I’m starting to lose hope. I decided 2 months ago to start my own window cleaning business. I don’t know why I did it, it just was an on the whim decision. I guess I did it because I saw it as a way to be self-employed and leave my dead end fast food job. I’ve registered my business, gotten business cards, a domain name, legal documents, professional tools, a separate phone number etc. and spent around $1K of my saved up money on my business. I have been practicing on my house and I feel unmotivated. I scratched my glass a lot with a razor blade because it was toughened glass but not all of the windows had a sticker. I have trouble fanning and my squeegees keep leaving lines. I have tried different pressures, etc. This happened with my home depot tools so I bought moerman liquidators and wagtail high flyer. I still get the same problem. I only have success with straight pulls but even then my rubber leaves behind massive water streaks. I should also note that the stock factory rubber the squeegees came with were bent. I often stand there with my T-bar and squeegee in hand questioning what the hell I’m doing with my life. I feel lost and lied to, this may sound stupid but I believed people when they said it was easy to do. Window cleaning (business side, technique) etc. is much more difficult than it seems. I don’t want to keep buying more and more stuff when I keep having bad results. What should I do?
For good visual tutorials on fanning techniques, tools, trouble shooting streaks, business advice ect, you might try looking up SteveO, Luke the window cleaner, or Keith Kalfus on YouTube.
Just a suggestion based off of the tone of your post, you might start with Kieth Kalfus. He’s very motivational in his videos.
That said, if WC is something you truly want to get into, you’ll need grit, determination and stamina. The road blocks you’ve hit now are just the start; when customer situations start cropping up, then the real fun begins.
But if you keep pushing, and lend your time to learning the WC trade, you can own something very lucrative.
It isn’t exactly easy to go from a fast food job to being the all-in-one Owner, Manager, Lead Worker, Account Manager, Purchaser, Payroll Manager, etc. If someone told you that owning a successful business - any business - was easy, they were pulling your leg. Actually as far as start-ups go, window cleaning isn’t that bad; you just have to put yourself into the right frame of mind and know that there will be lean years ahead before there are good profitable years.
There is no good substitute for experience. Learning a new trade, learning a new trade as an Owner/Operator is going to take a concerted and committed effort on your part. You will have to TRAIN YOURSELF (you will have to be disciplined); you will have to seek out as much information as you can find in order to TRAIN YOURSELF, (you will have to be disciplined). As mentioned there is tons of information on the internet, Youtube, and the “SEARCH” button on this site.
Here is a hint to help reduce your frustration - for the time being forget about fanning. Some might disagree with this, but it is up YOU not THEM to be SUCCESSFUL. Do straight pulls only until you can do them correctly without a hitch. Then you are ready to move to fanning once you know the basics. NEVER scrape dry glass with a razor. NEVER scrape glass with a rusted razor. Very seldom should you ever razor a window completely from side-to-side and from top-to-bottom. You might find someone telling you to scrape away the whole thing, but it is up to YOU not THEM to NOT SCRATCH GLASS.
Purchase, if you haven’t already, a 6 inch, 12 inch, and 18 inch squeegee, and a batch of 12 inch and 18 inch squeegee rubber. Change the squeegee rubber out as often as needed. (Cut 6 inch from the 12 inch when you need it). PRACTICE straight pull squeegee method tilting the squeegee slightly forward of movement on the leading edge. Don’t know what that means? Search "how to squeegee. Here is one of the very first to pop up when I used those keywords —>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwiQXQNYnw4
It will be difficult at first - not so much teaching yourself, but getting your name out there as a good window cleaner. Anybody who tries and fails and doesn’t learn to correct what went wrong will stay as a failure. Pick yourself up, reteach yourself the details that you missed and try again. Chances are good that you will be better each time - if YOU want it.
The money will not replace your steady paycheck at the fast food joint right away. Probably should have stayed on part-time, or just added window cleaning to your off time. So what that you don’t get a day off - your mantra should be IF IT IS MEANT TO BE IT IS UP TO ME.
Your choice of tools is having a bearing on your results. Moerman and Highflyers are demanding tools, not the best for starting on.
Get a stainless steel squeegee - 12in for resi
Get an Unger Ninja 40 degree handle, 18inch channel for storefront.
Use quality rubber, not box store quality. Ettore, Unger, Black Diamond are all good options.
Who told you it was easy? Maybe listening to the wrong advice.
(the Signature is tongue in cheek)
Luke, SteveO and I all have commented multiple times on the real difficulties of starting out.
Let the trial bring your impurities to the surface, then skim them off.
Use it to help you develop perseverance, determination, problem-solving skills.
Watch videos on technique. There are dozens of quality videos.
Good vid, even if it seemed a bit depressing 
Many people don’t want to hear reality, they just want to have their ears tickled. And there is an overabundance of “gurus” offering just that. Glad to see guys like you, Luke, and SteveO who are providing realistic advice.
Your 5 years to grow, and $100k max for a solo op is very realistic. Pretty much all the guys I know who have exceeded that figure, have at least a part time helper. Or maybe their spouse takes some of the load off their shoulders by fielding calls or doing bookwork.
It took me 13 years of ‘passive growth’, and the support of my wife, to make 2019 my first 6 figure year (and we’re not really planning on hitting that number again; we were just very motivated to pay off some debt this year)
I believe most true solo operators plateau somewhere in the $60-80k range, which can still provide a very comfortable living for a family who keeps a simple eye.
There are more than a couple guys on the forums making over $70,000 and they never bothered to learn how to fan a window. That being said, you can take Gary’s advice, lots of folks never learn. No hurry.
KISS
Keep it simple stupid. 
This is the first video in a four part training series on YouTube. Put out by Unger.
I used to feel like this too man! Stop being sad for yourself the world isn’t going to feed you. You gotta put food on your table yourself. Learn the technical side of it make the money that you spent and get out of the business if you don’t like it brother that’s my best advice.
Just wait it gets worse! Lol
Kudos for stepping out, this is where shear grit and passion lead you forward.
Anything worth fighting for is worth keeping.
We started windows two years ago. I personally don’t clean much, we’ve since hired an employee and he handles the cleaning. That being said I bought a route from someone moving out of country.
Also have been self Molly’s 10yrs. This all takes time and money too grow
It doesn’t sound comforting but that you realize your results are bad is good. I wish most people I’ve worked with realized they were not very good at their job.
Most prospective window cleaners and even a lot of continuing window cleaners don’t have a critical eye.
Any true professional has two qualities - they are proud of doing a good job in what they do - and they are hypercritical of their work. Attention to detail, speed, effectiveness.
Most people find being both proud and paying attention not possible. Since you are paying attention you may have the potential to improve your game until you are good.
You should be suspicious of the claims people make about jobs being easier or harder to do - we fire 90% of the applicants for window cleaning and those 90% were already a self selected group which were more likely to be competent cleaners.
I’m not implying we are unicorns but blue collar tradepeople - the spread of talent isn’t what most of society thinks it is. If most people could pick up a hammer and put a house together then the prices should be cheaper.
wow that must be with harsh winter downtimes, many I know are 150-200k a year as true solo
Yes it’s hard , that’s why many businesses fail the first year . This is where you have to scrape and claw your way out . You have to practice till you get blisters on your fingers . Pass out flyers till you toes bleed. You think Michael Jordan didn’t take thousands of jump shots ? After a loss Kobe Bryant would go and take 100’s of Jump shots after the game , even if it was midnight. You just have to want it really bad , you have to Reach deep down and want it really bad .
Window cleaning?? That sounds incredible. Or maybe they’re just workaholics.
Winter downtime is part of the equation, for sure. The other part is what I consider to be a reasonable work schedule of around 35 hours a week on the job. I know a lot of people out there routinely put in 80+ hours/week into their jobs. That’s not for me.
I could see pulling those kinds of figures with power washing, though.
no, window cleaning only and regular schedules and full time volunteer svc
one does 1100+ 8-2pm regularly
may not work in every market but the potential is there
I would say southern west coast 150k+ for full time, which ends up being 4 days a week annual avg after winter etc, is pretty typical, probably more 175k for full time and 200k+ plus for someone ‘killin it’ with regular Saturday comml work, window cleaning only, around 12.50/residential screened 2 pane window in and out
I know people personally, not a bunch of mumbo jumbo, of course these are long time veterans with time to refine
He’s probably right that this is possible - and we should all try to raise our game to be in the upper 10% of earners - but I agree that it’s not so simple as plain working hard.
I find myself that once I’m past the 60-70 hour mark in a week I start making mistakes that cost me time or money. Dumb mistakes I wouldn’t be making at the start of the week. It’s not about the cost of tools but it is not good for your well being.
If you have very consistent routine work with not many variables I think you can work a long hour week but it starts to become context specific.
You never want to be in the situation where due to lack of sleep you damaged a vehicle or forgot some expensive equipment - if you only play a good offensive game then I think you risk a lot because it’s hard to be on top of your game for 80+ hours without having your efforts nibbled away by errors.
True that!
Try having to wake up at 3:30am and getting to sleep at 11! Man, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was losing my family. Money’s only paper. I ain’t looking to to get rich (if that was even possible in this game which it ain’t) I just wanna pay bills, and survive at this point.
There ain’t nothing worth giving up time with my son! I’ll see this outfit of mine in flames first.
I know people are saying “this is just the beginning” and “it gets worse”. I disagree. There will never stop being road blocks, hiccups and learning curves.
However, it seems your hopelessness is inspired by a lack of cash flow. You need to focus on MARKETING. Don’t buy ANYMORE equipment. Instead, post on Nextdoor(free) and Craigslist($5 per ad). You can try going door to door for residential or b2b for storefront. I didn’t have great results with it but I’ve heard a lot of people have. The thing that propelled my forward was Yelp. I recently started using home Advisor as well.
I recommend Yelp because you don’t pay anything until the first of the month. People are going to say bad things about every marketing platform. I’m just telling you what worked for me. I started my business in February with $250. I “practiced” my technique on actual jobs. my first 2 jobs were referrals from my friend that does pressure washing, but my 3rd job was from a Craigslist ad and the next 2 were from nextdoor. The total of those jobs was $1,350 and I got one of the neighbors for an additional $400.
$1,750 from a $5 Craigslist ad a free nextdoor ad.
My dude, it’s about mindset. I’d love to help you. I can give you some advice when you’re starting out with little to no capital. My name is Kyle. Shoot me a text 713-829-6231
Hope is something i always have, even if it’s just a kite string in hell.
I have been trudging thru everyday for the last 2 seasons. I just can’t get into it, insert whatever terms you want
-Passion
-Heart
-Desire
At one point I really cared about the clients
At one point I really cared about each teammate
At one point I cared about milestones
It would be too easy for me to coast the next 10 years, pay my bills, have some fun but I fear dying with regret.
Joined a couple of programs/teams and making a push to see if my heart changes.
Never lose hope, that shit is important
Where are you based?
Growing pains on full display. I’m sure you’re feeling better since you posted, now get back out there and get after it!
