[AuRavelling79]

@101

You know I think we make ourselves unemployable. We know what it is like to run our own ship (I know in the grand scheme it's more like a little tugboat) we know about profit and loss and pricing up work and you get numptybled by the guys who interviewed you offering 35K a year and they want way too much - like 70 hours - if it's 35/40 hrs you only get about 20K.

Self employed window cleaning is so much more flexible - you can tip along at 2/3 days a week and turnover 2K a month or increase to 4/5 days and make middle management level money without the responsibility and stress. You can add on work for the summer and do less in the winter - take on more jobs and work for a holiday of a lifetime or tick along and take weekends away.

The grass is green enough for me and the sun shines enough too!

Sing along now everybody! 



 

[dazmond]

some good posts on this.i very rarely get fed up with it  as just when im tiring of it all its weekend and a few days off.

im earning more than ever with a very good round.it helps.

i can pick and choose what new jobs to take on.

ive had quite a lot of new enquires the last few weeks(some of them good jobs,easy access etc).

ive weeded out the messers,bad payers.

my work is mega compact with very little driving about most of the month.(my fuel bill is around £40 a month since the prices came down)

collecting is down to a minimum(an hour or so every monday evening)due to high numbers of BACS payments.

im very organised nearly all of the time.

ive got 3 days off now(decorating my kitchen)phase 2 of my flat re vamp!

im off on holiday to ibiza in less than 2 weeks!

refining work and working hard at my window cleaning business has allowed me to create a good living for me and my family.

im very grateful to advice etc and things ive learned and implemented since joining this forum back in 2009.its transformed my attitude and business massively.

through investing in wfp,signwritten van,good pro stationary and logo d uniform,good waterproofs etc,raising prices and pricing new work higher,working in most bad weather ive now got a round i could only ever dream about at one time.id probably go so far as to say it would be impossible to achieve back in my early days on the forum.

so no i dont really get fed up with it all.ive never had it so good in this business.

i know where ive come from and believe me it wasnt a nice place to be(very skint alcoholic for years).i dont EVER want to go back to that life so i stay sober and continue to work hard and reap the rewards.

[AuRavelling79]

That's the spirit Daz!

 

[Spruce]

This has been a really interesting thread. Thanks to all the guys who took time to express their feelings and how we should look for the positives rather than the negatives.

Its always too easy to see that things appear to be better elsewhere, but we do have a good job TBH. Yes its boring, but there is very little that isn't these days. Most jobs out there are of a repetitive nature.

I believe that our biggest hurdle is our front door step. To be self employed you have to be self disciplined.

I can't say we have much bad debt, we have been caught on occasion, but its not an amount that will effect the national debt. We don't have the stress levels that most other experience. Like Ian, I was in the motor trade and the stress was awful and was almost constant. I was continually worried about achieving sales targets. If we had a good month we tried to save some for the following month because we never knew what was around the corner.

No I don't earn what I did and I don't have a company car, but overall I'm better off.

What I fail to do is to put on a little business fat during the summer to get through the bad winter weather periods, but I'm still here, so for me that's the main thing.

Gold has reminded me that it's time for a customer spring clean. I dumped one a couple of weeks ago and calmly told her that it wasn't personal; it was a business decision. A real payment messer. I felt bad for a day or so and now feel great she's gone. There are a couple more who are waiting in the wings.

[NWH]

You say you don't earn what you used to earn why is that ,I don't know many jobs where I could earn the same for the hours most of us do tbh. I know people who spend 16 hours + a week on the train and don't earn anywhere near the same and there miserable

[Rich Wilts]

For the time being I'm working by myself again. That has been a breath of fresh air if ever I had one in this business.

We get into a rut without realising it, compromise our integrity without being aware we're not doing ourselves any favours, get stressed because of their standard of work, cash flow issues. The list goes on.

I've also found I'm earning just about what me and dunderhead used to do together, except now I keep what was his share. And I'm free from all the garbage employing brings with it.

[Smudger]

Mr gold - very true, we wouldn't employ anyone who's had a spell self employed. And now if it all goes t!ts up I just couldn't bear to go back into employment.

Do I get fed up, hell yes, strangely less so before employing, the odd day maybe where you'd look out the window and hope for rain, just to justify a day off  -  but once the guys started to go out doing the rounds themselves I have no interest in regular round work, it just holds nothing for me, l love the one off work, always have to break the day/week up, now with pressure washing and more to learn its my favourite type of work but needs must and trying to get to grips with quoting tenders & networking,

Sometimes, we forget self employment is a lonely place, you try to run things as best you can, there are no markers other than getting in enough cash to survive, this, and your business creeping into your personal time ( ie. Doing accounts I the evening/weekends - customers ringing up over silly things etc.. ) can build up to leave you somewhat burnt out and fed up.

Darran

[robbo333]

I have actually been getting a bit peed off lately too.
So I'd like to say thank you to everyone on this thread, because reading through it has made me feel a whole lot better.
Sometimes I just need a reality check to realise 'actually how good this business is'
I was going to type a whole load of stuff about good verses bad etc.
The truth of it is, I am taking my gorgeous girlfriend out for a lovely birthday meal tonight. We've been drinking wine all day to celebrate her birthday and I haven't got time now to elaborate (probably just as well).
But Monday morning, I may have a day off or I may not. I may dump some custys or I may not.
However I would like to make a toast "to our custys"
They are a pain in the arse but they pay our wages handsomely and give us the lifestyle that we choose to have.
Cheers
Robbo

[Smudger]

👍 well put robbo

And the sentiment is well worth remembering

Darran

[DeLuce]

I have actually been getting a bit peed off lately too.
So I'd like to say thank you to everyone on this thread, because reading through it has made me feel a whole lot better.
Sometimes I just need a reality check to realise 'actually how good this business is'
I was going to type a whole load of stuff about good verses bad etc.
The truth of it is, I am taking my gorgeous girlfriend out for a lovely birthday meal tonight. We've been drinking wine all day to celebrate her birthday and I haven't got time now to elaborate (probably just as well).
But Monday morning, I may have a day off or I may not. I may dump some custys or I may not.
However I would like to make a toast "to our custys"
They are a pain in the arse but they pay our wages handsomely and give us the lifestyle that we choose to have.
Cheers
Robbo

Sweet!!
Well put.
The power is in our hands. We can chop and change, accept and decline. Be lucrative or minimal.
On the whole, as many have already said, it's a great job. However fantastical our job may be (Rossi/ Hamilton etc) you will always have some crappy days and not always down to the job. Family /health problems for eg. But that's the peaks and troughs of life.........isn't it!!
So, good luck to us all 

[8weekly]

Hmmm, I've been window cleaning for 5 years now. My dad was a window cleaner and when I was a t school I was mocked over it.  Anyway, I worked a little at school and ended up with a degree in English and Philosophy. I went into IT sales and when Maggie Thatcher was PM I earned more than her. I eventually set up my own company that struggled for 10 years before becoming self employed selling audio books online. When Audible came along I had to look for a new income.

As I say, I've been windowcleaning now for 5 years (two actually focusing on it properly) and I can honestly say that I never ever feel dread on a Sunday night the way I used to feel. Some mornings I can't wait to get out. And no £100k deal gave the sort of job satisfaction that turning a green conservatory into a white one gives.

[dave the rave]

do  you get fed up with parts of your round  ie bad payers locked gates .dog shyte gardens e.t.c trying to explain to customers that they owe for 2 cleanes  list gose on as we all know.im fed up some days and others I am ok when I am collecting and seeing the fruits of my hard work.lol

Sorry Dave do not get fed up with any of the above i think you might need to have a look at your work and think is it worth doing work for that type of person , i know i would not

[ascjim]

yes! I've took on 2 employees this year to do the whole round.

[Ian101]

yes! I've took on 2 employees this year to do the whole round.

LIKE
BUTTON

if we had one 

[Afterglow Window Cleaners]

I get fed up all the time, then, I think back to when I was working as a team leader at Tesco, then, I think how lucky I am, working for myself, my own business, my own customers, answering to virtually no-one. Window cleaning, its dull, it's boring, but it pays well and you are your own boss, what more do you want?

[supernova77]

yes! I've took on 2 employees this year to do the whole round.

LIKE
BUTTON

if we had one 

Employing = A big can of worms...

Ian - From following you on the forum over the years I don't think that employing is for you...

Andy

[slap bash]

I have had a terrible year due to nee operations and so no. The thing that maddens me is how little understanding, and that you need time to recover after an opp and work will run late. I have just decided some are not worth the crap. So they have hit the bin. From now on its give and take.  No more demanding and self centered customer anymore.

[Rich Wilts]

Employing = A big can of worms...

+1

[windowswashed]

Get rid of bad payers, messers, customers you can't stick for starters. Make a plan to take a break from work for a well earned rest and do something or go somewhere that puts a smile back on your face. When you're fed up, way up the alternatives to window cleaning and you'll realise it may be a crappy job like all other jobs but you are in control of your destiny so you need to change your attitude towards your job as you're the one running it with no one to blame but yourself. Everybody gets fed up after doing it for years on end hence why it's very important to remind yourself of all the other crappy jobs out there and take proper holidays and have planned days off despite whatever the weather forecast may be.  Run your business like a business and not as a means of getting by just paying the bills if you let depression creep in. 

[Ian101]

yes! I've took on 2 employees this year to do the whole round.

LIKE
BUTTON

if we had one 

Employing = A big can of worms...

Ian - From following you on the forum over the years I don't think that employing is for you...

Andy

Not sure myself yet but if i want to grow this in next 5 years its the only way foward esp if getting more and more into commercial windows .... i know their is franchising but not yet convinced on that