Category Archives: Two Maids News

Two Maids & A Mop Recognized as #11 Top New Franchise by Entrepreneur Magazine

Entrepreneur Magazine just announced its list of the next big brands in franchising and we’re excited to be ranked as the 11th best top new franchise in America. The list of high-flying franchises is comprised of brands that appear to be on the cusp of becoming a nationally known brand.

“Our story dates back more than 15 years ago after we opened the first office on April Fools’ Day way back in 2003,” said Ron Holt, CEO & Founder of Two Maids & A Mop. “I opened that first office in Pensacola as a sort of business incubator. I tried just about everything until I finally landed on the best idea of my life: the now-famous Pay for Performance Plan. I’m honored for our brand to be included in this up and coming list but also reminded that we didn’t just start building this business yesterday. It’s been a long journey built on years of strategic planning and execution.”

The brands included on the list are ranked based on the scores they received in Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 evaluation, which analyzes more than 150 data points in the areas of costs and fees, size and growth, franchisee support, brand strength, and financial strength and stability.

Meet Joe & Kelli Cox: Baton Rouge Franchise Owners

Kelli and Joe Cox, are proud to be products of their environment. Both grew up in small, rural towns. Joe grw up in Colquitt, Georgia while Kelli was raised in Zachary, Louisiana. Like many small town folks, both were raised by two hardworking parents that today serve as role models for them.

“We both grew up working on family farms, so we realized very early on, as kids that nothing would be handed to us in life, except the opportunity to work hard,” said Joe. “Our parents loved us enough to instill that ethic and we are now passing it on to our children. Anything of worth is worth working to get it.”

Joe is an estimator in industrial construction and Kelli is a nurse anesthetist. They are living the American dream, but wanted something more. The opportunity to own a franchise business came to mind. To have someone manage the franchise for them and enjoy the recurring income. They believed this would allow more time for their kids, as well as more volunteer hours for their church and the hospital.

“I really want to be able to give parents with newborns in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit an opportunity to take needed breaks from their emotional vigils with their babies,” Kelli said. “As a nurse, I know time in the NICU can get pretty intense. If I can be there just to either hold or rock those babies for a while, to help those parents, it would be such a blessing to me.”

Kelli and Joe researched several franchise business opportunities, but it was a “Colquitt Connection” that got them started with Two Maids & A Mop.

“Ron Holt, the CEO and Founder of Two Maids & A Mop, was a couple of years ahead of me in high school in Colquitt,” remembers Joe. “I had read an article about Ron’s story that talked about the challenges he faced when he started Two Maids & A Mop and how it eventually grew to be become the most successful franchise residential cleaning company in the country. I got so fired up, I called him that day!”

That first conversation was a game changer for Joe. “I was so impressed with not only Ron’s proven systems and processes to help franchisees grow their business quickly, but also his desire for EVERYONE in the organization to be successful. He and the home office really care about our success. You can just feel the love every time you talk with anyone inside the home office.”

Joe says one way to capitalize on that success is spring cleaning season. He says his Two Maids & A Mop team scores big every year.

“This is our Super Bowl! People either want to experience our deep clean for the first time or maybe they might be selling a home and want one of our move-out cleaning jobs,” Joe explains. “There’s nothing like a fresh, clean, sweet-smelling home at the start of Spring. After customers experience the wow factor of our proven, systematic cleaning processes, a one-time customer becomes a returning client, which is a touchdown for us.”

The Two Maids & A Mop Pay for Performance Plan is another part of what draws customers in. There’s nothing like it in the industry. It’s a proven difference maker when it comes to the competition.

What does the Two Maids & Mop’s Pay For Performance Plan look like?

  • Customers rate their cleaning on 1 to 10 scale.
  • Rating is applied to pay scale Two Maids & A Mop uses to pay employees.
  • Employees entire paycheck is determined by the customer rating.

“Pay for Performance is a terrific way to incentivize and help our teams bond to do the best possible job on EVERY job,” Joe said. “The clients love it too, because they have more control and input. It’s a win-win!”

Kelli and Joe opened their Baton Rouge cleaning service franchise two years ago, just in time for the flooding that devastated the area in 2016. Joe calls it a testing time. He says the flood knocked them down, but not out. Today, they have grown the franchise to nine employees, including a manager who oversees the operation. According to Joe, they are in the black and are on track to reach their franchise goals.

But according to Kelli, it’s not all about financial rewards.

“Let’s face it, cleaning houses is not the most glamorous business, but we look at it as a way to serve others and truly make a difference. We are giving families something very precious — time. Either time to spend with their kids, time to spend with each other or time to spend traveling or on hobbies. This gives us such a wonderful feeling of fulfillment!”

Two Maids & A Mop CEO Interviewed by Executive Lion

A leading podcast that features prominent business and community leaders from across the nation recently sat down with our Founder and CEO, Ron Holt. The interview takes you back to our company’s early days, when Ron was forced to tackle the simplest of acts just to make it through the workday. The interview navigates you past those early struggles to where we are today; a fast-growing franchise brand with national recognition. A few takeaways from the interview:

  1. Your vision has to be greater than your circumstances if you want to be successful in life or business.
  2. Sometimes the struggle will continue longer than you think but if your purpose and your why drive you forward, you can persevere through the tough times.
  3. When God gives you a purpose and vision, you should pursue it passionately and never quit.

Make sure to watch the motivating interview with Ron by clicking here.

Meet Will & Lydia: Jackson, MS Franchise Owners

Lydia and Will McBryde, franchise owners in Jackson, MS may be the best example of opposites attract.

Will is reserved, almost shy. Lydia never met a stranger. Lydia loves decompressing on Saturday mornings with mindless TV and a cappuccino. Will thinks sweating through yard work is the perfect stress reliever. Lydia is the dreamer; Will likes to have a backup-to-the-backup plan. She’s bold, he’s a bit more conservative and cautious. And it works, in their personal and professional life.

“I loved Lydia’s energy, passion and belief that anything was possible, from the first time I met her,” said Will, “Her confidence in us really forced me to get out of my comfort zone, to take a few more chances and to become a business owner with Two Maids & A Mop.”

All my life, I have always believed in taking risks and embracing opportunities,” according to Lydia. “Will has been my leveler, the logical one. Between us, I just felt we had the perfect traits needed to own a successful business.”

Both Will and Lydia believe the absolute key to creating a solid marriage/business partnership, is to be totally transparent with each other through communication. If there is a conflict, they will talk it out, leaving emotion out of the conversation. They can arrive at decisions which benefit the marriage AND the business.

“I know Will has our best interest at heart, as I do. Our discussions come from a positive place, and not an effort to tear down the other person. That creates trust and makes it easier for each of us to accept the outcome. That’s a win-win,” said Lydia.

Will likes to tell people they met on Facebook, which mortifies Lydia. “The truth is my brother worked with Lydia. He told me she was moving to Atlanta where I was living at the time,” according to Will. “He asked me to show her around, so first, I checked her out on Facebook, then we started communicating online, because I didn’t have her phone number.”

Both were deep into their careers — Lydia, a doctor in physical therapy, and Will, an engineering consultant with a master’s in geology. Will knew he wanted to be more than friends, but Lydia was a little reticent. “I worked really hard for her to see me as more than a friend,” said Will, “but once I stopped doing that, she finally came around.”“Yeah, we went through a bit of a rough patch there. He actually “unfriended” me on Facebook!” laughed Lydia. “Thank goodness he was patient, waiting for me to get my act together.”

They married in 2014, and a couple of years ago, Lydia started thinking about buying an exercise franchise, but it wasn’t a fit. She then challenged Will to find a business they could work together.

Will was the one that discovered the Two Maids & A Mop franchise opportunity, a residential cleaning operation with more than 60 locations across the nation

They liked the fact Two Maids & A Mop was nationally recognized as one of the fastest-growing franchises in the country. Lydia and Will also found the customer-driven business model plan attractive. For example, the Pay for Performance Plan which determines how much the professional house cleaners are compensated.

It did not take long for the McBrydes to decide they were ready to invest. They were so excited they signed the franchise paperwork last January on the way home from the hospital with their newborn baby girl.

Will and Lydia chose to open their franchise in Jackson and run it from their home in the Birmingham area. However, the McBrydes are hardly semi-absentee owners. They communicate daily and visit quarterly with their office manager and eight employees. Following the proven strategies of Two Maids & A Mop, they’re looking forward to becoming another success story for the franchise.

“I am thrilled with how Will has embraced the idea of owning a business, taking pride in building something,” said Lydia. “I think he’s feeling more and more comfortable in becoming an entrepreneur.”

Being prepared for just about any eventuality, having clear priorities, and above all, faith in God, gives both us a ton of confidence,” said Will.

Opposites do attract…and let’s face it, so does dust and grime! Will & Lydia have vowed to build the best residential cleaning service in Jackson, so give them a call if you’re ever in need of a clean home.

Two Maids & A Mop Named to 2018 Bulldog 100

Two Maids & A Mop’s explosive growth across the country continues to gain notoriety and recognition. Last week, our executive team attended the 2018 Bulldog 100 Awards Gala to celebrate another strong year of growth. The annual program recognizes the fastest-growing businesses owned or operated by University of Georgia alumni. Two Maids & A Mop was selected as the 28th fastest growing Bulldog-owned company in this year’s class of businesses.

“Everyone that’s close to me knows about my deep affection for the University of Georgia,” said Ron Holt, CEO & Founder of Two Maids & A Mop. “The school provided me with the best education possible and also provided me with an amazing framework to grow as an adult. I have no doubt that my success as an entrepreneur is attributable to my early, formative years in Athens. My team is honored to be included in this year’s group of businesses.”

To view the full list of Bulldog 100 businesses, click here.

Two Maids & A Mop Named to Franchise 500

Entrepreneur Magazine has released its annual Franchise 500 listing and we’re excited to announce that Two Maids & A Mop has been selected #235 in this year’s prestigious list of franchise companies. Check out what Entrepreneur Magazine had to say about this year’s listing.

“Our annual Franchise 500 list tends to evolve by degrees. It is our continuing effort to best understand and evaluate the franchise marketplace, and we look at fundamental factors — unit growth, investment cost, brand stability and more — as well as factors like social media presence. And this means, over the years, that new categories shift in and out. Franchises come and go. But some stalwarts remain dominant for decades, having mastered that savvy balance between innovation and reliability. This year, in fact, we have a convenient comparison to the past: It’s the first time in 25 years that more than 1,000 companies applied to be part of our ranking. To be exact, we received 1,023 entries this time.”

The recent growth within the Two Maids & A Mop franchise network is so exciting. We’re a small family comprised of ex-corporate executives, stay at home moms, serial entrepreneurs & business people searching to disrupt industry. Times are so good right now and we’re still so early in the game. We’re proud of this big-time national recognition and owe much of our success to our great franchisees and their hard-working employees. Go Two Maids!!

CNBC: This CEO is Revolutionizing The Way Employees Get Paid

Our episode on “The Job Interview” aired last night and we’re so humbled by all of the positive press and feedback. It was an amazing experience for our CEO, Ron Holt, and our Tampa franchisee, Dr. Jaime Kulaga.

The national television exposure for the brand has been amazing; with local, regional and national outlets reaching out for more information on the Two Maids & A Mop story. Just last night, CNBC published an amazing Q&A with our CEO & Founder. Here’s a quick hit from the article:

You are using a very interesting compensation plan of ‘pay for performance’. Is this plan unique to your company or is it practiced withing the cleaning industry as a whole?

It is very unique to just us. I started the plan many years ago, more than 13 years ago … and it was a result of desperation.

We were struggling early on in my business life and … I said I gotta figure out a way to get our employees to care without me being this drill sergeant because I can’t be inside every home every time. I had to figure out a way to scale this business beyond just me…I wouldn’t be able to talk to every new customer, so the genesis of the pay for the performance plan started after reading a book called the “Purple Cow”. It is just what it sounds like, if you were to see a cow in a rural area that was purple, it would be so different and remarkable that you would remember it forever.

So after reading that book, I started brainstorming and trying to create a way to create our own purple cow … so it hit me one day that we needed to align our employee’s interests with my own interests as the owner and allow customer feedback to directly control employee compensation. Every time we clean a home we give our employees a reason to care because customers are going to rate their level of satisfaction on a very simple scale from 1 to 10. It’s our purple cow. It was for sure a lifesaver for the business.

The episode will continue to air multiple times on CNBC, so make sure to check your local listings to see what all the buzz is about. And click THIS LINK for the in-depth CNBC Q&A with Ron.

Two Maids & A Mop Set To Appear on CNBC’s “The Job Interview”

The word is finally out! We’re excited to announce that Two Maids & A Mop will be featured on an upcoming episode of the inaugural season of the prime time CNBC television series “The Job Interview”. The 30 minute episode is set to air December 20th 10 PM ET.

“It’s an honor to showcase our business and the strategies involved in our hiring process”, said Ron Holt, CEO & Founder of Two Maids & A Mop. “My hope is for the audience to learn more about what makes our brand so different than other franchises within the consumer services industry. I’m excited for the world to get a sneak peek behind the scenes of our fast-growing business.”

The Job Interview takes an inside look at the world where the words you say, the clothes you wear, and even the expression on your face can mean the difference between success and failure. Each half-hour episode of this observational series brings viewers into the room as a real employer conducts real interviews with real candidates – with only one person left standing with an actual job offer from an employer.

More details to come….

Yellowhammer News Celebrates Entrepreneurial Journey of Two Maids & A Mop

History has proven that entrepreneurs who decide to get their hands dirty early on in their business’ life have a better chance of long term success. Legendary business people such as Sam Walton, Bill Gates & Howard Schultz each embodied this strategy as they built their own global enterprises.

Here at Two Maids & A Mop, our founder wanted to take a similar path and ditched his professional lab coat for a mop and a broom more than fourteen years ago. The decision to tackle the less-than-glamorous act of cleaning a home was grounded on a desire to understand everything about the business and its industry.

“I was scared to death as I entered the home of our first customer, said Ron Holt. “I had never cleaned a home, not even for myself. So it was a particularly troubling moment because my customer just assumed that I knew what I was doing. Thankfully, I survived and eventually grew to become a pretty decent cleaner. I don’t know if you can say that I loved cleaning those dirty toilets back then, but I’m certain that I wouldn’t be here today without living through the experience.”

Yellowhammer News learned of Ron’s journey and recently published a great article that chronicles his story. We’re so proud of Ron’s perseverance and excited that the world is stumbling onto our little-known secret of a business.

Make sure to check it out to learn how Ron used passion, high energy and frugality to build one of the nation’s fastest growing franchises.

Click here for the article.