Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Rob_Mac on December 22, 2010, 05:29:52 pm
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What are we going to change for the New Year, what do we want to achieve and what are we going to do to get there.
Rob ;D
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iv not actually thought about where and what i want from the business for a while last year aint been a great one rob motivations been up n down like a yoyo but what i do know is im gna giv me fat arse the biggest boot its had in a long time turn big 30 in feb time to start behaving like a man
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I intend to start targeting a particular type of property. BIG!! stuff.
I'll be marketing myself and canvassing these places, probably taking a week day off each week for a period of time early in the year with the intention of going after these places on that day. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a nice wedge of stuff enabling me to offload some more residential estate work.
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do u have a lot of nice stuff rnd ur way matt where i live there really isnt that great amount of glass too clean for quite a large town even going into chester its not like ya usual cities with tall buildings evfin seems to be under 3-4 storeys still waitin for all the nice curtain walled building to shoot up!!!
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I've got quite a few nice contracts on the books Richy. There's plenty about if you look hard enough. What I'm referring to in this thread though will require more travelling, might head your way mate and show you a method or two for securing this kind of work ";@)
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get 2nd van on road before May and winterise all of my set up ... vans, garage/ workshop, water production.
also get more comercial work which I can do early in the morning before residential stuff.
save £10 a day every day 5 days a week into winter fund
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by all means pop up mate and show me i let meself down i do a lot of telephone calling get peoples names etc send letters then end up finding other work to do and forget to chase the leads up then
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fao ian have u picked up any domestic house cleaning from your website yet
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fao ian have u picked up any domestic house cleaning from your website yet
well in one word ..... no :)
tbh website not really apllicable to me as had it designed before started window cleaning now too busy with the windows to do any house cleaning ... when im spending again will get it redesigned .. done by ur bloke i think ... little roodee Simon
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oh yeah hw did u find him i paid quite a large amount in march n hes been pretty unreliable considering im returning customer no urgency with him seems to be like he'll fit u in if hes dry with work
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do u have a lot of nice stuff rnd ur way matt where i live there really isnt that great amount of glass too clean for quite a large town even going into chester its not like ya usual cities with tall buildings evfin seems to be under 3-4 storeys still waitin for all the nice curtain walled building to shoot up!!!
richy, not being funny mate but the wirral is home to some massive houses, where are you looking?
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Put this post up yesterday and thought it was going to die a quiet death.
Here's mine;
New sign writing & get it on the van - DONE!!
New business card - DONE!!
New website - work starting - ready very early New Year!
New van set up - getting rid of trailer set ups - DONE!!
Second van (same set up) end of January latest!!
Brand new working operation (can't talk about this) started and in full operation by December 2011
An increase in turnover of 50%
Two new clients - this will be achieved through all of the above and a specific targeting campaign
Lot to do this year!!!!
Rob ;D
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i think i really need to sit down and have a good think. ::) ::) ::) ::)
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Some good poins here guys
Me personally my business was floundering bad. I had loans, office lady 2 days week, lease agreements & the list goes on. We looked a good, i have everything a med business requires other than ISO Accreditation.
But the profit was low & some weeks actually losing money. I had stopped on the tools to expand business.
Decision 1 employye had to go, straight away this save £1500 aprox, i tidied a few things & continued into a busy spell. Then i resat down & went through every bill paid of a loan, 2 lease came to an end, the office lady finished & i saved another £1000pm
In total i saved £2500pm, it was over 6 months to implement it, but i looked strong i was on van full time plus office & happy.
But, we do a lot of schools, prior to starting schools we lost more work, and it went quite, i continued with the work force rather than lay offs knowing we were going to be busy, that was a massive mistake that cost me big about2.5 to 3k which i couldnt affod to happen.
Now its the weather, but, i do constantly monior the business
Beware you never know where your hick up is hiding if you dont look
Gary
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every january/february i have a review of jobs im going to increase/dump and tell them in march that from next time(april/may) ill be increasing their price for that particular job or dumping.
work comes to me as im well established and have a lot of work in one particular area and the add on jobs like conny roofs/fascia/soffit cleans usually come thick and fast mainly from existing customers in the spring/summer months.
i will be canvassing a few bigger properties on longer frequencies to fill in a few gaps here and there.the estate work ive got is good for cashflow but i would like more bigger properties on longer frequencies at good prices to bump up my earnings.
thats it really!this year ive invested in the van/wfp/signage/uniform etc etc.
im in a good position business wise but no time to rest on my laurels apart from this nice 3 week break at xmas!!
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What are we going to change for the New Year, what do we want to achieve and what are we going to do to get there.
Rob ;D
should be the same thing every year
improving your profits
getting there, is a secret ;D
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was going to look at getting more commercial, but unless i can employ some one reliable aint going to happen, stick with what i got, and try to triple my domestic work, ideally want everyone on a 5 week cycle, for this got to knock 5-6 nights a week
was looking at getting a other van on road but that can wait till summer and see where i am
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Ive had a long think about this and my conclusion for the new year is am gonna carry on pushing toward the vat limit, and refine my work so that i can do the work in as little time as possible each week/month and yet still turnover a good wedge each month / year, i am gonna keep on the lad who works with me and he will work with me, i am not too interested in putting out another van i just want my work to be cream and see what sort of money the 2 of us can make
Too get there, i am having a complete re brand of websites, new logo, uniform and will purchase as new a van as i can afford van toward the back end of the year with a 2 man hot system put in ready for winter
Also going to target domestic by knocking my self to get a X amount each week until end of summer, and leaflet drops in my areas, and targetted commercial campaign too.
got alot to achieve this year but if, sorry i mean WHEN i do it, then the next few years i will merely have to keep refining the worst jobs with better ones, and keep ticking over earning the dollars. Im not empire building as i don't like the idea of all the high overheads and stress with it that iv seen and heard others struggle with, just me and one guy will do.
seperate from the windows im setting up a small unrelated business that i can run along side but only small but its my winter fund/ winter work, its work that just wants doing every 12 months and a friend is going into with me and will look after it while im busy with the windows, i will concentrate on it through winter......
busy year
good post, everyone keep em coming, it helps motivate one another and remember and focus your own goals, im turning 24 august 2011 and really want to start seeing something for my efforts, im just about getting ok financially after finishing off paying for lots of finance from starting out, and being a silly teen so by the end of this year i will be in a strong position business, and personal wise ,and looking to buy my first home !
anyway , thats mine!
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Invested a fair amount this year so pretty much up to speed with most things.
Would like to keep around the 12% customer turnover mark and would like 10% increase in turnover over this year.
Other than that am happy with it all ..other than the fact I find w/c boring.
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Excuse some of my spelling earlier it was on my teenage daughters laptop.
I have barely worked these last weeks with the weather, but, still have numerous bills i.e. 3 vans on finance & premises, wages etc. But, still i am upbeat about the New Year, i have a few things on new work developing & other avenues to pursue.
Having spoke to Rob, he is a good motivater for guys in small companies or struggling business,s, he actually offered me help a few weeks ago, when i was struggling for that i thank you again Rob. But also his way of thought, he almost thinks a jobs his before getting it, which is a very positive way to be, especially in his field of large high end clients. So my point is i would read his threads & if we took half of his confidence on board all our business,s would grow.
Gary
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But also his way of thought, he almost thinks a jobs his before getting it, which is a very positive way to be, especially in his field of large high end clients.
I have developed this manner of working this last year or so. Talking to the client prior to pricing I think they like a confident individual who comes across as if he knows what he is talking about and is comfortable/competent and knowledgeable about his job. It's more important than price so long as you're not being silly.
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Some good poins here guys
Me personally my business was floundering bad. I had loans, office lady 2 days week, lease agreements & the list goes on. We looked a good, i have everything a med business requires other than ISO Accreditation.
But the profit was low & some weeks actually losing money. I had stopped on the tools to expand business.
Decision 1 employye had to go, straight away this save £1500 aprox, i tidied a few things & continued into a busy spell. Then i resat down & went through every bill paid of a loan, 2 lease came to an end, the office lady finished & i saved another £1000pm
In total i saved £2500pm, it was over 6 months to implement it, but i looked strong i was on van full time plus office & happy.
But, we do a lot of schools, prior to starting schools we lost more work, and it went quite, i continued with the work force rather than lay offs knowing we were going to be busy, that was a massive mistake that cost me big about2.5 to 3k which i couldnt affod to happen.
Now its the weather, but, i do constantly monior the business
Beware you never know where your hick up is hiding if you dont look
Gary
Thanks for a great post Gary.
Very honest with some reality, quite rare sometimes around here! ;)
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It's always good to sit down at the end of the year, look at what you've done over the past 12 months and try and plan what you want to do in the coming 12 months............its called a "Business Plan" and everyone should be doing one and reviewing it regularly, most of us don't.
A lot of people are quite happy just doing what they do, without really thinking where they want to be at the end of it. Yes it's nice to earn a decent income every week, but what if..........?
What if you were to injure yourself and couldn't work for weeks?
What if it snowed for 3 weeks and you couldn't get out to clean windows?
What if someone came onto your area and started undercutting your business?
What happens to your business when you retire? Is it saleable?
What other markets are out there that you could be targeting?
What are others doing better than you?
This year we've added a third window cleaning van and bought and moved into a 3200 sq ft unit to store everything we need, I've also moved one of the RO systems out of the van and turned it into a 2000 ltr static system. Market wise we have grown the business by about 10%, but more importantly we've touched into a new target market that I think can be quite lucrative if done properly.
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Good post, but you’re assuming a lot on here have a business.
Some are still in the stage of building, even without any kind of documented plan, others (really) believe they have a business so don’t need a plan. Many more don’t know how to plan, they can window clean perfectly but can’t operate, run, or build a window cleaning “Business”
Aspiration in this context means ambition, goal. That requires thinking which is hard work, window cleaning is relatively easy, and that’s why you get all sorts of clowns working in the trade, there not making any money though.
Take pleasure in that.
Says the car park attendant! ;D
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Good post, but you’re assuming a lot on here have a business.
Some are still in the stage of building, even without any kind of documented plan, others (really) believe they have a business so don’t need a plan. Many more don’t know how to plan, they can window clean perfectly but can’t operate, run, or build a window cleaning “Business”
Aspiration in this context means ambition, goal. That requires thinking which is hard work, window cleaning is relatively easy, and that’s why you get all sorts of clowns working in the trade, there not making any money though.
Take pleasure in that.
Clowns?!
If I could meet you in person, I`d shove a custard pie in your face >:(.
Honk honk.
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oh yeah hw did u find him i paid quite a large amount in march n hes been pretty unreliable considering im returning customer no urgency with him seems to be like he'll fit u in if hes dry with work
did what I asked him to do so no complaints so far but dont sound too good when ur a returning customer
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ive only been doing this 2years, i have whats termed a "slogger round" no cream here and all on the ladders. it will mushroom this spring and force me to change tack. but i wish to keep on the council estates so maybe will take on a lad
this weather has led me into doing other stuff,selling real tat on ebay. i started it as a joke but have been suprised what will sell,with no reserve . i might do that more and will be looking to find a courier who can deliver BIG TAT for me