[geefree]

Hi,
i know its easier to buy a small round then build, but to all you succesfull guys out there, how did you manage to live ,pay the mortgage and feed the kids as its so slow building from scratch.. how did you all start, ..so far i have £40 of work per month after lots of door knocking and leaflet dropping.

gary.

[scrimit2]

hi Gaz hang in there, without a doubt word of mouth is the best way to build your business,
I really made an effort to get on with the customers, now i have 350 plus customers and I never advertised, it took time, well 6 years, i never door knocked, but that is also a good way to get work, but not how i like to do things, have a chat with some local window cleaners im sure they will have some spare work, it might not be the best, but it all helps.

[Moderator David@stives]

Gazza

I have said this time and time again and i usually get knocked for it.
The best way to get work is to buy it,
Secondly approach all the window cleaners in your area and see if they have any cast offs or details of any work theey have turned down due to being too busy.
Tax credits is a good top up when you first start out ,no one is supposed to starve in this country , employed or not working.
Get your yellow pages out and phone the rest of the window cleaners in your area, you will usually find one who knows one whos selling a round.

Just be bold and ask ,you will never know if you dont.

I still take all the cast off s off all my local window cleaners if offered any, you would be suprised at some of the work others give away and the reasons why.
I got a load off one guy because he said he did not want to clean his neighbors houses anymore , too close to home he said.

You cannot doorknock work if there is none out there, you are quite welcome to knock my round but you wont get nothing, well you might get the odd one,

Dave

Dave

[matt]

Gazza

I have said this time and time again and i usually get knocked for it.
The best way to get work is to buy it,
Secondly approach all the window cleaners in your area and see if they have any cast offs or details of any work theey have turned down due to being too busy.
Tax credits is a good top up when you first start out ,no one is supposed to starve in this country , employed or not working.
Get your yellow pages out and phone the rest of the window cleaners in your area, you will usually find one who knows one whos selling a round.

Just be bold and ask ,you will never know if you dont.

I still take all the cast off s off all my local window cleaners if offered any, you would be suprised at some of the work others give away and the reasons why.
I got a load off one guy because he said he did not want to clean his neighbors houses anymore , too close to home he said.

You cannot doorknock work if there is none out there, you are quite welcome to knock my round but you wont get nothing, well you might get the odd one,

Dave

Dave

Dave is spot on here

ask local guys if they have any work going spare, I brought all of mine (all at 1 X the amount it earned), the guy who was retiring i worked the round with him the first time, thus earned half the money, i told him to keep the money, then only paid him 1/2 the amount, it worked well)

some will give you the odd bit of work they dont want, some might ask for 1X the amount

i was lucky, right time and right place and all that, the old boy who retired brought it off anyother guy many years ago, thus the round was very compact (and with a few flyers placed in the houses he didnt do, i do house and house after house, today i did from No 2 to number 30 and only skipped a few houses)

drive around and ask some of the local WC'ers. some will ignore you, some will look like they want to Kill you, some will have chat and give you some advice, then some might give you the crap they dont want

[shammy davis jnr]

bruce and the spider, what do u mean there is no work out there ,change your way of thinking how long does it take to do forty quids worth say a day for one person whats happened to the other four days in the week
it aint going to be easy but search and you will find there is no sweat like your own sweat  go through the bullpoopters of this world and demand your right to a good living  just go for it  mate nobody will  poop on you for trying your hardest  well i for one will take my hat of and commened you  it does get rough at times but stay focused and you will shine through    yours shammy davis 

[windows_chepstow]

Hi,
i know its easier to buy a small round then build, but to all you succesfull guys out there, how did you manage to live ,pay the mortgage and feed the kids as its so slow building from scratch.. how did you all start, ..so far i have £40 of work per month after lots of door knocking and leaflet dropping.

gary.

It's difficult.  I worked part time for Royal Mail and had another weekend job doing security at a building site.  I also had around £8000 in savings that helped me for around six months; it helped pay for my living expenses.

You've just got to go for it; leaflet and canvass like mad; it was definately a struggle and it's only about now; nearly four years after starting; that my finances have moved from 'diabolical' to 'not bad'.

Looking back, I wish I bought a round, but this forum wasn't here then and the window cleaners I knew back then, I didn't trust.

[craig jwc]

I was working part-time for a company when i started, just to boost my income.
I put flyers out and went doorknocking.
I only managed to get up around £70 a month in the first couple of months.
After about another couple of months i was able to quit my part-time job and w/c as my main job.
Most of my work has come from recomendation. Because  i did a good job work started flooding in.
I had my bad weeks where the phone never rang with new work but i stuck at it with the encouragement from this site.
I've been at it 12 months now and earn more than i did when i was working full-time for an engineering company.
I did get the tax credits as i am a single parent which helped but they are next to nothing now.
You will be surprised how you can manage and pay all your bills etc.
I worried about my mortage and how i was going to pay my solicitors fees as i am still going through divorce, but i have managed.
Stick at it mate and if you want it to work it will.
Don't be put off when you have a bad day because good days i find come round more.
I've just had a week off with the kids and picked up 10 new jobs by customer recomendation.

Stick at it......... You won't regret it

Craig

[abacus]

Hi
bread and dripping

my old man say he lived onit as kid


or feed the kids and starve the bank manager

I must admit I brought mine from a guy my dad knew let me pay weekly no interest
but a loan may help but make sure you can meet the payments or its just another millstone around your neck

regards grant

[paul mather]

Gazza,

Don't give up it will come but if your work is coming in that slowly it maybe a good idea to get yourself a part time job whilst your round grows.

Oh & ignore the postings on this forum from those who love bragging about how much they earn, it may or may not be true , but how much we all earn is no one elses business but ours & the taxmans. I can imagine how it must make you feel to see others quoting weekly earnings of 4 figures, whilst you are busting your hump to get work.

Good idea about calling other WCers in your area, most of us at one time or another have off loaded work cos it maybe our worst paying bit, but I'm sure you would take it right now.

Just be prepared for some not so favourable responses, our industry has more than its fair share of wazzocks.

[geefree]

thanks lads

yes it is coming slowly, dont want to sound a misery though, i will keep going, i have seen one or two window cleaners in the areas i leaflet drop but have not acknowledged them as yet, i still feel like i am treading on their toes so i dont even look up and just continue dropping them,  but i do feel uncomfortable, not intimidated or scared lol. just feel they looking at me as the enemy, but it does not put me off because they have to know where it all began for them too !.. i do feel like i dont knock on the door enough though, after a few knockbacks i tend to drift into just posting leaflets again.... maybe this is why its slow... im full of enthusiasm and optimism at the start and but after a couple of hours my head starts to drop.... maybe thats why its so slow.  gary.

[Paul Coleman]

Hi,
i know its easier to buy a small round then build, but to all you succesfull guys out there, how did you manage to live ,pay the mortgage and feed the kids as its so slow building from scratch.. how did you all start, ..so far i have £40 of work per month after lots of door knocking and leaflet dropping.

gary.

I was fortunate in that I had very low overheads at the beginning.  For the first few weeks, I qualified for unemployment benefit (pro rata) too if I squashed my small amount of work into one day each week.  Then I got lucky.  I landed a self-employed driving job that paid very well for one week a month and I built my window cleaning business around that.  Also, I landed a fair size window cleaning job at some offices when I wasn't even looking for it (I bumped into some guy at the janitorial supply shop).  It wasn'tr easy though.  I was out four or five evenings a week canvassing and occasionally I would draw a blank.  There was a big recession at the time though.
You need to keep[ plugging away at it.  Also, to help cashflow, maybe search the small ads for part time PAYE office cleaning work that is done early morning and won't interfere with you window cleaning.  I landed several self-employed window cleaning jobs from companies who I worked PAYE for.  Just keep persevering, stay open minded, and it will work for you.

[pylofm]

Keep going Gary.....Like yourself am out each day this week...I keep in mind that this is all just a numbers game....

Keep your chin up and just know that when you're out and about, there are others like you and I doing the self same things and just think when you have built your own business with your own sweat....How good it will feel to KNOW that you made it happen.

Cheers Dave...Like Nike say...Just do it!

[geefree]

thanks again, that will help to keep my head up during the suicide moments  ... what is the best accounts book to use , customer management, accounts, paid ..not paid, etc just using a diary (planner) and address book at the moment.
thanks to you all for your support once again.

gary.

[pylofm]

Hi Gary...I have got a trial copy of 'George' which is a computer round program....

I think alot of w/c use it (http://www.georgesystems.co.uk), there is also another one knocking about which again many w/c use...The name escapes me at the moment...Hope someone can give you the url for it.

Hope these mutterings help..

Cheers
Dave.

[windows_chepstow]

thanks lads

i have seen one or two window cleaners in the areas i leaflet drop but have not acknowledged them as yet, i still feel like i am treading on their toes so i dont even look up and just continue dropping them,  but i do feel uncomfortable, not intimidated or scared lol. just feel they looking at me as the enemy, but it does not put me off because they have to know where it all began for them too !

Smile and introduce yourself; be confident.  Most window cleaners are a decent lot.  If the window cleaner is a decent sort of chap, he'll take your number and pass you on work or potential customers he doesn't want.

I've had two calls this evening from people wanting a window cleaner who were given my number from another window cleaner.  One I referred to our Ian_Giles (since they live in one of his areas) and the other I passed to another window cleaner who I know works that area.

Local window cleaners do network.

Try it!

.. i do feel like i dont knock on the door enough though, after a few knockbacks i tend to drift into just posting leaflets again.... maybe this is why its slow... im full of enthusiasm and optimism at the start and but after a couple of hours my head starts to drop.... maybe thats why its so slow.  gary.

I know that feeling, mate.  It's like you've got a finite amount of courage and self-confidence and once it's used up; it's just easier to post those leaflets; you get to the point where you hope the 'potential customer' isn't in.

You've just got to soldier on though.

I keep going by hoping the next customer is going to be 'young, blonde, pretty and receptive to my Geordie charm'.  Invaribly they're old, grumpy, deaf and don't like Geordies; but it keeps me going.

As someone said here, it's a numbers game.

[JM123]

Hi Gazza another thing you could try is FAMILY, believe me mate it works - think about it, if your famiy members ie brother/sister/cousin etc all recommend you to workmates etc  you'll find that the work will start to roll in, remember when a snowball rolls down a hill it takes a while to pick up speed, but as it gets going quicker it picks up more snow and gets bigger, it then goes faster and faster and grows and grows and.....I'm gotting carried away here.  Just remember the snowball!

[dai]

Gazza, get all the local papers that cover a 30 mile radius of where you live, there must be some new houses getting built somewhere. Target these, I did this, got to do the show house and gave all of them a free first clean as they moved in. The sales office staff will tell you when new people are moving in. My biggest estate where I have 6 days work didn't even have a show house, I just got to know the foreman. I travel 25 miles to get to where my work is but there aren't many rounds as compact as mine. It's great when you don't have to move your van all day. Many of my houses are £5 a go, so I am one of those dreadful £5 merchants. When you have streets of these where you do 90% of the houses, all open plan fronts with 7 windows in each, believe me you can earn a tidy sum in a day.
I have my £15 stand alone jobs, but not many. I actually make more an hour on my compact jobs. Good luck mate and don't forget each new job for you is a monthly pay rise, and you have all the time in the world to canvass at the moment. I'm that busy trying to keep up with what I have that I don't have time to go looking for more lucrative work. I now turn down £15 jobs if they are not in a street that I already clean. Dai

[geefree]

thanks to everyone , it really is invaluable all the help and advice given, i want to answer everyone but i cant    lol.  love the bread and dripping bit abacus , and all the ideas are brilliant, family & friends, new houses..etc.... and i think once i am out there regular people, hopefully will notice and enquire.... but most of all its really inspiring to know that you are all here. ...

still looking for the best accounts/customer book.. but as i just kicked off its not taking too much organising..lol

Anyway just got in after another leaflet/canvass day..
i got 8 new customers today... .

thanks again lads.

gary.

[john tomkins]

i got 8 new customers today... .

thanks again lads.

gary.

Nice one mate, that's got to inspire you.

[JM123]

good man gazzasp8 - just remember, you may only get 5 new customers a week, but after a year thats 260customers!!  Like I said - SNOWBALL