We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Aaraven Gilbert. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Aaraven below.
Hi Aaraven, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.
Yes, every business I own does something with the underserved. When I started my first business it was a cleaning company. My partner & I started the business doing all the labor & dirty work. As we got bigger as a company the types of clientele we received also grew. One particular day, I received a direct phone call from an older lady wanting to know if I could provide her with the full total over the phone to ensure she wouldn’t spend anything additional. Calling for the cost wasn’t a problem but I sensed there could be more to the story. As she continued talking to me she stated that she had to request no harsh chemicals because her daughter has cancer & is very sensitive right now. In that moment I felt there was so much more that we could do to help her. This woman had a daughter who was sick, this mother was working full time, doing small pick up jobs to make ends meet, care for her daughter & try to maintain an environment conducive to her daughters recovery. She was holding on to every single dollar she could to ensure her daughter had the best & this clean was certainly going to put a bit of a dent in that savings. I think it’s extremely important to listen to people and their concerns. I also think it’s important that we offer people, our clients, our family the breaks they need to get ahead or to just breathe. Being seen is something impacts everyone & often times people don’t feel seen. Moving on from that day, I never charged another client that had situations like this going on. We started a fund to provide deep cleans at no cost to families in need or families experiencing sickness. All they had to do was fill out a form online & we would handle the rest. It isn’t our job to be in there business, it’s our job to serve them. It’s my job to ensure cleaners are paid their full salary no matter what type of service projects we do.
With every business we’ve made it a point to serve the underserved. Serving the underserved is the exact purpose that I push. From our cleaning business, to our marketing & media buying business, to our non-profit – giving & serving is what we do. It’s not about making money because money will come when you do right. It is about making an impact on people’s lives so that they are seen, heard & taken care of.
Aaraven, 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?
My name is Aaraven Gilbert & I am CEO & Co-Founder of Opulence Groupe Ltd., EverClean Solutions LLC., & Grand-Warren Holdings Incorporated.
I first started with home & corporate cleaning during the pandemic. I was living in Atlanta & despite the pandemic I still had bills to pay. I would work in the hospital from 7pm-7am every day but I my wallet was still very slim. One Saturday, I decided to spend the entire day off creating a cleaning business, I created the bathroom, I bought the domain & set everything up in a day. My dad used to clean corporate buildings so I figured I could also do the same thing. Monday rolled around & we had our first client in a luxury high rise. My partner & I scrambled, we had no idea we’d get booked so soon. With $50 we ran to Walmart, grabbed everything we needed & went to clean. We made a profit & had our first client! But I still wasn’t satisfied with the optimization. I felt like cleaning should be simple for the customer. There shouldn’t be any issues of going over hours, types of clean, or trying to figure out preferences. So I created a full blueprint. I made packages & allowed customers to have access to cleaning services they wanted 24/7 easily booked from any device. The accessibility & the simplicity of booking was a hit for customers. With our cleaning business, I believe we made people’s days easier, we were honest, simple, and very prepared. No one questioned our legitimacy because we had insurance, we were vetted, and we were trained. Being a forward thinker or an innovative thinker is the very thing that sets any business I create apart from others. I understand the consumers mind, what they want & how to wedge the gap. Innovation and optimization are the bread and butter for any service based business. EverClean was the first business but these same principles have been rolled into Opulence Groupe & our acquisition company.
I’m most proud of the lives we’ve touched & the push that my partner & I lived by to even create all of these really dope businesses and initiatives.
When we created the non-profit Opulence Groupe Limited our goal was to elevate the lives of the youth & provide opportunities to them ranging from the arts to sports. We wanted kids to have everything they could possibly need to succeed in anything & we also wanted the parents to be educated so they would know their role also.
Our focus has mainly been the south for now but we’ll push anywhere to create opportunities. I think in retrospect, everything that has been created is a culmination of the very things that I needed when I was a kid, or things that I needed during the pandemic. I guess you could say I took my problems and created the solution for other people, I’m grateful for that.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
My co-founder is my actual life partner also. Desirae and I met in college. She was becoming a doctor & I was finishing up undergrad. Pretty much from day 1 we’ve been inseparable. Desirae isn’t really into the whole business side of things but she is intrigued with fixing problems. Her solution based thinking is exactly what I needed. Sometimes, she says things & I’m like “WAIT, that’s it”. It just comes so natural to her. I can say without a shadow of doubt that she is the best partner & co-founder that anyone could ask for. Her support, her work ethic & even her giving has pushed us to where we are now. Truth be told, the $50 needed to get supplies on our very first clean was hers. She’s a true genius.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Honestly, we were extremely blessed to have loyal clients that told their friends & family all about us. We had a lot of referral clientele to the tune of about 72%. We also put ads everywhere. We had a slot on a digital billboard, we used instagram as a guide for customers & home. We also had vetted systems, the systems worked & the cleans always came out perfect. These things really set us apart. I’d say the last thing was our uniform. We did not compromise on uniform & cleaning supplies. Everything was always together, we had 2 different styles of shirts, black pants only, custom tool bags & buckets with labeled tools and supplies. Our customers really liked the organization and look of our business & it ran like wild fire.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://opulencegroupe.com/opulence.eq/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/opulence.eq?igsh=MXIwdGUybjljNHN5
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaraveng?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Other: http://opulencegroupe.com/
https://www.instagram.com/evercleanusa?igsh=MWJqaDNsMG55amE4bQ==
