Frustration Is The Key To Small Business Success
Once upon a time you could remember exactly why you wanted to start your small business. Perhaps you saw an opportunity to do something differently than the competition. Or perhaps you were tired of working for a boss, and wanted to steer your own course toward success.
Ultimately you were trying to relieve some perceived frustration. Perhaps that frustration was personal, but hopefully most of your reason for starting your business was in response to a need in the market place. Either way you have a business to run, and that in and of itself can be pretty frustrating at times.
We founded Better Life Maids to solve several frustrations, some in the marketplace, but some were personal. In the marketplace we saw that most of the maid services operated without insurance, training, or consistent results. We saw that most of them were using toxic chemicals in their cleaning process that were bad for their clients, and for for their staff. We also saw that because maid service is typically an unsophisticated business model we could provide a much BETTER experience for our clients.
Another big frustration we saw in the marketplace was that their was no clear standard of what it meant to be green. Many companies were “going green”. For us it is not a race to see who can be the greenest cleaning service. That does not solve the underlying frustration for our clients. That want to know that their home is safe and free of toxic chemicals, but are not necessarily concerned with the race that many businesses find themselves in to be the “greenest”. We are committed to being an environmentally conscious company, and good corporate stewards, but it has to serve our clients and their frustrations and needs, and not just our own. It is our belief that all of our green efforts add value to our clients experience and solve a need expressed or simply desired.
A personal frustration we overcame was my previous career. I had spent the first 10 years of my working career as a pilot. As my career progressed, and the planes got larger, so did the size of my suitcase, and the time I was away from my young family. I truly love to fly, but I love my family more. Seeing them for just a couple of days per week was no longer an option. So out of personal frustration, along with Angela, I shaped a new career for myself and for the sake of my family. It has been extremely rewarding building Better Life Maids, and I can’t imagine my life if I hadn’t taken the leap to leave my flying career behind.
As I mentioned earlier, running your own business can have its own set of frustrations as well. What we found early on was that by building systems and documenting those systems we were able to reduce those systems. Our staff knew how we wanted things done, and where to find how to do something if a question arose. We created operations and training manuals for nearly ever function of the business. While we can’t claim that we are perfect, we are consistently excellent. The ongoing work we do to document our systems has paid many dividends, most notably, the reduction in many frustrations we saw early on in our business.
Frustration is the key to your businesses’ success. Not the frustration itself, but in how you create a unique and innovative way to solve that frustration.
About Better Life Maids
Better Life Maids is a green house cleaning service founded in St. Louis, MO. Better Life Maids is seeking to grow in select markets through a franchise development program, as well at the addition of new company owned units. Better Life Maids has partnered with Better Life a green household cleaning products company to help create the first national green product and service brand. For more information visit https://www.betterlifemaids.com or http://www.cleanhappens.com.