1851 Franchise Magazine has recently recognized President and CEO of Anago Cleaning Systems in their Young Ones to Watch 2020 series! We are so proud to have Anago’s President and CEO included in this prestigious list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read the complete article below!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Editor<\/small><\/p>\n\n\n\n
2:08 PM \u2022 12\/14\/20 People Spotlight<\/small><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam Povlitz<\/u><\/a>, CEO of Anago Cleaning Systems<\/u><\/a>, took over the commercial cleaning franchise from his father when he left the corporate finance world after the 2008 recession. Since then, Povlitz has been getting his hands dirty finding the best ways to redefine what clean looks like. The tier three commercial cleaning franchise is celebrating 32 years in business, and it\u2019s what Povlitz says is one of the younger, scrappier players in the industry because of its strong focus on tech that helps to provide instant communication between client and franchise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 1851 Franchise spoke with Povlitz as part of our Young Ones to Watch series to learn more about his story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam Povlitz: My background is corporate finance. I worked at IBM in New York. My father founded the business in 1989, and I got involved in 2009. IBM is a great company, but I was hired during a major initiative and then when the recession hit in 2008, I was part of the team determining who was being laid off and something stuck in my stomach. I\u2019m sure I could\u2019ve stuck it out to get the watch and the pension, but I felt like a number. That\u2019s when my dad started talking to me about working with Anago. I knew some of the business, but not everything. He made me start from the ground up as a franchisee\u2019s assistant at night. I was cleaning a daycare. I did every job from cleaning to customer service to sales before I moved up to the corporate office and eventually worked my way up to CEO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Povlitz: The beauty of the business is that we\u2019re not in cleaning, not a legalistic way. We just so happen to be selling commercial cleaning services, but really we\u2019re helping thousands of people get into business for themselves. We\u2019re still keeping the proverbial of American dream of business ownership alive. We\u2019re in the business of putting people in business. That’s what I love about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Povlitz: In general, I think the No. 1 trait has to be drive. You have to be self-driven. I always like that phrase, “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or gazelle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I like the idea of those franchisees who come in every day and say, \u201cWhat can I do to drive this thing forward?\u201d versus the ones just who are just coming to work. The ones that truly treat it like a much bigger business are the ones who are most successful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Povlitz: I’m pretty involved in the IFA*. I know what we and what several other brands have done and it\u2019s been overwhelmingly positive. We\u2019ve doubled down in terms of advertising and new marketing pieces to position ourselves well. In conversations with other brands, it seems as though everyone\u2019s thinking with the same logic. We\u2019re all in this together, helping our franchisees through this crazy year and we\u2019ll be there as it continues into next year. It\u2019s incredible that a lot of businesses that are franchises that probably wouldn\u2019t exist if they weren’t a part of a bigger company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In commercial cleaning, one of the biggest things we have to focus on is, \u201cwhat does clean look like?\u201d People weren\u2019t that concerned with commercial cleaning before this year. Now, it\u2019s coming into people’s awareness of health and virus outbreaks. You see this change in the world, it\u2019s a great thing. Obviously people should be washing their hands more, but at the end of the day there\u2019s a lot of media hype on both sides right now. How do we as a commercial cleaning franchise strike a balance where people feel comfortable returning to work? We have a new Protection Plus Disinfecting Program, which leaves behind visual clues of what\u2019s being cleaned and it\u2019s crystal clear what areas have been disinfected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I can\u2019t tell you home many times. I’ve been to a restaurant and have seen a waiter wipe down a table with a dirty rag and put a sign up that says \u201cjust sanitized.\u201d Now we\u2019re in the business teaching people what clean and disinfected looks like. If you look at your coffee table or desk, how do you know if it\u2019s disinfected or just clean? That sort of focus is something our industry is going to continue to come up with, so offering ways to picture what exactly that looks like at the visual level becomes important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is probably one of the best times to be in commercial cleaning. We\u2019ve never been more in demand. The paradigm of the business has completely shifted. Before it was us soliciting the business owners, now it\u2019s the end consumer demanding they have cleanliness in commercial spaces. The whole flow has shifted in the opposite direction. We\u2019re in the business of infection prevention and safety. Overall, the pandemic has been very good for the future of commercial cleaning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Povlitz: Don\u2019t be afraid to get your hands dirty, whether you\u2019re in the cleaning business or not. There\u2019s such a value in learning everything there is to learn from the bottom up. That way you\u2019re able to go and work with Franchise Owners who have been in business longer than you\u2019ve been out of college. Work your way up from the bottom, get your hands dirty and learn a little bit about everything and you\u2019ll be leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1851 Franchise Magazine has recently recognized President and CEO of Anago Cleaning Systems in their Young Ones to Watch 2020 series! We are so proud to have Anago’s President and CEO included in this prestigious list. Read the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anago-news","category-master-franchising"],"yoast_head":"\n1851 Franchise: How did you get into franchising?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
1851: What do you love about the industry?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
1851: What makes someone a good fit for the franchise industry? Are there traits that are shared by the most successful franchise professionals you know?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
1851: How do you feel about the industry’s response to the coronavirus crisis so far? Are there challenges or opportunities that the industry still needs to address?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
1851: What advice do you have for other young up-and-comers in the space?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n