Today we’d like to introduce you to Martha Balk.
Hi Martha, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
My name is Martha Balk and I started my housekeeping business when I was 23 years old. I’ve been a single mom for quite some time now, so I needed to think of a way to provide for my daughter and also to have time to raise her. I started little by little, had one or two houses a week while I worked on my logo and flyers but I knew deep down it was all going to work out. Now I am thankful to say my weeks and months get filled up, and of course, there’s always room for more clients! I have a team where we treat our clients with respect, and we are extremely loyal to them as well.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I like to talk about my struggles when I first started so that I can encourage and motivate anyone who is thinking about starting their own business. When I first started Dustingstars Housekeeping, I had $0. I started off with chemicals and supplies from the 99-cent store. I didn’t have a car back then, so I rented out a car that charged me weekly. I wasn’t charging much and I had to pay for babysitting. In reality, I was either losing money or breaking even. So, when I rented a car, I did not mind driving long distance for my clients. I became Natalie’s housekeeper in Los Angeles area. Her babysitter had hired me. I would drive to LA at 5 am and come back home around 11 pm. I needed that set schedule but eventually, it got too hard because of the traffic and the times. It was also getting hard for my babysitter. It did get a bit discouraging but it did not stop me. I started passing out flyers here in San Diego, created my own business cards and little by little I started getting calls.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Owning a housekeeping is not just about cleaning but also taking care of my client’s homes. Using high-quality products so that we don’t damage texture throughout time but instead we nourish it. For example, floors, furniture, leather, granite are all great examples of what really needs to be cleaned with the right supplies and brands. We do regular cleaning which is almost every week, bi-weekly or monthly. We have packages for deep cleaning as well. Organizing and laundry are available. Move-ins and move-outs and also construction dust are all the services that we do.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Absolutely, I understand that taking risks can be a scary thing to do, but we won’t know if we don’t try! Throughout my process, it was hard to see sometimes if it was going to work out or not. I kept it pushing, and worked hard so that it can work out for me. When I first started, it was difficult to pay my personal bills because I had adds to post, chemicals to buy. Gas to put, and babysitter to pay this was all weekly sometimes even daily. I had to keep in mind that my business wasn’t going to grow from one day to another, I had to have patience, work hard and trust the process.
Contact Info:
- Website: dustingstars.com
- Instagram: @dustingstarshousekeeping
- Facebook: Dusting Stars Housekeeping
Image Credits
Tyler Dabovich
Jocelyne Cortes
