We recently connected with Valerie Oliva and have shared our conversation below.

Valerie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Truly valuing your employees will lead your business to success. Without amazing employees, most businesses would not be successful. As a business owner I strive for all of my team members to enjoy what they do, love where they work, and value their place in our company. We have made the decision to go from an easily affordable company to a higher-end company in order to properly compensate every single team members for their hard work and dedication.

Would you rather have a miserable cleaner who is just getting by until a better opportunity presents itself clean your space OR a high-energy, positive, well taken care of team member with a positive uplifted attitude walk into your home or business to clean it with great attention to detail and passion? We are in the business of creating long-term career cleaners and ensuring they feel valued and respected while providing them with a reliable source of income to help them take care of their families, pay for school, and reach any goals and aspirations they have in life.

A great client will generate a decent revenue. A great employee will generate that revenue 10 fold. I truly believe if you take care of your team members, they will take care of you, and this leads to success for everyone.

Valerie, 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 started my business by accident. One day, I posted on our community Facebook page asking if anyone needed help with anything at all so I can make some money to upgrade my camera. One single person responded. She asked me to watch her dogs and house sit while she went on Thanksgiving vacation in November of 2019. While I was watching them, I randomly asked her if it would be okay to clean her home while I was there. She was slightly confused, but gave me the OK! Something about coming home to a freshly cleaned house after a long vacation really made her day and she hired for me to clean for her several times a week! I was working a full-time 9-5 desk job, but anytime someone on our community page stated they needed a cleaner, she’d recommend me. Soon after, she received her realtor license and used me for move-in and move-out cleans and would recommend me to everyone at her firm! At this point, I was working 7 days a week, 80 hour weeks, sometimes even cleaning overnight! I had to make a decision. January 1, 2020 I took the leap, quit my 9-5 with full benefits and a pension plan to clean full-time. I had prayed long and hard for a job I enjoyed and was good at and this was God’s answer!

I am proud to say we are now currently a team of 8! We enhance our clients lives by cleaning their homes, small businesses, and offices, as a one-time service and/or as a reoccurring service. We take pride in knowing our services take a massive load off our clients backs, reset their day, and provide a consistent quality our clients can trust and depend on.

It always excites me when a new client books our services because I know they have come to the right place and will be properly taken care of! Our services include, but are not limited to, an initial Top to Bottom Deep Clean, General Clean, Routine Clean, Move-in & Move-out Clean, and Office Cleans.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

On January 1, 2020 I made the big decision to quit my 9-5 and start my own cleaning business full-time. As you have probably realized by the date itself, shortly after, the pandemic hit. I was just beginning to learn what having my own business would entail and was not ready to have to navigate that journey during a pandemic. However, I persevered and pushed forward as my husband also found himself out of a job when the pandemic hit and we were solely reliant on the cleaning business while he stayed home with the kids since the schools all closed.

Every day was new day and one step at a time, I figured out how to make it work. I learned I had to coordinate with various stores and super markets to notate their restock days and times and be the first in-store to buy my supplies, always making sure I only bought what I needed to ensure everyone had a chance at supplies during the pandemic. I also had to navigate various customers testing positive and having to self-quarantine, reschedule, and cancel clients back-to-back to remain complaint, respectful, safe, and healthy.

After I had a new flow and system down with the pandemic, after trying with no success for over 4 years, I finally got the amazing, yet, highly unexpected news that I was pregnant! I was ecstatic and terrified all at once! I wanted this for so long, but I was the primary provider, with a new business, during a pandemic. What was I going to do? How was I going to get through this? I didn’t have PTO, employees, or any other form of income. I thought, “Wow, all these years I had a 9-5 with full benefits and God blesses me with a baby during my first year in business, in the midst of a pandemic!?” I had to laugh! Reality set in and I realized I had no choice but to start hiring. This decision really took my business to a whole new level I don’t think I would of reached without the help of the little baby growing inside of me at the time that pushed me to make hard important decisions and goals with a quickly approaching deadline aka due date.

How’d you meet your business partner?

On September 2012 in Fort Lee, Virginia during training for the Army, I met my co-owner/business partner. Better known as, my husband, Andrew Oliva. Upon meeting, I would of never thought we would one day be married, with 3 kids, and whole cleaning business. Yet, fast forward 10 years, and here we are!

When I first started Clean Home Colorado by accident I just had a jar of cash in our home and he asked what I was doing with it. I asked in return, “What do you mean?” He clarified, “Are you paying taxes? Do you have insurance? Have you opened a business bank account?” To all of which my answer was, “No..” as I looked around nervously, not knowing where to start. In that moment, he became my business partner and co-owner of Clean Home Colorado. He took over all of things I was missing and set up our insurance, opened a bank account, and established our LLC!

Without Andrew, our business would of never been where it is today. He is good at everything I am not good at and has really taken over the important back-end of everything from taxes, to payroll, to setting up and maintaining our CRM, sitting through meetings with our accountant, managing our website and social medias, leading marketing and much much more! All while being an amazing work-from-home dad.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cleanhomecolorado.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleanhomecoloradollc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CleanHomeColoradoLLC
• Other: Google: Clean Home Colorado LLC Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Valerie Oliva