Install a Pressure Relief Valve
I want to start by giving credit where credit is due. I had the opportunity to connect with my friend Cristal Bosser of Mommy Maids 24-7 serving the North Port / Sarasota Areas of the Gulf Coast of Florida. She was giving me feedback on the Solo Elite Membership that I'm constantly improving and drove home a point that I needed to share! Thank you Cristal! I was walking her through my Solo Elite Membership Roadmap and asked the question. "Should I target specific revenue and profit numbers at each level of my roadmap?" Christal has built a solo cleaning business once and lost it in Hurricane Ian. She is rebuilding. Plus, she runs a Facebook group with 2 other residential cleaners called "3 Cleaning Queens", where she interacts with hundreds of other solo cleaners. She took my question in a different direction. "Ken, we get to the $1,000 per month mark and get overwhelmed fast. The pressure makes us want to hire someone. It's okay not to hire someone. It's okay to say no to new clients and get our solo business under control." She was talking out of experience.The light bulb went off for me. I followed up. "You nailed it Christal! I read a study that nearly 70% of the general population are people-pleasers. It's called the Steadiness Personality on DISC and I bet 75% of all solos are S's and therefore people-pleasers. S's cannot say no to new clients. They feel bad. They start out and want new clients. Then they grow by saying yes to new clients. Yay! But at some point, they cannot handle any more clients. One more will handicap them. They still say Yes, when they should have said No 3 customers ago. They should have paused for a strategy break to lock in the ones they had and wait-listed the others. Instead, they can't say no and get to the point where they are overwhelmed like you felt. Their emotions make the decision to bring on a helper or two, or possibly start hiring. They hire out of a position of weakness not strength. There are no policies, procedures, or systems to hire correctly. They are doing it under the table, illegally, and most likely incorrectly. This destroys their business. Plus, the people they bring on feel the pressure from the boss. It's very evident! How do I know?! I lived it in 2008, when my coach told me that I can't afford employees." I was on a roll and continued. "They can't say no. They get overwhelmed. They freak out and panic. They hire out of fear. They don't develop the business strategy to win with employees. They need a pressure relief valve!"I'll exaggerate Christal's response. "Ken, that was amazing. You are the best solo cleaner teacher in the world." Okay, here's what she really said. "Ken, that's right. Totally! What do you mean by a safety relief valve?"I'm going to explain the rest to you now. I looked up "Pressure Relief Valve" on Dr. Google."A pressure relief valve (PRV) is a type of safety-related component used in the pipeline or with vessels in pneumatics. Relief valves are used to limit the amount of compressed air pressure in a system so that it doesn't build up above a pre-set level and cause damage to machinery or people."Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website