From Immigration Consultant to Cleaning Empire Builder

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Introduction

Stephanie: Hello everyone, welcome or welcome back to the Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast. My name is Stephanie from Serene Clean and today’s guest Julie from Clean O Logic is coming to us from Texas, but she is actually a native Canadian, right Julie? And you assist a lot of folks trying to get into the cleaning industry in non-traditional ways. So I’m really excited for this conversation. I think it’s going to be really educational and interesting and would just love to hear your backstory, Julie. Tell us about yourself.

Julie’s Background and Immigration Consulting

Julie: So I’m an immigration consultant and I specialize in the E2 visa, which is an investor visa. Because I’m from Canada, a lot of my clients are from Canada. I’m French Canadian and I’ve been living in the US for more than 20 years now. And so I was helping investors coming to the US, but they always have to either buy a business, any business, or create a new one. And the cleaning industry was so on point with the requirements because you have to create jobs, which obviously you will. And just with the minimum investment and everything, it’s easier. I know people would say it’s not easy, but it’s easier cleaning business. It’s easier than, for example, a restaurant.

So I decided to create my own cleaning business. I had my own and operated my own cleaning business. Then eventually I was going to have this idea of a franchise and trying to get people on that E2 visa. Then a year after starting the business, the pandemic happened and it was so hard. It was really hard time. I mean, I guess for everyone, but for my immigration business as well, because as you probably know, not a lot of people could come to the US. So this side of the business was also shut down and I lost a lot of my clients, not lost them, but they didn’t want to have anybody in their house. So they were pausing their cleanings.

The Pandemic Experience and Learning Through Cleaning

So at that time, and I only had one employee left, so I had to work full time as a cleaner, which before I was just really operating it. I was not really cleaning in for almost a year. Yeah, I was working full time as a cleaner, but I have learned a lot. And so because I knew exactly what the job was. Then I was able to finally not create a franchise because I did not like the structure of a franchise and the way it’s so strict. And so I decided to create what we call an affiliate. But I offer to my clients now the training and everything they need, marketing training and really, like they have a one-on-one time with me at any time they want if they have a problem. And we created 10 affiliates all around the US.

Stephanie: That is pretty incredible, especially coming from the struggles of COVID-19 times. And so when did you, for your cleaning business yourself, you were out of the field. What was that like for you of, how were you feeling at the time during COVID when you’re like, I have to go back and clean now? What was that like for you?

Julie: I liked it. Sometimes I feel like I miss it a lot. But it was because it’s different. So my job, because all of my clients are out of the country, I don’t really see a lot of people, but being on the field with my coworker and she was my employee. But at that time, she was truly my coworker. And we had so much fun and we’ve seen, I could write a book of things we’ve seen. It was unbelievable. But I was able to analyze what would be the best cleaner, the techniques and really being there and doing what my employees were doing. So it was great.

Stephanie: Yeah, no, it is sometimes nice to go back to the basics and get into the field and it really helps you perfect those systems and processes of what’s potentially not working.

The Development of the Affiliate System

And then for you to take that and turn it into this system of bringing other folks into the country. So can you tell me your first experience with that of having this affiliate system, if you will? How did somebody find you to do this or did you seek them out and what did that look like?

Julie: So at first, I was already having clients and they knew I had a cleaning business, but I was not really promoting the industry. That was not my goal and actually is not even my goal now. I’m not always pushing them into this industry, but sometimes they’re coming to me and they don’t really know. They want to start a business. They don’t really know what they want it to be easier, and so I will now promote it as I will tell them what it is. And I’m very honest about it because it’s easier, but it’s not easy and it’s not for everyone. So making sure that they know what they’re getting into.

Yeah, the first one, it was just like, yeah, we would like to do it. And so I actually did all of the paperwork and the agreement and everything for them. And then I had another one right after. And so it was very quick growing. And so I did not have a full training at the time. I was not ready, ready to go, but I was ready enough for them to open the business, getting their E2 visa, coming to US operating it. They decide to sell it eventually because it’s a cleaning business for an E2 is very easy. I did sell my business to more than a year ago now and I did it for an E2 visa and they got their visa as well. So it’s just a great industry for this type of visa.

Why Cleaning Businesses Work Well for E2 Visas

Stephanie: Yeah, so I’d love to hear you talk more about that. Why is the cleaning industry so attractive for folks who are coming in from another country? Because that is such a, I mean, I cannot imagine the stress of coming to another country and not having that stability or having a job and then to try to open a business on your own when you don’t know necessarily the laws, potentially language barriers, things like that. I just imagine the folks that you help, the stress relief that you’re providing them has just got to be indescribable.

Julie: I think the reason why it’s great is because it’s service business, but with not a lot of overhead costs. So the risk is not great. It’s not like you have to sign a lease for restaurant at $12,000 a month. So it’s very different. So that’s why it’s appealing. It’s also a business, a lot of my clients, they want to start a business while they are not in United States. So a lot of them from Canada and they operate from Canada because they can’t, the reason why they need a visa is to work inside the United States, but they can operate it outside without any problems. And it’s an industry that you can do it, not easily, but it’s easier. So that’s one of the reasons.

Also, the E2 visa is a visa that exists for job creation. So that’s the reason why it exists. It’s hard for some industries to get the three to five employees. It’s a requirement for the cleaning industry. We will require more like five employees. And I mean, they give you five years to get to that point. So five years, five employees, it’s pretty easy for this industry. So that’s why the cleaning industry and service industry in general, it’s much easier for the E2 visa.

Stephanie: Absolutely, that makes perfect sense considering when I look at so many other industries, like manufacturing or product based business, you oftentimes need a lot of investment upfront financially to even get it off the ground where, as any of us listening know, we can start a cleaning business with basically nothing. We can just go.

Investment Requirements and Business Structure

Julie: Yeah, you need to have the money though. They do need to have, so when they start the business, they don’t need to invest a lot. They need to have an amount in a US bank account to be able to, yes, they still need to do that. And it depends of where they are from. But yeah, so they still need an investment, a minimal investment. And I understand that for a lot of people starting a cleaning business, can do it with yourself and cleaning products and equipment. But for a visa, it’s just a little more, we have to prove that it’s a substantial investment and it’s a business that will create jobs, but also you’ll be able to live off it.

For the E2 visa too, it’s not really great to have 1099 contractors if you don’t know what’s 1099 is.

Stephanie: I was just going to ask, how do you handle the staffing?

Julie: Yeah, so you have to have employees. I mean, you can have some employees and some 1099 contractors. Yeah, that’s possible. But they want to see at least three to five employees full time. They have to be full time. So we have to have this schedule full. And yeah, so we are helping them in the beginning. What the investment is for. So we always try to, we have to guarantee hours for the employees because when you start, you don’t have a lot of clients. And so you have to guarantee hours. We do a lot of free cleanings because we want to keep them busy.

Stephanie: I see. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Julie: But then we build and then they have a full time schedule of real clients. So that’s the investment is going towards that. And also a lot of marketing. That’s one thing that people struggle to understand that you have to invest in marketing and advertisement if you want your business to grow. It can grow without it. It will just grow too slowly for this type of visa.

Marketing Challenges for Remote Owners

Stephanie: Well, and I’d imagine especially considering they’re not there. When we think about a more traditional cleaning business startup where it’s somebody who lives in their town and they’re doing it, that word of mouth really grows because you’re kind of propelling it. Right? I imagine in this scenario, that is almost out the window in a lot of ways.

Julie: I mean, you do eventually, you kind of have, I say you have to have your base of clients that are satisfied and happy with your service. And then they will talk to the others, but they usually don’t do it right away. They’ll wait, after five times they’re coming to my house and it’s good. And so it takes times for them to really talk to the others. And during that time, you have to build your base. And so you can only do it through advertisement. You have to invest and you have to, now we kind of know a little bit of what works, what doesn’t work. But you just try and see where you get most of your clients and capturing everything, your data, very important and knowing how much a client costs. It’s just so important. And a lot of people don’t do that.

Stephanie: So yeah, great point, definitely on the marketing and KPIs and all of that. What’s the biggest challenges I would say for newer folks in a cleaning business is just kind of, it’s all over the place. The numbers are all over the place. There’s no consistency with that kind of thing.

The Business Setup Process

So I’m curious, let’s play out this scenario. You’re starting a new business and for one of the, what does this process look like? Do you start a business in a place and then they reach out to you or do they tell you like, hey, I want to, this is where I want to live. What is that first part like?

Julie: Well, sometimes I have clients asking me if I know of a cleaning business for sale. So if it’s the case, it’s always great. If they have the money to buy it, it’s always great to have a business already operating and everything. So that’s the first step. But sometimes what they want is ready. They want to have their own and I’m that way. I want to have my, I want to pick the name. I want the logo, the colors. I want it to be my business. And so I have a lot of them. They tell me exactly where they want. They want to go. So most of my clients, they have an idea where they want to go. A lot of them want to go to Florida. The second state is Texas.

Stephanie: Interesting.

Julie: And I’m looking at the map and see, yeah, that would be great if you open in this area. And then we just go from there. We create the branding, colors, websites. And then I do all of the hiring. I do that. I do everything training. And then, yeah. And so they have really a business, an operating business when they start, which they can decide to operate on their own or if they don’t want to do anything, we have options.

Managing Remote Teams and Training

Stephanie: So I would love to hear about, I’m sure everybody’s ears are perking up of, okay, owner’s not there. How is this training process going? How are you managing not, ICs, that’s okay, straightforward, they’re ICs. How do you manage W-2s when nobody is physically there in the beginning?

Julie: A lot of communication. So on site, you will have someone the first person hired would be someone with experience. So we call the person a field coordinator. The person will still clean. She’s a cleaner, but she’ll also look for making sure that all of the equipment is working, supplies and everything. And communicating with, again, if they are operating and answering the phone calls themselves, then they will communicate with them. But we have some that they have an admin that will, a virtual assistant that will answer the phones and make the schedule and everything.

So we do a two hours training with what we do explaining and we have a training so we, I don’t like checklist. I’m not a checklist person just because I feel like you’re cleaning one house and it’s a different checklist and another house and sometimes we can forget stuff. So it’s a, we call it a concept based training. So we do, we divide the house if we work with somebody else and then we finish, we say we work in sections and we finish our sections all together and then move to the other section and we have a path. So when I train, I always say, did you follow your path? Cause that’s what it is. So the left to right, top to bottom, it’s part of the path, but it’s also all of the horizontal surfaces have to be clean or all of the vertical surfaces have to be viewed and assessed. And so if you need to clean them, you do. So it’s really just concept based and also a lot with the timing. We never say someone is slow. We say that they’re not efficient because that’s usually the problem is not that they’re not fast, they’re not efficient, and we’re trying to find ways to do it.

But the person will, the field coordinator will teach the others and train the others with what we do. But I did go and train them on site as well. So yeah, if clients wants to pay for it, yeah, I do. I will go and train them in person over there.

Handling Staff Turnover

Stephanie: Have you had any instances, I think back to my first hires and how challenging that was, if that person turns over, how do you solve that problem?

Julie: We have backups for everything. We have backups for clients, but we also have backups for staff. If someone decides tomorrow I’m not showing up, what are you going to do? You need to have backups for everything. When you start, you should, I always ask, even now, even after years of operating, I will ask them, what is your backup for this person? What is your backup? And they have to have a backup. Because I know that was my problem too during the pandemic. And it was hard because at the time, if someone was in contact with somebody else with COVID, then you would have to stay home for a week. Then I was, if they would work together, I was losing two. It was really hard.

So that’s when I started building my list of who I’m going to call. And so with my clients, I teach them to build a list of people that can come and clean. So sometimes contractors that you build a relationship with could have people that don’t have transportation, but if you need someone, just Uber them with somebody else or, it’s, you have options, but you need to have options and same for clients. You need to have a backup plan for everything. Yeah. You have to have someone cancel.

Cancellation Policy Innovation

And again, it was during the pandemic because we had a lot of them calling in the morning and my employees needed to work. So I needed to find someone to go and clean. So yes, we do have a 24 hours cancellation notice. No matter what, they call and inside this 24 hours, we have a list of charity cleaning. Basically, people canceling would pay, but would pay for somebody else. So I think they feel a little better because they will pay for someone in need. Usually we try to do cancer patients or someone with transplants, organ transplant patients as well. And I think that really helped that.

Stephanie: Yeah, no, absolutely. I love that idea. I’ve spoken about having a free cleaning or a nomination program and obviously cleaning for a reason is very prevalent. So I’m sure that that heavily influences your marketing then because basically what you’re saying is you have this ready to go list of folks for free cleanings. And then the people that are canceling last minute are told, hey, your cancellation fee is going towards and that’s a really psychologically smart thing to do because all of a sudden it’s like, if they throw a fuss, it’s like, you don’t want people getting free cleanings. You’re terrible person. So it’s very smart. And from a feel good marketing and community aspect, I’m sure it just entrenches your companies then in the community even stronger and getting that really good publicity or PR.

Julie: Yes, exactly. It was more, we still would ask them to pay anyway, but they were not happy. And sometimes they were like, well, if I have to pay, I’m going to cancel my service. But by bringing this side of it’s a charity and I mean, your money is going to go towards that, then maybe they’re not happy, at least they were not telling me.

Handling Sick Day Cancellations

Stephanie: Yeah, no, I love that. So this is something that I’ve struggled with is obviously we have a cancellation policy as most everybody should. When people are sick or their kids are sick, we don’t charge it. And that’s almost always why people are canceling is because of sickness. So do you, how do you handle that? Cause people get really upset if we’re like, I’m sick and you’re charging me.

Julie: So usually I explain why. I have people on the schedule. I understand that you are sick or your kids are sick and we don’t want to go if you’re sick or your kids are sick. But I’m running a business and my employees need their paycheck. Same for them. You need your paycheck. So if they’re not happy with that way, I mean, sometimes I’ll just ask my employees, I always send a survey to my employees every three months. Because for me, I thought that everyone wanted a full-time schedule, 40 hours, as many hours as I can. And I realized that it’s not always the case. So I was asking them, what will be your ideal schedule? So if I had cancellation, I would look into that list of employees. She said that she doesn’t mind and she would actually enjoy having a morning or an afternoon off. And I will tell them that too. I would call and say, in your survey, you said that you would like to have a morning off. And so today we just got a cancellation. And if it was not the case anymore, if they would say, no, now I don’t know. I have so much to pay. Please, OK, well, for the next time, I’ll know. I’ll make a note. But so, it was just keeping everybody happy. So my client, I will tell them. Your crew, the employee said that she was fine with it. But usually I would have to charge you.

Stephanie: Yeah, so just really taking it case by case, depending on situation. And I’m glad you pointed out it’s, especially in our industry, I find it more rare that people do want 40 hours a lot of times, especially if their parents, they really like that flexibility in availability.

Visa Timeline and Approval Process

So I’m pondering about when the people who get the visa and the business owner, when the owner comes in, finally, how long does that usually take. It’s just until they hit that five employee mark. Is that when they’re able to get approved?

Julie: No, not at all. I got so one of the cleaning businesses, the cleaning businesses I had to start from scratch was an emergency. So they were in the US and they had to leave the country unless they would do what we call a change of status. And it was for they were supposed to buy a restaurant and did not work out. And now they had a month, one month to start a business and do this change of status. And so when we did in a month, we did everything like the branding, the website, everything and hiring. And we were able to get the change of status, which is just a little different than going to the consulate to get your visa. But it was approved. It took him a week and it was approved, but it was a startup. When we filed for the visa, I think we had only one. And then in the next days we had two, but they still, they were able to get the visa. But I have clients that they are outside of the country. They’re thinking I would like to move after the school year because they have kids. And so sometimes we can start the business in January, but they know that they’re not going to come until August. So it could be different scenarios.

Common Mistakes and Cultural Challenges

Stephanie: I had no idea about any of this, that this is such a great option for folks coming into the country, really establishing it ahead of time, because I’ve never heard of this before. This is totally new to me. So is there any common challenges that you see, or mistakes that people make when they’re trying to do what you provide for folks? If they’re going at it alone, what do people typically do wrong that you’re seeing patterns in?

Julie: So depending on where they’re from, it’s a different culture. And each state have different, yeah, the laws, rules and everything in the culture as well, everything is so different. And so sometimes they just, all of my cleaning business clients, they’re all part of the affiliation. So I don’t know anybody outside of that. But in other industry, when they start on their own, they always make so many mistakes. They get in trouble with the law, they get in trouble with, I remember one time, it was a hot check. So in Canada, you can put a different date on a check. But in some states, it’s something that you cannot do. And if you put a different date and the person goes to the bank to make a deposit and you don’t have the money in your account. Well, you can get in big trouble, but this is how we pay your rent. Well, that’s how I pay I was paying my rent in Canada. So you would give 12 checks with different dates like the 1st of January 2nd. Yeah, so things like that that you can get in big trouble for something that it’s just normal to do. So we teach them how, have to pay depending on the state, they may have to pay sales taxes. In Florida, they pay sales taxes only commercial cleaning, not residential. And again, it’s funny because it’s just how the building looks like. So if it’s a house, even if it’s a business, you still won’t pay taxes. But if it’s a big office building, then you’ll pay sales tax. And it’s different in another state. So that’s what we’re just making sure they pay their payroll tax. They pay, they know where to pay, and they do everything that they’re supposed to do.

Stephanie: Yeah, that’s such a good point. And you just said, the culture shock of coming in and not even knowing the rules and then breaking that, it kind of sets themselves up for failure.

Managing the Ownership Transition

When it comes to them coming in and managing their teams, has there been any type of, I guess, friction because of that? Especially, again, culturally, if they’re used to dealing with Julie, perhaps, and then this person comes in and now all of sudden they’re the boss, how do you ease that transition?

Julie: No, I want them to be, I did that at first. I was way too involved. And then even after the owners took over, employees were calling me and complaining about it. It’s just like, I don’t want that.

Stephanie: They’re used to you. It is very and that’s I mean, I know people who have bought businesses bought cleaning businesses and it can be very challenging.

Julie: Yes, yeah, but I want them to be involved since the beginning. So I really tried. I’m there. I always say, if you want me, I’ll be there. If you don’t want me, I’m not going to involve myself if you don’t want me there. But I want you to be the owner. I introduce myself as just a guide, the person who’s just helping. Obviously, I know more about cleaning than the owners usually. But sometimes they’ll refer to me. The owners will ask me, they still ask me questions. Even after more than two years of in operation, they still ask me questions almost every week. But cleaning related. Sometimes they’ll send me pictures of a dirty shower and how would you clean that? But so I have all kind of questions, but yeah, I want them to be involved. I want to introduce them since the beginning as the owners because they are. And I don’t have only clients from Canada, but a lot of them are from Canada. And I have to say that Canadians are great, great bosses. They are great.

Canadian Work Culture Advantages

Stephanie: Because you guys are nice. You’re so nice.

Julie: They’re really nice. And there are things in Canada that you cannot do as a business owner. Like you cannot have someone coming to work for just three hours. It’s not something that you’re allowed to do. And so because it’s so strict over there and we’ve been raised that way, we take care of our employees very well.

Stephanie: Yeah, that’s a good point is I think it would be much harder for an American just knowing because we’re for an American to go try to open a cleaning business in Canada. I think it would be very challenging on us because we’re so used to even though it feels like we have a lot of regulation. It’s nothing compared to when business, I’ve spoken to the folks who own cleaning businesses in Canada and I’m just like, how do you make any money? I don’t understand.

Julie: Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yes, exactly. So it’s very hard. It’s much harder to open a business in Canada. And so it’s just it’s easy here. It just don’t know when you don’t know, even though it’s easy and you just need to learn. But just the way they’ve been raised and if they had jobs, they know how it is. They’re always going to be better employers than Americans. I’m not saying Americans are not great. They are. It’s just different. They’re just, there are things that they’re always asking me, my clients ask me, so they only have two weeks vacation a year. And I’m like, well, yes, but that’s, that’s great because a lot of cleaning companies don’t even have anything paid. And they’re like, man, that’s not a lot. So you always get more for your money if you have a Canadian employer. Yes.

Stephanie: It’s just, it’s so funny. I was just talking to my friends at ZenMaid the other day and that company is very spread across the globe, meaning all of the employees are from, and all the people who work for ZenMaid are all over the place. And so one of my favorite things to delve into is the cultural differences. And we actually got into the topic of PTO and they were just like, some of them were just absolutely mind blown, especially in Europe. Yeah, we don’t have to give anything unless we’re at 50 employees legally, we it’s a nice perk if a company does that. But yeah, there is no regulation related to that, especially for a smaller company. So it is really interesting. And I’m sure that it is that why knowing that most of your clients are from Canada? Are they? Is that one of the reasons they’re opening an American business is because it’s so much easier from a regulation standpoint, you think?

Reasons for Moving to the US

Julie: A lot of my clients from Canada, usually would come to the US for politics reasons. I mean, they pay a lot of income taxes over there and they want to go in the south. A lot of my clients, as I said, they want to go to Florida. They want to go, I don’t know, they want to go to the beach. And I keep telling them, that’s what I wanted to, and I live very close to the beach and I never go to the beach because you get tired of it. But that’s what they want. And the income taxes is something that it’s, I mean, we have people, my family is still in Canada and they pay more than 50% in income taxes.

Stephanie: I can’t imagine. I can’t imagine.

Julie: One of the reasons why we moved to the US, my husband and I, with my little daughter, was because of the health care over there. So my daughter, she was born with a very rare genetic condition and we did not have any services over there. She was still on the waiting list. She was four. And here it took a week. Usually that I would say that’s one of the reasons why they are moving to the US, but also because it’s easy to open a business. It’s much easier to run a business. You have more opportunities in the US than in Canada for jobs. It’s much easier to get a job here than in Canada.

Stephanie: I gotcha. Well, what a wonderful perspective to bring up. I know that everybody feels there’s no perfect healthcare system, that’s for sure, but I’m glad that you highlighted that getting faster services is definitely an appeal sometimes in America. I’d imagine in Texas specifically, the taxes, I know that Texas has a lot lower taxes than some other states. Were there other states that you considered? Or was it like, I’m going to Texas?

Julie: Yeah, the first time I came here, I did not like it. But I accepted that, a lot of people are not like me. And now I like Texas. But yes, because Texas, don’t have income tax, state income tax. Well, we have less services. I mean, so if I wanted to have more services, I will move to California. It’s really what you want. But I think the US has this option. So many options. So, depends on what you want, what kind of weather you want to do. It’s great. So that’s why a lot of people in Canada, when I was in Canada, we always thought of Florida as the best ideal place to

Stephanie: That’s so funny.

Julie: I know. And that’s why a lot of people want to go there. And that’s where I wanted to move to. But my husband got a job in Texas and I don’t want to go to Texas. But now I’m happy that I did. It’s just, when you go on vacation, you go to Florida. It’s just the way, when I was a kid, we going to Disneyland and Disney World. And in Florida, it was, yeah, that’s why.

Stephanie: It’s so funny you say that because I’m from Wisconsin, obviously right by Canada, and that’s where my business is Wisconsin. And so I remember as a kid, anytime my classmates, their family went on vacation, it would be to Florida and I’d be so jealous. I’m like, that’s so cool. Well, now I live in Georgia. That’s where I reside in Savannah and beautiful. And I’m like, I literally am an hour and a half away from Florida. But I’m like, yeah, I don’t want to go or even this weekend. I was in Alabama. And I mean, some of the most beautiful country, just every state really does have its perks.

Julie: It’s own and I mean, Wisconsin is, it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful. I don’t know why. It’s just because they don’t know. They don’t know. They just know one thing. They know, well, they know California and Florida. That’s it. That’s it.

Stephanie: Yep. So any Canadians listening right now, there’s a lot of pretty states out there, we promise. But I love that you point out too, it’s just from a tax perspective, it does vary wildly from a services perspective, the type of community and culture and how intertwined and that can play into. If you want to live in a small town or a city, do you find that the people that you help, typically gravitate, do they want to live in a city? And does that, are there challenges related to opening in a place where there’s a lot of competition or in a small town where they’re not used to a professional service? Cause my business is in very rural Wisconsin, which tons of perks, no competition, but the budget for people a lot of times is a little bit lower.

Urban vs Rural Business Considerations

Julie: So usually my clients, I always tell them, if you want to go to Miami, here’s where you’re going to live every day. Traffic, traffic, traffic. It’s really not easy. And I actually have a client, she’s close to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and traffic is a nightmare for her in a cleaning business because you have a lot of traveling and you never know when you’re going to get to the client. But I also have, and I have a beautiful story. She’s not, it’s not a cleaning business, but it’s a client who decided to go in a small town in Tennessee to open a, it’s a cafe. And she, it’s a very small place. She did not know anybody. She actually never went to Tennessee in her life. And she bought the business before leaving Canada. She’s been there for more than two years now, doing great. And she became a famous person in the town. Everybody knows the owners of this little coffee shop and she loves it. And she met a lot of friends. And so it’s really, it depends of what you like. But yeah, I think this is so, it’s great because she did not know anything. So it’s really, when I say it’s just an adventure, it was an adventure. She had no clue if she would even like it, but buying a business, investing a lot of money and just hope for the best. Or you can actually make your own best. You’re making your life and trying to find people just like you and just. I know they joined a church over there. I mean, it’s a beautiful story.

Stephanie: Absolutely. Very much so. Just finding community wherever you are in Tennessee. That is a stunning state. I mean, just a beautiful place to be. And just as you’re telling me more, I just can’t help but think about the folks who utilize your services. I mean, they’re very brave. I literally cannot fathom, I’m going to open a business in another country. I just keep my mind, I think I’m a pretty brave person. And I’m like, I would never do that. That is really putting your neck out there. And obviously they have you to kind of, is that a big part of your job? We’re in service, would you say is kind of soothing anxiety for them?

Providing Support and Peace of Mind

Julie: Yeah, I’m like the person, if they have a problem, they always have someone to call. And I mean, I’ve seen so many problems now. I can help them with almost anything. But yeah, I think that’s in just making sure that they know that if something happened to them, even we would take care of it. Like if one of the owners, they’re in big trouble or in a hospital sick, we’ll be able to kind of operate the business for them if they needed to. So yes, I think that’s the big part of it. I try to, and also I like to match them with people from where they’re from, because I know a lot of people. So when they move to, let’s say Miami, and I know other clients in this area, even if it’s not in the same industry, I just match them, they at least have somebody else there. You start with some friends. Yeah.

Stephanie: Making those connections for sure. So for the cleaning businesses that you start, is it strictly residential or do you guys do some commercial as well?

Service Types and Eco-Friendly Focus

Julie: So we do both, residential and commercial, and it’s eco-friendly. So that was one thing that’s so important to me. So the eco-friendly part, so all of the cleaning products are eco-friendly. Yeah, so that’s actually the specialization is not being a residential or commercial cleaning service. It’s really just eco-friendly. So yeah, both.

Stephanie: I gotcha, yeah, which yeah, I love both. I do both pretty much equally in my business. When it comes to managing the cleaners and the schedules, sometimes commercial can lean heavily in the evening. How do you handle that part?

Julie: So if you want to do commercial, commercial will give you more money and it’s much easier to manage because you rarely or not a lot of complaints on the commercial side, which residential, you know, we get a lot more. Yeah, commercial clients, they don’t cancel or just calling you the morning of or you know, it doesn’t happen with them. But commercial clients, they don’t tip. So my employees, like the residential more because they get tips and commercial not so much. It was harder for me to find good employees, stable employees at night. So we have decided for my business and that’s if my clients want to do evenings, weekends at anytime, then I will encourage them and help them. But for my cleaning business, I had decided that it will just going to be from eight to four and that’s it. And even though we lost some of our commercial clients because of that. We had some others that we were just like, if they were opening at 10, we were able to come in before or even during the business hours, it was possible. So yes, it was not all of them who wanted to do it, but we kept a majority of them actually. Yeah, no evening. So I don’t have to ask to have to be operating the business at any hours. It was from eight to four and it was much easier that way.

Stephanie: Absolutely. And that was something I definitely, I mean, one, there’s so many businesses that will allow you to clean during the day. Like you just said, and I think a lot of times it’s just, just ask, or there may be a day that makes more sense or are some of our largest accounts, they want us during the day because it’s a large factory and they want from a safety perspective. So there’s a lot of options for that. And yeah, some of my biggest mistakes early on were taking on evening. And then I was working, just all hours all day every day and it was a nightmare, especially when cleaners were not doing so well and I had to fire or whatever.

Client Background and Experience

So for your owners, have they opened the, over-archingly, would you say that the people that you provide this service for, did they own or aspire to own a business in Canada? Or are they coming in as a first-time business owner typically?

Julie: The majority is the first time, even they will tell me I’m not a business owner, but that’s the only way I can move to the US. So can you help? And because they’ve never done that, they have no idea if they’re going to like it or not. And I feel like it’s not too complicated. It’s fairly easy. We all have ZenMaid for all of our clients. Because I think it’s a very easy software and I like it so much. So, yeah, they don’t know anything about being a business owners. Not all of them, because I’ve had clients who sold their business in Canada to come to the US, but most of them, have no idea.

Stephanie: And as you’ve kind of touched on previously, it really is one of the easier ones to open, I think, without experience. Honestly, it’s not difficult to understand work. It’s more managing people. It’s a heavy management industry, I would say, of the staff. Touching on obviously, ZenMaid from a scheduling software perspective. What other kind of tech stack do you like to use? Are there ones that are your go-tos for software?

Technology and Software Stack

Julie: The other software that we use is Homebase. It’s an HR app but with a messaging system. So instead of texting or using WhatsApp, it’s in the software. I think it’s easier. So you can text one person or a crew or they can also talk to the owners, talk to the person who’s the virtual assistant. They can talk to me. So it’s very easy. And the clock in and clock out, we do it with that because it does the payroll by itself. So just easier. But yeah, so that’s the other application software that we use.

Stephanie: I gotcha that that’s awesome. I never heard of that one before. That’s really cool. We use Gusto for our payroll software, but I love the concept of messaging within the software. That’s very unique.

Julie: You can actually you can also hire with Homebase. It’s free so you can put an ad and they put your ad different places and so you get candidates directly in your Homebase account and yeah so you know many great features.

Stephanie: That’s super cool, especially considering hiring is such a challenge at times, no matter what we do and everybody wants to charge so much if you’re advertising anywhere.

Getting Started with E2 Visas

So if anybody is listening and they have somebody who they know who’s in another country and they’re like, I’d love, my friend or my family member wants to come to America. What would you say if they were interested in this avenue of this type of visa? What kind of suggestions do you have for them?

Julie: So they can, I mean, they just need to understand that it’s maybe easier, but not super easy. But if they really want to come to the US and they can make a substantial investment in there, or if they want to see if it’s going to work first, then they can start it from Canada and see how they’re going to like it. Yeah, they can reach out to me. Also, if you’re a business owner, cleaning business owner, and you think of selling your business and you would like to sell it to someone with an E2 visa, which is always great because they cannot have a loan, so it’s cash. They have to pay cash for it. So, yeah, so it’s and they usually have a lot of money to invest. I’m just telling them you just need to make sure that and we can convert everything, we can transform the business if the business is not eligible right away. But if you have three, at least three employees, full time, yes, you can sell the business even if you don’t make money. I know it’s weird, but even if you don’t make money, you can sell your business to someone on an E2 visa. We would just have to transform it.

Stephanie: Amazing. I had no idea that that small of a business could be sold, honestly, that it would have value enough to do so. But I suppose in this situation, it makes perfect sense because then it immediately is ready to go for them.

Business Valuation and Brokerage

Julie: Yeah, it’s ready to go. Especially if you have Google reviews, if you have a website, you have, you’re already out there and you have clients, you would never let this go. You would use it, sell it for its value. And yeah, because I mean, when I sell my program, it’s a business, it’s a business that’s not even in operation and I’m still charging for it. So why not? It’s the same for anybody.

Stephanie: When people do want to do that, maybe they are smaller or whatever, is there an actual valuation process? Do you hire a valuator or because I had when I went through my divorce, I did.

Julie: I’m a broker in the state of Texas. I cannot do Florida, for example, where I can do many other states. I am able to the evaluation process with them.

Stephanie: Amazing, Julie. I’m so happy to connect with you because now, I’ve been asked by people like, how do I go about this? So this is super useful. So the state of Texas, I’m assuming has a lot of reciprocity when it comes to brokerage or things like that, being able to do other states or there’s a list of states that you could do this for.

Julie: Yeah, so there is a list and I don’t even know all of them, but I know that I can operate in many states, but I know I cannot operate in Florida because I tried because you have to be a real estate realtor actually in Florida to do business brokerage. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, I know. But I still can do, still work with the brokers over there. They’re in the association I’m part of as well. But yeah, for selling, they will need somebody over there. We still can talk about the valuation and everything, but I wouldn’t be able to sell it.

Stephanie: Got it. So Julie, if any of our listeners are interested in potentially selling their business or anybody else who’s interested in reaching out to get a business started in America, where can we find you? We’ll definitely link all your…

Julie: Yes, don’t want to have to spell the whole thing. It’s just complicated. Yes, you can share my contact info and then I’ll be happy to reach out to them.

Closing Thoughts

Stephanie: Awesome. Well, thank you so much. This has been such a, I’ve been completely ignorant on this entire topic. So this has been fascinating to learn about this. I had no idea and you definitely are providing so much value to people. So Julie, I hope you’re very proud of what you do because you should be.

Julie: Yeah, no, I really love what I do and I love the cleaning industry. I don’t know why, it’s just like, I try to explain that to people and I feel like we’re bringing something and it’s just, they’re so happy when we clean and I don’t know, it’s a great service to give people.

Stephanie: It really is, and it is unlike any other of giving people peace in their sanctuary. It’s a very great thing that we do. And so thank you so much for your time Julie. Anybody who wants to check her out, definitely just go down to our description on YouTube or on Spotify, wherever you’re listening. Make sure you leave her some nice comments, please guys. And we will see you on the next episode of Filthy Rich Cleaners. Bye-bye.

Julie: Thank you.

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

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• ZenMaid –
• Homebase
• Gusto
• Cleaning for a Reason
• E2 Visa Information
• Clean O Logic
• Growth Formula