Business Hall of Fame Honoree: Daniel J. Bishop, Founder and Chairman of the Board, The Maids International

“We said ‘yes’ a lot and we learned as we went.”

Daniel Bishop believes successful businesses build trust, drive change and seek excellence. He would know – he’s created three of them. Along the way, he helped transform residential cleaning into a multi-billion-dollar industry and establish Omaha as a hub for franchise concepts.

“Everybody should take a chance,” he says.

An Omaha native, Bishop’s path to entrepreneurship started at the age of 17. To pay for college, then the University of Omaha, he cleaned buildings a night. In 1959, at the age of 20, he started his first company, Bishop Building Services, enlisting family and college friends to work with him. Payroll eventually grew to include more than 300 full- and part-time employees.

“I worked out of my home until we had about 100 employees – and then I got an office,” Bishop says.

Many of the calls pouring into that office clued Bishop to the need for another venture – a residential cleaning company. Bishop spent a year-and-a-half researching and testing how to really detail-clean a house. The key, he says, was implementing a team approach – four people working a house; each person focusing on a different, specialized function.

“Our time improved on cleaning; it was a fair price,” he says. “So that started The Maids. I had two other friends who were in the commercial cleaning business, and they started the same program up in their own cities.”

Bishop served as president and CEO of The Maids International until 2010 – a 31-year span – and now serves as chairman of the board.

• The Maids is currently ranked 46th out of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 500 franchises.
• It remains one of the largest residential cleaning franchisors in North America, with 180 franchise locations in over 40 states and three Canadian provinces.

“We had such a huge market, huge demand. We would go to trade shows and walk away with five, six, seven franchises people wanted to start. We had our training done in Omaha. It’s always been here,” he says. “We put hundreds of people into business over 40 years. We look back and right now, one-third of our owners are second generation; it’s their kids who are running it. They all went to college on that franchise, and now they’re the owners. And these kids want to out-do their parents. We love it. It’s wonderful to work with them.”

Between launching Bishop Building Services and The Maids, Bishop founded American Security Services, which he built into one of the largest security firms in the Midwest. He operated that company for 37 years, Bishop Building Services for 46.

Early in his career, Bishop helped found – and held leadership roles with – the Building Service Contractors Association International.

“It grew to a huge organization today, and I was involved with that for 50 years. It was a great thing to happen,” he says.

Bishop has six children and 13 grandchildren. Son Colin now serves as president and CEO of The Maids. Daughter Erin Bishop-Murray serves as vice president of learning development. Son Ryan owns and operates the original The Maids franchise.

“I’m retired from there, but when I drop in, I say, ‘I’ve got an idea.’ And they say, ‘Not another one – we can’t handle it,’” he laughs.

A man who cherishes family, Bishop says his late brother Dick was a special influence: “He always had great advice and he was always very positive. I think I learned a lot from him on ‘go for it.’”

Sister Mary Claudia Robinson, one of Bishop’s middle school teachers, was another key influence.

“She inspired me in a lot of ways and straightened me up in a lot of ways as well,” he says. “A lot of people touch you and a lot of people leave fingerprints, and I’ve learned to love those fingerprints.”