Jon Herseth, of J's Windows, uses a large squeegee to clean off the the glass doors of Rose Fashion Optical on a mild Wednesday morning in St. Louis Park. Credit Andy Blenkush. Cleaning windows used to be a full-time endeavor for Jon Herseth, owner of J's Windows. Now he does it only a few hours a week for a little fun money, Herseth said. On a warm Wednesday morning, he picked up a few of those hours.
Estrada at helm of Fish Window Cleaning franchise: El Monte - David Estrada wants to brighten your world - and when his Fish Window Cleaning crew arrives at your home or business, that's exactly what happens. Estrada opened his Fish Window Cleaning franchise last month in El Monte and he's already secured more than 20 customers. The business provides window cleaning services to commercial and residential customers in San Gabriel, El Monte, Monrovia, Rosemead, Temple City, Duarte, Baldwin Park, Azusa and Alhambra. "I launched the franchise in the beginning of February," Estrada said. "Right now we're doing all commercial. But we're going into residential areas in time for spring cleaning."
The business represents a radical departure for Estrada, who said he was ready for a change. He previously taught American and world history and worked as an assistant principal and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Phoenix, Southern California campus. "I just had to figure out what I was doing ... I had to take that leap of faith," he said. "I wanted to do something different and this is as different as you can get. I did a complete 180."
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| David Estrada, owner of Fish Window Cleaning, poses at his El Monte office. His business provides window cleaning services to commercial and residential customers throughout the San Gabriel Valley. |
Before launching his business, Estrada completed four weeks of pre-training and an eight-day training program at the Fish Window headquarters in St. Louis. "It was very intense - and very comprehensive," the 52-year-old Temple City resident said. "I learned about the business, the marketing, branding, personnel ... everything you need to know. The history of Fish was presented to us and we learned that it's been very successful. So I just need to follow the plan."
And marketing? Estrada does it the old-fashioned way. "We go door-to-door, knocking up and down the boulevards," he said. "That's the only way to do it. I present my card and let people know what we're all about. Many businesses haven't had someone approach them for window cleaning. They may already be using someone, but we remind them that we'll show up and be there."
Tri-State Employment in El Monte is one of Estrada's customers. Johnette Aguilar, branch manager for that location, said Fish Window has been a pleasure to work with. "They have done a really good job," she said. "They come by every other week, they're always on time and they are pretty much perfectionists. He tries different liquids to get rid of the water stains and they've even come on their own time to redo it if they thought it didn't look right." The company offers interior and exterior window cleaning as well as cleaning of gutters, chandeliers, mirrors, ceiling fans, construction areas, skylights, screens and window sills. Fish Window Cleaning has 239 locations in the United States and is the largest window cleaning company in the country.
When opportunity knocks: A young Blenheim man has taken a job redundancy and turned it into an opportunity, starting his own business just two months later. Brook Millar, 24, had for three years been trying to get into the marine mechanic business after a move to Havelock. He was eventually lucky and landed a job, but just before last Christmas was let go. "It was pretty rough at the time," said the former Marlborough Boys' College student. "I tried looking for jobs but of course no-one wants to employ anyone over Christmas." He toyed with a few ideas, including pursuing his passion for mechanics, in which he is self taught. However, he soon decided to use his experience in a business he had worked in for three years from the age of 16.
"I worked in forestry and tree-felling and I had a few tools so I decided to start my own property maintenance business," said Brook. "Now I do lawn-mowing, tree-trimming, tree-felling, water-blasting, gutter cleaning, window cleaning – whatever anybody wants done." "I can do lawnmower repairs and I can use my metal detector to find things for people like lost rings in gardens," he said. "I've already found two rings in Nelson." Getting started wasn't cheap and Brook was forced to sell his pride and joy – a Mazda RX7 – in order to raise money to buy the tools he needed to get his business off the ground. "I had it for about four years. I built it from the ground up," he said. "I just had to sell it to get some money behind me."
Brook operates under the name Havelock Property Maintenance, but stresses that he works much farther afield. "I go from Havelock down the Kenepuru Sounds, Picton, Blenheim. I jumped into it without knowing and took a big risk, but it's going really well. The community have been really supportive. I always wanted to run my own business. I had enough of working for people who can let you go, so I'm doing it."
A window washer lowers himself from a high-rise office builbing on a sunny day in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke).
3. Canvasing. This is a common practice among groups and Greek organizations in college. Build a guerrilla PR team and start canvasing, helping to market yourself both online and offline. This could be in the form of offering free window washing services in the downtown area for executives or flash mobs at public areas, or events if you are a creative. Online your PR team can promote you by recommending you on LinkedIn, commenting and promoting your blog, and singing your praises. Divide and conquer is an great strategy that will provide fantastic results in half the time.
Siding and windows: Use a power washer and start at the highest point to avoid washing dirt down onto clean areas. Pressure washers also make window cleaning easier. But be careful using them on wooden areas such as decks and window frames. The force of the spray often damages the surface of porous materials like wood. Screens and filters: The best way to clean window screens is to lay them flat on a cloth or soft surface outdoors to keep the frames from getting scratched. Then, hose them down and scrub gently with an all-purpose cleaner. Finally, rinse the screens again and tap off any excess water.
Skelmersdale band Element all set to release their second album: Adam is a graphic designer, Alex works in a paint shop, Andy works for a telecommunications company and Rob is a window cleaner. And the group, who have supported the likes of Diamond Head, Panic Cell, Evile, and underground signed acts such as Strain, RSJ, I-Remain and Speed Theory are now hoping they will soon be able to rely on their music as their main source of income. Having released their first album by themselves, they now feel ready to work with a label.
Three years ago, a window washer survived a 47-story fall in Manhattan. Schaberger fell 9 feet and was pronounced dead on arrival at Lutheran Medical Center. Doctors said he had suffered a broken neck. They added that relatively short tumbles can be deadly because you do not have time to break your fall. Villanueva exploded into a blind fury as the police sought to handcuff him. The sudden, unreasoning violence of the moment proved anew that a domestic violence call, like a bomb disposal call is never really routine. Witnesses say that Villanueva pushed Police Officer Alain Schaberger with both hands. Schaberger went over the 21-inch railing and pitched from the low stone stoop into an exterior stairwell that is as narrow as a grave. In the late morning, cops hung the black and purple bunting over the Gold St. stationhouse to signal that the 84th Precinct was in mourning.
Manila, Philippines - Just a thought: Undertake something that is difficult. It will do you good. Unless you try something beyond what you have mastered, you will never grow. The jobs you'll hate: Excavating then siphoning wastes is the most detestable of all jobs but most challenging is being a window cleaner for a day. Comedian turned reality TV host Pekto (real name Mike Nacua), a marine engineer by educational training, adds that paddling a boat (bangkero) in Pangasinan is, by far, the most physically tiring of all professions. Pekto says so with the first hand knowledge and experience of someone who has seen it all – been there, done that. Barral, a harmless-looking woman, insists on pushing her two hosts to conquer their fears. Aware that both Carmina and Pekto are fearful of heights, she sent them on an errand recently to play window cleaners in one episode. Pekto managed to climb up to the 10th floor of the GMA Building along EDSA to wipe its windows clean. Carmina settled for the third floor only. Both hosts came down to earth with horror stories about hanging in there and almost throwing up on the great EDSA while crying their hearts out.
Miraculous tales of survival filled the 13th day of the inquest into the west Cumbrian shootings yesterday. As the net closed in on killer taxi driver Derrick Bird, he tore through the Eskdale Valley, shooting indiscriminately at walkers and bystanders. He shot and injured three people en route with rifle blasts to the face, the inquest heard, and shot at but missed many more. Those who were injured – Jacqueline Lewis (pictured), Fiona Moretta and Nathan Jones – told the hearing that they were recovering well since the traumatic events of June 2. Yesterday’s evidence picked up with Bird, 52, travelling out of Seascale, where he had shot dead three people and injured another, and into Drigg. On Old Shore Road, he shot 70-year-old Jacqueline Lewis once in the face and left her for dead in a grassy verge at the side of the road. She still has part of the .22 bullet lodged in her brain, the inquest heard. “I have no recollection of it whatsoever,” said Mrs Lewis, who was walking into Drigg to visit her daughter and run some errands when she was hit. “I woke up, flat on my face, on the ground. I did not know I had been shot until a week later when I woke up in Newcastle Hospital.” Two passing window cleaners, David Crowe and Carl Walnsley, spotted Mrs Lewis injured at the roadside and attended to her until the emergency services arrived.
Here is a sample of the stories I have been told in my quake-stricken home city of Christchurch: A friend gave mouth-to-mouth to a fallen man, through blood and bone and crushed teeth. The man died. Another, racing down the hill in his car to get to his young son at school, being blocked by rockfall, getting on a bike, arriving marginally further, ditching the bike, running, rounding the corner, seeing the collapsed cliff that had buried the back half of the school. The son is alive. A third, trapped on the first floor of a building with 25 students, being rescued by a nameless window cleaner who smashed the window and accompanied every person down his ladder, guiding their every step until everyone came out safe.
SIOUX CITY – Travis Netten, a college senior who loves listening to country singer Jason Aldean and hanging out with his friends, may not look like an entrepreneur. But the Northwestern College business administration major is ready to take on the corporate world, one paint stroke at a time. Netten is a franchise manager for College Pro Painters, a company that gives college students a chance to pay for their schooling by running their own painting and window-cleaning business. Operating in 28 states and seven Canadian provinces, College Pro encourages its franchise managers to hire other local college students as house painters and window contractors as a way to help with their schooling. “College Pro is giving me a terrific opportunity to succeed at run my own business. I look forward to passing along that opportunity to the next young entrepreneur.”
Intruder bitten by elderly woman in south Manchester: A 70-year-old woman has fought off two intruders who attacked her in her south Manchester home. The woman bit the arm of one of the men as they tried to remove bangles from her wrists after forcing their way into her home on Southlea Road, Withington. The men had posed as window cleaners and pushed through the victim's door when she refused them entry at about 1500 GMT on 3 March. They ran off empty-handed after the struggle. Both men are described as white and in their 20s. One had short hair and wore a blue T-shirt. The second was wearing a check-style shirt. Pc Andy Willetts said: "These men tried to prey on the vulnerability of an elderly woman but thankfully she wasn't hurt and they didn't take anything. "I would urge residents to stop and think before they open a door and, if possible, look out of the window or spy hole to check whether you know the caller.
240 Twin Cities janitorial workers to lose jobs after ICE audit - ST. PAUL - Harvard Maintenance is the latest employer in the Twin Cities to fire workers amid scrutiny from immigration officials. The janitorial service is firing 240 undocumented workers who clean office buildings in the Twin Cities - about half its local work force - after Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a workplace audit, said Service Employees International Union Local 26, the union that represents the workers. The government audit found many of the company's workers lacked the documentation needed to work legally in the U.S.
The dismissals at Harvard, expected to take place in the next week or so. Javier Morillo, president of SEIU Local 26, which represents some 5,000 Twin Cities janitors and window cleaners, said in a statement: "Our community is traumatized. "Almost systematically, the federal government has become an employment agency for the worst employers, pushing hardworking people into the underground economy where they face exploitation by bad-actor corporations."
Getting funny to raise money: The county turned into a sea of red yesterday as thousands of people got ‘Funny for Money’. From schools and playgroups to gyms, shops and dentists, everyone seemed to be doing their bit for this year’s Red Nose Day. And special mention goes to window cleaner Duncan Wileman, who had 36 piercings in his back to raise £100. The 29-year-old from Carterton said: “To be honest, it wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. I was more painful when she was taking them out.” The piercings were made into the shape of a red nose and red cotton was threaded through them, in a two-hour process. Mr Wileman added: “A couple of people were watching in the shop, but turned away, saying I was a brave man. But it’s all been worth it.”
See previous blog here.
Window cleaner Kevin Pearson, who in the past has completed a 24-hour ‘window cleanathon’ to raise funds for Haiti, will this year be strumming his way to a target of £1000 by busking in Wells High Street this Saturday. He can also be contacted on 07914 641643 for donations.
