[Tosh]

Yesturday I bumped into a fellow window cleaner at a garage and we had a quick chat.

He basically said he'd had a naff week so far, cleaned one house that day (it was midday) and spent the rest of morning skiving.  He was off home, complaining that he was 'comming down with something'.  I could be wrong, but I suspect he was making an excuse more for the benifit of his Missis, than for me.

I'm sure we've all been there.  I'm there every month, once I've covered all the bills; I take my foot off the pedal and cruise the rest of the month; mostly; but I wish I didn't.  We'd be so much better off, financially!

I think it would be different if I had a more 'disciplined round'; you know what I mean, shops and stuff that need doing every week no-matter what the weather is, but the majority of my work is residential, so it's easy to 'cruise along'.

So how do you guys discipline yourself?

[Roy Harding]

I set a target figure know that I need to do mrs x y and z to reach it, then work till I have done those houses.

I also set a target figure for the week and month.

Roy

[Village Gleam]

That surprises me Tosh, I thought you were a grafter and squeaks was the slacker.
Persistence is the key in any business. I assumed because of your military background and rank that you would have a will like steel.

Maybe you are a real window cleaner. What I mean is for you money is not the motivating factor.

I never give up. I have an obsessive personality, and I have been skint and I didn't like it. So for me I am probably driven by fear of failure.

[Russell Macdonald]

Hi Tosh.

Mondays are always my graft day & tuesday fairly hard. The thought if i get out & get cracking my week end starts friday is a great motive for me. 

But then i get greedy cause some custy wants fascia's etc i do them on a friday, banging my takings right up. 

Macc

[NWH]

You must have a target,i make mine money.Mon-Tue-Wed i`m flat out Thur and Fri i do the same hours but i sit down to eat my lunch lol,it`s not a lazy mans job this WC.

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

money

[Nathanael Jones]

I'm married,... if I loose motivation, she'll still kick me out the door and not let me back in until the wallet is a little heavier! 

[Davew]

I'm ok as long as I don't pop home for lunch, I can't get going again in the afternoon.

[Sir Squeaky]

That surprises me Tosh, I thought you were a grafter and squeaks was the slacker.

Hey!
Bullocks to you.

I did over 50% more than my usual yesterday.
I'm still knackered.

[Moderator David@stives]

Tosh

My motivation is to have a clean sheet every evening, in other words if a job is due on a certain day, that job has to be done , so when i look at george in the evening, the not done entry reads 0 or very close to zero.

If you are not keeping on top of your round then maybe you should look for a part timer, whats the point of having x amount of work if you cant service it on time.

a couple of years back a guy called Paul C Smith  asked what was your goal for the year ahead and it got me thinking that i didnt have any(only to get rich one day) so got me thinking i had better have a goal, best thing i ever did.

At the time i set the goal of having predicted income of an extra £18k by the end of the 12 months , anyhow i think i achieved that within 6, so set my self another for another £15k , all in all since setting goals in the last 18 months i have an income forecast of over double of what it at was at the  time of setting that first goal.
In the last 3 months my income forcast has gone up by £20k, I wont divulge how this has happened but will only say without goals, your motivation will suffer.

My next goal is to get another £30k of new work by April 5th 2008, i am 100% sure i can achieve this amount, I have not worked out my strategy yet , but more of the same as the last goals.

why April 5th , well that is my tax year end, nothing other than that it is a significant date rather than a date just plucked out of the air.

So a big thanks to Paul c Smith i owe you a bottle of red if you are reading this.

Does anybody here set goals too ?

dave

[Russell Macdonald]

That surprises me Tosh, I thought you were a grafter and squeaks was the slacker.

Hey!
Bullocks to you.

I did over 50% more than my usual yesterday.
I'm still knackered.

I would say moaner, or old women. 

[geefree]

i have had managers on my case in the past and i used to be commission only... that motivates you to work hard...

i still do exactly the same, with no manager on my back and knowing the money, ALL the money is going to me, is motivation enough for me,... at the end of a day and i have cleaned my very last one.... i look at the sky and think " its not dark yet, one more."... at this time of year..... and in the summer i just loved getting to my target and having enough daylight to leaflet drop too... now i will still go out to drop as i hate the phone not ringing for me.... but i must admit i dont like canvassing or leaflet dropping in the dark..... i like to see the DOGS , before they see me....

once bitten twice shy.  

[Captain Scarlet]

computer games, crazy friends, late nights, coffee and posting pictures of window cleaning!!

[Captain Scarlet]

No honestly now, I have set jobs for the day and I do them, it really is that simple. I have never had to stop because of weather, Luke

[Feen]

I do a few other jobs beside cleaning. Basically I have 3 fairly full weeks of windows and one slack one. In between I feed pheasants, cut grass, dig gardens, generally do what people want me to do. Tomorrow I'm off to pick up some furniture. None of these pay as well as the windows, but when I wake up in the morning and think "what am I doing today? uuuummmmm windows in x y and z" I'm happy and looking forward to it. Works for me. I don't go too much for goals (I don't have a target of £x by such and such date). I'm not knocking it at all, just pointing out that different things work for different people. I do agree with whoever said get jobs done by the due date. I hate having jobs overdue. That's when I feel pressure. Again that's me. By Monday, I'll be raring to get at a window (by Friday I may feel like throwing things at them )

[brightnclean]

SIMPLE!!


Targets. Unless a business moves forward it becomes lethargic and gradually dies. There is nothing better than seeing a month on month growth in earnings. It makes you feel like you have achieved something. This isn't just about the money either. It's the feeling of satisfaction more than anything else. Stay still and it's all too easy to get demoralised and depressed.

[East coast window cleaning Services]

Aint hard for me just remind the four figure sum each month for the mortgage dont pay itself

[Bertie Boo]

I'm ok as long as I don't pop home for lunch, I can't get going again in the afternoon.

Ahhahahaah lol not just me then. Coming home is fatal 

Stephen

[Sir Squeaky]

Do what I do.
Have lunch as late as you can cope with.

That way you've done most of your work in one go, and you can slack it afterwards.

I used to do 9.00-12.30 then 1.30-4.00.
Now it's more like 9.00-1.45 then 2.45-4.00.(at the latest)

That means I've done 80-90% of my target before I stop.
The afternoon's just a bonus then.

[East coast window cleaning Services]

start early finsh earlys my moto leave most days at 6 finsh by 2 latest