Smart Cleaning School

In part 1 of Teresa's expert call from the Smart Cleaning Tribe, she dives into what it is like " Living with an Entrepreneur ". In today's episode, Teresa unpacks a few key lessons the Carfagnos have implemented to achieve balance between the family business and the busyness of the family. I hope you find these lessons useful yourself.

 This phrase is one of the most used when I'm training a new C3 Team Member along with " We don't clean everything every time. We clean everything  over time ". I wanted to dive into some mindset to encourage you, regardless of whether you're on the C3 Team, a solo cleaner, or a cleaning company figuring out the basics of growing a team. Let's first explore what it me...

 It is so critical for each one of us to align or be congruent with how people see and perceive us as a business person in our communities. Before there was an online aspect of doing business, all we had to do was be out in the community building valuable relationships and adding value wherever we could.  This got us referred. Our branding was all about who we were and what we did in person in the...

 In March 2021, I brought my wife Teresa Carfagno onto the Smart Cleaning Tribe as an expert to talk about our decade plus of homeschooling. The call went 2 hours and we ended up covering 4 topics that were of interest to Tribe members, which included Living with an Entrepreneur, Work / Life Balance, Healthy Eating Habits with the Kids, and Homeschooling. As this podcast approaches 300 episodes, I...

 This episode is mostly for C3 Team Members, but I wanted to share it with the Smart Cleaning School. In the episode, " Introducing the C3 Experience ", I laid out the company mission, vision, and values. When I first released that episode, I had no idea it would become a mandatory piece of the C3 Team hiring process. I truly believe that episode was the single most important one that I...

 I shared this episode as a personal C3 business update and hopefully serve as a teaching lesson on how to incorporate core values into your company. I never imagined that this podcast would become a keystone piece in our C3 Team hiring process. Shortly after the original release of this episode, C3 added 6 new locations totalling $4,000 per month in new revenue just 2 months left before the Carfa...

 In the last episode, we touched on a few controversial subjects. I encourage you to check out " Poor Character Produces Long-Term Pain " and let me know your thoughts. I want to take a more positive approach in this episode. Just as poor character produces short-term gain and long-term pain, good collaboration produces short-term pain and long-term gain. Before I share my stories, let m...

 Over the next 2 episodes, my desire is to show you real stories from my local business network of how we can control whether we experience long-term pain or prosperity. This episode will focus on two stories where poor character produces long-term pain. The next podcast will focus on 2 stories where collaboration produces long-term prosperity. Each of these episodes has the thread of selfishness...

 When I started this podcast, I predicted certain themes would come up often like pricing, people skills, leadership, business owner mindset, and cleaning efficiency. But I never saw the theme of overcoming fear emerging so often. In " Yeah, That's Fear ", we explored the 3 Failure Diseases of Excusitis, Detailitis, and Procrastination. Go back and listen to that episode to refresh....

 In part 1 of this 2-hour interview, " Conspiracies in the Cleaning Industry with Ed Selkow " , Ed shared an incredible 50-year career in our industry. He shares so many great stories and lessons that will help you in your business. Ed also shared some incredible criminal stories that I called " conspiracies " that are a must listen! In this episode, we dive into the second hal...

 I sat down with cleaning industry legend Ed Selkow for a 2-hour interview. We covered so much ground that I had to break it into 2 parts. In this first part, you'll learn about Ed's 50 years in the cleaning industry which includes owning 4 janitorial companies and working as an employee for a few of the largest janitorial firms in the country. He weaves in great stories and lessons that...

 There aren't many things that really get me angry anymore. I will share two. The first is when I have a comedy of errors, where one thing after another goes wrong and frustration builds up. The second one is if you challenge my integrity. The second one happened recently at a Honda service shop. It was my first time there after hearing great things about this particular shop. My initial expe...

I have a few stories to tell you and I won't take much of your time because your time is worth a lot! The first one is about a little boy who desperately wanted time with his Daddy. The second is about a Daddy who desperately wanted time with his little boy. This second story lead to the creation of a metric I've used in my business for a decade. It's called the Work Day Value (WDV)...

 Teresa and I were struggling big time in September 2008. We had a 3 year old son and infant daughter. At the time, we lived in a rented house that took 40% of our income and we still had over $125,000 in debt. It wasn't pretty. I was working like crazy with 5 part time workers. I had no systems, no money, and no clue. I got on this coaching call with my Amway upline Herb Eplee desperate for...

 The first area that Josh and I touched on were our stories and how they intersected.  Josh and I were friends first. We had mutual respect and trust for each other. That's why I invited him onto the Smart Cleaning School Podcast in June 2021. That episode is called, " The Cleaning Road to Nineveh with Josh Melton ". That episode was a mirror to me and I saw another guy with the sam...

 Dr. David Schwartz shares the 3 Failure Diseases in " The Magic of Thinking Big " that hold masses of people back from their dreams. These failure diseases are Excusitis, Detailitis, and Procrastination. I have addressed these failure diseases in various episodes of the Smart Cleaning School. One such topic is perfectionism. This is a form of Detailitis that causes people to spin their...

 This is an episode that has been on my podcast ideas list for over a year. It's funny to me that I was afraid in the beginning that I might run out of ideas to keep a viable podcast about cleaning. I was bad wrong as my list of ideas is over 200! I've been wanting to tell this story for a while and now is as good a time as any. In May 2019, I attended a conference called Growth Now host...

 I shared a clip from an expert call in our Smart Cleaning Tribe last episode. I have another clip to share. This one is important. I want you to stop what you're doing and ask yourself an important question.  If something rocked my very existence tomorrow and I needed time to deal and heal, would I have the margin in my business to take that time?   You're either in a crisis, coming out...

 I'll never forget a coaching call I did with a cleaning company owner doing $400k in revenue. I was an optimized solo cleaner and new in coaching. My view of the cleaning business landscapte was very narrow and I had a bit of pride to contend with. Here's the scenario. The co-owners, a husband and wife team, were both working 6 days per week in this $400k revenue company. They weren&apo...

 Teresa and I place a high value on our marriage and making sure to not only date each other, but to take annual honeymoons to connect. We have 5 kids and it's very difficult to get the 1-to-1 time we need as a couple. We have been doing these Annual Honeymoon Retreats for a decade. Each one is different and we've gone to different locations. This year we went to the Glasbern Inn in Foge...

 Vincent is first and foremost, a husband, father, and homeschooler.  Vincent and Elizabeth live in Bradenton, Florida with their 3 sons Andrew, Nolan, and Dylan. They are active in their community and church. Vincent is a friend to many and certainly to me! We go way back. You'll hear that story in this interview. Professionally, Vincent spent 22 years as a nationally-acclaimed & recogni...

 Let's go back to the beginning. This introduction episode is still the most downloaded of the podcast. Thank you for joining me on this journey. Would you like more information on CBF and the potential of growing your residential cleaning business beyond 7 figures? Check out my interview with the CBF Founder, entitled " A Buffalo Charges the Storm with Debbie Sardone ". Debbie is o...

 I was asked by the members of the Smart Cleaning Tribe to be the March 2022 expert to talk about real estate presentation cleaning. This is where I cut my teeth in cleaning. I was taught in Upstate New York by the realtors and stagers of Coldwell Banker how to clean professionally for realtors. I learned so many important lessons like this. There is a clear 80/20 Rule with real estate agents. 80%...

 I was asked by the members of the Smart Cleaning Tribe to be the March 2022 expert to talk about real estate presentation cleaning. This is where I cut my teeth in cleaning. I was taught in Upstate New York by the realtors and stagers of Coldwell Banker how to clean professionally for realtors. I learned so many important lessons like this. There is a clear 80/20 Rule with real estate agents. 80%...

  Are you new to the Smart Cleaning School Podcast? If not, please bare with me. I started as a solo apartment cleaner in 2005 and moved into real estate presentation cleaning in 2006. This opened up the doors for solo house and small office cleaning in late 2006. I grew and optimized my first solo cleaning business through 2017 to a 2-day per week cleaning job earning over $50,000 per year in pro...