Get a New Bag of Lemons

 Hello solo cleaners out there! I thoroughly enjoy speaking directly to you every Solo Saturday. In this episode, I'm going to address a common question I'm asked when I coach solo cleaners through my ISO Model. This time it was asked by Shasta Patterson who is a listener to the Smart Cleaning School Podcast and an up and coming solo cleaning optimizer! Thank you Shasta for taking me up on my free coaching call option on my website. Let's revisit your question and my answer so others can hear it. 

Shasta is a new solo cleaner and said that she has started her business legitimately after hearing my podcast earlier this year. First of all, that is outstanding! Way to go Shasta! She currently has 6 clients and is starting to make some money. Her struggle has to do with a few legacy clients from before she made her business legit. They are only paying her $15 per hour. Her question to me was how she could raise the prices of the $15 per hour clients.

I told her this. "You're not going to like my answer but it's the best one for you at this time. You can't raise their prices, not yet. You are an initializer in my ISO model and need to get a bunch of clients fast. You do need to switch to a by-the-job pricing model and charge at least $100 to $125 per biweekly house cleaning client. The answer to your question is you need new clients. Stop trying to squeeze the lemon to get out every drop. That's what you're trying to do with your low-paying clients. You can't squeeze more money out of them because you didn't charge them right. Instead, go get a brand new bag of big juicy lemons so you can be in control and in the driver seat of your own business. Over time, your prices will increase and you'll move through the initialize, stabilize, and optimize phases of your business. Along the way you will increase the prices of these legacy clients and most likely they will not stay with you because a $15 an hour client probably doesn't want to pay $40 an hour. That's okay it's part of your growth curve."

Shasta agreed with me and even said this. "I knew that you were going to say that, Ken." I could tell she was a little discouraged but also excited. I told her this. "Go add 6 clients at $125 biweekly each visit. You will profit $200 per month from each which is an extra $1,200 per month for you in additional income." That got her very excited to go get a new bag of lemons representing 6 new clients. That kind of money will make a huge difference in their family. So what about you (solo cleaner) listening to this podcast right now. Are you an initializer or stabilizer thinking that you're an optimizer? Are you trying to squeeze your clients for more money when you shouldn't be? Are you taking the easy way out and trying not to add new clients? You control your future because you can control the thoughts that you have and the actions that you take. You can control the clients that you decide to bring into your business. So go get some new ones at the prices you actually want! Every single one of us listening to this podcast needs new clients. So go do it.

And remember, stop trying to squeeze those lemons until every single drop comes out. There's a time and place for that, but it's not yet. Go grow your business. I want to thank Shasta Patterson again for reaching out and taking advantage of my offer for a free coaching call and giving me permission to share your question and my answer to the other listeners! It was a great question and you can be $1,200 per month better off if you take my advice.

Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website