With Our Help We Hope to Take Her Skills to the Next Level, Allowing Her Business to Continue to Grow
Today we met with Mary for the second time where we got to shadow her business. We met at a large apartment complex in Menlo Park. She took us to the apartment where two of her employees had already been cleaning for 30 minutes. Once we got there she gave us a tour of the apartment and explained the method and processes she uses when cleaning a residence. I was very impressed with the uniformity and attention to detail that she has instilled in all her employees. For example, she told us a story about how all her employees have been trained to make sure there are always vacuum marks on the carpet regardless of whether the vacuum made them. By this I mean that she’ll tell her employees to drag a broom across the carpet to create the lines. This is all a part of the great attention to detail she has when cleaning every home.
Mary also makes sure to take great care of her clients as well as her employees. We learned during the visit that Mary always makes sure enough time is given to clean the residence, always allocating extra time, just to be sure. She knows that she asks a lot from her employees but also knows she must compensate them well for the work they do. She also cares very much about their well-being. She teaches the best practices to keep her workers safe. For example, she prefers to not move the larger furniture when cleaning, because most of her employees are women and she would rather not put their safety at risk. She puts a lot of trust in her employees. She rarely double-checks work and prefers feedback from clients.
After we finished the tour, we spoke for a while about our future endeavors together. We learned a lot about what motivates her and what scares her. She’s extremely brave but doesn’t always have the managerial knowledge to run a growing business. However, she has been working hard to improve and has even downloaded and taught herself QuickBooks. She is not completely proficient, but with our help we hope to take her skills to the next level, allowing her business to continue to grow.