In 2023, Anna-Marie Ortiz worked remotely for a fintech startup, where she earned $60,000 a year.
She liked the job well enough, but wasn’t sure what her future at the company would look like. “I realized I can’t wait around for other people’s dreams, and that’s when I decided to go all in on mine,” she tells CNBC Make It.
That July, Ortiz used the last of her $2,000 in savings to start a cleaning company on the side. By November, she took the business, Cool Aunt Cleaners, full-time.
Although she’s only able to pay herself around $29,000 this year — a significant pay cut from her last position — she’s happy with her choice to strike out on her own.
“I love being my own boss,” she says. “It allows me the flexibility to make my own decisions and create a work environment that reflects my values.”
Becoming an entrepreneur in her 20s
Cool Aunt Cleaners isn’t Ortiz’s first experience with entrepreneurship.
After working at a series of tech startups in her early 20s, she opened a plant store in Wichita, Kansas, in 2020. Although the store closed in early 2021, it taught her about managing inventory, customer service and budgeting — key lessons she later applied to launching Cool Aunt Cleaners.
Ortiz decided to start a cleaning business instead of another retail store because of the low startup costs and solid return on investment, she says. Low overhead gave her the flexibility to start solo and gradually expand, hiring employees as demand increased.
She also liked that cleaning is a “tried and true” service that’s been “around forever,” giving her hope that the business would offer stability for her future.
Anna-Marie Ortiz cleaning an apartment.
Matt Wolcott | CNBC Make It
In its first month, Cool Aunt Cleaners brought in about $2,600 in revenue. That has steadily grown over time, and the business has brought in about $10,000 per month so far in 2024.
After taking Cool Aunt Cleaners full time in November 2023, Ortiz was eager to scale it up. She hired four employees, but quickly realized the challenges of expanding too fast. She decided to scale back her team to the point where she was running the business solo during the summer of 2024.
“When you start a business, you have no idea how it’s gonna go,” she says. “But you keep going because you believe in what you’re building.”
The future of the business
The business has since stabilized, with about 15 to 20 recurring clients. And in August, Ortiz hired a part-time worker using a commission-based pay structure.
She plans to continue expanding as she secures more cleanings, eventually growing Cool Aunt Cleaners into a seven-figure business.
“When you have a vision for your business, it is a long-term investment, it’s not something that can be rushed,” she says.
Although Ortiz’s $29,000 salary is less than she’s earned in previous roles, 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 with their 9-to-5 jobs,” she says. They can get “used to being told what to do every single day,” which can be “dangerous” and lead to staying in a place where “they’re no longer happy.”
While Ortiz has taken on more risk to be a small business owner, she finds fulfillment in creating her own path: “I’d rather put in the work now to build something that lasts.”
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