Cleaning business. Part 1.
If you told me before that I would be in the cleaning industry, I would say : "No way!" I had nothing in my life experience and education connected to cleaning. I got my master's degree in an international financial management while working on my dance studio business. Since I started reading the personal development books from the age of 18, I found out by then that education was not a necessary element for success and I didn't feel like climbing the career ladder, I felt like doing my own thing. I usually said that I am getting a degree just to be smart. So I got the degree and I was an excellent student out of habit to be perfect in everything I did. Meanwhile, I built a small community around my dream of dancing. I had about 50 students and my own performing dance group. My best students became teachers for others and I felt really happy and accomplished at that time. However, after I got my degree I went to the USA for a summer work and travel program with an actual goal of getting more experience from the top dancers. My studio was run by one of my students and I planned to make some money in the USA and invest them in renting a nicer space and getting my hobby business to a different level.
But.. I didn't come back to Ukraine. I stayed in the USA and decided to take this opportunity and try myself there. I kept dancing and teaching until I met my ex-husband and fall in love. All my dreams were compromised from that point as he did not like them and I listened. He used to have a moving company and at some point he lost his business. We both had to look for a job. I tried all of the immigrants' jobs and ended up just posting an ad on craigslist and cleaning peoples' houses. Although it took just couple weeks of cleaning for me to fall into a deep depression with the thought : "How come am I cleaning the toilet with a master's degree in an international financial management?" . This belief was killing me but at the same time it served as a trigger to stop doing what I did and find a different approach.
The next day after the peak of my depressive state, I hired someone else to clean and focused on the customer service and on getting more clients. My math was simple: for one job that I would have done myself I needed in average three jobs done by my worker to get the same profit in commission instead of doing it myself.
The business grew from the day one. There was a need in cleaning even in one of the most competitive markets of the world - in New York. That was the first time in my life when I started making comparatively good money from business. I was 24.
To be continued..
#depression #cleaningcompany #entrepreneurship #cleaningindustry #immigration
