Tou Yeng Pheng Yang’s parents always stressed the importance of going to college. As salutatorian of his class at the Hmong American Peace Academy, Yang enrolled at Marquette, intent on becoming a dentist.
Then, he had a realization.
“I learned real quickly I don’t think I want to touch people’s teeth for the rest of my life,” he says with a laugh.
Through high school, a year at Marquette and another at Milwaukee Area Technical College, Yang tried a number of jobs. He worked as a teller at a credit union through his senior year of high school through an internship program, and stayed on another six months. After that, he worked in hotel housekeeping and telecom sales.
“I spent many years just kind of working odd jobs and exploring and just trying to understand who I am,” says Yang, now 29. “That’s the ultimate question. Who do you want to be and what do you want to do? There are adults right now who are older than me who still don’t have the answer to that question.”
During those years, Yang also spent some nights, along with his two brothers, helping his uncle, who owned a Coverall commercial cleaning franchise. He even tried to bring on some new clients, but learned the Coverall corporate office would get a cut of any new business he brought in. That’s when, in the spring of 2022, he decided to invest about $3,000 in equipment, supplies and legal fees to start up his own business.
A family business
Yang is the ninth of 10 children – he has seven sisters and two brothers. His parents fled Laos after the Vietnam War, as most Hmong people did. They made their way first to Thailand, then to Fresno, California, where Tou Phen Yeng was born, then to Wausau and ultimately Milwaukee.
Both California and Wisconsin have Hmong communities of significant size, but the Yang family settled in Wisconsin for two reasons.
“Funny enough, I asked my mom why they moved to Milwaukee, and she said it was because there were more jobs at the time, and it was easier to get a driver’s license,” Yang says.
Growing up in Milwaukee, Yang attended the Hmong American Peace Academy from grades six through 12.
“The teachers we had were absolutely amazing,” he says. “They genuinely cared for the students. The values the school taught us were about peacebuilding, being respectful, and being kind.”
Yang’s brothers also occasionally helped out with their uncle’s Coverall franchise, and when they worked together, they’d often jokingly introduce themselves as “your official cleaners.”
So when it came to name his own cleaning service, The Official Cleaners only made sense.
His first client was a church, a contract he earned through a referral. The first client he booked through direct sales was, ironically enough, a dental practice.
Through referrals and direct sales, Yang quickly built up enough business that he needed help, and his brothers quit their jobs and joined the team. Soon, two of their sisters did, too. Now, with 10 regular clients, including medical facilities, schools and small businesses, The Official Cleaners are bringing in $17,000 – $20,000 a month, Yang said – more than he anticipated at the beginning of his third year in business.
“I was just thinking that I was going to be making enough at least to replace my income from a regular job but I ended up surpassing that,” he says.
Yang gives full credit to his two brothers, who believed in the business and hopped on board early. He knows some families would have a hard time working together, but not his.
“There’s no clashing with my sisters and my brothers. They all respect me,” even though he’s younger, he says. “They have given the full respect that’s due, so we don’t have any issues with each other. I mean, they understand their position. They understand that I’m the one who started the business and I’m the one picking up the full responsibility.”
Yang said the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce has been tremendously helpful in promoting his young business, which included creating a promotional video for free.
“I got so much value out of that,” Yang says. “The least I could do was sign up and become an official member.”
The Hmong Wisconsin Chamber also invited Yang to their annual awards ceremony and plugged him into a whole new network, including the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which became another client.
And even though it’s been around for nearly 20 years, Yang found the Hmong Chamber of Commerce by accident. After landing a contract to clean Aemilian Preschool in Milwaukee, he took a look around the business park where it was located.
“I was like, well, there’s plenty of businesses around here. Let me go knock on some door,” Yang recalls. One of the offices in that business park was the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce.
“I said, ‘Oh, wait a minute. We have a Chamber of Commerce?’” Yang says with a laugh. “How did I not know about this?”
“There’s no secret”
With the help of that Chamber, and a lot of work from himself and his family, Yang is looking to grow. In addition to the five siblings who work there, The Official Cleaners also work with a marketing consultant and an accountant. Yang hopes to grow enough to hire full-time workers from outside the family.
“My goal is to become the best in Milwaukee, and eventually the state of Wisconsin,” Yang says. “We’re not just trying to make some money and get by. We want to be the best.”
And to anyone in the place he was those few years before going into business – wondering who they are and what they want to do – he cautions against thinking there’s a secret to business success.
“”There’s no secret. You’ve just got to start,” he says. “If you start, please give it five years. It’s like getting a degree –you have to really commit. Your business will never outgrow your own personal development.”
