What prompted you to go into business for yourself? At the time you started, did your household have another source of income?
I began professionally cleaning homes because of a desire to be home more with my son who was 9 at the time. He was in sports and school activities and I wanted to be more available to him. Cleaning gave me an excellent salary plus the benefit of a flexible schedule. My husband has always held a full time job outside of my company businesses.
What kind of licensing requirements did you have to go through in your community?
Professionally cleaning home means being bonded and insured although not all professional cleaners carry either one. The only licensing requirements in Oregon for Mary Moppins is to be registered with the state as well as hold business insurance.
When you first started your business, did you have a business plan? Do you have one now? Was there a specific requirement or event that prompted you to develop your business plan?
Shortly after starting the company, I wrote a very detailed business plan. It has been updated periodically; with recent company growth and sales programs that are now forming, the plan needs a complete overhaul, which will begin soon.
Did you create the business plan yourself or did you have to hire help to get it done? About how often do you find you need to update your business plan?
I followed the format set by the Small Business Administration and a few other books. I wrote the plan myself and quickly found it helped tremendously to focus on company goals and directives. I usually update the plan once a year to year and a half. Several years ago I was forced to cut back the company due to being hit head on in an automobile accident. The injuries took considerable time to heal. The company is running full gear again. The time off allowed me to refocus on several issues and areas of development, which means rewriting a new business plan.
Do your home business activities allow you to be flexible enough to promote a satisfying balance between work and family? Do you have any special techniques you use to create quality time with your family?
]p]Oh ouch, this one hurts a bit. I travel presenting cleaning seminars and selling products at trade shows and various functions, which makes it difficult to balance work and family life. I set aside certain days and evenings for family or quite times for myself. It is easy to let a company take complete control of your time so that balance works best if activities are scheduled. There are still spontaneous times just not as frequent.Exercise is the one exception. Daily exercise is vital to everyone but I have found to be even more so since I started Mary Moppins. I get far more done in a day when I exercise strenuously and keep in shape.
Is your business run completely from home? Do you have an office in your home? What's that like?
My company is fully run from my home. The garage is my manufacturing facility and shipping and receiving "dock." A bedroom seconds as my office with a section of the family room doubling as an office for my employees. A very large backyard shed is the storage facility. The company is growing rapidly so it may mean looking for warehouse.
I must admit being a bit spoiled with the luxury of working from home. I can run a load of laundry as I talk with a distributor who needs help or a customer struggling with a cleaning issue. I don't have the fees and costs of warehouse space, which allows the financial room to do more advertising and marketing.
Not only is each and every product tested in my home but my employees also take home samples for testing and samples are sent to professional home cleaners as well as RV owners or boat owners, whoever the product is designed to suit. They are not brought into my line without thorough evaluation.
What do you like most about having your own home business? What would you say is your biggest challenge?
There is nothing not to like about having my own home business. I am responsible for my success and accountable for my failures. If I'm exhausted from a long out of town trip, I can take a 15 minute nap or a quick walk to recharge. I save on fuel as well as time driving to and from a warehouse. Meetings are scheduled around rush hour so I haven't seen a traffic snarl in years. I can put on a pair of blue jeans when I need to shift products in my "warehouse" then change quickly to meet with a customer.
My biggest challenge is separating home and work duties. I find myself seeing housework that begs for attention and stopping during office hours to take care of the problem. It takes discipline to separate the two.
