Mr. Clean | A conversation with Joe Walsh of Green Clean Maine in Portland
Founded: October 2007
Employees: Three
Startup costs: $15,000
Projected revenue, year one: $80,000
Projected revenue, year two: $160,000
Contact: 221-6600
211 Marginal Way, Portland 04101
www.greencleanme.com
What is Green Clean Maine all about?
We are a professional house cleaning company; we do homes and small offices. My clientele is families and single person households who have better things to do with their time than clean their showers and their kitchens and vacuum their places. It’s people who have the income to pay, they’re basically paying us to free up their time, so they don’t have to do these kinds of things. We come in and do it for them.
What kind of green cleaning products and techniques do you use?
I actually make all of my own cleaning supplies, which makes us a little different from a lot of other people who are doing green cleaning. I started using these third-party certified products and they just weren’t effective. I also tried off the shelf things that people probably see at Whole Foods or even Hannaford now. I just couldn’t get the results I wanted, so I started to experiment making my own. I found that by using simple ingredients like baking soda, vinegar and all-natural detergents and essential oils, I could make cleaners that were more effective than the stuff I was buying off the shelf or from commercial suppliers. And actually it costs less to make your own. They’re the most effective products we’ve used.
Do you ever use traditional cleaning products?
Never.
What made you decide to start your own business?
I’ve always wanted to start my own business and it was just a matter of being at the right place at the right time. I had a good idea and a clear vision of how I was going to execute it so I decided I should go for it.
In the beginning, we got started with a grant from the Libra Future Fund. [The Libra Foundation] is a big philanthropic foundation in Maine and the Libra Future Fund gives grants to young entrepreneurs, 30 or younger, who live in Maine. You go through an application process and apply for, and hopefully get, a grant to start a business. We got a $5,000 grant to start the business with. So in the beginning it was financed from that $5,000 grant and basically advances on my credit cards.
How do you market yourself?
It’s really been a lot of low budget marketing because I started this business with very little capital and so it was all either word of mouth or flyers around town or Craigslist ads. I’ve got a lot of people who when they contact me will tell me, “I’ve seen Green Clean Maine all over the place,” and I have to ask them where because I really haven’t done much advertising, but it seems that these flyers I’ve posted around Portland and the surrounding towns have really caught a lot of people’s attention.
How does the cost of running a green cleaning business compare with running a traditional one?
[They’re] roughly the same. The way that my costs might be higher is that I really try very hard to pay my employees above-average wages. I definitely have a socially responsible aspect to my business and I want to provide quality jobs for people.
Do you have any competitors?
I do — a quick glance at the local coffee shop and you’ll see people posting ads, you know, flyers for green cleaning for their homes, so there are competitors out there and actually this year for the first time I’ve noticed anyway there’s ads in the yellow pages for green cleaners, which is a new thing. There’s definitely competition out there.
What was your biggest challenge this year?
I would say handling growth, definitely. I’ve had to turn customers away and that’s a tough thing to do when you’re first starting a business. I can’t let the company grow too quickly and I’ve got to make sure I keep the reins on everything so definitely managing the growth has been tough. My ultimate goal would be to achieve top-of-mind presence with people in Portland, the Portland area. When they think of house cleaners I want them to think of Green Clean Maine.
Interview by Stephen Doane
New Entrepreneurs profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to editorial@mainebiz.biz.
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