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I need more money to invest into my organic skincare business fast, so I'm going to buy some equipment to clean windows as a 20 year-old man. I will knock on each person's door in my village asking if they need their window's cleaned, dressed in some work boots and overalls. This will teach me sales skills and the necessary virtues of running a business, which are hard work and discipline. Or, at the very least, this will help me to overcome my social anxiety. I'll keep you updated on this.
I need more money to invest into my organic skincare business fast, so I'm going to buy some equipment to clean windows as a 20 year-old man. I will knock on each person's door in my village asking if they need their window's cleaned, dressed in some work boots and overalls. This will teach me sales skills and the necessary virtues of running a business, which are hard work and discipline. Or, at the very least, this will help me to overcome my social anxiety. I'll keep you updated on this.
Uh oh, looks like @piano have started a window cleaning movement in this forum (with me in it) We should prepare to have a whole thread dedicated to the window cleaning industry, they have even more people joining them now!
Update:
I bought a window cleaning brush and some window cleaning spray. I need to find a ladder, then get a haircut so that I look cleaner. Appearance will help when making sales, so I will invest in workboots and overalls. I don't know whether I should take a bucket filled with soap, use the spray or take a hose for cleaning windows. What do you think I should use?
Second update: I think I'll just use the spray, wearing a plain t-shirt and some black jeans for now to look semi-professional. I'm not looking to run a window cleaning business, this is just a side-hustle. I've booked a haircut to avoid looking scruffy. Besides that, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie will be useful for managing human relations. I don't need a ladder, an elevated stool will do, I'm not cleaning the Winchester Mansion, most people around here live in council houses and flats. If I need to make improvements, I'll use money from a 9 to 5, or reinvest spare cash from this hustle.
Third update:
I scaled my house and realized that a ladder is needed for success. The ladders in a nearby shed were all over £200. I'm looking to spend around £60 on the ladder, I don't want to spend more than I can make back, otherwise it's not a side hustle.
Update:
I bought a window cleaning brush and some window cleaning spray. I need to find a ladder, then get a haircut so that I look cleaner. Appearance will help when making sales, so I will invest in workboots and overalls. I don't know whether I should take a bucket filled with soap, use the spray or take a hose for cleaning windows. What do you think I should use?
Second update: I think I'll just use the spray, wearing a plain t-shirt and some black jeans for now to look semi-professional. I'm not looking to run a window cleaning business, this is just a side-hustle. I've booked a haircut to avoid looking scruffy. Besides that, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie will be useful for managing human relations. I don't need a ladder, an elevated stool will do, I'm not cleaning the Winchester Mansion, most people around here live in council houses and flats. If I need to make improvements, I'll use money from a 9 to 5, or reinvest spare cash from this hustle.
Third update:
I scaled my house and realized that a ladder is needed for success. The ladders in a nearby shed were all over £200. I'm looking to spend around £60 on the ladder, I don't want to spend more than I can make back, otherwise it's not a side hustle.
Grab a squeegee and some window cleaning spray and then get going door to door.
If you can't do that then order 1000 Flyers from vistaprint and hand them out yourself.
I'm overcomplicating things due to my fear of rejection. I have a squeegee and some window cleaning spray at home. Today I will catch the bus to my grandma's neighbourhood and clean her neighbours windows. I know the people in her neighbourhood personally, so they will be more willing to take my services. When I get back, I'll publish a field report on here describing how things went and how much money has been made.
I'm overcomplicating things due to my fear of rejection. I have a squeegee and some window cleaning spray at home. Today I will catch the bus to my grandma's neighbourhood and clean her neighbours windows. I know the people in her neighbourhood personally, so they will be more willing to take my services. When I get back, I'll publish a field report on here describing how things went and how much money has been made.
Expect rejection to suck. Don't think too much, focus on your pitch, you're just offering them services that might potentially help them more than you think. If they say no, move on. If they say yes, you struck gold! There's nothing to overthink about when going d2d. It's either they need window cleaning or not. Nothing to think about. Try using Facebook or nextdoor to post your service. It's much more simpler than you think.
Other than that, I wish you the best of luck! Remember that we are not perfect
FAILURE:
I caught the bus to my grandma's village to find that her neighbourhood already has a window cleaner. He works for the local agricultural supplier who owns the supermarket where my grandma lives. He has a list of customers subscribed to his service, which includes my grandma's name, which he goes to on a monthly basis to clean their windows. My grandma's windows had been cleaned yesterday, so had her neighbours' windows, so I just cleaned her mirrors and the interior of her windows. I made £15 out of it. This isn't good enough.
The houses around here and those in 2 other surrounding villages would hold more opportunity for window cleaning than the ones in her village. I'm going to take the window cleaning spray and squeegee around my neighbourhood in a couple of hours. My goal is to make at least £50 a day to start off with, then build up and get to £200 a day eventually. One thing that I was successful with was closing a deal with my grandma to trim both her and her neighbour's lawns for £30 each.
I could ask my grandma's other neighbours if their lawns require trimming, then ask to trim their hedges and pull up their weeds up for another £20. Transport is easy, all I need to do is fit my lawnmower, hedge cutters and extension cable in a cardboard box. I'll start another thread to document my lawnmowing side hustle.
The only problem for me to overcome is that it has been raining. My sidewalker dad thinks that I'll get electrocuted from trimming gardens in these conditions. I've seen people work on their gardens in worse conditions, so I think this is an excuse for him not to exert any effort into his life. I can still trim their hedges and pull up their weeds in these conditions anyway.
I ignored my brain and just relied on instincts with the window cleaning side hustle. I went back onto the streets prematurely without having any prior practice on my own home and without any professional equipment. All I took with me was the squeegee and window cleaning spray. Unfortunately, the same guy who comes around monthly to clean the windows in my grandma's village also comes around to clean the windows in my village. There are a few bungalows and richer people's houses that he doesn't clean, but the corporate lacky still comes around once a month to most houses and leaves streaks across their windows. Once a month isn't good enough and he won't do his job properly because he's only working on a contract. He drives all around my city doing this stuff, so any village that I go to will have the same problem.
I may consider handing out fliers like what @Subsonic suggested. Gardening and refurbishing old furniture are options I can take if this side hustle fails. I could spend 2 months learning about copywriting just to have a high value skill available that can be leveraged later as @BizyDad suggested.
Edit:
My grandma and her neighbour have turned down my gardening services as they're 'loyal customers' to the guy who doesn't even want to do his work. Both my grandma and my ex-boss have suggested washing cars as a side-hustle to make more money. I don't know whether I should take this advice, or continue with my round as normal and just scale up without worrying about offering gardening services on the side.
If you are going to use an electric lawnmower, strimmer or hedge cutter go to Wickes or B&Q and get yourself either an RCD Adapter or better still, an outdoor extension reel with RCD as you will porbably find the appliance lead not long enough.
The RCD is what cuts off the electricity if you chop through the cable by mistake.
This is a single socket one you can have to plug in to peoples sockets and then you plug your cable.
Masterplug 13A Pro-XT 4 Socket Open Reel High Visibility Cable - 20m
www.wickes.co.uk
If you were going commercial you would mainly be using petrol so no cables to cut.
About grass cutting. There is a reason you don't cut grass in the wet in the UK. It's nothing to do with electrocuting yourself. Most houses in UK have small gardens and therefore the owners don't need a large sized, powerful lawnmower.
1200W and 32cm, corded is pretty much the most popular selling size in UK as average post 1980s home garden will be 15m x 15m. New builds are 10m x 10m now.
Your father probably has one. Turn it upside down and you will see one blade that spins round. It's a rotary mower. Grass when wet is sticky. It will stick to and cover the blade within minutes when wet and therefore the blade is dull so just rips grass after this time rather than cut cleanly. As the earth is also soft as it rained, the grass is literally ripped from the roots leaving bare earth. Remember we also have finer grass here due to perfect conditions for finer grass.
This is why people aren't cutting their wet grass.
However professionals are using larger, petrol mowers that have more power and larger diameter blade so less runs and time to cut a garden.
Hope that helps you a little bit. You going round peoples homes in or after rain will be a nightmare for you if you use their lawnmower or your dads unless it is a petrol model.
I realize now, after reflecting on this failure, that those I had offered window cleaning services to politely declined because they're not the type of people that would hire these services. Half of them are with another company, the other half don't see hiring a window cleaner as having an ROI. I'll ask outside of the rural area, where I'm more likely to find work. I think the window cleaning contractor offers his services exclusively to this region so finding work in the town will be much easier than in the countryside.
I went to town today to clean windows. I ignored my dad's advice to not go because of the rain. I walked around the town for 45 minutes looking at the houses and came to the conclusion that I needed a ladder. I went into an equipment supply store to find that the ladders there were expensive. I decided not to buy a ladder due to having to transport it on the bus. Passing through a village near to the town, I realized that there is a lot of opportunity for window cleaning services there and I don't have to worry about being on time for the bus as long as I have a watch, unlike the town that I went, where there's a long distance to travel before you reach any houses. ,My Jeffrey brain is telling me not to take the risk as I'd have to transport a foldable step there by bus and it's known for being a dangerous town. I'd be drawing attention to myself with having two rucksacks and a Hi-Vis vest. Personally, I don't think the village is that dangerous. I think it was just a lie the middle class kids made up when I was in high school about what they perceived to be 'poor people. There have been stabbings in my own village and stabbings in my hometown. They only occur about once every few years, so my chances of meeting someone like that is very low so long as I choose the houses carefully.
I went to town today to clean windows. I ignored my dad's advice to not go because of the rain. I walked around the town for 45 minutes looking at the houses and came to the conclusion that I needed a ladder. I went into an equipment supply store to find that the ladders there were expensive. I decided not to buy a ladder due to having to transport it on the bus. Passing through a village near to the town, I realized that there is a lot of opportunity for window cleaning services there and I don't have to worry about being on time for the bus as long as I have a watch, unlike the town that I went, where there's a long distance to travel before you reach any houses. ,My Jeffrey brain is telling me not to take the risk as I'd have to transport a foldable step there by bus and it's known for being a dangerous town. I'd be drawing attention to myself with having two rucksacks and a Hi-Vis vest. Personally, I don't think the village is that dangerous. I think it was just a lie the middle class kids made up when I was in high school about what they perceived to be 'poor people. There have been stabbings in my own village and stabbings in my hometown. They only occur about once every few years, so my chances of meeting someone like that is very low so long as I choose the houses carefully.
I went to a nearby village today outside of town and asked single story apartment residents if I could clean their windows. Only one person accepted, but he couldn't afford to have his windows cleaned on a slowlaner's budget and he told me to come back another time. I should've written down his name and address, then I could've had my first regular client. I've learned from my mistake now and will take a journal with me to other villages to keep track of clients. It's easier to resell to the same person than to sell to new people and I aspire to grow my service through word of mouth rather than through wandering around knocking on doors aimlessly. I'm still making progress despite having made no money today.
I went to a nearby village today outside of town and asked single story apartment residents if I could clean their windows. Only one person accepted, but he couldn't afford to have his windows cleaned on a slowlaner's budget and he told me to come back another time. I should've written down his name and address, then I could've had my first regular client. I've learned from my mistake now and will take a journal with me to other villages to keep track of clients. It's easier to resell to the same person than to sell to new people and I aspire to grow my service through word of mouth rather than through wandering around knocking on doors aimlessly. I'm still making progress despite having made no money today.
It's good that you went and did d2d. Have you tried using the app nextdoor? I used it and all of my sales comes from it.
Try putting like "Have streaks on your windows? Have no time to clean your windows? Is your tracks and frames need cleaning?"
Put some pictures on it and see what happens!
Overall, how many doors did you knock today and how was your pitch like?
It's good that you went and did d2d. Have you tried using the app nextdoor? I used it and all of my sales comes from it.
Try putting like "Have streaks on your windows? Have no time to clean your windows? Is your tracks and frames need cleaning?"
Put some pictures on it and see what happens!
Overall, how many doors did you knock today and how was your pitch like?
My sales pitch was just knocking door to door and asking if they wanted their windows cleaned. I didn't want to sound like a scammer, so I called my customers 'mate'. I asked 20 bungalows if they wanted their streaks removed, or if they wanted their dirt removed. Most of them told me that their husband, or another family member, cleans their windows for them. I was afraid of pushing any sales tactics onto them and I don't know anything about how to sell to people. That's why I want to double or quadruple the amount of doors I knock on.
I have set up a Nextdoor account just using your exact copy:
"Have streaks on your windows? Have no time to clean your windows? Is your tracks and frames need cleaning?" Then I posted my mobile number, imploring them to call me "now!"
My house is two-storey, my window cleaner doesn't use a ladder any more, I suspect in case they fall off it. They've got an extendable brush thing that they use to clean the first floor* windows. They don't squeegee them any more, because they can't from the ground. They do, however, have a van with a big water tank in it, and I think the extendable brush is connected to that rather than dipped in a bucket of water.
No, don't do that - few things annoy me more than being called "mate" by a complete stranger. There's no need to call them anything. "Sir" is probably just as bad. "Can I interest you in having your windows cleaned?" or similar doesn't need anything on the end.
( * UK first floor is second floor in the US, for the few who wondered why my window cleaner needs an extendable brush in this scenario.)
My house is two-storey, my window cleaner doesn't use a ladder any more, I suspect in case they fall off it. They've got an extendable brush thing that they use to clean the first floor* windows. They don't squeegee them any more, because they can't from the ground. They do, however, have a van with a big water tank in it, and I think the extendable brush is connected to that rather than dipped in a bucket of water.
No, don't do that - few things annoy me more than being called "mate" by a complete stranger. There's no need to call them anything. "Sir" is probably just as bad. "Can I interest you in having your windows cleaned?" or similar doesn't need anything on the end.
( * UK first floor is second floor in the US, for the few who wondered why my window cleaner needs an extendable brush in this scenario.)
I don't have a driving license yet, so it's not possible for me to carry extra equipment right now. I'm relying on buses to get from place to place with just my squeegee and some cleaning spray. My squeegee extends slightly, but not much. I only brought it for £10 from a supermarket.
I tried out the Life-Force 8 advertising strategy from Drew E Witman's Cashvertising:
My copy:
"Want the cleanest windows in the street? Want people to gasp in awe as they pass your house? Don't have time to clean them yourself? Call (my service name) today on (my mobile number)!"
I'll post an update if I get any phonecalls. My main goal is to get people to call me for my services. In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions on how I can improve my copy, please let me know. I used LF8 #6 (to have superior windows) and LF8 #8 (social approval) as my key targeted pain points. But maybe I'm wrong. I live in a very humble countryside area.
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