Member Profile: Stacie Gorse
Your Name: My name is Stacie Gorse and I run the business with my husband Joe.
Name of your business: The name of the main business is "Omni Enterprises" with a residential services division named "Hestia's Helper".
When did you open your business: Joe actually started Omni Enterprises in 2004 and Hestia's Helper began just this year!
What services does your business offer: We offer ALL types of building management services. We started as a basic janitorial services provider, then learned carpet cleaning, floor care programs, and have continued our training and education into all aspects of building services. For some clients, we manage rental properties (including subbing out maintenance and repairs, showing the property for absentee landlords, and lease/rental contracts), provide painting, cleaning and make-ready services, housecleaning, carpet care, recurring floor care programs, window cleaning, hardwood floor refinishing, and just about any other service that is requested. A great percentage of our business is now based in carpet cleaning for residential and commercial clients.
I have also dabbled in cleaning services website development for a few clients and have created both our business websites. That is actually a hobby and something I taught myself for fun.
Why did you start the business: Originally, Joe was struggling with his "contempt for authority" and wanted to do something where he was his own boss. He was contacted by a local franchisee and after looking over their offering, decided that running a cleaning business was something he was genuinely interested in. After 2 years with the franchisee, the franchise agreement was terminated by both parties and we were able to establish an independent business. He is happy being the "boss" and was able to build it to a point (with the help of thejanitorialstore.com) that it was stable enough for me to quit my job and work with him full time. I left my job and have become his full-time helper and partner!
I started the Hestia's Helper division because I wanted something of "my own" to put my own personal stamp on.
How many people are in your company: Officially, there is only the two of us. We don't have any employees right now, but have in the past. We use subcontractors for some of the building services we offer like maintenance and repairs. For bigger jobs, we have used a staffing agency with very good results. We built a relationship with that agency through the Granville County Chamber of Commerce and it has worked out very well for us.
Where is your office located and what is it like: We operate out of our home office, which is located in Creedmoor, NC- about 15 miles outside Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill.
What is the toughest part of running your business: For us, since we have opted to stay small, scheduling seems to be one of our biggest challenges. We have 2 young children (ages 7 & 8) and one of us has to be home at 3pm everyday when they get off the school bus. Scheduling around that while still trying to get everything done can take some juggling!
What is the best part of running your business: Although I just mentioned it as a challenge, the best part of running our own business is the schedule flexibility. No other "job" would allow for the flexibility we take with our schedule.
Is there anything that you would have done differently: We spent a lot of time and money on advertising campaigns that didn't work! We should have taken the advice of our friends at thejanitorialstore.com and myhousecleaningbiz.com and spent the time and money meeting people instead of sitting back and waiting for the phone to ring. That was a hard lesson to learn and if I regret anything, it is not building those personal relationships from the beginning. We have found that since we have begun seriously networking and building relationships, our business has become more stable and secure. We get far more referrals and repeat business than ever before. We still get calls from the Yellow Pages, but if we tried to survive on the business generated from that ad, we'd be starving!
Explain what is next on the horizon for you and your business: Our next big endeavor is equipment upgrades. Since the very beginning we have been using a portable carpet extractor for carpet cleaning and have been hauling it all around in a Dodge Ram van. While this has worked for us and the portable equipment is a wonderful machine, our goal is to pay cash for a van with truck mounted carpet cleaning equipment! In order to do that, we have revisited our business plan and have made a lot of adjustments to the budget to accommodate that savings plan.
For Hestia's Helper, my goal is to get established as the housecleaner of choice in our area. As a start-up, I am fortunate to have the relationships we have built with our existing network, but it's still a business in its infancy stages and as such, is still taking baby steps toward being a self-sustaining enterprise.
What advice could you give others and please don't hold back! The best advice I think I can offer is don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it! The only way to improve as a business owner is to build relationships with people who have done what you are trying to do. Don't take advice from your brother-in-law when you can surround yourself with experts like those at myhousecleaningbiz.com and get useful, practical advice from people who have been there, done that!
And keep an open mind! We all learn from sharing and I continue to learn something new all the time, even as I try to share what I have learned and what I know with others!
Secondly, I would have to say, don't blame others for your lack of success! Everyone seems to have an excuse for why their business is not doing well. Don't blame the economy, your competitors, the people in your neighborhood, your clients or anyone else. Only you can determine which choices you make and which direction you take your business! Ultimately, you will accept the rewards and take all the credit for the success, so along the way, don't forget that the failures and stumbles are also up to you to accept, learn from and overcome!
How do you use MyHouseCleaningBiz.com to help you with your business: Even though I don't actively post everyday, I check in all the time to keep my finger on the pulse. The weekly newsletter is a great way to see what's going on and I read it top to bottom every week. I check in the Home Page to see what's new and read the Discussion Forum to see what my friends are up to. The Download Library has been an invaluable tool and I have downloaded almost every form. In other words, I use myhousecleaningbiz.com as part of my every day operations and I believe that a large part of our success can be attributed to our membership here and at thejanitorialstore.com
Now some personal info about you:
School - high school, college, technical school: I attended High School at Bradford Central Christian High School and my graduating class had 26 people (6 girls and 20 boys)! It is a private Catholic high school in Bradford, PA and my class was the 25th graduating class at the school. My dad was in the Class of 1963 and graduated exactly 25 years before me! I attended college at Gannon University in Erie, PA then transferred to the University of Pittsburgh. While there, I took co-op classes with St. Bonaventure University in Alleghany, NY and was studying to be a high school math and history teacher. I love teaching, which is why I think I love contributing to the Discussion Forums so much- it comes naturally to me to teach people…Life threw me a curve ball or two and I left school without graduating and have PhD in Real Life from there ;o)
What are some of your prior jobs or businesses: I "fell" into a job managing Burger King and did that job almost 13 years. The best thing about working fast food was that I was in charge, got to make my own schedule, and met Joe (I was his boss, if you can imagine that!) Off and on, I would get "irritated" with them, leave for awhile, find something else to do, but then I always ended up going back… Until now, that is!
Is there a specific person or event in your life that made you decide to go into business for yourself: After the birth of my second child, finding child care that met my standards was next to impossible! It was then I decided that we had to do something different! When Joe got the idea for a cleaning company, I jumped at the chance to work with him, because in the beginning, all our jobs were scheduled late nights, so I got to raise my own kids until they started school! What a pleasure it has been and I consider myself lucky that I have been able to spend the past 5 years as part of their lives!
Your website info: http://carpetcleaninghotline.com and http://hestiashelper.com
Your Social Network links (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc):
MyHouseCleaningBiz.com Member Profile
Hestia's Helper is a WordPress site and is set up as a blog of sorts, so anyone is welcome to add comments there.
