This story is based on conversation with the founder and owner Amber Starling Cleaning good witchcraft. This piece has been edited for length and explanation.
Image Credit: Courtesy good witch cleaning. Amber Starling.
When I arrived at “Little Apple,” or Manhattan, Kansas, I experienced five years of management, including the frontline firefighter in the voluntary department. I had seven years of office experience and high school diploma. So when I moved here, I did not have a big social network that was dragged, and I had a difficult time looking for a job. No one wanted to keep me on a job because I either had very little education or too much experience. I got tired after seven months of her and was like that, I can put myself on the job. That was 2017.
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I decided to start a cleaning business because it is a service that is always demanded, and there was a difference in our market for professional companies. In our industry, it is rare to reach the point where you hire employees at all. At the other end of the spectrum, large companies often use a large box view that lacks sympathy and does not work for many families.
I started my company with a vacuum only from my home. I saved about $ 100 from my grocery budget and purchased cleaning from the discount store. I named business good witch because, for a while, I just lived four minutes away from it Wizard of Oz Museum This is a lot of fun from the branding and marketing point of view: We have a pink witch hat on the black car, and it only pops up.
I was not insured in the beginning, so I would have to tell my clients, “Hey, this is something I want to do, but I have to earn enough money to get there, and if you are willing to take any risk on me, I will offer you a good rate and great service. “By posting my first clients on Facebook, I found a special advertisement for the entire house of $ 99. I was very expected in those days.
I hired my first employee within the first year of opening a business. Our employees are not sub -contractors. We provide all the goods and goods, and I also invest in my team with extensive training. Many members of my team and I have the IICRC House Cleaning Technician Certification. It goes into ways to avoid chemistry, safety and harmful levels. Sometimes people ask me, “What if those employees go with all this knowledge?” But I say, “What if they live without it?” We have a staff breakfast after which there is training every Friday.
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Jabber Grant The program has helped me make my own business. When I actually applied for a grant, my goal was to open a branch in the Vikita. However, at the moment, I was in it too SBA emerging leaders programWhich is like a mini -MBA, and I learned that the biggest cause of death for medium -sized companies is to spread very fast. In addition, we lost 60 % of our clients overnight during pandemic diseases. Fortunately, I managed to go back to the job and re -separate funds for disinfection and cleaning certification.
The uproar between the pandemic disease, during which we saw that the business left and the right closed, it is also stable that our business cannot be everything for everyone. If we went down, I wanted to be like me. We became openly a common progressive company, openly the fourth wave of feminine, LGBT Kiya friendly and immigrant friendly. There was a lot of hatred in the world, and we were going to make love, even if it killed business.
You do not need to be a bad corporation to keep a successful company. How do I treat my staff? They have access to livelihood, health care and mental health care. When I treat their work as a career, they offer their training and treat them like humans, making sure they can pay their bills and take time to spend with their family, so they want to stay with us. It is not a difficult idea to understand.
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In 2017, we were at the tax, 000 11,000 – it was before that I hired someone. In 2018, we got up to 000 57,000; In 2019, 000 119,000; 6 216,000 in 2020; And in 2021 7 467,000. Since then, we have strengthened this tax range, and it is in terms of choice. We could continue to extend aggressively, especially in commercial gatekeepers, but we wanted to focus on working with residential and working class and middle -class families.
Our poverty rate is double the national average, so we have to work hard and listen to the needs of our team members and clients. Instead of going behind the wealthy and wealthy clients, our strategy is to diversify our offerings so that we can still help them such as cleaning or dishes the refrigerator.
Giving back to our community has always been very important to us. We donated consulting services to the housing authority and emergency shelter here during the pandemic diseases. We donated to sports teams. We are donating the boy scouts. Last year, we donated $ 5,000 in match funds in true colors, a local LGBTQ Youth program. Last November, we also opened a free store in our office, where people can donate and receive items in good condition.
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I have gone down 50 % from the poverty line in the deep south, and it really has made a shape that I approach the business. In my industry, I got a lot of whirlpool. I did the network and asked for many certificates, and I met successful people who wondered how I came from the beginning. They consider me unique, and in this way I get hurt. I know and still know and know very bright, talented and hard working people. It is not uncommon for people of the working class to be amazing. It is only rare that they still meet.
This article is part of our ongoing women’s business series, highlighting stories, challenges and victories of running business as a woman.