Surviving the Side Hustle

Transforming Setbacks into Success: Holly's Path to Luxury Cleaning and Environmental Advocacy

• Coach Rob • Season 1 • Episode 45

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How does one transform from a stay-at-home mom to a solopreneur during a pandemic? Join us as we chat with Holly Oldham, who did just that, and learn the secrets behind her luxury cleaning business. Holly takes us through her journey post-divorce, the hurdles she faced, and how networking became a lifeline to securing high-end clients. From ride-share registration issues to the joy of dressing up for work, Holly’s experiences provide valuable lessons on resilience and adaptability.

Networking can be daunting, especially when you’re just starting out. Holly shares her personal anecdotes about conquering initial insecurities at networking events, and how practice and perseverance helped her build confidence. Listen to how authenticity and standing up for herself turned a potential conflict into a valuable client relationship. This episode offers insights into balancing business ownership with personal responsibilities and the importance of showing up as your true self.

Holly doesn’t just run a cleaning business; she’s also a poet, comedian, and passionate environmentalist. She talks about her commitment to sustainable and eco-friendly practices and her beach cleanup initiative. Holly’s perspective on living in a non-toxic environment, fostering genuine human connections, and empowering women in business is inspiring. Tune in to learn how you can start making small changes that have a significant impact on your life and the environment.

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Speaker 1:

what's going on? Everybody today on the show we've got holly, oldham holly. How are you doing today?

Speaker 2:

I'm living my best life coach. How are you?

Speaker 1:

I'm doing great. I'm doing great. As I was mentioning a second ago before we started recording, it's a little gloomy of a day up here in connect, but how's the weather down there by you?

Speaker 2:

So I'm in Hobe Sound, florida, and it's warm, I have my air running. Finally, I have a reptile, so I don't really have to. I don't have regular pets where I you know, with fur babies. I have reptile, I have a tortoise, so the heat and the humidity is great. However, after I'm done working, the last thing I want to do is sweat anymore, so I got to turn that AC on. It's definitely warm down here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and you've definitely earned that. To chill out a little bit after a long day of work. Before we dive in too too much here, would you care to share a little bit about what the work is you do and who you help, and kind of just a little bit about yourself?

Speaker 2:

I own a luxury cleaning business and all that that involves. So I do all the things that you really don't want to do. Like, before we started, I had to make sure my fan was clean, right? We? You know where I'm work from home. This is my home office out of my bedroom, right? Like a lot of entrepreneurs, right? And, uh, I help people have time, like I give them time. Like, the last thing anybody wants to do on the weekends, after they've been working all week, is laundry. So I'm doing laundry, I'm doing dishes, I'm, you know, cleaning silver, I'm ironing doilies, I'm doing all the things that luxury clientele needs and wants. And also for those clients that don't necessarily they don't necessarily live a luxury lifestyle, but they like that luxury care, right, I was a stay-at-home mom for 11 years.

Speaker 2:

I have four children. I'm a new grandmother now, right? So cleaning and multitasking and scheduling is all in my DNA, right, is all in my DNA, right. And I was fortunate enough in my 30s that I started a residential and commercial cleaning business. Now, that was a 24-hour business and I had clients in three different counties and crew 24 hours a day, around the clock. Well, now I sold that and now I am a solopreneur, so I look at it as people pay me to exercise. I help the same clients every week and they call me when they don't know where their green cashmere sweater is and I have to tell them it's in the fifth closet on the right. And you know, it's my job to pay attention to all of the things, and if I had so many clients I wouldn't be able to. So I decided that I really like to make money, right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I know what I'm doing. So I know there's a market for this type of service, and so krmf cleaning happened. Uh, out of desperation actually, uh, this cleaning company that I have. Now I uh I got divorced and I was working for a ride share company. I was working for Lyft and Uber during 2020 and something happened with my registration. Like, I had to upload my registration to that app, rob right, and in the paperwork it said that if I was to get pulled over, I had my registration, but Uber and Lyft weren't playing that game. They needed to see the picture, and I totally get that. However, I was out of a job right.

Speaker 2:

So I had paid for. My registration expires in December that's when my birthday is and I renewed it in October, but because of COVID, everything was so far behind, I didn't get my original registration until February, wow. So what was I to do? Right? So I'm living on Singer Island at the time. It's where I planted myself post-divorce and I was like, well, I need to start networking. People knew me from before when I was in the cleaning business. I need to start getting into networking groups.

Speaker 2:

I got into networking groups and I would show up just as pretty as I am now a full face on and in heels and dresses, because I love dressing up. I mean, I clean people's houses. I'm dirty. For the most part, I don't wear makeup. I have makeup on today because I love dressing up, right? Yeah, so it was interesting being in that environment because I was so used to speaking.

Speaker 2:

I'm also a poet and I do stand-up comedy, right, so I'm a stage. I love being on stage, right, and I would. I did a presentation and this one young woman in her early thirties. She says I know someone for you and it was a 10,000 square foot house and she's still my client three and a half years later, wow. So because of the relationships that I've built in the past and the name that I have in the industry, I'm very active in community service Post-divorce. I've lived very close to the water and it's been my I'm trying to find the word, I actually have goosebumps right now. It's been my joy to do this beach cleaning. It's changed my life. It's changed my waist. I say waist is good for your waist, right? I wrote an article about that, actually, and I love being able to tie my poetry and my writing abilities with the content that I write, the care that I have for my clients. So, yeah, that's me in a nutshell.

Speaker 1:

Yeah yeah.

Speaker 1:

You shared a lot of great things there and I love how you brought us into the background of being, so, I guess I would say, optimized, organized and cleaning with everything like in your own house but in your life and business and and you kind of dove into how you you work in very hard and then you like to dress up and look good and business and and you kind of dove into how you you work in very hard and then you like to dress up and look good and how that brings confidence in and I just you kind of picture painted, a whole picture about like the organizing and optimizing and building up your confidence and kind of diving into the relationships and how important relationships are.

Speaker 1:

So I want to kind of unravel some of that there. Relationships we kind of touched on there at the end and you said that you had gone through a divorce and you had connected and gone to networking events and you had met one person who became such a great client to you. How do you, how do you as an entrepreneur one I guess we can start with this how do you, how'd you get into the networking world? So like, how do you go out and can you share a little bit about the importance of showing up as a great, confident, strong, reliable person and how that transfers over into business.

Speaker 2:

Well, you know, you've heard that saying fake it till you make it. Well, when I first started networking, I was in my, my early 30s and I had a suit on and you know, a skirt suit. I walked into a room full of strangers. It was a networking event that was happening and when it came my turn, I stood up. I had no idea what I was doing. None whatsoever. I still don't. Most of the time I kind of just, yeah, actually idea what I was doing. None whatsoever, I still don't Most of the time. I just kind of just, actually, I do. I know how to network now.

Speaker 2:

But I stood up and I said I own a cleaning business. I have four kids, Call me. And I sat down and I, um, I didn't own the business at the time in my early thirties. You know I've had I't own the business at the time in my early 30s. You know I had had the business for a couple of months and I was, you know, kind of in that. You know I didn't sign up to work. I signed up to be a stay-at-home mom, right, and life happened Poor kids are expensive, right. So I had to go back to work. You know, I owned it, but I didn't embody it.

Speaker 2:

When you own your own business, it's completely different than going to a job and just showing up for a paycheck. I mean, it's everything and anything you do. You're out in public. It's how you represent yourself. So through these years I've learned that and my advice for the networking is to go and fake it. You don't have to wear a fancy suit and then you could go to a thrift store. You'll go to a thrift store or a secondhand store. You don't have to pay a bunch of money because you're starting your own business. There's just, generally speaking, people don't have a lot of money to put into it. So go to the thrift store and get the nice suit and the secondhand shoes and going and rocking.

Speaker 1:

And then I love that the whole diving in there and rocking it and wearing something that helps bring that confidence. Because networking is scary because you don't know people, you don't know what they're going to think, and when you're just starting out in the business world, you want to make such a great impression, because you want to connect and you want to provide value, and if you don't have the confidence to show up and teach or provide the value or connect with somebody, that can hurt your business and then that's going to hurt your self-esteem and and so on too. So I love that you were talking about like how to, how to kind of dress and like get, find a way to look, look sharp and wear something empowering that makes you feel good.

Speaker 2:

Um, so I love that and then you have to practice the the conversation in the right. What is it you're going to say? Don't do what I did, don't do what I did. Practice the conversation before you go into the networking group in the mirror, whether it's your rearview mirror in your car or, you know, in the bathroom, and you know, because you're the one that has to pull this whole thing off, right?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. And practice is super important and I can't even count how many different events and places I've been where I've had to introduce myself and connect with others. I think practicing is such a great skill and habit to get into, but you also have to kind of be human enough to know that you're never going to really have it a hundred percent perfect and you're dealing with other people Most businesses unless you're in, like the AI world or even like tech, I guess you're going to be working with somebody else some way or another. So, just keeping in mind that everybody's human, you're human, the people who are connecting with this human as well, and that can really help lower the stress of connecting with so many people. Has there ever been an opportunity or time other than that where in the business, let's say, where you kind of had to fake it till you made it and then it kind of fell into the right place for you?

Speaker 2:

you. Well, yeah, I mean, you know, if we circle back to that woman that I was talking about, you know, uh, I'd gone to the uh, give a presentation about my business. Um, believe it or not, a lot of people aren't going to volunteer to stand up. Well, I needed to stand up, I needed to be heard, because I needed to have the business Right, and so I said I'll, I'll present next week. Well, I didn't have my slideshow presentation, like the Mac that I have didn't adapt, and I didn't have the HDMI cord and have all the things that I needed, right. So I was like, well, I'm going to still do the presentation. I'm animated enough, I can, I can, just, I can do it. You know, I practiced it enough.

Speaker 2:

So I'm standing there in a, you know um, you know it was a sleeveless dress. Uh, down to my knees I had heels on. I, you know my face was done. My hair, you know like, always keep short proceeded to do the presentation and, um, the networking coordinator of the event, after I'm done giving a presentation about my cleaning business, says to me do you clean in those heels? And then there were a bunch of chuckles in the back and I stood there and I was probably, I think I was wearing like four inch heels at the time and I said right back to him I said you said you can't afford me. Now what makes, what makes you think that you could afford me then? And that is when that woman hired me.

Speaker 1:

Wow.

Speaker 2:

That that young woman was like proud that I stood up for myself, because it was really an off-color remark.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, it certainly was.

Speaker 2:

It was not okay, and this is the challenge we were talking about before we did this podcast about what are the goods and the bads of this. Unfortunately, women in business, we still have a long way to go. And it was a professional atmosphere. It wasn't a bar, it was at a hotel conference room that this snide remark was there, and if it wasn't for my quick wit, I may have not had that client, which would have meant I would have lost out of tens of thousands of dollars from that one client because she referred me and referred me and referred me. So you know the janitorial industry, it's not pretty, it's usually dirty, right, you're getting dirty dirty. Here's the thing. In order to show up in a business, there's a certain way you need to carry yourself, and you know, as a woman in business, if you don't carry yourself, know you're hunched over.

Speaker 1:

Where you pray.

Speaker 2:

Unfortunately, in life and in business as a woman, and so and I am really grateful for that guy, I'm grateful for him. Because of him I have her and every time I'm with her she's always so grateful. You know, she says you have no idea how much it means that you're here Her dogs, I walk her dogs, I organize her stuff, I put all of her, I take the hair out of her hairbrush. She's an entrepreneur. We need to have these types of things taken care of in order to be successful. As a successful entrepreneur, you can't be worrying about if your laundry's clean. Now, for me, I absolutely will not do laundry on the weekend as much laundry as I do during the week. I make sure not do laundry on the weekend as much laundry as I do during the week. I make sure all my laundry is done during the week too, so that when that weekend time comes now I don't generally work weekends. You know I have that time to myself because you need to have that time to regroup, right? You know the? I think the janitorial industry gets a bad rap, that there's no money in it. People don't respect you. I don't know. It's definitely who you work for.

Speaker 2:

Before I got here today. I started my day at 4 am. I had to iron a duvet, a king-size duvet, and four pillowcases, and rather than them bringing that to the dry cleaner, that's money in my pocket. They don't care, it gets done right. So I did that. Then I went to the house and then I cleaned the house, right. And then here I am right, you make things happen. And then here I am right, you make things happen.

Speaker 1:

The side hustle thing, it's turned into my, it's my everything.

Speaker 2:

These clients, they're animals. I have one client that has oh my gosh, I love them so much. They just got their third Great Dane.

Speaker 2:

And they have two other dogs and two cats. I know all of the family members the daughters, the brothers, the sisters, the uncles, the nephews. I know the grandchildren. I know everything about these families because I'm with them regularly, every single week. They invite me to Thanksgiving when I don't have my children and my family around because they're older. I told you earlier right so to be able to have relationships like that. And then they pay you for it. And here's the thing I did this my whole life. I was married seven more than half my life. I was married for so long and I felt underappreciated. Now I'm getting paid for it handsomely too.

Speaker 1:

I didn't get paid for it when I was missing getting paid for it yeah love that right so, yeah, yeah, you, you touched on a bunch of things there that are really important. I want to circle back. I was taking some notes here. You had mentioned how you're super grateful for that guy who made that terrible remark and how you're grateful for that, because if he had not have said that, you probably wouldn't have been connected with that woman who became such a great client of yours.

Speaker 1:

And I just want to say that's such an incredible perspective of yours. And I just want to say that's such an incredible perspective, and as a coach, I work with a lot of individuals and one of the toughest things to overcome is that kind of perspective where everything is happening to you and not necessarily for you, and it can be a slippery slope when you look at things through a lens where nothing's going right or everything bad is happening, and I get stuck with all these crummy people all the time. And can you share a little bit on how you developed this perspective of like, yeah, what he said is less than ideal and it offended me, but at the same time, it became such a great thing for you?

Speaker 2:

Patience, like in a word, it's just patience. You have to have patience with yourself and grace with yourself.

Speaker 1:

Like everybody's.

Speaker 2:

We're all here having a human experience, right, and I don't know. I don't know what his issue was and he may have thought that he could play with me like that when I was with his group before Right, because I was younger. Now, my goal here is I'd like people to become entrepreneurs, like if you're an employee, right, and you're happy with the $20 an hour you're getting paid for, you're exactly who they're looking for. Well, I'm not happy with $20 an hour, nor double that. I need more than that. Why?

Speaker 2:

Because I deserve it and my clients expect it right. So when you have that level of expectation yourself of yourself and of how you desire to be treated, then you attract those type of people. I mean, it really has a lot to do with personal development and as a coach, you know that and I've been helping people become more successful in business because of reminding them about the practice of yourself.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know the patience with yourself and others, more yourself than others Right, more yourself than others Right, because, you know, when I was living on the island and I was doing this business, you know I'd show up and again I love dressing up right. I would get other women. You don't look like clean houses. Well, what is it that? I, what does a woman that? What does a person look like that cleans houses? You clean your own house, don't you?

Speaker 2:

So there's a, you know, unfortunately, there's a race issue with this too. You know in my industry that you know I have clients that have or I have I have not clients, pardon me, um, you know, um, business relationships with people of, uh, right, of, of different ethnicities, and they're like you're able to charge that cause you're white, and they're like you're able to charge that because you're white, you know, and it brings up a good discussion, is it? I don't know. I'm not going to ask my client that. However, it is an issue in the industry that you know we have lots of people come over from different countries. The United States is a wonderful place to live, right? And you know a lot of people come over and they don't speak English.

Speaker 2:

That's an issue Like I can't tell you how many times I've been told that you speak English. Thank goodness you speak English. That's a problem Not from I mean in all areas, right. It's a problem not from I mean in all areas, right. It's a problem for the person that's looking to get hired. It's a problem for the person that's judging them because they're certain, right, I mean there's other barriers. You can pick up your phone now and find a way how to say something and communicate, right, because we all just want to be connected to someone. Yet I believe there's so many people in the industry that aren't being respected. You know, uh, uh, working way too many hours of being underappreciated and undervalued and underpaid. Obviously, that's another go into another podcast on that subject.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, feel I feel you on that. And, um, I wanted to kind of circle back onto one other thing you had mentioned. You had you talked about boundaries and how, uh, how you, how you choose not to do laundry on the weekends, and I wanted to ask, unless I'm paid, unless you're paid, I wanted to ask how important is it to have those boundaries when you're getting into entrepreneurship? I know, when I was back as a strength and conditioning coach, I quickly scaled up my schedule to work in 60, 70 hour, 80 hours a week and I just burnt myself to the ground, basically, and I had a problem setting boundaries. I didn't understand it, I didn't know the importance behind it, so I just let work take over and then I was just working, living to work instead of working to create a life. Can you share a little bit about boundaries and how, how maybe that's changed or how you kind of adapted boundaries as a as an entrepreneur?

Speaker 2:

Well, I can tell you for my industry, right, like um, there are certain things that I used to do for people that I don't do anymore for free. Right, I used to go to the dry cleaners. I would go after cleaning. I would go to the dry cleaners, unload all the stuff they do, the you know count everything up and then drop it off. Then I would go and pick it up and then I would bring it back and there would be no additional charge and no additional gratuity. I had expectation of gratuity but I didn't ask for it because I never billed them for it. So I no longer work for that client anymore because I would start. I started to present it that, well, I'm going to start charging. Well, I'm not going to start, I'm not going to pay you, that's okay. I'll find somebody that does and I do, and I have someone that does. I'm grateful, they're grateful. One less thing that they have to do.

Speaker 2:

Well one less thing that they have to do, Right? So another thing with boundaries is your do not disturb on your phone is a lifesaver. I mean, you save your life from your business by turning your phone on do not disturb, and even if you have certain people set as favorites, you need to put it on airplane mode, right? Yeah, I mean, your life is, it's your lifeline and it's also a way to save your life too, especially as being an entrepreneur, Because I used to have people. I had someone and I mentioned this earlier. I had someone.

Speaker 2:

I invited him to my birthday. He calls me while I'm in my birthday party Ollie, where's my green cashmere sweater? Are you on your way? No, I'm taking a last minute trip. He knew it was my birthday. I'm taking a last minute trip and I can't find. You know, it's upstairs on the left-hand side, second shelf down.

Speaker 2:

You know I told him I continued to work for that person for a little over a year longer. I learned my lesson, you know. I mean you have to have boundaries, the sooner you learn boundaries, and it's a practice, like practice with your mom, just with your dad, practice with your brother, your sister, you know, like when they call and you're in the middle of something and you do not have to say, mom, I'll call you back, Just let it go to voicemail, Like my kids do, little turkeys, right? I mean, they've learned it from me and I'm glad because the goal as an entrepreneur and as a seasoned woman right. It's my responsibility to be an example, not only for myself and for my clients, but for the next generation. You know, if you can get instill the boundaries and the practice and the forgiveness of yourself that, oh my gosh, I sent that email out to the wrong person or I sent that text message to the wrong person, you're human and if the other person doesn't forgive you and have a mistake, do you really want to work for them anyways?

Speaker 1:

No, yeah, it's the quality of relationships, it's knowing yourself, knowing your worth. I feel like I hear a lot of that about the self-awareness and I feel like that's such a powerful thing for you during your journey as an entrepreneur here, and I can see it coming through with a lot of different things. Uh, self-monitoring is through the roof and very powerful, uh powerful connector. I can see you. You're great with communicating and touching base with a lot of individuals and and I'm a little jealous I didn't get an invite to that birthday party you were talking about.

Speaker 2:

But it was a couple of years ago. Of course, it's December 30th. One, two, three, zero is my birthday.

Speaker 1:

I'm one two, one three, one two. Oh okay, yes, yes, oh, december babies.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, you're Sagittarius though, right.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

I think right, I'm not a big astrology person. I know I'm a Capricorn, I'm a goat, so the goat?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that. So I know you mentioned a little bit about the beach event or project or thing that you've got going on. Can?

Speaker 2:

you share a little bit more about that? Oh, uh. So, post divorce, I um, I just ended up having more time on my hands and I was, so I wasn't even a block from the beach, and so, um, on singer Island, and I started in September of. When did I move?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, september of 2020 was when I moved there.

Speaker 2:

And every day since now. Sometimes now, when I lived on the island, I was there two, three and four times a day beach cleaning because unfortunately, there's an incredible amount of trash out there and I'm only one person and I can only do so much. Right, and I own a cleaning business, too right? People pay me to bend over right.

Speaker 2:

I had to bend over, right. They're not paying me to do this, however, it's so important to me. We're in the middle of sea turtle nesting, right. So these turtles. I've been taking care of turtles of some kind my whole life. My first turtle's name was superman.

Speaker 2:

My current tortoise's name is patience, believe it or not felt like I needed more patience in my life. So when I walk in the house I'm like, hey, patience, right, so anyway. So, um, every tuesday I go live on my cleaning page to do my best to encourage people to get out there and out from front of the television and move Right, as I've been in this industry. As you age, the the clients that hire you most are the ones that cannot bend. So I'm going to be 49 this year and I'm in post four children.

Speaker 2:

I'm in the best shape physically, spiritually, emotionally in my entire life, and I believe it's because I've kept moving. You know, and you're in the fitness industry too, right, I mean, you know how important it is, and I'm sure you've had older clients that are like oh, it's a bit heavier for me, give me a minute. Well, wait a second. If we've been taking care of ourselves the whole time, it really shouldn't be that hard. However, the reality is is that some people are married to the television, and I'm not Some people are married to the television and I'm not.

Speaker 1:

I love that. Getting out, getting active, moving around a little bit, cleaning up is great for the environment. Getting more people out to do that can be a powerful community creator too. So connecting with other individuals, practicing some of that networking skills. So is this beach cleanup thing that you're consistently doing and attracting more people to kind of pull it, come out and help along with it, or is it just kind of like an idea of a movement that you're trying to grow?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so my business is PRMF cleaning, and the PRMF stands for pause, reflect, move forward. It's a poem that I wrote back in 2016. So it's like eight years, I think, I've been writing about it and practicing it. It's more than I ever could have dreamed it would be. Those four words absolutely changed my life, and every time I go to the beach I say I'm grateful for something. I've been down and I say I'm grateful for something and would I love to have more people out there cleaning.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the reality is is that I've been doing it by myself for three and a half years, and even when I've done scheduled meetings, they're not doing it. They weren't doing it. Now, I haven't tried to do it recently because I'm still adjusting to all the things to the business. This business is going to be three and a half years old in June, so when you're your only source of income, you dive right in. Now I'm not drowning, you're in business. Sometimes you drown, I'm swimming, I'm swimming, and so it's nice to be able to breathe, and now that I'm in a different season of my life, maybe I will start inviting. Are you going to come if I invite you, if you're in the area, or here's the thing.

Speaker 2:

Well, now it's on recording. So right. But when I travel like I'm going to Alaska at the end of the month I wrote an article about the fish in game and travel and tourism People have to go get licenses for fishing and gaming. Why do I make it a requirement that I have to clean up 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after to keep nature the way that it's supposed to be for the next person? Same thing with travel and tourism. So when I go to Alaska, I'm going to clean it, of course Right. Why wouldn't I? It's in my blood, it it's in me to do this and I'm going to do it as long as I can that's awesome.

Speaker 1:

I love that going up to Alaska to help clean it up. Alaska I've never been there, but it's somewhere where I'd love to visit and check out. It's seems to be so beautiful and I'm sure it's going to be even more beautiful once you're done up there. So that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

Well, I'm going on a cruise, I'm taking a cruise and I've also gotten backlash about that too. Wait a second, you're cleaning the beach and cruise ships are bad for the environment. And I looked at her and I said, do you drive a car? She goes, yes, and I go. Well, that's bad for the environment, too, doing something all the way that I'm the problem, or you know, like I'm feeding the problem, like, wait a second, I'm out here every day giving back, well, you know. So what are your thoughts on that? Are you, are your thoughts about cruising bad for the environment? I don't know. I was going to say I don't know too much on the effects on the environment.

Speaker 1:

I don't or is it a? I was gonna say I don't know too much on the effects on the environment. It's definitely something that I could, uh, put a little more time and energy into studying up myself personally, but I, like you said, there's there's always going to be some sort of resistance. You can't please everybody. All you can do, really, is just focus in on the things that you're doing and continue to highlight the achievements and the work that you continue to do. So like, yeah, cruise ships might not be the best thing for the environment, but you know what is Going out hundreds of days and picking up trash and cleaning other people's garbage up off the floor, that carelessly leaving around. So you certainly earned whatever kind of vacation you want to enjoy because you're going around and I'm sure you're making the place a better, cleaner, brighter world wherever you are going.

Speaker 2:

Well, and here's the thing, and it's no judgment on that individual, it's just a matter of wait a second, you know, it's it's about understanding versus judging, and, and just before that, she had said that she didn't like a particular environment because they were too judgy, but then she went and judged me, so it was like, you know, it was interesting conversation. We didn't continue talking, obviously, after that, you know, but, um, cleaning is everything to me. I I believe it's important to live in a non-toxic environment. I don't use any products that would be bad for the environment, bad for animals, bad for fur babies or you know anything. And, um, and and that's what I pride myself on I use things that are eco-friendly.

Speaker 2:

I don't use paper when I clean, um, like, no paper towels. Um, I don't own anything paper in my house, nothing. I have no, no paper. No, um, I have no paper. No, excuse me, I have a notebook, but, like the paper towels, toilet paper, there are other ways that you can live your life more sustainably. You know, as we age, and I don't know if you have children, do you have children?

Speaker 2:

I do not, no. So I'd like to leave the environment a little bit better for my offspring, for my bloodline, you know, and I desire to live to be 100, and I really hope that I'm, you know, cleaning that beach until I'm 100, because they're saying that in 50 years, which is I'll be almost 100, at that time there's going to be more trash than fish in the ocean.

Speaker 1:

Wow, I did not know that.

Speaker 2:

You know, there are animals that are using crabs, hermit crabs. They're using plastic, they're using garbage, because there's a shell shortage, Rob.

Speaker 1:

Wow, that's incredible.

Speaker 2:

And so, yeah, I mean you could Google all of this information. Google pause, reflect, move forward. Google. You know the 50 years of trash. Google how bad chemicals are for you If you have, if you have, clorox in your home, it's bad for you. You know, um the uh, fabuloso, oh, it's terrible for you. And the thing is, is I have, I have these uh, uh, pure bred animals. You know the great Danes, the ragdoll cats that I take care of there. You know, I see them wash themselves, right, they're licking their paws, right, they're not walking on pine salt that's going to give them. You know, there's more animals that have more problems with them because of the products that you're bringing into your home. And why is that? Well, maybe it's because a smarter consumer is a wiser consumer. You need to pay attention to the labels. I mean, all this information is out there, you know. So, what you seek, you will find, but if you're not looking for it, you're not going to find it.

Speaker 1:

Wow, yeah, that's powerful stuff. I never even considered that I I don't have any pets or children of my own, but that's something that I totally would have never even considered having the cleaning products and how, when the animals clean themselves and have that mud effect, and that's that's wild. Could you share your website again?

Speaker 2:

Okay, so, um, my website for, uh, all the things is pause, reflect, move forward, and it's right here on my arm. I tattooed it on my arm. It is I'm a walking advertisement.

Speaker 1:

It's a great name. I love that. Thank you. Pause reflect, move forward, and I do want to be courteous of your time though, because I know you've got a lot of things going on. So that's your website there. Where else can people find you and connect with you?

Speaker 2:

Honestly, you could find me on. Facebook is my main platform that I use, and also Instagram. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm still working on all of that stuff there. However, you could Google pause, reflect, move forward and you'll find me at the top of the search engine.

Speaker 2:

I've been doing this for eight years now and here's the thing I've never paid for advertisement Wow, Not once. And there's money in the janitorial industry. If you're interested in learning how I can teach you, I can guide you and cause you a lot less headaches and a lot less laundry and a lot less pains in the butt. You know, when you get from networking events. You know, if you're going to a networking event and you don't have the money, go to a secondhand store, go borrow something from somebody, because it makes a big difference, If you know, for the same people that judged me are some of the same people that don't even bother combing their hair sometimes. You know and here I put an effort to put myself together you know, and show up at this meeting and you're telling me my heels are too high, Like, wait a second, so a second. There's lots of barriers that women still have to cross. I thank you so much for having me on this show.

Speaker 2:

I've had so much fun. I hope that your listeners have added value and I've motivated people to clean.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh, I believe they will, certainly. I appreciate you coming on today. You provide a lot of value. Talked on the importance of networking relationships, being a genuinely good human, talked about confidence. Talked about self-reflection, talked about boundaries and perspective and mindset, the environment. We talked about a lot of different things here and you're offering people advice and telling them to reach out to you, to connect with you, and you'd share some more of your stories and your secrets to avoiding a lot of the headaches in the janitorial world.

Speaker 1:

But that transfers over in more so than just the janitorial world. I feel like everything that you shared about today and that you talk about on social media transfers over into every aspect of life. Into every aspect of life, because just genuinely being a better person is going to help create a bigger impact and change the world so that it is around those 50 years down the road when the trash does replace the fish. So I feel like listening more to Holly and following her on social media will help prevent the trash from taking over in the oceans and help us keep the fish and many other animals and ourselves continue to thrive on the planet that we have today. So, holly, again, thank you so much. You're an incredible human being and I appreciate you taking the time to share with me today, but before I let you go, I got to ask you what would be your number one piece of advice. You shared a lot of great value today, but what would be your number one piece of advice for someone to survive the side hustle?

Speaker 2:

Be yourself. I mean be yourself, and if you don't like yourself, then work on yourself. I mean right, Cause if you don't like you, then who else is going to like you? You'll be harder sell, you know, right. If I mean, if you don't like who it is that you are, then who's going to buy you, Right?

Speaker 1:

100%. Wow, be yourself. I love it. Thank you so much. That was awesome and a lot of value in here and I really appreciate it. Holly, you're an incredible person. Thank you again. Look forward, holly, you're an incredible person. Thank you again. Look forward to connecting with you again in the future. That's it for us today, guys. Peace, peace, peace, peace.