So this year we are aiming for 5 - 10 % - over 2008. We were a bit down last year so we are going back in time a little.
What are you aiming for this year?
I’m in my 3rd year now and still expect a growth spurt. So I’m aiming for 25%!
Numbers for Jan, Feb and March are already way up so I think this is doable.
$10,000,000 million Gross. too low?
15-20% but my scale is probably a lot smaller than you
I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade or be the bear of bad news, but I just hope to retain my current number. As I’ve said before our monthly route #'s backslid to the same 2006 number. I have built my business foundation aggresively and very strong (overbid most of everything) so this number is still good.
I’ve started making calls for my resi spring cleanings and afraid to say not as many are repeating this year compared to the past.
So for me, my goal is to maintain for the next couple years. I won’t be marketing the windows as I have in the past. Still have my yellow page ads and of course any new customers from referrals, Decals on the trucks, and people seeing us cleaning windows will still be generating new biz.
I have another business we just kicked off a couple months ago and I’m very excited about the potential. The research I’ve done and my honest opinion is the growth and customer potential is between 5x and 10x higher than my windows. I can’t say much more than that right now. No i’m not trying to advertise it here and no it isn’t Amway 
Just sharing my excitement!!
I would never let go of my window cleaning biz, cause it makes up our lively hood. It’s like my kid. I gave birth to it, nurtured and raised it and now it’s a pain in the butt teenager. Except it doesn’t spend all my money 
I thank my lucky stars I’m in a position to take on something else. This new venture could never happen if I didn’t have an income to carry Me and take care of my family.
Getting ready to hire some paper pushing help so my window cleaning is pretty much self effecient now. That was my goal 8 years ago
Interesting.
How does the [B]hourly rate[/B] compare with window cleaning?
I’m all about [I]profitability[/I] right now - not gross revenue - and you’ve made me curious.
Not sure what percent I will end up with the at the end of each month but I really am going to push it more than ever. My office girl isnt coming back so I have hired a few guys to offset the workload a bit.
One of my biggest problems was marketing to my customers and the public. I never had the time or energy most of the time because I was in the field during the busy months. Being the office person now will give me the big picture as to where I want to go with the company as far as growth. I will be taking Chris’ advice on marketing BEFORE your schedule starts to slow down. Thats one of the biggest mistakes Ive made. I have paid dearly in revenue because of that.
Steve
Well there is a product cost - which we don’t have much of in window cleaning. The revenue produced isn’t labor. Basically I’m reselling a product. After my customer base is established it’s somewhat residual. I can drop ship the product to them. A friend I met in the industry makes appx 20k a month after product costs, and just him and his wife run it. I’d tell you what it is, but for several reason’s I just can’t. There are hundreds of these ideas out there so if you’re looking to expand into something else just start looking.
I have no plans to ever give up my windows. It’s my bread and butter. I’m in a good position with my window cleaning biz paying all my bills and giving me the time and some startup $ to try this. Will it work? We shall see!!
My plan is to hire a book-keeper to push the papers, then I can overlook the windows and market the new venture. I am also adding incetives for my route guy to pick up new businesses. Something that hasn’t been too sucessful in the past.
Again - A Pane in the Glass will always be my main squeeze!!
Interesting. Yeah, when you can share more let us know.
I have no interest in it, myself, whatever it is.
I have a few things on my own plate as is, and am maxed out.
$20k/mth sounds nice, and ends up probably more money than window cleaning.
You still didn’t answer my question, though.
Any idea on hourly rate?
How much do they both work for that $20k?
Your goals should be high… 5-10% boring…GO for broke 40-50% increase over last year. If you set them too low you will barely if ever get there. Myself I am up 1153% over last year this same time for the month(4th season for residential only)!! All about your attitude… and work towards it. IF you think you can or can’t your right.
That’s kind of hard to break down really. It’s a different animal. There isn’t the same labor involved. My guess still marketing, calling in order, delivering product and pushing the papers, I don’t think they work much more than the 40 - 50 hour week. So hourly based on 20k divided by 2, then divided again by 200 hours would be $50 an hour. That’s very misconsrued though. The two could probably manage 10k more or less profit in the same amount of time. You throw a delivery driver or another 40 hour minimum wage person in the mix and everything changes.
Hope that comes closer to answering your question.
First off, I’m booked through the first week in June. That’s blown me away!
To the numbers…
April 2008: $3700 (first year)
April 2009: $5700 up 54%
April 2010: $10600 up 86%
Not bad for a one man show! I’ll pay out about $400 for 4 days help. I expect the year to up about 60%.
Well, all my work is repeat basis so I shall not be gaining much new custom, but I am in the process of raising prices by approx 10% to 15%. This is not a huge increase as I froze my prices for a couple of years so as not to lose anyone during the worst of the recession (hopefully that has passed!!). So far so good, everyone has been expecting it. Theoretically, therefore, I should be up by this much at the end of the year.
That’s awesome dude. Impressive growth!! Keep workin it
Our current revenue goals are 125% year over year with a focus on improving existing and implementing new processes that should yield a 10-15% net increase without any increase to our gross. In addition to our year over year growth we are launching several new services that have not been offered by us with a goal of selling into 50% of our existing accounts resulting in an estimated 30-40% increase to our net revenues. Should be a banner year for us, which should lead to some very aggressive growth for 2011 and 2012.
With the economy where it is, if you’re growing window cleaning you’re THE MANNNNNNNNNNNN!!!
Well, I have been up and down due to successes and failures on my part. I went full bore in my business in 07, and that year made 52. 2008 I was up to 65,000. But I lost some really great accounts in the third quarter in 09 and only mad 57 last year.
Having learned from my mistakes, I should be able to do much better this year. If things continue the they have been for the last week, I should be back up to at least 65 this year. I am pushing for 70 tho.
Re structuring my company helped alot, and so has new marketing efforts. We’ll see.
I just started last april and for 2009 I grossed 5200…Im pushing for 50% this year due to serving a wider market. Im going for broke this year…So i expect more money, we will see.
What are you doing to support the “going for broke” directive?
who cares
