Smart Cleaning School

 It's been a while since I shared a business update from Carfagno Commercial Cleaning also known as the C3 Experience! This podcast started exactly 3 years ago as the Solo Cleaning School because I was starting my second solo cleaning company. If you are unfamiliar with my story, please go back to the " Introduction to the Solo Cleaning School ". I encourage you to continue listenin...

 I have prescribed a heavy dose of business owner's mindset on this podcast. My desire is to level-up the newbies and speed up their success. Plus, I really enjoy teaching this stuff. Sometimes I teach something on the podcast and use it as a lesson to my kids or in a local networking group. Sometimes I teach in my local networking group and share it as a podcast. In this case, I taught a les...

This interview originally released on December 13, 2021. At the time  of our interview, I did not know that we would sponsor Damon's product the T-Bag. We were simply having a conversation from one cleaning business owner to another. Damon has a great story of try, fail, and adjust. He has been in this industry for decades and found a pain point that he wanted to solve. Damon invented the T-b...

 Colette is my personal accountant and she closes out a 3-part interview series we did on the Smart Cleaning Tribe . Colette gets into the nitty gritty of what a valuable accountant can do for you.  First of all, she dives into business budgeting and how the business owner and accountant partner to help the business grow and plan for the unexpected. I took Colette's advice from the last episo...

 In part two of this 3-part interview with my accountant Colette on the Smart Cleaning Tribe , she dives deeper into the role of the accountant. In one question, she explains the benefits of hiring an all-in-one bookkeeper and accountant to help the business with tax planning and prep way before tax day. In another question, Colette surprised us all. "When should we hire an accountant?"...

 I asked my personal accountant Colette Melott (CMA, EA) to join the Smart Cleaning Tribe for an Expert Call to help cleaning company owners understand their numbers and who to hire in their specific case. Colette starts this interview with the accounting basics.  Bookkeepers helps you track transactions with your money coming in and your money coming out. In most cases, a bookkeeper does not help...

 I was in Dallas with my son for a podcasting conference in August. It was a blast, especially hanging out with my son. We stayed at the downtown Sheraton, which afforded us the ability to walk the city a bit. I also had the opportunity to connect in person with two former guests of the Smart Cleaning School. I went to lunch with Greg Shepard from " Sail Around the World ". We had a blas...

 In March 2002, Teresa and I joined the Quixtar business as Independent Business Owners (IBOs). It was the first business we ever owned. I was excited. I was ambitious. I had discipline. I had it all, right? Nope. I didn't have a business owner's mindset. I did not think like an entrepreneur.  We started learning from Diamond IBOs. We saw the Diamond lifestyle of total freedom of time an...

 This conversation with Crystal Hamm was wide-ranging in topics, but mainly focused on her past. In the present, Crystal runs a $3 million dollar residential cleaning company. Her team loves her and she loves them. She has build a company in the Raleigh Area that serves people greatly called the Go 2 Girls . I can't endorse this company enough if you live in Wake County, North Carolina. Check...

 I am a listener to the Tim Ferriss Podcast and have been for years. I don't relate with every episode, but some of them really move me to action and inspire me. Here are some examples. Kelly Slater taught me to be humble. Hugh Jackman inspired me to utilize the rowing machine in my workouts! Chris Bosh showed me that my problems aren't that big! In this episode, Elizabeth Gilbert taught...

 This talk was originally given for Coach Josh. He runs a Facebook group called TwelveTwo , which exists to empower entrepreneurs to pursue excellence in their finances and relationships. I had been working on this exercise after attending the Growth Now Summit Live in Lititz, PA with Justin Schenck. During this conference, my friend and Movement Influencer Andre Young taught me a simple exercise...

This was episode 11 of this podcast, originally published on November 14, 2019 which was a tough month for me. We had successfully built and sold an optimized solo cleaning company in Upstate New York and moved back home to Philadelphia after nearly 20 years away. I desperately wanted to have a career where I could work from home and enjoy my kids growing up. I made an assumption that I'd be...

 The Solo Cleaning Elite and the ISO Model Course are the classes available to solo cleaners in the Smart Cleaning School. I am the original student and have honed the curriculum for any solo cleaner to create the profit, time, and freedom they are looking for without ever having to hire employees. I created the curriculum with our first solo cleaning business in New York as the model. We built an...

 I hear this statement so much in the cleaning groups. It sounds like a great problem to have, but in reality, it's a defining statement. Let me give context to the people asking it. They are called solo cleaners. I was one for 16 years. A solo cleaner starts out super excited to make money for their family. They love cleaning and can do it as a side business. As they get better and their nam...

  I need to give credit to where credit is due for this episode. Thank you Vincent Pugliese for this mindset. If you don't know Vincent, check out " Content But Not Satisfied ". Vincent has grown an online community called Total Life Freedom with over 100 strong in the past 4 years. The members inside this community have access to expert calls on various topics of online platform bu...

 When I started this podcast in late 2019, I never imagined in a million years that I'd be eulogizing my father a year later. If you get a chance, check out the Tribute to My Father from December 17th, 2020. Ken Carfagno, Sr was born in Northeast Philadelphia on May 11th, 1936. He was the youngest of 6. Ken Sr. married Gabriella Corbett on October 20th, 1956. They were 20 years old. Soon afte...

  I gave this talk at my local Montgomery Country Business Alliance (MCBA) meeting in June on Interpersonal Skills. Here are the notes from that talk! MCBA Talk on Interpersonal Skills – Ken Carfagno 6/21/22 This is a HUGE topic to cover! I will barely scratch the surface in 30 minutes. Therefore, let me give you a few books to check out on your own. My story: I was a selfish, shy, introverted eng...

 In " This Moment with Angela Brown ", we relive her childhood and early adulthood through the lessons she learned along the way. It's so interesting to see how the traits that make her successful today were forced at various ages. In this episode, we conclude the interview with Angela Brown.   This portion of the conversation with Angela opens with a question on how she is able to...

 Angela Brown is a 25-year veteran of house cleaning, #1 YouTuber and podcaster with her show " Ask a House Cleaner ", and a guru in our industry. I have been friends with Angela for 5 years. In fact, she was the first person to really challenge me to start a podcast in late 2016. Angela is highly respected in the residential cleaning world and is helping thousands to grow their house cl...

 This is the first-ever podcast swap on the Smart Cleaning School. I was recently interviewed by my good friend John Stange in front of his Platform Launchers live audience.  In this interview, John wanted me to teach the benefits and synergy of running a local service-based business along with growing a platform.  Let me briefly tell you about John Stange. He is a pastor in the Philadelphia area...

 After 12 years of solo cleaning, I ventured into the world of online coaching and courses in this amazing industry. Andrea McCoy was my second one-to-one coaching client. We talked for an hour every week for over a year as she was getting her business started. I interviewed her in the summer of 2019 as I was preparing to launch this podcast. Andrea definitely edified me as a coach, but that'...

 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 longevit...

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...

This is part 4 with Teresa Carfagno. We have already covered three other great topics, such as " Living with an Entrepreneur ", Work / Life Balance and Healthy Eating Habits for our Kids in " Healthy Home Boundaries I & II " In this final part, we will help all of the families out there curious about the pros and cons of homeschooling your kids. Teresa has helped over 10 fa...

 In the last episode (part 2 of this series), Teresa shared useful lessons from the Carfagnos in the area of Work / Life Balance or what we call the family business and the busyness of the family. In this episode, Teresa concludes her thoughts on this topic and dives into the tender topic of keeping our children healthy. There is no right way to do this. But this episode reflects how we have raise...