Opening Doors with Annette Compo
Opening Doors with Annette Compo is a guided conversation on home ownership, stability, and personal direction. Annette sits down with respected voices in the community and speaks from experience on what it takes to get started, build security, and move with purpose. Each episode is led by Annette Compo. Follow so you do not miss out on the great upcoming episodes.
Opening Doors with Annette Compo
Dawn Wilcox on Building Trust, Cleaning Homes & Growing Michigan Maid Cleaning Advantage
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode of Opening Doors, Annette Compo sits down with Dawn Wilcox, owner and operator of Michigan Maid Cleaning Advantage, a Livonia-based residential and commercial cleaning business serving the community since 2017.
Dawn shares how her business has grown over time, what it takes to maintain standards as a team expands, and why trust is such a big part of walking into someone’s home or business. She and Annette talk about word-of-mouth referrals, the value of trusted local relationships, and the personal side of building a service business that clients feel comfortable welcoming through their front door.
🧼 CONNECT WITH DAWN WILCOX
Michigan Maid Cleaning Advantage
🌐 Website: https://mmca2017.com/
📞 Phone: 734-366-8676
📧 Email: dawn@mmca2017.com
🔗 CONNECT WITH ANNETTE COMPO
🌐 Website: https://vist.ly/4u5gv
📞 Call: (877) ANNETTE
📧 Email: annettecompo@kw.com
📍 Office: 30500 Northwestern Hwy, Suite 300, Farmington Hills, MI 48334
📸 Instagram: https://vist.ly/4u5g3
👍 Facebook: https://vist.ly/4u5g4
▶️ YouTube: @annettecompo
💼 LinkedIn: https://vist.ly/4u5gh
🎙️ OPENING DOORS PODCAST CHANNELS
📸 Instagram: https://vist.ly/4u5g9
🎵 TikTok: https://vist.ly/4u5gp
Subscribe for real conversations with local business owners, community leaders, and people opening doors in work, life, and relationships
Hi everyone! I'm super excited that you guys are back and tuning in to the next episode. I get to have one of my girlfriends on. Um, and Dawn, once again, thank you so much for coming on my podcast. Thank you for inviting me. So, as I always say, introduce yourself and your business. Okay. Um, because I always like it when people say their names. I think there's just more power. Like when I say a net compo, it's so different than when you say my name.
SPEAKER_00It is.
SPEAKER_01It is.
SPEAKER_00So I'm Dawn Wilcox. I am the owner of Michigan Made Cleaning Advantage. We are an independently owned and operated cleaning business. We do residential and commercial. We've been based in Lavonia since 2017, and we have no signs of slowing down. Love it.
SPEAKER_01And our history is very short. We very short. Like we literally went from zero to 120 in the relationship. That's kind of how I operate. Well, you know what? And that's usually good when you have a cleaning business because if you're going to someone's house, usually they want you to clean faster because it's based on hours, right?
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01So the leadership is like a waterfall. It starts from here and it goes down. So if you're set with the mindset of that, it's all the all of your team are going to be, you know, marching that same rhythm. That's the hope. Yes.
SPEAKER_00That that is the goal.
SPEAKER_01How many um employees do you have?
SPEAKER_00We have five right now. Okay. Um, we've had more in the past, we've had less in the past. This is your sweet spa? This it's working right now. Um, we definitely we still have room in the schedule for this crew to handle, um, but we're always looking to expand. But we've over the years it's happened gradually, and I like that, and I would like it to continue to grow gradually. Because the last thing we want to do is have to tell people no or not have room for them, or even the quality at that too.
SPEAKER_01Right, because you have lack of training to bring up the scalability of a business is one of the most trickiest spots. It is, it is, and it's it's funny because people will always ask me, you know, when I'm speaking at conferences, they're like, Well, we want you to speak on scalability. I'm like, Well, that's a huge conversation. And a lot of people say, Oh, I want to scale my business, but they're not even close to knowing or understanding what it takes. Right. And even if the business is ready to be scaled. Right. Um, and so it's just it's kind of interesting. We had a the last podcast um a few weeks ago about AI and how we were talking about an owner of a motel, right? Same thing in regards to cleanliness. I mean, those are some pretty hot topics in, you know, cleaning people's residential houses, motels. If you're not meeting those expectations, it's probably one of your biggest things that keep you up at night.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Um, and that was one of the hardest things for me when I started this, was when it got to a point where there were more clients than I myself could handle, that I had to hire people. And it was okay when it was me and a person because I was there. But then as it grew, but again, it grew gradually, so it was a process. But as it grew and I stepped away or would send a team out on their own, and I was part of another team, just knowing that these people are responsible for what I'm telling people they're gonna get was that kept me up at night. And it still does, right? And my hope is, and I mean, there are times things don't go perfect, and but for the majority of it, things are going well. And when they're when they don't, we try to fix it and make it right and go from there.
SPEAKER_01Well, you have the Annette Compo endorsement because you come into my home and it is fantastic every single time.
SPEAKER_00I appreciate that very much. And I mean, that is that is what we strive for, you know.
SPEAKER_01And it's funny, is that when I think of you know the people that I do business with, um, you know, people by people before they ever buy a product tour service. Absolutely. And I it it's so humbling to know that you and I are friends and we became friends in being part of another organization that allowed us to network, right? Which is our local chamber of commerce, um, and then in turn started doing business and then in turn become have a friendship. Yeah. And and that's what's so cool about that, and to be able to, you know, uh, especially being in real estate for gosh, this month is gonna be 35 years. I'm celebrating. Um Happy anniversary. Well, thank you. So now this is where you get to the point in your career where you kept adding on experience as you kept growing. Now I'm reached the pivoting point because when you say 35 years of being in the industry, they're like, okay, wait a second, 20 plus 35, they start figuring out your age. So now I'm at that pivoting point where now I have an anniversary. It's gonna be like 32 years in the business. Oh, I'm 28 years in the business. Oh, I'm 22 years in the business. It's gonna start going backwards.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna go the opposite direction. Right. Because I don't want people to figure out you don't have to say exactly how many years, you could say over 30. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Or over 25. Right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. And and so um it it's it's reassuring, but it's also validating that with in my book of vendors that you sit the magazine of people that we do business and we give to our clients, my clients know that these are people that I have personal relationships with. And it makes the door, they're literally their front door, open to anyone that does this. And then that is so valuable, not only to my clients, but also to myself and of course, you in any of our vendors in there, because um it instantly makes the third-party advocacy so valuable that you're coming in as if you were me. Right. They get a faster relationship with you, they trust you quicker, right?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01And you can really get to which the most important, which is the client's needs. And I think that we do such a good job of that with you because it allows people to that's what we care about as consumers. I mean, you and I are consumers, so we think about that. We're like, what how do I want to experience um, you know, having someone I don't even know come into my house? Exactly. I have to get through all of that, which is 20 to 30 minutes and sometimes longer, depending on what type of day I had, right? And now, if I knew that that person was being endorsed by someone I already trusted, that that 30 minutes or 20 minutes that took for me to get through me getting to trust you now is like two or five minutes. Right. And now you get to talk about what's important because that's me wanting to use your service.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Word of mouth is huge, and it has always been our best marketing tool because if someone else, if someone tells a friend, they tell a family member, whatever, hey, we're using this service, we love them, the girls are great, they you know their prices are good, this, that, and the other. Like you said, there's there's already steps that you don't have to take necessarily, or these steps have been taken already for you. They they feel comfortable already before they even meet you, which is huge because I realize, yeah, we're going into people's homes, we're seeing everything. We're seeing what their bathrooms look like, we're seeing what their kitchen look like.
SPEAKER_01Are we talking about my household in general?
SPEAKER_00Okay. This is a totally general statement. I already said that I was one of your clients, so I'm like, get a little warm in here. I want a totally general statement, but you know, they're opening their their lives to us, right? And that's huge, and that's they don't do it lightly. It's a relationship state.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Yeah, that you we go into people's places that they create memories, put their heads on their pillow, and and you know, we get emotionally attached to the roof over our heads, absolutely, and we're walking in, they've never even met us. And it's truly, truly an honor to be able to have that type of relationship with people. And so it's just funny because one of the questions I wanted to ask you, because I know what I am, which is do you have people that you go in and they clean their house before you come? Or do you have people that don't clean their house? Like, what is the ratio of people that clean their house for their cleaner?
SPEAKER_00Uh that's a good question. It's probably kind of half and half.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Um, does it is like a personality metrics that like you can like look and say, okay, Annette is this, so is Joanne, so is Pete. Oh, they're the ones who clean before the cleaner comes. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I don't think I could pinpoint it based on people's personalities, but it is funny, like, especially when I go and quote a house for the first time. I have found over the years that if someone says, Oh my gosh, it pardon the mess, this is a mess, I haven't picked up, and it looks fine, then it's gonna look, this is going to be a good relationship. Like they're gonna pick up, they know, they know what they need to do.
SPEAKER_01They know that's actually what it is when you show up when you go to clean.
SPEAKER_00So there have been times we go in and say it looks like this, right? Very nice and neat. Counters are pretty much, I mean, not empty, no one has empty counters, but very picked up and neat and tidy. And I give them a price, and then we go in to clean, and it looks like their closets exploded all over the house. That is awesome. Okay, it's like, well, this is this is not at all the job I signed before. Let me go check the address. Let's try at the right house. Yeah, so there's been things like that. Okay. I mean, there have been times we've gone to clean houses and there'll be they weren't there when I looked at it, and there'll be 30. This is not an exaggeration, probably 30 P pads for their dog. Oh, it's like, well, we don't deal with pet waste. I'm like, I mean, I can't touch them all. I can't. If we clean around them, we're not even doing your floors because you've probably practically carpeted your house with these.
SPEAKER_01So we'll skip over my question because you just answered it, which is what is one of the stories that is the most tragedy when it comes to going in. Now I got it. That's not even the worst.
SPEAKER_00There have been some horror stories. Okay.
SPEAKER_01All right. Yeah. Yeah. There'll have to be a different podcast. Do you want to give us? Now we're just curious.
SPEAKER_00What's the next one that's well, this wasn't even about the house. The house was a situation at all its own. But um, there was an elderly man who we cleaned for. This was years ago. And he knew we were coming and we're knocking on the door and we're standing out there waiting, and probably about five minutes go by, and you start hearing movement in the house. Like, okay, we wait. And he comes to the door and he is in a tank top and tidy whiteies. This is like a man in his 70s, not like a Sam Elliott or a Tom Selleck coming to the door.
SPEAKER_01If you could only have it controlled the future, right?
SPEAKER_00Um, he goes, Um, he goes, I'm sorry to make you wait. And I told him, I said, I would have waited another five minutes if it meant she answered the door with pants on. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a good story. I mean, well, and you know, we always there's two stories in real estate that I always share. One that has to do with cats, which that we're not going to talk about. That's definitely a different episode. But the second one is that um you go into a house and all the doors, the door closet or um, you know, the doors are shut, right? So I'm showing all the bedrooms, right? I go into the bay, everything is good. Open the doors and stuff like that. Go into the basement, just like because I feel comfortable because I've opened all the doors, no one's in the house, right? So I open the door in the basement. Someone didn't tell the person and their guest that there was a showing. And let's just say they weren't crocheting. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00The way you cited guest, I can only imagine what they were doing.
SPEAKER_01Surprise! Surprise! Hi, my name's Annette Cambo. I'm with color willy dumb. That was the only time I've never introduced myself. I was like, oops!
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, we all have those stories because you just things happen, and it is, you know, and we laugh about it, and and you know, at the end of the day. So you have said we a couple times. Um, so we is who? My husband. Okay, a family business.
SPEAKER_00It is a family business. Love it. Yes, he he has been my biggest cheerleader, my biggest champion. I I definitely couldn't do without him. I do the day-to-day stuff, I train the girls, but he is everything behind the scenes. He's my right hand. I mean all the logistics of the business. Yep. He comes, I mean, he's an idea person very much so too. So that's very helpful. Yeah. Yeah. Like we just had to do a presentation for one of our chamber meetings the other day. I'm like, I told I said, I don't have an idea. Because it wasn't about the business, it was just something relatable to business. And he came up with it, put it together, presented it. I'm like, this is all right. That's teamwork makes the dream work.
SPEAKER_01It does. And to have that relationship, there's a book out there that says, uh, uh, work with the one that you love and live to tell about it. Unfortunately, when I read that book, uh, that was after my first divorce, but be prior to my second divorce. But for some reason, I don't know if I just didn't, you know, like read it correctly, but it didn't work. But however, I'm going to give you the recommendation. And maybe if you want to read that book, maybe yeah, I remember it being good. I just don't know if I didn't implement it or what it was. Maybe you maybe a couple pages stuck together. Maybe a couple pages stuck together. Exactly. Oh, so here on the podcast, we have a tradition. Um, and that tradition is that if you had the opportunity to meet your younger self, um, what advice would you give them?
SPEAKER_00I would tell a much younger me, uh, don't worry, it's all everything's gonna work out far better than you ever imagined. Yeah. It's a big deal. It is.
SPEAKER_01We get so wound up, and depending on our personalities, um, it causes sometimes anxiety. And honestly, I think it stops the true trajectory of what the path is for you. If you just just took a deep breath and said, Have I handled everything that I do have control over? Right. And the things that I don't have control, I just release them.
SPEAKER_00You've got to. It's hard, especially for certain personalities like me, for sure. It's very hard to let that.
SPEAKER_01I don't want to participate in that at all.
SPEAKER_00Not at all, not even at all.
SPEAKER_01I'm not even in a fan club of that. I love how my sarcasm makes everyone laugh, but it's really because you know me and you that's why you're laughing.
SPEAKER_00Well, I appreciate sarcasm very much because not everybody gets it. But yeah, I love it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So, you know, sharing that advice, it's it's really important here at the show. And I and I thank you for really um answering it. Um, the authentic self, the authentic Dawn that I always it always shows up no matter when I'm talking with her. Because I think it really does help people to understand and relate and say, you know what, that's how I feel. I need to be more like that. Or oh, I didn't think about that. And so coming from another business owner to a business owner that's watching you today, um, thank you so much for being on the podcast. Thank you for having me. As always, thank you for being my friend, even though our friendship isn't the longest standing ones and it's new, but it's so cool just to have a she boss that I can literally connect with and relate stories to and just have, you know, thank you for being my friend. Well, thank you.
SPEAKER_00It doesn't matter to me. It just feels natural. Yeah. And we laugh a lot. We yes, and we did tonight.
SPEAKER_01We did tonight. So once again, thank you, John, for being the podcast. Thank you, Annette, for having me. Until next time, I'll see you then.