From dishwasher to a 7Figure cleaning company

I'm Cristobal Mondragon. I came to the US from Mexico in 2004 with no money, no English, & no plan. I've been a landscaper, a dishwasher, a cook, a construction worker, & a car salesman.

In 2014 my wife & I started a cleaning business. 10 years later it's done over $10 million in sales — & I went bankrupt in the middle of it.

Here's the whole story...

It started because my wife saw the numbers

She got a job at a cleaning company & came home one day & told me what they were charging. She said we should start our own. I didn't take her seriously at first.

But I'd always wanted financial freedom for my family; the hunger for more pushed me to take the ultimate leap, & started the cleaning business, & we called it Bumble Bee Cleaning Services.

We had no experience. No manuals. No idea where it was going. And a lot of bad things happened to us because of it.

Then came the $12,800 IRS letter

After about a year, I got mail from the IRS. I owed them $12,800 because I had classified my employees as subcontractors.

Wrong.

I was devastated. Fortunately my brother lent me the money to pay it.

So I taught myself. Labor laws. Payroll taxes. Workers comp. All the stuff I should have known before I hired my first person. And the business started taking off.

Then I got confident & lost everything

By the end of 2016 the cleaning business was doing well, so I bought a Mexican restaurant & a grocery store. I thought 3 businesses meant 3X the income.

But ideas without a bulletproof system is a dangerous liability.

Here's what actually happened:

- The margins shrank, the overhead grew
- Lost all our savings

- Maxed out every credit card

- Worked 7 days a week across 3 businesses

- Got sued for illegally streaming a boxing fight in the restaurant

- Fell behind on payroll taxes & got the IRS involved

- Lawsuits from creditors & landlords

After 2 years I closed the restaurant & the store & filed for bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy cleared the credit card debt. It did not clear the $80,000 I owed the IRS.

The bankruptcy wasn't just a financial wipeout: it was a total identity reset.

Everything I had built, every late night & sacrificed weekend, was gone.
The business was dismantled.
There was no safety net & no secret strategy to instantly fix it.
I woke up every morning to a reality where I was starting from below zero.

It was a dark, isolated period of stripping away the ego & confronting every mistake I had made.

The collapse demanded a complete breakdown before any rebuilding could begin.

What I did next is the whole reason you're on this page

I spent hours online, took business management courses, & found mentors who were already where I wanted to be.

Then I rebuilt the cleaning business around 4 things:

1 - Budgets — I finally started tracking where the money actually went

2 - Virtual assistants — kept the cost of operation low

3 - Systems — written steps for everything, so my VAs could run the business without me

4 - Video training for cleaners — so quality didn't depend on me being there

In under a year I bounced back & paid the IRS the full $80,000.

Today, the operation is a streamlined 7Figure machine.

I have my time back, I have quality time with my family, & the business keeps running when I'm not in it.

What started out as a simple idea to create a cleaning company, evolved into a multitude of different opportunities.

After an interview in the channel Upflip in Youtube, cleaning owners started reaching out & asking me how I did it.

After enough requests I created 7Figure Cleaners™, & now I teach cleaning business owners the same systems that saved mine.

I still run Bumble Bee. I'm still testing new marketing, new software, new ways to run it better. I'm not teaching from a whiteboard.

Two things I want you to take from this:

Anybody can do this. It doesn't matter where you come from, your education, or your IQ. It's an "I can do it" mentality & your willingness to take action.

Invest in yourself. Find people already where you want to be. It cuts your learning time in half & it's the best money you'll ever spend.

If you're struggling & feel stuck right now — I've been exactly there. If I can do it, you can do it too.
Take 100% responsibility. Not 50%, not 80%. All of it.

In my opinion, "Self development & discipline" triumphs every time, & it is a philosophy that I live & work by.

Here I am today...

Thanks for reading my story, your support through my online courses, coaching program, & software subscriptions help me to continue to innovate & bring better training & better content to the industry.

Cristobal Mondragon
CEO - 7Figure Cleaners™