Cleaning Business Life

Shannon Miller & Jamie Runco
  • 4.7 (30)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Cleaning Business Life is the podcast for cleaning business owners who want to build a profitable company without sacrificing their entire life to do it. Hosted by industry leaders Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco, the show brings real-world conversations about pricing, hiring, leadership, systems, boundaries, profitability, and sustainable growth. With more than 240 episodes rooted in actual cleaning-industry experience, you’ll hear the lessons, mistakes, hard decisions, and strategies that business owners rarely talk about publicly. Whether you’re starting your cleaning company, stuck inside the daily operations, or ready to grow into the CEO role, you’ll find honest guidance to help you charge more, earn more, and stress less. No hype. No surface-level advice. Just real cleaning-business conversations from women who have built the businesses themselves.  Want more help building a profitable cleaning business? Join Shannon’s email list for practical strategies, resources, and program updates:https://klean-freaks-university.newzenler.com/f/welcome-to-klean-freaks-university-1 Want to get a hold of us? Please email us at cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com

  1. 5h ago

    EP 234 | Shiny Object Syndrome Is Killing Your Cleaning Business

    This podcast is powered by Klean Freaks University.com — where real cleaners build real empires. From mop buckets to million-dollar systems, we teach you how to clean smarter, lead stronger, and scale faster. Shiny object syndrome may be quietly keeping your cleaning business from growing. A new course, software program, service, marketing strategy, or “million-dollar idea” can feel exciting—but constantly changing direction often leaves you with unfinished projects, wasted money, and very little measurable progress. In this episode, Shannon and Jamie discuss how cleaning business owners can recognize the difference between a genuine opportunity and another distraction. They also explore why new ideas feel more exciting than finishing what you’ve already started, when it makes sense to pivot, and why focus and consistency are essential for long-term growth. You probably don’t need another brilliant idea. You may simply need to finish what you started and give your current strategy enough time to work. Support the show Thanks for tuning in to Cleaning Business Life — the podcast for cleaning business owners who want to build a profitable, sustainable company without burning out. Hosted by Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco, each episode pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to start, grow, and scale a cleaning business — covering pricing, systems, leadership, boundaries, and the real conversations most people avoid. 🎧 New episodes 2x weekly  📚 Resources, show notes, and programs: https://kleanfreaksuniversity.com Because in life — and in business — clean is just the beginning. — Shannon & Jamie

  2. 3d ago

    EP 233 | Business Is Hard—Build One That Can Handle It

    This podcast is powered by Klean Freaks University.com — where real cleaners build real empires. From mop buckets to million-dollar systems, we teach you how to clean smarter, lead stronger, and scale faster. Being a cleaning business owner is hard—but the kind of hard changes as your business grows. In this episode, Shannon and Jamie have an honest conversation about the difficult decisions, uncomfortable conversations, financial pressure, staffing problems, and personal responsibility that come with building a cleaning company. They discuss transitioning out of the field, hiring and managing employees, protecting your cash flow, setting boundaries, creating policies from painful lessons, and learning not to treat every uncomfortable situation like an emergency. The goal isn’t to create a business where nothing hard ever happens. The goal is to build one that doesn’t collapse every time something hard happens. The problems may not disappear, but with stronger systems, better boundaries, and experience, you become the business owner who knows how to handle them. Support the show Thanks for tuning in to Cleaning Business Life — the podcast for cleaning business owners who want to build a profitable, sustainable company without burning out. Hosted by Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco, each episode pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to start, grow, and scale a cleaning business — covering pricing, systems, leadership, boundaries, and the real conversations most people avoid. 🎧 New episodes 2x weekly  📚 Resources, show notes, and programs: https://kleanfreaksuniversity.com Because in life — and in business — clean is just the beginning. — Shannon & Jamie

  3. Oct 3

    EP. 232 | Buried Behind Whiskey Row: Prescott’s Lost Chinatown and Double-Decker Brothel

    This podcast is powered by Klean Freaks University.com — where real cleaners build real empires. From mop buckets to million-dollar systems, we teach you how to clean smarter, lead stronger, and scale faster. Behind Prescott’s famous Whiskey Row was another side of town—one respectable society preferred not to talk about. Along South Granite Street stood Prescott’s red-light district, its only known two-story brothel, and a thriving Chinese community whose labor helped keep the frontier town running. Then the Great Fire of 1900 swept through the district, destroying buildings and burying much of its history beneath the ground. In this special haunted-history episode of Cleaning Business Life, Shannon explores the women who lived and worked inside the Double-Decker Brothel, the children who may have called it home, and the remarkable artifacts archaeologists later recovered from its trash-filled privy—including Victorian pottery, beauty products, patent medicines, and part of a porcelain doll. She also shares the story of Prescott’s Chinese residents, the laundries and businesses they built despite open discrimination, and the community members who fought flying embers with wet blankets and brooms to save their Joss House during the fire. More than a century later, construction of the Granite Street parking garage uncovered what Prescott had nearly allowed to disappear. This is the story of what was buried behind Whiskey Row—and the people whose town depended upon them, even while pushing them to its margins. Apply for the scholarship here: https://kleanfreaksuniversity.com/scholarship/ Support the show Thanks for tuning in to Cleaning Business Life — the podcast for cleaning business owners who want to build a profitable, sustainable company without burning out. Hosted by Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco, each episode pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to start, grow, and scale a cleaning business — covering pricing, systems, leadership, boundaries, and the real conversations most people avoid. 🎧 New episodes 2x weekly  📚 Resources, show notes, and programs: https://kleanfreaksuniversity.com Because in life — and in business — clean is just the beginning. — Shannon & Jamie

  4. Sep 30

    EP 231 | She Thought Her Cleaning Business Was Making Twice as Much

    This podcast is powered by Klean Freaks University.com — where real cleaners build real empires. From mop buckets to million-dollar systems, we teach you how to clean smarter, lead stronger, and scale faster. Jamie thought her cleaning business was making twice as much as it actually was. When duplicated income was discovered in her books, it was a difficult financial wake-up call—but learning the truth gave Jamie the information she needed to transform her business. In this episode, Jamie shares how working with Erica Paynter helped her clean up her bookkeeping, double her actual revenue within a year, implement Profit First, and create a financial operating system she can finally understand and trust. Jamie and Erica discuss separating taxes, payroll, operating expenses, profit, and owner’s pay; knowing when the business can afford to hire; and using Jobber, QuickBooks, Gusto, and Relay to build systems that work together. This conversation is about more than bookkeeping. It’s about the confidence that comes from understanding your real numbers and making decisions based on facts instead of financial emergencies. Learn more about Erica Paynter and the bookkeeping, advisory services, and financial resources available through CleanCo CEO: https://cleancoceo.com Be sure to tell Erica that Jamie and the Cleaning Business Life podcast sent you! Support the show Thanks for tuning in to Cleaning Business Life — the podcast for cleaning business owners who want to build a profitable, sustainable company without burning out. Hosted by Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco, each episode pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to start, grow, and scale a cleaning business — covering pricing, systems, leadership, boundaries, and the real conversations most people avoid. 🎧 New episodes 2x weekly  📚 Resources, show notes, and programs: https://kleanfreaksuniversity.com Because in life — and in business — clean is just the beginning. — Shannon & Jamie

  5. Sep 26

    MTM EP #4| How Do You Train Your First Hire From 90 Minutes Away?

    This podcast is powered by Klean Freaks University.com — where real cleaners build real empires. From mop buckets to million-dollar systems, we teach you how to clean smarter, lead stronger, and scale faster. How do you train your first employee when your new location is 90 minutes away—and you have no intention of becoming the cleaner or full-time trainer? In Episode 4 of March to a Million, Shannon and Jamie explore the real logistics behind hiring and training a cleaning technician remotely. Shannon shares her developing plan for training homes, secret shoppers, video-based lessons, quality-control checklists, and in-person validation as she prepares to hire for the new Gilbert market. Jamie also shares what she is currently learning from hiring through Indeed, including the difference between free and sponsored listings, screening applicants, testing whether candidates can follow instructions, and improving a job post to attract the right people. This is the messy middle of expansion: building the training systems, documenting expectations, navigating the return to W-2 employees, and determining which parts of cleaning can be taught through video—and which must be learned by doing. In this episode: • Training employees from a distance • Using training homes and secret shoppers • Creating an employee training course • Establishing clear quality-control standards • Hiring through Indeed • Screening applicants for attention and reliability • Using technology, checklists, and SOPs • Building a company that does not depend on the owner cleaning Apply for the Structure, Scale and Profit Cleaning Business Academy Scholarship: https://forms.gle/pAxjWGs3L7oKMUJM7 Learn more about the Structure, Scale and Profit Cleaning Business Academy: https://klean-freaks-university.newzenler.com/courses/scale-up-your-cleaning-business-with-sspcba-academy Try Jobber: https://share.getjobber.com/mzhfwVu Connect with Shannon and Klean Freaks University: https://kleanfreaksuniversity.com/ Learn more about Jamie and Above All Cleaning Services: https://www.facebook.com/jamie.runco.1 Support the show Thanks for tuning in to Cleaning Business Life — the podcast for cleaning business owners who want to build a profitable, sustainable company without burning out. Hosted by Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco, each episode pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to start, grow, and scale a cleaning business — covering pricing, systems, leadership, boundaries, and the real conversations most people avoid. 🎧 New episodes 2x weekly  📚 Resources, show notes, and programs: https://kleanfreaksuniversity.com Because in life — and in business — clean is just the beginning. — Shannon & Jamie

  6. Sep 23

    MTM EP #3 | Building in Public

    This podcast is powered by Klean Freaks University.com — where real cleaners build real empires. From mop buckets to million-dollar systems, we teach you how to clean smarter, lead stronger, and scale faster. What does it really look like to build a cleaning business before the success story has been polished? In Episode 3 of March to a Million, Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco share what is happening behind the scenes as they build their next chapters in real time. Shannon is preparing to launch Gilbert Tidy Clean in a new market 90 minutes away—this time with a structured W-2 business model. She talks about returning to the W-2 world after eight or nine years, brushing up on current employment requirements, researching the new market, and intentionally building the infrastructure before opening the doors. Jamie shares what life looks like now that she is completely out of the field and working from her office full-time. From implementing Profit First and creating employee career paths to strengthening her hiring, onboarding, and leadership systems, she is building Above All Cleaning Services for its next level of growth. They also discuss investing in coaching, protecting employees from unsafe requests, handling scope creep, charging appropriately for last-minute work, and the fear and uncertainty that can accompany business growth. This is what building in public looks like: learning, implementing, questioning yourself, and continuing to move forward before you know exactly how the story will end. Follow Gilbert Tidy Clean: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61591860864454 Apply for scholarship Klean Freaks University:  https://kleanfreaksuniversity.com/scholarship/ Support the show Thanks for tuning in to Cleaning Business Life — the podcast for cleaning business owners who want to build a profitable, sustainable company without burning out. Hosted by Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco, each episode pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to start, grow, and scale a cleaning business — covering pricing, systems, leadership, boundaries, and the real conversations most people avoid. 🎧 New episodes 2x weekly  📚 Resources, show notes, and programs: https://kleanfreaksuniversity.com Because in life — and in business — clean is just the beginning. — Shannon & Jamie

  7. Sep 19

    Ep. 230 | The Cleaning Fairy Who Broke In—and Left a $75 Bill

    This podcast is powered by Klean Freaks University.com — where real cleaners build real empires. From mop buckets to million-dollar systems, we teach you how to clean smarter, lead stronger, and scale faster. In 2012, Ohio cleaning-business owner Susan Warren entered a stranger’s unlocked home, cleaned it without permission, and left behind a handwritten bill for $75—on a napkin. Even more alarming, the homeowner’s 19-year-old daughter was asleep upstairs while Susan cleaned downstairs. In this episode, Shannon shares the bizarre story of the so-called “Cleaning Fairy” and the important cleaning-business lessons hiding underneath it. We’re talking about client consent, access versus authorization, proper entry procedures, professional boundaries, and why you cannot perform an unapproved service and expect the client to pay. Shannon also compares Susan’s $75 price in 2012 to what the same cleaning might reasonably cost in today’s market—approximately $180–$210. Cleaning businesses are built on trust. No matter how good your intentions are, an unlocked door is not permission to enter—and an invoice written on a napkin does not create a contract. If you need contracts for your cleaning business then I suggest you take this class! https://klean-freaks-university.newzenler.com/courses/the-contract-client-clarity-bundle Support the show Thanks for tuning in to Cleaning Business Life — the podcast for cleaning business owners who want to build a profitable, sustainable company without burning out. Hosted by Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco, each episode pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to start, grow, and scale a cleaning business — covering pricing, systems, leadership, boundaries, and the real conversations most people avoid. 🎧 New episodes 2x weekly  📚 Resources, show notes, and programs: https://kleanfreaksuniversity.com Because in life — and in business — clean is just the beginning. — Shannon & Jamie

  8. Sep 16

    The Three-Minute Bid That Took Me Years to Build | Ep. 229

    This podcast is powered by Klean Freaks University.com — where real cleaners build real empires. From mop buckets to million-dollar systems, we teach you how to clean smarter, lead stronger, and scale faster. A cleaning estimate recently took me less than three minutes to create and send—but the system behind it took years to build. I’ve used Jobber since 2015, and both the software and my cleaning business have changed immensely since then. As I prepare to expand Prescott Tidy Clean into another market, I’m cleaning up old files, updating services and pricing, strengthening our deposit requirements, and creating a process that doesn’t depend entirely on me. In this episode, I discuss phone and text-based estimates, signatures, deposits, scope creep, payment collection, tipping through invoices, and why pricing may be adjusted after we assess a home’s actual condition, lifestyle, and level of need. The estimate took three minutes—but it was built from years of experience and thousands of cleaning bids. Chaos is expensive, but every system we build gives us more time, consistency, and freedom. Here is my link to Jobber if you want to try it out.  https://share.getjobber.com/mzhfwVu Support the show Thanks for tuning in to Cleaning Business Life — the podcast for cleaning business owners who want to build a profitable, sustainable company without burning out. Hosted by Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco, each episode pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to start, grow, and scale a cleaning business — covering pricing, systems, leadership, boundaries, and the real conversations most people avoid. 🎧 New episodes 2x weekly  📚 Resources, show notes, and programs: https://kleanfreaksuniversity.com Because in life — and in business — clean is just the beginning. — Shannon & Jamie

See All (245)

4.7
out of 5
30 Ratings

About

Cleaning Business Life is the podcast for cleaning business owners who want to build a profitable company without sacrificing their entire life to do it. Hosted by industry leaders Shannon Miller and Jamie Runco, the show brings real-world conversations about pricing, hiring, leadership, systems, boundaries, profitability, and sustainable growth. With more than 240 episodes rooted in actual cleaning-industry experience, you’ll hear the lessons, mistakes, hard decisions, and strategies that business owners rarely talk about publicly. Whether you’re starting your cleaning company, stuck inside the daily operations, or ready to grow into the CEO role, you’ll find honest guidance to help you charge more, earn more, and stress less. No hype. No surface-level advice. Just real cleaning-business conversations from women who have built the businesses themselves.  Want more help building a profitable cleaning business? Join Shannon’s email list for practical strategies, resources, and program updates:https://klean-freaks-university.newzenler.com/f/welcome-to-klean-freaks-university-1 Want to get a hold of us? Please email us at cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com

Information

  • Creator
    Shannon Miller & Jamie Runco
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    245
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Cleaning Business Life
  • Show Website
    Cleaning Business Life

You Might Also Like