A Note From Katie - May 2026
The weekend is always a time to reflect and rest and these past few days I've been contemplating how impactful Sparklean has been in my life. We just celebrated 14 years! (I helped my first client on May 8th, 2012). So many things have shifted and grown in those 14 years. But the reason we exist has remained firm - At Sparklean, we believe that to live abundant lives, we all need each other. We envision a fulfilling and vibrant future for everyone who embraces this vision of mutual support. A hopeful, abundant life for all. A rewarding and purposeful life that is achieved through supporting and being supported by others. It’s connections, a web of people who embrace and rely on each other. In our day to day this looks like - We, the team at Sparklean have labor and cleaning skill to offer and we need jobs. And you, our amazing clients, need cleaning support and have work to offer. It might seem like a simple transaction, but the result is so much more meaningful. Our partnershi is create opportunities, helping people realize dreams, and giving everyone peace of mind.
For instance, one of our long term employees (congrats on 8 years!), Kylie has had the opportunitiy to go on some modest international adventures lately. And it's all thanks to you and the consistent work that Kylie has had here these last 8 years. And the growth of our company has helped her grow in leadership and skill to the point where she has moved into the Training Manager role. She oversees all new employee training and our training materials - which allows us to pursue consistency and excellence. And her support of new employees makes the big transition to a new company the best and smoothest it can be for new employees.
Supporting employees wouldn't be possible without our drive to support YOU, our clients. The families and individuals we clean for are so important to us. We truly do care for your home and want our work to bring you value and peace of mind. And can I be super honest about some hard things? These past 6 years have been so incredibly hard in this business... The youngest generation of the workforce has changed so much and it takes so much effort, blood, sweat and tears to find, train and keep one good employee. Sara and Kylie and I haveve really high standards and goals for our team, and surviving these past several years have made reaching those standards pretty impossible. But we will persevere! Sara and Kylie and I have personally cleaned so many of your homes, and we care so deeply that the result of our work is excellent. If you haven't experienced an amazing service with us, I sincerely and profoundly apologize. I so greatly value your loyalty through these hard years. Rest assured, we are doing big things behind the scenes to increase the value to you! I love hearing things from clients like, "it's so great to come home to a clean house!" and "Our kids love the way their stuffed animals are arranged on their bed." and "the cleaners navigated a new situation, a construction worker and our very excited dog with grace and professionalism."
Two quick "house keeping" reminders for you (see what I did there? ;) ) We do wear shoes in homes during cleanings, but they are indoor only shoes just for cleaning. This helps to protect the team against injuries or falls. Also, we do allow the team to adjust the air conditioning in a home if the clients are not home. And when they leave, they will adjust it back to the same as when they arrived. If you have further instructions about this, please reply to this email and I'll get that into your house notes.
We've been up to some really exciting things! Our team is about to embark on a new pay incentive/bonus program. Each employee will be able to earn a significant increase in pay when they meet certain criteria for quality and consistency each pay period. (My husband Charlie will be spearheading the tracking of these metrics, so rest assured, this is not adding an administrative financial burden). The biggest piece of data that will help employees earn this bonus every 2 weeks, is reviews from you. In light of this, I'd like to go back to using the Google Form for reviews, instead of the simple 5 star review from ZenMaid. You'll see emails after each cleaning and we are so grateful for your honest feedback! It helps us learn and improve.
We are transitioning all of our cleanings to be "thorough" only. And training our employees to have that description as the baseline. We know you'll love it! We also know that some clients have a budget that maybe will not have enough time, and we'll work with each client on a case by case basis to adjust the expectations. As far as review forms goe, please assess using "thorough" as the baseline.
Last thing! I want to make sure that you all have access to the best professionals for your home! My two favorite referrals are Kura Home Maintenance and ZeroRez. In a nut shell, Kura home can come out every 2-3 months and do all the little things that you would do if you had time to be the perfect homeowner. Think, oiling the garage door, emptying the sediment from the water heater, etc. They're amazing!! https://www.kurahome.com/routine-maintenance/
And ZeroRez is an amazing MN franchise owned by lovely people who are clients of ours. Their teams can handle carpet cleaning, tile cleaning and duct cleaning - all without leaving residue and smell! https://www.zerorez.com/minnesota
Thank you for reading this update. It means the world to me! Would you send me a quick reply and let me know you read this? Even if it's just a "hey there." :)
Thank you again for your support, whether that's as a regular, ocassional, or future client!
Have an amazing day.