Though he built and successfully exited eight restaurants in the Pacific Northwest, Edgar Carreon decided it was time to do something more fulfilling.
Then one day Edgar saw a man hauling a pile of laundry. He thought about his own experiences growing up as an immigrant in the U.S. and his mom having to work long hours out of the home to make ends meet, and he had his eureka moment. Would it be possible to start a concierge laundry service that helped busy folks reclaim time while also creating jobs?
And with that, Dree — a personal laundry service accessible over an online marketplace — was born. According to Edgar, Dree helps cheer up communities by taking chores off the plates of busy moms while also creating opportunities with on-demand work.
“Women are overwhelmed with laundry,” Edgar says. “Eight out of 10 times that laundry is done in the home, it’s done by women. But it’s also women who have been left out of the workforce. And so we built this model that allows women to bring laundry relief to other women in their communities.”
While most people view laundry as a chore, Dree is challenging that perception.
“We take this thing that is typically looked at as burdensome and annoying and frustrating, and all of a sudden it brings joy to the person outsourcing it and to the person taking on the job,” says Edgar.
Bringing consistency for workers and customers
Dree was originally going to launch in April 2020, but the pandemic had other plans. The delay enabled the Dree team to learn more about the market and how they could approach it most effectively.
“We realized that one of the biggest needs during the pandemic was consistency,” Edgar continues. “Nobody had consistency. Nobody had security. Everything was changing every day.”
After originally envisioning an Uber-like platform where people could accept or reject orders as they wanted, Edgar decided to turn Dree into a subscription platform to bring consistency to both sides of the marketplace. Customers could rest comfortably knowing someone was going to take care of their laundry on a regular basis, and workers — called Dreepros — would benefit from consistent work.
“Now, 90% of our base is on a recurring schedule, meaning they set it and forget it,” says Edgar. “They’re not having to go back in and reschedule pickups. It’s become a lot like trash day for them”
Scaling up a team of W2 workers and 1099 contractors
Since launching in Utah, Dree has expanded its operations in Maryland, Texas, California and Washington. The company — which started out as a three-person team — has grown to seven full-time employees and over 100 gig workers.
As Edgar was building the business, he realized how important it was to ensure workers were paid promptly. Luck would have it that right around the time Dree needed to pay its first gig workers, Edgar heard of Everee.
For Dree, Everee has been a game-changer. Now, with a payment solution he can trust, the Dree team can focus more on other important areas of operations. Here are some of the main benefits Dree has experienced thanks to its decision to use Everee to pay gig workers.
A future-proof payment solution
Currently, Dree uses Everee to pay out gig workers weekly. But the team is excited at the prospect of eventually moving to daily payments as they mature.
“We do weekly payouts, but we really fell in love with the fact that it can handle daily payouts whenever we’re ready to do it,” Edgar says. “We’re rolling out instant pay by the end of the year where our 1099 workers can use their funds that day.”
Looking ahead, Dree expects to be in 10 to 15 states within the year. After that, Edgar has his sights set on international expansion. With Everee, that growth is easy to imagine since the Dree team has a payment solution that can keep pace with their business.
Exceptional customer support
When it comes to using any piece of technology, there’s always a bit of a learning curve. Whenever Edgar has had any questions or comments about the platform, the Everee team has been quick to respond — something he finds unique as a smaller customer
“I feel really good because they listen to me,” says Edgar. “I always get a response, and I’ve never felt like someone’s making me wait.”
Once, Edgar fired over an email to Everee and got a call back from the person who initially demoed the product for him.
“He wasn’t even in the department I reached out to,” says Edgar. “At the same time that he was doing that, somebody else was reaching out and telling me that they were going to take care of the issue. It didn’t matter who was responsible. Everybody wanted to help.”
Reclaimed time and peace of mind
Everee helps Dree with administrative tasks — like filing 1099s. This enables the busy founder to spend more time focusing on growing his business than dealing with the minutiae.
“I have zero concerns about our filings, zero,” says Edgar. “And that is huge — especially as a startup. Minimizing distractions and feeling confident that you’re counting on the right people — as a founder, peace of mind is worth a lot. And Everee delivers on that front.”
For more information on how your organization can use Everee to accelerate payments to gig workers and tackle administrative tasks, request a demo today.
