 Hey, good afternoon everybody, I'm Stuart here, I'm with Liz Trotter and a host of other people who are all big winners in the jobber boost grant program, and we're going to be talking about their businesses, this really awesome program that jobbers doing to help professionalize the cleaning industry. We're going to have a lot of fun. Hey, how's everybody doing today. Amazing. We've got representatives from three businesses here today. We have Courtney and Burgess. Hey, Berber, they are from Santa. Hey, Berber. That's kind of like, what was the Steve Martin version of the Pink Panther? Oh, yeah, good job, Tom. We're getting there. Santa Claus exterior cleaning from Santa Claus. Is it Indiana? It is. That is awesome. We'll want to hear more about what's happening in Santa Claus. We've got Amber Starling with good witch cleaning services and that's in Kansas, right? Absolutely, Manhattan, the little Apple. That's where my daughter lived. She went to college there. What? Yeah, K-State. Yeah, she's a huge K-State fan. Yeah, huge. That's what I'm talking about. We have Eric Kirk, Kirk Caldy. Kirk Caldy. I'm not really awesome. Liz, why don't I do this? Why don't you just do this? I'm much better with names. You are much better. I'm a geography person. Sparkle and Sheen Organize and Cleaning Services. Where are you guys located, Aaron? We're in Edmonton, Alberta, up north. Oh, right. So this is really kind of a cool program. JobResponsor to Program had thousands of applications from, I guess, home service companies. It was a grant program and out of the thousands of applications, they selected 30 home services entrepreneurs, basically. And out of those 30, they gave out grants in total for $150,000. Each of you guys, your company's got $10,000 from JobResponsor. Is that correct? Yep, we did. $7,500. Yeah, I got $7,500 as well. $7,500. Okay. Well, that's still a grant. We get that portion. Yeah, I know. So it's about the same. I didn't think about that. That was good, Aaron. And as we've learned with the series of unprecedented events over the last year and a half and COVID and everything that, you know, the SBA is doing and PPP funds a grant. It's pretty cool because that's just money that you never have to pay back, right? Yeah. So Courtney and Burgess, could you tell us a little bit about your company? What you guys do, the services you offer, how you got started in the business and a little bit about the grant process and what you guys did to become a winner in their program? Absolutely. Burgess, why don't you start talking about the company and then I'll talk about the grant process. All right. Well, Santa Claus exterior cleaning is a company, our bread and butter is low pressure house washing. So we do low pressure house washing, which is basically the exterior of the home. We do low pressure roof washing, which is applicable like metal roofs or asphalt shingles roofs. And we do high pressure concrete cleaning as well. So those are our three primary services. We also do some specialty stone cleaning. We do monument and headstone restorative cleaning. So we do that following the same process. It's used at Arlington National Cemetery and the National Park Service. So those are where we're at right now. We've been in business. Well, we started advertising in June of 2020 amidst a global pandemic because we like things to do things in hard mode. Wow. You know, it was one of those situations where strike by the iron is hot. We saw some opportunity when we replaced the roof on our home. There was a lot of heavy moss and algae growth on it. And I was researching how to keep that from happening on my new very expensive roof that I just had. And it kind of led me to look around and realize that there was a big need for this service in our community and our local area. We service several counties around Santa Claus, Indiana and Southern Indiana. So I was a research and development scientist for a global corporation. I was working on formula and child nutrition. And, you know, I really want to wash houses. So we did this on the side a little bit. It quickly became apparent that there was a need for this and we were getting a lot of response from our community. And it kind of in a very short period of time made it obvious that this is what we should be doing. So our business donates 10% of all of its profits on any service. And we always will to local children in need. So in our first year of business, we've purchased 50 or 60 winter coats for local children in need, 60. And we started a new scholarship local high school and we've made a bunch of financial donations to local nonprofits. So we're very fortunate to already be making the impact that we want to make. And I'll let Courtney talk a little bit about herself, but helping children is obviously in my previous role. And the important thing is current one is very important to us in the company. Yeah, it's been a ride, you know, since we started just last year. But I'm also a public school teacher. I teach middle school music and I just got my administrator's license. So we're very busy and we're very, very much our whole lives are about giving back and about giving giving to kids and helping kids. And so one of the biggest reasons why we did start the company was so that we could have an impact, you know, not just what we were doing personally, but what we can do for the greater good, you know, so. And then the grant process, like you mentioned, we the boost by job or grant was an awesome opportunity. We filled out all the paperwork went through all these interviews and everything. And as you guys know, it was a it was kind of like a shot in the dark. Let's try this out and see what happens and you know, whatever. And it after after different interviews and things that we were chosen and it was unbelievable when we heard so it was very cool. Very awesome. So you were definitely surprised when you found out you were a winner. Looks like they were all surprised. Everybody's eyes were like, well, you know, it's like one of those things like you you always see like apply for this thing apply for this whatever. And you're you know why no one's going to win. Well, yeah, you do sometimes. Amber, would you like to tell us a little bit about your business and how the grant process went for you. I would love to tell you about us. I founded this company in 2017 I was 24 at the time. We had just moved to Kansas from Florida to follow my husband's career in the army. I had seven years of office experience five years of management experience, including as a frontline fire fighter was a volunteer in the fire department. And I had like a high school diploma so when I was trying to find work. Nobody would hire me because I either had too much experience or too little education. So after like seven months of that, I looked at myself and I was like, you know what self you can hire yourself. So we're going to do this. I started all by myself. I had $100 worth of cleaning supplies from Dollar General, and I had a vacuum from my house. In 2018, I became the first ICRC certified house cleaning technician in the state of Kansas. And I hired my first employee. In 2020, I became a journeyman textile cleaner with the ICRC. In 2020, we also face the pandemic and we really reevaluated our core values. We decided that we were going to give it a shot to be a very progressive company in a conservative state. We rewrote our mission statement. And what it is today is to prove that you don't have to be an evil corporation to be a successful company. We have worked really, really hard in the application, which was like way back when I put that we had nine employees. We're now up to 12. And we are just expanding every day. The grant process was awesome. I kind of had like a similar experience to them. I went to my staff meeting that night and I was like, hey, we applied for this grant. It's a long shot. Don't hold your breath. We later went second round and we were like, okay, well, we made it to the second round. It's still a long shot. Don't cross your fingers. And then we got the news that we were actual winners and it was just amazing. They went out of their way to be as clandestine as possible. So we were actually preparing for another round of interviews when they sprung the news on us. So I'm over here. I have like bullet points and note cards everywhere. I look like a conspiracy theorist. I have all my notes because I was so nervous. And you're like, oh, yeah, we're announcing that you're a winner. I feel like I'm ready. I'm ready. I love that. So Aaron, you want to tell us a little bit about your company and what your experience was going through the grant process? Yeah, absolutely. So Sparklin Chain is a family run residential and commercial cleaning company. It was kind of starting right before COVID hit. So a little bit awkward timing to launch a business. But the help I had between myself and Raquel, she's my mom. So she kind of helped me along the way kind of learning ins and outs of cleaning. But we're a lot more than just a cleaning company. We offer a wide variety of services just to meet any of our clients needs. We do laundry and light housekeeping. We do elderly companionship services. I mean, we even launched it in Turquoise that does that waste removal. So we'll do absolutely anything for our clients just to leave that lasting impression. I mean, a lot of people think it's just cleaning, but it's so much more than that. Just so many of our clients. I'm sure all these other business owners understand too. No one understands what people are going through. Whether it's mental illness or just lost a loved one. Like we've got so many calls after we've done talked about and claims of people just crying and just saying how really changed the way they look at their house and to get back on track and get things back together and get things back in order. So it's something very important to us is just kind of doing whatever it is to help. Like we're very senior focused. So a lot of our work is for the seniors. It may not be the most like the most efficient way to make money, but for us, it's it's so much more than that. And just a lot of these seniors don't have family in the area, which is why we offer the elderly companionship services and stuff like that. I mean, I have some of my stuff just go play with some of our seniors. Like it's as simple as that. Just to let them know. And not down there down there, but you have us. You do have someone that you can always know and will always be here. So that's kind of like what our vision and values are here as far as machine is super important to us. And yes, it's got it to where we are today. And I think it's really what separates one of the other cleaning companies and engine here. So, um, as far as the job program goes, um, we're kind of the exact same as you guys. You felt the application here kind of like, well, it's probably a long shot like 45 countries. Probably not. We're going to have looked at, but as the process went on, we just, we knew what we had and we built confidence throughout the way. And kind of by that second round, we kind of knew we had a chance because just what we offer compared to so many other companies. Right. So it was an awesome experience. They came out, we had a big staff meeting because they said they were bringing us some ice cream and stuff. So they kind of came out and met all of us in the staff and played a little game with us and surprised us with the game. So it was an awesome day. The one that I'll remember. Wow. I love this whole story. I like all three of you guys. I'm like, I love all these stories. I'm like, I love all these stories. There was like, I felt like Erin's trying to make me cry. I'm like, don't make me cry. I don't want to cry. There's definitely, definitely a common theme here, isn't it? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Definitely here that you guys are all, all about giving back and being more than just, you know, trying to trying to do a little bit of work to make a, make a buck here. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. What was, what was it you said, Amber, about you don't have to be a big. An evil corporation to be successful. Yeah. I'm like, I want to write that down. I mean, not only do we try to give back to the community. We worked with the Manhattan emergency shelter last year. We, not only did we do like a huge cleaning for them because the property hadn't been able to be maintained properly by their volunteers because the volunteers were excluded from the property for a long time due to COVID. They just couldn't have that many people in and out. So we did a big clean to get everything back on track and then we went to our cleaning supply distributor, BD for distributing, which is just like a small local distributor. We're like, hey, we're going to donate a bunch of supplies to them. Do you want to donate a bunch of supplies to and so between what we donated what they donate and then we did some consultation services to help them stay on track with their volunteers and then with their clients that stay there just keeping up with chores. We donated over $4,500 worth of consultation and supplies just to keep them running. And then when it comes to our staff, like we start them off at a living wage, we give them access to health care and mental health care, whether they're full time or part time staff. And then we just really try and set them up for success at every step of the way. And we find that when you treat people like that, they treat your clients really, really well. So we do a lot of work with cleaning companies, consulting, training, coaching, have a lot of discussion about financials and how important it is to be profitable and what you can afford and maybe what you can't afford. You guys are all giving money or time that you're paying for. So I mean, this is this is all really spent. You know, Courtney, I'll ask you, do you guys like ever have concerns of, you know, can we afford to be making the giving that you know that the contributions that we're giving is that something that our budget would allow? How do you, how do you get over that hurdle? Absolutely, literally, literally like every day, you know, we talk about this, you know, I mean, we have built our business around the premise, though, that. Giving back is what is the whole, that's the whole purpose, you know, the whole purpose is, is to give more. And I think that what it comes down to is if you are just going to put the effort in and actually live by what you stand for, or if you're not. And so, you know, you cancel Hulu if you have to or whatever, you know, I mean, we haven't canceled Hulu, but. But, but, you know, and I'm a teacher too, you know, it's not like we're, it's not about the money, you forget what the profits are whenever you are focused so much on the giving, you know, so yes. And you have to always think about that, but as long as we're able to, to live our lives the way we like to live them and we help our employees do the same thing while doing the right thing, then there's, you know, you just, you just build, you just build your life around it. And, and I'll, yeah, and I'll just add to, you know, we don't, we don't cross our fingers and hope to give back 10%, you know, whatever year I mean it's built into our business plan. So, you know, our prices are set with that in mind that, you know, a portion of this is going to be going back, period. It's a non-negotiable line item on our budget, like it's going to happen, maybe in our budget, but, you know, you kind of get that. And a great good parent to our customers, you know, to our clients, we say, you know, we do these things. So you are not only hiring just a local company, but you're helping your community by hiring this local company. But you've got good financial controls. You know your numbers. It's not a question. Can we afford it or not? You know you can. Yeah. How about you, Aaron? I mean, you're giving, you're giving hours of, of your staff's time. And I mean, that can get really expensive after a while. Do you have controls in place to track that, to make sure that, you know, you have the means to do that and still take care of your other commitments? For sure. I mean, same as Santa Claus here, we have it built into our business plan. We know exactly how many clients we have, how many seniors we have, where we're making money and where we're not making money. But in the end, it covers our people's wages. If it comes out of money and the other owners' pocket, it doesn't matter. Everything we do for this business, we put back into the business. We're not here to make a paycheck. We're here to build something really special. And that will go so much farther than whatever we could make off other cleans. If we were spending the time doing move out cleans, we'd probably make a lot more money. But I believe in the hanging it forward and getting good karma back your way. I mean, we do so much for our community because the community is what drives our business. The community is what gives us the reason to wake up in the morning and go help them out and try to make Edmonton a better place. And I mean, when they talk and tell other people about all the things we're doing, I mean, we get tons of clients through that as well where people will call and say, Oh my God, I saw you donated this. That's so amazing. Why did you do it? And you're just like, well, you just want to give back. We want to pay it forward. And then they sign up with us. So I mean, it's kind of like give and take thing. As much as we are given back, I mean, I can't say we're not reaping the rewards from it as well, right? And not to mention the way like the people you're touching and how it makes us feel as well. So it really can't trade it off for anything. In the end, we're going to be able to run whether we're doing it or not. It's all built in a plan. That's all it comes down to have a solid plan because if you just bring it, you're not going to last very long. So I think I may have misunderstood something that you said. It sounded like you said you're not doing this to get a paycheck. Do you have a different job or? Well, I just mean in general, like we could make a lot more money, but it's not about the money. It never has been. But we're still getting paid. Yeah, we still get paid. We do things once a month. So I take submissions throughout the month for people that think some of people that could use a hand and we'll do a full top to bottom, 12 hour clean, organized, don't really care how long it takes and we don't charge them anything. We do it just completely free out of good will. So like there's times like all that took was enough of our staff to believe in us to want to give some of their time to help other people, right? They share the same vision as we do. It's not just us as the owners. It's our whole company. Every single staff member through training understands what we're doing. So it's like they'll sacrifice their Saturday to help out. So it's kind of like one of those things that you can always make it work. You just have to find the way to motivate people to want to help. And like when they talk to our clients, yeah, exactly. Like our cleaning techs talk to our clients and they see the direct impact they have. So it's like they feel good when they go home too. So they were all on the same page here. All right. Well, I have to jump up on my soapbox here. Everybody just has to forgive me for a second. I won't stay up long, but I do proselytize about matter meaning measure and autonomy. I mean, I go on and on and on about it. And you guys are really giving some amazing examples of how to bring meaning to your employees lives and also do your customers lives. And it sounds like to your own lives as well, that having that, that meaning, you guys are able to see how, how motivating that is and how inspiring it is. So I love all your examples. I just want to make sure everybody is still getting paid. Literally running a nonprofit. So I'm glad to hear everybody's getting paid. But the big on the meaning love that. I mean, we all got paid by a job or at least so. That's right. Yeah. The truth is right here. Yeah. I'll be really grand every year to get paid. Yeah. So, Amber, with the grant monies that that you received, do you have any particular ideas as to how you're going to put that money to work? Oh, absolutely. So the best advice that I would give somebody who is applying for a grant is to have a specific plan for that money. Have it absolutely broken down into what you're spending it on. Do at least a basic market analysis. You don't have to hire a firm to do that analysis for you, but do a short competitive analysis. Do a SWOT analysis on your own company and be able to like make a case for yourself. We specifically, when we applied, we have a specific plan to expand into the Wichita market. So Manhattan, Kansas is population 55,000 ish. Wichita, Kansas is population 350,000 plus. So the Wichita market is about two hours away. It's going to be a great place for us to launch our second location. And so we're using that funding to just go ahead and get that first six months off the ground. We are explaining to Wichita only on our commercial side for now because it's just easier to get things established. And so because commercial accounts don't pay net now, they sometimes pay net 30 or government accounts can pay net 60 or 90. We are using those funds to get our lease established, make improvements to the lease, washers, dryers, equipment, stuff like that, and just get everything running for the first six months until we can get that location cash flow positive. All right, I love it. Yeah, so we really know our numbers. Jobber did an amazing job of kind of getting everybody into their own categories so that younger entrepreneurs who started during the pandemic and needed COVID-19 support or newer entrepreneurs who started before the pandemic and we're just starting weren't competing against experienced entrepreneurs like myself. Nice. Yeah, that was really helpful, honestly, because we were nervous as a one year old company that we were going to be up against a lot of people who had been in the business for a long time. And so the different categories of experience was very nice. It was nice for them to separate that out. I agree. Yeah, but that is great. But the good work that you do for the people that work for you in the communities that you serve, I guess, is probably a big part of why you guys wine, correct? Yeah, we're definitely seeing a pattern as we talk to each other. It sounds like it's community engagement business plan and then that leadership philosophy were big hallmarks of our winners. Yeah. And the really cool thing about this is it's like a virtual virtuous circle because the grant money is that you're getting you're using them to grow your business and the bigger your business becomes the more resources you have to do more good work. Yep. Yes, absolutely. Well, how about you, Erin? What are your plans for your 7500 bucks? Well, as you can see, our office is in my mother's house. For us is, I think we've really all grown our office space here. We're up to 18 employees. We keep all the supplies here in the basement, people in and out. I feel bad for the rest of my family members that still live at home that it's just so much traffic in and out. So for us, the biggest thing is just getting a bigger space where we can really like show what we're about have our own, like our sign and everything that people can come in, meet us, meet our technicians, whatever, and just give them the house back a bit. When your office is at your house, it feels like you know, don't really have a home anymore. So we have client kits with cleaning supplies all over the place and when she's on the field, some days are doing this with work and then she's finding off and walks down the stairs just to be around more cleaning stuff. For us, it's like we're ready. We're ready to take that next step in the business and we're not going nowhere, so we know we're ready for it. So that's where honestly, probably the majority of it's going to go. And a little bit into some extra training. Just we work with a CVF. I don't know if anyone. So she has taught us tons of cleaning techniques that we've worked with everyone but now we have that freedom to kind of put in a few more extra hours with them and have our own or out in the field, working with them directly. Kind of seeing if we're falling short in any spaces, if there's more efficient ways to do things with us growing so rapidly, it's been so hectic here at the office that we haven't given all the time we'd love to give to the staff and really working with them and watching them grow into what we know they can become. So a lot will just go office and just giving us a nice structure to everything how it's all going. Cool. Courtney, do you guys have plans for your grant monies? We are in the exact same situation as Erin is. We are living, well no, and working out of our garage. So we're working out of our personal garage. So we have cleaning stuff everywhere and we have a daughter and thankfully our employees that we have, we do have employees that are either family or close friends or people who we just really trust them and so our daughter loves them too. So it's not a huge deal right now, but as we grow, we need more space. So we'll definitely be going towards an offsite location or adding a garage or something because right now our one and a half car garage for ourselves and our business is a little crowded. Not to mention it's not the most professional thing to have your employees stumbling over your lawnmower and things. So we're definitely in that spot whereas we're getting closer to launching a second crew, a second truck, equipment and everything. So the money is definitely going to go towards some equipment purchases and but the majority of it would be expanding that space so that when it's time to pull the trigger on the second crew, hiring more people and and you know, getting to work will be able to do that. I have my own manager working in my kitchen right now so. For sure, absolutely. I don't know how many times I've had pressure washer equipment scattered across our living room, getting everything ready before Monday morning so. Just don't come to our house. That's how we started to that is we had a two car garage one side was supposed to be mine one side was supposed to be my husband. And then he was like, Oh, I'm going to get into woodworking and he just saw us everywhere and I was like, I guess we need a new office. Thanks. So expansion. And, you know, you know, obviously to be successful, you know, winners in this grant competition, you have to be running, you know, successful businesses and I'm hearing several Aaron, you mentioned that you're participant in cleaning business fundamentals and you've got, you know, some some industry coaching. Amber, it certainly caught my attention that you've got several certifications through IIC or C including course the HCT certification program. Yeah. Tell somebody HCT a little bit and has that, you know, been a contributing factor to. So the house cleaning technician course is a I will preach this forever I've taken the class twice just for funsies. It is a two day class it culminates in like 160 question exam they're finally offering it online. Let me tell you when I had to first take it I drove down to Dallas to the trade show took the class. I was so committed to taking this I was like look if I can't afford this I'm just going to sleep in my car for three days. Right. So that's that's how much I believe in this class. I'm actually one exam away I'm taking it tonight. I need my repair and reinstallation technician, and that will complete my coursework for my master textile cleaner, which will make me eligible as an instructor for house cleaning which has been my goal ever since I first took the class I was like we need this we need this to keep going. It offers you understand the the chemicals that you're using you understand the pH of what you're doing. You really start to understand safety and furnishings and surfaces, how to present well how to run a business. That class is extremely valuable. The manual is great. So do you know why Tom is asking you that. Did we write it or something just write it. Yeah. Yeah. Tom is the author on that or one of the authors on that manual. Yeah. And they are so sweet. If you end up taking our classes from them. They will be at the ISSA show North America this year they will be offering the class there this year. So if you don't like an online format and you're like you know what I just want to be in a classroom. Then that would be the place to do it. Yeah, I mean, you know, I've got no dog in this hunt, but it's you know, Bruce is awesome. And if you have an opportunity to take it I would highly recommend David is started to offer it as well. David Kaiser. I don't think he's going to be in Las Vegas, but I haven't asked recently. He has started offering it online. That's the best thing that's ever happened to the ICRC to be honest, like the whole COVID pandemic, they started re evaluating how they were going to offer those classes. It used to be circuit by base where you had to like drive into a major city and stay overnight. And now they've got it to where it's online. It's easier than ever to access this information. And you, you know, when you are taking your employees to these classes and they're saying that there's professional recognition and education for it they start seeing it as a career. Well, it is, it is a career. I mean, that's, you know, the whole mission is to professionalize the industry. Yeah, I get it. Yeah. All right, Amber. There's just this thing that anybody can clean, you know. Yeah, yeah. And everybody can clean, but not everybody can clean professionally. Right, right. And there are surfaces and homes now that are extremely high end extremely valuable and very chemical sensitive. So you can mess up real nice. And then if you don't have insurance on top of it and then you're liable. So that education is is worth its weight in gold. Well, I can give you lots of examples of how to mess things up from personal experience. We only have an hour list. Do you guys, I'm assuming you guys use job or within your, your, your business. Could you tell us a little bit about how job or works and how that contributes to your success? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, job or so we were very picky when we started this business because there are a million types of softwares for anything you can imagine for marketing, your finances or customer management. There's lots of things we were very picky. But job or really, I mean, it's like the backbone of our business. We use it for everything. Our employees clock in out on it. We assign jobs to them. They're notified immediately. They can review what the job is going to be, the details of what's expected, private notes I might put on there for them. Our customers use it whenever they visit our webpage or our Facebook page. They're linked to our job or quote request form. So they can go on there and submit a request to us and we can almost immediately respond to their request to get in touch with them. We've got automated, automated email follow ups, text message follow ups. You know, we use it for payroll. We use it for, I mean, really every, you know, core. All kinds of different things. Yeah, I mean, it's been well worth the money that we spent on job or not. Obviously just because of the grant, but because of the fact that, you know, if we get one extra job a month, I mean, it's worth its weight. And we most certainly have gained business from the use of professional service like Jobber. It's really what's given our company kind of a way to stand out. I mean, I could run the business from my cell phone and not everybody can do that. People have been in business for 30 or 40 years aren't able to do that. Just trying to handle it all individually on their own. So that's a service that I think on day one, we had activated our trial with it and we started using it and we've only expanded. I think we were on like one of the lower, you know, plans and then we expanded that to be able to add optional services to our clients. Maybe they didn't even realize that their roof could be washed and they want to know more about that. We can put that on there and it's increased our tickets and yeah, we can't speak. They're a great partner. I mean, they've been there for us anytime we've had any issues or anything with feedback and stuff. Just professionalism. You know, I mean, it really does help you come off the ground as a professional, not just people who are starting a company. You know, obviously we've done lots of research. We've been trained everything, but Jobber really led us take the step into professionalism rather than just a mom and pop. Even though we are a mom and pop, you know, it's still it took it to that next level. Well, and I can see how that would be even more valuable. You're just starting. You're right in the middle of COVID. It's a pandemic. It's like you really need the edge all of those ways that anything that you can find that's going to actually make you stand out as a professional. Because otherwise, why is anybody going to hire you? Yeah. And you're not just getting on the phone with someone and spitballing what you might do or how much it's going to be. You don't leave anything, you know, there's nothing to question whenever they receive an email from us. It's in a template with our welcome message talks a little bit about our company. It talks about, you know, the charitable. The first message they get from us talks about our charitable giving the things that our company does. So you're really selling yourself through an automated system. And that's I like as many systems as possible. So every every interaction with the customer, they all get the exact same treatment. And that treatment is, you know, we try to, you know, increase that and give it, you know, is great of an experience as possible every single time. So the grant money is nice, but it sounds like that the bigger benefit that you've gotten from job or is just running your business. Absolutely. Yeah, without a doubt. Like, like, like we said, you know, I've applied for different grants and things with my education background and you apply for them and you're like, OK, let's see what happens. We would have always been up. I mean, jobbers always been in our in our back pocket. You know, it was just luck that we, you know, I mean, well, not luck, but it was just a wonderful that that we got chosen for the boost by job or grant, you know, so. Yeah, I see we have Deneet on here. She's excited. She's loving this. Did you see so amazing to hear how each company is giving back and focusing on their team. Such an inspiration. Well, it's super nice when we say, hey, Deneet, I'm Katie Fitz. Congrats to all the booster recipients. My guess is she might be a job or user because she knew the correct term. Right. A booster recipients. Yeah. Well, the only things that Courtney and Burgess didn't touch on was because those are all great features. It's the two C's. We have C Y B, which is cover your booty. Which means that like, when you, when you put out a quote, it's completely itemized. They have to sign the quote and then they can't come back and be like, oh, well, why didn't you do this thing that wasn't even in the original scope of work? And you can be like, wow, is this your signature? And then the other one is, you know, that there's a satisfaction signature as well. So my employees are collecting that satisfaction signature at the end of the job with the walkthrough. And then if they try and come back later and they're like, oh, and I wasn't satisfied. So you should give me all my money back. You can be like, wow, is this your signature? Yeah. So that's the cover your booty. And then the other one is cash flow. Right. So our, we didn't use jobber from day one, which was extremely stupid. Let me tell you, we pieced together like a Google calendar and quick books and like a telephone system and like all these different things that didn't even fit with each other. Post it notes. Oh my God. I had a paper calendar at one point, literally a calendar that you buy from Walmart. I would not recommend that. Please never do that to yourself or others. But so because we were like working together, this awful system are accounts receivable. So we all know cash is king cash flow is where it's at when it comes to the health of your business. If a business fails, it's usually because they run out of the resources to keep going and cash flows, which drives that. So our accounts receivable was over 10% before we started using jobber. So gross revenue is 10% of our gross revenue, which is devastating to a small business. And we are now under 1% because as soon as we send out the invoice, we, you know, either we already have a card on file that we can charge or it's a commercial account and they're going to pay that 30 anyway. Right. So nice. That's amazing. That is makes you so much more scalable. Do you guys does jobber link up or sync up with quality driven, or do you have a quality aspect to to jobber? I thought that they did sync up with. No, everybody's giving you blank faces. I haven't used it. Sorry. I know it does. There's a number of integrations. Yeah, there's a few different integrations that you can do, you know, like QuickBooks and broadly and convert and jobber payments and MailChimp, but I don't know about. I don't, I don't know. Quality driven. Yeah. I just, I thought that it was jobber that I had heard people were having a lot of success with that integration with maybe quality driven. Yeah. I'm often finding features. Yeah, I'm often finding features. Every single day. Like every day I find a new feature that I'm like, oh, wow, I didn't know that. That's so helpful. That's forms. We literally just learned about that three weeks ago. People don't want to lead voicemails like if they call your number, they don't want to lead voicemails. So bit.ly slash Santa quote, we'll get just straight to our request form. Yeah, exactly. We're just through jobber. Well, there's a certain segment of customers who just, you know, honestly, I'm one of them. I don't like picking up the phone and calling. I don't like talking on the phone. I like to text. Guess what? I can text in the request form. I can, we can text. We've, especially during the pandemic, it's actually been, it was really nice to have like many different ways to communicate with your customers, have them request things. And as much as I love to meet my customers, shake their hands and really get to know them, we've got a lot of customers that we don't even see face to face until we're done with the job. And I say, hey, you know, let me know before you receive your invoice. You're totally satisfied with everything. So, you know, it's one of those things where you could, there's so many different ways it really opens up avenues to get new business and to reach out to existing customers as well. Nice. Well, it definitely sounds like you guys are all avid job or users, even without the money. But I'm sure that money is a nice little bonus for there. Yeah. Okay. So one thing that I would really love to hear from you all, at least a couple of you are pretty new in the business. So I'm curious, what are your longer term goals with your business? Where are you planning on being in 10 years or five years, 10 years, whatever? What's on your horizon? Anybody? I want to hear everybody's story. All right, Erin, you're up. I can start. For us in 10 years, I'd like to see my mom be able to retire and get some of that legacy money. And for me to just be able to step in and seamless transition with me being here this whole time, it's like to learn from her every day as well. So when she does finally decide to step away and retire, I think it will be a pretty smooth transition with everything. Just so much focus in the training to set ourselves up for the success for the future. Like our very first employee that we hired is our quality control manager that she jumps job to job throughout the day, can answer questions if anyone is missing stuff. She'll notice and let them know everyone's super receptive to her because she does a lot of the training too. So just trying to set things up where we're able to succeed even if Raquel stepped away. She's the brains behind the operation with the cleaning stuff. She's been a cleaner for 35 years. She knows the ins and outs of cleaning. Whereas myself, I was her son getting her to pick up all my stuff when I was growing up and all my clothes on the floor, she picked them up. You know what I mean? So I'm not an expert on cleaning by any means. I learn new things every day, obviously. I try to get out in the field and do training sessions and try to learn. But I just want to be able to in 10 years look back and know where everything covers with our staff and who we have in place with our office management, our schedulers, the quality control, the training. Like I just want to make sure everything is still the same way that we do it, but more have not as much day to day impact. I don't want to have to be involved in all the conversations that happen with the clients. I love talking to clients. Don't get me wrong. One of my favorite things is getting to know them while they're trying to learn about our services and stuff. It's great. But for me to be able to focus on the bigger picture, I need to be able to step away from some of those things sometimes and really put my focus and energy into the actual business. Or we're just going to be unstructured and it's just going to cause headaches. I mean, in 10 years, that's what I want to see happen. So I think we're well on our best. It sounds like it. It sounds like it. You're well on your way. Amber, what's your long term vision for good which cleaning? Yeah, so we are currently in a program through the SBA Emerging Leaders Program. If you are, you know, over 250,000 gross revenue and more than one employee, you should definitely apply for the program in your area. I can't recommend it enough. It's free training. It's like a $20,000 scholarship. And if you're driven and you're doing your homework, then you're going to get a lot out of it. So we did just write a comprehensive gap, which is a growth action plan. We are doing our Wichita location next. We will own Manhattan, Wichita and Kansas City within the next 10 years. We intend to franchise nationally. Nice. Go big or go home. Yeah. Then we can have nail box money and be on a beach somewhere. Who doesn't want that? Nice. Courtney Burgess, which one of you want to field the question for Santa Claus exterior cleaning? I'll take a stab at it. It's really similar to Erin with wanting to get to a point, you know, right now we're very new. So the most important things that we become as exceptional as possible at the services that we're currently offering. But we're listening to our customers. There's already a lot of things we're hearing that they can't find reputable businesses in our area to do. So we're looking in and kind of doing that framework planning now for the future on being able to add additional services. So right now we're Santa Claus exterior cleaning. We'll have to see how we handle that naming structure with new services you might offer. We're looking into doing things, you know, obviously adding additional crews and building out our core business. As big as it's going to allow us for our area and then deciding on what we want to do to extend our reach. You know, there's a lot of opportunity in here where we're at in southern Indiana. And so our number one goal is extending and expanding the core business. But then ultimately some spin off companies that do kind of in the cleaning arena, but probably more like commercial kitchens and things like that as well. Cool. Well, you all have some some good plans. I'm going to say one thing to that, especially to Amber, because I love that big plan that you have going there. So entrepreneurs, people in general tend to overestimate how much they can get done in a week. You know, you think you can get all of this done, but underestimate how much you can get done in a decade. So whatever you've already got planned, chances are good, you can do more. Amber, even more than that. I mean, if that isn't already like an amazing big plan, right? A nice big BHAG right there, you're probably going to be even doing more than that. So I'm looking forward to that. We have a tendency to underestimate what we can get done in the in the long term. I mean, I have my own side goals too. That like, you know, going back to school right now, I'm sitting on like some college dropping out is definitely legitimate. If you're considering it, then go for it. That's bad advice. I'm a middle school teacher having a heart attack right now. Everybody, it's not everybody and not everybody should feel forced into it either. Yeah, I was going to say, here I was. I was in an office, in an office doing a corporate job with my college degree. And sometimes you learn things different paces. Yeah, truth. I mean, I do have plans to speak. You know, we're speaking with case state and with the Fort Riley Employment Readiness Group on Entrepreneurship and Leadership. I was selected as a speaker this year for the ISSA show North America. So if you're there, come see me hang out. Maybe I'll bring cookies. Maybe I won't. Who knows? What are you? What's your topic? I'll be there for cookies. It's the 17th of November. It'll be, I think it's on the showroom floor, but I'm old and senile, so don't quote me. It's from 2.30 to 3.30 p.m. It's Generation Y. I wrote down how it's W-H-Y. Yeah, you get it. Generation Y finding what matters to the modern workforce. I like it. What type of cookies? Camille, no, you don't care. Do you have a preference, Tom? I'm a big cookie fan. It really doesn't matter. As I said, it doesn't matter. I guess I'll have to blow up homemade cookies. You did say cookies though. Liz and I and about 25 other cleaning business owners are going to be spending a week next week together on a training program. We're going to be eating a bunch of cookies, aren't we? We are. There are talking about all the different kinds of cookies. And I think we're also going to get some crème brûlée. I heard. Yeah. That's classy. Yeah. Well, it's Derek's birthday. So an early shout out to Derek Hazelwood. It's his birthday coming up on Monday, I believe. And so they're making him crème brûlée. We all get to benefit. Yeah. All right, Tom, I know that we are getting tight on time. Actually, we're not. We're doing pretty good. We got plenty of time, Liz. What would you like to see? We're having all of these people in here. I'm kind of amazed that we still have six minutes left. We got right to work though. We didn't spend the first 15 minutes talking about silly stuff. That's true. Classes or yeah. It's because nobody on here is old enough to wear glasses, Tom. Unlike the normal. Not even Amber, who is apparently so old. Let me tell you, I do wear glasses. I don't wear them with my headset. Oh. All the girls over here. That was so awesome. Curtis, are you feeling out of sorts? You're the only one with no glasses on. You just can't see my glasses. I've got contacts in. I got to stay next to the bed. So if you guys kind of go getters, I mean, not everybody is in the situation that you are. Thousands and thousands of people applied. You guys won because you were doing, you're doing something different. But as go getters in the industry, especially if you haven't been in this industry very long, none of you have. Although I know the old lady over here, Amber, really, I'm so old have been in business longer, but really you guys are all go getters, right? You're out there. You're making a move. You're making your mark here. What kind of advice do you have to other business owners that are, like, it's not, you guys are making it sound really easy. Like, oh my gosh, we're just going out there and we're making all the money. We're giving money away. We're doing all the stuff for all the people. What kind of advice do you have for the people that are like, I can't find anybody to work for me. And I'm two steps up. I'm one step back. What do you guys got for them? I can start if you guys want. Yeah. Well, for us, it's if you do something you love, it just doesn't feel like work. Not saying I love cleaning, but I love people. I love the day-to-day interactions with people, meeting everybody. As far as growing and stuff, it's a struggle. Like no one just starts a business and next thing you know, they have a million clients. Like you just have to believe in what you have. It's like something special. That's why you should do something you love, because you're going to be passionate about it and you're going to put the work in. Because when we get off at six o'clock here, we don't get off. We go to a different room and start working on something else. So as long as you are loving what you're doing and you're passionate about your vision and what you want to build with your business, it's going to find a way to succeed. You just have to just keep plucking away at it. Don't give up on yourself. When you're not seeing the results right away, I know people that I've talked to that have tried to sell us their client lists and stuff that have been like, we've been in business for 10 years and we're just in so much debt. Like we're just struggling and it's just, they didn't set it up properly. They didn't believe in what they had there because there's no reason after 10 years that that should be happening if you truly believe what you have is special. So I'd say just don't give up. Just every day, just keep working at it. It takes time and it takes a lot of work. Everyone here totally knows what I'm coming from there. It takes countless, countless hours. I don't even know how Courtney does it as a teacher as well. Like unbelievable. So get on you. But it's just putting in the time and believing in yourself. In my opinion, I'm sure he's going to tell. And not listening to the naysayers. Exactly. I think that's some of the biggest thing was, you know, Burgess was a scientist. You know, I'm in education. Like this is not, you know, we have lots of family who support us, but there were definitely naysayers. Like what are you doing? You know, don't do what you want. Do what you need to do to make your life the way you want your life to be. And we want our lives to be a life of giving and of sharing love and of helping people. And we just happen to be able to do this really well with our business plan, you know? So start off on the right foot and stay motivated because it will be rocky. And let me be the first person to tell everyone those people who are saying you're crazy for leaving that secure job and the benefits and salary and all this are the exact same people who now say, well, you'd be crazy to go back working for that company. So you have the people speak with, I think that if they say things because they care about you, they love you, they want what's best for you, but only you know what's best for you. So you have to listen to that voice in your head. A few like random, little random things, you know, I hear all the time I've talked to friends, I've always wanted to own a business just as long as I can remember, I wanted to own my own business. I grew up around small business owners. I just liked the way they lived their life. I liked the small town feel of it. And what I hear all the time is, yeah, I would like to do that, but there's already so many people that do it. I see the vehicles out or this or that. Well, they're doing it because there's clients. There's business. You know, and like we were joking the other day, it's like, yeah. And that's the thing and just do what you want to do. Do it well, be the best you can be at it and you'll succeed. I mean, but the thing is you can't, you can't get bogged down by analysis paralysis, like they say. You can be in planning stages forever. You can believe in yourself up to a certain point, but if you really, you just have to act on it. At one point or another, you have to decide, I'm going to do this. You need to put all your energy in it. And as long as you're putting everything it takes to be successful into your business and into yourself, you will be successful. But like we joke, success is like a buffet, but you have to go up and get it. And no one's going to serve you, you know, your slice of the pie. So you have to, you have to go do it. I mean, you might kick me out for this answer, but it's a little bit counter. You get to define your own success as an entrepreneur. So like if you look at us and you're like, Oh, he has 18 employees. She has 12 employees. I don't even know how many Courtney and Burgess have, you know, five employees, right? And you're like, every time I hear it, you know, everybody who's making $50,000 a year, they're trying to get to the six-figure mark. And everybody who's at the six-figure mark wants to get to the seven-figure mark. And I just throw that out. Like if you want, if your idea of success is like, I make a good wage for myself. I don't have any employees. I don't have any of those headaches. And I'm always home at night so I can go to my kid's dance recital and football games. And I'm always home on the weekends. That's valid. You get to define your own success, but take the time to sit with yourself and introspect and decide what that is. And don't let somebody say if, oh, well, you don't have employees yet. You've been a solo cleaner for 10 years and you don't have employees yet. So you must not be successful. Don't listen to them. You get to define what success is. And the other thing is to find your niche. So, you know, you don't just have to do residential cleaning. There are some people who do only hard water restoration in showers. They make $200 on one shower because they're really good at it. They know how to recock. They know how to get everything clean. Some people only do ovens. You know, if you have one little thing that you're good at, not only will you get clients for that, you will also have other cleaning companies that are like, hey, we need a specialist. I'll just subcontract the job to you. Let's just fix this. When I'm kicking you out for that. No, you're good. This was really an awesome show. I mean, this was a lot of fun. Thank you guys so much. You guys had fun. I had fun. I'm looking forward to watching all of you guys. Yeah. No kidding. We need to do like a reunion. You know, let's put this on the counter. Maybe get together this time of year from now and see. Well, all the women from the beach in 10 years. Yeah. Yeah. Mark and Kelly. Yeah. You know, I want to thank Java for sponsoring the boost grant program and the hundred and fifty thousand dollars that contributed to home service providers to help professionalize the industry. And you know, these service providers are doing awesome things for their communities, for their employees and building, you know, some businesses in the process. You guys are great. Thanks so much. Liz, are we done? Thank you so much. We are. But one thing, one more day, y'all, anybody that's looking to sign up for the managers, success for managers group, go to cleaningprofitbuilders.com. Last day is tomorrow for the big special. I know we, I'm over time here, Tom. So cut it short. That's okay. We had, we had a lot of, and we worked the whole, this whole hour. Sometimes we goof off a little bit. The whole time. No, we actually talked about work today. A little bit. Again, seriously, I'm going to, you know, I'd like to do this again in about a year or so. Absolutely. Let's, let's, let's all see each other at the show in Vegas. Amber, I'll be at your, I will be at your session. I'm looking forward to it. I'm nervous now. I can't wait. Thanks to Tom for having us. You guys are awesome. We'll, we'll be back Monday, five o'clock. No, wait a minute. We're going to, we're off next week. Next week we're off. That's right. We're going to be in Charleston. So we will not be back until the 11th. Boy almost messed that up. Yeah. We're doing foundations next week. We're going to be working. We're going to be working hard next week. Yes, we are. Yeah. We'll be back. Are you ready? Stop whining. Stop whining. We're getting cookie's crumb relay. She's right. You got the, you can, you can work hard and get fat at the same time. I was seeing that. Wish it wasn't true. Wish it wasn't true. Bye y'all. See everybody. It was nice meeting you all.