I am Pinja Ekola, a 23-year-old woman filled with perseverance from Ostrobothnia and the founder of Siivouspalvelu Ekola based in Seinäjoki. I started as an entrepreneur at the age of 20 by chance. I now own a cleaning company that employs 4-6 people. These last two years have undeniably been wild, and I have occasionally given up, returned to salaried work and then returned to entrepreneurship… Yet the perseverance and the desire to be an entrepreneur and to work for myself has been greater.
So why the cleaning industry? I have worked as a cleaner every once in a while, and occasionally as a permanent employee. In my own experience, the appreciation, salary and, unfortunately, the workload of the employees in the field have always been really bad. Things aren’t great.
I wanted change in these things and that’s why I started my own business. The biggest single thing that encouraged me to start my own business were the words of my former boss: “we didn’t come here to do prime work, but our job.” This was stuck at the back of my head – so what am I doing here? That’s why in my company I decided to offer the best pay in the field, job benefits and work that is always done with quality first.
Not all of this has been easy, but blimey, those successes feel good when they come.
In entrepreneurship, I am motivated by a strong competitive drive and a desire to succeed and bring something new to the industry. Success is what keeps entrepreneurship enjoyable. I also want to increase the appreciation of cleaners. Without them, the caretakers and other service staff, Covid-19 would have conquered Finland several times already.
I have faced a lot of challenges in my career: criticism, belittling, customer complaints, learning and most importantly human growth. Not all of this has been easy, but blimey, those successes feel good when they come. That’s why I can keep doing this – every single positive comment, customer praise and customer quotation request tells me that I have done something right.
Entrepreneurship is a way of life and an attitude within your core.
No one is born an entrepreneur and entrepreneurship is not a job. Entrepreneurship is a way of life and an attitude within your core. Not everyone is an entrepreneur, but on the other hand, it only requires a desire and faith in what you are doing. If you have these, the door is open for you!
