Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenna Tamayo
Hi Jenna, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
7 years ago, I was on a career path climbing up a corporate ladder that was stable, but unfulfilling. I looked around and realized that I didn’t want to work hard to be promoted to a more stressful position and have less time to spend with my loved ones. I was working so much to help provide for my family, that I never had any time to enjoy my family. I decided to start doing what I knew and loved the most, cleaning houses, and started a residential cleaning company. Not knowing where I was going to end up was scary, but missing out on my children’s childhood was even scarier. I let my boss know that I was going to try something new but would keep working as long as I could while I grew the business on the side.
I tried to start slowly and advertised in my off time, but after a couple weeks of handing out flyers, I had to quit my full-time job to be able to handle the appointments. A month later, I had to hire my first employee to fit all the appointments I was getting on my schedule. By the end of the year, I hired my first manager to help me with the other employees and growing client list. Since this was my first time starting a business, I’ve tried to grow as organically as I can, but I’m proud to say how far we’ve come. 7 years later we have 30 employees and 500 recurring clients that we help make sure enjoy their time and have grown to include commercial and carpet cleaning. We help those in need with free cleanings in our community and especially close to my heart is a program we started that gives back every year to non-profits.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I wouldn’t say that the entrepreneur road is smooth, far from it, but it’s certainly worth trying. There are struggles every day you must face as a business owner simply because you don’t know what you don’t know. What helps me get through a tough situation is to prepare and know it will happen, it’s just a matter of when, and to pay attention to the lesson on what to do next time so I don’t repeat the same mistake.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What sets our company apart from others, and what I’m most proud of, isn’t how much Appalachian Maid Services has grown. It’s our AMS CARES program that I created in 2024; it stands for Community Assistance Reaching Everyone Sponsorship. I started it to help empower our employees to give back to non-profit organizations in our community that they care about and amplify the impact we can make together to help our neighbors. It starts when our techs vote on which 12 non-profits they want to highlight throughout the year. Then each organizations’ logo goes on the back of our work shirts to help amplify their message and our clients can see which non-profits they support by hiring us. We give them each a “sponsorship” donation for allowing us to use their logos for the year, and then highlight a different organization every month on our social media platforms. This program took a while to get off the ground, but it was worth the wait, and it allows us to help the most people in our hometown. I hope that this program will inspire other entrepreneurs across the nation to create their own CARES program and highlight the reach that small businesses can have.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I don’t consider myself a risk taker, but I feel like risk is mostly a mindset. A lot of decisions that people consider to be risky, are simply situations that they are unprepared for. It’s only risky if I don’t know and have no control over the outcome. As long as I can educate myself and keep making decisions along the way to make sure I stay on the right path, then there’s almost no risk. Even if it doesn’t turn out the way you wanted, you’ll learn a lesson and be more prepared for the next situation, so it’s still a win.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://appalachianmaid.net
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AppalachianMaid
