wpclean

Are you content ?
« on: October 15, 2011, 12:34:01 am »
I have been on the glass for 28 years on and off, and I can honestly say that window cleaning has been good to me.
I have built rounds up and sold because of boredom, but i have always come back to start again.
I am now content and love this job because it gives me so much freedom to work hard and plan other activities.
We all like a moan on here but we have it good dont you think ?

BORBRYCE

Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2011, 05:33:49 am »
It's 5.30 am on a Saturday morning and I am off to work. I'm a tad fed up with it but I need the money.

james51174

  • Posts: 218
Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2011, 06:11:58 am »
to me its a means to an end...always has been

started it when i left school in '91, as i had about five years of school holiday experience...plus my partner is my dad, who started in '73...and always told me i was going to work for him

i wasnt ever pushed into it...but never really thought of doing anything else

shame, as my passion would be history and archeology...but a mrs, 2 kids and a morguage doesnt allow my to change career right now

i did try to become a voluntary policeman...but they turned me down because i have my forearms tatto'ed!!!! their loss, but hey

and yes....im working saturdays too, as tesco, BP, british gas and seeboard wont allow me to rest lol

if im honest...its not the worste job in the world.....but there are options out there for those who have the time and means to apply themselves, to earn an easier, more lucrative living

my youngest was helping me do our house windows....he is only 3 and had my short gardiner pole.....looked so cute...told me "daddy, i want to clean windows when im a big boy"

i only hope he tries to further his education and do something else tbh

there are alot of things i owe to my living....but its not a challenging job, and doesnt suit me really....each to their own i suppose

StockClean

Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2011, 08:29:14 am »
To be honest, window cleaning as a job, is only that, a job if thats how you want it to be.

Or it can be a business, and you can make it into a good profitable business if thats how you want it to be.

The sky is the limit really, depends how much you want it, how much you want to earn and how far you want to take it.

When people say its a means to an end, thats true. We all end up retiring at some point.

You tell me where there is a career where you can earn well in excess of 50k a year with little or no qualification, no silly jumped up bosses or people telling you what to do.

I have a few contracts where i have to clean office windows inside and out, i tell ya to see those people sittin there in front of a computer all day, doing naff all but answering the telephone, or doing some task their boss asked them, or having to put in overtime with no extra pay, and always wondering if they are going to keep their job next year, they dont look happy do they?

Some have unrealistic opinions of themselves, perhaps looking at me and thinking id hate to clean windows as a job, what a demeaning task to do. Of course im the one laughing really, if only they knew that in one day i can make probably more than they can in a week, why go to the trouble of degrees and a levels for a liftime of debt paying back a student loan with a measly 25k a year to live on? 

Some people put to and two togther an realise you can pull in a lot of £ doing this job, but they dont have the guts to do it themselves, and would rather justifiy the time they wasyed at uni getting drunk for a qualification by sticking with their nine till five.

james51174

  • Posts: 218
Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #4 on: October 15, 2011, 08:36:38 am »
all perfectly correct i spose

maybe my problem is being partnered with my dad, who is stuck in his ways...no room for my ideas

took me 5 years to get wfp....and even now he only allows me to use it on 25% of our work :(

Pope vader

  • Posts: 1944
Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2011, 08:40:12 am »
its a means to a end for me,  bores the life out of me,  sick of the thicko who want to be window cleaners and just cant do,  get sick of being asked do you have any jobs going as need a cash in hand job,

the only good points i see really is that i get around £25 an hour,  dont leave till kids have gone school and am home before they finish,  plus can take a day off when ever i want

am happy with my little business, there are a few wanna be business men near me,  with 2-3 vans,  loads of debt asking me, if i can lend them a pole or pressure washer as they aint got any   muppets

StockClean

Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2011, 08:56:13 am »
Well said ori

king marko

Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2011, 09:04:03 am »
Ive got to say im happy with my lot - spent 20yrs straight from school working in a furniture factory, upholstering for 40 odd hrs a week - no pay increase for the last 10 years of that either.
so when the opportunity came about 2yrs ago via my brother-in-law, it was a gamble what with mortgage etc.. but im glad i took it.
hardly ever work more than 5/6hr days, regularly have a day off here than there (just coz i can!) and no moaning jumped up jobsworth boss to answer to.

Ian101

  • Posts: 7887
Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2011, 10:46:51 am »


Some people put to and two togther an realise you can pull in a lot of £ doing this job, but they dont have the guts to do it

had this last month with a Solicitor I clean windows for @ £15 for his house.

Nice bloke but always wants to tell me how great he is so normally just nod and agree whilst working away so last month he says are u busy ... always busy I tell him .... so how many customers u got he asks .... 375 I tell him ..... so how many staff u got he asks ......... just me and step son the very occasional afternoon for a few hours ..... then realised my mistake as I could see him doingthe mental calculations  ;D

Ian101

  • Posts: 7887
Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #9 on: October 15, 2011, 10:59:00 am »
Am I content

well currently 7 out of 10 on the contentness scale

will be 9 out of 10 when done the following

 Increased my prices for ALL customers next March / April with no prisoners being taken when it comes to the increases - got some jobs (early customers) way under due to conservatories not being priced correctly when first starting out last year some of these will go from £10 / £12 up to £18 or a little more - will I loose them ? - possibly yes but they're now hindering my progress so not bothered - easily replaceable

Got a new van - prob a 850kg Partner or maybe a Nissan NV200 @ 750kg (off to look at them later today)

Got an employee so I can expand

Dropped 40000 to 80000 leaflets


but before all this happens still happier than I was when I was employed in a Toyota Dealer as Sales Manager/ Auction Buyer .... 6 days a week, weekends , long long hours also felt like a Russian Prisoner on death row where u dont know when your last day is going to be - maybe today- maybe tomorrow - maybe next year .... they just open a hatch in your cell roof and shoot you -

dazmond

  • Posts: 23592
Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2011, 12:53:11 pm »
ive been window cleaning a good while, 18 months of it WFP.I can honestly say im well happy at present.ive picked up a fair amount of work this year and im getting round my work faster and more efficiently than ever due to getting a tank a few months ago rather than humping barrels about with my trolley.

im straight up with my round so ive decide to take a week off!!im 40 next week and ive got a few friends and family to catch up with.im also having  new carpets and lino fitted in my flat.

no work until a week on monday!! :D :D :D


ill be bang at it for the next months onslaught though the week later fully rested and tackling it with renewed vigour!!


happy shining lads!!! ;D ;D ;D


dazmond
price higher/work harder!

A & J Owen Window Cleaning

  • Posts: 2192
Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2011, 01:38:23 pm »
In a word yes.
Get to work with the other half,  no idiot boss to worry about, you're not working hard to line others pockets. You can't get made redundant, if you lose work you can go out and get some more.
Sure it's cold sometimes and you get people looking down at you but that's their loss.
I worked in an office for 20 years and when we do offices and they give you that pitying look I sometimes say that I did what they did but I went up in the world ie I had the gumption to work for myself  ;D

Tom White

Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #12 on: October 15, 2011, 02:03:24 pm »
The thing about contentment is that it's not really 100% linked to the exterior world.  You can have a good business, a nice family, lovely Missis, money in the bank, good health, etc, etc, etc, and yet still not feel content.

And although the basic things we need to live are important, such as food, clothing, a roof over our heads, a computer, a car, a van mounted WFP system with a flow controller; really contentment is more of a state of mind, more than anything else.

So I told anyway.  I'm not content.  And just wait till something 'bad' happens; many of us here are going to get illnesses, cancer, heart problems, mental health problems, have loved ones die etc.

In fact I'd go as far to say that if you're having a good time right now, just wait, something bad is going to happen.  'Good times' are the short bits in-between 'bad things happening'.

This is the nature of life.

Anyway, stay positive, be kind, and don't drink too much.

Regards,

Tosh ;D

Tom White

Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #13 on: October 15, 2011, 02:07:32 pm »
And another thing, castrated tom cats are more content than intact tom cats.

Think about that one too.  ;D

H S and Son

Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #14 on: October 15, 2011, 02:10:35 pm »
Now wanting to overly complicate my response as the question was simple enough. Yes.

Tom White

Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #15 on: October 15, 2011, 02:12:13 pm »
Now wanting to overly complicate my response as the question was simple enough. Yes.

At 54, I reckon you're more towards the castrated cat side of contentment, then?  ;D

H S and Son

Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #16 on: October 15, 2011, 02:13:38 pm »
At 54 I expect I will be  ;)

Tom White

Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #17 on: October 15, 2011, 02:14:42 pm »
 ;D

Lee Burbidge

  • Posts: 2287
Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #18 on: October 15, 2011, 03:30:01 pm »
And another thing, castrated tom cats are more content than intact tom cats.

Think about that one too.  ;D

How do you know that? lol

Tom White

Re: Are you content ?
« Reply #19 on: October 15, 2011, 03:34:01 pm »
And another thing, castrated tom cats are more content than intact tom cats.

Think about that one too.  ;D

How do you know that? lol

I can't for sure; outside of my mind, I can't be sure of anything (I'm often not sure what's happening in there too); but I reckon it's a valid inferential cognizable phenomenon.

Hope that helps.  ;D

Here's a little quote I quite like with reference to contentment:

Quote
There can be no Joy, no Serenity and no Contentment in your heart, if the things you say, are different to the things you do.