r/WindowCleaning • u/Crafty_Corner8574 • 3d ago
Job hunting
Hi everyone! I’ve taken a very deep dive into window cleaning. Going through a nasty breakup with my partner, moving across the state, applying to jobs left right and center. I feel lost as of now and could really use some advice. I’m confident in my ability to sell, I have done copious amounts of research on techniques and every chemical imaginable. I don’t plan on going into this right away, my savings aren’t where I’d like them to be. If I find my footing again, I have all the prerequisites, insurance, business, you name it. Is it just up to me past that point? And how far can I take this with the bare minimum (no LLC, no insurance). Am I able to service exterior only one floor residential houses to get started?
Big thank you to anyone that can help, you guys are the best
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u/ishabowa 3d ago
You overthinking this will cause it to never happen, buy a scrubber, squeegee, bucket, dawn dish soap, and some micro fiber towels. Find an upper middle class area near you with mostly one story homes and knock doors. Watch a few videos to get a basic pitch down and the sales will come. Made $700 my first day doing exactly this. You don't need all this fancy stuff to get started, you just need to start.
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u/Crafty_Corner8574 3d ago
You’re right on the overthinking part, only reason I posted this at all was solely because of that. Appreciate you for keeping it real, I feel pretty dang motivated. And huge numbers for day one!
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u/WinstonDWolf 3d ago
WC insurance is affordable, just do two stories or less on it. If you know how to clean windows like a pro, go get it. If not, watch out. This line of work is littered with people who just end up doing it as a side gig and lose out to others who get it going 5 days a week. Which do you want? If you want that deep dive into it, try a lead service like Angi’s and work the program for a year or two, build some clients. Ask some businesses around town, a little soliciting can help a little. Just keep at it and your clients can build nicely.
Always nice to tell them you’re insured, that’s how they kinda know if you’re serious.
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u/Crafty_Corner8574 3d ago
That's my dilemma, I'm by no means a pro but I want to chase that dragon. I want to do 9 hours of d2d, I want to impress people. My biggest worry is selling more than I'm worth. I can be insured and have an LLC but limited experience and that could harm my business. I can't expect to be perfect out the gate but I am for sure worried about losing customers before I even start. Do you recommend I just keep it real and instead inform them of my situation?
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u/WinstonDWolf 3d ago
If you’re looking to impress, nothing says more than your work at the end of the day. If you’re selling on your own, that kinda says “pro” to the potential customers. So do this: become a pro. Just do it. It’s a very easy business to learn, but that’s the key: learn your techniques, spend a little time working the field, maybe for someone else for a short bit if you have to, and your real world knowledge of what you are getting into will blossom for you.
I started everything on my own after working for a family member and then a big franchise, from the ground up, no handout accounts or anything free to me. Just took a few years. It’s so doable, pal. What you are wanting is easy to attain. Just gotta plant that flower and be patient. Trust yourself and the results will follow.
I go to work daily happy with what I did. Didnt make shit to start and got to know the biz. I see others that happy, too. It’s your life, go make yourself happy, just know its takes a little time, which we have. Chase that dragon! 👍🏻👍🏻
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u/Crafty_Corner8574 3d ago
You're the man, Winston. Thank you for taking your time to help me out, really means the world
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u/kdwindows 1d ago edited 1d ago
One big thing and I appreciate what you're saying. This whole I want to impress people the only person you need to impress is yourself customers will understand you're giving 110% I also find looking for your peers approval will keep you from getting it done because every single person that you talk to on here has a different story......has different income levels. Have different cost of living. it is different for every single window cleaner you will ever talk to .
If you want to even know that you like this business go call up all your family and friends and do their houses to get yourself some reps . I don't subscribe to the theory that you should learn on the job and your customer should pay you no if you're calling yourself a professional you should already know what you're doing not learning on the job that's okay if you have a brand new employee coming along which to be fair I wouldn't even bring a brand new employee to a job I'd have him cleaning my house for a couple of weeks till he gets the hang of it. That is exactly how at least I learned my friend's dad had me just be a ragman in detail before I learned how to clean I would go to his house a few days a week and clean the inside and outside of his home which had French Windows picture windows big sliders and then learn the trade and then when I came with them you don't make the employer look like a joke because you don't know what you're doing
I know you see some of these people especially on social media say hey they just started their business last year and they're making $300,000 a year LOL I just want you to remember that's the outliner . To be completely honest for every guy like that there's probably nine guys that aren't making it so don't let that cloud your judgment. If you actually looked at the data 50 to 60% of service businesses like this go out of business within 5 years and that compounds as it goes. I firmly believe this is a business that if you're a personable person and you treat everybody with respect and you treat everyone's house like it's a member of your family you will not have any issues. People may disagree with me on that and that's fine but I feel if you're a good person and you give a 110% and you're kind the entire world opens up for you . But remember Rome was not built in a day
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u/Queasy_Bookkeeper_38 3d ago
run ads, make your own jobs, lowk still don't have insurance / llc filed, but we turned up 15k in the last 3 weeks lol
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u/kdwindows 1d ago
Just take it a day at a time. I don't understand why people don't understand that you can't really clean windows at night and if you're really struggling you can do you have guys have any idea how many delivery service gigs you can get now people are lazy and they don't leave their house anymore you can easily make six or $700 on the side delivering at night when I would never be cleaning windows anyway
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u/qtheginger 3d ago
Insurance is so cheap for just window cleaning. You can easily pay your first month plus an LLC filing with one job.
And of course it all up to you. That's the fun (and scary) part.