Print edition: 
After 18 years as a television news reporter and anchor, Anthony Powell has made a clean change in his life.
Powell and his wife, Jennifer Voth, bought Cleaning Authority of Central Kansas, a franchise residential cleaning business, from Robinn Scholfield.
"This is just an opportunity I couldn't pass up," Powell said.
Both had been wanting to own their own business and work for themselves.
Powell left KSN, where he was a reporter and 5 p.m. news anchor, on March 5 when his contract was up. Voth had already left her job as a nurse at the Wichita Clinic to operate the business, which they closed on in December.
The company has an established base of about 490 customers and an excellent staff, he said. It employs 30 people who work on two-person crews, along with three office personnel.
"They're invaluable," Powell said. "I wouldn't have bought the business had it not been for them."
Powell does the marketing, and he and Voth make sales calls.
"Even though there's been an economic downturn... we're finding out a lot of people are still very busy and don't want to deal with cleaning their home," Powell said.
His biggest challenge is to come up with ways to expand the business.
And he wants to keep current customers happy.
"I think customer service has become a lost art with all this technology," Powell said.
Another goal is to be a good employer and show workers they're appreciated.
The cleaners, who go through an intensive process to become certified, work hard, Powell said. He wants to bring in chair masseuses for them every couple of months as a way to show they're appreciated.
Powell's work at KSN has made him a familiar face in Wichita.
"I've gone into people's houses and they say, 'Where do I know you from?' " Powell said.
Owning the business is Powell's third major career change.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Powell said he tried acting as a career and landed small parts on "General Hospital" and "Matlock."
With a degree in broadcasting from California State University Northridge, Powell really wanted to get in the news business and secured a job with the NBC affiliate in Savannah, Ga.
His career took him to Santa Fe, N.M.; Albuquerque; Oklahoma City; and Kansas City before he joined KSN in 2004.
He said one of the biggest changes he's getting used to is spending a lot of time alone driving to sales appointments.
"I do miss the interaction with people I work with," he said. "In news, there's really good camaraderie."
But it's also given him more flexibility, and he gets home from work earlier than he did.
"It's a welcome change," Powell said. "It's a way to spend more time with family."
