{"id":71528,"date":"2022-12-11T16:00:27","date_gmt":"2022-12-11T16:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/12\/11\/this-marine-vet-means-business-a-1-million-cleaning-business\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:42:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:42:30","slug":"this-marine-vet-means-business-a-1-million-cleaning-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/education-transition\/2022\/12\/11\/this-marine-vet-means-business-a-1-million-cleaning-business\/","title":{"rendered":"This Marine vet means business \u2014 a $1 million cleaning business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From running track in high school to now being on track to earn $1 million this year, Matisa Ullrich often describes her upbringing in Miami as \u201cunconventional\u201d \u2014 but credits her time in the Marine Corps<\/a> for much of her success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her father died early in life, and she didn\u2019t have much of a relationship with her mother. Raised by grandparents, older siblings and other family members, Ullrich found a measure of stability when a military recruiter noticed her in high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI came to school one day in my tracksuit, having a meet that day, and he stopped me and asked me what I was running,\u201d Ullrich said. \u201cI said I was pretty decent in the middle distance and not a very good sprinter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was really just taking an interest in me and that didn\u2019t happen very often when I was growing up. Nobody really took an interest in the specific things that I was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

College was always a goal for Ullrich, but she didn\u2019t think it was feasible, so that encounter with a military recruiter carried significant weight for her. Despite the protests of family members who preferred she go a different route, she enrolled in basic training and joined the Marine Corps the day after graduating high school in 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\t