Yes, He Cleans For A Living And It Is Brutal

A lot of people think hiring a housekeeper is about convenience. We see it differently: it’s about trust, safety, and knowing the person in your home takes real pride in the work. That’s why our conversation with Rich Fulmer from Redbeard Housekeeping hits so hard. He walks us through what sets his cleaning services apart, including years of hands-on experience, chemical certifications, and a simple standard for credibility: show the work. Rich shares how photos and videos on Facebook help potential clients judge results for themselves, not just take someone’s word for it.

We also get into the real story behind his business. After reconstructive shoulder surgery, returning to his forklift job wasn’t possible the way it used to be, so he rebuilt his working life from the ground up. Rich talks about leaving clock-in culture behind, finding early clients through friends, and choosing the challenge of running a small local business because being your own boss is worth it. Along the way, he breaks down common housekeeping myths, including the idea that cleaning is “easy” or that it’s only women’s work, and he explains why deep cleaning is physically demanding and sometimes unexpectedly intense.

Finally, Rich shares how he attracts customers in the Finger Lakes without a website by using Facebook groups, local posts, and a portfolio mindset. We also learn about his creative side hustle, Twister Ratt Productions, where he does videography, graphic design, wrestling events, weddings, and music projects. If you care about small business grit, professional home cleaning, and honest service, this one is for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a neighbor, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Rich

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Virginia McConnell.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast Live. Are you in need of a housekeeper? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to our good neighbor, Rich, with Redbeard Housekeeping. How's it going?

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Fantastic. How are you?

SPEAKER_03 0:29

I'm good. Thank you. Thank you. It's a lovely day in Florida.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Sort of a lovely day in New York. It's uh it's rainy, but it's warm at least. That's good because I'll take the rainy and warm.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

Right. You guys have been getting pretty hard recently.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Yeah, we've hell has officially frozen over here in New York State.

Certifications And Showing Proof

SPEAKER_03 0:56

Well, we're excited to learn about you and your business. Can you tell us more about Redbeard housekeeping?

SPEAKER_02 1:04

So I am obviously a housekeeper. Um I have Red Beard because the Red Beard. Um I've been doing this for three years. Um, I have, gosh, total housekeeping experience. If you want to count everything that I've done, probably 28, uh more like over 30 some years of of um chemical certifications, food industries, um, and um housekeeping in general, general housekeeping um experience. And my work actually speaks for itself. I always put my work and my videos out there, um, pictures out there on Facebook and stuff, so that uh other people can see what I can do. Because I can stand by my word and and I can tell you what I do a great job, but without pictures or videos, you know, I'm just another Yahoo with a scrub brush on his hand, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 2:08

Yeah, and I mean I've personally used your services before, and I do know that you have certifications that do make you stand out over others.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Do a great job, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

Um, how did you get into this business?

SPEAKER_02 2:24

So um, well, so okay, so it started out and it's kind of a long story, but I'll try to keep it short. Um I had reconstructive surgery on my shoulder, and I was out for six months uh out of my regular work for six months. So when I went back, um I wasn't able to uh do my job. I was a forklift driver. Um and I I couldn't you have to have full mobility to drive a forklift, um not 70%, which is what I had when I went back. At the time, I couldn't raise my hands above my head without like one being shorter than the other. Um now it's different. I've I've actually lifted weights and gone through therapy and uh everything, and it's fine. But uh basically, I I while I was out, I weighed out my options for can I do something else? And I had some friends that were looking for some help doing uh housekeeping of their own. And um when I went back to work, they didn't like it because I couldn't do my job uh as well as I was able to at one point, as well as them. Um, so I kind of weighed out my options. I um and then and then I gave a 31-day notice and they bullied me out within two weeks, and because I don't take crap from people, you know. Basically, I got into doing this because I got sick and tired of um punching a clock for companies that you know you're just a number anyway. Um, and it helped out friends, like I say, and then while I'm doing that, I was like, Yeah, I could do this, I I could do this. There's literally nobody telling me I can't stop and go to the bathroom. I um I don't have to worry about punching a clock at the end of the day, and then it and then when I'm done, I get paid, I got this money, half of it goes to tax. Well, three-quarters of it goes to taxes, the other quarter goes to bills. But I would rather do this for myself, um, helping out other people than I would for a big company like I was working for, and you know, going round and round and round with HR because this isn't right or this isn't right, and you know it's it's it's nice being your own boss. Yes, it is, yes, it is, and it's it's about dag on time too.

Myths And The Real Dirty Work

SPEAKER_03 5:14

Yeah, no, you you've earned it. So, what are some of the myths or common misconceptions in your industry?

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Um so the biggest one that I've uh actually had to kind of hurdle around and is uh this is a woman's job. I don't feel like it's a woman's job if if if I if I can scrub a floor, I can do the job. You know what I mean? I I understand that's there's there's a lot more to it. Um so an example, um, if I can, I took my wife with me. Um she's a psychologist. Um her her job is mentally hard, and it's you know, the mental lifting and everything that she does. I took her to a clean with me one day, and um it was a it was in a pinch. Uh my actual help kind of backed out on me. So, excuse me. So I took her along with me, and at the end of the day, she's like, your job is no joke. Like, this is actual physical work. I'm like, yeah, and I don't quit once I start. I don't like to stop. Um, she uh made me take a lunch break that day. She's like, we gotta stop, dude. It's been seven hours. And I think we work, I think we worked a total of 12 hours that day, got the whole house done top to bottom as a Victorian, and that's that's a big conception, is that a misconception is that you know we go into a house, we um, and then you you think you go in a house, you snap your fingers, and then you leave, and it's done. And for the most part, most of my clients' houses are you know that easy, but then there's there's others that are like, man, this is actually gonna take take some time, and you know, when you get down to the nitty-gritty to the really, really hard stuff, um, urine, feces, uh, dead animals. Um you realize that it's not as easy as everybody thinks.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

You know, yeah, yeah. I imagine like Airbnbs probably get some of those odd.

Finding Clients Through Facebook

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Believe it or not, I've been I've been real fortunate with um with vacation rentals because I haven't had any that were really bad. Um, without going into detail, I have stuck my hands into things that were kind of questionable. I've scrubbed things off of stuff that were really questionable. But I promise you that I have cleaned worse in a residential than I've ever had to clean in a um rental of any sorts. Okay, interesting.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

All right, so we know marketing is the heart of every business. Who are your target customers and how do you attract them?

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Um, so my target is pretty much everybody. Um busy, busy households. Um, you know, especially now summer's coming in, springtime's coming in, not everybody has the time to um clean their houses or maintain it. Schools, schools going full force right now. Um and moms and dads, they just want to cook dinner and help their kids with their homework and then relax because they've put in eight to ten hours already, eight to twelve, sixteen hours already. So I basically try to target everybody um currently using Facebook to um to do my advertising. If I go through all the groups, um all the group places for each area in the Finger Lakes region, and I post my videos there, post my pictures there. Um and when when I see a post in those groups that need one, as long as they're local to me, I reach out to them, send out my uh my videos, my portfolio to each client and each potential client, and either I get them or I don't, but that's that's my my way right now. I have I don't have a website or anything like that yet.

SPEAKER_03 9:49

I figured okay, and have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Yes, a lot. But it's it's uh it's a matter of um finding my um finding something to talk about and um getting that target demographic to uh view. So it's like it's a startup. I've I've had a few ideas and I've started a few of them. Um I'm currently kind of trying to work on something called the show, um, where it's just like a bunch of variety stuff that I that I do, but then kind of run out of material to put out there. So I I do want to do a podcast, it's just uh finding a a subject that can give me something to talk about every week or every day. Yeah, that's not that's not gonna cause an uproar and in other sectors.

Videography Side Hustle And Creativity

SPEAKER_03 10:56

Gotcha. Um so outside of work, what do you do for fun?

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Um, so I am a videographer, and uh actually at the bottom of my my window says Swiss to Rap Productions. That's my side hustle. Um I'm gonna try to do this without turning my computer off. And these are some of my work, some of it, some of it is not like um yeah, alpha female up there that is not my work, but everything you see here is all my work, and that's not even that's uh graphic design, uh videography. I do wrestling events, uh music videos, music performances, live music performances. Um, I'm currently working on a punk rock prom that I just filmed uh a few weeks ago. Um and yeah, that's that's what I do, and I do wrestling events, uh weddings.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Um I think I already said all that, and I'm trying to add more and more and more and more of what I do.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

So create you're creative, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

And at one point I didn't know I could do this stuff. I just started doing it one day, playing with a friend's pictures, and she was like, Hey, you know, this is considered graphic design if you can learn how to do this, and by that point I already did it. So yeah, this is what I have, all of it. This isn't even this isn't even um all of the the I I looked, I've done in August will be my 32nd uh wrestling show that I've done um both videography for and uh posters and graphic designs for. But I've been doing it for 15 years, a lot longer than I've been cleaning houses.

Pride, Feedback, And Going Extra

SPEAKER_03 12:52

Wow, that's amazing. So Rich, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Redbeard housekeeping.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Uh so I mean, appearance, Redbeard for a reason. Um and I'm not it's silly, um, but I stand by my word. Um, I wouldn't I wouldn't put my work out there, I wouldn't put myself out there if um I didn't work with pride, and I didn't put the pride into my work like that. Um, I have portfolios, I have references, um, everything to back up every word that I speak. I'm not perfect, and sometimes I miss things, and um sometimes I I can't always make the client happy, but um I'm always willing to go that extra mile to do what I gotta do for that, as you actually know.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

Yes, and I think it's hard to make everyone happy, just it is in general. I think trying is the the main the main thing.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Yes, one thing I've always said was you can have you can have a thousand clients, and there's always going to and no, I'll be happy, but 99 of them, or uh 999 of them will be happy, and you'll have one that's going to complain, and then you may have two or three more, maybe five more that'll complain, but um the important thing is you just keep going. You know, you take you take you take the constructive criticism and you turn it into um gold. I I don't know if gold is the right word to say, but yeah.

Where To Find Redbeard Housekeeping

SPEAKER_03 14:46

Yeah, you're my gosh. So, how can our listeners learn more about Redbeard Housekeeping?

SPEAKER_02 14:56

Um, Redbeard Housekeeping, you can find me on Facebook under Red House, Redbeard Housekeeping. Um, and I share everything there. I like I said earlier, I don't have a website. Um, everything else is Twister Rap Productions, or you can follow me personally, uh Rich Ratman, on Facebook. Um, and I share all my stuff both on my page and on my personal.

SPEAKER_03 15:24

Okay, great. Well, Rich, I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your business the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Thank you. I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to be on here.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpsarasota.com. That's gmpsarasota.com or call 941 949 1865.