A look at the young, driven entrepreneur, Colby Ballinger, and how his company, Everclean, is doing more than pulling its own weight in the cleaning industry

Chico's Very Own Mr. Clean

Colby Ballinger is proof you do not need a college degree to be a success in life. Colby does have a high school diploma from Core Butte Charter, but as he will tell you, “I hated school. I hated being told what to do, and I hated sitting at a desk.” It just could not be explained much plainer than that. However, Colby’s discontentment with school didn’t mean he disliked learning. On the contrary, when he was just a kid, Colby began challenging himself to learn how to do whatever caught his eye at the moment. It became evident at every turn that he was acquiring skills that would benefit people’s lives.

Colby attended public school into middle school, but was homeschooled by his parents thereafter. “It was a shock,” he said. “After all the years being in public school, homeschooling was a big change.” He quickly learned if he wanted to get anywhere in life, he needed to start at the bottom and move up. His first job was selling the Chico Enterprise Record door-to-door when he was twelve years old. At fourteen, he worked for a local carpet cleaner and thus, started a new, life changing career. At just seventeen, Colby started his own business, Everclean Carpet Cleaning.

In the middle of all of this, Colby got involved in weightlifting. He started weight training at fourteen and entered into competitive powerlifting at sixteen. From sixteen to twenty-four, he participated in competitive events, usually entering two to three each year. Not only did Colby win almost every competition he entered, but he also found himself breaking world records in both his age and weight category.

To be sure, Colby Ballinger is a big man— perhaps better said, a huge man, standing at 6’5” and weighing in around 280—280 pounds of muscle. His personal best is a 573lb bench press and an 801lb deadlift. He cannot help but often wonder what it would have been like to play football or other school sports, but that’s a passing notion as Colby clearly had other plans on his mind. “My dad gave me the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books when I was a kid,” said Ballinger. “Being an entrepreneur has always been an interest for me.”

Based on that desire, he founded Everclean. “The reality is, I started this company because I had no idea what to do after high school.” He added. “All I knew was I disliked school and being told what to do. Starting a business seemed right up my alley!” Fortunately for Colby, a co-worker told him about some inexpensive carpet cleaning equipment he’d learned how to operate while working in New York City. Curiosity sparked, so he made up a business plan and took it to his father. “I asked for a $6,000 loan which I would repay in a year. He agreed, and that’s how Everclean started.”

While Colby didn’t attend college, he did learn on the job. “Starting my business at such a young age was a lot like college, in a way.” Colby said, “Everything was completely new to me. All I knew was how to clean carpets!” He became his own instructor and taught himself about taxes, accounting, money management, website design, marketing, and learning how to generate a new business with no money on hand—all at the age of seventeen. “It was a lot to handle, but I wouldn’t change a thing. It forced me to make choices and made me directly accountable for my decisions.” And there stands the remarkable truth. How many seventeen year olds hold themselves accountable for their actions at all? Further, how many have the maturity to start a business, keep with it, and make it a success? From my recollection, not very many.

Colby’s first set up was his late ‘90’s 4Runner and a trailer he towed behind it. His cleaning unit was a heavy duty machine he bought for $4,000. It cleaned carpets as good as any high-dollar unit, but it took three times longer. That is not exactly the recipe for getting the bills paid. After a year, he “graduated” to an all-in-one set up: a white van with no side windows. No doubt, it was immediately dubbed “the creeper van.” This is the van Colby used for personal transportation as well as work. “I took a lot of ribbing, but I needed to invest in the business,” he said. “I drove that van for almost seven years.” Now, Everclean utilizes three high-powered truck-mounted steam cleaning units. They also have various heavy- duty floor scrubbing and buffing equipment, and multiple specialty cleaning machines for concentrated cleaning projects. This now includes: tile & grout, upholstery, and mattress cleaning systems. In addition, Colby is intent on becoming the premier area rug cleaner. He refers to this as “real service cleaning.”

The notion of self-education comes back. Having to use the smaller equipment, which is more labor intensive, taught Ballinger the finer points of cleaning and a thorough education as to what chemicals need to be used and how to use them. He is also well-versed in operating smaller equipment and knows how to teach his employees how to use the machines. From the beginning, Colby emphasized customer satisfaction as the number-one priority. To ensure this, each job needs to be done right the first time, and to facilitate each by using honesty is the best approach. If a carpet and pad is so stained it can’t be cleaned correctly, Everclean lets the owners know. There’s no use wasting time and energy on an outcome that is questionable or not up to standards. “From the beginning, I’ve been obsessed with customer satisfaction and making sure every customer is ecstatic about the result of the job. This has really been the key to our success.”

When the business first began, all they did was clean carpets. Over the years, however, customers started asking about other cleaning jobs. They’ve transitioned to cleaning other types of flooring such as hardwood floors and tile. They’ve also expanded to stone and countertops. Cleaning delicate rugs has its own niche, as you need to be aware of the fiber, the age, and the dyes used in the carpet. Colby went to one home where the owner had tried to clean an expensive area rug with the wrong cleaning agent. It bleached out the color in a small spot and there was nothing Everclean could do. The carpet was ruined, and the loss of the expensive rug stuck with him.

“There’s a reason we have to be trained in specialty cleaning services,” said Ballinger. “We go to classes in the Bay Area, take online courses, and attend seminars. The last thing we want to do is make a mistake cleaning someone’s carpet they inherited from their grandmother.” In the past few years, there’s been a trend in hardwood floors and ceramic tile. These need to be cleaned the correct way. The Everclean technicians have been trained and certified in a wide variety of cleaning techniques. If they can’t do a job, they will give you a referral for someone who does that kind of work. “Giving a referral is an important part of business. The specialty cleaning business in the Chico area isn’t huge. We help each other out when we can.”

Helping Colby along the way has been his wife, Cassandra. They met years ago and have kind of “grown up” in the business together. Cassandra has been an employee and a supporter through it all. “It’s been tough at times, but we’ve managed to come through. It’s good because I know what the job entails,” she said. “It’s a lot tougher than many people think, and the hours can be very long.”

Another goal for the business is to find and hire the right employees. “My goal is to not only be the best floor care service available, but to also provide a great workplace with as much opportunity for my employees as possible,” said Colby. “Great employees are not found, they are made.” He realized this very early on when dealing with his workers. “Who deals with the customers? The technicians. They are the most critical part of our company, and I spend a lot of my time on training and educating these guys not only on cleaning technique but good business practice.”

One employee in particular has stood out because he’s been with the company the longest. “Julio really worked out for us. He’s a local kid who came in one day and just fit in. He’s been great!” Ballinger cited the importance of getting to know your employees as people. “I know Julio’s dad, and they’re a great family.” An emphasis at Everclean is also to teach his employees to be good leaders and to provide them with opportunities to advance when the business expands. Colby is planning for his business to grow, allowing some of his employees to branch out and become managers in other locations. He envisions soon having a number of Everclean operations throughout the Northstate. “I guess it’s every owner’s dream to not have to go out and do the actual labor if they don’t want to. I’d like to keep up the business end of the company and have enough well-paid employees to perform the technician duties.”

In the near future, Colby plans on expanding into flood damage and mold removal and repair. He’s also developing an area where people can drop off area rugs for cleaning. As for local jobs, Everclean’s clientele runs the gamut. They stripped and resurfaced the floors in the old Sears facility after the Camp Fire aid organizations left. They also clean the In Motion Fitness facility and have done the Valley Oaks Veterinary Center for quite some time. We celebrate the company’s ten year anniversary and marvel at Colby's resilience and commitment to being the best. “One thing I emphasize to my employees is that getting where you want in life doesn’t always require a college education. It requires hard work and persistence.” So far, Colby Ballinger is living proof of that philosophy.

If you have carpet, tile & grout, upholstery, or other flooring in need of a thorough cleaning, make sure to reach out to Colby and his team at Everclean. You can reach them by phone at (530) 591-3860, email receptionist@evercleanchico.com or visit www.ChicoCarpetCleaner.com.

The accidental advocate

Julia Yarbrough grew up in a less than conventional setting, spending the entirety of her childhood on the move. The youngest of seven children in a military family, she was born in San Bernardino, California, but soon after, the US Air Force transferred the family to Japan at Johnson Air Force Base. Eventually, they returned and settled at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California.

“When you’re that young, there are specific memories you have, but you may not see the bigger picture.” Julia reminisced about her childhood, “In retrospect, without knowing it, the experience paved the way for me to be very chameleon-like—almost a nomad. You’re used to having your friends come and go. You learn how to engage with strangers, make friends more easily, and adapt to change. I didn’t notice how important that was until I began to meet people who were born and raised in the same town. They had a more difficult time adapting to change than I did. Thanks to growing up in the military, I learned to stay somewhere a few years, then pick up and move without thinking about it. It was just natural, and not everybody can do that.” Little did she know the experience would pave the way for her future success as well. Julia graduated high school in 1983 with no earthly idea of which direction she would go. She entered college expecting to find that ‘aha’ moment—a moment that did not materialize in a traditional sense. She studied economics thinking it was a broad enough field, but quickly found she preferred words to numbers. Attending UC Santa Barbara gave Julia a new vision for possible pathways. “It was an eye-opening experience.” Julia recalled, “Growing up on a military base, you’re somewhat insulated from the realities of the world around you. I grew up surrounded by diversity, and my group of friends were like a little rainbow— we represented every color, shade, and ethnicity you could imagine. My time in Santa Barbara was my first experience where kids didn’t mix due to the color of their skin, and it was a pivotal time for me. I spent my junior year studying in London and returned to the level of diversity I knew from my time on military bases, but it was the first time seeing the true wealth disparity that existed in the world. On the one hand, you have your regular Londoners; on the other, you have heirs to Middle Eastern oil money. The level of wealth was so crazy different. In Santa Barbara, we thought Hollywood money was the pinnacle of wealth. It didn’t even come close.” Even with her myriad experiences and the world being laid bare in front of her, the path to her true passion had become no more illuminated. As she approached graduation, a campus advisor in the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) asked if she would be willing to film a short video about her experiences. She agreed, and her advisor immediately complimented her on her ease of delivery and poise in front of the camera. A former broadcast television veteran herself, she asked if Julia had thought of working in the industry. The thought had never crossed her mind. The advisor reached out to her old colleagues and secured an internship for Julia at KEYT in Santa Barbara, where she began working in 1987.

The internship taught Julia the key points of broadcast journalism and allowed her to interact with a number of industry heavyweights, like famed CNN reporter Paul Vercammen. There were no computers, no cell phones, and of course, no social media. Instead, you were either out chasing a story or recording your notes in front of a typewriter. “It used to be so linear.” Julia stated, “Now you’re trying to go in 50 million directions to create something the broadcaster needed three hours ago. I absolutely loved the old style of broadcast journalism, and it was finally something I felt a connection with, so I decided to give it a shot. I sent my résumé reel on a ¾” tape to stations around the United States and got a call back from Pensacola, Florida. Growing up in California, I knew very little about anything east of the Rockies. California was the center of the world for me. They were looking at a couple other people, and they offered me $15,500 per year to move across the country, sight-unseen, and work at the ABC affiliate, WEAR in Pensacola. I just remember hanging up the phone, jumping up and down, and screaming with excitement after accepting the offer. I got up and moved to Pensacola with nothing to reference. It wasn’t until I arrived there that I realized how well we have it and how spoiled we really are as Californians.”

It was Julia’s first time experiencing the deep south and her first time seeing how people in much of the rest of the country live. One of her first stories involved a nearby town weighing the pros and cons of installing a city sewage system. One of her interviewees, an elderly woman whose

kids had moved away, still left her home and headed to an outhouse when she needed to use the bathroom. The home was ratty, with ripped furniture on the porch and a dilapidated roof overhead. As Julia recalled, the woman was incredibly sweet, but realizing how she lived her life gave her a better understanding of the differences that exist even here in the United States. During her time in Pensacola, she covered countless stories that only further illustrated this divide. After two years with WEAR in Pensacola, she was whisked away to a new job offer in Louisville, Kentucky.

Over the years that followed, Julia made good use of the skillset she unknowingly honed as a child, living a relatively nomadic lifestyle throughout the United States. After Louisville, she moved to WSVN in Miami, Florida, where she anchored the FOX news network’s morning show. Known for its “If it bleeds it leads” slogan, she found herself covering violent crime stories more often than not, which unsurprisingly was a culture shock coming from Kentucky. After a handful of years, she moved to KCBS in Los Angeles to take up their weekend anchor position, and a job offer she simply couldn’t refuse. Julia reminisced, “It was the most primo position you could ask for. I was making more money than I thought was humanly possible. There were so many perks—I had my own parking space with my name on it, each day was a different party, and everyone treated me so well, but I really didn’t take well to living in Los Angeles. I felt like a caged animal surrounded by concrete, so when I received a job offer to return to Miami in 1998 at NBC’s WTVJ, I jumped at the chance.”

Julia remained in Miami until 2009, anchoring the 5pm, 7pm, and 10pm news shows Monday through Friday. “I had reached a point where I had the best position I could.” Julia said, “You’re being invited to everything and having the most incredible experiences, but I felt like I wasn’t telling stories anymore; I was just reading the news. This car went into a canal, this house is on fire, this person robbed a bank, this person had an accident—it was all so monotonous. My life had become nothing but work, work, work. On the surface, I had everything I wanted, but it wasn’t fulfilling. Being in the news, I had a number of friends who were first responders, and I saw tragedy all the time. I couldn’t help but realize just how quickly things can change, and I remember thinking I never wanted to wonder should I have tried something different.”

She followed her instinct and took five years off to escape the rat race, and launched a blog platform called, “Highway to a Husband.” The blog followed her year-long adventures, traveling back-and-forth across the country with a close friend in search of their future husbands. “We lived out of the car for a year” Julia started, “and we made headlines doing it. We were booked on The Today Show, and we were even offered to put a reality show together with Nate Berkus. It was an amazing, crazy year, and the website was successful, but we weren’t entrepreneurs or business people—just reporters. We tried to figure out how to monetize it all and turn it into a business, but we were running out of money and energy, so we decided to call it quits.” Her mother, Miss Nellie, had also moved to southern Florida during this five-year adventure, to be closer to Julia during those times when she was at home.

Julia returned to Miami Beach and went back to work, this time in the government sector. She was hired by the City of Miami Beach to be part of their communications

department and was tasked with developing PSAs for the fire and police departments alongside other local organizations. Though hectic, the experience involved less traveling which allowed her to remain closer to home. Over the years, Julia began noticing her mother’s health and condition declining. It became clear Miss Nellie would need more focused care in the years to come. Julia dedicated herself to providing that care and assisting her mother in the day-to-day needs that were becoming progressively more difficult to complete on her own. Even still, she didn’t fully recognize what that entailed or what she was becoming. Julia recounted, “I’ve realized that people are often caregiving but not willing to tell people they’re doing it. I was realizing mom was getting slower, she was having trouble getting up and down her stairs, and she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, which she really didn’t want to accept. It’s neurological, so there’s really no way you can stop it. She was diabetic with high blood pressure, and it was just a bad combination of things. I had to accept that she was going to need help, and that she would continue to decline as long as she lived. It wasn’t easy, but I had to come to terms with the fact that you have two choices—you can continue to get older and face decline, or you can die. If you want to continue living, you have to face what that means. You have to be pragmatic. You don’t retire, get old, and die. You get old, you decline, you get older, and you decline. Then you need help, and most people don’t realize that or want to accept it.” It wasn’t easy for Julia to accept, and it’s understandably difficult to publish.

Successful in blogging, but unsuccessful on the relationship front during her yearlong “Highway to a Husband'' adventure, Julia ironically met someone special while sitting completely still at home, in front of her computer, browsing the dating website eHarmony. Robert lived in Santa Monica, and after some back and forth visits, the two decided to find a place they could both agree on and move in together. They began researching communities throughout California, wanting to get away from the traffic and congestion she had known in larger cities, and the two found what they were looking for in Chico. They moved in April 2016, and Julia’s mother moved with them.

Originally, the two expected to find the perfect property with two homes on one lot, but not being able to find it on their initial search, they decided to move her into their home and continue the search. Upon

moving in, they realized she was in need of more help than they originally thought. Though Julia cared for her mother in Florida, she also had a caregiver who helped her three times per week. The additional help had blinded her to just how much assistance her mother truly needed. “You really have to pay attention to your elders.” Julia cautioned, “When you ask them how they’re doing, they’ll always say they’re doing fine. You have to look around their bedrooms, their kitchen, and their bathrooms. If something hasn’t been cleaned for a few days, it may be because they simply can’t clean it. There are numerous red flags that you really have to be aware of.”

Somewhat luckily for Julia, she had purchased a long-term health plan for her mother while working in the newsroom. The cost was $444 per month and provided an $89 per day reimbursement for in-home care or nursing home care, but didn’t cover assisted living. “If something goes haywire when it comes to an elder in need of care, the experience could sink you.” Julia warned, “People really need to read their policies and ask a lot of questions. It was something I unfortunately didn’t do, but luckily the plan provided some benefits. Most care agencies are going to charge anywhere between $20-30 per hour, and in 3 ½ hours, I had used up the entire day’s reimbursement.”

Though Julia had help in Florida, she hadn’t hired any in Chico. She spent the first few months getting her bearings, and building a career in Chico, joining the Chico Police Department in February 2017. A year later, Action News Now came calling, pulling Julia back into broadcast.

In February of 2018, just as she started her new job with Action News Now, her mother had a heart attack which landed Miss Nellie in Enloe Hospital. “A friend reached out and told me to make sure they keep her in the hospital under watch for 72 hours, as it was the only way to trigger her full benefits within Medicare coverage.” Julia remembered, “I had no idea how any of it worked, and I’m so lucky he told me. The hospital gave us a list of Medicare approved locations, and luckily we only had five to look at since we’re such a small community. I took the list and went to each location, and distinctly remember that I wouldn’t leave my mother in any of them, regardless of the length of her stay. They weren’t clean or neat, and the people there weren’t being tended to. With 24 hours left before the hospital released her, I found a rehab facility in California Park, off Bruce Road, and it was the first I found to be clean and neat. It was literally the only one I felt comfortable having my mom transferred to. I kept wondering how people who had to do this remotely could even begin to understand what they were getting themselves into?”

Julia’s mother completed her rehabilitation at the California Park facility before returning home. As time went on, her health gradually declined, and Julia decided to hire in-home care. She interviewed a number of companies and found Happy at Home to be the best. “One woman pulled out a clipboard and wanted me to fill out a credit card application before we even talked. She didn’t even ask my mother’s name, nor did she seem to care. I was shocked, and I came to find that it’s what most people encounter. I immediately told her to leave. It’s such a heart-wrenching experience to even have to consider someone else caring for your loved one. You know it’s the best decision, but it isn’t easy. I’m well-educated, and I have resources along with the emotional fortitude to hold my ground. I know that a lot of other people don’t. They’re scared for their loved ones, and they don’t know where to turn. It simply shouldn’t be that way.”

Julia’s mother continued on with a blend of in-home care through Julia and Robert alongside the caregivers from Happy at Home until January of 2020, when they realized she would need around-the-clock care at an assisted living facility. Nellie passed away September 2nd of last year and is buried in San Francisco’s Presidio National Cemetery next to her husband. The experience lit a fire in Julia, and in her mother’s memory, she decided to advocate for those in the same situation.

“I call myself the accidental advocate. I didn’t know any of this was even a concern before I was thrust into it with my mother’s failing health. Now, I’ve dedicated myself to becoming a resource for others, but I still warn people there are no easy answers. As prepared as I thought I was, there were still so many surprises. You don’t know what you don’t know.” Julia advised, “If you have an elder you love, assume they’ll live until they need help doing everything. Start there and work your way backwards. RESEARCH. When the Medicare book arrives before they turn 65, pick up the book and read through it. There’s so much to know.”

Recently, Julia was chosen as a journalist representative with the Gerontological Society of America due to her work in the field, and is hard at work on a website and blog to assist in her advocacy. “My goal in moving down this caregiving advocacy role is to open people’s eyes. I want people to be aware that this isn’t just for our parents and grandparents, but for everyone.” Julia said, “If someone wants help, I want to be able to help them, rather than have them dig through levels of some government website to try and find something like I had to. I want it to be practical and easy. I didn’t know what I would find when I started, and now that I do, I’m taking action to make sure others have an easier time than I did.”

Asked for a final piece of advice, Julia replied, “If you feel like you have a loved one, and you’re heading down this road, reach out to folks who have been through it already. A friend of mine who had helped prep me a few years ago told me to go visit care facilities early on. Introduce yourself and establish a relationship with the administration and the owners, so they know you right now. That way, if you need to find a place, you know where you’d never place your parents, and which places you would. If they already know you, there’s a slim chance they would hold the bed for you. Build relationships. It’s a hard thing to think about, but you have to physically go see places. Show up without an appointment, and you’ll see places how they really are.”

Julia has been working with the good people at Passages Caregiver Resource Center to help advocate for accidental caregivers like herself over the past year, and her fire has only grown brighter. If you’re in need of direction providing care for a loved one, visit her website at www.keepingitrealcaregiving.com and reach out to Passages Caregiver Resource Center at (530) 898-5925 or visit them online at www.passagescenter.org.

The becky and maggie show

There’s been no shortage of change over the past 12 months, and though we’re all slowly adjusting to those changes and pivoting to meet the new demands they pose, time continues on as if nothing has changed at all. The same needs that have existed within our community for decades continue to exist, and luckily, individuals like Maggie McNamara of Passages Caregiver Resource Center and Becky Robinson of the Alzheimer’s Association are continuing to do everything in their power to ensure our community members are well cared for. As a team, they have spent years working together to provide better access to caregiving tools throughout both rural communities and cities in the Northstate. With the COVID-19 pandemic, they too are pivoting to provide those same services virtually with their upcoming free webinar event titled “Conversations About Dementia & Driver Safety for the Aging Driver.” It is, in our opinion, one of the most important seminars of the year and applies, essentially, to everyone.

Originally from Hollywood, California, Maggie spent a good deal of time bouncing back and forth between northern and southern California, experimenting with various unrelated jobs. “I was a logger.” Maggie started, “My family owned a sawmill in Northern California, so I moved out here to try my hand at logging and operating heavy equipment. It was a huge change from Southern California, both in the type of work and the geography.” The experience exposed her to the rural populations around Redding and their way of life.

Eventually, Maggie left the Northstate for Texas, where she worked for Standard Oil. She later moved into the savings and loan industry before finally deciding to go back to school in the late 1980s, turning her focus to healthcare. She graduated from CSU Chico in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and immediately went to work in the healthcare industry.

Sharing a similar migration pattern, Becky grew up in Ventura, California, but found her way to Chico for college. Having heard nothing but positive things about CSU, Chico from friends and family, and looking to get away from home in search of new experiences, the trek was exactly what she needed. She began studying recreational therapy and, through her coursework, signed up for practical experience at various skilled nursing facilities. “I found that I really loved working with older adults.” Becky remembered, “I started actively tailoring my major to focus on working with them in the future by studying gerontology and anything else that would provide me with the knowledge and skills I would need. It was really what I wanted to do, and it made perfect use of the time I had spent in therapeutic recreation.”

After graduating, Becky began working at an assisted living facility in San Jose. The City of Ventura soon recognized her passion for helping the elderly and tapped her to open and run an adult day program for residents who were suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia. The concept was brand new at the time and had no medical component to speak of, rather, it stemmed from studies showing that socialization in a group setting for people suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia was incredibly beneficial to their health and well-being. Consequently, it was also of incredible benefit to their caretakers, providing respite from an allconsuming job. Throughout the five-hour program, individuals would take part in a series of activities with facilitators aimed at stimulating their cognitive functions while providing a level of happiness and fulfillment. As Becky found, it proved time and time again to be incredibly effective.

During an alumni event at Chico State, she happened to pick up the newspaper to find the Alzheimer’s Association chapter in Paradise was looking to open an adult day program of their own. Having run the