I haven’t written a blog post since Mother’s Day. That was a couple of days before our Grand Opening celebration (above photo) and so much good stuff has happened since then. It’s not that I couldn’t think of anything to write about, it’s the fact that I have too many topics that I want to address. Now, six months later, I’m bummed that I didn’t just jot down those thoughts to document what has been going on. Anyhow, here we go…
Communication. Expectations. Boundaries.
I started thinking about this last week when having a discussion with my boys about their video game time. I will remind you that they are 9 and 11 and… The. Struggle. Is. REAL! I used to be such a judgey-judgerton of too much screen time. Now it’s pretty much the only bargaining chip in my house. What I have discovered works best is setting firm boundaries on getting homework and chores done first, being physically active whether it is playing basketball, riding bikes, going to soccer or football practice, running around the neighborhood with friends and so on. Also important is establishing the video game start time and how much time they have each day. For us, we wait until 5 PM each day and limit playing time to one hour. At least, those are mom’s “rules”. Haha!
As we know, children thrive off structure and predictability. I have found that we avoid (most) conflict when they know what their day is going to look like. I’m not saying that it needs to be a rigid schedule, just clear communication on how things look. Homework first, then chores, practice is at X time, dinner is this time, bedtime is this time. If there is some spare time after dinner, then yes, you can play video games. Mom has clearly communicated the expectations, right? Got it? Good. Well, they wouldn’t be kids if they didn’t push the boundaries so around and around we go… the mom-and-son dance.
Now on to The Laundry Room. I have been trying to hire new employees since January. I posted ads on Indeed, Ziprecruiter, Craigslist and our social media. I received well over 1,000 resumes and am grateful for the templates that these sites offer to quickly respond with initial questions. I would say that roughly 75% of the applicants did not respond to these initial questions so that widdled down the applicant pool quickly. Of the remaining 25%, less than half of those replied about a Zoom or in-person interview.
During that interview process, it is hard to gauge a person’s reliability, punctuality, work ethic and performance. I equate it to the dating “dance”. The best way to get to know a person is to do a trial to determine if it’s a good fit. Put a t-shirt on and come in to work!
- How well does that person get along with the other team members?
- Does he or she have that outgoing personality to greet and assist customers at The Laundry Room?
- What happens when a stressful situation arises; how is it handled?
Sure, these questions can be asked in an interview and we may absolutely loooooove their answers but we won’t really know until that person is in the laundromat and the rubber hits the road.
Almost every small business owner in the service sector experienced the same pain when trying to bring on new employees this year. There has been a lot of trial and error and I must say that my mind has officially been blown… people not showing up for their first day of work after confirming the day before, showing up on the first day and sitting down watching TV or even sleeping (!!!), coming in one or two hours late repeatedly. Needless to say, those employees did not work out; they were not good “dance partners”.
I am happy to report that in the last couple of months we have had a few people join the team that are awesome! This is so very exciting as it translates to growing our business.
Having a strong working and personal relationship with each of my staff members is of the utmost importance to me. I want them to feel a sense of belonging to our work family. Chemistry with fellow employees is also crucial. While we cannot avoid all conflict and drama, addressing it early sets the stage… the expectation! Again, this is where communication determines the success of the relationship. Similar to a relationship with a significant other or with our children, feeling heard, supported and recognized are the top priorities. If you care about your staff on a personal level, it will inherently form a stronger bond.
With a solid team in place, I am starting to feel comfortable with the idea of ramping up the pick-up and delivery component of our Wash & Fold service. After four weeks of searching up and down the entire state of California for a reasonable used delivery van, I settled on a 2018 Nissan NV200. As I write this, I am working with a company to have it wrapped so that it looks sharp zipping all around Culver City delivering clean, folded laundry. Stay tuned for more news on this.
In closing, I now have a very special man (with three awesome kids) in my life. The way that our five children get along is the absolute icing on the cake! He is one of the very best communicators I have ever met in my life and I am learning a lot from him and about myself. One massive epiphany that inspired this blog post is that people are not mind readers. If I do not clearly communicate my wants, desires and expectations, how is the other person supposed to know? This applies to my staff, my kids, my friends and my significant other.
I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with loved ones and that I have inspired you to communicate a little deeper about something that might be weighing on you. It is all part of the dance… the give and take in all aspects of life. Thank you for reading!
