Hi Julie! I have been in the cleaning business for 9 years. My first step was rolling up my sleeves to perform the cleans & learn all aspects while on the job. During that first year, I hired 2 experienced cleaning professionals so I could begin to work ‘on’ my business instead of ‘in’ my business.
Then, after 2 years, I started to build my admin team. It put things into perspective when I made a list of every daily, weekly, monthly and yearly responsibility of my company. Then, I added 3 columns: hourly pay to serve that role, is it my strength, or is it my weakness. As an owner, I valued my time at $60/hour and learned my strengths were in customer service, onboarding, company culture, sales & marketing. My weaknesses were financial management, daily repetitive tasks, insurance audits, payroll, and being too leniant with employees & their personal circumstances.
This exercise lead me to find someone to help with my weaknesses and any income producing activities. So first hire was a virtual assistant to help with answering phones, assisting with sales, daily repetitive tasks, charging credit cards and preparing payroll for my review. Once I hired my husband as CFO, the company scaled and became a more stable force to keep hiring more cleaning professionals.
Vanessa, this is absolutely amazing. Great work! I like how clear you are about your strenghts and weaknesses. Sign of a great self aware leader.
