We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Devonn Vidal a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Devonn, appreciate you joining us today. Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?

I ran Sneakky as a one man show for the 1.5 years of the business’s existence. I had a vigorous schedule.

6am – Quality Control and Lace the sneakers cleaned the previous day

9am to 3pm – Pickup and Deliveries

3pm – Lunch

4pm to 9pm – Clean sneakers

10pm – Sleep

Repeat 6 days a week. On Sundays I would work in the morning and rest in the afternoon as my only few hours off. Sunday evenings I would prep for the week ahead.

The first employee I hired turned out to be a challenge. I was overwhelmed and desperately needed help. From no shows to poor quality output we eventually reached a point where the work relationship did not work.

Since then I am happy to report that we have been very lucky with the team we have built at Sneakky Klean. From those who have also moved on to other roles in life, to those who are still part of the team. Sebastian or as he’s more affectionately known, Sebas, is our longest standing employee after me. Sebas reached out to me even before I intended to hire anyone and asked to be a part of the team. Both Sebas and Tyler buy into our vision of what Sneakky Klean can be. It helps that we all are very passionate about sneakers. Damane, our General Manager has been with the company about 8 months.

As we grow as a company and team members we learn to properly utilize our strengths in the areas where they are most useful. We operate an open door policy where employees are free to voice their concerns and ideas.

As a leader I believe the your people are the most valuable asset of your company. The right people at least. We need to nurture and invest in our people which in turn they can invest their time and efforts into helping us blossom.

Our interviewing process is very casual. We seem to find individuals who are a right fit for our culture and industry. Skills and talent can be taught, however work ethic cannot. You either have great work ethic or you don’t.

Although we are a small business, we strive to create structure in everything we do. Thus we have created an online training platform where all new employees can learn the basics of our processes before they are permitted to train on the floor.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Sneaky Klean pioneers as the first business of its kind in Miami to provide a professional, sustainable and technological approach to sneaker laundry and care.

“As a company it is our mission to significantly reduce the number of sneakers that make their way to the landfill annually by encouraging our customers to upcycle the sneakers they already own. “

Our cleaning model uses sustainable products and methods ensuring that we ourselves are not contributing to the problem. We manufacture and produce our own plant based cleaning solutions which do not contain any harmful chemicals. Our service allows customers to drop off their sneakers to our store or their local drop off points around the city, which will then be cleaned and returned to them in only 72 hours.

Recently, we launched our mobile application which will enable us to work with our customers on a more transparent platform. SNKY, our mobile app will not only provide transparency to our existing customers but it will allow us to expand our service to other cities and communities around the country.

Our mobile app, SNKY, will serve as a marketplace connecting customers who need sneaker cleaning services to local cleaners in their communities and cities.

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

Instagram has been our best source of acquiring new clientele

The social media platforms visual structure has made it very easy for us to showcase the quality of the work we do. Accompanied by an easy to use marketing platform, we have been able to capitalize on the reach and customers that are readily available on IG.

IG has also made it possible for us to partner with local company and influencers who have a great local presence.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Very recently we were faced with the decision to either open additional locations or launch our mobile app.

This pivot point was key to the future outlook of our company.

This decision was not easily made as both options would define the company in different ways. Although the app was simpler, it required significantly more overhead capital and skilled labor. While the option to open additional stores was cheaper, it also brought along great management requirements and day to day tasks.

Ultimately we decided to go with the mobile application due to its ability to scale easier and faster after the initial ground work has been put in place.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sneakky.com
• Instagram: @sneakkyklean
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sneakkyklean
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/sneakkyklean
• Twitter: @sneakkyklean
• Other: Tik Tok : @snkyapp

Image Credits
Sneakky Klean inc