Growth 1st Year, Expectations?

Thanks, I will try to read that either tonight or tomorrow. I have searched for months throughout the forms, but I still run across great stuff.

Thanks, I will try to remember that! I am in SC so I don’t think it is as bad of a slow season from what I know but this market has basically the same ebb and flow as others I believe.

That is what I am looking for, but I know up front there is going to be a lot of pavement pounding!

That is impressive! I have seen some posts for sales that I plan on incorporating into my sales to get a higher close rate. I also had some sales training in college that I need to go back and review.

That is also how I work. I have a fairly large market compared to most, so I am hoping to do even more. I also plan on having more that the $350 a month I have right now before going full time which I forgot to mention in my first post. I am thinking $1500 plus if possible before January then going full time. It basically comes down to however many I can put on the books and maintain while working full time elsewhere. I have considered marketing more to resi instead of storefront, and I might do that when I go full time. Right now its easier to get store fronts for me though.

Good post Will!

I agree very much, which is why I plan to keep it to a one man show, and maybe hire someone on eventually. I want to get to a livable income asap, and then start being picky about my customers and start really refining my processes. I will always plan on looking for improvements.

I agree, there is always something changing. I don’t know how many times I have heard that a business plan is a living document, but there is a good reason for that.

This is honestly one of my main concerns, so just getting through that time asap would be what I would be pushing for.

1 Like

Just one other thought from me , early on i got a dentist office to clean, his apartment, ( both once a week) and a barber shop. That was an instant $800 month.

That janitorial work allowed me a chance to breathe, so to speak, because of the steady income no matter the weather. Both jobs i got from my storefront canvassing. Perhaps you may find something similar in addition to the many storefronts you’ll acquire.

Thanks, I will keep that in mind! I was just thinking today about other things I could do today if someone asked. I want to expand to gutter cleaning and pressure washing for sure eventually, but I’m not totally opposed to doing other things first in the beginning just to full the gaps.

have realistic expectations but i did 50k my first year, it can happen.

3 Likes

the twenty mile march mentioned here is very interesting:
http://windowcleaner.com/t/marketing-for-client-aquisition/34346/8?u=cactus27

2 Likes

This is one of the best post in this thread

http://windowcleaner.com/t/marketing-for-client-aquisition/34346/8?u=wcs

The part that Chris says…

"Yes yes yes! Niche it down even further if you can. Pinpoint it down as far as possible.

Man once you do that, things have a snowball affect. In a great way!!

Also side note…

“Persistence overcomes Resistance”

1 Like

Now that where your start to make huge leaps and bound in business.

Like most people that start a business without a true plan most people get in the mindset of “sure i can do that for you” and that takes you away from your niche. Be hyper focused on your niche market.

This year we have been setting the ground work for “our niche” in this industry we are so excited it makes my stomach turn! :wink:

Thanks Steve, I will read that a bit later today when I have time. It looks like a great post. I told my wife Yesterday I would help her make a light box for her pictures that she is going to take for the Etsy shop she is setting up and I didn’t get to because I was selling/washing windows. So, I have to help her with that first, then read some more on here.

That’s what I am hoping to do and have already been thinking about what that zone is. There are a lot of houses around here that are in the $200 range which don’t seem to be targeted by the existing window cleaning companies. They are usually in well established neighborhoods with middle aged to older residents that care about their houses, don’t have the time or energy to do the work, and have the money to pay someone. I haven’t done many houses yet as I have been working more on storefronts, but that is what appears to be the case. That said, I am not projecting my numbers off of this. Hopefully I will have better than expected income if this is the case when I bust my butt. Most of the existing companies go after the larger houses in the area and don’t seem to care about the $200 range.

Thanks for the great replies everyone!

1 Like

I’d rather do 5 $200 homes than 1 $1000 home any day pf the week.

5 Likes

$200 homes sounds very nice. If you underbid you won’t be hurting your margin very much and as time goes by you will have more precise bids. Plus, doing 5 $200 homes vs 1 @1K gives you 5 more potential referrals and gives you 5 times as much visibility.

4 Likes

so i quit my job december 16th of '14, in january i made 2000, that’s about $100 a day, it was a mix of storefront, gutter cleaning and residential window cleaning. here is a screenshot of that month

some days i made $20 others $250, but it came from visiting hundreds of storefronts and putting out hundreds of door hangers. (also an exceptionally dry and warm january)

feb was about the same and then march was $3k and april $4k and may 5k and it just snowballed as it became more and more window cleaning season.

i put out probably 4000 flyers and talked to 500 or more businesses before i no longer needed to go out and solicit (about 15 months after i started) now we get all the work we need through our website (first or second place on google) referals, recuring customers, and some small strategic advertising and last July we bought the customer list of another window cleaner who moved away which provided all the work necessary for my partner to come on full time.

5 Likes

Thats so cool to hear, love hearing how pounding the pavement and persistence and good quality work pays off!

Ditto!

Agree with your post 100%… We stopped putting growth as our priority and put profit at the top. Obviously you need growth when you first start out, but you can get Stuck in the Mud on growth