Can-do attitude powers Meadville woman honored as PA Small Business Person of Year

MEADVILLE — Mindy Nearhoof founded a home-cleaning service in 2002. She was 23 years old, married and the mother of a toddler son and infant daughter.

She expanded her services, bought and assimilated another business and today employs a staff of 23 at Annie's Flooring and Commercial Services. Her success and her commitment to employees and the Meadville community earned her recognition as the 2023 Small Business Administration's Pennsylvania Small Business Person of the Year.

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A can-do attitude and 70-hour work weeks

Nearhoof had planned to be a physician.

"A young family and the need for a second income took precedence," she said.

Nearhoof began cleaning homes instead, and customers began asking if she could replace drywall, paint and do flooring and other work that Nearhoof had done in her own home.

"I just always said yes," Nearhoof said.

She continued expanding services and in 2018 bought Annie's Carpet Cleaning and Flooring after its owner retired.

"I attempted to reach out to a couple employees of the last owner, but they had already moved on. My husband helped when he could, but he had a full-time job. So I was still the sole employee. I took as many jobs as I could handle," she said.

Nearhoof began to focus on flooring.

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"When I bought this business I knew that I wanted flooring to be our bread and butter. Yet I was still known for cleaning," Nearhoof said.

Her first customer after the purchase was a woman whose home she had cleaned for years.

"She said that her house needed new carpet. It was a huge undertaking for me. It was a $5,000 job," Nearhoof said. "I remember thinking, 'She's trusting me with a lot here.' But she's employed us a number of times since then. And she is still talking to me."

About eight months after buying the flooring business, Nearhoof hired her first employee. The company continued to grow, and when a large manufacturing company asked her to bid on cleaning and janitorial services at the plant in early 2019, Nearhoof did — and got the contract.

"They also employed us to do flooring and a lot of different things for them," Nearhoof said. "They were our first and really our only commercial janitorial contract until early 2020, when we started getting more requests."

More and more requests followed as the COVID-19 pandemic began.

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"We had to shut the doors on the flooring business and pay the bills by doing commercial janitorial services and sanitation. It really saved the day for us," Nearhoof said.

Her sometimes 70-hour work weeks have decreased as her staff has increased. Since its early days, her business has increased sales by more than 330%.

Pennsylvania Business Person of the Year

Nearhoof was named SBA Pennsylvania Business Person of the Year in March.

She was nominated for the honor by the Gannon University Small Business Development Center and was named Western Pennsylvania District Office Small Business Person of the Year before being chosen for the statewide honor.

"It didn't really sink in until the phone calls started coming in," Nearhoof said. "The local paper did an article. My fourth-grade teacher sent me a message. Someone I'd worked with at a local university wrote me a letter. People from offices I've done work for sent me flowers. People I hadn't heard from in years reached out to say congratulations and that they're happy for me.

"The outreach and support have been tremendous."

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And are well deserved, said Shane Foster, senior business consultant with the Gannon University Small Business Development Center. The center provides no-cost counseling and low-cost training to help Nearhoof and other small business owners succeed.

"Mindy is one of the hardest workers I've ever worked with," Foster said. "She is the consummate professional. She's always on time, works really hard, and does great work. Every one of her reviews online is stellar because she treats every job like it's in her own home."

Nearhoof also is committed to her employees and community, Foster said.

"She's grown her business from zero employees to more than 20 in a few short years. And she does her best for them and for the community," Foster said. "I can't say enough great things about her."

Nearhoof was honored along with other state Small Business Persons of the Year at the 60th annual celebration of the Small Business Administration's National Small Business Week in Washington, D.C., in early May. Restaurant owner Abdirahman Kahin, of St. Paul, Minnesota, was named National Small Business Person of the Year during the weeklong event.

"I got to meet so many impressive people. And we were invited to the White House," Nearhoof said. "I really enjoyed the experience."

A family tradition of hard work

Nearhoof continues to grow her business.

She also gives back to her employees and community, providing bonuses plus medical, dental, optical and supplemental insurance programs and soon a 401k program for employees, as well as flooring and funding for need-based organizations.

Nearhoof credits her commitment and work ethic to her parents. Her father worked third shift at Channellock Corp. for more than 40 years and delivered mail during the day. Her mother did office work.

Nearhoof's husband, Tony, who works at Channellock, and children have pitched in to help with her business as needed.

"My husband is my absolute No. 1," Nearhoof said. "He's the fixer. He fixes the computer system, vans, machines, tools — all the things that go wrong. He's often on-site with us after his regular work day."

Son Peyton, 23, now lives in Pittsburgh, where he is a musician and works in media and theater production. Daughter Lily, 21, has taken over part of her mother's residential cleaning service.

"I wonder if I've taught my kids to work too hard. They've definitely inherited that," Nearhoof said.

Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Meadville entrepreneur cleans up as PA Small Business Person of Year