Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: colley614 on April 17, 2012, 08:05:06 pm
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Hi Guys,
Just wondered if you guys would consider getting a secured personal loan to buy work to start you off? The way I'm looking at this is there is some work for sale locally and if I borrowed that amount plus a little extra I could buy the work then take advantage of a deal a local printing firm and get 20000 leaflets delivered and printed. I'm thinking that 20k of leaflets would get x amount of work which would pay the repayments on the loan so the work I bought would still be paying me. Even if I had to use the work to pay the loan repayments I would still have a wage at the end of the month from the work?
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Secured against your home?
In my mind you would be crazy for what is essentially good will.
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NO
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if it was viable, I would
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Ok what about getting a loan to get customers in a different way?
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Go and knock doors, that costs you nothing but your time, 100% return on each successful knock rather than % to bank every clean for however many years.
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Ok what about getting a loan to get customers in a different way?
again if it was viable then yes
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Go and knock doors, that costs you nothing but your time, 100% return on each successful knock rather than % to bank every clean for however many years.
Thats why I'm saying about the extra bit of money for the leaflets. If I borrowed a little extra I would be using the banks money to get work through advertising to repay them and the work I bought would be mine. The time I would spend doorknocking I could spend earning and repay them with a bit of the return I was getting.
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No wouldn't get loan or even buy work as I tender my own work at my prices and not priced at someone else's prices which can be low price.. :) :)
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No wouldn't get loan or even buy work as I tender my own work at my prices and not priced at someone else's prices which can be low price.. :) :)
I was thinking of asking the guy if I could work the round with him first, see the money and only then would I consider going to the bank.
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Go and knock doors, that costs you nothing but your time, 100% return on each successful knock rather than % to bank every clean for however many years.
Thats why I'm saying about the extra bit of money for the leaflets. If I borrowed a little extra I would be using the banks money to get work through advertising to repay them and the work I bought would be mine. The time I would spend doorknocking I could spend earning and repay them with a bit of the return I was getting.
And you would have a little bit extra to pay back each month. Trust me the banks will SCREW you without you helping them. Design and print your own leaflets on your computer and deliver them yous self. You will be amazed what a well worded leaflet will pull in.
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i did that, and it was the best thing i ever did. fortune favour the brave et al. i think as long as you make sure this is a genuine sale i.e not being sold to multiple parties at the same time then there should be no problems. youve gotta be a real dunce to lose more then a handful of customers when you do the take over. the work i bought would have taken about 10 years to build up myself so was well worth it.
if the work youre buying is something you dont think you could easily get yourself, or replicate in another area then i would suggest you strongly consider it. perhaps keep a part time job to start with until the cash flow gets sorted. most people that sya dont do it are the ones who already have a round they are happy with. getting started is a whole different story and i think you either take risks, or watch it build in drips and draps (the exception being if you are an excellent canvasser that goes out for months and months)
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Go and knock doors, that costs you nothing but your time, 100% return on each successful knock rather than % to bank every clean for however many years.
Thats why I'm saying about the extra bit of money for the leaflets. If I borrowed a little extra I would be using the banks money to get work through advertising to repay them and the work I bought would be mine. The time I would spend doorknocking I could spend earning and repay them with a bit of the return I was getting.
And you would have a little bit extra to pay back each month. Trust me the banks will SCREW you without you helping them. Design and print your own leaflets on your computer and deliver them yous self. You will be amazed what a well worded leaflet will pull in.
thats not a fast fix though Steve, we all no leaflets bring in work but not in large numbers at a time, it is a good trickle of work though and can last years
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and for the record, banks dont 'screw' you, everything they do is in your terms and conditions which you agre to when you take out their banking product so as long as you stick to them there you wont have any problems with the loan
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if it was viable, I would
I agree but it depends on many, many things.
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if it was viable, I would
I agree but it depends on many, many things.
true, but I would without doubt get a loan for this if needed, I am at the moment looking to buy out other window cleaners, just none being sold at the moment where I need them if one came along and I needed finance thats a route I would look down.
G Brookes makes a very valid post above in many ways
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Go and knock doors, that costs you nothing but your time, 100% return on each successful knock rather than % to bank every clean for however many years.
Thats why I'm saying about the extra bit of money for the leaflets. If I borrowed a little extra I would be using the banks money to get work through advertising to repay them and the work I bought would be mine. The time I would spend doorknocking I could spend earning and repay them with a bit of the return I was getting.
And you would have a little bit extra to pay back each month. Trust me the banks will SCREW you without you helping them. Design and print your own leaflets on your computer and deliver them yous self. You will be amazed what a well worded leaflet will pull in.
thats not a fast fix though Steve, we all no leaflets bring in work but not in large numbers at a time, it is a good trickle of work though and can last years
Not so sure, I started in April 2007, In my first year I turned over £28554.00. We now turnover in excess of £100K and I have NEVER canvassed (Haven't got the bottle!!!)
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Go and knock doors, that costs you nothing but your time, 100% return on each successful knock rather than % to bank every clean for however many years.
Thats why I'm saying about the extra bit of money for the leaflets. If I borrowed a little extra I would be using the banks money to get work through advertising to repay them and the work I bought would be mine. The time I would spend doorknocking I could spend earning and repay them with a bit of the return I was getting.
And you would have a little bit extra to pay back each month. Trust me the banks will SCREW you without you helping them. Design and print your own leaflets on your computer and deliver them yous self. You will be amazed what a well worded leaflet will pull in.
thats not a fast fix though Steve, we all no leaflets bring in work but not in large numbers at a time, it is a good trickle of work though and can last years
Not so sure, I started in April 2007, In my first year I turned over £28554.00. We now turnover in excess of £100K and I have NEVER canvassed (Haven't got the bottle!!!)
you got that all from leaflets ?
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yes .
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i did that, and it was the best thing i ever did. fortune favour the brave et al. i think as long as you make sure this is a genuine sale i.e not being sold to multiple parties at the same time then there should be no problems. youve gotta be a real dunce to lose more then a handful of customers when you do the take over. the work i bought would have taken about 10 years to build up myself so was well worth it.
if the work youre buying is something you dont think you could easily get yourself, or replicate in another area then i would suggest you strongly consider it. perhaps keep a part time job to start with until the cash flow gets sorted. most people that sya dont do it are the ones who already have a round they are happy with. getting started is a whole different story and i think you either take risks, or watch it build in drips and draps (the exception being if you are an excellent canvasser that goes out for months and months)
If you asked me to go out canvassing tomorrow I would be more than happy but ask me to go out for months and months on end and live of the cash and my head would go down. This area is one of the most affluent in the country. It is full of premiership football players and successfull entrepeneurs. I think I heard that 250 millionaires live on one road in the area and this round has taken 20 years to build. I've canvassed this area and it's all electric gates and long driveways. I would absolutely take on a part time job to fund the repayments just to get me going. If I was to start up tomorrow the business would have to stand on its own two feet straight away and if my pump broke down I wouldn't be able to get a new one unless I had the money from the round to pay for it.
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Go and knock doors, that costs you nothing but your time, 100% return on each successful knock rather than % to bank every clean for however many years.
Thats why I'm saying about the extra bit of money for the leaflets. If I borrowed a little extra I would be using the banks money to get work through advertising to repay them and the work I bought would be mine. The time I would spend doorknocking I could spend earning and repay them with a bit of the return I was getting.
And you would have a little bit extra to pay back each month. Trust me the banks will SCREW you without you helping them. Design and print your own leaflets on your computer and deliver them yous self. You will be amazed what a well worded leaflet will pull in.
thats not a fast fix though Steve, we all no leaflets bring in work but not in large numbers at a time, it is a good trickle of work though and can last years
Not so sure, I started in April 2007, In my first year I turned over £28554.00. We now turnover in excess of £100K and I have NEVER canvassed (Haven't got the bottle!!!)
you got that all from leaflets ?
YES all from leaflets and recomendations
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Go and knock doors, that costs you nothing but your time, 100% return on each successful knock rather than % to bank every clean for however many years.
Thats why I'm saying about the extra bit of money for the leaflets. If I borrowed a little extra I would be using the banks money to get work through advertising to repay them and the work I bought would be mine. The time I would spend doorknocking I could spend earning and repay them with a bit of the return I was getting.
And you would have a little bit extra to pay back each month. Trust me the banks will SCREW you without you helping them. Design and print your own leaflets on your computer and deliver them yous self. You will be amazed what a well worded leaflet will pull in.
thats not a fast fix though Steve, we all no leaflets bring in work but not in large numbers at a time, it is a good trickle of work though and can last years
Not so sure, I started in April 2007, In my first year I turned over £28554.00. We now turnover in excess of £100K and I have NEVER canvassed (Haven't got the bottle!!!)
you got that all from leaflets ?
YES all from leaflets and recomendations
nice, are you in kingslyn ?
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No the North Cotswolds
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if it was viable, I would
I agree but it depends on many, many things.
true, but I would without doubt get a loan for this if needed, I am at the moment looking to buy out other window cleaners, just none being sold at the moment where I need them if one came along and I needed finance thats a route I would look down.
G Brookes makes a very valid post above in many ways
Course, yeah.
I meant if the work was worth it, why not. But that depends on many, many things ;D.
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if it was viable, I would
I agree but it depends on many, many things.
true, but I would without doubt get a loan for this if needed, I am at the moment looking to buy out other window cleaners, just none being sold at the moment where I need them if one came along and I needed finance thats a route I would look down.
G Brookes makes a very valid post above in many ways
Put it this way at the moment I'm stuck in a rut. I'm in a job I don't enjoy but I can't afford to quit, I'm trying to save but am just earning enough to turn over. If I left this job then the money I earn would in part be replaced by tax credits and my wife is willing to go from part time to full time to help me get going which would cover the rest. But the round would have to cover itself, I'd have no spare money to replace anything that went wrong. If I bought this round I would be able to spend money to buy 20k in leaflets every month and have them delivered so work would come flying in and in 12 months I'd be booming.
Course, yeah.
I meant if the work was worth it, why not. But that depends on many, many things ;D.
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I would want to know:
How long the work had been established
How it is cleaned
how often
do they have a record to back up the claims they make
if you didnt have any money as a back up plan I would ask why this is, because a pump can and will break as could a load of equipment.
what is the price of the work per month and how much do they want for it, if you cannot afford to pay a loan and have money extra on top of this then to me the deal is not a good one, I dont know what the work is so just gussing. 20,000 leaflets is not alot, I have already done over 10,000 this year another 5,000 are going out in the next month, they do get work in but it is in no way guarenteed mate, I am not trying to put you off, more tying to help.
do you know the figures ?
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and for the record, banks dont 'screw' you, everything they do is in your terms and conditions which you agre to when you take out their banking product so as long as you stick to them there you wont have any problems with the loan
Banks can and do change their t&c all the time!!
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and for the record, banks dont 'screw' you, everything they do is in your terms and conditions which you agre to when you take out their banking product so as long as you stick to them there you wont have any problems with the loan
Banks can and do change their t&c all the time!!
totally agree, and they do try to screw you, they have tried it many a time with me, sometimes a credit card is cheaper than they lending, which I find shocking seeing as they are meant to be helping business's not trying it on
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The work is £3.5k to buy and turns over £710 a month. It's in an area where he is getting asked all the time but has full round. It's been established 20 years trad.
If I take out a personal loan because of my credit the apr is 47.9% but on a secured loan its only 12.9%. The repayments are about £110 a month. If I was earning £710 a month from my business then that would be mine to spend so I'd be able to send out leaflets every month with it if I wanted or buy a new pump or resin if needed.
I'm thinking the £710 income would be mine to play with.
The money I make sending out the first batch of leaflets would cover the loan repayments, but could pay the loan out of the £710 income I'd be buying.
Then every month I would be able to send out another batch of leaflets from the £710 of work. I don't have to finance anything else apart from the business. But the business would have to pay for itself.
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If you at this time are not already doing window I would not go to any bank as I don`t think you would get the loan on the strength of the value of the round as it has many risks if you were already working a year or two i would consider a loan.I would not take any advice on a loan with the scant detail you have provided.its a big step.i THINK IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND YOU KNOW THE RISKS AND DO NOT NEED ADVICE BUT ARE REALLY LOOKING FOR CONFIRMATION. ??? ??? ???
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If you at this time are not already doing window I would not go to any bank as I don`t think you would get the loan on the strength of the value of the round as it has many risks if you were already working a year or two i would consider a loan.I would not take any advice on a loan with the scant detail you have provided.its a big step.
I'm not new to window cleaning, been doing it over 12 years. I'm looking at the idea of a loan but am giving it good thought at the moment and will probably wake up in the morning with a totally different opinion on the subject but I am waying up the pro's and con's.
What do you mean by scant detail?
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from the sounds of it, I dont agree with wixzid that in the back of your mind your doubting it, as that sounds ok to me. I could well be wrong, but from what your saying it could well make sence, yet it is a big jump, but sometimes if we pass things we tend to always think what if.
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Banks can only screw you if your an idiot, buying work is a very sensible decision
For anyone who can't wait for the build up of work that comes from canvassing or any form of advertising. I bought rounds when I started window cleaning because I had bills to pay and was used to a certain amount of income.
Sometimes buying an existing business is the best way forward than starting from scratch and that is true in any industry.
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I'm not thinking I want to do this but I want you guys to say yeah go for it. I honestly feel like I'm standing on a cliff edge looking down and saying " Have any of you guys jumped?" I know the risks and rewards but I'm trying to balance them in my mind.
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Scant details you have just answered I would say it sound good to me .I was writing at the same time you answered as below good luck its sounds good Mate.
The work is £3.5k to buy and turns over £710 a month. It's in an area where he is getting asked all the time but has full round. It's been established 20 years trad.
If I take out a personal loan because of my credit the apr is 47.9% but on a secured loan its only 12.9%. The repayments are about £110 a month. If I was earning £710 a month from my business then that would be mine to spend so I'd be able to send out leaflets every month with it if I wanted or buy a new pump or resin if needed.
I'm thinking the £710 income would be mine to play with.
The money I make sending out the first batch of leaflets would cover the loan repayments, but could pay the loan out of the £710 income I'd be buying.
Then every month I would be able to send out another batch of leaflets from the £710 of work. I don't have to finance anything else apart from the business. But the business would have to pay for itself.
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Right I've decided the best way to think about this is to do a full 12 month cashflow projection. I'm going to run off the fact that I've got the loan and bought the work (obviously I haven't) and am now looking at how many jobs I can get in a month for 20k leaflets. I'm going to work off the figure of 0.5% success rate so for every 1000 leaflets I get half a job so I'm going to sit down and take it from there. Any other factors do you think I should put i.e. each job should be would be worth £xx each?
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0.5% sucess rate means you get 5 jobs per 1000. I would just skip the loan and bang on with the leaflets. I am very reluctant to go into debt. By doing that you should be on better than £700 a month pretty quickly. And canvassing should get you one a night easily now the evenings are getting lighter.
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Your saying £710 a month took 20 years to build in one of the most affluent areas.It doesn`t make sense!
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Don't borrow money, unless you can afford to pay it back straight away.
Don't buy a window cleaning round unless your gut feeling is 100% good about it.
Unless you have a really good relationship with your bank, it's unlikely they will lend (unlike what the government is saying!) This will push you to loan elsewhere with higher interest rates.
If you are really interested int his work, why not ask for a deal, a lump sum up front and monthy payments thereafter? :)
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The work is £3.5k to buy and turns over £710 a month. It's in an area where he is getting asked all the time but has full round. It's been established 20 years trad.
If I take out a personal loan because of my credit the apr is 47.9% but on a secured loan its only 12.9%. The repayments are about £110 a month. If I was earning £710 a month from my business then that would be mine to spend so I'd be able to send out leaflets every month with it if I wanted or buy a new pump or resin if needed.
I'm thinking the £710 income would be mine to play with.
The money I make sending out the first batch of leaflets would cover the loan repayments, but could pay the loan out of the £710 income I'd be buying.
Then every month I would be able to send out another batch of leaflets from the £710 of work. I don't have to finance anything else apart from the business. But the business would have to pay for itself.
If you do this, bear in mind that banks are more reluctant to lend for business purposes so it may have to look like it's for something else. Also, if possible, try to get the loan showing separately as the principal will be tax deductible as well as the interest.