Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Bushboy on November 18, 2011, 06:38:31 pm
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Did you see the news tonight ,
A bakery near reading offered a cup cake offer ! , she put no limit on it &
She nearly went bust ,
Her orders went up from a hundred to thousands , at silly prices ! she had to go
From a couple of staff to 25 ! To cope .
She said worst business decision she ever made & could have been her last one .
;D
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so really that's nuffin to do with groupon is it. Its her decision to do that.
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Mmm , let me think , nothing to do with groupon on eh , yeah there business
Model is great , if your a moron that is ,
You thought about signing up then , u sound like a fan ;D
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what would of happened of half of the people who got the cupcake, came back week after week, she woudl be saying best decision she ever made
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what would of happened of half of the people who got the cupcake, came back week after week, she woudl be saying best decision she ever made
They obviousley didn't! ;D
That's what groupon is for- BARGAIN HUNTERS!!!
Who would buy a bun for £3 that they bought for £1 before?
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window cleaners cant lose, the repeat buisness is really good, it is working great for me, so far out of 98 groupon custys, i have 27 on my books for every month, and they keep adding as i get through them all,
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window cleaners cant lose, the repeat buisness is really good, it is working great for me, so far out of 98 groupon custys, i have 27 on my books for every month, and they keep adding as i get through them all,
right jo spit out the exact details of the deal you offered then? please
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hard work lol the deal was glass frames cills external doors incl garage door, normal price £24 for grupon custys £8, i get £4 now i know i am having to work a bit harder first time, but after that, the repeat business is mine, and it is paying of, no canvassing or door knocking, or fliers, no outlay, your guaranteed the custys,
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window cleaners cant lose, the repeat buisness is really good, it is working great for me, so far out of 98 groupon custys, i have 27 on my books for every month, and they keep adding as i get through them all,
well well somebody is making it work fairplay matey! nice to be
proven wrong :)
you normally share any advice jouk,but on this occasion keep
to yourself and whilst the infantile know everything giggling
girlies on here keep laughing,hopefully you will be laughing
all the way to the bank! :)
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as gary said well done.
but do us a favour and let us know the figures still on the books after 6 months, hopefully it will be good though.
just a question though jo, you have been going for years why the need? are you expanding
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hard work lol the deal was glass frames cills external doors incl garage door, normal price £24 for grupon custys £8, i get £4 now i know i am having to work a bit harder first time, but after that, the repeat business is mine, and it is paying of, no canvassing or door knocking, or fliers, no outlay, your guaranteed the custys,
As I've mentioned elsewhere, the question is not whether you can get customers via Groupon but whether it's the best use of your money. So, taking the post above and looking at your gaining 27 customers from 98 taking the deal.
You've done 98 cleans. Now my first cleans working alone take about an hour if they are anything but tiny, so if I was wanting to value my time at, say, £12 an hour (and I value it a LOT higher than that) then that would be £1200 as near as dammit.
Well in my world, including solus delivery, a very high quality leaflet costs just under 8p. Let's round it up to the full 8p. So, I could send out 15,000 leaflets. At my normal conversion rate of 0.43% that'd give me 64 customers.
There are some assumptions in there, but unless I've made a major error it'd be more efficient to leaflet. It'd also be easier, as I'm not even delivering them in my method. I've also ignored any costs you have had to pay out to service those customers along with travelling time.
You can see it's not a knee-jerk or "infantile" reaction to this, just a genuine doubt as to whether it's the cheapest way to gain new customers. I may well have made a mistake with the maths; if I have feel free to point it out.
Vin
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well i have always worked weekends as a security guard, frid sat sun nights, guaranteed money, getting fed up of it now, so cutting of sundays, so will need to fill up those sundays, and mondays,
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but a warning, there are bad flaws in groupon for the evil minded, one could even get rich by it for window cleaning, ::)
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well i have always worked weekends as a security guard, frid sat sun nights, guaranteed money, getting fed up of it now, so cutting of sundays, so will need to fill up those sundays, and mondays,
no problem mate, I can see the advantage when you need work quickly, but for established guys I wouldn't do it, that is all I was hinting at, hope it works out, and of course from the gained there is word of mouth recommendations ;) which goes for leaflets or groupon.
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hard work lol the deal was glass frames cills external doors incl garage door, normal price £24 for grupon custys £8, i get £4 now i know i am having to work a bit harder first time, but after that, the repeat business is mine, and it is paying of, no canvassing or door knocking, or fliers, no outlay, your guaranteed the custys,
As I've mentioned elsewhere, the question is not whether you can get customers via Groupon but whether it's the best use of your money. So, taking the post above and looking at your gaining 27 customers from 98 taking the deal.
You've done 98 cleans. Now my first cleans working alone take about an hour if they are anything but tiny, so if I was wanting to value my time at, say, £12 an hour (and I value it a LOT higher than that) then that would be £1200 as near as dammit.
Well in my world, including solus delivery, a very high quality leaflet costs just under 8p. Let's round it up to the full 8p. So, I could send out 15,000 leaflets. At my normal conversion rate of 0.43% that'd give me 64 customers.
There are some assumptions in there, but unless I've made a major error it'd be more efficient to leaflet. It'd also be easier, as I'm not even delivering them in my method. I've also ignored any costs you have had to pay out to service those customers along with travelling time.
You can see it's not a knee-jerk or "infantile" reaction to this, just a genuine doubt as to whether it's the cheapest way to gain new customers. I may well have made a mistake with the maths; if I have feel free to point it out.
Vin
hi vin, there is no outlay, we can take the gamble small or large jobs, luckily mine have been standard cleans, i said i have 98 custys from groupon, but only done 27, 3 tomorrow the rest have not booked in yet, also custys via groupon direct to my site, who did not buy the groupon deal, they just wanted a w/c 19 to be exact, but as already mentioned, i will see how it goes over the next few months,
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hard work lol the deal was glass frames cills external doors incl garage door, normal price £24 for grupon custys £8, i get £4 now i know i am having to work a bit harder first time, but after that, the repeat business is mine, and it is paying of, no canvassing or door knocking, or fliers, no outlay, your guaranteed the custys,
As I've mentioned elsewhere, the question is not whether you can get customers via Groupon but whether it's the best use of your money. So, taking the post above and looking at your gaining 27 customers from 98 taking the deal.
You've done 98 cleans. Now my first cleans working alone take about an hour if they are anything but tiny, so if I was wanting to value my time at, say, £12 an hour (and I value it a LOT higher than that) then that would be £1200 as near as dammit.
Well in my world, including solus delivery, a very high quality leaflet costs just under 8p. Let's round it up to the full 8p. So, I could send out 15,000 leaflets. At my normal conversion rate of 0.43% that'd give me 64 customers.
There are some assumptions in there, but unless I've made a major error it'd be more efficient to leaflet. It'd also be easier, as I'm not even delivering them in my method. I've also ignored any costs you have had to pay out to service those customers along with travelling time.
You can see it's not a knee-jerk or "infantile" reaction to this, just a genuine doubt as to whether it's the cheapest way to gain new customers. I may well have made a mistake with the maths; if I have feel free to point it out.
Vin
Your missing 1 vital point here - the outlay to groupon is zero £££ - to do it your way means shelling out cash - something
that may not be available to everyone - therefore groupon appeals and may work
we were very close to doing a gutter clean promo - but after number crunching ruled it out
i do hope ( for the sake of others and the general 'community' of w/c's) that jo and kev do update us say in march as to how
groupon has affected/benefitted there biz
Darran
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must type/think quicker.............
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must type/think quicker.............
;D
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Sorry but I still don't get it. Jo could put out 10,000 leaflets paid for by his security job and sit on his arse or sleep all night. At the moment he's working his nuts off to gain customers at what £5 an hour? No guarantee they will stay on the books either.
He could pick up new work by conventional means and charge full price at least for the first clean possibly 50% more.
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There is a cost to Groupon, if you look into it even though they are a huge company with a massive valuation, they have yet to turn a profit!
As for the original story, it was muffin to do with Groupon :)
I'll get me coat.
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Sorry but I still don't get it. Jo could put out 10,000 leaflets paid for by his security job and sit on his arse or sleep all night. At the moment he's working his nuts off to gain customers at what £5 an hour? No guarantee they will stay on the books either.
He could pick up new work by conventional means and charge full price at least for the first clean possibly 50% more.
I never said I got it either, just asking questions
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i will definitly report back in a few months time, but honestly, i am getting the repeat business, all i do is fitt them in when i am in their area, saves on fuel and time, i keep all my groupon custys seperated in george, and move them into my rounds as i get the nod from them, also i only do w/c, but a lot of you guys do gutter cleaning, pressure washing,ect, so can generate more work from these
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There is a cost to Groupon, if you look into it even though they are a huge company with a massive valuation, they have yet to turn a profit!
As for the original story, it was muffin to do with Groupon :)
I'll get me coat.
[/quote
please do! and close the door behind you! ;D
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There is a cost to Groupon, if you look into it even though they are a huge company with a massive valuation, they have yet to turn a profit!
As for the original story, it was muffin to do with Groupon :)
I'll get me coat.
[/quote
please do! and close the door behind you! ;D
That one takes the biscuit! ;D
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it's all a bit airy FAIRY really..... :-\
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What have I started??
I'm so sorry.
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;D
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So , hang on
Groupon get you 98 houses lets round 1 house to one hour as they are ment to be £24 and dont forget they are dirty first cleans,you could maybe do them in half an hour but im sure moral will be low since you are making only £4
so 98 hours you are paid £392 minus your travelling time well thats 2 weeks work after travelling costs and other costs you are earning well below minimum wage.
the only person i see benefits is the customer and unless i read it wrong i also find it hard to believe that you have 100% conversion rate you only cleaned 27 and 27 have chosen to pay you 3x more then they just paid for a first clean for a maintenance clean.? that doesnt sound right please confirm.
Groupon may work and if it works for you somehow thats great,
but i do know the numbers game , i also know customers very well are you certain that 27 are staying on your round and willing to pay you 3x more for a maintenance clean or did i read it wrong ? i know for a fact if any of us clean a house for £8 first time very few will agree to pay us so much more for a maintenance clean?
98 houses can be door knocked quite easily if you had the time in about 45 hours even sooner if you walk fast and if you pick up 98 houses at 1.5x the clean of £24 for example that's £3428 on the first clean alone , even if you are left with 70% on maintenance clean do the maths i just don't see the point of working for £4.
you do need to add the 45 hours canvassing to your first clean hours of in this case 98 houses so at most 98 hours probably 40 mins (moral will be high) but lets just say 98 hours plus 45 hours 143 hours in exchange for three and a half grand or 98 hours in exchange for 392.! not being funny but i can not imagine them sticking after only paying £8 for a £24 job logically if you picked them up yourself and charged them £35 on first clean you will have a higher stick rate,so you having a high stick rate is weird!
unless you use contracts of some kind before you knock out that first clean customers should say ,, Cheers for that we will call you if we ever need you", or thanks for letting us know that we can join the round we will let you know.
if you dont like doorknocking or leafleting and if most are willing to pay you 3x more and if it really does work and customers are sticking in your area , i guess you should keep doing it maybe take a loss on the first clean and employ just to get them done faster
i know for a fact it wont work in my areas and many areas cos
it would be THANNKS, YOURE A STAR , BRILLIANT JOB ,SPEAK TO YOU IN 3 YEARS :)
Good luck thou!
p.s hope this post makes some sort of sence , its 3 am friday night , just got back from a night out with the mrs.! gn!
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Well in my world, including solus delivery, a very high quality leaflet costs just under 8p. Let's round it up to the full 8p. So, I could send out 15,000 leaflets. At my normal conversion rate of 0.43% that'd give me 64 customers.
....
Vin
Your missing 1 vital point here - the outlay to groupon is zero £££ - to do it your way means shelling out cash - something
that may not be available to everyone - therefore groupon appeals and may work
we were very close to doing a gutter clean promo - but after number crunching ruled it out
i do hope ( for the sake of others and the general 'community' of w/c's) that jo and kev do update us say in march as to how
groupon has affected/benefitted there biz
Darran
Darran,
Yes, I can see that. Equally, a leaflet doesn't have to be the 3p I pay. Plenty of people on here use much, much cheaper. And 98 hours of delivering (much easier than 98 hours of first cleans) would get out about 12,000 leaflets. I'm choosing to have someone else do them.
I'm not attacking the Groupon solution; it just seems to me (from the numbers) that there are MUCH cheaper/easier ways to get new customers.
Vin
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hi vin, there is no outlay, we can take the gamble small or large jobs, luckily mine have been standard cleans, i said i have 98 custys from groupon, but only done 27, 3 tomorrow the rest have not booked in yet, also custys via groupon direct to my site, who did not buy the groupon deal, they just wanted a w/c 19 to be exact, but as already mentioned, i will see how it goes over the next few months,
You've really converted all 27 people who paid £8 into regular customers at £24? If so, then I'm deeply impressed.
A local dentist friend of mine did a deal on initial checkups and got almost no repeat business out of it. He said it generated a bundle of very price-conscious one-off visitors. It was just about worth it for him as he'd just started a new practice and was doing nothing at all for most of the day but he says he'd never even consider doing it again.
Vin
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i am be wrong, but i would assume that Jo's repeat customers are not paying £24 for further cleans.
if someone took the groupon deal and has say 6 windows/doors + conny you could quite easy sell future
cleans @ £14 a pop
remember the deal is for upto 24 windows/door + garage door ( who would go for a garage door wash 4 wky ? )
so you could juggle figures accordingly
Darran
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my normal prices round here are £8 and £10 for domestic house, now what i told the groupon rep was, i charge from £24 for a first clean, then the price drops to a regular maintainance clean, so the custys jump at the offer, then when i am done cleaning their house, i then say to them, as a one of special offer, i can clean their windows cills frames doors plus garage, every month for £8 or £10 and yes 27 have taken my deal, especialy after they see what we can do with wfp, you really have to take the opertunty of the deal to sell yourself, and i really do have the gift of the gab, but who knows, maybe a few months down the line, a few will drop of, then again matbe not. also, you are not running around just cleaning groupon cleans all day, you fit them in, as you re working in the area, i dont waste any time, i call or email the night before, saying i will be in the area, most leave their gates open for the backs, or have open planed, so easy access,
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my normal prices round here are £8 and £10 for domestic house, now what i told the groupon rep was, i charge from £24 for a first clean, then the price drops to a regular maintainance clean, so the custys jump at the offer, then when i am done cleaning their house, i then say to them, as a one of special offer, i can clean their windows cills frames doors plus garage, every month for £8 or £10 and yes 27 have taken my deal, especialy after they see what we can do with wfp, you really have to take the opertunty of the deal to sell yourself, and i really do have the gift of the gab, but who knows, maybe a few months down the line, a few will drop of, then again matbe not. also, you are not running around just cleaning groupon cleans all day, you fit them in, as you re working in the area, i dont waste any time, i call or email the night before, saying i will be in the area, most leave their gates open for the backs, or have open planed, so easy access,
That clarifies it a lot. I hadn't even thought of the £24 being a maximum. I can see why conversion would be easier than I thought.
Vin
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my normal prices round here are £8 and £10 for domestic house, now what i told the groupon rep was, i charge from £24 for a first clean, then the price drops to a regular maintainance clean, so the custys jump at the offer, then when i am done cleaning their house, i then say to them, as a one of special offer, i can clean their windows cills frames doors plus garage, every month for £8 or £10 and yes 27 have taken my deal, especialy after they see what we can do with wfp, you really have to take the opertunty of the deal to sell yourself, and i really do have the gift of the gab, but who knows, maybe a few months down the line, a few will drop of, then again matbe not. also, you are not running around just cleaning groupon cleans all day, you fit them in, as you re working in the area, i dont waste any time, i call or email the night before, saying i will be in the area, most leave their gates open for the backs, or have open planed, so easy access,
sounds like a better deal than the first time you described it. that makes some sense. i suppose the trick is to dupe groupon into thinking you are more expensive than you are.
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But if you do that don't they take a higher percentage anyway?
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my normal prices round here are £8 and £10 for domestic house, now what i told the groupon rep was, i charge from £24 for a first clean, then the price drops to a regular maintainance clean, so the custys jump at the offer, then when i am done cleaning their house, i then say to them, as a one of special offer, i can clean their windows cills frames doors plus garage, every month for £8 or £10 and yes 27 have taken my deal, especialy after they see what we can do with wfp, you really have to take the opertunty of the deal to sell yourself, and i really do have the gift of the gab, but who knows, maybe a few months down the line, a few will drop of, then again matbe not. also, you are not running around just cleaning groupon cleans all day, you fit them in, as you re working in the area, i dont waste any time, i call or email the night before, saying i will be in the area, most leave their gates open for the backs, or have open planed, so easy access,
sounds like a better deal than the first time you described it. that makes some sense. i suppose the trick is to dupe groupon into thinking you are more expensive than you are.
i know a lot of you guys in england, get at least double what i make for a house, so yes if planed out carfully, even with groupon taking their share, you could earn good money, you make the deal, not groupon, its negotiable with them, the rest is basicly letting the buyers think they are getting a great bargain, just back from cleaning a big farm house, took me an hour, was very dirty, she is now monthly £15 but you need to be prepared to take the good with the bad, most for me has been reasonably good,
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my normal prices round here are £8 and £10 for domestic house, now what i told the groupon rep was, i charge from £24 for a first clean, then the price drops to a regular maintainance clean, so the custys jump at the offer, then when i am done cleaning their house, i then say to them, as a one of special offer, i can clean their windows cills frames doors plus garage, every month for £8 or £10 and yes 27 have taken my deal, especialy after they see what we can do with wfp, you really have to take the opertunty of the deal to sell yourself, and i really do have the gift of the gab, but who knows, maybe a few months down the line, a few will drop of, then again matbe not. also, you are not running around just cleaning groupon cleans all day, you fit them in, as you re working in the area, i dont waste any time, i call or email the night before, saying i will be in the area, most leave their gates open for the backs, or have open planed, so easy access,
That clarifies it a lot. I hadn't even thought of the £24 being a maximum. I can see why conversion would be easier than I thought.
Vin
yes this clears alot up , i would tell gruopon its £50 then lol
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first off if it is getting you custy then great, if groupon was where i lived i would give it a try,
an hour for a first clean? i dont spend a hour on a first clean, just stiff brush and up flow, or a lot trying to justify the higher charge
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no we thought his normal price was 24 quid you can assume that could be 40 mins.
its all cleared up now , houses are only £10 cant see it being much longer then 10 15 mins.
look maybe groupon is the answer who knows.
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hard work lol the deal was glass frames cills external doors incl garage door, normal price £24 for grupon custys £8, i get £4 now i know i am having to work a bit harder first time, but after that, the repeat business is mine, and it is paying of, no canvassing or door knocking, or fliers, no outlay, your guaranteed the custys,
Mate if you think you will keep your new customers once you have done them for peanuts even if they say yes to a monthly bi-monthly clean your sadly deluded.
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hard work lol the deal was glass frames cills external doors incl garage door, normal price £24 for grupon custys £8, i get £4 now i know i am having to work a bit harder first time, but after that, the repeat business is mine, and it is paying of, no canvassing or door knocking, or fliers, no outlay, your guaranteed the custys,
Mate if you think you will keep your new customers once you have done them for peanuts even if they say yes to a monthly bi-monthly clean your sadly deluded.
steve, after many years in this buisness, you get a good idea of the mess around custys, these custys added to my books are genuine, at least i got them commited, thats what it is all about, attracting new custys, definitly not deluted thats for sure,
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I think all you doubters should shut it, at least hes trying to get work.
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I think all you doubters should shut it, at least hes trying to get work.
is no one allowed an opinion then ??? jouk is a good lad he will tell how it is in 6 months time and whether it is worth it or not.
my instincts tell me not, but I hope he proves me wrong
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Mine are going well too and a new campaign on groupon is coming up in a couple of weeks!
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jouk let it go mate you are wasting your time,i admit i
was one of the doubters not one of the giggly girl type
that frequent this forum but i didnt think it wouldpay.
however if you are making it pay fairplay to you
obviously you have thought outside the box so to speak
and worked round the obvious problems and its nice to
be proven wrong.
i wouldnt bother trying to educate the cocks that mock
on here or the giggly girlies and sheep that love to follow
the crowd(that doesnt include the people on here that make objective
comments and constructive critcism)but carry on inyour
own sweet way and sod em!! :)
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I think all you doubters should shut it, at least hes trying to get work.
is no one allowed an opinion then ??? jouk is a good lad he will tell how it is in 6 months time and whether it is worth it or not.
my instincts tell me not, but I hope he proves me wrong
nothing wrong with opinions stuart mate or constructive
criticism but its the mocking comments from the ones who
think they are smarter than the average plank that wind
genuine people up.
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I think all you doubters should shut it, at least hes trying to get work.
Too right, you wouldn't want a discussion on a forum, would you?
Vin
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I think all you doubters should shut it, at least hes trying to get work.
is no one allowed an opinion then ??? jouk is a good lad he will tell how it is in 6 months time and whether it is worth it or not.
my instincts tell me not, but I hope he proves me wrong
nothing wrong with opinions stuart mate or constructive
criticism but its the mocking comments from the ones who
think they are smarter than the average plank that wind
genuine people up.
just ignore them anyway, I really am interested in how this all goes and yes I am a doubter, but jouk has certainly gave me food for thought, I wouldn't do it myself right now, but if I wanted to expand quickly it will be something I will consider, and thanks to jouk I would know how to play it in terms of what is offered
added still don't think I would do it though
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I think all you doubters should shut it, at least hes trying to get work.
aggressive post that. at least hes trying to get work?? so if anyone tipped up near you and nicked all your customers by halving the price you charge for instance, would you still say hes only trying to get work?
and before you misunderstand what im saying i dont mean groupon. i mean you think that any way of getting work is ok even if it earns crap money or it lowers the price of window cleaning in an area where window cleaners work?
if you think groupon is a good way to get work you should shut it and go and set your own groupon deal.
or just shut it.
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ok guys, will report back after the new year,
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Who's Cardiffno1 sounds like a plank ;D 23 posts & all aggressive :o
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ok guys, will report back after the new year,
thanks joe ;)
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;D