I've been cleaning windows for 26 years now, which is a long time. I know most of the "In's and outs" of this business now though, I know for sure that some have done better than me. It's okay though, I don't mind. I'm sort of glad they did it but for me, I chose to keep it small and simple.
That's not to say it wasn't a successful venture, this window cleaning. When I first started, I felt like a failure and that people would look down on me. Oh how things have changed! The way the economy is going, I suddenly feel like a King. My wage is nothing to write home about but I can tell you this; it's about double the minimum wage and for a lot less hours. I get home for my dinner virtually every day and my travel costs are negligible when you compare it to the long commute that a lot of people are struggling with it just seems unfair on them.
I like working for myself as well. As some of my readers will know, I have done a hell of a lot of things before I became self employed. I even wrote a book about it and that's why I began this blog site in order to promote it. I was told to promote it. Not my style really but if I don't then no one will know I'm on the planet.
This morning I got up to do my usual shift. More glass to clean and in freezing temperatures. Yesterday the water was freezing on the some of the glass, especially the conservatories since these are generally not heated. I don't use ladders anymore which is a big bonus for me, or anyone for that matter. I spent twenty years climbing ladders before I discovered other ways of doing it. Health and safety now demand that you find alternative methods but in this case I do believe that it is well founded. Only the other day I heard of a man who had been cleaning windows for thirty years and fell off his ladders and died. I never fell off but I had some very close shaves as it were.
Don't get me wrong though, window cleaning is not an easy business to be in. I have never had any trouble with competition but it is genuinely hard physical work, ladders or not. There is more to it than meets the eye as you will find with most things in life. There really is an art to it, if done correctly, not that even I can attain to perfection. My age is something that is beginning to get in the way now. At fifty-nine, it is beginning to get a bit like hard work, which it always was but I expect you know what I mean. It doesn't get any easier to quote my Dad.
I made the most of it though, regular and consistent employment for all that time tends to pay off after a while. I was able to buy a house, a semi in a nice area and believe it or not a retirement flat in Malta. I used the equity in my house to do this but don't imagine for one moment it was easy and indeed I'm still struggling to pay it all off.
At first I was not so enthusiastic about window cleaning but after a while I began to take more interest in it such as equipment and efficiency. This all paid off too since the speed I can properly clean a window makes it all look easy. I also started a YouTube site for others that are interested in starting their own businesses. Here's the link Window Cleaning Tips and Idea's take a look just for a laugh if you must!
