[NWH]

A lot of window cleaners could have been either professional footballers or similar for 1 reason or another they didn’t,so many about that have had miss spent youths.

[Richard iSparkle]

after leaving the NHS i started a domestic cleaning agency 12 years ago and it did well, but i didn't like the amount of hassle a domestic cleaning business was

i was looking for a franchise and when i met julie and carl at concept 2O i was blown away by their business and their approach to it.

bought a franchise off them 10 years ago this month and started door knocking

[robbo333]

Graphic designer for 20 years. Got made redundant so freelanced from home for 3 years.

Went mad staring at two 20 inch screens all day, reading hundreds of stupid emails and pandering to pointless urgent deadlines!

Mate of mine was a windie and very busy. He said 'i'll buy you breakfast and all the fresh air you can breathe, if you help me out for the day'.

Best day's wages i've ever had!

[Jay Le Huray]

I left the army in 1975 and got a job as a milkman but it did not pay enough to cover my mortgage so in the afternoons I went out and cleaned my customers windows from my round to make a few extra quid

a year or so later a guy  I meet in a pub asked to work for him (mostly commercial work) plus my own small round, when I discovered just how much can be made from this business  I left him and went full time on my own and employing 2 young lads

About 16 years ago I went WFP and had 3 vans on the road, a few years back I sold half the business and only work part time due to age (67)

I'm going to carry on doing this until I can no longer lift up a pole as I like my work and my customers

[Rob.Hall]

Started window cleaning when I was looking around for an easy quick buck working self employed.

Came across  companies who install wc equipment  boasting 50 60 grand possible yearly earnings..
Hit this site and a lot were saying 70 grand part time before breakfast...

 Well it was a no brainer 😄

[Suffolkcleaners]

I left the army in 1975 and got a job as a milkman but it did not pay enough to cover my mortgage so in the afternoons I went out and cleaned my customers windows from my round to make a few extra quid

a year or so later a guy  I meet in a pub asked to work for him (mostly commercial work) plus my own small round, when I discovered just how much can be made from this business  I left him and went full time on my own and employing 2 young lads

About 16 years ago I went WFP and had 3 vans on the road, a few years back I sold half the business and only work part time due to age (67)

I'm going to carry on doing this until I can no longer lift up a pole as I like my work and my customers

Good for you for still staying so active at 67. In only 41 so wasn’t even born when you left the army. What made you leave the army?

[Frankybadboy]

Was working as a Transport manager and basically my marriage broke up,lost my dad to Cancer,Lost my house and kids and had a full mental break down.

Was walking along the high street when off sick and seen a card in the window of  a small paper shop,saying window cleaning round for sell,phoned the guy up and went and seen him on the sunday evening,on the friday went out with him for the day and learnt trad ,really enjoyed the fresh air and no stress,,work with him for a month,him showing me all the  work,brought the part round and the rest is history,14years later we still best mates and meet regular and go out has familys.

3 years trad then turned Wfp,had two vans two workers,but didnt take to the stress now happly on me own again 

[Suffolkcleaners]

Was working as a Transport manager and basically my marriage broke up,lost my dad to Cancer,Lost my house and kids and had a full mental break down.

Was walking along the high street when off sick and seen a card in the window of  a small paper shop,saying window cleaning round for sell,phoned the guy up and went and seen him on the sunday evening,on the friday went out with him for the day and learnt trad ,really enjoyed the fresh air and no stress,,work with him for a month,him showing me all the  work,brought the part round and the rest is history,14years later we still best mates and meet regular and go out has familys.

3 years trad then turned Wfp,had two vans two workers,but didnt take to the stress now happly on me own again

Genuinely sorry to hear of all your tragedy in the past but to come out of it and start your own business is brilliant. Some amazing stories on here and I say again the advice I have personally received on this forum is second to none. Brilliant 👍😀

[Marko]

Worked for 20yrs as an upholsterer, brother-in-law was working as a window cleaner for a small local company when he knackered his shoulder.
He asked me if I fancied helping him out with a view to taking over from him (we'd spoken about manufacturing dying on it's arse).
Took a week off work - loved it - handed in my notice. 😊
After a year or so, went on my own and I've never looked back 👍

[matty72]

Good question, about 18 years ago had a few problems anxiety and stuff loved my drink and drugs, was an estate agent then installed cable tv for ten years got made redundant, helped a mate out traditional window cleaning, started myself got a van and ladders carried on partying, one morning came off ladder broke my arm bad, {on the lash night before my fault} , reach and wash taking off started that, bought a house had a daughter still doing it, one side of me says like this own boss suit myself great when i was younger, other side says im knackered now, the age catches up cant earn what i used to, but the job has been great to suit who i am, just need something else now to go along side it that aint so physical,advice to all younger than 40, get something else along side or expand, thats the longest message ive ever wrote , got me thinking that question

[Titan window cleaning services]

Started helping father in law and liked doing it so set up start of this year bought a van and had a few bits donated while working as a lab tech trying to build a round. Got a few myself then found some work for sale last week to help me along then got told 2 days ago im being made redundant so its all falling into place nicely

[Martin-Swinscoe]

I got made redundant in 2006 from a local factory, Managed to get a job as a postman. The money was lousy as it was
part time hours.
So needed about £40 a week extra just to survive.
This is where it gets interesting.
My Mrs nagged me for weeks to clean our windows, In the end just to shut her up. i got some tatty wooden ladders and a old squeegee that was under the sink.
Anyway whilst i was up the ladders a woman walked past and said " oooo a window cleaner can you come and do mine ?"
So i went round and did them, charged her a fiver i think
Couple of weeks later a knock on my door " you did my friends windows the other week can you do mine?"
So i went and did them.
This got me thinking there's a little gap in the market.
Knocked some homemade flyers up, and posted them on my post round.
Within a few weeks i got my £40 a week extra and more.
After a few months i packed the post in and went window cleaning full time.
Now i have 2 blokes working for me and new work pouring in.
Thank the lord the wife nagged me, thank the lord that woman walked past whilst i was doing my own.
I'm a firm believer every thing happens for a reason....

[Ooooooog]

Made redundant from engineering/racing company (pro drive) - 3rd third time in 10 years so Mrs said why not go clean some windows 

went out brought  a sponge and a bucket - no idea what a squeegee was - made up cards and leaflets and door knocked
- six months in I had a reasonable round plus houses - fell off ladders - then searched for a safer way to clean and learnt about wfp on here ..

11 years later I cover just about everything for cleaning outsides - windows - roof cleaning - graffiti removal - pressure washing etc..

Darran

We’re doing some work on their roof this month. Interesting client...

[Ooooooog]

I had the idea of cleaning photovoltaics in 2014 and window cleaning just came along with it.

[Jay Le Huray]

I left the army in 1975 and got a job as a milkman but it did not pay enough to cover my mortgage so in the afternoons I went out and cleaned my customers windows from my round to make a few extra quid

a year or so later a guy  I meet in a pub asked to work for him (mostly commercial work) plus my own small round, when I discovered just how much can be made from this business  I left him and went full time on my own and employing 2 young lads

About 16 years ago I went WFP and had 3 vans on the road, a few years back I sold half the business and only work part time due to age (67)

I'm going to carry on doing this until I can no longer lift up a pole as I like my work and my customers

Good for you for still staying so active at 67. In only 41 so wasn’t even born when you left the army. What made you leave the army?

big mistake, I got married and had my first kid, I should have stayed single and done my 22 years

[lal]

  I moved to Southern Ireland 9 years ago  from London, the job situation at the time was Dire, due to Ireland still recovering
 from the Credit Crunch,  I tried for loads of jobs with out any luck, back in 1988 i worked for a mate who was a window cleaner
 in South London, he gave me a job for the summer, taught me Trad   (WFP didn't exit then) he had tons of work, so i had to learn
 quickly to work fast, i loved it, fresh air, lovely weather, Tan  ,  then as the winter came, the work drops off, he had to let me
 go,  so getting back to Galway Ireland, after a few months with no luck on the job front, i decided to take a chance with window
 cleaning, i bought a roof rack for the car, proper wooden pointed ladders & Trad Gear imported from a supplier in the uk,
 it was very difficult starting out, trying to get work with the economic climate as it was, plus there  were a lot of established
window cleaning business's around, but i plodded on, found this site CiU, learned a lot more stuff, especially WFP, i found a
second hand van & system for sale on Ebay in Northern Ireland, went to see the van with system, owner showed me how it
all works, bought it, never looked back, the following year in 2013,  i got Nathanael Jones, who i found on here, to build me
a website,  best advice i ever got, was to get a website,  Ive been window cleaning here now nearly eight & a half years, so glad
i took a chance at it and didn't give up. 

[Johnny B]

The company I worked for as a driver folded, and I was unemployed for around 3 months when a friend of mine who had a window cleaning run at the time offered me to work 3 days a week with him. This was in 1997.

He taught me from scratch how to clean windows (trad) and I worked for him for around 3 months.
I was (and still am) painfully slow and I was probably more of a hindrance than a help as he was so fast! So he suggested that I try to start up my own run while still working for him. Very quickly (within just a few weeks) I had canvassed enough work to part ways and go it alone.

My run got bigger and bigger, and so within 5 years or so I sold some work, and carried on until 2011 when my wife wanted to move to Ireland to care for her mother. So I sold up and we moved according to her wishes.

A week after landing in Ireland, I hit the streets, knocking doors and getting another run together. This was during the post credit crunch recession. Nine years later, I'm still here with work flooding in. My eldest son and daughter both work part time with me now, and it's going well.

John

[ian1965]

Got made redundant 11 years ago . Genuinely thought I would walk into another engineering job, nothing , so decided  as a fill in job    would clean some windows, googled window cleaning equipment , thinking ladders bucket etc up popped water fed systems - decided to invest some of my redundancy money and the rest is history . Had so much work  got my son into it as well.
Hindsight is a marvelous thing but wish i had done this many years ago! 

[NWH]

If you look at a lot of these stories and i am not in any way trying to start something here you will see why you get trouble when starting to employ,thought I’d try it to fill in between jobs etc till something better came along exactly the same thoughts they have when you take someone on I can do this on my own,like I say not meaning to start an argument.  Not very often it’s looked upon like a “proper” job even today.

[Smudger]

If you look at a lot of these stories and i am not in any way trying to start something here you will see why you get trouble when starting to employ,thought I’d try it to fill in between jobs etc till something better came along exactly the same thoughts they have when you take someone on I can do this on my own,like I say not meaning to start an argument.  Not very often it’s looked upon like a “proper” job even today.

That's very civil of you