Family brought Ana Malone to Marion. Her father, Curtis Wright, was raised in Marion and joined the U.S. Army in 1981. Ana Malone was born on a military base in California and traveled around the country. When Staff Sgt. Wright retired and moved back to the area, and Malone followed.
“He’s my rock. I owe a lot to that man and to the military,” Malone said.
Wright instilled his military-style into his four daughters.
“He’d line us up and say: ‘Are you ready to go?’ All four of us girls would reply, ‘Hoo-rah!’ My dad is a big teddy bear, but he was very strict about certain things,” Malone says. “All of us are neat freaks.”
Malone moved to Marion with her family 12 years ago.
“From all of the places I’ve lived, Marion is unique,” said Malone. “This community is special. Marion fosters people and businesses.”
Malone worked as a nurse’s aide and a paralegal. She graduated from Marion Technical College in 2013. Her cleaning services began as a solo contract with one local company with a need in 2017 and expanded to Busy B in 2018.
In this family-run business, Ana Malone is the owner-operator. Her oldest daughter, Breana Malone, 21, is the operations manager.
Ana states, “She keeps the business running smoothly. I couldn’t do it without her.”
“We weren’t sure it was going to go this far when it started. My sister was a toddler and we needed something flexible. It grew really fast,” Breana notes.
Busy B now employs 14 people to clean local businesses and factories. They hire people who are coachable and train them for up to five weeks. They receive professional certification and ongoing education and focus on continuous improvement.
“Trying to save money on training can lead to very expensive mistakes,” Malone says. “We have the best employees. We can’t do it without them.”
Malone focuses on providing quality, reliable service and treating her employees and customers like family. What sets Busy B apart is the ability to listen and respond to customer needs.
“By the time people come to us, they have had several other cleaning companies. Some that promise everything but specialize in none. We decided early on to specialize in exceptional cleaning. That’s our niche,” Ana said.
Malone spent a year using 5s lean manufacturing principles to create standard procedures. Employees wear aprons to keep the tools they need at their fingertips. While mistakes sometimes happen, Malone personally takes the calls and goes to correct a problem.
“It’s rare that the owner will come and clean. If you show me where we missed a spot, I guarantee we will not do that again,” Malone said.
Malone said quality cleaning is an investment in a company, its staff, and its customers.
‘If the restrooms are dirty, 90% of customers won’t come back to a business,” Malone said. “You don’t want to repel customers or employees. When it’s a competitive hiring market, making the break room and restrooms clean and well-stocked shows you value your workers.”
Cleaning can also change how people feel about working in factories.
“There’s a stigma to manufacturing. They aren’t dirty, dark places to work. We can make them sparkle,” Malone said. ‘With COVID-19, it’s important to clean and disinfect well. This can reduce sick days.”
Malone is proud they were voted “Best Janitorial Service” in Marion by NewsForce 24/7. They have a 5-star rating on Google and Facebook and were a finalist in The Forge business competition in 2021.
“We clean because we enjoy being in a clean environment. It makes you feel good, productive, and motivated,” said Malone.
Malone’s husband, Justin, is the general manager. Her son Adam, 20, and his girlfriend, Brooklynn, 18, both clean. Maeghan, 16, helps make TikToks. Sarah, 8, loves to wear the family merchandise. For more on Busy B, call (614) 706-7706 or visit their website or social media channels.
