As the coronavirus began spreading across China last December, Shane Nolf’s global company put employees on notice.
By April, after the medical supplies manufacturer ordered employees to work from home, halted work-related travel and canceled projects, Nolf — a contracted project manager — was out of a job.
The New Ross man joined the ranks of millions of other displaced workers and dusted off his resume, but as the virus tightened its grip on the nation, few companies were hiring. Nolf’s wife, Susan, is a stay-at-home mom and the couple has four teenagers.
“We had thought about starting a business in the past and so I had a little money put back … and looked at various business opportunities,” Nolf said.
This summer, the Nolfs purchased a ServiceMaster franchise and went to work cleaning and disinfecting commercial buildings in the Montgomery County area.
ServiceMaster Commercial Cleaning by N7 has clients in four west central Indiana counties including offices, laundry facilities, banks, factories and churches.
“I think the timing is great for a commercial cleaning business for those businesses that are still open or have to have employees in,” Nolf said.
The pandemic gave families who had already considered new ventures like the Nolfs the opportunity to become business owners.
Applications to start new businesses have increased by 19% in 2020, the fastest growth rate since 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Nolfs oldest sons, Cole, 19, and Dylan, 18, were tapped to supervise the cleaning franchise and 15-year-old daughter, Rachel, occasionally helps with the business.
Before finding a way to get back to work, Nolf said it would have been easy to get discouraged.
“Anybody that’s kind of been through something tough, I mean, you’ve got kind of two paths that you can take, right? One is, kind of just get discouraged and almost give up, if you will, and the other’s like, well, roll up the shirtsleeves and figure out what we need to do to make ends meet.”
