Today we’d like to introduce you to Douglas Hall.
Douglas, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I graduated at the end of 2011 with a Bachelor of Science Industrial Design, which I’m grateful I worked to achieve; however, the economy was at the height of the recession. Design jobs were some of the first to be eliminated from companies and firms, that any limited design openings were filled with veteran designers that I had virtually no chance competing against. After a bit of side work, I needed a more stable job, so I was graciously given an opportunity to work for a friend of mine’s Chem-Dry franchise.
A little under a year working for him, around Thanksgiving of 2014, my Mom saw an article an Entrepeneur.com about top franchises and saw that Chem-Dry was amongst the top 50 at the time. With my Dad’s venture capitalist background and intimate business knowledge, we decided to purchase a franchise of our own to operate in the Orange County area and build it from scratch; launching in March of 2015.
We are two and a half years in operation and have grown at a controlled pace to maintain the highest quality and customer service. This has resulted in 5-star ratings on Google, Yelp, and Facebook, and an extremely pleasant and personable client base that I have serviced multiple times. Being able to not only clean people’s carpets, upholstery, area rugs, etc., but knowing we are improving the health of our customers has been extremely satisfying.
Great, 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?
While the growth of our business has been very successful, I have had to adapt productive habits. I was diagnosed some years ago with Anxiety, Depression, and ADD.
Though there is no substitute for medication when needed, the behavioural modifications have made the biggest difference between success and failure. I was fortunate enough to have biofeedback sessions, which essentially trained my body to physically feel when my body was starting down the anxious/depressed route. This along with the myriad of technology available for free to cheap online make it imperative to implement those effective services for optimal success.
As I have learned the best methods of cleaning, also, there have been mistakes along the way. And because I have read through several negative reviews on other companies, I learned exactly what not to do. And the best thing anyone can do for their customers is to make them feel listened to and valued, along with never making them feel stupid for any kind of complaint.
Please tell us about Green Breeze Chem-Dry.
I am an owner, operator of my business, meaning I do it literally all – except follow-up and appointment confirmation calls. We specialize in creating Healthy Homes for people through our proven healthiest cleaning available. To add to that, we use Green Certified, environmentally friendly, and kid/pet safe solutions while using a fraction of the water that a majority of other cleaning methods use. All of the marketing, website, social media, etc. has all been done by me, especially after teaching myself through udemy.com; which, has been some of my favorite elements.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from childhood would have to be several, actually, and all of them associated to traveling. We went to Canada, New York, and Europe through my young years and my entrepreneurial love of exploring and pursuing unknown paths was evinced through this.
Pricing:
- $45 a room
- $20 a hallway
- $3 a step
- $50 to $200 Upholstery Cleaning
- $10/spot for PURT
Contact Info:
- Address: 26012 Portafino Dr.
- Website: https://www.greenbreezechemdry.com/
- Phone: 949-632-2140
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenbreezechemdry/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greenbreezechemdry/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/GBChemdry
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/green-breeze-chem-dry-mission-viejo
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.
