How many of you are fans of Absolutely Clean?

Those of you that are, understand that I talk about time a lot. The importance of it, and why you should hire us to do the dirty work for you.    Today I am encouraging you to let the house get dirty!

Recently I posted on our fan page for a free clean and asked you WHY you should win.  I love hearing what you will do with your time, but it makes me a little sad sometimes.  It makes me sad because I am afraid if you don’t win, then these magical things you talk about will be put off…  this is what a few of you wrote:

I was playing outside with my friends one afternoon after school when I was rudely interrupted by a mandatory family meeting. I was irritated. I knew the rules. You did your homework, your chores and then you were permitted to play outside until dinner. Yes, we were around the dinner table, yet there was no food. I sat, peeved and impatient waiting for whatever was so important that could justify interrupting my precious play time.

My Mom had been pacing around, looking restless and bothered. My dad sat close looking calm and stoic as usual, yet there was an opposite feeling, visible and bubbling on his inside. My brother and sister sitting with my same confused half nervous look of anticipation.

I travel. I travel constantly. I travel five days a week for business, I travel weekends for pleasure. My home is an array of hotels, Hiltons, Holiday Inns or whatever William Shatner hooks me up with. My transportation consists of economy rental cars and cramped airplanes. My friends work at these airlines, hotels and rental companies. My office is any place with accessible electricity and Wi-Fi. My pride is completed tasks, on time arrivals, airline statuses and successful wake up calls. And yet my Dallas apartment is clean.

The last thing I want to do when I am home after three consecutive weeks of travel,( After three weeks of work in Boston, Massachusetts, Mobile, Alabama and Jacksonville, Florida and two weeks with the girlfriend somewhere deep in Montana.) is clean! When I first open that door to my apartment, I unleash the long imprisoned contents of my suitcase and watch as it springs itself free only to rest upon the floors, counters, couch, bathrooms and anywhere else it may land. My never used silverware, used once again, though not put away. Dirty forks, dirty dishes and used napkins find themselves spread all across my kitchen and dining room. My bed a mess once again from use.

Pooping in my pants was one of my earliest memories growing up, when I was 4 (I was the fourth child of 5 kids.) You might think, “So what? My child did that all the time at 4”. I would agree, my son (who is 4) has ‘accidents’ and I figured out last year in our Holiday Letter, when we had 3 kids still in diapers that we probably collected or changed over 1 ton of diapers the previous year…. But, I was fully potty-trained and conscious of my actions.

This was a premeditated act of attention, carefully diagrammed in my mind and carried out with precision to garner a cry for ‘notice me now’! Sure, it worked – but it also backfired, my older brothers and sister had a GREAT laugh at my expense, my mother made me take a bath in the middle of the day(ugh!) and my baby sister still got all of the attention from my mom. Not the reaction - I was going for.

 

I was recently SHOCKED to read an article some of my association friends were applauding the contributors for, "Secrets of a Housecleaner". I can ONLY guess there was lots of chatter and well …. You know how the press can “twist” things a bit?   I need to clear some things up here! I would imagine my friends who helped with this article are as upset as I am!

 

1. It’s the little things that make people happy. That’s why we make the little triangle at the end of the toilet paper roll. You guys love that.

AC: "Got that one right! we do this because it’s a nice detail.   I have actually had a client call me and complain that the team missed cleaning the bathroom …. We forgot the triangle, not the bathroom but that’s what she looked for when walking through her home."

In This Issue Reminders! Up Date Your Policy Agreement. January Special! Absolutely Clean Staff Charity Event Absolutely Clean staff will be helping serve at the Saturday Evening Meal Program at the First Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids on New Years Eve Night. January Special Refill Service For January only when you sign up for Absolutely Clean's Refill Service with cleaning agent Gen-X3, we will provide you with a reusable spray bottle! Stock Up on our New Favorite Cleaner to help you clean up after the Holidays!  Weather Reminders! Its that time of year that bad weather can happen at a moments notice, we ask that clients please be patient with us as we try to get our crew members safely to your houses. We also ask that you remember to clear sidewalks/driveways for the crews to safely get into your homes. Keep an eye on those school Delays and Cancellations, if any Cedar Rapids, Linn-Mar, or Marion school system is delayed- so will we! You can expect us 2 -3 hours later than your usual time. If school is cancelled then we will use our judgment and call you for any adjustments IF they are needed. If your children are home this day, and you prefer us to reschedule, these are the only days of the year that we will waive the 24 hours notice rule. Also, Please take a moment to read our Policies. Find out all you need to know about cancellations and lock out policies, etc. Click Here to Read & Update your Absolutely Clean's Policy Agreement. Newsletter: Hot Topics!? We are looking at the best ways to server YOU... What do you want to see in this newsletter? We are looking to improve our service and how we can get information to you. As with, ALL THINGS that we do we are making it a contest.   If you respond we will draw for a FREE 3 Room Fog from the Gen-X3 Fogger (it gets rid of the "winter germs"). Just hit REPLY to this email and give us a couple thoughts... Thank you.    Congrats to Our Client Survey Winner Absolutely Clean got together with local business That One Cupcake Place for some extra sweet giveaways this month! All you had to do was fill out your client survey to be entered! Debbie Bancks is this months winner of a half dozen cupcakes from That One Cupcake Place.  Way to go Debbie!  Don't forget to send in your surveys to be entered in next months drawing.  One entry when sent by mail; 2 entries when completed by smart-phone or online!

Price of a nice glass of wine at a good resteraunt in our town  -- $9.00

avg # of glasses ordered 2 -- $18.00

avg price of a good meal at said resteraunt = $14
ave # of meals ordered 2 -- $28

Price of meal -- $46 (before tax and tip)

avg tip for good service -- $9.2

Over $55 right?  This is assuming you each only had ONE drink ... no appetizers and no desert!
Let's add $18 for the other person (they want to relax a bit too!)

We had an all day seminar yesterday, one that we will have quarterly. This meeting is not about me preaching or even really teaching. It’s about listening and mentoring and pulling us in to alignment for the common goal.

How do we do that?

Here are the list of topics we started with (kudo’s to my amazing husband who is a business coach on a day to day basis for making this so easy for me to do) Understand we started at 9 am and had a hard time putting a cap on this at 3pm so the depth here is minimal. This conversation list will be the same at our next meeting but we will go even deeper next time and of course bring our new people into our mission.

I am at home working in thirty minute stretches because I find it hard to get up from my desk without bothering the rest of my staff so it’s best that I work from home! Also --- not a good idea that I drive today on these meds. WE would get nothing done and it would be all my fault… right ladies?   I am pondering what time means… once again.  Sometimes I think God throws these wrenches at me to slow me down. I have slowed WAAAAAAAAY down.

I’m pondering how we choose to react to certain things in our lives… that shape who we are and those around us. It’s amazing to me how one reaction can change the course of things and equally amazing that HOW we react to it … produces a certain result.

As Anne walks out the door today and say's "Thursday Thought?" ,    (Anne helps me with the details of our marketing and Dana with the details of our scheduling and daily reports! She is one of the four of us that will answer the phones here when you call.  She rocks and is so organized )   I respond .. " Have fun in Vegas "-- a smile and "I haven't thought about it yet.. ".   
The next moment I get a text from my husband that says: My goals are clear and I am occupied with them.  This is a pretty cool thought, if not an enduring principle.

YEP ...

Want to know what my thirty day goals are?  I'm expecting to see yours listed on our page if you are joining us today at 6pm -- Thomas Park.  I'll let you jump in at any time but.. My goals are clear.