[benny donnelly]

I'm 7 months cleaning now and have been doing so around my current day job, my plan was to be as busy as possible until now were I would be in the position to go cleaning full time and jack in the job.

I am doing the job 8 years and am sick of it altogether which is the reason window cleaning appealed to me having the freedom to earn what I want and work when I want. With the cleaning I am now making around 20% more than my monthly wage which was the target I was working to (i have a business plan from the start and so far I have hit all figures that I planned to hit)

I am now in the position were I had planned to quit the day work and go cleaning full time as I am at the stage were I cannot expand any further, as I haven't the time, but haven planned to expand again from now until the new year.

The thing is my head is telling me to quit the job and plough on with my own venture but my heart is saying keep the job just in case, what im thinking about is how is winter going to effect my income, I suppose I am just to used to the guaranteed monthly salary but just as I write this now I can see I'm just being an ejit and should just go for it and quit the job and expand on my own or should I?

Just having these second thoughts as im stepping out of my comfort zone, like most on here I have a mortgage, car payments, wife and kids, personal loans etc and I am the only main income source to the house so factoring that all in is my reason having second thoughts.

Any words of wisdom from you experienced operators 

[johnny bravo]

if you have a big enough round now you should be keeping savings back 4 winter,   when you may make nothing in any bad icy week.   you always seem to get a dry day but depending on debts to pay every month.  big decision,  whats your job @ this moment, giving a 100% income guaranteed. regardless of weather.

[wpclean]

Go for it, you just need good preparation for the winter.   The lifestyle window cleaning gives is brilliant, and best of all it fits in around family life.

The only thing you need in abundance with the job is self discipline !

[bobplum]

what are you going to do next winter and the winter after and the winter after and so on

[supernova77]

I'm 7 months cleaning now and have been doing so around my current day job, my plan was to be as busy as possible until now were I would be in the position to go cleaning full time and jack in the job.

I am doing the job 8 years and am sick of it altogether which is the reason window cleaning appealed to me having the freedom to earn what I want and work when I want. With the cleaning I am now making around 20% more than my monthly wage which was the target I was working to (i have a business plan from the start and so far I have hit all figures that I planned to hit)

I am now in the position were I had planned to quit the day work and go cleaning full time as I am at the stage were I cannot expand any further, as I haven't the time, but haven planned to expand again from now until the new year.

The thing is my head is telling me to quit the job and plough on with my own venture but my heart is saying keep the job just in case, what im thinking about is how is winter going to effect my income, I suppose I am just to used to the guaranteed monthly salary but just as I write this now I can see I'm just being an ejit and should just go for it and quit the job and expand on my own or should I?

Just having these second thoughts as im stepping out of my comfort zone, like most on here I have a mortgage, car payments, wife and kids, personal loans etc and I am the only main income source to the house so factoring that all in is my reason having second thoughts.

Any words of wisdom from you experienced operators  Smiley

If it was me I would hold on to the full time job until March... During the winter you get less daylight hours to work in and you can potentialy lose days due to snow / icey weather etc...

Come March you will have the whole spring and summer ahead of you to grow the business and make sure that you are earning what you need.

Then next winter you will have a lot more experience and a more solid business to help you through...

Andy

[A & J Owen Window Cleaning]

I'm 7 months cleaning now and have been doing so around my current day job, my plan was to be as busy as possible until now were I would be in the position to go cleaning full time and jack in the job.

I am doing the job 8 years and am sick of it altogether which is the reason window cleaning appealed to me having the freedom to earn what I want and work when I want. With the cleaning I am now making around 20% more than my monthly wage which was the target I was working to (i have a business plan from the start and so far I have hit all figures that I planned to hit)

I am now in the position were I had planned to quit the day work and go cleaning full time as I am at the stage were I cannot expand any further, as I haven't the time, but haven planned to expand again from now until the new year.

The thing is my head is telling me to quit the job and plough on with my own venture but my heart is saying keep the job just in case, what im thinking about is how is winter going to effect my income, I suppose I am just to used to the guaranteed monthly salary but just as I write this now I can see I'm just being an ejit and should just go for it and quit the job and expand on my own or should I?

Just having these second thoughts as im stepping out of my comfort zone, like most on here I have a mortgage, car payments, wife and kids, personal loans etc and I am the only main income source to the house so factoring that all in is my reason having second thoughts.

Any words of wisdom from you experienced operators  Smiley

If it was me I would hold on to the full time job until March... During the winter you get less daylight hours to work in and you can potentialy lose days due to snow / icey weather etc...

Come March you will have the whole spring and summer ahead of you to grow the business and make sure that you are earning what you need.

Then next winter you will have a lot more experience and a more solid business to help you through...

Andy

I agree, if it was me I would wait until next Spring.

[Granny]

Hi Benny
You've done really well I remember your first post!
Did you ever get your iPhone back off the scrotes in the Council Estate?
I would hang on to the the job until Spring.
You will be limited in the growth you can put in until then with the weather and short days and expensive season if you're into Santy.
Give you time to reflect and plan - then in Spring get springing!!!!
G.

[benny donnelly]

Hi Benny
You've done really well I remember your first post!
Did you ever get your iPhone back off the scrotes in the Council Estate?
I would hang on to the the job until Spring.
You will be limited in the growth you can put in until then with the weather and short days and expensive season if you're into Santy.
Give you time to reflect and plan - then in Spring get springing!!!!
G.

No never got the phone back from the little scumbags and have never entered another council estate since tbh, cheers for your words of encouragement, from day 1 i wrote up a business plan and to this day 7 months on i hit all my targets and am in the exact position i wanted to be in now lucky enough, not saying I havent had problems along the way from VERY awkward customers, to non payers, altercations with another window cleaner, stuff robbed from van and van problems to name a few!

Have been talking the the other half and I suppose it makes sense to keep the day job until the year and then in the spring I can expand even further, I have done it for 8 years I suppose another 3 or 4 months wont kill me...

I'm looking into maybe taking someone part time for 3 days a week to help me with the work load as at the minute my days cleaning I am flat out, weather permitting I am out at 9 and stay out till dark, through the summer it was 9am to 9pm to build up the round, so if I had someone PT over the next few months we should be 30-40% quicker as a team therefore getting more cleans done with the limited light hours in the day and factoring in the bad weather, anyhow its an idea im still thinking about.

How is things going for yourself?

[DG Cleaning]

If your trad with someone helping you will be 100% quicker

[johnny bravo]

advertise on gumtree etc.,     let them be self employed,    there for on a bad day they earn what they clean on your hourly rate. you wont have to worry about paying from your own pocket.  no work no pay   simples.   theres lots who need a bit of xtra cash.   you may find a loyal worker to rely on.

[wightsurf]

The way i see it you have 2 ways to go from here.

1 is you jack the job in and go for  it alone,you already said that your 20% up ,so even with winter i cant see why you will not get through it.

2 Keep your job for another 6 mnths take someone on properly and expand the busines with your main income as a backup.With this and some hard work you could
be in for a  nice wage with in  6 months.

[andrew hamshare]

You don't even need discipline.

[Smudger]

well done on building up your round !

this is only a 'snapshot' opinion from your OP question and that is if you wait until spring then i feel you will never
make the step over to full self employed - mainly because you will become reliant on both incomes and then over time
find reasons not to go out cleaning and finally let the windy cleaning slip away..

While it's great to have concerns about making it work and surviving you do need to have the conviction and self
belief that it will work and take that step - window cleaning is as busy in winter as summer but with bad wheather
and shorter days you'll have more than enough to do with just keeping on top of the cleaning.

If you go for it talk to your boss and say your giving it a go but if it goes wrong could you return ? - a decent boss will
always find a place for a good worker - and if not their is always another job around the corner.

you can pick up so much work thro Nov to Feb as many 'part-time' w/c's just go AWOL esp. if we have a long,cold winter

Darran

[Granny]

Hi Benny
You've done really well I remember your first post!
Did you ever get your iPhone back off the scrotes in the Council Estate?
I would hang on to the the job until Spring.
You will be limited in the growth you can put in until then with the weather and short days and expensive season if you're into Santy.
Give you time to reflect and plan - then in Spring get springing!!!!
G.

How is things going for yourself?

Bit of a dilema with taking on the underpriced work I was given, not compact work and collecting dragging us down a bit but at least enough work to pay the bills which is good in the first few months of starting.
Gradually dropping and replacing with work closer home and better paid but it's hard to get good price work, too many windies working for low prices here.
G.

[shina]

I've been offered a big round for the price of 1 clean. Thing is I just dont want to go down that road of re-pricing again its a nightmare hate it. The round is being done through the winter and will be available in the spring so may get my son onto it with me which will help us both out.

[Ross Shorland]

Really wise idea to wait until spring.
Like the idea of hiring someone for a day now and again because nights are closing in its going to be hard for you to get a lot of work done, although be careful coz there is a lot of people not a hard working as yourself.
Try to find someone you might know looking for work, they are often better because they dont want to let you down.

[MATTHEW LEWIS]

1. LACK OF CASH FLOW CAN KILL YOUR ABILITY TO PAY MONTHLY BILLS. DONT PAY YOUR MONTHLY BILLS AFFECTS YOUR CREDIT RATING

2. ANY FORM OF INJURY TO YOU IN THE FUTURE WOULD HAVE A MASSIVE IMPACT ON YOUR ABILITY TO WORK.

THE SITUATION YOU ARE IN KNOW IS THE PERFECT SITUATION. USE ANY ADDITIONAL INCOME TO PAY OFF YOUR FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS

I ADMIRE YOUR DRIVE AND COMMITMENT TO WORK BUT A STEADY HEAD WILL ALWAYS WIN MOST OF THE TIME