We recently connected with Stephanie Barneburg and have shared our conversation below.
Stephanie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.
One of the things I’m most proud of is creating our nonprofit organization in my grandfather’s name, The Jim Dunston Foundation aka JDF. Jim Dunston was a man of vision, hard-working, humble, and selfless. He loved to see others thrive through their discipline, confidence, and beyond what they thought they would be capable of. He always put others first, lent an ear and he strived to live by example. His family has the deepest honor for his mentorship and the drive that he displayed in his own life. He was always the biggest supporter of his wife, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Jim was very active in the community teaching computers to Seniors at the Senior Center and was a retired professor from Cornell University. Although he accomplished many accolades throughout his life and career. His family and people around him always got a master’s class on life when interacting with him. One of the many gifts he left people with is the importance of speaking up for yourself, and making your own decisions – with confidence and conviction and instilling in individuals that you not only had a right to be there but earned it.
JDF was created to give opportunities to those in underserved communities access to programs and mentorships that will better prepare them for their future in the field of their choice, help aspiring entrepreneurs obtain micro-loans and affiliations to assist them in their development and growth, offer transition assistance to Veterans to help prepare them for the civilian world, and seek entrepreneurial opportunities called passion projects that aim at changing the world for the better. Through our mentorship and internship programs, the intended outcome is for participants to be placed in that company in pursuit of a career path. JDF programs serves as a source of empowerment for people to stabilize and improve their lives through education and life-changing support that is not normally available. As well as giving individuals who have minor criminal records or who are not able to get employment due to the lack of experience or background in that field a mentor, coaching and personal development to get them back on track. We aim to alter the lives of our participants, impact our community, and the environment.
This is near and dear to my heart, I know firsthand the difference a mentor can make in your life. When I started my career at the Hyatt Hotels & Resorts at the age of 18 years old, I didn’t have a resume that would necessarily get me hired on my own as a Front Office Agent. However, I participated in an after-school program that allowed me to shadow the General Manager two days a week for about three months. That General Manager took an interest in me and offered me a job in any department I wanted once I was done with school, I chose the Front Desk. Two years later, I was the youngest manager in Hyatt History at the age of 20 years old and from there the rest is history. That ambition did not stop. Climbing the corporate ladder throughout my career, I know I would not have the life and skills I have today if it wasn’t for that opportunity and mentorship. To this day, I’m trying to be that for others.
Stephanie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a wife and mom of 2 beautiful boys who I call my superheroes. I also am the Co-Creator and CEO of Sparkle Freshness, a sustainable full-service commercial cleaning company locally in Carlsbad, Ca, that is a minority women-owned small business. My husband and I knew before our kids were born, that we wanted to work for ourselves. We were both in Corporate America and worked in demanding fields, neither of them janitorial. At that time I had over 20 years of management experience leading teams when we were thinking of ideas of what we could do. I had done cleaning before when I was in high school, and always found cleaning for someone else was therapeutic. We had one of those fork-in-the-road pivotal moments one day and decided we wanted to put our blood, sweat, and tears into a business we created. We also thought it would be perfect as we could be at home with our kids during the day and work at night while they were sleeping. One day we just went for it and we haven’t looked back.
My husband and I started our business when my oldest son was born. He was born 3 months premature. After all the scary rollercoaster moments in the NICU, the head of the department sat us down and wanted to talk about the big day that was soon to come, bringing our son home. For us, it was 105 days in the making and we were ready, at least we felt ready. His doctor had a serious and very concerning question about the well-maintained and controlled environment we would be taking him out of and what environment we would be exposing him to. I had no question that our house was clean and above cleaning standards to most, so we thought. When he talked about the toxic chemicals in everyday cleaning products that could land our baby boy back in the hospital for respiratory failure, asthma, potential cancers, and possible death I was immediately struck with, “What cleaning products do I have that would cause any of these things to happen”. When we got home that night I immediately went under the sink and looked up all the ingredients. All of our products, except one, were toxic. At that moment I knew most of us aren’t given this information when we buy cleaning products, if it was we definitely wouldn’t buy them or use them. I knew it was up to us to educate our clients, family, friends, and anyone we came in contact with about safer cleaning practices. From there, I knew that having a sustainable cleaning company that focuses on better health for us and the environment would be valuable, and just a marketing tool. We care about our employees, clients, and our environment and refuse to use any toxic chemicals that would be harmful to us and the people around us. Most people are unaware of the harm they are ingesting and working in daily. There are a lot of toxic chemicals that are in products that don’t produce a smell, those can sometimes can be the most dangerous. Of course, since we have been in the COVID pandemic we are required to use a toxic cleaning agent to disinfect properly; however, it is hospital grade and we still offer safer choice options to our clients. We provide a true partnership with our clients, it’s never transactional, that’s a little part of why we’re not like anyone else. Since the environment is important to us we offset our carbon footprint by planting trees in our clients’ names. We have more than 12,000 trees planted that help sustain our ecosystem locally and afar.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
When you do your best, or even if your best wasn’t done but you own it and redo it, there’s nowhere to go but up. From the beginning, I’ve made sure that customer satisfaction is our #1 priority. If we ever miss the mark or do not perform up to our standards, we’re human and things happen, however; we always try to make it right and do the right thing. Having a great team that prides themselves on their work is invaluable. Clients would leave us good reviews and would refer us to people who need our service. Whether you just have a one-time service or recurring, our partnership is important to me. I believe our clients see that from us and we’re known for being the secret ninja they never get to see but they know we’ve been there.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
In today’s time, there are tons of books, videos, and business coaches, you name it, that may offer you something of value for your business. I don’t discredit what they have learned and are trying to share with others, there’s just nothing new there. No new paradigm or a new way of thinking or learning. Nothing to get you out of the “rat race”, even as a business owner that doesn’t have you just trade time for money. There has not been one resource that I have come across that has been genuinely unique or had me thinking about business in a profound way until I took the Autonomy Course. From there, I have a brand new philosophy about business, a new way of thinking that inspires me, calls to me, and has me live a life with intention, meritocracy, and autonomy. The Autonomy Course facilitated by Jeff Willmore and Richard Condon will open you to new ontological business knowledge and original thinking. They promise you will align your career and business in such a way that you significantly elevate your performance, Are empowered to fulfill your most important life and career goals and commitments, Are living a life of significant generosity, accomplishment, and autonomy That are true to your most fundamental goals, values, and ambitions.
Most companies have a mission or a mission statement that usually describes what they do, not why they’re doing it. Sometimes you’ll find companies with a slogan that sounds good, not something that the persons creating that company put their hearts and souls into creating and wanting you to experience. What I have found is the beauty of really creating your own mission and vision for your company is hands down the best thing I’ve ever done in my business, especially when it comes from a place of autonomy. That’s one of the first things I got out of the course. Sparkle Freshness’s mission is to connect, inspire, and empower people in living their best life. Yes, my business is in the commercial cleaning industry, so how do we do that? With fulfilled intention. Our intention – Our business is a catalyst for leadership, connection, purpose, and developing the mindset to live your best life, which was created out of the course. This new view has changed my world professionally and personally. I now get to create, grow and develop our business and employees in a way I love, not settling for what business model has been successful for other people or industry guidelines everyone else has done or reformatted. It’s truly a creation that keeps getting better and better year after year. We are leaders in a movement of significant change that can imagine, envision, play in wonder, create freely, and have deep emotions about the unknown and what’s yet to be discovered, and that’s a great place to be in business. I believe Steve Jobs said it best, “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes…The ones who see things differently- they’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… They push the human race forward and some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do”. And yes, I’m a crazy one.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sparklefreshness.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sparklefreshness/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/sparklefreshness/?ref=bookmarks
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-barneburg-541602a/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sparklefreshnes
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sparkle-freshness-cleaning-service-carlsbad-2?osq=sparklefreshness
- Other: https://jimdunstonfoundation.org
Image Credits
Anita Friedrich