Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Mr.G on July 16, 2007, 11:10:28 pm
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It seems to me that a lot of window cleaners here are obsessed with money? Some refuse to drink tea, or talk with their customers, in case it slows them down slightly? some work on sundays?
Well maybe I'm just unprofessional, but part of why i work self employed is to ESCAPE from the situation of having to work 8 hours non stop with a foreman breathing down my neck... Any other lazy gits out there?
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The thing is with this job is that you get out what you put in it`s as simple as that as i expect you well know.It`s quiet easy to become lazy doing this job not me,i set myself daily,weekly,monthly targets,if i`m hitting them i can go home early a couple of days a month.
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I try and get done the work i have for the week as quick as i can so i can have extra time off.
Time with my kids is more important too me.
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I don't like to waste time but I do like to work in a relaxed manner so I'm not averse to the occasional cup of tea if it's offered when I start a job as opposed to when I finish. A number of w/cleaners round my way always seem to be working as if there's no tomorrow. They wear me out just watching them.
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Yreah, relaxed manner, thats what I'm talking about.. and being able to stop for a coffee/chat/smoke without fretting that you could have earned another quid.
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On good weathered days and Mondays (regardless of the weather), I'll go for it. On bad weathered days and Fridays I'll be plodding along socially or take the day off as I'm worn out from the week or just can't be bothered to make the extra effort. Will always except a coffee at the start of a job and occassionally at the end of a job if the customer is really friendly.
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The only time I really go for it is if there's a dirty big storm cloud heading my way and I don't want to have to go back to finish a couple of odd houses the following day. This doesn't always work however as on one occasion I succeeded in finishing on a house with just enough time to get back to my car only to be held up by a custy who wasn't usually in and couldn't find her purse. By the time she found it and paid, the storm broke. She shut the door and I got drowned walking about 100 mtrs to my car.
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I aim to finish for about 2.30pm so I can be home, cup of coffee and a have a read before going to pick my son up from school at 3.30pm.
Whip through your work and more freetime for you and yours.
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Personally..I have 3 customers that I have a coffee with...but for the main part...I don't take breaks, lunch etc...I just work through...I just like to get the work done and be finished and go home...I am starting to enjoy the work but I enjoy my home life more.
;D Dave.
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Yreah, relaxed manner, thats what I'm talking about.. and being able to stop for a coffee/chat/smoke without fretting that you could have earned another quid.
Well I don't smoke or drink tea or coffee myself (caffeine intolerance) but an occasional glass of water with a customer seems to go down well.
I do like to get through my work. I get two weeks off in each 6 weekly cycle that way - though I want to get more work in now as I need to earn more.
I still have a fair bit of debt and gassing with customers doesn't pay the mortgage. When I owed nothing, I was quite laid back about things though.
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why rush, you might not be here tomorrow
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It seems to me that a lot of window cleaners here are obsessed with money? Some refuse to drink tea, or talk with their customers, in case it slows them down slightly? some work on sundays?
Well maybe I'm just unprofessional, but part of why i work self employed is to ESCAPE from the situation of having to work 8 hours non stop with a foreman breathing down my neck... Any other lazy gits out there?
indeed life is too short :)
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As usual Matt I agree. ;D
I often rush through my work, but I never turn down a drink or biscuits.
If you can't spare a couple of minutes for a customer then you must be desperate.
It does wonders for customer relations and your reputation to have time for people.
Being impersonal won't make you look good. :-\
If it wasn't for the time I've given customers over the years and relationships I've built up, I bet WFP would have lost me a lot more people.
As it is, a lot gave me a second or third chance.
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why rush, you might not be here tomorrow
so I can spend the important time at home...if drinking tea with someone I do not know means I cannot get to the school on time, i`ll go without the tea.
Typical English with cups of tea... ??? Get your work done and go home.
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As usual Matt I agree. ;D
I often rush through my work, but I never turn down a drink or biscuits.
If you can't spare a couple of minutes for a customer then you must be desperate.
It does wonders for customer relations and your reputation to have time for people.
Being impersonal won't make you look good. :-\
If it wasn't for the time I've given customers over the years and relationships I've built up, I bet WFP would have lost me a lot more people.
As it is, a lot gave me a second or third chance.
What you say is so true Rog but I've found another side to it as well. Being too friendly with the customers can cause a "familiarity breeds contempt" scenario. Too many of them used to use my friendly nature as a way of doing the "not today thanks" or "could you just.........." for no extra money. Although I will engage in brief conversation at times, I have found it easier not to be too friendly with the customers. I have been trying to lift my window cleaning from "local window cleaner doing a round" to "small business needing to make a profit". I find that those two things do not mix as well as I once thought they would so I keep my distance a bit more now.
Some people find it more suitable to keep it very friendly and nothing wrong with that but I feel more comfortable keeping it more on a business footing.
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For me the beauty of this job is you can work at whatever pace you like, have a chat to some of your customers and coffee stops.
I don't rush i used to but now i just plod along.
Im happy with what i earn.
I know i can do quite a bit more if i really got a move on but im not in this job for that im doing this job for the flexibility it gives.
The way i look at it is what does not get done today will wait until tomorrow.
Paul
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As usual Matt I agree. ;D
I often rush through my work, but I never turn down a drink or biscuits.
If you can't spare a couple of minutes for a customer then you must be desperate.
It does wonders for customer relations and your reputation to have time for people.
Being impersonal won't make you look good. :-\
If it wasn't for the time I've given customers over the years and relationships I've built up, I bet WFP would have lost me a lot more people.
As it is, a lot gave me a second or third chance.
What you say is so true Rog but I've found another side to it as well. Being too friendly with the customers can cause a "familiarity breeds contempt" scenario. Too many of them used to use my friendly nature as a way of doing the "not today thanks" or "could you just.........." for no extra money. Although I will engage in brief conversation at times, I have found it easier not to be too friendly with the customers. I have been trying to lift my window cleaning from "local window cleaner doing a round" to "small business needing to make a profit". I find that those two things do not mix as well as I once thought they would so I keep my distance a bit more now.
Some people find it more suitable to keep it very friendly and nothing wrong with that but I feel more comfortable keeping it more on a business footing.
I agree with what you say about the favours bit.
You have got to watch you aren't taken advantage of.
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seems like the fact is some guys only think about money but these postings show a lot dont its not a driving force
cant label all wc's as the same
when im lazy i have to think about cash to motivate myself
does work!
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maybe you should lok at how many w/cers have small kids, or are they the bread winner in the house first before you start talking about being money orientated
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It does wonders for customer relations and your reputation to have time for people.
Being impersonal won't make you look good.
I've experinced the truth of this many times over. There's a lot of work I could have lost if I'd not practised this. However, I've also experienced the truth of the following comment.
Being too friendly with the customers can cause a "familiarity breeds contempt" scenario. Too many of them used to use my friendly nature as a way of doing the "not today thanks" or "could you just.........." for no extra money.
It's a fine line between the two that we have to draw. I don't always get it right I must admit.
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i pride myself on having time for the customer
i know its my downfall, i read all the "earning" posts on here and i know i could make a few extra quid a day by not chatting to them
for example, i allways have a cuppa of this old dear i do, she told me on monday she hadnt seen any1 since the last time i called :( :(, she asked me to do the kitchen inside, i did it od course, she then asked how much she owed me extra, i didnt want anything to be honest, the place is worth 6 quid, she gave me a extra £, i really didnt want it, whats 5 mins of my time, hey, thats what my rich tax pays for ;)
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As usual Matt I agree. ;D
I often rush through my work, but I never turn down a drink or biscuits.
If you can't spare a couple of minutes for a customer then you must be desperate.
It does wonders for customer relations and your reputation to have time for people.
Being impersonal won't make you look good. :-\
If it wasn't for the time I've given customers over the years and relationships I've built up, I bet WFP would have lost me a lot more people.
As it is, a lot gave me a second or third chance.
Couldn't agree more ;)
tony
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Blimey Mac we agree again.
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Blimey Mac we agree again.
It must be something in the air, i don't often agree with squeeks either ;D
tony
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The only thing in the air down here mate is rain.
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The only thing in the air down here mate is rain.
Ha, i've been plastered in factor 50 sun cream all day ;D
tony
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i pride myself on having time for the customer
i know its my downfall, i read all the "earning" posts on here and i know i could make a few extra quid a day by not chatting to them
for example, i allways have a cuppa of this old dear i do, she told me on monday she hadnt seen any1 since the last time i called :( :(, she asked me to do the kitchen inside, i did it od course, she then asked how much she owed me extra, i didnt want anything to be honest, the place is worth 6 quid, she gave me a extra £, i really didnt want it, whats 5 mins of my time, hey, thats what my rich tax pays for ;)
how much rich tax did you have to charge, for spending a big chunk of your working afternoon chatting to me about trolleys and stuff, matt!
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i pride myself on having time for the customer
i know its my downfall, i read all the "earning" posts on here and i know i could make a few extra quid a day by not chatting to them
for example, i allways have a cuppa of this old dear i do, she told me on monday she hadnt seen any1 since the last time i called :( :(, she asked me to do the kitchen inside, i did it od course, she then asked how much she owed me extra, i didnt want anything to be honest, the place is worth 6 quid, she gave me a extra £, i really didnt want it, whats 5 mins of my time, hey, thats what my rich tax pays for ;)
how much rich tax did you have to charge, for spending a big chunk of your working afternoon chatting to me about trolleys and stuff, matt!
i allways have time for a chat :)
did you sort out your resin thing, i was on holiday when you e.mailed me, i just remmbered i idnt reply when i got home
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i have a lot of elderly customers, and they stand at their front door when they see me coming with a fiver in one hand and a life time of stories to tell me.... i love talking to them, its what the job is all about. you shouldnt have to rush in this job, if you cant find time to stop for a chat and a brew and still make a good living, then youre doing something wrong
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i have a lot of elderly customers, and they stand at their front door when they see me coming with a fiver in one hand and a life time of stories to tell me.... i love talking to them, its what the job is all about. you shouldnt have to rush in this job, if you cant find time to stop for a chat and a brew and still make a good living, then youre doing something wrong
Not doing anything wrong now. Just paying for being with the wrong woman too long (a spendthrift who I left some while back) and then being unable to work for 6 months due to a bad illness. Until you've had to charge around trying to make good such a financial shortfall, it can be difficult to empaphise. I used to be like you with my chat for the customers. If I did it now, I would end up going under financially. I do currently have gaps in my work but I fill those by knocking out more leaflets.
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Im not lazy but i like to work at my own pace and do things the way im happy with... Ive had many cups of tea with customers on days im not very busy... But sometimes i stop and think... that 30minutes i just sat there for i could of got another job done! then makes me think... im going to finish work half hour later...
i need to stop thinking ::)
And ofcorse we all want to earn as much money as we can.... is this not natral???
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For me the beauty of this job is you can work at whatever pace you like, have a chat to some of your customers and coffee stops.
I don't rush i used to but now i just plod along.
Im happy with what i earn.
I know i can do quite a bit more if i really got a move on but im not in this job for that im doing this job for the flexibility it gives.
The way i look at it is what does not get done today will wait until tomorrow.
Paul
100% agree.
There's a nice little living to be made from this job. If people want to earn mega-bucks why don't they become Investment bankers?
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The true advantage of this job and is having the options....time to make money and today I sat on a bench at the animal park and watched goats, chickens. rabbits and a couple of little shetland ponies....does'nt that just make you glad you have the choices... ;D ;D oh and made my target ... 8) 8)
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freedom is why i do it
money versus being there for my kids
getting the balance right
quality and then quantity
as i offer more than just window cleaning every cup of tea(coffee ) is always a great time to market the other services that i provide be it before during or after the window cleaning a true connection
time spent listening to the clients problems is a good time to prospect for other solutions to their problem to see if we can help
i think we have to understand life is to short to be money obsessed
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i had the day off
my little girls pre school sports day
then
off for a fruit smoothie
then
home for a play in the garden and on the trampoline
sure, ive earned nowt today, yesterday rained and i didnt earn hardly anything, so this week ive had 1 day of earning, life tough ;)
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Choices, Choices.
One mans meat is another mans poison.
Three young freinds all deicide to be window cleaners.
Mr lazy just wants enough money to make ends meet and a bit to spare. He works 5 days a week a couple of hours a day and easrns £200 a week. Hes Happy.
Mr Laidback wants to be comftable and able to afford that extra holiday and that nice little sports car, he does not want to work 24/7 but works harder then Mr lazy working 4 days a week working 7 hours a day and earns £600 a week. Hes Happy.
Mr Planner decides he will work as hard as he can, He does not want to work for the next 45 years before he retires, But will work hard for 30years then retire, So he works at a higher tempo then his mates Mr Lazy and Mr Laidback. He decides youth is on his side working an 8 hour day will give him £200 a day, Thats £1,000 a week with the option of working the weekend if behind. Hes happy.
Their is no right way or wrong way to run your w/cleaning buisness so long as your not living in poverty due to not cleaning enough windows. Its a choice we all make as to how much we are happy to earn.
Nel
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Everybody who cleans windows wants to be the 3rd one,it`s more of a case of being lazy by nature not by choice as to who is no1 or no2.
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I always start my days work with the one aim of finishing the days round (which is always a set amount of jobs, so the money is decided ahead of time) in the most efficient manner possible so that I can get home and spend more time with my lovely wife and kids. Simple, so why spend longer than I really need to?
I do see a lot of my fellow WC'ers sat in their vehicles having extended 'coffee breaks' and cafe stops. They are happy so that's fine but I would rather be home an hour earlier.
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Everybody who cleans windows wants to be the 3rd one,it`s more of a case of being lazy by nature not by choice as to who is no1 or no2.
what a statement to make
so mr X doesnt choose to " be lazy" and spend time with fmily / play golf / go fishing ?? ?? ??
think about it ::) ::)
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All i`m saying is a lot of wcs say that they do the job so they can have spare time to do this and that fair enough,but some of them spend an awful lot of time on forums when they could be playing golf or out doing this and that.
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All i`m saying is a lot of wcs say that they do the job so they can have spare time to do this and that fair enough,but some of them spend an awful lot of time on forums when they could be playing golf or out doing this and that.
indeed
i should have added that
so mr X doesnt choose to " be lazy" and spend time with family / play golf / go fishing / spend time on the net ?? ?? ??
afterall spending time on the net is a hobby to a fair few these days, i know i often while away a few hours online
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I'm on the net now and it's 8.55 and still kinda daylight outside.. AAARGH! I should be out cleaning WINDOWS! *hangs head in shame*
~Mr Laidback'n'lazy~
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Hi matt, hope you had a good holiday?
Plumbstop in your home town did an ace job of making me up some connectors yesterday, for fitting hosepipes to the canister, so now I can get some resin for it, in fact I'll order it this evening.
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Hi matt, hope you had a good holiday?
Plumbstop in your home town did an ace job of making me up some connectors yesterday, for fitting hosepipes to the canister, so now I can get some resin for it, in fact I'll order it this evening.
yes mate, a nice holiday in tenby, not bad weather, 2 nice days, 2 oercast days and 1 completly rain day, nothing like we had here, my mum house / dog sat and said it rained every day
glad you got sorted, and once again sorry for being "lazy" in not repling to your e.mail, i ccmpletely forgot about it, i read theover 200 emails i had on my return and was going to get back to the people who needed a reply, i forgot ::)
glad your sorted and now not usning them "evil darkside company" bit of kit ;), welcome to the free world :P
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that's ok mate, Ive got a brain like a sieve so i can identify with forgetting stuff..
thanks for putting me on the right track to escape from Darkside LTD'S clutches :)
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I really do not know if any of you will understand this, so I am going to try my hardest to explain what I am trying to achieve.
My plan is this, I want to earn enough money so I can give lots of it away. I plan to do this through investing but I need to earn money in order to invest it. So I want to earn the money as fast as I can, at the same time I enjoy meeting and talking with people.
As it happens, I find I can do both, I can talk while I work. Maybe I am not fast, and maybe some spend it faster than they earn it, personally as long as I am (or intend to) earn it faster than I spend it, and then have the spare, which in turn is earning some more while I sleep, I do not see a problem.
The trick to happiness and success, for me, is this, work so you can make your money work for you so you can give lots away.
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I want to earn enough money so I can give lots of it away.
A nobler plan Ive yet to hear, I'm sure a bank transfer would suffice, Ill e-mail you my bank details.
:-*
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I want to earn enough money so I can give lots of it away.
A nobler plan Ive yet to hear, I'm sure a bank transfer would suffice, Ill e-mail you my bank details.
:-*
I entirely agree with your sentiments Matty and if I can also help, I will send a standing order form to Karl to assist him with the administration of his charitable venture. Three cheers for Karl...would £2k a month be pushing it?
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Haaha, Its not really about nobility or charity lol. Its just that most people want to spend all there money on themselves. I used to be that way and was very very poor (I do not need a lot). Now I enjoy spending my money on other people and as a result I have to earn more.
It is actually quite enjoyable giving stuff away.
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have you been reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"?
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No, I actually picked up "rich dad, poor dad 2" once and it ended up in my house, I read about a page of it as it went on about who you are in relation to where you see yourself. To be honest I thought it was a load of tripe lol. Actually it is probably good but it did not hit my spot if you get what I mean.
But your right, my attitude changed when I seeked out motivational types of books and realised that I had little in the way of go about me due to the fact I had no reason.
Is the original "rich dad, poor dad" any good?
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well the rich dads philosophy is to accumulate assets that produce passive income and to give a lot of the excess money away...still not sure why though?
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It makes the people around you happier, thats what I was trying to say when I was saying that it isn't noble and charity. It is quite nice to make people happy and to surround yourself with happy people. I think thats the best explanation I can give.
Investing itself is risky by its very nature, but it tends to work if you stay in the game long enough. Most people do not invest or invest badly due to the risk factors. You wouldn't invest money in a share for instance if you ever needed that money back. Sure you might move it about, but in general you invest money that you are totally 100% willing to say goodbye to. Now there is a very good chance if you do some homework that you will end up turning that 100% into 200% in just a few years and thats a sort of target. If everything works out fine and dandy then you do OK and you not only have lots of money for yourself but also big enough chunks to make the folk around you happy also. If it does not work out then you have probably not really lost that much of your life times earnings.
Now lets say you were investing for a house or something like that. It is quite easy to get a house quickly by investing, it just needs a lot of luck lol. But the point is that if you are investing for that reason then you will probably find it pretty hard to reach the goal. The reason is that your money will always be scared of being in the market for too long. Generally speaking a good investment plan, no matter how good, will always have ups and downs. Do not kid yourself that the ups rule out the downs, it can take a lifetime to make back a serious loss.
The up shot of the above babble is that if you invest seriously then you need a good reason to be doing it. Material things alone are rarely a strong enough reason to keep you on track. You need something else, some might call it spiritual or whatever you want to call it, you need something bigger than a house and a car.
But, if a cup of tea stood in the way of my investments then I am afraid the investments would have to wait. I like a cup of tea occasionally.
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Karl - do you you have any particular beneficiaries in mind? Family, friends people you do not yet know? Organisations?
Do you remember that programme where wealthy people that wanted to give away tens of thousands of pounds posed as "down and outs" to suss out who would make good use of their gifts? People that ran clubs for disadvantaged people or who wanted to set up their own small business to get off benefits were the ones that got the dosh.
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Yea, the secret millionaire, it was very good.
I would say friends and family are obvious, its a given that I would throw some things in their direction (probably not cash though).
People I do not know, I am not so sure of. Probably because I do not know them lol. It starts to become more like charity and less like some sort of distribution of wealth. In saying that there is perhaps one group of people I would like to help.
2 years ago I had just come out of a hostel with my son. I had nothing, not a chair, not a cooker, not a fridge nothing except stuff in black plastic bags (I did have a lot of those though haha!) no job and not a fat lot of hope for the short distant future. Every six months round where I live they have a thing called a "throw out", where everyone throws out there old un wanted stuff and the bin men come round and spend the whole day trying to fit it all into numerous dustbin lorrys.
Most of everything I own, even the leather computer chair I am sitting on, came to me this way. I eventually managed to get something that slightly resembled an income through cleaning windows. Recently I have thrown myself into once again after almost giving up. This throwing myself into it involves getting a nice 04 plated berlingo via a loan off my family, and also a big over draft to get WFP stuff. Obviously cleaning the windows and getting customers is the main part though.
So, going back a bit, sorry this is going on, when I was in the hostel I admit I cried, not because I was sad but because I was happy. My son was 3 years old, it was cold outside but we were warm as toast in our beds. I remember as if it was yesterday this weird feeling and saying to myself "Someone has done this for me, society has done this for me, I owe society".
So obviously I understand what it is like to be in a hostel, it actually is very nice or at least mine was. Most of us didn't want to move out (the hostel had stuff like cookers and we didn't own them).
I would like to solve that problem, giving someone I do not know a cooker and a fridge. You take them for granted (cooker and fridge) until someone has just given you keys to a flat and taken the cooker and fridge you have been using away from you.
I know, I babbled again.
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Karl
I am lost for words.
Inspirational.
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Well....Karl....what a great storey of challenges....well done and I am sure that your son will be very proud of your when he is able to fully understand what you have done for the both of you.
Well done...
Dave.
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Wow Karl
it sounds like you have a completely different view of life to most due to your experiences in life well done for coming through and having the view to help rather than the view of taking
I am humbled by you ....but i am not going to cry
:'( :'( :'(
Damn i cried
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What a positive view on life Karl! Brilliant.
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a good read Karl
good luck with your plans
ive worked in some hostels ( when i was a carpenter ) and ive seen thje smallest things make people with less happy, i was once sent to fit a peice of net curtain wires above a window, the lady, said " we really needed a curtain track, but the hostel couldnt afford it "
so i thought sod it, and fitted 1 anyways, sure i was getting apid anyway, i didnt pay for the item either, but it felt good as she didnt have to hang the curtain in the room over 2 nails
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I always take the mick and you've made me feel a bit superficial now Carl.
But the last thing you need is sympathy or empathy, start making your business a success. Forget all this being nice to people, set yourself targets, like paying for the Berlingo inside a year and hit them.
Get that sence of purpose, even a small one, and your life will take on a shape of it's own.