This as-told-to story is based on a conversation with Amber Starling, the founder and owner of Good Witch Cleaning. The piece has been edited for length and clarity.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Good Witch Cleaning. Amber Starling.
When I arrived in the “Little Apple,” or Manhattan, Kansas, I had five years of management experience, including as a frontline firefighter in the volunteer department. I had seven years of office experience and a high school diploma. So when I moved here, I didn’t have a large social network to draw from, and I had a hard time finding a job. Nobody wanted to hire me because I either had too little education or too much experience. I got fed up after seven months of that and was like, I can hire myself. That was 2017.
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I decided to start a cleaning business because it’s a service that’s always in demand, and there was a gap in our market for professional companies. In our industry, it’s rare to reach the point where you hire employees at all. On the other end of the spectrum, large companies often use a big-box approach that lacks empathy and doesn’t work for a lot of families.
I started my company with just the vacuum from my house. I saved about $100 from my grocery budget and bought cleaning supplies from a discount store. I named the business Good Witch Cleaning because, for a while, I lived just four minutes from the Wizard of Oz museum. It’s a lot of fun from a branding and marketing perspective: We put a pink witch hat on a black car, and it just pops.
I wasn’t insured in the beginning, so I would have to tell my clients, “Hey, this is something that I want to do, but I have to earn enough money to get there, and if you’re willing to take a risk on me, then I’ll offer you a good rate and great service.” I found my first clients by posting on Facebook, advertising a $99 whole-house special. I had to eat a lot of crow in those days. I worked with property managers in the area who had terrible reputations and very high expectations — really difficult clients.
I hired my first employee within the first year of opening the business. Our employees aren’t subcontractors. We provide all equipment and supplies, and I also invest in my team with extensive training. Many of my team members and I hold the IICRC house cleaning technician certification. It goes into chemistry, safety and how to avoid damaging surfaces. Sometimes people ask me, “What if those employees leave with all of that knowledge?” But I say, “What if they stay without it?” We have a staff breakfast followed by training every Friday.
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The Jobber Grants program has helped me build my business. When I originally applied for the grant, my goal was to open a branch in Wichita. However, at the time, I was also in the SBA Emerging Leaders Program, which is sort of a mini-MBA, and I learned that expanding too quickly was the leading cause of death for mid-size companies. Plus, we lost 60% of our clients overnight during the pandemic. Fortunately, I was able to go back to Jobber and reallocate the funds to certifications in disinfection and sanitation.
The tumult amid the pandemic, during which we saw businesses shuttering left and right, also solidified that our business couldn’t be everything to everybody. If we went down, I wanted it to be as myself. We became an openly progressive company, openly fourth-wave feminist, LGBTQIA-friendly and immigrant-friendly. There was so much hate in the world, and we were going to embody love, even if it killed the business.
You don’t need to be an evil corporation to have a successful company. That starts with how I treat my staff. They have access to a living wage, healthcare and mental healthcare. When I treat their job like a career by offering them training and treat them like human beings, making sure they can pay their bills and have time off to spend with their family, they want to stay with us. It’s not a hard concept to grasp.
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In 2017, we were at $11,000 in revenue — that was before I’d hired anyone. In 2018, we got up to $57,000; $119,000 in 2019; $216,000 in 2020; and $467,000 in 2021. Since then, we’ve stabilized in that revenue range, and that’s by choice. We could have continued aggressively expanding, especially in commercial janitorial, but we wanted to stay focused on residential and work with working-class and middle-class families.
Our poverty rate is almost twice the national average, so we had to work hard and listen to the needs of our team members and clients. Instead of going after wealthier and wealthier clients, our strategy has been to diversify our offerings so that we can still help them with things like cleaning out the refrigerator or doing the dishes.
Giving back to our community has always been extremely important to us. We donated consulting services to the housing authority and emergency shelter here during the pandemic. We donated to sports teams. We’ve been donating to the Boy Scouts; last year, we donated $5,000 in match funds to True Colors, which is a local LGBTQ youth program. Last November, we also opened a free store in our office, where people can donate and receive items in good condition.
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I grew up 50% below the poverty line in the Deep South, and that has really shaped the way that I approach business. I had a pretty whirlwind rise in our industry. I networked and sought a lot of certifications, and I met successful people who have marveled at how I came from humble beginnings. They find me unique, and that kind of makes me uncomfortable. I knew and still know a lot of very bright, talented and hardworking people from growing up. It’s not rare to find individuals in the working class who are amazing. It’s only rare that they get so far.
This article is part of our ongoing Women Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of running a business as a woman.
