Why are they called karens? Anyhow, this game is one of the strangest jobs I have every had. It's nothing like using the ladder and the squeegee because of the reach and speed of getting the job done. When I began using the pole I got nothing but hassle but only had 20 odd customers and every day would be a headache trying to change my customer's opinion on the method. Anyway, 6 years later the pendulum has swung totally from left to right and everyone is happy with the system because windows, pvc and conny's can be cleaned.
But the change in me came when I went over 100 monthly customers, I became the leader instead of the customer. I now have the confidence to walk away and not get involved with time vampires who like this month a new customer told me to skip because its going to rain later on in the day. She won't see me again and will need to find someone else. I also put half of my prices up a £1 and no one has cancelled yet but makes no difference with the amount of work coming in.
The best piece of advice I can give anyone having a Karen as a customer is don't get involved, just don't go back, if they contact you then just say you have a full book. Only wish I knew this years ago because it would have saved me alot of time.
Most of your jobs are £10 or £12 right? How on earth are you getting by if you’ve just hit 100 monthly customers?
No, I have one at £30 a month after their extension. I count care homes as one clean but they have plenty of houses (customers) in them, I could count every individual customer that pays me. One care home takes 45 min but I get a ton another pays £30 but takes less that 15mins. This month I picked up many different jobs like move a gutter down (£100) maybe need 7 new brackets. 3 jobs my customers want is too trim trees which I enjoy undertaking. A rich church wants me to fit a fire door and frame. I help my mate in his garage but he wanted me to fit a cooker and cut worktops for his nephew for free. Only took me an hour but he fitted a new hand brake cable on my van yesterday.
When one has many skills and plenty of mates who work for themselves then we all help each other, I have to fit a new lock for one who owns by to lets. Its a bit like swap shop up here, we all know someone who can undertake a task and I usually fit in all the time because I have bought all the equipment from cement mixer to stump grinder. That's the reason I don't want many more windy customers.
A grand a month fire brigade pension, mortgage paid off in March, single, no dependents means I'm quite reliable, throw in my skills and equipment I have means I'm always in demand. Best thing a windy cleaner should do part time is add another skill, i,e (building fences). After a storm you can pick up some fences to build or fix. Its not that hard to build a fence or add a new post or two. There are hundreds of small jobs that our customers will need doing like replacing a hip tile that got blown off (have one to do and will use my scaffold, safer and charge more), fix a gutter, replace a drainpipe, fix a slab, lay some slabs or monoblocks. What I have found is after one job, my customer will contact me first to see if I can do it before going elsewhere, means I'm busy.
Today is a charity day, had to bump out a bumper for old pal when a bollard jumped behind him and he hit it. I took round trolly jack and hairdryer and took wheel off and pressed it out. Good as new, no charge. He is over the moon and he will tell others, means more work comes my way. Its called the law of reciprocation, work has no choice but to appear when he goes to the Thursday club (200 members) and discusses what his week involved. 😉
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