[Londoner]

My pan for 2012 is survive to 2013. Simple really.

[Ian101]

Spend less time on here 

Get more commercial work so can do a few early starts
Do a 40000 leaflet drop
Get van lad at least part time to start with
Replace van
Get missus out of her job
May buy £3500 a month work near to home address then no leaflet drop

[Small but perfectley formed]

Dump 

[colin purewater]

Aim for residential  300 custies by this time next year

 and more schools/ nurserys
Can't be arsed with commercial ( offices, pubs etc  )  as it seems most is priced to the bone
So dump the ones I've got.
Wife is coming out with me 3 mornings a week to door knock and help me

Can't wait for 2012 

[Smudger]

Tweaking rounds & workload to allow for a  30% increase in biz (minimum - hopefully) that will take
the 2 man van to a full 5 days a week every week

we are in year 3 and over doubled from the end of yr1 to the end of yr2 -  now knocking on vat threshold - so
we are having to make careful choices on what work we want going forward and the implications of vat + staff

Darran

[Ian101]

Hi Darren what did u do to double work between year 1 and 2 ??

[Smudger]

Majority came from canvassing (door knocking) - particularly in Jan thro to April  then a scattering from advertising in parish mags
- the web site - rec a friend scheme - and over the last 3 months just being seen out and about !

Darran

[Deangsi]

Looking to set up a bin cleaning business along side the windows, setting up a canvaser who will come out to work with me he will also do some cleaning aswell. my brother is putting quote sheets out every week by the hundred hoping to get an average of £200 to £300 worth of new custome every month.

[Jackal]

get rid of bucket on a belt go back to wet rag dry scrim keep it simple 

[dazmond]

keep going the way im going!!ticking over with a slight increase in prices in april for older work.

have around 2 months off for holidays and general relaxing away from window cleaning.



dazmond

[Danny Guest]

keep going the way im going!!ticking over with a slight increase in prices in april for older work.

have around 2 months off for holidays and general relaxing away from window cleaning.



dazmond

How can you make your fortune by taking time off

[dazmond]

your a long time dead danny boy!!itll come to us a lot sooner if we work too hard!besides i personally dont want to work full time all of the time!!!

[Johnny B]

My aim is to become fully established in my locality by the end of 2012. This will mean building on the good reliable custom I have picked up by getting more of the same, ditching the messers, and working smarter, so that I afford to take time off when it suits me.

John

[Richard iSparkle]

I've not been taking any wage to be honest mate for a while after break ins etc tried to battle on n keep all the lads but just wasn't workin financially so one is goin when we get back in jan

i know what your saying richy, i had to strip things down myself last year and get rid of my WCs.  unless you're really careful, with the cost of staff, you can be dong a load of work, taking a load of hassle, and not making much money at all.  its easy to expand fast, and put yourself in a mess isnt it.  best thing i did was get rid of mine, and they were both OK lads.  from now on i;m gonna keep a really close eye on my wages and my cashflow, and expand slowly but carefully.

[DaveG]

To earn even more money for working even less hours

[dazmond]

price rises for all compact estate work

leaflet and canvass some areas where ive picked up the odd job lately.

keep overheads to a minimum

offer 8 weekly at higher prices for new work

dump the odd messer as usual!

[Ian Rochester]

Ritchy,

It sounds like you have some tough decisions to make in the early part of this year, don't leave it too long before biting the bullet!

As I'm sure most on here are aware we do most aspects of cleaning and now employ 21 staff to do it, however..........some of it is very profitable, some not so profitable, some is actually getting to the point where it's more hassle than it's worth!

2012 will be a year for us to promote and push for the type of work that is making us money and to phase out the work that's not.  

I've just had a look at the window cleaning turnover for 2010 and 2011 and we are showing a 35.2% growth in 2011 compared to 2010 which is quite pleasing, especially considering we haven't increased staff numbers on the windows in the past 12 months.

Our domestic and office cleaning work on the other hand is pretty much where it was this time last year, however we've had to sort out a few changes of staff, which takes time and effort to organise.  So that may be getting reviewed over the next quarter!

Turnover overall is up by 17.7% on 2010..... not worked out the profit bit yet!

[dazmond]

the bottom line is how much profit you ve made after all expenses and taxes have been deducted.is it worth the stress,hassle and general headaches?if it is then carry on!if not then cut your cloth accordingly.remember its your business and you have no room for people pleasing while your business is running at a loss or very little profit.

[Frankybadboy]

TO JUST BE HAPPY
















sound like some of you lot are trying to run before you can even walk.

[Sean Dyer]

I am gonna canvass hard on the domestic side to replace some of the work that isn't quite as easy / profitable as the rest , and increase turnover by around 40% , I have a casual worker who will be employed full time working with me by the end of the year

Going to get turnover to just under vat and smash the weeks work early in the week each week , and then we will have a day each week to canvass ! Like dazmond i don't want to kill myself working but on the other hand being young i want to get some money behind me so need a decent wage , which i will get with 2 of us grafting 3/4 days a week plus some commercial contracts ...


Ive ticked along for too long not really pushing it, so its time to do that , thankfully we have a decent base of work to build on.

Also looking to gain a few extra commercials , and keep expanding our rounds in the more profitable demographics...
Bring on 2012 !