They say Success is no Accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do. Aditya Bharti, the Founder of GoCleaners hadn't heard of this saying but he was working on it as if it was a mission statement for him.
He didn't start off with a massive setup on day 1. Nor did he know that what he is about to do in the home cleaning services would one day be so disruptive that it would shake up the solid roots of some of the incumbent companies in hyperlocal markets - especially since he started from humble beginnings and not from the high-end funding that these competitors had.
It was Aditya and his friend Shivam who started this venture and his brother Anup joined in as co-founder. At the time, Aditya was working with a real estate firm and his brother Anup was with the well-known Home Cleaning service brand Urban Company. Shivam was not employed then. They weren't your typical IITians who had funding and investors falling at their feet. But heck, they knew that already. And so, they already started hunting for that initial pool-in of funds.
Shivam had suggested the name GoCleaners- it was catchy and said exactly what they were looking to explain to any customer who landed up on their site. They pooled in about Rs. 1 lakh and started out on their journey, exploring bit by bit where life would take them. Shivam and Anup used to deliver the jobs and Aditya used to get the orders.
They knew from Anup's experience that although the companies were making money out of the services delivered, the service providers working with them were not very happy with their ways. The service providers had to pay for their credit to get a job, they had to sometimes bear the cost of the chemicals and often faced a lack of coordination between the teams managing them. It was a market wide open for them to explore and work better. But like most disruptors who know the problem but don't have the funds to fix it, Aditya and his team too had a tough time keeping up with the pace of funds required.
They were increasingly falling short of chemicals, equipment and manpower.
His parents were hugely supportive. So much so, his mother lent him all her jewellery to get them back on track - ensuring they didn't fall off from the path they had set themselves up for.
His mom's blessings did the trick. They set off on a trailblazing success path and how. Today they are 16 members in the team and counting - Anup and Shivam are the co-founders while the rest of them are professionals who deliver jobs. They have managed to disrupt the key Mumbai suburbs of Andheri, Goregaon and Vile Parle etc and have a continuous flow of orders from these areas, most of them references of happy clients.
But still, Aditya is not sitting tight. He knows that this is just the beginning. They have many more milestones to achieve and with a strong team like that, Aditya wants to set up one single platform for all types of professional services.
The journey, he admits was an essential stage of his life and it kept him motivated enough to keep going on. Days were not all the same - Some of them being superachieving, the others being absolute down-lows. He had to make changes to his own self and his own routine first so that he could manage both the job roles and responsibilities. Go Cleaners' journey has made him the man that he is today. Today, when Aditya looks back - he recollects this one time when he had thought of dropping out but his friend Shivam and his family supported him, making him believe that he had the power ti fulfil his dream.
When asked what is the one thing he remembers doing that he realizes was the most important step of his journey, Aditya responds, "Many people came up with different psychologies and ideas but I was sure of what I had to do to execute and push things further ahead. I had a clear image built up in my head. I sincerely recommend anyone who wishes to start out on their own - first research the problem and start developing the best solution for it. Dont jump in blind, your path will then be laden with unforeseen problems and under-researched quick fixes which is a sure-shot recipe for failure."
Follow the rule of Making a bed for yourself in the morning. Here you start your first task of the day. Nothing is better than seeing a ready bed to sleep in again and making the most out of the Next day of life.
Aditya Bharti, Founder, GoCleaners
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