Slashers & Window Cleaners Falls

If you wear different hats - you're a slasher.

'Slashers' Find Challenges, Satisfaction in Multiple Jobs - You're a "slasher" if: People ask what your job is and you can't come up with a simple, one- or two-word explanation. You work at one thing in the morning and something else in the afternoon, evening or weekend. A portion of your workday is devoted to balancing equally pressing but often conflicting demands on your time.

"Slashers" are self-employed people who juggle multiple jobs, sometimes related, sometimes not. According to career experts, during a tight job market it's common to see people of all ages, including those over 40, taking on extra work for the extra cash. SecondAct asked people who've adopted the "slasher" life to talk about what they do, how they got started and what they've learned about juggling multiple gigs. Last week we published Part I in this occasional series.

Bill "Stretch" Coleman, 58, residential window and blind cleaner/stilt walker/entertainment company owner in Denver.

How I got started: I started the window-cleaning business 28 years ago. My partner Jerry and I were on our way to a dinner party and the sun was shining on some very dirty windows. Jerry ran off some fliers on his boss's copier, I hung them on about 100 doors, and our business was off and running. We made about $11 an hour that first day. Years later I embarked on a second childhood as a stilt performer with the Colorado Clowns. My first parade was as a 9-foot-tall Uncle Sam. I have a variety entertainment company with stilt walkers, dancing Christmas trees, giant parade puppets, a bubble tower and group play activities. We (go to) fairs, festivals and special events within 1,000 miles of Denver.

My typical day: I start my day with coffee and the computer, responding to email, researching festivals and events, and designing clown props. Monday is usually administration day. Tuesday through Friday is window and blind cleaning. On weekends, I entertain at festivals, parades and special events. Both businesses are seasonal, with February being the slowest month of the year; June through September is very busy.

Best part: The best part of being self-employed is the continuous challenge to create.

Biggest challenge: Self-discipline. Being creative and simultaneously exercising self-discipline is like mixing oil and water.

Best tip: Be self-aware. Know what you don't want to do, and be willing to explore the things you might want to do.

Updated: Window cleaner injured in fall: A window cleaner has been injured after falling while working on a house in Southend. The man fell from a ladder while cleaning first-floor windows at a house in Parkstone Drive at about 9.05am. He was taken to Southend Hospital where he is being treated for a head wound and injuries to his ribs and wrist. His condition is not thought to be life-threatening.

Dauphin County judge praises victim, sends child molester to state prison: After praising the victim for her fortitude, Dauphin County President Judge Todd A. Hoover this morning imposed an 11-to-22-year state prison sentence on convicted child molester Gary Brown. Brown, 67, of Dauphin, pleaded guilty in May to charges that he had molested the victim almost daily between 2001 and 2003, when she was ages 13 to 15. The victim, who is now in her 20s, told Hoover that Brown told her the abuse was "OK with God." Hoover applauded the woman, who asked that Brown be sent to prison, for not allowing the abuse to overwhelm her life. She excelled in school, earned college scholarships and has begun a career in the medical field.

Brown said he has "rededicated my life to Jesus Christ. I am doing all I can to atone for what I have done." Defense attorney Herschel Lock said the molestation might have stemmed from injuries Brown suffered decades ago when he fell several stories from Strawberry Square in Harrisburg while working as a window washer. Hoover didn't buy that as an excuse for what he termed Brown's "persistent deviant behavior." "To me, it's a great loss that you were in her life at all," the judge told Brown.