After being in the business for 7 + years I can now look back and see things that “knowing what I now know” I would not start or not do in regards to starting my window cleaning business.
At first when I started I tried to tackle on too much. Not focusing my complete attention on mastering window cleaning. I even had a mobile detail business where I wasted countless hours trying to start that up while I was still in the infant stages of this business. And a few other projects too numerous to mention.
So knowing what you now know what decision, what purchase, what direction you began in your business you would not start if given the opportunity to begin again.
The kind of person I am, I think that if I did not go thru the mistakes that I made I would never really appreciate the correct way to do things.
I think that if I knew about resources like this forum when I first started, I could have avoided many of the mistakes that I made.
I think the number one area would be the way I marketed my company. I thought that as soon as I got a website business would be BOOMING! After all, Google showed over 500,000 searches for window cleaning in my area. Oh how wrong I was, and how distorted that number was.
when I took over the guy who taught me he was a manly residential company with few commercial jobs. I enjoyed the hustle of picking up new commercial clientele every week, it was always a fun rush, and I grew a pretty good size commercial route. Because of that I neglected the true money making portion of the business.
I am, and will continue to focus more on the residential. Although commercial has done me right I now see his direction.
pricing too low to get a job…i underestimated what people were willing to pay for my services. Not working the company myself. I dont care how good you think your employees are, they NEVER work or care more than you do…(my experiences). Not having this resource. I cant believe what Ive learned just on this site, after 10 yrs in wc biz.
I agree with this post. Its easy to cut yourself short on pricing because the work is easy and with the right euipment. it truely is a breeze. You have to step out of yourself and put your self in the clients shoes and you’ll realize that your doing it cheaply. It took me awhile to learn this in the early stages of the business. I would drop my prices because I thought that they wouldnt pay that much. Big mistake!
Marketing is also something that I wish I would have had done better early on instead of “waiting” to get bigger from referrals.
I’d think I’d have to say - “Don’t sweat the details.” All to often I was concentrating on getting everything perfect - yet only to find another level.
Starting from “ground zero” I regret not canvassing enough in my small town, not talking to enough builders (post construction can carry you thru those tough winter months), wasting my time doing business dealings w/ others when I should be focusing on my own business, and like so many; bitten by the “black widow of entrepreneurial business” or trying to start other small business ventures when I should of focused on window cleaning.
These plus other obstacles that you just have to push thru and stay positive.
always remember this: A mistake is only a mistake if you don’t learn from it. Sometimes what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
The one thing I wont do anymore is quote for janitorial companies. Took me a couple of times to figure out I was quoting for a job I would never ever get. Now when they call I tell them it’s $100 just to come out and price the job. I prob wasted a full work week the 1st year in driving out and looking over projects for them.
