Smart Cleaning School

I started this podcast on October 10th, 2019. I never imagined that cleaners would listen to me talk. Listen to these stats for the Smart Cleaning School Podcast: 20 years of cleaning experience and 8 years of coaching accessed Downloaded in all 50 states and 150 countries. 500 total episodes 3 individual episodes with over 1,000 downloads 175,000 total downloads 1,000 hours of my life invested in...

“ Introducing the C3 Experience ” released on October 14th, 2021. I had just given our family cleaning company a major brand change from the solo residential business to a commercial cleaning company with a team. Our family had “ A New Freedom Vision ” to live in Florida for the full month of February 2022. The company model would have to change. Over the next 8 months, we poured ourselves into th...

I purposely re-released “ Excellence Vs. Perfection ” last week. Many solo cleaners struggle with perfectionism. They are under a belief that ‘good enough’ is when the perfectionist is finally happy… and they are never happy. Over-cleaning is problematic for multiple reasons. It costs the solo cleaner time and money because they are at each house or office a lot longer. It also dissolves trust wit...

 Perfectionism is a big problem in the cleaning industry. It took me over 15 minutes to say it in the podcast. It's really not that complex. Perfection is working hard to make YOU as happy as possible and you may never get there. Excellence is working hard to make THE CUSTOMER as happy as possible and you absolutely can get there. How do you know if you've made them as happy as possible?...

There are too many overwhelmed, overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated solo cleaners. They want more than showing up to clean every day. They want to get traction with their businesses. Optimizing accomplishes this. You want more margin, more choices, more balance, and more freedom in your life. Why else would you be running your own business in the first place? Optimizing accomplishes this....

We are getting closer to the end of season 1 of the Smart Cleaning School Podcast. We are in the middle of a series on the 3 S’s, which stands for Stay, Scale, or Sell and represent FREEDOM for the solo cleaner. In the last episode, I shared a clip from a Solo Elite Membership Call from late 2024 focusing on creating margin. Margin is vital. We need margin to make more choices. We need more choice...

In this episode, I share a short clip of a Public Service Announcement I made last November in the Solo Elite Membership. It’s a PSA for all struggling, overwhelmed solo cleaners. First, let me say a few things. You are the one that overscheduled yourself by never saying ‘No’. Take ownership of that. ​ You are the one that priced as little as you did. Take ownership of that. You are the one that d...

I have an announcement to make. This is episode 493 of the Smart Cleaning School Podcast. I will be ending season 1 at episode 500. Why? What does that mean? All these questions will be answered in these final 8 episodes, where I’m focusing you on the end of the solo optimization rainbow. It’s called the 3 S’s. That’s the series that season 1 will end with. What do you do when you get to the top a...

I am excited to share this clip from the Solo Elite Membership! A few weeks ago, I ran my first Zoom call for the members to meet each other, dive into a topic, and ask questions. It was a great call. Afterwards, I pondered the idea of sharing a portion of the call with my podcast audience. It's a 16 minute clip from a 90 minute call, where I shared my journey openly on scaling with employees...

The summer is finally here! This is both literal and figurative. We just celebrated Memorial Day as the weather is heating up. Just like the 4 seasons of nature, my business is entering a new season. After selling my 1st solo business in 2018, we moved to our hometown and stayed indoors. I tried everything in my power to build my coaching and consulting business in 2018 and early 2019. I stayed in...

Let's continue the Control Series! My first episode was " You Must Let Go of Your Control ", where I shared a few major breakthroughs in my recent ability to let go and trust others. It was an important therapy session. I continued this recently with another breakthrough about your business is not you and viewing trust and control like a rope. Check out part 2 of the series called &...

This week started with content batching. Batching is an optimizer's tool for ultra productivity. Every month, I create blogs, podcasts, and videos for Carfagno Cleaning and Solo Cleaning School. It takes a ton of time to do each week. I used batching in my cleaning business and in other areas of business over the years. When Teresa's mom was available to watch the kids overnight, we jump...

I've broken a lot over 15 years, but it's all relative. I have two mindsets to discuss before I share my cleaning misdeeds. Your auto insurance company keeps actuarial tables and knows exactly how much an accident costs on average. These numbers are taken into account when you get and pay your annual insurance premium. In fact, it is designed to be a win-win. If you get into an accident...

I've been cleaning homes since 2006 and have noticed a dramatic increase in home security as technology improves. Alarms have gone from wired to wireless. Cameras surveil various angles and locations of the home. Garages have keypads. Families are more secure than ever and they can do so at an expense less than it used to cost. This happens so predictively that economists give it a name. The...

I host an accountability & mastermind call every Monday for the SMART Cleaning Tribe. We are a family of cleaning service owners with teams (that used to be solo). I'm the architect of this group of amazing people, always looking for the 1% that desires to set monthly SMART goals and be held accountable to their achievement. Check out the episode " The Accountability Roadmap " t...

In 15 years of solo cleaning, over 75 families have hired me to clean for them. However, I sold my business with 17. What happened to the others? It's simple. This is a seasonal service for some and a lifetime for others. I never tried to figure that out. I just served. I have lots of experience getting "let go", "moved on", "fired", etc. Some let me know face-to...

This is a story that will cost a cleaning supplier a lot of money. First of all, I hope you all know me by now. I am not vindictive. I did not have a bad experience with the company I'm going to mention. However, I chose to do my 3-stars out of 5 review to the world because it will illustrate a vital lesson on the lifetime value of a client. I purchased my Mosquito Carbon Lite vacuum cleaner...

In " Keys to Solo Longevity I ", I established a few foundational principles. First of all, there is a clear difference in a Ford and a Honda. I prefer my cleaning machine to operate more like a Honda. They last longer and require less maintenance... and I shared this from my experience having owned 4 Fords and 8 Hondas in 30 years. Secondly, we deconstructed the domination and longevity...

This 2-part podcast was inspired by a Solo Cleaning School Elite member, Dave Reeks. Dave started implementing the ISO Model in early 2022, operating The Finest Clean in South Wales, Australia. I am so proud of his diligence and commitment. Dave has grown from an Initializer to the Stabilizer phase of the ISO Model in 6 months. I recently did an Optimizer's Workshop with him to help him hit h...

Last week I kicked off a 11-part Retention Series for the Smart Cleaning School Here’s the basic question. What good is it to only teach you GET great customers if you can’t KEEP them?! It makes no sense at all. You’re right! That’s why I’m compiling these episodes for you over the next few months. I highly encourage you to study these and implement them. ​ Do you know that retention is one of the...

I have discovered through losing dozens of clients over the years that they cancel service for 3 reasons. Would you like to know what they are? Here’s the summary. Quality - Whether you fail to meet your expectations or theirs, they will perceive you are not a good cleaner and fire you. Character - This prevents the customer from building trust with you, the solo cleaner, and the brand of your com...

Do you want prospects to find you and ask you for help or would you rather hunt for them and try to sell them? The first option is called a relational approach and the second is a transactional one. I created the original ISO Model Course in 2017 when I was in the hunt of optimizing my first solo cleaning company in Upstate New York. At this time, I was wrapping up a strategic process of earning m...

This month's Freedom Report starts with a clip from a call with Coach Josh. I had accomplished a lot in December as you heard in the last report , adding 5 new buildings and 1 new team member. The 5 buildings added $3,800 per month of new revenue and brought us to 13 buildings and 5 houses to delegate. The new team member would take 3 of the buildings, leaving a lot more still to delegate. I...

I ended the November Freedom Report with peace. We had brought our plan to go to Florida to God and asked Him to show us the way. We had over 20 job applications come in with no new hires. I personally connected and made initial connection to 240 local office cleaning prospects and followed up with close to 100 phone calls to find out if they had a cleaner in house or outsourced and if they were h...

I recorded " A New Freedom Vision " in May, just 6 months ago. It was a bold proclamation. I could not go to Florida for a month, while scheduled to clean 2 days per week. I had to grow a team. I interviewed Josh Melton for my podcast in June (" The Cleaning Road to Nineveh with Josh Melton ") and immediately asked him to coach me. I was ready for the challenge and I was ready...