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

Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I started Connecting The Dots Services with the idea of making a company that will take care of myself and it’s employees but most importantly create generational wealth. My goal is to build a company in which my son, nieces and nephew can work and learn valuable life skills at a business that will help provide for them and their families. The other part of my mission surrounds giving people a second chance at life. I’m a big advocate of helping people that may be down on their luck or have troubled backgrounds reach their full potential despite their background. Everyone deserves a second chance without judgement. Your past doesn’t define you, and it’s my goal to show people they can achieve anything they put their mind too.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello Everyone!!!! My name is Ashley Avery and I am the owner of Connecting The Dots Services. We are a full service cleaning company based in Baltimore, MD that handles residential and commercial customers. We service the entire DMV and are looking to expand into other areas very soon. Connecting The Dots was founded in October of 2021. I realized one service we all needed especially during the pandemic, was a cleaning service. People wanted to ensure that their homes, schools, vehicles and business were safe for everyone that entered.

We offer services such as deep cleanings, carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, Covid-19 Sanitization and a host of other services. We work hard to make sure that every customer is truly happy with the level of service they receive and we like to find ways to add that special touch to each appointment. As a business, we don’t take our job lightly. Its because of our customers that we have made it one year in business and we definitely strive to keep getting bigger and better. We especially love working with our older clients and their families. Due to the restrictions of Covid, sometimes we are the only ones that see our elderly customers on a regular basis. We provide as much details to their families, we try and make sure they have everything they need during our visits and most importantly we provide them with companionship.

During The Summer, we have teens intern with us for Service Learning Hours. We helped the teens gather valuable skills that they can use as they get older and enter the workforce, We are very big in the community, we help out ith back to school drives, we have sponsored a child a school year and we donate and give time to any organization that is hoping to make a difference in our communities.
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We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Being an entrepreneur is scary, exciting, fulfilling, terrifying and a few other adjectives but at the end of the day I wouldn’t change it for the world. When I first decided that I wanted to start my cleaning business full-time, I studied other cleaning companies business models, I watched hours of YouTube videos on brand building, cleaning techniques, and pricings. i joined numerous groups on Facebook and Instagram. I brought every cleaning supply that people suggested would make the job easier. While all of the preparation was very helpful on one side, I wasn’t at all prepared for the mental problems that come along with this new territory.

There have been times that no matter how much of a discount i was offering, I may not have had a single customer that whole week. There were times that customers reached out to me about services, I would send them a quote and I would never hear back from them. There were also times that I really wondered if I was crazy for putting myself thru this and wondered if I should just go back and get a regular 9-5.

If it wasn’t for my faith in God, my business wouldn’t have celebrated one year of business this month. I have prayed and cried to God more in this chapter of my life than any other ( College Finals is a close second lol). when you ask God for something, you have to be prepared to receive it. You have to be prepared to put the work in and you have to know that you can do any and everything you put your mind too.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

One of the things that helped me with my reputation in the cleaning business is the fact that I stand by my work. I treat each customers home as if it were mine. I value the appointment times that people set, so its important to get their on time. I look at my elderly customers as if they are my grandparents, and i make sure I give them the upmost respect and give them deep deep discounts as most of them are on fixed incomes. I try and find one thing that I could do extra for a customer with every appointment and offer advice in other areas as well. I love the fact that after a service is completed for a customer that they will refer us to their friends and family.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://connectingthedotsservices.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ctd_services/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/connectingthedotsservices