As Adam Povlitz was on his hands and knees scrubbing toilets at a local daycare center in 2009, he wondered if he had made the right decision in leaving his job at IBM to work for the family business, Anago Cleaning Systems. Adam's father, David, had founded Anago, based in Pompano Beach, Fla., in 1989.
Adam, who earned an MBA in finance and marketing from the University of Miami's business school, had been recruited by IBM and had worked for the technology and consulting company for about a year and half after graduating from college. He had to ask himself if leaving IBM to do janitorial work was worth it.
"I never wanted to work for my dad," Adam says. Commercial cleaning, he says, "was definitely not on my wish list."
But after he began working in the finance department at IBM's North America sales and distribution division, Adam realized that making an impact in such a large corporation would be more difficult than he had envisioned when he started.
"I could be working [at IBM] for 30 years and still be just another small cog in the wheel," Adam says.
In the span of five years, Adam, now 31, would become president of Anago Cleaning Systems. But it wasn't smooth sailing to the top of the company hierarchy. David Povlitz made sure that Adam and his sister, Lisa Ritenour, 38, understood every aspect of the business, even if that meant getting dirty.
Lisa, too, was unsure of her future at Anago Cleaning Systems. She worked at the family business before she graduated college, but after earning a criminal justice degree from Florida Atlantic University, she thought she would pursue a career in that field.
"I thought I wanted criminal justice because it was interesting to me," says Lisa, who is now Anago's vice president of internal operations. "But the more I learned the business and I saw what my father had done, I gained so much respect for it and wanted to continue it on. The more I worked at my father's company and grew and learned, it just started to become a love of mine."
Working their way up
David, the company chairman, says he made sure Adam and Lisa received no preferential treatment as the boss's children. They started at the bottom and then rotated through a variety of positions in the company.
"Nothing was given to them," David says. "I didn't start them in posh positions; I started them cleaning buildings. They were on their hands and knees cleaning. I started them out getting their hands dirty. Then I turned them into telemarketers. Subsequently they had to go out and clean the facility they had just sold, buy their own supplies and turn around and make sure the bill got out and collected."
"We're practically executives in the company and going in and cleaning dirty diapers, coming out smelling like bologna," Lisa recalls. But she says the experience of doing those jobs, which are "the foundation of our business," gave them a better appreciation of the work performed by the company's more than 2,400 janitorial franchisees.
Adam calls the transition from working in corporate finance at IBM to doing the dirty work at Anago "an eye-opener, to say the least."
"It was definitely a shot to the pride and a humbling experience, going from corporate finance to my first role," Adam says. "By day, you're going to be a telemarketer, trying to set appointments for cleaning contacts, and by night you get to clean them."
Adam says he understands the wisdom of the career path his father established for him and his sister. "We didn't want to make it appear that there was any kind of nepotism, being the founder's son," he says.
The family dynamic in the workplace
Although Lisa is Adam's older sister, in the office he is her superior as the president of the company. Lisa says she takes this in stride.
"I really respect what [Adam has] done and what he's doing," Lisa says. "He's very smart, and I know that he has the best interest in mind for my father and for me. It kind of works well. We play off each other's strengths."
Lisa says her role in the business suits her. "I wanted more to take the back seat and be the internal person and not be the face of the company," she says, "because I'm starting my family."
Even though the family members sometimes disagree, they note that they realize the importance of sticking together as a family. David, Adam and Lisa still meet for lunch every week to discuss business, as well as personal matters.
"You have to make sure you know where business ends and family begins," Lisa says. "Sometimes we tend to be at dinner and we start talking business and we see our spouses twiddling their thumbs."
David says he wanted his children to spread their wings and gain valuable experience outside the company before entering the family business.
"You can't force your kids into coming to work for you," David says. "They have to want it. I told my kids that once their education is finished, go out and work for someone else's corporate structure, go learn their system, go knock your head around, go see how it works."
As David began to get a little older and there were more and more responsibilities on his plate, he decided to give his son a call to see if he was ready to return.
"I called him and I said, 'You know, Adam, I'm getting a little bit older and I think I really have the tiger by the tail,' " says David.
Anago Cleaning Systems, which operates as a franchisee-run business, had around 20 territories before Adam joined the company. David set the bar high; his goal is to grow to 90 territories. But how would they get there?
"I realized that these younger people are so much more digitally inclined," David says. "The speed in which they can operate with iPads, cell phones, computers—I think my son has three screens on his desk. That new generation of talent is what I believe is going to propel Anago to the next level."
With Adam's help, Anago Cleaning Systems now has 37 U.S. territories, from Sacramento to South Florida, along with three territories in Chile, Vancouver and Puerto Rico. Last year, the company generated $42 million in revenue.
Releasing the reins
Before his children rose to the executive ranks, David had to be sure that they were ready. It was easy to get them started by scrubbing floors and cleaning facilities, but could they handle prominent roles in the business?
"My challenge in all of this was releasing the reins," David says. "When I saw that their personal commitment was [meshing] with their organizational and managerial skills, a siren went off in my head and I knew it was the next generation of talent to evolve."
"It's just an honor to continue what my father started," Lisa says. "It's amazing to be able to work with my family every day. That also can be challenging, but it's rewarding on most days."
Adam says he realizes that Anago holds a special place in his father's heart. "I was born in 1984, and he started the company in 1989," Adam says. "So this is his third child."
How Anago Cleaning Systems Got Its Start
David Povlitz founded Anago Cleaning Systems in 1989, but his career in cleaning services began 15 years before that.
Povlitz graduated from Michigan State University in 1972 with a degree in hotel and restaurant administration and started putting his knowledge into practical application.
As a student, he found he was most interested in "how the facilities are maintained," Povlitz says. "Who is cleaning the restrooms? Who is cleaning the kitchens? Who is cleaning the main dining areas and the parking lots? All of a sudden, I realized that my calling wasn't inside the house so much, but more along the lines of a super-general: a maintenance man, if you will."
He began cold calling and going door-to-door to different Detroit businesses, pitching his cleaning services. After a few unsuccessful trips, Povlitz was noticed by the son of the owner of a janitorial supply company, who took him under his wing. He taught him all about the cleaning equipment and supplies, and Povlitz finally had the experience he would need.
In the early '70s, Povlitz and his three brothers started a separate company called Imperial Professional Building Maintenance. By 1974, they had a significant number of accounts in the suburbs of Michigan. The biggest was the Pontiac Silverdome, former home of the NFL's Detroit Lions.
After 15 years, the other siblings felt it was time to branch out in different directions. So Povlitz packed up his things in 1989 and moved to Florida, where he would eventually start the company that today is known as Anago Cleaning Systems. "I, myself, was getting a little tired, a little stretched, and wanted to change my career," says Povlitz. "And today we operate under this franchise model."
While Povlitz was working for the cleaning service, he always had the idea of being in business for himself. When he decided to make the move to be his own boss, he needed to come up with a name. Originally, a couple of the frontrunners were Alpha Building Maintenance and Gold Coast Janitorial. Then a friend mentioned the Greek word Anagogue, which means "mystical or spiritual enlightenment."
With his drive and determination, Povlitz has taken his company a long way from door-to-door soliciting. Anago Cleaning Systems has 2,400 franchisees in 37 territories across the U.S. and plus Chile, Vancouver and Puerto Rico.—R.C.
Anago's Key Principles
Anago Cleaning Systems operates under seven unifying principles:
• The difference between good and excellent is the attention to detail.
• Have personal and professional integrity.
• Give people the opportunity for advancement.
• Promote training and education.
• Reserve the right to make mistakes.
• Provide a sense of achievement and enjoyment.
• Manage with goals.
Copyright 2016 by Family Business Magazine. This article may not be posted online or reproduced in any form, including photocopy, without permission from the publisher. For reprint information, contact bwenger@familybusinessmagazine.com.