Today we’d like to introduce you to Iris Martinez
Hi Iris, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve been working in the cleaning industry since I was in high school, I remember starting my shift at 7:00pm and I would clock out around 2:00am. It was definitely a challenge trying to juggle school and work especially with having 4 hours of sleep. What kept pushing me was my mom, I wanted to help her as much as possible, especially since she was a single mom of 2. I’ve always worked with many different companies, I learned many cleaning techniques for offices, car dealerships, schools, and homes. In all my work, I had always found myself organizing different areas, which wasn’t included in the job but it was something that I really enjoyed and I would receive very special messages from the clients.
When I was about 21 years old, I was working on just homes fully. I worked with a woman that had her own cleaning business. While being with her I wanted to learn as much as possible because I dreamt of having my own business someday.
She loved having me around, I always went above and beyond for her and her clients. Our job was to just leave everything (personal items) as it was and just clean the main areas but I couldn’t help myself and I would always end up organizing their items. While being in the homes, I focused on the small little details, for example on what items were being used the most and that would depend on how I would organize them, just to make their everyday life routine easier.
It wasn’t until about 3 years ago, when I started meeting business owners, I got so inspired by them. I would reach out to them to ask for advice or tips on how to start my own. Aside from them taking the time to teach me, they would always motivate me and push me out of my comfort zone, thats when OceanSide Home Organizing went from a thought to coming to real life. I started by making flyers and door hangers and I would pass them out in different neighborhoods, doing and trying everything to get my name out there, all while still taking care of my baby and having a full time job. My life took a turn and I was in a dark place, my job got involved in my personal life and that caused me to get fired. Even though I was going through so much, having a little boy that fully depended on me, I never gave up, I took that as more motivation to keep going until I got my first client. Slowly but surely, everything started to fall into place and I started growing little by little.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road but one thing for sure, I’m truly blessed and grateful for everything that I went through.
Some of the struggles that I’ve gone through is funding for my business. As a single mom, I really had to learn how to budget, keep my expenses for my business low while still trying to provide for my child.
Transportation was a big one, I didn’t have a car so my only way of getting around was the public transportation or walking. I remember waking up my son so early in the morning, trying to get him to daycare and for me to make it on time to my clients’ homes, carrying all my big bags full of organizers from one bus to another.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
OceanSide Home Organizing specializes in making your day to day life routine easier. We organize everything from closets, pantries, laundries, even cabinets/ drawers. Juggling life, work and even kids can be hectic and stressful, our job is to make everything more accessible and with ease.
What sets us apart from others is that we’re customer – oriented and we organize around the clients wants and needs. Attention to detail is very important to us, we like to learn more about the clients lifestyle, what would make their life simpler and even their aesthetic in their homes. Not a lot of companies offer a cleaning service but we do. We scrub before we organize.
Not only do we offer all home organizing but we also declutter storages, garages and basements. We also offer home cleaning, weekly, biweekly, monthly, one-time, move-in/ move-out deep cleaning.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
No matter what you go through in life, let your dreams and goals be bigger than that. Don’t let the negative comments or thoughts get to you, use that as a motivation to continue to do more for yourself and always surround yourself with positivity.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oceanside_home/
