[Pope vader]

how do you lot deal with the cant be bothered days,  not worked all week as choose not to, like to day got a full day in 3 new jobs to do and to be honest i cant be bothered to even print off the sheets,

i might just have a cull of all my work and only do the ones i want or that pay on time, as am getting bored with this buisness and all the crap that goes with it,  ie chasing up payments of people who forget,  i havent been out knocking in a while as find after sitting around all day, i cant be bothered to go out at night, as earn enough with what i got in

how do you lot cope with it  or deal with it

[Steven Shoreditch]

Go fishing.

[Tom White]

I'm having one of those days right now.  I'm going to just put one foot in front of the other till I get to my first job.  If I start thinking about it too much, all the nitty gritty stuff, I psych myself out.

[Pope vader]

i just started to print stuff off and print wont work, just the little things really annoy me in this business,

[Helen]

how do you lot deal with the cant be bothered days,  not worked all week as choose not to, like to day got a full day in 3 new jobs to do and to be honest i cant be bothered to even print off the sheets,

i might just have a cull of all my work and only do the ones i want or that pay on time, as am getting bored with this buisness and all the crap that goes with it,  ie chasing up payments of people who forget,  i havent been out knocking in a while as find after sitting around all day, i cant be bothered to go out at night, as earn enough with what i got in

how do you lot cope with it  or deal with it

Just sit back and think about being employed by someone else.......... or being made redundant by them.....works a treat........

printer problems......make sure the window is open first before you throw it!!!!

[steven ainger]

it must be the weather   
as im having one of those weeks,
worked monday,
went to the beach yesterday,
golf this afternoon.
off to devon ( im in essex ) in the early hours for the rest of the week.

[boldy1304]

how do you lot deal with the cant be bothered days,  not worked all week as choose not to, like to day got a full day in 3 new jobs to do and to be honest i cant be bothered to even print off the sheets,

i might just have a cull of all my work and only do the ones i want or that pay on time, as am getting bored with this buisness and all the crap that goes with it,  ie chasing up payments of people who forget,  i havent been out knocking in a while as find after sitting around all day, i cant be bothered to go out at night, as earn enough with what i got in

how do you lot cope with it  or deal with it

WHAT A REFRESHING CHANGE this is how i feel at the mo fed up with the whole business have been since that bad spell at christmas cant get back into it and really thinking of jacking it all in im taking my hgv this week and got a job interview next week were  i would get paid holidays 29 days a year were i can also switch off as soon as i leave and actually enjoy my holiday not worry about being behind and it raining when i get back. normally all you hear on here is how good it all is and how you should work in the rain and never be behind unfortunatly most down here are in as they have retired and dont like it done in the rain anyway glad im not the only one. 

[richywilts]

i often feel like that i didnt find i enjoy window cleaning on a full time basis so i chose to grow my business and manage it, i find managing the business pretty hard and frustrating as well so iv employed someone to take care of that too albeit im not earning at minute but we have a plan for the next couple of years and im doing the things which i do enjoy about the business now.iv had more knock backs than you could even think of n just get me head down n deal with it they soon go away try not to be too negative i went thru a stage where i couldnt get out of bed coz of the stress and found myself depressed. hope you pull out of it mate, just try and think how lucky you are and people are in worse situations

[Scoop]

Firstly, you need to tell yourself that it is normal to have days when you can't find the mental strength to get out there. All self-employed go through this as we are driven by the carrot and not the stick. No nasty phone call at 9am when you haven't turned up for work.

But the carrot is good too. You effectively decide your salary (to a certain limit) by how much and how hard you want to work. It is worth it. I did the agencies before I started bin cleaning and being shouted at in Russian because I stopped the production line isn't my idea of enjoyable work.

Re. bad payers, I have always found that this can become a standoff. The customer starts to avoid you because they think you're cross that you haven't been paid (which you are). But you should try not to show them this. A quick visit in the evening can often get you both back on track. They answer the door unsuspecting. You are as nice as possible, just checking if everything is ok (I always say that I wanted to check they haven't moved house), and by the way there's a couple of cleans outstanding. The number that refuse to pay is very small (for me) and of course you drop those ones. Most important thing is not to let it fester. The longer it goes untreated the harder it is to get back on track.

Life as a bin cleaner isn't always great. You window cleaners have the social status of Doctors compared to me. But I do know that my customers who come home to a clean bin really appreciate it and that somehow spurs me on to get them done. I'm sure your customers appreciate your hard work too even if they sometimes forget to say so.

[dazmond]

we all have days like that mate although mine are usually in winter!!i love this business most of the time.the money is good and the flexibilty is great.

ive decided to take the week off.ill only be a few days behind if i start fresh on monday morning.waited in for new sofa yesterday and couldnt get it up the stairs!had to send it back!so ill have to get the 2 seater version today.

girlfriend has just got some full length wardrobes from ikea so that will keep me busy for a while!also my brother is up from london so will spend a bit of time with him this week.

a holiday/few days away or just a mini break always does the trick for me.all you guys that are thinking of jacking it in must nt be making enough money IMO!

its such an easy business to run!sick of printing invoices?it only takes a few mins!!

take a break and get back at it unless of course you want to work for someone else!not me!im very grateful for having such a good round although its took years to build up to what it is now.


best wishes to you all


dazmond

[Viktor]

Best trick for me is to get targets and aims. Then plan a way of reaching them in many steps.
Let's say I want to have a holidays in 6 months, then I would plan what I need to get done and how much I need to earn to go for holidays.
Once I have a target and a plan to get to the target it drives me mad sometimes I would hate Sunday feeling that I do nothing and waiting for Monday to carry on.

[Viktor]

and worst things that makes me feel that I can't be bothered is those what I left behind, jobs, paperwork, other things what are in mess.
Try not to thing as it is in mess or behind, think of it as it's urgent and on top of your to do list.

[Pope vader]

went out and done 3 houses before the rain came, so decided to right the day off and sor tout a few little problems which should make my business life easier,

[charlie2]

20 years a lorry driver and god you will get a lot of stress being held up on jobs traffic late for deliverys but a few of the day to day shi@ plus the 15 hour days its not as good as you think it it like any other job
regards chris

[cozy]

how do you lot deal with the cant be bothered days,  not worked all week as choose not to, like to day got a full day in 3 new jobs to do and to be honest i cant be bothered to even print off the sheets,

i might just have a cull of all my work and only do the ones i want or that pay on time, as am getting bored with this buisness and all the crap that goes with it,  ie chasing up payments of people who forget,  i havent been out knocking in a while as find after sitting around all day, i cant be bothered to go out at night, as earn enough with what i got in

how do you lot cope with it  or deal with it

WHAT A REFRESHING CHANGE this is how i feel at the mo fed up with the whole business have been since that bad spell at christmas cant get back into it and really thinking of jacking it all in im taking my hgv this week and got a job interview next week were  i would get paid holidays 29 days a year were i can also switch off as soon as i leave and actually enjoy my holiday not worry about being behind and it raining when i get back. normally all you hear on here is how good it all is and how you should work in the rain and never be behind unfortunatly most down here are in as they have retired and dont like it done in the rain anyway glad im not the only one. 

I've spent years driving HGV. All international, loved it. It was great money and a great job. However, wait till the novelty wears off or you get into the wrong firm or tour. I would turn to murder if I had to drive local cr@p or the same run every day/night. Put me in the wrong make of truck and I'll get mega P'd  off and things just get worse.

If your new to the game, you need to know when other drivers are bullshyting about what they earn and how they stand up to their bosses etc etc.

If you don't mind being told what to do and when to do it by someone else, go for it. But what will you do in that job when you feel the same way you do now about this one? Can't just stay at home can you?

Anyway, good luck mate.

[Dave Anderson]

We all go though this from time to time ... for me at times it's the thought of doing the same thing that gets to me but in reality when you get out there it's not so bad...still doesn't stopping me getting down from time to time.

If it's a few bad payers...solve it...as Cozy once said...'go out get 2 new customers then sack the offender'.

If a particular job is getting you down...see above...see a theme?

The absolute greatest thing about this job is if a particular aspect of the job gets to you...you can solve it..

I used to look at my business down to the finite item..big mistake...now I look at the end of year results...so individual days are not that important. Ok to keep a check on it but not obsess about it all.

All the holidays and toys will not make your thoughts better...but is it really that bad? more than likely not.

Now is the time to get stuck in as Winter will be coming and provisions need to be made to cover bad weather days.

This window cleaning lark and running the business can take over your life...this forum is a prime indication of that.  We all get on here and spend far too much time reading, writing and generally wasting time on it when in reality there is not much new to learn after the initial learning phases...Go do something else

It got that bad that I thought sod it! lets grow a beard and try for a handlebar moustache..day 36 today and the handlebar and beard are starting to show a little...also shaved my head to the woodwork...why...just bored and thought I would try something new and it costs nowt.

Regardless of what you do...it should pass...try to think of it more of a job...learn to switch off...we are not surgeons, nobody will die if we do/do not clean a house/window...

YOU ARE NOT YOUR JOB/PROFESSION.

Cheers
Dave.

[TomCrowther]

Scoops right, we do look down on bin cleaners. I was reading his post up to the point I realised he was a bin cleaner and then I simply refused to read anymore. He should be banned!





 

[Scoop]

Lol. I'll get my coat. Can't have my horrible dirty bin water polluting your lovely fresh pure water   

[TomCrowther]

I'm ignoring you.

[Scoop]

Actually I've decided to stick around. There are a lot of similarities in our jobs and I'd like to think that we can give each other some good ideas.

So unless the mods boot me off, you're stuck with me (but you are perfectly welcome to ignore me too   )