WS Chronicle

One of the things that holds many future business owners back is the fear of leaving their regular 9 to 5 jobs and putting their entire financial livelihood in their own hands. During the pandemic, that choice has become even more difficult.

Lakesha Holiday, owner of JBL Cleaning and Organizing Solutions, recently quit her job to explore the advantages that entrepreneurship has to offer. It initially started off as just a side hustle for Holiday, but as the weeks progressed, she soon realized that the only way that her business could reach its full potential was for her to leave her permanent job.

“I was laid off and during the time of me being laid off during the pandemic working at the daycare, I was consequently unable to take care of financial responsibilities that I had,” said Holiday. So, I got behind on bills and I also found myself at a point where I was very mentally tapped out at the end of the workweek, working at the daycare.

“I knew that I wanted to make additional income, but because I was so literally exhausted on Fridays to do anything, with the little bit of time that I did have to myself, I didn’t want to get another traditional job, even if it was part time.  

Holiday said she brainstormed about different ways that she could make additional income. Following a conversation with her mother who told Holiday about how she used to clean houses when she was younger, an idea began to form.

“Something just clicked, and it was like a light bulb came on for me to start cleaning,” Holiday said about how she came up with the idea. “It was never my intention to make it into a business, but more of a side hustle; something I did on the weekends or in the evenings until I met my goal of $2,000 by June 30.”

Things took off quickly for Holiday. In her first 30 days, she grossed just under $4,000, while also working a full-time job. She credits God for giving her the strength to work full time and also complete her cleaning jobs at the same time. 

“Honestly speaking, it was nobody but God that helped me and gave me that supernatural strength to get that done,” she said.  “I was getting off work from the daycare and going straight to cleaning jobs and not getting home until one, two or three o’clock in the morning, just to be back at the daycare the next day.

“I was cleaning houses on the weekends, even on Sundays, literally having only a few hours to myself before it was time to go back into the work week. It took off really fast and by the second month, I found myself contemplating putting in my two weeks’ notice, which I did two and a half months after starting.”

Holiday wanted to emphasize that she was treated great by the staff and management of the daycare center, but just felt “unhappy and unfulfilled” with how things were going in her life at the time.  

“I was just unhappy because I knew there was more in Lakesha,” she said.  

Holiday stated that her pastor prophesied to her last year that she would have to decide about keeping her full-time job or focus on the business she built and that thought resonated with her throughout the decision process. She stated she was making a lot of money cleaning part time and thought about what she could make if she focused 100 percent on her business, so that’s what she chose to do.

After leaving her full-time job, Holiday felt she had made the wrong decision, because she did not receive a phone call to do any cleanings for nearly two weeks. She second-guessed herself, thinking she had stepped out too soon.

“I just really had to calm myself and really tap into the faith that I said I had as a Christian and a faith believer, that everything would work out fine,” she stated. “Once I began to reassure and reaffirm myself of that truth, I guess God said, ‘Since you have calmed down, the calls can start coming in again.’”

One of the biggest benefits of being her own boss is the ability to set her own schedule, Holiday stated. She says having the flexibility to spend time with friends and family and the ability to take vacations and not have to worry about taking days off is a big bonus.

“I love being able to set my own schedule,” she said. “The flexibility and freedom that I have to set my schedule how I want to is a great feeling.”

Holiday recommends that people with business ideas should “start with what you have” and not worry about having everything in place immediately. She says she began her business with the cleaning products she already had in her home.

Holiday has a strong faith in God. She gives most, if not all, of the credit to Him for allowing her business to flourish so quickly. “There would be no process, it literally wouldn’t, without Him,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I literally feel God telling me that ‘the only way you can fail is if you allow it.’”

Even though her business has been very successful, Holiday says it was never her dream to have a cleaning business. The ideal situation for her would be to continue building the business over the next few years and then sell it to fund other ventures that she would like to explore.  

Holiday didn’t have to look far to find clients when she started her business. She reached out to family and friends to see who may be in need of her services and worked off of their referrals afterwards.

“I sent out a text message to like 42 or 43 people,” she said. “It was just going to be for family and friends and I sent them a mass text message in April saying, ‘Hey, this is Kesha and I have a goal to make $2,000 by June 30 and I would love to have your help and this is how you can help me.’”

Holiday says she charged $55 to clean people’s houses to start with. She says she received a lot of responses from that text and then began posting the before-and-after pictures of her work.

“I literally had nothing but God and before-and-after pictures, referrals, and people posting, and it just kept building and building upon that,” she continued.

She is very thankful for the individuals that allowed her to come into their homes and clean and then refer her to other individuals. She wanted to give a special thank you to Loir Poag and Ebony Carter for their assistance in her journey.

For more information on JBL Cleaning and Organizing Solutions, please visit www.jblcos.com/booking, email jblcosolutions@gmail.com, or call 336-355-7306. Holiday stated that JBL does travel throughout the Triad area and beyond.