Meet Chantel Trujillo, a powerhouse entrepreneur, dedicated mom, and owner of two thriving Two Maids franchise locations in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho, New Mexico. With over 20 years of experience in sales and management, Chantel took a leap of faith into business ownership with the goal of building something meaningful for her family and community. Her journey, driven by passion, teamwork, and an unwavering commitment to excellence, has already led to record-breaking success and continues to inspire others who are considering the franchise path.
Blazing a Trail to Two Maids Franchise Ownership
I have been with my husband, Jared, for thirteen and a half years. We have two beautiful children, Caydence, age eight, and Jaxon, age four. I am from Oklahoma originally but have been in New Mexico for over twenty years. I have been in sales and management for over twenty years.
Starting in 2022, my husband and I had an urge to purchase a business our family could call our own. While attending a networking event, I met an entrepreneur coach, and I introduced her to my husband, who was initially looking to start this journey. They went through the program together to get ideas. Then we decided that we were going to own something. Through this process, we decided a franchise would be the way to go. I was working long hours with a lot of empty promises. It was at that point I knew a career change was needed. Together, we decided it was best that I came on board. My husband initially was going to do this semi-absentee, but we knew the challenges would be hard for him while both of us were working full-time jobs. We also knew that, with my history and skills in leadership, it would be best if I ran the day-to-day operations. We felt we could achieve growth and success faster since we knew nobody would love this business better than us. From the start, we fell in love with everything the Two Maids franchise had to offer. From the sleek website to the systems that nobody else offers, we knew this was what we wanted.
When researching franchise opportunities, what criteria mattered to you most?
We spoke to multiple businesses in the journey and did comparisons of competitors. Family is huge for us, so the concept we would choose would have to provide quality of life so we can spend time with our kids. We also wanted something that could be impactful for the families we served. It had to have something we could be proud of, and of course, a business that can provide a steady return on our investment and future growth opportunity. We also assessed what busy people were turning to in the future. In that journey, we found more dual-working households that didn’t have the time to clean. At that point, we realized that Two Maids was something we could be proud of.
How did you fund the purchase of your two Two Maids Franchise locations?
The financing journey was very intimidating in the beginning. There were a lot of things that we were unaware of while we were starting this process. Our franchise coach helped us look at options, and we found that an SBA Express loan would be just what was needed. While it was daunting, both our coach and rep with the bank were very helpful in guiding us. The process was very quick, and funds were available right away.
Which of your prior skills and experiences do you use in operating your businesses?
As an owner/operator, my 20+ years of management, sales, and leadership have helped tremendously with hiring and running day-to-day operations. My two years of business-to-business networking were also huge in building our business. I had a good foundation of knowledge of how to network and who to start networking with. Even to which empowered my husband to start joining networking groups of his own
When doing your research, which questions did you ask the franchisees?
How did they get to where they are now? What have been their biggest hurdles? How long until you broke even? What do you love most about the company? What do you dislike most about the company? If you could change one thing about the company, what would it be? What kind of support do you get from the company?
Which questions did you ask Two Maids franchise leadership?
I think the big one is always what Item 19 looks like. We also wanted to know if the company is ever prone to be sold, as a change to leadership can be challenging. I also wanted to know what the territories looked like and what the requirements were. Can we buy more than one territory at a time? Owning the entire area I lived in was key, so we bought both territories at the same time.
What were your biggest challenges when you first started out?
Our biggest challenges were learning the systems, mainly our scheduling system and CRM system. We asked our franchise trainers a ton of questions, and watching training videos has helped a ton. Staffing is always a struggle. We wanted to be sure to build a good culture and treat your employees well.
How does Two Maids support and encourage your success?
Two Maids has been amazing! The culture is phenomenal. We meet with a training coach weekly. At our 90-day point, we met with the Vice President of the company for a check-in to see how things were going. Everyone in the company, including other franchisees, has been extremely supportive and will pick up the phone whenever you call them. We have also befriended other owners in the network who will help guide us, as they have been where we are. There is definitely a help others as you can culture built into Two Maids.
What are you most proud of and why?
We have been breaking records since we opened in 2024. We have had the best opening month and opening quarter in the company’s history! Which means we took home some awards. Also, we are extremely proud of how far we have come in our short time open. In the short 6 months since we opened, we just launched our second territory. Our team is wonderful, and they are pivotal in our success.
What advice would you give to potential franchise owners?
Start networking early. Don’t wait until you open your doors!! If you are on social media, share your journey with your followers. Get them excited for you. Involve your community, be excited, and know it will have ups and downs. But at the end of the day, it’s all yours.
