By: Jhanae Winter
Vandesha Whyte took a leap of faith and birthed her business Millenium Cleaners & Wholesale Products in 2020 during the height of the pandemic.
Vandesha majored in marine engineering for three years at a marine academy. She thought this would be the final decision for her life but things took an unexpected turn when she left her career at sea, one year after working in the field.
“I realized I had no passion for that career which was shocking because it was money driven.I quickly realized I had a passion for cleaning and cleaning was something I didn’t mind doing without getting paid. I sacrificed my career as a marine engineer and started my cleaning company which I used to call Summer’s Cleaning Services,” she said.
Rebranding her business, Vandesha not only changed the name but also expanded the company into what it is today.
At Millenium Cleaners & Wholesale Products provides professional cleaning services to residential, yachts and commercial spaces. Some of these cleaning services includes: residential and commercial deep cleaning and maintenance, carpet and upholstery cleaning , post construction cleaning and window cleaning landscaping.
Vandesha was glad to finally open her first retail store to distribute her wholesale items but the process was not easy.
“I did the entire process alone in secret just to keep the negative feedback away. Even so I fell short on funds to purchase inventory. I was paying rent for 6 months before I actually opened, but God is so good he led me into the hands of a private investor who wanted nothing to do with my company except invest to get me started,” she said.
The risk of leaving a stable income job and starting one’s own business in a completely different field, is extremely high. There is no guarantee what the turnout will be.
But knowing this, Vandesha was not moved. She said, “I have a positive outlook towards everything in life”.
She uses every opportunity to cater to the business. On hectic days she is doing her best to satisfy clients with the services she provides them. On slower days she takes the time to follow up with clients, catches up on day to day tasks and brainstorms ways to improve her services.
“I operate on a daily basis by saying and believing ‘Everyday is a good day’”.
And good days have surely hit Millenium Cleaners & Wholesale Products, with Vandesha receiving contract work from a commercial hotel in Nassau.
“I received a call from Melia hotel to provide post construction cleaning. I was overly excited about this HUGE opportunity. It was a small project that lasted for three months but we completed it and got satisfactory reports. Now we are into our 2nd contact with this hotel for a much larger project. AIN’T GOD GOOD”, she exclaimed.
The vision Vandesha has for her business is to do exactly that, provide services only with commercial properties only such as hotels, corporate offices, and large construction projects.
As for the retail aspects, a goal for her is to open a second store front in the middle of 2022.
“I would like to gain bigger and longer contracts within the commercial industry and I would like to invest in a distribution/warehouse center. I would also like to extend my cleaning services on the family island and possibly outside of the Bahamas,” she told Bahamaslocal.com
As she is working profusely to bring these things into fruition, Vandesha does not desire to be overseeing the daily operation of her business all the time. She aspires for the company to reach the point of development where her complete presence isn’t needed for it to function.
From her initial start date and through revamping the business, Vandesha has experienced a few challenges and learned managerial aspects along the way.
“My main challenge was locking in a steady income and actually being able to track and log all my expenses and actually earning. Financial discipline was a huge downfall for me,” she said.
Her perspective on business also underwent some development as well. She said she knew the vision she had concerning the business, but trusting others and reaching out for help, proved to be a challenge. She didn't want to experience negativity and she was also shy.
However, once she overcame this mentality and realized it was hindering her business’ success, she opened to the assistance from others, causing her business to flourish.
“ I overcame this by networking. I’ve gained clients with strong knowledge on how to manage finances who were open to helping and guiding me on how to properly maintain my money. Once I changed my mindset and started to become inquisitive I soon realized that most people I encountered led me into the right hands or path to get exactly what I needed. I Thank God for them,” she said.
Encountering no negative feedback, it is through these experiences with her clients that Vandesha developed keen senses for certain clients. She knows the calibre of clients she wants to work with and can also easily detect those that will be difficult.
“I don’t have any negativity around me that I’m aware of. I don’t have any negative feedback from clients either. However because I'm always in contact with my clients I tend to feed off their energy on who I would like to serve or not. I tend to know a troubled client from a mile away,” she said.
Connect with Vandesha on Facebook at Millenium Cleaners & Wholesale Products and on Instagram @milleniumcleaners242
Millenium Cleaners & Wholesale Products, Millennials do it best
