Tucson Cleaning Service

This was one of the first articles posted on our old blog from Marchof 2007. We are re-posting it today.

March First 2007 Another day cleaning in Tucson Arizona cleaning where the wealthy people live. In Tucson Arizona that usually means the Foothills… And Since, Tucson is surrounded by no more than five mountain ranges; I could be talking about many areas. However, we all know the Foothills means the foothills of the Catalina mountains.

The service that I was providing today was a detailed initial clean… And for a wonderful retired
professional woman. The day went very much as planned. What made it special was the location very near a national Forrest and our beloved Catalina mountain. Away and above the bustle of Urban life below. I was leaving a scurry filled existence for solitude… And yet, this home was a mere 20 minutes, and a straight shot, from my center city home.

I consider myself Lucky and privileged to have been chosen to work in such a wonderful location. Since I am of a working class back round I never go into these areas… No it is not a gated community, just out of my economic reach. So I haven’t been there since… Well, since the land was raw desert and owned by Howard Hughes. This area was a hot party spot for many in years gone by… We’d drink our beers and smoke our smokes.. “of the day”… and enjoy the city lights… Now those cities light views belong mostly to the wealthy in gated communities

And about the only time a working person is asked there… Is to well work… But even in the day
it still remains a magic place for me… It might have been the first time ever that I had driven into the area completely sober… So yes, when people ask why I like cleaning other peoples toilets?… I don’t think about the toilets… I think about the wonderful people that I work for and the cool places I get to go to work…

Oh, did I ever say… “I only work for nice people”… I believe that I provide a valuable service and I choose to only work for nice people… Those that respect me and the service that I provide. Today, I assisted a wonderful person who no longer can maintain her home the way she wants… She is a wonderful person and full of great wisdom and stories… My customers add much more to my life than my fee will ever represent… I am grateful

House Cleaning – Friendships, and Death and Dying!

Knowing that this day would come doesn’t make it any easier. It was only a matter of time before I would be writing about dying, death, and friendships from a house cleaner’s perspective.

You see I was very selective when choosing my cleaning clients. The idea was to have regular clients that my service would touch in a special way. All of my clients and I have developed relationships that go beyond business. Yes, I have been blessed to be able to build friendships.

Today, I received a call that one of those clients is returning to most likely bury her mother who is in hospice care. We talked about this yesterday when I was at her home for cleaning. She had just been to Florida to spend what will be her last Christmas with her mother. She related that her mother had taken a turn for the worse and was near the end.

If you have any kind of heart this might be a touching moment, for me it was more than that. My client, Robin, had become a close and trusted friend and mentor. Robin is a semi-retired marketing professional. She has pulmonary problems and cleaning can cause her condition to worsen. So my allergy reduction methods are vital for her health.

I started cleaning her home in January of 2007. Then in February I began to offer search engine optimization services. She has been a wonderful sounding board for me as I struggled with growing my own business. We travel in a lot of the same business circles. We also are members of the same business associations. Thus we have a lot of contact outside of her home.

Life could not have provided a better person to have come into my life at this time. She provides small business consulting as a business. Yet, she gave me thousands of dollars of free advice and never asked for a penny or any for free service.

I am seldom at a loss for words… But today, I find them hard to express as my heart is full of sorrow… I fill my friends sorrow and the tears are flowing copiously.

Words seem so shallow when you are attempting to honor someone for the huge impact that they have had on your life. So for now my friend… I can only say “Thank You.” You are in our prayers.

Yet, it seems so far of the mark and so inadequate. Thank you for letting me into your life. I am indeed, a blessed man… with a heavy heart!

We would like to invite all cleaning service providers and homeowners to share with us a story or two about a cleaning related experience from the year 2007.

We will be sharing our stories that represent friendships built and lives intertwined. We had very high standards when we enter a written agreement to clean a home on a regular basis. We set out to become an integral part of our client’s lives to truly make a difference and not just clean homes. We played a vital role in our client’s lives. We developed several strong personal relationships.

Along the way, we experienced some bizarre and unusual situations. This is a short list of adventures that we will be telling over the next few months.

•    Cleaning a home in the foothills where we partied decades ago.
•    Client’s elderly mother takes a turn for the worse.
•    Letting a client into her home on Saturday after she locked herself out.
•    Lawyer client represents me in court pro bono.
•    Client becomes my de-facto marketing and business mentor.
•    Water is pouring from the ceiling.
•    A client recovers from multiple strokes.
•    We discovered some really cool cleaning tips.
•    Bartering for a website

Having said all of that… We would like to hear from you… And from all you website owners we would suggest leaving a comment. That comment will create a very useful relevant back link. And if you share a detailed story we will allow you to provide your business contact information.

We are also looking to create an E-Book to two for 2008. If we use your story, it will include your contact information and a web link…. Thanks!

No, tips this time around: Just stories from my life. I stopped by my neighborhood Sunflower Market, much like I do everyday or so. The difference this evening was on the way out a magazine rack caught my eye. I’m here often and had never notice this rack before. As I looked closer, I noticed the word “GREEN” in bold letters. So I picked up a copy for later reading.

I had assumed that it was a Phoenix based zine. However, later, upon closer inspection, I discovered it was Tucson based. Now, I held a copy of a local green publication, the Tucson Green Magizine. Since, I have previously owned an organic plant nursery and currently write a green blog, I had to read more. I even emailed them to say “Hell-o I’m here” and that I would write about them.

Life can be so cool. I had not liked the state of the produce freshness at the store this evening and I headed out the door empty handed and a bite disappointed. That was until I encounter that zine rack which held green resources that are local. I wish them the best. You can visit them at www.tucsongreenzine.com. and tell em Your Fresh Start says, Hell-o.

I have written from time to time about my experiences and today is no exception. I have been cleaning a home of two retired individuals. When I started working for this couple she had just had a series of strokes and was not doing so well!

My cleaning assistance was a great relief for the husband. All his time and energy went into taking her to therapy and her daily care. We all have grown very close over the last half year. I have become part of their lives and vis versa. I have delighted in watching her recover and be able to carry on a conversation. It is things like this that make this work worth while. I never got into this business just to clean homes. No, I really wanted to make a difference in people’s lives.

So it is with sadness that I am working on building another business. I am going from scrubbing toilets to cleaning up websites. This process is known as SEO or search engine optimization. I help people get their websites noticed by the major search engines. This website alone ranks #1 35 times for 25 keyword searches across Google, Yahoo, and MSN. I now provide what I have learned with this website to other website owners.

This is all truly amazing when I consider that at this time last year I did not know anything about SEO. What put the fire under me was my website designer telling I would never get on the first page of Google results and if I did it would take at least 6 months. This website has been there since it launch in January!

Last month this website had 2600 visitors and 1500 of then were unique visitors. Call it bragging if you will… That’s OK with me… I keep telling the story because it is very, very true… So don’t ever let someone tell you that you can not do something… Believe in yourself and your abilities… Every no just gets you closer to that first yes!

I get so many requests for free help that I must finally address this issue:

Here is an example email request:

” Hello,
I just came across the link to your website on Craigslist. It is very impressive and inspiring. I am also in cleaning business (residential only) in Chicago area and thinking about turning this one person operation into something bigger. Your background tells me that you have a lot of business and managerial experience. If you are interested in sharing some of your knowledge, I would love to exchange e-mails with you. There is no pressure as I understand that you must be very busy. I will be visiting your blog from time to time anyway for new ideas and tips. I wish you the best of luck in your business and looking forward to hearing from you.”

Now, this is one of the nicer requests that I have received and I get a lot of these. It seems that a lot of people seem to think that it’s OK to ask a stranger over the internet to help them. Now, maybe because I offer free cleaning tips that they think I will also offer free business advice as well. I must give credit to this woman in that she was not demanding and stroked my ego with positive comments. The usual request goes something like this “I am starting a cleaning business and I found your site and I would like you to help me.” When I email them and state that I do consulting at $50.00 with a two hour minimum and that I accept Papal I never hear from them again.

Now, you might be thinking why is this person worth so much money?

Here’s why:

· I track 25 Keyword search for the website and blog, such as, “Tucson House Cleaning Service” and “House Cleaning Tips Blog”. Yesterday, 07/21/07 I tracked those Keyword phrases across Yahoo, Google, and MSN. http://www.yourfreshstart.us and

www.yourfreshstart.us/wp

These hold down 34 #1 search results positions!

· I have previously owned a janitorial service and three other businesses.

· The house cleaning website has a Page Rank of $ after only 6 months.

· The website has increased the amount of visitors every month

· The website had 1182 unique visitors last month and 2234 total visitors.

· I have another business Tucson SEO Solutions at http://www.tucsonseosolutions.com

· I do training seminars such as “How to market on the internet without having a website” and SEO Basics - Search Engine Optimization - Understanding how to drive traffic to your website

· I run an business Meet-Up Group, Tucson Entrepreneurs of Change at

http://entrepreneur.meetup.com/1150

· I am a member of the Arizona Small Business Association (ASBA)

www.asba.com

· I am a member of Networking Entrepreneurs of Tucson

www.tucsonnetworking.net

· I am writing a book on “So you want to start a cleaning service” This book is a polar opposite of book that makes it sound so easy. Owning and starting any business is not easy. This book will offer the unvarnished truth about the business.

· I am also developing another book project “From cleaning toilets to cleaning –up websites.

 

 

 

What I do not have is a lot of time. I work 12 hour days seven days a week. I only allow myself part of Sunday off. So I generally don’t have much time to offer my time and experience for free, unless I know you personally. What I will do for this writer any anyone else is this:

If you would like my help without paying for it for my experience I will require that you make a quality blog comment on this website and 3 other house cleaning related blogs. These blogs must allow you to place a link back to this website. Then send me a link to those posts once I have verified those posts I will offer you free email or phone consultations. Making four posts take me around 30 minutes or less. So these 4 posts are worth $25.00 in assistance for me.

 

The biggest benefit for me as is saving me time because the last time I checked it can’t be replaced. I want to take the time to thank my writer from Chicago her email spurred me to write this post. As a business person, and a person in general, I believe in creating win/win situations.

 

I also believe in affirmations and here’s one that I use daily “I am a child of God, a child of the universe, positive people, places, and things come my way daily and hourly…” Thanks, and have a great day!

I am from a huge family of 13. We grew up in a small two bedroom home. What strikes me the most, as a cleaning professionel is this: My childhood home was never dirty… You did the dishes, pots, and pans right after dinner… I can’t say that I ever remember seeing my mother clean… She was good at telling us kids what to do… But I house was never in disorder… There never was clutter…

Perhaps, that where I got my cleaning attitude… In my dating days… Oh, so long ago… Whenever, a woman would visit my place…. They would always say… “I can’t believe this is a man place” and they knew that I was not gay! So thank you Mother so very much…