Later

CAS · November 7, 2013, 6:41pm

[MENTION=1]Chris[/MENTION]
brilliant
no slow season no busy season just steady cash flow that can only go up.

about a year and half ago (?) you started a thread about how many storefronts would be needed to do it. How many are you up to?

DaveYogi · November 7, 2013, 8:04pm

didn’t he say 8000 accounts to be a 3 mil company…

Chris · November 8, 2013, 4:14am

Yea… I need a break from running large window cleaning business for a while… But those #s are about right…

MRBC · November 8, 2013, 9:23am

Chris, Congratulations on the sale of your business and thanks for blazing the trail for the rest of us. One thing you mentioned a long time ago was the importance of establishing systems in every aspect of you business. That way everyone would be trained the same and on the same page. Do you think you accomplished this??

Chris · November 8, 2013, 9:27am

Thank you Brett

Well I left the new owner with 4 giant binders, about 6-8 inches thick each. I said to him everything you need to know, on how to run things can be found in here. While making them I always had the thought in my mind that I would wanted to be able to turn them over to anyone and they could easily understand how and why we do it the way we do it.

The binders and the systems inside them changed and upgraded every year… SO technically its never done…

phinkle · November 8, 2013, 11:11am

That’s great for you Chris. I’m sure it was a tough decision. I’m glad you will still be here for us though. Did Alex go with you or did you sell him too? lol

michaelmole · November 8, 2013, 10:54pm

I think Alex has been full time skateboarding (aka working at WCR) for a while now.

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advantage202 · November 8, 2013, 11:08pm

I think it’s pretty cool to see you sharing such a large change in your life with us. I am confident you’ll make your store front business a success… And we all get to watch and learn too :). Thanks for that [MENTION=1]Chris[/MENTION]

Jeremiah, Advantage Window Cleaning
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wcs · November 10, 2013, 5:13pm

[MENTION=1]Chris[/MENTION]

I am also curious to.

Taylon · November 10, 2013, 5:50pm

Chris:

So today ended a major chapter in my life. I sold my window cleaning business of the past 13 years. It was probably one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. So much of my life was put into making it an amazing company. But in order to concentrate on other projects I am involved in it needed to be done. The new owner is a good friend of mine, and he is one of the only people I would trust it with. I sold off all of the business, except for the routes. I always wanted to do a route ONLY window cleaning company and now thats what I have. I wont be putting to much time into as its pretty self sufficient.

I got kinda sad when I left the building today, and turned over the keys… But cheered up rather fast as now for the first time ever running WCR will be a full time job for me. Over the past 5 years I really have only worked here part time. So now that I have the ability to dedicate all my time to WCR, we will be seeing some very cool changes and improvements.

And to my competitors @ WCR your time is up. Now that I can concentrate on this full time, your lives are about to get exhausting. Get your rest in today, tomorrow it begins

Chris you are such an inspiration. Many, many, many congratulations!

Chris · November 11, 2013, 4:52am

Ahh yes, the salesman came with me. He will run the department fully and continue to solicit accounts.

I also brought one of the sales girls from ACWC to WCR…

DustOffTherapy · November 11, 2013, 11:07am

[MENTION=1]Chris[/MENTION]: When I saw this thread, the above quote from the “Help with Motivation” thread came to mind. I realize it’s pretty obvious, but I’m really dumb, so I’m going to ask anyway: was this sale of the business part of bringing the fun back? Maybe that’s a (small) part of choosing the boring name? A daily reminder & challenge to yourself to have fun in spite of the flat name?

phinkle · November 11, 2013, 1:42pm

Flat name? Nice thing to say. Not!!

michaelmole · November 11, 2013, 2:53pm

Storefront Window Cleaning IS pretty flat though… haha

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AllWashedUp · November 11, 2013, 3:05pm

Doesn’t get much flatter. Unless you went with Windows window cleaning.

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Chris · November 11, 2013, 3:09pm

I’m thinking the flatter the better. I want super duper generic.

Streakless_Windows · November 11, 2013, 5:42pm

First, Congrats [MENTION=1]Chris[/MENTION], I hope this turns out to be everything you want. But I do have a couple of questions for you…
Do you think having a “generic” business name will affect your business branding? Or do you intend on doing little to no branding, since you’re only doing storefront cleaning? I’d imagine you’d still have to be recognizably different and “better” than the other storefront window cleaning companies (like Fish, who obviously only focus on the lowest price) in the eyes of your future prospects.
It also sounds like you’re not planning on having a huge business again, so I’m curious how big is your current new business, as far as number of storefront accounts, do you have them broken up into a number of different routes, and how many window cleaners are you actually going to employ to do these storefront routes, cause I can’t see you wanting to get back out on the road and sling a squeegee, am I right?

noblegeorge · November 11, 2013, 6:39pm

Congratulations Chris. We wish you well moving forward.

cortezaero · November 11, 2013, 7:12pm

Storefront Window Cleaning IS pretty flat though… haha

Seems like it would be great for SEO!

Pioneer_Services · November 11, 2013, 7:20pm

I think the name eliminates anyone calling for other types of work (residential, highrise, midrise etc) and may save hundreds of hours of worthless phone explanation.