Google Adwords

 

I have used Google AdWords to help draw more people to my site, and hopefully get more phone calls and sales.

My initial experience has been one of disappointment. It's challenging to create an ad that will get many people to "click-thru". As well as creating a good ad you must use correct adwords that match what people enter when wanting to find your company.

I'm committed to getting my click thru ratio high because it is all part of my plan to get my phone to ring off the hook. I want to massively increase my revenue and get many more stores, condo units and residential houses.

I understand that Google advertising is optimal since you are finding people that want to use you, rather than distracting and annoying people that have no interest in your service.

My click thru ratio is a dismal 0.1%, but I have managed to double it to 0.2%. According to Facebook discussions a good CTR is between 2 and 4%. I would love to get to that point, get more sales and greatly increase my Google spending.

I have bought Adwords for Dummies, and I'm trying to implement the suggestions of some information online.

 

If you have any suggestions for me, feel free to email me

mike@mmwindowcleaners.com 

647-409-8144

http://mmwindowcleaners.com 

 

 

Classic Repost: Are you getting paid?

Are You Getting Paid

One of the most pressing problems in running a small business is getting paid promptly. In a business like Window Cleaning there are a number of customers that pay immediately. And when your focus is on cleaning houses, you might get paid right away nearly all the time.

How do you get your customers to pay in a reasonable amount of time? Many business suffer, while they are doing a lot of work, a lot of their money is tied up in accounts payable, and people taking weeks or months to pay. That really drains your business, and could stop you from running a profitable business.

Let me share a couple ways that I keep my accounts payable under control. Perhaps you can implement these suggestions for your business.

State Terms

It is important to state at the beginning what you expect in terms of payment. The time that you expect payment, for example, on receipt, or 30 days. Be clear, state upfront what you expect in regards to how and when you get paid.

For our company, I always say due on receipt. I expect payment promptly and I don't automatically give them 30 days to pay. I expect them to take my invoice, and on the day that they usually write cheques, within a few days they will write the cheque and mail it to my office.

In a few cases, I do allow them to take 30 days to pay, but I usually don't state that so that I still keep a fire under them to pay faster.


Keep Good Records

There are many programs that permit you to keep your business organized and to create invoices and monitor accounts payable.

I use Quickbooks Professional 2012 for my small business. It keeps everything organized for me, my banking, invoicing, payment, and accounts receivable. With the click of a mouse I can see how much overdue an invoice is, I can easily email reminders, copies of the invoice and so forth. If you aren't organized you can't easily catch those who are taking too long to pay.

I also use an accountant to keep my sanity! Some things are just too complicated and time consuming for me to handle.

Remind them

After 14 days I remind the customer by email that we haven't received payment. I don't at that point say it's overdue, but I say in a nice, kindly written email that we haven't received payment and we are reminding them. I write down the invoice number and date too, and email them another copy of the invoice.

After 30 days, I email them, saying the invoice is overdue, that our terms are payment due upon receipt, and ask them to mail the cheque immediately.

If we still don't receive payment, I call them personally, in the rare instance that that doesn't work, I pay a personal visit.


Does this work?

Most of my customers pay very quickly. You are the one to state payment terms, don't shy away, dont cower. It's perfectly normal and reasonable to have strict payment terms and very few are going to question it.

Remember, it's your money (more or less). It's not rude to ask for your money to be paid to your business in a timely manner. By all means be reasonable and kind when reminding customers, but as the saying goes the squeaky wheel gets the grease, if you are not asking for your money, you may be the last business to get paid.


Thanks for reading my blog.

If you are in the Toronto area and want your windows cleaned, call me, The Toronto Window Cleaner at 647-409-8144

Check out my website

http://mmwindowcleaners.com

Hiring an employee or using a subcontractor

Hiring An Employee or Using a Subcontrator


The time comes in every small business where you don't handle every part of your operation.

Sure, at one point it might seem thrilling to where many hats. But over time, it gets exhausting. Some people choose to do the technician work of their business, and I respect them.

However, I want to focus more on my business and less on the actual work. I love canvassing for new clients, and dreaming about new accounts to add. The actual window cleaning is fun, and I miss it when I don't get out there and clean windows. But at a certain point it distracts me from my main aim. Growing my business.

That is why I have hired a technician to go out and clean my windows. I know, I can't be like some business owners who abdicate their authority and just hope that their employee takes care of things. On the other hand you have to give them a measure of trust and not micromanage.

By implementing methods to track when the work was done, for example getting signatures from each job, or having them also sign a guestbook at certain clients you can track that the work was done. At times you have to visit your clients, strengthen your relationship and make sure the work is being done to your satisfaction.

There are many other reasons to hire someone. Spending more time with family is a very important reason for instance.

So go ahead, hire someone. It should be a qualified person. You should have them sign a well thought out contract. And never abdicate your responsibility to service the client and monitor the work.

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog. If you are in the Toronto area and want your windows cleaned call me at 647-409-8144. 

Keep your competition close

There is a saying to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Although a few of your competitors can be your enemy, not all of your competition is, in fact many are not.

My Toronto window cleaning competitors include some good friends and acquaintances, We respect each other, although we do get jealous of each others successes. Especially when they are ahead of us on Google.

Some we have got to know on window cleaning forums, and from there we built up a friendship and trust. And others I have known because many of my friends are window cleaners as well. Because they treasure the flexibility and good pay in the field.

It's good to keep in mind, especially in a service business that there is more than enough work out there for everyone. There is an infinite amount of windows to be cleaned. No one company can clean everyone store and house out there.

Not every business owner has the same focus of his business. In my industry, some prefer to clean stores and commercial, whereas others love cleaning residential and despise commercial. Some do add ons to their regular work, which I will not mention what they are in this post. They serve niche markets and at times make much more than window cleaning.

Keep Your Competition Close

Many times I have used my competition to pass on jobs, to have them do a job under my name. They have also been kind enough to pass on work to me often without expecting anything in return.

They have proven to give me honest and reliable advice when I needed some help with pricing, dealing with employees and subs and their compensation, and common issues in window cleaning.

Of course, you always keep some info to your self, and don't let them know every business strategy that you are planning to implement, but sharing business knowledge is far better than keeping things to yourself for fear that they may copy you. To learn and to grow you do need to share some of what you are doing now and learn what they are trying as well.

Why am I saying all this? Well today, three of my competitors, two - who I do business with who work for me on certain jobs - met up. We enjoyed a burger and fries with them. We shot the breeze, talked about window cleaning, the industry, our marketing, some of our goals and needs, and what we wanted to accomplish in 2012.

So go ahead, have a coffee with your competition. You do of course have to use common sense, take your time to get to know someone, and not give away your "secret" recipe, but sharing information and knowledge with a trustworthy and kind competitor may help you to grow and thrive in the window cleaning field, or whatever field you are in.

I'm not saying there are not unscrupulous or dishonest competitors in your field, so use your head. But there are likely many honest, decent people that are just trying to make a living for their family, that would love to sit down and have a coffee with you. You can learn a lot.

Do you want your windows cleaned? Call the Toronto Window Cleaner. Mike Polsky. At 647-409-8144.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Working as a subcontractor

Working As A Subcontractor
 
I haven't posted for quite a while. So I apologize.

I wanted to speak about something that could really add a nice income stream to your business. Subcontracting. Many janitorial companies in particular, don't want or don't know how to properly clean windows. Many are very eager to work with a window cleaning company to clean windows for their clients. They may be happy because they may have turned down window cleaning jobs before, but now, they can have someone they trust clean the windows, and they can make a tidy profit on it.

I have worked with several janitorial companies over the past year. One janitorial company I have cleaned a restaurant for. Another has me clean some insurance office windows. Another had me clean payday loan centres, And this latest one has me clean condo sales offices. Generally there are two kinds of companies, serious business owners who charge good prices, and are reaping the benefits, and ones who charge very little and are working like dogs. I have worked with both.

The important things to deal with when you work with companies is this. Provide a pay period that they must pay you by. For example due on receipt or due in two weeks. You deserve your money, and don't stand for not getting paid til the customer gets paid. Let the contractor manage the risk, that will be a large weight off your back.

Try to put things in writing, even if it's just an email. For each new job you bid on send an email outlining what work you will do, and how much you will charge. Often terms are forgotten and arguments or misunderstandings may arise.

Don't feel that you need to cut your prices. I have charged decent prices, and the contractor was still able to put a decent cut on top of it.

Good communication is key. A janitor doesn't think like a window cleaner, and he might not understand your pricing, what work is involved, or other issues.

An advantage of working as a subcontractor is that you may get jobs that you may not get through your marketing efforts, or you may not be allowed to bid on.

Of course, janitors are not the only people you can work with. You can subcontract for property maintenance companies, national service companies, even other window cleaners.

So, in summary. Set payment terms, communicate, put things in writing, and don't cut your prices if you don't have to.

Thanks for reading my blog. If you are in the Toronto area, and want your windows cleaned. Call me. I am the Toronto Window Cleaner. 647-409-8144

Improving SEO

A couple weeks ago, I spent many hours working on my website. Why? I've been disappointed with it's search engine ranking. Although I'm quite pleased with the layout of my site, the company that helped me create wasn't able to help me when it came to ranking high on search engines.

Althouhgh I have always had a very high ranking on Yahoo for certain keywords. I have never been high up on Google. The highest I got was about 23 down the list.

So I decided to take action.

I bought a book from Chapters. I'm not going to disclose it here due to local competition also reading this blog. If you want to know the book, email me at mike@mmwindowcleaners.com. However, I applied almost everything in the book. However, it only cost me about $30. I have read about two thirds of it so far. I have spent countless hours to implement the suggestions, and improve the layout of my website, and other things.

After about a week, my site went up to about number 5 or number 6 on Google. Other webpages on my webiste are further down the list. I am very happy with the results so far, and I'm getting the calls to prove it.

So if you are going to buy some books for your business. Don't just read it, implement the strategies and methods within. It does no good for you to just read something and forget it. Your website will not climb much if you do nothing.

I found great improvement in my site by just putting $30 down. And I'm continouly working on my site to get it up to #1. Perhaps that is a pipe dream, but being within the top 5 is pretty cool.

Wanna Check out my website? Let me know what you think.Toronto Window Cleaning - M&M

Are you in the Toronto area and want your windows cleaned? Call Me, the Reliable Toronto Window Cleaner at 647-409-8144.

Karl Robinson's Extraordinary Blog

http://robinson-solutions.blogspot.com

As most of you who read this blog knows, Karl has a great blog of all the world of window cleaning. He is able to pull up so much articles, that even Google can't match.

By checking his blog out daily, you will be fully informed of window cleaner safety, the latest videos available on the internet that are internet related, window cleaner news, and much more.

He also has a regular assortment, of funny videos, and articles, so not only is reading the blog enlightening, it is also entertaining.

I just wanted to thank him for his favourable mention in his blog

Thanks.

Check out his blog daily at http://robinson-solutions.blogspot.com

Paul's great marketing blog

Paul McQuillan, a lively,passionate, and great contributing forum member, of Window Cleaning Resource and National Window Cleaning Directory, has turned his passion and ability in marketing into a book:

Onslaught Marketing "How You Can Survive the Economic Crisis and Emerge 10x Stronger Than Your Competition"

His website address is: http://onslaughtmarketing.com

And he authours a very interesting and informative marketing blog - http://jointheonslaught.blogspot.com

He has brought up an important missed opportunity. Forced Continuity, or putting customers on a schedule. It has inspired me, and led me to share and agree with his point about forced continuity. Here is the blog posting:

http://jointheonslaught.blogspot.com/2009/02/window-cleaners-take-heed.html

Forced continuity is regularly scheduled window cleaning on a indefinte frequency. Whether that is every two weeks, four weeks, eight weeks, or twice a year.

As Paul goes on to say, many residential window cleaners fail to offer regularly scheduled cleans for their residential customers.

This has inspired me to think of offering this service to residential customers I will attain this spring. The only issue would be to make sure that one can make enough money to drive there, stop, get equipment off truck and clean windows. So an important factor is setting the price at a reasonable level. His suggestion of $80 sounds reasonable.

If you could get many customers to go for this service, a route could be made, causing certain efficiencies to develop and lowering your costs (gas, marketing, etc) per customer.

As an example, Mr Squeegee, aka Tony Evans, anewviewia.com has a winter route, where he cleans some of the windows on certain houses once a month, and has a regular route, which enables him to make some money during a hard time for many residential window cleaners - winter.

Having forced continuity, or putting residential customers on a regular schedule would enable you to make more money per customer. would enable you to get through slow seasons better, and enable you to have a little more of a predictable income.

This is why I enjoy cleaning commercial glass. Everything I do is on a schedule. I can predict how much my company will gross per year, I can schedule my customers for the most efficient way of cleaning them to minimize wasted driving time. I'm cleaning relatively clean glass, and I'm not always forced to market like crazy, since one customer will gross me thousands of dollars a year, for an indefinite period of time, perhaps years. Instead of just making a few hundred bucks, and then trying to get another customer.

Putting customers on a schedule makes a lot of sense. So think about ways you can implement that for your business.

And check out Paul's blog for other great marketing ideas.

What Is an Independant Operator? And dealing with WSIB

Many small companies subcontract work. They do this without much thought. They might have the same guy do all their work, for many hours each week, using your tools, getting explicit direction and this person earns all their income from you.

In your eyes he his your hardworking subcontractor. Unfortunately in the eyes of many Government Insurance boards, this person is your employee. As such you would be required to register and pay workers compensation insurance. In the event of an injury, or an audit from workers compensation, you may face a fine, years of premiums due, a possible lawsuit from the injured worker for negligence. This would be of course, destructive for your business, causing you much sleep loss, anxiety, and possible bankruptcy to your small business.

So it is essential to find out how your workers compensation board views the relationship you have with your employee, make any corrections you need to to your relationship, or in the worst case begin paying exorbitant premiums to cover your employee, and your butt.

In Ontario, where I live, you have several options. You can seek, the government agency responsible to make a ruling on your relationship, or possible relationship.

I had to fill out this form for a janitorial company. To determine the relationship we would have, and whether I would be an employee (in their eyes), or an independent operator (who is not legally required to take out WSIB coverage).

Fortunately I was viewed as an independent operator for this instance. This is the form you fill out with the contractor, or if you are the contractor, you would fill this out with your subcontractor. You would sign it, and bring it to WSIB with the subcontractors invoices for other jobs he did, his business registration, a copule of invoices of supllies he bought, showing that he buys his own tools/supplies.

I did that an brought it to 200 Front St, Downtown Toronto. This is the form.

http://www.wsib.on.ca/wsib/wsibsite.nsf/LookupFiles/DownloadableFileIndependentOperator/$File/1158.pdf


What exactly is an independant operator in Ontario. This pamphlet, prepared for construction contractors, clearly shows what makes one an independent operator.


http://www.wsib.on.ca/wsib/wsibsite.nsf/LookupFiles/DownloadableFileConstructionIndependentOperators/$File/ConstIndOp.pdf

So what is an independent operator in Ontario?
offers services to various firms
• reports to the government
as a self employed business (Canada Revenue
Agency/GST)
• owns and operates his/her equipment.


I know this post may look only relevant to Ontario residents but it is vitally important to make sure that if you hire subcontractors that your government's workplace insurance board views it as such. If not, you may face crippling fines, and possible bankruptcy.

A shout out to Sean!

A Shout Out To Sean
 
Sean is the Salesman for Window Cleaning Resource - of which my blog is posted on the forum. Thanks Chris and Alex.

Sean is a very successful businessman, and has helped WCR to acquire much of their commercial work.

I watched Sean's video today about his new approach to pricing. I must say I'm impressed. He's not going to lowball his prices anymore to win accounts - and he will charge what is good for him - working on commision, and high enough for the guys who work at WCR and Chris and Alex.

I too don't believe in charging lower than I want for an account simply to match local competition or get a client.

My belief in pricing is too charge at a rate/hour that you want, and a rate that you know the majority of your desired clients will accept.

I would rather charge too high and not get a business, than charge too low, and kick myself later, and find myself over time with a lot of underpriced work.

My pricing philosophy is always changing, based on what I think I can charge, what high prices others have charged, and when I find out that I'm not charging what others do.

The most current change I have made to my pricing is to not treat all glass the same.

Before, even when cleaning a large piece of glass, I would charge what a small piece of glass would cost. Most customers understand that they will pay more if they have a store with big glass than if their store had small windows.

If I need to just clean windows with one method, cleaning with just a squeegee and applicator I will charge a basic rate per window. If I have to use a pole (I'm tall - 6 feet 2) than I will charge up to double that rate.

I would advise all of you to not treat all glass the same. Let's say you charge $1/per outside pane) for a regular pane that requires no polling. For one that requires polling, or is much larger charge $2/per pane.

Your pricing philosophy can change, be willing to accept new ideas and make adjustments where necesary.

Are you in the Toronto area and want a quote for window cleaning? Call the Toronto Window Cleaner at 647-409-8144 or visit my webiste at http://mmwindowcleaners.com

Damn! It's cold!

Damn It's Cold

Today, was a freezing day. The windows were whipping up, and the windchill was making it feel like -20.

For some reason, the windchill factor seems to have an effect on the water. Even though the windchill factor was designed to show how cold it feels for a human. Windy days tend to make the water freeze at the windchill temperature, not the actual temperature.

On cold days like this I dress warm. When it's below -10 (14 Fahrenheit) I wear snowboarding pants, or snowpants. I wear a thermal shirt, a solar fleece, a heavy goose down jacket, a touque, and for hand protection, I use snowboarding mitts (Kidd by Eskimo). I wear very warm boots.

I have been having problems with my boots. Although I spend a lot of money, on apparently good quality boots, I still tend to get a little bit of water in my boots. Which should never happen.

To keep the water from freezing, I use Methyl Hydrate (AKA, Methyl Alcohol). Using this product I can work at levels of lower windchills, then windshield washer fluid. I also don't like the soap in WWF, and I think I spend less money usning methyl hydrate than wwf.

I encounter a problem with working on these extremely cold days. It's hard to squeegee with a lot of methyl hydrate because the liquid is thinner, no matter how much soap is added, it can't soften the water so it's easier to squeegee. My water seemed when applied to the windows not to be even, heavy to squeegee too. Perhaps I'll have to add some softener or easy squeegee solution.

On days like this people wonder why you are cleaning the windows. But of course, on days like this, with snow on the ground, and sidewalks oversalted the windows are just filthy.

Word of advice - invest in boots. Make sure - that you get waterproof, warm boots if you live in a cold climate. Before I got these boots, I had very cheap boots, that made my feet freeze. As soon as your feet feel cold, you simply can't work, simple as that. Invest in boots.

I tend to go with very bulky warm clothes, instead of layering. However, I've reduced the amount of cotton I wear (T-Shirts, undershirts etc) I wear, since I found that I either feel overdressed, or it stiffles me.

What a winter it's been.

setting pricing

Pricing is one of the most important factors in your business. And in business, pricing is one of the 4 types of marketing. Pricing is vital if you wish to stay afloat, and thrive in business.

Of course in different parts of North America pricing the price of the cost of living varies. In big cities like Toronto, one needs to price higher, and window cleaning companies in general may price higher in big cities like this. In Toronto the cost of housing is high (although housing prices are expected to be flat or drop). An average house here costs $370,000. Rent goes for about $1000/mth for a two bedroom, and the price of gas is about $1.10/litre. Prices in general are a little higher here than in some small towns.

So when setting pricing, you may charge a little higher in a bigger town like here than in the boonies.

However, one thing that seems to be similar everywhere is competition. There are tons of window cleaners in Toronto.

When setting your prices it is better to go from a high point, and then gradually lower the price you are offering if you are not breaking through. When starting out you would want to target larger places if possible, so that your route can grow faster, and you may have customers that take the window cleaning more seriously.

Before starting out, you might want to consider not quitting your day job, or having your spouse work more, so that you are not under extreme financial pressure. It's good to be hungry for work, but if you start in a desperate look for work, you may be tempted to price very low at the beginning which causes problems down the road.

A reasonable price is very important. Consider this, you have ordinary expenses to pay to run a business, gas, insurance, equipment, depreciation, and taxes. You also have unpaid labour you do for your business, canvassing, bookkeeping, meeting with the accountant. In addition you start out in business as an investor, hoping to have a good return on your investment in money and time. So don't feel like you are pricing too high if you are targeting $60, $70, or $80/hr (averaged over the day's work). You are an investor, you work tireless unpaid for long hours, and you have bills to pay. You are not an employee, who merely works 8 hours, only does a minimum of unpaid lobour, and has benefits like workers comp, unemployment insurance, and an employer paying into your old age pension (in Canada at least). You are the owner of a company, an investor, and a tireless unpaid labourer.

If you start out pricing too low, you will find it hard to raise prices later on, you may struggle, as many have working many hours, but not seeing a lot of profit. You may be working hard, but find it hard to hire an employee, because you can't pay him a decent wage. Or you may find expenses so high, that you feel you must cut corners by doing shoddy work, skipping windows (that are dirty), skimping on equipment, having a beatup car, an not being able to take a decent vacation. The worst thing is to feel like a slave of your business.

As an example, I've been able to secure many contracts with big stores, charging about $1 or $1.25/per window/per side.

You may worry that pricing at a higher level will make you lose a lot of jobs, when someone cheaper comes along. Well, I've been window cleaning for six years, and that has rarely happened. When someone is happy, and you maintain a good relationship with them, and you do quality work, they won't look for someone else. Think about it, if they quit with you, who they trust, they have to risk having a bad window cleaner take over that they regret using. People aren't as attached to price as you may think.

And no, I don't work in a dream, or pie in the sky market, Toronto is ultra competitive. In Toronto which is a large city of 5 million people. The window cleaners run the gambit, there are bums who clean windows for alcohol, drugs, who are very unreliable. There are window cleaners on bike, usually not very good, but there have been a few good bike cleaners, there are those who have been window cleaning for years and never raise their price, they skip windows, skip cleans just keep things going. They usually have a beat up car, work like a dog, and don't really see the fruits of their labour. And there are some window cleaners who price decently, do good work, and are picking up new jobs regularly, while holding onto their existing clients. A friend of mine did a search of all listed companies in the Toronto area and counted 350, and I'm sure there is many more than that.

Toronto is doing ok economically, there is no subprime market mess here, but the economy here is sorta lukewarm, unemployment here is higher than the rest of Canada, business in the core, find it hard with high business taxes, and there is high competition so there is no pie in the sky dream market.

Pricing at a higher level enables you to have a leverageable business, you can hire and keep good employees paying them well, you can enjoy vacations or whatever you do to refresh yourself, you can earn dividends on the good investment your window cleaning makes as you sell route, have employees or sell franchises. Plus all the hard work you did at the beginning of the business you get paid back for.

Of course pricing takes a certain amount of experimentation. You may start out a bit too high, or realize you are not charging enough. It is useful to learn more about your market, your cost of living and what others charge. But in the end, look at what you want to make.

But remember don't price like you are the employee because you are not.

Price at a high level, and work from there, target larger jobs, be persistent, and make changes where necessary.

negativity

Negativity is something that you should not listen to too closely in establishing your business. It is a corrosive influence that stops you from pursuing your dreams, establishing a business, or pursuing a direction in your business.

All around the world, in every business there are people saying that something cannot be done. That you can't make money doing something. That a certain venture is unimportant, or all prospective customers are price shoppers who will dump you when someone less expensive comes along.

Of course, when weighing a particular venture, you cannot go in with rose coloured glasses, you must weigh the positives and negatives, but be careful who you are listening to. If you are listening to a person who is unsuccessful (in other ventures too), or didn't try hard enough, then why are you listening? If you are listening to someone who tried every possible method and failed and perhaps is very successful at something else, then he may be worth listening too. Often though, you got to give something a try, and learn from your mistakes. It has often been said that successful entrepreneurs make mistakes.

Why am I saying all this? Well, I have pursued commercial and storefront window cleaning for 6 years, and have been successful both as a franchisee and the initial success I'm enjoying as a independent, incorporated business. Yet over and over again, people say you can't make money at storefront, the customers are price choppers, and they don't care about their windows being cleaned.

If you listen to the crowd, you will never try this lucrative work. So if you want to learn more about pursuing this endeavour ask me, or whatever new venture you are getting into, ask those who know, don't ask those who gave it a half hearted try, or are just repeating what others say.

If one listens to the negative voices, we would never fly, go to the moon, or run space missions. There are always those who say something cannot be done.

What separates a great entrepreneur from a failure. Persistence. Sometimes things don't work out right away, a particular method you are using is failing, or you are pursuing the wrong market. A successful entrepreneur keeps trying before giving up, whereas the negative voices often try a little bit then give up.

Are you in the Toronto area and want your windows cleaned? Call Mike the Toronto Window Cleaner at 647-409-8144

The trap of being busy

Are you busy? How's business? These questions are like the how do you like the weather questions for business people.

They are good conversation starters, and are an enjoyable start to a discussion. However in those words lie a trap.

like alcohol for an alcoholic, being busy is like the alcohol for a business person. Being busy often makes us forget, or not realize that our business is floundering or not established properly.

It feels good to be busy, it makes us think that we are successful, because we have work, we have customers, we get paid, and it seems like we are building our business. But therin lies a trap. Often business people who work very hard, feel that they are successful, that they have built a good window cleaning route, or other business. However, they may be fooling themselves.

I know how good it feels to be busy. When establishing my business, it was scary. It was extremely worrying and frustrating to spend days canvassing, and not get any clients. I doubted myself, I wondered am I pricing to high? Am I targeting the wrong clientele? Is there too much competition? It was scary.

However, as I got some new clients, and as I cleaned windows, I felt good, I felt like business was rolling in, that my business principles were sound, and I was targeting the right people and pricing well. Being busy made me feel good. Because let's face it, men especially, need to work, and window cleaning for me fills that need for work.

However, when you look out in the world of small business and especially window cleaners. The busiest window cleaners are often slaving. They price too low, they wonder why they find it hard to make ends meet, they start cutting corners, feeling frustrated in not having good help they don't take vacations, they might leave their jobs for a few weeks to take the vacation. Being busy hides the flaws of their business, and lets face it, one of the biggest flaw is pricing. Often they have so much work because there prices are very low. But yet, pity them, they can't make ends meet, they cut corners, causing problems with their customers, they miss doing jobs because they are too busy, they work out of a beat up car that is always in the shop, they don't take vacations and get needed rest, and they might take chances with the equipment they use. But they don't know, they are so busy they think they are succesful. They might also fear raising prices, but their busy ness is the main problem, clouding their judgment, hiding the problems.

Most people equate busy ness with success. If you say that you only work a little bit each week, people think you are strange, and unsuccessful. They worry about you, even though your business is unfolding the way it should, and you are building a good well established business. You might look at a store, and if they are not busy assume they are going out of business. Most people equate busy ness with success. That is not true.

You can build a successful business through pricing with good margins, you wouldn't need to work as much, you don't need to cut corners, you don't need to skimp on equipment, you can take nice vacations, and hire help, and get away from being a technician, just working on running your business.

Stop looking at how much you are making, and look at how much you are charging. One of the biggest factors in your success is looking at your profit margin, making it as big as you can given market conditions and then marketing it to the appropriate parties.

Stop worrying about busyness, worry about profit margins instead.

Are you in the Toronto area and want your windows cleaned? Call Mike, the Toronto Window Cleaner at 647-409-8144