Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Dave Anderson on September 24, 2010, 07:25:42 pm
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Having just read another recent thread here about selling up and also reading about some people feeling so bored about this work and their window cleaning...
How have you coped going through the building stage and then the downer stage ?
Please do not just say...your lucky to be working, get a couple of new jobs...
I am hoping to hear some of your experiences about how you coped with the downers.....
Right now I am so bored of it all and just getting out the door this week has just not happened...I have also been taking days off here and there for the past 8 weeks...obviously my income has been down even though I just make sure I earn enough to pay the bills..
Many thanks
Dave.
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just have goals to aim at; remmember greed is good greed is right ;) greed is the yorkshire way
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Hi Dave - having worked in a factory for donkeys years - i would say look at the positives -YOU are your own boss, no schoolboy Grads giving you orders & no braindead managers breathing down your neck.
Although winters comming - so is the summer 8)
The grass isnt always greener
regards Paul.
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Buy a new bit of kit..... it always seems to work!
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Interesting topic Dave, you are a bit ahead of me - I think you started about six months before me. It's the old motivation thing isn't it? I have a full round, all the work I could wish for, decent money etc yet the last couple of days I only worked half days. I just don't want to be doing it the excitement has gone and it's the same old thing day in day out.
Retail therapy helps, a new pole now and again etc. I really fancy a new van at the moment kidding myself that I would work longer hours with it (as if).
The thought of winter really gets me down.
I think you just need to look at the alternatives to shock you back on course.
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I've followed your career with interest Dave.You used to keep stats on your leaflets ans customers.Your probably more rounded than me with diving etc.
What drives me is ideas.I have a few of my own, some came off the forum and many from business books.In the early days i can remember getting excited about designing the perfect leaflet.Van signage had me going for a while.Getting a system that was the best in the country took a couple of years.
My current buzz is marketing, having a higher purpose, exploiting the secret sauce of my business, and building the perfect business model.
Scrubbing windows everyday is just the bit in between.
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just accept that we all struggle with motivation sometimes.take a holiday or a few days off doing something else.that usually works for me!
im loving it most days as im in my 4 th month of wfp and im getting more done every day!plus ive picked up the odd bigger job here and there.
the freedom,money and sheer joy of not having a boss breathing down your neck is bliss!!
ive been window cleaning for 16 years
dazmond
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Having just read another recent thread here about selling up and also reading about some people feeling so bored about this work and their window cleaning...
How have you coped going through the building stage and then the downer stage ?
Please do not just say...your lucky to be working, get a couple of new jobs...
I am hoping to hear some of your experiences about how you coped with the downers.....
Right now I am so bored of it all and just getting out the door this week has just not happened...I have also been taking days off here and there for the past 8 weeks...obviously my income has been down even though I just make sure I earn enough to pay the bills..
Many thanks
Dave.
I know where you are coming from Dave, I have been in the job about 7 years now but 3 years ago i almost jacked it in, I am glad i never though. I worked through that period untill one day I just seemed to come out of it and think "you know what? this is a damned good job and i can make of it whatever i want" so I got stuck in and and have now doubled my turnover and am loving it again. I put van number 3 on the road this week.
Everyone has times where they feel down, dont feel bad about it, just realise its all normal. wait till it passes (which it will) and see where you want to be then, if you still want to be in the job, go for it!!!
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This is a hard job to keep yourself motivated all the time i am like many others on here working on my own for most of the time and for me the motivation is money! i always have a target to reach by 12 pm and again by 3pm ( when i pick my son up from school), every day i try to break my target and since ive gone over to wfp about 3 months ago i do often beat it and then some!
Keep going mate the hardest bit of this job is building your round up, it would be a shame to stop even sell up and then regret it in 6 months, i hope to build mine up enough to employ 1 full time and to be able to take my son on (if he still wants to) when hes 18, this also helps to keep me motivated.
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Thanks guys....
It's been affecting me at work to the extent that I have dropped about 12 customers when really I could just have 'sucked it up' and just let the little 'issue' go...but being a bit down has just been passed onto certain customers and alas they are not customers anymore.
Apart of it I suppose is that to tell the truth the business earns pretty good money but being bored of the whole thing just makes small little issues....massive mountains and I tend to react that way also....so a few of the losses have had a mouthful so to speak..not very professional I know but hey it's now in the past.
I know that considering I live in another country and that my little business has done well I should be jumping from the rooftops shouting it out ...it's just the actual work....in the past I use to be able to zone out but now that is harder to do...how do you 'zone out'?
Cheers
Dave.
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I've done this job 27 years now, and it does ya head in at times.
But this is for you mate. Keep smiling and enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBiLNN1NhQ
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Watching it now...Thanks ;D
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Music and radio for me. I think I'd be lost without my ipod
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Dave,
I just read your own signature, wise words mate. Have you forgotten them?
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The Touch of the Masters Hand
Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
thought it scarcely worth his while to waste much time on the old violin,
but held it up with a smile; "What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?" "A dollar, a dollar"; then two!" "Only
two? Two dollars, and who'll make it three? Three dollars, once; three
dollars twice; going for three.." But no, from the room, far back, a
gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow; Then, wiping the dust
from the old violin, and tightening the loose strings, he played a melody
pure and sweet as caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low,
said; "What am I bid for the old violin?" And he held it up with the bow.
A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two? Two thousand! And who'll make
it three? Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice, and going and
gone," said he. The people cheered, but some of them cried, "We do not
quite understnad what changed its worth." Swift came the reply: "The touch
of a master's hand."
And many a man with life out of tune, and battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin, A
"mess of pottage," a glass of wine; a game - and he travels on. "He is
going" once, and "going twice, He's going and almost gone." But the Master
comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand the worth of a soul
and the change that's wrought by the touch of the Master's hand.
Myra 'Brooks' Welch
You place no value on what you have because it is too familiar. See the value of what you have!!!!
Rob ;D
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Has to be the best post ever.
Set to music and with subo singing that would be some song.I might email cowel about this.
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have a look at what work you got and how much it is worth
then
1 employ someone to make u get out in morning as u will be paying wages
2 stick it all on ebay and see how little people are prepared to pay for your hard work and u will think stuff ti and keep it, whilst it is on go job centre and see how crap the wages are
i am looking at doing 1 when i get back off my hols, and just had a mate do no 2, he wanted to leave till i think he realised there is nothing out there
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ive been down a bit this year, might be my drug abuse catching up with me?
but sometimes only time is all i need to get out of the low, also an mp3 player and some company helps. i know ive said never employ your wife, but i think i would be lost without her now.
new kit sounds like a good idea, and holidays helps, also some extreme sports does it for me, dh mtbing, motox, trackdays, etc. (without risking life) also a spiritual focus, ie. a belief in god helps, preferably the true one.
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your right darren i have wacked it on ebay but got 4 days till it ends so gotta decide.
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told u mate, i think u have let other stuff interfer ur mind and tell u what u should do, but like a lot of people who become wc family and lack of support make people decided that wc isnt for them, when all they need is a bit of encouragemnt to get out and knock
a lot of successful people in this business are either single or have someone supporting them,
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cheers, i bet others on here would say same thing. even tho i've sold that little round i had i can now start up in newquay where i live, makes more sense.
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no u cant thats my patch lol
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I know on another post I said I find the actual cleaning boring, it doesn't bore that much that I do not want to do it, I have a part timer and that motivates me a lot, but that wears of after a while. The hardest bit is starting the first job but once you get that done I am away and happy, I have also kept a few bungalows, ground floor flats and general trad work as I really enjoy the trad work for a pleasant change from wfp
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only been doing it a few months, not really canvassed proper and got 22 custies. Got all stressy this last week with the ex demanding money for kids and the current gf moaning about me not getting much money. Just sold the round today and wacked wfp kit on ebay, i'm now wondering wether i've made a mistake.
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chris the prob u got is you have knocked alot of the wrong areas at the worng time, like u said u knocked a lot and there is no one in, u was putting the effort in just in the wrong places
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How have you coped going through the building stage and then the downer stage ?
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I just make sure I earn enough to pay the bills..
For what ever reason you lack drive/motivation. You're in grave danger of becoming a 'subsistence window cleaner', or infact by your own admission you actually are. Crunch time for ya now, have you got what it takes to go make a succesfull career out of window cleaning, or are you just gonna make do? If ya not up in the mornin and out doing it all day everyday you might not make it. Then again, you might just get what you need.
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a few years ago i nearly packed in due to my alcoholism.i wasnt very well.up to my eyes in debt.my round crumbling before my eyes.now 5 years on im doing better than ever and wfp has increased my earning power.im debt free and looking ahead and improving my business.im also stone cold sober and ive recently packed in the fAgs again.
hows your lifestyle?do you have any other interests?
i dont need to work every day to pay the bills and have money to spend AND save BUT most of the time i love to WORK!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
.........im so glad i never threw the towel in!!!i did sell a bit off as i physically couldnt get round to the work in a decent time frame!
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Hi Daz...have a similar storey...gave up the booze and smokes in middle of 2005....been that way since.
Started this is Aug 2006 and building has been a blast and have lived, breathed this wc/wfp thing ever since...apart from the g/f I have had no interest in my past eh..pastimes...to the point I am currently selling all my dive gear...I have bought a couple of xs650's for a chopper build....was going to build a landrover some time ago but that fell through...eh business got in the way of that.
Perhaps concentrating on the business for the whole time has taken it's toll...some days are fine and others are just dire...
Don't get me wrong I am not on the verge of slitting my wrists it is just that my drive even at a basic level of getting out the door is just rock bottom.
Cheers
Dave.
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Lets face it we have a fantastic job but we just lack the most important ingredient . . . . the sun !
Its only september and all the talk is about freezing pipes and snow ::)
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Hi Daz...have a similar storey...gave up the booze and smokes in middle of 2005....been that way since.
Started this is Aug 2006 and building has been a blast and have lived, breathed this wc/wfp thing ever since...apart from the g/f I have had no interest in my past eh..pastimes...to the point I am currently selling all my dive gear...I have bought a couple of xs650's for a chopper build....was going to build a landrover some time ago but that fell through...eh business got in the way of that.
Perhaps concentrating on the business for the whole time has taken it's toll...some days are fine and others are just dire...
Don't get me wrong I am not on the verge of slitting my wrists it is just that my drive even at a basic level of getting out the door is just rock bottom.
Cheers
Dave.
Are you earning enough money? Is your work tough? Do you suffer with depression and is this clouding your view of your business? What are your alternatives? What does your family think? How long and how much have you invested in this business?
If you can't accept the type of work you have to do, then you maybe best doing something else, but there's lots of stuff to consider.
Like anything though, some people aren't cut out for this sort of work; that's not a judgement of character; there's plenty of jobs I wouldn't be suitable or happy to do.
And also, everyone has periods when they think 'this is bollox', but for me, if I get my head down and stuck in, the feeling passes. And I also like my MP3 player; sometimes it feels like I'm getting paid to listen to podcasts/talking books/music.
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Do you go away for a holiday or more each year dave? You sound like you need a break.
And with the absence of injury, you should put the tools down for a week or so and get away from your home environment.
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dave it sounds like you ve maybe focused too much on one thing(your business)and neglected other areas of your life.try and think of something that makes you feel truely alive!!or get back to basics and take the missus on a surprise weekend somewhere different or maybe you need a bit of therapy away from your computer and work.i go to AA meetings and find release from care,boredom and worry!i like to swim and read all sorts of books,watch films,cook,play with my friends/brothers kids!
REGARDS
dazmond
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Take some time off work, write a serious list of all the pros and cons of being a window cleaner and weigh them up. Don't do anything irrational you may regret later as the grass is no greener on the other side.
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Take some time off work, write a serious list of all the pros and cons of being a window cleaner and weigh them up. Don't do anything irrational you may regret later as the grass is no greener on the other side.
This is basically what I was going to say. I worked in the pharma industry for years and lost plenty of the jobs through the booze (aka Daz lol). I started up this part-time and I have built it up to a couple of grand a month now. I was probably on more money when working BUT I had to work shifts/weekends and had tosser of bosses going on about things. Now I do not drink as I have a reason to get out in the mornings as it is MY work.
You can start when you want, finish when you want, take days off when you want. Can you do that working for someone else? I very much doubt it.
As the previous post The grass is always greener.