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Feeling like taking the leap

Sewell8996

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So i started out a month ago and have gained about 30 customers without even trying really. Trouble is my full time job is getting in the way. It pays about 30k but doesn't make me happy.. shall I just take the leap and go full time on my own back. Can I build a living in 2 months before I run out if cash.. I'm not talking about making 30k a year just enough to live. Has anyone made the leap or been in the same boat? I know it's not just going to happen overnight but I'm really really tempted and need some advise

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I'm not trying to dampen your ambitions but sometimes you need to take a step back. Work your job and clean windows in your time off. Save all your extra money and then you will have money to fall back on when you make the leap. Good luck whatever you decide 

 
You could try and cite family problems and see if you can reduce you work hours, then use that as more time on the glass, but it's risky if your boss finds out you've had it

 
i gave up my management job in April 2017 becuase it was making me desperately unhappy and was eventually going to kill me.  I started up my business in the same month and have needed every penny of my £10k savings to get myself started and to cover the bills whilst I got going.   The likelyhood is that if you work hard, do a good job, and be confident to go and get business you will succeed, but don't let a lack of short term financial planning make you fail.  Financial pressure can also lead to poor judgement and some desperation in your decision making, so ask yourself how you can best support yourself in the first 6 months to ensure you have the time and space to make your business a success.

 
Book a fortnights holiday and use it all to see whether you can build enough customer base to cover LIVING!!! then assess.

Bills will not stop if your having a bad week, and eating occasionally is quite nice

 
you never quit full stop. If it's stressful then jump on the sick for a month. Windy cleaning is very therapeutic, if you get caught all you say "It's therapy and helping my stress condition"

 
DONT do it. Who actually really likes there job, We all work for money to live. Window cleaning is so boring after a while.

Just do it part time and see how you feel about it in 6 months.

 
Not wanting to dampen anyone looking to go self-employed. But you really need to evaluate if you want to give up paid employment and with 4-5 weeks paid holiday a year and sick pay etc.

30 clients can be easily gained but you need to know if you can gain the next 100-200 regular clients, In order to pay your bills and have the lifestyle you currently have with a 30k annual paid employment.

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Old job 

40 hours 

£15.63 per hour 

Which is slightly 30k per year.

Can you make more than £15.63 a hour for 40 hours per week? Yes ofcouse you can.

Let's say you clean an average of 2 standard homes per hour. You charge £10 per home that's £20 per hour.

£20 per hour which is £160 per day. Alot of window cleaners can do this no matter where in the country they are.

Gives you a grand total of £38400.

You also need 320 PERFECT customers to hit these targets. Which will be hard at first but after a few years it's possible. 

 
I done something similar but wasn't on 30k. I reckon i would do it the same way all over again but just not for the initial cheap prices I went for.

Either way you look at things your round is going to evolve and evolve again. So I reckon yes if there is that kind of scope to build, then just get stuck in.

But have several plans up your sleeve business wise from the off, so you can meet challenges easier. Still no walk in the park but I am sure you know this. Good luck

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The thing about being self employed is when it's raining and you feel like sacking the day off or anything like that. Enjoy tomorrow because you've caused double the work.

Best decision I ever made and I'm still at the very early stages where I'm learning and making mistakes daily. You just have to decide if you want to work for someone else or do the work for yourself.

Oh and the figures look good. But don't forget alot of hours will be unpaid and alot of these guys work more than 40 hours.

 
OAP woman are my best customers and always wanting Gutters, PVC and now even their fence painted. Up here in Scotland, 25% are over 55yrs old so it keeps getting better. Win the trust and one picks up a new customer every month. Only takes me 2 days a month to do my 30 customers but have the van signed now, so expecting  3 to 4 new customers.

 
OAP woman are my best customers and always wanting Gutters, PVC and now even their fence painted. Up here in Scotland, 25% are over 55yrs old so it keeps getting better. Win the trust and one picks up a new customer every month. Only takes me 2 days a month to do my 30 customers but have the van signed now, so expecting  3 to 4 new customers.



Where are you up here mate?

Sent using the http://Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

Where are you up here mate?

Sent using the http://Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

 
So i started out a month ago and have gained about 30 customers without even trying really. Trouble is my full time job is getting in the way. It pays about 30k but doesn't make me happy.. shall I just take the leap and go full time on my own back. Can I build a living in 2 months before I run out if cash.. I'm not talking about making 30k a year just enough to live. Has anyone made the leap or been in the same boat? I know it's not just going to happen overnight but I'm really really tempted and need some advise

Sent using the http://Window Cleaning Forums mobile app
personally i would stay in your job until you've enough well paying customers to make that leap,30 customers is great and i'm not knocking you  30 customers at £100 each is enough to make a decision whereas 30 customers at £5 each isnt,when people look at window cleaning you will see on the forums people bragging about earning 200-300 pounds a day and yes it can be done and more(some are dreamers by the way)  these guys talk about turnover not profit they are bragging maybe because they don't understand the concept of overheads both fixed and variable,green pro touched on this recently and damn i hate to agree with him,(twice this year darren-gonna have to stop this!)

but being a window cleaner invariably means you are self employed,now being self employed means you should understand business and how it would work for you,many don't understand this.

i would say its very unlikley that in two months you could build a round to cover some of your personall overheads to make it work,

as it often takes a window cleaner around two years to make a profitable business

to be open and honest,and this is the first time i've done this on a forum,today i turned over £172, it wasn't a good or bad day turnover wise,i'm in the north so there are turnover differences,that £172 minus my daily overheads both fixed and variable (fuel costs and overall equipment costs/wear and tear etc)minus tax and ni won't make me a millionare whatsover plus i need to re invest back into the business so i have to put some of that aside for savings makes that sum less apealling,and with my customers payment is 90% bank transfer so i need that consant cashflow so i don't overtrade,its not as easy as you think being in business,sometimes you starve and sometimes you feast,lets not forget the 28 days holiday a year you won't get paid for being self employed and funding your own pension and no-one will pay you when are sick and don't feel like going to work.

this is something you need to understand before you make that leap into the unknown-it can be good if you make it work,and work very hard at it.

good luck in the way you move forward but i would urge you to look more into the business side of life before you make that plunge

 
fantastic post Kevin and great advice, I would also factor into how big you are wanting to take your business eventually.

I've always had a temperamental back that causes me to have a few days off a year so my vision was to always have people working for me in the end in case my back gets bad enough that I can no longer work. The first couple of years was hard graft, working Saturdays, losing money from underpricing etc. etc. I now have built a good local reputation and have 2 lads working for me and whilst I'm still working 6days a week I feel my business is finally starting to turn and hopefully in the near future I can be a bit more flexible with my hours. Obviously though with employing other people that brings with it a whole new set of potential issues and stress!

 
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!

 
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