SECTIONS CLOSE
  • Home
  • Directory
    • Artists
    • Black Youth & Family Services
    • Books
    • Business
    • Films
    • Politicians
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment
    • Books
    • Film & TV
    • Music
    • Stage
  • The Experts
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Legal
    • Marketing
    • Money
    • Motivation
    • Parenting
    • Real Estate
    • Sex & Relationships
    • Technology
    • Travel
  • Profiles
    • Artists
    • Business
    • NFP/Charities
    • Personalities
    • Food & Drink
    • Sponsored Profiles
  • The Father Project
    • Fathers Responses
  • Archive
  • Newsletter Archive
    • Subscribe to our Newsletter
  • PCA
    • 2024 ByBlacks.com PCA Winners List
    • 2023 ByBlacks.com PCA Winners List
    • 2022 ByBlacks.com PCA Winners List
    • 2021 ByBlacks.com PCA Winners List
    • 2020 ByBlacks.com PCA Winners List
    • 2019 ByBlacks.com PCA Winners List
    • 2018 ByBlacks.com PCA Winners List
  • Restaurant Week
    • Prix Fixe Menus
      • Prix Fixe Menus - AB
      • Prix Fixe Menus - BC
      • Prix Fixe Menus - NS
      • Prix Fixe Menus - NB
      • Prix Fixe Menus - ON
      • Prix Fixe Menus - PEI
  • Jobs
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • FAQs
  • Editorial
  • General
  • Press
  • Privacy
  • Sales
  • User Login

ByBlacks.com | #1 online magazine for Black Canadians

Business

Cleaning Up The Six In Style

Matthew Hoskins, founder of SixMaids
Matthew Hoskins, founder of SixMaids Photo: startupheretoronto.com
Administrator By Administrator
Published on Saturday, December 10, 2016 - 10:25
Growing up, it was Matthew Hoskins’s dad who watched over his bed-making and room-cleaning.

The product of strict boarding schools, cleanliness and tidiness was of the utmost importance to him. “They ran a tight ship.”

Today, it’s Hoskins who steers a team of cleaners who take on the cluttered lives of Torontonians.

He’s confident SixMaids will do a better job than you do of cleaning your home – and he focuses on making the process simple and straightforward. The website allows users to indicate the number of rooms/bathrooms to be cleaned and any extra services requested and the site will let you know the total cost and availability.

Just don’t expect six different maids to show up – the name is drawn from a combination of servicing “the Six” (Toronto’s new moniker), and also cleaning with the power of six.

Hoskins acknowledges that there are enough cleaning companies or individuals to service the GTA area. What he found there was not enough of, though, was accountability.

So he focused on that – accountability, customer service, reliability. That means knowing exactly how much you’re going to pay for what services; not getting cancelled on due to inclement weather or personal reasons; facilitating clear communication; and providing some recourse for disappointing outcomes.

“In the cleaning industry it’s not always like that,” says Hoskins.

Hoskins has always been an idea man. “A hustler since birth,” he jokes, explaining he’d sell his siblings’ artwork at his mom’s workplace, sell lemonade and shovel snow when he was young.

When he was about ten, he had his first booming business – one that lasts until this day (under different leadership).

“I come from a devoutly religious family. Super Christian, from Jamaica. Every Sunday you go to church, that’s how it was. It was a very big church, very animated and because of all those things service would run long,” he says. “For a growing boy, I was hungry. Super hungry.”

Hoskins figured he likely wasn’t the only one. It wasn’t long before he was pitching to his “angel investors” for seed money and making trips to Costco. With the help of his siblings and permission from the church, they opened the “Snack Shack,” selling pop, chips and chocolate bars to the rest of the restless churchgoers (with profits going back to the church).

Running a cleaning operation as an adult is a different kind of gig, to be sure, but Hoskins said that feeling is what continues to motivate him.

“The true feeling that I got that continues with me till this day is being able to solve a problem and creating value for people.”

The value he sees being created today is not just in creating a more attractive, clean environment, but runs deeper than that.

“It’s how people feel after,” Hoskins explains. “A lot of people feel free, relaxed like they’re able to take a deep breath, like a weight’s off their back. Living in a messy space or if your space is cluttered, you tend to feel cluttered yourself and kind of constricted by that.

“I’ve had a lot of clients say ‘thank you for sending this team. I came home to a clean place and just felt great.’”

Needing a bit more than seed money for snacks, Hoskins turned to Enterprise Toronto to get his business off the ground. But beyond the grant, he says the Starter Company Program gave him solid advice for how to put systems in place and set clear expectations so that his own cleaning business wouldn’t face the same industry pitfalls he was trying to avoid.

The mentorship received from Andrew Patricio, Starter Company lead, as well as from peers facing similar challenges and opportunities, was invaluable.

“If I had to pay $5,000 instead of getting it, I’d still do the program,” he says. “It’s fantastic.”

This article originally appeared in www.startupheretoronto.com written by Deena Douara.

Last modified on Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 21:41

Featured Directory Listings

  • Becoming Institute Inc.
    Becoming Institute...https:/...Name: Becoming Institute Inc.
  • GMS Professional Corporation Chartered Professional Accountants
    GMS Professional...https://gmscpa.ca/Name: GMS Professional Corporation Chartered Professional Acc...
  • As Told By Canadian Immigrants
    As Told By Canadian...https:/...Name: As Told By Canadian Immigrants
  • Hudson Law Office Professional Corporation
    Hudson Law Office...Name: Hudson Law Office Professional Corporation
  • Cuisine by Noel - Caterer & Baker
    Cuisine by Noel -...www.cuisinebynoel.co...Name: Cuisine by Noel - Caterer & Baker
  • SEE ALL LISTINGS
  • ENTREPRENEUR
Administrator By Administrator

ByBlacks.com is a bold, innovative online magazine serving the Black community in Canada.

With over 100 writers contributing on topics ranging from race relations, Black Canadian history, spirituality, fitness, parenting, fashion, food and more, ByBlacks.com helps you live a better life.

And with our detailed Black Canadian Artist, Books, Business and Politicians Directory, Black Canadian Events Listing and Job Postings, we put all of Black Canada at your fingertips.

byblacks.com

Latest from Administrator

  • JOB POSTING - ByBlacks.com | Digital Marketing Coordinator
  • 2022 ByBlacks.com Black Friday One Day Sale
  • Semi-Annual Restaurant Week Addresses Aftershocks Of Pandemic On Black-Owned Restaurants In Canada
  • To Be Black, Muslim And A Woman: New Art Exhibit Questions The Narrative
  • ByBlacks.com Reveals Brand New Look With Upgraded Record Fast Website

MORE IN THIS CATEGORY

Author Launches Her Own Emojis On Apple App Store
Author Launches Her Own Emojis On Apple App Store 21 November 2016
The Nature Deficit Disorder - Why We Should Throw Our Kids To The Woods 27 January 2017
The Nature Deficit Disorder - Why We Should Throw Our Kids To The Woods

RELATED STORIES

A New Co-Working Spot For Music Entrepreneurs: iLive Radio's Colab Toronto

A New Co-Working Spot For Music Entrepreneurs: iLive Radio's Colab Toronto

17 April 2023
Afro Unicorn: Magical, Unique, And Made By A Black Female CEO

Afro Unicorn: Magical, Unique, And Made By A Black Female CEO

11 April 2023
How A Lingerie Business Owner Is Helping Breast Cancer Survivors Feel Beautiful

How A Lingerie Business Owner Is Helping Breast Cancer Survivors Feel Beautiful

01 April 2023
ByBlacks.com | #1 online magazine for Black Canadians
Magazines Canada
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • FAQs
  • Editorial
  • General
  • Press
  • Privacy
  • Sales
  • User Login
Copyright © 2013 - 2025 ByBlacks.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
developed by Nuevvo