Cleaning Business Life
🎙 Cleaning Business Life
Cleaning Business Life is a podcast for cleaning business owners who want more than tactics — they want clarity.
Hosted by industry leaders Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco, this show explores the real decisions behind building a sustainable, profitable cleaning company: pricing, leadership, systems, boundaries, and growth without burnout.
This isn’t a beginner podcast.
It’s for owners and operators who are already in the business and ready to think differently about how they run it.
If you’re tired of noise, hustle culture, and surface-level advice — and you want grounded conversations rooted in real industry experience — you’re in the right place.
Want to get a hold of us? Please email us at cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com
Cleaning Business Life
Ep. 222 | Company Culture That Keeps Great Employees: Leadership, Retention & Growth with Donny Minchillo
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What does company culture actually look like inside a growing cleaning business—and can it really help you keep great employees?
In Episode 222 of Cleaning Business Life, Shannon sits down with Donny Minchillo, owner of Joy of Cleaning, to talk about what he has learned while growing from himself and one cleaner to a team of nearly 30 employees.
Donny shares how his approach to company culture has evolved as his business has grown, including why communication and showing up on time matter during the hiring process, how his six-day training process works, and why the first three to six months of employment are so important for retention.
They also dig into:
• Creating connection when your cleaning technicians work solo
• Using regular one-on-one meetings to improve employee retention
• Rewarding and recognizing team members
• Balancing empathy with accountability
• How one “bad apple” can damage an otherwise strong culture
• Knowing when it’s time to let an employee go
• Maintaining company culture as your business gets bigger
• Using technology and data to make better management decisions
• Building a business that can eventually operate without the owner
Donny also shares his experience buying books of recurring cleaning clients, what cleaning business owners should consider before an acquisition, and how influencer marketing has generated significant revenue for Joy of Cleaning.
Company culture isn’t free lunches and team parties. It’s how your people communicate, how leadership responds when something goes wrong, what your company stands for, and whether your employees feel like they’re part of something bigger than the house they’re cleaning that day.
If you’re struggling with employee turnover—or preparing to grow your cleaning company beyond yourself—this conversation will give you plenty to think about.
Here is the link for Automate Joy
Thanks for tuning in to Cleaning Business Life — the podcast for cleaning business owners who want to build a profitable, sustainable company without burning out.
Hosted by Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco, each episode pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to start, grow, and scale a cleaning business — covering pricing, systems, leadership, boundaries, and the real conversations most people avoid.
🎧 New episodes 2x weekly
📚 Resources, show notes, and programs: https://kleanfreaksuniversity.com
Because in life — and in business — clean is just the beginning.
— Shannon & Jamie
