We’re cutting costs here at Dallas Maids, which is something we’re all too familiar with. We’re actively negotiating with our vendors for better pricing and if we can’t make it work with some of them, we’re reevaluating our entire vendor list. We’re looking for better deals on everything we use to keep this house cleaning service running smoothly – from cleaning supplies and equipment to all the little things that go into day-to-day operations – while ensuring we do not sacrifice the quality of our cleaning services.
Nely, our Operations Manager, came up with a fantastic idea: why not become a reseller for some of the cleaning products we buy regularly? By doing so, we could access warehouse pricing, which would be a huge win for our maid service.
We’re making these changes because I foresee some economic turbulence ahead. It’s not something I say lightly, but it’s something I feel is coming based upon a small library of books I’ve read over the past decade. And heading up this cost-cutting effort is Alex, a guy who is an absolute gem for us at Dallas Maids.
Let me tell you about Alex
Alex is an exceptional young man who we’ve had the privilege of working with for the past 4 years here at Dallas Maids. As someone who was President of an academic honor society at Baylor University, I’ve been surrounded by smart people, so I know what intelligence looks like. And let me tell you, Alex is smart. He’s sharp, hardworking, and extremely capable.
Last year, Alex made the decision to leave his home country of Venezuela and move to Spain (he works remotely), seeking the opportunities and freedoms that just aren’t available in his home country anymore. And while it might be a little bittersweet for me to admit and against the interest of Dallas Maids, I look forward to the day he leaves Dallas Maids to land his dream job in Spain. He’s a guy who deserves to reach his full potential, and I know he will, no matter where life takes him.
And on a personal level, I’m thrilled that Alex was able to leave Venezuela, given the political and economic chaos that has unfolded there over the past several years.
Venezuela’s Collapse: A Brief Overview
As many of you may know, the situation in Venezuela has been nothing short of a disaster. Things took a drastic turn in 1999 when Hugo Chávez became president and rewrote the constitution, consolidating more and more power in his hands. Over time he dismantled democratic institutions, manipulated the judiciary, and silenced any opposition, essentially weakening the country’s democratic structure. After Chávez’s death in 2013, Nicolás Maduro took over and intensified the authoritarian rule.
In 2017, when the National Assembly (led by the opposition) was dissolved by the Supreme Court, something that looked an awful lot like a coup. Any hope for a return to democracy was effectively wiped out. Elections since then have been nothing but a sham, and Venezuela is now firmly an authoritarian state.
Why Dictators Make Life Difficult
In the book The Dictator’s Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith, there’s a powerful passage that highlights one of the darkest strategies dictators use to maintain control:
“Keeping people poor makes them easier to control.”
Dictators deliberately keep their citizens struggling – both financially and emotionally – because it makes organizing any kind of resistance that much harder. When people are focused on survival such as how to feed their families, where to find shelter, or how to make ends meet, they have little time, energy, or resources to organize against the regime. Dictators also make sure access to education, independent wealth, and free communication is severely restricted so that any potential challengers have a much harder time mobilizing.
And reading about that strategy and hearing from Valentina (she’s also from Venezuela and heads Oakville Maids Cleaning Services) how security forces engaged in widespread abductions and torture of citizens to suppress opposition and maintain control following Venezuela’s disputed July 2024 presidential election, I feel thankful Alex was able to escape. The reality is that dictatorships thrive on keeping people in this state of turmoil to prevent any real change or resistance.
Are We Seeing the Signs Here?
This brings me to another book, How Democracies Die, by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. This book looks at how democracies don’t usually fall because of military coups; they fall because of elected leaders who slowly, but surely, erode democratic institutions from within.
In the book, they highlight several warning signs of authoritarianism, such as:
- Rejecting democratic norms
- Attacking the media
- Undermining political opponents
- Consolidating power
Levitsky and Ziblatt wrote this book in 2018, seeing signs of democratic erosion in the United States. As we sit here in 2025, it’s clear that their warnings were not just hypothetical. We’re seeing those signs play out in real time and it’s deeply unsettling to watch.
Economic Cycles and Populism
A couple of Christmases ago my mom gave me Ray Dalio’s book Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order. (I had requested it) She smirked at the gift because she did not understand why I enjoy books like this, with all it’s charts and technical analysis. But I can’t help it, I enjoy reading things that provide me with a clearer view of reality. Seeking the truth is a personal principle of mine and Dalio’s insights have been eye-opening.
Dalio outlines how economic cycles lead to the rise of populist leaders, the kind who undermine democracy as they promise to restore lost prosperity. These cycles go something like this:
- A nation goes through a prosperous period.
- Over time, there’s a buildup of debt and inequality.
- Economic hardship hits, and inequality reaches a tipping point.
- Populist leaders emerge, promising to restore the nation’s former glory by blaming elites, institutions, or foreign forces.
- These leaders consolidate power, weaken democratic institutions, and often blame opposition groups for the country’s troubles.
Dalio’s argument is that this cycle can ultimately lead to the erosion of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism, which accelerates the nation’s decline in the global order. He argues the United States are experiencing the final stages now.
Preparing for What’s Ahead
Given all the signs pointing to economic uncertainty, trade wars, and rising inequality, I’m bracing for a rough few years ahead. I know many businesses will struggle but fortunately with the help of Alex with the assistance of Nely helping cutting costs, Dallas Maids will be prepared. Also luckily the house cleaning industry has historically been more resilient during downturns. In fact, during the 2007 housing crisis, Dallas Maids actually kept growing. And while the COVID era was a huge scare for us, as an essential business, we managed to come through.
Now, just like back then, we’re taking proactive steps to reduce costs and prepare for whatever’s coming, whether it’s a recession or something worse. We’re cutting the fat without sacrificing quality and preparing to weather the storm just as we did during the pandemic. Our priority at Dallas Maids is to survive and then thrive in this Brave New World.
Alex had mentioned this excerpt from George Orwell, 1984, describes something that happened in Venezuela piece by piece, but they “used to fight not for saucepans but for corn flour and eggs among other food items (there was a lot of scarcity around 2012-2018 maybe). That was years ago and doesn’t happen anymore fortunately.”
The 1984 excerpt:
“He remembered how once he had been walking down a crowded street when a tremendous shout of hundreds of voices–women’s voices–had burst from a side-street a little way ahead. It was a great formidable cry of anger and despair, a deep loud ‘Oh-o-o-o-oh!’ that went humming on like the reverberation of a bell. His heart had leapt. It’s started! he had thought. A riot! The proles are breaking loose at last! When he had reached the spot it was to see a mob of two or three hundred women crowding round the stalls of a street market, with faces as tragic as though they had been the doomed passengers on a sinking ship. But at this moment the general despair broke down into a multitude of individual quarrels. It appeared that one of the stalls had been selling tin saucepans. They were wretched, flimsy things, but cooking-pots of any kind were always difficult to get. Now the supply had unexpectedly given out. The successful women, bumped and jostled by the rest, were trying to make off with their saucepans while dozens of others clamoured round the stall, accusing the stall-keeper of favouritism and of having more saucepans somewhere in reserve. There was a fresh outburst of yells. Two bloated women, one of them with her hair coming down, had got hold of the same saucepan and were trying to tear it out of one another’s hands. For a moment they were both tugging, and then the handle came off. Winston watched them disgustedly. And yet, just for a moment, what almost frightening power had sounded in that cry from only a few hundred throats! Why was it that they could never shout like that about anything that mattered?”