UW Oshkosh economics major Colin Milligan founded College Cleaners LLC in December 2018 after offering handiwork to those in need the previous spring for extra cash.

College Cleaners LLC offers inside, outside, weekly and miscellaneous services including lawn care, snow removal, dog walking and technology help. For students, the company offers paid tasks allowing them to earn extra money outside of class.

Milligan hires students as independent contractors and pays them in cash or via Venmo. Until they work 600 hours, the work contractors perform does not need to be reported. Currently, the company has two employees.

According to Milligan, since January 2019, the company has expanded from four different clients to about 35 clients between Oshkosh to Neenah, mostly returning customers.

UWO senior and College Cleaners LLC manager Eli Miller said the company’s mission is to build relationships with everyone involved with College Cleaners — from community members to coworkers to students.

“Our motto is ‘help us help you,’ so when they help us through conversation for a job, we help them by teaching them something that maybe they didn’t know,” Miller said.

Miller said the company’s biggest form of advertising is word-of-mouth.

“Every client that we have, we tell them to use the word-of-mouth as much as possible, and that’s pretty much how we’ve grown as exponentially as we have,” Miller said. “We have the media content, we have the internet, we promote, we do networking and branding, but the word-of-mouth is so much better because we get involved in with so many people that they say great things about us.”

The company offers services for less money than professionals by basing its fees on the income and financial situation of clients in need.

Milligan said the company’s consumer audience is the handicapped and disabled, people who are busy with their day-to-day life and senior citizens.

“I come there and they just open up about everything in their life,” Milligan said. “It’s kind of cool because I learn from them and they learn from me.”

UWO 2015 graduate Anna Hirsch is a returning College Cleaners LLC customer who ordered snow removal services after poor experiences with professionals offering the service.

“My mom found them for me so that I had someone more reliable who wasn’t going to take advantage of me because I have chronic illnesses,” Hirsch said. “They have really great communication. They make sure to reach out to see if you need snow plowing and, overall, they’re like a million times better than the last guy I had.”

Milligan said he hopes to expand College Cleaners LLC to other colleges in the UW system.

“I’m going to have to rebrand because a lot of people just think it’s cleaning, but I think I’m going to get a platform figured out, like an app, so it’s easier to connect the college kids out to the community,” Milligan said. “First I’m getting everything set in Oshkosh, and then when I graduate I’m going to bum around to other colleges and show them what I did and tell them they can do it because it’s simple things that college kids can do.”

Students looking to earn extra money and community members in need of household services from College Cleaners LLC can find more information at www.collegecleanershelp.com