I’m committed to it 100%. I started this company when I thought there was a chance of losing my present job. I fly corporate jets for a large aviation company that was cutting way back and I thought I was falling in the cross hairs. I ended up making it through the cuts but That Window Guy was well on its way. So with my week-on, week-off schedule while flying I have been able to get TWG up and running. I have also taken on a partner who can take some of the weight off my back. So, truth be told, every penny I have made in this company I have had the luxury of sinking it right back in the company because I don’t need it right now to put food on my kid’s plate. But I am still 100% dedicated to seeing this company succeed and dominate the market here in east Texas.
All I can say to you from my short history as a business owner is read E Myth and learn how to market, market, market.
I started out in the dead of winter as well. I had to, my boss fired me because I would not drive to LA and live in a hotel for 3 days out of the week.
Don’t be embarrassed about being unemployed brother, be embarrassed if you are lazy and would rather be on unemployment and be a leech instead of a man. Which you are NOT! You are handling your business! Nothing to be ashamed of being unemployed…everyone here will help. Please take Sam’s advice and buy the E myth. Get it on Itunes, the 3rd playable track near the end, last 20 minutes and the last playable track as well are all about marketing.
Yes, it is rough at first. Like I said before, when you are broke and have bills to pay you will FIND a way to pay them.
To get new business, get a website if you can swing it…and start with google adwords. PM me and I will let you know some tricks to make it as cheap as possible, make you competitors drop off like flies and get enough business to pay for what you need.
Winter time is when I concentrate on gutter cleaning. Pays off where resi falls off.
To build off what Salvatore said, get yourself a website up and running. For $10 a year, you can put a website up with Google Apps. Follow that link, and use it to buy whatever domain name you want then use Google Sites to build the website and they host it for you for free. If you need any help with it, email me at [email protected] or you can give me a ring at 903-504-2549.
thanks for all the wisdom guys. I whole heartily appreciate it!
about the E Myth thing. I see on their site they have several books. which one should I get? I see one for contractors is that it?
went to the book store and got sticker shock lol. they want $19 for it. I think I’ll just download it.
which is ironic since the E myth Mastery book is only $13 and is 2.5 times more content.
I’m unemployed due to actions beyond my control.
it’s a long story but the cliff notes are,
new owner who never ran a company in his life.
bad economy
new owner not knowing how to advertise
first thing this guy did was get rid of people right out of the gates. who eliminates a general manger who runs the day to day operations and trains the sales team? and the receptionist who assists customers on the phone and in the showroom.
just dumb ass moves since no one is there during the day when people call or try to stop in the showroom. we thought he was going to do that stuff but nope, he rather sit at applebee’s bar all day or play in his band.
he started out with 16 employees and now he’s down to 4. those 4 are the installers.
I’m confident that you will look back one day, and think “that was the best day of my life.”
“That was the day I became free to build something I can call my own.”
Yes, you can. We opened in Cincinnati in 1999 and we have been going strong since then. You have to work at it to be successful. It is a tough market. there are lot more companies that you think. Ohio Window Cleaning is very strong in the commercial area. There are many little companies that are into residential. By the way, there is one of the oldest Fish Franchise on the west side and northern Ky.
You just can not sit there and wait for the phone to ring. When I started, I walked every commercial area on the east side and in Butler County. Our residential business built up from there. The one thing we never did was to canvass residential areas. Most cities, townships and counties have laws preventing door to door solictation in residential areas without a license. We advertise and joined two Chambers and that helped. If you are going to concertrate in Residential Areas, you have to accept credit cards, this is how most of the people with the large homes pay for the cleanings, they want the “rewards”.
The one thing that I found was that this is an easy business to start. The major problem that many run into is that when you are out selling, people say “No Thank you”. I can not count the times people have told me NO, but you have to keep going. You have to realize it is a business NO. They don’t hate you. Also set goals. My goal when I started was 10 new customers a week. I did not quit until I got them. It really pays off. I hope that this helps.
Doug Koliboski
Doug Koliboski, Inc. dba Your Window Cleaning Company
West Chester, OH.
I would recommend the Mastery for sure… Ive read them all and its by far the best. As a matter of fact I have an extra copy Id be happy to send you… (free of charge of course) If you’d like it just shoot me an email with your shipping info and Ill get it out to you.
I agree. Don’t sweat the “no s”. You are going to have to go through a lot of “no s” to get a yes. It’s a numbers thing. Each time you get a “no” you are one step closer to your “YES”.
thanks for posting. I guess the phone book isn’t listing some of them too well. It didn’t seem like there was too many of you guys out there. of course I’m glad to see there is because that means there are people interested at least.
I’ll need to look into the solicitation stuff for cincy. I don’t want to break the laws. you know how they get. I’d rather not do the solicitation route but it seemed like the easiest route for a little while. I would never be able to start out advertising in the cupon circular thing everyone gets in the mail. holy smokes I couldn’t belive how much that costs.
I’ve read the first 120 pages of the E Myth book and it’s pretty insightful. easy to read and comprehend. first book I could sit and read that much of at one time. plus I can relate to it.
One way around the solicitation problem is to contact neighborhood associations and find out when they meet. Ask if you can attend their meetings and introduce yourself. Or you can ask to adveretise in their magazine or website. Im paying around $400 to one association per year and its gotten me some decent return. Look up neighboorhood associations in your phione book and start calling them.
You can also atternd your local BNI for a free months trial period and sell yourself to them. I was invited by a neighboorhood association member to attend my local BNI for a months free trial. I got two jobs from it and one is a regular repeat monthly job. I didnt join BNI but taking advantage of the free trial got me some return.
Yes, a lot of money can be made in this business, depending on YOU! I do it very part time as extra income, which means I have a regular job and only have the weekends to clean windows. I started 5 years ago, my very 1st year I got 6 storefront accounts, that was all I could handle for just doing it on Saturdays. My 1st year I made $2,000, not bad for weekend work. I saw the potential this business has if you really work it. And there are plenty of windows out there for everyone. GO FOR IT!!
The one trait that separates great business owners from not so great business owners is their appetite and willingness to learn. Business owners who succeed focus on learning their trade, but more importantly they focus on learning the business side of their trade. The business side includes marketing & sales, management, and finances/accounting. For the first year or two, you are in the business of learning.
My recommendation for a beginner is to give your prospective customer a price range like “that’ll be $300-$450, just to be fair to you and me both”. Figure out how much you want/need to earn per hour and charge that per hour plus 1 way travel. I do that within reason and it works well. I also crank up my rates by the average rate of inflation of 4% per year. So if I charged someone $100 this year, next year it’ll cost them $104.00 or so. My goal was $58.00/hr in 2010, in 2011 it will be $60.00/hr etc.
Door to door works well for me. I called my county attorney and he said there is no law on the books prohibiting it here. I just use my head and approach houses very cautiously and politely. I’ve only been somewhat aggressively told “no” at 1 home out of maybe 75 now. I target larger homes when I do this. I’ve gotten about 4 or 5 new account out of those 75 this way. Grossing me about $10,000 per year. Not bad for a few afternoons spent canvassing on a rainy spring days.
SO true… I recommend for the first 2 years try to do a lot of the #s by hand. Still use spreadsheets, calculator and software programs… But do a lot of it on paper. It will make you much for familiar with #s… quicker.
