Today we’d like to introduce you to Johanna Weith.
Hi Johanna, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was a young mother with having my son on my 18th birthday. His father and I tried to make it work but 5 years later it ended. Earning money was a huge factor in my life. My real job was working for a bank on the 3-11pm shift while my son was sleeping and my parents helping out (my parents were young grandparents and still needed to work as well. I will never be able to thank them enough). When my son was eventually in school full time during the day, I thought this might be a great opportunity to supplement my income 3 mornings a week working for a residential cleaning service.
I stayed cleaning and working at the bank for the next 15 years or so while my son was growing up. I got married at the age of 41. Over the years I always received great compliments from my cleaning clients and developed great relations ships with them and their families. I told my husband “I want to do something with this cleaning thing”…and that’s when Always Sparkle was developed.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it has not been a smooth road, lol. I had to learn EVERYTHING about business. All I knew was to start with applying for an EIN number. I got in front of as many people in my county that I could, in the way of vendor fairs, passing doorhangers (a lot of walking, lol), hanging flyers in retail and public areas and beating up my family and friends asking them to to help me spread the word about Always Sparkle. Slowly my schedule started growing.
My main struggle was to “learn the numbers” that are important to know if your business is profitable and that our employees are making above average wages; because they deserve it. After the business became more than just about me, hiring and scheduling became a struggle… thank goodness there are apps for that!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We are a premium residential cleaning service. We specialize in giving clients their weekends back to have more time doing what they enjoy. Always Sparkle is known for our consistency in scheduling…we show up when we say we will. We pride ourselves in employing and training new staff to become professional, premium housekeepers through our extensive training program. What sets us apart from other residential cleaning service is our devotion to quality and listening to our clients specific needs and actually following through.
We are a very proud partner of a nonprofit organization called Cleaning for a Reason. We give 2 free house cleanings to cancer patients in our service areas. These cleanings are very rewarding for the cleaning team and the company. They need to worry about healing and not cleaning their homes when often times they have no one else to rely on. We give them piece of mind knowing that there is one more thing they do not need to worry about.
What’s next?
We are on track to hire 3 more full time technicians and increasing revenue this year by restructuring our marketing strategy. We hired a new marketing company this year that I feel will help us accomplish our goals. We are always on the lookout for mature folks who want to learn what it takes to be a premium, professional housekeeper.
Contact Info:
- Website: alwayssparklecleaning.com and alwayssparklecleaningservice.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alwayssparklecleaningllc/
