In the fall of November 2023, Matthew Sloim, a student at the University of Tampa embarked on the baby steps to start a remote home cleaning company in Tampa Bay, Florida. He registered the company, made a website using the online booking software, Booking Koala, and plunged head-on into the world of entrepreneurship and student-run cleaning business.
Matt’s time was also taken up by the fact that around this time, he was taking a Semester at Sea through his university in the fall of 2023. This trip offered him a unique educational experience aboard a passenger ship that would take him to fascinating destinations like Malta, Spain, Greece, Gibraltar, Canary Islands, South Africa, Mauritius, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
A student of Entrepreneurship and Business management, he felt that the greatest gift he could give himself was not to wait but to start up a company in which he could apply all he learned in real life in an entity he controlled.
That is how he created Tampa Bay Cleaning Crew from his dorm room at the University of Tampa, a company that has achieved phenomenal success in under two years due to his aggressive and forceful marketing tactics.
Laying the Foundation for a premier cleaning company
Matt didn’t waste time with elaborate processes. He took very simple steps to move his business to the next level each day. After anchoring his booking platform on the booking software, Booking Koala, He embarked on the following;
- Ordered first batch of door hangers. Paid someone on Fiverr to make door hangers as a first means of getting the name of his business out to the local community.
- Created a job posting on Indeed. After posting his advert, he went to sleep and woke up to 60 applications. He shortlisted 4 for interview and only one showed up. He was lucky to get the first employee who was rearing to go, asking him for as many hours of cleaning as was available.
- Used web scraper on Fiverr to get realtor emails in his area. This would enable him to send emails to several realtors, a category that deals closely with home buyers and renters.
- Got his first booking in January 2024, two months after he started the business.
- Sneaked into apartments unnoticed and placed 500 door hangers on doors.
- Branded T-shirts.
- 500 door hangers placed on apartment doors got him the first five bookings.
Where he got cleaners
- Indeed
- Com
- Facebook Groups
Marketing tactics to gain customers
- Using door hangers
- Posting on Facebook groups (Florida Moms Group)
- Google Ads (LSA)
- Thumbtack
- SEO pitching
Marketing Strategy that has yielded the most recurring clients
In the business pf home and office cleaning, sustainability and good revenues come from locking in a good number of recurring clients who need weekly or monthly cleaning services.
Every effort must therefore be made not only to acquire clients but also to retain them. Matt has gone out of his way to keep track of his strategies and how those strategies have facilitated conversion to his business. The following statistics illustrate his success rate with recurring clients;
- Door Hangers – 62%
- Local Service Ads – 23%
- Cold Outreach – 8%
- Thumbtack – 7%
The young student entrepreneur has also employed other means to acquire new customers some of which have failed flat, brought minimal success or totally good business.
- Knocking doors of the rich who own homes. This method has come with rejection and of course less conversion.
- A small percentage of new cleaning booking secured through mass SMS to local realtors.
Business numbers
In just 10 months since launch of the cleaning business, Matt has grown his business from the very first clean job he celebrated and achieved the following;
- Grew the business to $12K a month revenue
- Hired 6 part-time cleaners working in his remote cleaning business.
- Continuing with his academic pursuits as a senior at the University of Tampa.
- On course to graduate in May 2025.
- Because of his phenomenal success with the business whose baby steps he shares publicly through his twitter handle, increased Twitter followers count by 723%.
- Increased LinkedIn followers count by 351%.
- Travels the world while running his business online wherever he is.
Goals for 2024
- 3,000 twitter followers to help drive his business and continue getting his name out there,
- Having his cleaning business earn $20K revenue every month.
- Hire a VA to help run operations while he focuses on aggressive marketing.
- Land large commercial clients to help complement home cleaning and support his increased revenue dreams.
Famous quotes and lessons in Business from Matt’s Cleaning Business
Armed with nothing but a youthful angst and a fierce determination to make a breakthrough, Matt has toiled in the trenches, juggling between his books and building a business. He has taken its ups and downs, including sometimes rushing to clean homes himself, when his contractors fail to show up. All in an effort to retain his clients. In the process, he has collected considerable learning points and experiences which he continues to share through his engagements with likeminded entrepreneurs and the general public.
The following are some of Matt’s memorable contributions to entrepreneurship;
- Build yourself a business you can run from anywhere.
- A big part of being successful is being charismatic and confident enough to talk to everybody about your business.
- It is going to be a long, lonely road if you can’t step outside your comfort zone 24/7.
- Treat your employees like humans and you will reap the rewards.
- Every month in your business should be better than the last.
- Do the things you are avoiding
- Don’t sleep on door hangers if you are in the cleaning business. Make thousands of them and get them out there at all costs. Drop your door hangers religiously.
- In the formative stages of your business, make scaling your business, not profit your main focus.
Conclusion on Matt’s Journey in student-run cleaning business
Matt is a study in strength, determination and fortitude. By creating Tampa Bay Cleaning Crew while still a student, he teaches that with the right mindset one can juggle academics and business successfully.
This story goes beyond sweeping homes but to a great extent is about sweeping away one’s doubts and effective time management to meet the strenuous demands of academics and business.
This is a young man who dared to dream early and now with the increasing revenues of his business each month, his future seems truly bright just as the floors his dedicated team leaves behind. A shining example of a great idea nurtured so early in life and meeting a prepared individual.
Truly, a hustler par excellence in this student-run cleaning business.
Related Articles: MKBHD: Running a YouTube Channel Professionally like a Company
He started and scaled a cleaning business to $5 million in revenue by the age of 22.
How two teen brothers turned junk into gold.
Crystal clear success: the inspiring story of two brothers’ window cleaning company.
Share with us your story: acumenstrory@gmail.com
