How often do you say in your cleaning business “I will be happy when“? But what does happiness look like to you and how do you get there?
Listen: I Will Be Happy When
Watch: I Will Be Happy When
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. You can find this and 400 other answered questions in this series on our YouTube channel.
I Will Be Happy When I Make a Million Dollars
I will be happy when I make a million dollars. I hear this all the time from cleaning business owners who hire me for consulting services.
Today, we’re talking about happiness, and all of the time I hear this, and here’s the reason why I’ll preface it first by saying, if I’m going to help you grow an empire and I’m going to help you find happiness, I have to know what happiness looks like to you.
Find Out What Happiness Is to You
So, we have to go through this exercise in order to find out what happiness is to you, because I can’t help you achieve it if I don’t know what it is, and you don’t know what it is for you. All right, so what is happiness for you? So, I hear, “I will be happy when I reach a million dollars in my business. I will be happy when I hire a new employee. I’ll be happy when I fire the old employee. I’ll be happy when I get a manager. I’ll be happy when I get new customers. I will be happy when I get those Facebook ads to start paying off for me.
I’ll be happy when I get more leads, I’ll be happy when I get an office, I’ll be happy when I get new company cars, I’ll be happy when I get those cars wrapped. I’ll be happy when, when, when.”
You Need Happiness in Your Personal Life Too
And then while they try to find happiness in their personal lives, “I’ll be happy when I find the perfect mate. I’ll be happy when I have a child, I’ll be happy when the child sleeps through the night, I’ll be happy when the toddler stops getting into things. I’ll be happy when the kids get off to school, I’ll be happy when the kids graduate from school. I’ll be happy when my kids grow up and they move away, and they get married. I’ll be happy when they have grandkids, I’ll be happy when.”
And so, every day I hear people that are going to be happy when. When is when? And I have to ask, because when is now? You’ve heard the saying, “The joy is in the journey, it’s not the destination.” It’s very true.
And as we move through this weird year of pandemic 2020, where everything in the world got dumped upside down on its head, as we move through this year, I want you to look at the world with new eyes, okay?
The Cleaning Business Changed in 2020
If you were in the cleaning business in 2020, the entire world changed for you. Why? Because the entire world became aware of cleaning and sanitizing and disinfecting. They became aware of personal protective equipment for house cleaners. They became aware of cross-contamination in the products that we use. This is because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The entire world suddenly woke up and said, “Wow, the game of cleaning just changed.” And if you were in the cleaning business during 2020, your entire business did a 360. You lost customers, you gained customers, and the way that you forever clean changed, right? So, there’s a whole lot of stuff going on. And right now, there are a whole lot of people that are like, “I will be happy when.”
The news is this when is right now. As we move through the new year, when is right now. You’re on a job and there’s a lot of stuff going on, but here’s the good news, here’s the awesome news that I bring to you today.
There is a Sliver of Happiness in Cleaning
There is a sliver of happiness in that job. It doesn’t matter if it’s a high-maintenance customer, it doesn’t matter if you have the wrong employees on the job. There’s joy in that job. You’re an entrepreneur. You get to call the shots, you get to have money coming in. You get to decide who your customers are going to be and who you work with.
There are many countries that would just be happy with clean water, right? We’re washing clean water down the drain. We have so much ready, let’s just stop for a minute and say, “Wait for a second, I’m happy right now. I am happy right now.”
Because here’s the secret to that. If you’re not happy right now, it doesn’t matter how much money your business makes. It doesn’t matter what employees you have.
Your Happiness Isn’t Defined By Your Business’ Success
It doesn’t matter what customers you have, it doesn’t matter what types of houses you clean. It doesn’t matter if the houses are messy or clean when you start to clean them. None of those things matter if you can’t find happiness in the moment right now. Because as it comes to you, it will elude you if you’re not looking for it.
And so, I want you to wake up every day and say, “Wow, I just woke up. I have another day. How happy am I?” And then do a physical check. Does your body work correctly? Can you see with your eyes? I’m happy I have a clear vision.
Well, I have mobility, I can move around. I’m happy that I have mobility. Wait, I have a brain that functions. I’m happy for my brain, that functions. Wait, I have customers. I have a job that I get to go to.
How Happy Are You Right Now?
How happy am I now, right? And so, I would encourage you to stop and define a little bit of happiness in every job, in every employee, in every customer, in every single thing that you do. Every interaction you have with a family member, they might be totally ticking you off because they’re acting out or whatever, maybe they’re throwing a tantrum, but, but, but you live in a free country and you get to interact with them.
There are people in prison right now. They don’t get to interact with their family and friends. So, it’s way, way better to have a friend or a family member that’s acting out and they’re misbehaving that you actually get to interact with than if you had nobody at all, right?
So, you can be happy right now in whatever your situation is, but it’s up to you. You have to find happiness and then you have to claim it because if you don’t claim it, it’s not yours.
When Never Comes
It’s going to sneak right on by you, and you’re going to be looking way off into the future saying, “I’ll be happy when.” And I got news for you when never comes. I know, it’s a frightening thought, right? When never comes because it’s here right now. As we move into this new year, when is right now.
I want you to find happiness in everything that you do. And I want you to claim it because of happiness, it doesn’t matter what you add or subtract from your life. If you’re not happy, intrinsically as a person on the inside of who you are, it doesn’t matter what comes to you, you will never recognize it when it arrives.
So, find the joy in the journey as we move through this new year.
Resources
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The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living – https://amzn.to/34IYJ8F
The Happiness Advantage: How a Positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life – https://amzn.to/34CKNx5
The Happiness Project – https://amzn.to/3mNOdTY
Seize the Day: Living on Purpose – https://amzn.to/3royIoR
Three Moments of Joy Guided Journal – https://amzn.to/3poX7ZU
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