Oct. 19—As Reading native Sheree Haubrich discovered with her business, SheSoClean Cleaning & Laundry Services, sometimes a mother attaining work-life balance turns out to be a great career move, too.

Haubrich previously held what she called a very lucrative but very stressful job as a mortgage processor and underwriter, a position she gave up at one point for a cleaning gig so she would have more time for her kids.

"I was missing football games, dance recitals — all of these things I should've been at," Haubrich recalled.

She eventually returned to the financial industry, but only for a short time, deciding instead after less than two years to throw her full efforts behind her SheSoClean side hustle that was showing signs of being able to support the whole family.

"When I went back to work full time, my husband started driving my mom (Carrie Perkins) and cleaning with her, then it started to take off," Haubrich said. "I thought, 'This would do better for all of us if we were all working fulltime in the business.'"

Today, Reading-based SheSoClean has five employees and has served more than 200 residential and commercial clients around the Berks County area.

How it got started

Haubrich was no stranger to the cleaning business when she started, having watched her mother spruce up people's homes and offices for years to pay the bills since she was growing up.

But when she learned later on as an adult how much money mom was pulling in to care for people's things.

"She was not being compensated what she was worth," Haubrich said, noting her mom would even leave meals for some customers. "I said, 'Mom you're worth way more than that.'"

That's when Haubrich got involved, first offering mobile laundry service — her mother would clean by day, while she did the laundry at night or on weekends.

After a close friend tragically passed away, though, Haubrich found herself caring for her five children in addition to her own five kids.

In order to juggle all that, she needed flexibility a career in the financial world simply couldn't provide.

"I worked an hour away from home, and her children were much younger," Haubrich said. "They'd get sick and I'd have to come back to town. It made it very difficult to work a 40-hour job.

"Cleaning gave me more opportunities to be there. I could make my own schedule, work around appointments. It just made more sense."

More than just a clean home

Eventually, Haubrich's friend's children went to live with their father, but SheSoClean had become a calling of sorts and, in 2018, a formal business.

Most of SheSoClean's clients are residential, Haubrich shared — busy families who need help around the house, or elderly or otherwise ailing people who can't easily keep up with everything.

Oftentimes, Haubrich and her team wind up developing personal relationships with clients.

"We are a family-run, family-oriented business," she said. "When we come in to clean your home, it's not like some stranger is there. We take care of your pets. We know your kids' names. We leave our own special scent, so all through the week or two weeks we're gone, you'll still know we were there.

"And they're relieved to see the dishes are done, the laundry folded. It's the most amazing feeling to get those reviews, those phone calls, the thank you cards. It makes you feel like this isn't a job. It's something we do to help the people who need us."

SheSoClean offers an array of services, from one-time cleanings to recurring visits.

For commercial clients, there's also a porter service available where SheSoClean can arrange for a dedicated cleaner for an office, apartment complex or even a manufacturing building.

"The hope is to become a household name," Haubrich said. "But at the end of the day, we're just looking to leave something for our children and want our community to know we're here for them."

Impacting people's lives

Haubrich and her husband, Charles Sr., are no strangers to helping others.

In 2020, they founded the nonprofit, OuR Village, which aims to ensure students in Reading and all over Berks County are receiving information about and access to higher education.

The couple is also trying to establish a SheSoClean branch in Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, partially as a means of helping an economy that's been devastated by recent disasters.

"We got married in Saint Thomas and fell in love with the island, but the island is still recuperating from the hurricane (Hurricane Irma in 2017), and COVID has been a horrible, horbible, horrible thing for their economy," Haubrich said.

"A lot of resorts are changing accommodations to short-term rentals, but there's not many licensed and insured cleaning services on the island. If we expand, it may bring some jobs," she said.

SheSoClean is pushing special cleaning packages that include trips to Saint Thomas and other experiences on its website, shesoclean.com, to help raise the funds.

Here at home, Haubrich is still always willing to help, reminding women who are starting their own businesses not to get discouraged when male counterparts don't take them seriously, adding her phone line is always open — even if you're starting a rival cleaning business.

"One of the things I learned is you need a degree to work for somebody else, but not for yourself," she said. "There's business everywhere. There are a bunch of cleaning services here in the city of Reading, and I knock no one for the hustle at all.

"There's plenty of business for everyone, so if this is something you think you can do, if you enjoy putting a smile on someone's face, then go for it."