Meet Chloe, the small business owner of MaidnMop, a cleaning business in Bundaberg QLD.
Chloe met Stacy, her Many Rivers business coach at a local event and they instantly got chatting about MopnMaid which had been in business for a few months. Stacy had previously set up her own cleaning business and was able to provide Chloe with some support to take her business to the next level. Today, MopnMaid has 5 casual employees, a few contractors and a bookkeeper! Chloe has plans to grow MopnMaid to service neighbouring towns and to add other services such as lawn mowing and garden maintenance to her business.
“From the business plan we realised there were a few discrepancies, and I realised some priorities that I needed to work on. For example, Stacy helped me develop a cancellation policy and put me in contact with other people in a similar situation who could help me.”
Read more about Chloe’s business journey to date.
Meet Chloe
Meet ChloeI own a cleaning business and we just celebrated one year of operating in August. We offer domestic, commercial and holiday accommodation cleaning.
I was working part-time in admin at a hospital. I found Many Rivers on Facebook. There was a drop-in event advertised in my region to meet the local Many Rivers staff, and that was where I met Stacy, my Many Rivers business coach. We had a coffee and Stacy and I really hit it off because she had set up her own cleaning business previously as well.
I had already started my business when I met Stacy. It was just me and one employee a month after I opened my business.
There are two reasons. Firstly, I wanted to contribute to my community on a larger scale and secondly, I wanted to offer a service that I thought the community really needed and I believe that cleaning is a service that can give to my community in lots of ways.
Working with Many Rivers
Stacy helped me with a lot of my questions early on about how to progress my business. She helped me with my business plan because I didn’t have one because it was such early stages of my business. From the business plan we realised there were a few discrepancies, and I realised some priorities that I needed to work on. For example, Stacy helped me develop a cancellation policy and put me in contact with other people in a similar situation who could help me. If I ever had questions, I’ve been able to text, call or catch up with Stacy and she has always met with me and been able to help me.
Recently we were nominated for 3 business excellence awards with the Local Chamber of Commerce. When you are nominated, they send you a 40 questions document about your business. I have dyslexia, so Stacy helped me work through my responses.
I think the most useful part is that I have someone with great knowledge who I can call on for help. Establishing a business plan really opened my eye to what I should be doing right now and helped me think about my future in the business. Stacy has given me a much more structured process to guide my business journey. I previously didn’t have that, and I don’t even know who else I would have asked for help from if it wasn’t for Stacy.
I now have five casual employees, but they all do 20 – 70 hours a fortnight. I engage other services now too. I have a couple of contractors and a bookkeeper.
Biggest Challenge
The biggest challenge of establishing a business, especially a cleaning business, was establishing it in the middle of COVID-19. It was not an ideal time to set up, but I worked around it. We needed to look at how we safely move into people’s houses, how we disinfect things and the cancellation policy.
Biggest Success
I think the biggest success has been the number of people in my community with who we interact with and assist now. When we started, we serviced 6 residential houses between myself and my one employee. Now we service NDIS participants, offices, DVA clients and we also look after 12 holiday houses.
Biggest Change
I think being a business owner has allowed me to spend more time with my family because we are able to structure our hours around our home life. It has given us a bit more freedom.
Future Goals
Expansion. I would really love to move into the neighbouring towns. I am in Bundaberg, but in the next 12 months my goal is to double my employee base and I would really like to move into different things such as yard maintenance. I have a lawn mowing lady and a carpet cleaning man already, but I would like to be able to move into offering a broader service. I am really working on expansion.
Thanks Chloe for sharing your business journey. Your story will inspire people who are looking to take their next step towards creating their own business. If you would like to stay updated with MaidnMop and their journey as a small business owner, follow MaidnMop on Facebook.
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