The 3 A’s: How I Scaled My Service Business by Defining What Matters

When I first started building a team, I thought people would treat the job the same way I did—like an opportunity to grow, build a career, and contribute to something meaningful. I figured that if someone applied, they were automatically ready to learn, improve, and give it their best.

I was wrong.

Over and over again, I hired people I liked—people I believed in—but they didn’t take the job seriously. Some showed up late. Some didn’t show up at all. Others brought bad attitudes, zero accountability, and no effort to improve. I was pouring time into interviewing, hiring, training, and mentoring—only to start over again every few weeks when someone ghosted, quit, or burned out.

It was exhausting. I was stuck on a treadmill—unable to grow because I couldn’t build a stable team.

The Breaking Point: The Post-Pandemic Hiring Crisis

Right after the pandemic, our business exploded. Overnight, we got nearly all our old clients back—and then landed a few major contracts on top of that. We needed to scale fast, but I had no systems, no frameworks, and no hiring standards.

I rushed to hire 15 new people and put them into small teams. I did interviews and training back-to-back, thinking if I just worked harder and believed in people more, it would work.

It didn’t.

People quit after a few days. Others stopped showing up without a word. Those who remained got discouraged, and the culture collapsed. When people flake out regularly, it sends a signal: maybe this job doesn’t matter. That attitude spread. Even I started believing it. I questioned the value of what we did. I started expecting to get walked over—and accepted low standards as normal.

At one point, I was so overwhelmed with turnover I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t make promises to clients. I was burning out and missing time with my family. That was the moment I realized I needed structure. I needed standards.

The Creation of the 3 A’s

Out of necessity, I created three core expectations that became the foundation of our hiring, coaching, and leadership systems:
Attitude. Aptitude. Attendance.

These are now the guiding principles we hire for, train with, promote around, and fire by.

The 3 A’s Defined

1. Attendance

The first rule was attendance. Why? Because I was hiring people who didn’t show up—and that crushed morale and operations.

If someone doesn’t show up, the job doesn’t get done. In janitorial work, that means a bar doesn’t get cleaned, or a restaurant opens the next morning in poor condition. There’s no bench of extra workers just waiting around—we run lean. If you're scheduled, you have to show up.

We now expect:

• On-time arrival every shift

• No no-call, no-shows

• Advance notice before 7 PM for any absence

• No last-minute call-outs unless it’s an emergency

If someone can’t meet this minimum standard, they’re let go. No exceptions.

2. Attitude

One of my worst hires had great technical performance—but he was toxic.

He regularly clashed with teammates. He made passive-aggressive comments like “maybe a little less talking would be nice.” He picked fights and subtly undermined everything I asked him to do. He even exploited our company car policy—taking the vehicle out at night to hang out with friends, using up gas and putting unnecessary mileage and risk on our fleet.

When I confronted him, he acted like I was the problem. No gratitude, no self-awareness, just resentment. He thought the company car was a burden—even though it was a perk.

I was hesitant to fire him because we were short-staffed, and he technically did the job. But I learned: skill without attitude is dangerous. It poisons the culture and creates more damage than one missed shift.

Now, we define “attitude” clearly:

• Respecting teammates, clients, and managers

• Going above and beyond when needed

• No gossip, no entitlement, no toxic behavior

• Owning mistakes, staying positive, and showing up as a professional

If someone is toxic, they're gone—immediately. That’s a hard line.

3. Aptitude

Some people just aren’t cut out for the job.

That doesn’t mean they’re bad people—it just means they’re not the right fit. We’ve had people who, despite multiple rounds of training, couldn’t follow basic protocols. They’d miss restrooms. Leave napkins on the floor. Sit in the car on the clock. Follow me around instead of doing the work.

Aptitude doesn’t mean perfection—but it does mean effort, learning, and attention to detail.

We now expect:

• Willingness to learn and improve

• Accountability for quality

• Consistency over time

• The ability to work independently after being trained

If someone doesn’t grow, they can’t stay. We owe it to our clients and our team to protect the standard.

Why This Framework Works

The 3 A’s gave us structure and shared language. Now when we onboard someone, we introduce these values up front. We reinforce them in training. We use them in performance reviews. And if someone isn’t a fit, we use them to explain exactly why.

When we go through high-growth periods and bring on lots of new people, we churn through the wrong hires fast—but keep the right ones longer. Our teams stabilize faster. Culture improves. Leadership becomes simpler. And the people who do care? They thrive, because they’re surrounded by others who do too.

This framework helped us grow from 1 employee to 35+ in under a year. It’s not the only thing that got us there—but it was a huge part of why we didn’t implode along the way.

Final Thoughts

If you’re running a service business with high turnover and low-skill roles, you need guardrails. You can’t assume people will take the job seriously just because you do. You have to spell out the expectations—and enforce them with consistency and clarity.

The **3 A’s—Attitude, Aptitude, Attendance—**gave us a foundation to grow, lead, and protect our business from burnout, chaos, and resentment. They gave me my life back.

And they gave my team a fair chance to succeed.

Written by Joseph Gary, founder of Grime Time, Inc. — a commercial cleaning company based in Portland, Oregon. Joseph specializes in scaling service-based businesses through systems, leadership, and operational structure.