Our Team
We are more than a cleaning company. Our mission is to bring unconditional love, light, positivity, and compassion into every home we enter. We are committed to making the day, week, or month a little better one clean at a time!
Alicia Colon
Owner & CEO
Alicia provides the leadership needed to maintain our reputation and goodwill in the community.
Diana Gonzalez-Hicks
VP of Operations
Diana is the direct “pipeline” to our clients and staff to ensure they are being heard and their special needs are being met.
Tony Hicks
Director of Commercial Business
Tony is the salesforce behind our commercial department. His focus is on growing longterm relationships with our clients and exceeding their expectations.
Why Hire Us?
Choose us because of our dedication, quality of service & the will to make the world a happier place, one home at a time.
Recognition and Awards
Winner of $10,000 grant from the Urban League of Palm Beach County 2021
Won Most Loved Cleaning Company in Palm Beach County by HulaFrog 2020
Won Most Loved Cleaning Company in Palm Beach County by HulaFrog 2021
Nextdoor Fan Favorite in Palm Beach County 2021
Finalist with the Chamber of Commerce of Palm Beach County
Finalist 2022 Diversity Organization of the Year Award
Finalist 2022 Young Professional of the Year
Featured in The Palm Beach Post
Featured in The Palm Beach Post, November 25, 2022 Edition
Written by Susan Salisbury
Special to Palm Beach Post USA TODAY NETWORK
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — Alicia Colon is among the millions of Americans who lost their jobs in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic as employers closed workplaces or cut back on staff.
Now she owns a cleaning company specializing in residential and vacation rentals.
Colon, 32, of Lake Worth Beach, worked in the automotive industry inmarketing for a decade before being laid off in late February 2020. The events she would have been planning for South Florida Ford dealers were canceled.
Fortunately for Colon, she had already been thinking about starting a cleaning business after reading a Facebook post by a woman who had left a corporate job and opened a cleaning company.
That inspired Colon to found Sage Cleaning, based in West Palm Beach. Colon now has 10 employees and 115 clients, including 50 vacation rental properties that her team handles.
“I was going to launch this business in the fall of 2020. There was no rush. Then out of nowhere, the shutdowns happened,” Colon said. “I decided to open in 30 days. I hired two cleaners. We did training and orientation. They had just announced that cleaning companies were essential. That was our green light.”
She researched cleaning methods, reached out to other cleaning company owners and promoted her firm on social media.
“Even though cleaning was essential, people were afraid. A lot of times there were no clients. I did not want the two girls I hired to leave, so I paid them the equivalent of what their unemployment would have been, $500 or $600 a week,” Colon said.
Colon spent about $10,000 on start-up costs, and estimates she has invested more than $20,000 so far. Last year, Sage Cleaning won a $10,000 minority business grant from the Urban League of Palm Beach County “Toward the end of 2020, things started to shift. There were more snowbirds here. Florida was a little lighter on the restrictions,” Colon said.
After being laid off from a job at a nonprofit in late summer 2020, Colon’s mother Diana Gonzalez-Hicks joined her as vice president of operations. Colon said her major challenge in the business is hiring quality employees.
“Finding good staff is the hardest. The labor shortage — just like what everyone else is experiencing,” Colon said. But the work is worthwhile, she says, even though some might treat it with disdain. “This industry can be tainted with stereotypes. A cleaning specialist is a professional. You are not the help. You are not the maid. Walk with pride in the work you do because the work you do is important,” Colon said.
Featured in The Sun Sentinel
The Sun Sentinel, Featured Article, July 2023.
West Palm Beach, Florida – Giving back to the community is important to Alicia Colon, owner and CEO of Sage Cleaning, so when she started her cleaning business during the COVID-19 pandemic, partnering with Cleaning for a Reason and The Lord’s Place aligned with her and her company’s values.
“It’s very important that we do give back because somebody gave back to me to be able to get to where I’m at today,” Colon said.
Now in its third year, woman-owned and family-operated Sage Cleaning has 11 employees and 115 clients, including residential, commercial and about 60 vacation rental, or Airbnb properties, she said.
Colon, who lost her marketing job doing events for Ford during the pandemic, said Sage Cleaning has “developed a pay-it-forward initiative to go with their love, light, positivity and compassion mission.”
For two years, they have been donating items such as clothing and household goods from pots and pans to sheets, blankets and towels to The Lord’s Place, an organization in West Palm Beach with the mission to break the cycle of homelessness.
“The most important thing is when we have a need, they always rally for the cause,” said Anne Noble, chief advancement officer of The Lord’s Place. “When it comes to people journeying out of homelessness, they come with nothing in hand. They [these donations] mean a lot so they can exit homelessness with dignity.”
Colon said they reinforce their pay-it-forward initiative by asking their clients if they’d like to also donate items they no longer need. “The best thing about it is you don’t have to leave your home to do it. Any time our staff goes out to clean, they are able to give them any donations,” she said.
Additionally, because Sage Cleaning has so many Airbnb properties, any old sheets, blankets, towels or other items are donated because The Lord’s Place not only helps the homeless, but it also has residency housing. “It’s unique that Sage Cleaning helps us year-round. People don’t need help just during the holidays, so the supplies they donate to us are essential,” said Noble, who said there are 300 people in their housing on any given night.
Aside from donating to The Lord’s Place, Sage Cleaning also partners with Cleaning for a Reason, a nonprofit that provides free house cleaning to any household battling cancer. “We’ve met some great people through the program and some of them are just so grateful because they’re going through such a tough time, that literally the last thing they’re thinking about is cleaning,” Colon said.
She calls Sage Cleaning the ”Chick-fil-A” of cleaning services because customer service and a pleasant experience are top priorities.“We’re going to come with a smile every day. We’re going to bring that love, light positivity and compassion. The way we are with our staff bleeds overs to the clients and it’s just 100% win-win for everyone,” Colon said. “Plus, in doing that, the quality is better; everyone is happier when they’re working so the quality is spectacular.”
Visit thelordsplace.org and sagecleaning.com.
Featured in The Cove Magazine
The Cove Magazine, Featured Spotlight Article, September 2021Issue.
Jupiter, Florida – Anyone who has attempted to start up a small business can tell you that it’s not for the faint of heart. The emotions involved can run from exhilaration to uncertainty as the process moves along its path to fruition. Unfortunately for those that started to put together their plan at the beginning of 2020, the global pandemic turned their dreams into nightmares. However, for Alicia Colon, the news of COVID-19 was something she would not permit to get in the way of her new venture.
In 2019 Alicia was working in the auto industry in several back-office capacities. She was comfortable in her position but always had an entrepreneurial mindset and believed something better was in her future. It would be that way of thinking that would launch her out of her day-to-day job and into the path of a business owner.
Around the middle of that same year, Alicia came across a post about a cleaning service in one of the Facebook groups she con- sumed regularly. The article had some interesting ideas and a unique take on these types of services that piqued her interest. So, in January 2020, Alicia decided to relook at the concept and collect some input from people she trusted. Those people happened to be her parents. They shared their thoughts, and with a bit more research, Alicia committed to moving forward.
She began the process of creating her business plan to bringing Sage Cleaning Services to the homes in West Palm Beach by July. Unfortunately, just as the plan was starting to take shape, the COVID lockdowns began. At the same time, an additional challenge was put in front of Alicia when she found herself no longer employed.
The dealership where Alicia was currently working went through an ownership change. As often hap- pens in these situations, the new owners wanted their own people handling the back-office duties, and despite her loyalty, performance, and tenure, she was asked to leave. The thought of finding a new job with what was currently happening in the world would be terrifying for some, but for Alicia, all it meant was that she needed to step up the pace. She committed to a fresh start date of April 1st and, now, she was going to need a bit of help.
If there was just one person in the world that Alicia thought could help her succeed, it was her mother, Diana. The only problem would be that her mother was still working, full-time, at the American Heart Association. Diana, however, recognized that her daughter was not going to
get started without her help, so, for the next few months, late nights and weekends were dedicated to Alicia to ensure that her daughter’s plan would be completed on schedule.
Having limited time to get all the preliminary work done, Alicia and Diana divided up the duties. With the kitchen and living room walls lined with easel- sized post-it notes on every bit of empty space, they crossed off their tasks one by one. Alicia put together their website, set up their social media presence, and completed all the legal paperwork, At the same time, Diana put together their training program for the cleaners and hired their first two team members. With things moving along nicely and getting close to Alicia’s goal of an April 1st start date, they received a bit of good news. It was announced that cleaning services during the pandemic were being designated as essential. It was just what the ladies needed to push through the last few yards to reach the goal, and Sage Cleaning Services was open for business as planned.
When the day arrived for the first client’s house to be serviced, Alicia and her team, donned in their pink branded uniforms, were greeted by the homeowner. Alicia walked through the entire house with the client, noted items outside of the standard checklist, and got the team started. Calm and cool, Alicia walked back to her car and closed the door. Now, safely concealed from view, her screams and cheers of joy rattled the car’s windows. She made a quick call to update her mother, and Alicia’s emotions turned to joyful tears. Then, all she could do was listen as Diana told her how proud she was of her daughter’s accomplishment.
In July, as the pandemic continued to affect the entire world, The American Heart Association decided that they needed to down- size and Diana received her last paycheck. When Alicia heard the news, it was clear what the next step for her mother would be. Now, as the VP of Operations, Diana would handle the day-to-day, allowing Alicia to brand the business and seek new clients to grow its bottom line. When I met Alicia to consider Sage Cleaning for partnership in The Cove, one of my main concerns was that many residents I had met had full- time housekeepers. Therefore, I was unsure if Sage’s services would be attractive to a community like Admirals Cove. As our conversation continued, we agreed that it might be a great option for some empty nesters and those that were only in Jupiter for part of the year. Then, Alicia added something that I had never considered.
When someone looks at the same home every day and develops a regular routine, they get used to the same patterns. Having afresh set of eyes to do a deep cleaning periodically ensures that things that might get missed due to habit will still be tended to. Additionally, full-time housekeepers will eventually need some time off for vacations or personal matters, and Sage can be there to pick up where they left off. If the time came that a resident’s current housekeeper needed to move on, they could also be there to handle the necessary services, even if it was just until a new full-time person could be hired. I was impressed to the point that I not only offered Sage space in The Cove but also hired them to keep my home pristine.
Alicia and Diana also give back to the community as much as they can. As they reached a point where the business was profitable, they started supporting Adopt a Family (adoptafamilypbc.org) and The Lords Place (thelordsplace.org) and will continue to help those in need as much as possible.
To view the original article, click here, pages 28-30
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