What’s the top three lessons/mistakes you’ve learned in your career as a window cleaner?
Mine are:
Don’t fall off a 4 ft step ladder…
Sounds lame but you can really bust up you ankle doing so…
Mistakes are easy to make…
I make them ALL the time. Hopefully my next mistake won’t cost me a ton of money.
Learn how to be tactful in your words…
Sound easy, but in actual real life this might be the hardest lesson to learn…
I might go on and on but I’m sure you guys could enlighten me of some of your most valuable mistakes you’ve made in your business in hopes we can learn from each other. We all make mistakes from time to time. That’s for sure. I guess the point is to not make as many mistakes as possible, learn, and move forward in business at the same time…
Always have at least one more employee than you “need.”
2). Pay attention to company culture. Look to hire culture fits, versus someone you think will be good at the work. If someone is hurting your culture, transition them out as quickly as possible. Don’t put up with it because you “need” them. (Goes hand-in-hand with #1)
3). Take calculated risks. We got to where we are today by taking a series of calculated risks. Hiring first employee, adding a second crew, getting an office space, adding more crews, hiring an office managed. If you want to grow, you have to take some risks.
4). Don’t ever let your customers dictate how you run YOUR business. These are often based on fearful assumptions that aren’t even based on reality. A couple hurdles for me: instituting a deposit policy to cut down on reschedules/cancellations; Rain policy; raising prices on past customers.
5.) Be able to say “No.”
6.) Don’t be so obsessed with getting the details perfect, that you lose sight of the big picture.
Okay, that’s six…
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I smell an interesting thread here. Mine are pretty simple, just the first things that came to mind.
Make sure your equipment is in working order before leaving for a job.
We have been stuck on a job more than once because of equipment failure that could have been easily avoided.
Order supplies before you need them rather than when you are out.
Self explanatory. It sucks running out of soap and rubber.
Don’t rob your business in the early stages, or ever for that matter.
It’s tempting to pull money out of your account or raise your paycheck when the money is rolling in. Without a cushion a slow month can really be detrimental to your growth if you don’t have the money to invest in tools, supplies, pay bills or payroll.
I have been guilty of letting money just sit in the bank account looking nice when it could of been used to create more business.
There is a whole lot of overhead when running a business.
Make sure you have all your finances in order or you will go crazy.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
When I find myself stuck in a situation I know there are few close industry friends that will help me through what I am doing. And of course on the flip side I will try and help out if someone else.
You need it even if you KNOW you didn’t scratch them. It doesn’t matter that everyone and their dog has a rusty razor on a construction project, it only matters that YOU’RE the window cleaner.
[U]Don’t get emotionally attached.[/U] - This was a hard concept for me in a lot of different ways over the years because, like most of you, I started out as a sole “owner operator.” As we grew, some (bad) decisions I made were purely made because I was emotionally attached. If something is hurting your business or not as profitable for you anymore, often you need to make a decision with your head and not your heart.
[U]Don’t hire friends or family.[/U] - I know some of you have had great success hiring a family member or friend, but for me, having been burned twice for breaking this rule, I’ll never do it again.
“[U]Want to have a successful business? Then surround yourself with successful people”.[/U] - This was from a Jason Evers presentation at NOLA back in 2010 or 2011. And if any of you know Jason and seen what it’s done for him and his business, you know he practices what he preaches. For me, it’s been one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever been given.
