Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sara Hanson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sara, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later

Yes! I almost started my business a few years prior (2019) after years of work in property management with cleaners I wasn’t satisfied with. I regularly touched up after them, and found myself becoming a pretty great cleaner! I had far less supportive people in my life at that time, and I didn’t have faith in myself.
When I met my husband, he encouraged me through every hurdle and helped bring Busy Bees Cleaning LLC to life!

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

My first client was a kind woman in Bonita who was not capable of cleaning her home after being ghosted the day of service by another local company.
She was hosting a Christmas party, and was in desperate need of help. She couldn’t physically do the work, and the week of a holiday is a TOUGH time to find a cleaner! I saw her plea on Facebook and was happy to show up for her. I picked up a few extra things and met her to take care of her home and get party-ready.
I spent hours scrubbing and meeting her kitties and felt amazing about helping her. She paid generously and asked if I could come back another day to help her. I was so flattered! I could do it after all and it was just a matter of finding clients.
We have spread via social media and word of mouth exclusively up until this Fall when we have started to branch out and diversify our Marketing. Sharing the realities of what we can face and tackle helps our clients feel comfortable bringing us into their home, knowing that our worker bees are trained to make the most impact in their space and not to pass judgement.
We pride ourselves on the mindset that every client is the King & Queen of their castle! If they want lemon scented soap and the ceiling fans polished, we will do it your way* and you never have to apologize! We welcome feedback and the opportunity’s to continue fine tuning what is PERFECT in your home.

I am so passionate about helping people and service-based work. I am no longer able to work in the field after developing a heart condition, so we have focused on training and growing our team to include an admin side and workers in the field. We proudly pay well over minimum wage and well over comparable wages in the field, and we were able to offer investment options and healthcare options within our first 3 years of business! Owning a business and providing jobs is a responsibility to provide QUALITY jobs and treat our team members with the respect they deserve.

*We do not engage in any cleaning method that would put our team members at risk

Any advice for managing a team?

Relatively early in the first hiring phase of my business, I hired a dear friend’s little sister. I was excited to be her boss and know that she would always get to be at family events and have somebody looking out for her in her work. I knew we could communicate effectively because we respected each other and had the same end goal in mind.
I bring that same sentiment to all my worker bees! I prioritize time off requests, celebrating milestones, etc.
Fair wages and respect of their lives beyond the job is essential!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

We had two big pivots in our first few years! The first was when I had to make the big leap into hiring team members the first time because my client list exceeded what I could do with the hours in a day. I had years of management under my belt, and even hiring, but I had never been an employer before.
My husband, Tyler, was my first worker bee and helped me navigate those early growing pains. He completed services with me until the client list was enough to support our first outside hire, and I will always be grateful for his contribution!

Our second big shift in the business was when I started to encounter some health challenges that made it impossible to maintain a schedule of physically cleaning homes. I had to step up my internal management structure and communication with our team to ensure the client experience never faltered!
This was essential for the next phase of growth, but it was so hard to let go of some of my long term regulars!
I am guilty of still visiting a few on occasion, and swapping Christmas cards or Thanksgiving recipes!

Contact Info:

• Website: Https://busybeescleaningpros.com/
• Instagram: @ScrubWithSara
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/A10nrFuxQ2
• Other: A quick text is always the fastest way to reach us! (619) 313-3818