Turning Challenge into Clean Profit: Megan’s Path to a Proven Cleaning Company

✨ Hello, I'm Fran your NLP coach, and in this episode, I'm interviewing Megan Johnstone about her story of perseverance and authenticity.

Meet Megan—a young entrepreneur navigating life with endometriosis. She's a health and fitness advocate, devoted gym enthusiast, and lover of the outdoors and family. Passionate about business, she built a thriving professional cleaning company from the ground up—driven by motivation, perseverance, and authentic living.

You can connect to Megan in the following ways ⬇️
https://www.procleancommercials.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/procleancommercials/
https://www.tiktok.com/@procleancommercials
https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganjohnstone02

Find me @ www.melancholymentor.com

* As a coach, I listen without judgment, understanding that others’ views may differ from my own.

#nlpcoach #nlpcoaching #creativity #inspiration #transformation

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Megan and Her Story
• 8:56 From Police Dreams to Cleaning Business
• 17:45 Challenges of Young Entrepreneurship
• 28:06 Building Confidence as a Business Owner
• 38:58 Money Mindset and Pricing Your Worth
• 42:17 Future Plans and Biohazard Cleaning

Transcript

Fran: 0:00

Hello everyone, welcome to the Melancholy Coaching Podcast. I'm Fran, your host and NLP coach. Join me as I interview inspiring business owners and self-improvement seekers about their experiences, while delving into personal development, motivation and strategies for overcoming challenges. Let's ignite our creative potential together.

Fran: 0:36

Hello and welcome to the Melancholy Coaching Podcast. I'm Fran, your NLP coach, and I'm excited to introduce an inspiring guest. Megan is a 23-year-old woman from Dorset whose passion for life shines through in everything she does. She's an inspiring advocate for health and fitness, a dedicated gym enthusiast and someone who truly values the great outdoors and quality time with family. Megan's journey is even more remarkable as she navigates life living with endometriosis, demonstrating resilience and strength every step of the way. Beyond her personal pursuits, she's passionate about business and her story is one of motivation, perseverance and living authentically. Megan, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. I'm really grateful to be here. You're very welcome.

Fran: 1:26

Just for complete transparency, anybody listening and watching this today we had a slight tech issue with joining the podcast today, which was mostly my end, so we've been sorting that out and you know what. It's all good because we can just get grounded, you know and breathe through it and everything's okay. 've got there in the end. Much, I know. So thank you so much. The way that this is going to go is I've got three main questions to ask you and we'll have a little conversation around it. Okay, and just go with the flow on it, okay, yeah. So the first one I'd really like to ask you is can you tell us more about your entrepreneurial journey and what inspired you to start your business, what you're most passionate about in your work?

Megan: 2:12

yeah. So I mean, in terms of my journey, I kind of fell into my business, which is actually really common for a lot of cleaning companies. Ever since I was younger, I always wanted to be in the police. My dad was in the police well, still is and it's just something that I was younger, I always wanted to be in the police. My dad was in the police well, still is and it's just something that I was really interested in and always wanted to do. I always really wanted to help people as well. So, yeah, I always had that dream and I was kind of like one of those people at school who was really smug when a lot of other people were like, oh, I don't know what I want to do. At the end I was like like, yes, I still want to do the same thing, I'm gonna do it.

Megan: 2:47

So when I left school, I did my A-levels. I got an unconditional offer from university and at the time they actually changed it, so you had to have a degree to get into the police. So that was kind of the only option, and I think there was one university in Leeds and one in Winchester which is about an hour away from me, so I went with the closest one and unfortunately it was kind of just when COVID hit as well. So the first year I didn't really get the most out of it. It was all sort of online and at the time I was living independently, so I was kind of used to having my own space and I decorated it how I wanted it. I liked cleaning it and that's kind of where my passion first came in. So, kind of like the uni experience, I didn't really get the most out of it. I did attempt to live in the dorms and I was going to kind of part-time live there part-time. Come home I lasted one night in there. I just I really didn't like it. I think I'd opt for you. No, I'd opted to share with girls and it just didn't go that way and I was sort of like living with boys like they weren't clearing up after. And it just didn't go that way and I was sort of like living with boys like they weren't clearing up after themselves. It just wasn't for me. And I remember the first night I actually somehow forgot my suitcase so I ended up sleeping in my jeans and there was just like parties going on and it was like all through the night. I was just like I really don't like this.

Megan: 4:01

So I kind of came to the decision where I was like I'm gonna go back to living independently because I kind of moved out at quite a young age and although, you know, in the grand scheme of things it probably wasn't doable financially, I was like I'm just gonna make it work. I'll work really hard at my degree and, you know, like, get some income in as well, just to try and make it work. So I kind of did did that and, as I said, that's kind of where I fell in love with cleaning, especially through lockdown. I remember Mrs Hinch, you know the cleaning sort of influencer. She was quite big at the time and I just remember sort of clearing out my kitchen cupboards one day and I just spread out all of my products and I was like, oh my god, this is ridiculous. I took a, a photo of it and I've still got that photo now and I look back on it and think that's kind of where it stemmed from as a hobby.

Megan: 4:50

I mean, before I even got into cleaning I was working at a pub. So I was kind of doing like weekends, evenings, and then again, because there's obviously not much money in that, especially when you're a student. I was doing sort of holiday let cleans for a family member, kind of did that for a while. Obviously in full-time education and two part-time jobs. I was like I kind of need to condense this into one job. So I found like some agency work cleaning, for it was kind of like end of tenancies, deep cleans, that sort of thing. I'm looking back on it now.

Megan: 5:20

It was such like a cowboy sort of company. They just didn't do things properly. I remember I never met anyone from the company, I never had an interview. They never told me sort of how to clean as such, how they wanted things done, what to buy and the kind of jobs that I was doing was like all around the country I was traveling like two and a half hours for a day's work and obviously once you factored in the travel cost and time there was kind of nothing left over. But I was really that desperate just to have my own space and kind of live that way. So that's kind of how I first got into things.

Megan: 5:54

I guess I just sort of saw how much of a mess the company was. I'd kind of go to one of the jobs and the clients would just be predicting a really bad service because of the management they'd had, and I just felt really let down. I was just be predicting a really bad service because of the management they'd had and I just felt really let down. I was always sort of a really hard worker and I guess I saw the potential that I could have if I did my own thing. So, yeah, I suppose I just had this realisation that actually I could probably easily do what they were doing on a smaller scale with the results of my own work, which I knew was really good. So I was kind of doing that for a while and then my friends and family kind of just pushed me in the end and said why don't you just get some business cards, go independent? And yeah, and I was young as well, so I was just so scared and I didn't really believe that I could do it or confident enough to know how.

Megan: 6:44

So, yeah, that was kind of the first step really and I remember for a good six months I was really struggling financially because I'd quit, like the other agency job, and I had one salon which was two hours every week and then I had another job which was an hour and a half travel away just for 50 pounds, and I remember that 50 pounds was so much at the time. But again, once you factored in all those like overhead costs, it's nothing. So I was kind of just going along like surviving really. And I can remember the days when I had, you know, like the electricity and gas top-up cards. I remember topping that up and always running out of credit, like I'd come home from a day's work and the freezer would be defrosted or I couldn't have a shower because it was cold. So that was kind of like my struggle and everything that I was kind of going through. But I really wanted to make it work At this stage, like the cleaning.

Megan: 7:36

When I went independent it was only like a part-time thing to get me through till the end of my degree. I really was stuck on this career of being in the police, so I didn't really take it that seriously. Again, I didn't do any courses as such or anything like that, so I didn't really know how to run a business, how to scale it, how to advertise or anything like that, and I suppose I was really confident in my work and the results that I could do. From the clients I had the feedback and everything, but not the business side. I didn't really have a clue what to do with that sort of thing. But, as I said, for a good six months it was quite quiet. So I kind of used that quiet time to focus on university and get through the first sort of couple of years.

Megan: 8:17

And it was then, when I got into the second year, I realized how hard the uni work was and that really you do need to have your full attention. I think most people at uni don't know they have like a job at the weekends, but they really do focus on their work. And that was something that I wasn't really doing. And then I kind of had like a bit of a breakthrough moment. So I started advertising. I literally just did, you know, like free advertisements on Facebook community groups and that just hit it off straight away. I mean, when we first started it was domestic, so there was a lot of work out there and I kind of used my age to my advantage and I was quite good good with the social media side of things. So quite quickly I was fully booked and I think when you're sort of self-employed, working solo, there's only so much availability you can give before what your profits are, sort of capped, aren't there? You can't really go any further. So yeah, as I said focus.

Fran: 9:11

There's a few things in there like I'm absolutely buzzing to come in. Actually I'd like like to say, because obviously I come in from like the neurolinguistic programming side of it you, your story, shows a lot of emotional intelligence. I think that you, you as a person, you're very resilient anyway and adaptable to change. But also even with the company that you worked for, the, the cleaning company, that didn't work out, let's just say there's lessons to be taken from that. So you know, other than that's not how you want to do business, just just out of interest. What other lessons did you get out of that? Because there must have been something to have learned about how to run your own business from having that experience yeah, I think even now, comparing it to my company now, they're very different.

Megan: 10:03

They were quite large scale. You know, there was loads of people working in the office taking calls. So I mean, I suppose it taught me how to actually just go in and do things on your own, because there wasn't really any support or management as such from them. It was kind of almost like a practice of starting my own business. There were, the clients were given to me as such and the rest of it was just down to me. You know how I communicated with the client, how I delivered the service, how I wanted to do the clean, everything. So I guess it literally did taught me how to start your own cleaning business with like these free kind of leads that were given from them.

Megan: 10:41

So, yeah, I kind of went in at the deep end really, but it was. I suppose it was quite good in the sense that you didn't have people hassling you of how they wanted things done but on their end of the spectrum that's not good for their company. And I remember reading over their reviews one time out of interest, because I thought they seemed to be getting a lot of bad feedback and one of them was something like these people had booked in an end of tenancy clean. They'd walked in halfway through the clean and one of the cleaners was sat watching tv on their sofa eating their food, and it was just like that was typical of them. And and not you, not even just management, but the other cleaners that they hired, obviously without interviewing people.

Fran: 11:20

So the, the level of either motivation or integrity for the job and things like that. You've had a much higher attainment level. Yeah, definitely. Therefore, going out on your own, you've had something behind you. Is it like bravado or something behind?

Megan: 11:39

yeah, I mean also the lessons of how not to do it yeah, yeah, I guess firsthand I did see how it can go wrong and, like I said, I do have quite a good work ethic, even when I worked in pubs and things like that. So to hear like someone be unhappy with a service that they're paying for, which just wasn't something I wanted to do and it didn't sit right with me.

Fran: 12:01

So I guess, yeah, I saw their mistakes before, but I mean, it didn't stop me from making my own mistakes, but this this part of the question was about what you're most passionate about in your work, so by the sounds of it, you discovered how much you loved cleaning yeah, yeah, and I mean it was.

Megan: 12:23

It was really good few years. I was just going to sort of go into saying that I was trying to sort of juggle everything I was. I remember it was, I think, after my second year, because I think at uni you break up quite early, don't you? And I had this whole summer where I was like, oh great, I can really focus on the cleaning. Now I've got more availability and I actually had a friend who said I'd be happy to help you. So we worked as like a duo and I was like brilliant, you know double clients half the time because we're splitting the work between us. Then I had another friend who I took on independently and yeah, I just had there was no limits anymore of like how much I could scale it. So I kept doing that really, and I think at one time we had like 60 regular clients who were weekly and fortnightly, which is obviously quite a lot. So yeah, that was kind of a big step then.

Megan: 13:13

And in in the last year of uni it kind of got towards the end of summer and I was like, oh god, I've forgotten about the fact that I'm going to have to go back and limit my availability. Again, I kind of reluctantly just tried to do it all. So obviously now you throw in like managing staff, something that was really new to me. No training on it, or I never even thought that I would take on staff, so it was kind of just something new and, like I said, I just tried to do it all and it just wasn't possible. I was also travelling from an hour to the university and I think I kind of just came to the realisation that the money that I was making was better when you have your own business, obviously, the flexibility of working when you like, everything being on your terms. And I kind of just stopped attending uni for as long as I could get away with it, while still trying to get the degree. And they just they clocked on and it didn't work. So I actually kind of dropped out and I was really gutted because that was kind of my dream In the end. I was really shocked but I did get a diploma out of it.

Megan: 14:11

For the two years that I did do, yeah, because I was thinking, oh God, the student loan that you, you know, the debt that I'm in for nothing, and I was thinking of everyone else on the course on their like graduation and me not having that. So I actually don't have any regrets at all and it did just go so well, really quickly, and kind of the stage that we're at now. I mean, last year we rebranded to go completely commercial rather than domestic. You know, the staffing side of things is so much easier and I really like working business to business. A bit like you, I'm quite passionate about business as well and I just find it enjoyable and there's that common ground.

Megan: 14:49

But yeah, I mean, in terms of sort of what I was really passionate about, I always wanted to help people and I think when I was kind of doing the lower level cleaning, shall we say, with domestic, when it felt quite limited, I almost felt a bit like I know I'm helping people day to day but I want to do a bit more and I still feel like that now. So in September I'm going to London to do a biohazard course, so that would be like after death clear ups, needle sweeps, hoarders, that kind of thing. So yeah, I guess in a way I will get to live out my sort of policing career in a kind of weird way, mixing with my business now and also kind of helping other business owners as well within cleaning to help them scale. To kind of avoid making the mistakes that I made, because I mean a lot of it. I just sort of went through it not knowing what I was doing and learned things the hard way.

Fran: 15:40

It's always a good idea and again for anybody listening, it's always a good idea to build a business model that has room for scalability in it. I'm just going to say, though, if your passion is to be a domestic cleaner and you just want a few hours a week and things like that, there's absolutely no judgment for that at all. You can still scale within that. There are still other things that you can bring in at any level of this, and I know myself I used to do domestic cleaning, but I kind of incorporated my years of care work and being a conservation assistant kind of together, and I did high end, but it was kind of, you know, in and out of people's houses. So, but it's always an idea to build in some scalability into your business model. Yeah, definitely. I want to now ask you because I love the fact that you're a young entrepreneur, so, as a young entrepreneur in the cleaning industry, what are some of the biggest challenges that you've faced and how have you overcome them?

Megan: 16:46

So I think, being young and the kind of circle of people I had around me at the start, I didn't have any friends who had businesses, because most young people don't. I think I was only 19 when I started and the family I mean I didn't have loads of family, but the family that do have businesses are very different and, as I said, living independently, I was quite shut off. So I really wish that I did things properly and I think a lot of the challenges I faced was kind of not having that attitude of having, yeah, business models. You know, this is going to be my career. It was a bit of a hobby at the start and just something to get me through and I suppose, kind of the transition of going from that little bit to get by to actually I'm going to do this. There was already, you know, years of progress where things weren't set up properly, so it was very hard to kind of just start again, but with the client base I already had. So I wish that I yeah had more processes in place, maybe invested in a course or like a handbook or just getting some advice from people who really knew what they were doing. Because I think when you kind of just wing it and you do, you kind of hope for the best. There are going to be challenges that come up and obstacles, and I feel like I faced challenges in every kind of way, whether it was accounting terms and conditions, you know, finances, that kind of thing. So, yeah, I wish that I took it a bit more seriously and also kind of invested back in the business.

Megan: 18:17

I think probably shows my age as well. When I first started I'd never kind of had that kind of invested back in the business. I think probably shows my age as well. When I first started I'd never kind of had that kind of money before. So any money I got I would draw out of the account. That was my sort of personal money and you know the accounts were messy. I didn't have a business account at first and I also was, you know, spending it so much.

Megan: 18:36

I was going on holidays, I think, going back to working with my friends. It was great because we had this like work life together and then outside of work we got to spend our money. So, yeah, holidays, clothes, new cars, things like that and I think, looking back on it now, if I had this tiny little car when I first passed, and everyone else usually upgrades their car after a couple of years, don't they? And I had this car for about six years.

Megan: 19:02

I was really embarrassed driving it. It was all scuffed up and I was like I'm gonna save really hard, work hard to get a really nice car that I like and looking back on it now, it was just silly. I could have got three vans maybe with this one car that I've got, which was nice for my own development and I worked really hard for it. But I think just that mindset maybe when you're young to just take it seriously and like money does come round. You know you've got your whole life to make money, so putting money back in the business is what will help you go further, I feel that when we were at school, because I'm that bit older than you, I'm 55.

Fran: 19:41

This year and I'm quite sure that it's not a great deal different. When I was at school, there was nothing much about entrepreneurship, there was nothing much about self-employed businesses. It was all just you know what career do you want? You work for somebody, you work for an organisation, you work for an industry, and that was all I was kind of pushed towards. There was nothing else really available in the way of either opportunities or information, so it's hard to know where to turn to, and not all advice is the advice that you need at the time.

Fran: 20:15

Definitely, and I think it's not always from a genuine place is it?

Megan: 20:18

Yeah, that's true as well. And also, I think, going's not always from a genuine place, is it? Yeah, that's true as well. And also, I think, going back to being quite young, when you first start, I didn't really listen to people's advice. Anyway, I was a bit like, well, I've come this far to do all of this on my own, and my friends and family still say that about me now, that I never listen to advice, I just do it, and then I come running back to them that it's all gone wrong.

Megan: 20:37

But yeah, especially in my situation, coming from a place where I was very independent and I'd kind of done it all on my own, I didn't want to be told by anyone how to do it. But I think as well, like now, social media is quite good because, I think back when you're at school, you wouldn't really know who to turn to, kind of, when you leave, that sort of thing. But now, I think, because there's so many like business mentors out there and things like that, it's quite easy to find people in your industry and go to them, whether they're selling a product or even if it's just you know someone that you're messaging for advice yeah, I hear you and that's what you can be now, because you can be the business mentor for others.

Megan: 21:17

Yeah, definitely and I think that's kind of why I would like to do it as well, because I wish that back then there was someone that I could have gone to or someone that I knew of. I mean, people sell things now like handbooks and you know, just product that you can get straight from the service. So it's really easy to kind of do that. And I've done so many courses now and I look back on them and think I would not be where I am if I hadn't have done that. And it's the best money you ever spend because it helps you kind of scale and grow.

Fran: 21:49

So yeah, that's another thing about advice as well is that if it's kind of not welcomed or not asked for, then it can make us feel a little bit defensive or that we don't need it. So I feel that it always should be permission based. You know, would you like some advice? Or because you have to be open to taking in the information, whether it's advice or tips or anything like that, you have to be in a place where you're open to receiving that information, otherwise you can't truly kind of embody it and then do anything with it yeah, definitely, and I'm, I think, maybe from a women's perspective as well.

Megan: 22:31

I think sometimes we go to people looking. When we do ask for advice, it's kind of because we want empathy on the situation and to feel better, whereas I think men are very logical and straight talking, and that's something me and my partner struggle with as well. He always gives me advice and I just don't listen because I'm not looking for the actual advice at the time and I think, unfortunately, sometimes it does take things to actually go wrong before you kind of do really seek out that advice that you're going to follow, and a lot of that's about communication as well.

Fran: 23:02

So if we're able to clearly communicate what our needs are but we've got to know what our needs are to start with, because you may not have known that you needed help to create a business plan, or you may not have known what an actual business model was or the different variants of it. So if you don't know that, you don't know what to ask in the first place. So I feel sometimes that things aren't broken down enough. You know the information isn't small enough for us to digest. To start with. There's that thing of you know you could. You can't get on the first rung of the ladder if it's too high up. Yeah, definitely, and I also feel, potentially, that your partner's advice there's going to be a place for that.

Megan: 23:46

I always say this and unfortunately my business isn't at the stage where I could give him like a full annual salary based on, you know, just pluck it out of thin air, definitely in the future. But I think, yeah, he's, you know, got his own job and you can't just rely out of thin air definitely in the future. But I think, yeah, he's, you know, got his own job and you can't just rely on your partner, but definitely he's got great ideas and again, I that's other help that I probably wouldn't come as far as I have if I didn't have that.

Fran: 24:10

I see that maybe as pearls of wisdom, and you could use it for social media yeah oh, I do slightly already but yeah, I could definitely do that a bit more utilize, utilize

Megan: 24:22

what's around you. Yeah, definitely. I mean, following on from what I was saying about maybe not taking things as seriously again it kind of felt like a bit of a side hustle at first, which, like you said, there's nothing against that. Like if you've got children or you might have another, another job and you just want a bit of income, it's perfectly fine. But I think when you're going with big contracts or you know things like that with commercial clients, you do really need to look at doing that properly. And I think now I take it a lot more seriously. I can't afford to mess up with the kind of work that we're doing now and I think, like you said, you've got to have structure, sort of long-term planning for the future ahead.

Megan: 25:04

I mean, for a long time I think maybe three years I didn't even have an accountant and I was using like a one-off service for an accountant. I said could you just check over my sort of self-assessment? And they said, oh, just so you know, you should have registered. You should have registered for that about a year ago. And I was just like, honestly, I don't even know what that is, what that means, how do I register? Like, what do I do? And I just got myself in this really, really messy situation. So, yeah, even things like that, like you don't get told when you start a business you must have an accountant. You must understand this. I think you're kind of expected to just work it all out. And I always say people start their businesses because they're good at cleaning or because they're good at coaching people, not because they know everything about finances and what accountants know and marketing and all that stuff. So, yeah, there's so much that goes into it. So I think having support is really important.

Fran: 25:57

There's there's the initial passion, isn't there? Yeah, you can then do something with um, with again, with building business models. There are different ways of doing it. So obviously not everybody has to be back registered and assure, I think, unless you're a limited company. So if you stay as a kind of self-employed, you get a self-employed number. You can even do if you're under a certain tax bracket as well.

Fran: 26:20

Yeah, so there are ways of starting that aren't daunting. There are ways of starting because there's there's a whole financial thing about being under a taxable bracket and then, yeah, you know whether or not you're doing your self-assessment and things like that. There's lots of different ways of going about it. Yeah, what I want to get to from that is anybody listening to this who's interested in finding out more about you know what you do, or building their own business around cleaning. Don't be put off, there are ways into it. You know there's always a way of starting. That's the hardest thing. The actual starting, I think, is the hardest thing, and I love the fact that you were quite gung-ho and you just went right that's what I'm going to do and just more or less threw yourself into it and learn as you went along.

Megan: 27:07

And it is scary as well, like you know. Going back to having structure and things like that. People put these plans and these sort of courses and things together to help you and really break it down. And I think a lot of people get scared by the idea of going self-employed and all of that stuff. I mean, I've done interviews before. I personally like to take people on as self-employed rather than employed, and I've had people, yeah, apply and they don't have a clue about it and as soon as you mention it they go oh no, I don't want to do that and you think actually that would be beneficial for you because you've got another job where, if you were employed, you'd get taxed a lot on that. You know, if you're only doing a few hours here and there, you're probably not going to go over the tax bracket. So, yeah, people get really scared and I think it's just about kind of getting that help if you're a bit nervous about it yeah, we don't know what, we don't know exactly.

Fran: 27:59

Yeah, right, so that leads beautifully into my next question for you, what advice would you give? I'm going to say young women, you know, obviously this speaks to men as well. Then, you know, take the words, but I'm going to say young women. So what advice would you give to young women who are looking to start their own business or to pursue their passions, despite any challenges that they might face?

Megan: 28:26

I would say the the number one thing that comes to mind is just to be confident. And, as I said, when I first started and people were saying, you know, turn this into a business, make business cards, I just didn't for such a long time because I thought, oh, you know, I don't know what I'm doing. Why should anyone trust me? You know, I don't have a clue. So I think, just be confident.

Megan: 28:48

And I think again, going back to starting a business, for why you're good at something or why you like doing it, if you believe that you're good at it or you're passionate about it, then there's no reason why you can't work out the rest of the other stuff again. It's so easy to sort of access, courses and things. So if you need that structure and want to know what everyone else in the industry is doing, then you can go and find that easily and there's no rush as well, you can take your time to learn it and do everything like that. So I think, yeah, confidence is key and kind of like, own your own skills, believe that you're good at it and be proud. I think that held me back for a really long time and sometimes it does even catch me off guard. Now I think like it's like a voice in the back of your head, isn't it, that says oh, you, you can't do that, you, you don't know enough about that, or you know things like that.

Fran: 29:37

So, yeah, just kind of believe in yourself now, limiting beliefs is one of my things as as a coach and you've kind of alluded to it just there, and that that voice, that inner critic, that we have a good way of doing something with that is to reframe it. So it tells you you're not good enough. Just reframe it into I am good enough. It sounds really simple, but you tell yourself that enough, and you do start to believe it, because you can create new neural pathways and you can reprogram your own mind, like it's incredible what we're able to do. We've just got to know that it's possible and it is possible to challenge that inner critic. Yeah, definitely, everybody's got limiting beliefs, we've all got things that will hold us back, and it is possible to tell yourself that you can do it. Yeah, and so I love that about having the confidence definitely, and I actually spoke to someone yesterday.

Megan: 30:33

We were talking about that and we're talking about how we've both been in therapy and kind of the advice we've been given about that sort of side of things, and she said to me a really good point that you should name that voice in your head, give it a name and just tell them to shut up. Yeah, speak to yourself.

Fran: 30:49

There's different things you can do. Yeah, you can give them a name. You can turn the volume down, you can reframe it into something more positive. You can actually challenge the, the inner critic as to where's the truth in that. You know who said that, where did that come from? Because quite often we just you know, we just don't really know. Even if anybody ever said it. It may have started from somewhere. Whose voice is it you hear? Is it your own voice? Do you hear somebody else's voice?

Megan: 31:19

You know, just imagine that you've got a volume control and turn the volume down on that yeah, definitely, and I think yeah, that's kind of when I really started to blossom in myself as a person and my business, when I started to believe in myself. I remember for a long, long time I didn't want to kind of be visible on, I didn't want to show my face behind the business or anything like that. I don't know if that's maybe just a young thing or my idea of what other people were going to say about me, but I didn't do that for ages because I just, you know, I didn't want to be seen and I wasn't confident enough. And as soon as I got over that fear, I thought, god, people are so used to seeing my face all the time now because I'm constantly posting, what difference does it make?

Fran: 31:58

so, yeah, that really there are fears that we're born with a couple of fears. So we're born if we're a hearing person, we're born with a fear of loud noises and we're born with a fear of falling. Everything else is either done to us by ourselves or by other people, so these fears just just build up. And that thing about visibility you know it's it's difficult to be on camera, I think, because you're open to judgment. Yeah, you know, do I look good enough or have I got anything to say? And yeah, that's taken me a long time to to kind of get somewhere with, because I like to say the words um, a lot, I've got a lot of filler words.

Fran: 32:39

You know, anybody that looks at my YouTube I've got another YouTube channel and anybody that looks at the other stuff that I do back in the beginning, like it was, it was pretty dreadful really, you know, but I kept going with it. And the thing about visibility as well is what do you want to be visible for? So you want to be visible to promote your business, but you also want to be visible to show other people that it's possible, you can do this, that kind of motivational message that you've got and that you can do this too yeah, definitely, and even now I there are some things that are still out of my comfort zone.

Megan: 33:11

It wasn't until I had a rebrand of my business and I invested in like a brand designer, and she was saying to me you know, I'm doing all this work for you. You should really be like doing your social media, like do a launch day. And I was like, oh, I don't really know, and you know, it was her that really pushed me to say, look, don't care what other people think, just show your face and put yourself out of your comfort zone. And, um, even now, there's things that I'm doing that are a bit like oh, I'm not sure how I feel about that, but it really limits you if you don't. And, honestly, what is the worst that's going to happen? Because we all have little things that we do, like you said, whether it's filler words or for me, I speak too quickly if I'm nervous and then I don't get my point across, but no one actually sits there and thinks, oh god, that was a mess, do they?

Fran: 33:57

they just, they just listen yeah, and anybody that doesn't like it, then they're not your audience and that's okay. You know, each individual have got their own preferences or the way that they like to take in information or absorb learning and things like that, and if you're not for them, that's okay. Yeah, definitely, we don't need to be for everybody.

Megan: 34:18

Yeah, so I mean, I was going to say as well that kind of links into showing up as sort of the face of your brand. So, like I said, I was hiding a lot. One of my biggest sort of things as well is I would always worry about what people would say about me from school when they started seeing my face pop up on Facebook and things like that. And I guess, yeah, coming from a young person, that is something that plays on your mind a lot. Now, once I'm now, I'm completely over that kind of irrational fear.

Megan: 34:45

I just think you know those people who aren't maybe doing much with their lives now will only look at what I'm doing and think, oh wow, that's really good. Have you heard what she's doing? And then people talk, don't they? And if it gets my business out there somehow, then then it works. So and I think as well, going back to kind of business strategy, people trust who they see, don't they? They put a face to a business rather than you know a fancy post with you know made on canva or something like that there are certain touch points that people need so that they can build up, know, like and trust with us.

Fran: 35:18

and again, no judgment if anybody builds a faceless account or a faceless business. It's more about what your motivations are and who, what kind of audience you're trying to speak to, and I do feel that it's important that your face is on your account because you're inspiring other young people to build a business of their dreams as well.

Megan: 35:39

Yeah, definitely. And another thing I was going to say is not necessarily directed to being young, but I think anyone who started a business, I think you kind of lower your rates and what you charge because you just feel like I mean for me, I think, because I'm can be such a people pleaser sometimes I feel bad charging people what I think it's worth. You know it is totally worth what I'm charging, but I feel bad and I think if someone comes along and has this frozen there straight away, oh you know, we were really unhappy with this price we were paying before, or don't you think that's so expensive? Little comments like that play on your mind and you automatically lower your price just based on their facial expression or how they say something, whereas I would say to people just be confident.

Megan: 36:24

And I think I went for a long stage in my business where, you know, there were times of desperation where I needed the money to get by, so I did things or really influenced by what people would say, and then one day I just, you know, I was looking at how hard I was working and it wasn't working out, you know, profitable and I just completely switched it and I thought this is what it's worth for me to go out there, do this job provide the management that I'm giving, and I really do believe that I'm providing a good service.

Megan: 36:50

So that is kind of my charge. I mean, sometimes there's room for sort of wiggle room, isn't there. But you know, if someone's being out of line or just taking the mick with what I've said, I will just say look, I'm we're not the right business for you. And quite often now I think people do have these sort of ideas that cleaning isn't like a high paid service, that it's kind of one of those lower end jobs. So all the time now when I go to viewings and I speak to new clients, I say if you're looking for value, then I'm glad that we're having this conversation, but if you're just stuck in a budget and cost is the main thing for you, we are definitely not the company for you.

Fran: 37:29

Yes, having that transparency up front. There's a couple of things there that have come to mind. I completely hear you from being working in care for over 25 years. Carers are very undervalued and undervalued as well. Like it's another of those service industries that is very overlooked. A lot of what you're saying is to do with money mindset and we don't realize that there are different mindsets. Like it like literally same mind. Like it blew my mind that we could have different mindsets, that we could have a growth mindset or a money mindset. I'm like I had no idea and I had no idea that I had my own money limitations as well, yeah, and so it can be hard to. It can be hard to price yourself at a point that either feels comfortable, that's right for the, for the type of work that you're doing.

Megan: 38:19

So I think having that transparency is really important once you do figure it out definitely, and I think sometimes there's this misconception that some business owners a bit like the agency I worked for they just go in and charge this ridiculous amount just because they're greedy and I think you can really tell the difference between a company like that and someone who really cares and is gonna deliver a good service. So it's kind of like fighting those sort of expectations as well. That's really hard. But again, I think maybe like talking to people in the industry, like whether you join like a Facebook community group I think that's helped me at little times. Where might be things? Like someone said something I thought, oh, I should really put that in my terms and conditions, because they've just gone through that really bad experience and I don't want that to happen to me yeah, and it's not.

Fran: 39:10

It's getting that, those little things like. I remember years ago when my children were young, I set up as a childminder for a little while. So I had a bit of a break in the care work because I wanted to be at home and I didn't know where to price myself. So I kind of looked on the National Child Minding Register and all the rest of it to try and get an average for the area. And then I went in at the middle I don't know if it's like you know the high point and I went in at the middle and then I increased my prices from there because I added extra services. So that where do you start? Is really hard as well. So I presume that's going to be something that you'll be able to mentor other people starting their businesses through.

Megan: 39:51

But where those?

Megan: 39:52

cross points are and it all started. I mean, I've been keeping on top of my sort of business social media quite well at the moment and I kind of just did a video on TikTok and I must have had 50 to 100 people message me saying please can you give me advice, and I'd always sit there just, you know, writing paragraphs and paragraphs, because I really cared, I really wanted to help people and I thought actually there's like a market for this and you know, instead of just writing paragraphs to you, I could probably give you a whole document and you know it would really help people, like it would have me if I had it yeah, that's what that's where you can look at growing an email list and having landing pages to collect, you know, so that they get the information sent to them, and then you can have like documents ready and stuff like that, workbooks ready, because you can help more, more people without it taking up more of your time.

Megan: 40:40

Yeah, definitely, and I think, going back to you know what young people can learn if they want to start a business or grow their business is, I would say as well. Use your age to your advantage, so something like that. I'm quite good on my Mac or my iPad. I know how to do those kind of things, and you know social media as well. In my teenage and you know younger years as I grew up when social media came out so to me, I used to sit there and make sure that my Instagram feed matched this certain theme. So now I know how to do the same thing with my business and I think there will be something for everyone where you're really good at it for me. I'm not great at the maybe accounting side of things like that anything that's a bit sort of logical thinking but you know the creative side and things like that.

Fran: 41:24

Use your age to your advantage, I think yeah, lean on the skill set that you have and if you don't think you've got one, you have. Yeah, like everybody's got a skill set you really have and if you haven't, you can learn if you want to. That is like the things that I don't want to learn. I don't want to learn accountancy, I mean even setting up this zoom call.

Megan: 41:42

That was a bit difficult for me, but we got there.

Fran: 41:46

Oh, it didn't help that I had tech issues, did it? Just, I'm gonna wrap this up in a moment, but just gonna say, because you you mentioned something quite early on about where you're going next with your business. So what is next for you?

Megan: 42:02

so, as I mentioned biohazard cleaning, it was something that I always said no, I would never do that. I really liked the glamorous side of it and when we first started we did really like high-end homes, classes, like super homes, we did like well-known people's houses, things like that. So that was never really my intention. But, as I said, I really want to help people and I think seeing the impact that those cleans have on people like you know the documentaries you watch with the hoarders, where you go in and at the end you know it's nothing like glamorous but they have that space where they can just feel good. And I think to me the reason I clean is for like mental clarity, to de-stress. If I make dinner, I have to clean first because I like to have a clean area and it just makes you feel good. So that's kind of what I would want other people to feel, the same, especially people who have never experienced it or got themselves in a really bad mental place where they, you know, can't and I think as well with kind of like after death clear-ups, that kind of thing. I only realized the other day that when someone passes away, it's not just like the emergency services responsibility to pay for that. Clear up it's whoever owns the property. So if you've got a family member that's passed away, you have to deal with that side of things as well as the grief. So, having you know a company that you can trust to do that job properly if it's a case of them living in the house or selling it, peace of mind that they know that's been done properly, that they're going to turn up on the day those are things that I feel like I can deliver through what I do now, while still, you know, really caring about the service I'm giving. So that's kind of like the next steps, at least in the next year, I would say. So I'm really excited for going to London for that course. I think it'd be really interesting.

Megan: 43:47

And yeah, I think, yeah, just like you said, helping other cleaning businesses. People start because I know how scary it is and how daunting it can be and also confusing. I mean there's so many times where I've said to my partner I'm just going to give up because I don't know where to go from here. Or I've even said, blamed it on the industry I'm in and how society sees the industry that I'm in and pricing and things like that and I've even said to him recently. I feel like I'm struggling because it's concepts that I can't change, that are out of my control. Obviously, you know, I know now that is just business, you can't change that, but I think that that really low place where you feel like it's taking over your life and you can't move forwards, it's so important to have that guide there yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Fran: 44:34

That guidance, that mentorship, is really important and I can I can really see how you're going to be able to implement that from thank you, learning your business in the way that you have as well, and I'm excited to see what you do next as well. Thank you. So thank you so much, Megan, for sharing your incredible story. I love this actually. It's really interesting, it's different, isn't it? Yeah, it is different. It is different and it kind of it's got touches of things that I've done before.

Fran: 45:05

before being an nlp coach, I was a carer for over 25 years and then I had had a little stint as a conservation assistant in a stately home, so I did very high-end cleaning yeah, very specialized collections yeah, very specialized, but that it's that attention to detail, because I love the way that people's minds work and that attention to detail, because I love the way that people's minds work and the attention to detail why we do the things that we do. And I think my natural progression just led me into NLP coaching your, your progression of where you're going to go, I mean, you know it's. It's quite open, isn't it?

Megan: 45:38

and I think I always, yeah, I always thought it was a disadvantage being young and I always thought, oh, people won't trust me, they won't take me seriously. Whereas now I look at it and I think, if I've done this 23, what am I going to do in all those years next, with this experience? So, yeah, I'm quite grateful for everything I've been through yeah, amazing, um, I love that.

Fran: 46:01

So your story. It truly reminds us all to stay motivated, resilient, but you're very resilient and passionate about pursuing your dreams. For those of you curious about megan's business, you can find her. So you've got a website, wwwprocleancommercialscouk, and you're on social media as at pro clean commercials. You mentioned tiktok. Where else are they likely to find you?

Megan: 46:33

linkedin. If, if it's more sort of commercialized again, my new sort of business idea with helping other people, that will be kind of a new business. So I would say, just keep an eye on what I'm currently doing and you'll see everything that comes next. I'm definitely going to keep an eye out.

Fran: 46:51

Thank you, fascinated. So if you're interested in more content like this, be sure to visit me as well. So, wwwmelancholycoachingcom, follow us for the latest updates and until next time, stay curious and keep igniting your creative potential, and please do find Megan at Pro Clean commercials to see what she does next. Thank you, you're welcome. Thanks for listening. Bye, thank you.

Fran: 47:25

Thank you for joining me on the Melancholy Coaching Podcast. I'd love you to subscribe For queries or to connect email info at melancholymentorcom. Until next time, keep igniting your creative potential.