Determined to build something stable for her family, Ali Alcaraz launched Pristine by Ali Cleaning Services, offering residential and commercial cleaning in the fast-growing Bentonville, Arkansas area.

As her business steadily grew, so did the complexity of managing it. In 2023, Pristine by Ali was recognized as Woman-Owned Business of the Year by the Arkansas Latino Business Awards. But like many first-time entrepreneurs, Ali needed help understanding the business side of her work — especially the financials.

Ali first connected with Communities Unlimited (CU) through the Arkansas APEX Accelerator, part of a nationwide network that helps small businesses compete in the government marketplace. APEX helped her register on SAM.gov to pursue federal contracts and then referred her to CU’s Entrepreneurship Team for deeper support. That’s when she began working with CU Management Consultant Sierra Polk.

“I had no idea how to run a business,” Ali admitted. “Sierra has been helping me with the most important things I needed to know.”

Ali’s primary challenge was a lack of visibility into her finances. She was manually managing her books on paper, without a clear understanding of her operating costs or the full expense breakdown of the services she provided. After evaluating her business structure, CU identified that Ali wasn’t capturing all the associated costs — like supply markups and operational overhead — when setting her prices.

Working together, they tackled the root of the issue: Sierra guided Ali through a granular cost analysis that helped her establish a profitable pricing strategy. With CU’s assistance, she adjusted her service packages, aligning prices with the actual cost and quality of her offerings. The new structure helped Ali better target both residential and commercial customers with consistent, professional-grade cleaning services.

CU also transitioned her away from handwritten ledgers and introduced a digital bookkeeping system using CU’s Google Sheets manual bookkeeping template.

“Sierra gave me homework, things I had to do to run the business,” Ali said. “She’s helped me run my business the best that I can.”

And because English is Ali’s second language, Sierra adapted her consulting style — taking time to send bilingual emails, break down financial concepts, and make sure nothing was lost in translation.

“She’s so sweet. She’s so patient,” Ali said. “She sends me emails in both English and Spanish — that speaks a lot about how much she wants to help me. She teaches me slowly because she wants to make sure I understand.”

Ali’s dedication is already paying off. Her team has grown to six people, including her husband, two full-time staff members, and two part-timers. She has also secured multiple long-term cleaning contracts, increasing her capacity and driving revenue growth to support her growing staff.

Looking ahead, she hopes to grow even more — shifting fully into business management and off the cleaning floor. One of her 2025 goals is to increase her company’s annual revenue by nearly 80% over 2024 figures. She also hopes to build out a second team to meet rising demand.

Ali continues to work with CU, now focusing on reviewing her adoption of new financial systems and building toward long-term sustainability. With each lesson learned and every goal achieved, she’s creating the stability she once feared losing — this time, on her own terms.