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

Hi Racquel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?

I can’t say I had to ask for support for my business, it came without mentioning. Support for Spotless Detroit has come from family, friends, “Insta-friends” (social media), former employers, you name it! Their support has shown up in different ways including: reposting social media content, referring my business to others and/or assisting with larger cleaning projects. I couldn’t be more grateful for my “Spotties” aka my support system.

Racquel, 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?

Hey “Spotties”

My name is Racquel (Rockie) McGee and I’m the owner and lead cleaning specialist behind Spotless Detroit located in Detroit, MI. Our mission is to create a clutter free and guaranteed clean space for you and your family. Since childhood, I’ve always been big on cleanliness. Full circle moment I was the kid whose room was always tidy, Barbies were organized and fast forward to today Spotless Detroit was created. Since 2018 we have serviced countless homes all over Metro Detroit. Creating Spotless Detroit wasn’t easy. For years I’ve battled with trying to find my passion until one day it finally came to me. I was over at a friend’s house that had recently purchased his home to do laundry. He had stepped out for a few and while there, I noticed it wasn’t quite tidy. So I literally with no effort cleaned and organized that house from top to bottom. Could not help myself whatsoever. He came back and was like “wow, should I pay you?” I said no but this just sparked my interest in turning this into a business. Who would’ve thought cleanliness would be my passion?! “Aha” moments came left and right just realizing that since I was a child I’ve always been neat, a low key germaphobe and enjoyed being organized. Initially Spotless Detroit Was just a side gig. Three years ago when Spotless Detroit was born, I was a full time employee with the City of Detroit. Spotless Detroit took most of my weekends until I started working for Wayne State University. While employed there I gave Spotless Detroit a little more of my time because I took a pay cut and my hours allowed me to take more jobs after work. As time went on, I grew to hate working at WSU. Literally every morning I dread going there. Fast forward to August 2019 my family and I found out that my great aunt Peggy had been diagnosed with Stage 4 bone cancer on top of suffering from dementia and diabetes. Instead of scrambling to find a caregiver I decided to leave WSU and assist with taking care of her. I figured I could kill 3 birds with one stone. I could leave WSU, care for my Aunt and build on Spotless Detroit. Teachable moment here, when caring for a loved one, it takes all of you. You become drained because you’re not only taking care of someone who’s ill but you’re watching a loved one’s health decline drastically, it was tough to say the least. My mind was not in the best space to even think about Spotless Detroit. Falling into a breakdown as I like to describe it, I decided to snap out of it and figured this thing out. I began reading a book that a client of mine gave me called Fear is my Homeboy by Judi Holler. GAME CHANGER. It was chapter 2 for me titled “The Universe has your back.” And I quote “That jump, even when you’re scared, that’s faith.” Taking a chance on myself, that risk of jumping out of faith I was terrified. I decided to switch my thought process and began asking myself what if you did go full time with Spotless Detroit? What if it does work? Positive vibes only at this point. My aunt needed care which exceeded what I could offer. Once we found a facility that we were comfortable with I took that “risk”, that leap of faith and decided to trust God and myself. May 2020 to now, opportunity after opportunity continues to present itself.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

My customer service skills and hashtags. Simple, yet satisfying. Don’t get me wrong I’ve done ads on social media, attended networking events and created flyers etc…but most, if not all of my clientele has come from word of mouth. My motto is to treat people how you want to be treated. With that being said, I’m coming into your home or business as a professional and working efficiently to complete the tasks set. I thoroughly enjoy cleaning and you can see that in my work.

With the hashtags, at first I was so against it. I hated the way it looked under some posts, it just seemed to be so excessive. A friend of mine had convinced me that most of his clientele came from a hashtag. With #DetroitCleaningService I received a few inquiries.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I believe once you have trained your staff and delegate, all you can do is rely on them to complete the task properly. I treat my staff with respect, give praise, buy lunch and try to keep the atmosphere fun but productive.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.spotlessdetroit.com
• Instagram: Spotless Detroit
• Facebook: Spotless Detroit

Image Credits
Q11 Photography