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Here’s the truth that I tell myself every single day but I still refuse to accept. Maybe you feel the same way.
You’re stuck because of 3 things:
You’re doing too many things (you’re distracted)
You give up when something doesn’t work quickly and you pivot
You don’t know what to do
In my cleaning business, I have felt all of these things. Sometimes all at the same time. Here’s the only antidote: specific, focused action in 1 direction.
Let’s say your cleaning business specializes in short-term rentals. You built the systems, you built the SOPs and you built the team. Everything is moving smoothly but not fast enough for you.
You’re scrolling social media and see that someone is having success with commercial cleaning. You try to reason within yourself saying “Oh, we could easily do that. We have the team already so it can’t be that hard. Labor is always the hardest part, right?”
This is honestly a big mistake and if you’ve tried to offer more than one type of cleaning before, you know what I mean. It might look simple from the outside, but what you don’t realize is you likely need different software, different equipment, a new sales script, new marketing angles, different SOPs, etc. You are much MUCH better off sticking with what is working than exploring new things.
Moving from industry to industry feels good because it’s action. But we’re confusing all action with good action. Not all action is good. If you’re already running an STR cleaning business but want to be moving faster, the solution is not to open a new service. It’s to get better at the one you currently have and grow the muscles you already have (marketing, hiring, training).
I am qualified to speak about this because I struggle with this every day. I look at our cleaning business and think “man, how can I grow faster?” Instead of putting more money into ads or hiring more (boring) I think about the other businesses I could start.
Remember, not all action is good action.
Think about it like this and then I’ll stop:
You want to be an elite athlete. So you start practicing basketball. You go to the gym every day and shoot 100 free throws, run sprints, practice your 3-pointer, etc. You do this for a full year. Then you wonder why you’re not in the NBA yet. So you think “maybe I’ll try soccer. Maybe that’s my ticket to going faster.”
After all, it’s the same core athletic skills required. But you just took a huge step back. It’s new and shiny but it’s a massive distraction. If something is already working, do more of it.
Until next time!
Logan
