Bas' talent has Qredits!


He could already clean well, and sell well, too. Bas was able to make a flying start with his own cleaning business Baak Schoonmaak (Baak Cleaning).


But without the professional materials that a cleaner really needs: a microloan from Qredits offered the solution. "I feel more confident. And we’re growing nicely, too.”

Bas was a car salesman, until he shattered one leg below the knee in an accident. He couldn’t walk easily anymore, so he went to work at a call centre, first answering phones and later as a sales manager. After a few years he wanted something else. In late 2008, he could walk well again, and he decided to start out on his own. Bas explains: "I liked selling, but I was tired of the call centre and in the car industry there was no longer work. More than that, I wanted to start my own business. The freedom of entrepreneurship really appealed to me. Because I had previously cleaned as a second job, I got the idea to start a cleaning company. I knew that with this I could earn a good living." Six months later, he resigned from the call centre to focus entirely on his own business, Baak Schoonmaak, in Leidschendam. His sales talent didn’t fail him, either: he soon had four offices and a number of apartment staircases to clean daily or every other day. At night the offices; the stairwells during the day.

A costly joke

So far, so good. Bas enjoyed his freedom. His customers were satisfied with his work as well as his additional services such as clearing off conference tables and loading and unloading the dishwasher. But he still was not working very professionally yet because he had not built up a sufficient buffer to be able to invest in all the required machinery and equipment. After a few months this became a growing problem; he says: "I sometimes rented a cleaning machine, but it gradually became a costly joke. Also, I had only one set of cleaning supplies that I dragged everywhere. It's of course much easier if you can leave your materials at each office. But then you need a lot of supplies."

At one of the Chamber of Commerce’s Starters Days, Bas was advised of the possibilities of microcredit. That was exactly what he needed. He wrote a business plan and had it looked over by an adviser from the Chamber of Commerce. With this, he went to Qredits and three months later, he had 9000 euros to invest in his company. He bought a cleaning machine, window cleaning equipment, a few vacuum cleaners, ladders, mop buckets and cleaning supplies.

Since then, things are going much better, according to Bas, "Even better than I had hoped. I like my work, I like my customers. It is great to be my own boss. And I don’t have to drag around my supplies anymore."

Microcredit has helped him enormously; he adds. "Without professional materials I just couldn’t go any further. The fact that I now have everything I need, makes me feel much more confident with acquisition. I find that the most important because I am busy again with acquisition. If it goes well, I'll soon have too much work for myself alone. In June, I am going to hire someone. Yes, it is growing very well.”

 

 

 

Bas' talent has Qredits! - Qredits, Microkrediet in Nederland