More Than A Side Hustle
More Than A Side Hustle
Why Having Options Is More Important Than Quitting Your Job
In this episode, we sit down with Stripe to share our entrepreneurial journey—how we went from a side hustle to multiple seven-figure businesses while working full-time.
We talk about the mindset shifts that helped us scale, the mistakes we made along the way, and why automation has been key to our success. Plus, we get real about balancing business and family life, navigating layoffs, and making sure we always have options.
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to grow, this episode is packed with insights to help you on your own business journey. Tune in now!
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What's going on, guys? Welcome to another episode of the More Than A Side Hustle podcast, where we help 9 to 5ers create more impact, income and influence outside their jobs. We're bringing you a special conversation featuring Stripe. If you guys don't know, stripe is a billion dollar company and we had the privilege of doing an interview with them. From starting our cleaning business while working a full time job to building multiple sevenure businesses while navigating parenthood layoffs and life's curveballs. So we're also about the power of automation, while having options is everything, and how leveraging Stripe has helped us. So if you're an entrepreneur looking to level up or if you're brand new to entrepreneurship, this is for you, so let's tap in.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having us. Jake, appreciate that intro man.
Speaker 3:Glad to have you guys here and appreciate you. You both look incredible, glowing as well. Just wanted to just jump into it as of right now. So, anthony and Janoka, like before, the kids, before the business, before the move to Dallas, can you take us back? Who are you guys and how many businesses are you currently, do you currently are under the Hot Tramoli umbrella, and what types are they? I know that was a lot, but I'll try to remember all of it.
Speaker 2:So my name is Janoka, we are from Brooklyn, new York, we've known each other for I don't know, 20, 25 years, dated in high school, went to college and then got back together after that, and we've now been married for nine years and also have lived in Dallas, texas, for nine years. Originally from Brooklyn, new York, I am a mental health therapist, so I am licensed in New York and in Texas Currently now, though, just a full-time entrepreneur. And what would you want to add? Mother to two beautiful daughters? Absolutely. What would you want to add? A mother to two beautiful daughters? Absolutely. What do you?
Speaker 1:want to add to that. Oh, jake. For my part, I want to say thank you, stripe, and thank you, jake, for the invitation to talk to you guys. We've been using Stripe for almost a decade now in our multiple businesses and it's been instrumental. So when we got the opportunity to have this conversation with the colleagues of Jake, we absolutely jumped at the opportunities.
Speaker 2:Oh, he also asked how many businesses we have right?
Speaker 1:So the Heart Trimony was pretty much a play on our last name. So our last name is HeartZog and our wedding hashtag was the Heart Trimony. H-a-r. You can see it back there, right? So our wedding hashtag was the Heart Trimony. And after the wedding was done this was during the Snapchat phase, when everybody was using Snapchat and they were using these filters and geotags. So we had the brilliant idea to put the hashtag and the geotag as a name when you search for it. So anytime you typed in heart zone and heart trimony, this logo came up. So everybody at our wedding started tagging that and people were like what's the heart trimony?
Speaker 1:And then we moved down to Texas. We actually turned it into a business. We started sharing our journey on social media as we were going through our debt freedom journey, as we were going through. Just going as a newlywed couple from Brooklyn, new York, to Dallas, texas, was a huge transition for us and we started sharing this journey online while we were trying to pay off debt, while we were trying to start these businesses, and the Harchimony became our. I guess you would call it our holding company at this point. But now we have our cleaning business in Dallas, texas. We also have our digital education business. I know Jake said six-figure, but it's actually seven-figure now. We have our digital education business on top of that, and then the content creation business as well, so that includes our podcast that Jake said. Excuse me, that includes our podcast. That includes any sort of interactions we do online. That includes our content creation business and things like that. And then we also have real estate.
Speaker 2:So those would be a few things that work Businesses we have now. We once had a VA business, but we bought it and then sold it.
Speaker 3:So we no longer have that Gotcha Gotcha. So you guys have two seven figure businesses.
Speaker 1:That's on me. I should have done my research. Sorry, you're good, jake, just want to throw that out there.
Speaker 3:Never know where this goes, so touching on the business. So what inspired you to start your first business, the remote cleaning service, and what key strategies did you implement initially?
Speaker 2:So what made us start the business was we were paying off debt. So that's not necessarily part of this story, but that's part of our story. So we paid off $114,000 of debt in 23 months and in order to do that, we were side hustling like crazy and we started a cleaning business. Most of, or all of our ideas come from Anthony, because he's consuming either reading books or podcasts, and I'm either shooting it down or saying yes. So the idea actually came from him to start our cleaning business and we started our debt payoff journey, I want to say in January, and then October is when we October. November is when we launched our cleaning business in 2017.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the reason we went and started some of these things was because we moved from New York. We both had high paying jobs, like you guys are, in tech. I was in tech for 15 years and I pretty much got to the top of the ladder at my tech company and we did IT for hedge funds and private equities. And we moved down to Dallas, texas. We just had a lot of free time.
Speaker 1:It was like all right, we were newly engaged we didn't have any kids at the time Newly married we didn't have any kids at the time and really I started seeing people online talk about paying off debt and things like that. But, honestly, there wasn't many people in our community that were talking about money freely, right? So as I got into more of those communities, I started realizing there are people who look like me, sound like me, from the projects as us. That was someone paying off debt, that was someone raising their income, that was someone making six and seven figures and I said, wait, these people don't know more than me. Why can't we do that?
Speaker 1:So we started sharing our story more and one of the first things we did was start this online cleaning business and when we went into that business, some of the strategies we used was we knew that we didn't want to leave our nine to five jobs because we were pretty much highly paid. It was like, all right, we're going to use everything that we make for my nine to five to help us fund our five to 10, which is our side hustle so that we get to the point when our side hustle does become our main hustle. We have the opportunity to, we have the option to leave whenever we wanted to. Unfortunately, that actually happened. I left my nine to five about three years ago, and I'll let Janoka tell her side of the story.
Speaker 2:So I left my nine to five seven months ago. I didn't leave it, they left me. It was a reduction in force. So two weeks, two, three weeks after having our second baby, I got a call while on maternity leave that we are eliminating your position. I was with the company for nine years and so then that happened and it was like okay, we have these other businesses. Yes, I was upset because I've been there for nine years, so I have some type of connection there. And while I'm on maternity leave we have all these emotions happening anyway. But we did have our cleaning business and other businesses to help us and obviously it's not over. So right now I am a full-time entrepreneur. I want to say I was going to say not by choice, but we've been discussing it for the past like five, six years, as to at what point would one of us leave, and then it became when do both of us leave?
Speaker 1:So it was the push maybe that I needed, that I didn't know I needed just wrong timing essentially, and one of the best things about that happening was because we talk about when you go on our platforms. We never talk about anyone leaving their job. We never say you have to leave your nine to five, you have to start a business, you have to be entrepreneurs. Our biggest thing is that you have to have options. That's the biggest thing. I know you guys have absolute, you guys have striped. It's never going to happen to you and I wish it doesn't happen to you.
Speaker 1:But that day when you walk into your job and they say there's a reduction in force but you're no longer needed, what do you do? At that point? You got to figure something out. So for us, when we started our side hustles, we started at a point where we didn't need the income, so that by the time we did need the income and things were happening. When we got that reduction in force conversation and I told you before it happened that they're about to fire you, because I've fired tons of people when I was at my job, unfortunately as part of my role, but there's some conversations that start happening, but I was like this is going to happen to you soon and let's start preparing ourselves now. So that was the biggest thing, and I think it was a blessing in disguise, because it started to prove that the things that we've been talking about and building over these last couple of years have been helping us. So, jake, I'll pass it back to you.
Speaker 3:That's incredible. I'm very sorry to hear that you were impacted by the reduction of labor at your job, but I'm glad to hear that let's spend more time on the business and with family, essentially like when it started. It was like when you were building this business, there were, there was like, forks in the road or issues that came about. What were like some common mistakes that you encountered while you were building your business or building the entrepreneurship journey, and what advice would you give to others to avoid those pitfalls?
Speaker 2:So this, the cleaning business was our first business ever. So if you can imagine, if there's something you've done for the first time, you can imagine how that went Probably I don't know, overextending yourself with customers and you learn that all money isn't good money but in the moment you just want it all. Or knowing that you need to charge for sales taxes, depending on the state that you live in, depending on the services that you provide, thinking of marketing as an investment versus an expense those are just three things I can think of off the top of my head right now. That are things that we had to learn and adjust. Now, seven, eight years later, I can speak about that freely and try to advise people that are just jumping in, but those are things that I think about it automatically. I don't know if you have anything to add to that.
Speaker 1:No, those are some good ones. I think for me, some of the biggest challenges that we see is that people don't believe it's possible for them. And I'm big into mindset because I think, as the last couple of years I've been big into personal development and the more I talk to people who have nine to five jobs and people who are wanting to do some things outside their jobs and just entrepreneurs, they just don't believe it's possible for themselves and it's just a limited belief. When I worked at my nine to five job, my my boss asked me why do I have so many like jobs outside of my job? Cause I worked at it.
Speaker 1:We worked at a local gym while we were trying to pay off debt. And my boss found out. He's like why are you working at a gym If we're paying you over six figures? And I was like you have to understand. I was like you are limited by how much you could pay me. And I was like I can make as much money as I want outside of my job. And he's like oh, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:But he was like you're making over six figures, like why would you work at a gym?
Speaker 2:And I was like because I can make as much money as I want outside the job and you got free membership.
Speaker 1:I mean, those are the things that made me realize that when you get into these spaces you start to realize there's so much more opportunity out there for you and that was like the biggest thing is getting in different circles and learning what other people were doing and how they were transcending whatever they were doing before that.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you did mention a lot about making sure you have options and in the midst of your debt journey, paying down your debt and working at gyms you clearly had different options. So would you share like a pivotal moment in your journey when you considered giving up, like in terms of the entrepreneurial side, like I could? Just, we both have great jobs and professional people. Why are we doing this and what motivated you to persevere through that challenge?
Speaker 2:So I could tell you exactly where we were. I can see the cars, I can see it all. It was like seven, eight months into the cleaning business. So this is August 2018. So more than that, probably 10 months into the clean August 2018, we're like walking our dog and we're like should we to do this? Things were the summer. Sometimes things slow down with the cleaning business because people travel and then they don't need as much cleanings.
Speaker 2:It felt like money started to get low and there was a lot of headaches with the contractors and people that we work with. And is this even worth it? Do we need to even continue this? So at the time, I think I was more ready than he was to give up and be like, yeah, let's just let it go. We tried it. We said we did it. At least we did it for a certain amount of time. Let's just move on, and I think we should just at least give it.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you said a year or one more month I can't remember which one it was but I think let's go with the month he said let's at least give it one more month. And the next month, which was September, was our highest month ever. So just listening and keeping on for that one extra month which is always hard because you don't know if you keep on, if it's going to keep failing or if it's going to get better you just have to trust and think that you would make changes. So I think us making changes about getting serious about who we're hiring and our hiring process and that type of stuff. Also, people going back to school come end of August, september down here in Dallas help that. So that was a pivotal moment for us. Definitely I think that's when we also hired an accountant because we're like, ok, we're getting money, but we don't know how much we're making and they hired an accountant to like really see the numbers, and that was the change for us.
Speaker 1:And during that time you don't. You learn more about the business as you go along. The game of entrepreneurship, it doesn't ever end. The game of business doesn't ever end. It's just like fitness. You don't ever get to the point where you're like, all right, I'm going to stop working out. You're like I'm in shape, I'm going to stop working out, cause what happens when you stop working out? It's over the game of marriage. There's no end destination. You're like I'm happy, I have to stay happy In business. You have to stay in business, you have to keep going. So these are those long-term games that have no finish line and you just keep going and going. And it sounds sad when you say it out loud, but really these the point of marriage is to stay married.
Speaker 1:The game, with the point of business, is to stay in business and keep things going.
Speaker 1:So those are the times.
Speaker 1:And then when there's a non-tangible part about it, and I just this literally just happened to us last week both of our kids have been sick and our oldest is about to be three years old and she had the flu and she had an ear infection at the same time and she is crying her eyes out, and that morning we just decided to just lay in the bed with her.
Speaker 1:We was like, all right, that first part of the morning we was laying in the bed with her and we were like that's the part of entrepreneurship that there's no tangible part that says, oh my God, you got to make a gazillion dollars. This is the part where this is the part that makes it worth it. We got to lay in the bed with her and we'd have to rush to do anything that we didn't want to do, but that was a part that just reminds you why you keep doing what you're doing Because, like I said, there's no rewards for being the best in the world. We got one plaque back there, but the game is just to keep this thing going.
Speaker 3:Gotcha, Gotcha, yeah. So it's more to entrepreneurship than just oh how much money I can make. It's also like time.
Speaker 2:The freedom of it all Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so peace of mind? That's incredible. So, like during the transition from these were side hustles essentially to full-time entrepreneurship, what were the most like significant mindset shifts that facilitated the change?
Speaker 2:One. I would say we started treating it differently. You treat a side hustle different from a business, essentially. So we knew we had to get VAs in place and managers in place, that type of stuff. So we tried to start treating our business differently. Like I said, we put in that accountant in place, helped us to know where our money was going, coming in and out, doing more education for us as well, like we knew. Even when we hit that roadblock, we knew that the business could work because we saw it working for other people. So it's like why wouldn't it work for us? So that was the thought behind it as well. So reaching out to people in our area that started the business cleaning business along with us, seeing some things that they were doing that were working, and that was a good networking opportunity for us as well.
Speaker 1:I think the way we showed up was different. When we decided to make that change and I think that's the biggest thing that we've been able to, even to this day, like showing up differently, right? So when we had the side, we did it. When we felt like it, it was like, eh, we feel like doing it today, we feel like doing it or not doing it. But when we really started taking it seriously, it was like, after we leave our jobs nine to five or five to ten we're going to work on this on the weekends.
Speaker 1:If we got to go out, we're going to be like, are we going to be late a few hours because we have to work on this? There are some hires that we got to make in our business that we have to turn some things down. We had to say you know what we're not going to travel as frequently. All right, we're not going to go here this weekend. Any bonus we got I think the last two bonuses that I got we took those bonuses that I got from my job and just put them right towards that. Yeah, we could have bought a trip or we could have got a new car and could have did this and the third. But we knew what that focus was during that time.
Speaker 2:Or taking a call from an angry client at happy hour.
Speaker 1:Like you have some things you have to do before you have a VA or somebody in place.
Speaker 2:It's happened a few times.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. The way you show up was way different when you start taking it more seriously.
Speaker 3:Gotcha, it's more on the line now. You both have a background in tech, essentially, so what role has automation played in the success of your businesses and how have you're like and how has that been like consistent when you run like your weekly webinars, and how does it impact your business growth?
Speaker 1:at our jobs. The biggest thing was how are you going to run your business while you have a job? And when we first started, the business wasn't busy enough where it was taking up too much time during the day, and we did get to a point when we were doing a maybe $30,000, $40,000 a month where we were like, okay, we need to hire somebody outside of our jobs so that we could have someone answer the phones and assist us. So the first thing we started with was a virtual assistant. That's what a VA is. We referred to that a few times, but the VA is pretty much anybody that can work from anywhere in the world virtually and help you run and manage your business. So one of those first hires we hired outside of Renown to Five was like a customer service agent, where phones are ringing or emails or the teams had needed assistance. They would reach out to those people so that we could continue to focus at our jobs. And then you get to the point where you have an operations manager. So we hired a full-time operations manager for our businesses and then, in terms of automation, we started learning about different platforms.
Speaker 1:We use Slack a lot in our business.
Speaker 1:You guys heard about some issues today, but we use Slack to manage our teams, all of our teams, across our businesses and any contractor that we work with.
Speaker 1:We have about 10 different channels where we're communicating with them, whether it's on our website, whether it's on marketing, whether it's on sales, whether it's on hiring, so everybody has their own channel in different parts, whether it's on content creation, on whatever it is, everyone has their own channel. We're communicating through Slack. Then we also use something called Basecamp, which is a project management tool. So we used to put all of our documentation, all of our files, where everybody in the companies could go in and just grab those type of things. Now you can put all that stuff in Slack anyway. And then also we created our own platform that helps our students in their cleaning businesses, called TidyTrack, and that now that system now allows them to automate some of the follow-ups. It allows them to do emails, text message marketing for them, and you could even have AI pick up the phones at this point, so you could have someone call your business. Ai could pick up the phone and literally have a conversation with them back and forth and get them the book.
Speaker 3:So those are some of the things that we have in terms of automations and systems that we're using on a daily basis that we have in terms of automations and systems that we're using on a daily basis Wow, that's really impressive, especially using with the advent of AI and utilizing that for your business. The sky's the limit with that. Speaking of automation, I don't know, but there's a company I don't know how do you get paid. I think it's called Stripe. I think you guys use them, so can you share your experience using Stripe as your payment processor? What worked well for you and what do you think Stripe could improve on for you guys, for your business specifically? Never heard of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we use Stripe for our cleaning business and even the platform that we were using ended up changing payment processes like to their own, but we ended up staying with Stripe. So to this day, we still use Stripe. I don't think we've had. The main issue I would say that we've ever had with Stripe is when people request refunds and we provide the proof that they have the cleaning agreed to the cleaning and they said this and they said that and it it's nope, they won. So that's like the biggest issue that we face is like almost, not almost never, but very rarely would we win when it comes to that and we even tell people when.
Speaker 1:This is a live example we had. There was this person in Atlanta who went viral after winning a competition. She had a juice bar and she went viral for winning a competition on best juice or something like that. So on social media she was sharing her posts and me and my friend reached out to us Like, how can we support you? I'm in Texas, you're in Atlanta, how can we support you? You got to be local for me to get the juice to you. I was like no, I just want to give you money. She's how to do that.
Speaker 1:So I was like we told her to set up a Stripe account. I was like, listen, go set up a Stripe account. Have people be able to donate to you, whether it's 5, 10, 15, whatever it is, because people that are not local to you want to support you and this is a way that you could grow your business without having to be focused on just the local market. So she was able to do that and able to collect a couple thousand dollars and she was able to say send voice notes and thank you cards and stuff like that, because people want to support her and we see it all the time, business owners get stuck in that same cycle of especially local business owners. They want to do the Zells, they want to do the PayPals, they want to do the cash apps.
Speaker 1:Our long guy comes every single week and I have to remember to send him a Zell. I'm like, once you leave my house, I've completely forgot about you. So I was like, if you are just able to set up a Stripe link with a recurring payment, every time you come you just charge the card and we'd be good to go. So Stripe makes it so easy for you to go in and launch a business. Not just launch a business get paid for your services without having to set up all these tech backends and automation and things like that. Set up the Stripe link, set up the quick pay and you're able to get paid immediately. So those are things that we tell our students even to this day when it comes to launching businesses, and people just ask for advice on stuff like that. I mean, genova's already talked about the challenges with Stripe, so I won't go back to that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm glad that you're having for the most part, you're having a great experience using Stripe. Of course there's we haven't won yet. There's plenty we could do better for our users. Essentially, so, I'm glad thank you for that feedback and that's appreciate that. So, going forward, I like as the businesses have evolved in and you're moving in the direction you want to, how did you determine the right time to hire additional support, as you mentioned, like using a VA and everything, and what does your current team structure look like?
Speaker 2:so we decided to hire additional support where we felt like we were losing money. So when we were no longer to no longer able to answer the calls right away, then we're losing money because the customer is moving on. So that was easy for us to figure that out. Then, um, I think small business owners or first time business owners, you think that only you can do the thing, which we thought that as well. But we were going to have our first child and we're like, yeah, I am not going to be, I don't even want to speak to, I don't even want to see an angry client. So we need somebody in place to be able to help us manage this as we still grow the business, to be able to help us manage this as we still grow the business. And that's when we put an operations manager in place, when we were like forced to, even though we should have done it before that because she came in and then the next month we had our highest month ever and we were. We had the business for four and a half years by then. Once she came into place, she was able to help us scale.
Speaker 2:So that's just a quick tid tidbit. People always think they need to do it all. So those are some things that kind of forced us to put people in place. Yeah, so would you ask. Another thing you said the structure of the business. Is that the last thing you?
Speaker 6:can ask yeah, so we have a uh, so we have to break it down.
Speaker 1:So we have the educational platform, which is cleaning business university, and then we have our local it down. So we have the educational platform, which is Cleaning Business University, and then we have our local service, cleaning Business itself. Cleaning Business University is our digital platform. We teach beginning entrepreneurs and even any entrepreneur how to start and launch their own cleaning business without cleaning houses. So under that, under that umbrella, we have a full time operations manager.
Speaker 1:Her name is Shanil and she's actually she lives in Jamaica, so full time. And she, shanil, and she's actually she lives in Jamaica, so full-time, and she works with us. She's from, she literally lives in Jamaica, and she actually ran our cleaning business and our virtual assistant business in the past. Under her she has somebody. His name is Kenneth, he's full-time and he's more of a, he's more of an admin for her and he is in the Philippines. He's full-time as well. Then in the actual cleaning business side did I miss anybody on there? And then it's obviously us two. In the actual cleaning business side, we have Shante. She's in Barbados, she's a full-time manager, and under her she has Ella, which is a VA in the Philippines, and then we have team members who go out and actually do the cleaning. So we have about 15 cleaners under them who go out and do the cleanings every single day, and we both foresee both of those businesses. And then, on a content side, we have an ads team.
Speaker 1:We have coaches, we have marketing, there's sales. There's a few different pieces on the content creation side, because that takes a little bit more resources where, while we're here, those things have to still get done. But overall those are like the main structures that would apply here.
Speaker 3:Gotcha, Philippines, Jamaica plenty of options to go on company-wide trips, Absolutely. We've said that we haven't done it, but yeah, this is the final question before we open it up to the viewers. Balancing family life and the business I can only imagine it's challenging. How would you ensure that you maintain your healthy work-life balance and continue to grow your business? And also what's next for the heartrimony from a business standpoint and in life?
Speaker 2:So I guess we'll address the balance part first. The balance part means having a wife that puts her foot down with boundaries, that's how you have it.
Speaker 2:If it was up to Anthony, he probably wouldn't have a healthy balance essentially. But I am very big on put the phone down back and wait. The day is over. We're taking this vacation. That's who I am. That's just. It is what it is, and so that's how we find it. But we also understand that some days there isn't balance. That's just, it is what it is, and so that's how we find it. But we also understand that some days there isn't balance. That's just the truth of it. Some days it is, the priority is work, and then maybe I'm just all in with the kids, and that's okay, cause majority of the time we're able to balance it all. So that's what balance looks like. Sometimes you're not going to always have that 50,50. Maybe it's a webinar day, which is something that Anthony does every Thursday, so he needs time to do that, or maybe it's something else, but that's how we kind of figure things out. What else would you add to that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, those are the main ones, even when we were both at our jobs. Like, my job was pretty demanding. I had about 35 people under me but I made sure that when I was time to vacation I was able to take my time off. But we had to put I had to put my team managers in place so that they knew how to handle things that when I was out. So the same thing, we do the same thing. We did our nine to five to make sure that it happens on the cleaning business side.
Speaker 1:So we're about to go on vacation for about a week or so and our operations manager is going to have to run the businesses while we're gone. So she's been equipped to do and we've trained her so that she could do that, so that we can have that time off. Because we talk about entrepreneurship and it being sexy and all of that stuff. But at the end of the day, a lot of times if you don't work, you don't get paid. So there's no guarantees when you do this thing. So when you're out, you have to worry about it, and for me it's always on my mind. So just because I turn it off physically doesn't mean I can as easily turn it off mentally. Those are some of the challenges that I see, but, like she said, us taking that time off, I've been on vacation with Jacob and I'm on my laptop for a day.
Speaker 3:Right, and you're like bro you got to turn it off.
Speaker 1:I'm like I can't turn it off mentally. It's just, it's a part of me right, and that's to me is where, when you do something that you love, it's hard to turn it off. So you can't turn off loving your kids, you can't turn to loving your wife and you growing something from scratch and seeing where it could go to. That's a part of that's a part of the journey as well, so that would be my part of that.
Speaker 6:Cool, cool.
Speaker 3:Anything in the pipeline, anything you guys are working on for the future.
Speaker 1:So main thing right now, I would say, is growing our education platform, cleanaid Business University. We've had over 2000 students come through that program and they've done over 14 million dollars in their own cleaning businesses, launching in like 42 plus states we just started to toy with, so trying to take that more seriously and see where that could go.
Speaker 1:and then we got two kids and one is turning three now, so that's that's a big part of the journey too, so she's learning how to say no and leave me alone. I need space, and all of that stuff matters thank you both for answering those questions.
Speaker 3:um appreciate that that was very insightful and very helpful for anyone who's interested in that, so I'm going to open it up to any questions from any attendees.
Speaker 5:All right. Thank you guys for sharing your stories. It's been really interesting to listen to and really inspirational. I'm curious how you thought about financing options for your business when you were first getting started. There's things like SBA loans, other types of creative financing you could have explored. But if you could talk about how you balanced, kind of, your goal of paying down debt with the possibility of taking on new debt to fund the business, ah, that's a good one.
Speaker 2:So I don't think that I mean with the cleaning business is such a low cost startup we're talking about $1,500, $2,000 to even get started that I don't think we even explored the SBA loans or getting into more debt.
Speaker 2:I might would have told him no if he said that we're going to go into more debt to start the business, I'd be like what's the logic behind it? But now, the way that I see it and the way that I know that we can pay it back quickly, it's a little different. I would be open to it, but at that time, like I said, because the business is such a low cost startup, that didn't cross our mind.
Speaker 1:And I've seen a lot. Yeah, that's an amazing question. We started the business. Our goal, like you said, wasn't to go on more debt. So we said what point where we understand entrepreneurship, we understand business, so we know we could take out an SBA loan, get a local service business and grow that and use that debt, use that money to income to pay back that debt.
Speaker 1:But when we first started we were like absolutely not. And that's where I see a lot of people, especially like today's age everyone wants to jump into financing and getting loans and stuff. But it's like you haven't ran a business yet and you're talking about going to take out a million dollar loan on a business that you've never even started before on your own. So I think for us it would be. It was a lot more, a lot more grace. When we started the business, we controlled the growth of it, versus us taking out a loan or some sort of financing and buying a business or doing something like that and then being forced in a position we weren't absolutely ready for. But that's a great question, greg, thank you. Anyone else?
Speaker 4:this has been so much fun and so interesting to listen to you talk about your business and your life. Thank you for coming here. Thanks, jake, for organizing this. So I'm just wondering stripe was founded by two brothers, so a different kind of family from a couple that's married and fell in love. But I think, having worked in various places, that you see how the culture of a company is very much shaped by the founders, and how the founders interact with each other and also other people, and how they want the culture to evolve. Do you talk about that? Do you feel like it's just a natural thing that happens? I know it sounds like most of your employees are remote, so maybe like how do you have a culture and what does that feel like? How would you describe it? Do you feel like, oh, you want to maintain it as it is or you want to evolve it into something?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's really important for us. It's not just, yes, they work for us, but it's important that one, that we like them. That's very important. I need to like you if you're going to work for me, since you're so small too.
Speaker 2:One that we like you and that we build a partnership right and that's even important with the cleaners that we work with. I know so many people say why would they work with your company? We're like because we treat them as people. We say happy Mother's Day, we say Merry Christmas, we say and so they're on vacation. They're sending us pictures of them and their kids. They're letting us know. So those type of little touches definitely comes across in our business and how we operate and how we want to continue to operate. It's not just we're the boss and you do what we say. You're the expert in your own right in your field, in what you're doing. Give us the feedback, let us know what you've seen. Let us know what you've seen when you've worked in other places and what makes more sense. Or we asked you to do it this way, but you think that doing it the other way would make sense? Sure, go of it, and we try to encourage that with the people that we work with all the time.
Speaker 1:And when I worked at, when I worked in my previous company, I was one of their we. They grew that company to over 200 employees. I was employee number 12. So when we started, when that company started, there was no principles, there was no culture, there was no HR, and the culture was what grew the business, what kept people there, what attached them to what we were doing. It wasn't something that was on the wall that we read every day. And as we grew and scaled to over, when we got to employee number 50, we started thinking about those things like, oh, these people, it was no longer our internal network, it was friends and friends of referrals and referrals of people who've heard about us. But even so, that culture remained the same. But then you get to a point where you're no longer inside that internal network and those things are important.
Speaker 1:But I think for that company that I work with and also us, it was how you displayed yourself every single day when you came into the business, how you reacted to problems. We had an issue with our operations manager and she was like I was totally comfortable coming to you and telling you about this issue and she didn't delay it. There was, it was like I made this mistake. Here's how I'm doing, here's what I'm doing to rectify it. Do you have any questions? And I was like, oh, that's what culture became and that's what it is. So she didn't hesitate, she didn't wait. A t-shirt, it just. I think it happens organically. But at your company size you may have to put it on the wall, put on t-shirts and say like the American flag every single day. But I think when you're such a small company it's easier to display your company morals as you are interacting every single day.
Speaker 6:Okay, that's a great one.
Speaker 1:Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 5:Yeah, another one just occurred to me. I joined right around when you mentioned moving from Brooklyn to Texas. I'm from New York as well. I grew up in Staten Island. Were you even considered starting your own business, or did you proactively choose to move to a lower cost state or lower cost state? And I'm curious if you would, if you could have seen yourself going through the same steps and the same journey while still living in New York, or if moving was a key part of making that possible.
Speaker 2:So our life would absolutely look different if we were in New York. Absolutely, absolutely. So when we moved here, we essentially just moved for his job and we didn't pay off debt. We didn't talk about anything when it came to businesses or anything like that. We always say that if we were still living in New York, we probably wouldn't have paid off debt, because there would be no reason to get uncomfortable Like we were here in Dallas by ourselves, no friends, no family. Right At home, all of our family, all of our friends are still there. Yeah, I'm not working a side job at the gym, I'm going to brunch on Saturday. I'm sorry that's not happening. Right, those things aren't happening. So our life would absolutely look differently if we stayed in New York. I don't think we would have a business. I honestly don't think we would have paid off debt either.
Speaker 1:I don't know what you would say. Yeah, I totally agree. I think a lot of the mindset shift, a lot of the mindset changes, had to come from us leaving our environment. Yeah, if you're in the same environment every single day, doing the same exact things, where do you think the change is going to come from? It's not going to come from anywhere unless you are extremely responsible for looking for that change. When we came in diligent about that, when we came to Texas, we were already. We already changed our environment. So it was a lot easier for us to change our mindset when we came here to look for different things to do. So that's the biggest thing when you're able to change your environment, it's going to be a lot easier to change your mindset.
Speaker 6:Yeah, Hi, thanks again for giving us your time. This has been really helpful. I wanted to take a second to ask a question about how you all use Stripe and apologies if you already walked through this because ironically, I was trying to move out of my cleaning people's way. I was like on camera, off camera but I wanted to have hear you all talk about how. I heard you talk about how the if you had any feedback. It's on how Stripe handles disputes where people users, customers dispute their processes. But like, how do you keep track of your Stripe account? Are you actively day-to-day going into the dashboard? Are you waiting for your notifications on your mobile app? I ask this question selfishly because I support the teams that service. The services are the dashboard and the mobile app. But I also want to make sure that we are aware we Stripe are aware of how Black users that you all represent all Black users, but how Black users engage and interact with their Stripe products. So can you say a little bit more about that?
Speaker 2:So I would say that I think when we first started we were living in Stripe it would be on the screen all day, every day. So you see the interactions and stuff coming in. Now that we've been in the business a bit longer, it's not as often for us, more our operation manager may be going in. We obviously get the email alerts, and so that always still feels good.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you, even if it's $50 coming over versus $2,000, it feels amazing to see that alert that it's about to hit your account, and then also our accountant goes into it a lot to to pull for our PNLs as well. So I wouldn't say that we look into it as much as we used to, but we still. At least twice a week our operations manager is in it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the way we use Stripe when we first started so we use it for a few businesses.
Speaker 1:So number one is a cleaning business, but then also number two is the digital education platform as well. In the cleaning business side, we want to see how many people are on a recurring plan so we can see our MRR over time, which is we always want to see that number. Also, disputes were very important. One thing we weren't doing were failed payments. So we set up a zap that whenever there was a failed payment inside of the platform, we would get a message inside Slack or email saying there was a failed payment for us to reach out to them, and it made our lives a lot easier versus waiting for the failed payment to go through on Stripe. So our dashboard wasn't if I logged in now it's probably just revenue over time monthly recurring income, daily income, failed payments and subscription payments were the main ones.
Speaker 1:And then sometimes remembering products that we've sold in the past, remembering products. So when we go back and look at the discovery dashboard on any previous service or product we offered in the past. But I don't have have stripe on my phone to look at the notifications because it become it was. I didn't want to see the payments all day, so I got my email set up for that. I don't have the notifications and I also don't have the app on my phone. I use it from the desktop perspective and I'm probably the one that was in it the most when we first started. So just the desktop was good for me. I didn't need the mobile and I didn't need notifications. I know some people liked that, but it wasn't. It was like all right, it's too much.
Speaker 6:Thank you both.
Speaker 3:No problem, and you guys use the platform too, right, was it Kajabi? Yeah, we use Kajabi. Okay, for one of the other businesses.
Speaker 2:For the course we have. Our Clean and Busy University is held on Kajabi.
Speaker 1:Our course is on there, okay, the digital side of things. And then we also had we had our payments going through strike for that one too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, impressive uh. Is there any other questions for the heartrimoni?
Speaker 4:I just want to ask a quick. I'm also a new yorker and I'm thinking I've lived out in california for 20 years. I would love to go back to new york, but are you thinking you'll eventually go back to new york, or I?
Speaker 5:would go back, but uh he absolutely wouldn't go back to New York.
Speaker 2:But are you thinking you'll eventually go back to New York? I would go back, but he absolutely wouldn't go back. I would go back, simply like I said, our friends and family are there, even though they visit us down here all the time. But I know he's like the amount of space is just you can't get that in New York, which is absolutely true. But yeah, I would and he wouldn't, are?
Speaker 1:you in California currently? Yeah, okay, yeah, I would stay in California, I wouldn't go back. I would stay in California. I'm not going back to New York. The amount of people, the yes, it was just.
Speaker 1:I think the lifestyle adjustment was difficult at first, but now I won't say it was difficult, it was different. I don't want to say difficult, it was different. But I think when we got down here, we got settled and we were like listen, you got your own space, you got your own yard, you get to. There's no beating that.
Speaker 1:And her father actually is born and raised in New York, but he's lived in Miami for the past maybe two decades or something. He was always used to tell us you guys got to get out of New York, you got to get out of New York, you got to experience something different. You have to live somewhere else, because our lifestyle in New York, when you think about it as a whole, it's not normal living. So when you wake up in the morning, you are going on an underground train where you're on it with thousands of people, you're compact, you can't move. It is just not normal.
Speaker 1:People doing things on the train they shouldn't be doing you. People doing things on a train. They shouldn't be doing. You shouldn't have to be exposed to that every single morning. You don't realize it because you're like, oh, just New York, this is what we do. But when you leave and you think about it, you shouldn't have to see somebody on a train urinating. It's like things you shouldn't see on a daily basis. Yeah, what New York has is I love New York summers destination and not to live for me. Yeah, Thanks.
Speaker 1:Okay, stay in Cali. I want to go back to New York, thank you.
Speaker 3:Anything else? Anyone else have any other questions for the Hachimoni? Certainly, business, life, entrepreneurship, whatever comes to your mind. I think we're good. Yeah, you're pretty good, janoka. Anthony, thank you so much for your time and taking out. I know you guys are incredibly busy. We have two kids running around and I just want to let you know, on behalf of Black Stripes as well as Stripe, that we appreciate your time and glad to have you.
Speaker 1:We're still. We're about to be 10 years into marriage and people were able to follow us from before we even started our engagement journey. As we go through life, we've just been sharing it on social media good, bad, ups downs, indifferent, business, entrepreneurship. So feel free to check us out in any way, shape or form.
Speaker 3:Thank, you both and thank you. I'd like to thank everyone who attended as well.