Q 1. Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/ cities.
Ans: Ready Set Maids is the best Texas based home cleaning referral agency. We pair the best cleaners with our members on our instant booking platform. If someone is interested in hiring a cleaning service we have made it easy to get an instant instant price and book your appointment right away on our platform without ever having to call or email anyone – although you can call us to book, we are here to help.
Q 2. Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
Ans: Hey, I am Vik. I grew up in a single Mom home with an extended family who provided no support. They had little to no expectations that I would ever amount to anything. My persistence, grit and determination did not land well with their “follow the rules” ways. By 31 I had led over $3 billion in sales and over 7,000 employees and was about to launch my 2nd business after leaving the corporate world – I went back to get my MBA at 30 but really didn’t need it. I worked for several big brands in the world and decided it was time to control my own time and fate. It was time to build something special in the world.
Q 3. What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)? How did the idea for your business come about?
Ans: Frankly, I was frustrated with the amount of time and energy it took to find a quality cleaning service when we wanted to hire a company. You had to submit form after form and wait for them to call you back. It took a week almost and that was providing you actually got a call back or email response.
We thought it should be simple and easy to get a price and book a home cleaning instantly, and it took hard work to make it happen. But we were one of the first in Texas to do it.
Q 4. What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Ans: 1. You have to get started and have the ability to listen to others while staying focused. Most people will never attempt to do what you are doing and you will likely get “hyped support” early on but almost everyone will fade away. You are going to have to rely on your own grit. At some point you cannot plan anymore and action becomes more important than planning.
2. Understand that entrepreneurship is a roller coaster ride of emotions. One day you are feeling terrible and one day you are flying high. Take care of yourself physically and mentally. Don’t get too high or too low. Be clear on your goals and again, take action.
3. Action defeats a great plan all day long. I cannot stress this enough – You. Must. Act. Write your goals down. Define which are the most important (because not everything is important) and focus on that. Don’t get trapped in the “think tank” or “over think tank” and be flexible and embrace a great learning agility for the rest of your life. If you fail you would have learned a tremendous amount, apply that to your next venture and move one.
Q 5. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: An ability to take action. A flexible and relentless learning agility paired with – hard work = will kill a “hustler” all the livelong day.
Q 6. How many hours do you work a day on average?
Ans: In a set up and build phase easily over 60 to 80.
In an operational phase less then a few hours per month.
I tend to grind with focused execution on the most important aspects of our projects and then I will take some weeks or even months off of that project.
I basically work intensely and very focused on starting a new project and getting it operationalized. I don’t build any business that will need me from the get go long term.
Q 7. To what do you most attribute your success?
Ans: I see procrastination as an enemy and having studied Kendo and bushido most of my life it has helped me to attack projects furiously and with very little procrastination.
Q 8. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Ans: Well this has been a pain point in my career. We utilize a mixed marketing package of paid advertising, social media, direct response marketing and industry specific platforms. This has yielded the best results.
Q 9. Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?
Ans: We were determined to not seek out outside capital. We bootstrapped all the startup costs and built our business as lean as we possibly could. It’s still how we approach every single project today. We used our retirement funds as well as savings with a resourcefulness mindset and behaviors. We throw experience and knowhow at a project before we ever throw capital at it.
Q 10. What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
Ans: Build your business with a ten year mindset. Many want to build a huge business and do it in two to three years. You’ll burn out well before you even get close to that. Understand you will have to make thousands of decisions along the way {so have principles that guide and support good decision making}.
Q 11. Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
Ans: I see myself happy with the decisions I am making today and the choices I have made both in our company and my personal life.
Q 12. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
Ans: You know, this is such a hard question to answer. I admire some big brands but I also have enormous respect for the “microprenuer” freelancer who has built just a $50k business, has not debt, and can travel the world and live anywhere at will.
So I am sorry. I don’t have an answer for this question because I believe that we can learn from each other. I think a solo fisherman has as much to teach the CEO of a billion dollar company as vice versa.
Q 13. How important have good employees been to your success?
Ans: It has been an important part of our business. We are a people oriented business and finding, and supporting terrific people has always been, and will be a critical business behavior.
Q 14. How long do you stick with an idea before giving up?
Ans: I have a business and personal journal. So lots of ideas get jotted down and 99.99% of those ideas never see the light of day. How long does an idea last? It’s situational like many things entrepreneurial.
Q 15. What motivates you?
Ans: I don’t believe in motivation anymore. I don’t think it’s real. In almost all cases it dissapates. Ask any entrepreneur that’s “made it” and they’ll tell you something similar. I do however believe in drive, adabitility, discipline, and focused execution. I believe winning habits are more important than seeking or staying motivated. The herd thins out very quickly when motivation is gone then you are left with the real work.
When motivation dissipates you start to get distracted and unfocused. As an entrepreneur you gotta love the work more than the feeling of euphoria and excitement. “motivation” ebbs and flows and in my opinion is one of the main reasons why people don’t get the right things done.
But, to kind of answer your question. My family is what drives me.
Q 16. What are your ideals?
Ans: I don’t think about this or pursue perfectionism any longer. Moreover, I focus on living each day purposefully and appreciate the happy moments. I have learned that this brings ideals to life for me.
Q 17. How do you generate new ideas?
Ans: Read. Listen. Learn. Take notes. Observation. Long cycling rides. Spending time thinking.
Q 18. How do you define success?
Ans: Success is so objective. I keep it simple. If my family and I are more happy than stressed then we are in a good place. Creating something special in a business is also a benchmark for me.
Q 19. How do you build a successful customer base?
Ans: Your business has to have and add value, and processes must be in place to drive a great customer experience. I often say that folks should build processes like a big company instead of just thinking big at the onset.
Q 20. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Ans: Helping people live better with our offerings and the total freedom it brings when you break through benchmarks.
Q 21. What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Ans: Getting started.
Q 22. What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
Ans: The reality is entrepreneurship is really, very, very hard. It can and oftentimes breaks people emotionally and financially. I had a successful corporate career leading over $3billion in sales and 7,000 employees by 31 years old. But it came to a head when controlling my time and my career was more important than working for someone else.
As an entrepreneur who’s been on both sides I can tell you there is no going back to working for someone else. I like to have the choices and freedoms that most employees do not often have.
Q 23. What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture?
Ans: We are a people’s first culture. From our team members to customers. I set this tone myself by demonstrating the behaviors and interaction style I expect. We also are guided by our company principles in all our decision making. It’s the old adage of what gets measured, gets done.
Q 24.In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
Ans: Free
Q 25. If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
Ans: Absolutely nothing. All the years of 60/70/80 hour weeks across multiple states, multiple positions, politics, heartaches, and big companies helped me to develop my experience, mold my operating principles, prove processes, and showed me what I was made of. I’ll forever be thankful for that.
Q 26. How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?
Ans: It has dramatically improved my family life. I used to travel 20-25 days per month on average. often working from 6am to midnight. Now I work from home, travel whenever, and work on what is most important for our businesses. I am able to be present with my family and not be concerned about the 300 emails, phone calls, text messages, meetings and a laundry list of “corporate” activities.
It also helps that my spouse of 20 years is absolutely my rock. She is also my business partner and best friend.
Q 27. What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?
Ans: Fear just tells us to be aware situationally and environmentally both professionally and personally. But what I have found that helps abate fear is planning and action. It also took me a long time to realize that most of what we fear never happens. Aside from this I really don’t want to build something professionally that people don’t see value in.
Q 28. How did you decide on the location for your business?
Ans: We have been fortunate to expand our brand across Texas and soon to be a couple other states. Our home is Texas and Texas is very supportive of entrepreneurial endeavors. It was a logical and easy choice for us.
Q 29. Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: No – I do not. You can have guardrails and best practices. But there are several routes you can take to achieve entrepreneurial success. However as you grow your business, you must put processes in place that drive your KPI’s. If you can’t control your business and operationalize it you will struggle to grow.
Q 30. If you could talk to one person from history, who would it be and why?
Ans: Probably my Grandfather on my fathers side. I know it’s not a big name but I have heard that he built many successful businesses, was very beloved, respected, and wise. It would help me understand where my entrepreneurial roots took hold as well as offer insight to my own family history. I’d enjoy a coffee with him if I could – I think I would have loved him dearly.
Q 31. Who has been your greatest inspiration?
Ans: My spouse. The unconditional love and support she gives me inspires me everyday.
Q 32. What book has inspired you the most? (OR what is your favorite book?)
Ans: You mean other than The Lord of the Rings? Man, that’s a really hard question. There are so many. If you are just starting out, the E-Myth is pretty popular, but I have to say The Secrets of Closing the Sale, See You at the Top and Goals by Zig Ziglar have stayed with me for years. Sorry – I read a lot!
Q 33. What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
Ans: You have probably heard this a lot – there are times I didn’t trust my gut and with one business model in particular it hemorrhaged capital. We lost [but won back] $200k in the span of 16 months.
I am also a firm believer that you must release your bottom 7% of poor performers quickly and regularly. I have made the mistake of not firing fast and that has had consequences on organization performance and results.
Q 34. How can you prevent mistakes or do damage control?
Ans: The best way I have found to prevent mistakes is to put processes in place that safeguard against them. You won’t catch them all and you’ll slip up again but they won’t be outright blunders.
Q 35. What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
Ans: My family time comes first. I also love strength training, cycling, kickboxing, running, and various other athletic activities. I read, write, and sometimes just listen to music. sometimes all three at once. I am Also a big movie fan, so if there’s a great movie to watch we make it a movie night.
Q 36. What makes you happy?
Ans: Thats easy. When my family is happy I am happy.
Q 37. What sacrifices have you had to make to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: There were enormous financial investments, time investments and overall the network you are involved with just changes. It was important to recognize true support from friends and family, and say goodbye to some relationships.
Q 38. If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask?
Ans: What would you 10 or 20 years from now tell yourself to focus on? I ask myself this question all the time – it my way of having a time machine.
For more information visit us : https://www.readysetmaids.com/
Company : Ready Set Maids
Address : 19901 Southwest Fwy
City : Sugar Land
State : TX
Zip : 77479
Phone : 832-939-4500
Email : info@readysetmaids.com
