ok, i can understand why growth would be important in specific contexts, i.e if you were buying tescos etc, but the very basis of window cleaning business is that it is stagnant. if all you are doing is increasing your price for the same service then there is no growth in the business.
you talk about growth being important to banks for giving out loans etc, but no one is stupid enough to think you can just carry on charging more for doing the same service.
one of the main problems of window cleaning is that once you have a full round and have got it as perfect as you can, bar price increases for inflation you cannot earn any more for doing the work.
you mention growth is whats needed to pay for new equipment or to look after your family- well you cant simply increase prices because you decided to have another kid. you charge a price for a service, and you increase the price to reflect the rise of inflation and business costs (i.e equipment) so that 5 years down the line, the job is still worth the same to you.
you cannot then add further onto the price just because you want to go on an extra holiday a year, unless you offer something extra to the service.
when other business talk about growth, they are talking about opening new stores, hiring more staff etc. they are not talking about charging more money for the same service.
to me personally, this concept of growth does not make any sense. if your customers are hapy to keep paying more money for exactly the same service then good for you, but i think if i went to my customers and said the price is increasing above the rate of inflation and then gave them your explantion (i.e just had a new kid) then they would quite rightly say 'thats not my problem'. you cant just shift your increase in spending (outside of the business) onto the customer