More Than A Side Hustle
More Than A Side Hustle
Building a $400,000 Empire in the Cleaning Industry
Shandrell's journey from debt to financial freedom with her cleaning business is a testament to resilience and entrepreneurial spirit.
She shares her initial fears, the steps she took to establish her business, and the profound impact it has had on her life and those around her.
• Overcoming skepticism and doubt from family and friends
• Turning fear into motivation to succeed
• Transitioning from residential to commercial cleaning
• The importance of support systems in entrepreneurship
• Leveraging local resources for growth and opportunity
• Paying off significant debt through business profits
• Creating opportunities for her community and family members
• Embracing the challenges and complexities of owning a business
• Recognizing the personal and financial rewards of entrepreneurship
• Inspiring others to pursue their business dreams despite fears
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Hey y'all we made over $400,000 with our cleaning business starting in 2022.
Speaker 2:Welcome to another episode of the More Than A Side Hustle podcast, where we help non-involved create more impact, income and influence outside their jobs. My name is Anthony and I'm Janoka and welcome back.
Speaker 3:Thanks for coming. I know we haven't been as consistent, but we are here today and we are here with a guest and we are excited to have a great conversation. Provide more information to you guys about Cleveland Business University.
Speaker 2:Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1:So, before we get started, just tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are and what you're doing, and we'll dive right in. Hello everyone, my name is Shandrell and I run a cleaning business that serves the Dallas and Fort Worth area. Primarily, our business does commercial and construction cleaning. We started with residential and then later on shifted the business to better suit my lifestyle, our family and I also work full time. I'm a mom and a soon to be wife.
Speaker 2:Soon to be wife, congratulations.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and what has been your success? Like, what are the numbers? That's what people always want to hear right away. Oh, you want to talk about money.
Speaker 1:They want to count your pockets, of course, but anyway honestly, I should have looked at it again before I came. The last numbers that I sent y'all may have been 340 from like sometime last year, so we're probably at 400 something right now and that's a year to date, starting in uh. The first customer we saw was January 27, 2022.
Speaker 3:Okay, so three years later. So when you say $300,.
Speaker 2:That's $300?, $400?.
Speaker 1:Because what I'm?
Speaker 2:going to do? Is that's going to be the title of the episode. And they're going to be like whoa and that's going to make them click. So if they, listen to this right now. That's what they want.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let me try this again. I want to hit it what they want, so okay. So let me try this again you're good.
Speaker 3:I want to hit it with the hey y'all. We made over four hundred thousand dollars with our cleaning business starting in 2022 and you just so it's your anniversary, that just passed.
Speaker 1:Yes, so we I opened the business, I got all the stuff together in 2021. We saw our first customer in 2022.
Speaker 3:Yes, got it. Got it okay. Well, congrats on, because we just passed january 27th, so three years into the business congratulations, so crazy so what made you say let me go ahead and start a cleaning business oh, um.
Speaker 1:So I initially thought about it a couple years before and I was thinking of cleaning houses myself, just because, naturally, that's just something I do to like relieve stress or just zone out. You know, it doesn't require a lot of thinking, you can just work, and I was looking to make extra money because I had started, following Dave Ramsey, moved out of our apartment, moved in with our parents, so we were trying to find other ways to pay down our debt. So, um, that was one of my ideas, and when I brought it up to a couple of people, everyone's like what You're going to clean houses, are you going to go in somebody's house? You know, just giving me all these like negative feedback, you know, so just kind of killing the baby before it was really born. But I'm grateful for that, because I didn't know that I could do it the way that you all taught. So that was kind of how it initially started. How did I end up finding y'all though? Yeah, that's the question.
Speaker 3:We were so maybe because our journey started when, on social media, we were sharing our debt payoff and we shared that we did go through Dave Ramsey's program. He read Dave Ramsey's book and so maybe that's how you started following us. I don't know the debt payoff part of it. And then we transition to talking more about the cleaning business.
Speaker 1:so by the time I saw y'all story, y'all had already done all the promo for debt payoff and y'all had the cleaning business.
Speaker 2:The course was out y'all were full blown talking about it, so I think I must have seen y'all on a podcast maybe probably so, the podcast, whatever podcast it was yeah you heard someone this cleaning business, like, oh, that's something else that I could do that I was thinking about doing. So what made you say, all right, this is the route I'm gonna go. So, as people see it and like, they're a little worried, they're a little nervous, so what made you say this is something I could do um, honestly, I didn't know that I could do it first.
Speaker 1:I heard y'all and I believed y'all. But you know, naturally, like I'm just a very um, uh, I don't want to say apprehensive, but kind of like I have to think through it. I've got to marinate on it.
Speaker 2:I've got to know everything before I start. Yes, got to ask a thousand questions.
Speaker 1:I got to sit on it, I got to pray on it, sleep on it.
Speaker 2:You don't know how many times I had to pray on it. I was like, let me pray with you, hello you got to pray on things.
Speaker 1:sometimes I mean you do, but you know what does the Bible say about you? Got to put some work with it.
Speaker 2:It ain't just all just asking and praying.
Speaker 1:So yeah, sorry I lost my train of thought, but I didn't immediately act on it. So I think I followed y'all. And then I think I it was during, like when everybody was buying courses. You know, trump was giving out those tea daddy checks.
Speaker 2:Stimmy's. What's it called? Tea daddy checks, stimmy's. I know the.
Speaker 3:Stimmy's, so you know.
Speaker 1:I was like buying courses left and right and I think I was.
Speaker 1:Well, I almost told y'all before, but I had already kind of started something else that I was ready to get out of, so it ended up being a good time for me to venture into something new. So I bought the course, didn't immediately do anything with it and then, um, just told myself look, by the end of the year you got to make something shake, like enough is enough, do it. My grandmother had passed that year from COVID, so I was like in honor of her, like, do it like. So that had passed that year from COVID. So I was like in honor of her, like, do it Like. So that really pushed me to buy, get up the website stuff that you are, go through the course and do all of the steps of job.
Speaker 3:And so, what were you doing before, before you started the cleaning business?
Speaker 1:Well, what was I not doing before? I was doing all kinds of stuff I call myself doing like resume writing. I called myself flipping mobile homes. I called myself what was I doing? I forgot I had printed out a bunch of like flyers for stuff, just anything.
Speaker 3:You was hustling, Kind of like what Dave Ramsey said you're trying to pay off that debt.
Speaker 1:You're trying to get all those jobs Okay.
Speaker 1:And any of those things like lessons from the stuff that you started did you bring into the cleaning business or, I think, one of the things. If I had not done the mobile home stuff, I don't know that I would have taken a chance with the cleaning business, because with that I had to just force myself to just do it. Like it takes me three years to make a decision, like I don't know how I just like I was buying stuff, like I'm like it takes me three years to make a decision Like I don't know how.
Speaker 2:I just like.
Speaker 1:I was buying stuff like buying stuff I shouldn't have been buying. You know, overspending money, buying houses that weren't worth nothing, just trying to force myself out of my pattern of just like well, take it long.
Speaker 3:Yes yes.
Speaker 1:So if I had not have done that, I wouldn't have started the cleaning business. So what I took from that was you got to act like. You have your fears. That's normal. That's natural. But how much are you going to let your fear hold you back from taking action, especially if you need to pay this debt off?
Speaker 1:You need to. You know you got to. I was. We were buying a house at the time, so we needed to get things rolling, so yeah, yeah, with fear, that's a big one and I see it all the time.
Speaker 2:People call fear false evidence appearing real because we're thinking about something that hasn't even occurred yet. Most people are like I'm scared to do this because of what somebody else told me, or what my mama did, or what my grandfather did. And now we got all these expectations from other people because we're afraid of what they went through, what I heard about. Expectations from other people because we're afraid of what they went through, what I heard about. So, with the mobile homes and you taking action that forced you to get out your comfort zone a little bit, I'm like I'm going to do this and even if it doesn't work, I'm going to keep progressing forward. So you took that same mindset from the mobile homes into the cleaning business and you left the mobile homes completely.
Speaker 1:You're saying I had to.
Speaker 2:It wasn't for me.
Speaker 1:It wasn't for me showing up chasing down contractors and too like I did not follow the guidelines that they gave us for the mobile home so. I took that with me when I came to y'all's course. I did not skip and go outside of the lines at all. Versus when I got into the mobile home I was like, well, I can do it this way and I can just forget that step. So I ended up losing money doing that stuff.
Speaker 2:Like so I end up losing money doing that stuff? Like it was ridiculous. Why do you feel like you skip steps? If somebody gives you a blueprint and they say there's a puddle right there, I'm going. I stepped in that puddle.
Speaker 1:I'm going to show you how to jump over it?
Speaker 2:why would you still say you know what?
Speaker 1:I'm going to try to walk around the puddle when I tell you, like there's multiple answers to that, she's like it's in the therapy session. I ain't gonna go we gotta go back to my upbringing naturally I'm very rebellious I don't know why, and I think it's because there's parts of myself where I don't have like the full, the any place where their fear shows up. I'm questioning my ability, but when it comes to like. Yes, when it comes to certain areas, though, I'm like man.
Speaker 2:I know what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:I got this, you know. So it's that trying to find that balance between are you apprehensive and taking your time with the right things and are you overconfident in the wrong things, Like trying to balance those two things out.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I was just and you said you lost money. Do you mind sharing how much you lost?
Speaker 1:Oh probably it. And you said you lost money. Do you mind sharing how much you lost?
Speaker 3:oh, probably, it was at least probably 15 000 okay 15 000 and then you decided to go on to do another business. If I was your husband, I've been like hey, hold on for a minute.
Speaker 2:Wait a minute let's take a step back, pay this.
Speaker 3:Let's recalibrate a little bit. So was it just a matter of like you saying like, yeah, we need to pay this, so, so I'm going to make this thing work? Or like, what made you continue after you had, you know, lost this money with this other business? I?
Speaker 1:think honestly. So I had taken out a personal loan to do that and there were some of the things I did right, so I did make money. I think it's just overall balance sheet.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Got it.
Speaker 1:So it was by the time I got everything settled I looked and I still owed money on the loan and I was like, oh, so I lost money. Got it so, granted, at that time, you know, we weren't married or nothing. So my financial problems were my problems.
Speaker 3:It wasn't really. You know his problem. To have to manage. He's like do what you want to.
Speaker 1:I don't even think he knew how much I had gotten myself into. I don't think he had a clue. He's kind of just like she's. You know, she's smart, She'll figure it out. She got it, Got it.
Speaker 2:How supportive has he been throughout this journey and he Fiance, yes, your fiance yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I think I don't know how people do it without a support system. Support system especially if you work full-time like me, like I have a job, so and I we have. At that time we only had my daughter. So if I'm out shopping homes or for the mobile homes or I'm out doing something like either he was coming with me or he was staying back to watch our daughter make sure she got picked up from school. So I don't, I just couldn't imagine doing it without him. You know, uh, just supporting me.
Speaker 3:It's not always that the person is in the business with you, but it's how they support you in different ways to allow you to excel in the business.
Speaker 1:Yes, because anytime as a family unit, if somebody's stepping out to do something, that means there's a deficit where you're not there right. So you need your partner to come up and pick up the slack for you if you're trying to venture out and kind of step out and do something new. So I appreciate him so, so much. I had my mom, my grandmother this is back when I was um doing the mobile home stuff and even now in the cleaning business my grandmother has cleaned, my brothers have cleaned, my sister-in-law, my uncles, my um just a lot of people have supported me oh, that's great.
Speaker 2:Let's's start that part of the journey. So mobile homes is done, you got. You got our program Clean and Busy University. What helped you to to get started immediately in the program?
Speaker 1:So I think from the time I bought the course, it probably took me about a month or two before I opened it and got started, but it was super easy to follow, very elementary steps. Not saying that this isn't um, I guess I'm trying to say it wasn't overly complicated. You guys made it simple, you made it like to where a third grader could understand and, um, once I got going with it, I just was able to kind of, just okay, you said, do this step. Okay, pause, I'm gonna go and sign up for this and get this part done. Come back, sign up and get that. So by the time I finished, of course, the whole thing was done okay, sorry, that's a texas babysitter oh I was letting you
Speaker 2:go.
Speaker 3:No, I know, but the babysitter was texting me, okay.
Speaker 2:So walk me through some of those first couple months, because that's part of the fear, Like okay, now we start going through starting this business. Most of our listeners, people who join our program they're brand new to entrepreneurship for the most part. Brand new to business, and then 90% of them are brand new to cleaning. So they're thinking I got to go out buy cleaning supplies, get a mop and a broom, leave my nine to five job. And so what was your experience in those first? I want to say the first, like six months.
Speaker 1:So I think those are like the most crucial months for people. Yeah, I was very blessed to be in like a low competition area so when I turned it on it was like fast and furious because I'm not directly, my business isn't directly in the city of Dallas, but we're more like kind of supporting the outskirts of Dallas.
Speaker 1:So the first day, once I finished the course, I turned on Google local services. I think it's called something else now, but I turned it on, I started getting calls. Immediately, like immediately, my phone started ringing. So I got a clean the cleaner. Oh, I almost missed this part. I want to make sure I share this Getting the cleaners.
Speaker 2:Start there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what I did was people were leaving business cards on our doorstep in our neighborhood so I would collect those business cards and then I was just starting to use those people to clean my house. So over time I can see, okay, this cleaner did good, that you know. Whatever, once I had a lady that I had used her consistently. I went to her and say, hey, like I have a business, here's what I charge. Would you be willing to take? You know this much if I'm willing to get all the bookings, handle all that stuff. She said yes. So once I turned on Google Local Services and I booked a customer, she took it. You called her up.
Speaker 3:Yep, you called her up.
Speaker 1:And then I was stuck because my phone rang again and somebody else wanted a cleaning.
Speaker 3:And you're like you started with one cleaner. I started with one, okay, and the only reason I point that out because that's always the question. Well, a question we get is should I get the cleaner first or get the jobs first? And I always say, well, if you don't plan to go out and clean, you need the cleaner. But then also if you have one or two cleaners and I think it just depends on the person's availability- and things like that. And for you, you said, a phone started ringing right away.
Speaker 1:Yes, so I didn't expect it right so I'm thinking, okay, I'm gonna turn everything on, and then we gonna let it work out, we'll just see, but no.
Speaker 1:So I had to kind of move quickly. So I sent my cleaner for that job. I still remember that lady. Um, I don't clean for her no more, but we, I remember her. And then the the next call that came in, I was like, well, I don't have anybody else, I guess I gotta go it. So I got my sister-in-law. We ran to the store, got a couple of supplies and we went to go clean the house.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we went to go do it and, honestly, that's probably not ideal, but I was grateful for those times because that was never the end goal to always be in it. But I'm the type of person whether I'm on my job or whether I'm in my business, I want to know how things work. I want to know what to expect. Okay, how is it when you arrive to a stranger's home and how is it when you're going through their things? You know just all that stuff. You typically clean your own house, but it's different when you're in the home of someone. How is it when they're there? How is it when they're not there? You know All those things can happen. So, yeah, the second house I cleaned and then, yeah, from there it just was rocking and rolling. I think that was at the very end. I said January the 27th or so I think in that last week we did like $700 in January.
Speaker 3:Just that quick. Do you remember how many cleanings you've actually cleaned for yourself that you did yourself?
Speaker 1:Ooh, I would say less than 10. Less than 10, yeah Well yes, for residential, I would say definitely less than 10. Less than 10.
Speaker 3:And then you just started getting more people, hiring more contractors to work with you.
Speaker 1:Yes, things like that Going in Facebook groups, local Facebook groups for our area, anytime somebody says hey, anybody, have any cleaners.
Speaker 3:And everybody drop the information Screenshots. I didn't have any cleaners and everybody dropped the information Easily just started messaging people.
Speaker 1:Some people were like I've gotten people that were pissed. You know like I'm like just if you don't want it just don't want to make the money, it's fine.
Speaker 1:And then I've gotten some, yeah, really good cleaners from doing that. I've gotten a good amount from Indeed and I've never paid for any recruiting services or anything like that out from Indeed and I've never paid for any recruiting services or anything like that. So, yeah, from there I just started going through that process and I was able to bring on at least three or four more, and then, of course, the cleaners have aunts and cousins, and so that ends up being.
Speaker 3:Once they start getting that income and seeing that the person they're working with is nice and things are flowing, they're like I got somebody, I got somebody else that can help us do this.
Speaker 1:So grateful for them, so, so grateful for my early cleaners. Most of all of them still work with me to this day oh, even the first person that you first lady she just had a baby.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's exciting that's a scene for us. I think our people that's been around, our people that we brought on. They're still here. I think it's like a been around the long. Our people that we brought on. They're still here. I think it's like a core of like five of them that from year two up to year seven and a half they're still with us. Some of them went on and they're like all right. Left came back. Left came back, move Family came back.
Speaker 3:So what do?
Speaker 2:you feel like attracted people earlier on to your business, whether it's the cleaners or the clients.
Speaker 1:I think, for the clients. I don't think there was anything in particular. We had a Google page. You know we had, we put pictures up, we put, we had reviews up, so that was helpful. And then for in the fact that we answered the phone. I think that was really, really a lot, because, you will realize, most people don't answer the phone so that's probably the biggest thing, and you get some people that you can't capture because of pricing right like because we're using a contractor, we can't charge a hundred dollars we have to be a more premium service, so that I think, created some division between us and the competition when it came to that.
Speaker 1:When it came to the cleaners, I would say I, we just vibe Like we were able to once they came in, so I will have them come and clean my house first and you can kind of tell from someone's energy like you know they like them, they seem very they understand enough about business to know that there's a contract or we can talk about insurance, if that, if we're going to do that, or you know they, they're asking the right questions so they don't just seem lost, you know, and, uh, they show up with their own products. So that was helpful. But I think what made them say at the beginning I was paying, like I think I was paying every day, if I'm not mistaken, at the end of every day I was doing some kind of like girl before the money came in.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, you charge them right the same day.
Speaker 3:You charge the customer yeah, but don't hit your account is what I'm saying oh, it's been a while since we've done that. Takes a few. It got to go through a process I had to distinguish myself in the market.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:That's a different take. I'm not saying you can't do it, but that's a different way of doing stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, telling somebody you're going to get paid every day is like too, just not knowing like I think what ends up in my mind, like not realizing I'm. This is mutually beneficial. It's so easy to see it as a because I own the business. You're doing something for me, but I'm paying you.
Speaker 1:So you know I'm sending you more work, so we are mutually helping each other. So once I kind of got my mind wrapped around that, like this isn't just the fluke, I'm out here, I do have a business, we do have consistent customers and it is too much to do this every day. You know, we went ahead and made that change.
Speaker 3:To pay them every day. Yeah, just move to Friday. Yeah, just looking to them as like partners.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know kind of working together in that way.
Speaker 3:Now business started booming. Do you know how much you made the first year?
Speaker 1:Ooh, I would say 150. Okay, I think the first year, that's really good.
Speaker 3:And was that all residential?
Speaker 1:No, no, I did residential solid, I think for the first six months, but it was hard on me, like it just doesn't fit my temperament, like I was dreading answering the phone like money's calling and I'm like I don't want to talk to nobody on the phone I'm tired like then you know you have to do the follow-up because you want to know how did the service go and I was dreading doing those calls and then you know you did with the complaints and it just yeah, it was hard.
Speaker 3:It could be emotionally taxing sometimes, yes, and I'm just one of those people like.
Speaker 1:I think this is one of those fear things that kept me from starting is I just want to do a good job, but I'm not in control of what the cleaner does when they're right there. You know I do my best to vet them and find the right people and you know talk to them about. You know if they have issues and a customer complaints. But at the end of the day You're taking a risk because my reputation as a business lies with somebody else.
Speaker 1:So that was really hard on me. So what? Um, I ended up getting a contract with a construction company, and so once I saw that it was more fitting to my schedule my temperament, you know and it w it worked better with the cleaners that I had, I ended up giving my residential customers to the cleaners and just completely leaving it alone.
Speaker 3:And completely going all in in commercial.
Speaker 1:In construction and before we go to the commercial.
Speaker 3:I did want to ask how were you marketing yourself when it came to the residential side? Was it just Google Local Services, or were you doing other things?
Speaker 1:I did SEO from early on.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:I got a SEO guy and he's been with me and he's still with you, he's still with me, uh, he helped build out my website and add all my uh service pages and things like that, so that was helpful. Uh, I tried yelp. Hated it still to this day. Yelp, you can count your days.
Speaker 1:Don't call me yup mafia, do not call my phone again and I tried Google ads, so extra running ads, and that was, and I had Google experts set it up. That was just a waste. So Google local services was my go to my money maker.
Speaker 3:So once you saw, you got this commercial. And how did the commercial person find you Google, google. So do you think that you could have started? So once you saw it, you got this commercial. And how did the commercial person find you Google, google.
Speaker 2:Okay. So do you think that you could have started the business and jumped in commercial from day one, or do you feel like the residential gave you a good footing and understanding of the business model?
Speaker 1:I think honestly you probably could start either way Because I think, as the type of person that I am, I know at the beginning, beginning, I'm gonna be hands-on and I'm gonna be figuring it out anyway. So I don't think that there's there's a that you have to start with either one on. But I would say if you are someone who is never going to enter the space, then it's probably easier to start with residential because the pricing, like you all, help set up everything so well that you can just jump into residential straight from the course from when the time that I took it and everything was set up and good to go. Commercials a little bit different, like how to figure out pricing how to do it bids and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:So I mean not to say you couldn't figure it out yeah, you could google it.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I get what you're saying. So you would say it just depends on.
Speaker 1:I would say, sometimes I think it depends on the person I would agree if they can jump into commercial right away or not but.
Speaker 3:I like you said, you know your personality, that you were able to handle that. But I think it depends on the person. I would put most people probably straight into residential first and then kind of transition. So I think it's more.
Speaker 2:I think it's more baby steps.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You don't got to jump all. I think when you get a first commercial, our first commercial job, I was like I got to leave my office, I got to go code this I had to walk a Samsung building that was like 10,000, 20,000 square feet and I have no idea. I had to find cleaners and I was like we didn't even get the bin. I was like, oh wow they never opened up.
Speaker 2:They never opened up the facility or something. I was like wow, but at least I got to do it. But I had to do all these big things. So yeah, that's a good point, that was you're gonna go and I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna see what it's like.
Speaker 3:I'm in the area, are you?
Speaker 2:I was gonna go, it could have been 30, 40, 50 miles out, I would have still went. But yeah, it definitely. I don't want to say overwhelming, but it was definitely like wow, this is a lot. This is serious, a lot to manage if we would have got that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a really good point, because with residential, let's say, if I want to know and I think you all recommend this in the course too you want to know what to charge, just start Go to other people's websites.
Speaker 2:See what they're charging.
Speaker 1:You know, go to call another company, Commercials like you can't do that because they need to so many nuances they have to come out and see in order to give you some kind of price. Their pricing is not online, you know, so that makes it a little bit difficult too. And then staffing like you got to know.
Speaker 1:It's not like I'm going to just send a cleaner out and they're done Like some of them want somebody on site 24, seven, yeah, supervisors, and they have all these different quality and all this stuff, this type of stuff.
Speaker 3:So you got the first call but you took it because we know we've seen some students like, oh, commercial, somebody from commercial call me and I'm not taking it because I don't know what to do. But you took it and do you remember how much that that job was?
Speaker 1:So, okay, this one the first office that we had. I don't remember. Okay, but when we started on the construction side which made me leave the residential it was with a construction company that was building an apartment complex. Okay so they needed us there multiple times a week for at least I think we were there over a year, I think. So just imagine, wow, and it wasn't like they needed a staffed, like somebody needs to be here between these hours, but it's like as we develop, we need cleaners to come and as we develop, we need cleaners to come.
Speaker 1:So um, I had no idea what I was doing. I priced it like I would do if we did a construction clean for a residential home with a little bit more on it and I think that contract was over a hundred thousand.
Speaker 3:And that was for a year.
Speaker 1:It was. It didn't have a date on it.
Speaker 3:So the way it goes is you show up.
Speaker 1:We're going to start the work at this time. We need you until the work is done.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Until the project's complete. And once the project was over a hundred thousand, that's great. And they had found you from Google too or did you tell?
Speaker 1:me from google, there we go. But I always say like that's nothing but god, because one construction industry doesn't work like that, right? No, they have a uh behind the scene like bidding list or bidders list or subcontractor list that you have to pre-qualify to get on, and then from there they reach out to those people.
Speaker 3:Those people submit bids and then they decide it's different.
Speaker 1:So for someone to pick up the phone and say I looked you up on google, yeah, that's not typical and the reason that happened is because they had a young guy.
Speaker 3:I was gonna say it probably was an assistant, like I don't know where to find nobody. Let me check google. I mean, that's what I'm thinking. That's what I'm thinking, that's the old guys in the industry.
Speaker 1:You know they have a certain way to do it but this young guy ain't. Not long after we won the bid he was gone, so literally. You just see how God will open doors and set up situations. I didn't think we were going to get it, because I'm like I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 3:I don't know what I submitted to you. He's like this is great, he's probably going to check with nobody else. He got to answer. I said Lord, have mercy, he's going to prove.
Speaker 1:But yeah, and we made mistakes. Yeah, got over there, we made mistakes. I didn't realize that I was also responsible for, like, exterior window cleaning and I only had bid out for interior windows, just all those little things. So and you were able to add on Like cost-wise, were you able to add on to say I think some, at some points I either ate it or we just were like, hey, we don't do that, okay, and it was like so what you gonna do?
Speaker 3:yeah, you already had us here for seven months. Yeah, we don't, we not doing it?
Speaker 1:yeah um so we did it where it mattered, but yeah, that was um, that was a big one. I was able to, uh, hire my uncle on, who had recently been released from prison. He was looking for work. So the timing of how everything came together like he was pretty much like my second hand on site helping me to complete the project, because you need somebody there to kind of just kind of or keep everything organized and moving along. Um yeah, that that was was here.
Speaker 2:I know you mentioned having other family members in the business, but was he the first hire in the business?
Speaker 1:so he was contracted as well. But my grandmother, who's 70 something years old, has cleaned residential with me and she cleaned commercial with me. She's cleaned construction with me everything. My soon-to-be husband we were out there late at night almost got arrested trying to do some cleaning in the middle of the night. Like crazy stuff.
Speaker 3:By any means necessary.
Speaker 1:Just before I. I don't know how that's going to play out, so let me make sure I give all the love details for this.
Speaker 3:You wonder why you see that one clip.
Speaker 1:It be like okay, so we communicated to the folks on site hey, we weren't able to finish. We'll be back tonight to finish up the rest of the work. They didn't communicate that to security.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:So we get there to gates locked, so we hopped the gate. Yeah, not the gates locked, so we hopped the gate.
Speaker 3:Yeah, not you hopped the gate, I'm like we couldn't get in.
Speaker 1:That's it.
Speaker 3:We hopped the gate. We couldn't get in.
Speaker 1:We hopped the gate and got inside and went in and started cleaning.
Speaker 2:Right now she's scaring some people away. Like ain't no way I'm doing this, but they're like you don't the gate. No, no, no, this you having fun with this. That's hilarious. You turn this into a mini movie.
Speaker 1:I mean again, it's my reputation if I say I'm gonna be somewhere and we're gonna do something I just don't want to. You know, let my customer down so we get there, we're cleaning. We can see the security guy posted up. We think he sees us. So we're like okay, cool, we're cleaning windows outside windows before.
Speaker 1:I know he pulls up, know it, he pulls up. Like he comes around, pulls up hey, what are y'all doing? I'm like hey, you know he's like, I gotta call my boss. He goes and he's literally got his hand on something.
Speaker 3:I don't know if it was a taser.
Speaker 1:if it was a BB gun, it was something. We're like what the heck? So they're calling security, they're calling the cops, and all to find out. They're like oh, you know so and so, okay, y'all are fine.
Speaker 3:Well, we're lucky it ended that way. That that's how it went we were.
Speaker 1:We were brown people in a, in a different kind of different area.
Speaker 3:Okay and so you mentioned family. What has your kind of outside of your fiance, what has your family felt about this? Or they've been involved, so you've been yes you mentioned sister, grandmother, uncle, everybody involved. What do?
Speaker 1:they say about it I mean they ain't involved for free besides him, he free but I and not that my family wouldn't do it for free, I'm just I work full-time so I'm not dependent on this to survive, so I'm like anytime somebody. Cleaning is hard work, it's so if you step out to come help me, I'm going to make sure I pay you, but they have been really supportive. If they couldn't come with me, then they're taking one of the kids to help me so that I can go make sure things get done well.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, my family has been amazing.
Speaker 3:That's good, that's really good. Like you said, I think that's part of the process of maybe it's not directly in the business, but other ways um, and some people don't like working with family, so it's what's your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2:we see that a lot where in this space people.
Speaker 3:She's like, I'm like I wouldn't hire people as me family and friends.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what should I mean? That's I want to. I don't know if that's the black community only, but a lot of us are like, well, don't, don't handle, don't bring family in, and I'm always of the mind to like give them a shot. Why not? Worst case scenario doesn't work. Because now, if it doesn't work and you take it personal, it messes up that personal relationship. So what's your thoughts on that.
Speaker 1:I think it hasn't impacted you at all. Uh, it hasn't impacted me any disagreements with family members or no, and I think honestly not because they couldn't have happened, more because of I keep saying temperament, because of my temperament.
Speaker 1:So, let's say my uncle. My uncle came in. It was more so about like hey, he's in a program to kind of reenter society. Is he needs to be able to show that he's working consistently. You know he's showing. You know to be released from his program that he was in. My uncle's done. Wear glasses, you know doesn't wear glasses. You know he missing stuff when we clean. I'm coming behind him. But in my mind there was a bigger picture that I was going after with it, one I needed look, if all I do is come behind you and just do, do, do, do, do.
Speaker 1:And you know that was better for me, so that didn't turn into an issue. I would notice, though, like not everybody's got the like, the drive to do it. You know people are going to jump in to help, so you can't over abuse if people are just helping you. I haven't had to hire anybody directly, but I try to. You know, when it comes to my family, make sure they get paid, make sure I let them know what I need, but not make it a consistent thing, like even my uncle. He's done, he don't work with me no more. You know he helped me with that project and now he's done. He's like I don't want to clean no more.
Speaker 1:That's fine, my, I would see where I would have a shortcoming with it if I tried to hire somebody is I'm not as like with family, you, you can't handle them with the soft gloves, like you know you gotta you're trying to manage not messing up the relationship. So that's, that's my part of the family and friends.
Speaker 3:Not bringing out that I don't think they can do it. It's just that I don't want, if anything goes wrong, to mess up the relationship now we piss for life because of this thing that we could have potentially avoided. That's only my thought. But, like you said, you said it was-based, so you didn't feel, I guess, so much obligation or that it would turn to that and some of what you so commercial is where you could have continued on. You're still in commercial and only doing commercials.
Speaker 1:So right now, most of our customers are commercial customers. We are still open for construction, oh construction, sorry yes but construction is project-based construction. Oh, construction, yes, but uh, construction is project based. So, um, you get with somebody. The project may run for a couple months, it may be a one-time thing and it's done yeah, they may not have nothing else for you for a while okay, so in the meantime, we keep our commercial because commercial.
Speaker 3:Find you on google and post construction. You're in on a different site, or how?
Speaker 1:does that work? So commercial finds me from google and seo construction I have went to the ones that have found me has also been on google. I have also some relationships in the industry, so we've gotten work from that but, going on those lists. I've done that and I haven't seen much fruit from it yet, but I think it requires it requires a lot more like diligence, staying in front of that customer, reaching out like nurturing what's the list?
Speaker 3:can you break down what the list is like? So when you pay for the list, uh, no.
Speaker 1:so when you want to work for if it's just a mom and pop construction company, you probably don't have to worry about it, but somebody that's like doing large scale projects skyscrapers, schools, hebs, whatever apartment complexes you have to go through a pre-qualification process. So they want your financials, they want your insurance, they want your certifications, they want all this stuff, and then once you submit that, then they vet you and they may give you a score of like whether you are high risk, low risk and whether you know, then they may want to reach out to your references, all of this stuff, just to say, ok, great, now we'll put you in the pool of everybody else who's done that same thing.
Speaker 3:Got it.
Speaker 1:And if we have a job that comes up, we can reach out to you and let you know what the job is, and y'all can pretty much duke it out over the pricing, pricing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, so I was going back to the job and managing the businesses. How do the business? How has that been from the very beginning to where it is now? How are you juggling and managing both?
Speaker 1:so when I was doing residential it was really tough because I work full-time and residential is a lot of phone calls. People are constantly calling. You can have your website set up, people, there will be people who will go to your site. Thank God for those people, but most people they want to talk to somebody, they want to ask questions, you know. So that was difficult for me to manage, which was also causing me anxiety because I'm in a meeting but money's calling on the other phone. But this is money on this phone too.
Speaker 2:So it's like trying to balance.
Speaker 1:It was really tough. So I was grateful to come out of residential, because commercial is mostly email. They're going to start with an email. They may call you and say, hey, can you come and do a bid, but everything else is via email. Same thing with construction lies via email.
Speaker 3:So you kind of make it around your schedule.
Speaker 1:I can make it around my schedule. Wait, I forgot what was the question you asked me, balancing.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, so now it's easier.
Speaker 1:I work from home, so if I need to go do a bit I can schedule during my lunch run to do a bid and come back. So that's not a problem. And once we win a bid and that contract is set up, my cleaners come and go. They the supplies. You know that the supplies are probably their own site. They don't really need to talk to me about anything unless something goes wrong, you know. So it's a lot more hands off now that I'm um shifted into the commercial and construction side.
Speaker 3:Okay, and do you still? Are you running everything on your own? Do you have a virtual assistant, or how are?
Speaker 1:you, just me, just you, would you ever get a virtual? Assistant I think if the business was more consistent, meaning not the commercial stuff but my construction stuff. Because if that was more consistent meaning not the commercial stuff but my construction stuff. Because if that was more consistent I would yeah, I would need to get some help.
Speaker 3:OK, and how is there a way that you could make it? Would you say that you're stopping yourself from making it more consistent? Yes, ok, ok, you're having the business for the life that you want.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, my goal. When I started like, I initially thought I was like man, I'm gonna just grow, like it was so much about grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, and then not realizing that, like you gotta like, things aren't just magically growing like yeah, obviously God is presenting you with opportunities and I thank God for his grace where he was able to lessen my like responsibilities at work at the time when I was the busiest.
Speaker 1:But outside of that you got to be grinding on this commercial and construction journey and I'm busy at work right now, so I'm just not there. So I appreciate the flexibility of having this kind of business because if I want to get out there and grow it, I just need to turn the knob and turn up the volume some, but if I don't, I can allow it to kind of just run itself. We don't make as much money, that's fine, but that's what works for me, what works for you.
Speaker 2:How has your life changed since you started the business?
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness. Oh my goodness, so um I'm. I'm no longer in debt, hallelujah.
Speaker 3:Ooh, congratulations, $15,000 gone.
Speaker 1:Yes and plus so. Student loans uh,50,000 gone yes and plus so. Student loans $10,000 gone, any type of. Did I have any other? Did I have any credit card debt? I don't think so. It was just that personal loan and the student loans gone. I've been able to take my mom on vacation. We went to Costa Rica. I've been able to do things. Just from different family members, the people who've helped me. I've been able to pay people Like my uncle, getting out of that program and working and having consistent income. Like that just doesn't happen.
Speaker 2:People get out of prison and they get offered, so you couldn't hire your uncle at your job. What you talking about?
Speaker 1:No, One once you have a record like your chances out, here are slim. It's slim pickings. And then, once somebody will give you an opportunity, he was being offered one day a week, two days a week, minimum wage. So you can't make a living from that. How are you supposed to prove yourself in society when nobody's really giving you a real chance? So my uncle is self-sufficient now. He's coming to my wedding in Vegas. That's amazing. Yes, he's living his life oh, within what was?
Speaker 1:that three years yeah, no, short, quick. So those things to me mean so much. I've got cleaners who bought cars you know they've had babies. Like not only my life has changed by this, but people close to me have been impacted by me starting this business like I can't even put that into words what that means to me yeah, that's.
Speaker 2:I don't even know where I want to go with that one, because I think there were so many different pieces to unpack. You got the uncle. You're going on a vacation with the family.
Speaker 3:Yes, vacations that pay off, helping people in the family, helping the people that you work with, for them to continue to grow and do their own thing as well. So, yeah, so it's been impactful, to say the least.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh gosh, y'all have no idea, and that's all. That's the only good stuff I can remember right now at the top of my head. I'm sure there's more.
Speaker 3:And so for those that are watching, that are afraid to start, or what would you say to them? What advice would you give to someone that's like I'm not sure this is for me or I'm not sure they're legit, because we get those too Like you guys could be scammers.
Speaker 2:I get called a scammer. He does Maybe me more than you, because my face is like everywhere and I'm like let me be a scammer because I know I'm not. She's okay with being a scammer, I am. It's not many hard drugs out there.
Speaker 3:This is my name out here, there's not many black hard drugs out here, so that's fair. But either way, I know I'm not doing that, so to me I like rub it off. That's what I'll say. But people say those type of things, but it's scammers and those that are questioning if it's for them or if they should do it. What advice could you give them throughout your time?
Speaker 1:in the business. I will say, like, having fear is normal. Like to an extent you don't want crippling fear, but being a little anxious or nervous to kind of put yourself out there, that's a normal thing. But you have to get to a certain point where you have something that you're doing it for. Like I had to pay that debt off or else I was going to be paying $800 a month out of my pocket to pay it back. I had to um, we were trying to buy house. I had reasons that I needed to get this thing going to push me past my fear.
Speaker 1:If I don't think, if I, like I said, if I hadn't really taken risks before or if I didn't have that stuff, I probably would have still be sitting back concerned and scared and thinking what if? And what? What if? That there's nobody in this world who's gonna do something the first time and just do it, 100 perfect. What do you really have to lose? Okay, if you open it and okay, you, you get the website or whatever, you spend a couple hundred dollars. If you don't have that to risk, then you probably are not ready to start the business. You know, just kind of thinking through all of those things and then looking at your life, looking at, do you have capacity mentally, physically, emotionally, and is this something that really God is putting on your heart to do? Because I will tell you, if you don't have like his grace kind of helping you through when, those moments where you want to quit, when things are getting really tough, you it's almost impossible, it can be overwhelming. So there's a lot to consider.
Speaker 3:Yeah, all that, all those things.
Speaker 1:Think through it.
Speaker 3:Think through it. Anything else, I guess or I don't know if you had anything before, Anything else that we didn't cover that you would want to make sure that someone knows about the business, about the program or anything coming in.
Speaker 1:I would say the program can help you start. Honestly, it can help you start any subcontracting type business.
Speaker 3:We used to call this service sixfigure service-based business course. That's what it used to be called, because we're like you could do this for lawn window anything, anything.
Speaker 2:I got a testimonial. This guy did what was it? 10k with mobile massages.
Speaker 3:I was like I don't know how.
Speaker 2:He was like my wife was a masseuse and they started the cleaning business Like wait, this could work for this and he was like yeah, we started a mobile and people did it with carpet.
Speaker 3:Some people did it with daycare, Daycare, yeah. Just hiring people to work for you. Literally, essentially, but yeah, literally.
Speaker 1:So you could. That's one thing. Maybe, if cleaning's not your thing per se, like you said, you got mobile car detail, you got window washing, you've got lawn, anything where you need to hire a subcontractor to perform the work and you are responsible for doing the marketing, the customer outreach, the phone cost, whatever. You could apply this same template to that uh business. Um, what else I will say? I was telling them before, like we even cleaned hotels, which is like something you wouldn't even think of yeah because they have um, they hire housekeeping, but they outsource that too.
Speaker 1:So if you just never know that some of it is completely.
Speaker 3:Some people think it's like oh, you're a big company, so you're just gonna go with, yeah, whoever you hire, or whatever but no, yeah, how'd they?
Speaker 2:let's get into how they find you like google wow yep, they reached out to me.
Speaker 1:It was a family owned company.
Speaker 2:They were like a boutique hotel.
Speaker 1:And it was great for us because it was a small unit. They're not your standard like big room.
Speaker 3:But boutique hotels cost a lot of money.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:They're not like the regular rate.
Speaker 1:And so they had a little bit more to be able to spend. You come in, all of the supplies are there, you don't need to bring nothing. You know they have a um, they have a template of kind of how they want things done. So, as long as you're up to speed on their processing procedures, you just need to plug somebody in the laundry's done everything. All you do is we came in, uh, had somebody get trained up on and it took like 20 minutes to understand what was what and we was in there, flipping them rooms, turning them around keep in mind, it's still a bed, a shower, a toilet.
Speaker 1:It's nothing different than what it's, just understanding what that customer is looking for. How do you want the pillows to be laid? Just a little bit of the details, but yeah, it paid well.
Speaker 2:Was that a contract? Was that a timeline?
Speaker 1:no, they used us as a like, as needed. So they would call hey, we don't have anybody, can y'all?
Speaker 3:come and guess what, if you call?
Speaker 1:me, let me in. You gotta add something to it.
Speaker 3:You have to add something to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a little bit more expensive. Like, yeah, we coming. Come on, granny, we'll be there. Yes, that's good.
Speaker 3:I don't think I had any other questions.
Speaker 2:We just wanted again for coming. I say again because we did record this about two three months ago.
Speaker 3:We didn't let you guys know. We recorded this about two, three months ago and we had some issues, some technical issues, so we had to run it back. So we appreciate you spending some more time with us to share your story with our students, letting people know what's possible and uh.
Speaker 2:So we're gonna represent with your award from cleaning business university University doing over $300,000 in your cleaning business Woo woo, woo, thank you, thank you. We're going to update that to $400,000 now yeah, we ain't giving awards every $100,000. Now, that was a customized one. That's what I mean. When you hit $500,000, we'll give you the medium sized one, and then you'll get the big platinum one.
Speaker 3:Ooh, okay we'll give you the medium size one and then you get the big platinum one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but no, we really appreciate you just coming out and telling your story. It really goes a long way for people who's just wondering if it's possible, can I do it? Can I work in my city? Can you know all those things you kind of hear.
Speaker 2:So and it helps people show that this is real, it's you're I'm a real person, that you're a real person, but then also the impact that you have created for family members and friends and cleaners. You know that's a real thing.
Speaker 3:That's it for More Than Side Hustle podcast this week.
Speaker 2:Yes. So please, guys, I want to thank you. We want to appreciate let you guys know we appreciate you guys listening to every single episode, leaving us five-star reviews. We want to get up to 400 five-star reviews by the end of this year. That's a very ambitious goal Year or month. I was going to say end of the year.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, okay, that's good. That's what I was about to say. That's a good goal. It's fine. In the stories you tell us it was a five-star review.
Speaker 2:If you feel time, have a good one, bye, bye.