Window Cleaning Radio

Franchise Interviews is hosted by Marty McDermott and Don Johnson. If you have ever dreamed about owning your own business, this is the show for you! Marty McDermott is a Business Professor at Kaplan University. Marty has a BS in Marketing, an MBA in International Business and a Post-MBA in Entrepreneurial Studies from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Marty is considered an expert in entrepreneurship and franchising. Don Johnson is the President of Diamond Financial Services of New Jersey and owner of Franchise Interviews. Diamond Financial Services specializes in SBA lending for small and medium-sized businesses. Don is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University and is considered an expert in franchising.

Franchise Interviews: Marty McDermott is meeting with Chad Kunkel, owner to the franchise Fish Window Cleaning. Next time you get in your car, look at all the windows around you: from storefronts, restaurants, office buildings, schools, houses, and strip malls. Businesses and homes all have one thing in common, windows that get dirty. Not only do they need to be cleaned today, but again next week, next month, and next year. Since 1978, Fish Window Cleaning has made keeping these windows clean their business. Click the "blogtalkradio" picture to take you to the Fish franchise 1 hour interview.

Click the picture of Carolyn Monaghan to listen to the radio interview as she hangs over the edge of the ABC building in East Perth, ready to take on the life of a window cleaner. It appears to be a job for thrillseekers, abseiling down buildings, washing windows, and looing inside at the workers inside. And it's what Ken Hitchings does for a living. "I come from a background of a cleaning business and I had two brothers that went into window cleaning," he explains. "At 17 I walked into it and 21 years later I'm still here!" The highest he's been up "on cradles, is 76 storeys. Abseiling, the legal limit is usually around 20 storeys." And it's abseiling that seems to be the most fun. "We just jump over the side and off we go," Ken enthuses, "I have a lot of fun doing it - swinging around and watching the goldfish bowl inside."
And, the sights inside that goldfish bowl can sometimes be distracting. "I've caught a few people out," Ken reveals, "a few guys on early morning internet, and I came across Elle MacPherson in '91 on the Regent Hotel in Sydney - she came up to the window and was in a bit of a lingerie outfit. No one believes me, but it's true. She's like 'hello' and I'm like 'hello!' Took me a while to wash the window!"
That may not be the reason why, but our reporter Carolyn Monaghan then offers to enrol in the job. "I always say women are better abseilers than most guys because they're more flexible," Ken encourages. She comes across one problem though. It's with the chest harness. "I think my chest is larger than yours," she laughingly tells Ken. "They're not built for women!" She eventually gets off the ground. "This is quite fun actually. I'm, only a little way up but I think that's enough for me! "I'm just going to do a little bit of window washing..." "Too slow and missed a spot," is Ken's assessment of Carolyn's efforts. "We'll have to train you up!"