We recently connected with Tana Trammell-Ross and have shared our conversation below.
Tana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?
So for the most part I feel, without a “career”, many Americans have multiple avenues of revenue to make it through life. Otherwise you live check to check and week to week and that’s no fun 😒 It doesn’t leave anyone the opportunity to enjoy the one precious life you are given.
Just a couple years before Covid, my then boyfriend (now husband) and I had invested in and started building a landscaping business that he is still thriving in.
That wasn’t my forte so I thought about what would work as a lucrative business in the area of the State we live in. 🤔 We decided house Cleaning. We have a few colleges here, and the Gulf Of Mexico is always a destination vacation spot for many. So that showed me there was a need. A need to clean for busy students, vacation rentals, etc etc.
I absolutely no idea how to market for this. I had no idea how to charge or even go about getting a job.
I learned of Angie’s List and paid for ads on there. That was NOT cheap. I then learned I needed business licenses to perform my services on certain places, so I had to obtain those.
I was blessed to finally get a job on Angie’s List one day when a customer reached out and was basically desperate. They had spoken to a company and booked them for that day and they haven’t heard from the company and they never showed up. The customer had just finished building their forever home and were so eager and excited to move in but couldn’t until the post construction clean was done as there was dust and stuff everywhere from the build.
This was such a beautiful home and my opportunity to finally make some money and get my name out there. I was so broke I had no broom or mop, only sponges and a torn up towel for rags, some pine sol, bleach and windex. My mother came with me and we tackled together a 3800 sq ft home and mopped it with sponges 🧽 on our hands and knees. It took us almost 6 hrs to clean it properly. Well, to my standard. Little did I know, the customer owned 3 apartment complexes in an adjoining city next to ours. They were so grateful for our service and professionalism they asked if we serviced Apartment move out cleans. HECK YES WE DO!!!
That business relationship started my company. I still service those Apartments and have gained some really great clients. I am very thankful for how far this business has come. We became an official licensed company April 2017.
Tana, 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?
So what I believe sets my company apart from my competition are many factors. The most important being TRUST. I have earned and gained trust for all my clients. Many I never see anymore as I let myself in and lock up while they are at work. That means so much to me. Your home is such a special and safe place. And to be violated in your SPACE is an awful feeling and never ever want my clients to EVER feel that I am doing anything more than ridding their home of dust and dirt. I have grown to really enjoy my craft. I take pride in my cleans. Every single job. There aren’t any too small or too large. They all get the same love and elbow grease as if I were cleaning my own home.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
This would absolutely be word of mouth. You can’t always make EVERYONE happy, but you can darn sure try. If you pay attention to each individual need for each individual client, you can almost make sure to make them happy.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Cleaning Ladies almost died during Covid. You would almost think that during that time people would want their properties cleaned and sanitized to rid of the terrible thing. Nope. Just the opposite. Nobody wanted us to enter. Nobody was visiting the vacation rentals. The world came to a halt as we know and that was my sole source of income. I had to think of something quick and I mean quick. My savings weren’t going to last forever.
I am a Native of Arizona and I absolutely love to cook. So I started making different things we ate back home like tamales and empanadas. I promoted them online and they took off!! I was so excited that people were tasting my food and enjoying it!! It was definitely an added pleasure to see our bills paid
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cleaningladiesmobile.com