Part I 

"It is Friday night at 6:00pm, and I am exhausted. I just got home from cleaning 2 enormous houses because one of my staff of four house cleaners is sick today. Before I call it quits for the day, I find out that there were three complaints from unsatisfactory cleanings this week. I am getting worn out from working 50 hour weeks and never seem to get ahead. I need less stress in my life, more time to spend with my family, and while I am at it, a bigger salary! It seems like a vicious circle, and I ask myself 'What can I do?'"

This was me 2 years after starting my house cleaning business. It had grown like clockwork initially, but after reaching 4 - 5 employees, it now seemed to be stagnating. I was starting "to lose that loving feeling" about my business.

So, I made a decision that things were going to have to change. Starting immediately, I set some new goals:

1. Work only 40 hours/week initially, and eventually less than 10 hours/week.

2. Double my salary.

3. Build a business I could sell for a substantial profit in the years to come.

4. Decrease my stress level.

5. Take at least 4 weeks vacation per year without worrying that the business would be there when I returned.

6. Work creatively to build my business, instead of focusing on the day to day stuff.

7. Consistently satisfy my customers no matter which staff member performed the cleaning.

Now, how was I going to achieve them? My new determination seemed to turn on a light switch in my head (yes, just like a cartoon). Thanks to my background at a large business consulting firm, I knew a lot about how big business got that way, but I had never really applied those techniques to my own business. I thought, "Bingo! That's it. I need to study successful business models and apply those techniques to my own business."

Just 3 years later, I found myself running a 25-person cleaning company, working less than 10 hours/week, and vacationing 6 - 12 weeks per year.

So, how did I do it? Well, the short answer can be stated in five steps and one new mind set. Let's start with the new mind set:

 Get Out Of The Kitchen and Lead! 

Everything to do with the day to day operations of your business can be delegated to someone else. However, only you can lead your business. You can hire someone to do the cleaning, answer the phone calls, perform collections, even estimate and sell new jobs. Generally, only the owner/s can decide to conquer a new market, add a new service, try a new marketing method, etc. It's hard to think this way because we all think "I can do those things for free, and not have to pay someone", but the reality is that you are paying a price for that, and the price is a big one: lost opportunity for growth. As long as your time is wrapped up in the daily operations of your business, nobody will be leading it and your business cannot grow. That is why in my opinion many cleaning businesses stagnate around 4-5 employees, because up until then the owner can juggle both the leading and the operating, but at some point they reach a maximum capacity. So, I would encourage those businesses interested in growing to have a new mind set of "Get Out of the Kitchen and Lead!"

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