May 15, 2017

Meet Jacqueline Barney of Neat Freaks Home Cleaning Service in Alpharetta

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacqueline Barney.

Jacqueline, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I left Corporate America many years ago to have children. Last year in 2016, I decided that I wanted to work again as I was bored being home all the time and my son Landen was old enough to stay home by himself for a few hours. I approached several companies and was told that I’ve been out of the workforce to long. It was a reality slap to hear that I was not the ideal candidate that I once was.

It was at that point when I thought I would start my own business. Now I just had to figure out what type of business? What would I be good at? I gave this question a lot of thought before it hit me like a train. I’ll start a home cleaning business. Everyone who has stepped into my house would ask “how do you keep your house so clean”? Or,” you need to come over and clean my place”.

Neat Freaks was introduced to the public in May of 2016 at the Taste of Alpharetta which is a yearly event that attracts thousands of people. Long story short, we did not attract thousands of people but had a good turnout all in all. Building Neat Freaks was a slower process than I thought but I am very happy with where we are at a year later. Having wonderful customers who are happy with our work definitely helps when it comes to referrals along with our website and social media.

Has it been a smooth road?
Having a business has its fair share of struggles. Obtaining a business license from the state and city along with getting business insurance was simple. Finding customers and employees was not so simple. I thought it was going to be easier, I really did. We had a booth at the Taste of Alpharetta, I had a professional website and I went around to the different neighborhoods and left either a magnet or a gift bag with Neat Freaks information. All of that really did not generate much business. So now I had to hire a company to help my website get more hits when people searched home cleaning companies. I also had to start relying on social media which was foreign to me as far as promoting Neat Freaks.

Hiring employees is difficult because I have very high expectations. In the home cleaning business, I truly believe you have to because there is not “mediocre”. Every customers home has to be perfect. And what is perfect to one person may not be perfect to another. You have to learn what makes each customer happy and not everyone understands that or worse, might not care.

So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Neat Freaks Home Cleaning Service story. Tell us more about the business.
Neat Freaks Home Cleaning Service provides residential cleaning only. Neat Freaks is not a franchise and is locally owned. We offer different packages such as Whole Home Cleaning to Single Room Cleaning along with Move In/Move Out Cleaning and Spring Cleaning. We do not have to visit a person house to determine pricing and can provide a quote immediately by phone or email.

Neat Freaks is a “green” company and uses all natural cleaning products instead of harmful chemicals. What makes Neat Freaks unique is that we don’t just use any “all natural” or “organic” cleaners like the competition, we only use Mrs. Meyer’s all natural cleaning products which can be purchased at stores like Target or online at Amazon. Our customers know exactly what we are cleaning with because Mrs. Meyer’s has different aromatherapy scents which you cannot disguise. We offer Lemon Verbena, Lavender and Basil which leave your home smelling clean and safe from chemicals.

Having the same cleaning crew all the time really makes our customers happy. I also go out and clean which surprises everyone at first.

What makes me most proud of Neat Freaks is the relationship we have built with our customer and that they are happy with our service. Without them (and their referrals), Neat Freaks would not exist.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I only see this industry growing in the next 5-10 years. More and more people are moving to Atlanta and the surrounding area’s every year. There are so many new homes being built on top of all the existing ones. People want to enjoy their time with family and friends after working all week and the last thing they want to worry about is finding the time to clean.

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