A lot of what you want out of this business is the age you are at and what you want from life.
When I was 17 and a door to door canvasser for double glazing, I wanted everything, I wanted to party, eat in the best resturants, cars and bikes etc and I did do all of them.
The thoughts of a pension never crossed my mind, I had the attitude that If i wanted to buy something I would work a little harder and get it.
If I had known about WFP in those days then my life would have taken on a different path and I would be a very rich man now.
Over the years since I have have a variety of jobs and businesses, some failed, while others were sucessful, you do need your failures.
When I set up this business 10 years ago, all I wanted was to earn around £500 per week with as little effort involved.
This was really easy to do and for over 7 years I just paddled water, I refined my services and the work I had, at first I would do any job, now I am more selective, at first I would tender for all the big contracts, now I never will, then I would clean shops I now give this away to other cleaners.
Then 2 years ago the fact that I was getting older and in a short space of time I would need to retire, I looked at how my life style would change, well the first to go would be the 5 holidays I have aboard, the business would be gone and the money I get from its sale would soon be spent, so now I would have to spend the possiblity of the next 25 years in poverty.
So I decided that my business would be my pension, I have worked it out that I need a minimum of 3 vans on the road to pay for the retirement I want, 5 would be better.
Of course things never go to plan, I have had set backs mainly health ones and un-realiable staff plus a few other things, I think that my biggest failure has been my attitude and commitment to growing, I refined the business, I gained more customers but I also improved the profitiblity of the business, which is where I am at now.
My biggest mistake I think was to forget what I have learn't over the years and one of these is what I learn't from door to door sales.
30 years ago I worked for companies that bombarded estates with door knockers and that got tons of new customers, using these methods along with mass leafeting will soon have a impact.
As has already been said, this trade can offer everything to everyone, if you want a small compact round working a few hours, but having enough income to do what you want then you can, the opposite is also true that if you want a empire of hundreds of vans then that is possible (that would be fun to watch).
WFP is just like sealed units were to double glazing 30 years ago, a new market has opened and needs to be expoilted, also window cleaning in general is changing, a few years ago there was a shortage of good cleaners and potential customers always exceeded them, now more good cleaners are going into the trade that these figures are shrinking and soon there will be more cleaners than customers, I think that this is why there so many attacks on people who go on about how big they want to grow.
If you think back 20 years ago there was no such thing as a coffee bar apart from the ones from the sixtys which were really up market cafes, a brother and sister soon changed that by opening up the first Coffee Republic in London, everyone in the business world said the idea would not work especially in a country of tea drinkers, but now look at how far you are away from a coffee shop.
Window cleaning is changing, now days customers are being offered choises, they can choose to have a ladder cleaner or a wfp one who can reach the windows a ladder cleaner cannot reach, they can use a cleaner who calls to let them know when he will be there (weather permitting) to the guys who just turn and clean, and if the back is never cleaned so what, someone mentioned that we could even move into a "dial a clean" service and although I do not think that the majority of customers will move from a regular monthly clean, for some customers it is the perfect option for them.
So if someone says I am going for broke and I am going to build a empire, don't tell them to "chill out" but look over your shoulder because one day someone will do it.
For the original poster, I can say look at what you want, have tunnel vision, forget the ones who want to drag you down and go for it, remember you are only limited by your drive and commitment anything else is possible.
