[james peters]

mike... seems you are serious about this and enthusiastic to get started.
one pitfall , I can see for you is if you advertise special offers on flyers.  this is a very bad idea , it will attract people that want a one off clean.
what you want right now is a regular customer base .
you may not realise it yet , but first cleans take a lot longer than a general 4 week or 8 week maintenance clean. with wfp the first clean needs a very very thorough clean!

it is always wiser to charge a first clean price. eg .. if its a regular monthly of  £12  you charge £20 on the first clean.
if its a regular of say £18 charge £28
this not only boosts your revenue each week, but it also means that if a customer is prepared to pay the extra , they usually turn out to be good customers.

do not get a huge amount of flyers printed . you will need to play around with different ideas .... wording etc .
you need to find which design is going to work .... if you get it wrong the first time and have thousand put out , you have wasted your time and money.
trust me on this ... you need to get your flyers right. so you need to experiment

good luck with everything

[Ooooooog]

Crack on Mike. Get your leaflets out and see what happens.
Window cleaning is easy. Scrub and rinse. Remember to check your work when it’s dry. Learn from your mistakes. It’s really not complicated.

[Mike Banks]

Thank you for the nice replies and advice.   its most welcome. 

I scrapped all my special offer leaflets yesterday as recommended.  Getting new ones sorted, and only getting a few done each time for now.

As for the Royal mail idea, its just all in the planning stages at the moment.   Nothings set yet, and won't be until I have sorted things out and satisfied my first set of customers.

[nathankaye]

Out of curiosity, what job or jobs have you had before and why choosing to come into window cleaning?
Many do for various reasons and not simply like one person has mentioned on here, doing so due to not paying attention at school.

Running your own business, dealing with the public both good and bad (there will be plenty of bad as well!), then the practical side of cleaning and the good old fashion British miserable weather and finally starting from scratch. Is all completely different to taking your time and enjoying photography and learning to read music and play the piano.
Many have quite a number of employees on here, who will spend a lot of time with newbies showing them the ropes as it we're and that is longer than a week.

It's good how your taking heed of the strategies so far, especially on the flyers. 
Sounds like your going in the general right distance

[Mike Banks]

Out of curiosity, what job or jobs have you had before and why choosing to come into window cleaning?
Many do for various reasons and not simply like one person has mentioned on here, doing so due to not paying attention at school.

Running your own business, dealing with the public both good and bad (there will be plenty of bad as well!), then the practical side of cleaning and the good old fashion British miserable weather and finally starting from scratch. Is all completely different to taking your time and enjoying photography and learning to read music and play the piano.
Many have quite a number of employees on here, who will spend a lot of time with newbies showing them the ropes as it we're and that is longer than a week.

It's good how your taking heed of the strategies so far, especially on the flyers. 
Sounds like your going in the general right distance

Thanks Nathan  Your videos have been great to watch.

I dont want to go into details about what i did before, but i know its been asked a few times,  I was in the Forces.   Seen and experienced things i would not like to see again.    But thats all I want to say about it if thats ok.     

[davids3511]

Where are you based Banksy?

He doesn't seem to want to say. He's been asked 3 times now. It's a shame, someone could be reasonably close and willing to bring him out for a day or two.

[KS Cleaning]

Where are you based Banksy?

He pops up all over the country doesn’t he?

[James Styles]

Hope it works out for you Mike, keep us updated with how things go, if you do order a water fed pole or backpack I would recommend the ones made by Gardiner, I’ve been very impressed with them and it seems most window cleaners use Gardiner.

[G Griffin]

I learned to surf, play the piano and to be a good photographer by self teaching, research and utube.   I am sure window cleaning will be fine with my method of learning.

At the same time? Me too!
Well, not quite. I mastered surfing on the piano and it not sinking; playing Another Day In Paradise by Phil Collins with my toes; but I had trouble winding the film on on my camera.
With those talents, you're too good to be window cleaner.

[tlwcs]

Where are you based Banksy?

He doesn't seem to want to say. He's been asked 3 times now. It's a shame, someone could be reasonably close and willing to bring him out for a day or two.

I noticed that too. 

[deeege]

Where are you based Banksy?

He doesn't seem to want to say. He's been asked 3 times now. It's a shame, someone could be reasonably close and willing to bring him out for a day or two.

I noticed that too.

Shame. He’d be welcome to come and have a chat with me, loot at my setup, even clean a few windows with me if he was local. I’m sure there’s plenty others that would do the same.

Guess he’ll learn more from Nathan’s YouTube videos instead 

[The Jester of Wibbly]

Good luck Mike.  You should be fine if you're quick to learn and not a slow burner.    Sounds like this will be a breeze for someone like you.

I tought myself when I started with only a demo from the chap I bought my first system from.  I practiced on my own home and freinds and within 2 days I was off learning from any mistakes which was absolute minimum.    No matter how much you learn you will always make mistakes.  We are all still making them.

[Slacky]

I learned to surf, play the piano and to be a good photographer by self teaching, research and utube.   I am sure window cleaning will be fine with my method of learning.

At the same time? Me too!
Well, not quite. I mastered surfing on the piano and it not sinking; playing Another Day In Paradise by Phil Collins with my toes; but I had trouble winding the film on on my camera.
With those talents, you're too good to be window cleaner.

You need to be locked up Griff   

[G Griffin]

I learned to surf, play the piano and to be a good photographer by self teaching, research and utube.   I am sure window cleaning will be fine with my method of learning.

At the same time? Me too!
Well, not quite. I mastered surfing on the piano and it not sinking; playing Another Day In Paradise by Phil Collins with my toes; but I had trouble winding the film on on my camera.
With those talents, you're too good to be window cleaner.

You need to be locked up Griff   

I think you're right, Matt  .

[Mike Banks]

Well all is going well so far.   Purchased second hand equipment over the weekend to get me started out.   Nice little trolley system that was built by the chap I got it off who has now upgraded to a van. 

He gave me a quick demo which really helped me.   I practiced a few times on my own windows and some friends on Sunday and yesterday.  Checked all this morning and all is good.  Only issue I had was runs coming from vents on one of the properties.   I have seen the other thread about this too so think I can work around that fine.

Got about 6 customers to go and do tomorrow.  I will take my time, and will pop back to check after drying,

[Smudger]

well done - keep us informed on how its all going

Darran