Filthy Rich Cleaners: The Cleaning Business Podcast

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 💸

Filthy Rich Cleaners: The Cleaning Business Podcast is a business podcast hosted by ZenMaid, with 179 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

ZenMaid hosts Filthy Rich Cleaners: The Cleaning Business Podcast, a business show with 179 episodes published.

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  Episode #179

  #179: Update On Our Transition to Flat Rate: Numbers and Lessons Learned

  Oct 1, 202647 minS1

  Raising prices on 97 clients sounds terrifying...until you see the numbers In this solo episode, Stephanie answers listener Lorraine's question about how Serene Clean's flat rate transition is going. After seven years of hourly residential pricing, Serene Clean rolled a flat rate switch and a price increase into one change, and Stephanie shares the financial results, learnings so far, the pushback they got, and what she'd do differently. What You'll Learn — Why to roll out flat rate to new clients first, then transition existing clients in batches — The real numbers: $7,693/month gained, $3,321/month lost, and a 12% cancellation rate — The exact price increase email Serene Clean sent, plus and how a five-year client negotiated to a middle ground — How to handle clients who think in hours, and how "priority cleans" replaced limited hour cleans — Why production rate auditing is critical once you charge by the job instead of by the hour — The mistake Stephanie made by not telling her cleaners about the switch, and why your team should always be in the loop Resources Mentioned — Flat Rate Email Estimate Template ($20) — available on Stephanie's website along with her checklists, documents, and bundles: https://serene-clean.com/downloads/flat-rate-estimate-email-template/ — Serene Clean's cleaning checklists — available on Stephanie's website: https://serene-clean.com/bundles/ — ZenMaid Mastermind Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/zenmaidmastermind — ZenMaid's weekly newsletter: https://zenmaid.com/newsletter Try ZenMaid free for 14 days: https://get.zenmaid.com Stephanie's Consulting & Resources for Purchase: https://serene-clean.com/resources/ ✉️ Subscribe to ZenMaid's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.zenmaid.com/newsletter/ Apply to be a guest on Filthy Rich Cleaners: https://get.zenmaid.com/guest-application

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  Episode #178

  #178: How to Win Apartment Building Cleaning Contracts, with Nick Spagnolo

  Sep 29, 202658 minS1

  What do you do when a hotel calls and needs 10–15 cleaners a day, seven days a week, and you only have until the weekend to deliver? If you're Nick Spagnolo, you hit the ground running. In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Nick, president of Spag N Shine LLC in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Nick left a banking career during COVID, started cleaning houses with his mom, and has since grown to around 20 staff members by becoming the "one-stop shop" for apartment buildings — janitorial, turnovers, carpet cleaning, floor stripping and waxing, and more. What You'll Learn — How to become the one contact property managers call for everything, and why that builds unshakeable contracts — How to break into carpet cleaning using your chemical vendor's free demos, training, and equipment support — Why joining your local apartment association can unlock a whole new tier of commercial work — How Nick priced and staffed a hotel contract requiring 10–15 cleaners a day during COVID — The real cost of company vehicles and the $500 car allowance system Nick uses instead — Why staffing agencies can tarnish your name (including the story of a drunk worker, a gun, and a parking lot fight) — Why staying on top of your insurance broker matters Resources Mentioned — Spag N Shine (website): https://www.spagnshine.com/ — Spag N Shine (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/spag_n_shine/ — Spag N Shine (Facebook page): https://www.facebook.com/p/SPAG-N-SHINE-100063507854791/ — ZenMaid Software: https://get.zenmaid.com/ Try ZenMaid free for 14 days: https://get.zenmaid.com Stephanie's Consulting & Resources for Purchase: https://serene-clean.com/resources/ ✉️ Subscribe to ZenMaid's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.zenmaid.com/newsletter/ Apply to be a guest on Filthy Rich Cleaners: https://get.zenmaid.com/guest-application

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  Episode #177

  #177: Stop Letting Your Business Live in One Person's Head

  Sep 24, 202633 minS1

  What happens to your cleaning business when your key employee goes on vacation for a week or two? For a lot of owners, things break. That's why in this episode, Stephanie shares how Serene Clean is preparing for office manager April's upcoming three-week absence, a situation that would create total chaos for a lot of businesses. Stephanie talks about the documentation gaps that April's prep work uncovered, how she's been breaking April's role down into daily, weekly, and sporadic tasks, how they're replacing SOP booklets with quick Loom recordings, and how they ran practice payroll rounds months in advance just in case. What You'll Learn — Why to treat a planned absence like an audit, not an emergency — How to break any role into daily, weekly, and sporadic tasks (and assign each one a due date) — Why quick screen recordings beat a 30-page SOP nobody will read — How practice runs expose the gaps in your documentation before they cost you — The field-tested handoff method Serene Clean uses for both clients and office tasks — What to pause during an absence to keep the workload steady — Why thorough documentation makes your business more valuable to a future buyer Resources Mentioned — Buy Back Your Time (book): https://www.amazon.com/Buy-Back-Your-Time-Unstuck/dp/059342297X — Loom (screen recording software): https://www.loom.com/ — ClickUp (task management): https://clickup.com/ — QuickBooks (auto-invoicing): https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ — ZenMaid (client details and invoicing notes): https://get.zenmaid.com/ Try ZenMaid free for 14 days: https://get.zenmaid.com Stephanie's Consulting & Resources for Purchase: https://serene-clean.com/resources/ ✉️ Subscribe to ZenMaid's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.zenmaid.com/newsletter/ Apply to be a guest on Filthy Rich Cleaners: https://get.zenmaid.com/guest-application

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  Episode #176

  #176: How Dave Camenga Built a Thriving Janitorial Business with 30+ Cleaners

  Sep 22, 20261h 8mS1

  Dave Camenga started cleaning houses in fifth grade (yes, really). 11 years later, he owns a thriving commercial janitorial company in Baltimore with 30 cleaners and hundreds of monthly cleans. In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Dave, owner of Dave's Cleaning Consultants in Baltimore, Maryland, who shares how he skipped college to go all-in on cleaning. His nightly janitorial teams of 4–6 people clean eight offices a night, and he shares why old-school direct mailers still land him massive commercial contracts. Dave also talks about the hardest parts of the business, including letting go of a five-year employee, firing disrespectful clients, and protecting a zero-drama company culture. What You'll Learn — How Dave structures teams of four to six cleaners to service eight offices a night — Why "hire slow, fire fast" and always-open interviews protect your best people from burnout — The direct mail system that landed a $150,000-per-month commercial contract — When to fire a client — even one worth $7,000 a month — Why being coachable matters more than 30 years of cleaning experience — How to command respect as a young owner by never asking staff to do what you wouldn't Resources Mentioned — The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes (book): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591842158?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback — Q&A with Dave and Carolyn Arellano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dzZLaEjX1k — Dave's Cleaning Consultants on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davescleaningconsultants/ — Dave's consulting services: https://www.davescleaningconsultants.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/ Apply to be a guest on Filthy Rich Cleaners: https://get.zenmaid.com/guest-application

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  Episode #175

  #175: Every Software I Use to Run My Cleaning Business

  Sep 17, 20261h 7mS1

  What software does it actually take to run a $100K+/month cleaning business? In this episode of Filthy Rich Cleaners, Stephanie goes through every single tool she pays for, including what it costs, who uses it, and why she picked it over the alternatives. You'll hear about how her team relies on ClickUp for task and lead management, QuickBooks for bookkeeping, OpenPhone for client communication, Slack for team communication, Gusto for payroll, Loom for process documentation, and more! Stephanie also shares how AI has transformed her operations, and how you can use similar takeaways for your own business. What You'll Learn — How Stephanie uses ClickUp as her CRM, task manager, and weekly time-blocking system (especially helpful for ADHD brains) — Why every cleaning business needs bookkeeping software, even if you have a bookkeeper — Why you should never use your personal phone number as your business line — How to use Loom + AI to create SOPs and delegate without repeating yourself — The case for regular software audits and being ruthless about canceling what you don't use — Why the first-response speed of AI tools is becoming a competitive advantage for owners Resources Mentioned — ClickUp: https://clickup.com/ — ProcessDriven (Layla's YouTube channel and ClickUp course): https://www.youtube.com/@LaylaPomper — The ZenMaid Mastermind Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/zenmaidmastermind — QuickBooks: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ — OpenPhone (Quo): https://www.quo.com/ — Slack: https://slack.com/ — Claude: https://claude.ai/ — ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/ — Acquisition.com: https://www.acquisition.com/ — Indeed: https://www.indeed.com/ — SignRequest: https://signrequest.com/ — Gusto: https://gusto.com/ — Loom: http://loom.com/ — Trainual: http://trainual.com/ — Canva: https://www.canva.com/ — Guideline (401k): https://www.guideline.com/ — The Gift Card Cafe: https://www.thegiftcardcafe.com/ — MailChimp + Zapier: https://mailchimp.com/ — Best Damn Bookkeeping Service (Dan): https://bestdamnbookkeeping.com/ — CleanCon (Austin, TX — end of September): https://www.mycleancon.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/ Apply to be a guest on Filthy Rich Cleaners: https://get.zenmaid.com/guest-application

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