Good people know good people

To me, the most important aspect of our service, is that customers enjoy a consistent, high-quality experience. We strive to provide consistent, high-quality work, by the same housewife at each visit.

Unfortunately, finding high-quality employees who are able to provide that experience is not easy!

In the past, as one employee has gone, I've used a variety of sources to quickly find, hire, and train someone else to try to avoid an interruption in service to any client. This has led to problems with quality as well as longevity of employment. When I put someone in the field who just isn't ready, they often don't last more than two months.

At this time, all of our housewives are fantastic. We just don't have enough of them to cover our current list of clients. I have been working to fix this problem, trying to avoid issues I've had in the past.

While brainstorming with fellow business owners recently, we were discussing the best ways to find good employees when someone said, "Good people know good people." 

She was totally right! And, when I think of good people, who are some of the first ones that come to mind? You! Our clients are undoubtedly some of the best people I've ever met! Besides that, you know exactly what kind of people we are looking for... because you know who you would trust in your home.

How can you make this knowledge work for you? 

Keep reading!

I would like to propose an incentive for those of you who think you know someone who would be a great fit for Hire A Housewife...

Anyone who submits the name of a person who applies and is hired by Hire A Housewife, will be be credited with 10 hours of free housekeeping when the employee reaches their 6 month anniversary. 

*Just a side note: It is against our policy to have friends and family members clean each other's homes. So the person you refer would not provide you services.

In the mean time, while I am working to find, hire, and train the right good people for Hire A Housewife, new clients and some current clients will be placed on our waiting list. 

We would rather ask you to wait for service and risk losing you, than providing you with sub-par service and lose you for sure, with good reason.

I am posting our current employment ad below. 

CLICK HERE

To submit someone for referral!

Hire A Housewife is hiring again for the Greater Peoria Area!

You must:
Have general knowledge of how to clean prior to training
Have a good attitude 
Have a clean criminal record
Have your own vehicle
Have the ability to check your email regularly
Have the ability to follow directions
Pay attention to details
Intend to stay for an extended period of time.

We offer:
15 to 35 hours per week
Monday - Friday, between 7am and 5pm
Flexible scheduling
$10 per hour to start, before tips and incentive programs
Performance-based raises
You choose your own service area

Learn more about us at our website before you apply or interview: www.hireahousewifepeoria.com

To apply: Send a resume and cover letter to [email protected]

No phone calls please.

Exciting News!

We have exciting news!

Hire A Housewife is currently in the running for a $100,000 grant from Chase Mission Main Street Grants... but we need your help!

To get to the next level in the competition, we need at least 250 people to click through the banner below and vote for us! It takes about 10 seconds and could make a huge difference in the future for Hire A Housewife and for our employees.

What would we do with $100,000?
Here are a few things...

• Trademark our name and logo
• Obtain the website we want (HireAHousewife.com)
• Hire an accountant to help us ensure our finances are being handled correctly
• Implement a more comprehensive training program to continue to ensure our customers receive the best service
• Expand to Galesburg and Henry, with the possibility of expanding to Bloomington soon.
• Begin steps towards franchising
• Update our office equipment

I want to continue to not only provide great service to all of our customers, but to also change lives of our employees for the better. We offer fair wages, flexible schedules, and a supportive work environment for people who need it most. 

I know that nobody who works for Hire A Housewife intends to work with us forever. I care about the dreams of my employees and want to help give them a solid stepping stone to the next phase of their life... leaving a little closer to living their dreams.

Please help us do that by clicking the banner above or below!

Thank you and have a blessed day!

Why Choose Us?

There are a lot of cleaning services out there these days who want to help you out! 

Why should you choose ours?

Many people have started using Hire A Housewife because they heard the story of how we got started and they were moved by it. I so appreciate that and I look forward to continuing to share my story and everything else that God has done since!

However, I want you to STAY because you love the service!

(And if you don't love it, let us know right away so we can fix it!)

Hire A Housewife Benefits:

• No judgement or guilt! We just want to help!
• You NEVER have to worry that we will judge you based on what we see. We appreciate that you trust us enough to let us into your home to help.
• We value you as a person. You aren’t just another client to us. We care about your family and how we can help you!

• The same “housewife” each visit
• One of the ways we make sure you are satisfied with our work is sending out the same employee each time. As she gets to know you and what you need, it will be a continually improving experience.
• Flexible scheduling without a contract.
• While we do have a standard cancellation policy, we never lock anyone into a contract. We want you to keep us coming back because you love the service!
• Insured and Bonded
• The risks of hiring someone who is uninsured are huge to you. Our employees are covered by a workman’s comp policy in case they are injured on the job. Anyone not covered by such a policy can sure your homeowner’s insurance if they are injured while working at your house.
• Our liability policy covers items that are damaged by an employee’s carelessness. We hope to never have to use the policy, but isn’t it good to know it is there if something were to get broken?

• Wide range of services
• We don’t just clean, we will organize, do laundry, run errands, wash windows, walk the dog, clean the fridge… you name it!
• You provide needed supplies and we do the work!
• We do not give you a list of things we WON'T do! Just give us your list and let us get to work!
• Great staff who care about YOU!
• Everyone who works for Hire A Housewife undergoes a background check to ensure your safety and to let you know that we are trustworthy!
• All housewives receive complete training. We want all of our employees to be able to give the same great service that was being given when it was just a company of one.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Please share it with your friends who are considering hiring help!

Have a blessed day!

(P.S. And YES! an update on the girls' room is coming!)

Working with Hire A Housewife

Hire A Housewife is growing and we need more help!

Please check out our website, Facebook page, and blog to learn more about us and decide if you might want to be a part of our team!




It would especially be a good idea to read this blog post:  Avoidable Mistakes Job Seekers Make

You Must:

Have your own vehicle
Have a friendly, positive attitude
Have a professional appearance
Enjoy making other people happy
Be prompt and dependable
Have a clean criminal record
Pay attention to details
Clean well!

Benefits:

Enjoy the freedom of being an Independent Contractor
Set your own schedule
Set your own service area
Paid training
$10 per hour
Tips possible, although not guaranteed.

Check us out at www.hireahousewifepeoria.com

Interested? Please email us with a resume and a cover letter. Please tell us why you think you would make a great team member for Hire A Housewife!

Our email address is [email protected]

I look forward to hearing from you!

None of this belongs to me...

Have you checked our prices recently? Compared them with others? Wondered what we are doing differently that we can afford to charge $16 an hour to clean houses? I have an answer for you!

Yes, I do know that many local companies charge as much as double our current $16 an hour rate.... and still pay their employees the same or worse than Hire A Housewife. So if I could make more money doing the same job, why wouldn't I try?

Honestly, this isn't about the money.

Yes, I definitely want to be able to support myself and my children, and I love that I can employ women who need the work and help them support their families... but what I really love is dealing on a day-to-day basis with people that Jesus loves. (Yes, you.)

He did not give me this company so that I could get as rich as possible as quickly as possible.

He did not give me this company so it could be just another cleaning company.

He gave me this company so that we could serve you... 

I know that there are families that we serve who could not afford more than the $16 an hour that we charge right now... And even at that, some who can't afford a visit more than once a month. We are perfectly okay with that... we understand where you are and we want to serve you.

I also know that their families that we serve who could afford more than $16 an hour... and I think that's great. I always want to encourage those people that if they feel like an excellent job is being done at their home to go ahead and tip the housewife who has come out... that money goes directly to her family not to the company... which is another reason I keep prices low... so that you can feel free to tip if you want to and KNOW exactly where that money is going.

Hire A Housewife is about serving people in a friendly and loving way that honors Jesus and brings joy into your home... and I know that cringing when you write a check does not bring anyone joy... even if you're appreciative of the work done.

I may be new to the art of being a business owner, I can say with confidence that God would not have given me a business if I couldn't run it and honor Him at the same time.

Every payment is on the books. Taxes are being paid. I'm even tithing off of our profits. Do I tell you that so that you can give me a pat on the back? Absolutely not... I am telling you all of that because it is important to me that you know that my goal is to honor God with all that He has given me.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.                                                                          Colossians 3:23

Because Too Much Can Never Be Said on God's Timing...

I am so grateful for the Lord's protection and provision.

If you read this blog regularly, you know I was in a car accident a couple of weeks ago and my vehicle was totaled.

Neither I nor the driver at fault were injured... which was a huge blessing. It could have been so much worse!

The problem for me was that nobody wanted to discuss financing another vehicle because my business isn't yet 2 years old. While my credit continues to get better as I work on it each month, I still have some work to do.

After some false starts at a few other car dealerships who lied to me multiple times in a couple days' time... I ended up at Mangold Ford in Eureka. I would 100% recommend this place to anyone in the area who is looking for a vehicle. They did not show my one vehicle that wasn't mechanically sound. The prices weren't inflated either. The finance guy there worked very hard to find me a loan. When he got it, he called it a "miracle loan".  Why? Well since my main source of income was my own business that is less than two years old, he convinced them to give me the loan with no proof of income... something that NEVER happens anymore these days.

Now, because of this, I did have to put a large down payment on the vehicle... here is where the reminder about how perfect God's timing is really timing hit me...
 
Remember how I thought I had found our house and didn't get it? Had I used all of my savings to move to a new place, I wouldn't have had anything to put down on this badly needed vehicle (without which my business would have fallen apart quickly).

Please continue to pray that God helps us find a better place to live soon. In the mean time I am ever thankful for His continuing mercies on us... and His timing, even when we think it's off!

By the way... here is a picture of my new van... Feel free to wave if you see me in it! :-)

I love being able to share with everyone how good God is to us... even when we don't think He's listening, He is... and he has a better plan!

Sharing at Trinity Church in Morton on Sunday

For those of you who haven't made the connection yet, I am the woman that Station Manager Dave Brooks is talking about in the latest WCIC "Things are not business as usual" radio spot. I have told God that if he is going to give me a story, that I will share it... and He is making sure I keep that promise! :-)

I attend Rock Church in East Peoria, but I also volunteer at the Community Harvest Food Pantry in Morton. Community Harvest and Trinity Church have asked me to speak for about 5 minutes this Sunday about Community Harvest and my testimony.

Since most of you will not be there to hear it, I thought I would share with you what I am going to tell them...

My name is Kindall. I am a single mom of four. I could talk to you for hours about how amazing God is… but I only have 5 minutes… so here’s what I want to tell you today!

My children and I used to live in Galesburg, but I began to feel that God's place for us was the Peoria area. I knew that I was supposed to move us here... but instead of waiting for God’s direction; I took the first avenue I saw open. Seven months and one unhealthy relationship later, my four children and I were homeless... living in an RV at a local campground. We were stuck there for nearly six months. My son was 10, and my daughters were 6, 8 and 14.

Shortly after that I started coming to the Community Harvest Food Pantry regularly. I had been once or twice before, but it never meant so much to me as it did after we became homeless. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly. I remember tearing up the first time someone loaded food into my van and telling them that they had no idea what a blessing they were. I also prayed several times with volunteers. When I didn’t, I still wrote my request down so that someone would pray for me during the week.

Trying to find work was difficult. I have my degree in Elementary education, but I had let my license lapse and couldn’t go back to teaching unless I went back to school. Besides that, what school was going to hire a homeless teacher?  Instead I decided that a good start would be to get a part time job doing some housekeeping, and put an ad on Craigslist. In an effort to make my ad different than all of the others, I titled it “Hire A Housewife” and listed off all of the things I could do that your average cleaning lady would not. Cooking, organizing, pet care, event planning… whatever was needed.

The first person to hire me truly took my ad literally. He and his boys didn’t just need the house cleaned. They needed food cooked, decorating taken care of, errands run… everything. I started working at their house five days a week. Over time I built a relationship with this family…

Thanks to some help from some friends and some people who believed in me, we were able to get into an apartment in September of last year.  Shortly after that, I started volunteering at Community Harvest. As much as it touched me to be served through the program, being on the other side of the registration table has touched me more.

I try very hard to make sure that people who come in do not feel like a number. I work on remembering their names. If I see a new haircut or something else that has changed, I comment on it too… because I know what a difference it makes to know that someone sees you as a person.  I have watched miracles take place over and over at Community Harvest. Food nobody expected, a vehicle that was badly needed, most importantly people who come in in pain… physical, emotional, spiritual… and leave with hope and healing.  I love everyone that comes through the doors at Community Harvest… but different circumstances that people have, will always affect volunteers differently.

My heart goes out to the ones who come in and, eyes looking at the ground, tell me they’ve never been here and then start explaining what happened… more than once I have had someone tear up at the registration table and say the words, “I’m sorry… it’s just embarrassing to have to be here.” That’s when I have the opportunity to say, “I understand, but you need to know that this is what we are here for… and if you look at the people who are working here… there are very few of us who haven’t stood in your shoes. Things will get better. In the mean time, we are here for you.” I get to give that peace and encouragement now because Community Harvest gave that to me.

Between my Saturdays at Community Harvest,  I worked a couple of other part time jobs here and there, but when I was working as a “housewife” I was doing something I loved.

When I decided to take on a few more clients, I started a Facebook page… and then a web page, and a blog. As interest picked up, I had a logo designed, filed with the county as a business, and even took a couple of classes through the Small Business Association. 

In the last four months, my business “Hire A Housewife” has gone from working with just two families to needing to hire three women part-time to help me with the workload. .. and while it is work, we are building relationships and bringing JOY into people’s homes every day… and who could ask for a better job than that?

I am here today because I wanted to share with you what God has done for me over the last year and a half and I wanted to tell you how Community Harvest was part of that. Community Harvest is not just about giving hungry people food, just like Hire A Housewife isn’t just about cleaning. In both cases we are building lasting relationships with people who Jesus loves... Whether they already know Him or God is putting us in their paths so that we can show them who He really is… the reach is so much bigger than we can even imagine… and it is all for His glory.

Looking for a Job? Simple Mistakes Every Job Seeker Can Avoid

I'm not currently hiring, but I am always on the lookout for possible future employees... and like any good housewife I have an opinion of some sort on just about everything... :-)

I have seen so many mistakes made while people are inquiring about possibly working with Hire A Housewife. I can only assume that these mistakes are made while inquiring with other companies as well.

Pass this on to anyone you know who is looking for a job. Tiny mistakes can really cost a job seeker.

Who needs a job?

       If you are contacting me to see if I am willing to hire your husband, wife, son, daughter, cousin, uncle or grandma, consider this first... If I am going to let this person operate under my company name, go into people's homes and work with clients unsupervised, then wouldn't I want someone who is responsible enough to contact me and apply for the position on their own?

       On the flip side of this, if you are looking for a job, make sure you tell your friends and relatives not to talk to an employer about you until after you have applied (assuming you write them down as a reference.)

Have you used spell check?

       Consider every interaction you have with a possible future employer part of the interview. Misspelled or mis-formatted emails asking for information are not likely going to get the response that you desire. If a possible employee doesn't care enough to check their spelling and language usage, it is hard for an employer to imagine that they will care enough about the company to do the job well.

Have you followed directions?

       If the job posting says "No phone calls, please." or "Do not post on the company's Facebook wall." the person who posted the job made that request for a reason.

Are you clear about what you want?

       Earlier this week my phone rang. The person on the other end of the line said, "I need to know more about Hire A Housewife." After trying to figure out what she needed to know to no avail, I launched into my best sales pitch.When I was done she said she wanted to know about it "from the other side." and when I asked for more clarification, she said, "not to be a customer, I want to work for you."

       If she had been clear from the beginning of the call, or even if she had sent a well-worded email, I would have given her all of the information she needed within a few seconds. Instead she wasted my time and hers and I'm sure she was likely as frustrated at the end of the call as I was.

And last but not least... have you checked your settings?

 

^^^ Because, yeah... that happens. ^^^

I have learned the hard way that I can't explain to people what exactly they did to knock themselves out of the running for a job with Hire A Housewife. I am very sure that many of the people who I ruled out were just having a bad day or had something else going on. I understand! I'm hoping though, that by writing this, I can save a few of you some heartache during your job search.

P.S. One more important thing... Don't be late for the interview!

Let all that you do, be done in love... 1 Corinthians 16:14