Smart Cleaning School

I have been a huge fan of the Tim Ferriss Show lately because I love the long-from interviews with world-class performers as Tim dissects how they accomplished what they've accomplished. I LOVED a recent interview with Kelly Slater. If you've never heard of Kelly Slater, he's an 11-time world surfing champion and highly regarded as the GOAT in the sport. I listened to Kelly's i...

 This episode wraps up our 4-part coaching series to teach you what it means to be truly coachable. This episode is a clip from a recent Solo Elite Membership Call addressing the 4 characteristics that determine how coachable YOU are. I hope you listen and learn. Then I hope you evaluate your own level of coachability. What was the result? Are you truly coachable or not? If you answered yes and yo...

This is a great follow up to " The Value of Coaching with Josh Melton ". Josh has been coaching me through Marco Polo in 2023. I ask him questions and he responds. I am very coachable, so the content of my questions evolves over time from basic how-to questions to leadership and how my coach thinks questions. My goal is understand the Mind of Josh. How would Josh handle this situation? I...

My wife and I were enjoying breakfast at Postively 4th Street Cafe in Ocean City, NJ. We love this place and especially the lattes. Oh my, they are good! During our connecting time, we were searching for ways to improve our business and effectiveness as parents. I asked the question. " How can we become 10 Talent People in each area of our life? " This is a reference to a story that Jesu...

This original interview was released in April 2022 right after our family got home from our first month-long trip to the Gulf Coast of Florida. I hired Josh to be my coach to take me from a solo optimizer to a commercial cleaner with a team that would allow me to go to Florida for a month. He did and we went! The reason we succeeded is my coachability. In fact, the reason anyone succeeds to higher...

 In a recent Solo Elite Membership Call, we talked about one of the biggest struggles in the cleaning industry. This struggle is especially challenging for newbies. And it's not just pricing and how to price. This clip from the Solo Elite walks you through how to remove the emotion around the pricing you give. Wouldn't that be an awesome skill to learn? It will take a few vital other ski...

 In a recent Solo Elite Membership Call, we talked about finding your ideal customer and niching. Unfortunately, most new cleaners will take anyone and anywhere. This is not ideal because you allow others to dictate the terms of your business. You need to set your own terms to be a real business. One of those terms is WHO will you serve and WHY?  I use the analogy of fishing to parallel how to fin...

 Much time is needed in this podcast episode to clear the names of several members of Total Life Freedom Philly. Before I share the final installment of ' Who Paid for Lunch Clue ', I must share a few things that happened in my cleaning business since my last update. It will be short. Trust me! First of all, I was asked to lead an education piece for my local MCBA networking group. I tau...

 My Total Life Freedom local friends and local networking friend Eric Laylon intersect for a second episode. In " Don't Fight Google or Facebook, Fight for Lunch ", my friend Eric Laylon from ReachLocal shared great marketing tips and stats on the digital giants. I followed this with a story of who paid for lunch. In this episode, I am copying the format!   Last week in my local MCB...

 In this episode, I have an important lesson to share from a new friend of mine in the digital marketing space on the power of Facebook and Google. Eric Laylon is a consultant with ReachLocal. He understands the online landscape more than almost anyone that I know. He's a new member of the MCBA networking group and had a chance to share a presentation on his work. I asked many questions as I...

 At the end of 2020, I attended my first lunch with local Philly-based members of the mastermind I am a member. When this meal was paid for by another member, we were all grateful and a few of us learned a lesson to allow others to give. But what none of us expected was that this would be the first of multiple lunches where the lunch itself became secondary with who would get the privilege to pay...

  John Maxwell is internationally acclaimed and sought after for his gifting in the instruction of leadership development. He has spawned thousands of leaders through his system. I may never physically meet him in person, but his books and talks have mentored me for over a decade. There is one specific annual exercise that I would like to wrap up 2019 and I hope you'll join me. Check out John...

 This goes back to my introduction episode and going into more mindset on honoring what you currently do and have. Every seed sown comes up. The message here is simple for you to ponder during Christmastime... what are you sowing into the ground with your current job or business? What about your relationships? Every action you take will leave a ripple in the pond of your community. Which ripple ar...

 This is the last business update on my new solo cleaning business for 2019. What a way to go out! Andrea Szlavik of A2Z Realtor Pa assures Ken that he is not a cleaner who happens to do business. He is a business person that happens to clean. This is a big difference. Let's dive into this week in my business! We had a business showcase presentation from Laney Landis this week at MCBA. She is...

 This is Smart Cleaning School episode 4-1-1. Do you know what that means? It means "Directory Assistance" and derives from the old days of telephone operators in the United States and Canada. 4-1-1 has been used since 1930 if you can believe that! The number has taken on a whole new identity in pop culture since the 1980's where 4-1-1 is slang for "Information" or "W...

 A cleaner posted this response in a the Solo Cleaners Club free Facebook group that I manage after I asked why they were struggling to find clients as a new solo. "That’s the thing. I just started this year and have none. I used to clean for a company. They trained me and that’s when I fell in love with cleaning. I have nothing to help me gain anything, except for word of mouth, but no one i...

 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 employe...

 This one is short and sweet. Would you like to see the ISO Model play out in a common question I am asked? This question comes from my brother, who is starting his own solo cleaning company. He asked me this. "Ken, what would you do if a customer is only willing to hire you if you will clean for them on Fridays?" I answered him and then said. "Thanks for the podcast episode!"...

 There is an emerging Mindset Series that started with my interview with Coach Josh called " The Value of Coaching " and followed up recently with " Are You Truly Coachable ". I spoke from the position of being coached for over 20 years and being a coach myself for the past 7 years. The topic today is a major pet peeve and a classic tell-tale of someone UNcoachable and UNteacha...

 This may be one of the most significant episodes of the Smart Cleaning School Podcast. Let's recap for the newer listeners. I have run cleaning companies for the last 18 years in both Upstate New York and the Indian Valley of Pennsylvania. I struggled like you in my first solo cleaning business from 2005 to 2008 as an Initializer. I worked like a madman like you as a Stabilizer from 2009 to...

 This is a great follow up to " The Value of Coaching with Josh Melton ". Josh has been coaching me through Marco Polo in 2023. I ask him questions and he responds. I am very coachable, so the content of my questions evolves over time from basic how-to questions to leadership and how my coach thinks questions. My goal is understand the Mind of Josh. How would Josh handle this situation?...

  "If you ever see someone standing alone, go over and talk to them." Steven learned this from his grandmother and it has helped him become a great people person and networker. "Superpowers are things that we just do that we don't realize make such a difference to others." Steven is a certified financial planner by trade. He found two ways to utilize his skills. He could h...

 I want to start by giving credit where credit is due. I had the opportunity to connect with my friend Cristal Bosser of Mommy Maids 24-7 serving the North Port / Sarasota Areas of the Gulf Coast of Florida. She was giving me feedback on the Solo Elite Membership that I'm constantly improving and drove home a point that I needed to share! Thank you Cristal!  I was walking her through my Solo...

 ​This episode released almost 2 years ago to the day! I was still doing house cleaning and transitioning Carfagno Cleaning to Carfagno Commercial Cleaning and the C3 Experience! We were preparing for our maiden journey to Florida for the month of February 2022. I am not wired to have trouble saying no. But many have that challenge. It's in their personality. In this Best-Of episode, I share...

 Learning how to deal effectively with other people is one of the Solo Elite 4 Fundamentals. People skills is a broad term tossed around. What does it mean? In my opinion, it's the ability and skill to effectively build relationships with other people so that they know, like, and trust you. I want to focus on one people skill today. It's responsiveness. How responsive are you to customer...