What do you do?

HOUSE CLEANER
Heather Joyner
Clean Castle

History in this line of work:
I have owned a residential cleaning company, Clean Castle, for eight years.

What drew her to this vocation:
I started the business because I was cleaning people’s houses all through nursing school. I worked for ten years in health care, and decided to try to make a go of it as a business owner.

Health insurance benefits:
Right now I don’t have benefits, which is a bummer. It’s a frustrating thing and I know it’s something I need to get.

Fringe benefits or perks:
I essentially get to make my own schedule, and my office is my home. It’s also great to be able to meet so many different people, because I handle all the sales and new clients myself. I have no advertising other than a Yellow Pages ad, so all my business is basically through referrals and word of mouth, so I’m learning all sorts of useful skills. It works to my advantage that I know all my clients and have built up trust with them over time. They don’t like to have different people coming into their homes all the time.

Education and employment background:
I came within eight credits of being an R.N. I never took any business classes; all of my education has been in the form of on-the-job training, and it’s been a process of trial and error. There are a lot of costs built in to running a business that many people aren’t aware of: federal and state taxes, workman’s comp and Social Security, gas, supplies, and the amount of time you spend on paperwork and the nuts-and-bolts details of managing things.

Drawbacks, hassles, or hazards of the job:
The lack of health insurance is a big thing. And though I do have a steady income through my regular clients, there’s always
insecurity. Cleaning is hard work, but some people have this idea that it isn’t the sort of thing that they should have to pay much for.

Family:
Single.

Transportation:
I own a car for personal use, and have a van for work.

What she wanted to be as a child:
A nurse.

What else, if anything, she’d rather be doing:
I’ve definitely learned that I’m a business person, and I’m still thinking about that.

Where she sees herself in five years:
Either in a business position involving some kind of sales, or having expanded Clean Castle to the point where I’m doing well enough to sit back and simply run it as a business.


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