[Paul Coleman]

In my first year (1991) I literally started from zero turnover.  I took me a while to pick up a bit of technique and to speed up.  I also made the classic mistake of underpricing as I had no guidance.  I think my turnover (not income) was about £8,000 from the window cleaning.  I was lucky in that I had a self-employed driving job where I went away on odd weeks.  That paid quite well and topped up my income.  My personal outgoings were very low back then so I got away with it.

[paul mather]

My personal opinion is there are only 2 ways to make really good money at wcing.
 One, you are lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time to be asked to clean some windows where you know you can virtually name your price. This occasionally happens with commercial work but not always.
And two, you go down the route of employing people to work for you. This has lots of drawbacks mainly the extra hastle involved but many would argue that it is worth it.

I very quickly decided that I was going to be a wcer to keep my life simple so I don't & will never employ people, but that doesn't stop me from working my rear end off when I have to.
 But it also means if I want to finish early one day to watch the footy or go to my kids school sports day I will and I don't have to answer to anybody.
Most of us will never get rich at what we do but for the freedom it gives you I think there are very few jobs that compare. So lets not get completely rapped up into how much the next person on this forum earns and see the real advantages in our job.

I WORK TO LIVE NOT LIVE TO WORK

[windows_chepstow]

The best thing I find I like about window cleaning isn't the money, it's  Monday mornings.  In my previous occupation as a soldier I hated Monday mornings  with a vengance and the dread of them would and could taint the preceeding weekend.

All I thought of was the jobs I should've, could've but hadn't done; problems; duties I had to do, but didn't want to do and a whole host of other stuff.  Life was complex and stressfull then.  I ran a team of guys (and gals) and did a 'proper job' within the army, but was usually over-tasked and under-manned.

Now, after a weekend's rest; I'm raring to work come Monday morning.  It's my best day of the week since I'm knackered by Friday.

Being a self-employed window cleaner isn't easy; the weather over the past eight months has been uncomfortable; but overall, window cleaning beats the pants out of other alternatives I've suffered.