Business Corp.
Company: C.C. Business Corporation
Owner: Marcellus Sharpe
Location: 265 Admiral Street, Providence
Employees: 12
Type of business: Office cleaning service
Year founded: 1986
Annual revenues: WND
As the fight for office space in downtown Providence continues to heat up, so too does the competition for cleaning contracts.
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No one knows that better that Marcellus Sharpe — owner of C.C. Business Corporation, a customized cleaning service located at 265 Admiral Street in Providence.
“I have put in a lot of time in the city of Providence and don’t feel like I am getting a lot of justice,” Sharpe said. “Right now I don’t think I am living up to my potential.”
When Sharpe decided to start his business more than 15 years ago, he followed only one piece of advice.
“A friend told me to do it on my own, and try not to have a partner,” he said.
With help from the Rhode Island District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Small Business Development Center, Sharpe learned all he could about running a business.
“I took seminars and classes to help me understand what I needed to do,” he said. “It helped me understand how to go after what I needed.”
What also helped, Sharpe said, is that he had worked in the field before.
“A friend of mine ran a similar business, and I had worked for him for some time before opening my own company,” he said.
In the beginning, Sharpe said, he took any job — residential or commercial — to get his business off the ground.
“I went after anything that I could,” he said. “My work included smoke, water, and fire damage cleaning, homes – basically anything.”
In 1996, Sharpe added to his entrepreneurial portfolio when he signed a two-year contract with a federal organization to serve as a messenger service. Though it wasn’t part of his original cleaning business plan, Sharpe said it was key in helping him realize what he wanted to do.
“That really got me inside of the corporate offices,” he said. “That’s when I really started to grow and see where I wanted my business to go.”
When the contract ended Sharpe was excited to focus his company primarily on corporate cleaning — an idea that would prove to become more difficult than he originally anticipated.
“It’s like an old boys club,” he said. “It’s very hard to break into.”
A minority business owner, Sharpe aligned himself with organizations like the Rhode Island Urban Project, which promotes minority owned business in the corporate community.
“I got a list of companies that I thought were committed to working with a qualified minority community,” he said. “I have sent cover letters and other information to these companies, but haven’t gotten any response.”
What makes it even more difficult, Sharpe said, is that unlike state government and municipalities, corporations don’t have to go out to public bid – and as a result his company can be easily overlooked.
“Company owners tell me that they just get inundated with so many calls, and information that they just passed me by,” he said. “That’s very frustrating because I work very hard to make myself known. I almost don’t believe it.”
What’s more, Sharpe said, is that his company suffers financially as a result.
“I have a line of credit that I am not using because I don’t have the clients,” he said. “That’s hard.”
Where Sharpe has found success is with smaller clients, including the Manufacturers Jewelers and Suppliers of America, the American Diabetes Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency in Narragansett. And though these types of clients don’t yield that $25,000 contract, he said, they are still what he loves most.
“My favorite thing about this job is satisfying my clients and employees,” Sharpe said. “I love the interaction with my clients, talk with them and keep up with them. It’s about service.”
And while Sharpe said other clients have referred many of his clients to him, he said he has gained some through his advertisement in the Yellow Pages.
“After you have been in business this long, people just seem to call me,” he said.
What sets his company apart for competitors Sharpe said, is service.
“When we go into a building we do a top to bottom cleaning,” he said. “We are full-service and that appeals to a lot of people.”
Sharpe recently expanded into Connecticut, opening Security Company based in Norwich that provides a courier services for local banks. He now spends half of his week in Rhode Island and the other half in Connecticut.
“The business in Connecticut is really taking off,” he said. “We officially opened in October and already we have sales over the $120,000 mark.”
While excited about his new venture, Sharpe remains bullish on opportunities in Rhode Island.
“I am always going to keep cleaning,” he said. “I may be discouraged now, but I will keep trying.”
