Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: pingu on October 22, 2009, 08:30:51 pm
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Ok so after 3 years I now have a nice round with a good hourly rate and plenty of spare time and time to build extra work in if I wanted.
So after all the excitment of the 'building' how do you motivate yourselves? as I do really feel de-motivated at present.
Please don't write something along the lines of ...paying the bills motivates me.
Respectfully
Dave
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I have the same trouble. Building to pay the bills drove me on. I guess I also liked the challenge of building it. I struggle with motivation myself.
I find that if I set a realistic daily target I work well to hit it. If it is unrealistic or something happens that day so that I can't hit it, the whole day goes to pot.
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u need to set goals, how about building it up so that u have to employ someone else on a other van
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The free time and the money motivate me Dave, but I see my biz as my baby. I see my custies going to work to jobs they hate and getting knocked over if the heating packs up at home and they have a problem paying the bill. I remember some bosses I had in the past and know I earn more than they do. I love sniping at managers when they get stroppy on a job I'm on.
I like being the boss and getting rewards for every extra minute I work. Sometimes after collecting cash in the evening, I love a wad of cash in my pocket. Lots of things, but mostly, I decide what I do and when I do it.
You've got a good biz Dave, step back and take a look at it from someone elses point of view now and then.
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I get really motivated, when I think about my ex boss. I used to work in a Hospital kitchen and she was a slave driver and all that for the minimum wage. I worked in shifts and I hated it. So every time I think of her, I want to clean a few more windows. I should put a picture of her on my fridge ;D
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just get yourself so much work you can,t afford to be lazy , and enjoy the money , i also find going away for the weekend with the girlfriend on a regular basis helps regards alan
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i think we all get like that every now and then dave , i took 2 days off when i reall y should have been at work got my head together now and i am working as normal now, at times i think because we don't take a few weeks holiday a year like our partner's welose motivation or at least i do my wife gets 5 wks hols a year an d i feel a bit hard done by poor poor me
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At the moment we are saving every penny for when our self cert mortgage comes to and end in Sep 2011 so we can put down another decent deposit ..so holidays, etc are all on the back burner and despite knowing that we are building for a better life when we get a mortgage with a lower rate...
It's just that it all gets so same, same...thanks for listening guys.
Cheers
Dave.
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chin up dave , i see you are from the great netherlands i have relatives in nimagen
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That's the trouble with this game, building a round is really exciting, people want you, several compliment you on your work. It's great and the money comes rolling in. Then you settle down to the mundane maintenance cleans and get to know the properties and customers inside out and it all gets a bit boring. Get a complaint or two and it's soul destroying. Then along comes the bad weather and the dark nights. Just got to stick it out 'till the spring when the weather turns and I get all invigorated again. New custies start phoning and come april I buy myself a new SLX and of we go again - luverlie. :D
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I haven't really got an answer to your question but like you say building around is the motivation, i cant understand why someone would buy a round what would be the motivation in that?.
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Nijmegen is about 20 minutes drive from here...not far at all.
Dave.
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I haven't really got an answer to your question but like you say building around is the motivation, i cant understand why someone would buy a round what would be the motivation in that?.
its an easy to way to get into window cleaning, get enough to pay bills straight away so your not struggling, then build from there, thats what i did..
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Im building my round up to eventually sell when im older so the way i want to do things is build up the biggest round i can and i want to eventually take staff on to run the business then i can delegate more and relax more. I wanna save as much as poss then when im bored with it all i ill sell it for a big profit - Thats the plan anyway
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i think when you get your round to where you want to be ( as you sound like you have, i know i have aswell ) the danger is it just becomes a job, its the same thing again and again, you know that you will be at nuber 42 whatever street in 6 ( insert your frequency ) weeks time ( unless it rains a lot , which doesnt apply if you work int he rain )
you either need to come to terms with it and embrace it for what it is, a fairly well paid job with time off as you want it ) or you set a new challenge ( staff if thats your thing )
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id have a few more holidays if i was you to get a good break and clear your mind abit
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i think when you get your round to where you want to be ( as you sound like you have, i know i have aswell ) the danger is it just becomes a job, its the same thing again and again, you know that you will be at nuber 42 whatever street in 6 ( insert your frequency ) weeks time ( unless it rains a lot , which doesnt apply if you work int he rain )
you either need to come to terms with it and embrace it for what it is, a fairly well paid job with time off as you want it ) or you set a new challenge ( staff if thats your thing )
It does seem that even though we earn good money compared to other jobs, its hard to use that after a while as a motivator, when i came from minimum wage ,too window cleaning, i would graft I disagree off for £15 ph and love every minute,
If i earned that now, i wuld go home sulking
so for me the motivator is growing a business, i have a part time help at the minute, and im planning to get to vat threshold in next 12 months, once there i will decide whether to go over and take on more staff or keep grafting
My issue is if i never take staff on i will always be working my butt off, whereas if i build, then i can retire and take it easier...
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i find dave just get ur mind off window cleaning and this forum for a few days and do something else!!got any hobbies?go away and take the girlfriend for a wkend to some place.always works for me.i come back raring to go again.be grateful for what uv built up over the last 3 years and start again building or replacing some work for better paying stuff.depends what u want to do.i have no plans to employ and find the simpler i keep my life and business the happier i am!! ;D ;D ;D
best wishes dazmond
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Motivation come in two forms fear of going back to what you had ” poo job, a boss you hated and low pay “etc or a dream of the future eg.. a holiday a new car or something good the problem with Dave s goal it to long and far off you need to break it down in to smaller goal to have so meaning. All work and no play makes Dave an unhappy chappy.You er the boss change the goal posts.
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you want a land rover dont you dave? i think i remember readin, get saving for it, set yourself a goal when you want it for :)
That should work
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flood restoration work ;D(holland,low lying,climate change) could be a good opportunity
bob
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Some cracking replies here...
Yep since June 06 all I have done is eat, pooh and think window cleaning,whether the worry of failure or the constant drive for more, more, more.
Ok so the round is built to a good point...yep it could get better, some days where the rate is not as good as it could be and some where I just toodle along without a care in the world...
Someone wrote that I have to either embrace the work or get used it as Ill be doing it for sometime..so very true.
I am taking today off as well as yesterday...having a long weekend and going to drill the business and see where and what I am going to do with it...the trouble in a way is that for the most part all my plans and projections have been completed in 3 years and not 5 as 'planned'. (hope that did'nt come across too arrogant).
For anyone here who has been on here for a while will know that I am very anal about numbers, stats and knowing every detail down to turnover & profit per km driven etc ;).
So I'll take some of your great advice on and take the dogs out to the woods this morning and reflect.
Cheers for the shoulder, thank-you very big.
Dave.
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good for u dave,
I have been obsessed for the last couple of years with w/c and it has made me even more boring than i already was ;D
My round is not perfect and could be better but if i look back where i was to where i am now i can't help but feel a little bit proud of myself.
I've just took up a hobby i really enjoy, which gives me another outlet and I'm trying to keep a tighter control on my spending on work stuff,
i have wasted sooo much money on silly things that i really don't need!
I now have other targets to improve my fittness, shift a bit of weight, spend some money on myself now and not my business,
Going to spend some money up-dating my wardrobe, and hope to have a better holiday this year.
I don't mind the job and the repetition of it, i take comfort in the fact that i have built myself a pretty secure future, and vastly decreased the risk of injury to myself via wfp.(thus ensuring my business is safer and me :))
I do shift my work around and don't know exactly where i'l be next time as i don't work in the rain, only very light drizzle, unavoidabley shifting my work around; and i do experiment putting different work together trying to decrease time and increase profit
I now realise i can never keep my round the same and custy's will cancel through choice, moving,dying or i may cancel them so my work schedule is ever changing so it is not really groundhog day.
some days i enjoy a chat with the odd custy a cup of tea sometimes biscuits, fried egg rolls.
I set realistic targets for earnings in a day and stick to them.
I have two targets related to earnings for the week, what i have to earn and what i'd like to; if some weeks i earn the latter than so be it.
I have learned not to worry so much about lost time due to weather and anything else that crops up.
as i now realise i will always earn my must have target.
At the moment i am not intrested in building empires and having staff.
I know some on here do well with this but i am sure they would admit it wasn't and still isn't easy and i imagine could be stressfull.
I can get pee'd off with some custy's but take comfort in the fact i only see them for a short duration, unlike working with somone ::)
also i do inside work also on the odd occasion and i quite enjoy the change of scenery(was going to do a post on idea about this)
sorry dave i have waffled far too long from all these posts on here i think the choices seem to be carry on as you are setting more targets and figures looking to build that empire or instead take comfort in what you have achieved and start finding other things to put your energies in :)
goodluck dave, i always enjoy reading your posts: perhaps you should write a book on how to build a profitable window cleaning round from nothing ;)
thanks lee
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I get really motivated, when I think about my ex boss. I used to work in a Hospital kitchen and she was a slave driver and all that for the minimum wage. I worked in shifts and I hated it. So every time I think of her, I want to clean a few more windows. I should put a picture of her on my fridge ;D
do u take ure fridge 2 work people do strange things ;D
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Dave, stop changing your name on here mate, that's a bad sign :o
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Nijmegen is about 20 minutes drive from here...not far at all.
Dave.
A bridge too far? Like Arnhem.
How about motivating yourself by saving for a big treat.
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its the silly things that get to me like, i try to keep to a 6 weekly clean most happy a few say not often enough and the others could not give a toss. today had one cancel due to undercut and more frequent one cos of god knws what a at first said marks on window and my advise slip says "any probs i will return to sort" so no excuse there and talking to the guy i established he just did not want to pay anymore, now that small minority really get me down, they will say anything rather than the truth.
nearly all the othes are great so why do these stand out and get to us so much!!
paul
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Because by nature we like to be prefect at what we do.Therefore we want to improve on the not perfect work.
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Dave, don't think you have come to the end. You have just climbed the hill that's all. A window cleaning round should be a living entity. Culling, pruning, looking at efficiency savings. There is always something that can be done to improve things.
This is the point you should be congratulating yourself.
If you're happy with your round, then do things in other areas of your life.
I'm a bit of an anorak at times though and think getting your house paid off asap is as good motivator as possible. :)
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I feel the same as Dave worked hard this past 5 years built up 3 w/c rounds sold 2 of them now what.The round that I have now makes a good living but I don't have the same motivation as when I was building the business up,I would
like to take the next step and take staff on but with past business ventures I found this to much stress.My big problem
with w/c it is a repeatative job same thing day in day out I am battleing with this with myself all the time.
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I feel the same as Dave worked hard this past 5 years built up 3 w/c rounds sold 2 of them now what.The round that I have now makes a good living but I don't have the same motivation as when I was building the business up,I would
like to take the next step and take staff on but with past business ventures I found this to much stress.My big problem
with w/c it is a repeatative job same thing day in day out I am battleing with this with myself all the time.
Isnt it the same as any other job, at least with w/c and being self employed we can all take a day or two off as and when we need to, concentrate on other things etc. I hope i dont start having thoughts like this in a few years or whenever i get to where i want to be. Thing is with me i just need enough to keep me going for 5 hours 5 days a week for now, then when my son gets a bit older i can expand and build again so i think it will be a while before i feel like you lot do well most of you.
Im just aiming for several goals and they aint linked to w/c in the slightest just will come from the money i make doing it :)
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bin there got the tee shirt as to speak 3 things you should do
1 set targets and goals
2 select space and time for yourself
3 remember setbacks are only temporary
we are all in the same boat
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Well thanks all for taking the time to put your thoughts here...so good to have others opinions as we all know this can be a business where we are in isolation to those around us.
But after going out with the dogs and having a long think I came home and thought how best to move forward...
So I want another 1200 euro's worth of work every 8 weeks, which really transpires into 1000 as there is about 200 worth of work that I just hate cleaning and I want rid of.
Some days I have far too much work so these days are being 'jiggled' so that there will be a reasonable set amount of work 4 days a week for 7 weeks and then the 8th week will be holiday - spare time.
Now this is the hard bit....endevour to take things in a calmer manner and let the waves roll over me.... I can be prone to knee-jerk reactions.
Have enrolled in classes to make my Dutch language better.
Get that full sleeve and chest plate tattoo I have always wanted.
Aim to get xx thousand euros in the bank for our next mortgage.
3 days in Amsterdam booked for Nov - weekend away ;D.
Bought a kelly kettle so I can have hot food and drinks for lunch @work
So thanks..for the input...
Dave.
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Dave,
Move on to the next challenge, keep the window cleaning going but employ someone to do if for you and give yourself time to look at other opportunities.
We started exactly the same as you nearly 7 years ago, now have 18 staff and cover all aspects of cleaning. Don't know the Dutch market greatly but there must be a niche market for you and your business acumen.