Ernestine Burhannon

Turning Vision into Reality

On May 7, 2006, Ernestine Burhannon celebrated her twelfth year as the proud owner of Reality Cleaning Service. Currently serving 22 residential and two commercial clients, she is most proud of doing it all on her own, without ever taking out a loan.

Looking up from her desk in her new office on N. Zionsville Rd., she acknowledges that it was her vision, but "God was in the plans." By focusing on her vision, being consistent and staying within her budget, Burhannon has grown her business from her first $50 job to the $50,000-a-year enterprise it is today.

The energetic, 45-year-old grandmother of six has a passion for cleaning that dates back to when she traded chores for babysitting with her sister. She later worked for seven years for a company that contracted with Eli Lilly & Co. for cleaning services, and was laid off 12 years ago. The very next day, Burhannon answered an ad to clean the offices of WTLC, her first step in making her vision a reality - Reality Cleaning Service, that is.

Depending on word-of-mouth referrals has proven to be a successful marketing strategy for Burhannon. "Having worked in corporate for so many years, I knew what was expected in the business world," she says. That's why, when her car broke down, she rode her bike to her clients' for two months, until she could get a car. It's that kind of dedication that has prompted her clients to tell their friends - that and her positive energy. "I don't accept negative energy," she says.

Organization is her specialty, Burhannon says. It's a service she offers her clients, and a talent she also applies to her own work. She schedules her jobs geographically, cutting down on travel time and expense. By being organized, she can efficiently handle more jobs - sometimes as many as three a day.

Burhannon was already established in her own business when she discovered the Business Ownership Initiative of Indiana. She's a 2005 graduate of the Business Beginnings course, and has taken other courses as well. "I think I may have taken everything they offer," she says. "I've learned more about the business side and I enjoy sharing ideas with people who are doing similar things."

Burhannon thinks it was her grandmother who inspired her to develop her own vision. It was she who told her: "Don't let anybody tell you what you can't do."