Right Idea, Right Time

Right Idea, Right Time

Jun 01

Find a niche and fill it. This is time- honoured advice followed by any entrepreneur worth her/his salt and Twyla Hines did just that.
Moving to Sarnia in 2011, Twyla had a strong background in administrative assistance but the Sarnia market was not rich in opportunities in this line of work at the time. Realizing that the circumstances were right to set up her own business, Twyla began asking simple questions of her friends and family. Questions such as:
“What kind of services do families with a new child in the household need?”
“Do some people find it a challenge “de-cluttering” their homes and garages?”
“Would you like a service that will take care of cleaning out your major appliances?”
Twyla’s “mother in-law” research led her to establish enviroClean Services™ several months ago and she hasn’t had to look back. The “enviroClean” aspect tacks on a value-added bonus, insofar as Twyla has carefully amassed a collection of cleaning solutions that are biodegradable, unscented, phosphate-free, non-toxic…and renewable.
“I like to think that whatever I take out of the environment in any way gets put back again naturally”, Twyla says.
This philosophy and approach appears to have resonated with the Sarnia Lambton community because, according to Twyla, “Literally, ten minutes after I officially opened for business, the phone rang and I had my first client.” enviroClean’s patrons are growing almost daily, to the extent that Twyla will very soon consider taking on additional staff.
Twyla attributes her success to a “great deal of assistance from Goodwill Industries and the Sarnia Lambton Business Development Corporation” and encourages other niche-fillers to do the same.
“I think all budding entrepreneurs have the same initial sense of foreboding – a fear of the unknown when they go into business and my strongest advice would be not to doubt yourself.” She also highly recommends asking for help when needed from agencies like Goodwill and the SLBDC, or even just using them as a sounding board.
Lastly, Twyla did some aggressive networking. She became a part of WIN (Women in Networking) and the Sarnia Lambton Chamber of Commerce – already now serving on the important Business After Five Committee. “Social networking is just as important – I have generated leads through Facebook already.”
So, Twyla did some research, assessed her market (Sarnia has a very large senior sector) and discovered her niche. Who will discover the next big niche in Sarnia Lambton?