Leadership and The Dirty WorkWritten by Kevin Eikenberry
The airline, Jet Blue, has been featured in many magazines as a new company that has hard great results and success so far. A lot too has been mentioned about challenges they face ahead and about culture they created at start and are working hard to foster now. One of many things that sets Jet Blue apart is their focus on teamwork. Here's one example. They have no cleaning crews - every employee on flight (including pilots and those not working but on flight) cleans up plane. This saves time and money - both things very important to any business.When I say everyone helps clean, I mean everyone - including CEO, David Neeleman. Neeleman helps flight attendants hand out snacks and helps clean up. This takes Neeleman's words about teamwork and turns them into action. He is quoted as saying, "You can't ask employees to do something you aren't willing to do yourself." I learned this lesson from my father growing up on a farm. There were many tasks I was asked to do - some of them much more unpleasant than picking up newspaper and snack wrappers on a plane - but all of them were done knowing that my Dad had done them and was willing to do them still, even if he had higher priority work to do.
| | Research Before You Build Your Cleaning BusinessWritten by Gail Metcalf
You should have some idea now on what type of cleaning business you want to start or expand into. Look into different types of cleaning and determine what would be best for you. Do you want to work days? Then janitorial and office cleaning may not be a good option as most of their customers are cleaned nights and weekends. A better choice would be residential cleaning, window cleaning, computer cleaning, carpet cleaning and even dryer clean-outs. Before you can start or expand, you need to know who your competition is. In your free time, go thru Yellow Pages and local periodicals in your area and identify these companies. What can you find out about each of them? Call them and ask questions that a new customer would ask. Inquire about their service and what they charge.
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