Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nicole Aquilina. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Nicole, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
There are so many factors that can contribute to an individual’s resiliency, but for me personally, I think a few things largely contributed to mine. The first is, I haven’t had an easy life. My life had lots of up and downs as a child and I think it forced me to grow up faster then I probably should have. I also think I was born resilient, it’s just who I am. Even as a little girl, I can remember getting excited about a challenge because then I could push myself so I could see what I was capable of achieving. I just don’t give up! I carry optimism and humor with me everywhere I go, so that really helps me push through stressful times. I come from a long line of strong women who had to take what little they had and make the most of it, so resilience is in my DNA.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Dust to Glory LLC. is a Residential & Commercial Cleaning Company. We service the Livingston & Oakland County areas, and we’re licensed, bonded, and insured. We keep our client’s happiness at the heart of what we do, and we’re looking forward to being able to give busy professionals, families, and seniors their leisure time back for years to come!
My focus at this time is weeding through all the inconsistency’s that linger in a start-up in the beginning stages. Areas like training procedures, our hiring funnel, and our employee & client documents. These areas can always be improved on, and I feel they should be re-evaluated on a continuing basis.
We’re slowly but surely piecing together our next venture, which will be plant-based laundry soap. We’ve invested time in researching how to make the product and where to get the natural products to make the laundry soap. There are few truly all plant-based laundry soaps on the market, so we’d like to make our own. We’re still in the beginning stages of mapping it out. In due time, we’ll release samples for clients to try, so we can see if they like it. Keep in mind, this is premature, but it’s on the horizon.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My curiosity and ability to be self-taught/self-motivated – this has been impactful on my journey because I have a thirst for knowledge so I’m always picking up odd bits of information that somehow seem to help me later on down the road.
Resiliency – Having the ability to bounce back and never let any obstacle keep me down too long. I could lose everything I have tomorrow, and I’d get back up and go get it again, it’s all just part of having a restless spirit.
Adaptability – I’ve always been able to adjust to changing circumstances or challenges with ease. I never get too stuck on how I think it should be, rather I take things the way they are and make the most of it.
The best advice I can give to someone early on in their journey and how to best improve on these qualities is to follow your own curiosities without fear of failing, to be graceful with yourself as you take on new challenges, and to take all feedback (good & bad) and use it as the fuel you need to push your start-up forward.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
We currently had our first shortage of employees, which left Team Supervisor, Megan, and I in quite the scramble. It was exhausting to Own/Operate a largely scaling business while also cleaning 2-3 homes or businesses in a day. The business is to the point where I’ve hired an assistant, so if I’m needed to clean, I have a lot of work to make up for the next day and it’s hard to maintain the balance in my personal life. I know the words, “I’m going to give up, I can’t do this anymore-I’m tired,” came out of my mouth a few times that week. And it wasn’t just Megan and I who worked hard during our shortage, the entire Dust to Glory team worked hard and pulled the extra weight. We had a tired team and needed to find a solution fast!
I’ve never hired outside of my own personal network, so it felt brand new and very scary to me. It was hard to think fast with little sleep and numerous worries. Nonetheless, like all problems we’ve faced, we did the work and found a solution. I placed an ad on Indeed and within 24 hours I had almost 75 applicants. Out of the resumes I received, I created a folder of people who I can now call in the future if needed.
Having a shortage of employees allowed me to get my hands back on my business and spot areas of inconsistency that I would have missed had I been in my office. It also forced me to have put out my first hiring ad, which was a success. And it gave me a new perspective, realizing that I can’t take my business where it’s headed if I don’t learn how to hire fast and efficiently, so I needed the push. That’s the beautiful thing about overcoming a challenge and I think that’s why I love it so much – It’s in the hard times you find out what you’re made of. When you get to witness your own grit, you can spark growth and creativity in yourself!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dust2gloryllc.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dust2gloryllc
- Other: Email: [email protected]
Image Credits
Nicole Rall Photography
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