“After I started my business,” Fatma Ama says, “Life became easier, but serving people can be annoying and stressful sometimes.” Her small office room holds an old desk with a desktop computer and a phone, attached to many wires leading towards the wall outlets. It is organized, yet seems like a jungle in this small amount of space. Located in Greensboro, it is in a suitable business location close to major roads and heavy traffic. Most business is conducted by phone and computer, or in person. It is equipped with two soft, brown leather chairs, and a small table in the right hand corner holding magazines and other reading materials. It is a tiny, tidy place, suited explicitly well for a relaxing working environment and climate. In Fatmas opinion it is “Not too small, but not hideously big for the small size of the business and the little work we do here in the office. Though most business is not finished here, it is essential to have this office space, and it always starts here.” All of the successes are documented and hung across the wall, decorating it in colorful but professional manner; it includes thank you letters from former clients as well. “The office was my first and most important establishment for the business to be successful. I don’t think it needs much improvement,” she says, “I have already improved what I thought was necessary at a very low cost although having started with a home office would have been cheaper but I didn’t want to settle for less.”
“I had to start with less than one thousand dollars, and no employees. It was tough, but well worth my time and effort.” Hearing those words were hard to believe at first for me, and we talked about this fact for a long time. The opportunities were right in front of me, all this time, but I had no confidence in myself and lack of effort to grab on to them. It was the hardest part to learn, but definitely a lifelong experience to hold on to.” Her business cards are printed in better, nicer, shinier paper and cheaper. This enabled her to start advertising at other places in the market to grow the business. It is her recipe to success and has proven to work. After I learned how easy it was, essentially to start a prospering business with virtually no money, I became more and more interested as what started to be a general idea or question. “The start was not very hard, and most of my troubles were linked to advertising.” Fatma learned quickly how to make the best out of her investment. Despite the lack of money, she found ways to print her cards on nicer paper than other competitors for a fraction of the price they were paying. She took her own innovations into consideration and used them in the best possible ways imaginable. Once she advertised, the business set foot and grew to have many loyal returning customers. “That’s the hard part about starting your business. I wasn’t competitive but smart.
The phone is ringing, loud and shrill, on one side of the bright room a well dressed customer in suit and tie tries to make his way across the floor towards the receptionist sitting behind her wooden desk filled with papers, tools and other utensils. “He looked annoyed, at least I thought,” Ama told me later that day. The well dressed gentleman addresses the lady, talking on the phone, in a blunt, rude way. “He must have been in a hurry”, Fatma concluded. “I have customers like that all the time… they think I am supposed to clean their shoes while I am at it, you know!” Quickly the woman gives her undivided attention to the client that obviously needs an appointment for the service request. The lady, dressed in her white shirt and red skirt, realizes the man needs to be helped immediately, before turning into a mad man potentially. “Its just another day at work, Fatma describes her business, and since I started it has not changed much, yet it has been successful. The lady in white hangs up the phone followed by a nice and soft voice, “Hello, how are you today? Is there anything I can help you with, sir?” While helping the customer, another enters in a similar way, abrupt, quickly to get back out of there. He, as well, is dressed in a fancy manner typing vigorously on his cell phone or pager. Once finished with his hectic typing, he sits down in one of the leather chairs, seemingly annoyed by the wait. His feet are moving back and forth as he is sitting comfortably in his chair, waiting. The receptionist thanks the guy after completing to file his information and schedules him for the date he would like to receive the service with a nice voiced “Thank you, have a nice day,” as he turns around, ready to leave. Another second passes by, the other client slowly moves up out of his chair, but the quietness is interrupted by the loud phone, it is already ringing, again.
Day after day, Fatma has to deal with these situations. “It is stressful, especially talking to the people, the ones that think they are better because they are paying you. I serve them but at least I don’t serve someone that is serving them if you know what I mean. That is the reason why I started my business,” she proclaims. When I asked her about her target market, the word “rich” fell into the conversation quickly and most of her clients turn out to be of the wealthier portion of society. I had to agree that some of them look down at poorer statuses, which makes it hard to deal with them. “Although they are never home, they think they are better than most of us. I clean a house and come back the next week and it is dusty again. They live in huge estates, with big lawns and pools, but have no time to enjoy the property.” Most clients seem to fit this category, but on the other hand it makes up a perfect market. “At least they have the money to pay me, and in the end that’s all that matters,” she says. “I am only providing a service for them, and at least I don’t have to work for them. I only clean their houses.” Losing customers happens quite often. The clients always try to get the best deal, bargain and annoy and if not pleased, they leave or don’t want your company to do the house. One time, Fatma told me, a man denied her service after driving all the way across two towns to do a rather cheap estate where she found to be harassed by the owner that obviously had a problem her driving a better car than him.
Despite the stress, humiliations at the office or annoying phone calls, Fatma Ama seems to be more than satisfied with her job than most people I know. Now that she has the resources doing the work she had to do when she established her business, she must be content and seemed that way the whole time. Fun and excitement at the job, new ideas generating wealth and prosperity towards herself rather than someone else are the important reasons why Fatma Ama decided to start over. It was hard for me to understand when she said “It is very easy, but not everyone can handle it”, but now I know exactly what she meant.
References:
- Fatma, Ama. Personal Interview. September 6th, 2009.
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