Steph From Kav Cleans | The Booked Out Cleaners Series (#124)

This week on Self Maid, I'm chatting with Steph from Kav Cleans in Sydney.

Steph has been in my coaching program for 2 years now, and what she's built in that time is nothing short of extraordinary. She's gone from being a solo operator to now having a team with a manager, that allowed her to recently step back from the business and go on her first holiday while the business ran without her.

In this episode, we get into the real story. The wins, the setbacks, and the specific shifts that changed everything.

Whether you're just getting started or grinding to break through your next ceiling, Steph's story is proof of what's possible when you back yourself and do the work.

Have a listen, and if it lands, share it with someone who needs to hear it.

You can follow Steph on Instagram @kavcleans.

Follow Jason Shipway on social media to stay up to date.
Instagram link @jasoncleans (click me)
TikTok link @jason.cleans (click me)

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

All right, welcome back to Selfmade. I'm here with a lovely special guest. I've got Stephanie from CavCleans. Um she's been in my booked out cleaners program for quite some time. I want to say about what a year and a half now.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Yeah, two years.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Two years, something like that. So I've I've had the pleasure of watching Steph's business grow. Um, she's been a phenomenal operator. I can't really take credit for anything you've done. You've just uh really excelled and it's been great to see. So I've also been following you on TikTok and Instagram, and I do love the content you're putting out. So and I know that you're a longtime listener of this podcast as well, and it's it's great to finally have you on here to talk. So welcome to the podcast, Steph.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Thank you. It's an honor. It's an honor.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

The honor's all mine, Steph. All right, let's get straight into some questions. Let's talk about business. So you've got a residential cleaning business based where?

SPEAKER_00 0:55

In Southwest Sydney.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Cool. And how long have you been operating now?

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Uh two and a half years going into now.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Right. So not long into your journey did you actually join the um the school community?

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Very early on, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Yeah, cool. So when you first joined, were you were you still a solo cleaner then? What was your what was your kind of origin story?

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Yeah, so I would have joined six months in, so I was yeah, basically solo cleaning. Um when I first started, like before I even got my first client, I was just, you know, jumped on TikTok and watched a whole bunch of videos, and yours were definitely ones that popped up. Um I kind of learned, yeah, you know, whatever you were um recording and stuff. And then yeah, I think you opened your school quite early on, and I was like 100% jumping on board with this and investing in into it.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

And you've obviously been very committed. We do weekly QA calls inside the school community, and Steph shows up every single week. She has questions ready, and I think that's um that's a good indicator of of someone's not only their drive, but also their just sheer determination to do well. So I think that's that's a big testament to your um ability in business because you actually stay consistent and you do the work, which is really important. Um, but kind of can can you tell us a bit about your journey when you started out? How did you first even end up in this business? What was it like in the first couple of months, and when did you start to realize that this could be something that you could actually grow into a real thing?

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Yeah, for sure. So I was unemployed for about a year, so I was kind of needed something a little bit more full-time, and I only ever worked at Maccas. Um, that was the only my ever job I ever had. Um, so I was like, yeah, needed something full-time, and I went on like Facebook, like the local community pages, and I just saw that there was so much demand and like people just looking for cleaners, and I was like, like, this is something obviously enjoy cleaning, you know, growing up in a walk family. You obviously learned that quite early on and in quite in depth. So um, yeah, I was like, you know, let's jump into this. And uh yeah, obviously started solo. Um quite early on. I figured that I wanted to kind of grow um, grow and scale a business. Um, solo cleaning, it's obviously very physically demanding. Um and as I like grew a team, I quite figured that I really enjoy the business side of it and actually running and managing a business. Um, I've always like you know, created my mindset around that. So it was very clear to me that that was that was something I was gonna do. Um obviously, people, you know, stay solo and you know, there's nothing wrong with that. But um, yeah, I really enjoyed building and managing um a team and running the behind the scenes of the business, not just and shout out to the Facebook community groups, that was the launch pad for my business as well.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Did did you did you pretty much just get booked out by doing that, or how did you get your your first set of clients?

SPEAKER_00 3:57

That's honestly what started my business. I just was commenting on all like the whoever was like, you know, looking for a cleaner and then making like my own local um posts and stuff, people reaching out to me, me messaging people. Um, I don't do that anymore, but definitely at the beginning, you're just like messaging everyone. Um, and yeah, that was literally what started my business. And then from then it's obviously word of mouth and all the others, you know, Google, social media, the website, and all of that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

It is crazy the amount of demand in these groups. I see them popping up. Someone will be like, Hey, I've just started cleaning houses, and there's like 70 comments, and I'm like, wow. And my mum will send me these these posts on on Facebook and she's like, Aren't you worried about these people? These people look professional. Isn't the market getting a bit saturated? I'm like, Mum, every house you see in the world needs to be clean. There will never be enough cleaners for all the houses. So I think we're all fine.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Um my mum's the first in the comments to like tag me and stuff. And most of the time I'm like, Mom, don't tag me in those.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Like I do the same. My mum will tag my business. I'm like, Mum, just chill out. I I I appreciate it, but chill out. Sometimes she's like tagged me in in people's posts that were like past clients that I don't want back. So it's a little bit awkward sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

That's how Mom, go delete, go delete that right now.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Yeah, gotta love mums. They're always gonna be your number one fan in in business. Um yeah. So did you did you grow your client base just completely organically? Did you do any like paid ads or anything in the early days?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Um, no, I still haven't now. Um haven't got into any of paid ads or anything.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Yeah, me neither. Awesome. So yeah, it's it's great when you can when you can start doing organic because when you do paid ads after growing a business with organic, it's kind of just throwing fuel on the fire. And I know all the people that do run paid ads, like I've got friends that spend $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 a month on paid Google and meta ads, they wish they could um you know do the volume we're doing with organic. So if you can do it that way first, it's always going to be a better play. And you also get to keep a little bit of extra money in your pocket, which is great. But how did you how did you transition into just being by yourself and then starting to build a team? And how did you even realize that that was a possibility? Because I know it's a really daunting transition from going solo to building a team.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Yeah, 100%. Um, I think obviously the main one just being booked out and not kind of being able to go any further than that. Like you've just got, you know, like me, I was working five, six days a week full of clients. Um, and then you get to a point where you're obviously having to say no and stuff like that. Um and yeah, it's obviously very daunting. Like you have, yeah, I had no idea like where to even start. Um, which I was in your community at this point, and so I would say your hiring your first um employee course definitely, definitely helped. Um, you know, you literally from start to finish, you have it all all booked, um, written out for us. So I basically just followed the steps of that and um was able to yeah, hire my first one and then you just print and repeat after that, really.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Very cool. And how many staff do you have now?

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Um at the moment I've got four. Four cleaners plus me.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

And you've got someone that you're sort of priming to be a manager as well?

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Yeah, so one of the cleaners, she's um in a very slow transition into um operations manager. Um so she at the moment, yeah, has got the business phone, runs um day-to-day operations, and as she we try to get her off cleaning, like myself and her off cleaning, then she'll be able to obviously um go, you know, continue building the the team, managing all the staffing, managing all the quoting, um, and yeah, give me a lot of a lot more freedom to kind of step back and focus on the more important things.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Did you have any issues when you initially started hiring people? Were there any any bad stories or times that you were like stuffed this, I don't, I don't even want to try. I'm just gonna go back to solo, or was it pretty smooth sailing for you?

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Honestly, when I like my first few uh uh employees, I was always everyone asked me that question, and I was like, I'm honestly so grateful and fortunate to be able to. I had some really good um, I guess, team members. I still do have some really good team members. Um, probably not only like probably quite recently, like maybe this year, um, did I have kind of some hurdles, you know, having to obviously fire your first first one and having more so of the difficult conversations. Um, but yeah, at the beginning it was pretty smooth sailing for me, thankfully.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

That's good. Won't complain about that. Did you did you have any like limiting beliefs about about business when you kind of started out? Was there anything you had to overcome, or were you pretty confident in your ability to get to where you are now?

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Um I was I feel like I yeah, I was like pretty confident. I kind of went into business knowing that it was gonna come with um you know its challenges and its hurdles, and I always like I always had that knowing uh going in. So I think that created my mindset around that resilience and constant having to problem solve because I knew that was always gonna be a thing. Um, so yeah, I think I went into it with I guess the right mindset.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Yeah, cool. And can is there like any one particular thing that you would attribute a lot of that success to early on? Is there like some strategy that you implemented or some system you had that was like your holy grail when it came to like getting clients, keeping clients, getting staff? Was there is there like some is there anything that you have that you just still to this day you rely on to keep things running?

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Um I feel like I'm still in the process of kind of building all of those systems and I'm like pretty like early on in kind of growing the team and scaling and all of that stuff. Um but I think the like my mindset was probably the only thing that's kind of um like stuck with me. Um like can like develop like self-development and always kind of working on myself and my mindset has always been really important for me, especially going to business knowing that all of this, like it's not obviously gonna be an easy journey. So I always just try to kind of um work on my own, like like my strength, resilience, discipline, and all of those things to I guess keep myself consistent and um keep working at the business even through those tough times and through those hurdles. Um, I guess faith for me is a really big one as well. That's really helped me, I guess, in the past year as well. Um, just being able to be patient and consistent with what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Absolutely. Yeah. And look, personal and business development are so closely related and they're pretty much intertwined. Would you say that you've changed a lot as a person, whether it just be like socially, just like your resilience, all of these things as a result of you going into business and growing to where it is now?

SPEAKER_00 11:03

100%. 100%. I think as business owners and as entrepreneurs, we're we're always gonna be like changing and growing um for everything that we experience through the highs and the lows. Um and yeah, I mean, I wouldn't change it for the world. I love I love what I do and I love the constant um changing and growing. Uh, I think people, some people are kind of I guess stuck in who they are. And I mean, everyone everyone's different, so it might be okay for them. Um, but for me, yeah, I'm always always focusing on like how I can change as a as a person, as a leader, obviously now, you know, building a team. And um, I think being a young business owner as well, you obviously, you know, you might start at quite naive, or um, you know, we obviously don't have the experience we might have, you know, in 20 years. Uh, so I think the experience definitely helps us, helps us grow with that.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Did you ever think you'd be in a position where you'd be building a team and managing people? Or because I know for me, like it was something it's the whole reason I got into cleaning was because I thought I would just be in people's homes, cleaning by myself, never have to have to deal with another soul in my life. And the last thing I thought I'd ever be good at was dealing with people, and now it's become like my entire world. So, what's that been like for you? Or were you kind of open to the idea and was it something you were actively working towards?

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Um, it's kind of worse, like it's all kind of just happens. Um I guess like like I said, starting young, you kind of you know don't know where you're gonna end up. For me, managing people, um, I think now I'm beginning to see, I guess, the challenges in it. Um, again, being young and not having like I was, you know, manager of McDonald's, but you're managing like 15 to 17 year olds, so it's a lot different to managing people who are older than you. Uh so yeah, very, very different.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Well, look, I often tell my managers that running a team is like managing a daycare. So if you've got experience managing 14, 15 year olds, I'd say you're you're on the right track. Um, but also the being young in business is a very real thing. When I when I first started out, like I wanted to start this business probably a year before I actually did it, and I couldn't start it because I didn't have a driver's license. So when I finally got my license and I I could finally clean, I would be rocking up the clients' houses and I would like take the pea plates off my car because I I just didn't want to seem younger than I was. And I like I had braces back then and I was just like insecure about my braces and self-conscious because I knew that I was young and I thought people were gonna see that I was young and not take me seriously. And then that just got amplified when I hired staff and I was like, there's no way anyone's gonna respect my authority and all kinds of things. So, like, there was a lot of a lot of limiting beliefs I had to overcome just as a young person in business, but you find that obviously you would know now that as you as you grow and develop, like your mindset towards that will shift, and you kind of just realize that a lot of these fears are just completely irrational, and like at the end of the day, no one cares except you, you're gonna be your own harshest critic.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

So I don't think it's yeah, people, yeah. I think with like being young in like business, I feel like that's just a mindset of that's just something we have in our heads. Like, I don't think it's an actual thing that you know you walk into a house. I mean, I obviously have had oh wow, like you look so young and whatever, but I don't think it actually impacts like anything really. In that I feel like because we're young and it's probably more inspiring, um, and it gives us more of an opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

I think you're right. The the majority of conversations I've had kind of lean towards that, and clients will say something along the lines of it's very inspiring or motivating or something like that. And so I think often we'll tell ourselves things about ourselves that we believe to be true or not true, but the reality is we're completely wrong most of the time, and we just have these internal biases that we keep reaffirming for whatever reason. Um, but that's like the number one killer of any any business or any business idea is like people will tell themselves a narrative which is just completely false and it stops them for ever ever even trying. And I came pretty close to just not really giving it my all when it came to especially building a team. I was like, I don't really think I'm capable of this, let alone do I even want to do this, because I didn't want to deal with more people and I didn't want to take on the responsibility. So I almost just kind of called it there and I was like, I'm just happy making a bit of money cleaning by myself. So it is a tough thing. I would say that the mental side of growing a business is you know, 80-90% of it, like doing the cleaning and and putting systems in place, building a team, it's pretty easy compared to what you have to go through in your own head. So I I respect what you're doing with the personal development side. I know that you're very into into that as well, um, as I am now. I I think a lot of people will realize when they get to a certain point in the business that you're always going to be the biggest constraint or the biggest bottleneck, and the only way the business can grow is if it grows through you. So, what are you kind of doing at the moment to develop just as a as a person, as a leader and as an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Yeah, definitely. Um I think me, I guess delegating and opening the opportunity for me to kind of step back from the business to give myself the time to actually like work on myself. Because I think very quickly, very easily can we I guess lose ourselves and our main focus is just our business. Like all I had was my business. Um, and so I think as I step back, I kind of you know, I guess work out what do I actually enjoy outside of you know growing a business and stuff. Um, but also I think that'll always be that'll always be me, that running a business is always um gonna be, I guess, the top priority. Um, but definitely obviously listening to podcasts, um this one, of course, one of the top contenders. Um but um and then obviously reading is one I want to kind of get into, you know, those like self-development mindset business books. Um I haven't kind of been able to pick up on that habit yet, but definitely something I want to work on. Um, but yeah, just constantly, I guess, learning learning more about business. Um, definitely something I want to kind of work on more, um, especially now that I'm running a business um like leadership and leadership styles and kind of working out which ones I want to take on, um, and all of those, I guess, important things that I do need to be learning.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Yeah, I feel like the people that excel in whatever their respective field is, whether it be business or white collar or blue collar, I feel like the people that really do well are the ones that just continue to learn and soak up knowledge because a lot of people they graduate uni, they go into their career and they just kind of call it there and they just work and work and they don't ever try to learn more, or there's no real like passion for what they do. It's just a job to them. Same thing in business. People will learn enough to get started, and then they get caught in like the rat race of growing the business and just like it's like a hamster running on a wheel day to day, and they never really go back to learning, and it's like your brain is like a muscle, it it needs to be trained and it needs to it needs to soak up information, and it's you know, especially as you get older, I mean this is really far into the future, but like I'm so deep into this stuff, and that I've read studies on like, you know, the one of the um the causes of dementia. I'm not saying that this is true, but the reason that dementia can be accelerated and things like this is because people just stop engaging their brain. And so I've always had like a mantra for myself that I just always want to learn, no matter what it is. It could be business, it could be random hobbies that I like, it could be just reading books about personal development or psychology. So I think it's made me a lot sharper as an operator, but also just like socially, just in the way I think and problem solve. And like I always try to set aside like an hour a day for myself just to learn now. And I would say that's one of the biggest shifts that I've made in in recent times is that I just have that dedicated time every day where I can learn. Um, and I'm I'm finding that it's it's paying dividends in my business as well. Like the business is going so much better than it ever has. And going back to what you said before, it's all because I just set that time aside and I was like, I'm not gonna let this be interrupted by business stuff. I'm just gonna have this time for myself. And so, is that an important thing for you for you that you've done? It is that like you've clearly like severed that tie between you and the business, and you've got your, you know, your personal time where you can focus on development and and stuff that you like doing. And it's like a non-negotiable for you where you're not just gonna jump back into the business at any given moment, at any beck and call.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Yeah, especially since obviously I've delegated a lot and been able to step back because before, obviously, I'm cleaning all day, come home, having to do the admin stuff, and it's like, where do I have the time for myself? So delegating that and me being able to step back has given me that time. Um, so now obviously I'm in the early stages of that. So now it's just gonna obviously um open even more time to kind of work on that. Um, and obviously allocating one day a week, you know, to jump on the QA calls. Um, and that, you know, showing that consistency as well is obviously built in the community as well. Um, you know, I've obviously connected with a few of the other um business owners. Um and then, you know, some of us girls like um like Jenna and um Ash Tash, we, you know, jump on calls as well. And uh that kind of, you know, us being able to connect um you know with like-minded individuals who are literally in the same industry, um, we can kind of, you know, we always have those like chats about our businesses and stuff, and it keeps, I guess, the wheels spinning in like our brains and stuff and being able to just like keep at it. So yeah, that's definitely, definitely been a big help.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

And so you met Jenna and Tash through Booked Out Cleaners. How did that come about? Did did someone message how that how'd that happen?

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Yeah, so well, us three were always kind of the ones that always, you know, consistently showing up to the calls and stuff. And I think we just kept seeing each other's names and stuff. Um, I believe Jenna was the first one to kind of um jump at our jump at it. And um, she messaged us, created a group chat and was like, you know, I see you every week. Um, and then so yeah, so now we jump on um like cause, like after after your call, and we just like keep the chat going, um, talking about our businesses. You know, we're all obviously doing the exact same business, but we're all at such different stages. So we kind of, you know, be able to talk about that and um like compare things. And it's funny because like we're in the exact same industry, but we do things so differently. So we kind of try to just like talk about every like little aspect. of our businesses and see what we can we can be changing. You know, let's say like Tash could be doing something. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's so much easier for me to do. And so I, you know, I'm able to change that. So yeah. And then obviously I was able to meet Tash at the um lunch that you um you set up in Sydney. And then I was able to meet Jenna. We happened to be in Melbourne at the same time. So we obviously um connected and we're able to meet up. So that's yeah it's really really good the community I guess that the school has created for us.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Amazing. And I mean that's the concept of a mastermind. It's just two or more people coming together and just talking shops. So like I've gotten the most value out of things like that with in my sort of peer groups and other communities I've been in. It's not so much the course material and the coaching but it's just like connecting with other people in either the same industries or similar where we can just talk about things. And you are right like there's businesses that they seem like they do the exact same thing as me from the outside but then when you talk to them it's like you do things completely differently. Like if you drop me into your business I I don't know how I would even manage that. It's it's so interesting how we all have like these these different nuances in how we do things. So there's always going to be little nuggets you can pick up from other people even if they they're behind you in terms of where they're at or they're ahead of you no matter if they're the same or completely different business there's always something you can pick up on and so I think what you've done is is a really amazing thing and I I want to see more of it. I think I said that at the lunch I said I want to see I want to see people connect and I'm glad it happened.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

So look you've you've done a lot of things right you've done a lot of things really well but I want to ask you is there any big mistake or or mistakes that you've made is there anything that sticks out yeah two things come to mind straight away um definitely I think every everyone can probably vouch with me on this is um underquoting and not knowing how to quote pricing is was probably the biggest challenge for me and I'm only probably just coming out of it now two and a half years later um obviously me teaching my ops manager obviously um helps me kind of work that one out um but yeah kind of the whole the whole thing of pricing um is very very difficult especially when you're first starting like it's so daunting and you you've literally got no idea so you kind of just have to you just work it out over time and obviously you know being able to ask you questions and stuff about it and you know how you price and um asking others as well. And then another one I would say around managing a team and I guess not letting things slide and kind of setting boundaries straight away. I feel like sometimes I'm probably like too nice or like I just don't really care as not don't care, but like I'm like I pick my like pick my I want to pick my battles and I don't really kind of want to pick out every little thing. So I kind of just let it slide and then it kind of comes at me later and I kind of have to face the consequences and have those difficult conversations when if I would have just you know at the beginning said no don't do this it wouldn't have been a problem but we live and we learn yeah pricing's a big one in our industry and I often like it's probably the most common question I get asked is like how do I know if I'm pricing right and I'm like well do the math and if you're scared to even do the math then you're probably not charging enough.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

I I used to be like very early on I would be scared to even like look in my bank account because I didn't want to see how much was actually in there versus how much I'd lost or I didn't want to work out the profit margins on clients because I knew that there are a lot of them where I'd just be making no money on. But for me like I'm just trading my time for money. So I'm like you know the revenue is is not zero so I'm happy but I don't want to know any more than that. And that was um I'm kind of exposing myself here but like that was how I ran for a while and it wasn't until I addressed these things head on and did the scary thing and like raised prices and yeah lost a few clients that things actually started to take a turn and then I mean same thing with you I think I think we all kind of go through the same progression of of mistakes and stuff. Like I I made mistakes with HR early on and I I had the same thing where I was like oscillating between am I too nice? Am I am I too fair? Am I not fair enough? Like what is the thing and I think that there's never really going to be a perfect solution for it. There's never going to be like a right and wrong answer for how you should be as a leader. It really just comes down to how you want to operate but then objectively like just treating people with grace and with fairness as long as you do that then you know I would say that you're a good leader. And there's going to be a lot of things where you doubt yourself and you can compare yourself to other people but at the end of the day like it is just such a nuanced role and it is so dynamic it is it is always changing and it's always going to be different every day. So as long as you do the best of your ability and you have the right intention and your like your heart and your mind is postured in the in the right way then I think that's the best we can do. So look if those are the only two mistakes you've made then I'd say you're doing pretty well yeah like you said I think we all kind of go through the same like business journey.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

We make the same mistakes we have the same like challenges obviously they they all look different but it's it's quite like a similar similar journey for us all.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

And it does affect us all differently as well like we've we've got our business problems but then they can be amplified by stuff going on in our own lives and like we can often catastrophize stuff that happens in the business and like it is hard. That's why I say the mental side of it is you know that's that's the biggest part because a lot of people quit because they're faced with a problem and they see that problem as too big to overcome and then they just go through this negative cycle until they burn out. So I mean I want to flip the the script now we talked about mistakes what about some wins for you were there any moments in your business journey where like you want a big client or something happened and you're like okay I'm on the right track or I'm making it or like I know I'm doing well now.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

I think one of the things obviously like when I first delegated um like again it's pretty fresh for me and we're not like at the stage where I can kind of fully step back but being able to take two weeks off and I headed to Melbourne away from the business I feel like when I like was there I kind of sat and I was like okay this is working like I'm actually doing it like I'm obviously not at the stage where I want to be but I'm like I know that it's gonna work and it it's it's gonna get there. So yeah being able to do that and I think sometimes we kind of we forget to kind of look back at the the achievements we've made we just kind of keep going and going and going and I remember you've mentioned before like you set a goal and then you get to that goal and you just set another one and so we just keep doing that and we forget to kind of look back and be like like what we actually did um which I think we all we all should probably do a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Yeah I move the goalposts back every single year for myself and it means that I'm never like fully satisfied with where I'm at but I have to just ground myself sometimes and like look at where I've come from and um you know the the you from last year would be over the moon with where you are now the you from two years ago wouldn't even believe that what you're doing now is would have been a possibility. So it's very cool what you've done. Being able to step back from a business is and have it run let alone grow without you is is really really cool. It's probably one of the coolest moments I had in my business and like the best feelings was when I took that that big month off and just left and I realized that the business could function without me and I actually came back and it had grown. And that's when like this light bulb just flicks on in your head and you're like this is this opens up so much opportunity because you're no longer just trading time for money you've really got something that can be leveraged and you've got something that you know can can just fully run without you and be autonomous and it's like that opens up one of the best doors in life for you and it's a really cool feeling. So yeah anyone anyone that knows knows and if if you're not there yet you should make that a goal this is why I think everyone should build a team there's so many people that are like you know I'm fine being a solo cleaner but I can tell you that you would be so much more fine if you had a team and even just to give yourself like the peace of mind and the contingency to like if you're ever sick and you know you just wake up one day and you don't feel like getting out of bed you can do that and you you have that freedom as a business owner. Like that is me probably every second day I just sleep in for an extra hour or two because I'm like I just don't feel like it today.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Yeah I'm quite in the early stages of that so I can't wait to I guess be able to do that every single day. I think I speak to I speak to quite a lot of business owners like some of my clients are business owners and stuff and I feel like it's quite rare for people to want to build a team like every time I speak about it they're always like there's quite a lot of negative like negative things um surrounded by it and they always talk about like how hard it is and you know they say like I'd never like I've tried it never do it again. But for me I think it's like it's the opposite like yeah it's hard but you gotta like choose your heart choose what you'd what you'd prefer and for me I think I would rather have the flexibility to wake up and not feel like getting out of bed and not have to go to work and stuff rather than you know being stuck in work like cleaning five six days. You know I did it and I yeah two and a half years in I'm not sure I could continue doing that.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

I would rather I would rather the challenges the difficult conversations losing the clients and money issues whatever whatever I would rather I'll you know take it with open arms and figure it out and look the the people that are saying building a team is too hard and it's not something that ever do or ever try again I think the common denominator with all of them is that they just don't have a proven system for doing it. Yes it is hard but if you have the right formula if you have the right system then it is infinitely easier than if you're trying to do it without and yes the average the average business owner struggles to build a team. The average business owner isn't very profitable and the average business owner will probably burn out or close down in in a few years but we don't want to be average so we're gonna build teams we're gonna we're gonna find ways to do things and we don't want to we don't just want to move into that herd of people that says you know it's too hard don't bother I'm just gonna like I feel like there is a bit of that where people find comfort in in going into these echo chambers of like business groups online. I've been in like Reddit subreddits and Facebook groups where people say it's too hard it's not worth it all this stuff and then it makes people feel better like oh yeah it it probably isn't worth it I should just stay being solo but I I don't I don't say that to be like mean or anything but it is it is such a an amazing opportunity to be able to really grow a business and grow a team and it's not only going to be great for you but you can give opportunities to other people as well that are potentially going to be life changing like you've got someone that's going to become your ops manager and then like that opens up a world of opportunity to her and I've been able to do the same with now I've got two managers in my business for the two locations and like it all starts with just overcoming that that limiting belief and and just saying like stuff all that I'm just gonna do it and so you've done that and props to you and I know it's it's not easy but with the right know how it's a lot easier so well done to you I want to I want to know now what are you kind of working towards at the moment do you have some goals do you have like any any um financial goals is there like a way you want the business to feel or operate or look in a year's time walk us through that um I feel like I feel like I want to get to a point um I feel like let's say like 10 to 15 employees and kind of see where the business is at like at that point um obviously stepping away fully like now I'm still like I'm still cleaning I'm still um obviously we're still in that transition of my operations manager so I definitely want to um get over the hurdle that we have at the moment and kind of move the needle on everything and then yeah be able to like actually step back and see what I want to work on.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

I think one thing I want to kind of get into is or one hiring my first VA I think that's the next step for me and something I need to do you know still doing payroll and still doing invoices and stuff. It's like those little things that I don't need to be doing. And then probably get into the commercial industry. I'm probably more specifically in residential at the moment we have a few commercial but I think and you've spoken about it before I think that's what kind of opens more doors financially as well you know with like bigger contracts and stuff that you can get so yeah commercial is something I'll want to look into and see I feel like at the start I was very much against it. But the more I guess you know you talk about it and others talk about it I'm like you know maybe it is something that I can look into.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Financially I think just continue I guess continue yeah continue obviously every year um you know like since my first year second year I've probably like doubled my doubled my numbers so obviously want to continue um continue to do that and yeah awesome and so when you when you first joined my coaching community two years ago when you were six months in what what sort of revenue were you doing back then and what are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00 35:48

So I think I was like that first financial year I probably hit just like that first um I I don't think I was charging GST back then so I think yeah I was under the 75 um K now and we're now almost hitting uh 250k like annual revenue. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Yeah but since last year this year having a look I I definitely doubled doubled um doubled the revenue yeah well you're following a similar trajectory to me so well done it's it's funny it's funny how similar a lot of us are in this business like I know there's a lot of people in the the community in in booked out cleaners that have just doubled revenue every year. They've like hired teams around the same times and it's just so funny how that works like that. It's like the same progression for everyone. Yeah um but it it obviously does help kind of knowing what to do like when I when I started my first location it took me it probably took me three and a half to four years to get to where you are now. Yeah. Yeah I'd say three three or three and a half years. And then when I built the second location in Perth it was like I just halved that time because I knew what I was doing and I had the proof of what I'd done in the first location and then it just made things so much easier. I was like oh my god I wish I could go back and do this again from the start but obviously you know you need you need to do the thing to actually learn how to do the thing so um what what things did you pick up along the way that have made things a lot easier and obviously you've been in my my community for two years now which is awesome. Did you have you gone through all the courses was there anything that was um that was really helpful to you I know that you're obviously like the hiring course a lot and that helped you but was there anything else in there that kind of gave you a light bulb moment or or helped you a lot?

SPEAKER_00 37:39

Yeah so well yeah definitely the hiring one was like 100% probably my yeah top um favorite. And then I think the rest of them I think I have done most of them I think the rest of them are quite like situational. So I guess where you are in the business and what you need. So for example when I was looking into getting like a scheduling software um you had the like the Jobber masterclass so I was obviously you know like jumped on Jobber and you know you had had it all written out for me. And then when I needed like you know financial software and then you had the zero one so I was able to look at that and then so I think it's all just I guess where you are in the business that there's one that is very helpful. Like no matter what part of the journey you're on there's a course in there that I'm able to kind of just follow um put into place which is probably the most important thing to do. I think you know you can you can take the information and if you don't do anything of you know obviously going to get anywhere. So obviously um like I you know I got my first um uh commercial lead and so obviously your like AI proposal I actually did like created one in one night if I was able to if I had to do that myself I don't know how long that would have taken me um and it probably would have taken you I don't know how long um to create that so one thank you for doing that um definitely makes it a lot easier for us all and take it that's awesome and and it's a repeatable thing like now that you've done it once you can do it again and again and it won't take you any time at all.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

So yeah it's great it's great when you got the the the systems like that. And I want to go back a little bit further and kind of take a step into your into your thinking when you first got into the program obviously you were pretty early on a lot of people don't really think to go and get help when they're just starting out a lot of people just want to try and do things themselves.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

What motivated you to seek coaching or join a program like this I think for me like knowing to invest in yourself and your business is probably like that was quite important for me. So you know you putting that opportunity out there was like obviously I know yeah it was quite an easy easy decision for me knowing what I was going to kind of get out of it and to learn from someone who's obviously done it and is continuing to to build something of what I want to create as well it was yeah it was an it was an easy yes for me.

SPEAKER_01 40:11

That's cool. Had you done any other courses or programs or anything in the past even unrelated to cleaning had you done anything business related?

SPEAKER_00 40:20

No I mean apart from uni but you know I did I went to a business management college um so like learn a little bit about business but obviously back then I was one very young and didn't really have obviously wanting to start a business in the back of my head so I didn't really kind of take on any of that knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

But apart from obviously like jumping on TikTok and watching all of the videos and stuff no no other really like courses and stuff out of curiosity this is just for myself I'm curious when you first joined my program how did you initially approach it did you like dive straight into a certain course or were you mainly interested in the calls or was it a bit of both I think yeah definitely a bit of both obviously the courses like I said having everything um like there for us and the Q ⁇ A's I think was I guess really helpful for me and I knew it was going to be really helpful like no matter what part of the journey I was on and like you know I'd be cleaning and like a question would pop up in my mind or let's say you know I go like I'm having like a challenge or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Knowing that I've got you like to be able to ask you and the community as well because obviously we have the forum um to ask everyone else to have that like right in front of us rather than trying to figure it out myself was yeah definitely like very helpful.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

So I'll say a bit of both cool and so you've gone from practically zero to around 250K in a very short time two and a half years.

SPEAKER_00 41:55

What's changed outside those numbers in terms of just like lifestyle, stress, um, family and mindset um well obviously you know being able to delegate and step away gives me the flexib will obviously give me the flexibility to kind of do anything I want with you know the money um being made for me. Obviously you know me working hard to get to that point obviously helped but yeah the flip um like the flexibility um I'm like both my both my parents are business owners so I'm kind of like in a like business um like family I would say so I think being surrounded by that definitely um like helps the fact and yeah what I definitely rubs off on you because my my dad has been in business for as long as I can remember and I always just I always just admired the hustle and I was like I this is just cool.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

I want to build something one day I don't know what it is but I just want to do something like my dad does and definitely definitely is contagious. So just having parents that are in business is cool and it's why I try to surround myself with a network and friends that are also in business because it really does rub off on you and I think it it's going to propel you in a good direction. So that's cool. What what businesses are your parents in um so dad's got a mechanical workshop and mum's got a transport service nice okay so what what were their opinions when you started your cleaning business did they did they have a lot of input on that were they very supportive were they like oh maybe maybe you shouldn't be doing this no they're pretty supportive obviously like they're in the business as well so they know I guess that's like that's the way to go like for us and where we want to go.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

Um I think that di the the different generations and stuff I think we have a different way of I guess going about it and doing things and stuff like that. Um but in terms of yeah they they were definitely quite supportive in terms of the business.

SPEAKER_01 43:59

That's good yeah Yeah, I remember my when I started mine, it was my grandparents and my mum that were trying to talk me out of it. They were like, you should probably just go get a job. Like, what do you know about business? What are you gonna do? And for the first couple months, I was like, okay, they might be right because I'm not making any money. But then my dad, he was the one that was supportive and he was like validating all my ideas. Then I was like, okay, no, I've I've got this. So I guess it is that that business owner mindset. But you are right, like we we're so different in this generation. Like my dad, he was he's he's basically asked me, he's like, Do you think you could have done this like you know 20 years ago when I was when he was starting out in business? I was like, no, like you have to go into a library and like read stuff, and you can't just open up your phone and go on TikTok and look at a video of a guy um just giving you like seven ways that you can get your next commercial client in 10 days. Like, there's just there's just none of that stuff back then. I don't think I would have survived in a world like that. And I think it's why we have a lot of these like old school business mindsets where yeah, like people will tell you, oh, it's not worth starting this business, or it's not worth growing a team, because sure, back then it would have been a lot harder, and then there may have been a lot more luck or a lot more hustle involved. Yeah, and so I think now there's just so much opportunity, and there's there's so much ease of access with like information and knowledge, but in that also comes a bit of a dichotomy because it's so easy to get distracted and it's so easy to just jump from one thing to the other. And there's like I see so many people that they start a cleaning business and it goes well, and they're like, okay, now I'm gonna do coaching, and I'm gonna coach people to get to where I am, and then they're gonna like they're just doing like too many things, and then it means that their energy is spread too thin across all these things, and like you can't you can't fill all these buckets at the same time. So I think focus for me has been. I think we talked about this in the QA um last night in Booked Out Cleaners. I was like, focus for me has been like the single biggest disciplinary action that I take for myself. Like, I just I do not let myself get distracted by stuff. It's why I've been so slow to ramp up my coaching stuff because I've I've been saying for like two years now, like I'm not doing one-on-one, I'm gonna focus on building my business. I'm you know, I'm just gonna spend like an hour a week in this this school thing. And now I'm at the point where I'm like, okay, I'll allow myself to get distracted basically. So has there been anything like that which is like a habit or a discipline that's been like a non-negotiable for your success?

SPEAKER_00 46:23

Yeah, I was quite similar, especially when I started, because previously to cleaning, um, I when I was like unemployed for that little bit, I was like I started like learn how to make candles and create a little business out of it. And then I was um I was doing like uh social media management, like I want to get into like social media management and like website creation, and I was kind of doing all of that stuff, and then so when I started the cleaning business, I kind of had like all three, um and so like advanced styling as well. So I had all yeah, all of that, and I had like so many, it was like, all right, let's like build it all together, and it's like like Steph. Very quickly, it was like, no, you've got to build one at a time. So very slowly did I kind of push those distractions out of the way and make the cleaning business, I guess, my main priority. Um, so yeah, that was quite an eye-opener for me. So definitely agree that you kind of one thing at a time and just put like all your focus into that one thing. Um, and then the rest will kind of come later on. Obviously, you know, you're obviously able to step back and like focus on the coaching and stuff. Um, and then in terms of like, yeah, like discipline is definitely something I'm always constantly working at. Um, you know, like showing up when I don't feel like getting out of bed and you know, doing work and stuff. Um, phone, I think our phones is our biggest distraction, which is the thing that comes with technology and social media and all that stuff. Um, so just trying to kind of push that out and pick up a book or something. Something like that.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

Yeah, look. In in your defense as well, with the candles, if I knew how to make candles, I probably would have done that too, because that sounds cool. But it's it's good that it's good that you had the um the wisdom to realize early on, like you probably shouldn't be trying to build five businesses at the same time because you're just not gonna be able to build any. And um, and another rule for myself that I made was like I'm gonna balance my social media consumption with creation, and that's actually why I started my TikTok three years ago. It's like I was just addicted to scrolling, and I was like, this is so bad, but I also don't want to stop because it's so addictive, which is what the algorithm does. It's like it's poison. But I'm like, if I'm gonna keep doing this, I'm just gonna balance it out with creation. So if I if I'm scrolling for two hours a day, I'll just like create content for two hours a day as well. And for me, that was like a weird compromise that I gave myself, and then I actually found I enjoyed it, which is something I never thought I would. I honestly I never thought I would become a content creator. I always like when I was younger, I used to play video games, and I would like I tried to make a video here and there, and I was like, this is just a I hate this, like I hate editing videos, I hate putting it together just to get like no views, it sucks. And then I did it on TikTok and I was like, this is kind of fun, and then it took off and it opened up like a million opportunities. So um one of my one of my worst vices turned into like the best decision I ever made, funnily enough. So I mean you're you're on the socials as well. How did you how did you get involved in like uploading content and how has that sort of changed things for you?

SPEAKER_00 49:30

Um yeah, I feel like um quite early on into it and kind of figuring out how I want to approach it. Um but I think just starting and just doing it is probably the best approach. Um and then kind of the rest will come on. Um yeah, when you talk about opportunity, I think that's like one that I kind of I know like the consistency and stuff will kind of lead to that. So um by all means, hopefully it goes well and it does lead, yeah, does lead into it. Um so I didn't quite start it straight away just because the time to think of ideas and record and edit is is quite it's quite a long and time consuming thing. So I didn't really have the capacity to be able to do that. So now that you know I'm trying to step away, um, it's something that I want to, and I think um you always mention it and like being the face of the business, and I think it's something that's like really becoming really important. I think with social media and stuff, everyone kind of especially being in a service industry, where obviously the people going into people's houses and stuff, and they want to be, we want to be the ones that they trust. Um definitely something that that I wanted to, I guess, implement is like me being the face of the brand and seeing where all of that goes.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

You posted a video, I think like yesterday or the day before, which was you doing a walkthrough in a house and just talking about your service. I actually really liked that video. I forgot to tell you, I thought that video was amazing. Like that's the sort of content that I want to start making for our business page. Yeah. Um, that's the type of, and for obviously the people listening aren't gonna know what I'm talking about. It was um well, you explain it, it's your video. What just talk about that and what what kind of motivated you to make that sort of video? And I'll get into why I think it's so good in a sec, but just explain what it was.

SPEAKER_00 51:18

Yeah, so it was actually an idea I kind of wanted to do for a long time to like walk through um and just showcase, I guess, what is included um in our cleans. And then yeah, I said to my ops manager who was the one who recorded it, and I kind of just went to her, I was like, all right, we're doing it like now. And then I um actually one of my friends messaged me and she was like, you know, this is similar to like a real estate video. I was like, that is exactly what I was going for. Like when I went on TikTok and the type of the style, like and how I wanted to kind of bring it alive. I was like, I literally looked up real estate and I found it.

SPEAKER_01 51:53

That was the first thing I thought as well. Like, just the the video opens with you opening the door, and it's like a good hook, it's like a good visual hook that reels the viewer in. So it was really cool. But those are the sort of videos where like I talk about top of funnel, middle of funnel, bottom of funnel. Top of funnel is like that video you posted of you just hanging your cloths on a on a clothes source. They got like one or two million views. Like it's not gonna make anyone buy from you, it's just a video of you hanging up your washing, but it got you know over a million views. So that's your top of funnel content that gets people to know you and follow you, and it just like brings a whole lot of people into your audience. And then there's middle of funnel content, which is content that is designed to get people to like you. So it's more about you, it could be videos of you talking and just like sharing stuff about you and your journey, and then there's bottom of funnel content, which is content designed to get people to buy from you. So that video you posted is like just gold bottom of funnel content, and it's the stuff that I want to post more, and I need to I want to see other people post more of because it's it's that sort of stuff where you're walking people through what your business actually does and like doing it in a really nice, like professional way that is also it's not boring either. Like it's it's so easy to make a boring video about what you do that just loses attention straight away. But you did it in a really good way, um, with a good hook, with good pacing. And I was like, this is just like a great video, and um, I'm probably like it's it's like such a simple video, but at the same time, it's it's so great, and I I want to do more of that for myself. Um but yeah, there's there's a lot of people that are making content with the aim to grow their cleaning business, but they're not doing enough like bottom or even middle of funnel content. I see so many people posting videos and then like shopping at bunnings or shopping at Woolies for like what cleaning products to get and like cleaning hacks and all this stuff, which sure they get a lot of views and they get a lot of followers and all the vanity metrics and stuff, but at the end of the day, it's not actually adding to your business. And so even though you probably think that you know, like you're not doing as well because you've got what have you got, like two, two, three thousand followers now, yeah. Like you may think, oh, you know, the the videos aren't going viral, like, is this even worth the time I'm putting in? But in terms of like the actual cleaning business, that's the best content that's gonna funnel a lot of people through to you because even if it's not hitting the algorithm and you're not getting 10,000 plus views every video, one, it's still being shown to people, but two, there are gonna be people that are kind of like seeking you out and they're just gonna use your TikTok to like validate you or or you like it's essentially like an online business card. They get to get a feel for the business and a feel for who runs it, and they watch these videos and they bink they begin to like know you, like you, and trust you, and then they see videos like that, and it tells about the service, and they go and buy from you. So I want to it's something I want to do more of, and it's something I think more people should be doing, is just like that bottom of funnel, just like walking through what you actually do and why people should buy from you. I don't know why more people aren't doing that. It's like everyone's just gravitating towards like the view bait videos and getting millions of views, but really that's the stuff that you know generates the most conversions. The videos I have that have like you know, five to ten thousand views, obviously it sounds like a lot for me, that's like a lower viewed video, but they're the ones where I'm talking more about what my business does and how it helps people. And even though they get less views than all my other videos, I get so many bookings after those. So have you seen, have you gotten many bookings from directly from TikTok? And are you like tracking that and measuring that?

SPEAKER_00 55:30

Yeah, so we've got our lead trackers, and we obviously um like note down where that lead comes from. And I do actually see quite a few um from TikTok. Unfortunately, most of them are out of our service area. Um we have had maybe like one or two turn into actual clients like who are in the um service area, but yeah, there's a lot that they're just out of our service area. But maybe I'll have to get, you know, new location, have to branch out there later on.

SPEAKER_01 56:00

Well, like it's only gonna keep growing. You're only gonna get more and more views and followers, and that snowball will build, and you'll you'll get more clients out of it. Yeah. And the fact that you've got two already, if I mean, if you look at lifetime value, that could be like $20,000 worth of clients from just posting free videos on TikTok. So it's really good. And the the thing about that is the people that come from social media tend to be much stickier clients. Like they're not gonna churn as much because they they just resonate with you and they like you more and they trust you more because they've probably watched your content, they haven't just seen one single video and then booked, like they've gotten to know you a little bit. So those clients actually do stick around, and it's gonna be better than you know spending 500 bucks on Google ads and leads, and then you know, you get people that are price shoppers and they might go to a different business if they get a better offer. So that's why I think organic is so good, and I think I think that's why what you're building is great, and even though you you know you're not getting millions of views, it doesn't really matter because if you're trying to build a business, then you should be doing it that way. I think that's the right way. Um, and so yeah, do you have like goals with the social media? Do you obviously you want to grow the audience more and do more personal brand stuff? Do you want to do like brand deals and um more like lifestyle content as well?

SPEAKER_00 57:15

Yeah, 100%. I've always thought about that, like I um, I guess, you know, like into like the influencer steps stage and like you know, getting um like brand deals from like cleaning stuff and that. Um it's not too much that I'm kind of focusing on right now, um, just with obviously the business and kind of that being my main focus. I don't want to pull pull away from it too much, especially because content can take up a lot of time um and energy. But once I get to that point where I can focus a lot on it, yeah, definitely like you know, reach out to some brands and stuff and and and see where it goes 100%. I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 57:48

All right, cool. It is fun, and it's it's why as well, like we talk about focus, and you can argue that that takes away from focus in the business, but at the same time, like it can just be fun to make content, and it's nice to have like this time capsule that you can look back on. Like I I sometimes go through my old videos from three years ago and like cringe because they're terrible, but also just you know, I I get sentimental about it because I see where I was at then and I'm like going through what I was thinking in that time, and it's just cool and it's it's fun to do. So, you know, it's things like that where you know it's it's essentially like a hobby, really, and it's a hobby that can turn into something that actually generates real money and real opportunities in the business, which is great. So um, but let's zoom out, let's go big picture now. Um, where or what does success look like for you in five years? Where do you see yourself?

SPEAKER_00 58:38

Um I feel like I don't think it is too much. Maybe I should. Um I think definitely just fully stepping back and having that like autonomy and flexibility um with I guess that full like the full-time income, that main income, and then being able to use that income into something else, whether that's you know, like another business um venture or something like that. Yeah, definitely, yeah, just continue growing it and then with that flexibility to just see I guess where I'm at in life. I guess uh who knows where I'll be in five years, but um hopefully I guess one thing I don't uh prioritize like I guess traveling isn't really a priority for me, but I think in five years it definitely will be because I'll be have the capacity um one time and financially to be able to do that. Um so yeah, I might yeah put some traveling into my definitely gotta do travel.

SPEAKER_01 59:39

Travel is is the one thing that I I like truly cherish now. I'm so glad that I have a business that allows me to step away so I can travel. Yeah, it's to me that's the most the most value I've gotten from this. Um when you went to Melbourne, was that your first time stepping away from the business in general and going on a holiday?

SPEAKER_00 59:59

Uh properly, yeah. I think I went to like I went to Melbourne at the start of the year, um like during Christmas and stuff, but I wasn't really I think we basically had closed and only taking a few clients. And I mean it was in Melbourne, so I was able to kind of um you know answer any calls or whatever. Um, but this time I went, I went with I guess an ops manager in place who was able to kind of do all of that so I could just turn off and do nothing.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:25

Did you feel stressed or anxious at all before you left? And what was it like when you were actually there?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:32

Um I think going into it, I think I probably didn't choose the right time. It got a little bit chaotic um with the team and stuff. Um my ops manager handled handled it handled it really well. She was kind of carrying the team while I was gone. So it was a little bit stressful um because right before I left, we kind of like lost one of our employees and it was kind of a little bit chaotic. So she was still having to kind of message me, messaging me and stuff for like support and stuff. So I wasn't able to fully, fully step back. Um so the first week I was kind of working on the business, um, and that I was and then the second week I really didn't feel like doing any of that, and I think it was kind of a little bit calm for her, and she kind of was able to handle it. So that second week she didn't really kind of reach out to me, and I just switched off and my sleeping schedule went all over the place. And I just I just my my screen time went through the roof, so I was able to just like relax. And I think I didn't go at the right time, maybe, but I think it was still the right time because coming back from that, I was like, yeah, 100% now we can lock in. And um, I think you get to a point where you're kind of like burnt out a little bit, so even just that two weeks to step away, um, just reset and I'll maybe just lock in again and go again.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:46

Yeah, it's like life-changing as well, and it's it's a good reset for your nervous system. 100%. Like Stacy, our our manager for the Bunbury location, she's on a three-week holiday right now. Actually, she's in Mel, she's in Melbourne too. She's just gone there for three weeks. I don't know why anyone would want to want to spend three weeks in Melbourne, but to each their own, um, especially this time of year, it's freezing. But I'm I'm always encouraging my my staff to take holidays. Like, I'm always begging Stacy to take a holiday, and she finally is taking a long one. So she's got her second in charge, which is taking over, and like my Perth manager is in Poland until like the 15th of July, so yeah, that's a three-week holiday there. Um, but yeah, it's like your life changes, and it's like it's it's the greatest feeling ever, and you sleep better. I don't know if if you felt that when you were away, but ever since I've like fully fully stepped back from the business, I get like eight or nine hours of sleep every night. And I used to maybe get five or six, and I was always waking up tired and like a little bit groggy, and but now it's like my nervous system has just found a way to regulate itself because I don't have to occupy my mind with like a hundred different things at once because I've delegated that and I've offloaded it to different people. So that's another thing that people don't really talk about enough when it comes to delegating, is that you only have so much mental bandwidth and you can't just carry all of this with you at all times. So you need to offload it and you need to delegate. And I know you said earlier that you're interested in getting like a VA. So what things have you identified in in your business that you're doing or your ops manager is doing that you're gonna offload to a VA when you get one?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:26

Um, for me, straight away will probably be like the invoicing and the payroll, like just the little stuff like that. Um, another thing is probably like the spreadsheets. I feel like they're so I guess time consuming to one create and build and and then obviously to like enter and keep up with all of that. Um and then something that I've um transitioning into is like GHL and all of the workflows and automations and stuff, which obviously now I have my ops manager, is something I want to kind of actually start to create those systems and create those like automations to kind of make our job a little bit easier. Um, and in Melbourne I did start like creating those and quite difficult and quite time consuming. And I think a VA would be quite quite helpful. Like, you know, they're quite qualified in all of these stuff to be able to um like help with setting up those stuff. Um yeah, definitely, definitely a few of those things.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:22

Hiring a VA, I think is the best decision I ever made in my business. It's like unreal what what some of them are capable of. And like I think I've talked about my the first VA I ever hired, she's got a double degree in like business and accounting. And when I first hired her, she was like five dollars an hour, and I felt I felt so guilty paying her that um because I was like, this is this is ridiculous. Like in Australia, we'd be paying like $100 an hour for this type of person, and she was like over the moon because her last job was paying her like $350 an hour, and it's like I've given her like a 30% raise. I'm like, oh okay, and so she's been with us ever since. She's now making a lot more than six bucks an hour, and she's like just amazing. She even answers our phones. Like, we've got you know, four management people here on the ground in Australia that could be answering the phone, but she's actually become so good at it that we've just left her on the phone. So we had like this whole cloud-based phone system set up just so she could answer calls from a Perth number in the Philippines, and all the clients love her. They always send us messages about like, oh, your um your receptionist is so lovely and she's so so so nice and she deals with things really well. It's like just the best decision we've ever had. And every meeting we have with like me, Stacy, Sean, Nicole, all the managers, and her, we're like, Jessa, we love you. Please don't ever leave. Um, you're the best thing that's ever happened to us. And she's just incredible. So if anyone if anyone's thinking about hiring a VA and they're on the fence about it, just do it. It'll be like one of the best things you ever do. And like cost wise, the economics are just a no brainer because out the Our dollar goes a very long way in the Philippines, and you can get very, very smart, very intuitive, innovative, qualified people for like pennies for what it costs us. So it's a really, really cool thing. And that was like my first experience with delegating. And it's it's kind of what opened my mind up to what's possible. I'm like, oh, I can actually like I was such a perfectionist. I was like, I don't know if I can give these responsibilities to other people. And then I did, and I was like, you know, this this just opens up a whole new way of thinking. And it's really what was like the the pathway that led me to where I am now in business. So yeah, VAs are awesome. Um there's I know of companies that they run solely using VAs. Like there's a couple, couple guys I know in the US, they they just live like they travel all year round and they don't even do anything in their business. And there's like three VAs that run the whole operation. I'm like, man, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:54

That's the line. So Jenna keeps telling me she's like, Steph, you just I think I like I complained to her about something and she's like, you just need a VA.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:00

I'm like get a VA.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:02

Getting it.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:03

Honestly, that that could be my answer to a lot of people's problems. It's just like get a VA.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:08

It is just the biggest no-brainer ever. You'll you'll never look back.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:12

Even when that first day that I handed over that like business phone, um, it was such a weight lifted off my shoulders. I well, firstly, I didn't know what to do with myself. Like that night, I was like, what do I generally do? But now, like, it's it's it's so good. Like, I don't have that constant stress of like someone gonna call in sick, like you know, like just that constant, like I said, like that like mental, it was just affect like it affects your mental, like you know, you're probably asleep and stuff. Um so I guess getting rid of that stress and having the mental capacity to work on getting a VA and doing all of it.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:52

And and you finally moved away from being the operator to the owner, and you can just sit up there and pull the strings like a little puppeteer. So and now you can finally build systems and stuff that's just gonna compound the the ease of running things, not only for you but for your for your management staff in future. So that's really cool. Um but yeah, what is there anything else that like in terms of delegation, were there things that you struggled to delegate? Like I know for me, I tried to delegate scheduling to VAs and it was just way too hard because they're just not here, they don't know the team inside out. Were there things that you tried to delegate to your manager that you were finding there was friction with, and how'd you go about navigating that?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:32

Um, for me, well, one, the schedule was it's probably one of like the biggest stresses. Like that's something that I Yeah, they're nightmarish. I wasn't very good at it either. Like, I feel like that's you know, um, figure out what your weakness is and kind of delegate it to someone with strength. And I feel like my obs manager, that was one of her strengths. I think she she did it in the past, like with one of her other jobs where she was kind of working out the schedule and stuff, and that was something she was really excited for. So that was the first thing she was like, Steph, just hand it over, like give me the schedule. So I handed that over, but I still had the phone, and she was finding it really difficult to work out because she didn't know like when the clients were available, and she didn't know. And I think I was kind of holding on to the business phone a little bit um too much, and she was like, Steph, just give it to me. You have to just hand it over. And I think I delayed it for like as long as I could. Like, there was a few weeks I was like, No, no, no, it's I'm not ready.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:27

Yeah, well it becomes like your baby after a while.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:30

It's not ready, and she like she could see that it was me that I was I wasn't ready. Um, so and then one day we were just like we were tracking in the deep end. Here you go. I gave it to her, she goes, Oh, like just for today or like forever. I was like, No, no, that's yours now. Like you, you take that, you take it. Um, so yeah, I think I held on to a little bit, but then once I did it and I felt that, like felt that release, and I could see that she was able to do it. Like, I think very easily we're like, oh, and why people probably don't build a team is because they're like, you know, people won't be able to do it like I do, especially being the business owner. You obviously put your heart and soul, like you work the absolute hardest and you have that mindset. Whereas like I guess employees probably don't really have that, um which is why we kind of don't want to like let go. Um and I think I had that like a little bit, but I guess I was fortunate with my ops major and um her ability, and I guess she was really excited for that. So I think she kind of just pushed me to to let go and give it to her. And I think, yeah, I mean she's doing a really amazing job and she's really yeah, she's really enjoying it. And I think she she can see. Um, I guess I'm grateful that she can like trust my vision and um I guess she knows what the opportunities that will open up for her and for us. So yeah, it's good, it's a good thing. It's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:50

Well, it sounds like you found a real winner there, so you'll you'll want to hold on to her.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:54

She'll be my dress off.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:56

Yeah, yeah. It sounds like it sounds like you two will go very far together with that partnership. But it's it's good that she has that that work ethic as well and that like drive to you know, not not be afraid to just tell you to, you know, hand the phone over and and take a bit of charge as well, because that's what you want in a manager, and that's what I look for as well. That's one of the traits. So that's really good.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:16

I think sorry, it was quite hard for her. Um like when she did take on, I feel like it got because we tucked her in the deep end, it kind of um got really bit chaotic and overwhelming for her because all the firsts kind of happened all at once. Um of the challenges we kind of face and we're kind of transitioning out of now. Um, but I guess that's that's always gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:40

Sometimes it's the best way for someone to learn, just chuck them in the deep and see how they go.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:44

That's what she said as well. So I was like, if you're willing, go for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:48

Perfect. Well, that's that's that's the exact type of person that I would want on my team. So uh keep her safe because otherwise I'm gonna poach her from you.

unknown 1:11:57

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:59

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:00

Well, yeah, that that's amazing. Well, you're doing very well to go from zero to a quarter million in two and a half years is no easy feat. So um, yeah, you're doing exceptionally well. Um, you should be proud of yourself. And thanks for um, I'm very gl I'm very glad that you joined Booked Out Cleaners, and it's it's been great having you on all the QA calls and seeing you in the community and being such an active member of the community. And I am finally there's so many people that ask me, I I still get DMs like every other day on Instagram, like, when are you going to reopen the thing? Do you do one-on-one? I'm like, uh I don't even respond anymore because I'm like, I don't even know what to say. Um, but I am finally relaunching things soon. It's around the corner, so I'm excited for that. And um, I just want to do like a little shameless plug right now because you're like one of the golden children of the coaching program. You're one of the people that's always there, you've done really well. Um, could you just like give a give a little brief um summary of your experience and tell other people why they should join my program and and join this community with all of us. It's not going to be called Booked Out Cleaners as well. There's I'm going to do an announcement soon. It's going to be different, but it's going to be it's going to be bigger and better, and you've seen a little sneak peek of it. And um I'm very excited. So if if you don't mind, if if you'd be so willing, please just give me a shameless plug.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:24

Go for it. Of course, yeah, you did show us a little bit um of an insight into what's to come and it's gonna be game-changing, it's gonna be. Um, I'm really excited for it, and it's definitely gonna help my business and definitely help others. Um, I think taking that jump and investing in yourself and your business um into you know into the community that the Jason's created um is like just being able to learn and uh learn from someone who's who's done it and who is continues to do it, like you know, obviously the cleaning business is your main priority and yeah, just having someone there, like no matter what question you have. Um, you know, you're very trend like Jason's very transparent and honest with his answers. And I think that's what stuck out to me when I first, like in your TikTok videos, you didn't gatekeep anything, like no matter what, you just were so open about it. And you never make us feel dumb. Like no matter what question it is, you will you'll have a long, a very long answer for it as well. Like never make us feel dumb.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:24

Um and yeah Well look, I'm probably the dumbest person there. I've just I've just done I've just done what it takes to build a good cleaning business. So look, you know, you've done well. You you don't need to be smart to do well in this business, and I'm a prime example of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:36

Yeah, but just having yeah, just having the access to to to all of the I guess the Q ⁇ A's and being able to ask questions whenever you want, and um having I guess you know something like hiring a hiring your own employee and having it all written out for you, all you have to do is just follow the steps and adapt it to your business, and I mean there's no way you'll you'll be successful, won't be successful.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:59

And look, I think it's it's a big testament to you as well. Like you do put in the work and you don't just watch stuff and then do nothing with the knowledge, like you obviously apply yourself, and that is the only way people are gonna do well. Like, I can I can show people the way, but I can't make them do it. So there are there's definitely a few people in my community that have done really well. There's someone I'm bringing on the podcast soon that's gone from like zero to half a million um in like that two year span, and other people that have done similar numbers, and the common thread between all of you is that you just do it, you just do the work and you don't make excuses, you don't make excuses, and you show up and you're just consistent. So it's a big testament to you. Obviously, I can't take credit for any of the success anyone has, um, but I'm glad that I'm able to have some sort of impact on you and that the the courses have been good, the QA's have been good, and hopefully the podcasts as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:52

Um having access to you know the amazing community that we've we've created in there as well is Yeah, and even the community exactly is is great as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:01

Just being able to talk to other people and make friends, like you've now made a couple friends in there that you know you'll probably stick around with them for a long, long time. You'll all learn off each other and grow together. So, you know, that's that's a special thing that you you don't really get in uh many places, especially on the internet. So it's awesome to see that happening. And yeah, Steph, thanks very much for talk with me today. Um, congratulations on all the six success you've achieved and all the success you'll continue to achieve. I think you're gonna go to um very big heights, and thank you. Um I'm excited to watch that unfold.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:34

For sure. Thank you. Thanks for having me.