I'm still a newbie, but I've experienced enough already to have a short list of things I wish I knew before I started my window cleaning business (or at least as I was starting it). Add to this list your own items and do a solid for future newbies!
1. My business is window cleaning, not web site design. I spent hours and hours trying to self-teach the basics of setting up a credible web site. Eventually I was able to learn how to make mine do most of what I wanted from it, but it's going to need a significant overhaul and upgrade once I'm doing well enough to afford a professional to do it for me. All that time I spent would have been better used scouring the WCR web site and Forums and learning my craft.
2. Which leads to Number 2- I should have become a paying member of WCRA immediately rather than waiting several months. The depth of resources, training and know how possessed by fellow members is worth every penny and more. For those who try to glom on the site and get everything they can for free, leaving as soon as it's going to cost them something, they miss the powerful principle of giving back that so many WCRA members excel at. I'm convinced that true, lasting success in the business only comes through that.
3. Consult a good CPA before setting up your entity. I was able to set up a NY LLC fairly easily by following the online application process, but missed several key things that a good CPA would have told me about or done for me. For instance, I did not know that NY requires a window cleaner to charge a sales tax on their services. Luckily, I figured that out before I started charging for my services. In the county where I live, I'm required to charge 8.65%. I also didn't realize that I had to apply for an authorization to charges sales tax. I thought it would be enough to just collect it and send it in. Once again, a good CPA would have been telling me this.
4. Using a personal use vehicle for your cleaning business may require you to get a commercial tag for the vehicle. I learned this after I got car magnets advertising my new business to put on the doors of our Honda CRV. I would love to have a commercial vehicle, but limited resources required I go this route initially. What I didn't realize is that the police in my area look for just such advertising on personally tagged vehicles (particularly when you are driving on a Parkway) in order to issue tickets for failing to have commercial plates.
5. Your start up expenses will probably not be as minimal as you expected in the beginning. I thought I would need a squeegee to get started. The more I thought it through, however, the more I started to sound like the character Steve Martin played in the movie The Jerk. I just need this 10" squeegee. And 10" scrubber cover. And T-bar. This 10" squeegee, scrubber cover, T-Bar and bucket. And a bucket on a belt (and a belt, with pouches). I started out by doing my own house and then several homes of friends and family for free in order to get a handle on what I needed and couldn't do without. It turned out that there was a whole lot more than I expected. Poles, scrapers, cleaning solution, towels, ladders, set offs, ladder levelers, hard water stain remover- the list went on and on. The more work I did, the more I realized I needed to be able to do it properly and to be credible. Web site expenses, phone expenses, estimate and invoicing tools- it's really tough to know when to stop and just get out there and start doing work that will pay for it all. While everybody's idea is different of what the basics consist of to get started, I would imagine that everyone who has been in the business awhile and comes up with such a list will include things that most newbies would never think of at first. And no matter how much stuff you invest in, there is still more out there that if you had it, your business would be improved.
6. Getting jobs will be the most important thing you need to get really good at (at least for me), so you need to make sure you spend adequate time on this. I love working on the expertise side of things, or the operations side of making sure the business has everything it needs in order to succeed. The marketing side come a whole lot less easily for me, but that's the heart of growing it. There are tons of options for how to market your business. I have to gravitate to the ones that cost very little initially, but I also have to choose even the cheaper options wisely because I can't afford to not get results. What would be nice, but I haven't found yet, is a proven system, or method, that virtually guarantees results and can easily be followed by newbies who are on a limited marketing budget. I've actually encountered such systems in other businesses I've built, such as in residential real estate, and they are really powerful. Would love to hear if there is anything similar for window cleaning.
7. You can't rely on your customer to have a working hose hooked up, so if there is any chance you are going to need one (cleaning screens, operating your WFP, etc.), you better bring your own.
8. As important as it is to wear shoe covers when you go inside your customer's house, it's just as important to remember to take them off every time you go back outside. I have forgotten to do that several times and it's costing me a new pair of shoe covers every time I do.
9. Having a good quality tool to remove screens with is essential to have with you at all times. I learned this while practicing on my own house before starting for real, and broke or bent several of our cheap screens before realizing there must be a better way to do it.
Now, what's on your list?
1. My business is window cleaning, not web site design. I spent hours and hours trying to self-teach the basics of setting up a credible web site. Eventually I was able to learn how to make mine do most of what I wanted from it, but it's going to need a significant overhaul and upgrade once I'm doing well enough to afford a professional to do it for me. All that time I spent would have been better used scouring the WCR web site and Forums and learning my craft.
2. Which leads to Number 2- I should have become a paying member of WCRA immediately rather than waiting several months. The depth of resources, training and know how possessed by fellow members is worth every penny and more. For those who try to glom on the site and get everything they can for free, leaving as soon as it's going to cost them something, they miss the powerful principle of giving back that so many WCRA members excel at. I'm convinced that true, lasting success in the business only comes through that.
3. Consult a good CPA before setting up your entity. I was able to set up a NY LLC fairly easily by following the online application process, but missed several key things that a good CPA would have told me about or done for me. For instance, I did not know that NY requires a window cleaner to charge a sales tax on their services. Luckily, I figured that out before I started charging for my services. In the county where I live, I'm required to charge 8.65%. I also didn't realize that I had to apply for an authorization to charges sales tax. I thought it would be enough to just collect it and send it in. Once again, a good CPA would have been telling me this.
4. Using a personal use vehicle for your cleaning business may require you to get a commercial tag for the vehicle. I learned this after I got car magnets advertising my new business to put on the doors of our Honda CRV. I would love to have a commercial vehicle, but limited resources required I go this route initially. What I didn't realize is that the police in my area look for just such advertising on personally tagged vehicles (particularly when you are driving on a Parkway) in order to issue tickets for failing to have commercial plates.
5. Your start up expenses will probably not be as minimal as you expected in the beginning. I thought I would need a squeegee to get started. The more I thought it through, however, the more I started to sound like the character Steve Martin played in the movie The Jerk. I just need this 10" squeegee. And 10" scrubber cover. And T-bar. This 10" squeegee, scrubber cover, T-Bar and bucket. And a bucket on a belt (and a belt, with pouches). I started out by doing my own house and then several homes of friends and family for free in order to get a handle on what I needed and couldn't do without. It turned out that there was a whole lot more than I expected. Poles, scrapers, cleaning solution, towels, ladders, set offs, ladder levelers, hard water stain remover- the list went on and on. The more work I did, the more I realized I needed to be able to do it properly and to be credible. Web site expenses, phone expenses, estimate and invoicing tools- it's really tough to know when to stop and just get out there and start doing work that will pay for it all. While everybody's idea is different of what the basics consist of to get started, I would imagine that everyone who has been in the business awhile and comes up with such a list will include things that most newbies would never think of at first. And no matter how much stuff you invest in, there is still more out there that if you had it, your business would be improved.
6. Getting jobs will be the most important thing you need to get really good at (at least for me), so you need to make sure you spend adequate time on this. I love working on the expertise side of things, or the operations side of making sure the business has everything it needs in order to succeed. The marketing side come a whole lot less easily for me, but that's the heart of growing it. There are tons of options for how to market your business. I have to gravitate to the ones that cost very little initially, but I also have to choose even the cheaper options wisely because I can't afford to not get results. What would be nice, but I haven't found yet, is a proven system, or method, that virtually guarantees results and can easily be followed by newbies who are on a limited marketing budget. I've actually encountered such systems in other businesses I've built, such as in residential real estate, and they are really powerful. Would love to hear if there is anything similar for window cleaning.
7. You can't rely on your customer to have a working hose hooked up, so if there is any chance you are going to need one (cleaning screens, operating your WFP, etc.), you better bring your own.
8. As important as it is to wear shoe covers when you go inside your customer's house, it's just as important to remember to take them off every time you go back outside. I have forgotten to do that several times and it's costing me a new pair of shoe covers every time I do.
9. Having a good quality tool to remove screens with is essential to have with you at all times. I learned this while practicing on my own house before starting for real, and broke or bent several of our cheap screens before realizing there must be a better way to do it.
Now, what's on your list?
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