Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: ronnie paton on October 08, 2009, 10:30:10 pm
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life was going well business expanding very well two vans to employees(working in a team) and than bang.....
my team leader hands is notice less than a week before i go away so i was a little stressed had a crap holiday got back wed and iv been busy since.
went to work this morning a really knightmare of a job took far to long and then my back i hd just bought to get to the courtyards woudnt work so couldnt finish job, then van wouldnt start????? then waited a hour and half for AA.
the on the hour journey home doing 70 and the laders going flying off(not actually coming one clamp holding it on by cm) i has to slow down and get on hard shouldr not believing what had happened and think how lucky i was they didnt come off on to a car and kill someone. it was my fault has i clamped a clamp onto ladders and not the roof rack ust be stress!!
surely thats is.....................no my next employee ring and gives me notice that he is starting on is own in a couple of months, im sooooooooooo stressed aaaarrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh
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bad day then
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Think you need a holiday ;)
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Sell your other van, go out and work on your own, choose all the cream, sell the rest.
Live an easy life.
Dont stress, dont worry, who cares, :)
Chin up
Matt
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That's why i decided to go it alone. No one can let ya down. A friend o mine tried employing people from the job center. After getting thru half a dozen bone idle layabouts...........related to where i was coming from. He's gone it alone now too. I've never taken a day off with a cold/man flu or stress. It's amazing how relying on yourself and nodody else has a positive effect on your health. I had RSI of the elbow for months and months. Never took a day off. Cod liver oil with glucosamine saw me thru it. One of the mum's at my kids school had it in the wrist( no jokes please lads) she worked for the council. And guess what???????? Had 3 months off paid leave. I even suggested the glucosamine to her but she declined stating she needed a break from work anyways. Can't wait to see how much my next tax bill is >:( Bloody spongers........Sorry Alex.........I'm on one again ;D
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well i cant turn down work and i have 5 or 6 clients who think we provide a good service and keep throwing work at us and i really aspice to be a succes (to me a success is to be running a business and not working has a sole trader).
iv picked up two biggish jobs since wednesday but i havent even got a secure business base, it seems when you get comfortable and believe things are going well then theyhave to come crashing down.
maybe i should pay out more in wages or maybe im just unlucky lets just hope that tommorrow doesnt get worse...........but i am intervewing ;D
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Get an advert in your local paper, for full time positions, train them up, get it rolling again and get it up to speed.
Bad day - that is all it is Ronnie!!!
When you find two more staff, who are more capable and dont want to run off with their own aspirations, you will see that it has made your business better!! and you will have learned about coping under stress!!
Keep your chin up and get on with it!!
Rob ;D
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hiya pal,
felt bad for you today when you was telling me that
Seems that it is hard work but i reckon you just need to keep cracking on, i dont think its that your business model is wrong, i just think you have been unlucky pal
Keep going, soon you will find a good employee :) How many businesses thrive on employees! ? And they manage , you are gaining experience in what not to employee/what to look out for, and soon you will see them coming a mile off and know what to employee and how to keep them , its stressful now but like you say, theres no future in not employing
Other option is give me all your work ;)
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cheers lads for the support
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Sell your other van, go out and work on your own, choose all the cream, sell the rest.
Live an easy life.
Dont stress, dont worry, who cares, :)
Chin up
Matt
I agree with this, if you like working and doing the graft yourself.
However if your managing you shouldn;t be working too.
Ronnie, im sure there are plenty of guys on here willing to sub work from you!! on a individual job basis.
You can still have that big business plan, just get someone else to do the lesser work whilst you do the cream.
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you are doing well mate, i hope my business can grow same as yours, just try again, and soon it will click
Business is like this, people who think you can grow and one day just have people doing everything are deluded you always are working hard, if its not on tools its keeping staff etc,
on dragon den yesterday they were saying good business men dont think of pitfalls they just take the next step - thought it was good advice :)
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at least im not in a positon were i have no work and im struggling to gt it or even in a prison cell cause the ladder caused a major accidnt on the M58 at ush hour time............imprberly lucky actually my mistake could of critical
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Sell your other van, go out and work on your own, choose all the cream, sell the rest.
Live an easy life.
Dont stress, dont worry, who cares, :)
Chin up
Matt
Well said Sir L, where's your OBE and when did you last see Liz.
By the way, Ronnie will survive.
Now, where are my golf clubs......
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was it that monster ladder?
I pulled out in traffic today with mine not clamped i was putting it away and really needed a p so ran into field and then after just jumpoed in car and drove off, 2 secs later i thought poop!!!! ladders, thankfully i was ok
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im sure my keybard keeps missing letters? half my words are missing letter ???
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It is an employers market at the moment. I would personally be looking for someone from a low paid job, who has got big bills.
Attract them with a good wage structure, increasing with experience and offering incentives for reaching daily targets.
We spoke the other week, your daily targets are good and there is no reason not to implement the above.
Keep your head focused on moving forward, no matter how hard the next few weeks will get!!
Rob ;D
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im sure my keybard keeps missing letters? half my words are missing letter ???
i put ad for canvasser on gumtree and seem to have tempted a really good prospect, female too :) she is sale person needing extra work
Get some ads out mate, theres a few million people need to pay bills with no wages right now!!
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the trouble will allways be staff seeing how easy it is to earn more money whilst working for themselves
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was it that monster ladder?
I pulled out in traffic today with mine not clamped i was putting it away and really needed a p so ran into field and then after just jumpoed in car and drove off, 2 secs later i thought poop!!!! ladders, thankfully i was ok
it was two big uns and i thought i clamped them but i calmped one round the ladders and not the roof rack...stupid i know......then i seen it swing round and trial behind me it was hanging of thevan with only the back clamp keeping it on which wa really bent and my back door is bashed and the ladders are worn were they were dragged down the motor way.
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was it that monster ladder?
I pulled out in traffic today with mine not clamped i was putting it away and really needed a p so ran into field and then after just jumpoed in car and drove off, 2 secs later i thought poop!!!! ladders, thankfully i was ok
it was two big uns and i thought i clamped them but i calmped one round the ladders and not the roof rack...stupid i know......then i seen it swing round and trial behind me it was hanging of thevan with only the back clamp keeping it on which wa really bent and my back door is bashed and the ladders are worn were they were dragged down the motor way.
wish id seen that.. not funny, but sounds a right spectacle. :o
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the trouble will allways be staff seeing how easy it is to earn more money whilst working for themselves
i agree thats why i getting more commercial and hopefully te eployees will end up commercial only that way they dont get to see prices.
M-Clean UK
that is a good idea some one who sees my growing company something that was very small but is growing at a rate of knots has is only chance of having possibly a well paid job ad position.
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the trouble will allways be staff seeing how easy it is to earn more money whilst working for themselves
i agree thats why i getting more commercial and hopefully te eployees will end up commercial only that way they dont get to see prices.
M-Clean UK
that is a good idea some one who sees my growing company something that was very small but is growing at a rate of knots has is only chance of having possibly a well paid job ad position.
were they collecting money on resis?
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Have to prioritise most important work until you find new employees. Good luck.
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the trouble will allways be staff seeing how easy it is to earn more money whilst working for themselves
i agree thats why i getting more commercial and hopefully te eployees will end up commercial only that way they dont get to see prices.
good idea, BUT a average bloke will see the car you drive and the house you live with good holidays and think " i can have a little of that if i worked for myself "
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When you employ you have to put up with stress (to a point) be firm but fair with you employees and they respect you for it (just like a dog) but the big over riding thing that must be in your mind! IT MUST BE PROFITABLE!!! if not then dont waste your time getting stress and ill health!! you have only one life!!
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Or he can make them see that they can have a very comfortable life, with holidays and a decent car - with none of the aggravation of running their own business. 5 paid weeks holiday per year and at 4pm switch off and chill!!
Rob ;D
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i know and that has what ha happened i think and has im only 30 and only been running my buiness 4 years.
maybe i get a scruffy car and house and live a dfferent lfe
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the trouble will allways be staff seeing how easy it is to earn more money whilst working for themselves
i agree thats why i getting more commercial and hopefully te eployees will end up commercial only that way they dont get to see prices.
M-Clean UK
that is a good idea some one who sees my growing company something that was very small but is growing at a rate of knots has is only chance of having possibly a well paid job ad position.
were they collecting money on resis?
no i put slips through but they have to know prices to put it on slips.
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i know and that has what ha happened i think and has im only 30 and only been running my buiness 4 years.
maybe i get a scruffy car and house and live a dfferent house
haha do that, and buy a big villa in the sun..
then you only have to pay for air fares for a holiday!
I know someone that does that.
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i think the problem you get a lot with employees, is all they see is the money coming and think that you must be rolling in it, and dont think about fuel, equipment, insurances
they dont see the hard work that goes in to building a business, they just see people phoning you up and offering you work and think it is easy
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the trouble will allways be staff seeing how easy it is to earn more money whilst working for themselves
i agree thats why i getting more commercial and hopefully te eployees will end up commercial only that way they dont get to see prices.
M-Clean UK
that is a good idea some one who sees my growing company something that was very small but is growing at a rate of knots has is only chance of having possibly a well paid job ad position.
were they collecting money on resis?
no i put slips through but they have to know prices to put it on slips.
o right, thats what i was wondering, but its hard not being able to trust them to know innit, makes life hard if you have to try hide everything form them
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Try to keep civil relations with the ones leaving. They could be handy for future jobs where they just clean, invoice you and you pay them.
Very little admin and i'm sure that once they realise that building up a round takes time, a bit of subbying off you would seem quite attractive.
At a cost to you which should work out financially beneficial. Minimal admin and less cost to you.
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Thats the joys of employing! sometimes it feels like you wanna give up. My advice would be to keep going! eventually you will findsomeone that just enjoys having a relative stress free life. starting work at 8am and finishing at 4pm or 5 what ever. Lets face it employees make us money, its never gonna be easy but you just have to keep going and don't look back. I've had bad days but just keep moving forward i wouldn't scale down to work on my own again
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Ronnie...sorry to hear about your problems,but these are problems that will constantly arise with employees especially untill you reach a point that you are a sizeable company that doesn't rely on two employees.
Another alternative could be to go down the ian lancaster route,although this may be more difficult on commercial work,but at least if the employee has a visible interest in the business he will probably think twice about moving on or letting you down.
Hope you get it all sorted.
Dan ;)
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Thats the joys of employing! sometimes it feels like you wanna give up. My advice would be to keep going! eventually you will findsomeone that just enjoys having a relative stress free life. starting work at 8am and finishing at 4pm or 5 what ever. Lets face it employees make us money, its never gonna be easy but you just have to keep going and don't look back. I've had bad days but just keep moving forward i wouldn't scale down to work on my own again
i hope you pay time and a 1/2 for that overtime ;)
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they are never out longer than their contracted hours. their normally done within 6 hours so they should be refunding me if anything!! ;D
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they are never out longer than their contracted hours. their normally done within 6 hours so they should be refunding me if anything!! ;D
thats ok then ;)
i was just worried about them long hours you force them to work
starting work at 8am and finishing at 4pm
slave driver ;D ;D ;D
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What did you pay these guys Ronnie?
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they are never out longer than their contracted hours. their normally done within 6 hours so they should be refunding me if anything!! ;D
thats ok then ;)
i was just worried about them long hours you force them to work
starting work at 8am and finishing at 4pm
slave driver ;D ;D ;D
i'm to soft ;)
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just ben doing interview and it isnt my wage structure not one od them wa on ovr 13k most on about 12 and a hlf k.
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dont stress it will kill you in the end
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hi ronnie if you get stuck i dont mind doing a bit of subbing till you fnd someone reliabe,am pretty close to you really if its something you need my number is on my website,
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just ben doing interview and it isnt my wage structure not one od them wa on ovr 13k most on about 12 and a hlf k.
Sorry mate, dont understand that. Are you saying your boys did or didnt earn more than 13K a year?
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sorry ye the exceed 13k one was on nearly 20k(team leader) the other 14k
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hi ronnie what is the wages like down there mate for say some one with 12 years exp svq level 2 in window cleaning ddone every kind of cleaning u can think of thanks david
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depends who you work for, ome pay min wage some more but not usuall much more.
i try to pay reasonabley well but iv changed my pay structure so that one is paid 14.5k the other 15.5k(Driver) both have £600 bonus yearly plus around £200 at Christmas
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thanks for the reply mate.the wage sounds good the wife is on £12000 a year and i think thats a good wage
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aup ronnie
my advice would be get out of it what you can before you are 40...ie healthy bank balance or a nice bit of property as eventually the running of the business will grind you down.
at 40 or b4 cut back on your work keeping the cream and just have one van with yourself and one lad working 3 /4 days per week..thus avoiding all other hassles connected with the running of a business