Commercial cleaning business lands $500,000+ in contracts
Clean Mac of Hillsborough County
Lamark Hall decided to seize an opportunity to serve a need for the businesses in his area by launching his own business that would provide commercial cleaning.
“I decided to launch this business because I felt like the business would help a lot of people who really need the supplemental income,” Hall said. “There are a lot of customers that need the service, so providing it to them, it’s more towards my heart and less geared towards anything.”
But shortly after launching Clean Mac Inc., Hall realized he needed additional support. That’s when he decided to reach out to the Florida SBDC at Hillsborough County.
“Large corporations I was servicing decided to go with one large company to service all of their accounts,” Hall said. “Me being a small business, I was not able to service all of their accounts, so I reached out to the Florida SBDC at Hillsborough County to give me guidance on how to reinvent myself.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Hall found himself unprepared, and in need of some direction. He was grateful to be working with business consultant Janette Blanco at the time because she was able to point him to specific resources to help get the company through the pandemic.
“COVID-19 affected my business because we were not aware that it was coming towards us,” he said. “But, being surrounded by the right people at the SBDC at Hillsborough County helped me re-organize and restructure the way we were operating our business and helped me grow a lot in the different ways of running our business. I was awarded $550,000 in contracts by working with them. I was able to get the R3 loan through Janette Blanco and her staff, and they showed me how to fill out the proper paperwork to apply. She helped me obtain the R3 grant and the PPP loan that helped me through the pandemic.”
Hall is proud of how far his business has come since working with the Florida SBDC at Hillsborough County, and he looks forward to continuing down this path of success.
“Moving forward with the SBDC at Hillsborough County, I would like to learn how to apply for the state and local government agencies to grow my business and learn how to do the proper paperwork and contracts,” he said.
“The Florida SBDC is an organization that helps small businesses grow, and if you have any questions, they are there for you. They’re there to help you through your ordeals and give you all the guidance you need to run your business. If you ever need assistance, they are the best place to go.”
