MICHELE'S STORY

I was born in Seattle, WA, the youngest of 4 girls. My parents both worked to support us all. My mom was a stay home mom, and my dad was a firefighter. When I was 6 years old, he was injured on the job. Through the course of his recovery, he succumbed  to the addiction of prescription pain medication. This took a hard toll on my hard-working dad, as well as on my mom and eventually their marriage. My mom found herself a single working mother. My dad did his best to remain a part of his girls' lives, but by the time I turned 11, mom moved us girls east of the Cascade mountains to the small town of Cashmere, WA. Apple Country! I grew up in a family and community of wonderful people that supported a good work ethic. This, and my love of sports and physical fitness carried me through high school, and then into Wenatchee, WA and to the Wenatchee Racquet & Athletic Club. There, I taught every kind of exercise class there was, contributed my talents to numerous expansions, and made wonderful friends along the way! I achieved the title of Fitness Director, and after a 20 year career there, I felt ready for a change. I wanted to stay in the Wenatchee Valley, though, so I joined forces with Mountain View Fitness, and again helped with their expansions as well as teaching fitness classes too.  

     At one point, I had a culmination of "Life Events" that resulted in the parting of ways, both with my employer, and with my boyfriend. I was 51 years old, and found myself in pretty deep despair. I was staring down at that Fork In The Road. I figured I had 2 choices: 

     1. Wallow aimlessly in my self-pity and let go of the control over my own life

OR

     2. Put my  Big Girl Panties on and rediscover, hell, RE-INVENT who Michele Stutzman is!

I chose the latter!  :)

     I began by immersing myself in many kinds of personal growth techniques; from journaling and listening to podcasts of people teaching positive messages, to reading great books, and basically going on a quest to find that better version of who I was meant to be! One of the books I was reading at the time inspired me to want to share it with others. What better way than to start a book club, right? I just needed to find somewhere to hold the meetings. I was talking with a dear friend of mine about it, and she said I just had to meet this friend of hers who had a coffee house. It would be perfect! We met, and shortly realized that the two of us were in similar places in life; single moms looking to start something new-- something significant that we could make money with, but would also impact the lives of other women who shared our passion for wanting more out of life!

     So, we moved in together and started brainstorming about starting a business. I had never been in business for myself, but the more we planned, the more excited I got thinking about how having our own business was exactly the right fit for me. I had the commitment, the work ethic, the determination, and my mission; to positively impact the lives of women who wanted to better themselves! A cleaning business was the perfect platform, and Below The Surface Cleaning was born! Talk about impact! It definitely impacted our lives, but soon we were able to hire other women and witness the impact a second chance at life had on them. We decided to look past things that had prevented these ladies from making a fresh start elsewhere, and focused on their willingness to learn a new trade, to learn to trust the process, and to learn how to be a part of a support system. We all learned much from each other and created bonds that have lasted for years, and that includes many of our clients as well. In the process, we also grew the company into a vital member of the business community. Strong friendships have been made all across our company. That's the impact we have always striven for!

     Now, ten years into our company that started out in our garage in Wenatchee, WA, we've decided it's time to share our journey of how we got here, and our systems and expertise that catapulted us into six figures in five years; to inspire other women to know that it's not too late to start over. 

If we can do it, so can you!  

KRISTEN’S STORY

   I was blessed to be born and be able to grow up on the beaches and orange groves of Florida's east coast in the 70's! My earliest memories are that of riding waves, bikes, and horses. The sun and warm weather were woven into my DNA from birth! Just before junior high, my family and I moved to the Pacific Northwest to be near most of my mom's family. It was in a small Idaho town that I spent my junior high and high school years. Football games, bonfires, and the country life formed my teenage years. But I always managed to spend summers in my home state of Florida to see my grandmother. 

     After that, I was adrift for a few years, until I settled in Wenatchee, WA at the age of 24. Newly married, I set to work as a florist, then a beauty advisor for JC Penney. When the opportunity came for my husband to get a job in Florida, we jumped at the chance. When that fell through, we moved back to Wenatchee, and I tried the corporate job route. I grew restless, not just with my desk job, but with my whole life. A couple years later, I found myself divorced, and wanting to start over. 

     In the late 1990's, I met my second husband, and we moved to Seattle, where I went to work as a barista with Starbucks. There, I found something that I had a passion for; the coffee industry! But Florida was calling again, and the two of us, with no reason to stay, moved, yet again, to Florida. I transferred with Starbucks to the Orlando area, and months later, I found out I was pregnant; something I thought would never happen for me, after years of trying. Our young and carefree days were no longer a priority, and we decided to move back to Wenatchee to be near family once again, and start our own! I had transferred back to Wenatchee with Starbucks, but this time, the pregnancy was the catalyst for wanting something more for our family, and before our son was a year old, we opened our first coffee house! By the time I had my second baby, we had been in the coffee business for 4 years. Never having been entrepreneurs before, we felt the struggle. It was extremely hard, stressful, and a huge roller coaster. After 10 years of the ups and downs, the business had finally taken its toll on the marriage. 

     As a single mom of two young children, my desire grew to "Make something of myself", to be able to teach my kids the value of working for yourself, and to create a legacy to leave them someday. I dug my heels in even deeper, and opened a third coffee house. This time, I was all on my own. Nothing I've ever done has been harder than in those years. But the end result was awesome, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Money was tight, but I never had to put my kids in daycare. They grew up right in the business with me! 

     Fortunately, before I decided to get out of the coffee business, (by this time, I'd been in it for 20 years) I met Michele. A mutual friend introduced us, because Michele was looking for a place to hold a book club. I had been thinking about starting one myself, but I was hoping that someone else would volunteer, and

there she was! It's safe to say that from that day on, we just clicked. It was like the two sides of a brain coming together! Turns out, like me, she was looking to change careers and wanted more out of life. Lots of intense conversations, and late night strategy sessions produced our game plan. We moved in together in a great big very old house, and started Below The Surface Cleaning in 2015 out of our garage! Months later, we went to our first Tony Robbins event in Los Angeles, which was the real kick start we didn't even know we needed. A few months after that, we attended Tony's week-long Business Mastery event in Florida (yes, I came back when it was done!) and that event sent us on the trajectory that has allowed us to grow our cleaning business in ways we never would have dreamed. But boy, did we put in the work! We "Failed Forward" at first, but once we knew what business we were really in, (not just a cleaning business...a people business!) we started experiencing success like never before. The two of us even moved to Florida, once all our kids were grown, because, well...it's Florida! All those experiences have brought us to where we are now, (which for me is still Florida!) Michele is back in Wenatchee, and we visit each other as often as we can. We have always had a sacred understanding of allowing one another to do and be whatever our hearts call us to. This is our logical next step in our business, and why we have been able to transform our business into a teaching platform, and why we have decided to share our knowledge with those who are ready for more in their lives; because, always, "There's So Much More!..."