Filthy Rich Cleaners: The Cleaning Business Podcast

ZenMaid
  • 4.5 (35)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Daily

Filthy Rich Cleaners is the free cleaning business coach you never knew you needed. Hosted by Stephanie Pipkin, founder of Serene Clean, every episode delivers real, tactical advice you'd normally pay for in a consulting call. Honest stories, proven strategies, and tips from people who've built successful cleaning companies, whether you're just starting out or ready to scale. We're here to make you Filthy Rich 💸

  1. 6h ago

    #147: How I Built a Career Path for My Cleaning Techs (Finally)

    After seven years, Stephanie recently built a real career path at Serene Clean, but it looks nothing like what most cleaning companies do. In this episode, she unveils the new four-level career path she launched: Cleaning Tech 1, Cleaning Tech 2, Senior Cleaning Tech 1, and Senior Cleaning Tech 2. She breaks down why she intentionally left some roles vague to future-proof the business, how she tied two new monthly bonuses to attendance and compliance, and why she deliberately skipped titles like "team lead" and "trainer." She also walks through exactly how she ran the numbers with AI to make sure the bonuses were affordable at their worst-case cost. 📌 What You'll Learn — Why a too-simple structure can quietly cause turnover and stagnation — How to build a career path using behaviors you're already tracking — Why Stephanie set attendance qualification at 98% — How the rolling six-month attendance window actually works — Why she made the bonuses monthly instead of quarterly — How to calculate what a new bonus or benefit will cost you at its worst — Why she avoids team leads and the power dynamics they can create — How to future-proof roles by leaving responsibilities intentionally flexible Resources Mentioned — Serene Clean Raise & Wage Guidelines (previous episode): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQngBPrIuWQ — Molly Moran (Live Bright Consulting): https://mollymoran.com/ — Career Path Template ($15): https://serene-clean.com/downloads/career-path-template/ 👉 Try ZenMaid free for 14 days: https://get.zenmaid.com 📞 Stephanie's Consulting & Resources for Purchase: https://serene-clean.com/consulting-services/ ✉️ Subscribe to ZenMaid's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.zenmaid.com/newsletter/

    51 min

  2. 2d ago

    #146: How Matt Ricketts Built a $6M Cleaning Company

    Matt Ricketts went from being a furloughed pilot back in the 2008 economic crash to owning a residential cleaning company doing $6M a year, but he didn't plan any of this. In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Matt Ricketts of Better Life Home Services to talk about why he decided to own a cleaning business after being furloughed from his pilot job, and how he eventually scaled to 60+ cleaners across St. Louis. Matt shares the operational systems behind his "pod" model, why he switched from teams to solos, how he thinks about the numbers that drive growth, and where he sees private equity reshaping the industry.   📌 What You'll Learn — Why recurring revenue per week matters far more than your total customer count — How the "pod system" cuts drive time and keeps cleaners working close to home — The 500-to-1 hiring funnel Better Life uses to filter applicants — Why getting a new hire to 90 days predicts whether they'll last a year — How to fund great benefits with a customer-facing health and safety fee — The math behind spending $360 (or more) to acquire a single customer — The three pillars of "delight": operational excellence, custom experience, and memorable moments — Why solo cleaners generate more revenue per head than teams — How private equity and AI are about to reshape the cleaning industry   Resources Mentioned — Better Life Home Services: https://betterlifehome.com/ — Sight Stones (Matt's nonprofit — gifts for customers): https://sightstones.org/   👉 Try ZenMaid free for 14 days: https://get.zenmaid.com 📞 Stephanie's Consulting & Resources for Purchase: https://serene-clean.com/consulting-services/ ✉️ Subscribe to ZenMaid's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.zenmaid.com/newsletter/

    1h 21m

  3. Jun 4

    #145: 3 Ways Cleaning Business Owners Are Doing Too Much

    If you're prepping every cleaner's kit, tolerating time theft, or trying to force the wrong person into an office role, this one's for you 🥴 In this episode, Stephanie breaks down three examples from the past week of cleaning business owners doing too much, including why your cleaners should be responsible for their own kits and supplies, why time theft is a non-negotiable firing offense, and why pushing the wrong employee into an administrative role is costing you.   📌 What You'll Learn — Why owners should never be the ones prepping cleaner kits (and how to transition that responsibility) — How to pay cleaners fairly for 10 minutes of prep time so you can hold them accountable — Why GPS clock-in/clock-out is one of the most important features of any scheduling software — How to handle staff who turn off GPS tracking or clock in from home — Why "time theft" is still legitimate theft — How to spot when an employee is the wrong fit for an office role — Why problem-solving with technology matters more than knowing how to do something — How Stephanie's team documents SOPs using recordings + Claude to make processes plug-and-play — Why org charts and role clarity matter once you bring on admin help   Resources Mentioned — ZenMaid Mastermind (free Facebook group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/zenmaidmastermind — Claude AI (used for writing SOPs from recordings): https://claude.ai/ 👉 Try ZenMaid free for 14 days: https://get.zenmaid.com 📞 Stephanie's Consulting & Resources for Purchase: https://serene-clean.com/consulting-services/ ✉️ Subscribe to ZenMaid's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.zenmaid.com/newsletter/

    40 min

  4. Jun 2

    #144: How Krista's Family-Run Cleaning Business Grew 30% a Year

    Krista Radau didn't set out to build a cleaning empire; she just needed to help pay the bills! Six years later, she's running Extreme Clean Solutions in Oklahoma City with her husband, son, niece, and now her mom, and growing 30% a year without spending any money on ads 🤯 In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Krista to talk about starting a cleaning business in November 2019 (right before COVID), turning her husband's window cleaning company into a profitable upsell, why she walked away from a five-year Air Force Base contract, and how her TikTok handle "Queen of Clean OKC" is pulling in clients from other states.   📌 What You'll Learn — How Krista grew her business 30% per year using only word of mouth — Why she walked away from a five-year government contract mid-negotiation — How to combine window cleaning with house cleaning for a massive revenue lift — Her exact pricing on ovens ($50+), fridges ($80), and windows ($20 each) — Why "Google loves Google" and how to treat your Google Business Page like social media — How to build TikTok content that actually converts to bookings — Why systems, checklists, and policies protect you from awkward customer conversations — The squeegee method she preaches on every cleaning job — How to add coach light cleaning as a high-margin upsell — Why authentic, unpolished video outperforms scripted content every time   Resources Mentioned — Extreme Clean Solutions (Oklahoma City): https://extremecleaningsolution.com/ — ZenMaid (scheduling software): https://get.zenmaid.com/ — Angela Brown / Savvy Cleaner (systems advice): https://www.youtube.com/c/AngelaBrownCleaning — Krista's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@QueenofCleanOKC   👉 Try ZenMaid free for 14 days: https://get.zenmaid.com 📞 Stephanie's Consulting & Resources for Purchase: https://serene-clean.com/consulting-services/ ✉️ Subscribe to ZenMaid's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.zenmaid.com/newsletter/

    1h 3m

  5. May 28

    #143: How to Get Hundreds of Google Reviews for Your Cleaning Business

    Reviews are the lifeblood of a residential cleaning business, and the companies racking up hundreds of them have a system in place, including Serene Clean. In this episode, Stephanie breaks down exactly how Serene Clean has collected 471 (!!!) Google reviews, 64 Facebook reviews, and dozens of video testimonials over seven years. She walks through the leave-behind cards, QR codes, email signatures, and the brand-new "Record and Reward" incentive program that pays cleaning techs to bring in video reviews.   📌 What You'll Learn — Why reviews are the single most important piece of social proof for a local cleaning business — How to track reviews as a weekly KPI so you never go stale — The exact leave-behind card Serene Clean uses (front and back) to ask for written and video reviews — Why putting your review links on checklists, invoices, and email signatures multiplies your results — How to incentivize cleaning techs to actively collect reviews — The four questions Serene Clean asks every client for a video review — How the Record and Reward program stacks bonuses: $20 per video, +$30 for the first video of the week, +$10 for the second, plus a quarterly pot — Why video reviews outperform Google reviews when you're just starting out — The pain-point question Stephanie added after Alex Hormozi's conference to make video testimonials better for marketing — Where to repurpose video reviews so they keep working for you for years   Resources Mentioned — Serene Clean review card (front and back): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ksddeuPtVV2cZWVaQCZV4dw34USqMjil/view?usp=sharing — Record and Reward Incentive Program document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A0vfHqOc-SnfXYr3wtBq-6Dmhjn773HdpzGUAj0CYJo/edit?usp=sharing — Joe's video review (example): https://youtu.be/KHlrZraiCck?si=xD-qU9amX78W6qx6 — ZenMaid Mastermind (Facebook group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/zenmaidmastermind   👉 Try ZenMaid free for 14 days: https://get.zenmaid.com 📞 Stephanie's Consulting & Resources for Purchase: https://serene-clean.com/consulting-services/ ✉️ Subscribe to ZenMaid's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.zenmaid.com/newsletter/

    34 min

  6. May 26

    #142: Dan Platta on Why Hitting $1M in Your Business Won't Fix Your Problems

    Most cleaning business owners think they have a hiring problem, a marketing problem, or a cash flow problem, but Dan Platta disagrees. He says they actually have a clarity problem 🤯 In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Dan Platta, owner of Best Damn Bookkeeping and former operator of multiple cleaning, window, and home service businesses across the US. Dan breaks down the "Purgatories of Scaling," explains why bookkeeping is a finance activity (not a tax activity), and walks through the five spending buckets every service business owner should be tracking weekly.   📌 What You'll Learn — The three "purgatories" every cleaning business gets stuck in — Why doubling your revenue from $100K to $200K often means making less money — The five money buckets every cleaning business needs to track (and the % targets for each) — Why hiring a local bookkeeper or tax accountant for your books is usually a mistake — Why you should NOT sync your CRM to QuickBooks — How to reverse-interview candidates so the right people self-select in — The biggest hiring filter mistake owners make: "stop selling the job like it's easy" — Why your highest-producing cleaner is often the worst person to promote to manager — How to think about admin team spend (and the 15–17% sweet spot) — Why "growth is expensive" and how to brace your business (and team) for it   Resources Mentioned — Best Damn Bookkeeping: https://bestdamnbookkeeping.com — Home Service Happy Hour Podcast (Dan's show): https://www.youtube.com/@HomeServiceHappyHour — Hire Lead Chill (recruiting company Dan co-owns with Sean Day): https://hireleadchill.com   👉 Try ZenMaid free for 14 days: https://get.zenmaid.com 📞 Stephanie's Consulting & Resources for Purchase: https://serene-clean.com/consulting-services/ ✉️ Subscribe to ZenMaid's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.zenmaid.com/newsletter/

    1h 22m

  7. May 21

    #141: How We Got Free Local News Coverage for Our Cleaning Business

    Free PR? Sign us up! It's not as far-fetched as it sounds, and Stephanie's team pulled it off last month with one well-crafted email. In this solo episode, Stephanie breaks down the exact media pitch her executive assistant, Veronica, used to land Serene Clean in two local news outlets in April. She talks about why charitable giving has been baked into Serene Clean's brand since its inception in 2019, how the Cleaning for a Reason partnership works, the PR pitch that worked to get Serene Clean in the local news, and more.   📌 What You'll Learn — How to structure a media pitch that local reporters will open (subject line + 150-word body) — Why leading with the community story is the formula that gets greenlit — How Cleaning for a Reason membership works and why $25/month is worth it for brand-building alone — How Stephanie structures Serene Clean's monthly giving budget (fixed + variable) — Why local TV is still the most trusted news source and reaches your ideal cleaning customer — The subject line and pitch email Serene Clean sent to land two media placements — Why corporate social responsibility is a long-term branding play   Resources Mentioned — WEAU news story on Serene Clean's Cleaning for a Reason partnership: https://www.weau.com/2026/05/01/local-cleaning-company-brings-free-house-cleanings-homeowners-fighting-cancer/ — Cleaning for a Reason (nonprofit partner, $25/month membership): https://cleaningforareason.org/ — ZenMaid Mastermind Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/zenmaidmastermind — Sean Perry's previous episode on SEO and backlinks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJNnCWP4Pik — Serene Clean's Fresh Start Project (free cleaning initiative): https://serene-clean.com/giveback/   👉 Try ZenMaid free for 14 days: https://get.zenmaid.com 📞 Stephanie's Consulting & Resources for Purchase: https://serene-clean.com/consulting-services/ ✉️ Subscribe to ZenMaid's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.zenmaid.com/newsletter/

    35 min

  8. May 19

    #140: How Reagan Bell Turned Getting Fired Into a Thriving Cleaning Company

    Reagan Bell was fired from a toxic cleaning job at 18. Four years later, she's running her own organic cleaning company in Orlando, and about to take it fully remote. In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Reagan, the 22-year-old founder of Bell's Organic Maids, to talk about how she turned getting fired from a chaotic contractor job into launching her own business from scratch. They cover the systems she set up from day one, why she chose W2 employees over independent contractors, how she's promoting her first hire into a field manager role, and the plan she's following to transition to remote ownership when she moves across the country this summer.   📌 What You'll Learn — How to turn cleaning experience into a real business — Why W2 employees beat independent contractors for culture and risk protection — The exact software stack Reagan uses to stay organized (ZenMaid, Confluence, Notion) — How to promote your first cleaner into a field manager role with a stipend structure — Why automated client reminders are a non-negotiable — Small, thoughtful client retention gifts under $5 that drive real word of mouth — How Stephanie maintains team culture as a remote owner using Slack channels, weekly virtual meetings, and AI-powered positive reinforcement — Why signed service policies will save you when you run into the inevitable crazy client   Resources Mentioned — ZenMaid (CRM, scheduling, automated reminders, invoicing): https://get.zenmaid.com/ — Confluence (systems and SOP documentation): https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence — Notion (team hub for checklists, inventory, employee guidelines): https://notion.so/ — Slack (team communication and culture): https://slack.com/ — Stripe (payment processing): https://stripe.com/ — Gusto + Guideline (payroll and 401k): https://gusto.com/ — Indeed (hiring) — Canva (branded client postcards)   👉 Try ZenMaid free for 14 days: https://get.zenmaid.com 📞 Stephanie's Consulting & Resources for Purchase: https://serene-clean.com/consulting-services/ ✉️ Subscribe to ZenMaid's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.zenmaid.com/newsletter/

    1h 16m
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4.5
out of 5
35 Ratings

About

Filthy Rich Cleaners is the free cleaning business coach you never knew you needed. Hosted by Stephanie Pipkin, founder of Serene Clean, every episode delivers real, tactical advice you'd normally pay for in a consulting call. Honest stories, proven strategies, and tips from people who've built successful cleaning companies, whether you're just starting out or ready to scale. We're here to make you Filthy Rich 💸

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