Thirteen Things We’re Happy To Tell You.

A couple of weeks ago an article came out in Readers Digest called “Thirteen Things Your Home Cleaner Won’t Tell You”, and while I’m not sure how it was received in the general public, it caused quite a stir in the Home Cleaning industry.  Three cleaning service owners that I know contributed to the article.  The dust-up started because some in the industry felt that a few of the things that ‘we’ wouldn’t tell ‘you’ were unprofessional and, some felt, put the industry in a bad light.  Opinions are like noses; everybody has one.  I don’t want to get into a discussion about who was right and who was wrong and I don’t want to defend the industry as a whole.  There are others out there that are much more eloquent and experienced in this industry than I am.  I will leave that up to them.  All I can do is speak to my business.

  Therefore I would like to address the “Thirteen Things” as they appeared in the online version.

1. My best clients are people who work for their money, like teachers, bartenders, and cops.  Rich people think they’re doing      you a favor by allowing you to scrub their toilets. Working people understand you are doing them a service by making their lives easier.  This is complete and utter crap.  We don’t distinguish our clients by how much money they make and to say that one socioeconomic class treats us better than another is pure fantasy.  People are people.  Some treat you well and others treat you like the help.  Doesn’t have a thing to do with how much money they make.

2. I wish you wouldn’t insist on bleach and other harsh cleaners.  For almost every situation, there’s an eco-friendly option that’s just as effective.  Actually we would agree with this.  We work very hard to create a safer environment both for our staff and for your family by using products that are proven safer than their counterparts, which is the very definition of being green.  Nine and a half times out of ten we can get your home as clean or cleaner without using harsh or downright harmful chemicals.

3. After I leave, check the base of the toilet and the top of the fridge.  If they’re clean, you know I’m thorough.  Or the tops of your picture frames, or any other detail area you can think of.  Point is, if we take time to do these things, you can feel pretty confident that we did everything else you told us was important to you.

4. Many cleaning companies do not run any sort of background check or even check references.  I answered an ad, I was on time and presentable, and I was willing to take the job. That is all most companies care about.  We do run criminal background checks and check at least two references on each employee we hire.  Anything less is unacceptable.

5. I’m not even posting this one.  Too ridiculous to even comment on.

6. Want to save money on high-priced maid services?  Instead of booking a regular appointment, ask to be on our on-call list to fill last-minute slots at a discount. Or see if you can be a “training home” for new cleaners.  Unfortunately this is not a service we offer at this time.

7. If you use a service instead of an individual, ask for the same people every time.  Your cleanings will be more consistent, with fewer strangers in your home.  We couldn’t agree more.  Although your home will be cleaned to your standards no matter who cleans it, we make every attempt to have the same cleaners in your home each and every time.

8. When using a new maid service, leave a few dollars hanging out of a pants pocket or lying on the counter.  If we take a dollar or two, you’ll know we’re probably going to take other things.  You can leave a wad of hundred-dollar bills on the counter or a penny.  We might move it to clean underneath it, but our employees have been drilled about this since before they were hired.  NOTHING except garbage and our payment is removed from the home.  Taking anything from the home except our payment or trash that is in a trash can or liner is considered theft and is grounds for immediate termination.

9. Make sure we’re bonded and have liability insurance.  Otherwise, you’re on the hook if we break something or get hurt on the job.  We do and will be giddy with excitement to provide proof of it when asked.

10. Pick your clothes up off the floor, get your dishes out of the sink, and clean up your kids’ toys.  Your house will end up a lot cleaner.  You didn’t hire us to organize your home, you hired us to clean your home.  We can clean more area more efficiently if we don’t have to pick up a bucket of Lego’s first.  Of course, if you choose not to, your home will still be cleaned.

11. If you leave your personal life out for us to see, we most definitely will talk about you.  We may even send pictures to our friends and relatives.  We never, ever, ever allow discussions of clients’ personal lives or belongings either during the job or after.  Furthermore, if we ever found out that an employee had taken pictures of a clients personal effects and emailed them to friends, that employee would be on thin ice, employment-wise.

12. Recommend us to your friends.  We may give you $25 to $50 off a cleaning for each referral — if you ask.  Actually we just started a new referral program for our clients.  It doesn’t involve a cash reward.  It involves a free cleaning!

13. If you don’t have a lot of cash, ask me to come for just one hour.  I can do just the bathrooms and the kitchen or only the areas guests will see.  Another service we don’t currently offer.  We’ll look into it, though.

There you go.  Freedom Cleaning Services’ take on the (at least in the industry) infamous “Thirteen Things” article.  We hope it was entertaining and educational and we can assure you that will be our last word on the topic.

Spreading Kindness Part 2

Ok, so this is the post I originally intended to write.  When you think about businesses and kindness what type of business do you generally think of?  I’ll bet it probably is not a cleaning or maid service, is it?

If you live in Minnesota, where we are located, you might remember Joan Steffend from her days as a news anchor at KARE 11.  If you live elsewhere in the country you might know Joan from her work on HGTV’s Decorating Cents.  I was reading a story about Joan the other day.  It seems that she has been busy, post Decorating Cents, with a new project; Peace Begins With Me.  There was a quote from Joan in that article that stuck with me.  It is simple, yet powerful.  “Remember who you are. Be who you are. Share who you are. Change the world.”

What does this have to do with us, as owners of maid or cleaning services?  We all have many opportunities to make someone’s day (even though your clients may already say that you make their day).  We have the opportunity to make someone’s life a little easier, a little better simply by doing what we do.  Perhaps you have heard of Cleaning for a Reason, the organization that provides free cleaning services for women undergoing cancer treatment.  Recently one of our C4R patients asked if there was a service in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that participated with C4R because a dear friend of her family had recently been diagnosed with cancer.  There was not.

Or perhaps you have heard of Cleaning With a Meaning.  Founded by Kara Anderson, a service owner undergoing her own battle with cancer, Cleaning With a Meaning provides free home cleanings to families with sick children, enabling that family to focus its attention on the child and not on household chores.  These are just two examples of opportunities we have to positively impact others in our communities.  There’s also, Cleaning for Heroes, the organization that provides cleaning and other household services for disabled and elderly veterans.  All of these require a small portion of your time and very little, if any, actual outlay of money on your part.  But the kindness you provide is invaluable.  Mardi and I joined Cleaning for a Reason in August of 2008 out of a need to give back.  It has been the most rewarding thing that we have ever done and it has had little or no affect on our bottom line.

There was one other quote from the article about Joan Steffend that sums all of this up.  “We are all connected in seen and unseen ways. Science has caught up with that spiritual philosophy. What one person puts out energetically is felt by all. It ripples around the world,”  Today I challenge you to start a new ripple with your cleaning or maid service.

Spreading Kindness Part 1

I had this great idea for a blog about the positive impact we, as cleaning or maid service owners, could have on individuals.  Part of the inspiration came from the time I’ve spent with Lisa Metwaly, owner of the Q Kindness cafe in Saint Paul, Minnesota.   As I was hashing this blog out in mind, I logged onto Facebook and found an announcement from Lisa that the cafe that her husband Jimmy had bought years ago and she had transformed into a hub of Kindness in a oftentimes cruel world, had closed it’s doors.

 

I’ve mentioned The Q Kindness in several posts including this one.  That’s because I believed in what Lisa was doing.  Sure, maybe it was a marketing strategy, but the kindness was real.  Imagine going to pay for your meal and finding out it had been paid for already because someone had spun the “Kindness Wheel” and paid for whatever it had landed on.  Ok, feeding the starving in Africa it isn’t, but it made someone’s day and in turn, that person was inspired to do something nice for someone else.  The blanket drive that she organized for the victims of the earthquake in Japan last year, was no marketing stunt.  We got our clients involved and were able to ship a bunch of blankets to Japan.  Maybe that made someone’s life just a little easier.  The mitten drive surely kept someone’s hand a little warmer.

I was sad that the Q Kindness had closed, but that won’t stop Lisa.  You can’t keep kindness bottled up and confined to a small cafe in Saint Paul.  Lisa has been going global and continues to do so with her website Kinactor.  What is a Kinactor, you might ask.  According to the website, a Kinactor is; Kinactor (ke’-nakt-er) noun 1. A kind actor connector. 2. A person who initiates kind acts and asks others to do the same.  Pretty cool and just what this world needs, if you ask me.

So, instead of writing a blog about how we can make a difference in an individuals’ life, I have written a post about someone who inspired me.  I guess this will have to be split into two parts.  Because, you see, kindness is too big to be limited to one blog post.  It has ripple effects and it can transform not only your life but, more importantly, others.

New Year and Perspectives

Ok, I’m just going to say it.  The end of 2011 stunk.  There’s no other word for it; at least not one I can post and keep this blog somewhat clean.  As amazing as the first half of 2011 was for this little company, the second half was that spectacularly bad. We started off the year by hiring our second employee.  Then a friend in the business decided to scale back her operations and, in an amazing act of Kindness, she referred some of her clients to us.  We hired a third employee, and then a second third employee (one important lesson learned in 2011; never hire friends.  Either yours or your employees.  It never, ever, ever ends well).

So, that puts us in early October.  And this is where it all goes south.  I could go into the gruesome details of ruined counter tops and hurt feelings and a flight of clients not seen since the Book of Exodus, but that’s all details.  Suffice to say that 2011′s departure was greatly welcomed here at Freedom Cleaning HQ.  “Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?”

The first time I sat down to write this, I was interrupted by a phone call from one of our employees who we had just sent off to start their day.  “We’ve been hit!”  Thank God they were both fine.  But I couldn’t help but think, as I loaded the bumper of our van into the bed of our pickup, “Really??  2011 followed us!”  But something else happened.  Both Brianna and Melanie, our two employees that are like daughters to us decided they wanted to keep working.  I would have never insisted that they do.  Accidents can shake you up, physically and mentally.  But, the van was still drive-able and they wanted to do the cleanings that day. 

Instead of being cursed, we are blessed.  Blessed that we still have clients.  Blessed to have employees who actually want to work and do a good job.  Blessed to be able to do something that we love to do.  Blessed that we can still keep cleaning for cancer patients through the Cleaning for a Reason program.  2012 is going to be an amazing year for Freedom Cleaning Services.

Kindness. Pass it on.

Last summer we decided to get a group of cleaning service owners from Minnesota and Wisconsin together.  A chance to collaborate, to learn and to share.  It was a great time and we made new friendships along the way.

We held the event at the Q Kindness Cafe in downtown Saint Paul.  This is a great venue with super food and the owners, Lisa and Jimmy Metwaly, are some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet.  Lisa believes that kindness is contagious and invites us all to pass it on.  Little did we realize that kindness would indeed find us through one of the participants of our little get-together.

Lisa Althoff was one of the attendees at this event.  She owns Neat Freaks Cleaning Company, based out of Blaine, Minnesota.  We have been in touch with Lisa several times since the “Cleaners Meet-Up”. Whenever we had leads we could pass to her or just to ask a question.  Earlier this year, she shared her training manual with us.  But what really amazed us was when she told us she was considering down-sizing her business and asked if we would mind if she sent some of her customers our way.  Wow!  And the cool thing is, she didn’t just limit it to us.  Lisa has referred her former customers to several other cleaning services in the north metro, including Trina Cronier and Tina Estrada. Kindness, indeed!

Thank you, Lisa Althoff.  What comes around, goes around in this world.  It is refreshing in these days of partisan politics and ugly economic news to see someone so genuinely giving and selfless.  You embody the spirit of what Lisa Metwaly is trying to do and we couldn’t be more grateful.

Work, Stress and Household Management.

We don’t have to tell you that life is more stressful these days.  We feel it, too.  Longer hours at work, plus taking care of the home can take it’s toll.  Don’t believe us?  Check out this information…

According to this article from Main Street, the high level employees left behind after layoffs are feeling pressured to work 50 or even 60 hours per week, while the lower level employees are being asked to work less hours or weekends and holidays.  These extra hours or less hours or undesirable hours obviously increase our stress levels.

 

 

And that doesn’t even count the stress you feel from home.  Are you one of the folks putting in marathon hours at work?  How do you take care of the home front when you finally drag your butt home?  Feel like cleaning the house?  According to this article, simply feeling as though you are responsible for the cooking, cleaning and other household chores and trying to figure out how to deal with it, can make your stress and blood pressure soar.

And finally there is this little tid-bit.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics (a division of the U.S. Labor Department) conducts a survey every year called the American Time Use Survey.  It asks average Americans to break down how they spent their time every year.  In 2010, among the people who completed the survey and identified that they did housework, Americans spend nearly 1.57 hours each week day doing some sort of housework.  I originally thought that that number didn’t seem so high until I did some math in my head.  1.57 hours each weekday times five days per week, times fifty-two weeks a year came out to over 400 hours each year on housework.  400!?

Luckily there are folks out there that want to help.  Yes, it comes at a price, but the trade-off could be your health.  From the kid down the street who can’t find a job and would love nothing more than to make a few bucks mowing your lawn, to a compnay like ours who can tackle the more difficult cleaning chores, you can lower your stress levels, save some time and maybe even reduce your stress level in the process.

One Less Heroine on Earth

Exactly one year ago today I wrote a post about our heroines.  The women we clean for who have cancer.  We clean for these women through a program called Cleaning for a Reason, a national non-profit that provides free cleaning to women undergoing cancer treatment via the donated time and products of cleaning or maid services across the country.

One of the women I mentioned in that post was a very bright candle in a sometimes dark world.  Today the world is a little darker.  That brilliant candle, Denise Blanchard, lost her battle with cancer on Friday morning.

There are no words in the english language to describe the sorrow, pain and immense sense of loss that Mardi, Bri and I all feel.  Our hearts go out to her husband Phil and her children, Ashley, Ben and Callie as well as to all of the people who, like us, had the amazing good fortune to be blessed with knowing Denise.

The Cleaning for a Reason program is supposed to be something designed to give women who are battling cancer a little ray of sunshine.  One less thing to worry about.  We are supposed to lift the spirits of these women by providing them with free house cleaning services.  And yet, I’m not sure who benefitted most from our work with Denise.  You could walk into her home in a bad mood and walk out with an amazing sense of lightness.  And, as we pulled out of her driveway you would think to yourself, ’Did she just cheer ME up?’  Denise was kind and thought of everyone else first.  She was also a fighter; whether she was bringing awareness to autism or ”Fighting Like a Girl” against cancer she went after everything she did with tenacity, courage and grace.

The world is a poorer place without Denise but we feel so blessed to have met her.  God has an amazing new angel and we just pray that He can comfort those she left behind until we can find the strength to carry on without her.  And we will.  Because that’s what Denise taught us.

Smirking at the Forecast

It seems that “snowmaggedon” fever has once more reached out and gripped the Twin Cities.  Weird.  Minnesota in February got a lot of snow.  We knew it was coming, because the forecasters told us.  And told us.  And told us some more.

Many people hit the stores in the days preceding the snow event and stocked up.  As the day of the storm came, it seemed that the forecasts of the actual arrival time were off.  The anticipated snow didn’t hit until later than forecast.  I was reading status updates from friends on Facebook that seemed to laugh or scoff at those that had stocked up or prepared.  People asked, “Where’s all the snow we were supposed to get?”  Sarcastic remarks about the forecasters were abundant.  Most of these were in the northern metro.

At the same time, I was reading status updates from other friends in Minneapolis saying they were “getting socked.”  The snow came, alright.  It just didn’t come when it was supposed to and the predictions for less snow in some parts of the metro were accurate.

Sometimes we expect more out of forecasting than is possible.  That goes the same with business forecasting.  It’s not an exact science.  It’s based on trends and information that may or may not be accurate and can be wrong as many times as it is right.  It also can be extremely accurate for one area, but not as accurate for another.  We ignore forecasts at our own peril.  Don’t listen to those that say the forecasters will be wrong.  Prepare your business and, at the worst, you will be ready. 

Remember; just because it isn’t “snowing” in your backyard, doesn’t mean it isn’t coming or someone else isn’t getting it.

Expectations

I know.  It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged.  I have found a lot o f things to keep me busy, lately. 

For one thing, I’ve started another business.  Raven Design is my own design studio where I can help other small businesses create advertising.  It really fuels my creative spirit.  Not sure what that means, exactly, but it sounds artsy-fartsy, doesn’t it?

I’ve also been vlogging a lot.  Isn’t that what it’s called when one commits a blog to video?  Those are all posted to our Youtube channel.

Recently we have had several customers who have, how do I put this diplomatically, challenged my easy-going business nature.  Look, I don’t mean to complain, but there is something I need to get off my chest.

We agreed to come to your home, at no cost or obligation to you.  We had you show us through your home, describing the things that were important to you to get cleaned.  We agreed and told you if there would be an additional charge or not.  We worked out a competitive price, which is no mean feat in this economy I might add, and you agreed to it.  We put you on our calendar and scheduled your first cleaning.

So, please tell me why you decided two days before we come out to ask if we would do three or four things that we never discussed, were not on the list of things that we do and want them done for free?  “Thanks for the reminder that you’re coming on Tuesday, Mike.  By the way, could you please also take out all the trash, dust all the blinds and wash the windows while you’re here?”

The short answer to that question is, no.  The reason is this will require extra time and effort on our team’s part and when we quoted you a price, those things were not taken into account.

We appreciate that everyone is trying to get as much value as possible from every penny spent, but when you mention these extra things just before the cleaning or, worse yet, while we’re standing in your living room on the day of the cleaning,  frankly it sounds like you’re trying to get something for nothing, figuring we wouldn’t dare say no right then and there.  Most times you are correct, but it’s going to leave a bad taste in my mouth for a while.  If you want to know if we will clean something, ask at the time of the walk-through.  We will be happy to let you know if we will dust Uncle Igor’s urn (sure, no charge!).

We value each and every customer we have.  We wouldn’t still be here five years later if we didn’t.  But please, please don’t take advantage of that value that we place on you.

Ok that’s off my chest.  Thanks for letting me vent.  Now I have to get back to work.

Dust to Dust

It has been some time since I have posted on a subject that this blog is supposed to be about.  Cleaning.   Of all of the things that we clean on a daily basis, what is the one thing that you might think we dispose of the most?

If you guessed soap scum, kitchen grease or something else altogether, you would be mistaken.  The one thing that we take the most out of a home is dust.  That’s right, dust.  It is in every nook and cranny of a home and it is the one thing that we can spend the most time on in each and every home we clean.

Do you know what makes up dust?  There has been a lot written about dust lately so you may very well know.  In case you don’t here are the ingredients for a good dust (in no particular order):

First, you must have dead skin cells.  Lots and lots of those.  Luckily we and our pets provide that by shedding dead skin cells every day.  As we walk through our homes it just sloughs off and falls to the floor to become dust.  Oh, and the fibers from our clothes, furniture, carpeting and curtains that get thrown into the air.  Don’t forget the things that we either bring inside our homes such as dirt that we have walked through.   Throw in some dander from our pets, pollen from indoor plants and the body parts and fecal matter from bugs and you have a lovely dust.

As these ingredients fall to the ground, they are trampled on by the occupants of a home and ground finer and finer.  Sooner or later they become airborne and eventually settle, most often on a flat surface such as shelving, ceiling fan blades, picture frames, etc. 

Dust is a natural part of life and while a little dust is not harmful, per se, it can  exacerbate allergies and asthma.  You can’t get rid of it, but you can control it by;

Cleaning your heating and air conditioning vents.  Dust gathers rapidly on these and when the heating or air conditioning system comes on it is distributed throughout the home.

Use humidifiers and air purifiers.

Vacuum your home at least once per week, making sure to not only do the floors, but also the furniture and draperies. 

Dust your home at least twice per week.  Do not use feather dusters, like the woman in the illustration.  These just throw dust into the air and distribute it elsewhere.  We always use a microfiber dusting cloth which picks up much more dust than an ordinary cloth.

The next time somebody in your home gets smart and writes “clean me” in the furniture, take their advice.  We can’t avoid dust, but we can control it.