When I started GenZ Facility Solutions, I was focused on growth. I wanted more contracts, more clients, and more momentum. But I quickly learned that growth without direction becomes chaos.
There are mistakes I made that cost me thousands of dollars and months of stress — not because I did not work hard, but because I was thinking like a cleaner, not a strategist.
Here is what I wish someone had told me earlier.
⚙️ Mistake 1: Confusing Revenue With Profit
Many new owners think they are growing because more money is flowing in. What they miss is that revenue means nothing without control.
Your goal in year one should not be to hit $100K in revenue — it should be to master unit economics.
That means knowing what it costs to service a building, how much you earn per labor hour, and how to identify which contracts actually make money.
At GenZ, I once landed a multi-site contract that looked great on paper, but the travel time between locations destroyed our margins.
Start tracking your costs per hour, per client, and per route. It is not sexy, but it is how you survive.
🧠 Mistake 2: Hiring Before You Build Systems
When you hire before you have systems, you multiply confusion.
Every new employee becomes a version of you — for better or worse. Without structure, people create their own process, and quality becomes inconsistent.
Before you hire, document:
- How you open and close a site
- How you communicate with clients
- How you check your work
A simple SOP can save you hundreds of hours in retraining later.
🧾 Mistake 3: Ignoring Data
If you do not measure, you are guessing.
When we started using digital time tracking and site inspection tools, we found patterns that changed how we priced. Certain buildings consistently took longer than expected. We adjusted our quotes and improved profit margins immediately.
Data is the new discipline.
✨ Final Thoughts
Cleaning is operational work, but scaling it is a systems game. Every successful cleaning owner eventually realizes they are not running a cleaning company — they are running a logistics and people business.