In 2023, Anna-Marie Ortiz is working remotely at a financial technology startup, earning an annual salary of $60,000.
She loved the job but wasn’t sure what her future with the company would look like. “I realized I couldn’t wait for other people’s dreams, and that’s when I decided to go all in,” she told CNBC Make It.
That July, Ortiz used the last $2,000 of her savings to open a cleaning company. By November, she took over the business, cool aunty cleanerfull time.
Although she will only be able to pay herself about $29,000 this year – a significant cut from her previous position – she is happy with her choice to go independent.
“I love being my own boss,” she said. “It gives me the flexibility to make my own decisions and create a work environment that reflects my values.”
Become an entrepreneur in your 20s
Cool Cleaner Auntie isn’t Otis’s first entrepreneurial venture.
In her early 20s, she worked at a series of tech startups before opening a plant store in Wichita, Kansas, in 2020. Service and budget – this was an important lesson she later learned that applied to launching Cool Auntie Cleaners.
Otis decided to open a cleaning business rather than another retail store because of the low start-up costs and good return on investment, she said. Lower overhead costs gave her the flexibility to start alone and expand gradually, hiring staff as demand increased.
She also likes that cleaning is a “tried and true” service that “has been around forever,” giving her hope that the business will provide her with stability for the future.
Ana-Marie Ortiz is cleaning her apartment.
Matt Walcott | CNBC Success
Cool Auntie Cleaner made about $2,600 in revenue in its first month. This number has grown steadily over time, and as of 2024, the business is generating approximately $10,000 per month.
After taking her job as a Cool Auntie cleaner full-time in November 2023, Ortiz was eager to expand. She hired four employees but quickly realized the challenges of expanding too quickly. She decided to downsize her team and run the company alone in the summer of 2024.
“When you start a business, you don’t know how it’s going to go,” she said. “But you keep going because you believe in what you’re building.”
The future of business
The business has since stabilized, with about 15 to 20 regulars. In August, Ortiz hired a part-time worker with a commission-based salary structure.
She plans to continue expanding as she acquires more cleaning services, eventually growing Cool Auntie Cleaners into a seven-figure business with annual revenue.
“When you have a vision for your business, it’s a long-term investment and not something that can be rushed,” she said.
Although Ortiz’s $29,000 salary is less than what she made in her previous position, she sees it as a small sacrifice for the long-term independence her business will bring.
“I think people have a false sense of security about a 9-to-5 job,” she said. They may “get used to being told what to do every day” which can be “dangerous” and lead to them staying in a place “where they are no longer happy”.
While Ortiz takes on more risks as a small business owner, she finds fulfillment in forging her own path: “I’d rather put in the work now and build something that lasts.”
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