I’m just getting started in window cleaning and I’m having a difficult time seeing a path to making this a full-time gig. I currently work in higher education. It is slowly sucking away my soul, but that is another topic. I make $51k annually and have a wife and 3 young kids, so just up-and-quitting my day job doesn’t seem like a viable option yet. I wish I would have started sooner, but there is no time like the present.
I’m curious to hear how you all made the jump to full-time and wonder if any of you left a good paying job with benefits to do it? What was your strategy? What would you suggest as a strategy for a transition?
My story: I was making over $70K in my previous career in Public Administration but I had been working out of town for many, many years. Some of the locations were accessible only by boat or plane. When my wife developed life threatening medical issues I quit my job and came home to assist her.
A really great guy offered me a job as the Maintenance Supervisor for his cleaning company (janitorial for banks and offices). Two years later I bought it and expanded into “day jobs” (WC, carpet cleaning and floor waxing/tile scrubbing). I make less but I love living in my own home again and I love the freedom of being self employed and escaping the bureaucracy of government work. I also love having a new learning curve. Some of the intangibles are hard to quantify but they definitely improve quality of life. One of the other intangibles is that you will be able to train and employ your youngsters, they will appreciate this later in life.
Dave, I would consider myself a frugal person as it is. I don’t do cable and don’t go out to eat very often, but my wife stays at home with the kids, and we like earning more than we spend. I have a guilty wish that I would get laid-off and that way the decision is made for me and then I have nothing to fall back on. Success being the only option. My wife is very supportive, but I can tell it really scares her to think of me quitting. I certainly don’t mind living a little leaner if it means independence and building a legacy for my kids.
HBM, Thanks for sharing your story. Getting away from the wasted days of government bureaucracy is high on my list of intangibles. I know there are a lot of people who would kill for cushy government work, but it drives me crazy.
I left a job managing 3 restaurants to clean windows so I would have more time with my wife and less headaches from stress and anxiety.
I quit cold turkey without any foothold in the WC market, but I had 6 months income saved so that was my cushion and I would have landed hard without it. I am also fortunate enough to have a lifeline setting tile for a friend’s business with a flexible schedule to fill in my blank days and keep money coming in, even if it’s pretty meager compared to cleaning windows.
If I had to do it over without the savings or tile work to prop me up, I would begin by building a route to work one extra day each week until I had 4-5 days a month grossing ≈500 each day. That would provide a healthy base for regular income and leave plenty of time for marketing after ditching the old job.
A good paying job with benefits and a family makes the jump difficult on many levels.
My suggestion would be to do wc on weekends, just one day a week. Don’t push the river.
Another growth strategy is to buy route(s). Lots of threads and thoughts on the forum about the values of routes and preexisting businesses. If you will need financing probably easier to get while you still have established income.
Hi Splinter and welcome,I myself was working in very reasonable job with potential to move up in the company very quicklyMy uncle came to me before i started that job and offered to take me out on the road and show me the ropes but i stupidly at the time declined and said i wanted to see how this job would go.Skip ahead and year and my GF at the time found out she was pregnant.I made a call to my uncle that week and said i had reconsidered his offer if it was still on the cards…it was!I bought a van and equipment and worked with him for maybe 1 year or maybe a year and a half being shown tricks of the trade and everything else that goes with it.I then decided to take the leap of faith and go it alone and have nt looked back since!I remember my uncle telling me " i ve shown you a lot but theres still a few tricks to learn but you re a damn good window cleaner and theres no reason why you wont be successful".Yeah it was tough and scary as hell to begin with but i know i did the right thing.
Thank you for all the feedback. I went door-to-door last night and got my first residential sale. I’ve never sold anything, so I can’t believe the adrenaline rush. I’ve tried to establish a commercial route, but so far haven’t been able to score any accounts. I agree, a steady route would really help to make a transition.
buy @Chris book the window cleaners marketing blueprint, read it, implement it.
i’m not sure you heard me so i’ll say it again:
buy @Chris book the window cleaners marketing blueprint, read it, implement it.
ok pay attention this time:
buy @Chris book the window cleaners marketing blueprint, read it, implement it. 27
Are you starting a legit WC business or under the table? Open a Scottrade account (or some other brokerage account), where the money isn’t immediately accessible, and transfer every penny of owner pay to that account and let it pile up for a year or two. By then two things will have happened; you’ll have a some fallback cash saved and you’ll know whether you love or hate the business. In the meantime study every aspect of the business. If you love it then mark a date to quit and make the transition. If you don’t then at least you saved money in the process.
Im very interested following this topic! I work a full time job also - 8-til 4 mon to friday. I started myown business nearly 1 year ago working weekends… and over summer have been able to do jobs after work (after 4pm) would love to know how you guys decided to take the plunge into full time Window Cleaning…
Gotta live pretty slim in the beginning. I’ll put it this way, the sooner you dive in the sooner you’ll meet your goals.
I’ve got a new young competitor coming into my local market and he’s cleaning Windows here and there on the side after work. He says he wants to clean windows full time WHILE he’s heading off to work. I’m thinking to myself, gee, I’m off cleaning windows in your local market while your off to another town to work for someone else. It’s kind’ve ironic if you ask me.
Gotlift, I’m started a legit company. I’ve got all my legal ducks in a row (licenses, taxes, working on insurance today) and I’m really working on presenting myself that way. Your strategy sounds like a good idea. I’ve started saving and now I’m just trying to keep my costs minimal.
Jonnyald, you make a good point. I’m curious, did you get started by jumping in full time, or did you get in slowly and regret doing it that way rather than just cut ties and commit?
i was between jobs so i had nothing much to lose. i actually started the very next morning after having the idea to start- i knew if i delayed id get cold feet by overthinking the minuses of what i was doing
i was very lucky in hindsight,because the morning i started NOBODY BUT NOBODY wanted to know, by lunchtime i was ready to give up ,hide the ladder behind mums shed and forget this daft idea. i was on my way to walk the beach once again,on my way i spied a dirty looking house by the roadside and thought hmmm,just this one-if they too say no then im done with it
but the lady said YES ! and i was suddenly cleaning her windows not having even practiced before
27
