll see you on the next episode. Bye bye.

Note: This transcript has been edited for clarity and readability.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• ZenMaid
• ZenMaid Mastermind
• ChatGPT

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