Meet Brice Miller, the veteran-turned-entrepreneur behind Coruscant Cleaners, whose Star Wars-inspired business is redefining commercial cleaning in Charlotte. With refreshing candor, Brice shares his remarkable journey from military service to business ownership, revealing the pivotal moment he decided to control his own destiny: "If I don't learn how to work for myself and create something, I'm just going to work for somebody else for the rest of my life."
What makes Coruscant Cleaners stand out isn't just their professional services for banks, preschools, and businesses throughout Charlotte and surrounding areas—it's Brice's philosophy of problem-solving. "Although the services we provide are janitorial in nature, we're actually problem solvers," he explains, emphasizing that every client receives a custom approach tailored to their unique circumstances. This mindset extends to his leadership style, where he prioritizes full-time, committed employees who work in teams of two, creating a more professional and effective operation.
The most powerful segment comes when Brice opens up about overcoming personal adversity following his father's death, battling substance addiction before completely transforming his life with the support of his wife and newfound purpose. Now a father of three daughters who balances business ownership with family time and fitness, his story represents the resilience and determination that fuel successful entrepreneurship. Whether you're running a business that needs cleaning services or dreaming of launching your own company, Brice's journey offers valuable insights and inspiration. Discover more about Coruscant Cleaners by visiting their website or calling 704-460-6147—and let us know in the comments what other local business stories you'd like to hear!
Coruscant Cleaners
Brice Miller
704-460-6147
info@coruscantcleaners.com
Episode Transcript
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcome everyone to another Good Neighbor Podcast.
This is Regina, and my favoritething to do is to talk to local
business owners, get to knowthem and let them share a little
bit about themselves and theirbusiness.
Today, I have with us BriceMiller.
He is the owner-operator ofCoruscant Cleaners.
Welcome, bryce.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Hey Regina, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Good, did I say that word?
Right, you did it's.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Coruscant.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
What is that?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
If there's any fellow Star Wars nerds, it's a planet
from the universe.
It's called Coruscant.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And when you were thinking of business names.
How did that come to be?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Oh, my goodness, I planned on just trying to have
two words that start with theletter C, and I could not find
anything that felt right.
And then I was watching StarWars and I went okay, all right,
let's swing for it.
Why not?
Coruscant cleaners, let's do.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
it Isn't that awesome ?
Well, it's very, very unique.
I love it.
Well, first of all, you are aveteran, so we thank you for
your service.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Talk a little bit about your time in the service.
Where are you from and what gotyou to Charlotte?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
service.
Where are you from and what gotyou to Charlotte?
Well, I was born in LA.
Folks brought me to Charlotteand that I, you know, lived the
normal childhood and joined theAir Force when I was 20.
Went all over the place andthen Charlotte was always home.
So I just ended up back hereand been at it ever since.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Well, you know, with you having this awesome cleaning
business, let's start with yourjourney into that.
What is your why?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Like why did I start a business?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Well, this business, specifically in the cleaning, oh
, that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
So I you know, between being a soldier and then
working in hospitality, Irealized something very
important If I don't learn howto work for myself and create
something, I'm just going towork for somebody else for the
rest of my life, and Idefinitely preferred the leader
role over the soldier or theworker.
(02:21):
So I picked a field thatdoesn't require a ton of
overhead and is usually based onlabor and skill.
So I just learned and workedhard.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
That is amazing.
How long have you been inbusiness?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
A little over two years now.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So tell us about your services.
What do you guys do?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
So we're a professional commercial cleaning
company so we usually go intobusinesses that have their own
standalone building.
So like banks we do a lot ofbanks We'll go in after five and
just make it look brand new forthe following day.
So pretty much anything under aroof and inside four walls that
has an LLC.
We take care of it when they'redone working for the day.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So you do routine cleaning and I noticed on your
website you talked aboutenhanced disinfecting.
What does that mean?
Enhanced?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, yeah.
So we also do a few preschools,and I don't know if you've been
to one, but they are germfactories.
So instead of just going inthere and kind of Lysol bombing
it, we'll get like theprofessional grade steam cleaner
and more or less burn it outwith steam and then wipe
everything down.
So flu season isn't so bad.
(03:34):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So say, for your typical bank, how often are you
guys in there?
Every day, monday throughFriday?
Wow, and what is your reach?
How far do you guys travel?
Where are you based out of?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
So we have an office uptown as of right now.
It's 25, 30 miles outside ofthe Charlotte area, so like
we'll go to, you know, fort Mill, gastonia, we haven't really
had reached past that.
We're not a large operationquite yet, but we're getting
there.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So Lake Norman would not be out of the question,
absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Give me a call.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, yeah, very growing area like South
Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So tell us about?
Are there any misconceptionswhen you're talking to maybe
people just calling and wantingto know more?
What are some of themisconceptions you run up
against?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
The biggest misconception, in my opinion, is
, although it's true that theservices we provide are
janitorial in nature, we'reactually problem solvers With
every single client we doservices to.
They all share their own uniqueneeds and circumstances, so we
end up going in thereidentifying those unique needs
(04:50):
and circumstances and come upwith a strategy to solve their
problem.
So I don't have two clientsthat are the same strategy to
solve their problem.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So I don't have two clients that are the same.
That's great.
So how do you vet your, yourstaff?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
seeing that you're going into banks and businesses
after hours.
Um, I made a rule about a yearago that I don't hire part-time
anymore, so nobody on my stafftreats this like a gig, like
this is their job and they takeit, but it's pretty much people
who want to work after five andaren't really people.
(05:26):
People are the guys that do thebest with me.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
That makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, you're working alone.
How many people go in and dothat after hour cleaning?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I have teams of two for safety reasons and because,
I mean, even if people don wantto be all right, people do want
to be by themselves.
It's generally, it's not themost productive thing in the
world if your job is generallyrepetitive.
So the guys will meet, go out,do their job, listen to music,
um, and, you know, divvy upduties as best they need to
(06:02):
because they have the freedom todo so.
I don't babysit.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
They know what they're doing.
So, when it comes to what setsyou apart, do you have a
personal philosophy, or whatdoes set you apart from other
commercial cleaners?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I take care of my guys.
Honestly, that's been thebiggest thing.
And again, I don't hirepart-time.
Honestly, that's been thebiggest thing.
And again, I don't hirepart-time.
I don't subcontract to otherpeople and I know that every
client I work with is anextension of myself.
It's not just a person we'redoing a job for.
I want to do a good job.
(06:38):
We want to do a good jobbecause it's also a reflection
of us.
We treat it that way every time.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So, in running your own business or having been in
the service your journey, arethere any hardships that you've
come across?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Oh sure, Okay, for the sake of transparency, I
could share a story with you.
When I was younger, my fatherdied and I was very alone in the
world, which did not lead tothe best decisions.
He was kind of the only personthat wanted to see me win or
(07:16):
just wanted the best for me ingeneral.
So for years following that Ihad some pretty bad substance
addiction issues.
Following that, I had somepretty bad substance addiction
issues and then I eventuallysnapped out of it and met my
wife, started going to the gym,had kids completely, did a 180
entirely, and now I do my bestto take care of everybody and
(07:42):
bring out the winner andeveryone around me as best I can
.
I learned to not quit on me oranything I believe in again as
best I can.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I learned to not quit on me or anything I believe in
again.
Well, and that's amazing whenyou are running a company and
can influence people that way.
So when did you go to theservice in that journey?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
I was 20, 20 to 27.
Very good, I'm now 34.
Okay, I didn't want to ask.
Very good, I'm now 34.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I didn't want to ask, but I'm trying to connect the
top.
That is wonderful.
Well, you know, as a businessowner you wear a lot of hats.
Do you ever have time to havefun?
And if you do, what do you guyslike to do?
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Well, my version of fun might be kind of boring to
other people, but I have threedaughters.
Two of them are eight and sevenand they like to play soccer
and rugby.
So we do a lot of coaching onthat one.
I got a one year old who justwants to be thrown around and
climb on me.
So I do that, and if I'm notdoing that, I'm usually in the
gym lifting very heavy things upand down over and over.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
But good stress reliever absolutely every day.
Yeah well, it's been a pleasuregetting to know you, bright,
and to learn about coruscantcleaners.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Tell our listeners how they can find you uh by
visiting our website, uh, www.
coruscantcleaners.
com, or any of the social medias.
It's all at Coruscant Cleanersor you can just call
704-460-6147.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I think we should spell Coruscant, because it's a
little unique word.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
This is true, you're not wrong at all.
For most non-nerd.
Yeah, I'm definitely a nerd.
C-o-r-u-s-c-a-n-t Cleaners.
com Was that cleaners?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, that's the star wars planet.
Okay, bryce, it's been greatgetting to know you and I wish
you much success and I hope tomeet you out in the community
soon.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Thank you so much.
I appreciate you having me.
It was great.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go toGNPSouthCharlotte.
com.
That's GNPSouthCharlotte.
com, or call 980-351-5719.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!