Tnarrow i will be busy plane spotting in Milwaukee. Right now im going to create and krder my buisness card and make some flyers. When my buisness cards get here, i will get some supplies from lowes and actually going out to hand out my buisness card and set up times. Does this sound like a good plan fkr starting out? And have any ither good recommendations for growing?
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Make sure you practice before you go do a job , people are paying you money
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For small storefronts, at one time, I literally zip tied my pole to my bike, wore my tools on my BOAB, and my solution in my back pack for a few weeks. No cops, no parking fees, no stress, free coffees, and $60+/hr… There’s no shame in making a killing and getting a workout at the same time…
Now I ride in style… With a proper trailer…and bike… Lol
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Nice bike! What should i do for the winter? I get exetreme cold in crap chicago in the winter. Should i get a bike with bigger tires?
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I feel you about the cold winters!.. I’m up north in Canada! Bike all year long, endure the cold, build callus’, build muscle, work hard, earn your keep. Few can handle it, they don’t last, leaving the money to real men. You can do it dude!
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Check out my buddies from over in your town of Chicago. These dudes ride their cargo bikes all year long and are killing it. Follow them on Instagram. Learn from them…
Follow my Instagram “purewaterpurebike” and my adventures of combining the profitability of window cleaning with the convenience of and simplicity of biking.
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They extend goodwill if the worker is obviously offering a real service unless you start to make a tit out of yourself by doing things like hopping into people’s backyards unannounced, window cleaning houses nobody asked you to clean or badgering people for work when they’re stuck in traffic which is underclass because along with a service it’s an offer of a threat too.
Real Talk
Don’t break items in somebody’s house by accident. If you do - pay for it.
Some people will take advantage of a young person. When they do - don’t lose your temper and move on to the next job.
In some blue collar communities there is a large underclass and it will make your life harder if you’re suspected to be one of them so you might have to go out of your way to demonstrate you’re trustworthy. It’s not politically correct but it is a fact. It’s easy to solve - you just work and if somebody puts their nose in you tell them who you are working for. Using your name on a vehicle, business cards, wearing a clean white shirt and most of all working give you respect.
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Lots of great advice for you on here. Also, don’t use text abreviations unless a customer uses one, and then only use the ones they use. Use full, proper sentences when writing/texting customers and you will come across as more professional. Act confident that you do good work, even if you don’t have the confidence of experience yet. Spend a ton of time on here and watching YouTube videos of luke the window cleaner, stevo, the window cleanse (lots of good business advice), wcr nation, and other good names that pop on the forum. You can do this, but you have to put in the work to be successful. As someone else said, if they had known about this at your age they could have paid off their house by now. I second that. Make sure to invest in yourself as that will always payback in the long run, and window cleaning is one of the very few businesses you can start for under $1,000 that you can make more per year working less hours than most people with a college degree after 2-4 years of business. Until your out of school it would make an amazing savings and still give you enough money for spending after your business gets some momentum even just working part time.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions, but a good rule of thumb is to spend at least an hour, more if possible researching before you ask a question. You will learn many things that way that you didnt even know you needed to know. That knowledge will help your confidence and help you do a better job. When researching it helps me to think of every step of a business interation, from when a customer first learns about my business to when I am collecting a check. For those and everything in between try to think of every scenario, and then research what you dont know and what your not confident about. Also, when your around town look at all the different types of windows and think about what it would take to clean them. The overarching thought is to be proactive, so come up with as many solutions as you can before they become a problem by thinking ahead. Best of luck!
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thanks for the advise. Does any one have any scripts for handing out the flyers to store fronts?
This is a great example. Search the word scripts and read away. There are scripts for many different situations and you have to find what works for you.
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Ok, thanks for the help. I start school the 24th and will only have time to wash eindows from 4 to 6. I will also update you guys when i wash my first store front.
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Would buisness allow you to fill up useing their tap?
Yes; always ask. Though outdoor spigots may be hard to come by on older buildings.
When I still did storefront work, I had one or two businesses that offered the use of their utility sinks inside, where I could change out my dirty water when needed. I would usually try and get through my route without doing that, but if the windows were especially dirty, or I picked up a new account with really dirty glass starting out, it was useful to know where I could change out my water. (I also kept extra water in my work vehicle, but it was a pain walking all the way back sometimes)
Oh, and get a 4-way water key at home depot.
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Ok, thanks for letting me know i was starting to worry that i had to ride my bike arround with a bucket of water😂
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For homes, most of the homes in my nebiorhood have walk out basements. So cleaning the top windows is like cleaning the window on the third story from the ground. Any one knwo how big of a extender to get for those jobs?
FIRST: Use the search function. You’ll thank me later. there’s a wealth of knowledge in this forum. By all means ask questions, but the question may have already been asked 5 different ways in previous threads.
I believe I speak for everyone on the WCR Forum. WAY TO GO! We’re all proud of you for taking this leap into the unknown at such a young age.
I’m 24 now, but started cleaning glass when I was 17. I would’ve sped up the learning curve a WHOLE lote if I worked for a company first, to learn how to do things but there’s a few things teaching myself how to clean windows from youtube videos taught me:
-TRUST IN THE LORD. My relationship with God is what has helped the most when I felt like the world was caving in on me…
-GRIT: I was pretty insecure as a person, and the opinions of others (I was and still am a people pleaser) meant more than they should have, especially when someone would tell me I was running my business the wrong way, or that I wouldn’t be successful if I didn’t do blah blah blah.
Bud, if you have something valuable to offer it doesn’t matter how old you are, people will pay you for the value you provide them.
LEVERAGE YOUR AGE:
The far majority of people LOVE supporting young men who want to do something useful and meaningful with their life. You’re setting an example for your peers if you go out and start cleaning some windows for folks. Also you’re inspiring the old generations that grew up doing hard work and may have the idea that kids these days don’t want to work.
Example: Why do people buy lemonade from lil kids? Is it because the quality of the product is superior to what they may be able to get somewhere else? No, it’s because those people BELIEVE in the entrepreneurial efforts of those kids, they’re investing into the vision and perception they have of the efforts these kids are putting forth. The people buying lemonade likely are not purchasing the lemonade because it’s a good product.
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I assume by extender you mean a water fed pole. Using a telescopic pole with trad tools is probably above your skill level at the start.
Most residential seems to get by with a 30ft wfp - taking off pole length if the window cleaner knows they don’t need them but why not use a measuring tape to know the answer. A 30ft wfp is really 35 ft of reach because you are holding it.
I was thinking of using a laser measuring tool in some way to measure for squeegee lengths for straight pulls indoors on my ledger - but have not researched how to do it yet.
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Hey man. I am also starting to clean windows and I just turned 17 a few days ago. What I have been doing is just practicing on windows in our house a few hours a day to make my technique better. After that, I plan to personally suggest my services to my neighbors and grow from there. For me, the biggest problem is that I do school and college right now and it’s hard for me to find the time, but I will adjust my schedule and always have some time for work. Good luck to you!
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