Gary Parmar Discusses why Cleaning is an Essential Service During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: It's VanCouver's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:05] SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone, I'm Angela Faye, Hub Builder and co-host of British Columbia's Podcasts.
[00:12] SPEAKER_00: Part of the Canada's podcast network, we're sourced for great insights from entrepreneurs
[00:17] SPEAKER_00: from across Canada.
[00:18] SPEAKER_00: We talked entrepreneurs who are making it happen here so you can listen, discover and engage.
[00:25] SPEAKER_00: Gary, I'm just going to share a little bit of what about why this conversation is so important to me.
[00:31] SPEAKER_01: And then you can tell why it's important to you.
[00:33] SPEAKER_01: When we first met, you had an energy about you that was deep and generations back,
[00:42] SPEAKER_01: where your parents have immigrated to Canada and they had this incredibly hard work ethic
[00:48] SPEAKER_01: with you, taken with you and you and your brother and business together now.
[00:51] SPEAKER_01: And so the work that you do is actually, it's in your blood.
[00:57] SPEAKER_01: And so I could feel that and I just know that you have a resilience about you that is pew and far between.
[01:05] SPEAKER_01: So I look forward to this interview.
[01:07] SPEAKER_01: Tell me a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey.
[01:09] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I appreciate that.
[01:10] SPEAKER_03: Well, it's always been in the cleaning industry.
[01:13] SPEAKER_03: That's kind of a funny thing.
[01:15] SPEAKER_03: As much as I've wanted to maybe gear myself away from it, it's always just come back.
[01:18] SPEAKER_03: So it started at a very young age.
[01:21] SPEAKER_03: My parents were running their own commercial genital for business.
[01:24] SPEAKER_03: I was around 10 or 11 years old when we first started getting into it,
[01:28] SPEAKER_03: helping with stripping and waxing floors, going into offices, cleaning those sites.
[01:34] SPEAKER_03: Pretty much anything you could clean, we would go in and clean houses, buildings.
[01:39] SPEAKER_03: I would start doing some telemarketing for my dad and that was at a very young age or 10 or 11.
[01:44] SPEAKER_03: I was for coal-calling businesses and say, hey, I'm going to start trying building maintenance.
[01:49] SPEAKER_03: And we're looking to clean some places and they would be like, get off the phone, you're 13-year-old,
[01:53] SPEAKER_03: they're 20-year-old.
[01:54] SPEAKER_03: So it was really interesting to kind of go through that experience because I see my parents go through a lot of the trials and errors.
[02:01] SPEAKER_03: And at the time, sure, it was hard, right?
[02:04] SPEAKER_03: I mean, we went through the session, we went through, my parents went through a bankruptcy.
[02:09] SPEAKER_03: I mean, there was a lot of ups and downs.
[02:11] SPEAKER_03: I mean, there was a time where they had almost 50 people working for them at one point.
[02:16] SPEAKER_03: So, I mean, lots of ups and downs, a lot of automated experience of trial and errors.
[02:22] SPEAKER_03: And to become an entrepreneur, I think that's very important to experience those trials and errors.
[02:27] SPEAKER_03: Because without them, we really aren't entrepreneurs, right?
[02:30] SPEAKER_03: So it's been a long journey, but it's been a great one.
[02:34] SPEAKER_01: Well, then maybe I can add to that.
[02:37] SPEAKER_01: But maybe that's partially what defines being an entrepreneur is we've hit great joys and great lows.
[02:43] SPEAKER_01: And we found this kind of balance in the work that we do that drives us forward.
[02:50] SPEAKER_01: And we're energetically engaged with it because of where we've come from.
[02:55] SPEAKER_03: Right, absolutely.
[02:56] SPEAKER_03: Right?
[02:57] SPEAKER_03: No, the roots are very, very important.
[02:59] SPEAKER_03: I mean, I guess I said, if I even try to get away from it, I kind of go back into it.
[03:03] SPEAKER_03: Because it's just something that you already know.
[03:05] SPEAKER_03: It's like it's imprinted in the back of your hand.
[03:07] SPEAKER_03: You pricing cleaning jobs are like me saying my ABCs, right?
[03:12] SPEAKER_03: So it's very, very simple for me.
[03:14] SPEAKER_03: So I think a lot of people can relate.
[03:16] SPEAKER_01: Talk to me about pricing.
[03:17] SPEAKER_01: Qs you shared a magical moment in your dad's history about, you know, his relationship with his customers in the matter of pricing.
[03:26] SPEAKER_01: Because you said, you know, tell, tell that story about how every small client is so important.
[03:33] SPEAKER_03: I think at a very young age because the cleaning industry is still up and down as well.
[03:38] SPEAKER_03: You could be busy seasonally and then you're not so busy.
[03:41] SPEAKER_03: So, but we would get a job whether it was a bigger small job.
[03:44] SPEAKER_03: I remember my parents would act, hey, as soon as the job came in, if we were sitting around at home, we got to go.
[03:51] SPEAKER_03: And I remember one time saying to my dad, we had a good amount of people working for us.
[03:57] SPEAKER_03: At that point, I don't think we had to really work on site.
[03:59] SPEAKER_03: We had to more manage people.
[04:01] SPEAKER_03: And I remember my dad had to get out to go clean.
[04:04] SPEAKER_03: I think it was a gross story.
[04:05] SPEAKER_03: It had to be stripped and waxed.
[04:06] SPEAKER_03: And it wasn't much of a couple thousand bucks.
[04:09] SPEAKER_03: But, but relatively, he was making much more.
[04:12] SPEAKER_03: And I just said to him, I said, Dad, you don't have to do this one.
[04:15] SPEAKER_03: It's not a big deal.
[04:16] SPEAKER_03: And he being a kid, not really knowing my numbers and knowing the value of money at the time,
[04:21] SPEAKER_03: he said, no, no climbs is bigger small.
[04:24] SPEAKER_03: Money is money.
[04:25] SPEAKER_03: And at the end of the day, we have to get in there and do the work ourselves.
[04:29] SPEAKER_03: That's just what we have to do.
[04:31] SPEAKER_03: And that's been imprinted with Jesse and I now.
[04:33] SPEAKER_03: I mean, we've done some of the biggest jobs.
[04:35] SPEAKER_03: We've done most of Maria and Chilo Act.
[04:37] SPEAKER_03: We've done library square making over downtown.
[04:39] SPEAKER_03: Now, with those some of those big jobs,
[04:42] SPEAKER_03: necessarily, you don't want to be taking on the bathroom cleanings or what have you.
[04:45] SPEAKER_03: And we win the offices about to close at 4 p.m.s.
[04:48] SPEAKER_03: But the way we like to do our businesses,
[04:51] SPEAKER_03: we take anything we can get.
[04:53] SPEAKER_03: We don't say no to anybody.
[04:55] SPEAKER_03: Our business has kind of run off.
[04:57] SPEAKER_03: The more clients, the better.
[04:59] SPEAKER_03: The more referrals, the better.
[05:01] SPEAKER_03: And, you know, it just, it's the same mentality,
[05:04] SPEAKER_03: whether we get a thousand, a ten thousand dollar job or a one thousand dollar job.
[05:08] SPEAKER_03: It's the same mentality.
[05:09] SPEAKER_03: We don't want to lose it.
[05:10] SPEAKER_03: We want to capture it.
[05:11] SPEAKER_03: And we want to capture the essence of that client that will in return give us more.
[05:16] SPEAKER_01: Gary, why is cleaning essential?
[05:19] SPEAKER_03: Cleaning is very essential.
[05:20] SPEAKER_03: I mean, look, I think time to time we can all get a little bit dirty here and I'm dead.
[05:25] SPEAKER_03: But I don't think anybody can disobey with once you clean your space,
[05:29] SPEAKER_03: how good a person can actually, you know, I mean, you know, this,
[05:33] SPEAKER_03: that's what we all, we, we, we all ask ourselves,
[05:35] SPEAKER_03: why grandma's house is always so clean because it makes ground field and all all day long.
[05:40] SPEAKER_03: It creates the endorphins.
[05:42] SPEAKER_03: It's essential because what one with the time that we're going through with this,
[05:45] SPEAKER_03: this crazy virus thing that's happening, obviously one we want to be as safe as possible,
[05:51] SPEAKER_03: disinfecting everything.
[05:52] SPEAKER_03: But the reason why it's so essential is we want to help health environment.
[05:55] SPEAKER_03: We want to be in a clean atmosphere.
[05:57] SPEAKER_03: We want to, we want to look clean, feel clean.
[06:00] SPEAKER_03: We want to, and we want to feel good.
[06:02] SPEAKER_01: I saw, I just, I conjured up this image of, I saw a video on LinkedIn the other day
[06:07] SPEAKER_01: about how LA has no smog.
[06:10] SPEAKER_01: So suddenly, you know, we're getting down to these essentials of what we need to do.
[06:14] SPEAKER_01: And it's light and it's air in the whole entire city is feeling better, right?
[06:20] SPEAKER_01: So, I want to go back to next question about, so why?
[06:25] SPEAKER_01: So, and I'll share some relativity here because I owned a boutique guest house and operated for 10 years.
[06:32] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, the cleaning was so essential, right?
[06:38] SPEAKER_01: Having a clean room, you said it, having a clean room is so essential to us in our business.
[06:43] SPEAKER_01: And sometimes our, our cleaning staff would call and sick.
[06:48] SPEAKER_01: That's what happens in life. That's what's flow.
[06:50] SPEAKER_01: And I just found that jumping in and making beds or cleaning toilets, I put my music on,
[06:55] SPEAKER_01: I feel good. I'm like, you know, this is an essential part of my business.
[06:58] SPEAKER_01: I didn't have any problem doing that part of the business.
[07:01] SPEAKER_01: I knew I was supporting my staff to be able to take their kids or their family.
[07:06] SPEAKER_01: That's how it was for me, you know, so it never became work.
[07:10] SPEAKER_01: It became what you had to do to do what you love.
[07:14] SPEAKER_01: What is your feeling about your service as a cleaner? What impact are you making?
[07:20] SPEAKER_03: We wanted to, when we did this as, when we were kids, my brother and I,
[07:24] SPEAKER_03: and we grew up in the industry, like I said, when we learned all the trials and errors,
[07:28] SPEAKER_03: we also learned that when you're a clean service,
[07:31] SPEAKER_03: you're not just somebody who comes into clean, you have to provide a customer service.
[07:36] SPEAKER_03: You have to provide an experience.
[07:38] SPEAKER_03: At the end of the day, the sad thing is, the same person who was hiring you could very well do that job.
[07:43] SPEAKER_03: So you have to make it an experience. So what we try to do is what we try to be as,
[07:48] SPEAKER_03: we call it the role as voice of cleaning.
[07:50] SPEAKER_03: I think we talked about that last time.
[07:52] SPEAKER_03: We try to be the absolute best serving cleaning company possible.
[07:57] SPEAKER_03: And when I say that is number one in customer service, number one in quality,
[08:02] SPEAKER_03: and number one with just making sure that our customer has everything they need to have their place looking essential clean and green,
[08:10] SPEAKER_03: I guess you would say.
[08:11] SPEAKER_01: Now let's talk a little bit about your niche as far as who you serve with your, your primary clients.
[08:18] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so some of our clients are mostly in BC here in British Columbia.
[08:23] SPEAKER_03: And now go from anywhere from Smith, Rose and Wilson to Graham construction.
[08:29] SPEAKER_03: These are some of the biggest construction companies in the post-development.
[08:33] SPEAKER_03: We've done projects, various projects like the Molson-Burie, Library Square, Broadway Sky Train Station,
[08:39] SPEAKER_03: West Vancouver Police Department.
[08:41] SPEAKER_03: We also did Disney's Head Office, which was their animation head office here in Vancouver.
[08:48] SPEAKER_03: So a lot of the higher commercial stuff is what we focused on.
[08:51] SPEAKER_03: RBC banks, BMO banks, McDonald's restaurants, things like that.
[08:55] SPEAKER_03: So we really try to gear our niche towards commercial and focusing on those bigger names.
[09:02] SPEAKER_03: So in return, we're also able to kind of partner our name with them and kind of expand our business that way.
[09:09] SPEAKER_01: So collaboration, partnerships, brand sharing, great.
[09:12] Speaker UNKNOWN: Absolutely, yeah.
[09:13] SPEAKER_01: Can you tell the story of a moment when you just like through your arms of the air went,
[09:19] SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited to be working with this company.
[09:22] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[09:23] SPEAKER_01: And why that company?
[09:25] SPEAKER_01: What was so exciting about that?
[09:26] SPEAKER_03: I think I'm going to go right down to our first very first job that came in.
[09:30] SPEAKER_03: And that was that Rodgers Arena.
[09:32] SPEAKER_03: It was for their brand new sports bar.
[09:34] SPEAKER_03: I remember when that job came in, what I was trying to prove was this concept of having the balls voice of cleaning
[09:41] SPEAKER_03: and really having us available at any time available 24-7.
[09:45] SPEAKER_03: And I remember getting that phone call from the site, super-in-them saying, hey,
[09:49] SPEAKER_03: I need you guys down to take care of some stairs cleaning and prior to that,
[09:53] SPEAKER_03: I had already priced out the bar for him and right when he gave me the cleaning for these stairs,
[09:59] SPEAKER_03: I need to be done prior to a hockey game.
[10:01] SPEAKER_03: I said, hey, what about that bar that I priced?
[10:03] SPEAKER_03: Am I going to get that?
[10:04] SPEAKER_03: And he said, yes.
[10:06] SPEAKER_03: And I remember that day was one of the best days for me because, well, I knew I was already doing a job for him
[10:10] SPEAKER_03: and that if I had come through, he was going to give me the bar.
[10:13] SPEAKER_03: And I remember when we got that bar and we completed that entire bar,
[10:16] SPEAKER_03: it was a great opportunity for us because, well, one, we're on the map.
[10:21] SPEAKER_03: It's at Rodgers Arena.
[10:22] SPEAKER_03: And two, we got it done in timely fashion.
[10:24] SPEAKER_03: So we were very excited and from there, we moved on to bigger projects.
[10:28] SPEAKER_03: So we ended up doing Louis Levin's head office after that.
[10:31] SPEAKER_03: We also did Microsoft's head office, so on and so forth.
[10:35] SPEAKER_03: So we wanted to do a lot more bigger things, which then excelled us to turn to the markets that we're in now.
[10:43] SPEAKER_01: And I can't help but jump to where we are today because you, you know, your first client was Rodgers Arena, right?
[10:51] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, of course, I nearly, I actually felt like a wave of sadness, right?
[10:56] SPEAKER_01: Because I'm just like, oh my god, Rodgers Arena, you know, we'll like ever go back there again in, you know, in the world as we know it.
[11:04] SPEAKER_01: But, you know, sports and entertainment is changing dramatically.
[11:08] SPEAKER_01: So given that feeling and just what, how are you feeling right now?
[11:14] SPEAKER_01: How are you feeling about?
[11:17] SPEAKER_01: What's next?
[11:19] SPEAKER_03: I'm really open BC here.
[11:21] SPEAKER_03: We're doing our part and we've been able to control this as much as possible to be able to open up an honest sense of businesses after May the first.
[11:30] SPEAKER_03: That's what I'm thinking.
[11:32] SPEAKER_03: I think our premier was hearing towards maybe the first or second week, but right now I'm feeling a little bit.
[11:39] SPEAKER_03: I'm appreciating the time that we have with our families, but I am a little bit eager to kind of get back on the road and start working again.
[11:45] SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think we all are.
[11:47] SPEAKER_03: It's been great.
[11:48] SPEAKER_03: I think it's all been time to reflect on this and for us all to all realize, hey, like there's more to it than just running around all the time and working work and working work in.
[11:58] SPEAKER_03: You know, we got to appreciate the little things, but I think we're going on about six weeks now here at lockdown.
[12:03] SPEAKER_03: So, so yeah, definitely, definitely feeling it.
[12:05] SPEAKER_03: Definitely want to get out there.
[12:07] SPEAKER_03: But, you know what, we do, we do appreciate the time that we have to work on things that we usually don't get to.
[12:13] SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to pull draw on something that I like you and feeling, which is okay.
[12:19] SPEAKER_01: I'm appreciating a little bit of downtime for you. It's time with family for me.
[12:23] SPEAKER_01: It's a bit of a pivot and shift in how I do business.
[12:28] SPEAKER_01: And ironically, this is providing this pauses creating even more opportunity for me to create the space spaces to co work and collaborate.
[12:38] SPEAKER_01: But there was something in your voice that I heard that I'd like to tap into, you know, that build up.
[12:43] SPEAKER_01: I can feel it. I can see it that build up of, okay, I'm eager, you know, I'm.
[12:48] SPEAKER_01: I'm going to have to work and here's what I know about entrepreneurs is we have to work.
[12:55] SPEAKER_01: Our work is our currency for our purpose.
[13:00] SPEAKER_01: It's our energy and it's energetically what we do.
[13:04] SPEAKER_01: So, if this goes on for a long time, how are you going to apply that need to energetically produce, you know, and do what you love doing?
[13:15] SPEAKER_03: I get what you say because it's like, what do we do if it keeps lasted?
[13:19] SPEAKER_03: And it's crazy with entrepreneurs where the only people that will quit a 40 hour work week to work an 80 hour work week for ourselves.
[13:28] SPEAKER_03: Right. So it's pretty crazy.
[13:29] SPEAKER_03: What I've been doing is like, I've been more in the office now than ever. Right.
[13:34] SPEAKER_03: Because I'm usually out on field and meetings. But I've been more in the office now than ever.
[13:37] SPEAKER_03: And we've really been getting a little bit more creative with our systems.
[13:41] SPEAKER_03: And we can be getting creative with our systems, our advertising.
[13:45] SPEAKER_03: The market is obviously shifting a little bit with people being at home, not a lot of people are getting kind of renovations done.
[13:53] SPEAKER_03: But a lot of commercial things are still happening. They're still on schedule.
[13:56] SPEAKER_03: Construction is still considered as an essential business. So we are somewhat relatively busy.
[14:02] SPEAKER_03: I guess you could say not as busy as we like to be, but for the most part, I would say maybe focusing a little bit more on the systems and kind of what we can do to make it easier for our clients to be able to use our services.
[14:13] SPEAKER_03: I mean, one thing that we've been looking into is possibly doing it out and getting that out going.
[14:18] SPEAKER_03: And once we have an app going, it's literally going to be so easy to bring you to go on your phone, book a cleaner, and we could be there within the next few hours or the next day.
[14:26] SPEAKER_03: So I think that that is something that's going to come up a great need in the future is the accessibility to be able to not just pick up the phone book, cleaners, go to the entire process, but to already know your cost to already know your numbers and just to just be able to conveniently book over your phone or your tablet.
[14:44] SPEAKER_01: I could see potential just the fact that you're starting to leverage and engage technology and creative thinking in right in what what you're doing is I suddenly saw, oh, eco giants can be like, you know, the Uber of cleaning right because that's exactly what you're trying to go for.
[15:01] SPEAKER_01: Right, which is there are still places essential places that need cleaning and there are people that would love to work.
[15:08] SPEAKER_01: They just want to work out their own pace with their own time, you know, I'm watching, I've been watching a trend of a lot of companies who are becoming the brokers right.
[15:19] SPEAKER_01: They're the brokers of people in need and the people with the resources.
[15:25] SPEAKER_03: Exactly. Yeah, with the clear is with the equipment exactly it's a great market to get into like exactly said Uber just that convenience alone is so phenomenal.
[15:36] SPEAKER_03: I mean, just to be able to have clear that available it would be let's say even if you have something has to happen outside right like some lawnmowing for a lot of our seniors a lot of lawnmowing things a lot of things that need to be done.
[15:49] SPEAKER_03: I mean, we don't want to be picking up the phone and landscape for them giving us numbers that are absolutely outrageous.
[15:55] SPEAKER_03: We rather just somebody hourly show up here. I know what my cost is. It's going to go out of my credit card. I don't have to hold on any cash.
[16:03] SPEAKER_03: I don't have to worry about anything. So yeah, no, absolutely.
[16:07] SPEAKER_01: And just I mean, I have a co-working space or a you know, for five years, I've operated a core space and the moments is sure there's a schedule for the cleaners to come in and that's Monday, Monday, Friday.
[16:19] SPEAKER_01: But what happens in those moments when in the in the morning that something has happened over the night and what I need is I need somebody there in that moment or you know something drastic happens where there's a unknown hazardous material on the floor and you're like, I don't know let's call in the hazardous materials expert.
[16:39] SPEAKER_01: It was more of a niche in that moment than the person who's going to you know pick up broken bottles and things like that.
[16:46] SPEAKER_01: So I just I'm super excited for you because I hope that you that we end up spending more time being connected because I see I can imagine having an eco giant you know in less than two years having an eco giant app on my phone to help me deal with all cleaning.
[17:04] SPEAKER_01: All co-working spaces and all you know all essential buildings construction site.
[17:09] SPEAKER_03: We want to be not just cleaners. We want to be educators. I want to be able to send our staff in and say look, we have a lot of I would say younger generation people that maybe don't know how to clean essentially or don't know how to use the right products on the right places.
[17:25] SPEAKER_03: And again, when you hire us we're not just coming into clean, we could also educate on how to clean and how to get things.
[17:32] SPEAKER_03: And I think that's very important for a lot of people because people think they know how to clean, but you may be doing double the work.
[17:39] SPEAKER_01: So how many parents are out there listening to this that would love to be in a micro classroom for their children at this time when they're trying to be teachers.
[17:47] SPEAKER_01: And they're trying to get their kids to clean.
[17:52] SPEAKER_01: And how about gifting them a classroom with Gary that you know that teaches them that is a fun guy that understands essential cleaning that actually teaches them how to clean wall or home.
[18:06] SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't that be great?
[18:07] SPEAKER_01: It would be a legacy, I think, for every parent to take away and because as much as kids love their parents, they don't always listen to them right? That's why they go to schools because they listen to their teachers outside.
[18:20] SPEAKER_01: And so I'm seeing Gary the cleaning teacher.
[18:23] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I appreciate that. I remember my mom's Facebook until she would say clean your room, clean your room, and it would be when she would be gone.
[18:32] SPEAKER_03: And she was a nagging at me when I would finally do it. And it's just, I guess it's just a thing with we're just a little bit rebellious towards her parents.
[18:39] SPEAKER_01: I don't even know. I can't even put my finger on it. It's just kind of exciting. It's more of a question that a that clean your room is, you know, maybe that grassroots offer of eco giants to say, you know,
[18:53] SPEAKER_01: because like you, if you're born and bred in a family who values cleanliness and the ability to and the understanding that a clean space makes you feel good.
[19:09] SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, once you're a kid and you got clutter and you got this, don't get me wrong. I was the kid that had posters all over the wall, but my room was clean.
[19:17] SPEAKER_01: But a clean space, you could be, you could actually build that into their DNA.
[19:23] SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
[19:24] SPEAKER_01: Right at the beginning, right? Right at the beginning from when they're little to when they're six to when they're 13 is what their needs are in those different areas of time is different, right?
[19:35] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely. I remember I watched different interviews on CEOs and try to learn about different CEOs and how they go upon their daily routines and mark you when they're great points.
[19:45] SPEAKER_03: And they said, I'm a billionaire, but till this very day, I still make my bed because what it does is right when you get up and you make your bed, it creates this, you did something and you completed it mentality.
[19:56] SPEAKER_03: And when you start your day off that way, you'll be surprised by making your bed every morning, how much more you actually get done in productivity because it creates your mind to just start and finish something and your mind goes through that motion the entire day.
[20:10] SPEAKER_03: We don't really know that but psychologically it happens.
[20:14] SPEAKER_03: Little things like that, it goes such a far away like I know that I feel very crummy if my space is not clean. I need to get my space clean before I work sometimes.
[20:22] SPEAKER_03: So you know, a clean space is a clean mind, I guess.
[20:25] SPEAKER_01: Awesome. I would like to know.
[20:28] SPEAKER_01: It's a personal question if you don't mind.
[20:31] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
[20:32] SPEAKER_01: I think about being in business with your brother.
[20:35] SPEAKER_01: In most, you know, super successful relationship, there's a yin yang.
[20:41] SPEAKER_01: There's a, you somebody knows when to speak and then when to listen.
[20:45] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the flow between mask who invented every and it's your brother.
[20:50] SPEAKER_03: Right.
[20:50] SPEAKER_01: Just write the experience for me.
[20:51] SPEAKER_03: I think it's well, it turns again at a young age, we did things together.
[20:56] SPEAKER_03: When Jesse and I were eight or nine years old and we would work together, we would, he would vacuum and I would pick up the garbage or I would go pick up the garbage to you back.
[21:05] SPEAKER_03: And that would go from cubicle to cubicle to cubicle.
[21:08] SPEAKER_03: So we were right beside each other but growing up in the business together, I think where we found each other's, we found each other strengths.
[21:15] SPEAKER_03: Right. So I found his strength in project management that when we're around 30 to 40 of our staff members,
[21:20] SPEAKER_03: Jesse is able to take lead and really get them going and really, you know, tell our supervisors do this and do that.
[21:26] SPEAKER_03: He's really good at the project manager stuff.
[21:29] SPEAKER_03: Whereas I come in, I'm really good at the sales stuff and I'm good at the speaking and really getting the business out there and talking and really being a little bit more exaggerated.
[21:38] SPEAKER_03: I guess he could say so.
[21:40] SPEAKER_03: Jesse and I have realized what his strengths are, my strengths are we work both together off that.
[21:46] SPEAKER_03: Isn't a little bit of head-butting absolutely. I mean, we come to some time minds. Sometimes we've got projects coming in and we're putting a little bit of head but no more than what brothers would usually do.
[21:58] SPEAKER_03: But I think we're Jesse and I really found our strengths is after the passing of our parents, we really kind of looked at each other and said, hey, look, we really have each other.
[22:05] SPEAKER_03: And we inherited the home that we did and we got to make this happen.
[22:11] SPEAKER_03: So whether we take this business and we make it another Marmerpop shop business, which is just going to be a couple employees or maybe us doing the cleaning.
[22:20] SPEAKER_03: Or we can take this to the next level, get an infrastructure, get some management, get some staff behind us and really take this to the next level.
[22:29] SPEAKER_03: And be that role as a cleaning that we always wanted to be growing up. But we never really did because, you know, obviously, at the time, I feel like when our parents were running the business, they're set minded on how they want to run things.
[22:42] SPEAKER_03: They're not thinking of taking risks at another level, at, you know, maybe doing the things that we find management, things like that.
[22:49] SPEAKER_03: So that's where we thought we want to go a little bit of a different route and see if, instead of just running it on a day to day where we do the cleaning ourselves,
[22:57] SPEAKER_03: we find staff members that need work that are really good at this work that we can able to, I guess, educate them and excel.
[23:06] SPEAKER_01: And inspire them clearly.
[23:08] Speaker UNKNOWN: Yeah, absolutely.
[23:10] SPEAKER_01: And surround them with the system so that they can just enjoy the work.
[23:14] SPEAKER_01: What's the profile, what's the profile of your best employee?
[23:19] SPEAKER_03: I would say one of our best employees is SOOK. And SOOK is one of the guys. He's pretty much available to us at any point of given time.
[23:27] SPEAKER_03: We call him right now and say that a service call just came in and we need you guys to be there by 12 o'clock.
[23:34] SPEAKER_03: He'll probably be there by 11.45. So, um, SOOK is one of our all-star employees.
[23:39] SPEAKER_03: We try to give out a little bit of incentives every month, gift cards and pizza parties and things like that would have, would have you.
[23:46] SPEAKER_03: Um, but we have found that, I mean, there is high turnover in our business like there is, but we have some staff members that do stick around.
[23:54] SPEAKER_03: Obviously, you know, that they're there with us either year round or they're with us constantly.
[23:59] SPEAKER_03: Um, and those staff members are usually the ones that end up becoming the experts of the business and.
[24:04] SPEAKER_03: And running running bigger projects for us for managing tower projects for us in the future.
[24:09] SPEAKER_03: Everybody starts off as a cleaner and then you have to work your way out.
[24:12] SPEAKER_01: Right. Right. Nice. That's a, that's amazing.
[24:15] SPEAKER_01: Just tell me a little bit about yeah, you're based in Vancouver.
[24:19] SPEAKER_03: In Surrey, actually.
[24:20] SPEAKER_01: How did you end up in Surrey and what do you love about it?
[24:23] SPEAKER_03: We grew up here. We are our parents bought a home here and and our home and our offices based out of our home.
[24:30] SPEAKER_03: We kicked out our tenants and made it to two basement or two bedroom basement into our office.
[24:36] SPEAKER_03: So we, we basically inherited the home here. We took over the week to cover and made our office down here.
[24:42] SPEAKER_03: We don't see ourselves moving quite yet, but in the near future we do see ourselves possibly relocating into downtown.
[24:48] SPEAKER_03: We're somewhere in the Vancouver, Vancouver area because our clients are mostly out there and we service most most most of that area.
[24:56] SPEAKER_01: And what do you love about where you live?
[24:59] SPEAKER_03: I love, I love the fact that I can get, I mean, people say serious dangers, but I don't think it is.
[25:04] SPEAKER_03: I mean, I love, I love to get out of this. Go for a walk or go for a bike ride.
[25:07] SPEAKER_03: I participate in the Ryde Carp Cancer for a few years at this year. Cancel what I love going for a nice bike ride around Surrey.
[25:15] SPEAKER_03: There's some beautiful parts here. You know, white rocks outside. Surrey's got a nice beaches out there as well.
[25:21] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, no, it's beautiful out here. Don't don't don't get into the things that you hear.
[25:27] SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
[25:28] SPEAKER_01: So for the cleaning loving Surrey loving eco giant Gary, it has been an absolute pleasure. Is there any sort of lasting gift you'd like to give?
[25:39] SPEAKER_01: Maybe a book that you've read that's been inspiring and are in sports and a quote that that kind of fuels you.
[25:45] SPEAKER_03: Sure. Last book I just read was a few days ago, which was Chip Wilson's book, My Little Stretchy Black Pants.
[25:53] SPEAKER_03: And I actually like the books so much that I download the audiobook after.
[25:57] SPEAKER_03: So on my drives out to Kelona when we have job sites out there, I can listen to his audiobook.
[26:02] SPEAKER_03: He really inspired me, the book really inspired me because it brings up a time where he went through almost 20 years with one business.
[26:10] SPEAKER_03: And whereas most people would think after 20 years of one business, you kind of put up your coat and that's it.
[26:16] SPEAKER_03: You know, that's after all that you created the limit and it was with all the trial and errors of his first business.
[26:24] SPEAKER_03: I just thought that was very relatable to me because throughout my entire childhood, I went through cleaning with my family and watching my parents make mistakes and being a child, you can't tell your parents what to do.
[26:34] SPEAKER_03: So you almost are at the mercy of them, allowing to, you know, you have to let them make mistakes.
[26:38] SPEAKER_03: And then if you want, you could maybe do a little better if you like, right?
[26:42] SPEAKER_03: So I saw that that book was very motivating and inspired me.
[26:46] SPEAKER_03: And I thought Chip Wilson's story was a little bit similar to mine.
[26:49] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that book really did it for me.
[26:53] SPEAKER_01: Gary, wish you all the best on behalf of Canada's podcast.
[26:55] SPEAKER_01: Thank you for investing your Saturday morning coffee with me, coffee time with me.
[27:00] SPEAKER_00: I look forward to meeting again.
[27:02] SPEAKER_03: Thanks Andy.
[27:03] SPEAKER_00: Hey there. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to British Columbia's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[27:10] SPEAKER_00: We hope you enjoyed the show today.
[27:12] SPEAKER_00: Make sure you sign up for our newsletters and write a review for us on iTunes.
[27:16] SPEAKER_00: Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or at Canada'spodcast.com.
[27:23] SPEAKER_00: You can check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country.
[27:26] SPEAKER_00: I'm Angela Faye. See you next time.
[27:33] Speaker UNKNOWN: Bye.