A Favor, an E-Bike, and 25+ Cleaning Companies Later

Some client stories start with polished sales calls, funnels, or carefully crafted proposals. This one started years earlier, through a relationship.

I had worked alongside a woman, Tracey Thompson, in different capacities for well over a decade. We were not employer and employee. We were not formally partnered. We simply kept crossing paths because our strengths fit together naturally.

She was sales, marketing, and strategy. I was tech, marketing, and systems. Over the years we collaborated around projects, shared ideas, and occasionally helped each other solve problems. Just mutual respect and collaboration troubleshooting.

Then around 2020, she reached out. Something in her systems had broken. Important pieces were down, and she needed help fast. The fix itself was not massive. A couple of hours of work, maybe. I jumped in. Not because there was a contract attached. Not because I expected payment. Just because sometimes people need help.

Afterward, she was deeply grateful and said something along the lines of: "I'll remember this." I honestly did not think much about it. Life moved on.

Then in 2021, Tracey reached out again. This time she was working with Grow My Cleaning Company, helping cleaning business owners scale through better sales, systems, and operations. And she saw a gap.

The cleaning business owners were incredible at running businesses, but many were overwhelmed by the tech behind growth: CRMs, automation systems, lead follow-up, marketing workflows, client nurturing, training systems, integrations, conversion tracking. The backend pieces that determine whether growth becomes sustainable or turns into chaos.

She asked: "Would you come teach? Show people how these systems work?" I said yes.

The first trainings were free. The idea was simple: provide value first. If someone wanted deeper support afterward, we would explore it. One training became another. Then another. Eventually, we realized these business owners needed more than information. They needed implementation.

So we created a structured offer where members of Grow My Cleaning Company could work with me directly. Tracey handled what she did best, sales and positioning. I handled architecture, systems, integrations, and execution.

Over roughly a year and a half, that turned into 25+ builds and transformations for cleaning companies across different stages of growth.

Then something happened I never expected. Years after that original favor I had done for Tracey, she reached out and asked: "Are you going to be home on this date? I am sending something."

Like a year earlier, she had asked me a strange question: "If you picture yourself a couple years from now, what do you see?" I had told her: An e-bike. Riding the Colorado mountain paths between Frisco and Vail. Not because I wanted a luxury item. Because I pictured freedom. Adventure. Movement. A life with more breathing room. I didn't really know what she was getting at. I didn't say it because I thought I was getting it. It was more like, what would make you happy? She had remembered.

A truck showed up. And sitting there was an e-bike. Not a small gift. Not symbolic. A real, beautiful, over-the-top e-bike. (Actually too big. I had to exchange it for a smaller one.) I still have it. I still ride it. I still have not done the exact ride I imagined all those years ago. But I have done many others.

That gift was never really about the bike. It was about something bigger: Relationships built over years. Helping without keeping score. Mutual trust. The understanding that good people remember.

Today, I still occasionally support cleaning companies and continue collaborating with Tracey when opportunities align. The work evolved. The industries evolved. But the lesson stayed the same: