I have a new found respect for those who wash windows professionally, there is a definite art to the process. Allow me to tell you my story.
I was doing what any new business does, making cold calls to local businesses to see if I could help them in any way. I spoke with a very kind owner and asked about her current cleaning situation. She mentioned they have a small office and does the cleaning themselves. I kindly thanked her for her time and told her if she ever needs anything please don’t hesitate to call.
5 minutes later she called back and said she HATES cleaning the outside windows. I honestly told her I do not clean windows (I have never done it before) and told her I would contact one of my competitors and ask them to help out. After I hung up the phone with my competitor I immediately felt remorse. I couldn’t believe that I actually turned down an opportunity to help someone in my community.
I attempted to call the company owner back to offer my services but they had left for the day. I regretted my decision all weekend and knew I had to make this right. We are a new business and need to take advantage of any opportunity.
To fix this I walked down to the business, introduced myself as the dummy who turned down an opportunity and asked if I could clean their windows for free. The owner looked at me in amazement and happily allowed me to give it a shot. I told her I just wanted the experience so I could understand the process and potentially add window washing to our business plan.
I watched a couple YouTube videos and read a few articles to gather some tips. These people make it look sooo easy to make a streak-free surface but let me tell you it is NOT. Armed with my newly found knowledge, a new squeegee, extendable pole, bucket, step stool and two old milk jugs filled with water and dish soap, I began my journey.
I quickly realized my step stool was not nearly tall enough, my skills were subpar and my extendable pole was not of a high quality. Many people walked by and offered words of encouragement, they must have been able to see the pain in my eyes. Finally; success! I worked for about an hour with the tools I had and made the windows shine!
This was a great lesson and experience. I was humbled but the results were great. I am happy to say that Clean Impact Commercial Cleaning now offers window cleaning as a service. I may not make it look as easy as they do on YouTube but the final result is nothing short of amazing. Thank you for the opportunity!
