How My First Employee Became the Heart of the Cleaning Company

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Introduction

Stephanie: Hello everyone and welcome or welcome back to the Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast. I’m your host, Stephanie Pipkin, and today’s guest is the one and only Krystal Davidson. And you guys may be wondering, who is this delightful red headed angel, and she is my longest employee. That is right. Krystal has worked for me for six whole years in July, and the business just turned six, so she has been here since the very beginning. And I think it’s going to be so interesting for you guys to hear somebody who is with me since literally running my business out of my apartment. So it’s going to be one heck of an episode. Krystal, thank you for joining me.

Krystal: Yeah, thank you for having me. I’m excited this will be the most formal conversation we’ve ever had in our lives. Seriously, we need to watch our vocabulary, but here we go.

Krystal’s Background in Healthcare

Stephanie: Yeah, so I am thinking what we should do is to start off with, where did you work before? Kind of your backstory from a career perspective, to get everybody up to date on where you came before joining Serene Clean. And then, how did you start at Serene Clean? Because you did not jump into HR director, because that did not exist. So take it away.

Krystal: All right. Well, I really had a history in healthcare for much of my career. I started in healthcare when I was 16 years old, and worked there until I think I must have been – I don’t know how old I was when I came here fully. It was five years ago, but I did a lot of different roles in healthcare. I primarily worked at the hospital here in town, but then I had switched to Gundersen, and I was working in optometry and ophthalmology, and absolutely loved the job that I did. I mean, it was absolutely a career that I could do the rest of my life. I was very good at what I did.

However, when COVID times had came around, it just really became too much politics for me, and there was just things that I didn’t agree with, that I wouldn’t go through with, and just really made me reevaluate where I was. And at that point, I was actually already working here for over a year. I had started as a part time cleaning technician. And when it got to the point where I was really just – I had made up my mind I needed to do something different for myself and make myself happier. You know, I had reached out to you at that point and just saying, hey, I know at some point in the future you’re going to need help in the office. And hey, just want to put my name in that hat, you know, if and when it comes to that time.

But, yeah, I mean, healthcare was great. I loved what I did, and I think about it all the time. I could still do eye exams in my sleep, I think, but it just all the management and everything else that went along with it just wasn’t for me. And I’m very happy that it wasn’t because this change really turned out to be one of the best changes that I’ve ever made in my entire life. And I’m very thankful that all of that happened and led me to where I am today.

Starting at Serene Clean as Part-Time

Stephanie: And I think, you know, you bring up a good point. I remember, first off, I interviewed you at Revolution Coffee because I didn’t have an office. We sat down at the coffee shop. You found the job listing on Indeed, I was paying, what, $12 an hour. It was listed just as part time work, I believe. And so I remember you saying, I love my job. I’m going to do this for the rest of my life. And so I think that that’s really interesting looking back of you never know what’s going to change in anybody’s life. And so really being open – I’m so happy that you started at such a part time basis. And I just couldn’t even provide full time hours, obviously, because I had opened two months prior to two or three months prior to meeting you.

So do you remember? I’m just curious. I just know what a shit show it was for me at that time. I mean, I had nothing to offer anybody. Is there any particular reason you decided? Oh, yeah, this is a good idea.

Krystal: You know, that is such a great question, because I was kind of thinking about that, you know, leading up to this and thinking about, you know, were there any, was there anything in particular that was like, oh, yeah, I should give this a shot. And I can’t remember specifically, but now looking back at it, I’m like, Why did I go through with that? Because this young child was running this out of an apartment, and I was going and getting supplies out of a red rubber made container. All red flags, I feel like, but yet, I was like, let’s do this.

I remember, I know that when we met for the interview, we really got along. We vibed. And I was just like, you know, at that point, I was looking for something that was a supplemental income, nights, weekends kind of thing. You were very flexible schedule, and you were able to offer that. And so I think those things were what really enticed me. I had bartended for years, and I really didn’t want to get back into that scene. It was great money, but also you just have to deal with a lot of bullshit, you know, doing that, and I just didn’t want to get back into that life. I had kind of grown and moved past that.

And so I think, just the flexibility was really what I needed, because I was working full time, and I was a single mom at that time, and so I needed to have that flexibility in order to have a second job. In many places, you can’t get that.

The Early Days and Training

Stephanie: And truly, it’s like, that’s why I tell people, when you can’t offer anything, you need to offer flexibility. That’s the only thing you can provide somebody, because you just don’t have any money, you have no credibility, you have nothing and you know, you can be a good person and everything. But even when I think about the training or lack thereof that I gave you, I think we went to one Airbnb.

Krystal: Yeah, Bob’s Airbnb, which was like a little place. Krystal got to see how terrifying my driving is, and I almost killed her. I’m honestly surprised I’m still alive today.

Stephanie: I am proudly a terrible driver, just so distractible, eating plates of spaghetti or whatever. But you were just so independent, and I don’t know, I just knew you could clean because I remember then you did some move out cleans for Greta, who’s still a client, and she owns apartment complexes. And I went and checked your move outs, your deep cleans, and it was good. And that was literally the extent of the training.

Krystal: Yeah, and I remember being so nervous at that one specific one. It was my first one that I did, and I was like, Well, I know I can clean. I know what clean things look like. I’m super OCD so I can’t mess this up. But also, why am I so nervous? And then you didn’t find anything. And I was like, Yeah, no training was involved. But I mean, thankfully, you know, I kind of knew what I was doing, just as a person.

Stephanie: Exactly. And in this day and age, it seems. Looking globally at where, well, it was Black River Falls Cleaning Services at this time. For all of you that know, we did a name change in 2020, I believe, and but let’s just for ease of use, Serene Clean. At that time, I was probably attempting to hire somebody new every couple weeks, honestly. So do you remember anything about that when it came to the crazy turnover? I mean, and how much did I share with you? Because I’m trying – I just felt we – I probably shared with you more than anybody else, even though you were so part time. I think I just sensed that. But maybe I don’t know. I can’t really remember.

Krystal: Yeah, well, and I know we worked quite a bit at Regal in the evenings together too, so that really gave us the opportunity to connect on that level as well. But yeah, there was definitely a lot of turnover at the beginning, of course, and I don’t know where I was going with this.

Stephanie: Did you have any opinions on that, or do you feel that it reflected poorly on me? Or did you just, I’m trying to get at the how unprofessional did I seem?

Krystal: You know, I feel like looking back at it, there’s truly – it was all probably very unprofessional. But at that time, to me, it didn’t feel like it, you know, I could absolutely sense that you had a good brain, you know, and stuff, and you were doing things strategically. And I feel like I can sense people in that way and understand things from so many different perspectives. And just because, you know, I know it in my role today – just because I hire somebody doesn’t mean they’re going to work out. Is that a reflection of me? No, it’s probably a reflection on that person, you know. And so trying not to be too judgey about the things that happen in all of the turnover, because that’s not always something that you can control. Sometimes, yes, but a lot of times no.

But there wasn’t anything that I can specifically remember that was like, glaringly, like, holy crap, what am I doing? Why am I involved in this? This is crazy, you know, I just remember very quickly being like this is going to turn into something, and I want to be a part of that in some way, shape or form. And I just always felt that, I always believed that, so maybe that made me look past all of the red flags.

Transition to Full-Time Role

Stephanie: And honestly, I remember when you reached out to me, and you know, in hindsight, you explaining to me how everyone who knew you and your life was like you are batshit crazy. What are you doing? What are you doing leaving the stability, the benefits, you know, the great things that you had going in your full time career, your career path to then leave and go work for a cleaning company full time that had been in business for one year. Can you describe your thought process there, as well as, what was your justification for it? And because, and the reason I’m needling into this so much is because people are wondering, you know, how do you find the diamonds in the rough early on when you have nothing? And obviously, all of our management team, were diamonds. Absolute diamonds, you know what I mean? And I got you guys also early on, relatively speaking, and it’s like, how the hell did that happen? Other than just sheer gifts from God, I guess.

Krystal: And you’re right. So literally, every person in my life, I don’t remember any specific person in my life that was like, Oh yeah, you’re making a great change. Everybody was like, What are you doing? You’ve put so much time and effort in to be where you are in this position that you are working full time with, yeah, all of the benefits, I had decent pay and everything. And I was five years into the position that I was at at the time, and then once I was fed up, I was like, All right, I just – I believed in everything that you were doing and the goals that you wanted. And we had so many conversations about where you saw things, you know, in the future. And I just believed in it for whatever reason I just did.

And I remember my mom didn’t share her concerns with me immediately. She’s always been very supportive of me and any decision that I make. But I remember, after it turned out to be a great change for me, she’s like, you know, Krystal, the only time I was really ever worried about you and your life is when you made that change from Gundersen to go work at Serene Clean, and she’s like, but I was wrong, and I was like, and I knew you would be, you know, not that I knew what she was thinking at that time, but I believed in it, and I knew it would be successful, and I knew that if I could be a part of it, I could make good changes too and help this be successful.

But yeah, everybody was very much like, What the heck are you doing? And I’m like, I’m gonna do what I want, I want. I’m gonna do what I need to do for myself. And that’s the only thing I’m going on right now, because I truly believe in it, and so we’re jumping in full force and doing this. But yeah, I mean it there was, it was a little scary at first, because there was a lot of, you know, things, I didn’t really know, you know what I’d be doing. I mean, I kind of knew what I’d be doing, but also, it wasn’t a normal job, and it still isn’t, to this day. And there wasn’t, you know, when I went to work for Gundersen, there was clear expectations of my role and what I did, from the moment I got there, to the time that it ended, and all of that, and that just had so many things that were available to me with Gundersen that I wasn’t going to have anymore making this switch and I took a decent pay cut at that time as well.

Stephanie: So I remember that conversation of you sending that message and saying, hey, just so you know, if ever this is a thing, and I’m like, Well, what are we talking financially? And you told me, and it was – again, it’s just crazy, because that was almost our starting wage for techs. But at that time, I was just like, oh my god, it wasn’t so much as it was unreasonable. But for me, it was like, Can I do this? But I’m so glad that I wasn’t cheap minded in that manner of like, oh, I can’t afford that, because looking at what in the first couple months of you coming on full time, what that allowed the business to do?

And what allowed me to do, because I was literally doing all of the admin and cleaning and still working at, you know, my old job as well. So just having somebody with such, first of all – for those of you, you guys don’t know Krystal, but Krystal is so fucking organized. She’s the yin to my yang when it comes to that, and I’ve mentioned this in previous episodes of you need to find people who complement your strengths. And so the things that are my weakness really complement your weaknesses. Really, Krystal and I have a lot of similar strengths, but we have very, very different strengths too. And so she really wrangled a lot of things, and also just in general, allowed me to have some breathing room, because I would say I was a fairly frantic person during this time. I was just losing my mind, because it was just this thing felt like it was out of control, almost. Well, I guess it was, really.

Developing HR Responsibilities

Krystal: Yeah, for sure. And I remember when I first came in, and really started diving deep into the things, you know, I learned the basics. And I remember when I first looked at ZenMaid, and I was like, How can you even tell the cleaner schedule? And I think we had five employees at that time. Now I look at the schedule, and I’m just like, oh, yeah, whatever you know. But once I really started to learn more about the back end stuff, and not necessarily just the schedule and who’s going where today, and I’m just like, What do you mean? You don’t have any policies. What do you mean? You don’t have all of these things laid out? What do you mean? There’s zero structure in this business? So we’re going to do this.

Stephanie: And that’s a beautiful thing because you’ve had this very professional background. It really highlighted a lot of blind spots to me, because I hadn’t – you know, I haven’t ever worked at a large corporation, waitressing and then working for my family’s very small business, where there was nothing really like that. And so the business was on a lot of risk, potentially, from employees. Mostly, I think we might have had client guidelines, I feel in the beginning, but other than that, you know, and yeah, very basic. But obviously those have grown seven fold since the beginning. So yeah, you definitely brought in a lot of what about this? What about this? And just really having a second set of eyes on things, and, honestly, additionally, just having that kind of second body for backup, because it’s not like you immediately went full time in the office. I mean, we’re both cleaning.

Krystal: I was cleaning a lot when we first started, and I do remember thinking like, well, I didn’t want to clean all the time, but, I mean, it’s great, you know, and then I kind of got to the point, because I think the first few weeks, somebody left unexpectedly. They no showed and then we never heard from them. And so then that just kind of threw the next few weeks into a shit show. And so then we were both out cleaning and doing stuff, and I was like, Oh my gosh, how does Stephanie do this? She’s supposed to be answering messages while I’m cleaning and doing all of this. This is chaotic, but then things started to settle down and actually become more even keel and worked out better. But yeah, it was crazy to start, that’s for sure.

Stephanie: And honestly, I really don’t think there was any structure to you do this. I do this. It was very much like, we are tackling this pot of work together. I’m trying to think, if there was anything specifically, did you do payroll right away? Or what were the first – these are your responsibilities.

Krystal: I never really did payroll. I did payroll once, I think, and I was like, I absolutely hate this, and I never want to do this again. And so I just really never have. I was estimating, scheduling, emails, calls and, yeah, just all of the other things that go into it, emails and just making sure employees were good, clients were good, that was really kind of where I was at. I think you were doing payroll, all of that at that time. But yeah, I remember when I first started, remember those agendas that you used to put together for me for my day?

Stephanie: No.

Krystal: You don’t remember any of those? You used to write out like a list of things that needed to be done.

Stephanie: My own days, let alone somebody else’s?

Krystal: Yeah, so, I mean, it’s just really interesting to think that it – I describe it like the Wild West, because that’s what it felt like, though. Now that I do you know so much consulting and see into what other businesses are like at the stage that we were – we were quite structured in comparison. There’s a lot of things, for example, even just having a cleaning checklist, or having ZenMaid, those two things, I feel where are almost the security blanket of, what do we do here? What is even going on right now? It’s the truth, you know? And I just can’t imagine not having that. And, yeah, so it’s just kind of crazy to reminisce.

And so now, kind of, let’s go through as time evolved and your role evolving, and when we actually started kind of getting it into a little bit – this is shaping into your HR. I don’t even, I literally can’t even remember when that happened?

Maternity Leave and Role Structure

Krystal: Yeah, so that was when – so it officially happened when I came back from maternity leave after having Zayden. Let’s talk about that. Because that was something where we kind of, I guess, successfully navigated that, because we had, let’s see April was in the office. Who is our payroll administrator, who will talk to you on another episode. And then Katie was in the office too, and I think Taylor was in the office as well, because we had brought her on in August of that year to kind of help facilitate me being gone during that time to have a little additional support. So, yeah, they were all in, but everybody’s hands were in everything. There was not a lot of structure as far as who did what, or who’s doing this today, or you’re doing invoicing, you’re responding to emails. There was none of that. We were all just first come first serve on emails. Hey, I’m doing this. Hey, you’re doing that. That’s kind of how it was.

And then I remember over maternity leave, just I had so much time to think, because what else am I doing other than feeding a baby that can’t talk or move or do anything other than eating and pooping. So I had a lot of thinking time, and I’m like, I just feel like there needs to be more structure in what everybody is doing, because it’s starting to feel a little chaotic. Or, you know, somebody’s working on this, and then all of a sudden, I find out, you know, they already started this. And, okay, well, that was a waste of time responding to clients multiple times, because we’d all be in the inbox and then making ourselves look stupid.

So, yeah, I remember when I came back from maternity leave and just that first week or two, and just talking with, you know, everybody else that was in the office and about how things were going and stuff and then I just remember saying, I feel like we need to solidify our roles more. And what do you guys see yourself as? You know, this is what I see myself as, and that’s, you know, where we are today. Those roles have adjusted slightly, but not too far off course of where they were at that point. And you know, that was, I think, one of the best things that we ever did, for sure.

Stephanie: So leaning into everybody’s strengths, because, despite you’ve never done HR before, technically, in any other role. But is there a reason that that was – Why do you feel that you’re drawn to that?

Krystal: I feel like that’s kind of where – me being the longest term employee in the office. I really felt like, up until that point when serious conversations need to happen with employees, or, you know, disciplinary actions needed to happen, that typically fell on me, because people kind of saw me as more of the person to do that. It wasn’t necessarily the other girls in the office that were doing it, kind of just more came to me, and I have always been very willing to do that, even though it’s very uncomfortable sometimes, but I’ve never had an issue doing that. And I was like, you know, I really feel like I’ve kind of become the person who’s managing the employees. Whereas April is really great at payroll. She was doing it at that time. She loves doing that. So let’s keep you there. Let’s keep me where I’m at and figure out, you know, the other roles and stuff.

So I really never saw myself being an HR director that was never in my cards at all. But I think I do well at it, and surprisingly to myself, even, you know, I think it just comes very naturally for me, and you know, with Google along the way to help me out.

Fort McCoy Project and Remote Management

Stephanie: Honestly, and I think your ability to have difficult conversations and not being afraid of backlash, and really one of the strengths of you, being able to withstand that discomfort that is one of my weaknesses, and it has been for years, and something that I’ve had to really work on is the ability to have difficult conversations with either clients or employees, and being okay with them being potentially unhappy with me. And I think one of the things that makes me a good business woman, is I want to make the customers happy and the employees happy, and I think that’s what makes Serene Clean a really wonderful place. But when is that the detriment of the right path? That’s where it really goes awry for me, and where you kind of really come in and be like, no, this is what is actually right. And though that this is difficult in the moment, it’s what’s going to be the best in the long run.

And so I think that that’s one of your biggest strengths, and just keeping that in mind that this may be a tough conversation, or this may be something that sucks right now, but what’s going to help in the long term? And honestly, Katie, all of you guys do it really well. I feel like now, I almost feel like you’ve kind of helped us hone that ability in that skill, because every single manager meeting. Now, you know, even this morning, when we’re talking about a person, you’re the person – I literally say Krystal pisses in my Cheerios, that’s what she does all the time. She brings me to reality here. I’m the dreamer. I am the everything’s a rainbow. And let’s just go for it, guys. We’ll figure it out later. And honestly, what’s the worst that could happen? Okay, well, let me list all of those things out. You know, that’s who I am, and it’s so funny, because I always – when you were talking about, you know, the offsetting your qualities and stuff, it’s so true. You’re very much a yes person. You’ve always been a yes person, and I’m very much a hey, wait, if we say yes, this is going to trickle all of these things, and that’s going to be a problem. So why would we say yes? Let’s say no, you know, or let’s not jump into this huge change just because it was one of Stephanie’s random Sunday night ideas that she had.

Krystal: That’s what happens, is, I’ll come in because I just listen to podcasts or a book or something over the weekend, and I’m like, Okay, guys, listen to this idea. Oh my gosh, we need to do this. This is the most amazing thing ever, because I’ve just got this idea, and it hasn’t worn off yet. The sparkle hasn’t worn off. So it really helps bring me down to reality. And I mean, honestly, I think the problem is, is we’ve had some really crazy opportunities come our way that Stephanie said yes to, and we did figure it out.

Stephanie: I mean, obviously we haven’t. We kind of glazed over, you know, before your maternity or, well, your maternity leave was in conjunction with the Fort McCoy project, the worst timing ever, honestly. The worst timing ever. And I’m trying to think, do you – okay? So, August of 2021. Right? That’s when we got the call for this. And, I mean, I came to you guys, and I was like, All right, we’re doing this, and this is Stephanie’s going to be there seven days a week. What now? Do you remember that? Did you think, did you think I was batshit crazy? What did you think I didn’t ever ask.

Krystal: So I think to start, it wasn’t so batshit crazy, because it wasn’t initially presented to us in what it turned into being, you know, it wasn’t as large scale as what it ended up being, you know. And it very quickly turned into that way. And then I think we were kind of just, you know, a week or two in when they were like, Hey, this is going to turn into this much more. And we’re like, oh shit. Well, good thing, Stephanie is there all day, because that’s the only way this is going to make it work. But I knew that we would be good in the office, you know, and running the mainstream kind of part of the business that was so separate and so different. But I just remember interviewing for that, and all of the people – our office was just built, and I just remember, at the end of the interviews, alright, line up one by one into my office. Let me get your IDs. We’re going to start this process. I mean, it was just madness. And so I’m sure there were thoughts at that time that were like, What the hell is she thinking? You know, but I didn’t say no, so I must have agreed.

Stephanie: I presented it as this is majority going to be on me. You guys. The goal for Serene Clean, the normal side of it was just don’t let it break. Just keep it going right, not to grow. Just try to keep everything the same and manage everything the same. And then, yeah, with the thought of your maternity leave is going to come, and it really, I do think it helped really kick our butts when it came to getting SOPs in place and really documenting everything for the ladies to be ready. And honestly, your maternity leave went really well. I feel like they handled it super duper well. And then, you know, McCoy ended in February, and we did take some staff members in, but yeah, it was just, honestly, it was shell shock for me afterwards. I did go into a low grade depression after, because I was just like, it was like this hangover, right? Come back to real life after all.

Krystal: Yeah, it was. But it was such a relief for that to end. And so, you know, that ended up being a million dollar project. And it really bolstered me to say, holy shit, this thing is now to the point where I don’t need to be in this every day. You guys really have managed this very well, and so, you know that really, I mean, just kind of jumping all over a little bit. But obviously, I live in Savannah now, for over two years now, and for me, McCoy showed me that that was possible. I think that a lot of my hang ups around being a remote owner have been just what you guys think of it. And even amongst our staff, that has been a difficult transition for some from Stephanie’s not in the field every day. You know, she’s not the one interacting with me. So obviously my role has shifted, literally, from cleaning side by side to now, so different. And I just feel like you’ve had always such a good perspective on it, and I never felt like I had to explain myself to you. Why do you think you’ve never had a problem. And even, you know, we’ve had some experiences where some have been like, oh Krystal, you’re taking advantage of or even things like, you know, Stephanie puts all of this on you. I just, I’ve never felt, and I’ve even had those conversations like, do you feel that you’re, you know, how do you feel right now? So I’d love to hear your perspective on all of that.

Management Philosophy and Trust

Krystal: Yeah, so I really, I guess, you know when you’re at McCoy, and then after that happened, before you even moved to Georgia, it was you kind of took that step back from the everyday kind of thing, and was more just like this overarching type of thing, but still, of course, being very much involved. And, you know, I think all of us in the office, we were used to that. And I think, I mean, I am a pretty confident person, I feel like, and I’ve always excelled in any role that I’ve ever been in, and I always put all of my effort into it. And so I knew I could do, you know, whatever I needed to do, I think you kind of taking that step back from the everyday thing, gave confidence to other people in the office that may not have had it so much. And just not relying on you so much, but we had this time period after McCoy where you were still in the area, but not so much involved as you were prior to McCoy. And so by the time Georgia came around, it’s like, okay, well, this is a big change, but also is it really that big of a change for us in the office? It’s really not, you know, we’re really doing the same things that we were. The biggest change is that when shit hits the fan, I can’t say, Stephanie, you’re cleaning tomorrow. You know, that’s really the biggest change that it was.

But, you know, I think with you leaving, I never felt like, oh my gosh, you know, I have to do this now, or, Oh, I have to do that. Or, you know, it was already really that way, and a lot of our staff didn’t know that. They didn’t realize that. And I think once we announced that you were moving, then they were like, Wait, what the heck? How can this happen? And it’s like, well, we’ve been running this way for eight months now, you know, really, and you didn’t even realize it, because you’re not in the office every day. And so I never felt like I was taken advantage of or anything like that. I was just always very confident and like, Yeah, let’s do this. Let’s make this work, you know. And I think it’s really cool that you’re able to do that and you have that opportunity.

And, you know, the reason that I put so much effort into everything I do is because this position and job gives me so many opportunities for myself. You know, when I came back from maternity leave, Zayden came with me, and he was in the office for a year and a half before I even sent him to any daycare at all. And so there’s so many different things that this job has allowed me to do that I would never get to experience otherwise or likely would not be able to. And it’s just I’m so thankful for everything and all of the flexibility that I have, you know, and although times are crazy sometimes and it’s very stressful, I never, ever once have been like, oh, is this it? For me, it’s like, no, this is crazy right now, but I would never change. This craziness is all worth it to me, and it will, I think it will always be that way, because there’s just so many opportunities and so many benefits to working here and being, you know, in the position that I am. I think it’s wonderful, but, yeah, I’ve never really questioned that like some other people have, but I understand their viewpoint, because they weren’t as familiar with what we were doing at that time, but once we educated them, I think it helped clear up some air a little bit.

Benefits and Workplace Culture

Stephanie: And I think what you just described – and this none, okay, what’s about to be asked is not to blow smoke up my ass. It’s to educate our listeners the types of things that you would describe as irreplaceable, that you would find very difficult to find in any other workplace. So this is not to feed Stephanie’s ego. This is the facts of the matter of what about Serene Clean makes you make that statement. Why is somebody who is so clearly intelligent, capable, competent? Could probably excel in any role. Why do you stay here?

Krystal: So I feel like I have really helped shape the company into what it is. And I love that we’ve said it a million times before, and I used to say it all the time when I did orientation to every new staff is we have looked at the things. What did we hate about our prior employers, what drove us crazy? What didn’t we like? Well, guess what? We get to make those changes. Something happens and I don’t like how that goes. I can bring it to you guys and be like, Hey, this is a problem. Don’t like this. Let’s chat about it and see what we can do about it. And we’re so constantly evolving. I love that. I love that this is never going to be a place that I dread coming to work, because we’re in control of the situation for the most part. I mean, obviously we can’t control our employees and our clients, but the policies, the procedures, the expectations, all of that. You know, it feels great to be in charge and have direction and be able to make other employees not hate their jobs, because we’re changing things for the better and offering them so many great benefits.

But of course, flexibility, I absolutely love the flexibility that I have here. I have a very crazy schedule in just my personal life and work life, but it meshes well together. And being able to run to the dentist at nine o’clock this morning because I had to go get something fixed quick, and it’s okay. And I don’t, you know, for me, I can just come and go, kind of as I need to. And I love that, you know, I love having that flexibility, but also just, I mean, I feel this is going to kind of toot my own horn, but I feel important here. And, you know it’s not just other people being like, because there’s not people who are constantly like, oh my god, Krystal, you know, whatever. But I genuinely feel like my work matters, and it makes a difference in so many people’s lives. And I love that feeling. And I just can’t imagine going to a regular job, I think would be the demise of my entire existence, because I could not bring my dogs there. I could not bring my kids there. I can’t come and go as I please. I can’t sit here in slippers like I like to, you know, I just there’s so many different things that go into why, you know, I continue to stay, or why I wouldn’t leave. There’s so many different factors, but I guess those ones are the big ones.

Stephanie: And even what you just said, coming and going as you please. I guess that kind of encompasses Stephanie’s management style of the managers – there is none. I mean for better, for worse, maybe for worse sometimes. But would you agree? I just don’t have to manage you guys at all. Honestly, I’ve never given you an ounce of negative feedback, maybe because you’re perfect, but that could be it, but yeah, there’s just nothing that comes to mind. And it’s not even – even if we make mistakes as a management team, it’s never like a chastising. It’s like, oh shit, we messed this up. How do we not do that again, you know? But honestly, I don’t even have sit downs with you guys. Every other employee has, you know, their – you do the competency reviews, and you do their kind of performance reviews, every – obviously, you do HR things and, but I, you know, I pretty much, we all just kind of agreed, if there’s a problem, we’re just going to tackle it head on. But I feel that, you know, it’s so easy to get burned with managers. And I think a lot of listeners probably, you know, they maybe have a have a cleaner that goes into a manager role, and then they get horrifically burned. And we’ve gotten burned, you know, in choices before, in that area, and so, it’s not like, I’m necessarily suggesting this kind of hands off approach, so I don’t know how scalable or how I can apply this for other people. It’s just You guys are just so, yeah, I guess I’m just gonna kiss your guys’s ass this whole conversation, because it’s like, you don’t need to be managed. And I think because I’ve shown you that level, I just trust you guys. I trust that you, your core values and integrity match me and you guys, so understand the mission of what we’re trying to do here. I guess overarchingly, that’s how I would describe you, is you understand what the hell is what road we’re on and what we’re doing, and you just understand the importance of it. And I don’t know if that’s just I don’t know if that was from me or from you guys, or where do you think that came from?

Krystal: You know. I don’t think there’s one particular thing. I think you got very lucky with the people you have, you know, in the office, in the management team, I think we’re all so similar, and we all get along so well, and there’s so much trust between all of us, and we’re so loyal, and we all truly just believe in this company, what we’re doing, helping people every day and just continually growing. And I think it’s just it was, again, just a perfect alignment of all of the stars that came together to make this happen. And you’ve never questioned, you know us or what we’re doing. And I think that helps us be independent and make our own judgment calls, and helps us really figure out, you know, okay, well, I have zero schedule, you know. really, I there’s no your work done. That’s all I care about. I don’t know at all I do things when I want to do them as I need to do them. And but you know, you can count on me that that it’s gonna get done. There’s never been an, ever a question of, you know, or the other managers of, you know, oh, if I don’t tell them, this isn’t gonna get done. No, we just get shit done. We just do it, you know, and we’re all very we all have wonderful work ethic, where a lot of people in this world, I just don’t think they do, but it’s just, yeah, I think you just got blessed with a wonderful team.

Hiring and Interview Process

Stephanie: That’s not something that somebody who’s gotten the shit end of the stick wants to hear but there, there are incredible people that will start with you as a part time cleaner, because I have many of them and so You just don’t know and you what kind of skills they have, until you see them work sometimes, and that means you’re gonna have to get burned 1000 times. And we have had 1000 duds, have we not Krystal actually, technically, several hundred. Literally, so many, though, so many. Yes, you know, we like to take a chance on people. Oh, you’re a little rough around the edges. Oh, why not? You know, sometimes it works out great. Sometimes it really bites us in the ass, but we figure it out, and we just keep going, Yeah. And just knowing that that’s the name of the game, that is the business we’re in is managing people all right. Cleaning is just what the happen to be tasks that we take care of, and really, we’re helping people, and we’re providing a great workspace. And honestly, I would say that that’s really morphed into our biggest focus is how can we be the best work workplace possible? And you know, that’s been the benefits that we’ve added, that’s been, you know, higher wages and things like that. And even for you guys my goal is that you never have to ask me for a raise. I don’t think you ever have, have you ever once?

Krystal: No, I have never asked for a raise.

Stephanie: So she’s an hour for six years. Just kidding. So that’d be crazy. Yeah, oh my god, yeah, right, yeah, taking advantage of you. But the point being is, I have shown you guys with my actions, that I will reward you. I will reward that loyalty. I will preemptively strike and say, I see what you’re doing here. And you guys see all of the numbers. You see it’s every single one of you has complete access to all of the finances of the business. And so honestly, I think that that’s great, because then you see the decisions I’m making, and you see where the actual money is going, and that, you know, we do a lot of things with the finances of the business that are very counterproductive to profit. You know what I mean? All the time. This doesn’t make any sense, because that’s not the goal is for the business to survive and really make everybody as much money as possible, but and also give as much as possible be the best possible workplace ever. And those final things are really kind of above for me, than making, as much profit as possible. That’s never really been the goal. It’s more so make as much as we can so that we can do what we want with the money. That’s kind of been, you know, my thought process. And I think that you guys seeing that, and now for six years seeing that, evidence has been, I would hope reassuring to you guys that it’s like, I’m going to take care of you.

Krystal: Definitely. There’s never been a point where I’ve been like, Oh well, I feel like, you know, and because if I felt like, Hey, I haven’t gotten a raise in this long and I need a raise, or I feel like I deserve this raise, I would say something, because I feel like that’s who I am. I speak up, and that’s kind of where I came into this role, is because I speak up and I’m willing to say the hard things that some other people aren’t necessarily willing to say. But I’ve never, once ever felt like I needed to because, yeah, you have always absolutely shown your appreciation by making sure that I was taken care of, and as all of the other employees and managers as well as you make sure that we have what we need and we’re supported in any way that we need, whether That be emotionally, financially, whatever it is.

So yeah, and even just touching on the emotional side of it, you guys have seen me gone through my hardest years of my life, and different things, you know, and you got – the whole, you know, don’t become friends with your staff. I just cannot. You guys are my closest friends. Literally, I know that. I don’t know how you couldn’t be friends with your coworkers when you’ve, you know, gone through everything that we’ve gone through, and seen each other go through such life challenges. And I just we all really lean on each other and are very transparent when one of us is going through a hard time. And it just allows us to support each other. The management team. This is so corny, but it’s it’s a team, we just kind of have others backs, Oh, you’re struggling right now with XYZ, or the kids are sick, or you’re sick, or whatever, because you guys all have kids, and basically I see it you all are mothers to me, almost I am Your child, children. Child that causes the most trouble.

And it’s funny, because it’s like, it’s interesting, because you’d think us saying that, right there, you’d be like, Oh, then how can you guys respect me? But it’s like, you guys know me very authentically, of I am this spazzy, goofy creature. But also, you know, clearly, this woman, it’s just who I am, and so, you know, sometimes, you know, I’ve thought about that too, of am I being not how a leader should be, or whatever, but it’s like turning it on when it’s necessary, or, or, you know, really, again, where my strengths lies. That’s where you guys come in and kind of balance those out in a in a variety of ways. So, yeah, it’s just, it is such a team. And, you know, now, I guess I, I guess we can talk about your actual job now, what do you do? Mostly, what have I done all day? I’ve been busy all day, but I don’t know.

Krystal: It is chaotic. It is. And I was actually just saying this morning to Katie and Hannah, I’m like, I was thinking for whatever reason, if one of us died, thinking about having to replace one of us is, nearly impossible, because how do you train and teach what we have and and just everything that we do, and because our schedules are so chaotic when we’re here at work, because there’s so many different factors that play into what we’re doing at any given moment. I mean, I could be so invested into one specific project, an employee sends a single message that could change my next two weeks of work. And so I can’t really, especially in my role, I think I can’t really have a set schedule, because it’s all variable. But yeah, I mean managing the employees, performance evaluations, following up with all of the quality checks, what else do I do? Well, hiring really you are. You are 100 biggest people, hiring people and firing people, and managing onboarding and off boarding of employees, and just all of the communication you are really the kind of you know, even. And there’s certain things where it’s like, okay, a complaint comes in from the from the customer that may be Katie handling it, who’s customer relations, hands the baton off to you to deal with the employee side of it. So collaborating with each of yours departments, if you will, and and really tackling it from all angles. But, I mean, yeah, honestly, the amount of work that you have to do just to keep us staffed. Frankly, it’s crazy.

Krystal: Yeah, it’s It’s insane how many interviews are scheduled. And, I mean, most people don’t show up because this workforce is crazy. But yeah, the amount of interviews, and just even, let alone the communication for scheduling interviews and talking with all of the applicants, I mean that some days is just an astounding amount of work. And, you know, people kind of show their true colors just in that. And I’m like, oh, no, red flags. I can point out red flags a lot better than I used to do six years ago. Because, you know, we started group interviewing in what 20, probably 2021, actually, I think, and, and it was such a and that was all in person, and we do it one day a week, and that really changed the game for us, because then we weren’t wasting time, you know, right? People show up. But that has evolved over time. And I mean, honestly, I think group interviewing is the only reason – one of the many reasons, but a key reason that we were able to grow and sustain our growth, is because instead of waiting to hire or waiting to post jobs until somebody quit, we are, we always just had job listings going. We’ve always had this list of applicants. And even, you know, okay, we’ve lost two full timers in the past two weeks, right? One quit, one got fired, and we’ve already got their replacements. For the most part. You know, not ideal, necessarily from a location perspective, since we have the three locations. But you just have, you’re you have this system, right? You just, I’d love to, because people are probably like, Well, how do you do that? Would you mind describing briefly, how you handle the system?

Krystal: So I used to actually just changed how I was doing that. When we swapped from using Facebook Messenger to utilizing slack, I really overhauled all of the my reminders, my trackers and how I kept track of information. But what I ended up doing it. So previously, I was using an Excel spreadsheet, and I would just put the date of the interview, their name, and then what position they had applied for, and then I would put all of the details in there. What are they looking for? You know, my comments on them, and how the interview went, and whether or not they I thought that they’d be good, a good fit with us. And then what I’m doing now is I actually do it all in Zoom. So Zoom has kind of a list or a canvas section, kind of like Slack does. It’s called docs, though. So I have a doc set up within Zoom that just has the same exact thing. It’s listed out by date and the interview time, and their name, their information, and all of my comments. I do record and have AI do the summary of all of the interviews, which is really helpful, because when you do so many interviews, it’s very difficult to remember people unless they stand out for a really big reason.

So that’s great to be able to look at all of that information. But my very last column on there is, just a select three options, hard, no, possible on the fence, yes, love and that is what I primarily use. And I really just, I hire off of vibes, honestly, I don’t care about your work history. I don’t care what you resume doesn’t matter, to me, because so many of our employees have never had any history in cleaning or anything like that, so irrelevant. And just personality is really where, where I come from, and so I make my comments on that, and that’s kind of how I keep things straight, so And but I put in there, you know, what are, what’s their availability. And so when we just had these two recent people who left, I just look, I look, okay, is there anybody who fits what we need in the area that we need? And it’s very easy to keep it all straight when you have it all written down. So it’s really, really organized.

Stephanie: Yes, very much so, and you have typically, what six job listings going and different across pretty much so indeed, it’s kind of crack down on how many you can have in one location. So they kind of ruin things for me a little bit. But yes, I try to have as many as possible. I think right now there’s five out there. But, yeah, that’s pretty typical. Is that many? So, yeah, just so we can consistently keep getting applicants coming in. Because, really it’s just having as many applicants as possible so that we have more options. Basically, because, yeah, just, just don’t know, and yeah, that that’s always going to be our limiting factor for growth is, is turnover, is getting people in, and now that we’ve had a more extensive training, training timeline, but that has helped us in a lot of ways, I would see say that was one of the for me, one of the biggest kind of changes in Serene Clean that really has changed our business. I would say, Gosh, what was it? About a year ago we started working on, revamping the training program?

Training Program Evolution

Krystal: Yeah, and I would agree to those, that’s definitely up there, one of the top, top things for me, and positives that we have changed and involved in is the training process overall. I mean, even just orientation, you know, up until what? Probably, yeah, we started working on it a year ago, but orientation was probably live last summer, maybe, you know, up until then, all of the new hires came and met with me for an hour, hour and a half, we talked about things, and then we kind of sent them on their way into the field training with other people. And, you know, whereas now, I mean, they’re scheduled for a full day, and it’s a legit presentation, and goes over so much information about all of the history and what we do and why we do the things that we do and that alone is just so instrumental and such a positive change. And definitely my favorites, too. And then, you know, the field development and quality assurance specialist Hannah, bringing her on, and then having those you know that controlled week of training is just outstanding. And I think we are still in the process of seeing the positives of it, and I don’t think we’ve seen all of the positives that it can do, because it is so new and so fresh. And unfortunately, some of the people we’ve hired recently have not worked out for various reasons, completely outside of our control. But yeah, I’m excited to see how that continues to evolve even further, because that was a great one for sure.

Stephanie: Oh, for sure. And the reason it was such a pain, or why we felt that that was going to be we, really – I remember Katie, you know, saying I believe, or maybe I don’t. We’ve all said this in some flavor of if we were to add or if we were at 50 employees, what would make this thing collapse? And it was 100% consistency, despite us having some really good foundations, meaning we follow checklists and things like that, it was just the inconsistency in a million areas, how different things were handled at homes, even how communication is handled, what the expectations are, how commercial accounts are. Literally, I mean, yeah, it’s a death by 1000 cuts. That’s what it felt like every time we had a growth spurt and added several employees, it was like, Holy fuck. Why does everything feel like it’s going crazy right now. Why can’t they get this? And it was doing so good, but then it all falls apart. It was, it was the lack of really in depth training from where does it fall apart? What don’t they understand in it? It’s not their fault. It’s our fault, because we have not, we haven’t trained them on these things, and even to the point now in our control homes, which are your guys’s houses, as the managers literally planting and we thought about every scenario that they may run into in the field, that’s weird. Because the thing is that I think we really realize it’s not about the cleaning. It’s all the weird shit that happens at houses, and it happens often enough that every single cleaner is going to run into all of them at some point, right? And so it was just like, what is it? What are all the crazy things that have happened? Let’s build it into the house. There’s fake dog poop at your house. There is fake blood, there is money on the counter that is not labeled as a tip. There’s a broken, you know, picture frame in April’s house. How do we handle that? We lock them out at April’s house. All of these things that we’re like, we can’t scale and really push growth because it’s so painful every time we try, because it’s and the communication with it was non stop. It was babysitting. It always felt like we’d take one step forward, and then we’re taking three steps back, anytime we were trying to grow or do good things. And then we’re like, okay, let’s just stop. Let’s rethink everything. And I think, you know, the last year, year and a half, we’ve really done that in all aspects of the business, and we’re continuing to do so, you know, just to really hard wire everything, to have a specific, structured process, and that just hopefully leads to better outcomes overall.

Growth Challenges and Solutions

Krystal: Yeah. And I think really, all of us, last year, saying it’s okay if this doesn’t grow, and that was very hard for me, super hard for me, I think, because that’s very scary to me, of okay if, if that’s not keep going up, up, up, everything’s gonna fall apart. Because this is the first time I’ve done this. And so it was just this startup mode of Go, go, go, go, go, and push because we had grown so fast. I mean, I just saw – from, let’s see, I just ran the numbers for something, because somebody had asked me in March of 2020 we were at 15,000 a month. And that’s right, when you would have, let’s see, just before you came on full time, right?

Krystal: Yeah, I came full time in August of 2020.

Stephanie: August 2020 so I happened to look at March and Oh, because I think it was right before COVID hit. So I was curious. So March of 2020, we’re at 15,785 one year later. March of 2021, we were at 56,000 a month, you know. And so that’s 350% growth, or whatever the math is in one year. And obviously a lot of that was attributed to you. A lot of it was systemizing and stuff. And then that kept happening until we’re and so it’s like, holy shit, this thing really just it. I always describe it as a whirlwind, or oh my God. I don’t even realize it, you know? Yeah, it was just, I don’t know. Sometimes, how did you get, you know, through, I don’t know. Yeah, no, we just did and that, and honestly, what I think one key that I kind of glazed over before, but I want to highlight right now, is what you just described, of oh, these are the things that I’ve changed, and I put it in the slack, and now Zoom is this is my system first time I’m hearing this. But that’s the point. Every single one of you guys is just as obsessed with systematizing and honing your process as I am, meaning each of you in your department, you make your process better, you make it more efficient to the point of making it the best it can be. And you’re doing that completely independent of me. because you guys all understand it, it’s so important. if we can’t do this thing at 50 employees or 100 we shouldn’t do it this way. And that’s that you can’t think. You can’t think that in the first year. But now that we were more okay, we’re getting into this established we’re six years in, we’re now an established business. We’re thinking much more in terms of longevity, and is this going to keep working for us, you know? And, yeah, so I Yeah. I think that, you said, really focusing on the training process, introducing the orientation, what it seems like it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but I think it really gives a good taste to new staff members, that first day of it. It also it really shows our prowess of, wow, this took a lot of work to put all of this together. This, this is a legit business, you know, and I think it, it shows them kind of who we are, you know, thinking about our hiring mistakes, which we’ve made many.

Do you are you alive? Do you have a pulse? Can you breathe? Can you walk? Even that one’s iffy. Honestly, I can’t. Yeah, right. And I think looking back the mistake we kept making and I will 100% take responsibility for this is the desperation of we have so much work. Somebody just quit. We’re all frantic. Anybody hires another person that walks through the door? I don’t care if it’s a UPS driver. Get him in there.

Hiring Mistakes and Lessons Learned

Krystal: Brian. Is that you? Brian? I Ryan could totally no way he could work for us, but point being is that we just kept making this mistake over and over of we know we’re our gut is screaming, wrong person, don’t do this. But the desperation was so strong that we’re like, maybe it’ll work out. And I’m not saying that we haven’t had ones you said of oh, they they’ve surprised us, or they really grew into the role, um, or did a great job, or whatever. But I think we just kept being okay or or having that be so much more important to us than thinking longevity of do they actually fit with us, you know? And right? And I think we, we became a lot more okay with, hey, if we have as much as we don’t like it. So in the in this point where we’re at, even right now, where we don’t have these two people, you know, we have to clean a little bit, you know, I cleaned last week. I’m cleaning the next three nights, you know, to make things work. But at some times, when we’re so desperate, it’s like, okay, hire this person, then we don’t have to worry about that part, but what that does is kick us in the ass, because now it’s a domino effect of all the things that they’re fucking up and the clients are unhappy, and now we have to send somebody else back, and it’s almost like we’re double doing everything when we hire people out of desperation because they don’t work out, whereas now we’re so much more comfortable with saying, hey, you know what? I’m so sorry we can’t complete your cleaning services this week. We’re doing the best that we can. And you know, sometimes just being transparent with clients and other employees, Yeah, I know your schedule sucks. Today you have to drive an hour for a two hour cleaning. I know that that sucks, but let you know we just need to get by right now and just being okay with saying, Hey, we can’t, we can’t make you happy in this moment, but give us a give us a hot second, and we’ll come back and and, you know, wow, you or whatever, because now we have the right person in the role in just being willing to to not hire out of desperation, because, yeah, that that’s never been it’s never worked out for us. We have 100% failure rate, pretty much, honestly, not think about it, because what, what you just described, of we’d hire them. It would it, would it fix that immediate, we band aid it, right? But then we’re a month in now, they have a full schedule of our regular clients who have been with us and trust us for years, and now we’re getting we are making our our most loyal clients unhappy. They’re calling in all the time. Their coworkers are getting pissed because they are, you know, just shitting people or just not right for cleaning, and it’s like, Okay, now we’re having to fix well, we band aided it, and now this horrible wound is gaping and infected and care and you need dialysis and you need constant treatment, whereas Before, it wasn’t like that, but we created this problem.

Stephanie: That’s really what I think, I hope people are getting and taking away from this of when you do that, all you’re doing is causing seven fold headaches in a month or two, because now you load them up, they ghost you, or you have to fire them because they suck, and now you have a full time schedule that you instead of a wait list, right? Right? That now you’re disappointing. You’re going to disappoint people either way. So why wouldn’t you just say, Hey, we’re worth the wait. We’ll, yeah, we will. You know, we’re worth the wait. We wait list people now. And so it’s just if we were, we’ve had to come to terms with that. Because, yeah, our limiting factor is always going to be staffing. And, you know, I think looking at our core group, you know, we do have, we have a really great core group of people who have been with, meaning, cleaning techs, who have been with us for 345, years. You know, as you see, will be six years too, and this year, right? Yeah, yeah. So it’s and, and looking at Hannah, you know, she’s been with us for for three years. So I guess looking at and, yeah, Ashley B, all, all, I’m just we have so Brittany. I mean, yeah, there’s so many, so crazy, because all of those people also were very similar times where things were kind of ran a shit show. So what did we do good at that point? Stick around. I think, honestly though I this is gonna sound Oh god. This is gonna sound pretentious, but I gotta say it anyway. I think they could sense the authenticity of what we were trying to do, and that they felt respected and heard and saw Oh, if I say something and I don’t like how something is happening and I say it to them, they make a change, and they make it immediately, they fix the problem and just.

Company Culture and Employee Care

Stephanie: Really for us that’s kind of working in integrity. And obviously one of the core values for us is integrity. And I know it just sounds so Frou, Frou, but I feel like we really embody our core values in the business, and we’ve been able to kind of point to that. And my biggest Flex is how many people say this is the best place I’ve ever worked. And so the more people you get that, that kind of tag along on the journey. And then a newbie comes on and they see all these people that are this place is great, you know, it just, it kind of it sells it for us. And so, yeah, I think that they just, they were all treated poorly. They all came from healthcare, or I think some type of the majority of our staff, for sure, came from healthcare, and that was not that specifically, but thinking about, yes, our culture, I think that is really what has to do so much with, yeah, why so many people stay here? It’s something I say during my interviews is do people, wake up one day and they’re I want to be a cleaning technician for the rest of my life. No, nobody does that, but they love feeling cared for. They love being taken care of, and, you know, in in their role and in their employment and feeling supported, and that those are things that we do, and there’s so many times it’s kind of funny, because my fiance is always You guys are crazy. You’re way too nice. You guys get shit on all the time. why is this person talking to about this? why are they reaching out to you? It’s well, because that’s who we are, you know, that’s, that’s the kind of company that we have, and I just love that. That is the atmosphere that we have, but that is truly the culture, the the caring, and truly We are a family. I know so many places say that, but genuinely, there is not one person on this team that I wouldn’t be yeah, that’s an awesome person. I really respect and love that person, because that’s how we all are. And if somebody doesn’t fit in that, then clearly they’re not, not meant to be here. So, our culture really should, push people, even, yeah, duster and Derek does it says the same thing. He’s I can’t believe they can. are they in a fantasy land? This isn’t how real workplaces are. you can’t get away with this. And so that would make it sound we’re really permissive. I don’t think we are. It’s more so that we are so aware of the fact that the type of staff that are going to make great cleaning techs are most likely primary care parents. They most likely have a lot on their plate, and a traditional kind of job is not necessarily going to work for them, and also, they have been mistreated andor unappreciated in their former workplaces. And so for them to come here and being told in front of all of their coworkers and publicly, you are a great person. You do great work. And I’m going to tell you that every single week, because that’s what we do. We just, we just shower them, we love bomb them so they don’t want to leave us literally. And even when you’re giving, when I have to give, constructive criticism, or have the hard conversations, doing it in such a way in what do they call it, that little sandwich? Oh, yeah, you know, but always trying to do that. hey, you know what? We all make mistakes. that’s okay, but how do you learn and how do you react from that, but also, from our standpoint, how are we presenting that feedback? How are we giving it to them? We’re not just telling them, Hey, you’re a piece of shit. You did this wrong. no. sometimes do I want to do that absolutely, because third time I’ve had to tell you this, so why am I still happy to tell you, but I’m not a smiley face and say thank you for everything that you do, because no matter what, at the end of the day, every single person on our team is so instrumental to the success of the company overall, and so every single person matters, and I never want anybody to feel like they are just another person, they’re not cared for, or anything like that. I could be on the verge of, well, I What? Two weeks ago, I was on the verge of firing somebody, and I had a heart to heart with her, and I actually cried during it, three days before it, you know, because it’s alright, I might personally feel some type of way about this, but I’m going to give you my all, because that is, that is what I what you need, what I want to do, and just support every person you know and everything that they have. But that’s why, you know, we have such a great workplaces, because we’re very supportive and very empathetic so and and just highlighting of, you know, and just, it’s so important to me that everybody understands that, you know, they are, they are special, and that we make what we do is so rare and just highlight. And I think when you when you uphold people to a high standard, which we do, we have an incredibly high quality.

Quality Standards and Feedback

Krystal: Standard, and probably a lot of companies, it would be, nobody’s going to notice that, that’s, it’s it’s good enough. And that’s just never really flown for us, and it’s very much been a we, and we say that, we have super high standards when it comes to the quality of work, but we tie that to why is that so important? And you as employees, should want that. You should want us to have high standards. Because, one, we can charge high prices, because the proof is in the pudding, which allows us to pay you guys, well, give you benefits, give you all those bonuses, and just do all of you know, donate in the in the community, have free cleaning programs, all of the cool shit that makes this place so cool that all is based on a quality service that nobody can compete. Because if we can’t do that, we can’t do all of these other things. But then tying it to the pride and work, I think it’s you want, you want to have something that you can be proud of, and you can’t be proud of mediocre work. And so really tying that to hey, you know, when we’re on what, a couple weeks streak of zero complaints, right? Hundreds of appointments a week, highlighting that every single week in our team meeting, we we’ve got zero complaints, guys, we share all the positive feedback.

Krystal: Yep, yep, and it’s just good. You got someone around you. This it, that. Stephanie, that. We just say, Great job, everybody. You’re doing really well. No complaints. We we, we tell them, and then they in private, we talk about, you know, any bad things, but I think that just highlighting that, having pride in your work and really intrinsic, that intrinsic value and doing a good job, they really feel that. And, yeah, I just, I think we make them feel good about themselves, not because we’re permissive, but because we see them, we understand them, and that then, when it’s not about Yeah, you said, you’re a shitty person or you do a bad job, it’s hey, we learn. We’ve all gotten complaints. You I know, Anytime somebody’s having a hard time with a complaint, we’ve had cleaners have meltdowns and cry because they got a complaint, and you, your response is always Look, I’ve gotten complaints. Every single one of us has gotten a Yeah, me too. I’ve only got one too, so and it was bullshit. Jeff baller, there wasn’t there was not planned. It wasn’t me. We’ve all gotten complaints, even if they’re bullshit. But the point being is we share that to have that empathy, and then we say. The point being is we all have things that we can work on and improve on, and how we accept this criticism and learn from it is really what we need to focus on, because us having a meltdown right now is not a growth mindset, right? And honestly, not being able to take constructive criticism is one of the biggest red flags for us that this person isn’t going to work out. Especially early on, I would say, for us, it’s oh my gosh, because then we’ve seen it, we start to all not want to give that constructive feedback because we don’t want to deal with their emotional response, oh yeah, because it’s so much, it’s such an emotional suck from the management team when you’re having to call somebody because, because they are going to react in some way or whatever. And you know, trying to be the nicest you can about it regardless. But yeah, definitely taking feedback, and the way somebody takes feedback is a very telltale sign for sure, you know, but everybody makes mistakes, and you just always got to keep trying to do better.

Stephanie: And we even tell them it’s if you’re having such a shitty day in your personal life that you don’t feel like you don’t feel like you can get the job done to the level we want you to call in instead of going doing a bad job. We literally tell them that. And anytime that has been the excuse of, Oh, I was having a really hard time, and this is why I was missing this. It’s we said, we’ll take a mental health day because you we’d rather you do that than the client getting a crappy experience, because that’s not the client’s problem. I am empathetic for you as your manager, but the client, what the client deserves is not that, and so it’s tough to balance both, because, sometimes the client’s needs and the employee’s needs are, jarring, yes, for sure, very difficult sometimes, yeah, yeah.

Looking Forward

Stephanie: Well, I’ll wrap it up, because this is going to go on forever. I could talk to you, obviously, for hours, but yeah, overarchingly, I mean, I think that you have been such a I mean, I can’t you are Serene Clean. I can’t imagine it without you. I just it couldn’t it couldn’t be what it is today without getting you so early on. It’s just crazy to me. I mean, it feels very meant to be. And I think a lot of times, I mean, it is a choice how we see things. But I know for us, it seems things always work out in Serene Clean everything always works out. And every time something. So we say that a million times, because it’s many times, and, and how many times has something bad happened in the moment? And then looking back, it’s Oh, thank goodness that happened. Thank goodness that account dropped, thank goodness that employee quit, thank goodness we didn’t get that account that we bid, and it’s just it just always works. I and I think we all kind of have that mentality so but yeah, well, hopefully this was interesting to our listeners. I think it will be. And any, any parting thoughts Krystal, you can tell me how amazing I am. Maybe I don’t know.

Krystal: Obviously, you’re just the best person ever, duh. But no, I just, yeah, I don’t know, i love, i love this company. Love, hopefully something we said was helpful to to the viewers. And yeah, I don’t know. That’s all, yeah, that’s what I got, too. So anybody, if you guys have any questions about, you know, anything that we’ve mentioned, I know we touched on a lot of stuff, if you ever wanted to, hear more in depth, maybe, the hiring process and how that has evolved, anything specific on that. I know a lot of people have questions that may be a good – let’s just talk about this only. So if that would be interesting to you guys, leave that in the comments below, and I will have Krystal on, and we’ll talk just about hiring specifically and go more in depth on that and how we manage it. But yeah, otherwise, hit that. guys hit that, subscribe. I will be interviewing every single one of my management team and some of my cleaning techs, which I think will be really interesting to you guys, because, I said, a lot of them been with me for a long time, and they’ve seen it go from absolute nut house shit show to slightly more organized nut house shit show, and here we are. Thank you Krystal and thank you everybody for watching. I will see you on the next episode of filthy rich cleaners Bye, bye.

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

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• ZenMaid
• Indeed
• Zoom
• Slack
• Excel
• Facebook Messenger

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