An email recently received.

Hello Steve,

Thank you for the email tips. I really appreciate it and the time you spent to send them.  Unfortunately i lost my job Monday and i am financially dead. I have been wanting to start a window cleaning business for a long time now. I want to do this business bad. I am 40 years old and just plain tired of working for these corporations that in the long run just don’t care about you, the one working so hard to make them wealthy. I want to be that top guy.

I am a family man with 4 kids, dog, cat, 2 birds and a hamster and of course my beautiful wife. I soo badly want to give them all a better life.

One thing i finding difficult is finding the drive on a daily basis. How do you motivate yourself everyday? Also i find it difficult to walk in the store and talk to the manager. I try to tell myself that they are just another person and don’t feel intimidated but it doesn’t really work.

Thanks,

James

My Response:

Hi James:

I’m sorry to hear about your current situation.  

Right…the window cleaning business is a way for anyone from any walk of life to literally change their life around.  I know when I first started, money was real tight.  But soon thereafter, the profits were coming in regularly and things were looking up and getting better all the time.  Although money doesn’t buy happiness, it sure gets rid of an awful lot of financial stress.  That’s for sure.   

40 years old is young so you have plenty of time to get hooked up in the window washing business and work it into a succcessful business.  I know what you mean about working for corporations.  It’s like being chained to your desk.  I remember working for Nationwide Insurance many years ago.  I spent 2 years there and it was the worst 2 years of my life.  It was like prison without the bars. 

It sounds like you’re ready to make some serious changes. 

Getting motivated for me is not difficult and I’ll tell you why.  Just a few years ago, I decided that I was going to make window cleaning and working with window cleaners my passion.  So this is all I do.  It’s the reason why I jump out of bed in the morning all excited for a new day.  There is no better feeling than seeing a window cleaner progress from ground zero to a successful window cleaning business.  It’s similar to when a brand new window cleaner does their first window cleaning job and walks away with $300. It motivates ‘em to continue.

To get to this stage though, one of the keys for me was to stop bouncing around always "searching". There was a point in time where I was bouncing from one opportunity or business to another always looking for the almighty dollar.  Although making a profit is important to any business venture, when I stopped spinning my wheels bouncing from here to there, and started focusing on just one business (window cleaning), having a passion for this business, and stopped making profit my main focus, that’s when ironically my profits went up.  So develop a passion for something.  Without it, it’s hard to stay motivated. In the window cleaning business, be passionate about the jobs you do and the care you provide to your customers. If you do, the customers will recognize that and you will see tremendous results come back to you in the form of repeat business and referrals.

Customers have a keen 6th sense when they know if someone is just going through the motions or if they really care and take pride in the work they are performing. So passion is rewarded. That’s probably the main reason why window cleaners who buy The Customer Factor window cleaning software stay with us. We have one of the highest retention rates in the industry because members see first hand all the new features and enhancements that are introduced on a regular basis.  In other words, the passion is there to constantly improve the software. Our members can see that. If we didn’t do this, then members would think we’re focusing only on the profits with no interest in reinvesting to better help them.    

I’m confused when you said "it’s difficult to walk in a store and talk to the manager."  Are you currently trying to secure window cleaning accounts in commercial businesses?  Or are you referring to something else?  I have a very low key way to present yourself to the manager if in fact you wanted to spend some time securing commercial accounts.  It’s detailed within my manual along with a flyer that’s used with it. 

I hope the above helps. If you have any questions, feel free to pick up the phone and call me.  I’m always available to talk about window cleaning.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve

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