I haven’t had much traction yet, but I’m hoping because its still early in the year? I’m trying to make my social media presence known, started with door flyers, and a couple yard signs. I have a google my business account, added a yelp, and I’m newly apart of a business networking group. I’ve never been much of a salesmen so I definitely have that working against me. Do I need more patience? Do I have to depend on knocking on doors (terrifying)? I appreciate any thoughts and tips!
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You sound like me when I started 20 years ago. And me now a lot of the time. Hang in there. You’re going to start having some things come you’re way. Growth can be slow in the beginning. It’s like the space shuttle. 90% of its energy gets used to get off the ground and then it uses the other 10% to travel around space and get back down to earth. Your in the toughest part right now. Don’t give up before you start seeing the fruits of your labor.
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It’s an intimidating time, for sure. I just started last Fall. There are a few things you can do, if you’re feeling restless:
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send cold emails to commercial and/or residential (HOA, condo neighborhoods, etc) clients. See if that generates something. Super easy to do, and I can send you the format I use.
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try doing door hangers. Not terribly expensive, and gives you a sense of accomplishment just putting them on doorknobs (tip: either get small stickers or buy the door hangers with adhesive so they don’t fly off the handles. Learned that the hard way)
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offer to do your neighbors for free. This could generate some early reviews for your Google page, get them talking and referring, and they may even throw in a tip or offer to pay when you’re done.
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see if anyone here works in the same area as you. They may be willing to sub-out some work, refer some of their own clients/prospects (if they’re too busy, or the client is closer to you, or whatever reason), or at the very least offer some tips on what neighborhoods to hit and how. You may be near @JfromtheD .
Sounds like you’ve got some good business foundation to work from already, just need some work to get the machine working. Sometimes, all it takes is 1 person to give you a shout-out or referral and you’ll get swamped. Other times it’s one slow step after another.
Stick to your guns (priorities, values, goals), and you’ll work it out.
I work on the Southwest side of Detroit (AA/Ypsi area), so unfortunately I don’t know how often our paths would cross.
Thanks for the replies! I’m in the Macomb and Oakland county area @BStrait. Im trying to not let it get in my head so much, but I guess it just comes with the territory of entrepreneurship. Drives me crazy when I hear people say they made 50k+ plus their first year lol
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I’m right with ya! Stressed me out reading what others have done. But I always think back to my old boss…
He started around 2006/7, and I joined his crew 5 years later (2011). By then, he had 2 vans and 3-4 employees. Enough work to keep us busy, so about 2 homes a day between May and September. Not too shabby, but still a hussle to get work on the schedule.
I stayed with him for another 5 years, (2015). By then, he still only had 3-4 employees, but ran his business solely on referrals and had to constantly turn people away. Made enough money that he didn’t even bother trying to collect the $15k clients owed him throughout the year.
Learned a lot from him, good (skills with WFP, organization, creativity, and all kinds of windows) and bad (management, business planning, delegation).
One thing I always remind myself: he started with nothing, and built up his business gradually over 10 years, to the point where it basically could run itself even with all of his mistakes and mismanagement. But, it took 10 years to get there.
We don’t need to get everything right. We just have to be consistent and keep moving.
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I made a bit under that my first year 
But don’t sweat it, move at your own pace
Part of the reason I started my own.
Why help someone else’s business when I can have my own?
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Agreed. Thankfully, he was a terrific boss and I have a ton of respect for him. If only I was more forward-thinking, I would have tried to do it on my own during those College Summers. Then again, he taught me a lot that I wouldn’t have learned on my own because I was terribly stubborn.
I just wish I never went to college and did this from the get-go
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Better now than a year from now. I should have broken my stupid non-compete and started 2 years ago.
Seriously… can any window cleaning business claim to have “trade secrets” that it’s employees could exploit via competition? Everything I’ve ever learned in my 15 years of window cleaning I could find out for free on the internet.
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don’t be afraid to spend money to make money.
join Angies list, pay their membership fee and I guarantee it will more than pay for itself (you have to put effort into getting reviews though).
google ads is another way to go…youre better off paying someone to do the campaigns for you but, again, it will more than make up for it.
other than that…cold calling/emailing. Those are free but require more hands on.
50k a year is absolutely peanuts. You can do it, dream big!
bstrait has 4 good points above.
hangers or flyers are great while you’re slow because you have time and you don’t need the guts to knock.
knocking will get you more though if done well consider hiring someone to knock and leave flyers around jobs you are working on. don’t keep yhem if they don’t get deals
consider adding responsibid or quoteflare for doing quotes so they are consistent.
work hard to get refferrals google are most valuable then facebook an app like nicejob will help with that.
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@ericdmann hey man don’t worry about not getting leads yet. It’s March in Michigan lol no one wants their stuff done yet. Looks like we’re neighbors, I’m based just out of Oxford, been in business for going on 8 years now and we have a good customer base but it’s like pulling teeth to get most them to schedule in March but then we’re swamped from mid April thru July. Just do everything you can now and the calls will start coming in when people are ready.
It’s tempting to lower your prices way down to bring the jobs in but don’t. It’ll not only hurt you but the whole industry is hurt by price gouging. If you’re efficient you should be able to make 75-$100/hr easy doing traditional (it’s not as much as it sounds you have business expenses now lol)
Good luck!
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Thanks everyone, I recently just got a influx of requests for quotes just by word of mouth. Now I have to start learning to nail down pricing. My first couple jobs I averaged about $50/hour because of the condition. 
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Thats a start 
those 1st time cleans are time consuming but if you can get some repeat business you can shave that time in half often. Price higher and discount for higher frequency
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Hi @BStrait
I’d love to get your format for the email you mentioned above!
I’ve recently started window cleaning myself up here in Canada and would appreciate and material to help!
Thanks.
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I would definitely say try and stay patient with new leads. Sometimes when Im running Facebook ads I won’t get a single reply for days.
Then one day I’ll receive 2-3 in a single day. Stay consistent with reaching out to people and getting your name out there!
I’d be around $6/pane outside only for the larger ones and and $3.5/ half moons
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