I am currently in jail for a DUI. I have a year left in my sentence and in that time I am going to create a window cleaning business.
Last summer I was staying with a friend in a small town in Idaho and decided to try out residential window cleaning. I had almost no money so I went to the dollar store and purchased a squeegee (like one you would use for a shower) a bucket that you would keep cleaning supplies in, some dish soap, vinegar, a spray bottle, and microfiber towels. I was literally the definition of bucket bob. I was okay with that.
I practiced on the windows at my friends house for a few days until I wasn’t leaving streaks. Built up some courage and went out knocking on doors around his neighborhood. This was a tiny town and I was sure there were no window washers in the town.
I was offering to clean all exterior windows for 40 dollars. That included dusting the screens with the head of a broom I unscrewed. I figured I had to take the screens off anyways so what’s another 15 seconds to dust it off before I put it back. Most the houses were single story about 1000 sq ft.
The first door I knocked on a woman answered, I told her I lived in the neighborhood and started a window cleaning business and was offering all my neighbors a special price of 40 dollars to clean all the exterior windows and screens. She accepted. It took me about 45 minutes to do all the windows and screens.
I knocked on a few more doors and nobody answered until maybe the 3 houses later. A guy answered and I gave the same pitch except told him I had cleaned Cindy’s windows a few houses down. He accepted and it took me the same amount of time. He paid me 60 instead of 40 because he said I could have charged more.
For the next 5 hours or so I knocked on doors and got 4 more houses on top of the first 2. This was in the middle of the afternoon on like a Wednesday. I made 260 dollars that first day. I would have been happy if I would have just gotten one person to say yes. I took the money and went to Lowe’s and bought better squeegees and equipment.
I did this for the next few weeks making between 260 and 400 a day, 3 or 4 days a week until I went back home to the state I actually live in.
For me that was a test run to see if I could have at least some success at window cleaning. I did not approach any businesses or store fronts so I have no experience with that.
I am in jail, but on work release which allows me access to my computer and cell phone while I’m at work. So far, I have registered my business with the Secretary of State as an LLC. I am in the process of building a website.
What else can I do to create this business and make it legit so that when I am released from jail I will just need to do the marketing and footwork? I have capital so purchasing basic equipment isn’t a concern for me at this point. I have a year to figure it out so I’m not in a rush.
Any feedback would be appreciated.