To be frank, untill joining here I really struggled to make a living at all.
But, in 3 years my personal income has risen by about 50%.
A number of factors,
1 Price increases this year and 2 years ago, put them up untill the customers start to swear at you.
2 Running a business acount, I pay myself a weekly wage just enough to cover the bills. This way there is usually a balance of 1-2k in the account, nothing in my personal account though. If I have to take time off I still get paid. Whereas before, i would panic if my personal account was low and we had a wet week.
3 Not worrying about how much I was earning, but concentrating on working whenever I could. I will go out to work at 8:30 and come home at 4:30, there was rarely a day when I couldn't earn at least £50.00. This got me into good habits.
4 WFP I converted march last year. This has got to be the best business decision I have made. If it's absolutly lobbing it down i stay home, but it is possible to work during weather that Trad would stop me. And if you only get a couple of hours a day like last week, I find it easier to blast off £50-£90. On a good, full day I can easily earn 50-70% more. So by Wednesday on a dry week I have earnt what it would have taken me all week previously to do.
5 Dropping my Cleaning partner. While trad I needed someone to work with, for motivation and safety, since i have gone WFP neither are a problem for me. Both of us earn more than we did and we are still availiable to help each other out when we need to.
6 Realising I was doing a professional job. Yes anyone can clean a window, but not everyone can run a business, even a one man show. My attitude to work, how I charge people, how much I take notice of the moaners, reflects that I feel i am doing a professional job.
7 Getting rid of poor work. At one time I was so busy I could not take on new work, the problem was i was busy with poor work. Some prices i doubled, a lot i droped. That left me free to pick up better work. My average account used to be about £6.00. Now my average is £12.00 and I have set a minimum of £10.00 for new work.
Thats it really, hope this helps.