Confidence is not the same as being right, especially online. Here is the advice that nearly made me yell at my phone, and how to make sure you are learning from someone who actually knows.
I went down a rabbit hole this week. I landed on a live video from a guy positioning himself as an expert in the cleaning industry, answering questions from his followers. And he was confident. Really confident. The problem is, confident and correct are not the same thing, and the answers he was handing out were flat wrong.
It stuck with me enough that I need to talk about it, because the advice floating around out there can genuinely hurt your business if you take it at face value.
Confident is not the same as correct
He was taking basic questions and answering every one like it was gospel.
Someone asked what he does if a cleaner breaks something. His answer: nothing. Not his responsibility. It’s in his terms of service.
Someone asked about bonding. He said he doesn’t bother getting bonded, because “people don’t even know what that means,” so he just tells clients he’s licensed and insured and calls it good.
Then the big one. I asked what happens if one of his technicians gets accused of stealing. His answer: nothing. He always backs his tech, and his terms of service say he’s not liable for anything that goes missing.
I had to read that twice. He said that out loud, to a live audience of people who follow him for advice.
Why that is a real problem
When you send people into someone’s home, your client needs to feel protected, and not just because you told them to trust you.
Bonding exists for exactly this reason. It protects your client if someone on your team steals. It is unfortunate, but theft happens in this industry. We vet our cleaners hard, with federal, national, and local background checks, the whole thing. And we still carry the protection, because “we do our best” is not a safety net. Bonding and insurance are.
And if a client ever tells you something is missing after a clean, you do not wave it off. You tell them to call the police, and you support a full investigation, because you want them completely confident it was not your team. Telling a client “not my problem, read my terms of service” is one of the fastest ways to lose trust, and trust is the entire business.
A quick word on what these terms actually mean
Since we are here, let me clear up a few things, because this is exactly where bad information spreads.
- There is no national or state license specifically for house cleaning. When most companies say “licensed,” it usually just means they are registered to run a business in their state, not that they passed some cleaning certification.
- Certifications do exist, and the really good companies go get them and train their teams on them. They are just not required.
- Bonding is not the same as insurance. Insurance covers damage and liability. Bonding protects your client if someone steals. You want both.
Knowing the difference matters. If you do not understand what you are actually offering, you cannot explain it to a client, and you definitely cannot sell it.
So who are you actually listening to?
Here is my real point. Anyone can hop online, claim to be an eight-figure cleaning company, and sound completely sure of themselves. Who is checking? Nobody. Say something with enough confidence and people assume you are right. That is exactly how bad advice spreads.
So before you take someone’s word for it:
- Do your own research and your own due diligence.
- Look at their actual company and their actual reviews.
- Do not build your business on one person’s confident opinion.
There are genuinely great people to learn from out there. I try to be one of them. But I will be the first to tell you I do not know everything. I am still studying, still learning, and the second I find out I have been doing something wrong, I change it. I am never going to sell you “my way or the highway,” and you should be careful with anyone who does.
Vet your mentors the same way you would vet a new hire. Check the company, read the reviews, ask the hard questions. Your business is worth that much homework.
Before you go
I built Just Peachy Clean from a one-woman operation into an award-winning company with a real team, and Profit Pathways is where I hand cleaning business owners the playbook. No hype, no “my way or the highway,” just what actually works.
If you want a place to start, grab my free guide, Protect Your Cleaning Business: the hiring and handbook moves every owner needs in place before the next hire costs them a client.
Get the free guide → click here.