We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Pieter Kemp. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Pieter below.

Pieter, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

I’ve been doing this job since I was a kid when my parents had there own company. When I started my own eight years ago the biggest complaint I had heard my whole life was that ‘people just never showed up’. So I made it my goal to always show up when schedule, like you should, and even 15minutes early if possible. I would say even when I may have not done my best that day I would still get referrals and repeat business just for showing up.

I’ve never understood why a business owner would leave money on the table like that by not coming and giving your business a bad reputation. Then course the customer would tell everyone that you did that, so you would have a bad name in that customers area.

Pieter, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

35 years ago my parents had a window cleaning business and after I moved to a different area I started my own business 8 years ago. After a slow start relying on a few friends to throw me a job here and there for a couple of years and just handing out cards and giving estimates to random homes in my area. I have built a very nice following of neighbors who just need a little help getting some things done on there ‘to-do’ list.
I know it’s a business and the point is to make a little bit of money, but I treat it as if I’m just a neighbor helping out another neighbor. A lot of my customers like to act like I’m their nephew or something and I really appreciate that.

I’m now at the point where I’m as busy as I need to be which is a real blessing to be in that place in life.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

I work locally and try not to go too far from home. Once I get a customer in a certain area, I make sure to do my best that I can that day so they’ll give me a great referral to other neighbors and I ask if they have a community Facebook page or community contractors list. I ask if they think I did a good job of they wouldn’t mind adding me ro that group list so I can continue to work close to home.
People are more likely to do this with small local businesses, especially if you are personable, honest, specific in your work and timely.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Well does anyone remember Covid or Hurricane Ian? During this time my company actually grew significantly.
I was willing to go to work , mask and all, even in the heat of Florida.
I was not able to get the loans that a lot of other business got, so I had to keep going out and grinding for work. While a lot of others were at home unwilling to go out and work , I spent a little bit of money on a bunch of different protections to keep myself and my customers safe during the pandemic and I was able to be even busier than ever since I was one of the only people out there working at the time.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PandNLaborForce
• Linkedin: Pieter Kemp