Tag: Clean-it

Spotlight On The Middle Place Accounting & Clean-it!

*Donna Ray of The Middle Place (photo provided by Donna Ray)*

The Middle Place Accounting

Donna Ray, the owner of The Middle Place Accounting & Consulting Services, and I have a friend in common — Paula Nuñez, the owner of the Tampa City Dance Center and the founder of the Tampa City Ballet.

“I used to be the executive director of Tampa City Ballet,” Donna says, “and they are currently still one of my clients. I still handle their bookkeeping and accounting.”

Donna says she first launched The Middle Place during the pandemic, “while I was still the executive director of the ballet, because I have two children and their school was closed, so I needed to home school them and work from home. I also was taking care of my father, who has since passed away, so it just made sense to be as independent as I could be based on the needs of my family.”

She adds, “I sent out a big email blast at that time to people I’ve known around the Tampa Bay area for a very long time that my services were available and that seemed to be all that it took.”

The idea for her company didn’t just come out of nowhere, however. Donna has a total of 30 years of experience working in accounting.

After a decade of working in the Cayman Islands as an IT director with Cox Lumber Co. and Senior Accounting and later as project manager with Fidelity Group of Companies, she returned to the U.S., which was still recovering from the financial crash of 2008. She enrolled at the University of South Florida and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Women’s and Gender Studies.

After that, Donna says, “I found myself working for nonprofits for the first time. I accepted a job at the Helen Gordon Davis Center for Women as director of the Women’s Business Center in Hyde Park, where I worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs at all levels of experience and with a variety of needs — from writing business plans and building financial projections to accessing capital. That’s where the Tampa City Ballet found me.” Both nonprofits also extended Donna’s skills with grant writing, reporting and building relationships with community stakeholders and corporate partners, as well as with city, county, state and federal funding authorities.

She adds that since then, she has served, “a lot of female entrepreneurs, helping them either launch or with their business. But, my focus was on finance and accounting, and that was sort of my specialty, helping people build business plans, financial statements and projections.”

A Diverse Range Of Experience

She brings all of that experience with her to The Middle Place, “and I’ve been really lucky because I have a wide variety of clients. Some are in for-profit industries, some are nonprofit. I also work with a law firm and some retail companies.”

Donna says she provides a professional level of service that goes beyond just bookkeeping.

“I focus a lot on software implementation,” she says. “One nonprofit contract [I have] right now was implementing seven different unique technology stacks for them, and implementing Quickbooks Online and payroll and basically automating their entire organization.”

Originally from Chicago, Donna moved to the Tampa Bay area in the 1980s. She grew up as an aspiring young dancer, “but I had a very practical father who said, ‘If you break your leg, you need to have a backup.’ So as a teenager, she started out in business administration and, at age 19, as a legal secretary at a law firm in Clearwater.

While her extensive professional career was focused on accounting, IT, project and nonprofit management, Donna continued to study and dance with a local Tampa dance company and also performed with the Cayman Islands National Dance Company, where she also taught ballet and Gyrokinesis, a movement therapy specifically designed for dancers. After returning to Florida, she taught at the Patel Conservatory for Next Generation Ballet summer program.

Donna was thrilled when Paula Nuñez approached her needing help for the Tampa City Ballet. “I thought, ‘This is a perfect opportunity to work in an industry I love and provide my business expertise to help TCB grow and to help professional dancers in Tampa,’” she says.

She also works with Diaz Shafer, P.A. an immigration law firm in Tampa that was on Quickbooks Desktop but wanted to switch to Quickbooks Online, “so I did that for them.”

Donna also has done contract work for Davis College in Rwanda, Africa, as well as for Drong Ngur Jangchubling, a Tibetan Buddhist Center in Wesley Chapel, and Skate Park of Tampa: She’s also the Board treasurer of Dance Tampa Bay, led by Shana Corrada, E.D.

Donna provides full-service monthly accounting services for businesses of all sizes and industries, including payroll, sales tax filing and software integrations. “A lot of clients first come to me to handle their bookkeeping,” Donna says, “But I also do software implementation, financial projections and can help you grow your business by offering financial advice from a unique perspective. For more info, call (813) 391-6890 or visit TheMiddlePlace.com.—GN

Celly De Freitas Of Clean-It!

Clean-it owner Celly de Freitas has been cleaning homes and businesses in the New Tampa, Wesley Chapel and surrounding areas for the last 26 years.

But, she says, that wasn’t always the plan. She was a teacher in her native country of Brazil and planned to continue that career when Celly and her husband, Rogério Buchner de Freitas, moved to the Tampa Bay area, “but it was very hard for me to go to college (USF) here, because I didn’t speak English as well then as I do now,” she says. “I ended up leaving USF to go to school for the skin care business.”

In order to help pay for that schooling, she started cleaning houses and, even though she did end up opening a skincare spa, “I was making a lot more money cleaning houses, so I let the spa go after about two years,” Celly (above left) says.

Today, not only does this Wesley Chapel resident speak and understand English (as well as Spanish, Italian and her native Portuguese) fluently — despite still having a fairly thick accent — she has a team of twelve Brazilian women working with her, all of whom also speak and understand English, Spanish and Portuguese.

“I tell everyone who works for me that they have to be able to communicate with clients in English,” Celly says. “You have to be able to understand what the clients want and do whatever they ask when it comes to cleaning their homes.”

She says she usually uses a “team” approach, sending at least two and sometimes three members of her team to each job. “It’s much more efficient this way,” she says. “We can clean a lot more places when we work together.”

Celly, who has been an American citizen for about 20 years, isn’t usually actually working with the teams — she’s the one coordinating the schedules and checking up on all of her employees to make sure they are getting to each location on time (and calling or texting the clients when one of “my girls” is running late). “But, when I have someone out sick or they’re stuck someplace, I will still go and help out,” she says. “And, I try to be as flexible as possible when a client needs to change their schedule, too.”

The Covid-19 pandemic definitely took a toll on Celly’s business, but says she was able to survive because she received a PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loan from the government, “and continued to pay all of my employees who didn’t go back to Brazil, even though they weren’t able to work for several months. Without that money, I might have lost all of my clients.”

Clean-it offers (and is licensed to provide) residential and commercial (“We are licensed to do medical and dental clinics, but not hospitals,” Celly says) cleaning services, including monthly, bi-weekly and weekly services, one-time cleans and move-in and move-out cleans. “We have amazing references, too.,” she says.

Most of Clean-it’s clients are in Wesley Chapel, New Tampa, Lutz and Land O’Lakes, she says, “but we do travel a little further for some clients, especially those one-time cleaning clients.”

She adds, “We really specialize in those move-in cleans. We usually end up getting the [new homeowners] as clients because we do such a great job.”

For more information about Clean-it and/or a free job quote, call (813) 505-0431. — GN

Let Clean-it Keep Your Home Or Office ‘Covid-Clean!’

Is your home or office in need of a major cleaning? If you’ve been concerned about bringing someone into your home to clean during the Covid-19 pandemic, with Florida now in Phase 2 reopening under Gov. Ron Desantis’ plan, and the steps our friend Celly De Freitas of Clean-it and her crew take to make sure your home is left “Covid-clean,” I couldn’t recommend anyplace else to start looking for that help.

Celly came to mine and Jannah’s medium-sized, two-bedroom apartment to find out what we expect to be cleaned every time she and/or members of her team arrive, how often we want them to clean and what things are either optional or don’t have to be cleaned on every visit.

She walked through our pre-cleaned (does anyone not do that?) apartment with us to discuss, in some detail, what we want done in the bathroom, kitchen, each bedroom and the living room. Did we need her to clean our small terrace (nope), do dishes, start laundry or take out the garbage (we have valet trash, but she’ll tie it up and run it down to the dumpster if we need her to), or wipe down our baseboards? They even do windows if/when you need them to, etc.

Let’s Get Into It!

For that first cleaning, Celly cleaned our place herself, with one assistant, so that she could show that member of her team what her (and our) expectations are for each item on that checklist. She also will prep any other member of her crew who ends up cleaning a client’s home or office in the future about what they need to do to properly clean it, so there is never a drop-off in the quality of the cleaning when Celly doesn’t do the job herself, an issue we’ve had with other services.

And, after that walk-through, the price Celly will quote you will often be lower than what you might expect (or perhaps, what you’ve paid before) for such high-quality cleaning.

She always tries to have the same people cleaning our apartment whenever possible, but things can happen and she will do everything she can to make sure she never misses a cleaning appointment, even if she has to be at our place on a different day than usual, and it genuinely matters to her that every client is just as happy with Clean-it as we have been.

That quality control is probably more important to Celly than it has been to anyone else who has ever provided home or office cleaning services for me. It’s just the way she’s wired, the way she approached cleaning when she worked for someone else after she and her husband Roger and their two (then-)young sons, Henrique and Patrick, moved from their native Brazil 23 years ago and she worked in Tampa for another cleaning service.

It’s the same way Celly has run Clean-it since she branched out on her own in 2013, and it shows.

Although she does so with a beautiful accent, Celly speaks and understands English perfectly. Although some of her staff of eight speak only/mainly Portugese, Spanish or both, she will always respond to calls or texts of concern from her clients and will make sure to fix anything they’re not happy with — if not right away, then definitely before the next time she sends anyone from her team to your place.

“It’s always nice when people say nice things about us, tip the girls or especially, when they recommend us to someone else,” she says. “I like to keep all of my clients happy.”

Covid-Careful, Too!

Jannah and I were definitely concerned about bringing someone into our home to clean during the Covid-19 crisis, but here’s what we knew from the moment Clean-it started cleaning our place several months before the pandemic hit:

She and her girls already wore masks and gloves, they always used their own environmentally-safe cleaning supplies and vacuum cleaner, our kitchen and bath surfaces had never been disinfected better nor had our place ever smelled better than it did after they were done. And, even though we usually leave the house while they’re cleaning, we’re always appreciative of the quality of the job each time we return.

Plus, she says that unlike many cleaning services, she didn’t furlough her employees and did everything she could to retain as many of her clients as possible when everyone was self-isolating. “Business has picked back up,” Celly says, “but it hasn’t been an easy time..for anyone.”

Also, if you have kids and pets, she says, “We know they sometimes come into contact with cleaning products, whether from licking or just having their hands on the floor. So, we use products that won’t be harmful to their health.”

Even so, she adds that Clean-it also is happy to use the cleaning products you use in your home if that’s what you prefer.

To schedule a no-obligation consultation with Celly De Freitas of Clean-it, call (813) 505-0431 or email cleanitmc@gmail.com. For more information, see the ad on pg. 37 of this issue or search “Clean-it” on Facebook. Neighborhood News readers receive 10% off their first cleaning by mentioning this article.

Clean-it

If you need someone to Clean-it, call Clean-it

Celly de Freitas is the owner and operator of Clean-it. She and her team work together to ensure their clients’ homes and offices are thoroughly cleaned.

If you’re in the market for a new cleaning service for your home or office, Celly de Freitas invites you to try Clean-it, her family-owned cleaning service based in Wesley Chapel and serving the surrounding areas, including New Tampa, Lutz and Land O’Lakes, which she has owned and operated since 2013. The company is unlike many, in that Celly herself meets with each client to get specific instructions and room-by-room requests and then returns to either do the job herself, or supervise it, every time your home is cleaned.

Celly says other cleaning services don’t usually offer the consistency she does. Large companies hire a lot of people, she says, so you don’t always get the same crew working in your home. She says this is a recipe for miscommunication, and also considerably slows down the cleaning process.

“For all of my clients,” explains Celly, “I either personally clean their house, or I check it after my crew is done. Every house, every time.”

Clean-it includes four crew members besides Celly, and they are all her family members and friends.

“I only have people working for me who I know and trust,” Celly says. “I’m not going to allow someone into my clients’ homes if I don’t know them.”

She says she often hears from people who are not happy with their current cleaning service.

“They tell me they’ve arranged their schedule to be home, then people don’t show up, and sometimes the cleaning company doesn’t even know they’re missing houses,” she says. “Or they don’t like that different people show up at their house for each cleaning. So, they tell me they’ll give me a try, and then they (usually) stick with me.”

Clean-it provides general cleaning services, including dusting, wiping down and disinfecting window ledges, baseboards, interior glass doors, countertops, the facings of all appliances, sinks, faucets, exterior cabinets, blinds and ceiling fans, as well as floor vacuuming and mopping. If you need something done that isn’t on this list, Celly says all you have to do is ask, as she is happy to accommodate special requests.

The same goes for offices, too. Celly says she vacuums, clean the bathrooms, tables and blinds, fans, and mops floors. She says offices tend to be more simple, but she still accommodates whatever is needed.

“I do whatever the client asks, and I always accomplish what I promise,” Celly explains. “My clients are always happy with my services, or I go back and make it right.”

She says this is another contrast to large cleaning companies, where a cleaning crew may have so many homes scheduled that they are in a rush at every home they visit.

“This isn’t a quick clean,” says Celly. “We’re not paid by the hour, so we don’t have to look at our watches while we’re cleaning, to be sure we get in and out quickly.”

She stresses that, in her business, the needs and desires of her clients are of the utmost importance. “We just do whatever it takes to make sure your house looks good every time we leave.”

Celly insists that each time she cleans your home, it will be as clean as the first time. She says that her reputation has been built on satisfied customers who know she does a thorough and detailed cleaning each and every time.

A Little Background

Celly has now worked in the cleaning industry for more than 20 years, the last five as the owner and operator of Clean-it. She moved to Florida 21 years ago from Brazil and her family settled in the Seven Oaks community in Wesley Chapel more than 15 years ago. With her roots in this area, she has many long-term relationships with her clients.

“I want people to know they can trust me,” she says. “I have houses I’ve cleaned for 15 years. I provide references and I welcome new clients to call my current clients and see what they have to say about me.”

Julie is one of those clients who is happy to talk about how much she appreciates Clean-it’s cleaning services. She says she first met Celly in 2006 when she was looking for someone to clean her home and a neighbor referred her.

“Celly is incredibly reliable, neat, prompt and honest,” Julie says. “She does a good job, and she’s careful with delicate things.”

Julie adds, “I have a lot of plantation shutters, and Celly is obsessed with keeping them dusted and clean, even more than me,” says Julie. “And that’s a big job! I’m very happy with her.”

Celly says Julie is just one of her many satisfied customers. She believes her customers stay happy because she dedicates her time to each one of her clients and puts her personal stamp of approval on each cleaning job.

“Homeowners like the fact that they know me and my crew,” says Julie. “If I don’t come to your house one day, but send a crew instead, it’s still going to be someone you know who has cleaned your house before.”

And, Celly will still stop by to make sure that everything has been done properly.

It’s also important to Celly to use environmentally friendly products, she says. She chooses products that are efficient, ones that, “work well but are not harmful,” she says.

“If you have kids and pets, we know they sometimes come into contact with cleaning products, whether that’s from licking the floor or just having their hands on the floor,” Celly explains. “So, we use products that will not be harmful to their health.” If a client wants their own, personal products to be used for cleaning instead, Celly says she is happy to oblige.

Clean-it offers a 10 percent discount on your first cleaning to Neighborhood News readers who mention this story. Be sure to see her ad on page 49 of this issue, too. Like it says, if you choose to give her a try, “you will see the difference.”

For a free estimate, call Celly at (813) 505-0431. You can learn more about Clean-it online at Facebook.com/CleanIt.Services. The business is licensed and insured. Appointments are available Mon.-Fri., with special request appointments available on Sat. Clean-it is accepting new residential and business clients for regular weekly, bi-weekly and monthly cleanings, as well as one-time services for moving in out.