 Hey, good afternoon everybody time Stewart here. This is smart business moves and we've got the million dollar panel That's going to be speaking at the ISA ISSA slash ARC see Convention here coming up by October 10th through 13th Our panel consists of and our guests today are Laura Smith R. J. Patel Vanessa Bussart Susan Stocker and Jeannie Henderson. Hey, how was everybody doing today? Hey there everybody good This is a this is a full house for smart business moves. So this is gonna be a jam-packed hour and I Guess let's just go around the the horn here and if Everybody could just take like a minute or two and Introduce themselves the name of their company where they're located and anything else about their business. They'd like to share Laura, why don't you go first? Okay, well, I'm Laura Smith. I own all-star cleaning services in Fort Collins, Colorado We are currently at about a three point four run rate And I have been largely at the team for my business for the last few years since my daughter got six She's better now But I still mostly run my business remotely so in in just to make sure we're clear when you say three point four run Rate what you're talking about is three point four million dollars a year Yes, that's a pretty rare ear congratulations. That is that is inspirational Yeah, I need I need to I need to start working harder RJ how about you? Yes, thanks, Tom. Hi everyone. I'm in the north west quadrant of Atlanta, Georgia town called Kennesaw where the guns are legal come visit me and We are inching close to our 20th year in business this January and we will be right at 2 million this year chasing Laura awesome and Are there are the guns a contributing factor that are just interesting You say the guns are legal there aren't guns legal in most places is there anything unique about Back in 1982 Three years after I moved here They actually passed a law that all homeowners must own a gun. That's so it's not only legal It's expected. It's required. It's required. So we have signs that they say Never mind the dog beware of owner Susan How about you? Hi, I'm Susan stalker and I am the owner of Susan's green cleaning here in Seattle We started seven and a half years ago. We're at a 2.5 million run rate right now Awesome. That's great. Vanessa I'm Vanessa Bossards and I own sparkling clean agency For 17 years during pandemic we change and open other companies but to improve and Green living clinics advice We We got a little down after pandemic before we are little above three million now. We are about 2.5 2.6 Okay Still awesome sized business Wow, I need to do the math and I'm sorry. I'm in San Francisco Yeah, okay, I need to like do a total of the Annual revenue for this entire group might have to get a calculator out here How are you today? Hi, I'm Jeannie Henderson and I'm honored to be here with this group tonight I'm gonna learn some things and I am the owner of Jeannie cleaning in Kalamazoo, Michigan and We have been in business for seven years And my business is at a one point three million dollar run rate But I am chasing all of you and hope to learn a lot from this group sweet so we're going to all be in Chicago here and Maybe just a little over a month. Is that correct? Right October 10th through the 13th What what's gonna be going on in Chicago then? Yeah, so October 10th through the 13th ISSA show North America and this panel will be reassembling in person that Monday for a million dollar panel of people can come in and ask questions live to this group meet these amazing business owners in person and I will have the honor of facilitating that conversation. So Really want to encourage people if you have not checked out the ISSA show to be sure and do that at ISSA comm and actually we are going to post a link here in the comments because You can take advantage of early bird pricing even though that has passed We have a special link that we are sharing with people who are watching smart business moves today Who can take advantage of our early bird pricing at only one hundred and seventy nine dollars? To register so don't miss that and be sure to check out the all-access pass so that you can participate in the Education that will be happening there a lot of that you'll get to meet amazing people like these rock stars in person And also you'll want to attend our million dollar panel. I just drop the link to the registration page and We have a special code That I'm going to draw that Is good for I guess a significant discount. It's Says one seventy nine arc see early Right. Yes, that is the I can't remember what price you're registering at now But it's significantly more than that and the price will continue to go up as the show approaches So don't miss out Yeah, Chicago, it's gonna be a great show. I Love Chicago. Chicago is fun. So the show if I go down the page here. There's a lot of stuff going on Got loose Trotter speaking Ricketts Derek not familiar with Derek Yeah We do know Derek anybody It's not. Oh, it's not Derek Christian is it? No, this is I'm not even I'm afraid to tackle the last name. Oh, I can't see it. Let's see. I'm not sharing. It's up here. It's I'm sharing my screen aren't I not Don't know that Derek I thought you were talking about Derek Christian. No, I can say Derek Christian Anyway, I'm sure The lunch and learn is a very large group. So I'm sure this is a professional speaker that Has a has a lot of game Asia one of our favorite people is going to be Speaking In the million dollar panel. This is panels going to be on Monday that the first day in the afternoon See what have we got here Bill Renek not sure if I know him he's like one of the big speakers in the big group, I presume Right. Yeah, this is spot like one thing that they have done differently this year They usually had different learning tracks, but this year all of the all of the education is you know, it's open to anyone Just encouraging people to check out as many speakers anything that they think will apply to their business So everything is combined this year Okay, that's that sounds exciting Certainly expands our opportunities there. We've got Debbie everybody knows Debbie. She always brings it. Hey, Jeannie, you're gonna be speaking speaking. Yes, exactly Recession proof. That's timely Laura Laura's got a standalone session here problem-solving. I know that's going to be awesome Sean Day is always fun Tom Stewart, okay. Well, we'll throw that in there Debbie's got a got a half-day workshop here. That's going to be great Royce and Tammy are Royce's rocks Matt's going to be speaking This is going to be good good you guys aren't doing the game show again though. Are ya that was fun We don't know, you know, it might not be on the schedule, but as an audible we can always bring it break it out You know what we'll see So Jeannie you're gonna be moderating the million dollar panel could you Share with our audience the format of that and how that's gonna work Yeah, so we'll be coming together. We have just over an hour probably together It's at the end of the day on Monday, which is nice So we'll be coming together. We'll have our panel We're gonna have a couple of questions that we know are relevant for what's happening in our marketplace right now That we'll be asking our panelists But we'll also open up the floor to open Q&A to take some questions from the audience as well plus our panelists are all gonna be around afterwards and after that we are going to have our ArcC roundtables, which so that the Million-dollar panel can flow right into the roundtable event and people can stick around for drinks and appetizers and get to meet these amazing people in person and interact with them and ask more questions That is great. That is awesome. So I guess Strategically that's one of the reasons it's kind of at the end of the day so we can go all night if we want to Yeah, right cleaning people start talking They just can't stop I'm being a little bit sarcastic, but It can happen, but the great thing is it's right there At the more McCormick place so people won't have to go someplace else to attend and we just want to encourage as many people To come as possible There are a lot of people in a lot of residential cleaning business owners in ArcC and there may even be some non-members there as well we encourage that and I Always say to people if you're getting into the cleaning business or if you're new to the cleaning business Get to know people who have walked the path before you and every single person on this call today and who are on this panel have been through the fire and learned great strategies put systems into their business So that they're able to do things like Laura, you know Run their business remotely and have an amazing successful business or like you have Tom go off and start other Businesses while your business is still successfully running So we really encourage people if you're new or you want to continue to grow your business This is the room to be in to learn from people who have done it yeah, if you've never been to convention it is You know you owe it to yourself. You owe it to your business to Experience that and and this is a good year. It's a good lineup. It's early enough in the year to really enjoy Chicago October in Chicago is is an awesome awesome experience You want to maybe give us an example of how the Me dollar panel is going to run I understand you have a trial question or two Yeah, so I have I have a couple of questions to ask everybody tonight and You can just jump in or I can violent hold you so We'll just see how that goes But yeah, we have we talked about a couple of good questions that we think are really on the top of people's minds right now Oh, if you want to jump in I'm gonna go through the first question And whoever wants to jump in first just jump in or raise your hand. Let's go. All right So million dollar panel how important is training to the success of your business and to Employee retention, and I know all of you have some great strategies behind that So who would like to jump on that one first? I'll go. Okay RJ. The reason I would go I said I would go is I actually today after many many years I had promised my staff that I would go out and personally train them so I went out there and Afterwards our four trainers that we recently selected One of them, you know, we've broken it down into different categories of cleaning kitchens bathrooms dusting and floors and I was working with dusting and It's amazing She said she was just like I haven't been taught this and we had to turn over so I had to step in a little bit and Readjust what we do and I'm just shocked at You know the feedback that I received from them it is the most critical thing think about it What do we sell? We sell a piece of mind we sell Mom and dad being able to enjoy their time with their children over the weekend But if we cannot do that successfully and it starts with processes and training that I don't know why we're in business Well, and you really you went out there and dealt with the drift, you know, we train people but then they drift, right? Yep, and it's a continual trainer, but then the trainer drifts Hey, yes, I can go next. Okay, Vanessa. Oh, I can't keep going. What did you say? So for us like 17 years Training is extremely important because this is how you set up your employee for success is I Think everyone know likes to know what's going on like you want to expect what's gonna happen and It's very important to have a structure training in place But it might have been a more important than that just beginning of training We rush the person to the field because it's gonna be profitable Is the ongoing training? So we have been talking about a lot in the company about the ongoing training So we created what we call the cleaners journey. So what's the journey and Our company because we realize the one thing like when you are in the field with that part of training Work with complaints training all days feels like you repeating yourself all the time the same thing and exhausted For the trainer, but the reality is when the cleaner shot in your company There was a journey they got to learn your company first and then if you put its data in place You're gonna see most of the cleaners make the same mistake So what we did we created a track on trainer? So our training program going like two weeks with a trainer then they sat a little bit on their own But they need to take tracks So on the tracks who created all the content are all the communication with the problems We know they're gonna happen and can miss little things like we realized one problem always happened here in San Francisco and High-risers or homes. It's they have a hard time. Let's say choose the intercom It's a simple thing that creates stress when someone just starts to work in the company And so we make videos we so we try to educate them to just join me So we we say we hold their hands for the neck for the first two months And then keep going on this journey. So well, and that's that period where you know You're that's where you have the highest drop-off that first 60 to 90 days Boy, so you really want to pour into them. So it really helps with your retention, too I'm sure when you're helping them be clear in their workplace They feel like they know what they're doing and they're doing it. Well, everybody wants to do a good job Yeah, hope so right? I totally agree with you. So yeah, that's we see them rotation I think everyone want to be heard listen So we do Meetings so the two first month for us is the crucial time. Yeah, we hold their hands Well, I think that's a really great point for people who are listening to understand that once you hire someone It's a journey. It training doesn't end the day. They start It's something that goes on for their the entire time that they're with you training shouldn't end So, yeah, that's great. Thank you so much. Vanessa. Who else wants to share? Yeah, I'll share I think um Training was super crucial. I think because we're well, we're known for our quality um and especially like when you're When you're faced with an economic downturn Or covet or something else you want to make sure that you have something that is really valuable to your customers If you don't have quality, you know, I mean, I suppose you could get get by with just You know, how much your customers love the technician or whatever they think they're buddies But at the end of the day quality will save you Um, and it will also allow you to charge a higher price as well. Um, and that's what we did So we really we honed in on our training. Um, we started doing something. So we do 120 hour training program We actually check in with them, you know, every day for the first month We either do it at the end of the day if they're getting off early or we get them first thing in the morning Make sure that they're doing really well We do the same thing as Vanessa. We do the training wills. That's really nice so they can have that, you know All the time and just look at all their training online. They can retake it if they want Um, another thing that has kept us really accountable. I don't know who else used it, but we use um Martha Woodward's quality driven The qts surveys and those when we first started doing it We were probably if you don't know what this is it's where you could send a feedback to your customer after every cleaning And they can rate you one to five stars. Obviously what five stars? Um, and when we first started doing that we actually were seeing threes which surprised me So then we started doing an extra bonus if you get fives and fours That also just that motivating factor from qts bumped up our quality like crazy And it's especially nice because you can check a little box That allows all the technicians in your company to see all the scores So you could have a score, you know from mrs. Smith or whatever Um, or since we're not sexist mr. Smith And just say that he gives one technician a five the next one gets a four That will really motivate that person who gets the four like why did I get a four? And i've seen it myself like a technician will say i'm going to get that five just like pait did or whatever And so that that is a big game changer as well But I think once you get your training down on your quality then that you absolutely have to have that When I loved what you talked about Charging enough because that allows you then to pay your team that helps with that retention piece, right? That job satisfaction and I also really love the transparency that you did inside of quality driven software Allowing everyone to see all the scores. I think a lot of people would be apprehensive about that But that's a bold move that made that really paid off. So really did Thank you. How about you laura? um, so I think training is super vital to success but the thing that um, I like that was brought up was the um, I can't remember the term you use but just like the way that people kind of slide like they start out good and then they kind of Draw The drift yes So, um, one of the ways that we've really addressed that is because that's when we tend to lose people to especially people who start strong Um, if they start to not you know, not really feel like they're the golden child anymore than they start looking around Um, so two things that we've done is one we choose our trainers. Obviously they have to have good quality they have to um, but we choose them more on their um Like how how much they like their job how much enthusiasm they have for the work and the company and things Like that because they're really the ones who are teaching people how they behave and how they're supposed to feel about all of this um So we really have our trainers for that and then the other thing was for the longest time I want to possible because I wanted everybody to be really You know predictable and rake things the same way things like that But what we've learned was that people get burnout on training And so we may hire them for their enthusiasm, but they get it less and less and less as they're getting overloaded with trainees so actually 10 trainers now um, and they meet once a month And they have their own private slack channel that they can discuss things in and they just It goes so much better for us now Because they get breaks. They don't get overwhelmed and they really push each other to Um continue to be the best they can be they bring up new ideas to each other and things like that And then the other thing that we've done that has really helped from the training aspect is you know, a lot of people Kind of go through training and then kind of get kicked out on their own and that's that um, we kind of reimagined our qa role as being the team coach instead of um Quality assurance. So she's not going out there checking you. She's going out there to give you a different training um, and our people love that um I you know back when we had a qa people are like they didn't love it when people started to protect them um, but now every time Our field person goes out there. They're teaching them new tricks and they're giving them extra training And they get really excited about it because they feel like they learned something new and exciting So it keeps people engaged and that's helped our retention a lot as well Wow, there's a lot in there laura. That's amazing I love that the training team and the the training coach basically I think people need ongoing mentoring and they in the cleaning business I think and I think we've all experienced this our employees feel disconnected You know, they're out there, especially if they're solo cleaning or even if they're on a team They're only seeing that person You may have a team of 25 or 30, but they don't get to know them So that helps them have someone that they're connected with and connection is so important to retention to Well, tom, I would love to hear what you have to say about training and retention Sure, um, because we won't have you on the panel there in issa. I'm going to take advantage of it now Okay, um, you know, we were talking about uh, the arcsy convention issa I've been going to that convention for over 20 years. I was going to the issa before arcsy was even arcsy That's some really awesome people there one person I met a long time ago a gentleman by the name of Jim Harris some of you might know Jim he, um He invented team cleaning the idea of putting four people together in a team and One of them wears a backpack vacuum protein wouldn't be protein if it wasn't for Jim figuring out what to do with that He was also one of the two founders of the maids the franchise brand that that many of you are familiar with and The maids obviously have a four person team format and a long time And I'm bringing Jim up because he passed away a couple weeks ago. So he was really awesome guy and Did a ton for the cleaning industry in general both residential and and commercial But he's told me that tom, you know in this industry in the cleaning industry Everybody talks about training, but nobody does it and it's like what do you mean? Nobody does it everybody trains and he kind of really got into it and it's like Don't you think that a lot of companies worry about spending more on training than what they should and it was like Yeah, and he goes, you know, while they spend more on training and they should it's because they aren't Spending it in the right way They're throwing a little bit of money at a whole lot of people because the turnover is high And they're having to just train a ton of people and they're just doing a Halfway job of it and helped me understand a long time ago that training is really critical in order to scale a business And make a profitable business and the way you do it is you do it really well And if you do it well people look at their job as something more than just a task. It's a profession and it's uh, it's uh, you know Something more important, you know that if Liz we're here she'd be telling us about matter meaning measure that I matter as an individual the work that I do has meaning and there's some metric that that tells me that I'm doing something uh, you know important and and and and well and You know the whole point is if you train and if you do it with a system If you do it well If you use some of the techniques that Laura and some of other you have have have spoken to You're able to build a workforce that's stable that isn't turning nearly as high as as what you see Across the industry as a whole and that's how you grow to be a million to three million Revenue a year So You know there's other parts to it in addition to the training But you're not going to scale a business and in the cleaning industry without an awesome training program Wow, that was powerful share. I'm so glad that you shared that and and then jim's honor He's still helping people today because i'm sure a lot of people are going to hear that and it's going to change They're going to have a mind shift on what training is all about just from that Few minutes that you were speaking there. So thank you so much. That was great And that really leads into our next question because you were talking about stability And that's one thing that people are really concerned about No matter what you believe about what's happening in the economy. It's changing correct It's changing and many people believe that we're in a recession We're definitely in an economic downturn in an inflationary period So our next question is What is one thing that you are doing now to ensure your company thrives during an economic downturn? Now, I know there are probably more there's more than one thing But we don't have time to go over more than one. So pick one and share that Today something that you're doing To prepare or just to thrive As we go forward who would like to go first. I think we'll first. All right. Vanessa So one thing we did We reveal our finance And divide the budget And we make sure that every job is profitable. So we review all the rates We unfortunately some client we lose some clients So we clean up a little bit the house to make sure we are profitable And and make sure we keep on these budgets Well So we can keep growing during the recession that's profitable Well, don't you think that that's something that holds a lot of people back because they're doing Unprofitable cleaning because they feel bad. They don't want to cut that client. But what it's just hurting their business It's hurting their team Yeah, so that's this is the time to prune your list and another thing Susan said is Because I remember I I grow this company to 2007 2008 2009 That's when we are going really really fast through a recession. Yeah, yeah Yeah, and one thing is people that has money they always have money like we are in San Francisco So it's a very particular market But if you have money to pay house cleaning you're gonna have money So we increase a lot the quality of the service So we make sure you deliver a high quality service. So clean up the finance make sure you're profitable and high Stand quality. So then you give value to your service Yeah, that's those are Really great. Thank you so much for sharing that who would like to add a tip now. Laura I would like to go next. So I just kind of want to build on something she said I mean definitely the thing that we've been doing to prepare in addition to saving money is just Raising our prices because ultimately we want people who are paying our higher rates on our schedule So that if wages need to go up because that's the thing that I see the most changing in the economy right now Is wages at least in my area So that way we have those more clients, but I wanted to add on to what she said about 2008 2009 I grew through that as well And also in the last six months since we've been kind of Going, you know in a Direction that people don't like I guess with economy I've added a million dollars to my run rate in six months Um, we have been growing like crazy right now And my theory on this is that when people get worried financially More people who had previously been staying home go back to work And so you don't have to stay at home on the plane house anymore. Maybe Um, but I really believe that economic downturns are good for cleaning services. So Um, I just wanted to throw that out there 2008 2009 was great for me and so far I mean we had one of our biggest months in years last month. So So great. Congratulations And I and thank you for both of you for sharing that hope with our audience today Because I think a lot of people especially if they didn't if they haven't been through a recession Before they assume that it means downturn means downturn for their business too And it doesn't need to be that way I think because both of you had the right mindset and you just charged ahead Taking advantage of the the Um the opportunities that were ahead of you and using your strengths to grow your business That's what it's all about your business does not need to go backward during this time This is a great time to refine and build right So good. Thank you. All right. Who would like to go next? How about you Susan? Um, kind of the the same thing that lauren and venessa were saying we actually we were more profitable during the pandemic than we were before and It was because right when that hit I wanted to make sure the customers that stayed with us Um, we're going to be the ones that we could count on So I wanted to kind of weed out the ones that wouldn't be able to stay with us sooner than later So that meant, you know raising our rates All across the board even for established customers. We just had to do because we had to make a decision on that um And because of that and again like venessa was saying if you know the people who have that they're they're going to keep Have that money. Those are the ones that you want for that core. That's the ones that we want It can be really hard customers coming and going you can't have a predictable income You know and that that can really affect your workforce as well if you don't have work for them So we increased our prices. We increased our training. We increased our our wages And that's helped us really well and we continue to focus on that That's been our focus for two to three years now and we're continuing that way as well Yeah, that's great and that is going aggressively forward and I think that um A lot of people when something like this happens and they haven't experienced it before they just freeze And they think well, I have to hold on to every client I have so I can't raise their prices And it's backwards thinking You know and on all of you shared like that very forward thinking thing and a lot of people are in the cleaning business Are in that 300 to 500 thousand dollar range and they just can't imagine going backwards because they work so hard to get there And they want to be where all of you are now and this is how you do it All right, you charge forward. How about you RJ? Well, I mean I agree with everything the lady said, um Creating value at the end of the day And the value starts from when the phone rings how you answer it How you take care of people and then how do you clean for them? So it goes back to the original question about training And what we're focusing on right now is creating efficiencies So as we revisit our costs Also, if we create the efficiencies it's it's in itself going to reduce that cost But create more value for the client and at the end of the day, that's the best thing we can do For sure Yeah, that is so helpful. Just it helps people to hear That everyone and RJ you went through the last recession also, correct? Oh my gosh, yes And what was that like share your experience? I think it's helpful for people to hear That people not only survive but they double in size and they grow and they thrive in periods of downturn um, and uh, you know to be totally transparent, um In 2008 january, I had just completed building a 18 000 square foot shopping center And I had two pre lease leases that decided they were going to back out And so my shopping center sat empty for a while except my office And it was tough You know weathering that storm was tough. So my point is that distracted me from my business a little bit We didn't grow as much But we we grew I believe around 22 Which is not bad We if I had had that full focus we we could have grown even more because my shopping center really really distracted me Yeah, well, I can see that but solid 22 is solid Um, you know during a time of concern like that. So that's good got to give people hope That's because we all know that we can grow and thrive during this And it's just we we're here to help everybody do it. So but you know, I would like to say Um, a recession is a individual family decision about whether they can afford You know housekeeping landscaping things of that nature that some things that they can do themselves But when it comes to covet My opinion is if you survive covet When people weren't willing to let you come to their homes Because the kids were home the husband was home The lady was home working, you know, everybody was working from home And if you came in they almost treated you like a disease. So they said no no cleaning If you survive covet You can survive anything Very good very true Right for sure. No, I think that that's a great point Um, so how about you tem? Um, what are what's something that you're doing right now to prepare your cleaning business? You know for us a lot of it's you know in the numbers you know Showing the number of years. I've been around doing this. We would get together at convention You know back 15 years ago The discussion was always about how many homes you guys clean a month. That was like how we measured success and It quickly got to well, what's your revenue? How much how much revenue do you guys do a year? And it's kind of you know what with it, you know the the title of this group But this group is successful because they're worried about or are managing things beyond the number of homes they're cleaning Or what their top line revenue is it's really about how much money you're making off of the homes that you're cleaning and You know We've been in what they call a supply constrained market for a while I mean even before there were signs that you know, the Federal reserve is going to raise interest rates and basically make the economy slow down It was really hard to hire people and this whole inflation thing that This is unprecedented. They're not there's not anybody watching You know this show that's ever managed a business with any meaningful amount of inflation But it's consistently been you know, eight nine percent over the last few months And maybe it's peaking but it's not going to Get down to you know the two percent and below range of anything that you know We're used to managing in for A long time. So you've got a tight labor market. You've got prices going up all over the place and The concern that consumers are going to stop spending as much so The name of the game now is How do you make as much money as you can make off the homes you're cleaning and You know, we look at at every recurring house that we have and look at the revenue per hour and You know, you can get your average and that can be deceiving your average can be awesome But you know, you probably have A third or more of the homes that you're cleaning that are really underpriced and you might not be aware of it if you aren't Measuring that and those are the ones that we really go after for rate adjustments and You know, we've got calculators that that that we use and made central that can kind of show you that if you raise your Bill rate by x amount you can afford to lose Y number of homes and still make this much more money So we're not really concerned about losing homes as long as we know what the ratios are and it gives us the ability to Do increases higher than What you might have the courage to do and and in years past and you need to do that because you have to pay so much More for labor if you go back and look at what you're paying per hour now to like pre-covid I don't know anybody out here that's not paying at least Now then they they did We have to be charging one or more You know that's part of it, you know In every recession at least from my perspective has been different And it reacts different in different parts of the country and you have recessions for different reasons I've been doing this since the mid 90s and you know been through several recessions and You know dot-com bust and 9 11 and all of that, you know didn't really miss a lick 2008 for us was a little bit different You know a lot of the a lot of the revenue we generated were in communities that people were really spending more money than they had and the reason that they were Hiring us on a weekly basis to clean their home was they could go to the bank and refinance their house every year And pay off their credit card and basically reload and go another year so When you know the housing market crashed and there was no home, you know refinancing We lost a lot of business just it felt like overnight um, we pivoted we Started doing more what we call resummercial work using the same workforce the same equipment the same working hours and We were we got accounts with like military base housing We got accounts with senior living facilities. We got accounts with property management groups We still do a fair amount of that we do most of our revenue still comes from residential cleaning But uh, we like the diversity there So if the economy does take a hit and if consumers stop spending money I've got other business relationships that basically hire residential cleaners that Really are more recession proof those those clients are going to use our services regardless of what the consumer is doing Well, that is a great pivot and I like how you called it resummercial That's that's that's a great idea and um, you know, a lot of people did that during the pandemic started cleaning offices and created another vertical that maybe stuck with them after Uh, the pandemic was over with but yeah, that's that's great It sheds a lot or shares a lot of hope with the people who are listening that All of these people if we can be successful through this they can too Right, you are special, right? But um, we're all just business owners And it's just how you apply yourself and leaning into the residential cleaning community learning everything that you can Right now to strengthen your business is is great and doing that all year long is good too So thank you everybody for that and before we do anything else Could everybody go around and just tell us why you're going to the issh a show where we've got a campaign going Called i'm going right so can you tell us why you're going to issa? How about you venessa? So i'm going I would say every time I go I learn something and and for me it's like if I get out there learning five new things It's too worth it And beside that it's a great place for networking do you get meets You can make friends that are still with you and help you And it's it's so nice to to have someone to talk To understand you to know to understand what you're going to it's like a mom's group when you have a baby We get you right you We all embrace you and and it becomes like it's A big family everybody's embracing and it's very welcoming um It's I have this is to be my big fear. I think took me a while to start it but then since I started I didn't stop That's awesome. That's great. Thanks. How about you susan? um Well like venessa Every time I go I learned something Every time I have gone I have not only made back all of the money that I spent on airfare the hotel that I have made that back like A hundred fold during the year So that's always really nice as well You get so many tips so many different ideas from other owners and speakers that you had no idea about That will save you time make you money, you know, and you make friends I had lunch with venessa a couple a couple months ago Um, I met uh tamra my now my best friend at the convention in um, what was it? 2016 um And if I had known about arcsy The year that I started I would be even way Further ahead now because there's so much I could have learned right from the beginning I could have saved myself so so much heartache so many pitfalls so much wasted time I wish I'd known about it then Right. Yeah me into the community. Yeah, it's fun and you don't have to go it alone. I think, you know Yeah, I'm gonna add something what I should say because it's like even though I was So long on the industry and I felt like I knew I wouldn't say everything but I knew a lot Still so long And sometimes I found people that had the same fan of mine and we need to share solutions Yeah, that for me was great changing points. Yeah, that's so great. How about you rj? um, I'm I am going because venessa promised me dinner That's about it. You're lucky nice We always have dinner The real promise or the real reason is You know to sum it up For the past five months. I was literally misdiagnosed from a health standpoint They did some surgery. I didn't need it and I was in recovery and during that time. I was moving my offices and Gosha Paul from new hampshire And oscar and his brother Came to help me move They didn't let me lift a single thing now They're all arcsy people that I just mentioned Where am I going to find that? I mean the value of arcsy is way beyond what I could imagine. It's a sense of belonging It's a sense of friendship. It's a sense of unity and I just I I love the people of arcsy That's great. And then you and aja are hosting a regional event there as well. Correct We're hosting it at gosha's new office at gosha's new office. I'm sorry in chicago. Yeah, sorry I got that mixed up. But yeah, gosha's new office. That's exciting and I think That is limited space available. So if you're registering and you want to get involved with that That would be a great event to go to to meet some people and have some time to get to know others How do we register for that rj? That's like before the convention that's on a sunday, isn't it? Yeah, it's it's sunday Late in the afternoon because most people will come in if you're going to come in later sunday come in a little bit early Come join us. This is a brand new office that she just recently purchased Going through renovations right now and it's going to be liz myself and gosha Presenting people process and profits I'm looking at the Website And I'll drop a link for that too because we haven't talked about it. This is uh The regional event is the ninth from one to six Register here I'll drop the link. It's uh Into chat That's great. Yeah, this is uh, we're trying to do more and more regional events With our arcsie community Something I didn't mention earlier is that I am the current chair of the issa residential cleaning council or arcsie and So i'm looking forward to meeting a lot of people there and that's why i'm going I really want to hear what's happening in other people's businesses and how Um How arcsie can help people grow their businesses. What are people looking for? What do they need to support them right now? We're trying to do as many things as we can to help our members and to grow our membership and And to provide more benefits that are going to help people be more profitable Systemized their business those kinds of things So I hope that I get to meet a lot of people who are watching today and of course looking forward to seeing everybody in person So laura, can you tell us why you're going? Yes, I am so excited to go this year because I have not been to a convention since 2018 Um, and before that I had never missed one. I loved convention. It was my favorite time of the year I get all of my best ideas from other cleaning service owners You can't beat the networking and all my best friends. I'm cleaning businesses at this point So it's like a big family reunion, you know But I was actually my daughter got diagnosed with cancer like four days or something before issa in 2019 And I haven't been anywhere since and I haven't seen my people in so long So I am so excited to come network and get some fresh ideas and make some new friends Can't wait. That's so great and I'm excited that you're presenting too. Really excited to see that And we're so happy to hear that junos doing better. So thank you so much for doing that Well, thank you everybody. There was some amazing sharing today. I'm going to go back and rewatch this and take notes That was great. Well, I'll hand it back to you. Tom. Thank you so much for having all of us. Sure. Thank you for Sharing a preview of the million dollar panel. Um You know, this is really a cool format. I'm looking forward to that and For the event that we're going to be doing in chicago The audience I guess kind of real time will be able to ask ask their question Yes, there will be open q&a And then of course the panels after or the um round tables after so Most of our panelists will probably still be there and they can talk then too So we don't necessarily have to shut it down after an hour in chicago Well, we do because we will be moving to another room, but um, yeah, that's okay. We'll still be together Yes, we'll still be together. Yes Because that's uh, one of the cool things about you know convention, you know, I've been going for for a long, long time And you know, you get to see old friends and it's fun. You know, you get to party a little bit You make new friends. You always learn useful stuff and Just being able to put all that together in context and in Sharing in a brainstorming type way with with with like-minded people You get insights on things that you wouldn't see in your business If you were like in your business doing what you normally do day in and day out And that's worth as much as anything else is like when you're on the flight back home thinking about You know the a couple of things that that were revelations that you're able to figure out about your business and action plans that you needed to do that You know, even if you were reading a book or watching a webinar about the same thing It wouldn't have had the same impact because you're still like halfway into that and halfway into running your business every day getting away from Your business for a few days allows you to see things that You just won't be able to see if you're in the middle of your business and Again, if you've if you've if you've been there, I don't you know It's like none of us, you know, have any financial stake in this. We're trying to be helpful If you've been you know what we're talking about But if you haven't been you know, I really encourage you to experience this just one time and after you do You'll know. What is it? How does that go if you know, you know, you know, you know, right? Well, and a lot of people I love what you said about you have to get out of your business sometimes to just see it you have to see it from the outside and A lot of people will say well, I can't afford to take time away from my business I can't afford to do this or that but I believe people can't afford not to participate in the arxie community because we need community to Just strengthen our industry as a whole and We can't do it alone And I think that getting to be around people like the people here on this call today It's a shortcut to success, you know I just learned from a bunch of people who Have been working in this industry for a very long time So I'm learning things that I wouldn't have known That it would have taken me years to figure out by myself, right? And I'm sure all of you have had that experience when you talk to someone wise like the one that tom That uh, jim was tom was talking about jim who we learned so much from Put it being around people like that. It's a shortcut to success Yeah, janey if you if if I mean, I know what it's like to feel like I can't afford to get away But if you think about it none of us You know got into this industry started our business bought a business however we got here With the idea of I can't afford to get away for for for three days I mean if we knew that was part of the deal we probably wouldn't sign up for it We had other visions other aspirations Okay, and if you're in that position if you want to fix it You got to step out and do something different and it's through You know networking and participating in an event like this is uh, you know And oftentimes a big step towards Accelerating your growth and getting to where you wanted to be when you you started the journey Exactly, you know, we get we get pulled into our business and think that it needs us all of the time and it A lot of times it does our business good to step away from it as well. So Um, well, thank you everybody and thank you tom for hosting us today This was a great panel and I can't wait to do it live And they show in north america. It's gonna be great I'm going to drop the link again and chat and I'm going to Take the early bird special Okay, great. Thank you. Yeah drop that as well. So if you joined us late Because you're here and watching this panel today We are giving you special access to the early bird special that's already closed for issa north america It's showed this year, but we're giving you access to that special price because you're here So lucky you stuck around and you get to have this early bird code So copy that code The registration link is there and be sure to sign up for the all access pass So that you can join us at the million dollar panel on the first day of the issa show Well, I uh We've just dropped the link in the uh early bird Secret code is dollar sign 179 space arc see early all one word Um, it's like we lost laura. I was kind of having some connection issues. It was awesome having laura here RJ as always. Thank you for uh, you know, you're a regular on smart business moves You you've guest hosted for for for smart business moves. You were like guest host back when we were doing this every day, right? Yes Thank you for that And uh, much much appreciated Vanessa good seeing you look forward to seeing you in a little over a month in chicago susan. Thank you Gina you're awesome. I tell you what, um, what are you doing next wednesday at five o'clock? Yeah, if you ever need a day off i'm i'm happy to Give you a little help. I'm here to help. You're you're awesome. Um, well, I guess that pretty much does it for us Today, we'll be back Next wednesday five o'clock eastern time until then you guys have a great week. Take care. Bye. Bye. Thank you