How's everyone getting on??

[Part Timer]

Do you post regular on Facebook? I never used to bother but I’ve realised folk are more likely to contact you. Even if your stuff gets not interaction, folk will see a recent post and think ‘ohh he’s stuff active’. 

We do a building for a local Armed Forces Charity, ex service personnel that are down on heir luck that live their, free of charge. It takes us 20 minutes and the people that run the charity always post pictures of us doing it on their FB page. We seem to get quite a few enquiries from the area after each post. Might be a coincidence but I think it's linked. 

 

[NewGuy]

Do you post regular on Facebook? I never used to bother but I’ve realised folk are more likely to contact you. Even if your stuff gets not interaction, folk will see a recent post and think ‘ohh he’s stuff active’. 

Yes, every week I put down my weekly schedule. I simply list the areas I'll be in on which days and which days I'm not working etc. 

I don't pick up new jobs from FB. 

 

[Mark75]

Been struggling myself. Only started up a year ago and then schools closed for 6 month, then kids went back to school in Sept and their bubble had to isolate for 2 weeks just before Christmas. Then we had the Christmas holidays and school closures yet again.  Then my ex wife got coronavirus and had to self isolate for 10 days when the kids were in my care and I couldn't work for 10 days straight!

As a single parent of two primary aged school kids, I am having to take time off for homeschooling and can only work  say 10 days per month when the schools are closed.

Hopefully from 8 March, I can get cracking on with everything, whilst fitting everything around the school runs.  Between the school runs, caring for the kids and dealing with my current clients, it leaves me with no time for canvassing etc ?

I've had a great time with the extra time spent with the kids and helping with home schooling but my business targets have taken a big hit.

I feel you Mate , I could say Snap , I got 2 Younger ones 1 Autistic in and out of school its Crazy , when not in School have to look after him then the other one went back last week due to struggling and the school being Empty , So am thankful that 1 has gone so had to turn work away when the phone does Ring at times ,  Then they find someone so been a Nightmare as well,  like you I started mid last year so no Help from the Goverment and its all Mostly one off Cleans putting a round Together can take Years and that's having a hassle free life , so I feel for you all I can say Is hang on in there , the warmer weather is coming it will pick up , And just hope these teachers stay In school and do what they are paid to do , I Hope it works out for you 

 

[NewGuy]

I feel you Mate , I could say Snap , I got 2 Younger ones 1 Autistic in and out of school its Crazy , when not in School have to look after him then the other one went back last week due to struggling and the school being Empty , So am thankful that 1 has gone so had to turn work away when the phone does Ring at times ,  Then they find someone so been a Nightmare as well,  like you I started mid last year so no Help from the Goverment and its all Mostly one off Cleans putting a round Together can take Years and that's having a hassle free life , so I feel for you all I can say Is hang on in there , the warmer weather is coming it will pick up , And just hope these teachers stay In school and do what they are paid to do , I Hope it works out for you 

Back at ya! It's not easy when we have to juggle child care during this pandemic era and starting a new business as a self-employed worker with some of us not being eligible for Govt support.  It will work out for the likes of you and I but it will take a little longer than we planned.

Good luck to you too, it's never easy turning away work!

 

[ched999uk]

starting a new business as a self-employed worker with some of us not being eligible for Govt support

There are lots of self employed missing out. I have been self employed for 15 years and don't qualify for anything either. Hopefully things will get better soon. Good Luck.

 

[dazmond]

all my work is up to date....i never want to be any busier than "fairly busy"these days......?

zero disruption to my schedule because of the bad weather...picked up 8 new jobs in the last few weeks too,nearly all have been walk ups.....lost a couple due to moving/dying...swings and roundabouts...

got my brand new golf 8 GTD delivered last week with 11 miles on the clock..best car ive ever had!IMO its much better than the golf 7 GTD i had before this,its faster and a lot more fun to drive with a DSG gearbox!

 

[HWCS]

Yes, I have all of that. I get the occasional requests for quotes via my website. Nothing from facebook. 

Isnt it odd how different areas seem to have different responses from different forms.

Personally i dont have a website, i dont really see the need for one, i have Google business  (or wtf its called) but get next to nothing or any interaction from it, but my facebook is really lucrative, i dont do paid adds (have done a cpl with not great sucess) but i occasionally share a post from my facebook page to the local selling or village/town groups and always get good response from them.

100% my biggest sucess was 10k flyers hand delivered by my wife when i first started and now everytime i re-flyer a road i always pick up more work, the next best advertising has to be my van signage

 

[cleaniac]

My financial year goes from April to March, so weirdly enough I'm coming up to my last month before the new financial year. 

Work has been pretty much consistent all year for me, I'm down a little  on the prev year due to lack of extra jobs due to COVID ( cancelled internal cleans etc) but if I am being honest I have really enjoyed having extra time with the family and still being able to work. 

I often say that after 20 years in this game I have a love hate relationship with the job, but over this past year i have realised just how lucky I am to have an established business that has been minimally affected by the whole COVID thing.

So this year, much less complaining and more being thankful for the things I have. 

Let's look forward to a good and prosperous 2021-2022. 

 

[Iron Giant]

My financial year goes from April to March, so weirdly enough I'm coming up to my last month before the new financial year. 

Work has been pretty much consistent all year for me, I'm down a little  on the prev year due to lack of extra jobs due to COVID ( cancelled internal cleans etc) but if I am being honest I have really enjoyed having extra time with the family and still being able to work. 

I often say that after 20 years in this game I have a love hate relationship with the job, but over this past year i have realised just how lucky I am to have an established business that has been minimally affected by the whole COVID thing.

So this year, much less complaining and more being thankful for the things I have. 

Let's look forward to a good and prosperous 2021-2022. 

You're back and this time you really could be our.....

 

[dazmond]

Family/leisure/hobby time is more important once you reach a comfortable level of income...I've got no desire to work longer and harder for more money these days.....have a great weekend chaps....

 

[Crystalalan]

Isnt it odd how different areas seem to have different responses from different forms.

Personally i dont have a website, i dont really see the need for one, i have Google business  (or wtf its called) but get next to nothing or any interaction from it, but my facebook is really lucrative, i dont do paid adds (have done a cpl with not great sucess) but i occasionally share a post from my facebook page to the local selling or village/town groups and always get good response from them.

100% my biggest sucess was 10k flyers hand delivered by my wife when i first started and now everytime i re-flyer a road i always pick up more work, the next best advertising has to be my van signage

Like you I don`t have a website. Don`t want the monthly costs and the hassle of updating every so often. I have a sign written van. Its pretty loud so get a lot of custys from that and once you to that stage where you get loads of word of mouth recommendations you have already built up a good momentum. I`m a cheap skate so have a facebook page to.?

 

[Iron Giant]

Like you I don`t have a website. Don`t want the monthly costs and the hassle of updating every so often. I have a sign written van. Its pretty loud so get a lot of custys from that and once you to that stage where you get loads of word of mouth recommendations you have already built up a good momentum. I`m a cheap skate so have a facebook page to.?

Monthly cost for my site is £4.58 for the hosting that's it, the guy I have used for almost 9 years does my updates and site maintenance for free.

I do the basic changes text updates etc myself, it's very easily done if I get stuck I just ask him how to do something as it's good to know how to do very basic changes and I think he prefers me to learn a bit which I have over the years, if it's over my head then it's usually a 2 minute job for him, anything which is more work he just bills me a reasonable amount but I always pay a bit extra but the extra work is about once every 2 years if that.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Last week i went to see a job and he said he was looking through my website or maybe my Checkatrade site. i think he is a first and ended up, I was in class with his brother. I'm beginning to get repeat work and word of mouth now so probably cut down my Checkatrade in August because of too much work coming through. Sunny all week so expecting it to go crazy with calls this week. Picked up a few jobs yesterday when I was fitting a gate for someone and he has plenty more work coming in the future. He told me he paid 2 grand for his dog and I nearly fainted, we had 3 dogs and got them all for free.

 

[Crystalalan]

Monthly cost for my site is £4.58 for the hosting that's it, the guy I have used for almost 9 years does my updates and site maintenance for free.

I do the basic changes text updates etc myself, it's very easily done if I get stuck I just ask him how to do something as it's good to know how to do very basic changes and I think he prefers me to learn a bit which I have over the years, if it's over my head then it's usually a 2 minute job for him, anything which is more work he just bills me a reasonable amount but I always pay a bit extra but the extra work is about once every 2 years if that.

Thats really cheap! still don`t want the hassle though.

 

[mike007]

Luckily never needed a website, but used wordpress to create one when I had my Courier business. Am not particularly special when comes to computing skills, but was able to do it without any problems by converting existing templates, and it turned out fine. Course I use a desktop computer , if someone only using a smartphone for internet then would be difficult I guess.

 

[cleaniac]

In my experience, websites are ok for something to give to someone when they ask about your business. That's it really. 

Unless you have several vans, that have staff costs, and  constant turnover of work/customers; an active website that brings in new business opportunities every day is surplus to requirements once your fully booked up. 

I actually had to take my contact form down in the end, as I just don't have the time or inclination to go running about here and there doing quotes for people that are looking for the cheapest price, 90% of that being we will call you if we want regular after the 1st Clean.

As for check a trade, never had to use it for my business, and pretty much everyone whom I know have used it to get work, eventually stop using it. 

All of my recommendations are word of mouth these days, still have the website but it's just there to send to people who do enquire, or if they want to pass my details over to someone.

But even now, with recommendations I won't necessarily take on the job. It has to fit my requirements these days. 

 

[Crystalalan]

In my experience, websites are ok for something to give to someone when they ask about your business. That's it really. 

Unless you have several vans, that have staff costs, and  constant turnover of work/customers; an active website that brings in new business opportunities every day is surplus to requirements once your fully booked up. 

I actually had to take my contact form down in the end, as I just don't have the time or inclination to go running about here and there doing quotes for people that are looking for the cheapest price, 90% of that being we will call you if we want regular after the 1st Clean.

As for check a trade, never had to use it for my business, and pretty much everyone whom I know have used it to get work, eventually stop using it. 

All of my recommendations are word of mouth these days, still have the website but it's just there to send to people who do enquire, or if they want to pass my details over to someone.

But even now, with recommendations I won't necessarily take on the job. It has to fit my requirements these days. 

Absolutely agree with you. I`m not against websites they can be a valuble tool if set up well or you plan to expand but once you have enough custys then it is kind of irrelavent. Like with checkatrade, it was an absolute god send in the first two years of setting up my business but now I dont need it as I am busy enough and its a bit of a faff trying to get custys to write reviews and having to drop off review cards at custys homes.

I am going to just carry on as a sole trader at the moment but who knows I might get restless and try and expand in which case I might very well consider a website or going back on checkatrade.

 

[cleaniac]

Absolutely agree with you. I`m not against websites they can be a valuble tool if set up well or you plan to expand but once you have enough custys then it is kind of irrelavent. Like with checkatrade, it was an absolute god send in the first two years of setting up my business but now I dont need it as I am busy enough and its a bit of a faff trying to get custys to write reviews and having to drop off review cards at custys homes.

I am going to just carry on as a sole trader at the moment but who knows I might get restless and try and expand in which case I might very well consider a website or going back on checkatrade.

Exactly.

And just to add actually, people seem to think that going from a sole trader to Ltd company status is in some way progess, or expansion. Going incorperated simply means that the window cleaning business is treated as it's own legal entity, offering up all sorts of tax saving benefits. 

You don't necessarily need to be "expanding" or going past Vat threshold to enjoy the benefits of Ltd status. But i would say you need to be turning over at least £40k a year, pref £50k upwards. 

I keep my business under Vat, work 4 days a week, run as Ltd company and its the most efficient way for me to run the business.

 

[swc1]

100% my biggest sucess was 10k flyers hand delivered by my wife when i first started and now everytime i re-flyer a road i always pick up more work, the next best advertising has to be my van signage

Marketing is the key to success in this business. 

Once you find what form of marketing work best in your area....its all about hitting that form of marketing constantly and hard. 

Keep your marketing simple, people dont waste time reading paragraphs (generally), they want their problem solved (dirty whatever) and you offer a solution then all they want to know is contact price and availability. 

Remember, peoples life dont revolve around window cleaning ect.

Us window cleaners only care about it ?

 

[Danfire]

My tax bill has increased every year for the 8 years I've been going. I reckon my profit (and tax bill) will be 40% higher than last year so I reckon it's been a decent year (despite some tough weather).

 

[Pjj]

My tax bill has increased every year for the 8 years I've been going. I reckon my profit (and tax bill) will be 40% higher than last year so I reckon it's been a decent year (despite some tough weather).

Time to spend some money to reduce it a bit ???