I'm going to wash windows for money tomorrow for the first time in my life. Any tips?

[piano]

Totally get that, and I'm not here to patronise you because I don't know your full story; I'm just saying that this shit doesn't get any easier, you just get stronger. The same dumbasses that can't handle their own future today will be the same later, and it's your job to ignore them and not associate with them; if that means not having any real friends, I'd say that's fine too. (Disclaimer: I'm not saying to become anti-social, do not become a ideologic twat that can't have normal human interactions, sometimes it's just better to have a healthy distance of intimacy between what you purport and what you think)

I don't mean to paddle my own philosophical narrative here, but stoicism goes hand in hand with entrepreneurship. It forces you to have an internal locus of control over your emotions. Beethoven was deaf yet created pieces in his later years more beautiful than many that still had the gift of hearing.

Thank you for these words. "Things don't get easier, and they will be as hard in 10 years as they are today" is what basically rung inside me when I read your post.
And actually, I've been reading a lot about Stoicism lately coincidentally btw. It hit me today when I read and realised that the most prominent/strong people get shit thrown at constantly and the most respectable ones simply stay indifferent, reflect for a moment and move on (Think Marcus Aurelius and his step dad). Why it hit me? Because I had the limiting belief that if you get bombarded 24/7 with negativity that you always, no matter what, get affected. So I'll try to not get affected too much and practise what I've been reading in the past few months.
Something interesting was also that homework has been less worse today.
This week, I had been basically every night (for homework) been staying up until at least midnight, and one night till 5am and on one day I didn't sleep for 26 hours.
It's midnight right now and I finished homework 10-20 minutes ago. Sure, I took a huge a$$ while again but it didn't feel as bad as the nights before. Maybe I can hold up with this and I am slowly getting used to this. Time will tell.
Either way, thanks guys for trying to cheer me up and motivate me. I got a job on Saturday btw, the Italian restaurant guy called after like 1.5 months lol. Really not the best pay but eh, we'll see.

 

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[piano]

(TL;DR availlable at bottom)
Wow, 4 months passed.

I'll update you guys on what happened during that time:

After May started, so did school.
I was occupied with it a lot and so I pushed window cleaning aside. Generally, times often got quite dark for me after and during that period.
But I pushed through.
I did go out a few times and I did recurring cleans.
What I noticed was that I slowly but surely became scared of d2d again, although I fought my fear again and succeeded.

Summer vacation:
During the first 1-2 weeks I was out for a few times and also managed to sell residentials a few times! The thing I noticed was that I got a bit rusty. My confidence wasn't that strong and my speech also wasn't great, but I still managed to sell a few windows.

I was planning to go full in once again during summer, heck I even ordered 200€ worth of equipment! But I remembered that I had a music composition competition up and spent all my time on it.

Although I did something very big for the business during that time:
You see, I am actually not German, at least not on paper.
I was born in Poland but lived my whole life in Germany. I never mentioned it because explaining it felt a bit unnecessary.
Anyways, my identity card and passport have been expired for over 10 years and I need one of them to open a bank account and also registrate a business.

And so I wanted to apply for a German citizensship (It's ironic that I have to do this at this point considering my context) and after a lot of waiting and paper stuff I was able to submit stuff.

And so basically, it's gonna take me over a F*cking year until I have it because Germany is a #### ######.
Oh, and that is if they even accept me!!!

And so I opted for Plan B: Bringing the wok @piano to Poland.

And so amidst my composing and all the stress, I drove to Poland with a family member.
I won't spend much time talking about the visit itself, but if I had to describe it with a few words, it would be this; Beautiful but really just depressing.

Anyways, I got to the city which had me registered and we renewed everything.
Bad thing? I need to come back there IN PERSON in around 3-4 weeks to receive it!
Awesome! I can't wait to do this and talk with my school about it.

And yeah. I'm really working on it so that I can finally registrate the business but it seems like everything just wants to screw me up.

Anyways, I came back from Poland and I finished my composition which was unbelievably tense. Shoutout to @Spenny btw as he really helped me regain compusure for the last few days.

And my holidays besides that looked like this:
-...

Nothing. I didn't see anybody from my school in those 6 weeks. I didn't meet up with anyone. And the random people I did interact with, I screwed it up by being socially unavaillable.

My "holidays" were so terrible. But it is what it is. Now I'm back to school and I already want to strangle my whole class.

But it is what it is, right?
I have almost nothing in my real life that consoles or grounds me, only myself.
But hey, I'll push through.
I'm suffering inside, but I'm getting used to it anyways.
Oh man.

Even if my patience, or rather lack of it, kills me, it's okay. We just need to wait a bit.

TL;DR:
Window cleaning has been little but I'm actively in the process of registrating my business. It just takes a while and lots of nerves.

This community has been awesome and helping me incredibly much. Thank you!
But besides that I'm really working on it guys, really.
Just give me more time and I'll grow. Your time spent on me won't go to waste.
I'll make you proud!

-Piano

 

[piano]

I'm currently sitting in a train which is 50 minutes late and I'm not sure when it will finally start, Poland.
Who thought that you could do it worse than the Germans? But hey, at least it doesn't cost a bazillion Euros to ride.
Oh, we're finally going I think. I heard the whistle. Thank god. I won't miss my train.

Last Friday I began my journey to Poland. I got up at 4AM so I could get my early train to Berlin and from there I took a certain train to Poland. In total, the trip took 15 hours to get there, and I wasn't even in the city that I needed to be yet.
Before I began my trip, I was ill and right now I'm traveling back to Poland, with even worse symptoms:

Needing to sleep with open mouth because of my clogged up nose, dry lips, paleness, a headache, tiredness and another 13 hours that I will have to endure in those trains.
It didn't help that it was incredibly cold in Poland, so much that my winter gloves failed to keep my hands warm.

2 days after I arrived in Poland, I continued my journey and in a few more hours I came to the city in which I'd get my Identity card.
I waited till Monday and went to the town hall. I signed a few things and voila,

I finally got my Identity card, with which I'll finally be able to set up a bank account and with that a business.


Tomorrow I have not one, but 2 class tests because I was away. German and Maths. German is eh, I'll get it done.
But Maths? I'm so incredibly screwed.

Anyways, wish me luck for the rest of this journey.
Things have been hard and will be, but I'm one heck of a tough guy,

I'll keep you updated on the future processes.

-Pianino



Ps: Polish identity cards are really really pretty so I'm happy about that.

 

[piano]

For the past year I have tried to register my window cleaning company as a minor, but to no avail.
I'm not going to bore you with the details but in the end it all boils down to this:

Until I turn 18 in October and can finally register my company, drive a car and won't have school anymore, I'm going to prepare and hustle as much as possible.

I'm going to pass this school year, I'm going to submit another music composition to finally win a first prize, I'm going to put on as much muscle as possible, get my driving license...

And the thing that probably interests you the most...

I'm going to earn and save as much money as possible and hone my skills so that I'll have an easier and faster entry when I finally officially start with everything.

And also, this time, I am even willing to do things that I normally would have stayed off because I didn't have a registered company such as GMB and ads.

This is because the German government makes it as hard as possible for me to give them a share of my money, so screw them.


The following months are going to be extremely hard, in fact they already have been but now they are going to become even harder.

The plan is this:
I'm roughly going to have 16 weeks until school ends and in those I am planning to earn at least 200€ every week.
That doesn't sound like a lot, but as busy as I am, this is quite an athletic goal (having only 3 days every week).
However if I add things like GMB and google ads, maybe I'm going to be able to schedule jobs without searching for them and easily hit 200€ and even surpass it.

Anyways, here is the math: 16 x 200€ = 3200€

And that is only the money made during the last few school months.

When summer starts and I'll finally be free, I'll have even more time and energy (due to warm and sunny weather). I will also be at my peak sales-wise maybe.

But that's all I'm going to say for now.


I'm going to keep you updated, dear forum members.

This is going to be the most exhausting yet most wonderful thing ever...



I forgot to mention; I'm going to be moving this summer...
@Subsonic you're lucky, my friend.

 

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[piano]

I'm having questions about GMB and google ads:


-Should I create a new e-mail for GMB and google ads?

- Can I do google ads under my name/e-mail but use the credit card of my parents? Getting my own credit card is proving difficult.

-What should I name my GMB? I thought about "Window cleaner" with maybe my city name so basically "Window cleaner City" or to just put my name into it "Window cleaner Piano" however I'd like to leave my name out if possible.
If I however put "city" into my name, people from other cities might feel discouraged to book me.

-Since I'm doing it all without a registered business, what should I watch out for? I have heard that google can close/lock your GMB if it detects anything it doesn't like (like maybe a minor that doesn't have a registered business. Hm...)

-Where will my GMB show up when I'm done? Can I just put it anywhere since it's a service business that doesn't have a location? Or will I need to use my house adresse? I'd like to avoid that if possible

-I've looked a bit into google ads and while trying to register a "test business" it showed me that I needed to connect a bunch of things like a website (which I apparently could turn off afterwards again).


I think I have many other questions, but these are the ones that I'm currently able to remember/think of.


Maybe you @Andy Black can help? I'm btw looking to get your subscription once I get everything setup.


edit: I think I'm also going to look into a very simple website. I'm gonna do my own research but any advice on this regardless?

 

[Andy Black]

I'm having questions about GMB and google ads:


-Should I create a new e-mail for GMB and google ads?

- Can I do google ads under my name/e-mail but use the credit card of my parents? Getting my own credit card is proving difficult.

-What should I name my GMB? I thought about "Window cleaner" with maybe my city name so basically "Window cleaner City" or to just put my name into it "Window cleaner Piano" however I'd like to leave my name out if possible.
If I however put "city" into my name, people from other cities might feel discouraged to book me.

-Since I'm doing it all without a registered business, what should I watch out for? I have heard that google can close/lock your GMB if it detects anything it doesn't like (like maybe a minor that doesn't have a registered business. Hm...)

-Where will my GMB show up when I'm done? Can I just put it anywhere since it's a service business that doesn't have a location? Or will I need to use my house adresse? I'd like to avoid that if possible

-I've looked a bit into google ads and while trying to register a "test business" it showed me that I needed to connect a bunch of things like a website (which I apparently could turn off afterwards again).


I think I have many other questions, but these are the ones that I'm currently able to remember/think of.


Maybe you @Andy Black can help? I'm btw looking to get your subscription once I get everything setup.

I don't know much about GMB.

Make sure you go through my free videos before paying for the courses. Maybe they're enough to get you going.

 

[piano]

This is going to be something of a little report:

Things have been going questionably...

D2D has been a terrible experience and I really have to get back into the groove soon, more on this later

GMB has not verified me yet/turned down my verification video. I'll probably be able to get it verfied though with more tries and certain tricks...

Confused/Conflicted about the legality of everything. I know, I said I wouldn't mind about it this time, but new worries have arisen. More on them in this INSIDERS post (with great replies already): https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...dom-thoughts-and-or-rants.103114/post-1113084


But what is the current stand?

I went out on a few days, mostly just recurring cleans.

My profits looked something like this:

20€
70€
95€

All my previous money + job money - expenses = means I'm roughly at 170€ (I've counted)

Piano a year ago would've laughed at this, but this is really everything I got so far. I think it's going to get better soon, just need to create a better plan as when I went out to get new customers (with no success) I barely followed a plan.
Holidays started as well so I'll have more time to make money.



I don't know how to elegantly lead into this, but mentally I have been terrible (nothing new per se).

The last months however have been especially gruelling. Overworking, sickness, school, winter, betrayal (I now have almost nobody I see as an ally anymore in my personal life), self doubt (overdose), getting told we're moving away soon and much more.

I feel like my mind is getting more twisted and with each realisation, untangling my brain-mess seems more distant. My memory also probably never was worse, though perhaps this is more of an illusion.


If I could, I would just retreat to a lonely, sunny island for a month and just do nothing at all.

My self image is also f*cked up. Hiding and acting like everything is okay has made me start to slowly lose sight of whether my some of my emotions are even sincere.

Like yesterday; I had to reschedule an appointment in person. I really didn't like to do it and felt sorry for the inconvenience, however if I had been 100% myself, I would have just blabbered the words out and have the same depressed, listless face for the whole duration of the interaction.
But I tried to make a sorry face and "smile" appropriately.

I did genuinely feel sorry, but my body language had to be steered manually.

And so tonight I had a dream. I was among people, I smiled and laughed.

And then I saw a reflection of my face and it looked so forced, so dismayed and wrong. My mouth was too wide open, constantly changing and never symmetrical with the other half of the face.

I tried to change it. I looked in the mirror and tried make myself smile and laugh genuinely but it looked just as forced as it did before.

And then I realised.

"That's why they act this way with me. That's why they look at me like this"


I could probably fill a book with all my rants but I think I'll leave it here.


I'm going to be on a family "trip" until next Thursday.
So I'm probably going to have a bit of time to get off everything for a little and maybe think stuff out.

 

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[heavy_industry]

Hang in there brother.

Life has ups and downs. But those who persist and don't get caught in the tyranny of the present moment are the ones who will ultimately win.

Set smaller goals and achieve them. Any progress is better than no progress, and small steps are the stepping stones for entering an upward spiral.

Momentum is the name of the game. Gain as much positive momentum as you can, regardless of how small the steps are.

Remember - every single victory counts.

 

[ZCP]

@piano just win the day. start there.

FORMULA
start each morning thinking about what you are THANKFUL for .... start in positivity
bust F*cking a$$ all day. learn all day. put the effort in all day. .... do the work
end each day thinking about your successes AND what you are looking forward to tomorrow ... end in positivity

join the call today .... get pumped up with other people getting shit done

MEETUPS - Weekly Meetup Accountability Call Megathread

@rpeck90 W overall --> NEXT WEEK: Complete Shopify theme + Get products to import for "single cards" Pokémon app + Get Parish conditionality for repeaters to work + Complete Ruffian product page development work + Start development on wider inventory tracking Shopify app Not to hi-jack this...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

you got this!

 

[RicardoGrande]

@piano just win the day. start there.
FORMULAstart each morning thinking about what you are THANKFUL for .... start in positivity

Echoing this- I only technically have one active client that's about to pay me right now, but just that and my past few projects make me so thankful. I used to wake up hating the first breaths of air in the day because I'd have to drag myself off to my dayjob.
Now I wake up thinking about all the progress, the extra income, and the momentum that's been built just because I never gave up. I'm not swimming in projects like I was a few months ago but things ebb and flow- just got to keep your head up.

For your door to door- just keep in mind the 100/10/1 rule, that's 100 knocks, 10 "maybes" and 1 person that's hot and ready to go. If you don't knock, how will you get that business, would they find someone else? For the price of your time, you're printing money out of thin air and winning trust/referrals into the future. It's not easy, but you'll harden up and smarten up on your pitch over time.

 

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[MakeItHappen]

D2D has been a terrible experience and I really have to get back into the groove soon, more on this later

What exactly is the problem? Does it not work for you or is it about disliking the rejection you get?

 

[piano]

What exactly is the problem? Does it not work for you or is it about disliking the rejection you get?

I've been feeling conflicted on many things, low self-esteem and no plan.

With these attributes, selling becomes a lot harder and each knocked door and its rejection just digs me deeper into my self-loathing.

I've also become rusty on sales and first need to warm up again.

I'll get this to work though.

Thank you for asking!

For your door to door- just keep in mind the 100/10/1 rule, that's 100 knocks, 10 "maybes" and 1 person that's hot and ready to go. If you don't knock, how will you get that business, would they find someone else? For the price of your time, you're printing money out of thin air and winning trust/referrals into the future. It's not easy, but you'll harden up and smarten up on your pitch over time.

Exactly, thank you for reminding me!

 

[Simon Angel]

This is going to be something of a little report:

Things have been going questionably...

D2D has been a terrible experience and I really have to get back into the groove soon, more on this later

GMB has not verified me yet/turned down my verification video. I'll probably be able to get it verfied though with more tries and certain tricks...

Confused/Conflicted about the legality of everything. I know, I said I wouldn't mind about it this time, but new worries have arisen. More on them in this INSIDERS post (with great replies already): https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...dom-thoughts-and-or-rants.103114/post-1113084


But what is the current stand?

I went out on a few days, mostly just recurring cleans.

My profits looked something like this:

20€
70€
95€

All my previous money + job money - expenses = means I'm roughly at 170€ (I've counted)

Piano a year ago would've laughed at this, but this is really everything I got so far. I think it's going to get better soon, just need to create a better plan as when I went out to get new customers (with no success) I barely followed a plan.
Holidays started as well so I'll have more time to make money.



I don't know how to elegantly lead into this, but mentally I have been terrible (nothing new per se).

The last months however have been especially gruelling. Overworking, sickness, school, winter, betrayal (I now have almost nobody I see as an ally anymore in my personal life), self doubt (overdose), getting told we're moving away soon and much more.

I feel like my mind is getting more twisted and with each realisation, untangling my brain-mess seems more distant. My memory also probably never was worse, though perhaps this is more of an illusion.


If I could, I would just retreat to a lonely, sunny island for a month and just do nothing at all.

My self image is also f*cked up. Hiding and acting like everything is okay has made me start to slowly lose sight of whether my some of my emotions are even sincere.

Like yesterday; I had to reschedule an appointment in person. I really didn't like to do it and felt sorry for the inconvenience, however if I had been 100% myself, I would have just blabbered the words out and have the same depressed, listless face for the whole duration of the interaction.
But I tried to make a sorry face and "smile" appropriately.

I did genuinely feel sorry, but my body language had to be steered manually.

And so tonight I had a dream. I was among people, I smiled and laughed.

And then I saw a reflection of my face and it looked so forced, so dismayed and wrong. My mouth was too wide open, constantly changing and never symmetrical with the other half of the face.

I tried to change it. I looked in the mirror and tried make myself smile and laugh genuinely but it looked just as forced as it did before.

And then I realised.

"That's why they act this way with me. That's why they look at me like this"


I could probably fill a book with all my rants but I think I'll leave it here.


I'm going to be on a family "trip" until next Thursday.
So I'm probably going to have a bit of time to get off everything for a little and maybe think stuff out.

You think too much, get out of your head.

But I do empathize. You're about 18, right? My brain was F*cked from 18-23.

And then I realized we'll all die. I stopped taking life and people so seriously (while simultaneously appreaciating them even more) and started shaping my life the way I wanted it rather than the way other people wanted or told me to.

But yeah, you think too much. And although your problems are, in your reality, bad enough to make you depressed, be grateful you're not eating shit or dying in a soggy trench in Ukraine or something.

And hey, push through that door knocking stuff. I've never tried it though I can understand why people get anxious. If I lived near you I'd go out with you to talk about this shit (the dramatic lens through which you view life) and knock on some doors.

Maybe get someone to do this with you?

 

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[piano]

And hey, push through that door knocking stuff. I've never tried it though I can understand why people get anxious. If I lived near you I'd go out with you to talk about this shit (the dramatic lens through which you view life) and knock on some doors.

Maybe get someone to do this with you?

Thank you for all the advice! Now answering this question:

No one in my life is suited for d2d or generally business related. The farest some got was crypto and looking at ebay for BMWs...(yikes)

I'd say I'm one of the toughest guys (around my age) in my circle/school/whatever and that mustn't even mean much lol.

Technically there is Subsonic but he is farther away and not suited for a few reasons.

 

[Simon Angel]

Thank you for all the advice! Now answering this question:

No one in my life is suited for d2d or generally business related. The farest some got was crypto and looking at ebay for BMWs...(yikes)

I'd say I'm one of the toughest guys (around my age) in my circle/school/whatever and that mustn't even mean much lol.

Technically there is Subsonic but he is farther away and not suited for a few reasons.

OK. Then just go solo and set some goal for the day.

e.g. I want to earn €2k/m cleaning windows. That's like €65/day.

So if it were me I'd basically try to speedrun that shit everyday.

Make it a challenge of sorts: How fast can I get someone to pay me 65 euros to clean their windows and then do whatever the F*ck I want all day. 20 knocks? maybe 10? 5? Literally gameify it.

Then, I'd try to get some recurring clients. So. I'd be chatting up everyone and genuinely connecting on a surface and below-surface level, so that I can hit them up a month later and go:

"Yo, your windows look like shit again, want me to fix that for you? Oh, yeah, about those crop circles you told me about...."

Eventually, I'd have one very warm lead (the people you already did it for) for every day of the month to do maintenance cleaning for and knocking on doors would be just extra revenue.

Again, I've never done this, but I don't think this is anything close to unrealistic.

But hey, you said you set a goal of 200/w. That's less than €30 a day, so just use the same speedrunning strat.

 

[Kevin88660]

I've been feeling conflicted on many things, low self-esteem and no plan.

With these attributes, selling becomes a lot harder and each knocked door and its rejection just digs me deeper into my self-loathing.

I've also become rusty on sales and first need to warm up again.

I'll get this to work though.

Thank you for asking!


Exactly, thank you for reminding me!

I am not sure how you should rewire your mindset when it comes to rejection.

You loses no $ for every no, so when you keep approaching as fast as you can you are making an investment with upside no downside risk.

This is what I love about sales, despite its difficulty and the set of own challenges it comes with.

 

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[Jinzou]

Hey, it's okay to feel down sometimes. We all do every now and then.

The important thing is what you do with it. Don't let the frustration and the bad news get to you.

When we met the other day, I told you about the impression I got from you. Maybe it's time to repeat it, so you can always look it up.

I think you are incredibly advanced for your age. You deal with problems, ideas, and visions that others your age won't even imagine. You have an incredible head start when it comes to that. You are intelligent and know what you want to achieve. It's okay if you can't see the path sometimes as long as you still follow your goal.

I'm saying this because I am sure that with your attitude and skills, you will inevitably get there. Trust yourself and be confident, you can do it.

What @ZCP says is really important. Remind yourself daily of all the great progress you have already made. I mean what 17-year-olds can say they already started a business and earned money all on their own? (Even if not official yet, though, that's not important) - Not to mention the valuable experiences you've already gathered through that.

You cannot fail as long as you believe in yourself and what you are doing. As MJ always says, act, assess, adjust. Over and over again.

Setbacks mean that you are facing challenges. This in turn means you are making progress and moving in the right direction as long as you just keep moving, as @heavy_industry mentioned.

Besides all that, I would like to offer to help you with your website. Just shoot me a pm and we can figure out the details from there, if you'd like.

Either way, you know where to find me if you need any kind of support.

 

[piano]

@Jinzou wow thank you for the amazing message! It was very nicely written and has brightened my day up...

We're getting there, no matter what.

Besides all that, I would like to offer to help you with your website. Just shoot me a pm and we can figure out the details from there, if you'd like.

Either way, you know where to find me if you need any kind of support.

Thank you very very much!

 

[piano]

Little update.

I was with my family on a trip to the area where we're supposed to move to and now I'm back in my local train, smelling piss and hearing a language that's officially spoken 2000-3000 kilometers from here... (Frankfurt moment)

Anyways, it was utter shit and I think my future goal once I turn 18 will be to move the F*ck away from my family, which saddens me.

I was journaling and strategising on the trip for the business, but that only worked well on Monday and everything else until today (Thursday) has been a sloppy mess.

I'm also now 30% less certain that we'll actually move, so right now it seems to be a 50/50 situation.


I haven't fixed any of my problems.
I wish I would've just stayed home (I could've) and tried to fix everything in absolute PEACE and SILENCE but oh well.

As to the new area: It's lame as hell, but workable with.


Wish me luck for tomorrow's unprepared D2D session.

xoxo,
Piano

 

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[Simon Angel]

It sucks but you gotta push through the discomfort. In a few years (and trust me, time dramatically speeds up after school) you'll be thankful for younger Piano's balls to get shit done.

You'll be on your own, solely dictate what happens in your life (the things you can control anyway) and making some good $$$.

For d2d, all you need is time and repetition.

A few years ago, I started doing what I do now - email marketing. Over time, it's gotten easier and more profitable, just because I've been sticking with it consistently.

I also started sim racing and IRL racing a few years ago. After putting in the time (a lot more time than most people would in that timeframe), I now race top split on both the simulator and real life. I've recently met a bunch of high profile people in the space and made solid connnections and I'm just getting started. People told me I had no chance because I was too old when I started (22, now 26).

But back to d2d. So whenever I race, I eventually get into the "zone" where it just clicks and I start lapping the track like a robot i.e super consistent, fast lap times. Before that happens, and especially if I've been lacking practice, I'm like a second or more off the guys in the top split PER lap (that's like a whole other league).

When that happens I feel unconfident and like I don't have it in me, start questioning myself and experiencing limiting beliefs that I truly did start way too late, etc...

And then I put in 40-50 laps on the track like my life depended on it, go back to the timing sheets expecting that not much has changed, and I'm suddenly the fastest man on track. INSTANT confidence and self-esteem boost, which allows me to continue being fast. Positive feedback loop.

The same thing is happening to you with d2d. So just put in the time and it will click again.

Oh, and one more tip:

Don't try to replicate your past success. Don't try to be the "old Piano". You'll just spin your wheels and live in your 16-year-self's shadow.

Instead, go above and beyond your past success. Outwork and outclass the old Piano in all aspects (you know which) and you'll blow right past him.

 

[piano]

Another little update...

Today I went d2d and knocked on 67 houses.

I woke up and was slightly uneasy at the idea of d2d. 8am, I stayed in bed for over an hour. It was raining but I promised everyone in Subsonic's meet up and @ZCP that I'd go today and tomorrow too. I knew that I bringing all my equip would be stupid and decided to just go bare handed with a clipboard.
Because you see, I recently went charity-knocking for my choir and they used one too.

But how was I about to pitch?
I once again remembered back to the charity-knocking. My colleague who pitched with me was just someone who sang (duh) and didn't go d2d regularly and his pitch was sooo simple.

"Hello, we're raising money for our choir. It's a youth-campaign by our government bla bla bla would you like to donate?"

And it worked.

So I thought why not just try it myself? Plain simple? I also remembered back to a saying which I think Jeffrey Gitomer might've said: "With each no, you get closer to a yes".

So coming back to how it went;
I didn't have a clipboard at home so I just decided to buy one on the way.
However I only noticed that we have a holiday today (Karfreitag) after standing in front of the aforementioned store and everything was closed lmfao
Thankfully I was smart though; I brought a small scribbling pad with me which I decided to use as a substitute.

So where was I now to go? I scouted my area on google earth last year and remembered a good neighbourhood complex with single family homes so I went there.

It was still slightly raining.
I knocked the first door and asked why there were 2 blue sheep on the roof and got going.

I knocked and knocked, many nice encounters here and there too. I also found myself actually having relatively much to talk about which surprised me.
I think not having these crazy expectations of myself really lifted a burden off me and allowed to me flow more naturally (something which I achieved btw!! @Simon Angel, you're truly an angel ).

So I'll cut straight to the chase:

Sadly didn't chat up any cute girls, but I scheduled a 192€ job in April and have someone evaluating a 216€ job!

What the hell?

It actually became kinda fun after the first 20-30 doors and the only thing that stopped me was my laziness and my hands freezing . Okay, I wouldn't consider knocking "only" 67 doors in the cold rain to be lazy, but you get what I mean.

And you know what? It was pouring down from the sky the whole time while pitching!

Oh and I also started counting the knocks btw which I think really motivated me and is why I can exactly tell you how many houses I knocked.

I think I knocked for 2 hours which basically means that I spent a little less than 2 minutes for each knock.

Anyways, this battle is still not won. Tomorrow is still another siege to carry out and I also still need to swindle GMB on approving my business (btw thanks for @perchboy and @constant for giving me tips!).


Obviously also thanks to everyone else (too many people to ping !



Just one of the many pages I filled out

 

[MakeItHappen]

Way to go! Now imagine if you would knock on doors for 8 hours 5 days a week and hire someone to do all the window cleaning for you!
You got 192€ in 2 hours so 8 hours would be almost 800€ times 5 = 4000€ per week or over 16000€ per month and almost 200000€ per year (+ repeat customers).

Now is it easy or desirable to do d2d full time to get customers? No, but see what someone can accomplish who does it.

 

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[piano]

...And the second day is done!

Thank you guys so much for all the positive feedback I got!

But let's cut to the chase now:

Today I knocked on - wait lemme count first...

74 houses!

I finally bought myself a clipboard and a few cookies to keep me energised (no lunch) and started knocking straight away.
Once again nervous, but with each knock it got a lot better.

I'll keep it short; there were a few interested people, gave them my number and everything but nothing too serious.

Towards the end however I got an elderly married couple who seemed very interested and I think I sold really well to them. If they call back, it'll be a nice 156€ job.

There even was an elderly lady who had a cleaning maid but still insisted on somehow giving me a job/helping me financially. I told her she didn't have to do anything of the sort and after a few minutes, she let off haha. You meet really great people with d2d.

...and a bunch of grumpy/annoyed people but these are a very tiny minority (probably also due to my relatively casual/polite selling style).

I also tried to verify my GMB but I kept getting Error 429 and have issued a support-case or whatever the name is.


So how will it continue? I'll be gone for the whole next week and will have ZERO time for business or really much else tbh. However after that I'll have a whole week to work with!


Until then, friends!


Today's notes (+ means "interested" and/or gave them my number):

 

[MakeItHappen]

You are crushing it @piano !

I'll keep it short; there were a few interested people, gave them my number and everything but nothing too serious.

Towards the end however I got an elderly married couple who seemed very interested and I think I sold really well to them. If they call back, it'll be a nice 156€ job.

I would ask them for their number instead of giving them your number.
Then follow up a couple of days later.
If they are not interested ask them if you can follow up 3-6 months later.

If they don't want to give you their number then give them your number.

EDIT: In Germany, you probably have to get a signature from them to call them legally (B2C). But I don't know how big the legal risk is if they gave you their number willingly.

 

[heavy_industry]

WE ARE ON A WINNING STREAK

Keep the momentum going my friend!!

Imagine how your life is going to look like at the end of 2024 if this is what the daily process looks like!

 

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[jclean]

Does door knocking in Germany makes sense ?
I run a windowcleaning company in Belgium.
I would never do door knocking
( maybe im missing something)

We did a campaign in the local newsletter front page.

"Business name" wants to clean all the windows for free in "my area" no strings attached.

Nice article about us.

Results 630! Reactions
And we gained close to 200 new paying customers.

Find a local newspaper in your market.
Tell them we want to do something crazy.
Use the same offer.
Make sure you can handle all the leads.
( good crm / planning software)
The first day we had 30+ leads in 5 hours.

we asked a few questions and some photos.




We did the same campaign with flyers the return was much lower.
But we gained 20 customers.

 

[piano]

Does door knocking in Germany makes sense ?
I run a windowcleaning company in Belgium.
I would never do door knocking
( maybe im missing something)

I think it highly depends on the area, how open minded and so on. I live in a well populated area (not too big not too small) and many people here are quite affluent.

We did a campaign in the local newsletter front page.

"Business name" wants to clean all the windows for free in "my area" no strings attached.

Nice article about us.

Results 630! Reactions
And we gained close to 200 new paying customers.

Find a local newspaper in your market.
Tell them we want to do something crazy.
Use the same offer.
Make sure you can handle all the leads.
( good crm / planning software)
The first day we had 30+ leads in 5 hours.

we asked a few questions and some photos.

Wow interesting! I'll keep this in mind.

Results 630! Reactions
And we gained close to 200 new paying customers.

630 of what exactly? And if you did the windows for free, how came the 200 paying customers?
Sorry, I'm just not entirely understanding this

 

[jclean]

I think it highly depends on the area, how open minded and so on. I live in a well populated area (not too big not too small) and many people here are quite affluent.

Wow interesting! I'll keep this in mind.

630 of what exactly? And if you did the windows for free, how came the 200 paying customers?
Sorry, I'm just not entirely understanding this

630 people filled out our contact form on the website.

We then asked every how much time they would like their windows washed and proposed a price based on that.

At 200+ people we may keep coming and by my estimation we washed the windows for free at 150 to 200 people.
The other people did not respond to our email for additional information.

 

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[heavy_industry]

"Business name" wants to clean all the windows for free in "my area" no strings attached.

This is the most brilliant idea I've read today.

As simplistic as it might sound, this has to be one of the best strategies for getting new subscribers to your services.

1. Extremely high conversion rate​

• The % of people saying YES goes through the roof. It's FREE!
• 0 risk involved on the customer side.
• No commitment or pressure.

2. SHOW, don't tell.​

• Anyone can run their mouths about how great and professional their business is.
• But now the customers can SEE what they will be paying for firsthand.

3. Reciprocity​

• Most people have a strong sense of reciprocity.
• This means they are going to be much more likely to subscribe to your services after you've cleaned their windows for free.

Maybe I've had too much coffee (again), and I'm getting overly excited.

But this is pure genius.

 

[jclean]

This is the most brilliant idea I've read today.

As simplistic as it might sound, this has to be one of the best strategies for getting new subscribers to your services.

1. Extremely high conversion rate​

• The % of people saying YES goes through the roof. It's FREE!
• 0 risk involved on the customer side.
• No commitment or pressure.

2. SHOW, don't tell.​

• Anyone can run their mouths about how great and professional their business is.
• But now the customers can SEE what they will be paying for firsthand.

3. Reciprocity​

• Most people have a strong sense of reciprocity.
• This means they are going to be much more likely to subscribe to your services after you've cleaned their windows for free.

Maybe I've had too much coffee (again), and I'm getting overly excited.

But this is pure genius.

That is indeed a good summary of the concept

For us, this was the best result in terms of marketing in 10 years.

At the local paper, they had never received so much positive feedback from their readers in 40 years.

It was not cheap ( 20k in labor)

But we were able to do this in the off-season.
Last month we hired 3 new people.
And we are going to continue this strategy.