 Rose Buggé Certified Business and Executive Coach President & Owner ActionCOACH Rose interviews business owners each week to learn more about their services and how they are working through COVID-19. Check out their inspiring stories for tips on how to cope with and successfully recover from this pandemic, and learn how to avoid making common mistakes. Be sure to check out special offers from these businesses. We can all use a little extra help right now! Here’s a short interview from local business owner, Jacky Costello with Custom Cleanups where she shares amazing insights into today’s challenges for her business: JACKY COSTELLO Jacky Costello is the founder and owner of Custom Cleanups LLC, a custom cleaning company serving the greater Tampa Bay area since 2014. After beating cancer, suffering unimaginable loss, and moving to Florida she finally found the missing pieces and created a life she didn’t even know she was missing. Through her company’s partnership with Cleaning for a Reason she gives back to others who are battling cancer like she did and through her book (see below), she hopes to inspire others who may be facing similar challenges. For More information, to order bulk copies, or request Jacky to speak about her journey, please email her at authorjackycostello@gmail.com. RB: Who is your target customer? JC: We appreciate all of our clients and of course it doesn’t matter where they come from, but the clients who appreciate us the most are the hard-working, blue collar, military-type. They have to work just as hard for the money as we do, and for that reason they appreciate our work the most. RB: What has been the greatest impact of Covid-19 on your business? JC: When everything shut down in March, we went from being 100% booked solid down to about 30%. Some of our clients lost their jobs, but most of them were just afraid to let us into their home. This lasted for about four to six weeks until slowly we began serving our customers again. RB: What are one or two actions that you took during this time that made a difference? JC: I had “down time” when our business took a dip. Having extra time to reflect and catch up on things that we usually don’t have time for allowed us to focus on things like advertising and marketing strategies and planning. More time to work on the business so we were even more ready to serve our community. RB: It’s been said smart people learn from their own mistakes, but wise people learn from the mistakes of others. What mistakes have you made that could help others learn? JC: The one thing I would recommend to other entrepreneurs is to build up the financial cushion so you can safely and comfortably survive for at least three months. This is what I had and it was a huge blessing for me because knowing that you’re going to be okay will let you sleep at night. RB: What is most inspiring to you today? JC: Right before this virus came along, I published a book which is a memoir titled How Far I Have Risen: Coming Clean About Cancer, God and My American Dream. It’s been inspiring to see how many people are interested in hearing my story. I feel like I’m helping others with trials they are going through, especially right now. I share my story in hopes to help others. I also partner with a nonprofit organization called Cleaning for a Reason. We help cancer patients with free health screenings. Today they have about 1,200 Partners throughout the United States and Canada and it’s a blessing to be able to help them during these most difficult times. |
Business Owners Speak Out!
