Small business, big exposure; Mother, daughter who own cleaning business profiled in national magazine
Courtesy of The Peterborough Examiner
From a summer job to a feature in a national magazine, Julie Brown couldn't have imagined what would become of her Peterborough- based cleaning business when she started it three years ago. A chance phone call while searching for an academic expert led a magazine writer to Brown's story.But it wasn't just any writer, it was Rona Maynard, the former editor- in-chief of Chatelaine magazine, and she was looking for successful mother-daughter business partnerships for a story she was writing for a national magazine called More.
Maynard had called Trent University to track down a professor, but her curiosity was piqued when the communication staffer she chatted with mentioned the cleaning business Brown runs with her mother, Karen Brown.
"It was serendipity that led me to Julie and Karen," Maynard said in an e-mail.
Maynard said she never did hear from that Trent expert she was looking for, but she was happier to get a lead on the Browns' story.
"I've found that unexpected twists often make for a more interesting story. This one certainly did," Maynard stated.
The Browns' company, Kawartha Lakes Cleaning, was one of four businesses featured in the story, entitled "Like mother, like daughter," in the November issue of More magazine.
Julie used a grant for student entrepreneurs to start the company as a summer job after her first year in business administration at St. Francis Xavier University three years ago.
"I knew I wanted to own my own business," she said. Julie soon found herself on a roll and had an opportunity to buy out an established cleaning company.
At the same time, her mother was downsized from her job as a supervisor at a manufacturing plant. The two decided that Karen would sign on to help Julie run her burgeoning business.
It was a turn of events that provided contrast in Maynard's story about daughters taking over their mothers' businesses.
Even though an acquaintance from Trent told Julie that she had tipped off Maynard about Julie's story and the writer might call her, Julie said she never thought her story was worthy of national coverage."You just think you're this little small company in Peterborough, and you don't think it's something that people across Canada would want to read," Julie said. Even after an hour-long phone interview with Maynard, Julie said she didn't think anything would come of it.
"She told us that a fact finder would call if they decided to use the story, and sure enough, someone called," Julie said.
Julie and Karen both said they still weren't convinced they would ever see their names in print, until a copy of the magazine arrived in the mail recently. They promptly went out and bought a few copies of the magazine, and planned to have one framed to hang on the wall of Karen's home.
Karen said reading the article made her even more proud of her daughter's achievements.
"We were really excited and proud of Julie," Karen said, adding, "And I guess, (proud of) myself."It's a really special thing that doesn't happen too often, and for me it's just the fact of seeing the day your daughter matures into a young adult and all the responsibility she's taking on," Karen said. Julie said she was very impressed with the article and pleased with how much attention and respect Maynard gave to her small business.
"We were so purely impressed by the article," Julie said. "She made us sound really good," she added with a laugh.
Now Julie said she will keep her eyes open for more of Maynard's work.
"I'm kind of a fan of hers now, so I'll be watching for her stuff," she said. As for the cleaning business, Julie isn't sure whether to continue to grow the company or pursue a new career when she graduates this spring.
"I don't want to hold her back," Karen said. "She's really ambitious and I think she will always have her own business."