We were lucky to catch up with Danny Offei recently and have shared our conversation below.

Danny, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

It’s funny, I’ve been starting and growing businesses since elementary school, but it wasn’t until I turned 30 that I realized entrepreneurship was/is my calling. During the pandemic, I was working what would end up being my last job as a sales rep for a Fortune 500 company. I distinctly remember waking up one day and saying “I have so much more to offer.” So I tried, I talked to my manager about ideas I had about marketing, systems, sales processes, and practices we could implement to grow. She said that’s not my job and that if I had so many ideas, I should do that on my own time. That’s exactly what I did. Over the next few weeks I spent every night creating my most successful business to date, Nova Shine Cleaning.

The idea for Nova Shine Cleaning, a commercial janitorial company, stemmed from my desire to start a company I could launch quickly with little capital upfront. I remember noticing so many offices I worked in, restaurants I frequented, and even gyms I had memberships to looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in months. After doing some research, I discovered the commercial cleaning industry is worth $90 billion and only takes a couple hundred dollars to get started in. That combined with the fact I live in a fast-growing part of Virginia, where new commercial businesses are established all of the time, made the decision easier.

So I jumped right in. After establishing the business, I started hiring cleaners even though I didn’t have any buildings for them to clean. I may have been jumping the gun, but I believed in my sales ability because I was in sales for the past decade. Once, I had a few cleaners hired I immediately started closing contracts with local businesses to provide services. Within the first 6 months I had closed over $150,000 in annual recurring contracts. Nova Shine has been growing ever since, which has led me to start a new business centered around helping people start and scale their own commercial cleaning companies!

Danny, 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 Danny Offei. ‘m a 32-year-old dad, entrepreneur, content creator, fitness enthusiast, and self-improvement junkie. I love building businesses and brands. More specifically the start-up phase is my favorite. Whenever I start a new endeavor I look at the failure rate and aim to not be a part of that statistic. I’ve built a nonprofit organization centered around Black fatherhood, I’ve built my social media following up around health and wellbeing, I’ve built a commercial cleaning company to nearly 7 figures, and currently, I’m building a method to help aspiring entrepreneurs start a successful commercial cleaning business too.

Have you ever heard the term Ikigai? It’s a Japanese word describing the best possible way of life. When Ikigai is used in the context of work the belief is that you should do something that you are good at, you love doing, the world needs, and you can profit from. When I tell people about the industries I work in (cleaning and fitness) they always wonder how I ended up in those two. To me, Ikigai is the best explanation, within these two industries I’ve found a balance that I wasn’t able to achieve in a corporate office setting, which has made life so much more enjoyable.

When I look over the things I have built, am building, and will build I am thankful that I get to help people. I know it sounds like a cliche, but the messages I receive from clients glowing about the service I or my team was able to deliver fills my cup. It’s like the ultimate pat on the back to know something you created, from thought to reality, can significantly impact another’s life.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Before growing my personal social media page. I grew a themed page that centered on black fathers. I grew that page to over 100k followers and learned some pretty important lessons about content. There are only two important things to note when creating content and trying to build a following. Number one, post often and to different platforms. If you want to build an audience you have to give them something to look for. Also, posting to different platforms increases your visibility. Number two, experiment with your content. If you aren’t seeing good engagement from a certain type of post, make a note of it and try something else. The worst thing I see from creators is constantly posting the same type of content whilst getting low to no engagement.

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

Cold outreach! So many people and businesses believe cold outreach is dead, which is exactly why it works so well. Every profitable business I’ve built began with me calling, emailing, DMing, or knocking on the door of someone who didn’t know me or my business.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d0ff31/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannyoffei/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheOffei
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQuCL_FEOhL-2eyZQhDKBPQ

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