A Young Woman Embraces An Unconventional Career Path
They say when you do what you love, you never work a day in your life. That’s the resounding message of this week’s look on the bright side and the messenger is a young woman that has made her passion of cleaning her career path. I stopped in to meet Florina on the job of her dreams. Here’s that story.
Florina: “Hello, Flo’s Pristine Services.”
Sabreena Daly, Reporting
This is what you’ll hear when you hire the one-woman team of Flo’s Pristine Services. Owned by Florina Arzu, it’s a cleaning service that began with a young woman’s love of cleaning her own living space.
Florina Arzu
Florina Arzu, Owner, Flo’s Pristine Services
“It was something I could do every day. I got up, I had my mindset and something to clean, or if I had a hard day, I found myself cleaning. So it kind of just took over.”
At twenty-eight, Florina decided to establish a business and earn a living from doing housework.
Florina Arzu
“I talked to many people about it and showed them the idea and they were like, you sure you wanna clean for a living? That’s really hard. But I was like, yes. I mean, people talk about finding something you love and you won’t work a day in your life. And so I thought about it and I said, I’m just, I’m just gonna go with it because I keep on asking people and they shut me down. I googled, what’s a cleaning business, what all do you need for a cleaning business? And I realized I didn’t need much. And so I said, you know what? Nothing hard to just beat the try, even if I just got one client. And it did start out with one client, that one client, and she just started referring me to other people. I got more people on, they said they love the way I work. And so, It just blossomed from there.”
Florina enjoys the transformation of a living room or an office space after she’s done cleaning and she takes pride in every aspect of the job. In fact, her favorite space to clean is a room many avoid.
Florina Arzu
“I love transforming the bathroom. It’s the weirdest thing, but I love transforming the bathroom. It’s the hardest job, but it’s something after I do it. I also love a good redo of a room. You know, when you take down everything, you shift it up and you put new sheets and you shine all the wooden surfaces and you just walk in. It looks like a brand new room. That’s my favorite part of cleaning.”
Her latest client is Sharlene Williams, a proprietor of Belizean Sweets and Treats. Sharlene said it’s the quality of Florina’s work that made her remain a client, but Florina even taught her a thing or two in the process.
Sharlene Williams
Sharlene Williams, Owner, Belizean Sweets and Treats
“To my amazement, what she did within those three hours, I am talking about it and I’m having cold seeds. She stripped down my refrigerator, cleaned it even better than I could. My floor, she polished. My stove, my wall. Sometimes when we do the things on the stove, it boils over. So we have that hard sugar and she brought in this little tool and I saw her scraping off and literally it would take me one or two days to clean my stove. She cleaned my stove completely within a half an hour. So after that I went and I got a brush. I literally went out and I got some of the tools that she utilized to help me to get my work done.”
There’s a level of pride that comes with watching a young person realize their dreams at an early age, even when it’s an unconventional one. One of the things that has made Flo’s Pristine Services stand out is her use of branding, from social media platforms to business cards, Florina has branded her business and herself.
Florina Arzu
“I decided to do my branding. I googled everything as usual, uncle Google and Auntie YouTube, and that’s where I did my page. I started out with my Facebook page, my Instagram, and went out from there and I met people who mentored me. For some reason, they always said that they like the fact that i”m doing this as a young person and I found that very inspiring.”
Sharlene Williams
“Flo does not fit the status quo. For her to be at her age and to be involved in the industry that absolutely nobody wants to be in. Everybody wants the high heels and the hair and the nails and the hand bags.For her to actually want to get down and dirty in other people’s filth,I would say, and to do it well. And, and the way she carries herself, she’s joyful, she’s not touching anything in a scornful way. Her entire rapport, she’s an inspiration to a lot of young people. And even for me as an older person.”
Her brand, as well as the quality of her services, has grown her clientele exponentially. Where Flo’s Pristine Services once only cleaned homes, Flo is now servicing business places as well.
Florina Arzu
“I want Floors Pristine in Belize, Belize’s own professional team. When you think about cleaning, whatever it may be. For now it’s just, um, mainly home and I’m venturing slowly into office cleaning, so commercial. But in the future, I wanna just have everything on the floors pristine, that has to do with cleaning the drain, the garbage bin. Whatever you need done, just look at floors, pristine, and you can get it done. That’s the idea I’m going for.”
Florina believes that her principle of not being afraid to try or fail is what has brought her the success she now has. She shares this very same message with anyone holding on to a dream, big or small.
Florina Arzu
“Success is on the other side of fear, that’s my line. And if I was so fearful of bringing Flo’s Pristine, I didn’t think it would ever be this big. I’m glad that I took that step forward and just listened to my ideas and said, you know what? Nothing beats a try, and I just went for it. So just go for it. Don’t listen to no one try. And if you fail and you feel like it’s still something you wanna do, then try again.”
Looking on the Bright Side, I’m Sabreena Daly.
