The Survey Says.....

A recent survey was conducted on our customer base to determine what the number one concern was when selecting a maid service. The results ranged from affordability to dependability.

Now we like to tout our strengths pretty loudly here. We like to tell people that you should select us because we'll show up on time every time. We like to tell people that you should select us because of our pay for performance plan. Basically, we like to tell people that you should select us because we care more about making you happy than any other cleaning company.

And that's all fine and good. But that's not what most of you really want. All you really want is consistency. So that raises an interesting question.

How can we better provide a more consistent cleaning? The challenges are obvious. We employ people and people aren't consistent in nature. Of course, doctors are consistent. Even a fast food restaurant is relatively consistent (that's why you go to them). And each of these industries employ people. People just like our people.

In my mind, it all boils down to this...consistency is the result of superb training and constant motivation.

So our job is create a better training program. Of course, this is easier said than done. Your house is a challenge. It's big. It's different every time. And it contains hundreds of little areas for us to screw up in. We already have an adequate training program. But maybe it needs to be refurbished. We'll be working on that in the coming months. And when we're finished, we'll detail our plan here.

The second tool that we can use to create consistency is employee motivation. Three words: pay for performance. We think that our pay for performance plan speaks for itself. You get paid based on your work ethic in our company. Our customers' satisfaction level ultimately determines our employees' compensation level. We're the pioneers in this field. We started it and now people are following our lead. It works. And it's obvious why. Money talks.

So, our job is to better train our employees. Stay tuned for our plan....

The Independent Contractor Maid Service Company

One of the tricks of our trade is to classify your employees as independent contractors. The reason for this tactic is all about the numbers. At least on the surface.

Let's say that you're an independent contractor for a maid service. That means that the maid service agrees to pay you a set amount of money for work performed. In other words, you'll get paid as if you were your own business. The amount of time or resources dedicated to your work doesn't really matter. You can work one hour or you can work ten hours. In either case, you're getting paid the same amount of money.

Now let's say that you're an employee for a maid service. That means that the maid service agrees to pay you an hourly wage for work performed. Pretty straightforward stuff. You get paid based on the amount of time dedicated to your job.

Ok, trivia question time. Why would a maid service company prefer the independent contractor strategy?

A maid service would prefer the independent contractor strategy because it's much easier to calculate profit margins. For example, the maid service knows that they will be paying someone $50 for a job that earns the company $100. Thereby making the profit margin 50%. The employee model isn't quite as simple.

An employee may get stuck in traffic on the way back to the office. An employee may need to stay a few minutes longer in the home because the customer has a special request. Anything could happen to lengthen the employee's time sheet. This all costs money to the maid service company. Which means that this shrinks profit margins as well.

So what's the big deal? The big deal is that the independent contractor strategy is sometimes a big scam. The company may be employing this method because it can pay its "contractors" less than a fair wage. In some cases, the wage may even be less than minimum wage. This tactic is also very popular because it allows the maid service company to employ illegal aliens. The liability isn't with the company. It's with the independent contractor. Which leads me to yet another example. If there is no liability, what happens when something goes missing? You guessed it. The maid service isn't responsible. The independent contractor is responsible.

Now let me say that not all companies that employ the independent contractor strategy are scam artists. But the reality is that this strategy is easy to manipulate. And it's happening somewhere in your town today. Here's an example of a company getting caught in southern California recently.

Be careful out there. The maid service industry is ripe with bad apples. Just because they call themselves a business doesn't mean that they care about you as a customer.

The Employee Morale Formula

There's a maid out there right now mopping a floor. She's mopping back and forth trying to get that same dirty floor clean again. Just like yesterday. Just like last week.

She's mopping, but she keeps thinking the same thing over and over again. She's thinking that her job stinks. She's thinking that she's going nowhere fast. And she's thinking that this is going to be her last dirty floor.

So how do you make someone care about cleaning the same dirty floor day after day? It's a heck of a question to answer because the answer isn't simple.

The first thing that you need to do is make them accountable. In other words, don't just hand them a mop and say "go to work". Mopping is the physical part of the task. But cleaning a dirty floor means much more than just cleaning a dirty floor. For our employees, it means that the customer will be satisfied. Which leads us to the next phase...

The second thing that you need to do is pay them more than anyone else. Of course, that's where the accountability comes into play. Measure their performance. And when their performance meets your expectations - show them the money. Give them a reason to care about being accountable.

There's plenty of other little things that you can do to create an atmosphere that breeds positive employee morale. But patting someone on the back never paid the rent.

The formula is simple. Measurement + Compensation = Employee Morale.

The formula is simple. Implementation of the formula is the hard part.

To Discipline Or To Not Discipline......

The cycle goes a little something like this. You sign up a new customer. You promise that she'll be satisfied. Then you perform the work.

That's when the problems begin. One of the employees responsible for cleaning the house isn't into the job that day. It's hot outside. It's Tuesday. And it's the last house of the day. The employee just wants to get this thing over with.

So she goes through the motions. And of course, she makes some mistakes. And of course, your new customer is upset. She's thinking, "What kind of first impression is this? If they'll do this the first time, what will they do the tenth time?"

So she cancels the service. And then you get to deal with the employee. But here's your problem. You can't really afford to discipline the employee because you're afraid that she'll quit. Sure, she just lost your newest customer. But her two legs and two arms are prized possessions right now.

The reason is simple. Nobody else wants to work for you. If you discipline this employee, she may just quit. And if she quits, then you have an even bigger problem. Because you need her two legs and two arms. Without them, you're in big trouble tomorrow.

So you do nothing. No verbal warning. No written reprimand. No discipline at all. And of course, it happens again a few days later. And of course, you're forced to make the same decision.

To discipline or to not discipline.

There's an easy way out of this cycle. Give your employees a reason to care. Give your employees a reason to care about your job more than the job down the street. Because if they don't care about your job, then you can't expect them to care about your customers.

Controlled Chaos

There's a duck out there in a lake right now. It's floating gracefully. But it's paddling like crazy underneath the surface of the water. That's what it has to do just to stay afloat. And that's we do every day. We paddle like crazy just to stay afloat.

We clean anywhere from 45-55 houses per day. We staff nearly 50 employees every day. And we talk to about 100 people per day. And it's our goal to never let any of you know that we're busting our butt to pull it off every day.

Controlled chaos is the best way to describe a day in the life of maid service business. Take this for example....

It's 8:00 in the morning. You've got nine teams scheduled to clean 25 houses. You need to at least 18 employees to pull it off. But only 16 employees show up. At the same time, one of your employees tells you that she needs to be off by 2:00 PM. Meanwhile, one of your customers from yesterday has just called and wants to talk about some mistakes made during the cleaning. And if it wasn't bad enough, one of your customers for today left a message overnight that she needs to get her home cleaned later in the afternoon rather than first thing this morning.

Now this example may sound extreme. But it's absolutely true. So true that it happened just last week. And the week before that. And the week before that too. It happens all the time. Just a different day and time.

But our customers never know it. Our customers never know that we're pulling our hair out just to make everything work right. And that's they way it should be.

Look pretty floating. But paddle like crazy to make sure that you keep looking pretty.

Calling All Entrepreneurs

So here's the deal. Two Maids & A Mop almost opened its newest location in Jacksonville, FL. It was the eleventh hour and the door slammed just before the first yellow page contract was about to be signed. It was a tough blow, but I'm glad it happened now rather than later.

The would-be owner let me in on a little secret. It was just one, little comment. She didn't even know she had said it. Her comment...

She looked forward to spending more time with her children. Nice thought. And one that I can understand. But her comment puzzled me. Because she didn't currently work. At all.

So the question had to be asked. How did you envision spending more time your children? Her response....

Because she would no longer need day care services. Because she could just take the kids to work now. Because it's her office. Her business.

And that's when the dagger swung into my heart. I knew that I had just wasted the last two months courting her. I knew that we would not be open in Jacksonville any time soon. And I knew that this lady needed to find another career.

Owning a cleaning business is one thing. Running a cleaning business is another. The job takes time, discipline, and patience. The early days really stink. Nobody knows you. Nobody cares to know you.

So your first twelve months brings lots of free time. You could do a number of things with that free time. You could just wait on the phone to ring. You could just sit there looking out the window. And yes, you could even spend more time your kids.

Or you could join every local club in your area. Or you could go door-to-door selling your services. Or you could personally visit every new customer to make sure that they are satisfied. Or you could do a lot of things besides just waiting on the phone to ring.

Two Maids & A Mop wants to grow. But growing to just grow is not what we are about. We want you. We want you if you want to work. We want you if want to be an entrepreneur.

Because that's what you'll be. An entrepreneur. Not an employee.

Click Here If You're An Entrepreneur

A Wasted Study

A recent study by researchers at the University of Washington has determined that negative behavior outweighs positive behavior. You're kidding, right?

A research project requires money. The money for this project came from someone's wallet. Did that money need to fund such a senseless project?

They could have just given that money to me. Because I've seen it firsthand. I've seen one bad apple spoil the whole bunch. Take this for example:

We hired this lady who turned out to be the town gossip. Nobody's business always seemed to become her business. And she told everyone else about it. And of course, rumors always floated. And problems always arose. Inevitably, someone got upset. So we tried to coach this gossip. We tried to educate her about the consequences of her small talk. But it didn't help. So we fired her. And the internal problems plummeted.

Here's another example:

Our employees work in teams of two. Which means that two people are in the same car together for about 33% of the day, or about two hours per day. That leaves a lot of time to discuss a lot of things. And if one of those two employees is upset with the company....watch out. Because both employees will come storming into the office later that afternoon. What happens is that the upset employee just trashes the company. And the other employee wilts because of the constant negativity. It happens every time. So that's why we do our best to fix problems before the end of the day. We don't want someone stewing over an issue overnight and then feeding their problems to an otherwise happy employee during the course of the next day.

Back to the study..... The conclusions from the project are correct. But the study itself is ridiculous. It's just plain common sense.

The Most Wasted Research Dollars In America.

A Letter From The CEO

You may have received an odd email last week if you work for DELL. The email was from Michael Dell. Your CEO.

Click Here To Read The Email

A CEO is a chief executive officer. You can usually find her atop an ivory tower overlooking her subordinates. You may even get a glimpse of her taking off on the company jet. About the only time that you'll read a personal note from her is in the company's annual report. And that's only because it's a legal requirement.

Michael Dell didn't say anything groundbreaking. He didn't solve all of Dell's problems. In fact, he didn't solve any of them. But he did talk about them. And he talked about his ideas for change. And he asked everyone for their help. Like this.....

"We had great efforts, but not great results. This is disappointing and it is unacceptable. The result is that there will be no bonus this year. I know this is a big deal for you and your teams. We're going to fix that so that our efforts translate into great results and success for our teams."

No bonus for this year because there is no reason for the bonus. In other words, you get paid based on the company's performance. And your performance is what makes the company's performance.

Paying for performance works. But it can only work if two criteria are met.

1. The metric for performance has to be legitimate.
2. The bonus really has to be a bonus.

If you work on an assembly line, then you need to know how your job contributes to the bottom line. And once you understand that goal, then you need to have a real reason to care about achieving that goal. From assembly line to CEO, everyone is accountable. Every job is measurable.

You know all about our pay for performance plan. Everything matters. From cleaning dirty toilets to filing papers. Every task is accountable. Read this if you're not familiar with our pay for performance plan.

There is a lot more juicy business talk in Michael Dell's letter. Read it. It's refreshing to know that a CEO can still talk about the business. And it's refreshing to know that every CEO isn't Conrad Black or Ken Lay. Of course, he does own this vacation home.

Then again, he did start a business from scratch and built it into a $50 billion dollar enterprise. Gotta love America.

The Profit Sharing Plan

The pay for performance plan gets talked about a lot here. By now, you should know that our company's success can be primarily attributed to the plan. Without it, we'd be in a world of hurt. Sort of like our first year. Stagnant sales, terrible customer service, and negative employee morale. Not exactly the kind of culture we were looking for back then. But something happened one day. An epiphany of sorts. Out of the blue, we came up with a great idea.

Start aligning the interests of our employees with the interest of our customers. And in that one instance, Two Maids & A Mop was reborn. All because of one simple idea.

But there is one other reason that our business has succeeded. At each location, we have an Operations Manager. Their job isn't easy. They're supposed to do just about everything. They train new employees. They hire and fire employees. They sell the service. They schedule jobs. They listen to customers. They purchase supplies. They keep track of payroll. And they've been known to clean every now and then too.

No doubt, the Operations Manager is important. They run the business. They're running the business right now while I'm typing here. So I'm nothing without them.

And that's why I started a similar program as the pay for performance plan. Each Operations Manager receives 20% of the location's profits. So one dollar out of every five will wind up in their pockets. The Operations Manager is not my employee.

The Operations Manager is my partner. Because that's what partners do. They share. They share information. They share work. They share responsibilities. They share everything.

That's why Melissa gets excited when we sign up a new customer. That's why Elicia gets nervous when we don't fully satisfy a customer. That's why Colleen still claps when we break sales records month after month.

Thank you Colleen. Thank you Elicia. Thank you Melissa. Thanks for making our business the most customer friendly housecleaning company in the world.

On Not Being Called A Maid.......

Click here to read an article about a housecleaning company in St. Louis. The article doesn't really convey any great advice or useful information. Basically, it's the same old story that you can read just about every day in some newspaper throughout the country.

However, the owner of the cleaning company makes an interesting statement. Here's what the owner said......

"Bernstein makes the distinction that his employees aren't maids."

Now I've heard this quoted before. And I still don't understand why it's such a big deal. If your employees aren't maids, then what are they? Are they housecleaners? Are they cleaning professionals? Are they home care specialists? Are they home service technicians? Is there really any difference?

Your employees aren't stupid. They know that they are hired to mop floors. They know that they are hired to clean toilets. They know that they are hired to clean house. They know that they are a maid. No matter what you want to call them.

In college, I worked as an engineering technician. What a fancy title, right? Let me tell you, there was nothing fancy about it. I dug ditches. No matter what my employer wanted to call me, I knew that I still had to dig ditches. Everyday.

And that was okay. Because I was getting paid pretty good. A lot better than many of my friends. So I worked there for a long time. But not because I was an engineering technician. Nope. Not at all. I worked there because I liked the money.

Our name is Two Maids & A Mop. We hire maids. Not just any maids though. These maids make more money than any other maid in town. If you're currently employed as a home service professional at one of our competitors, give us a call. My hunch is that being called a maid isn't such a big deal to you.

Employee Retention

Employee turnover in the cleaning industry gets talked about a lot. It should. After all, the industry average for turnover is more than 300% annually. That means that the average cleaning company is turning over its entire staff at least three times per year. Kind of hard to deliver consistent service when you don't know who's walking in the door for work each morning. I know, I've been there.

What doesn't get talked about a lot is employee retention. It should. The reason is simple. There's just not enough to talk about. Because the typical cleaning business loses way more employees than it keeps. But it's time we started to talk about it. Take a look at these stats from each of our offices.

Panama City
It's our newest office and our smallest office. We currently staff 8 employees. Three of the employees have been with us since our first month. More than ten months ago. Keep in mind that we only needed five employees back then. So we've kept three of the original five employees. Not bad. Especially when you consider that we didn't have one single customer when we hired them.

Fort Walton Beach
It's been around since October 2004. We currently staff 14 employees. Four of the employees have been with us since 2004. And three more employees have been with us for at least one year. But only one has been with us for less than six months.

Pensacola
It's been around since April 2003. I bought it on April Fools' Day. Later on that year, I figured out that this wasn't a joke. I really did pay money for this stinking business. But the tough times started to get better once I realized that employee satisfaction was the building block for customer satisfaction. We currently staff 24 employees. None of the original employees are still with us. And the sad truth is that only four have been with us for at least one year.

We've yet figure out the magic potion in Pensacola. Turnover has always been higher there. And the most puzzling aspect of the whole thing is that our Pensacola office provides the most hours for an employee. Which winds up meaning more money. But we're still working. Still trying to fix the problem. Here's our latest attempt to improve employee satisfaction.

The bottom line is that we satisfy many of our employees. And we just don't talk about that enough here. Sometimes we lose one or two employees in a day. But we keep another 44 employees that same day.

And if you ask me, that means we're doing something right.

The Secret Behind The Biggest Loser's Success

No, I'm not talking about weight loss. Even though weight loss is the most talked about topic this time of the year. No, I'm talking about what makes the The Biggest Loser successful. The secret is surprisingly simple. Competition.

The world consists of different ethnicities, religions, cultures, and habitats. But the world speaks one uniform language when it comes to competition. Nobody likes losing. And everybody likes winning. That's why the Olympics still work today. And that's how these obese people became thin people.

Competition is easy to understand when it comes to sports. The metric for success is typically determined by the person or team with the most points. And there it is. In order to compete, you need a metric. In order to win, you need someone to compete against.

Two Maids & A Mop already has its metric in place. Our metric is your feedback. In other words, our metric is the pay for performance plan. We've always used it to show you why we're better than any other cleaning service. But this year brings new ideas. And this new year's idea is to create a competition out of the pay for performance plan.

Yes, our employees' compensation will still be determined by your feedback. That's not going to change anytime soon. But we're going to take it one step farther. Now, our employees' will also be able to earn even more money by making you happy.

Of course, we don't want to give away all of our secrets of success. So that's about as much as I can offer you. But the premise is simple to understand. In fact, it's the same premise that we've always had here. It's just that the stakes have been raised a little bit now.

The premise: the happier you make our customers, the more money you make with our company.

One Sentence That Says It All

"I'm not a cleaning lady anymore", proclaimed Jody Crane after she received her bachelor degree in Leisure Studies recently.

That one sentence says it all. Nobody wants to do what we do. Nobody is proud of it. Nobody likes it. Nobody thinks they'll be doing this forever. And that's exactly why the average turnover rate for a cleaning business is over 300% annually.

So what makes this job so bad? For one, you gotta clean dirty toilets several times per day. No matter how you dress it up; cleaning a dirty toilet stinks (pardon the pun). Secondly, the job has no future. It really doesn't. Sure, you could work you're way up to quality control manager, or team leader, or whatever else some companies call those positions. But you're not really going anywhere. Because you're still cleaning those same dirty toilets everyday. You're really just making a little more money. Third, the job pays crap. Imagine cleaning your house three times a day and then getting $40-$50 for your day's worth of work? That's what your cleaning lady is doing. She's working at or near minimum wage. That's a lot of work for not a lot of money.

And these are the reasons why Jody Crane hated calling herself "cleaning lady". Cleaning homes for a living has a negative persona surrounding it. It's not something you can be proud of. Not like a college degree in Leisure Studies. You can be proud of that. Even if you're not making any money with the degree yet. Because your neighbors now can look up to you. Instead of down to you.

These are the problems that we face everyday. Now we can't change the fact that you're gonna clean toilets everyday. That's what we do. But we can do something about the other two problems.

You see, money talks. Our pay for performance plan talks. You don't have to make minimum wage if you don't want to make minimum wage. In fact, you can make more than a lot of people if you want to. We've got several people that make more than $11 per hour every pay period. And while we can't offer unlimited career advancement opportunities, we can offer more money. We offer four levels of employment. Each level allows you to make more money. The top level allows you to make more than $12 per hour.

That's nearly $25,000 annually. And we're not in California, or New York, or even Orlando for that matter. We're in northwest Florida. Where the average median income is only $24,000.

Yes, our employees are cleaning ladies. Yes, they clean your toilets. But stand up and take notice. They may just be making more money than you.

Winning The Game Of Business

A lady who runs another cleaning service called me the other day. She was confused, unhappy, frustrated, and depressed.

It was obvious that she had just about given up on her business. She was pleading with me for answers. Her problems were two-fold. She couldn't get customers. And she couldn't keep employees.

Now she didn't phrase her questions in this manner. But that's what it boiled down to. So I gave her my best advice. You can't deliver a great service without making your employees happy first. Your marketing generates contacts. Your cleaning generates customer loyalty.

So step 1 is to make your employees happy. Some say that you should pay them more money. Some say that you should pat them on the back more often. Some say that you should do both. I say that you really only need to figure out one thing. How can you make your employees feel like they are part of the business? For Two Maids & A Mop, it's our pay for performance program and our profit sharing program. There is no one right answer. But there is one wrong answer.

You can't expect your employees to succeed if all you do is pay them to work. Working worked a long time ago. Working together works today.

So what's step 2. That's simple. After you've made your employees happy, start delivering a better service than your competitors. Amazon sells the same books as Barnes & Nobles. But in a different way. A better way.

I've always said that if it weren't for customers and employees then this job would be easy. But easy is for losers. This job is hard. Face the facts. Winning shouldn't be easy anyway.

When "The Man" Is Your Friend

Just yesterday, I posted a story about how employees should view their employer as a friend. Viewing your employer as a foe never results in any type of success.

Now read this article.

Listen to some of the these comments...

"He's always taken care of his crew people," said Lutz, who left the restaurant briefly. "That's why I came back."

"He remembers his crews, their families, their names," said the 11-year employee. "He remembers our anniversaries at the store, and he sends a bouquet of flowers."

"He treats everybody who works for him like they're part of the family," Appleyard said. "He's one of the most caring people I know."

If your daughter worked for you, what would you do on her birthday? What would you do when she made a mistake? What would you do when she asked for a raise? You'd treat her with respect. Because she's part of your family.

Family. That's the key word. Treat your employees like they're part of your family. That's how you get your employees to view you as a friend. That's how you get your employees to help you succeed.

That's how you run a business.

The Pizza Delivery Man

There's a story from our local paper that details how a pizza delivery man has formed the nation's first pizza delivery union. He started it because he wanted a raise. He wanted another quarter per hour. And he didn't get it.

But he did start the union. And now his company will more than likely pay him and his coworkers more than just another quarter. The moral of the story.

It's "we versus them". This pizza guy looked at the business as a foe; rather than a friend or partner. A foe doesn't want his enemy to succeed. A foe wants to fight his enemy. In this case, the enemy is the employer. And that sets up this pizza business for failure.

Your employees better look at you as a friend. Friends fight for their friends. Not against them.

Friends don't like it when their friends fail. That's why they're your friend in the first place. Look at the picture in the top left corner. He looks pretty happy.

That's because his employer is his foe. And he's winning the battle.

Maid On A Mission

We got some great press back in March of this year. A business consultant from Iowa stumbled onto our company and wrote some flattering things about our business practices. It made me feel good.

Fast forward to August. I was having a bad day and wanted to feel good again. So, I went back to the story for a little motivation. The story still read the same but a comment had been added to the article. The comment was from one of our past employees. And she was angry. She didn't believe that Two Maids & A Mop was quite as good as the business consultant had described. Without any further ado, click here to read the article and comments.

You may have noticed that I responded to our former employee's comment. I wanted to make sure that our customers knew the whole story. Our former employee was partially right. We did overreact. We weren't happy. And we should have acted more professionally. We now know that.

But at the time, it wasn't quite so obvious. The employee had quit her route during the day. We still had customers to serve and we had major problems in front of us. We were not happy campers to say the least.

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in yourself when you're getting good press and when your business is growing every week. Sometimes you forget that you're not perfect. Sometimes you need a reality check. Sometimes you get what you ask for.

Case Study Of A Maid Service Company

The vast majority of maid service companies compete in one area: price. They try to be cheaper than everybody else. I've discussed this subject in the past.

I guess this maid service didn't listen to me. Here's how this maid service got itself in trouble. (My opinion at least)

Step 1: The owners of the business needed to get their phones to ring. They needed customers in order to pay the bills. They figured that the fastest way to profitability would be to be cheaper than everybody else. So, they lowered their prices.

Step 2: The owners quickly found out that there wasn't much money left after they paid their employees. They figured that they needed to lower their wages in order to continue pricing their services so low. So, they lowered their wages to minimum wage.

Step 3: The owners quickly found out that nobody wanted to work for minimum wage. They figured that the only way to make this system work was to recruit immigrants from other countries. They figured they would work for next to nothing. So, they started hiring immigrants.

Step 4: The owners started making money. Sure, they never made anybody happy. But they didn't need to make anybody happy. As soon as they lost a customer, they would gain a customer. Because they were cheaper than everybody else.

Step 5: The owners got greedy. They started making their employees "independent contractors". Heck, their employees couldn't even speak English. What would they know about legal rights? They figured that they could make each employee a subcontractor; thereby bypassing cash-consuming employee rights laws. So, their company became a two employee company (i.e., the two owners)

Step 6: The owners got caught. And now they're paying the price. All $1.8 million of it.

Here's a quote from one of the owners:

"Rubio said she and her husband provided the department with information that showed they hired independent contractors and are exempt from wage requirements. "If we show (that we aren't breaking the law), I don't know why (the department) made this decision," she said. "This is a difficult time for us."

So goes the life a maid service company that competes on price. You have to sacrifice something in order to be cheaper than everybody else.

There's one, maybe more than one, in your neighborhood right now. Your neighbor picked them because they were cheaper than us. She's laughing at you because you paid us a lot more than she's paying. But you'll get the last laugh. Something will go wrong. It always does.

You get what you pay for.

One Of The Worst Jobs In America

Forbes recently published the worst 25 jobs in America. Debuting at #21 is my very own profession, the maid and housekeeping industry.

We're clumped together with professions such as ticket takers, dishwashers, and parking lot attendants. The reasons are pretty straightforward. The job is dirty. The job is hard. The job is not glamorous. And the job pays terribly low wages.

Interestingly, the worst jobs in America are all service related jobs. Today's consumer wants good service. However, today's consumer usually doesn't get good service. The reason may be in the numbers. Nobody wants to actually pay for good service. Or do they?

Our customers pay for it. I think that the problem is that service related businesses are too lazy. They're too lazy to make their service better. They would rather compete on price. Competing on price is easier. Competing on quality is harder. But if you provide a better quality service, you get to charge more for your service. If you charge more for your service, you get to pay your employees more.

That's our plan here at Two Maids & A Mop. Our industry might stink. But we don't. Many of our employees make more than $22,000 annually. That may sound low to some of you, but it's actually higher than the median income for an individual in our area.

We can't change the dynamics of our industry. The job will always be dirty. The job will always be hard. But the job doesn't have to pay poorly. Give the consumer what she wants and you'll get to give your employees what they want.

Taking It Personal

We lost a long term customer today in Pensacola. The customer didn't feel that we were any different than any other cleaning company in the yellow pages. He grouped us in with everybody else. That makes me sick to my stomach.

We can't be perfect all the time. We can't do everything right all the time. But we can show each and every customer that we are not just like everybody else. Our employees, the managers, myself. We all work hard to prove to you that we are the most caring, trusting cleaning service in the world. But everyone doesn't agree with that statement obviously.

To know that we lost a customer because that customer looked at us in the same light as everyone else makes me sick. And we're not going to sit around and let another customer make that same claim. We're going to work even harder to prove to you that we are different.

What are we going to do? We're going to start re-educating our employees about our commitment to customer satisfaction. Maybe our employees forgot why customers pay more for our services. We're going to start educating our customers about the realities and limitations of our industry. We can only be as good as reality allows us to be.

In the end, I'm still sick. We don't lose many customers. My god, we have more than 500 at this point. But I don't like losing customers this way. Our customers should know that we provide a different service than the rest of the industry. It's my job to prove it to them.

The Career Path Of A Maid

The career path for a maid is typically horizontal. That's the honest truth. That's also the reason so many cleaning companies provide lousy service. Nobody cares because nobody has to care.

Cleaning companies are no different than other commodity-based services. They all do the same thing. They provide basic services for low prices. More importantly, they don't give their employees any reason to be ambitious.

Accountants want to become a CPA. Mid-level managers want to be high-level executives. Interns want to become professionals. Maids just want to pay their bills. They work for the cleaning company because they either can't find another job or it's a better alternative than another job.

They don't aspire to one day run the cleaning company. They don't even aspire to become a mid-level manager with the cleaning company. They'll leave the cleaning company if another company offers a nickel more per hour.

At Two Maids & A Mop, each of our three current managers were hired initially to clean homes. They were maids. In addition, we have four levels of employment. A level four employee has a much higher earning potential than a level one employee. To graduate from level one to another level, you only need to provide one thing: superior customer satisfaction. Of course, we measure customer satisfaction everyday so it's not hard for us to find a superstar. Finally, an employee of Two Maids & A Mop is educated about our plan. They know that we're going places. When a business grows, it needs employees. Many of our current employees tell us everyday that they want to become the next manager of a new location. Our maids have ambition.

They have ambition because they know that they have places to grow within the company. You can't just hire somebody and expect that person to work if there is no place to go. The career path for our employees is not horizontal. It's as vertical as it can be.

When You Have More Work Than Help

That's a commonly heard phrase in the cleaning industry. Turnover is the most difficult challenge for a cleaning company. We learned that long ago.

Here's an article that supports our argument on turnover.

According to the article, the cleaning company is turning away business because it doesn't have enough employees. The company is a franchise. A big franchise. Big franchises don't move very quickly. That's why this franchise owner doesn't know what to do to fix his problem. His solution: raise his wages.

He's raising his wages because he can't do anything else. He can't create anything revolutionary like our pay for performance plan. He can't because his corporate office won't let him. Franchises run their businesses out of a book. No deviation is allowed.

The most alarming statement from the owner of this cleaning company. "We've raised wages gradually, because we don't know what the optimal level is."

The optimal level is easy to figure out. The optimal level is higher than everyone else that you compete against. Our employees know that they can make more than anyone else in their industry as long they make their customers happy. Customer satisfaction equals above average wages.

I feel for this cleaning company. They're turning away more than $50,000 worth of work because they have an employee shortage. I've been in his shoes. It sucks. I was just as desperate as this guy. But I was just a little, tiny company. I could do anything I wanted to do in order to fix the situation. My desperation led to the pay for performance plan. All he can do is raise his wages and hope for the best.

Don't Forget Your Mission

Useless information for many of our customers. But it's a reminder for me as an owner of multiple outlets.

Don't Forget Why You Opened Another Location

Take This Job And Shove It

That's what two of our employees told us last week. They hated their job.

Cleaning homes for a living is not for everyone. It really does take a special person to do what we do. Think about it. Cleaning other people's toilets every day. Driving your own car to each work assignment. Bending, pulling, and scrubbing all day. It's not the easiest job in the world.

That's what our industry is up against when it fights the turnover battle. It's a tough battle to win. Working for Two Maids & A Mop is a little bit better.

You get to write your own paycheck. You get paid 30% more than the industry average. You get paid all day; but you only work 66% of the day (we pay for driving time). You work between 30-40 hours every week. You receive full medical/dental benefits immediately upon employment. And you have the opportunity to be promoted to as much as $12 per hour. No other cleaning service in our area can say these things about their employment package.

Yet, we still have to clean those toilets. We still have to rely on our employee's vehicle for logistics. And we still have to send two people into a home to clean. Cleaning is not fun for most people. If cleaning were fun, nobody would need to hire us.

Employee turnover in the cleaning industry will never vanish. It will always be the most pressing problem. We can't defeat turnover, so what can we do?

We can reward our loyal employees that don't quit. We can pat them on the back. We can thank them for their effort. We can provide them opportunities for advancement. Basically, we can make this job a lot better than their other options.

We can't make all of our employees happy. At some point, their job will get a little too dirty and a little too filthy. What we can do is give our loyal employees a reason to want to work for us.

Most cleaning business owners would never be so honest about staffing issues. In my opinion, admitting that you have a difficult challenge is half the battle.

The Canadian Maid Speaks Again

Some of you may remember the Canadian maid that I discussed in an earlier post last month. Basically, she lived as a maid for one month and then proceeded to write about her experience. Of course, it wasn't good. She lived in terrible conditions, she worked for a unsympathetic boss, she was paid less than minimum wage, and she eventually developed carpet tunnel syndrome as a result of her work. What an awful picture this depicts of the housecleaning industry.

Recently, she chatted with some of her readers and allowed them to ask questions. There's a lot of things to discuss in this chat session. I don't want to bore you, so I'll just concentrate on one comment.

"Re: employment standards. It's interesting, but maids — cleaners in private homes — is one category specially exempted from typical labour standards in many provinces. I do not know why or how this happened. (It's something I need to look into.) As for organizing, I think that it would be very hard to organize maids. The entry point for companies is very low — you just need a webpage, rags and buckets. Anyone can start a maid service. And if one company's maids were to organize, the company would probably soon go out of business.

The problem is, the entire industry relies on low wages, a public that expects a house call and human labour for a low price, and a pool of women with few options."

We're in agreement here. I've been saying this since I entered the industry. That's why we don't rely on low wages or a public that expects a low price. You get what you pay for.

Read the rest of the chat session. There's some interesting questions. One things for sure, working for a Canadian maid service company sucks.

The Dark Side Of The Cleaning World

The cleaning industry gets a bad rap, or does it? Take a look at this news article about a cleaning company in Illinois.

The most alarming quote in the article says....

She said TexMex has in its contract, "which is in English on purpose even though they hire Mexicans, that if you quit a job without 15 days notice that your last paycheck is forfeited.

Now that policy is sure to instill a loyal, hard working employee culture. The morale at this company must be extremely high. I'm kidding of course. Excluding the legal circumstances, this statement wreaks of terrible management. The management of this company looks down on its employees. It regards its employees as cheap labor. A commodity. Replaceable. Ignorant.

The cleaning industry has a very low barrier of entry. Anybody can do it. Anybody can afford to start it. There's a whole bunch of anybody's out there. And they're targeting your business or home.

Be careful of our industry's dark side. It looms in every city. Remember, cheap rates means that your service provider must pay for cheap labor.

Memoirs From A Canadian Maid

A Canadian reporter spent one month working for a maid service. She's detailed her plight in this article.

The article paints a dark, gloomy picture for the maid service industry. She claims that she is paid less than minimum wage for 40 hours of week. She also claims that the work is filthy and dirty. I'd like to address each of her points.

Point 1.........This is how she describes her compensation plan.

"You get 18-per-cent commission on every clean," she said. When I looked puzzled, she explained. A client typically paid $75 for a clean by two maids that lasted an hour and a half. I got 18 per cent of the clean, or $40 to $50 a day for cleaning four houses. Travel time was unpaid. That meant for a workday of 10 or 11 hours, I would be getting paid for only five or six. Apparently, calling it a "commission" gets around the minimum wage. When I looked unimpressed, she asked, "Can you drive?" A "route manager" gets two extra percentage points commission. I would get a pink and purple car. But I would have to drive, figure out the schedule, the route, keep time sheets and handle all the cash, cheques and, ominously, "non-payments." I'd work the longest hours because I'd have to pick up and drop off my teammate. On Friday nights, I would have to go to the office to cash out, and return all the keys. "Oh, and you have to wash the rags. We pay 35 cents per house. We don't use paper towels because it's too costly."

This compensation plan is the average compensation plan for most cleaning companies. Another common type of a compensation plan pays based on the number of homes cleaned in a day. In both cases, drive time is not paid to the employee. Here's how the compensation plan at TwoMaids works:

You get paid all day, whether you're driving or cleaning. Your primary salary is derived from customer feedback. You are also eligible for full medical/dental benefits and mileage reimbursement. You essentially write your own paycheck. The average employee works about 30 hours per week. Nobody ever works more than 40 hours per week. They can earn anywhere from minimum wage to as much as $10.75 per hour. We have some people that make $8 per hour and we have others that make $10.75 per hour. The average wage is about $9 per hour company wide. Which means that the average employee only earns about $270 per week, or just over $14,000 annually. That's not a whole lot of money. But, wait a minute. Remember, your only working 30 hours per week. Your home by 3:30 every day usually. Your never home after 5:00. If you ask me, it's not a bad paying job. Some of our employees work 40 hours per week and make as much $10.75 per hour. In other words, they make more than $22,000 annually. That's a great salary. Especially after you read this article. And, no...we don't require our employees to wash their dirty rags and mops.

Point 2.......This is how she describes the work.

Frisbee-sized stains of ochre urine encircle the base of the toilet. Feces splatter its rim and underside. The seat is streaked with old urine. Solidified toothpaste, spit, phlegm, beard stubble and pubic hairs -- how did they get there? -- coat the sink. The floor is thick with dust balls and more hair.

First of all, our employees would leave the home. I wouldn't clean it, so why should I expect someone else to clean it? Our employees are maids. The word "maid" gets a bad rap in this article. The author conveys a message that a maid is less than average and not respected. I'm sorry, but our "maids" are professionals. They clean because our customers don't want to clean. Just like accountants and real estate agents. You hire an accountant because you don't have the time to pour over your financials. You hire a real estate agent for the same reason.

Yeah, the work's dirty. It's not easy. You sweat alot. But isn't that the definition of work? If it were easy, you wouldn't need to hire us.

I don't normally allow comments on this blog, but I'm opening it up today. I want to hear your comments. Read the article and ask me questions about our industry. If you read it, you're going to think terrible things about the cleaning industry. Some of it is true about our industry. None of it is true about Two Maids & A Mop. Ask me and I'll tell you why.

My Kind Of A CEO

Last week, I talked about the abuse of personal privileges granted to The Bank of America CEO. The CEO of a company leads by example. Enter Ingvar Kamprad. The Warren Buffett of Sweden.

You run your company like you run your life. Your employees see how you live. They follow you.

As a CEO, you don't get to clock out. You shouldn't expect to. There's a reason you make more money than anyone else.

I'm the owner of Two Maids & A Mop. We're a small company. My employees see me everyday. They see how I dress, eat, and live. My personality is the same personality that my business possesses. Why should a Fortune 500 CEO act any different than a small business owner?

One word: greed.

My Ultimate Goal In Business

A man without a goal is a man without direction. This isn't groundbreaking news. Yet, most people wander aimlessly in their personal and professional lives everyday. While in college, I learned that you must set a goal if you expect to achieve any type of success. Success doesn't always mean that you need to reach the goal. The fight towards the goal is sometimes more rewarding than the reward itself.

My ultimate goal in business is to be acquired by my hero's company, Berkshire Hathaway. Warren Buffett is my hero and I try to run my business as if he were my boss. I've never met him and I doubt that I ever will meet him. However, every decision that I make is based on the assumption that he is watching me. This may sound a little weird to you some of you. Heck, it sounds a little weird to me once I think about it. But, it works.

There's only one way to be purchased by Berkshire Hathaway. Warren Buffett tells you how right here. We've obviously got a long way to go. A real long way. But that's what goals are for.

Find your goal. Work toward it every day. You may or may not achieve your goal. It doesn't matter. The most important part is the struggle.

Make Your Employees Happy First

The only way that a customer can be satisfied is if your employees are also satisfied. Low morale in any type of organization leads to major problems.

In the early days, we had terrible employee morale. Our pay was low, our work was hard, and our demands were stringent. We expected a lot out of our employees, but we didn't reward them with anything but a tiny paycheck. At the time, it seemed as if that were the only way to make our business work. Of course, times have changed and we now have a group of employees that collectively enjoy working for us.

It's difficult to have unanimous support in a workplace. But, it's not difficult to have unanimous disgust. Make one employee unhappy by treating them unfairly and you'll quickly find out that a large percentage of your workforce knows about it. Do nothing about it and your ship will start sinking. Employees shouldn't feel as if there are two sides to a business.

I know it sounds cheesy, but management needs to treat its employees as teammates. Anything less and you have a problem.

Click for proof.

The Immigration Problem Is Solved

Here's an article that I found recently by accident. I'm glad that I found it because it brings up an interesting point. It's no secret that immigrants willingly perform low-wage, labor-intensive jobs. As I see it, America as two choices:

1. Consumers can pay more for services and goods, or
2. Consumers can keep paying less and less for services and goods

The consumer makes the decision. If a consumer perceives no transparent difference between a product or service, then price becomes the major purchasing factor. That's what they call a commodity.

It's my opinion that nothing has to become a commodity. A product or service can always provide something that a consumer perceives valuable. Some jobs are just downright dirty. You can't change that. But, you can change the perception of the product that your selling. Which means that you can charge more for your product or service. Which means that you can provide better wages for your workers. Which means that you can help control America's immigration problem.

Of course, it's much easier to be cheap. Being cheap means that your customers will tolerate mistakes and problems. Being cheap means that you don't need to improve your process. Being cheap means that you don't need to compete. You just price your stuff less than your neighbor's stuff.

To me, it's easier being good at something. Pick your niche and tell people why your stuff is worth more than your neighbor's stuff. We charge more for our services because we're worth more. We also pay our employees more because they're worth more.

Most experts place housekeeping in the commodity category. Yet, we get customers everyday that tell us that they chose us even though we were the most expensive option. They perceived a value in our services.

Consumers make the choice, but America's businesses have the opportunity to affect those choices. You don't have to be cheapest poultry plant and you don't have to be the cheapest maid service. Start offering more and you'll be able to start paying your employees more.

And that's how you can solve the immigration problem. No congressional acts needed. No legislation required. All we need is for business leaders to stand up and start providing something other than cheap services or products.

An Employee's Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

An employee needs to believe in the company in order for the company to succeed.

Delve into the mind of an unhappy employee.

Brand Extensions Don't Work

Here's another example of a brand getting away from its roots.

Hooters Air

Something has to be sacrificed in order for a brand extension to work. How can Hooters run an airline and a nationwide restaurant at the same time?

I think this customer answers that question.

Stick To The Hot Wings

Profile Of A Leader

A customer calls with a ridiculous complaint. She's upset that we didn't clean underneath her couch. She's been a customer for more than six months and she's been happy every time. But, she's upset today and she wants to cancel the service.

What does a good leader do?

- A good leader doesn't act with emotion. In this case, a good leader calmly assures the customer that several actions will be implemented to prevent the mistake from occurring again. Also, a good leader provides the customer two options. She can either receive a discount on this service or we can come back to her home and clean the missed area. The good leader ends the conversation with a discounted service and the customer gives the company another chance to prove itself.

What does a bad leader do?

- A bad leader reacts with emotion. In this case, a bad leader gets angry at the customer for being so ridiculous. A bad leader asks the customer, "How can you threaten to cancel our service when you've never been unhappy before?" The customer doesn't care about those other cleanings; she only cares about today. She's paid for a service that she didn't receive. A bad leader stops listening to the customer at this point and the customer gets even more upset. In fact, she tells the bad leader that she's only paying a fraction of the charge. She's not paying the full charge when the full service was not performed. The bad leader ends the conversation with a discounted service and a lost customer.

There's a time to fight, but those times are rare when it comes to customer service. You may win the battle, but you always lose the war when you argue with a customer. A good leader knows this. A bad leader knows it too, but attitude gets in the way.

The profile of a leader is simple to explain. A good leader is humble. A bad leader isn't.

The Mind Of An Employee

Think about your job for a minute. Do you really believe in your company? Do you really believe in your company's products or services? Would you encourage a friend to purchase your company's products or services?

If The Answer Is No.......

You hate your job. You only work there because you either have no other option or the money's good. Your contribution to the company is worthless. Your soaking up space, wasting money, and abusing the system. Of course, it's not your fault. You hate working there because the company doesn't challenge you. The company doesn't motivate you to do anything other than take up space. Ultimately, you'll lose your job. You'll either quit and find a job that motivates you. Or, you'll be fired because the company needs to lay off the dead weight.

If The Answer Is Yes.......

You love your job. You work there because you enjoy the job's challenges. The money's good, but you could make more if you really wanted to at another company. Your contribution to the company is priceless. You mean a lot to the company. Your company would be a different company without you. Ultimately, you'll be promoted within the company. Of course, you already know that you will be promoted. You know it because your company has already proven that they will reward high achievers. Your excited about your company's future. Your company's future is aligned with your future.

That's the mind of an employee. It's black and white. Your employees are either ambassadors or enemies.

An employee can either fight with you or fight against you. It's your decision.

This Week Is Thinking Week

The last work week is usually the least productive for most people. You've eaten all you can eat. You're looking forward to New Year's Day. You just want to get through these next few days.

This week is traditionally very slow for a cleaning business. People's wallets are thinner and many people are still on vacation. That's why I make this week my thinking week.

What went wrong this year? How can those mistakes be corrected? What went right this year? What should I continue next year? All in all, I use this week as my assessment week.

You don't need to be a business to utilize "thinking week". Thinking week is for everyone; business, people, your job, even your car. Use the dead time to make next year more productive than this year.

Always be climbing the mountain or you'll start going down the mountain.

The Sign Of A Good Boss

I was getting take out food from a local burger joint and noticed a sign that said, "Don't Worry, We'll Be Open Monday, December 26th". That's the sign of a bad boss, literally!

We need healthcare. We need police protection. And we need many other vital services that day. But, we don't need another hamburger. I wonder if the person that made the sign will be there on Monday?

You don't need to shop Monday. You don't need to get your house cleaned Monday. You need to be with your family and friends on Monday. There is a time to make money and there is a time to value your employees.

Value your employees before you value your customers. That's the sign of a good boss.

It Starts Out Good, But

I hear it every day. "My old cleaning service started out great, but it got worse and worse over time. I complained, but things never got better. "

I know why this happens. The ugly head of employee turnover rears its head after about four cleanings (sometimes less). It goes a little something like this.

You're a new customer. You want to schedule the service once per week. The cleaning service manager knows that your first cleaning is crucial in order to secure future cleanings. So, she sends out her best team of cleaners. You're extremely happy, so you agree to weekly service. A new cleaning team arrives for your next cleaning. The cleaning is not terrible, but not nearly as good as the previous week