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THE STORY BEHIND HOME CLEAN HOME
For a shy boy who saw a room with people as inviting as a tunnel of sharp spikes, choosing a career that focused on regular contact with people was unthinkable. Samuel Mejía Olivieri grew up on the outskirts of San Juan, Puerto Rico. He spent much of his youth accompanied by his No. 2 pencil—constantly drawing from his imagination—and his BMX bike. When he was 16 his family moved to Georgia and settled in North Decatur. He studied mechanical drafting at DeKalb Technical Institute (presently Georgia Piedmont Technical College).
In the mid-1990s, after three years of volunteering for a nonprofit educational organization in upstate New York, he formed a family of his own and settled in Jersey City, New Jersey. While supporting his wife and baby girl, he learned important lessons from two very different lines of business. These seemingly unrelated industries would have an impact on Home Clean Home's service years later. |
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By 1996, Samuel was a delivery driver for Coffee Associates, Inc., a coffee-roasting company serving restaurants, coffee shops and bodegas in New York City and the tri-state area. He says, "It's never a good idea to trifle with New Yorkers and their coffee. I learned that being timely with deliveries was key to ensuring customer satisfaction. Being honest and well-mannered with people will set you apart, that's the way I was brought up. Most customers will appreciate you when you treat them fairly and decently." In time, Samuel was promoted to Assistant Plant Manager where he was responsible for loading an 11-van fleet, manage inventory and other tasks. His time at Coffee Associates taught him the value of always staying a step ahead of the schedule and the business' needs.
In 2000 Samuel was hired by Bell Atlantic just weeks before it transformed into telecommunications giant Verizon. Working in the sales and service department, his job at Verizon focused on pushing the dawn of "fiber-to-the-premises", a new kind of installation where fiber-optic cables were spooled out across residential streets and directly into homes. For Samuel, a typical day was spent engaging with customers from 8 states in English, Spanish and even some Portuguese; listening, asking questions and closing sales of FiOS (fiber-optic service) across the New York metropolitan area and the mid-Atlantic region. Helping a customer required navigating seven software systems on two screens while engaging with other departments. On each phone interaction, after first resolving the customer's issue, a 25-point (or more) checklist with specific statements, questions, offers and disclosures were required to be included in a friendly conversation that should not exceed 14 minutes. With recorded calls, any missed point or opportunity would negatively impact your score on the call. As with any large enterprise, a recurring frustration was how top-level decisions were handed down to employees without a full understanding of the customer-service environment. After 14 years at the company, Samuel says, "There is a tendency among corporate leadership to over-rely on the bird's eye view of the business with technical metrics and PowerPoint slides. While these tools are valuable, there are dynamics that can't be appreciated from the bird's eye view alone. When top management doesn't engage directly with customers, their view of customer service will have blind spots. Blind spots will impact their smaller decisions. More significantly, however, bias toward corporate interests will strongly impact their bigger decisions."
Samuel learned how top management's lack of engagement at the "ground level" is detrimental to the customer and employee experiences. This taught him that a bird's eye view is not necessarily the conclusive perspective on any matter. He says, "A bird may fly high and enjoy a great view from above. That view grants it a privilege. But spending time to work with land critters will give it a deeper insight of its environment. That insight grants wisdom. The difference is that privilege benefits one, whereas wisdom benefits many."
Unfortunately, high-stress levels that had prolonged for years took a mental and emotional toll on him. Then, after widowing in 2012, it took Samuel time to regain his bearings. Gradually, he became determined to start a new life. First, he would have to pay off his debts. After nearly 19 years in New Jersey, he would return to Georgia. In fall of 2014, with his teenage daughter by his side, he drove his way to Decatur in a rental truck, grateful to God and debt-free.
While employed as a painter, he contemplated the idea of working for himself by providing a low-tech service to busy people. When he asked a couple he knew about their work, they replied that they cleaned houses for a living. Intrigued, he asked if he could join them for two days to observe them at work and they happily obliged. That experience was enough to convince him that he had found the path he was looking for.
Determined to be self-employed, he researched cleaning techniques, sought clients by going house to house, left business cards and asked those who hired him for referrals. He established Home Clean Home in 2016 and formed a team, a group of hard-working friends that are like family. Samuel and his team have been serving the Decatur area and its surrounding communities ever since. Besides managing the business, he chooses to participate in the cleaning work. By staying close to the "ground level", he is aligned with the workers' perspective, provides knowledgeable guidance and avoids the leader-worker disconnect. With 30 years of experience serving people, Samuel is happy to lead his team in helping Atlanta's homeowners and renters take great care of their homes.
In 2000 Samuel was hired by Bell Atlantic just weeks before it transformed into telecommunications giant Verizon. Working in the sales and service department, his job at Verizon focused on pushing the dawn of "fiber-to-the-premises", a new kind of installation where fiber-optic cables were spooled out across residential streets and directly into homes. For Samuel, a typical day was spent engaging with customers from 8 states in English, Spanish and even some Portuguese; listening, asking questions and closing sales of FiOS (fiber-optic service) across the New York metropolitan area and the mid-Atlantic region. Helping a customer required navigating seven software systems on two screens while engaging with other departments. On each phone interaction, after first resolving the customer's issue, a 25-point (or more) checklist with specific statements, questions, offers and disclosures were required to be included in a friendly conversation that should not exceed 14 minutes. With recorded calls, any missed point or opportunity would negatively impact your score on the call. As with any large enterprise, a recurring frustration was how top-level decisions were handed down to employees without a full understanding of the customer-service environment. After 14 years at the company, Samuel says, "There is a tendency among corporate leadership to over-rely on the bird's eye view of the business with technical metrics and PowerPoint slides. While these tools are valuable, there are dynamics that can't be appreciated from the bird's eye view alone. When top management doesn't engage directly with customers, their view of customer service will have blind spots. Blind spots will impact their smaller decisions. More significantly, however, bias toward corporate interests will strongly impact their bigger decisions."
Samuel learned how top management's lack of engagement at the "ground level" is detrimental to the customer and employee experiences. This taught him that a bird's eye view is not necessarily the conclusive perspective on any matter. He says, "A bird may fly high and enjoy a great view from above. That view grants it a privilege. But spending time to work with land critters will give it a deeper insight of its environment. That insight grants wisdom. The difference is that privilege benefits one, whereas wisdom benefits many."
Unfortunately, high-stress levels that had prolonged for years took a mental and emotional toll on him. Then, after widowing in 2012, it took Samuel time to regain his bearings. Gradually, he became determined to start a new life. First, he would have to pay off his debts. After nearly 19 years in New Jersey, he would return to Georgia. In fall of 2014, with his teenage daughter by his side, he drove his way to Decatur in a rental truck, grateful to God and debt-free.
While employed as a painter, he contemplated the idea of working for himself by providing a low-tech service to busy people. When he asked a couple he knew about their work, they replied that they cleaned houses for a living. Intrigued, he asked if he could join them for two days to observe them at work and they happily obliged. That experience was enough to convince him that he had found the path he was looking for.
Determined to be self-employed, he researched cleaning techniques, sought clients by going house to house, left business cards and asked those who hired him for referrals. He established Home Clean Home in 2016 and formed a team, a group of hard-working friends that are like family. Samuel and his team have been serving the Decatur area and its surrounding communities ever since. Besides managing the business, he chooses to participate in the cleaning work. By staying close to the "ground level", he is aligned with the workers' perspective, provides knowledgeable guidance and avoids the leader-worker disconnect. With 30 years of experience serving people, Samuel is happy to lead his team in helping Atlanta's homeowners and renters take great care of their homes.