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