“In all honesty,” said Lily, “it was so difficult and still is difficult running my own business. Every day I learn something new.”

BY LESLIE S. ESTRADA
EL NUEVO SOL

“I would have never thought I’d be living in Los Angeles with my family,” said Lily Villarreal, owner of Lily’s Cleaning Services.

Growing up she never once thought about moving to Los Angeles. This wasn’t in her “life plan”.

“My mom died when I was 7 years old and my life changed forever.”

When her mom passed away, she felt like she lost herself. She knew that her mother was gone, but never really understood the concept of losing her mother until her father remarried and left her and her 9 siblings for his new family.

At the age of 7, she was truly on her own.

She had her older siblings semi-guiding and caring for her — but being in a small town in Mexico – her siblings felt like she would be fine on her own while they would go out with their friends and live their lives. She eventually also started to hang out with her friends in her free time, but she knew she was better than being out in the streets. She then moved to the city with one of her aunts who cared for her like her own daughter.

After a few years, she felt like she was ready for her next move, but she never considered Los Angeles.

Her siblings started coming to “El Norte” (as she refers to it) one by one. Her sister came first with her husband, then one of her brothers decided to come.

Once her father saw that her siblings were moving to L.A., he felt like she needed to come here too.

Lily refused – but her father was persistent in sending her and ended up guilt-tripping her into coming.

“My sister’s husband was always working so my dad didn’t feel comfortable having her stay home alone. He then shortly, sent me to Los Angeles to keep my sister company. My dad was obviously worried about her and not about me.”

He sent her over at the age of 18 and she was more lost than ever. She didn’t think she was going to stay here forever. She just simply thought, “I’ll keep her company for a couple of months and go back home.” She was wrong.

Being in Los Angeles – Lily found out she was pregnant and now had someone else to take care for other than herself.

She had her first-born, Ana at the age of 19 and she started to have hardships here in Los Angeles. She worked at a packaging location in Van Nuys which wasn’t enough pay to sustain Ana and herself.

She knew she had to keep striving for herself and her daughter and the only way to do so was to send her daughter to Mexico for some time.

“I had to send my daughter to Mexico because being a single mother in Los Angeles was difficult.”

She says, she remembers when she would receive letters from Ana. It brings back memories that ache. There’s still a little pain in her heart knowing she had to send her daughter to relatives – but she has forgiven herself because it was only for the best.

Ana was in Mexico for a couple of years and eventually when Lily found herself on her own two feet – she brought her back to live with her.

Lily was then married and had received her citizenship during the Ronald Regan presidency.

A few months later she had her daughter Jocelyn.

They all moved to Ontario where the rent was as Lily says, “very cheap” and she was able to get a house of her own.

Just when she thought her life was going right – she found out her husband was doing drugs.

She felt like her world came down crashing.

“I was very disappointed and hurt. I felt like for a second I had everything together, but then this happens with my daughter’s father.”

She did what was in her power to help him by sending him to a Sober Living facility – but he would never last. He would check himself out and eventually would end up in the streets doing the same drugs again.

She suffered domestic violence and realized it was time for her to leave him.

Prior to leaving – she learned she was pregnant, again.

“I said – this little girl is going to help me better myself and my life. In reality — she opened my eyes and I ended up moving in with my brother. I stayed with his family for quite some time while I had my daughter Samantha and I got an apartment.”

She saw an ad on the Newspaper about a janitorial position in Los Angeles and went in there without any resume or anything. Simply to apply for the job.  The manager at the time asked if she had a resume or any type of application.

“The manager asked me if I had experience cleaning and I simply said yes because I needed the job. I remember I had acrylic nails on and when he saw them, he asked if it would be a problem, for me to take them off and I took them off and started the next day.”

She ended up working for that company for 15 years.

Her company was then being bought out by a bigger company and she was going to lose her job. She knew she couldn’t stop there. She needed to find a way to keep her job.

“One of the managers mentioned to me that I should start my own company and I was in shock. I never thought in a million years that I would own my own company.”

In a few months, Lily started her own cleaning company, “Lily’s Cleaning Services”.

That is her pride and joy.

“In all honesty, it was so difficult and still is difficult running my own business. Every day I learn something new considering all the managers from different managements require different certifications.”

“For example – I didn’t know what the responsibilities were of having my own company. I didn’t realize I needed insurances for liability nor workers’ compensation for my workers and many more. I’m very fortunate that my daughters have been by my side since the beginning. Not speaking fluent English has not stopped me from succeeding in this country.”

Once Lily started to get the hang of things, she brought people on to her team that has been with her since.

She now has 8 workers and is looking to stop working herself and manage the workers.

“I have thought about retiring – but sometimes I feel like I will bore myself being home doing just the daily chores. I will rather be out and feeling like I’m doing something productive with my life. Plus, my employees are very dedicated – but nothing like working for your own self on your own terms. One day I will retire though, just not yet.”

She is looking to also expand more into different cities. As of right now – she and her employees work in many cities in the San Fernando Valley and San Gabriel Valley.

Her next stop is the Inland Empire – and I know a hardworking 54-year-old will make it!

Not everyone’s story is the same. Lily learned how to make what was a negative into a positive for herself. She says she’s still learning her business in the “boss” side – but she knows her daughters are there to help her along the way. Creating your perfect life doesn’t have an age – she’s 54 and she feels like she is just getting started.

 

Tags:  Ambition business Cleaning Services entrepreneur GirlBoss Goals Inspiration Latina-owned Lilia Villarreal Lily’s Cleaning Services Moving-Forward Personal-Development San Gabriel Valley Success