Community Highlights: Meet Cynthia Villa & Whitney Zuniga of Cast Your Cares

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cynthia Villa & Whitney Zuniga.

Hi Cynthia and Whitney, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
In 2018 we met each other while working at a retirement home in Northern California, serving older people. We realized we enjoyed servanthood and the joy it brought others. Two years later, in 2020, during the middle of the pandemic, we moved to Tennessee with our families, not knowing what was ahead for our future. It was a breath of fresh air being on the other side of the country. During this time, we returned to the biblical story of Abraham, encouraged by the power of God to provide in a land unfamiliar to us. We began working for a small private cleaning company. We saw firsthand how cleaning someone’s home can impact them. We started considering how God could use our desire to make a difference in the world. Sometimes, family and friends encouraged us to branch off and start our own company. They saw the hard work, time, and dedication we placed in helping others and how we provided for our families. For a brief moment, we contemplated the idea of owning a business but continued working with the previous cleaning company. Months later, we revisited the conversation about starting a cleaning business and how we can impact one person, a family, a neighborhood, a community at a time, it’s possible. We now had our vision. We knew we wanted to represent God well and ourselves through our services. Before you knew it, we began brainstorming names for the company. Together we began praying, which was made clear through scripture in the Bible. 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your cares on him, because he cares for you.” Cast Your Cares started from that moment. We wanted a unique name but, most importantly, a purpose behind it. We enjoy taking our experience and skills to use them to lighten the burdens of others in need of house cleaning.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When you start a business, no one hands you a cheat sheet that says, “follow this, and everything will go as planned!” Yes, some information gives you tips, but not one size fits every business. You can follow a business model, but at the end of the day, you still learn by trial and error because you begin to realize what you like and don’t like and fit it into your ideas and style. Leaving a job before having a business plan is not an advised route. However, this is the route we took. Being a Christian-owned company, we honor God by trusting the plans he has for our lives. This doesn’t come without obstacles or challenges.

One of those challenges is finances. We needed money to buy our business cards and materials, but most importantly, to register our business legally in Tennessee. Our biggest learning lesson thus far has been through trial and error. Learn how to price our services while valuing our work and time, hearing and understanding clients’ concerns in their previous experiences with other companies, and providing them better service their needs with excellence. The challenge we’re still learning and working through is managing a work/home life balance. We must always be ready to adapt to the new changes that come with being a business owner. Since the two of us are co-owners, we always remind each other to give ourselves Grace. Grace through the challenges and different seasons of life. Support from family and friends has been our biggest gift of blessing. They have continued to pray over us and our business. They believe in us and the impact we have on our community. They have encouraged and given us great feedback that we have been able to implement in some areas of our business. There’s no one size fits all business model or plan for every company. However, there is one handbook we hold onto to be true to teach, encourage and guide us, and that’s God’s word, the Bible. This is the secret to our cheat sheet here at Cast Your Cares!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Cast Your Cares is a Christian-owned business that cleans, organizes homes & specializes in deep clean services. We are known for being people-oriented, organized & attentive to detail when it comes to serving our clients. How we turn chaotic spaces into transformed living areas sets us apart from others. We are proud that we can change people’s lives not only through cleaning but more so through our time. The time it takes to listen to clients and their needs. We want our brand to be known for its reliability, integrity, and honesty through open communication.

What does success mean to you?
Have you ever considered that one of the people you encounter in your day is possibly struggling? And the 30-second impact of a smile or a greeting may change the course of their day and even their life. If so, would you consider that an accomplishment? According to Merriam-Webster, success is a story of a person who rises to fortune or brilliant achievement. In that case, you have accomplished success. Cast Your Cares aims for success in a way that may differ from others. We believe we are not successful based on the profit coming in but as services going out. When we get hired for the needed job, we see every day as an opportunity to impact and transform lives through our services and presence.

Transforming lives through organizing and cleaning goes far beyond a job. We can relieve them of added stress and chaos through time we add back to their family. We are more than just cleaners. We have become a listening ear and a safe place. We encounter the elderly, single parents, entrepreneurs, widows, big family unit homes, etc., daily, and each has a story to tell. Some may be struggling, and you may never know it, but with a simple how is your day going? It can break down walls in a matter of seconds. We will take the extra 5 minutes to ensure someone is being seen and fully known. We have accomplished what we have started when we can leave our legacy. We are not successful based on the fortunes we have accumulated. Here at Cast Your Cares, we have become successful by leaving an imprint on the people and families we’ve encountered and continue to build our legacy.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: castyourcares22

Image Credits
Samantha Bean