“I’m ashamed to be a house cleaner or a maid. I can’t tell my friends about my blue-collar job issues. They’ll be reluctant, hesitant or ashamed to hang out with me.
I want to grow my cleaning business but I’m sheepish. I’m great at cleaning but I’m ashamed to say morale is low and I’m ready to quit.
Can I build my cleaning business if my job title sucks?”
Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru says there’s no need to be sheepish or humble or shamed. House Cleaning is an honest profession and we’ll cover tips in today’s Ask a House Cleaner.
Show sponsors are Savvy Cleaner (House cleaner training). My Cleaning Connection (Hub for cool cleaning stuff). And HouseCleaning360.com (Referral network where you can find a good maid service.)
Listen: Ashamed to be a House Cleaner or Maid
Watch: Ashamed to be a House Cleaner or Maid
Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.
Should I Tell My Friends I Clean House?
Ashamed to be a house cleaner? What do you do when you’re a house cleaner and ashamed to tell your family and friends that you’re a house cleaner? Today’s question comes from a house cleaner who has been cleaning for 15 years. And she’s still ashamed to tell people that she cleans houses for a living.
She says “What do I do? Am I ever going to get over this?”
Answer: Don’t Be Ashamed, Be Proud of Your Job
The answer is I don’t know, it’s up to you. You can be proud of your job even if it isn’t associated with a fancy title like doctor or lawyer.
You may not have the fancy education and fancy student loans that it takes to become a doctor or lawyer either. That doesn’t mean your job is any less important.
You do have fifteen years of on hands, in the field experience and that my friend, is something to be proud of.
Blue-Collar vs. White-Collar Jobs – Don’t Be Ashamed
Both jobs, blue-collar and white-collar jobs allow you an income to provide for your family. They both use your skill and common sense.
If you show up to work every day with an attitude of pride rather than being ashamed or fearing you will be looked down upon, it will show up in your work. Your attitude (bad or good) has a domino effect on your employees and customers.
People do judge house cleaners but you don’t have to let their judgments define you.
If you are proud of the work you do, they will be proud of the work you do as well. This translates into tips and referrals. Being proud of the work you do reinforces the good decision of the customer to hire you.
Own Your Professional Choices
Once upon a time … And this is a story that’s told by the author himself, Theodore Geisel. He goes to a party with his wife and people come up to him and they say, “Hey, by the way, what do you do for a living?”
And these are fancy people with fancy titles. He says “I write children’s stories”.
And they laugh at him, and they quickly excuse themselves so that they can go off and they can talk to somebody more important. Little did they know that this children’s author that they’re speaking to is a man we call Dr. Seuss. One of the most famous children’s authors of all time, selling over 600 million copies of his books, translated into twenty languages.
Oh, what I would give to have had just one conversation with that man.
The Job You Do Matters
There are a whole bunch of jobs that make the world turn. And its people that drive trucks of supplies from one part of the country to another. It’s people that take the gasoline money when you fill your car up with gas.
The people who bag your groceries, cut your hair. These are not jobs of low social status. Without them, commerce stops. Every job is important and, in some way, makes the world turn.
The house cleaning industry is a booming industry and it serves a huge part of the population.
7 Erroneous Myths About House Cleaners
There is a huge misconception among the general population about house cleaners and maids.
Here are a few:
- Cleaning house is all they can do because they are uneducated.
- They are living below the poverty level
- They don’t speak English
- All maids or housekeepers are female
- They are illegal immigrants
- This is all they do (meaning they don’t have lives, families, and hobbies outside of work.)
- They all get paid in cash and none of them pay their taxes.
Sit back because I’m about to burst your bubble.
Myths Busted with Savvy Cleaners
All the above are true in some scenarios. But this is the new millennium. 
- Men are house cleaners now. Lots of men in the cleaning business.
- Many house cleaning business owners live in houses much nicer than the ones they clean.
- Many house cleaners not only speak English but they speak two or three other languages as well.
- Most house cleaners and maids now accept credit cards, direct deposit or auto draft as payment instead of cash.
- Many house cleaners and maids not only pay taxes but they have life insurance policies, 401K’s and mutual funds.
- The majority of house cleaners in the field listen to podcasts while they work, improving their minds and education for hours a day.
Give Yourself Permission to Succeed
Lots of cleaning business owners for the first time don’t have the confidence to succeed. They sabotage their success because their business model doesn’t fit the stereotype of maids.
I’m giving you permission to succeed. You don’t have to live the myth. You don’t have to buy into the myth.
You’re a Business So You Can Live the Dream
I know a neighborhood where the homes are sprawling two and three-story homes. In size, they range from 3,000 t0 8,000 sq. ft. In price, the homes range from $550 to over a million dollars. And the landscaping is impeccable. It’s a quiet neighborhood where families walk their dogs and kids in strollers. The youth ride bicycles and skateboards down the streets. And neighbors chat out in their driveways or waiting for the school bus.
Talking to the neighbors you would expect that they had cushy jobs in banking. But it’s delightful to find that seven homes on one street are owned by house cleaners. Other homes in the neighborhood belong to landscapers, painters, and other independent business owners.
Don’t be Ashamed – Change Your Mindset
There are lots of house cleaners who don’t tell their friends what they do for a living because it never organically comes up in conversation.
And for the most part, if you’re a solo operator, unless your friends live in the neighborhoods you work, they won’t be able to hire you.
Your work brings in a living, it pays your bills, and that’s enough.
Networking Groups
If you belong to the Chamber of Commerce or other community networking groups use that as an opportunity to practice your pitch.
Practice telling stories about how you help people through house cleaning. If you have several people working for you and your business is expanding across the city – tell everybody.
End all your stories with a question “Who do you know who is looking to upgrade their housekeeper or maid?” Give them a card to pass along to that friend.
Negativity is contagious and so is positivity – you get to choose which one to use when speaking of your business.
Hint: Positivity will bring you more business.
About the Show
Learn how the show came to be, interesting facts about the show host, and other frequently asked questions about the show.
Resources For This Episode
Building Your Team’s Morale, Pride, and Spirit – http://amzn.to/2FV4JO5
Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All – http://amzn.to/2oJA2Ux
Story Training: Selecting and Shaping Stories That Connect – http://amzn.to/2tjEnCM
The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How. – http://amzn.to/2FXgDqw
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Show Sponsor
Savvy Cleaner Training – House Cleaner Training and Certification
HouseCleaning360 – Referral database of the world’s most prominent home service providers and the homeowners they serve.
My Cleaning Connection – Your hub for all things cleaning.
