As we close in on another anniversary of being in business, it’s always a time of reflection. And, even though it’s time to celebrate our 24 year anniversary; it’s a great time to talk about our “10 Year Turnaround". 

Let’s rewind the tape to May 2016…everything seemed normal in my life. 
The key word here is “seemed”; and it was anything but normal. 

From the outside, everything appeared great. 
My oldest son, Brad, was preparing to graduate from JMU with a degree in finance. 
My middle son, Andrew, was having a once-in-a-lifetime season in which his high school lacrosse team was undefeated and on their way to a state title. 
And, my youngest, Ava, was enjoying the good-life of being a 7 year-old in a world full of wonder. 

Thanks to my wife, Vickie, and my kids…THIS part of my WAS normal and everyone was thriving. 

But my work-life…not so much. 
Although the business was celebrating our 14th anniversary, we weren’t in good shape…and things weren’t “normal”.  And to be completely honest with myself, I was miserable. 

This was after a period of time in which our growth had flat-lined, and my business partner and I were having a tug-of-war on how to effectively run the business.  Ultimately, we found ourselves in a situation in which he had a quick, unexpected departure from the company. 
 
And now…almost overnight, I was 100% in the ‘driver’s seat’ of the business…which was refreshing and exciting. 
But we were close to $1 Million in debt with money owed to banks, suppliers, investors and the good old IRS. 
This was definitely not ‘normal’, and it was fairly daunting. 

It was a reality check, and a gut-check! 

I was 48 years old with an amazing family, a beautiful home, and I had to figure out how to keep it all together. 

Luckily running a business involves a lot of math, and everything can be represented on spreadsheets.  And, remember…Math doesn’t lie! 

I would spend hours looking at growth-based projection models; I would run multiple scenarios to see how the numbers changed based on growth rates. 

The math told me that if I could execute modestly, we could be out of debt in less than 5 years. 

And once we got to positive territory, then I could truly start enjoying the fruits of my labor. 

That was May 2016, and we called this new era, CleanOffice2.0.  

We even had CleanOffice2.0 T-shirts made, and had a happy-hour celebration to kick-off the next chapter of CleanOffice2.0. 

At the time, I thought it was important to ‘own’ the situation and to make sure our team understood the circumstances and knew the challenges and goals that lay ahead. 

It was at this exact period of time, that I became fully engaged in BSCAI; our industry trade association.  It was also the start of my experience in an industry peer group. 

For this first time ever, I had peers (buddies) who I could lean on to share my experience, and receive honest, constructive feedback on how to navigate the company going forward. 

This was the start of a 10-year journey.  Month-after-month we chipped away at debt. 

We invested in stronger team members, and I carefully built a trusted management team that understood our vision and mission. 

As a team, we set goals and objectives, and then we worked like hell to make them reality. 

In 6 years, we doubled the size of the company; and now 4 years later, we have almost doubled again. 

We are now a strong, regional company that generates well over $20M in annual sales while supporting close to 600 team members. 

We have 3 operating divisions, that are independently successful and provide best-in-class service to 300 client sites. 

The debt that once seemed like an ominous mountain is now just a memory in our rear view mirror. 

And, now we can really act normal, because things are normal. 

In fact, things are a lot better than ‘normal’; we are truly having FUN! 

Writing these thoughts and sharing part of my journey is really cathartic.  And, I owe many thanks to many people: 

• My entire CleanOffice Family and my senior leadership team:  Heather, Rene, Norma, Josh and Paul 

• My BSCAI Peer Group peeps:  Brad Klein and Steve Shuchat 

• The entire BSCAI staff, Board members, and the hundreds industry connections that are dear to me 

• Our Clients & Industry Service Partners, many of whom have become trusted friends and confidantes 

• And my Family…Vic…Brad…Andrew…Ava…you were always there for me and, you loved me even when we were on the brink of disaster.   
  Truth be told…I don’t think I ever told them how bad things were…whoops!