Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: dave f on September 19, 2015, 07:37:57 am
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do you get fed up with parts of your round ie bad payers locked gates .dog shyte gardens e.t.c trying to explain to customers that they owe for 2 cleanes list gose on as we all know.im fed up some days and others I am ok when I am collecting and seeing the fruits of my hard work.lol
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do you get fed up with parts of your round ie bad payers locked gates .dog shyte gardens e.t.c trying to explain to customers that they owe for 2 cleanes list gose on as we all know.im fed up some days and others I am ok when I am collecting and seeing the fruits of my hard work.lol
Yes :)
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Fed up with the whole thing at the moment...
:-\
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I get fed up all the time. Window cleaning is a very boring and monotonous job. Same houses, windows, people over and over and over and over .......
You just have to think of the money and simplify your business as much as possible.
Less = more, charge as high as you can possibly get away with and do as little hours on the glass as possible.
Get rid of the messers, awkward jobs, bad payers and when you get home each day try to get everything ready for the next day as quickly as possible so you can switch off from cleaning windows.
I like to be done for the day by 5.30pm including work all organised, van filled, customers text etc. After that point I don't even think about work, don't answer calls from customers or respond to emails.
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Bad payers and dog poop infested gardens are not really a problem as have filtered these out.
But it's the monotony of the job and bad weather preventing me from getting out that does my head in.
Although sometimes a bit of perspective is required, and the world's a safer place with people like me cleaning windows rather than performing open heart surgery or flying aeroplanes for a living. ;D
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All jobs have their ups & downs.
I returned to a customer yesterday to do a first maintenance clean. I cleaned up his windows to a really good standard last time & it took ages - he turned round to me yesterday & explained he was going to to his own windows from now on....
The same afternoon I picked up a new customer - £18 house and she's also asking me to clean the windows on a health & beauty spa that she owns.
It swings it roundabouts.....
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As Chris Turner says - you can do a lot to improve your round.
For me I have improved my round by:
Not collecting.
Charging extra for "first cleans" which mitigates against the "I'll do my own from now on" brigade.
Compacting it.
Dropping less easy to manage customers quickly once I have identified them as such.
Increasing prices from time to time. (I feel I need to be a bit more hard nosed on this but I think too much and as we have had drops in fuel and nil inflation this last year I have held back when really I could go for it in a more organised way.)
Learn from this forum.
I like the idea of getting everything ready for the next day by (say) tea time) as I'm tend to come in, enter everything on George and crash out.
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Most jobs are repetitive .
At least you decide what and when you do stuff .
Custies can be brilliant and also problematic .
I cancelled 2 yesterday as they were just moaners and expected everything doing for little .
£10 window clean and eccpected all facia's and garage doors wiped down for £20 all in . 4 bed detached house . Lol .
Smother said back windows were all dirty , so I checked and her insides were dirty . Cleaned one of them and were dirty as hell . She was shocked . So I said I can do them all for £10 , which is £20 in n out . She said £14 , so I laughed and said find someone else . Always want something for nothing a certain ethnicity .
Anyhow I feel better , always good to clean less houses but for nice persons .
Then a bloke I clean wanted a gutter emptying , gave me £20 , he went out and only took 5 mins to pull the turf out . Persons like this make your day .
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I very rarely do a first clean now as I have more work than I want, but done a really bad first clean this week ( a mate who had
just moved into a new house to them and the windows hadn't been cleaned in decades) the thing is the pleasure in seeing the
transformation gave me a boost that I hadn't had in a while.
What I'm trying to say is job satisfaction can be hard to find at times in this business and I honestly think its something you
need in a job, I think its this that gets to most more than the boredom.
I clean 6 weekly and at times you need to look very closely to even notice the dirt on the glass so its hard to believe that you
have actually achieved something after a days graft.
But I suppose convincing ourselves that its all about the money does help a little.
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I think ive picked up a lot of dross from other windys .its a small town where I live its not an opstion to pick and choose were flooded with cleaners as for not collecting ive tested the water but most of my customers don't want it
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I get balled off. Usually with my hose, having to walk back up a drive to find its catching on a flag. I have to think of it this way. Better than being stuck in a factory. Hourly rate is good. Rain annoys me when I text for gates to be opened, then it Pees it down
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you get fed up when you get all your hoses & gear out & the custie says"isnt it a bit damp" ::)roll
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I went thru a spell about 18 months ago for about 6 months where I very nearly jacked it all in and went as far as going for interviews for Sales Managers jobs back in the motor trade.
One interview was for Hyundai dealer where they took great delight in telling me they (2 owners and the dealership general manger) nearly didn't call me for an interview as they thought I was a joke becoming a window cleaner ::)roll ::)roll at end of interview they apologised for early comments and said I was going to be called back for a second interview ... didn't get job as blew second interview when basically told them that their general manger was a c0ck and knew nowt about running a garage.
Another interview was for a large busy Ford garage for new and used sales manger with a basic of £20K and bonus of £15K which was ok for a job back into trade I had left 4 years earlier then told me I would also be doing the Finance Managers job as well ... cue visions of 70 hours weeks ... no weekends off .. massive targets .. crap wages .... etc etc - stood up and left interview after telling them they were expecting too much for too little pay.
What im trying to say is whilst this job is crap sometimes due to weather / poor customers / non payers / getting scammed on one offs / monotony / lots of other things ...... there is other far worse things you could be doing.
My outlook is simple .... change the things you can and don't let the thing you cant change effect you or your head.
for example : decide if you gonna work in rain or not and just make that decision and do it - buy the gortex and work or stay at home and watch telly ... your choice
poor customers - bin them NOW ,,,, you could even go canvassing in the rain if you have decided you don't want to work in the rain.
non payers ... simples collect your money AND NEVER EVER CLEAN THEM AGAIN !!!! easy peasy yet some on here clean 2 or even 3 times ??? why WTF reason would you do this ?? stop it now and go find some proper customers
one off scammers ... charge more on all first cleans
monotony - take a few days off - some may say they cant afford to ... I would say you cant afford not too when you need a break.
all of the above is just my opinion and some people may not agree but you know what I cant control that so Im not going to worry about that .... like not worrying about the weather ;)
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One of the best tips I have tried is to do the worst ( in your mind ) work at the beginning of the week, and get it out of the way.
Also do all of the above, especially improving the prices, and getting rid of the complainers, and slow payers, and replace with decent people who want a decent job.
There is so much good quality work out there, and you just have to get out there and sell yourself.
Also diversifying can be good too, we provide gutter cleaning and pressure washing and I love it !!! We are planning to drop the window cleaning next year as we get more money and satisfaction from non window leaning work ;D
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more of my ramblings ... on a roll now :D
sometimes as business evolves and grows you need to change things or at least think about how u do things
for me this last month I have stopped
gutter cleans
conny roofs
upvc cleans
taking on any bi monthly customers
I have started
chasing more commercial works ... going kinda ok at the moment
toyed with idea of employing ... again
had an idea of offering 3 monthly cleans at high prices - just a though but mulling it over - may come to nothing ?? ?? ??
employ or franchise ... ??
and about 30 other things to do with my window cleaning job (not business as it stops if I stop)
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I think ive picked up a lot of dross from other windys .its a small town where I live its not an opstion to pick and choose were flooded with cleaners as for not collecting ive tested the water but most of my customers don't want it
It should get better Dave, I'm in the same boat as yourself with collecting, I use a stamped addressed envelope and add the price
to the clean that might be an option for you.
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Sometimes, but then I think of previous jobs:
Standing in front of a lathe for 8 hours a day with the noise, grease and dust.
Filleting 20 ton of mackerel in sub zero temperatures, working whenever there was a catch, sometimes from 6 in the morning until finished around midnight!
Waiting on and dealing with the ignorant demanding public.
Bar work and dealing with the drunks and the staff!
Wood machining with the screaming saw blades and the dust everywhere.
Welding and the fumes and the grinding.
Sales rep. driving around like a maniac meeting targets all the time.
I.T. and the BS from management and back stabbing office politics.
There are MUCH worse ways of making a living, the hours are flexible, money not bad, own boss, work pretty much when you like.
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True
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We all get fed up once in a while, just take yesterday for me, worst day of the year.
Today is a new day and the show must go on but some very good posts there
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I tell you what... When I just turn up and clean, with an unlocked gate and money waiting... It's like a breath of fresh air!
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@101
You know I think we make ourselves unemployable. We know what it is like to run our own ship (I know in the grand scheme it's more like a little tugboat) we know about profit and loss and pricing up work and you get numptybled by the guys who interviewed you offering 35K a year and they want way too much - like 70 hours - if it's 35/40 hrs you only get about 20K.
Self employed window cleaning is so much more flexible - you can tip along at 2/3 days a week and turnover 2K a month or increase to 4/5 days and make middle management level money without the responsibility and stress. You can add on work for the summer and do less in the winter - take on more jobs and work for a holiday of a lifetime or tick along and take weekends away.
The grass is green enough for me and the sun shines enough too!
Sing along now everybody! ;D
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some good posts on this.i very rarely get fed up with it as just when im tiring of it all its weekend and a few days off.
im earning more than ever with a very good round.it helps.
i can pick and choose what new jobs to take on.
ive had quite a lot of new enquires the last few weeks(some of them good jobs,easy access etc).
ive weeded out the messers,bad payers.
my work is mega compact with very little driving about most of the month.(my fuel bill is around £40 a month since the prices came down)
collecting is down to a minimum(an hour or so every monday evening)due to high numbers of BACS payments.
im very organised nearly all of the time.
ive got 3 days off now(decorating my kitchen)phase 2 of my flat re vamp! ;D
im off on holiday to ibiza in less than 2 weeks! :D
refining work and working hard at my window cleaning business has allowed me to create a good living for me and my family.
im very grateful to advice etc and things ive learned and implemented since joining this forum back in 2009.its transformed my attitude and business massively.
through investing in wfp,signwritten van,good pro stationary and logo d uniform,good waterproofs etc,raising prices and pricing new work higher,working in most bad weather ive now got a round i could only ever dream about at one time.id probably go so far as to say it would be impossible to achieve back in my early days on the forum.
so no i dont really get fed up with it all.ive never had it so good in this business.
i know where ive come from and believe me it wasnt a nice place to be(very skint alcoholic for years).i dont EVER want to go back to that life so i stay sober and continue to work hard and reap the rewards.
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That's the spirit Daz!
;D
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This has been a really interesting thread. Thanks to all the guys who took time to express their feelings and how we should look for the positives rather than the negatives.
Its always too easy to see that things appear to be better elsewhere, but we do have a good job TBH. Yes its boring, but there is very little that isn't these days. Most jobs out there are of a repetitive nature.
I believe that our biggest hurdle is our front door step. To be self employed you have to be self disciplined.
I can't say we have much bad debt, we have been caught on occasion, but its not an amount that will effect the national debt. We don't have the stress levels that most other experience. Like Ian, I was in the motor trade and the stress was awful and was almost constant. I was continually worried about achieving sales targets. If we had a good month we tried to save some for the following month because we never knew what was around the corner.
No I don't earn what I did and I don't have a company car, but overall I'm better off.
What I fail to do is to put on a little business fat during the summer to get through the bad winter weather periods, but I'm still here, so for me that's the main thing.
Gold has reminded me that it's time for a customer spring clean. I dumped one a couple of weeks ago and calmly told her that it wasn't personal; it was a business decision. A real payment messer. I felt bad for a day or so and now feel great she's gone. There are a couple more who are waiting in the wings.
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You say you don't earn what you used to earn why is that ,I don't know many jobs where I could earn the same for the hours most of us do tbh. I know people who spend 16 hours + a week on the train and don't earn anywhere near the same and there miserable
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For the time being I'm working by myself again. That has been a breath of fresh air if ever I had one in this business.
We get into a rut without realising it, compromise our integrity without being aware we're not doing ourselves any favours, get stressed because of their standard of work, cash flow issues. The list goes on.
I've also found I'm earning just about what me and dunderhead used to do together, except now I keep what was his share. And I'm free from all the garbage employing brings with it.
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Mr gold - very true, we wouldn't employ anyone who's had a spell self employed. And now if it all goes t!ts up I just couldn't bear to go back into employment.
Do I get fed up, hell yes, strangely less so before employing, the odd day maybe where you'd look out the window and hope for rain, just to justify a day off ;) - but once the guys started to go out doing the rounds themselves I have no interest in regular round work, it just holds nothing for me, l love the one off work, always have to break the day/week up, now with pressure washing and more to learn its my favourite type of work but needs must and trying to get to grips with quoting tenders & networking,
Sometimes, we forget self employment is a lonely place, you try to run things as best you can, there are no markers other than getting in enough cash to survive, this, and your business creeping into your personal time ( ie. Doing accounts I the evening/weekends - customers ringing up over silly things etc.. ) can build up to leave you somewhat burnt out and fed up.
Darran
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I have actually been getting a bit peed off lately too.
So I'd like to say thank you to everyone on this thread, because reading through it has made me feel a whole lot better.
Sometimes I just need a reality check to realise 'actually how good this business is'
I was going to type a whole load of stuff about good verses bad etc.
The truth of it is, I am taking my gorgeous girlfriend out for a lovely birthday meal tonight. We've been drinking wine all day to celebrate her birthday and I haven't got time now to elaborate (probably just as well).
But Monday morning, I may have a day off or I may not. I may dump some custys or I may not.
However I would like to make a toast "to our custys"
They are a pain in the arse but they pay our wages handsomely and give us the lifestyle that we choose to have.
Cheers
Robbo
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👍 well put robbo
And the sentiment is well worth remembering
Darran
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I have actually been getting a bit peed off lately too.
So I'd like to say thank you to everyone on this thread, because reading through it has made me feel a whole lot better.
Sometimes I just need a reality check to realise 'actually how good this business is'
I was going to type a whole load of stuff about good verses bad etc.
The truth of it is, I am taking my gorgeous girlfriend out for a lovely birthday meal tonight. We've been drinking wine all day to celebrate her birthday and I haven't got time now to elaborate (probably just as well).
But Monday morning, I may have a day off or I may not. I may dump some custys or I may not.
However I would like to make a toast "to our custys"
They are a pain in the arse but they pay our wages handsomely and give us the lifestyle that we choose to have.
Cheers
Robbo
Sweet!!
Well put.
The power is in our hands. We can chop and change, accept and decline. Be lucrative or minimal.
On the whole, as many have already said, it's a great job. However fantastical our job may be (Rossi/ Hamilton etc) you will always have some crappy days and not always down to the job. Family /health problems for eg. But that's the peaks and troughs of life.........isn't it!!
So, good luck to us all ;D
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Hmmm, I've been window cleaning for 5 years now. My dad was a window cleaner and when I was a t school I was mocked over it. Anyway, I worked a little at school and ended up with a degree in English and Philosophy. I went into IT sales and when Maggie Thatcher was PM I earned more than her. I eventually set up my own company that struggled for 10 years before becoming self employed selling audio books online. When Audible came along I had to look for a new income.
As I say, I've been windowcleaning now for 5 years (two actually focusing on it properly) and I can honestly say that I never ever feel dread on a Sunday night the way I used to feel. Some mornings I can't wait to get out. And no £100k deal gave the sort of job satisfaction that turning a green conservatory into a white one gives.
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do you get fed up with parts of your round ie bad payers locked gates .dog shyte gardens e.t.c trying to explain to customers that they owe for 2 cleanes list gose on as we all know.im fed up some days and others I am ok when I am collecting and seeing the fruits of my hard work.lol
Sorry Dave do not get fed up with any of the above i think you might need to have a look at your work and think is it worth doing work for that type of person , i know i would not
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yes! I've took on 2 employees this year to do the whole round.
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yes! I've took on 2 employees this year to do the whole round.
LIKE
BUTTON
if we had one :)
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I get fed up all the time, then, I think back to when I was working as a team leader at Tesco, then, I think how lucky I am, working for myself, my own business, my own customers, answering to virtually no-one. Window cleaning, its dull, it's boring, but it pays well and you are your own boss, what more do you want?
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yes! I've took on 2 employees this year to do the whole round.
LIKE
BUTTON
if we had one :)
Employing = A big can of worms...
Ian - From following you on the forum over the years I don't think that employing is for you...
Andy :)
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I have had a terrible year due to nee operations and so no. The thing that maddens me is how little understanding, and that you need time to recover after an opp and work will run late. I have just decided some are not worth the crap. So they have hit the bin. From now on its give and take. No more demanding and self centered customer anymore.
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Employing = A big can of worms...
+1
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Get rid of bad payers, messers, customers you can't stick for starters. Make a plan to take a break from work for a well earned rest and do something or go somewhere that puts a smile back on your face. When you're fed up, way up the alternatives to window cleaning and you'll realise it may be a crappy job like all other jobs but you are in control of your destiny so you need to change your attitude towards your job as you're the one running it with no one to blame but yourself. Everybody gets fed up after doing it for years on end hence why it's very important to remind yourself of all the other crappy jobs out there and take proper holidays and have planned days off despite whatever the weather forecast may be. Run your business like a business and not as a means of getting by just paying the bills if you let depression creep in.
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yes! I've took on 2 employees this year to do the whole round.
LIKE
BUTTON
if we had one :)
Employing = A big can of worms...
Ian - From following you on the forum over the years I don't think that employing is for you...
Andy :)
Not sure myself yet but if i want to grow this in next 5 years its the only way foward esp if getting more and more into commercial windows .... i know their is franchising but not yet convinced on that
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its a bit difficult just to dump some custys as my round is not compact enough .its a bit stagard so if I were to dump 1 or 2 in some cases it would not be worth doing the others what ive been doing some times is canvasing some areas then if I get lucky dump the bad ones
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its a bit difficult just to dump some custys as my round is not compact enough .its a bit stagard so if I were to dump 1 or 2 in some cases it would not be worth doing the others what ive been doing some times is canvasing some areas then if I get lucky dump the bad ones
its all a process and takes time ... I can remember Dazmond saying 3-5 years to build a decent round when I first joined this forum .... hes not wrong ..... so long as ur trying and heading in the right way then u will get there :)
btw mines still not perfect but nearly there ... only problem is when its all good you suddenly get some customers going bad :(
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Good post this. I used to get fed up but since buying a caravan last year I switch off on Friday lunch time until Monday morning. I also do a few city breaks with Great little breaks plus some of the many voucher codes that are available these days.
Last weekend myself and my partner spent a lovely weekend at a nice hotel near Nottingham. Then in 3 weeks time I'm off to Cyprus for 10 days as my youngest son is getting married there. ;D
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its good to see some informative posts when your in the doldrums
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I agree with many about this being a good post. A few times throughout the year I find myself in a bit of rut and feel like work is a bit mundane, boring etc. But then I remember how far I've come in 6 years doing this job and I wouldn't wanna do anything else. Yeah it can be a monotonous at times but so does every job. You can't beat working for yourself and being in control of who actually pays you. Personally I don't believe in the 'perfect round' because there will always be the odd customer that gets on your wick. I don't think it's possible for this job to be perfect week in week out, it doesn't work like that.
A big turning point for me was just over 2 years ago when I traded my car in for a van and got some designs done and sign writing printed, work tops, website etc. Then shortly after I invested in all the WFP equipment and from then on things have gone from strength to strength.
If ever you're feeling down, imagine yourself working in the office or answering to a manager with targets and people breathing down your neck 24/7. We're in control of our own destiny and it doesn't get better than that!
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don't get me wrong its not all doom and gloom for me i have come along way in this game started with nowt I have done this job on and off for years .then when I got made redundant .I did not have a pot to ps in but I got a couple of lucky breaks got stuck in .saved for a w f p set up and it took off big time for me .when your getting on some times its hard to get motivated but when I look what I have achived it brings a grin to my ugly face.
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It's always about luck
It's prob the same for a lot of us, I been at it a little longer than some, but not as long as others, started cleaning windows wen I was 21, just had my second little girl and needed to get on the right rd, started off with a nation wide and was trained up by my cousin .......... First thought was am not sticking at this for long but as the months went by I got good and was quick, got promoted from van lad to driver in my own van ;D things was on the up haha, done this for about a year and started looking into commercial work of my own, so would squeeze his work ( 6 days ) into 4 days and got cracking on a local bookmakers ( Stanley racing ) picked 60 off these up and would clean windows & frames, tv's an surrounds and counter screens all done once a week at £6.50 signs were done monthly £ 8.00, this soon became 150 shops and other lines of enquiries were coming good, william hill then bought Stanley racing out and I ended up with more than 500 done fortnightly at £10 per clean £10 signage inc all external tiles
I don't have these no more and they now done by interserve with internal cleaning
I have always worked long crazy hours used to work til half 9 every night on the bookmakers doing most of Manchester all of Liverpool and now it's no different am just on different jobs doing different things.
Am 38 now an everything I have done It was for my girls growing up, there now 17 an 21 so there not much dependant on me ( well maybe a bit of financial help ) no more which is putting me at a cross roads going forward. I plan to carry on til am 45 and then I want to change careers and climate.
Mortgage is scheduled to be fin wen am 45 an am then guna have a good luck at what I want out of life. Been with me girl, well me wife now since I was 15 so we want to go explore the world of maybe just rake the beach some were hot together.
Sometimes guys you get out of it what you prepared to put in to it and some times you have to use the game to suit your life style.
For me work took over and ran my life and still does but I was ok with this as it provided me with money to run our house and family
Every one on here has the potential to achieve what ever you want in life, people often remind me of how well I have done for myself, and I always appreciate it but know that I have been very lucky with some of the contracts I have been able to get, especially my latest one
Good luck to all you and keep ya chin up, if ever ya feeling down put a post up and share ya problems, you be surprised how many others are feeling the same, some maybe a bit embarrassed to first post but fell exactly the same
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Well done Matty 👍
Darran
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It's always about luck
It's prob the same for a lot of us, I been at it a little longer than some, but not as long as others, started cleaning windows wen I was 21, just had my second little girl and needed to get on the right rd, started off with a nation wide and was trained up by my cousin .......... First thought was am not sticking at this for long but as the months went by I got good and was quick, got promoted from van lad to driver in my own van ;D things was on the up haha, done this for about a year and started looking into commercial work of my own, so would squeeze his work ( 6 days ) into 4 days and got cracking on a local bookmakers ( Stanley racing ) picked 60 off these up and would clean windows & frames, tv's an surrounds and counter screens all done once a week at £6.50 signs were done monthly £ 8.00, this soon became 150 shops and other lines of enquiries were coming good, william hill then bought Stanley racing out and I ended up with more than 500 done fortnightly at £10 per clean £10 signage inc all external tiles
I don't have these no more and they now done by interserve with internal cleaning
I have always worked long crazy hours used to work til half 9 every night on the bookmakers doing most of Manchester all of Liverpool and now it's no different am just on different jobs doing different things.
Am 38 now an everything I have done It was for my girls growing up, there now 17 an 21 so there not much dependant on me ( well maybe a bit of financial help ) no more which is putting me at a cross roads going forward. I plan to carry on til am 45 and then I want to change careers and climate.
Mortgage is scheduled to be fin wen am 45 an am then guna have a good luck at what I want out of life. Been with me girl, well me wife now since I was 15 so we want to go explore the world of maybe just rake the beach some were hot together.
Sometimes guys you get out of it what you prepared to put in to it and some times you have to use the game to suit your life style.
For me work took over and ran my life and still does but I was ok with this as it provided me with money to run our house and family
Every one on here has the potential to achieve what ever you want in life, people often remind me of how well I have done for myself, and I always appreciate it but know that I have been very lucky with some of the contracts I have been able to get, especially my latest one
Good luck to all you and keep ya chin up, if ever ya feeling down put a post up and share ya problems, you be surprised how many others are feeling the same, some maybe a bit embarrassed to first post but fell exactly the same
Good post ML.
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Enjoy your posts Matt, great sentiments in that one.
Hope your vans going well now!!
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Picked van up yesterday dinner time, but haven't paid yet, they know how busy I am so they says call back around end of the month and pay the bill, they doin some discount first - again lucky me they says it should be around the £600 for parts and labour I was expecting about £1000.
Get out there boys and be lucky 👍
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i got completly fed up some time ago so started in stocks after years of study . its took a while but its earnings are matching my window cleaning earnings, so as my broker account grows i will be selling off work and dropping days. Im down to 4days per week now and will be looking to drop another day after new year. I have a 5year plan to be out of this business. Other reasons for this is having damage to my back which is likely to need operation some time soon
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sort anwer is YES.
long answer is - depends on your mood and tiredness, gates, weather.
Had days where I have been tired and grumpy but the sky has been blue and just said to myself that its a beautiful day to be here and not stuck in the office....
but I havent had a proper holiday yet this year (going away) had a few days off plus almost a week to play MGSVTPP but you really need a good 10 days away to recharge. so will do that in a few weeks and then off to work and drop 50 000 flyers to expand 2015/2016