The birth of 360clean!

Fast forward to the Summer of 2005, the desire to be a full-time business owner was stronger than ever. Barry purchased a few business books and they booked a trip to Key West, Florida. The path to achieving their “American Dream” and the 360clean business model was created on this trip in July of 2005. At the time, they were still running a branch of the family's cleaning business on a part-time basis and trying to decide what business model would be best for their future. They went to Key West with one goal in mind – to decide whether full-time business ownership was going to be a part of my future or just a thought in the past.

After many brainstorming sessions and sleepless nights, the idea of 360clean, "The Innovative Leader of the Janitorial Service Industry", was born. The rest of the story is history in the making.

Barry can remember reading the book, The E-Myth on that trip. This book and its principles have always been and still remain a part of his entrepreneurial journey. During this trip, they had hand-written notes all over the hotel room that included different ideas and strategies. As they worked daily on their plan, they watched beautiful yachts pull in and out of the marina and dreamed of what that life could look like. It became more and more apparent they were going to make move soon.

Barry was at the point where you fall to your knees and say, “I just can’t do this anymore.” For him, he was in the pharmaceutical industry with a company car, company gas card, company credit card, pension plan, 401-K, free cell phone, nice salary, fair commission plan and great benefits.

At the same time, there was a wife (Allison) not working, an eight-year-old daughter (Hayden) and a two-year-old daughter (Grayson). He agreed that it was probably not the best-case scenario to quit his full-time employment. The reality was, if he left his job, they would be operating each month with a negative three-thousand-dollar monthly budget at home. Yep—that means after 6 months we would be eighteen thousand dollars in the hole unless that monthly deficit was somehow made up through generating more contracts in the business.

The decision to go full-time!

Barry resigned on August 18, 2005 from the pharmaceutical career and never looked back (maybe a few times). They also had a vision that wasn’t entirely aligned with them being able to stay a part of Barry’s uncle and aunt’s business. It was at that time they all agreed they should begin operating independently. Barry and Allison have and will always be thankful for their family’s willingness to help them get started and provide that foundation.

Throughout the first few years of operating the business in a full-time capacity, Barry found himself out working many times until the early morning hours working to build and perfect the 360clean system. It didn’t take long to realize that the niche for 360clean would be the specialization in servicing medical offices.

The vision for 360clean was to specialize in medical office cleaning, but utilize the same service provided to medical offices in all types of commercial buildings. That is when the JaniMed Cleaning System® was created. JaniMed® is 360clean’s process and standards for cleaning medical offices and other facilities that desire to have a clean, yet germ free environment. Barry has said from day one, this country does not need another cleaning company, what it needs is a cleaning company that focuses on cleaning beyond what we see on the surface. Just think…360clean started saying this in 2005. It’s interesting how many other companies have tried to make that their mission over the last few years.

During these early years, Barry had taken on so many positions of the company that it became overwhelming and put a damper on the business growth. Barry was focusing on the day-to-day operations such as sales, accounting, and management duties and he began to lose touch of their focus on growth and improvement. At that time, they were only servicing three clients and struggling to stay afloat. They knew that if their company wasn’t growing it was dying. Barry needed to free himself of the day-to-day operational chores to focus more on further developing the business model, but they couldn’t afford to hire more staff and franchising the concept became the focal point.

By the Spring of 2006, the original 360clean was now servicing over 40 clients and they had to make one of the hardest decisions in their career. Barry and Allison knew if they were to embark on this opportunity of franchising, the concept had to be unique and set 360clean apart from others in the industry.

Becoming a franchise concept!

By June 2006, they began the transition of franchising 360clean which brought about many other transitions. In 2008, 360clean began offering franchises. As the company has continued to evolve year after year, and even through the Great Recession, there is one thing that has and will never change: people are the most important aspect of 360clean.

What started as a part-time janitorial service company based in Charleston employing only a half-dozen employees and servicing three customers, has now transformed into one of the top rated franchises in the United States servicing clients throughout many states across the country. The growth and success has been achieved through the company’s core objectives: Remain Customer Focused, Remain Innovative, Develop Strong Business Leaders, Grow Profitably and Embrace Change. Keeping personal relationships at the forefront of the business has set 360clean apart from other competitors and helped create the 360fam.

360clean values their clients and the business brought to them by those throughout each community, but their appreciation for the franchise owners is incomparable. 360clean holds an annual FRANCHISE REUNION in a different city each winter. This provides the franchisees the opportunity to learn, grow and collaborate with each other. 360clean also has an annual reCHARGE RETREAT every summer. 360clean is proud to have built such a strong community of business owners that share a burning passion for the success of the brand.

As the company continues to grow, 360clean wants to remain focused on creating and nurturing relationships both in business and throughout our communities. We are thankful for these opportunities and look forward to continuing to positively impact our communities and the commercial cleaning industry.