While looking for suitable work, people started asking Sean to do odd jobs. He would use their mowers and equipment to mow their lawns. He soon realized that he could make pretty good money and have the flexibility he required. So he decided to make it official: he started a window cleaning and lawn mowing business called Sincere Services.
Sean didn’t have much start-up capital, so he had to be thrifty. He traded in his little blue Nissan four-door for a pickup, started buying up used mowers and tools at yard sales, and made some business cards. And he signed up for a class on how to start a business, CIE’s Bootstrap Business Course.
Sean started beating the pavement to drum up work, picking up a window washing job here, a lawn there. Business slowly began to grow. To supplement his income, he also drove school buses for the Sequim School District. When COVID hit last spring, his bus driving income vanished, and Sincere Services was on its own. “Luckily I was already gearing up to work the business all summer” says Sean, “I just jumped in full time a little sooner than planned”.
Ready for Anything
Sean and Kait are both learning a lot: about business, about raising a child with a disability, and about life.
One lesson that Boaz has helped them learn is the need to be ready for anything. “You need to be ready for any unforeseen circumstances the best you can, and be flexible,” Sean says. “That applies to business as well as life. Life plops something in your life that you don’t expect and says, ‘Here, you’re going to deal with this now.’ You just deal with it.”
“Maybe coronavirus is gonna flare up and you’re going to have to do things on Zoom,” Sean says, laughing. “Being a learner, and an adapter, helps us in every area of life, including business, because we need to look at our goal, look at our resources, and figure out how to grow these resources and maximize them to reach our goal.”
Building Community
One lesson Sean is learning with his business is to “play to your strengths and figure out how to delegate your weaknesses.” Is bookkeeping driving you crazy? Then find a provider to help so you can focus on delivering your value proposition.
That also applies to Sean’s family. “My wife does a whole lot of work with our son, catheterizing him 4 times a day, and she’s willing to take on that as part of the team,” Sean says. “I go out and work the business to bring in the money, I do that part of our team. When we’re together we’re parenting together, and it’s really teamwork, it’s a community.”
Another community that has been very important to the Saffolds is their church. When they were looking for a church after arriving back in Sequim, Boaz had breathing issues that made him really loud, but also not safe to be left in the nursery. They tried several churches and never felt quite comfortable, but when they visited Olympic View Church, no one seemed to mind that there was this loud kid in the back row. “They thanked us for bringing him,” Sean says.
Now their church community has become a big support. “They really love Boaz,” Sean says, “love seeing him in his wheelchair, and they’re really encouraging: ‘Hey do you guys need anything, how can we be there for you?’”
Some of them have become clients for Sincere Services, crossing over from relationships outside of business to relationships through the business.