BECOMING A WINDOWCLEANER

Twice a year, from the late 1940s through the 1950s, Dad recruited my brother, my sister and me to clean the windows of our home in Belmont, Massachusetts, a few miles west of Boston. In the Spring, we would take down, and store the wood-frame storm windows. Then we put up the screens. Autumn was a dreaded time because it was then that we cleaned those big, heavy, wood-frame storm windows. In addition, the house windows with their countless small panes needed cleaning. We did not have the professional equipment to do the job right. Like most people, I did not like to clean windows. I avoided the job until absolutely pressed into doing it.

On Sunday, May 1, 1988, at the age of forty-eight, I chose to go skydiving for the first time. It was also my last time. The descent was wonderful until I was near to the ground. My body crash-landed and left me with a compression fracture of one of the vertebrae in my back (L-1), and many bruised muscles. Eleven days were required for the hospital stay plus seven months at home in a brace before I recovered enough to start working again! There was severe pain at first. It lessened as time progressed. I needed to do many exercises to strengthen the injured muscles over the following seven months. There was also plenty of time for prayer and I took advantage of it.

Meanwhile, I had purchased a 1973 Buick Le Sabre four-door for $100 from an Elkhart, Indiana used car dealer with whom I had done a lot of business in the past. Although it was sixteen years old, it turned out to be a dependable car. A previous prayer for a good vehicle had been answered.

I worked briefly with my next-door neighbor during December and January doing some carpentry work. He worked. I helped. I learned a lot about business from Harry. He said that if you do a great job you would always have work. How true it has proven to be.

Later, in the month of January 1989, I got a job selling cars and trucks. It lasted about five weeks. I was let go because I sold only one vehicle. I was devastated and was about out of money.

Four days later on Tuesday, March 1, 1989, I was at a point of desperation. With what little money I had being almost gone, no car, no job prospects, I really needed help. My ways had not worked. (I have since learned that my ways had never really given the best results.) I knelt down and asked God for His answer to my situation. Surrendering as sincerely as I could at that time, I said, "God, I will stay on my knees as long as it takes to get an answer from You." I was prepared to be on my knees for several days if necessary. My back was sore because I was still recovering from the skydiving injury, but it did not matter to me how long it would take. God's answer was definitely needed at this time.
He gave me an answer in only ten minutes! It was a vision that looked like the old-fashioned movie marquee, with light bulbs around the word "WINDOW CLEANING".

Now, I was not really interested in becoming a window cleaner, so I stayed on my knees for another hour. (This was just in case He had a different job for me; something easier, and with a "better image". I was hoping for a job that would allow me to be dressed up with a suit and tie each day.) Nothing changed.

I decided I would be a window cleaner. If God wanted me to be a window cleaner, though, He would need to do a lot for me to get me going and make a way for me, because I had no idea of what it would take to get into the window cleaning business.

I went to the local library and looked in the classified pages of the telephone book under "Window Cleaning". There were several listings here in Berrien County, Michigan, (the far southwestern county) and some in nearby South Bend, Indiana. Then I looked in the Kalamazoo phone book. There were many listings. That was encouraging. I called one company and told them of my interest in starting a window cleaning business. I assured them that since I was fifty miles away it was unlikely there would be any competition for business. I became greatly encouraged by our conversation and the information received. Later, I visited them and returned home with some catalogs and several copies of the American Window Cleaner magazine. It had advertisements for supplies and helpful articles about professional window cleaning.

I started looking for work. I was out of money, but the car had a full tank of gas and I had lots of ambition. I went to many commercial storefront businesses and light industrial buildings offering to clean their windows. Refusals were all I heard. Here are some of the reasons: "My children do it." "The janitorial service does it." and "We hose them off once in a while." This went on for five days. I had to pray earnestly to keep going. Finally, on the sixth day, the owners of a business said, "Give us a quotation." I walked around the small one-story industrial building and figured it was worth $35. It was my best guess. They said, "YES!" Then the wife of one of the owners asked me if I cleaned windows on houses. I gulped and said, "I'll go look." When I got there to do the estimate, I discovered they had a two-story house. Since my back was not yet fully healed, I was not sure I could carry a ladder, even if I had a ladder. However, I made a bid of $90. She said, "YES!" I now had two window cleaning jobs to do. Then I booked another job for $40 at a local business.

Well, here I was with some work to do. I had no equipment, no ladders, and no experience in window cleaning. Most important of all, I had no money. With $65 borrowed from my daughter Michelle, Johnny's Window Cleaning was born. I went to the local janitorial supply company and acquired a few tools. I bought a scrubber, two different size squeegees, a razor scraper for the tough spots, and some gallons of solution. (It was the type of solution used in spray bottles. It was not what I should have used with a squeegee.) I was ready to go. I had no idea of how to clean windows. However, I did know what clean windows should look like.

On Friday morning, March 10, 1989, while preparing to clean the windows on the one-story building, I prayed for the ability to do a nice job on them. I prayed a lot during those days. (I still do today.) I did not spray and wipe the windows. I poured some of the spray solution into the five-gallon bucket and used a scrubber to apply it to the windows. Then I squeegeed the windows clean. They came out looking very good. The owners and I were amazed at the results. My thought was, "I could really get to like this." (I later learned of a better solution with which to clean windows.) The second job that day seemed to take forever. It earned me $40. It would be a while before I could correctly estimate the time required to do a job.

The following day, Saturday, with a borrowed wooden extension ladder and van from my next-door neighbor, I cleaned the windows on the two-story house. The lifting and moving of the ladder caused agonizing back pain. My back had not fully healed. I nearly cried many times during the day as the work progressed.

With the three jobs completed, I had earned $100 over my expenses. It was a good start in the business.

I picked up a few more jobs and borrowed my neighbor's van and ladder a few more times. Within two weeks, I purchased a 1979 Mercury Bobcat station wagon (the Mercury version of the Ford Pinto) with a rack on top to hold the ladders. Since it leaked so much oil, I named the car "Puddles". Puddles had to be parked on the street and a piece of cardboard placed under the engine to catch the puddles of oil that leaked from various parts of the engine. Puddles lasted a year and never did fail me.

I kept knocking on doors to get work. God provided for me. The work was not easy, but it was manageable. I placed an ad in the classified section of the local newspaper. A woman who was renovating houses called me. She needed someone to clean the windows on two homes. I cleaned the windows and did a few other handyman chores for her. During the summer, I worked for her part of the time helping with the renovations on other homes as I continued building the window cleaning business. She provided me with some leads to her friends who needed their windows cleaned. She was a great help to me.

A couple of months after I started cleaning windows, a former employer said he had read in a magazine that many commercial window cleaners use dish soap to make their solution. I tried it and it worked well. The soap provided a degree of slipperiness that allowed the squeegee to glide smoothly over the glass. I was pleased with the results and, especially, the savings.

By October, I was on my own. The monthly commercial accounts were increasing in number. The business grew, as more homeowners wanted their windows cleaned on the inside and the outside. Some chose to have me come back monthly to clean the outside windows. I was busy until the end of the year.

The business was slow during January and February. Not many people wanted their windows cleaned until the snow and the cold weather had passed. I canvassed businesses for work along with doing the monthly accounts. When March arrived, I started canvassing homes again to acquire new customers. To prospective customers I showed my photo album containing pictures of the work I had done. They could see that I was "experienced". More people were saying, "Yes. I'd like to have you clean my windows."

As the business continued to grow, I needed more equipment. A twenty-four foot aluminum extension ladder was the first purchase of the year. Giving my neighbor back his heavy wooden ladder was a delight for me. More window cleaning equipment was also purchased.

I steadily acquired new customers during my second year. The following year was even better. Many new customers came from referrals. The third year showed continued improvement. I have not had to seek work since then. I thank God continuously for His provision and for the multitude of blessings in my life. I had more business than I could handle each year so I shared the extra work with other window cleaners whom I had trained.

My customers have become like a family to me. I have watched their children grow up and get their driver's licenses. I have seen them graduate from high school and college. Some have even married and now have children of their own. What a delight to see.

In 1990, I became a member of the International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA). The International Window Cleaning Association seeks to raise and set new standards in the window cleaning industry, both commercial and residential. It has worked extensively with the federal government to help establish the standards for the use of scaffolding and other descent devices used on high-rise buildings. There are annual conventions that includes product displays by the manufacturers and distributors along with training seminars for the window cleaning business. Safety training programs are especially noteworthy. Extensive training programs on audiotapes and videotapes are available for low-rise and high-rise window cleaning.

How many windows have I cleaned? I estimate it to be over 500,000.

God gave me a great talent to clean windows, and to teach others how to do it. I have trained several people who are now in the business full time and a few who clean windows on a part time basis. I am now going to share my experience with you so you can have windows so clean you can "reach" through them. Your windows will soon be "Johnny Clean".

I hope you enjoyed the story,

Johnny