Theisen Cleaners was born in 2016 when Jamie Theisen, after many years spent cleaning houses for herself and various employers, decided to launch a new residential cleaning service. Her husband, Joe Theisen, eventually joined her. By 2017, the couple was thinking of expanding the effort, possibly by branching out and cleaning area businesses.
Then, Joe Theisen met Andy Alexander, a government contracting specialist with the CIRAS Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC).
“Andy kind of took me in a different direction,” Theisen said. “He helped me open a lot of doors in local government.”
With Alexander’s help, Theisen identified the key contact people for 172 town governments, 15 counties, and one major city within 60 miles of Neola. Alexander helped the Theisens create and polish a formal statement of their capabilities, then Joe Theisen set about contacting each person on the list.
Theisen landed three contracts on the first pass and made additional connections with an association of general contractors. He now has a 200-person list of potential customers that he emails quarterly. Theisen Cleaners has added an additional 1.5 employees since it launched, and the company expects more growth.
Joe Theisen credits Alexander with putting him on a path to contracting success.
“Andy has been awesome,” Theisen said. ‘Without his help, this probably wouldn’t have gotten very far. He’s helped us a lot.”
For more information, contact Andy Alexander at andyalex@iastate.edu or 402-547-0333.