Feeling like taking the leap

[Guest]

Yeh bird proofing is an industry in itself. We’re too busy scrubbing the bloody things!

 

[adamangler]

I think one thing worth thinking about, and it's something I didn't when starting out.

You need decide  whether you are wanting to start a business or go self EMPLOYED. It's two totally different mindsets but often gets confused as one.

As a self employed window cleaner once you are busy you are a slave to the job just like you are now in employment, except its worse in that if you are off work Ill, take a holiday or get rained off etc then it all affects your income and that 30k job looks more appealing. I had visions of early finishes and days off etc but in reality that's not what it's like. You go out in all weathers like it or not in the cold and rain and do a monotonous task day in day out.

If you are looking at it as a business opportunity it's a completely different thing entirely.

 

[Guest]

But you will if you are employed by a ltd too? 

 

[adamangler]

But you will if you are employed by a ltd too? 

Well if you set up a ltd and pay yourself as an employee them yes you will be an employee, but only technically speaking not in the true  true sense as you are also a director.

What I meant really by viewing it as a business rather than being self employed was that you can use money to grow the business and employee people to carry out the work and build a system that doesn't need you to  work rather than be the one who does everything . 

 

[Part Timer]

I think one thing worth thinking about, and it's something I didn't when starting out.

You need decide  whether you are wanting to start a business or go self EMPLOYED. It's two totally different mindsets but often gets confused as one.

As a self employed window cleaner once you are busy you are a slave to the job just like you are now in employment, except its worse in that if you are off work Ill, take a holiday or get rained off etc then it all affects your income and that 30k job looks more appealing. I had visions of early finishes and days off etc but in reality that's not what it's like. You go out in all weathers like it or not in the cold and rain and do a monotonous task day in day out.

If you are looking at it as a business opportunity it's a completely different thing entirely.

I doubt there are many people on here that had £30+k a year salaries that they voluntarily left. You are only a slave to the job if you choose to chase the money. If you have an established business with a decent client base then making £30k a year will be far easier than being employed. I would think there are quite a few on here that do 30 hours a week and nett £600. 

Unless you have some cushy public sector management job then the private sector will have you salaried, no overtime, and working 50-60 hours a week. Yes you will get holidays but by christ you'll have to make up for them. 

 

[dmw]

I agree, I comfortably exceed 30k for not much more than 30 hrs per week but it's taken me years to get there, and i didn't have a family and mortgage when I first started up.
Personally I don't think that I'd have the bottle to give up a 30k salaried job now, but good luck to him if he does.
Even when we get the rubbish weather id still struggle to work in a office environment with all the bitching and power games. When i have greif from a customer I sack them and move on, donut doesn't affect my well-being.
The only downside is we have to make our own pension plan for our exit strategy, which ain't easy.

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[Teaboy]

Use all your annual leave to build it if it works hand your notice in when you get back


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[Iron Giant]

I think he has stuck with his job, no reply since posting last Sunday 

 

[mike007]

I think he has stuck with his job, no reply since posting last Sunday 

Different if he was working for an Agency etc on minimum wage  with no guarantee of full weeks etc, but 30k income means your lifestyle is based on that income, as is million pound income means your lifestyle,spending etc would reflect that higher income more.

Starting out from scratch get 10ish customers and you have got say a days work. You need to find another 40 to get a reasonable week.

So find 50 custies not so easy, and you have still only a weeks work, not a full months order book.

This is not as easy a occupation people think it is to start, besides the techniques of window cleaning required,the equipment needed,the physicallity,mindset etc.

IT IS GETTING THE CUSTOMERS IN THAT SHORT SPACE OF TIME SO YOU CAN SURVIVE.

 

[Part Timer]

Different if he was working for an Agency etc on minimum wage  with no guarantee of full weeks etc, but 30k income means your lifestyle is based on that income, as is million pound income means your lifestyle,spending etc would reflect that higher income more.

Starting out from scratch get 10ish customers and you have got say a days work. You need to find another 40 to get a reasonable week.

So find 50 custies not so easy, and you have still only a weeks work, not a full months order book.

This is not as easy a occupation people think it is to start, besides the techniques of window cleaning required,the equipment needed,the physicallity,mindset etc.

IT IS GETTING THE CUSTOMERS IN THAT SHORT SPACE OF TIME SO YOU CAN SURVIVE.

He needs £20k in savings, after he's bought his equipment, to maintain his current standard of living. This should, with sufficient hard work, give him about 18 months to build a reasonable business. 

 

[Bumblebee72]

IT IS GETTING THE CUSTOMERS IN THAT SHORT SPACE OF TIME SO YOU CAN SURVIVE

EXACTLY!!

And I believe this is the most important consideration for anyone thinking of starting up.  How many fully fitted bells-and-whistles window cleaning vans do you see for sale on E-Bay?  People can get carried away with the romance of owning their own business and spend their life savings buying all the latest must-haves, then wonder why no-one is hammering on their door begging to become customers.

Self employment (or owning your own business) will only work if you have CUSTOMERS.  Sounds elementary, but so many people try without facing that simple truth.

SO:  You need to be DEDICATED, TENACIOUS, SELF CONFIDENT, AND THICK SKINNED to take all the set-backs that you will get.  But ANYONE  can do it with the right mind-set.  There are as many opinions as to the best way as there are doors to knock on (almost!)  but I have built many rounds over my many years in the business and this works for me:

GET SOME LEAFLETS PRINTED  Think carefully about design, wording etc.  Ask other window cleaners for advice.

GO OUT AND DELIVER 100-200 LEAFLETS.

GO OUT THE NEXT DAY AND DO THE SAME THING (Not in the same place, obviously!)

GO OUT THE NEXT DAY AND DO THE SAME THING AGAIN

ON THE THIRD DAY GO OUT AND KNOCK ON ALL THE DOORS WHERE YOU DELIVERED LEAFLETS THE FIRST DAY.  Choose your time - late afternoon/early evening during the week, during the day at weekends.

Now it's up to you - be confident!  Show them a copy of your leaflet - ask them if they would like a quote.  Depending on the answer either thank them and walk away or be ready and confident to give a quote.

Deliver a new batch of 100-200 leaflets every day.  Go out and knock on all the doors where you delivered leaflets three days previously.

If you knock on 200 doors a day (takes some doing, you have to be disciplined)  you can reasonably expect to gain 2 customers (at the very least).  So in a week of knocking you should get 14 - 20 new customers. 

In a month that is 56 - 80

In three months that is 168 - 240

In six months that is 336 - 480

Bearing in mind that a lot of people will want 8 weekly service you will need between 300 and 500 for a really good round.  A reasonable round requires about 350-400 customers.

You will get messers, "I only wanted it once" merchants who perfectly understood you were only offering regular cleaning but still decided to turn you over.  This is par for the course.  If you've developed the discipline and determination I described above, you will replace these as quickly as you lose them..

Of course there are many ways to build a business, mine isn't necessarily the best, but it WORKS.

 

[Hunty82]

I've been up and running since June 2017. I was on 60k in my last job but had no life and that's why I left and went back on the glass. If you work hard and I mean hard then you can build a reliable business but it takes sleepless nights, days of walking knocking doors and picking up no work and plenty of customers who you think you have monthly only to cancel on clean number 2 or 3. If your someone who quits easily then this game isn't for you. Cleaning the windows is not as easy as you think also... Especially when it's freezing and ******* it down. My advise stay in your job and build it up around that as building a steady income is not an overnight thing. Its doable but keep your kit basic and don't get down when you see other window cleaners with amazing vans because one day that will be you if you work at it like they have [emoji106] golden advice.. While add ons are good to boost income its more wise to stick to windows and building regular work because when winter hits your add on work drys up and so does your income [emoji106]

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[Tuffers]

I am just re-starting, but I have seen what it is like, and if anything I would expect it to be tougher now.  The problem is, there are some really good customers out there, that are willing to pay a good fee and are the best sort of customers you could ever wish for.  Then there are lots of ok ish customers, they have some faults, but they are not too bad.  Then there are really bad customers.  Every single one of these customers is your boss, you eventually get to choose your boss which is a good thing, but it takes time, years,  to be in a position to be able to do that.  At first you do not get a choice, you get the boss you can get, some of them will be really nice to you and then surprise you by revealing how bad they are. I tell you now you will not find many bosses worse than some customers. 

Then you have all the problems with running a business, single handed.  Paperwork, finances, keeping in profit when a big bill comes and you realise that you have not turned over enough yet to cover it,  lack of holiday and eventually you get sick, I got sick, anyone can get sick. Even though you did not realise it you suddenly discover that the money you had in the bank was to cover you when you got sick.  A puncture, a bad winter, a bad summer, or a bad illness are all varying degrees of how the money stops.

If you read between the lines you realise something here, on this forum.  It is full of nutters that have a strange fascination with cleaning windows, and a few ruthless financially driven people.  The ones that have this strange mental affliction that makes them addicted to wanting to clean more and more windows, and the ruthless financially driven minds have one thing in common.  They both need money to feed their habit.  For those with the financially driven mind it is all about the money, they seek to clean more in order to earn more, for those that just want to clean more and more windows they always need more money to buy a van, move house to install a better WFP system or find some other thing to spend money on that they can use as an add on, to earn more, to clean more.  I am not sure I have made this point well, but, it is all about the money no matter what the goal is.

So, we have a job that has some of the worse bosses you could ever imagine, we have all the stresses that comes with running our own business not least the constant cloud of financial uncertainly, and it is all about the money no matter what we really want out of it.

So no, I would not give up a 30k job for an easy life cleaning windows unless you are completely mad, and then, in that case, welcome aboard the insanity train.Chooo chooo!

That was a joy to read and agree totally with you. Who else would be out cleaning windows all day long in sub zero temperatures, come home have a shower and their tea and then spend the night reading a window cleaning forum.

Window cleaners are mad, FACT!!

 

[Part Timer]

That was a joy to read and agree totally with you. Who else would be out cleaning windows all day long in sub zero temperatures, come home have a shower and their tea and then spend the night reading a window cleaning forum.

Window cleaners are mad, FACT!!

Only the nutters on here  :1f603: