30-year-old without a degree started a side hustle with $2,000—the business now brings in $100,000/year: ‘I love being my own boss'When she's not cleaning apartments with a portable vacuum strapped to her back, the 30-year-old is managing fluctuating revenue, controlling operational costs and making tough decisions — like downsizing her team — to keep her Portland, Oregon-based business running."In the beginning, I had no idea how it was going to go," she tells CNBC Make It.
"I was raised in a very strict household, for sure," Ortiz says."I resented that like any teenager would, but looking back at it now, I feel like it had a lot to do with the person that I am today."In 2012, Ortiz graduated from high school and attended Butler Community College near Wichita on a track scholarship to study business.
Over the next few years, Ortiz worked with the founder on a series of projects that ultimately"fizzled out," but in the process, she gained an"untraditional four-year degree in business," building skills in sales, marketing and project management.Tired of the uncertainty that came with startup projects, Ortiz returned to Wichita and briefly re-enrolled in college in 2018 and 2019.
This pushed her to seriously pursue a side hustle, and after some research, she decided to open a cleaning service in July 2023. Unlike her retail shop, cleaning offered low startup costs, had no inventory to manage and was something she could handle on her own. Ortiz also figured she could stand out in the space by applying her tech and advertising skills to an industry mostly run by small"mom and pop shops.
Figuring out pricing was tricky at first:"I quickly learned that just because you're in a higher income neighborhood or a bigger house, that doesn't mean that you're making more money," Ortiz says."It actually means that you're making less money." The business is small, but profitable. After expenses, the largest of which is payroll for her employee, Ortiz pays herself about $29,000 a year.prefers the freedom and flexibility of running her own business over a traditional 9-to-5. She's hopeful that, in time, the financial payoff will reflect her hard work as she grows the business.After relocating to Portland, Ortiz faced unexpected expenses that led to $14,000 in credit card debt.