Sammie E. Pierson earned an associate degree in work administration from the Georgia Medical Institute and spent 10 years in education and 20 years as a certified nursing assistant before establishing Squeaky Clean Cleaning With A Smile LLC in 2017. Currently serving as the chief executive officer of Squeaky Clean Cleaning, she founded her business out of a desire to be her own boss and to create a family business that could be passed on to her children. Not having any experience in owning a business when she first started, she is entirely self-taught when it comes to business management and notes that she is still learning every single day. Today, Ms. Pierson holds significant expertise in commercial and residential cleaning in addition to general business duties, including invoices and payroll, advertising and client outreach, and managing contracts.
Ms. Pierson runs Squeaky Clean Cleaning with a main staff of six employees that expands to 15 during the summer months when they receive an increase in rental turnover work. Their commercial cleaning services run from 5pm to 3am with a team of two people dispatched per site, while their residential services are offered from 8am to 5pm and the sites are handled by a single worker. Starting out only in commercial cleaning before branching out into residential cleaning, she has now developed a wide range of contracts through a combination of word-of-mouth referrals and clients who come in through her website, including contracts with the local country club and medical center.
Considering her favorite part of her career to be getting to work with other business owners, Ms. Pierson is particularly grateful for those relationships that have led to full business partnerships. Of note is the chemical maintenance company she works with that provides her with referrals when a client comes in looking for cleaning services, which said company doesn’t offer. Furthermore, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic Ms. Pierson has seen a noticeable uptick in business as more and more companies and individuals are paying closer attention to the cleanliness of their spaces. She is incredibly proud to have experienced significant business growth during such a difficult time.
In addition to her work with Squeaky Clean Cleaning, Ms. Pierson has contributed her skills to a number of other professional and civic endeavors as well. For the past two and a half years, she has worked with the University of Illinois as a full sanitation laborer in the university’s kitchens. Since 2006, Ms. Pierson has also been active as a foster parent, and has fostered roughly 20 children since then, though she has none with her at the present time.
Throughout her career, Ms. Pierson has been continually motivated and inspired by seeing her clients’ happy faces when they see their newly cleaned space, be it a business or a private home. She notes that her work comes with a satisfaction guarantee and if a client isn’t happy or if there is a problem, they will work to remedy the problem immediately. Her emphasis is on leaving whatever building they are cleaning “squeaky clean” with a full top to bottom cleaning. Looking toward the future, Ms. Pierson intends to expand her business, and is looking into potential locations in Texas, Georgia and Arizona.
Ms. Pierson’s family has been incredibly supportive throughout her career and several family members have joined her at Squeaky Clean Cleaning. Two of her children, Simone and Skylar, have joined her at the company, as have two of her nieces, Paykla Williams and her friend, Serita Robinson. Not all of her family has followed her into the janitorial field, however, and her youngest works in home health care and is starting a clothing boutique while another works at Buffalo Wild Wings. Ms. Pierson’s family has also grown to include seven grandchildren: Skidie and Layla Cain, Natalia and Kaiden Lake, Camillia Morris, Dontavius Sugars, and Aceon Smith.
