Grow My Cleaning Company's Podcast

Do less and grow FAST. Mike shares the secrets to building a million dollar cleaning company without being a slave to your business.

Why Your Cleaning Company Marketing Feels Like It’s Failing 05/08/2026

Why Your Cleaning Company Marketing Feels Like It’s Failing “Marketing Doesn’t Work for Me” Mike and Jackson tackle one of the most common things cleaning company owners say when they’re frustrated: “Marketing doesn’t work for me.” Maybe Facebook ads felt like a waste. Maybe Google leads seemed bad. Maybe mailers worked for a while and then suddenly slowed down. The problem is, most owners jump straight to blaming the marketing before they actually know what happened. Feelings Are Not Data Jackson points out that marketing has ups and downs. What worked in January might feel slower in April, but that doesn’t automatically mean the whole strategy is broken. Mike brings it back to the real issue: if you’re not tracking, you’re not making decisions based on truth. You’re making decisions based on stress, memory, and whatever felt bad that week. That’s dangerous because a campaign can feel broken even when it’s actually working. Track the Simple Stuff First The good news? Tracking doesn’t have to be complicated. Jackson says owners just need a starting point. How many calls came in? How many leads? How many bids? How many became customers? Mike adds one more big number: how much did you spend? You don’t need a giant fancy spreadsheet to start. You just need enough numbers to stop guessing. Stop Killing What Might Be Working A lot of cleaning company owners panic too early. They get a few bad calls, a slow week, or some leads that don’t close, and suddenly they want to shut everything off. Mike and Jackson push back on that hard. Sometimes the problem isn’t the lead source. It might be the offer, the follow-up speed, the sales process, the target audience, or just not enough time. If you don’t have the numbers, you might kill something that was actually making you money. The Real Homework: Get the Data The big takeaway is simple: before you say your marketing failed, prove it. Track your spend, leads, bids, sales, and recurring revenue. Once you have the data, you can make real decisions. Without it, you’re just guessing — and guessing is expensive. Marketing becomes way less scary when you can actually see what’s happening. Podcast Show Notes In this episode, Mike Campion and Jackson Pinkoski break down why so many cleaning company owners feel like their marketing “isn’t working.” The real issue usually isn’t Facebook, Google, mailers, or bad leads — it’s that the owner isn’t tracking enough to know what’s actually happening. Mike and Jackson explain why feelings are not data, why owners panic too early, and what simple numbers every cleaning company should track before making marketing decisions. If you’ve ever wanted to shut off your ads, blame the lead source, or say “marketing doesn’t work for me,” this episode will help you slow down, look at the numbers, and stop guessing. /episode/index/show/growmycleaningcompany/id/41231655

Grow Your Cleaning Company Without Losing Control 05/08/2026

Grow Your Cleaning Company Without Losing Control Growing a cleaning company sounds great until the team gets bigger, cleaners are spread across different job sites, and you no longer personally know every person representing your company. In part two of Mike’s conversation with Luke Embree, they talk about what changes when a cleaning company goes from $1M to $5M — especially around culture, values, and keeping the team aligned when the owner is not in the room every day. The Problem With Growth Nobody Talks About When Luke grew Commercial Cleaning with Commonwealth to around 65 team members, the challenge was not just getting more contracts or hiring more cleaners. The bigger question became: how do you keep the same culture when the company is no longer small enough for the owner to personally touch everything? At the beginning, culture is easy. You know everyone. Everyone knows you. Your values get passed around naturally because the team is close to you. But once cleaners are working across multiple locations, and some employees barely interact with you, culture needs more than good intentions. Core Values Cannot Just Live in the Interview Luke shares that one of the best decisions he made early on was building the company around short, clear values: show up, do good, make money, and empower others. Those values helped with hiring, retention, and client fit. But as the company grows, values can start to drift. Mike points out that core values become even more important as the company gets bigger, not less. It is easy to think values are “soft” compared to sales, hiring, and operations, but for seven-figure cleaning companies, values become part of the operating system. Weekly Meetings, Monthly Parties, Quarterly Reviews Mike gives Luke a simple rhythm for keeping culture alive: -Weekly meetings. -Monthly parties. -Quarterly reviews. The point is not to make the company feel corporate. The point is to create repeated moments where people hear the values, see them recognized, and understand what the company actually rewards. Weekly meetings should be short and mostly focused on core values, not endless admin. Monthly parties should feel like something people want to attend, not something they are pressured into. Quarterly reviews give the owner or leadership team a structured way to talk about values, attendance, feedback, performance, and fit. Build Culture Before You Need It One of the strongest ideas from this episode is that cleaning owners should not wait until they have a big team to build culture. Mike compares it to budgeting. You do not get rich first and then start budgeting. You build the habit first, and that helps create the result. Same with culture. You do not wait until you have a large team and then suddenly try to install values. You build the culture early so the team can grow into it. That is the part most owners miss. Culture is not something you fix after the company gets messy. It is something you build before the mess shows up. Give People Responsibility Earlier Mike also talks about giving cleaners more authority earlier than most owners are comfortable with. That means employees helping with group interviews, one-on-one interviews, working interviews, training, and even leading meetings when needed. The idea is not to dump responsibility on people randomly. It is to build a company where power is not trapped with the owner or one manager. When good people are trusted early, a lot of them rise. When everyone has to wait for the owner or supervisor to make every decision, the business just creates a new bottleneck. Supervisors Are Not Always Freedom One of Mike’s stronger points is that a lot of owners think the answer is finding the perfect ops manager or supervisor. But that can just move the bottleneck. If the owner was the choke point before, and now the supervisor is the choke point, the business is not really free. It just depends on a different person. Mike’s preference is decentralized power: a team where people understand the values, know how to do the work, and can make decisions without needing constant babysitting. Podcast Show Notes Growing your cleaning company sounds great. More cleaners. More job sites. More revenue. But what happens when the team gets bigger and the owner starts losing touch with the people actually doing the work? In part two of Mike’s conversation with Luke Embree, they talk about how to grow a cleaning company without losing control of the culture. Luke has grown Commercial Cleaning with Commonwealth to around 65 team members and is looking toward the next stage: going from $1M to $5M. Mike breaks down why culture cannot just be something you mention during the interview, how weekly meetings and quarterly reviews help reinforce values, and why giving employees more responsibility earlier can actually create more freedom for the owner. This episode is for cleaning company owners who are growing, hiring, and realizing that a bigger team does not automatically mean more control. /episode/index/show/growmycleaningcompany/id/41213315

Are Bigger Commercial Cleaning Contracts Actually Worth It? 05/08/2026

Are Bigger Commercial Cleaning Contracts Actually Worth It? Most commercial cleaning owners think a bigger contract is automatically a win. Bigger account, bigger monthly revenue, bigger company. But in this episode, Mike Campion talks with Luke Embry of Commercial Cleaning with Commonwealth about the part most owners don’t slow down to look at: margin, cost of goods sold, payment terms, and whether that “big opportunity” is actually making the business stronger — or just busier. Luke started his company in 2021, grew to around 65 team members, and hit his first million-dollar year in 2025, so this is a real scaling question from someone already in the game. Bigger Doesn’t Automatically Mean Better Luke brings up a problem a lot of commercial cleaning owners eventually run into: as the contracts get bigger, the pressure to lower margins gets stronger. It feels reasonable at first. A larger client wants a better price, the contract is worth more money, and the owner starts thinking, “Maybe I can take a smaller percentage because the total pie is bigger.” Mike’s response is blunt: the math matters more than the excitement. A bigger contract with thin margins can create more risk, more payroll pressure, and more stress without creating much actual profit. The “Smaller Piece of a Bigger Pie” Trap The dangerous part is that “smaller piece of a bigger pie” sounds smart. But Mike points out that the details matter. If your cost of goods sold moves from 50% to 60%, 70%, or even 75%, you may not be taking a smaller piece of a bigger pie — you may be giving away the whole pie. That’s the part a lot of owners miss. Revenue goes up, but payroll, overhead, risk, and payment delays go up too. If the margin disappears, the big client can become a liability instead of a win. Payment Terms Can Make a Bad Deal Worse Mike also digs into payment terms, especially for commercial cleaning companies. If you’re paying cleaners before the client pays you, you’re basically financing the client’s cleaning service. That may not feel like a big deal on a small account. But on a large contract, one slow-paying client can put serious pressure on cash flow. Thin margins plus bad payment terms can turn a “great” contract into a business problem fast. Price Isn’t the Only Thing You Can Negotiate One of the strongest takeaways from this conversation is that owners don’t always have to negotiate price. They can negotiate scope.If a prospect has a smaller budget, that doesn’t automatically mean you should discount the same level of service. It may mean offering a different package, a different scope, or a different level of result. That keeps the business from quietly absorbing the cost just to win the account. Know the Difference Between Revenue and Profit Luke shares that he once looked at a million-dollar contract that would have more than doubled the company’s revenue, but after digging into the numbers, it would have meant working twice as hard for almost nothing. That’s the real lesson of this episode: revenue is not the prize if the profit isn’t there. Most cleaning owners don’t need more big accounts. They need better accounts, better math, and the confidence to walk away when the numbers don’t work. Podcast Show Notes A bigger commercial cleaning contract sounds like the dream. More revenue. Bigger client. Bigger company. But what happens when that big contract comes with smaller margins, slower payment terms, and way more risk? In this episode, Mike Campion talks with Luke Embree of Commercial Cleaning with Commonwealth about the hidden side of larger commercial contracts. Luke has grown his company to around 65 team members and hit his first million-dollar year, but now he’s facing the next-level question: should bigger clients mean lower margins? Mike breaks down why “smaller margin on a bigger contract” can be dangerous, how cost of goods sold actually impacts profit, why payment terms matter, and why cleaning business owners need to stop celebrating revenue before they check the math. If you’ve ever looked at a big commercial account and wondered whether you should lower your price to win it, this episode is for you. /episode/index/show/growmycleaningcompany/id/41213155

Why Your Cleaning Business Still Feels Stuck — Even When You Know What To Do 04/30/2026

Why Your Cleaning Business Still Feels Stuck — Even When You Know What To Do A lot of cleaning company owners are not stuck because they lack information. They have watched the videos, listened to the podcasts, taken notes, and probably already know a lot of the “right” things to do. The real issue is turning that knowledge into action. In this episode, Mike Campion talks with performance coach Suzanne Bandick about why owners stay stuck, how unclear goals create scattered action, and how the G.R.O.W. framework helps turn vision into real movement. Knowing What To Do Isn’t the Same as Doing It Mike opens the conversation by making an important distinction: tactics feel good because they give owners more knowledge, but knowledge alone does not create results. Suzanne’s role as a performance coach is helping owners actually apply what they know so it impacts their business and life. That is the big theme of this conversation: if you keep learning but nothing changes, the missing piece probably is not more information. It is clarity and action. The Goal Has to Be Real, Not Just Impressive Suzanne starts the G.R.O.W. framework with Goal. But she does not stop at simple business goals like revenue, employees, or customer retention. She pushes owners to ask why they want those things in the first place. Mike adds that many cleaning company owners say they want a million-dollar business, but when pressed, what they really want is profit, freedom, family time, travel, or a different life. If the goal is just “more revenue,” it may not be strong enough to carry you through the uncomfortable actions required to grow. Reality Means Data, Not Drama The second step is Reality. This is where Mike gets especially fired up because owners often confuse stories with facts. A cleaning owner might say, “Marketing doesn’t work,” but that is drama unless they can point to real numbers: how much they spent, how many leads came in, how many bids were given, and how many sales closed. The same applies to hiring, profit, time, or any other problem in the business. Reality is not the story you tell yourself. Reality is the data in front of you. Options Open Up When You Ask Better Questions The third step is Options. Once the goal is clear and the reality is honest, owners can start looking at possible paths forward. Mike explains that one of the best questions a coach can ask is, “Is that really true?” That question helps challenge limiting beliefs like “nobody wants to work,” “marketing never works,” or “I can’t grow because I have too many responsibilities.” Sometimes those obstacles are real, but they need to be looked at clearly instead of turned into a reason to stay stuck. The Way Forward Is a Choice The final step is Way Forward. This is where the owner chooses the next action and commits to it. But Suzanne adds an important caveat: choosing not to move forward right now is still a choice. If the cost of a goal is too high, it is better to be honest than to pretend you are committed while quietly avoiding the work. Mike expands on this by saying that business owners often skip straight to action without doing the deeper work of clarifying the goal, reality, and options first. That is why action fails. Podcast Show Notes Most cleaning company owners do not need more information. They already know plenty. The real problem is turning what they know into action. In this episode, Mike Campion talks with performance coach Suzanne Bandick about the G.R.O.W. framework and why cleaning business owners stay stuck even when they know what they should be doing. They discuss how to get clear on your real goals, why revenue is often the wrong target, how to separate data from drama, and why the right next step becomes easier when you stop guessing. If your cleaning business feels stuck, scattered, or like you keep learning without moving forward, this episode will help you slow down, get honest, and find the next move that actually matters. /episode/index/show/growmycleaningcompany/id/41079390

Stop Training Cleaners Who Don’t Care: How to Fix Slow, Complacent Employees with Core Values 04/29/2026

Stop Training Cleaners Who Don’t Care: How to Fix Slow, Complacent Employees with Core Values Training Won’t Fix Cleaners Who Don’t Care What do you do when your cleaners start getting too comfortable, moving too slowly, missing details, or acting like the job doesn’t really matter anymore? Most cleaning company owners immediately think they need better SOPs, more training videos, or a thicker employee handbook. In this episode, Mike Campion talks with Noelle Nickerson about why that usually doesn’t fix the real issue. The problem often isn’t information. It’s alignment, core values, and whether the cleaner actually wants to show up the right way. More Training Isn’t Always the Answer When cleaners get sloppy, slow, or complacent, the first instinct is usually to train harder. Make another checklist. Record another video. Explain the job one more time. Mike pushes back on that idea. If someone doesn’t care, more information won’t suddenly make them care. Training can help the right person get better, but it won’t turn the wrong person into the right fit. Before adding more systems, owners need to ask whether the cleaner is actually aligned with the company’s values. Core Values Create Internal Pressure Mike explains the difference between external pressure and internal pressure. External pressure is when the owner tries to force a cleaner to behave a certain way. That usually leads to defensiveness, excuses, and resentment. Internal pressure is different. When the cleaner already shares the company’s values, the conversation becomes less about “you did something wrong” and more about “is this how you really want to show up?” That kind of conversation gives the employee a chance to self-correct instead of just pushing back. Stop Judging and Start Getting Curious A huge part of the conversation is how to actually talk to a cleaner who is underperforming. Mike recommends coming in curious, not judgmental. Instead of saying, “You’re too slow” or “You’re doing a bad job,” he shows how to connect the issue back to shared values. If the company values making money, helping out, being real, and having fun, then the conversation becomes about whether the behavior supports those values. This keeps the drama down and makes the cleaner part of the solution. Slow Cleaners Need the Same Conversation Noelle asks what to do when a cleaner has the right values but just moves too slowly. Mike walks through a role play where the cleaner is taking 30, 40, or 50 percent longer than everyone else. Instead of attacking her, he frames the conversation around reality. The job is taking too long. That affects profit. It affects the team. It affects the client experience. Then he gives the cleaner space to reflect. The goal isn’t to shame them into moving faster. The goal is to find out if they’re willing to own the issue and improve. The Right People Step Up or Self-Select Out One of the most useful takeaways is that these conversations force clarity. If the cleaner is aligned and wants to improve, they’ll usually step up. If they aren’t aligned, they’ll usually reveal that too. Either way, the owner gets an answer. Mike explains that when you lead with values instead of blame, people often self-select. The right people take responsibility. The wrong people make it clear they aren’t a fit. That means less drama, less guessing, and a healthier team. PODCAST SHOW NOTES In this episode, Mike Campion talks with Noelle Nickerson about how to handle slow, complacent, or inconsistent cleaners without immediately reaching for more SOPs and training videos. Noelle brings up a common problem cleaning company owners face: cleaners who get too comfortable, start missing details, rush through jobs, or move too slowly because they’re bored. Mike explains why better training usually isn’t the real fix and shows how core values create the internal pressure that actually changes behavior. He walks through how to have these conversations without judgment, how to stay curious, and how to help cleaners either step up or self-select out. If you’ve ever wondered how to deal with underperforming cleaners without more drama, this episode gives you a practical way to lead through values instead of frustration. /episode/index/show/growmycleaningcompany/id/41059980