Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaac and Mariela Salgado.
Rug’it Cleaning is family owned and operated since 2010. At that time, Isaac worked in the food industry for over ten years as a consultant and executive chef. Mariela, his wife, worked as a Project Manager for a major automotive company. Both worked long hours and came to the realization, while their careers were taking off neither was conducive to raising a family, something had to change. And so, Isaac started Rug’it Cleaning while working as a Chef in 2010. He started his mornings working for Rug’it Cleaning and ended late at night hanging his chef coat. Those were long days but rewarding as the company started from the ground up. A few years later, with the birth of their daughters, Mariela joined, and the company moved into its first location in Long Beach. Now they are located in Signal Hill servicing Long Beach and surrounding residential and commercial clients. Awarded Best of Long Beach and five-star rating anywhere online. They take a lot of pride in being of service as a business, in their community along with implementing sustainable practices. They offer eco-friendly carpet cleaning, sell the only 100% recycled, 100% recyclable rug pads in the industry and you can book online (no more paper!). As parents, they became more aware of their environmental impact as consumers and business owners and believe sustainability is everyone’s responsibility. So they make every effort to practice what they preach at home and as a business. It’s important for them to have a community engaged business — and so they serve on a number of community and business boards. Isaac, as a board member to Willmore City Heritage Association, works year-round to improve the quality of life and preservation efforts in the neighborhood. From neighborhood clean-ups to summer concerts to gardening and more, they do their best to include their daughters in community service including building the Best Dang Gingerbread Village in Long Beach. For the fifth year, 2018’s Candy-land was over 15 ft in length and over 300 pounds of sweetness! During the Fall months, dad, business owner by day and master gingerbread house builder by night builds a massive creation. His little elves help where they can. It starts in September with shopping then baking and finishes the week of Thanksgiving. At the end, he spends over 200 hours in shopping for ingredients, baking, decorating and assembling each gingerbread house. Similarly, Mariela’s passion for education and service has directed her to work on issues that impact Long Beach children. She serves as a Parks & Rec Commissioner for the City of Long Beach. A policy member to Long Beach’s Early Childhood Education Committee and strong advocate for early education and park programming. She strongly believes in being an advocate for little ones and underserved communities. They are grateful their business has allowed them to remain present in their daughters’ lives, be engaged in the community and head into 9th year in business. Being of service is at their core.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There are no smooth rides in entrepreneurship — one of the biggest hurdles we’ve had is access to capital. Self-employment can stretch one’s finances, and lenders don’t see the potential in your business, they just see the numbers. While I don’t disagree with assessing one’s risk, we feel the long term impacts of my graduate school loans and its impacts on accessing small business loans. We’ve learned to be conservative in our finances and self-finance our growth. Makes it harder to grow but we also feel very fortunate we make it work.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Rug’it Cleaning – what should we know?
What set us apart? There isn’t a lot of cool appeal to our services: carpet, area rug, upholstery, tile & grout, and stone polishing services. But we’d like to say, how we do it…is the best part. We are family owned and believe in educating our customers. We are committed to being of service and incorporate technology where possible to enhance our customer experience. Our customers can book online, receive service notifications via email/text, and do a few behind the scene activities to better understand industry trends and customer needs. We love connecting with our customers via FB, Instagram and Twitter too. And most importantly, provide a guarantee; we stand behind our work. Awarded Best of Long Beach and five-star rating anywhere online! We truly believe in being of service — as owners, business and family.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Our parents for showing us the importance of hard work and service — our two daughters for reminding us what is most important, family. We continuously reflect on our lives and desire to be of service because of our girls. Watching our oldest think of a new business venture…her latest is an art gallery…or our youngest helping with a book drive or neighborhood clean-up, that’s what brings us most joy. As cliche as it may be…we want to leave the world a little bit kinder for them so we do what we can. We also give thanks to our fellow small business owners, who walk this path with us. We know a lot of small business owners, and it feels good to know we aren’t alone. They are there when we need them and understand the sacrifices and love it takes to do this every day.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2321 E. 28th St. #408, Signal Hill 90755
- Website: www.rugitcleaning.com
- Phone: 562-606-2560
- Email: service@rugitcleaning.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rugitcleaning
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Rugit/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/rugit
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/rugit-cleaning-long-beach-3
- Other: https://youtu.be/7flLDv3rslE
Image Credit:
Gingerbread Photo Credit of Wheel (Jenny Sersion)
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
