How A Husband And Wife Built A High-Standard Cleaning Company In North Carolina with Sydney Allen Lapanne, Red Wolf Cleaning Services

0:00Welcome to Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McCray with Action Coach Business Growth Partners. Every week, we sit down with business owners, founders, and leaders to uncover the real stories behind building a successful business. The wins, the setbacks, the lessons learned, and the strategies that help them grow. No scripts, no fluff, just honest conversations with entrepreneurs who are in the trenches every single day. Whether you are a business owner yourself, thinking about starting a business, or simply enjoy hearing how successful people think and operate, you are in the right place. Let's jump into today's episode, shall we?

0:58Welcome, everyone, to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth. Today, I'm excited to be joined by Sydney LaPan with Red Wolf Cleaning Services. Sydney, how are you doing today? We're excited to have you. I am doing awesome. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, yeah, we're definitely excited to have you on. So let's go ahead and jump right into things. So for those of you who may not know it yet, you know, who are you? Who is Sydney LaPan and what is Red Wolf Cleaning Services?

1:29Who is Sydney LaPan? That's so funny because honestly, when you sometimes run a business, especially when you're not trying to be the face of it, it can sometimes become less about you and more just about like the business becomes your identity. So it's so funny. So who is Sydney LaPan? So I originally am from South Florida and I kind of have like a long background in fine dining and hospitality and things like that. And then when COVID hit, I moved up to North Carolina and I kind of got into cleaning. So Red Wolf is a husband and wife run cleaning business. We pride ourselves on luxury level cleaning.

2:01So we like to think of ourselves as like the fine dining of cleaning. And basically we service commercial, residential, I mean, almost anybody. Honestly, if you have an office space, like I said, if you have a house, you know, a salon or dentist office, anything like that, or post-construction, if you're remodeling your house or if you, you know, a lot of contractors that of course in the area, all the new work going up, we do that as well. But our main thing also is consistency. So going back to, like I said a minute ago about, you know, fine dining where we find that the biggest thing that we can offer in keeping a high standard is consistency with our services.

2:39So making sure that every 30 to 45 days we're doing audits behind our cleaners to ensure that that consistency is still there. having SOPs and checklists that they can follow as well after every clean, taking photos that are, you know, sent to the clients afterwards as well to again, ensure that there's that standard. So we really just try to do everything that we can to, you know, it's not like we really do anything different than your average cleaning company. We just like to think of ourselves more as a consistency company. Okay. Okay. No, I love it. I love it. So Sydney, real talk, let's, you know, let's get right into it.

3:13You know, what's something about running a business that people think is amazing, but is actually a complete BS? You know, it's funny because I think it's like kind of your time. So first and foremost, like a lot of the times I think when people, you know, your employees maybe think like, oh, she, you know, he, she, whoever is just at home or, you know, they're out there doing the work while the, you know, the boss is just, let's say, sitting on the high throne for lack of better word. And, you know, don't get me wrong in one way, which is a pro you do get your time, you know, back in certain ways, you know, maybe on a Wednesday, you have the opportunity to go to the grocery store when it's not super busy.

3:54But at the same time, this is definitely not a regular nine to five, you get call outs at eight o 'clock at night, you get call outs at six o 'clock in the morning, you have to, you know, every day is not what you thought it was going to be before. But that's also for me just a pro as well. Because when I was younger, I always wanted to be like a jack of all trades. And so for me, like, even though again, at times it is difficult that the day changes, it's also a positive to where like my, my tasks, my roles, my, again, even my every day is always changing. And I really enjoy that as well. So yeah.

4:30Okay. Okay. Okay. So what would you say was the exact moment where you realized, you know, this can either really work or it could completely blow up on my face. I'm still there. If I'm being completely honest with you, I don't know if, I mean, I guess once you kind of hit a certain point, like hiring has been good because of course, like, you know, I've got the hands to where like worse comes to worse, which did happen during Helene when like we had a few employees, but unfortunately our unit flooded and we lost some supplies. And then of course with clients, you know, in the area and things like that, some left, some stayed, and then with structural and home damage, you know, it was nice to where even though when you take on more work, when you have the employees, it sounds bad, but if you have to scale back, obviously, and go back to like just me and my husband, then, you know, there's that, right?

5:23But at the same time, like kind of looking forward and you're like, blows up in my face. It's really just a matter of like, at some point, you kind of just be like, Like I have to just, you just, you just keep going. Like, I don't know. There isn't, like you have those days. I heard of the best one time about quitting, right? So I heard a mentor say one time that I used to quit for days. Then I used to quit for hours. Then I used to quit for minutes. And then, you know, now quitting is just almost irrelevant. And so I think that that's something that, you know, of course we all, especially as business owners, I'm sure have days when you're like, oh my God, like I just, I'm done.

6:02You know what I mean? I'm over it. But at the same time, you just quit for hopefully less and less time. And then you just literally get right back to it and just be like, this is what we're doing. And at the end of the day, I kind of almost have to work just because I like to, not have to, I mean, we all have to, but I like to work in general. I'm never one of those people that's like, let me sit on the couch or even on Saturdays, I'm usually cleaning my own house. So it's kind of just, yeah, I don't know. I'm just moving forward really. But I mean, we're kind of there right now, like every day almost seems like, and again, that's also the roller coaster of owning a business realistically.

6:38So yeah. Okay. So what would you say is the most stressful moment you've had as a business owner? Like a, how am I going to get through this type of moment? I know you talked about that a little bit earlier, but.

6:52You know, it's funny because I feel like a few years ago when I first started the business, I would have like kind of dived real deep into like how to deal with the stress of, you know, like I said, if someone calls out or, you know, they're sick or whatever it is. But honestly, I tell myself and I tell my staff every day that as long as you're doing your best, that's kind of all that I can ask from you and myself. And so it's like if someone calls out or if there's a stressful day or whatever it is years and years ago or a client complains, I would have freaked out. I would have been on my mind all day long, how would we solve this problem?

7:32And instead, I'm just like, you know, we just have to move forward. Also, because unfortunate, like I say, unfortunately, but I was, I, you know, I have a health thing that I was diagnosed with back last year, that kind of comes and goes, which means that I'm also one of those people on the team where I may wake up one day, and technically, I'm sick. And that throws the day that throws the team. And sure, I can stress about it and stress about, you know, the clients and everything like that. But realistically, all I can do is my best, which is reschedule, communicate with my team, the clients, and then just try to hopefully do best the next day.

8:07Yeah. Yeah. And, and not to get too personally in it, you know, I hope, hope whatever you're dealing with, you know, gets better. Hopefully it can get better. I don't know if it can, but. It's, it's hard to explain other than the fact that it's like an autoimmune thing. So it kind of just flares up and comes and goes. So even though in a way it's kind of been a, you know, when we talked about like blowing up your face, like stressful to manage. Like it makes some days a little more difficult because I, like I said, I'm that wrench in my team at the same time on a more personal level, especially I'm sure a lot of business owners can resonate where like you put yourself or at least like I, again, I do put all of it into work and you don't necessarily always take the time and the energy for yourself.

8:47And so in a way, what I'm dealing with is telling me like, I need to slow down. I need to take better care of myself And honestly, it also allows me the opportunity to enjoy a little bit more of my life, which right now has just been so consumed by work in a good way because I love what I do. But just being able to take my dogs on a hike or read a book, play some chess. I'm very old fashioned, I guess. I like to do all the slow people things, old people things. but but yeah no it it's um it wasn't exactly what I wanted but kind of like I said before like all I can do every day is just do my best and keep doing that so yeah yeah yeah now do you ever plan on changing that and giving to yourself a little bit more so yes so we're kind of in that process right now where I am having to realize that if I keep going the way that I'm going I'm gonna like in lack of better words die really early I'm not like too frankly but like you know I'm just gonna run myself into the ground you know aren't we all and so so yeah so I'm starting to you know make some changes which is also again where a lot of business owners get where you're like okay I'm the owner and the operator but you know when am I like able to step back and be more of a manager instead of involved in day-to-day so it is a little bit more difficult but it's also allowing me to kind of like again look at priorities, both in the business and in my personal life and kind of figure out, you know, honestly, kind of hone in on things a little bit better.

10:18And I think it's been a good thing. So. Okay. Now, have you, and you kind of talked about this a little bit earlier. And so I guess I wouldn't ask you this because you have thought about quitting it before, but I guess when was your most recent time you thought about quitting? And if so, what stopped you?

10:35that's a good question well the thing about it is is like and not to harp too deeply on like you know my condition and whatnot but it does make me really tired and so because I have been overly tired and then sometimes being overly tired can just kind of mean that you end up becoming a little more frazzled. So I have to recognize when I'm tired instead of actually frazzled by something happening within the business. And then kind of like I said before, I don't know, I would say, I mean, I, I mean, maybe a couple of weeks ago, but even then, like, I don't know, like I said, you that it come, it doesn't really come across the mind often.

11:22And if it does, it's just like, it's really just about figuring out what the problem is at hand because if I want to quit there's there's obviously a reason right like like I said a new hire called out and and honestly you know there are things like a new hire calling out or someone who says they're going to show up for orientation or putting training in the hands of somebody that maybe I shouldn't have where even though sometimes those may have negative repercussions in the time the positive impact is that I'm able to learn from them and then do better moving forward, which is how we have, you know, like hiring 2.0 and 3.0 and 4.0 and all the point ofs that you get.

11:59So realistically, you know, when you ask that question, like I said about quitting, like, again, I just go back to, sure, I can have the thought, but like, it just doesn't, it doesn't seem to resonate for long. It just doesn't. Yeah. I mean, and it doesn't even matter if I was working for somebody else, right? Like, and again, you know, unless we are all gifted with a silver spoon at birth, You know what I mean? There aren't many of us that have the option to just say like, well, I never want to work again. So realistically, I think finding the mentality to just say like, I'm just going to push through and I'm maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like we're lacking a lot of that today.

12:32And so I feel like maybe that's my personal strength. And I know my parents have great work ethic and I always feel like I've had good work ethic. So that's just my thing is just pushing through, like I said, and then doing my best. Okay. Now, how long have you been in business? we are moving into year six so we started in 2021 in january which was kind of just like beginning of the year yay and so technically we are five years in now yes so we'll be into year six by next year oh wow and you were at the tail end of covid there so you guys had to wear masks and everything so we were at the tail end of covid we did have to do masks and everything like that But then shortly after that, it broke.

13:15And then honestly, it was beneficial for us because just as a new business, not having a bunch of clients, we, you know, they were like, oh, we'll leave and go and all that kind of stuff. So it was nice because we were able to kind of, of course, distance when we are the only ones in the house as well. So that was beneficial. Okay. Okay. So what would you say is a mistake you made early on that cost you or the business either serious money, time or reputation?

13:46hmm well i before being completely up front i have one bad review on google and that kind of goes back to what i said before that was in the very beginning of our business i was tired my husband and i were probably doing like three cleans a day at this point five days six days a week and and we were really exhausted and just burnt out and we basically told this client that we couldn't go out there, which realistically actually wasn't a lie because our car had an issue. But then she was like, I could come and pick you up and everything like that. And it didn't work out. Yeah. It just, it didn't really work out because it's kind of a whole thing, but still to the point is like, I didn't during our last clean, give the quality, my best effort.

14:30And that in combination with the fact that like we were tired and burnt out and all that, it just ended up leading to bad quality, which ended up leading to a bad review. And I think about that a lot. Of course, it's out there, so it's not going anywhere.

14:50But like I said, all I can strive to do is do better. And then that's where, again, I recognize now. And even with my team, I just had a girl the other day that was like, I'm tired. And I'm like, I completely understand that this job is physically demanding. So when And I would prefer that before you get to the day of burnout that you let me know, hey, I'm feeling kind of burnt out. Can we maybe lighten the load a little? And I can find some way to cover for you because, you know, like I said, I'd rather that than, you know, you get there and the quality slip. And then kind of every it ends up hurting everybody.

15:22It hurts the client. It hurts us. It hurts the cleaner. So there has been that instance. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. No, I appreciate that honesty and transparency. You know, I really appreciate that. So, you know, and this obviously this next question is hypothetical, but let's say if someone shadowed you for a full day or let's say even a full week, what would surprise them the most about how you operate and what you do?

15:48hmm well from what i hear from my team which they typically shadow us of course during the training process my husband and i primarily as of right now is that compared to a lot of other cleaning companies we're really organized which is funny because i we are very organized but i still don't feel like we're there and i'm a perfectionist so it's like if it's not a hundred then it's nothing. But no, I mean, I would basically say our team is always like, you know, again, we have our checklists, we have our we have a five step process for every room and, you know, SOPs on, you know, what we train on on each day and make our audits.

16:26So in a way, we are really organized. I would probably say in another way, which I myself am coming to realize, and I'm sure many business owners at some point realize this is that I'm doing a lot of, like I said before, kind of like putting out fires and like running the small things in the business instead of being able to actually have the time to do the big things. Like I want to create training videos and then also be able to put more of our training into a digital platform called school. So that way our team can kind of go there and reference documents and videos and things like that for secondary training purposes so that if while they're out on the job, they have a question and, hey, how do I make a bed perfectly?

17:10You know, they can refer to these videos first. So not, you know, not being able to have the time for that right now. So I would say somebody would look at me and say, you're extremely organized, but you could stand to be more efficient with your time. Okay. Okay. No, that's fair. That's fair. Now, have you finalized the naming of that? Are you going to call it school? so school is actually the name of the platform i don't call it that right yeah so school yeah they're an awesome platform that like i'm actually in another group with and it's for business owners in general or people hosting i really can't explain it it's kind of like facebook but not really but but yeah either way like i said i'm actually just really excited about that part because i feel like i've also seen a lot of like we had past mentors and things like that where in their cleaning businesses, a lot of the times when you're trying to, you know, a mentor who's like, let me help you grow your business.

18:04They're helping you focus on the sales aspect and sure a little bit about like how to hire and put out like an ad and bring team on and things like that. But they're not necessarily doing, you know, obviously saying like here, you should make all these training videos. And so I think to me, I see all these companies that push a lot of marketing, but they don't necessarily push how to train and retain good long-term employees. And of course, like any good businesses, it's not necessarily, you know, if you want to turn and burn employees, that's great. But I can't necessarily say that you might have the best, you know, service out there.

18:37And that's what I feel like I see and hear from other larger companies like Molly Maids, Mary Maids, whatever the big companies are, is that they, you know, turn and burn on their people. And so with us, again, that's kind of why I feel like putting more of that, like honestly, most of our best cleaners are those that don't even have any previous cleaning experience because of the fact that it's a perfect canvas to start from. Blank slate, they're willing to soak up everything that you show them. And, you know, that's where I think that just that supplemental. And then also the cool thing about school is that it's all the girls can be in it.

19:15So if one, one of the employees had a question about a certain client's house or how to clean a shower glass door or something like that, that maybe wasn't in one of the videos or documents that's provided, then the other people within the community, the other cleaners can also respond to that question again, similar to like a Facebook discussion type thing. And so that way that hopefully overall is going to be one of those things that helps to remove me and my husband from feeling like we need to be in the field and need to be in this hands-on of the training overall. And we can hopefully pass it along to somebody else.

19:49And then this will be like that catching the last 10%, that filter kind of thing, if it makes sense. No, it does. It does. I got you. So let's go ahead and talk about numbers without getting too specific. You know, since you've been in business for almost six years now, what year would you say was the turning point when things started to scale and kind of get to where you are today? That's so funny. It literally happened right at Helene. So basically, right at Helene, we were pretty much doing under$10 ,000 a month. We were fairly successful, but not where I wanted to be. And I'm very ambitious.

20:29So even today, we're not where I want to be, but I'll accept it because I'm very happy and grateful. But still, we were literally right below$10 ,000. And in the month of October, looking ahead at what we had scheduled and booked, we were going to do 15 that month. And I was really excited. And the following couple months looked really good after that going into Christmas. And then Helene hit at the end of September. And that October did not happen. Well, luckily, we still made out well for October and the rest of the year. And the business continued on. And what was funny is actually after that is, like I said, when we got better and stronger.

21:09And that was just another one of those, like, we're not going to quit moments. And ever since then, we've pretty much, since the start of this year, we've been doing about$20 ,000 a month. I know people don't usually like to talk numbers, but I don't mind it. I'm rather candid. So we've been doing 20 a month and I'm hoping to grow more, you know what I mean? But considering that we were at 10 barely last year, you know, part or the year before. 24. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're going on two years now. Yeah. September will be two years. Yeah. It's gone by quick. It just, you know, and right now our cap really on, you know, revenue is hands is I just don't have enough hands.

21:47I've got more jobs than I have hands for. So no, no. And I, and I gotta, I gotta ask a follow-up question to that. How did that work where most of Asheville didn't have water? How did you, how did you all clean? Did you guys just bring water bottles or? Yeah. So it was a little bit of, so a power, if you didn't have any power, that was non-negotiable because I can't see and I can't vacuum. And, but yes, if you didn't have water, we were basically honest with clients saying that, you know, more than likely we're not going to be able to flush the toilet. Or if you can gather enough water to flush the toilet, I can bring enough for spray bottles for, you know, and people are understanding that this was not going to be any like deep cleans of showers and anything, which luckily most of our clients, It's relatively easy maintenance things.

22:29So yeah, it was kind of just a matter of figuring out and then making honestly like a list of the clients and being like, okay, who has no power, no water, who has power, but no water, who has water, but no power. And then as everyone kind of came back, they just kept us updated. And then like, again, the plus side was, is we probably maintain about three fourths, if not more of our clientele after Helene, which was really awesome. and even to this day about 90 to 95 percent of our clientele is like recurring on a monthly basis so in general we just have a really strong recurring revenue to where i feel like you know even if we lost one or two people it's not like you know we're not quaking in our boots end of the world yeah yeah yeah gotcha now what would you say actually moves the needle most in your business right now what would be let me just be honest with you what would be is if i had more time in like to be in the office because right now not having that time isn't moving the needle and you know kind of going back to like what we talked about before is I'm very organized but like finding you know the time efficiency it's not that I'm not efficient I just get like I said bogged down in all these tiny little you know putting out fire tasks and oh add a note to this clients thing, all things that do need to get done.

23:48But when you're not saying, okay, I need to take a two or three hour block, or I need to take a day or something like that to actually do like, again, these things that are going to move the needle, then you kind of just end up sitting in the same spot. So realistically, I would say that that's where we're at right now. And that's, you know, kind of going back to the overall of everything, which is the question I'm asking myself right now is and and the decision we're making which is like okay i have this health thing where i can't do what i'm doing before i have to now start pushing harder to make that transition and to do the things that are going to move the needle so i need to better assess my time and where i'm spending it and then and doing a time evaluation and being like okay you know like i said what are we going to do to actually go from there and then but i don't you know we'll get there basically yeah yeah and like and like you said you're very ambitious so you want to be you know you want to be at the top so you know obviously like you said right being able to step back and do some of that office paperwork stuff right is that what you're kind of getting at like some of the paperwork and background stuff yeah yeah yeah exactly just like i said writing down it's literally just all the small it's you know if if you don't already know this there are some points when in a business when you want to pass that thing off to somebody else obviously you know you have to have it written all down if not which is fine you're going to get the how do i do this how do i do that question.

25:09And from working with my dad when I was young, because he owned his own business, that was actually what he would have me do all the time is every time he'd give me a task and help him, I'd have to refer to him every couple of minutes and ask him all these questions. And eventually, he wouldn't be available or he would start to get irritated with the abundance of questions. And I'm kind of like, okay, well, how do I best do my job if you're not available for me. And so that's my other thing too, again, eventually knowing that, you know, if I want to grow this business and if I want to open multiple locations, which is, you know, hopefully my goal is that I have to be able to eventually leave this place and then be able to turn something over to somebody and be like, this is how you do it.

25:52You know? Yeah. I love it. I love it. So what would you say is one thing you're doing today that is giving you an unfair advantage over your competitors, would you say?

26:06So it's kind of like the organization in combination with, I don't know, maybe like honest, open communication, being like a good person. Like, I don't mean to sound rude when I say this, but I talk to a lot of clients and people in general who feel like just common courtesy some days is just flown out the window. and so I know exactly exactly so I think the thing to me is like you know when I hear clients who tell me like oh I got a quote and then they they never called me back or they never showed up or when there was a complaint that needed to be made and then you know you never hear from the business owner again or or even in general to give you know a bad attitude after getting feedback from a client like whatever it is I just I think that for us coming from that luxury background and all that kind of stuff and that fine dining.