[keen n clean]

Having lost my job in august 2009,,, i decided after 20 years of factory life and redundancys to do something for myself...........and so my love affair started with window cleaning....i went to the bank,got a loan, brought a transit...got kitted out with a 650ltr pure freedom 40ro system ,went on the 2 day training courses down in swindon in december ,one for trad the other for wfp,got 5000 flyers and bis cards printed up.......and then in january went out and started canvassing.........and then the snow came!!!!!! and i thought sod this i aint going to be beaten and so walked the streets slowly but surley picking up customers and then cleaning the windows....very very slowly!!!!!................it is now nearly the end of january and i have gained 32 customers and i am out all this weekend and aim to have 50 customers by the end of it......................now im under no illusions that i have a very long way to go and a lot to learn.........but i can honestly say to anyone thinking of starting up.........go for it,work hard,expect plenty of knockbacks and people looking down at you.......and then when that one potential customer says..............ok i'll give you a go,sign them up...walk down the path and smile to yourself and be a proud proud man!!!!! and think next house could be another.

Good luck and all the best to all new and experienced window cleaners

[John Walker]

Good Luck Mate - you'll do ok 

[stephen s]

the difference between w/c  and my last job which I did for 19 years is that in my last job it got to the stage where I was so happy to be going home after work,               where as now I still so happy to be going home from work,  but I'm also so happy going to work

 and theres no better reason in this world to choose a career


good luck mate

[Lee Pryor]

good system, good attitude, good self motivation. your going to have no trouble, i predict a full round by august.

[Blue Frog Systems]

Good on you matey ! I was in a the same boat as you last April.

The fact you are picking up customers this time of the year shows your determination and these people will be all year round customers too.

Keep at it. It will pay off and come April people will be noticing there windows need cleaning.

[matt]

50 by the end of this weekend is great

at a average of say 10 quid ( if thats what it is ), you have 500 quid a month

same again and you will have 1 K of work a month, cannot be bad

[mick786]

I,ve just started out wc only got few custys at moment going trad, joiner by trade but no work, on reading messeges on hear has made my mind up that this is what i want to do now, good post 

[matt]

I,ve just started out wc only got few custys at moment going trad, joiner by trade but no work, on reading messeges on hear has made my mind up that this is what i want to do now, good post 

i used to be a chippie, also did a fair amount of joinery and then going to fit them

i started window cleaning when my oldest daughter was born so i could work my hours and not have any1 phoning me up and asking where i was, that was 7 years ago now

i cheated and purchased 3 rounds ( 1 was retiring the biggest of my work, 1 was cutting back and the other was moving back to oz ) , so i got stright into a full round inside a few weeks

the only thing i miss is the job satisfaction, a clean window is a clean window is a clean window, a nice hardwood staircase fitted with barley twist spindles gives you a warm feeling inside when its done

[Mike #1]

well done mate you keep at it

[Ian Lancaster]

I,ve just started out wc only got few custys at moment going trad, joiner by trade but no work, on reading messeges on hear has made my mind up that this is what i want to do now, good post 

i used to be a chippie, also did a fair amount of joinery and then going to fit them

i started window cleaning when my oldest daughter was born so i could work my hours and not have any1 phoning me up and asking where i was, that was 7 years ago now

i cheated and purchased 3 rounds ( 1 was retiring the biggest of my work, 1 was cutting back and the other was moving back to oz ) , so i got stright into a full round inside a few weeks

the only thing i miss is the job satisfaction, a clean window is a clean window is a clean window, a nice hardwood staircase fitted with barley twist spindles gives you a warm feeling inside when its done

I know what you mean, Matt.  I'm not a tradesman, having been a window cleaner most of my adult life, but I used to get a huge amount of job satisfaction from cleaning the trad way.  You pull on to a minging factory/school etc, graft your nuts off all day and then step back - the difference is amazing, and your achy arms and legs say you've done a good honest day's work.  WFP is not quite the same, but I still get a buzz from transforming a grotty neglected house into a gleaming show-home

Getting job satisfaction means you've done the very best you can, and you should be proud.

As to the chippy work - as I said, I'm no tradesman but I lived in a boatyard for several years when I was a young man and in between window cleaning I did a lot of work on other people's boats - I worked with a couple of local shipwrights and also on my own, and learned a lot.

Now I do it as a hobby, and I get immense satisfaction from it.  I fitted out our kitchen from scratch with pinewood units, I've built solid pine fitted wardrobes, a mahogany bathroom cabinet etc and I've just made my first six panel door with raised panels, all from pine planks and almost all just by hand tools, just used my router table to rebate the panels and mark out the edges of the raised panelling.

One day I'll buy the jig and tackle barley twist etc - I've got plenty of time now to experiment

Got a bit off thread there, Keen and Clean - sorry.

You will prosper - with your attitude you can't fail, and you'll already have found out that satisfaction comes from watching your business grow due to your own hard work

[Tosh]

Good luck, Keen, at least you know what a really tough Winter is like! 

[evil genius]

wel done mate.

i have just started out myself.
yep you get lots of knock backs but it feels so so good when that 1 customer says yes to you
i currently only have about 15 customers but its going up every week

ian

[leapstallbuildings]

Having lost my job in august 2009,,, i decided after 20 years of factory life and redundancys to do something for myself...........and so my love affair started with window cleaning....i went to the bank,got a loan, brought a transit...got kitted out with a 650ltr pure freedom 40ro system ,went on the 2 day training courses down in swindon in december ,one for trad the other for wfp,got 5000 flyers and bis cards printed up.......and then in january went out and started canvassing.........and then the snow came!!!!!! and i thought sod this i aint going to be beaten and so walked the streets slowly but surley picking up customers and then cleaning the windows....very very slowly!!!!!................it is now nearly the end of january and i have gained 32 customers and i am out all this weekend and aim to have 50 customers by the end of it......................now im under no illusions that i have a very long way to go and a lot to learn.........but i can honestly say to anyone thinking of starting up.........go for it,work hard,expect plenty of knockbacks and people looking down at you.......and then when that one potential customer says..............ok i'll give you a go,sign them up...walk down the path and smile to yourself and be a proud proud man!!!!! and think next house could be another.

Good luck and all the best to all new and experienced window cleaners

Fair play to you as well.  Anyone starting up in recent conditions truly deserves to have a few things go their way.  I started up at the beginning of a winter myself (ladder/bucket way back in '91).  It was a hard slog getting it started because many people were paying 15%+ for their mortgages so having a window cleaner was low on the priority list.  It all started with the first customer (who turned out to be a messer and was dumped within a year) and gradually went from there.
Best of luck.  This forum is a great resource for info when people aren't spitting their dummies out    .

[AuRavelling79]

That's the spirit Keen n Clean!

[wezzy32]

i got made redundant in october last yr and started up on my own itis hard but u get out what u put in.i bought a round for a good price but the work is underpriced but as from feb iv put up all the prices by a pound and only lost 1 so fare (i did put this up 2 quid)as this was well under priced.i use wfp and trad but i was luky has iv worked part time with my m8 on his round for over 4yrs using wfp and trad so at least i had idea for pricing and how todo the job.
but iv enjoyed every min so far even waking up in a morn and seeing 5inch off snow on the ground stopping my stuff from freezing and earning no money but i will be starting my slush fund in feb for those snowy days.spending more time with the family.

[dai]

Well done mate, I remember starting out on my own only too well.
The thing that used to cheer me up the most was picking up 20 quids worth of work and telling myself nice one mate, you just got yourself a 5 quid a week pay rise.
It's never the same when you get a full round.
Just one tip, aim to spend 4 days a week cleaning, and one day on round development. If you don't do this you may end up like me. Too much work and no time to improve the round.
Be a big worm, chomping the good work in one end, and dropping the dross at the other, periodic price rises will never bring in the same money as better priced new work.

[keen n clean]

Good Luck Mate - you'll do ok 

cheers mate

[keen n clean]

Well done mate, I remember starting out on my own only too well.
The thing that used to cheer me up the most was picking up 20 quids worth of work and telling myself nice one mate, you just got yourself a 5 quid a week pay rise.
It's never the same when you get a full round.
Just one tip, aim to spend 4 days a week cleaning, and one day on round development. If you don't do this you may end up like me. Too much work and no time to improve the round.
Be a big worm, chomping the good work in one end, and dropping the dross at the other, periodic price rises will never bring in the same money as better priced new work.

i take on board what you say about spending one day developing my round ,,,thats a goos piece of advice and one i shall defo be using........end of weekend now and i didnt manage to land 50,,,,i got to 41
and im still well chuffed what is a good number to have in your round lads???

[JRDEasiReach]

well done m8, i wish i was as lucky as yourself, i dont seem to be picking up any new customers recently, all seem to not want to bother now due to the weather or they have one, aiming for another 20 new 4 weeklys by end feb!!

[keen n clean]

just keep plugging away mate.......i have been out canvassing for most of this afternoon and i only managed one front clean 8.00 on a monthly so was just chuffed to get that ....i reckon loads and loads of days will be crap but the good days will far outweigh the bad ones in my opion..............just stick at it thats what i plan to do