What my cleaner taught me about running a business

Ever since we moved to the USA, my wife has hired multiple cleaners. We went through around 10 before we settled on one we really liked.

All the previous ones came in, did their job, and left. Some were good, some weren't great at cleaning. But the lady we liked always did something extra, something we didn't expect. She comes in once a week.

One time she organized the storage room. Another time she organized my wife's closet. After we got to know her better, she started making the bed and changing the sheets without us asking. It taught me a lot.

I build custom software for a living, and I realized the same thing applies to my business. If a client asks for a dashboard with sales numbers, I'll add a small export to Excel button. They didn't ask for it, but it's a nice to have feature that barely costs me anything to add, especially with AI helping now. I know the client will appreciate it.

That's it. Do a little extra on every job. People notice and stick around.