Member Profile: Theresa Baker

Your Name: Theresa Baker

Name of your business: Baker Home Services, Inc.

When did you open your business? 12/2009

What services do you offer? Residential house cleaning - Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly, Occassional, Post Construction, Small commercial cleaning, Handyman Services, and Lawncare Services

Why did you start the business? Both my husband and myself were employed by a local bank for 14-20 years and it was purchased by an out of state bank. We both were let go. He obtained his contractors license and I started a cleaning company. Shortly after, we combined and started offering all services to our customers.

How many people are in your company? 14

What has been the biggest surprise, good or bad, since you started? I am shocked that we have reached a client base of 90+ customers, just on the cleaning side in 3 years. It's been a good surprise but it seems I have less money now than I did with 50 customers....so obviously I need to control expenses better.

What is the toughest part of running your business? EMPLOYEES! I have some good employees that are loyal but even they go through slumps and have a series of complaints. Seems there are fast employees, detailed (but slow) employees, dependable employees but I can't seem to find several with all the all or even some of these qualities.

What is the best part of running your business? We have a special needs son and I can take him to his doctor's appointments and be home when he needs me without answering to anyone or worrying I'm going to lose my job.

Is there anything that you would have done differently? We put a ton of money into advertising in the beginning that I wish I could get back. It was a lot of print ads that we were talked into that produced little to nothing.

What is the most important thing you will be adding, doing, changing in the next year for your business? We are going to re-train using the Speed Cleaning Process, utilizing aprons and making sure everyone is uniform how they are cleaning. I'm exicited to get this started!

Where do you see your business in 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years? In 2 years I'm hoping to have doubled our client base and have our office in a commerical space, out of our house! I would like to see sales (just house cleaning) to reach $500k. In 5 years - I would like to see the client base continue to grow to the point that we have several trainers, supervisors and a new fleet of "matching" vehicles. Sales to reach $1million. In 10 years - I want to be a "non present" owner. I would like to be able to work on more public relations and be more involved in the community. Sales continuing to grow.

What advice could you give others and please don't hold back! Ask for help from others in the industry right away!! I had not idea about ARCSI until about 3 months ago. The best thing I did was attend the conference in Chicago! I learned so much about the industry and how to be successful. I'm implementing something new almost every day!! The biggest piece of advice from the convention was "why start from scratch when it's out there and it's tested". That is so true.

How do you use MyHouseCleaningBiz.com to help you with your business? I just started but so far I find the documents very helpful! I have downloaded everything from a customer packet to an employee handbook that I plan on personalizing for our company and using immediately. I'm sure there is a lot more that I will learn about.

School - high school, college, technical school: High School in Maryland. Some college at UMBC.

What are some of your prior jobs or businesses: I worked at Provident Bank in Maryland for 20 years in the collection department. I started as a clerk and left as a Recovery Manager supervising up to 15 employees. I also have worked off/on in various restaurants in the area.

Is there a specific person or event in your life that made you decide to go into business for yourself? Both. Losing our jobs the way we did made us realize that we couldn't rely on anyone but ourselves for our future. Also, my son. He was born weighing 1lb 10 oz...fought for 4 months in the NICU and now has Cerebral Palsy but is always amazing us by what he can do. They said he would never walk....yet he played basketball last summer with kids that had no disabilities. I will work as hard as I can to make sure he always has the therapy, doctors, etc...that he needs.

Website: http://www.bakerhomeservices.com

Email Address: [email protected]