Not what I expected!

Man, I tell you, when I first started I did flyers printed off of my home computer, I wore T-shirts and athletic shoes. I hit all of the homes that had good curb appeal - you know, nicely trimmed and mowed lawns, maid service cars in the driveway, well to do neighborhoods. Soon I had enough cash flow for polo’s, door hangers, better ladders and equipment, and could actually pay my CPA. Try not to fret it too much. You’ll do fine.

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@cruzzer3, that’s real good that you are showing up very presentable.
I feel also that if you become known to the merchants and regular passersby it will be to your benefit in the long run. Let’s say for instance that every Tuesday morning you are seen on the same street with the same color clothing doing the same thing. Eventually more people will know whom to contact when the need for window cleaning arises. It takes time, but I feel it has worked for me.

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Couple of things for you to remember:

First forget the BOB talk. Charge what you want and can live off of. Don’t go out trying to undercut everyone, but recognize that you are not going to make the money that we make at the rate we do right away. You don’t have the equipment, experience, quality or speed that an experienced window cleaner has. Not yet. Unfortunately, the only thing you may have to offer in the highly competitive arena of storefront is pricing. Keep that in mind as you set your pricing. You’re mainly trying to get a foot in the door. Residential will allow you to avoid that to a degree.

Second, since you are a fireman, you likely earn well, have health insurance and a pension. At least I hope you do for the work you perform. Because of that, failure is an option. That means when you bid a job, don’t be afraid to miss out because it’s not the price or client you want. For most of us when we were starting out, failure was NOT an option. This was the only gig we had and we had to make it work if we were going to take care of the family. That put pressure on us that you don’t need to put on yourself. If you eliminate the stress, you can eliminate the pressure.

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@danwagner @TexasRich thanks guys. Your right. I do have those perks from my full time job. So I am not stressed about making money to feed my family. I actually thought cleaning the windows for 10$ would not make me much money. I just want to officially make money with all my hard work and money that was fronted. I want to grow but without any business income that’s really hard to do. Everyone has made me feel better over the last day. I’m pretty sure that will go away after my next day of canvassing lol. I will stick to it. Keep learning and I won’t give up.

only sharing an example I lived.

Watched 2 gentlemen clean windows at a local clothing store I shopped at years ago. I don’t do route and it was clear they did not clean windows with the same standard most in the industry would.

they drove slightly over an hour for $45.

However, they cleaned the tile inside the stores bi-monthly making their money there.

Most do give up. Keep your head down in the trenches and do not come up for air until you’ve hit your goal, whatever that may be. But you must have a goal. Commercial on-going storefronts is a residual year around income machine. The hardest part is the beginning, getting it off the ground. That’s why most fail. They can’t keep going. I went through the same things you are going through now. Here’s what I did, I set a simple goal of $500 in new accounts picked up per month, today my company regularly services almost 4,000 storefronts, a 7 figure operation on its own. As one person eloquently said, get a good script and use it. Memorize it and know it well. Don’t be wishy washy. Know the service and pricing you want to present before you walk in, have answers to the objections ready, role play with friends. Having these ready will give you confidence when walking in. Then there’s the follow up. I was and still am super aggressive to a fault. I never went away and I eventually ‘broke’ them. Learn to negotiate to get the jobs. Go to WindowWashingWealth.com to get more information on things you can do to take your company from small to big. Either way, our rule of thumb is walk 50 stores per day, yield 6 leads, close 2 or 3 either on the spot or in the follow up. 75% will come in the follow up. Have a system. Good luck. Feel free email me.

@jim_dubois how do I email you? I wont give up I do not have a ton of competition around here. I made another post in conversation. Check that out. Unbelievable. When you you follow up? I got a hot lead where the finance individual for a church was actively looking for a window cleaner. I bid the place of the high traffic areas 125 week and 150 bi weekly. All the windows inside and out total like 170+ panes with a initial clean of 275. It would be a great start. I do not know when to follow up. I also always initially bid one week schedules but everyone said that seemed a lot but never countered bi weekly or monthly. When do you offer those services?

My email is jim@squeegeepros.com. We follow up every 2 days until they say differently. Either way, if they say ‘not right now’, I always reply with, ‘is it ok to check in in 2 or 3 months to see if anything has changed?’. They always say yes. And what do you think happens? I’m right on it. I don’t go away and eventually I get the majority… Depending on store size determines the frequency of service. In any case I have a less frequent default ready to go. I just want the store at a fair price, even if once per month or quarterly. I can always upset frequency later. Make sense?

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I know what you mean man.

Just the other day I saw a store with dirty windows, so I went in and asked an employee there that I know about who cleans their windows. Her reply was “I don’t think anyone cleans them. I have never seen anyone clean them in all the time I have worked here.” Needless to say i was thinking …wtf man?! So, the next day I saw the guy who owned the strip mall the store was in (I thought he did but he had sold it to someone else), and I asked him about who cleaned the windows for the stores, the owner or the people leasing the stores. His reply was, “I never cleaned any of them.” Needless to say, I was like … wtf man?! Then I went to the next strip mall and looked at the windows, which were dirty in all but two stores. The empty ones had smears on them like someone had applied soap with a rag but never squeegeed it off, So, I went in one of the stores with clean windows and asked an employee who cleans their windows, and their response was “she [the manager] has a friend of hers who cleans them.” Needless to say I was like, well, you know.

It is going to be tough for me here too, but as soon as I get my brake line fixed on my ex-taxi cab rag of a car I will be hitting the streets. So, it looks like residential might be my focus starting out here. Most of the stores around here have dirty windows and they need a window cleaner, but they couldn’t care less about the windows.

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Window cleaning is a shithole business with so many down and out people picking up a mop and squeegee offering service for practically pennies.
The money comes in from years and years of advertising and hard work and even then it’s not what it is made out to be online as the people making real money are selling the toolsi and customers service software.

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You sound frustrated, What area has been your biggest struggle?

Not sure what your experience is or years in the industry but any business is what the owner makes of it. Any start up is going to be painful and require a lot of work the 1st 3 years.

I’d be intrested to hear what your experience is, storefront, residential or high rise and how long you’ve been at it. Could be your market, methods. You might be the best window cleaner and suck at business end.

Personally I have found great success with this industry. Even after 20 years I still work hard and I enjoy what I do And do make a very comfortable income.

To get to where I am was all about the choices I made from the beginning. Being in a large seasonal market I decided store front and residential Would be beneficial in the beginning but knowing it would not be a long term customer type for most profit.

I will agree that a lot of the talk hear about how much you can make an hour can be misleading. The higher earners are experienced window cleaners not a guy 1st year in the business is going to be making.

Like so many people it is far too common to be searching for that get rich quick, make money fast right from the beginning thought process.

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Man, how did I miss this one.

Okay, when starting out, or heck even for vets, look for the office AROUND the corner from the stripmall. There’s a TON of small - mid commercial style glass usually just behind the stripmalls. Every window cleaner wants to fight over the strip stores but very few of them go around the corner. You can get some great customers by going off the beaten path.

But regardless, when it comes to storefront and commercial, expect to hear “No” a LOT. But if you have a good presentation, look professional, have a decent price, you should get some business. The logo’d shirt goes a long way. A professional business card, a clean (and logo’d) car makes a big difference.

You’ve just got to get it into your head that you’re a PROFESSIONAL. Act like it and project it. You’re not out for beer money or a hobby, you’re out to build a business.

For storefront you can start at $1 per side per pane but have a minimum. $20 minimum is a good starting point but so is $15.

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Bingo!! Winner Winner!

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No chicken dinner??

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:rofl::rofl: