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: Eh! Maids is a house cleaning business servicing Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga, Barrie and other areas throughout the Greater Toronto Area.
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: After high school I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, while working a construction job I spent every spare minute reading on how to be a successful business owner.
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: It was a combination of events in my life, growing up in a lower income neighbourhood gave me significant drive to break out and be financially free. Next was meeting my wife and her family, they are successful business owners, becoming one of the largest corrugated sheet plants in North America. Finally, a book given to me by my brother in law called Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiosaki layed was a huge inspiration for me to start a business. All of these combined, the reason, the proof and the roadmap, were my inspirations to start a business,
The idea for house cleaning came from a friend that I was working with at the time who owned a cleaning company and helped me get started.
Q 4. What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Ans: Do something every day, small tasks and improvements will make a huge difference in the long term.
Reward yourself with attainable milestones.
Do not cheap out on marketing, it will end up costing your business more.
Q 5. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: Patience
The ability to listen to feedback, even if it is negative.
Money management, when to cut expenses, when to take on more.
Q 6. How many hours do you work a day on average?
Ans: 12 Minimum, in the growing stage of my business it was not our of the norm to work 15-18 hours.
Q 7. To what do you most attribute your success?
Ans: The desire to be financially free
Q 8. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Ans: All of my marketing efforts are online, SEO has been my biggest success, driving customers to my website.
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: All of my funding was from my own pocket, working a day job and putting every penny into growing my business.
Q 10. What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
Ans: Consistency, making small improvements everyday.
Q 11. Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
Ans: I see myself doing what has always worked best for me, making small daily improvements. I would like my business to grow beyond Ontario and be a respected service throughout all of Canada.
Q 12. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
Ans: Gerrity Corrugated, my in laws business, they are able to spoil their employees with monthly lunches, seasonal clothing, bonus’s, and many other perks, and in return the employees are happy and give 110%.
Q 13. How important have good employees (contractors) been to your success?
Ans: Great contractors have been a game changer for the success of Eh! Maids, it took a while and some really fine filtering, but once we found a few good cleaners we were able to really focus on growing the business, and keeping the cleaners busy with an above average pay.
Q 14. What motivates you?
Ans: My family, they have made many sacrifices in order for me to pursue my goal in becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Q 15. What are your ideals?
Ans: For my business to be recognized as one of the best service providers in Canada, while giving back to the community.
Q 16. How do you generate new ideas?
Ans: I mindmap using a whiteboard, starting with the idea in the middle and then brainstorming everything related to the idea, usually over the course of a week or so. After some time the idea will start to either look like it is worth pursuing or not.
Q 17. How do you define success?
Ans: Financial freedom, with time during the day to do the things I want to do.
Q 18. How do you build a successful customer base?
Ans: By providing a fantastic service, packed with benefits.
Q 19. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Ans: Being able to provide people with an income, and giving back to the community.
Q 20. What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Ans: This year we received a brand award, after rebranding 3 times this was a huge relief, knowing that all of the changes that we made over the years were for the better.
Q 21. What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
Ans: Entrepreneurs feel the pain, in your heart and stomach, when you received negative feedback. It is a pain that know employee will experience working for someone else.
Q 22. 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 fairly close team, very family like, we do our best to help out our cleaners and staff with issues inside & outside of work, in return they do a fantastic job and keep the customers happy.
Q 23. In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
Ans: Engrossed
Q 24. If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
Ans: I would put more time and money into a proper SEO team instead of trying to get half results with half the cost.
Q 25. How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?
Ans: At the beginning, it was not easy, it took away a lot of time that could have been spent with family, it is not easy, and becoming an entrepreneur should not be a decision made without a family discussion.
Q 26. What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?
Ans: Having to close down my business and leaving the people who depend on the income out of work. I manage by doing whatever it takes to keep business coming in and to keep everyone busy.
Q 27. How did you decide on the location for your business?
Ans: Population, the more people the more opportunity.
Q 28. Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: do, although it isn’t a straight line to the finish, I believe there are some standard guidelines that could be followed to be a successful entrepreneur.
Q 29. If you could talk to one person from history, who would it be and why?
Ans: Napoleon Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich. It is a fantastic book, and I would love to pick his brain to master the principles the book is based on.
Q 30. Who has been your greatest inspiration?
Ans: It would have to be a tie between my father in law and my father, they are both extremely hard working individuals, and take care of everyone around them.
Q 31. What book has inspired you the most? (OR what is your favorite book?)
Ans: Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Q 32. What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
Ans: Trying to go cheap with my marketing and expecting results.
Q 33. How can you prevent mistakes or do damage control?
Ans: Extensive due diligence! I had to learn the hard way, but asking for previous results or references before having anyone associate with my business is a must.
Q 34. What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
Ans: I love spending any free time I get at the gym and at the cottage. They are both great for bringing down stress levels, and getting some family time in.
Q 35. What makes you happy?
Ans: When my family is happy and my business is growing.
Q 36. What sacrifices have you had to make to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: Years of family time as well as many paychecks used to grow my business.
Q 37. If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask?
Ans: Is it worth it?
Absolutely!
Company Detail:
Company : Eh! Maids House Cleaning Service Mississauga
Address : 2 Robert Speck Pkwy #1750
City : Mississauga
State : Ontario
Zip : L4Z 1H8
Country : canada
Phone : +1 647-689-6110
Email : hello@ehmaids.ca
