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 In my last article, I covered "5 Tips for Selecting Your Next Cleaner". I lay out an analytical and emotional approach to selecting the right cleaning service for your home or office. But what if you have a cleaning service now and they don't exactly meet the criteria of a legit company or they're not COVID prepared & educated? Don't fret! I have this follow-up article for you on how to break up with your current cleaner.
First off, let me make this disclaimer. I don't want any cleaning service to lose their job. We are not competitive with each other as most of us in the industry realize that there are way more houses and offices than cleaning companies. Secondly, if you're happy with your cleaning service, please ignore this advice! Over my 15 years of professional cleaning for home & small business owners, I have seen that 90% of people DO NOT disinfect correctly. This video serves as an introduction to the 5-part FREE video course "How to Disinfect Properly", where I break down the "9 Mistakes of Disinfection".
Click here to access your FREE course! [You will be directed to subscribe to our newsletter mailing list first.]  Christmas is over and a new DECADE is upon us. This is the time of year that many start to turn the corner from the current year and set serious goals for the new one. Just look at the book stores and online sellers. They advertise heavily to the public on health, health, health. Why? Because it sells. We set health goals more than any other for January 1st. Let's dig deep into human psychology and discover WHY these goals fail. Then we'll unpack a framework that can help you make your goals work for you in 2020.
STEP #1 - Before we look at 2020, let's look back at 2019 and search for clues as to what worked and what did not. I have an entire podcast episode and show notes on how to do this using John Maxwell's "Think Week" annual process. Check out John's blog article and my podcast for the full details. Here is the summary. Between December 26th and 31st, pull out your 2019 calendar and journals. Look at the goals you set during the year and ask yourself this question. "Did I achieve this goal?" If you answer "yes", ask yourself, "why did I succeed". If you answer "no", ask yourself, "why did I fail". Here are some other questions that John Maxwell uses to assess his year.
STEP #2 - We need to understand the NEED for a big vision and goals. First of all, do this exercise. Ask yourself what you want in 2020. Then ask yourself WHY. Once you answer, ask WHY again. Do this 5 times. This peels back the layers of the onion until you have reached the core of what you really want and why. I promise you. It will fuel you through 2020. Now that you have a vision, you need to understand why goals and accountability are so important. Do you know that out of every 100 people, 83 have no goals, 14 have verbal goals, and 3 have written goals. The ones with verbal goals are 10 times more successful than the ones without goals and the ones with written goals are 30 times more successful. There is even a higher echelon of individuals that write down their goals and are held accountable to achieving them. This is me. Is it you? I highly recommend that you get a big WHY for 2020. Then you set goals around that why, write them down, and ask someone you admire & respect to hold you accountable to achieving them. STEP #3 - Let me briefly share the framework of a SMART goal. Specific – Make the goal answer WHO it includes, WHERE it will occur, WHAT you want to accomplish, and WHICH constraints could affect it. Measurable – Make the goal simple to track and quantify. What gets measured, gets managed. Either use a numeric or Yes/No structure. Attainable – Make your first goal realistic to start the Momentum Cycle. Subsequent goals should be more aggressive as confidence grows. Relevant – Your goal must matter to your WHY. If the goal accomplishes "stuff" for you, but doesn't get you closer to your dream, it's not SMART. Time-Bound – Give your goal a deadline or it will never get accomplished. Deadlines create tension and tension creates action. Make sure your goal is truly SMART. Then add accountability to achieve it and ensure it's tied to a big vision for your family this upcoming year. If you do, you'll be proud of your accomplishments 1 year from now. The information in "Step 2" and "Step 3" is a summary of a 60-minute SMART Goals Masterclass that I taught for my SMART Cleaning Tribe. You can watch it for free on my website.  Let's redefine "dirtiest" to the word you actually care most about... "germiest".
You want to avoid sickness and with flu season right around the corner, this is a great time to assess the cleanliness of your office. In an article published by WebMd on December 23, 2018, Dr. Laura J. Martin, MD shares her professional insights. She sites 15 common office locations that tend to gather the most germs (aka bacteria) and strategies to sanitize and/or avoid them. The article does a great job, so I won't attempt to re-write it. I will simply list the 15 areas, site her takeaways, and add my perspective as a cleaning company owner for 14 years. This article could be a great resource for an upcoming staff meeting as well as a solid checklist for your cleaning service to evaluate in hopes of reducing your sick day call outs this cold & flu season!
Updated 10/6/22: Our family loves the Philly Area still. It's home. It's always been home. Our children have adapted so well in the 4 years since we left everything they knew in Upstate NY. We currently live in Harleysville, have a wonderful church, homeschool community, and circle of friends. Carfagno Cleaning served mostly houses and some offices in NY and maintained that model in 2018 - 2019 in the Indian Valley. In 2020, our model shifted to mostly offices as a result of the pandemic. By mid-2021, we stopped serving houses and rebranded to Carfagno Commercial Cleaning. The C3 Experience serves professional office spaces such as financial, medical, and professional services. C3 is an employer in the Indian Valley that is partnered with the community. Ken actively serves on the Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce's Membership Committee to better the chamber and the business community.
Original Article: Hello Philly Area! After 18 years, our family is PHINALLY coming home! I followed my dream to create things for the world. This lead me to GE engineering away from PA and our family. But the corporate world stuck a dagger in my WHY of FAMILY after completely selling out for 12 months. My hero and VP of Engineering said. “If you want my job, you can't have a personal life. I live in Greenville and my wife lives in Atlanta." This rocked my world to the core, hitting me right in the WHY. Family. That's not me. Thus, I exchanged the GE logo on my shirt to my own company logo in 2005. During these last 13 years, we've enjoyed incredible flexibility & freedom with our family of 7. And the work itself has been SO rewarding. I've been blessed with the opportunity to be a member of so many families and realtor teams over the years. Yes, I cleaned for them, but it was so much more. They have been my surrogate families as ours was 5 hours away. As hard as it was to leave, the Carfagnos are PHINALLY coming back home to enjoy FAMILY, clean for YOU, and coach other cleaning owners nationally who also want more time with their families. Here are some quick survey questions to discover if hiring Carfagno Cleaning is right for you:
WHY would you hire Carfagno Cleaning? That's simple. We share values and that builds trust. Frequently Asked Questions:
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