Don The Window Cleaner

I know there are some atheists in my audience because when I raise this subject I sometimes get some negative feedback. But if you will be patient you might find some nuggets in this post, even if you are a dedicated skeptic/unbeliever.

I have been a part of non-denominational charismatic and pentecostal churches for most of my Christian experience, and these churches usually have some “prosperity” component to their teaching. And the reason for this is that the Bible has a lot to say about what leads to poverty and riches. And a careful study of what it has to say can teach you a lot about sound business practices that will promote success. It’s not magic, nor is it a matter of positive thinking and mysticism.

There are also a lot of short cuts you can try, but those are usually the practices of poor and dumb Christians who think that faith is something that will get you out of hard work. But these short cuts are usually the result of divorcing faith from faithfulness. The two go together. Faith is not a momentary experience. It is a way of life. And it lasts a lifetime. For instance, do you see faith as really, really, really believing…or acting like you believe, day in and day out. For instance, Are you sitting at home, believing with all your heart that the phone will ring? Or do you go out faithfully, every day, meeting new people and talking up your business? Do you give free demonstrations? Do call backs? I never stay home, even if it’s pouring out.

If you worked for a big company that decided to fire its marketing and sales staff and rely on whoever came in the door that day, how long do you think it would be before YOU got laid off? Your business works the same way. If your marketing and sales staff (you) stays home, then the technicians who do the jobs (you again) will end up sitting at home. I have seen this happen with big companies: they think some component of their business is unnecessary, so they cut it. In one case, it was the cleaning service. Soon, there were cobwebs on all the light fixtures and the stores looked like dirty thrift stores and they went out of business. They were unfaithful in an important area of customer service and their customers decided to shop elsewhere.

In a similar vein, if all your faithfulness is directed toward financial gain, that will also lead to a life that is falling apart in other areas. Getting rich has a price tag. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t get bent out of shape over people who are super rich. It’s really none of my business and I don’t want their money. I only want them to call me when it’s time to clean their windows.

This book is not directly related to window cleaning, but it will spark your imagination. Any kind of business can benefit from what she teaches, but internet marketing is her strong suit.

I just listened to this audiobook twice. I was not familiar with the first book, but I was able to download it from my public library. I really enjoyed it because I could easily grasp the problems with self-employment as the author lays them out.One of those problems is that the person who starts a business is frequently only able to do one of the jobs that need to be done in a healthy business. He may be able to do the work, but have no grasp of marketing, bookkeeping, and managing other people.

I am at a point where I have a successful self-employment situation, but I need an exit strategy that does not mean just losing all the customers I no longer feeling like doing as I get older. So, I am trying to figure out how to get my business to keep on working while I walk away and just get a check in the mail quarterly. Or perhaps I could even sell it. Right now, all I have is a good-paying job that I can only retire from with no pension. But this book has given me a blueprint for re-launching my business with its existing customer base.

First, I need to create a job description for every job I currently do for my business. Then, I need to make a manual for each job. Then, I need to hire the first technician who will “do the jobs” and I need to make sure I properly train him. Along the way, I need to make improvements that I have left out because I just could not do everything.

I’ll keep in touch!

It really is a blessing to be able to order things online. I am really busy at this time of year, and it’s a serious break in programming to go to a store. And it can be pretty expensive!

This weekend I stopped at a place called The Battery Store. They sell thousands of different batteries and light bulbs. All that hard to find stuff is in one place. I needed a battery for my cell phone, and I thought it would be cheaper there than at my cell phone store. It was forty bucks! I knew I could do better.

I went on line and found batteries4less.com. I found exactly the battery I wanted and it was only $17, including shipping. And when it got here a couple of days later, it was even fully charged! This does not happen when I get one at the retailer.

The same day I ordered the battery, I ordered a couple of strip washer covers and 5 Unger opti-loc pole tips. All my poles’ tips have broken their screw fittings! I never saw that coming. I am down ot one good tip, and I am tired of moving it from pole to pole when I am using an attachment with a screw interface.

I ordered the battery and the window cleaning stuff on the same day. The battery won the race, but I am expecting my other order today.

Well, I started the new year with 3 posts and then disappeared again. That’s because January is usually pretty slow and I have some time on my hands. Not so any more.

It seems like we have been in spring since early February down here in Florida. We did get some wet weather, but it’s mostly been sunny and warm here. At least in the afternoon it is, but the mornings and evenings have been pretty cool. This week, it’s in the 50s in the morning and the 80s in the afternoon. And that’s Fahrenheit, for those of you in the UK.

Something that has kept us busy since the beginning of the year has been getting our house ready to sell. Yes, we are downsizing! We are just tired of the upkeep and the yard work. We will rent an apartment after we move. We are through with home ownership. The kids have moved on and all we have is our little chihuahua, Plato. We just want a small, two bedroom apartment. We want nothing holding us down if we get the urge to move or travel.

My wife, Cindi, is working at the University of Florida full time. It’s the first time she has worked full time in many years. She has good benefits and I am making good money. With fewer costs, we look forward to the day when I can cut back my work schedule.

I appreciate the YouTube messages and phone messages, but I don’t answer either. I just don’t have time. If I corresponded with everyone who wanted free advice I would  have no time to get anything else done. I hope you will all understand why I don’t respond. I made all these videos so I could write LESS, not more.

I am getting plenty of calls from old customers and new referrals as well. I was furiously calling back old customers from my list for the first 6 weeks of the year, and now I can stop. I should be on autopilot with the incoming phone calls until July. By then I hope my house is sold and I need less money!

Let’s see how I do making these entries that don’t need videos and pictures!

I guess I should have seen this one coming. You can file this under, “Adding style” to get more attention. These guys do all the same services I do, and they show about as much leg as I do, since I live in Florida and frequently wear shorts. But this would definitely earn the double take and set tongues talking. Here’s the story:

 VANCOUVER, Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Men In Kilts, a window and exterior cleaning company, has announced today they’ll be opening four more franchises in three months, adding to three franchises currently in operation. Alberta and Oregon are next on the list, with B.C. and Washington already in business.

The company was founded in 2002, with the first Vancouver franchise opening its doors in 2010. Since then, the franchise model has taken off.

“We’ve been deliberate about our growth,” says CEO Tressa Wood. “We needed to test the franchise model before opening up the market. The addition of these latest franchises will make us Canada’s largest window and exterior cleaning company. Our goal is to be in every major metro in North America by 2017.” Read more…

This from Dayton Daily News:

POCATELLO, Idaho — Don Aslett may be more than a half century into his fight against dirt and clutter, but he still can’t take a stroll without bending to pick up litter from the sidewalk. more…

Here’s a guy with a passin for cleaning and has become a sort of Apostle of Clean! Check out the Museum of Clean website!

I took some time off between Christmas and new Years and came back to work yesterday. I only had a couple of jobs to do, and I had to bill them. Today I have two houses that will actually pay cash, so that’s nice. But January is always a scary month for me. By now, I have called everybody I could to fit them in before Christmas. Now, it’s like starting cold, from a standstill.

Of course, now I have some time to think. I was running myself silly for the past two months, so I didn’t think too much then. My basic strategy is to keep calling people and going to the homes when customers have moved away, just to meet the new owners.  I also go back through my calendar and see who got done last year at this time. After all, I was in business last year!

The most important thing is to get out of the house! Due to the advent of the cell phone, I am not missing calls because I am not home!

I saw a story today about a window cleaner in North Carolina who keeps a sawed off Winchester strapped to his thigh while he cleans storefront windows.  So, for this eccentric bit of showmanship, he gets some free advertising! Check it out!

Of course, some people will think he’s a nut. And as a person who cleans residential windows, I don’t need that kind of notoriety. My politics gets me into enough trouble without even having to talk about it! But if your jobs are out in the public, you are a kind of performance artist. Perhaps having some sort of shtick will cause people to come out just to see you! And that might be good for your customers’ business!

But choose carefully! Having a repertoire of 40 different bird calls that you can entertain people with might be annoying to some people.

Sorry it’s been over a year since I created a video about the window cleaning business. As I explain in this video, I have been wearing other “hats” in my life…