“It started as a way to support my wife and me during my senior year of college in 1983. I began cleaning the walls of Boyd’s Auto Machine, my dad’s race engine service shop. He showed me how engines only reach their peak performance when every part is clean. It seemed the same was true of workplaces as well.

“Through this job I realized I could turn cleaning into a real business. I went out and picked up a few more cleaning jobs and eventually hired a couple of employees to help me. I began having grand (naïve) dreams of becoming a 21-year-old janitorial mogul.

“Later that year I sold my first big account: the manager of a new apartment complex hired us to clean up the apartments after the construction was completed. It was a complex and big job.

“At the end of that school year, I graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in psychology. As I sat through my graduation ceremony wearing my best—and only—suit and tie, I was anxious to get to the apartments and start cleaning. I was the only guy on my cleaning team that knew how to wash the windows, and they were scheduled to be washed that day. The customer was demanding, and I could not afford to get fired from the account. I had a wife that wanted me to earn a living, employees that wanted the work, and a business that needed building!

“I walked the stage and received my diploma. My classmates went to celebrate with their families and friends—I got changed and went to work.

Neil Boyd, Alliance founder, CEO

“Since that graduation day, I have tried to continue to maintain that dual commitment of pleasing a customer and supporting my teammates. That day was one of many memorable moments in the early days of building Alliance (ask me sometime about getting locked in a grocery store overnight!). While there have been some crazy and intense times, I am incredibly grateful for them and everything they have taught me.”

– Neil Boyd, Founder & CEO