Filthy Rich Cleaners: The Cleaning Business Podcast

Every cleaning business owner Kala Pomeroy has ever spoken with, from brand-new solo operators to teams of 50, has one thing in common: the fear that they're doing it wrong.   In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Kala, a 10-year cleaning business owner in Southeast Texas and full-time ZenMaid Customer Success Specialist. Kala shares her own journey from solo cleaner to remote business operato...

Happy 7 years in business to Serene Clean! 🥳 In this episode, Stephanie talks about 7 lessons she's learned — one for each year — owning and operating Serene Clean. From 2019 to now, Serene Clean is a $1.5 million company that she runs remotely from Savannah, Georgia, and Stephanie covers these 7 important lessons she picked up over the years:   Always be hiring Raise your prices before you're re...

Jonathan Berger was living in his car and driving for Uber when the idea for Cleanzilla began. Now he runs 400+ recurring clients across New York City and just came back from six months in Southeast Asia. In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Jonathan, co-founder and co-owner of Cleanzilla in New York City, to learn more about his origin story. From dropping out of high school, living in his c...

Personable content that shows you (and your brand's) personality might be what your marketing strategy is missing! In this episode — recorded live from CleanCon in Indianapolis — Stephanie sits down with Nicole Somerstein, ZenMaid's Content Marketing Manager, to talk about why personable content can elevate your brand and build trust with cleaning clients. Nicole brings a marketer's eye to an indu...

Welcome back to Filthy Rich Cleaners! In this episode, Stephanie sits down for round two with Sean Parry, one of the leading automation, marketing, and SEO experts in the cleaning industry. Sean returns to break down the “black box” of local SEO and share practical, actionable strategies for cleaning business owners who want to generate more leads from Google. He dives into why ranking in the Goog...

Not every client cancellation means you failed, and not every client is worth saving. In this episode, Stephanie walks through three client situations that happened within a single week at Serene Clean, including a long-term weekly residential client who canceled after years, Stephanie's very first free-clean customer ever who just nearly left after a cleaner ignored her instructions, and a small...

Post-construction cleaning is one of the most in-demand, highest-paying niches in the cleaning industry, but there are few guidelines on how to do it right. In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Samantha Price, founder of Cleansite Solutions in South Florida, to break down everything cleaning business owners need to know about post-construction work. Samantha shares how she launched her busine...

If you think your market is too small, think again! In this episode, Stephanie talks with Julia Callahan, founder of Jubilee Cleaning Co., who went from knocking on doors to building a $100K/month cleaning company in under two years — all while serving a suburban/rural area outside Pittsburgh. Julia shares what it really took to leave a six-figure medical sales career, handle ego and criticism, sw...

Katie Bradley is all over cleaning social media — but she’s not here for the viral “bucket of water on the floor” bullsh*t. In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Katie, Owner of Maid Busters in Cincinnati, Ohio (aka “Come Clean with Katie” online), to talk about what social media gets wrong, what real pros do instead, and how to run a cleaning business that protects clients’ homes and the clea...

Are your cleaners going overtime or skipping check-ins? Before you blame the cleaner, you need to check yourself first 😉 In this solo episode, Stephanie breaks down one of the most common and costly problems in cleaning businesses: cleaners going over their approved time with no communication. Inspired by a real question from the ZenMaid Mastermind and a recent consulting call, Stephanie walks th...

In this episode of Filthy Rich Cleaners, Stephanie sits down with Kai DeMoss, owner of Kai Cleans in San Francisco, to talk about how they went from a gig cleaner to a cleaning business owner. Kai talks about their experience on platforms like Homeaglow and the good, bad, and ugly that came with it — from the signup process and “AI support,” to pricing caps, client expectations, and why the platfo...

In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Emily Cox of Just Peachy Cleaning Professionals to talk about what it really looks like to build (and rebuild) a cleaning business. Emily shares how she went from a struggling new mom bartending late nights to launching a cleaning business on a whim, then scaling to a full team… only to make a partnership decision that nearly burned it all down. She walks...

Is this our longest episode yet?! Join Stephanie for a consulting-style living room conversation with Jennifer Dorn, Owner of Augusta Housekeeping, about what it takes to scale a cleaning business without blowing up your margins, team, or sanity. Jennifer talks through her journey being in the early growth stage, navigating staffing challenges, pricing mistakes, payroll pressure, and the fear that...

A 6-hour orientation SOUNDS excessive...until you see what it actually fixes! In this solo episode, Stephanie breaks down Serene Clean’s full orientation structure, including why they built it, what’s inside it, and how it transformed onboarding from chaotic to scalable and clear. She explains how orientation functions like a sales + education experience for the “internal customer,” and how buildi...

A cleaning business acquisition that goes from 0 to 25 cleaners overnight? That’s exactly what happened in Chicago to Marko Lazarevic! In this episode, Stephanie talks with Marko, a former finance professional who acquired Manic Maids (a residential-heavy cleaning company operating since 1990), to talk about what surprised him after taking over and how he’s been modernizing an “old-school” operati...

2026 is the year that Stephanie buckles down for Serene Clean, and after a month, she's here to share a business update! January was a great month, but it wasn't because of luck. Stephanie breaks down the exact behavior changes that helped Serene Clean blow past its monthly recurring revenue goal, even without an impressive close rate (yet).   She shares the real wins from January and the behind-t...

  In this episode, Stephanie sits down with industry veteran Sharon Tinberg to break down one of the most frustrating parts of running a cleaning business: training that doesn’t stick. With decades of experience and nearly $2 million in annual revenue under her belt, Sharon shares exactly what most owners get wrong, as well as how to fix it with simple, repeatable systems. Resources Mentioned — Ze...

In this solo episode, Stephanie tackles a listener question that came in through the ZenMaid newsletter! This is one that hits so many cleaning business owners — how do you grow when it feels like you’re always stuck choosing between turning down work… or hiring too early and scrambling to fill a schedule? Stephanie breaks down the real meaning of “always be hiring,” why the fix isn’t actually hir...

Welcome back to Filthy Rich Cleaners! In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Jacques Bastien, co-founder of Chery Maids in Tampa, Florida, to talk about what it takes to scale fast without burning out. Jacques shares how Chery Maids grew to 6 cleaning teams and 100–150 cleans per month in only 1.5 years, why he and his wife walked away from short-term rentals, and more. He and Stephanie talk ab...

  In this episode of Filthy Rich Cleaners, Stephanie gets real about the messy middle of leadership: boundaries. You need boundaries to protect your business, yourself, your employees, and your sanity, especially when you’re a natural people-pleaser.   She breaks down why exceptions (made out of guilt, fear, scarcity, etc.) do more harm than good, and shares real scenarios from consulting calls an...

In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Juan and Regina Jaramillo of Bright Corners Cleaning Service in Ocala, Florida to talk about all things commercial clients, including cold knocking, follow-ups, repeat clients, walkthroughs, bidding, systems, and more! ✨   Juan and Regina share how they started in residential and why they stayed obsessed with commercial, even when it took six months to la...

Overpriced, underpriced, or just right? In this episode, Stephanie is brutally honest about the pricing story she’s been telling herself and the fear that kept Serene Clean stuck at $55 per man-hour for way too long. She talks about what finally pushed her to treat pricing like an experiment and why it's not actually an emotional decision, even though it often feels like one. Stephanie also shares...

In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Yari Ising, owner of a fast-growing cleaning company in Pennsylvania, whose story will light a fire under anyone who’s ever considered starting over. Yari shares how a surprise pregnancy, a move to a brand-new community, and a sudden shift in federal work requirements pushed her to bet on herself — and turn a “side hustle” into a real business. She explain...

In this solo episode, Stephanie pulls back the curtain on what really happened inside Serene Clean in 2025 and takes ownership of the leadership choices that contributed to a revenue drop.   She shares an honest accountability review of the year, including how exciting new opportunities (podcasting, consulting, partnerships, speaking) unintentionally fragmented her focus, how she mistook comfort f...

In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Drew Larison of Five Door Media to break down why marketing “isn’t working” for many cleaning businesses, and how to fix it.   Stephanie and Drew walk through the “Five Doors” framework: choosing the right platform, creating scroll-stopping content, dialing in targeting, tightening up what happens after the click, and mastering the sales follow-up that act...