How it got started

As Reading native Sheree Haubrich discovered with her business, SheSoClean Cleaning & Laundry Services, sometimes a mother attaining work-life balance turns out to be a great career move, too.

Haubrich previously held what she called a very lucrative but very stressful job as a mortgage processor and underwriter, a position she gave up at one point for a cleaning gig so she would have more time for her kids.

“I was missing football games, dance recitals — all of these things I should’ve been at,” Haubrich recalled.

She eventually returned to the financial industry, but only for a short time, deciding instead after less than two years to throw her full efforts behind her SheSoClean side hustle that was showing signs of being able to support the whole family.

“When I went back to work full time, my husband started driving my mom (Carrie Perkins) and cleaning with her, then it started to take off,” Haubrich said. “I thought, ‘This would do better for all of us if we were all working fulltime in the business.’”

Today, Reading-based SheSoClean has five employees and has served more than 200 residential and commercial clients around the Berks County area.

Haubrich was no stranger to the cleaning business when she started, having watched her mother spruce up people’s homes and offices for years to pay the bills since she was growing up.

But when she learned later on as an adult how much money mom was pulling in to care for people’s things.

“She was not being compensated what she was worth,” Haubrich said, noting her mom would even leave meals for some customers. “I said, ‘Mom you’re worth way more than that.’”

That’s when Haubrich got involved, first offering mobile laundry service — her mother would clean by day, while she did the laundry at night or on weekends.

After a close friend tragically passed away, though, Haubrich found herself caring for her five children in addition to her own five kids.

In order to juggle all that, she needed flexibility a career in the financial world simply couldn’t provide.

“I worked an hour away from home, and her children were much younger,” Haubrich said. “They’d get sick and I’d have to come back to town. It made it very difficult to work a 40-hour job.

“Cleaning gave me more opportunities to be there. I could make my own schedule, work around appointments. It just made more sense.”

More than a clean home

Eventually, Haubrich’s friend’s children went to live