Today we’d like to introduce you to Ivan Royal.
Ivan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I retired as a First Sergeant from the U.S. Army, in September 2013 after 21 years of service. In October 2013, I joined a national facilities organization with accountability for a 7-state region, 24 million square feet, and 700 – 1000 staff members. The facilities included; K-12, colleges, prestigious universities, and large government office space. In February 2017, I purchased a franchise with OMEX International to bring its 30 plus years of experience and success in commercial contract cleaning to the East Valley.
OMEX began with two employees and after 18 months, we’ve grown to 25.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The 18-month journey in Entrepreneurship has been like a roller coaster. I stay motivated and humbled daily because I have this chart above my desk titled “A Day in the Life as An Entrepreneur”, which displays some emotions and thoughts you could go through in just a day. Which include: I’m excited, Ugh! This is hard, it’s working, I messed up, I think I’m going bankrupt, I’m good. I don’t know why I get so down on myself, I was wrong. I suck and wait a second, my life is great.
As with any new endeavor, we started out with me supporting the business (crawl phase). The initial push came with support from the Franchisor sending over 10,000 mailers, telemarketing, word of mouth and door to door sales. The first 7 months were challenging and sometimes I wanted to give up and go back to work for an established national company.
My first contract eluded me until August, but I finished the last 5 months of the year with one contract each month. Today, the business is supporting itself and while doubt sometimes finds its way back, I think of the road I’ve traveled and the chart above my desk and it all comes back to focus. Proud to be an Entrepreneur.
OMEX – Office Maintenance Experts of Phoenix – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
OMEX is a quality cleaning facility service organization located in the East Valley with the financial capability to successfully perform services for many of the area’s most prestigious facilities. OMEX has spent over thirty years perfecting our quality office cleaning methods and commercial cleaning systems.
We are especially proud that our customers use Quality, Consistency, Responsiveness to describe OMEX. Our service personnel are fully trained and supervised to assure the quality and consistency customers expect.
What separates OMEX:
– Customers have direct contact with the OMEX owner
– Quality Control Inspections
– Provide Quick Clean online work orders ticket system
– Be transparent and build a partnership
– Work with your budget to meet your janitorial needs
OMEX is an environmentally green company. The cleaning products and HEPA filters OMEX uses are safe for office equipment, floors, people and the environment while doing an excellent job of cleaning. OMEX uses color-coded cleaning cloths that alert employees not to use the same cleaning cloths for tabletops that they may have used to clean the bathroom.
Our goal is to maintain long-term relationships with client accounts by solving cleaning problems, rather than simply being another undistinguished alternative in the marketplace.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
At OMEX, I define success as a happy customer.
OMEX Success is derived from a happy customer. A happy customer is one, that despite a few opportunities for improvement, tells you how you saved him/her time, money, less frustration, and made them look good to their boss for selecting your company as their provider. Additionally, they provide you with written or verbal referrals to other establishments they know that could use the service you provide for them.
OMEX established the Basic 5 to achieve a happy customer:
1. Clean Door Glass
2. Clean Floors
3. Trash emptied
4. Clean Restrooms
5. Weekly dusting
All employees are trained to ask themselves prior to the end of shift each night “Did I complete the Basic 5?”
The Basic 5 is a viewpoint of the customer returning to work the next day after their office has been serviced. Most if not all employees will notice at least two of these areas on their way into the building. The first impression after servicing a building is important to the customer, employees, visitors and me as an owner.
Contact Info:
- Address: 537 S. 48th St Suite 104 Tempe, AZ 85281
- Website: http://www.omexcorp.com/phoenix/
- Phone: 602.362.2501
- Email: ivan.royal@omexcorp.com
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