Owner's
Story
 My
name is Michelle Carder. I grew
up in Charles County, I live in
Calvert County and my business
is located in St. Mary’s County
so I spend a lot of time in all
three of our lovely counties.
My grandparents lived in Indian
Head and Bryan’s Road and my parents
live in Waldorf. I graduated from
Thomas Stone High School in 1983.
I am married to my husband Patrick
and we have two beautiful daughters,
Morgan 6 and Riley 16 months.
Like
a lot of my friends and peers,
I graduated high school and got
a job as a Clerk Typist for the
Federal Government. I started
off in the contracting office
on base at Indian Head and went
from there. I was accepted into
and completed the Navy’s Contracting
Intern Program. It was an upward
mobility position and I had a
lot of responsibility at a young
age. As my job responsibilities
continued to increase, I married
my first husband, bought a  house
and found that every weekend all
I did was spend the weekend cleaning
in order to keep a house like
I thought I was supposed to. I
was working for the Marine Corps
in Arlington, Virginia when I
got PCS orders to Quantico, VA.
I didn’t want to move to Quantico
so I had to find another job.
I ended up at a small civilian
agency downtown DC and to say
the least, it wasn’t a good experience
so I was working a miserable job
spending every weekend struggling
with cleaning my house.
About
this time, a friend of mine bought
a small maid service in Annapolis.
She had got the supplies and an
established customer base in the
deal. I worked with her a couple
days when I was off or on the
weekends just to make some extra
money and I got bitten by the
bug. I think the housecleaning
bug and the entrepreneurial bug.
I reasoned that if I was struggling
with my housework while commuting,
traveling and working a lot of
hours
(and this was pre-kids!), I knew
others were probably struggling
too and there would surely be
a demand for a good housecleaning
service. So, after much discussion
and contemplation, I quit my miserable
job and started my own business.
I seriously looked into purchasing
a franchise and no matter how
I looked at the numbers; I couldn’t
justify paying 10% or more of
everything I made for ever and
ever just to use their name and
their system. I thought “I’ll
think of my own name and create
my own systems” and that’s what
I’ve done but what a road it’s
been. From this perspective, I
can definitely see the value of
a franchise, especially one that
is a household name, but I’m still
glad I chose to go it alone.
That
was in August of 1995 so this
year it’s been 15 years since
I made that brave (or crazy) leap
of faith. Soon after starting
my business, I divorced my first
husband and a few years later
I met my husband Pat who at that
time was working as a superintendent
for a  home
builder who we were also working
for performing post construction
cleanings. We became friends,
then started dating and now we’ve
been married six years and have
two little girls who we just adore.
The housing market bubble bursting
affected Pat negatively in that
all of a sudden the builder he
was working for quit building
houses (there was no demand).
Pat decided to put his fate in
his own hands as well and went
out on his own and obtained both
his Home Inspector’s license and
his Maryland Home Improvement
License. Pat has spent his entire
career working in the home building
industry (over 25 years). He has
done every job from framing to
supervising other subcontractors
and really knows the right way
to do things. I make this point,
as so many people these days used
to drive a truck and now they
are a handyman. Pat has always
worked in home building and home
improvement and is truly an expert
at what he does. That combined
with being very honest and forthright
makes him a terrific asset for
people who need some help with
home repairs from time to time.
Needless to say, we now work very
closely together. I do his bookkeeping
and marketing and he works for
me and my customers at a discounted
rate which allows me to really
offer a “full service”. Anything
we can’t do, he can, and if he
can’t he knows who can.
I
am very ethical and honest. I
am not a felon. I have good credit.
I own my home. I am not a drug
addict or an alcoholic. I will
call you back. If we screw something
up, we’ll fix it. If we make a
mistake, we’ll make it right.
I hope this gives you some piece
of mind that you are dealing with
a good local person employing
other good local people. Thanks
for reading my story…
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