good luck steve.
I also started off with a customer, no experience and built on that.
Thanks guys for the support. I'm really appreiciative of that. It is getting harder and harder to keep the smile on my face. Especially after yesterdays encounter with a really negative person I had the misfortune to knock on their door. "No mate, already got a window cleaner and so's all this street, stop wasting your time" followed by numerous expleetives.
There will always be people trying to pee on your bonfire.
You will lose your 1st job 1 day as well.
Your 1st complaint.
Rude customer.
People telling you that you are too expensive.
The list goes on.
Try not to take anything personally. If you are unhappy doing a job for whatever reason, then rectify it by increasing the price or dropping it.
It's nice to be friendly with customers, but at the end of the day, with few exceptions, they will always be customers and not friends.
Be clear about what you are quoting for and be wary of doing favours. It just opens up a can of worms and leads to major disappointment and resentment when these little favours keep increasing and you finally start charging for it.
Oh, and always charge more (at least 50%) for cleaning insides. Customers seem to think it is easier for you to do insides than outs. Don't be fooled. Do it for the experience but if the money ain't there don't do it.
My experience of cleaning in/out is that all it does is uncover a multitude of sins. Customers expect the glass to be perfect. And they will notice all sorts of scratches.
It always takes me at least twice as long tradding insides.