KELLY Moore may have left school with no qualifications, but she is now the founder of a business that rakes in £15,000 every month.
Five years ago, the Maidstone mother, 44, waved goodbye to her burnt-out nine-to-five care career and decided to pick up a bucket.
Now, the mum-of-one has swapped counting pennies and never has to worry about being back in her overdraft.
Not only is she now an incredibly inspiring female boss, but she’s also the powerhouse behind Maidstone’s fastest-growing eco-cleaning brand – Cleaning With Meaning – a company that uses handmade, refillable and planet-safe products.
She’s expanded from having just one client to over 100, proving you can build a business that’s kind to people and the planet.
In the midst of it all, she’s dealt with single motherhood, sobriety and a relentless drive for purpose over profit and here, Kelly reveals all to Fabulous about how she transformed her life.
Cashing in
Discussing life before launching her business, Kelly tells us: “I did management courses but I was still on a really c**p wage. I started off at £15,000 and I worked my way up to about £17,000 a year…Now, what I was earning before in a month I can earn in a day.”
It was after the Coronavirus pandemic, when Kelly’s desire to expand her horizons and boost her earnings skyrocketed, as she says: “I was getting paid but it was just to get by really. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired and I wanted more.
“I was living in my overdraft. If I didn’t have an overdraft, I would have been stuck. I was going shopping and putting things back.
“I was doing a little bit of cleaning on the side and I thought, ‘there’s quite a lot of money in dirt.’ And I enjoy it. I love going in and making a difference, whether that be in someone’s health, their mental health, or their environment in general.
“One day I was sitting there and I was searching online how to make more money – Amazon driving, leaflet dropping, just a little bit of extra, just so I could do more things with my son.
“I’d done a bit of research and there were no eco-cleaners in the local area. So I thought, right, I’m going for it.”
Taking a risk
Kelly sat with her son, Lincoln, 11, who was just seven at the time, to design a potential logo and it wasn’t long before her business boomed.
She adds: “I doubted myself quite a bit to start with, but I handed in my notice, set up a website and started making my own products at home.
“I left the hospice with one month’s salary in the bank and had about three or four clients. And it’s just gone crazy from there. It was literally the best thing I ever did. I wished I’d done it years ago.
“I just got bigger and bigger and bigger. Through my website and through word of mouth, I started getting more and more busy.”
Kelly paid £500 to set up her website, and got her sister to help muck in as business boomed.
The mother shares: “I started taking on young girls and mums who wanted to work and earn money. I was a single mum so I understand, it’s hard. It’s hard juggling it all.
“I trained them up – they would come out with me for a good few weeks, so I’d always make sure they were the right fit. And then it’s literally just grown from there.
“I never expected it to snowball like it did. I always thought it was just going to be me and I was going to do really well, and I was going to have loads and loads of clients and make loads of good money.
“It’s definitely gone in a different direction, but a good direction.”
Despite not thinking she was clever enough and possessing “no business experience,” Kelly is now an inspiration to many, as she continues: “I was rubbish at school. I’ve got dyslexia so I struggled.
“I never had any faith in myself. I always said I was ‘thick’.”
Kelly claims that while many initially “doubted” her, it was from herself that much of the negativity arose. She says: “I think people did [doubt] me, but the most self-doubt was probably from me, I was in my head.
“I’d never run a business, never even thought of running a business.”
Kelly’s advice on how to start your own business
If you’re eager to launch a business but aren’t sure where to start, Kelly advises: “Just go for it, start and on’t let anybody get in your way.
“Believe in yourself, and whatever you put in, you will get back eventually.
“Just know that you can do it – show up, even when you don’t feel like it.
“Educate yourself – whether that’s podcasts or books. Instead of sitting watching s****y telly, put something on that’s going to inspire you and educate you, and believe in yourself.
“It’s taken me a long time. Before I saw myself as an intruder. I was faking it till I made it. But I’m not that anymore, I’m a boss b***h and I’m proud of it.”
Despite now having a team of eight, this self-proclaimed “grafter” continues to “show up and put the work in.” But being her own boss means she can “pick and choose” her hours.
“Some days I take days off, and then other days I could be working for 12 hours, but that’s my choice,” she says. “I don’t have to do this, but I’m doing it because I see the bigger picture.
“I’m a grafter, I find it hard to say no and I also enjoy cleaning and like popping out to see the clients.
“Don’t get me wrong, if one of the girls is sick, I’ll cover, but if I want time off I will take time off. I am learning to step back a little bit.”
Mega earnings
Since launching in June 2021, Kelly’s business generates £15,000 to £20,000 a month.
She admits: “At the start I was making just under £1,000 a month, but not for long. Now, we’re doing £15,000 to £20,000 a month in sales and we’re on about £120,000 a year at the moment.
“Every month we have a good month, because we’re really good at what we do. We really generally care as well. It’s not just about the money for us – we generally really care about our clients and about the environment and the impact we have on it.”
Despite the business regularly making £15,000 a month, Kelly gives herself a modest pay check of just “£2,000 a month to pay the bills and live a life if I want”.
“I could give myself £10,000 a month if I wanted it. But I don’t need £10,000,” she says. “I don’t care for designer clothes and all that. I just want to make sure my business is growing and my people are looked after, so anything on top goes back into the business.”
Despite her financial success, Kelly feels there is still a “stigma” about cleaners being “low-paid”.
She says: “People think we’re ‘just a cleaner.’ But they don’t understand the benefits we bring to people by cleaning their space, we’re almost caregivers.
“People judge us and look down on us, but we love what we do. And there’s definitely more to us than just wiping a cloth over the side. It’s a real shame.”
Instead of letting negativity hold her back, Kelly is using it to fuel her drive to expand the business. One of her very first customers was a business development manager, who she has hired to help expand her business offering.
As well as making her own toilet bombs using bicarbonate of soda, Kelly now has more than 100 clients, cleaning both domestic and commercial properties, the latter of which include churches, scout huts, Airbnbs and office spaces.
Reflecting, the mother adds: “When I first started, I used to take on anyone and anything, but now I’m a little bit fussy. I could make thousands out of the commercial cleans and I haven’t even got to step in the room.”
Hoarders and takeaway addicts
Whilst commercial cleans are the big money-makers, Kelly and her team don’t shy away from the toughest of jobs – cleaning hoarder houses.
She explains: “[Last year] me and Sharon went to a gentleman – we knew it was going to be a hairy clean because he sent a couple of photos through, but we didn’t know what we were walking into.
“We spent 16 hours on it. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m surprised he was still alive to be fair.
“He had stuff everywhere. We couldn’t wipe the sides. We had to get a chisel. It took me about five hours just to wash up.
“There was a chopping board with cats sitting on it, it was horrific. It was dark, dingy, cobwebs everywhere. Like some kind of horror film.”
But that’s not all, as Kelly also recalls a huge pile of pizza boxes she once found in a fast food addict’s home.
Kelly explains: “We went to a young girl who was my age and really overweight. She lived on the top floor of a flat and from the floor to roughly my height or higher, was takeaway boxes. The whole of the front room – you didn’t know where the sofa was or anything, it was really bad.
“The bathroom was really bad – feces everywhere. The bed was really bad, you wouldn’t even put a dog in the bed she was sleeping in.
“After we’d finished, she literally said to us, ‘I feel like I’m in a hotel, it doesn’t feel like my own house.’ It makes it all worthwhile.”
Personal struggles
Despite her success, things haven’t always been smooth-sailing for this entrepreneur, who first began drinking when she was just 13-years-old.
Kelly claims she would even have days where she couldn’t get out of bed and go to work, as she shares: “I wasn’t an alcoholic, I could go months without drinking, but when I was drinking I 100% took my eye off the ball and some days couldn’t be bothered to go to work.
“Since I started my business, I’ve started educating myself. And since I’ve given up drinking, I’m just a better businesswoman, I’m a better mum, I’m a better partner. I show up when I’m meant to, I’m present.”
Sobriety, helping others and succeeding financially has been a “game changer” for Kelly, who is now able to support her son and her locksmith partner, Leon, 50, who she has been with for nearly four years.
The impact of using plastic cleaning products
Laura Harnett, founder of eco cleaning brand, Seep, said: “Many people have switched to eco friendly cleaning sprays and detergents but aren’t aware that cleaning tools (such as green and yellow sponges and microfibre cloths) are made of plastic and release microplastics every time they are used.
“Microplastic is a huge concern as they are released into our water every time a plastic sponge or cloth is used to wash up or is rinsed out.
“A yellow and green plastic sponge lasts approximately one month and when you see the green part go bobbly that’s all of the microplastic coming out of it.”
- 600 million plastic household items end up in landfill every year
- 13 million tonnes of plastic lead into our oceans each year
- 1.1 million marine animals die each year as they swallow, get strangled or are suffocated by plastic
Kelly, who has remained incredibly humble despite her success, beams: “For my partner’s 50th, I took him for a two week all inclusive holiday to a five star hotel with my son.
“I don’t even think about money anymore. Back in the day I would always be like, ‘can I afford it?’ and I’d have to save and put things back.
“Now I’ve got such a good relationship with money that money comes to me in abundance.
“I know there’s enough money out there for everyone and I financially helped my partner.
“If my boy wants something he can have it. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not spoiled, he’s never asks for anything, but if he wants it he’ll have it.
“I can support my amazing team as well. They’re such hard-workers and they’re so loyal, so if they are struggling with anything, I can help them out.
“And if I want something, I’ll have it. I don’t even think about what it’s going to cost me now. I’m about to treat myself to a motorhome.”
