Member Profile: Cheri & Mike Fanelli

Your Name: Cheri & Mike Fanelli

Name of your business: Clean Pro of Alabama

When did you open your business? This business 2 years ago. Had another cleaning business for 12 years

What services do you offer? House Cleaning, Window Cleaning, Pressure Washing, Carpet Cleaning, Furniture Cleaning, Tile and Grout Cleaning and Sealing, Awning Cleaning.

Why did you start the business? To support our volunteer ministry and make way for leaving a full time job at Alabama's first automobile plant.

How many people are in your company? Two, we are owner operators. Our son and daughter in-law help with very large or difficult jobs.

What has been the biggest surprise, good or bad, since you started? The fact that many homes and businesses find it acceptable to be dirty and unsanitary.

What is the toughest part of running your business? Loading and unloading all our equipment for the different services we offer.

What is the best part of running your business? When the customer inspects a completed job and says "WOW" I never expected it to look so good.

Is there anything that you would have done differently? Yes, we discussed this many times and concluded that we should have started with house cleaning and window cleaning and then add additional services only if needed. Now we are too busy to pursue carpet cleaning and furniture cleaning at the level we did when we had our first business years ago. It is hard to let some things go.

What is the most important thing you will be adding, doing, changing in the next year for your business? Zip code marketing. Our county has about twelve zip codes but 90% of our best clients come from only one.

Where do you see your business in 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years? 2 years from now pretty much the same but increased profits from increased effeciency and better scheduling of jobs.

What advice could you give others and please don't hold back! Join a house cleaning organization like this one first then pursue cleaning jobs.

How do you use MyHouseCleaningBiz.com to help you with your business? Too early to tell because we just signed up. However we belong to window cleaning resources and the grime scene forums and have really learned much from what others have gone through. There is always someone, somewhere who can clean better or quicker and when they share their knowledge it helps us avoid many common mistakes.

School - high school, college, technical school: Cheri and Mike went to Mary D Bradford in Kenosha Wisconsin and graduated in 1976. We went right into the janitorial business which turned into a carpet cleaning/fire and water damage restoration company. Sold this business and I worked for about 20 years as an industrial electrician.

What are some of your prior jobs or businesses? Safety specialist at the Mercedes Benz factory in Alabama, Industrial Electrician, Cheri learned computer programming

Website: http://www.CleanProOfAlabama.com