Transitioning to Employees

I received a comment not too long ago in response to one of my blog posts. I posted the comment below. As a side note, I get a lot of blog comment spam, so if anyone has direct questions, it's really best to email me. Ok…here's the question:

Hi Steve,

I started my window cleaning business last year 2007 on a part time basis because I have a full time job working 40 hrs. a week for someone else. My question for you is how to transition from my full time job making 50K a year + bennies? It doesn't seem to be an easy task.

My customers like the work I do and I have even gotten a couple of refferals as a result. So I thought I would do another year part time and see where it goes, if I can pick up a few more customers and the ball starts to roll referral wise if you know what I mean?

The only advertising I did was through Dex yellow pages which generated lots of calls and plenty of estimates/jobs. So I am kind of afraid to do the flyers altough I think it would really generate a lot more biz for me I am afraid I won't be able to handle the work load just on weekends. I work 4-10's so I am off on Friday's and work almost every Friday cleaning windows.  I'm just not sure how to do this transition and need some advise. Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,
Rick

My Response:

Hi Rick:

Good to hear from you.

I think the question you posed is one of the most challenging for all window cleaners. It's a tough decision on when to make the jump to the next level and bring in people to assist. And I can especially understand your particular challenges as far as when to leave a job paying 50k plus. A tough call.

Ok…let's step back and look at the situation. You mentioned your customers love your work. Excellent. And from your comments, it appears that you have just enough work for you to handle right now. And you want to do some additional advertising to bring in more jobs and more profits. I have some people currently who are facing that exact problem where they did some advertising, have another job, and now they have a backlog of jobs. I guess that's a better alternative though then sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. :o)

What I would do if I were sitting in your shoes is to go out and get one or two part time people to help knock your current jobs out faster. Take a baby step first and start with a part-timer so you don't have to commit to giving your helper a set number of hours per week. The ideal situation is simply to find someone looking to make an extra $100 or so a week. They could easily make that working one day with you.

If you have any colleges nearby, this is a great place to attract presentable individuals looking to make extra money and need flexible work hours. I used to visit the student activity centers that are set up in colleges and place a little flyer on the bulletin board explaining what I was looking for. I cut little tabs at the bottom so someone could yank a tab with my contact info. on it and call me.

An alternative is to place a general ad in the newspaper, but I personally wouldn't do that. Most people responding to your ad will be looking for full time work. Plus you'll get inundated with too many calls from turkeys. If you do run an ad in the newspaper, it would be best to screen them first. You do this by making them listen to a 60 second voice mail message about what the position entails, what you're looking for, etc. etc. Then you provide them your address and ask them to send you something in writing explaining why they want the position. It's a great way to weed out people. Michael Gerber (of emyth seminar fame) explains this really well and hired applicants exclusively this way. It'll save you a lot of time.

Anyway….ok we now have a person on board. The advantage that you have is that you do have money coming in from another job. So it's not like you'll be sacraficing a lot of dollars by paying someone to assist you. I always explain to folks that sometimes there is a short term loss with the potential of huge gains right around the corner. I'm not talking about actual "loss". I'm just saying that instead of making $250 yourself on a house you do on saturday, you might make "only" $150 or $175 since you'll be paying your assistant.

But it'll only be short term because you'll now have the ability to crank up a flyer campaign and not worry about getting "too many calls". When you get the calls, you'll be able to schedule 'em no probs since you now have a helper.

With that said though, I still wouldn't go out and distribute 5000 flyers. Just ease your way  into it. 1000 flyers gives you 10 calls. You'll turn that into at least 7 jobs. Now keep in mind, as you know not all 10 calls will come in right away. So let's assume you get the 7 jobs over one month, can you handle 7 jobs (in addition to what you're doing now) in one month with one assistant? If so, how about a plan of action that involves you putting out 1000 flyers on the first saturday of each month?

And then just go up from there. If you're consistent with 1000 flyers each month, it won't be long 'til you'll need a 2nd person to assist on the weekends (keep all contact information of the people who call from above mentioned flyer in the student activity center).

The thing I can't really help with though is the decision on when to break away from your company. At what point will you feel totally comfortable leaving? Can you get health insurance through your wife's work? Or is this another expense you have to pick up? So I'm not sure how much you need each month to support your lifestyle and not miss a beat if you lose your full time income from your main job.

I do know many window cleaners that have made the tough decision to leave their employee though. The thing that's nice about the window cleaning business is that it does provide peace of mind as you build your customer base because of the repeat nature of the business. It's a real business that isn't going anywhere, so unless you move or they move, there is an excellent chance you'll be continuously cleaning their windows for a long, long time. As a matter of fact I received a call yesterday from a new window cleaner who said it perfetly. He secured a couple of jobs totaling a little over $700 and they both want their windows cleaned every 6 months. So he told me: "I just increased my yearly income by $1400" Just 2 jobs! So it doesn't take many jobs/customers to replace 50k a year income.

I hope this helps and I hope you take that next step. It'll be a step out of your comfort zone, but the rewards on the other end are tremendous. Take care for now.

Sincerely,

Steve