Kristen Hanson Impacts by Giving FIRST, with Crowning Touch Cleaning

Kristen Hanson, owner of Crowning Touch Cleaning, breaks down what it actually looks like to build a “real” cleaning company that grows beyond one person with a mop and bucket. She explains how the business started through word of mouth, how demand grew into a waiting list, and why the leap to hiring changes everything. Kristen walks through how they find and vet team members, including using Indeed, the college-focused Handshake job board, networking referrals, multiple interview rounds, and background checks; all with the goal of sending only trustworthy people into clients’ homes.

Kristen also shares how the company is structured as a true family operation. She and her husband own the business together; he brings an engineering-style brain to the spreadsheets, taxes, and systems. The company is still run out of their home for practical reasons, including climate concerns for products and the cost-benefit reality of renting space. Employees pick up supplies before the first job of the week, return them after the last, and the weekend rhythm includes washing rags and resetting the system for the next round.

A big thread in this conversation is service, both paid and unpaid. Kristen explains why she prefers “giving first,” and she highlights volunteer work done alongside her staff, including Feed My Starving Children and serving meals at the Ronald McDonald House. One standout partnership is with the Roger Maris Cancer Center at Sanford, where Crowning Touch Cleaning provides two free cleanings per month for cancer patients. She also talks about volunteering at Serenity Assisted Living in Dilworth, a connection that originally came through family ties and relationships built in the community.

The episode also dives into operational choices that reveal a higher-level approach, like using clients’ own vacuums for residential cleanings to reduce cross-home transfer of pet dander and allergens, and keeping most cleanings during daytime hours instead of living in the “after-hours office cleaning” grind. Kristen shares what her day-to-day looks like now, including shifting fully into management, using the YMCA as both a wellness anchor and a mobile office, and staying active in the Fargo business community through networking groups like Tea Time and StartupBREW.

By the end, Kristen lays out the forward vision: goals, growth, deeper community impact, and a likely move into the Lakes Area as demand keeps pulling the company outward. The episode closes with her song pick, “A Million Dreams” from The Greatest Showman, tied to her belief in setting goals, keeping a “hundred dreams” list, and stacking collective momentum into something bigger than any one person.