When did you turn that corner?

[Dino]

Hi,  I am now up to 55 customers from knocking doors after 2 months.  I would say about a 1/3 of my round is every 8 weeks and the rest is every 4 weeks.  Most of my jobs are £10.  I know that everyone needs different incomes and everyone has different levels of income from their rounds dependant on what each job pays.  What I wanted to understand from others experiences, at what point in your early days did you begin to notice life got a bit easier, was it around 100 customer more, less?  I am getting used to being paid in dribs and drabs which is the biggest thing for me to get used to after being employed and getting a solid lumper every month.  Just interested in what others think.  At the moment we are skint.  But the round is growing slowly but I find I am just about covering my diesel lol and a bit left over.  Hard to save for a better van etc and get it sign written.  Just trying to gauge at what point you guys reckon I will start to see my earnings take off?  Any tips?  Of course I will keep growing it.

 

[Incheck]

Keep your exisiting custom on the current frequencies and rates, up your prices for new customers dramatically. Axe taking on 8 weekly cleans, stick it all on 4 weekly. The sooner the £10 jobs and 8 weekly cleans stop, the healthier your long term financial prospects will be. 

As soon as your diary is full of £10 jobs and 8 weekly cleans youre gonna be wondering where the hell it went wrong. If the drib and drabbers havent paid by the time the next clean is due dont mess around or chance it a second time move on. 50 odd customers on low rates and infrequent cleaning schedules is not the end of the world. 300 is another matter. The change has to happen now. Then when you have 250 well paying jobs you can think about raising the stakes on the 50 you made initial mistakes on, but by then you may just be happy with your income anyway. Best of luck

 

[Incheck]

just to add. Even if your new £20 customer is next door to your old £10 customer, dont worry about it, if they question it, just be honest and say “when i first started business i made some catastrophic miscalculations, and i soon realised i couldn’t keep taking on work at the same rates/frequencies”

honesty is the best policy

if they dont like it then worst comes to worst they drop you (in which case i doubt they will as youve spoken the truth, they also know they may not find another reliable windy for an age)

also someone 6 doors up or 16 doors up takes you on and by then its not next door neighbors anymore its people who i seriously doubt talk to each other. Most people only have contact with their most “direct” neighbors 

dont let anyone muscle you out of or talk you out of what you need to do

take every hit on the chin and dont accept a knock out blow to be the end of things there is always better prospects out there sometimes just takes a lot of patience. You can strike many rocks in the world with no success but somewhere along the way you may just find a diamond, coal, gold...

 

[Dino]

I do have one customer pays £25 another 20 and about 4 that pay £15 but deffo the rest are £10 jobs.  I will try and raise my game and see how it pans out.

 

[Tango]

What I wanted to understand from others experiences, at what point in your early days did you begin to notice life got a bit easier, was it around 100 customer more, less?

For me i was already in a massive hole. I had been working for a large national company but had my hours axed to fit around my partner (they'd been piling loads of overtime on me and because i couldn't work it was told to hand in my notice - then i begged and they offered me weekends only). That left me in a hole - no real proper income other than the £400 i was earning from the weekends.

Although i sunk every last overtime payment from previous months into equipment, for me the very first job onwards made things just a bit easier. Okay most of it i've spent on other bits and bobs (fuel, insurance, phone etc) but this week we took our 4 year old away to Thomas Land - and although the missus paid for the petrol and an extra night up there (plus a train ride on a heritage line) it was me who paid for the tickets and first night in the hotel. Me! I'm now sinking again lol, funds are down to about £120 but I've got it, i've got my pole and can go and earn a bit more. Once i can afford a SLX27 I'll be happier though as the CLX while a good pole does have it's issues at full length.

I need a van really, already got my 250L tank (bargain ebay find) but at the moment that's a mega expense i just can't afford.

 

[Maund]

Write down a list of everything that you 'need' to make the business better for you, from priority down. And put how much each item is next to them. 

Every penny you make, put towards the list. The quicker you have everything, the easier the work will get. 

As for the customers, I used to offer 4,6 or 8 weekly. After roughly 50 customers in I soon realised that I was constantly all over the island, wasting time and diesel. 

I printed off a large poster of my working area, and outlined where I wanted to work, and when. In each segment I would write in how much customers I had there, this would give me a better idea on how many more customers I could take on in those areas. 

I stuck to offering only 6 Weekly, this is what I worked out to be what my customers on average asked for when I used to offer 4,6 or 8 weekly. 

I then had a minimum charge for working, £15 and above. 

Implenting these changes had a massive difference on my business. 

 

[Dino]

For me i was already in a massive hole. I had been working for a large national company but had my hours axed to fit around my partner (they'd been piling loads of overtime on me and because i couldn't work it was told to hand in my notice - then i begged and they offered me weekends only). That left me in a hole - no real proper income other than the £400 i was earning from the weekends.

Although i sunk every last overtime payment from previous months into equipment, for me the very first job onwards made things just a bit easier. Okay most of it i've spent on other bits and bobs (fuel, insurance, phone etc) but this week we took our 4 year old away to Thomas Land - and although the missus paid for the petrol and an extra night up there (plus a train ride on a heritage line) it was me who paid for the tickets and first night in the hotel. Me! I'm now sinking again lol, funds are down to about £120 but I've got it, i've got my pole and can go and earn a bit more. Once i can afford a SLX27 I'll be happier though as the CLX while a good pole does have it's issues at full length.

I need a van really, already got my 250L tank (bargain ebay find) but at the moment that's a mega expense i just can't afford.

Hi mate.  Seems like we have started roughly the same time.  I totally understand how tight it must be for you.  All I can say mate is canvass every day you can.  Keep yourself busy.  It stops you from becoming negative and not believing you can do it.  If you keep busy canvassing it will work for you.  Just takes time mate.  Keep giving us your experiences on here.  I think reading other noobies experiences helps me too!  

Cheers

Dino

 

[Dino]

Write down a list of everything that you 'need' to make the business better for you, from priority down. And put how much each item is next to them. 

Every penny you make, put towards the list. The quicker you have everything, the easier the work will get. 

As for the customers, I used to offer 4,6 or 8 weekly. After roughly 50 customers in I soon realised that I was constantly all over the island, wasting time and diesel. 

I printed off a large poster of my working area, and outlined where I wanted to work, and when. In each segment I would write in how much customers I had there, this would give me a better idea on how many more customers I could take on in those areas. 

I stuck to offering only 6 Weekly, this is what I worked out to be what my customers on average asked for when I used to offer 4,6 or 8 weekly. 

I then had a minimum charge for working, £15 and above. 

Implenting these changes had a massive difference on my business. 

Cheers for sharing that mate.  Your on Anglesey you jammy sod, I love Beaumaris castle!!!  

I kind of have implemented a similar system.  I have zones and use this to see how much an area is worth to me.  I can then decide where I need to canvass more.  I have gone with 4 weekly cleans only after yesterday.  I was offering 4 or 8 weeks but someone on the forum said dump the 8 weeks and I have now gone with 4 weeks only, makes total sense to me.

I am going to save money towards a new van and get it sign written as soon as I can.    

Thanks for sharing mate.

Dino.

 

[Tango]

I do canvass when i can but i also have to fit around my partner who also does 36-48 hrs a week - and our little lad. I openly admit i only really do this part time on that basis so if i can make 50 quid a week i'm happy enough with that at present. Don't get me wrong, i'd certainly like to earn a lot more than that but as long as i'm making *something* I'm happy to be on the glass.

You might find 4 weeks is too much for some clients though as they'll struggle to keep up with that - eg at some point, you'll visit them twice in a month.

I do have one who requested me every 4, some request every month but most of mine prefer every 6 weeks.

I did have one once ask me for every 3 and while i'd have welcomed the cash, i'd have felt bad about it so told her quite honestly that most folk go for every 6 - i didn't want her hearing that from elsewhere and then thinking i was ripping her off (that and 2 visits every month would have left her feeling it financially then i'd probably lose the client).

Old granny the other day asked me in front of the carer if i could do every week! That was awkward.. i just looked at the carer then back at the old dear and said it's far too often and most go for every 6. She didn't seem to like that though lol - shot myself in the foot there but i'd feel dishonest doing it that often.

 

[Rowan]

You need to tell customers you do monthly cleans , less customers needed and its easier to do just maintenance cleans once a month . Sure the weather may hold you back and even taking a break /' holiday will but explain that to all your customers and they will be there year after year for you.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I focus on £30 an hour, so a 3/4 bedroom detached house is £15 and will take me half an hour. Semi-detached house will be £10 to £12 and should take 20mins. That's how I price my work and it seems to work but I clean nearly everything like garage door and handrails on balconies. I even clean the small glass shelter above the front door which usually has moss on it. No customer has complained yet, probably because there's nothing to complain about. With both adults working they don't have the time to clean things outside and happy to pay someone to do it.

 

[Pjj]

Keep your exisiting custom on the current frequencies and rates, up your prices for new customers dramatically. Axe taking on 8 weekly cleans, stick it all on 4 weekly. The sooner the £10 jobs and 8 weekly cleans stop, the healthier your long term financial prospects will be. 

As soon as your diary is full of £10 jobs and 8 weekly cleans youre gonna be wondering where the hell it went wrong. If the drib and drabbers havent paid by the time the next clean is due dont mess around or chance it a second time move on. 50 odd customers on low rates and infrequent cleaning schedules is not the end of the world. 300 is another matter. The change has to happen now. Then when you have 250 well paying jobs you can think about raising the stakes on the 50 you made initial mistakes on, but by then you may just be happy with your income anyway. Best of luck

What @Incheck sais is very true however we have several large housing estates that most properties are £10 a go I do 7 per hour and my guys do 5 per hour so that’s very good money in my books , and we don’t move more than half a mile in a week , so £10 jobs are very worth while having if you have enough close to each other , and on a housing estate full of 3 bed semis you will struggle to get much more in a lot of places , I live in an affluent area but at £10 a go people will have them done at £12 a go they won’t I have tried over a number of years and 99% will say no at £12 but 90% will pay £10 , if however there is much traveling involved then £10 is not enough 

 

[Dino]

Wise words mate.  But I live in the middle of no where.  A rural round.  So I need to increase my prices to cover diesel.  But I get what you are saying.

 

[Pjj]

Wise words mate.  But I live in the middle of no where.  A rural round.  So I need to increase my prices to cover diesel.  But I get what you are saying.

Ok that’s a different storey then , can you travel to a local town and build up a decent round there ? Where there are properties close together, just a thought , try selling other services to existing customers like cleaning the gutters facias soffits , emptying out the gutters , maybe pressure washing or softwashing , this will maximise profits from the customer base that you have , if they have dirty gutters clean a section between the brackets to make it stand out how dirty they are we get loads of work this way people say I hadn't realised how dirty it was can you clean all the rest like that 

 

[Dino]

My round is spreads over like 3 towns.  I am slowly making inroads and most of my cheap work is in the towns.  But I got farms where the prices not only need to be bigger for the properties but also cos of the diesel.  I am thinking of filling up my window cleaning round first with 200 - 300 customers and then think of gutter cleans at a later date.  My main priorities are growing my round to have a stable income to account for messers and to buy a decent sign written van.  At the moment I am driving a 1.8 L diesel which is costing a fortune to run!

 

[adamangler]

For me I would say the 200 customer mark was when I felt comfortable. After that it's just a numbers game, how much do you want to earn.

100 was the break through number though as that was when I left my part time job and went full time in the business.

 

[Dino]

Cheers dude, how long did it take you to achieve 200?

 

[adamangler]

Cheers dude, how long did it take you to achieve 200?

About 100 customers a year was my rate of growth.

 

[Dino]

About 100 customers a year was my rate of growth.

That's good to know.  We won't be skint forever then ?  Getting the customers I don't find hard.  Its getting them to pay.  Getting bored of chasing bacs payers by text after 2 weeks.  When I hit 200 I reckon I will have the gumption to use go cardless.  Cheers for sharing mate. 

 

[adamangler]

That's good to know.  We won't be skint forever then ?  Getting the customers I don't find hard.  Its getting them to pay.  Getting bored of chasing bacs payers by text after 2 weeks.  When I hit 200 I reckon I will have the gumption to use go cardless.  Cheers for sharing mate. 

My debt list is usually between £500  - £1000 at any given time, you will get used to it... getting paid will always be the hard part of the job

 

[Pjj]

My debt list is usually between £500  - £1000 at any given time, you will get used to it... getting paid will always be the hard part of the job

Lol my debt list is between 2:5 -5 k at any given time it does come in regularly but that’s a mean avarage  of what’s outstanding , a fair bit of that’s is overlap on commercial work