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We're chatting about the people, places, events, and flavors that make Johnson City, Tennessee a lovely place to live. An interview show hosted by Colin Johnson.
Proud member of the Maypop Media family of podcasts.
0:00:05 - (Colin Johnson): It is a beautiful august day here in Johnson city. It's a little cooler today. I'm a little sadder today. We moved christian, our last child, into college today at ETSU. So we are empty nesters, officially. So that's settling in like, it literally happened an hour ago. So if you guys will pray for me, that'd be great. But I've got some good news that's going to make me feel better, and because I've got this wonderful lady sitting in front of me, miss Erica Turner with green meadow cleaning. Thank you for coming on the podcast. Thank you for all you guys do to keep Johnson City clean. And, yeah, thanks for being a part of this today.
0:00:42 - (Erica Turner): Well, thank you for having us.
0:00:44 - (Colin Johnson): I'm super excited.
0:00:45 - (Erica Turner): I am, too. I'm very excited. And, yes, it is a beautiful fall. It's kind of feel fall.
0:00:50 - (Colin Johnson): It was 56 degrees when I was leaving the gym this morning. It was chilly. Um, all right, John c. Living. You live in Johnson city. What is your favorite thing about Johnson city?
0:01:02 - (Erica Turner): My favorite thing about Johnson city is the people, the people, the people. Um, and. And there's something for everybody here. Like, there's. If you want to hike, you can do that. If you want to look at the mountains, you can do that. I love the way. And when we moved here in 2013, that was one of the cool things, because where we lived at, they didn't do this, but they shut down the roads here for festivals and parades, and it's just. It's just.
0:01:29 - (Colin Johnson): Where'd you guys live before? Where they don't do, though.
0:01:31 - (Erica Turner): Richmond, Virginia area. Yeah.
0:01:34 - (Colin Johnson): What's that guy's name? He was singing the Richmond from Richmond song.
0:01:38 - (Erica Turner): What is his name?
0:01:38 - (Colin Johnson): He's so good. I like him. So how did you get from Richmond to Johnson City?
0:01:44 - (Erica Turner): Great question. That was an accident as well. So we actually had went through a lot of things the years previous, and we had lost my mom and lost my father in law, and we decided we wanted somewhere that embraced more of that simplicity, culture in the mountains. And just. It was kind of a healing period. And we had actually tried South Carolina, I think we even went to the beach, not moved there. We visited to see if it would work.
0:02:14 - (Erica Turner): And then we decided Johnson City. It was on the map. Let's just try it. Never been here. And so we came here and just fell in love with it. So. And while we were here, we spent a week, and we actually found two places that we could rent. Of course, we only chose one, and here we are. And we went back to Richmond, got our stuff and came back.
0:02:39 - (Colin Johnson): And when did you move here?
0:02:40 - (Erica Turner): 2013.
0:02:41 - (Colin Johnson): Okay, so you've been over almost. Well, a little over ten years.
0:02:44 - (Erica Turner): Yeah.
0:02:45 - (Colin Johnson): That's great.
0:02:45 - (Erica Turner): And it's just been amazing. It's just. I have embraced all the simplicity in the mountains and just the peacefulness and it's just. It's just. It's been huge.
0:02:56 - (Colin Johnson): We call it God's country, and we really think it is. Like, it's our God's country.
0:03:02 - (Erica Turner): Where I used to live. I mean, I couldn't sit on the front fortune, see a mountain. Yeah. And I just. I don't know. It's just something about that.
0:03:10 - (Colin Johnson): Did you grow up in Richmond?
0:03:11 - (Erica Turner): I did.
0:03:12 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:03:12 - (Erica Turner): I was there all my life.
0:03:13 - (Colin Johnson): Nice.
0:03:14 - (Erica Turner): And so it was a little bit different. And it's still not too far away. So if we want to go back and visit friends and family, we're still close enough where we can do that.
0:03:22 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. It is not too far.
0:03:24 - (Erica Turner): No.
0:03:25 - (Colin Johnson): Tell me, your first job you ever had?
0:03:28 - (Erica Turner): My very first job. Okay. It was Rose's department store.
0:03:33 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, yeah.
0:03:34 - (Erica Turner): I was 16.
0:03:35 - (Colin Johnson): Nice.
0:03:37 - (Erica Turner): Made $3.85 an hour.
0:03:40 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, I love it.
0:03:41 - (Erica Turner): And I thought I had it made.
0:03:42 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Yeah. We didn't know any better, did we?
0:03:45 - (Erica Turner): No, we did not.
0:03:47 - (Colin Johnson): Rich.
0:03:47 - (Erica Turner): I don't even know. I don't think there's very many Roses department stores even left around.
0:03:54 - (Colin Johnson): I think there's one in Elizabethan. Or there was.
0:03:56 - (Erica Turner): Is there still elizabethan? Rooney?
0:03:58 - (Colin Johnson): No. Mintz is saying, no, he's our elizabethan know it all over there.
0:04:02 - (Erica Turner): Yeah. And that used to where we lived, that was like the place to go. Like to go shopping. And then they just all started disappearing.
0:04:10 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Well, what do you guys like to do for fun here in Johnson city?
0:04:17 - (Erica Turner): For fun here in Johnson city? So I love the restaurants. There's so many different restaurants here that you can't find other.
0:04:24 - (Colin Johnson): I know. Yeah. What's your favorite restaurant? Like, where. Yeah, where's your elves go to if you're trying to, like. Oh, well, we're gonna go there again, man, we've eaten here like four times this month.
0:04:36 - (Erica Turner): Where. I know. We like, we like the label.
0:04:39 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:04:42 - (Erica Turner): I just recently had the food truck over at Tennessee Hills Brewster.
0:04:48 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, yeah.
0:04:48 - (Erica Turner): Oh, that was really good too. And since we're close to it, we might go back there tonight.
0:04:54 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. It's just down the road.
0:04:56 - (Erica Turner): Oh, my gosh. There's just so many good.
0:04:57 - (Colin Johnson): There are so many good ones.
0:04:59 - (Erica Turner): There really are. And I. I can't pick just one.
0:05:02 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:05:03 - (Erica Turner): I guess it depends on what mood I'm in.
0:05:05 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, we've got a lot of different varieties, which is great.
0:05:08 - (Erica Turner): You know, that was kind of like when your husband asks you what you want for dinner, right? You just go, I don't know. Pick one.
0:05:14 - (Colin Johnson): Well, right. I kept dirking around. We should come up with a restaurant called it doesn't matter to me, and I don't care, you know, and so we could just go to, you know, you could have two of them. It doesn't matter to me.
0:05:23 - (Erica Turner): There is. Where we used to live. There is actually a restaurant slash bar there called. I don't know.
0:05:28 - (Colin Johnson): I don't know. That's a good one, I think, you know, if this cleaning gig doesn't work out, you just do that.
0:05:33 - (Erica Turner): That's what I ought to do.
0:05:36 - (Colin Johnson): All right, so tell me about green Meadow cleaning business. How did this get started?
0:05:40 - (Erica Turner): So when we moved here, we were, like I said, we were embracing all the simplicity and everything that Johnson City had to offer. It is a little bit slower pace where we lived at, and we didn't start at office cleaning. We decided while we were here, because I don't even. I don't even thinking back, I don't even think the intention was to necessarily stay here long.
0:06:04 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:06:04 - (Erica Turner): And so we decided we were gonna start mowing yards. There you go. That's what we were gonna do to pay the bills. And I actually ended up getting a full time job here as well, because mowing the yard. Do a whole lot and kind of.
0:06:21 - (Colin Johnson): Mow a lot of yards. Yeah, almost 14.
0:06:23 - (Erica Turner): Yeah, a lot of yards. And so, yeah, so I ended up. I think it was the first year we started that in 13. Like, we immediately just started mowing yards. Just living kind of that simple life. And then that first year, that first winter was like, uh oh, mowing yard. We can't mow yards now. There's no grass. It's all dead.
0:06:45 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. You're like, wait a minute.
0:06:47 - (Erica Turner): So I reached out, had followed a lot of, like, contractors and stuff on social media, and I had reached out to one of them and was like, hey, y'all got beautiful homes. I see y'all are flipping. You know, this is what we do. I had no intention. I always said I would not do residential cleaning. Like, I just. I didn't know if I was. I would be comfortable with that or not. So we started. So they actually called us in, we met with them, and we started cleaning their remodels.
0:07:13 - (Colin Johnson): Gotcha.
0:07:14 - (Erica Turner): And then it wasn't long before the people in their office was like, well, can you clean our house. Can you clean our house? Can you clean our house? And I was like, okay. And so that's what we did. And like I said in the beginning, the people here, when we first moved here, I can remember we went into somewhere. We found a place while we were here visiting, and we walked in, and the people were like, well, there they are.
0:07:36 - (Erica Turner): How y'all been? Never even been there. Like, didn't know a soul. And it was almost like this community when we started that business, and they knew kind of our background story, they just took us in. I was like, well, here, I've got work here. I've got work here. I've got work here. And then it was 2016. I had to have a surgery. So I had a friend who. She helped us, and I was like, you know, I could get used to this.
0:08:01 - (Erica Turner): I could get used to this. And then. So it just grew from there, and it's just been growing ever since. We did. Eventually, we don't mow the yards anymore. We didn't get stopped doing that. And we did some handyman stuff and painting stuff where we finished doing that, and here we are. It's been a wild journey. Yeah, super wild.
0:08:23 - (Colin Johnson): Where'd the name Green Meadow come from?
0:08:26 - (Erica Turner): When we lived in Virginia, remember I told you I had mentioned that my mom had had cancer and his dad had cancer. And there was this farm out there from the people that we rented from there. And they called it hidden treasures at Green Meadow Farm or something, way out in Richmond. So they had actually, this is before we got into going to, like, church and stuff like that a lot. They would have bible studies over there, and they had a little retreat over there.
0:08:59 - (Erica Turner): So they would invite us and they'd do suppers and things like that. Well, my mom, who had gotten diagnosed with cancer, actually went over there one time for one of the dinners, and that's where she gave her testimony.
0:09:12 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool.
0:09:13 - (Erica Turner): And I was like, so when we decided to start it and start the lawn care, we couldn't come up with the name. And we're cruising through Johnson City, and there's a road called Green Meadow Lane or something.
0:09:23 - (Colin Johnson): I was like, bend down that one.
0:09:25 - (Erica Turner): You know? I mean, it being like, it's just meant to be. Yeah. So it was like, well, let's just do that, and we'll eventually change it. Cause we weren't copy. I mean, they. We weren't copying theirs. It was a total different right way out there. But. But then this name, everybody started knowing the name, so we just. We just kept it yeah.
0:09:43 - (Colin Johnson): And so you guys just clean now?
0:09:44 - (Erica Turner): Yes.
0:09:45 - (Colin Johnson): Do you do commercial buildings as well as residential or.
0:09:48 - (Erica Turner): We do, but I am so passionate about work life balance and people embracing that simplicity. Like, even along with the clean homes, it's like that just gives you that one less thing you have to do.
0:10:01 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:10:01 - (Erica Turner): So we do not. We do commercial. We have a lot of commercial that we actually do, but we have to fit it in those business hours because we also don't want our teams and technicians working nights and weekends. That's time for their families. Yeah.
0:10:15 - (Colin Johnson): And a lot of commercial people want you out of there after hours or come in after hours.
0:10:19 - (Erica Turner): And we used to do it, but it was like it was taken away from very important family time.
0:10:23 - (Colin Johnson): Sure. Yeah.
0:10:25 - (Erica Turner): And that. That means a lot.
0:10:29 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:10:29 - (Erica Turner): The family time means a lot.
0:10:31 - (Colin Johnson): Why we do it all, isn't it?
0:10:32 - (Erica Turner): Yeah.
0:10:33 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Tell me about your family.
0:10:36 - (Erica Turner): So I have, of course I have my husband John. We have. I have three children, ten grandchildren.
0:10:47 - (Colin Johnson): What?
0:10:49 - (Erica Turner): Yes. It doesn't look like it, does it?
0:10:52 - (Colin Johnson): No, it's got zero grandchildren so far.
0:10:56 - (Erica Turner): So some of the.
0:10:57 - (Colin Johnson): And I are the same age, it looks like.
0:10:58 - (Erica Turner): Yeah. Well, some of. Some of the four. Four of the grandchildren are bonus grandchildren.
0:11:03 - (Colin Johnson): Nice.
0:11:05 - (Erica Turner): But they're still not grandchildren for sure. And so that's that family. And then my sister, who lives in Richmond, funny thing is, she decided after we moved here and started this cleaning company, she wanted to start one, too. So she has her own cleaning company over in Richmond.
0:11:23 - (Colin Johnson): Same name, like a little franchise?
0:11:25 - (Erica Turner): No. Well, we were gonna do that, and.
0:11:28 - (Colin Johnson): Then she's like, I'll just start mine. I won't pay you all a franchise fee.
0:11:32 - (Erica Turner): I told her to start her, basically, but no, because I wanted my sister, we could have franchised it, but I wanted my sister to reap those rewards, and I didn't want her to have to pay me for it. So I've kind of helped her and helped coach and mentor as well.
0:11:48 - (Colin Johnson): That's fun.
0:11:49 - (Erica Turner): And we even went there and trained her and trained some of her team, and she came to our office here in Johnson city and trained on the office end.
0:11:57 - (Colin Johnson): And that's fun. So how many people are on your team here? I mean, folks you have working with.
0:12:05 - (Erica Turner): You, like 2020, five's kinda like 2034? Well, they keep. Well, we're getting ready to go on a vacation, and I do have an operations coordinator, and she keeps hiring people, so I think the last count was 24.
0:12:20 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, well, and nowadays it's just gotta keep coming and people get new jobs, and when you get that big, you got turnover, and so you gotta keep it rolling.
0:12:27 - (Erica Turner): Yeah, we. I feel like we're really blessed. And I tell them this all the time because we do have technicians that have been there four years, three years, over a year.
0:12:40 - (Colin Johnson): They get care of them, and they'll stay for a long time.
0:12:43 - (Erica Turner): Yeah. And that is our goal. But every now and then, I mean, not everybody does stay there that long, but that's always what we're striving for.
0:12:49 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome. And again, how long have you guys been doing cleaning?
0:12:53 - (Erica Turner): We so 13. We started the cleaning part of it right at 2015.
0:12:59 - (Colin Johnson): Now, you all love to give away some stuff, too, with your time and your services, right? Tell them. Tell me about cleaning for a reason.
0:13:08 - (Erica Turner): We are so cleaning for a reason is a national nonprofit who was founded by Debbie Sardone, who is also one of my business coaches and mentors.
0:13:16 - (Colin Johnson): Nice.
0:13:16 - (Erica Turner): I'm out of Texas. And what it is, it's why I forget my words. I'm sorry.
0:13:24 - (Colin Johnson): No, you're good.
0:13:25 - (Erica Turner): I'm so glad to sit online. So what we do through the cleaning for a reason program is we donate cleanings to people that are going through cancer treatment.
0:13:33 - (Colin Johnson): Gotcha.
0:13:34 - (Erica Turner): They get one cleaning a month for two months, and that's real important for them to focus on their health.
0:13:40 - (Colin Johnson): Sure.
0:13:41 - (Erica Turner): And so that nonprofit was started in 2006, and even if anybody's listening to this, that doesn't live in this area. There's about 1400 cleaning companies that are unprepared.
0:13:53 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:13:54 - (Erica Turner): So more than likely, you can found one in that area. And my direct experience was when mom with cancer was when my mom had it. Like, I had known of people that were battling this, but watching my mom, somebody that loved to, you know, keep her house clean and tidy. And I remember being there one night, and she was doing the dishes, and she was halfway through, and she's like, I can't never do it anymore. And she had to go lay down because once it hit her, it hit her.
0:14:23 - (Colin Johnson): She was done. Yeah.
0:14:24 - (Erica Turner): Yeah. And some people think sometimes it's like, well, it's just cleaning, but you want that clean environment. Everybody should have that clean environment. But when you're going through something like that, you really need that clean environment. So we go in.
0:14:42 - (Colin Johnson): It's a good way to love on people.
0:14:43 - (Erica Turner): Yeah. And I'm, like, trying to not cry right this minute. No, it's good.
0:14:49 - (Colin Johnson): Huh?
0:14:50 - (Erica Turner): You know, if I could do that and certainly do that and make a living off of that, I would. But that's how much. How important it is to me and our teens that go in and do it, they, like, we had a technician a couple weeks ago that did a clean for one of the people that went through cleaning for a reason. And she was like, I just love doing that for them. I love doing that. And at the end of the day, we really, I mean, like that.
0:15:20 - (Erica Turner): That's our mission. Like, it's just to help those people.
0:15:23 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. If that's what we're on the planet for. Right.
0:15:26 - (Erica Turner): Yeah.
0:15:26 - (Colin Johnson): If everybody was doing, helping each other would be an easy spot.
0:15:30 - (Erica Turner): Exactly. And, yeah, so. And once a year, we've, we've done it twice and we'll have one, another one coming up. We didn't get to do it this year because we got so busy. It was like the wild, wild west this year. And our business is what we call it. But we do have like a gala once a year, too.
0:15:46 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, fun.
0:15:46 - (Erica Turner): That helps raise money for that.
0:15:48 - (Colin Johnson): And how did you guys get connected with cleaning for a reason? Where'd that.
0:15:52 - (Erica Turner): I actually had seen it. I think I said, you know what? I don't remember. I saw it somewhere on tv or something because this was before I was involved in that coaching program and mentorship. And I had seen it online and I researched it because I spent a lot of time researching things because I don't want to just jump into something that's not legitimate. And I researched and researched and researched. And then in 1716 or 17, I was like, we're doing this.
0:16:26 - (Erica Turner): We are giving back to these people that this community just took us in and welcomed us. We're going to do the same thing.
0:16:33 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome. I love it. So running a small business, what would be some tips for some people, especially like a cleaning business? Well, I mean, since you've done it and grown it, you've had some maybe hiccups, difficulties, struggles, wins, successes. What are. Yeah, give us some tips and tricks.
0:16:54 - (Erica Turner): Oh, for running a small business.
0:16:58 - (Colin Johnson): What'S something you do really well? You think in that realm, cry.
0:17:02 - (Erica Turner): No, I'm just kidding. I got home with the other day. No, I'm just kidding. Running a small business, especially if you're going to have a team of employees, one of my tips would be is to build your leadership skills. Get a mentor, get a coach. It doesn't even have to be designed around the cleaning industry.
0:17:25 - (Colin Johnson): Agreed. Yeah.
0:17:27 - (Erica Turner): That was one thing that when I started hiring employees, I had no idea. I was like, okay, here you go. Clean a house. Go clean. I need to go clean this house. Just do it good. Where I have been able to learn and develop those leadership skills. I'm still working on them every single day and just building those systems and processes. Like, we have a training program that they go through now. Like, we don't just willy nilly it.
0:17:54 - (Erica Turner): But this is a funny story. My husband used to always tell me, when we have employees, we need to go ahead and put this in the handbook. Put this in the handbook.
0:18:02 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:18:03 - (Erica Turner): I said, I am never going to have a handbook. I am not. I'm not doing that to people. And then we had somebody show up in, like, a Cami tank top and short shorts, too, and office cleaning, and I was like, here's the first piece of the handbook. Let's do it.
0:18:23 - (Colin Johnson): Here's what you can wear, what you can't wear.
0:18:25 - (Erica Turner): I was like, okay, so now we have a dress code. But, you know, just. Just like I said, having that leadership, because if you have a team, if you have employees, they do like that structure, and they want that structure of a handbook. I mean, you can do it and not be aggressive and it.
0:18:41 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, you're. You've got it all on paper, and so it's easy to document. You know, you didn't do what, you know, what the handbook says and how we've trained you, then you can.
0:18:52 - (Erica Turner): Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to catch.
0:18:53 - (Colin Johnson): No, you're good.
0:18:54 - (Erica Turner): But my big thing, too. If I had known, I didn't even hire, like, a business coach or mentor till 2021, and we'd been doing this for a long time, and that was really a game changer mindset shift. And I know we've got a bunch of great local ones, too.
0:19:09 - (Colin Johnson): Uh huh.
0:19:10 - (Erica Turner): So. And that's what I.
0:19:11 - (Colin Johnson): It's cool that you can learn. I mean, find somebody for specific industry, though. And, you know, they've been through the.
0:19:16 - (Erica Turner): Trenches already, and sometimes it's good to have one free, that specific industry, and then maybe have one that's not in that industry and kind of combine them. So that'd be my biggest takeaway, what I've learned and not to expect perfection.
0:19:34 - (Colin Johnson): Yes. Don't expect for perfection, for sure. Where do you see green Meadow going? Like, how big are you gonna grow it?
0:19:47 - (Erica Turner): That is something that we talk about a lot with our office. It's going to go exactly wherever God wants it to go and leads it to go. So some people have dreams and visions of their businesses being superb.
0:20:05 - (Colin Johnson): Sure.
0:20:07 - (Erica Turner): As long as we have, are good and solid and we have quality. Like, I'm no rush to grow it.
0:20:17 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:20:18 - (Erica Turner): Super big. I mean, I want to grow.
0:20:19 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:20:21 - (Erica Turner): But I would like to see it grow big enough where I can do more stuff to give back to the community.
0:20:26 - (Colin Johnson): Gotcha.
0:20:27 - (Erica Turner): Like, that's. Can I tell you a quick story?
0:20:31 - (Colin Johnson): Of course.
0:20:34 - (Erica Turner): Many years ago, when my kids were smaller, I. We struggled. We struggled a lot, like a lot of people do. And I can remember one day, I guess I had to, like, borrow and beg the electric company. Like, I need to pay this bill.
0:20:49 - (Colin Johnson): Gotta pay my light bill.
0:20:50 - (Erica Turner): And so we were on the way to the electric company. This was before I ever thought about a business. We're on the way there to pay them. And I told John, my husband, I said, if I'm ever in a position to randomly pay people's bills, as long as they're, you know, they're working and they're trying to do it apart, I'm gonna do it.
0:21:09 - (Colin Johnson): Isn't that fine?
0:21:10 - (Erica Turner): It is. And I'm still not quite in that position where I can randomly do it. But even with our team members, you know, we pay a very well wage. Living wage.
0:21:23 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:21:23 - (Erica Turner): And if we grow big enough, I can do more of that for even just people in our community. We're big in the computer, big into helping nonprofits. We donate to nonprofits, local ones, constantly, also. And then. Honor Flight of the Appalachian. Appalachians. I'm sorry. Honor Flight of the Appalachians. Let's try to remember the exact way they worded. I don't know if you're familiar with what that is. They actually take veterans to, like, DC to see the memorial.
0:21:59 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, that's cool.
0:22:00 - (Erica Turner): Stuff like that. The veterans love it, so they just did a big thing at Wingdeer Park a couple weeks ago, me and we actually had a boat where we paddled and raced, and it was a fundraiser.
0:22:08 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, yeah.
0:22:09 - (Erica Turner): For the otter flies. So we didn't. We love doing things like that. And so, like I said, wherever God leads it, and that's what we'll do, and we'll give back.
0:22:19 - (Colin Johnson): I love it. I love it. And giving back. It's great. What are some of the services you guys offer?
0:22:25 - (Erica Turner): So, of course, we do the office cleaning, but with the residential cleaning services we do, you can do a one time deep clean if you're moving in or out. We've had a lot of that. I'm tell you. I'm not gonna say the word, but back in 2020, I remember that that's what kept us afloat. We were actually still doing maintenance and painting, too. But the people, all the people that moved here, like, we did all the move ins, we did the move outs, and they're like.
0:22:52 - (Erica Turner): And that's what saved us, because we actually lost, like, 80% of our residential clients, but nobody wanted anybody in our own.
0:23:00 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:23:00 - (Erica Turner): And then offices were closing, so that was, you know, we didn't get to do that. Yeah. So, and then, so we do the deep. We can do deep cleans, the move in, move out cleanings. We can sign you up for a weekly, bi weekly, every four week cleaning.
0:23:12 - (Colin Johnson): What are some of the price points for this kind of stuff? Cause I'm just curious. I'm sure our listeners are, too.
0:23:18 - (Erica Turner): It varies.
0:23:18 - (Colin Johnson): Depends on the size of the house.
0:23:20 - (Erica Turner): It does. There's a lot of variables there. So it depends on the square footage of the house because we do our pricing based on that. And it also depends on, do you live by yourself, or do you have eight people living in your house?
0:23:31 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:23:32 - (Erica Turner): And then it also depends on the frequency.
0:23:35 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:23:35 - (Erica Turner): So it's really hard to kind of put a number on it.
0:23:40 - (Colin Johnson): Just call you and get an estimate.
0:23:42 - (Erica Turner): Yeah. And it's really, and it's really super simple to get an estimate. I mean, there's, you can, you can go on our website, request a quote, and someone will reach out to you. They'll get those few basic things and give you a price. And then there's. Or you can just, you can call, you can even text our office.
0:24:00 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, that's cool. Yeah.
0:24:02 - (Erica Turner): So there's several ways to get a quote, get an estimate. And we try to, we try to work with people. Cause sometimes the prices are, if people tell us they're not in our budget, like, we can take off a room. We have a lot of people with larger homes. They'll rotate it. We'll do, like, one floor this week, one floor the next idea. And that keeps it in their budget as well.
0:24:24 - (Colin Johnson): I got you.
0:24:25 - (Erica Turner): And because, I mean, I tell people all the time, we have our main, our clients have one. Have one of three main things typically in common. They don't have time to do it. They've got ball games. They're, you know, busy. They're in their career. They're busy. They can't do it. They have physical, they have physical limitations. We have a lot of people that actually have ocala for their parents.
0:24:53 - (Colin Johnson): Huh.
0:24:54 - (Erica Turner): Or they just don't want to do it. They'd rather be out here hiking on one of these beautiful trails than climbing a mountain, going to a restaurant.
0:25:01 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Because, yeah, if you've got a decent sized house, couple hours at least to get it good and clean.
0:25:07 - (Erica Turner): Yeah.
0:25:08 - (Colin Johnson): Um, yeah. And then do you guys do windows and all that stuff, too?
0:25:14 - (Erica Turner): We do interior windows. We don't like to. We don't do exterior windows often. Well, once we open that window and start doing exterior windows, it becomes an exterior service.
0:25:23 - (Colin Johnson): Gotcha.
0:25:23 - (Erica Turner): And we like to. And for us to do it, it's actually probably gonna cost more than doing.
0:25:31 - (Colin Johnson): It if you hire somebody or.
0:25:33 - (Erica Turner): Correct.
0:25:34 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:25:34 - (Erica Turner): So we like to save things like that. And carpet cleaning for the people that are experts in that field.
0:25:40 - (Colin Johnson): I like that. To just collaborate with those folks.
0:25:42 - (Erica Turner): Yes. And we have a sheet of partners that we will refer back and forth.
0:25:50 - (Colin Johnson): That's handy. Yeah. It's good to have a good network that sends you business and you send them business.
0:25:54 - (Erica Turner): It is. And a lot of times we can coordinate with each other. So, like, we have a organizing company that we work with and we, you know, she. If she's organizing that day, we can kind of work it out so we.
0:26:08 - (Colin Johnson): Know we'll be cleaning the next day. Yeah.
0:26:10 - (Erica Turner): Or carpet cleaners. We work that out, too, if somebody needs all that done, so. And a lot of times we'll work that schedule out amongst ourselves so the client doesn't have to worry about it.
0:26:19 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:26:20 - (Erica Turner): Cause they got enough to do where they wouldn't be calling us to begin with.
0:26:23 - (Colin Johnson): That's true. That's true. How can our listeners connect with you guys? What's the best way to reach out to get a quote?
0:26:31 - (Erica Turner): So the best way would be to call our office number 423-207-0268 can also go on our website at www.greenmeadowcleaning.com. greenmeadowcleaning.com. And it's like, it takes literally 15 seconds just to put in that information. That's cool. Now, I will say we don't do instant quotes online. I know some people do, and I think that's great. But we can't get really a feel for you or what it is that you're needing if we do that.
0:27:02 - (Erica Turner): Plus, there's safety issues with that. Cause safety is, like, on the top of our core value list.
0:27:09 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. And for somebody to be able to throw out a number, you know, and you may keep your house neat as a bin, but you may live like a little piggy, too, so you just never know.
0:27:17 - (Erica Turner): We've seen it all, and we don't judge.
0:27:20 - (Colin Johnson): I've seen it all, too. Sometimes I do judge a little bit. I shouldn't. But if you. Yeah, you've got an animal and you can't pick up their waste in your house.
0:27:30 - (Erica Turner): Okay. Now that's.
0:27:31 - (Colin Johnson): That's a judge a little bit there. I should. So. I'm sorry, people. Whoever you were in that house years ago, I was like, good grief.
0:27:37 - (Erica Turner): Yeah, we. You've probably seen a lot.
0:27:39 - (Colin Johnson): I've seen a lot.
0:27:40 - (Erica Turner): Yeah.
0:27:40 - (Colin Johnson): Thousands of houses, probably.
0:27:42 - (Erica Turner): Gosh.
0:27:42 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. I've been in every house. Yeah. Tons of. Tons of. Anything you're working on right now that you want to share with us besides just the cleaning for a reason.
0:27:56 - (Erica Turner): Hmm. I'm working on anything.
0:27:59 - (Colin Johnson): Randy, what are you excited about? Like, a year from now, you come back on the podcast, and you're like, this is what happened last year. John and I went, I don't know, maybe you want to go to Paris or something.
0:28:12 - (Erica Turner): Well, it's interesting you say that. We're actually so, again, the support of the community and people need to understand. When we started this business, we didn't have anything. Like, we were donating plasma to make ends meet. It was wild.
0:28:28 - (Colin Johnson): Sure.
0:28:29 - (Erica Turner): So we are actually getting ready to leave tomorrow. We are. Because we. So we're going to a cleaning industry conference in San Diego. Oh, cool. And we decided we have amazing people in our office and amazing technicians. We just. We're so comfortable for the first time, steve it roller, for the first time ever. So thanks to Johnson City community for helping us with this. We're going to drive to San Diego.
0:28:58 - (Erica Turner): We're going to. So we can stop and see things that we've never been able to see or visit before. So that's going to be exciting.
0:29:04 - (Colin Johnson): That is exciting.
0:29:05 - (Erica Turner): We've never been able to do that, and, I mean, we couldn't do it without the support of everybody here in our teams.
0:29:12 - (Colin Johnson): That'll be fun.
0:29:13 - (Erica Turner): This will be fun. Have a little bit of car anxiety, but it'll be fun. And we did. So, I guess. And we did. In April, we were recognized in Dallas with about five. Well, there was 500 other cleaning companies there, but we were. We were recognized as being one of the top 1% cleaning companies in the nation.
0:29:37 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome.
0:29:38 - (Erica Turner): So maybe next year we'll be even a little bit further.
0:29:43 - (Colin Johnson): You come back and you're the top cleaning company in the country. Something like that.
0:29:48 - (Erica Turner): There's a lot of great companies out here. I'm not gonna say that there are.
0:29:51 - (Colin Johnson): A lot of great companies. You know, it's okay to toot your horn if somebody else floats you. That. That does the best. So, yeah, I.
0:29:57 - (Erica Turner): But, yeah, it's, um. So, yeah, I'm excited to take that whole trip and be able to drive it, and that'll be fun. We'll see how I go.
0:30:06 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, yeah. Do you have any, um, tips and tricks for people who are cleaning their own house? Cause you've cleaned tons of houses. You learned, like, oh, Windex with ammonia is the worst. Or, you know, water. I don't know. You just give us some kind of. What's your one cleaning hack you can share with our audience?
0:30:26 - (Erica Turner): One cleaning hack. Oh, my God.
0:30:29 - (Colin Johnson): Or maybe two cleaning hacks. I don't know. Maybe you got something out.
0:30:32 - (Erica Turner): Okay, so the first one I'm gonna have. Yeah, I might have a couple. See. Cause one's really super important, especially with social media and the things, the trends that go around is whatever cleaning solutions you decide to use, please read the labels. Do not mix them with everything else.
0:30:52 - (Colin Johnson): Sure.
0:30:52 - (Erica Turner): I'm seeing a lot of that. And it's scary.
0:30:54 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:30:54 - (Erica Turner): Cause those pv, it can really be had.
0:30:57 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, yes.
0:31:00 - (Erica Turner): So there's that one. Oh, gosh.
0:31:07 - (Colin Johnson): What's the best way to clean a window? Cause, you know, without leaving any streaks. Cause that just drives me bananas.
0:31:15 - (Erica Turner): The best way to call a cleaning service.
0:31:19 - (Colin Johnson): I love it. Oh, it doesn't matter. They'll come do it. I've heard, like, using newspaper work.
0:31:25 - (Erica Turner): Sometimes I'm like, you can use newspaper, but what we do, we really love, especially if it doesn't have a lot of pains in it, is really using the squeegee.
0:31:34 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, yeah.
0:31:34 - (Erica Turner): And actually, that's a. That's a tip for the show. And even in the showers.
0:31:38 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:31:38 - (Erica Turner): Use that squeegee to get those shadows out.
0:31:40 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:31:43 - (Erica Turner): Windows. Windows. I can give you all the tips in the world on windows. Don't let them be hot. Don't let them do it when the sun's not beating on them, for one. Because that's gonna leave streaks.
0:31:54 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Cause it's so hot, it's evaporating, moving that residue on there.
0:31:57 - (Erica Turner): It's gonna leave streaks. It's supposed to do those if it's, like, dark, cooler. Yeah, definitely. But my other big thing and that I stress to people all the time because we see it so often and I even do it, is if it's been a bad week and I haven't been able to clean everything and I go in and I see every room is a mess, I get overwhelmed, and I'm like, I can't do it.
0:32:22 - (Colin Johnson): We'll do it next week.
0:32:23 - (Erica Turner): Just focus on that one room at a time. It's okay. It's not gonna all get done on a day. I mean, we can get it all done on a day. Because you know, it's gonna take you 10 hours. We're gonna send a team. Right. But those are my big things. Cause people do. They get really overwhelmed with it.
0:32:40 - (Colin Johnson): Gotcha. Those are good. Those are good tips.
0:32:43 - (Erica Turner): And windows are just. I don't really have any good tips for windows. You might want to leave that part out.
0:32:51 - (Colin Johnson): No, you're good.
0:32:52 - (Erica Turner): No, because I struggle with. They're hard. They are hard. If I had a window, I could show you better than I could tell you on that.
0:33:00 - (Colin Johnson): Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, you can just come over to my house and show me how to do them all, and then next time I'll know how to do it.
0:33:07 - (Erica Turner): The funny thing, we actually. We've had several people reach out to.
0:33:12 - (Colin Johnson): Us, teach me how to clean my house.
0:33:14 - (Erica Turner): Yes. I'm considering that.
0:33:17 - (Colin Johnson): I think it's a lost art. Yeah.
0:33:19 - (Erica Turner): Well, I had one young lady. She messaged because apparently her boyfriend was never taught how to clean. Could we help? And then we had somebody else, that one of their parents had passed away, and that parent was the one that always cleaned the house. And they were like, if you could just help us.
0:33:39 - (Colin Johnson): Well, and maybe the people who grew up with people like you guys coming in and cleaning the house, they didn't have to clean it. Right? They're out playing basketball, doing all that stuff or whatever. They don't know how to do that. They're like, no, we're just clean all the time. We have this lovely company that come in once a week and knock it out.
0:33:54 - (Erica Turner): And that's. And you're exactly right. And that's why then they grow up.
0:33:58 - (Colin Johnson): And they're like, I don't know.
0:33:59 - (Erica Turner): You know, even on my social media from time to time, like today, you know, I just put a little video up there.
0:34:05 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:34:05 - (Erica Turner): With the words, checklist for cleaning your bedroom.
0:34:08 - (Colin Johnson): There you go.
0:34:09 - (Erica Turner): Checklist for cleaning. I think I did a bathroom a couple weeks ago.
0:34:12 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:34:13 - (Erica Turner): You know, because there are so many people they don't know, and a lot of people. We hear this a lot in our industry, too. It's not a skilled trade. We hear that a lot.
0:34:24 - (Colin Johnson): I think so that's because they haven't. They can.
0:34:27 - (Erica Turner): They haven't done exactly. And then, you know. But we also have to know the different types of surfaces. Like, granted, marvel, you can't use just anything to clean those. Right.
0:34:38 - (Colin Johnson): But, yeah, no, it is. I think you need to teach people. I think that's a great idea. You could say, hey, we have a cleaning class 101, and if you want to come clean with you and teach you how to do it. We can do that and maybe a little bit more because it's going to take you longer, right? Because it's a long time.
0:34:56 - (Erica Turner): Yeah. My, my daughter sent me and you can cut me off when you need to. But my daughter a while back, it's been like a year ago. She doesn't live here, but she had hired a service to come in. She had just had a baby and the things that she wanted done actually wasn't even done. So she was upset about that and she caught actually have the recording still on my phone. Cause I'm gonna use it. I wanna use it for social media. One day.
0:35:22 - (Erica Turner): She was like, just tell me what kind of tools and stuff I need to clean and I'll just do it myself. And not because she wasn't taught how to, she might have known how to do it, but there are different tools and things that'll help you with that.
0:35:36 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, that's fun. What gets you super excited? Like fired up? Like, whoa, let's go.
0:35:45 - (Erica Turner): How, my God.
0:35:50 - (Colin Johnson): She'S like, I know that I get fired up like that. John, you're gonna have to get her fire on this trip.
0:35:56 - (Erica Turner): I used to and then I reached over 50 and like, nothing excites me anywhere.
0:36:00 - (Colin Johnson): Uh oh.
0:36:01 - (Erica Turner): Um. Oh, gosh. What is, what fires me up. So what does fire me up? That's really thought provoking.
0:36:14 - (Colin Johnson): Colin, you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to dig deep. Guess what? You've got two weeks probably of drive time to San Diego and your conference to think about that. You and John can just have this. What fires us up thought and like talk about that on the way to Kansas, all the way to Colorado, you know? And you'll just have a good time.
0:36:36 - (Erica Turner): Thinking about it because I mean, like, I mean, I love, oh, gosh.
0:36:40 - (Colin Johnson): Are you going to swing by the Grand Canyon wire?
0:36:42 - (Erica Turner): Yes.
0:36:44 - (Colin Johnson): But I'm going to say that's going to get me fired up.
0:36:47 - (Erica Turner): Yes.
0:36:47 - (Colin Johnson): Has been out there a bunch. You grew up not too far and I bet it's beautiful. He's shaking his head like, yes, it is.
0:36:53 - (Erica Turner): I'm really excited about that because I've looked at some videos and stuff like the different areas and even Utah and I'm like, this is going to be fantastic.
0:37:01 - (Colin Johnson): It's going to be awesome. I can't wait to see it. I'm excited.
0:37:03 - (Erica Turner): But what fire? Honestly, what does excite me? What fires me up? One of the things like that immediately came to my head though. Washington helping. I know it sounds so cliche I was trying to think of a different word, but helping other people. Yeah. Whether it's my children, my grandchildren, seeing them, seeing them fires me up. And I like it. I wish I could get there to see them more. And I'm hoping we'll see how this trip goes. I know my team is going to do fabulous. Maybe it's a stepping stone to be able to do that, but seeing them and just seeing people smile and being able to make somebody smile made somebody's.
0:37:44 - (Colin Johnson): Day just be fired up.
0:37:45 - (Erica Turner): John will tell you that doesn't excite me. I get going with that. I'm like, oh, yes, we made their day. There you go.
0:37:50 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. So go out and make somebody's day every day and get fired up. I think that's a great way to go.
0:37:56 - (Erica Turner): Yeah, yeah, it's gonna. Yeah, it's gonna be fun.
0:37:59 - (Colin Johnson): I love it. I love it. Well, thank you for donating time to folks who need a cleaning and helping them through their cancer treatments. I think that's awesome. Through your cleaning for a reason. And then what you do for the community, I mean, you're hiring people, you're building a business, you know, you're putting dollars into the economy, and that just allows people to have restaurants and sell pizzas to these folks and do all this stuff. And you're keeping our area clean too.
0:38:24 - (Colin Johnson): So that's a blessing. So thank you for all you do. Thanks for coming on the podcast. It was great to meet you. I wish you well, and I'm looking forward to hearing about the Grand Canyon.
0:38:33 - (Erica Turner): When you get back. I will be sure to lay, you know, that'll be great. That'll be great.
0:38:37 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, it'll be awesome. It'll be awesome. And be careful driving across the country. That's going to be fun, man.
0:38:41 - (Erica Turner): Well, John, fortunately, he used to be over the road truck driver, so never been out that direction, though.
0:38:47 - (Colin Johnson): Okay, well, he might not be fired up to be driving.
0:38:51 - (Erica Turner): He might not be, might get fired up. He'll be fine if I go to sleep. Oh, there you go. That's right. I'm like that little helper. I'll let him know when there's brake lights. I'll let him know.
0:39:03 - (Colin Johnson): I told Mark Carly that the other day, like the comedian, he's like, I have a helper when I got married. Yeah, the light. She tells me when the light's green. Oh, it's so funny.
0:39:11 - (Erica Turner): I love you. I've tell her when it's red.
0:39:13 - (Colin Johnson): Well, we need our helpers. They're our better halves. And a lot and just. Yeah, keep us. Keep us out of trouble. Yep. Well, thank you for coming on the podcast. Thanks for being a part of a great conversation. Until next time, I'm Colin Johnson with the Colin and Carter group and Keller Williams realty. If you want to come hang out with green meadow cleaning, have them clean your house after we sell you one. I'd love to help you do that.
0:39:34 - (Colin Johnson): Help you find a house, and then they'll. As soon as you move in, we'll get it cleaned up, so it'll be good. And then if you want to build wealth and real estate. I don't know. Do you guys own real estate and rent it out?
0:39:46 - (Erica Turner): We used to.
0:39:47 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:39:47 - (Erica Turner): We actually had a couple rental properties a few years ago, and.
0:39:50 - (Colin Johnson): Well, let's get back into that game. I'll help you buy some rentals. You guys know how to keep them clean, and it's a great passive way of making money, so, yeah, we'd love to help anybody doing that. We manage a ton of property. We got a great guy, Millard Silverio, who is just awesome. So he's our property manager. But anyway, hope you have a great day. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time, I'm Colin, and this is Erica.
0:40:13 - (Erica Turner): Thank you.
0:40:14 - (Colin Johnson): Thank you.