Q & A With An Indonesian Window Cleaner

My Jakarta - Joko, High-Rise Window Cleaner: It is amazing what people can overcome when they put their minds to it. Take Joko, for example. This window cleaner at Menara BCA in Thamrin, the tallest office building in Indonesia, has learned to put aside fear as he sways in the breeze high above Jakarta. The 25-year-old has been cleaning the same office windows for three years now and shares with us what it feels like to hang 56 floors above the earth.

Don’t your knees get weak when you’re outside looking down from the 56th floor of Menara BCA?
I was committed to doing it from the very first time, so I’m not scared. And now that I’ve been cleaning office windows for three years, I’m used to it.

Don’t you ever worry that the rope might break and the gondola fall to the ground?
Luckily that has not happened to me. And it’s very unlikely to happen because we were all trained and tested at the start. We also use all the necessary safety equipment: harness, helmet, goggles, safety shoes, gloves, carabiner and so on. Just like rock climbing.

We? How many people go on the gondola with you?
There are three of us; an operator, myself and another cleaner. There’s also a supervisor watching us from the top floor.

Can you take visitors on the gondola with you? You could charge money, like skydiving or bungee jumping.
We only take guests who have obtained permission from the office management. But we haven’t taken any guests since I’ve worked here.

That’s too bad. It could be the next big thing. So how often and how long are you out there?
We clean six days a week, unless it rains. We clean about 20 floors a day, starting at 6 a.m. through till 2 p.m.

Wow, you hardly touch the ground for eight hours straight. Don’t you ever want to take a break and go for a walk?
Well, after 2 p.m. I go back to my parents’ house in Jatinegara and rest.

So no coffee break or time to relax while you are on the gondola?
[Laughs] No, but I find it enjoyable to view Jakarta from above, places like Ancol. But I especially like Mount Putri, which is visible in the morning.

That’s so cool. I didn’t know you could see a mountain from Thamrin. What about animals?
I saw a bird once. It was a short-faced tumbler. It came flying into the glass. I think it got dizzy because it paused for a little while before flying away.

What do you do when you go home to Jatinegara?
I own a home-based business renting out three PlayStations. We could have anywhere between three and 15 people playing at our house until 9 p.m. Sometimes I play too. Other times, when I’m tired, I just go to sleep.

Don’t your parents ever complain about the noise?
Their room is upstairs so they don’t really hear it.

What is your favorite food in Jakarta?
The baso [meatballs] in front of the East Mall of Grand Indonesia, just next to Menara BCA and close to a Korean restaurant. The place is called Mie Bloon [Idiotic Noodles].

Is that what do when you finally touch the ground? Eat and hang out at Mie Bloon?
When we are back on the ground, we continue to clean windows at the ground level, like those in the lobby. We also have a briefing with our supervisor after work.

What else do you like about Jakarta apart from the baso?
I like the fact that there are many people from different ethnic groups living in Jakarta.

Haven’t you ever been scared while up there? What about the first time you did it?
The first time, I just prayed that I’d be safe up there. But I don’t get scared. One time it got really windy, but I wasn’t scared, just shocked. I know it’s safe. The gondola is attached to the building so it won’t sway much.

Can you see what people are doing inside the building from out there?
Yes, I can. But people are usually just working.

Do you aspire to be like Alain Robert, the French Spiderman who came here last year and climbed the City Tower with only his hands and feet, no rope, no nothing?
Who? I’ve never heard of him. No, I don’t want to do that.

What do you have planned for the future?
I have a girlfriend and we are getting married this year [blushes].

Bucket & Brush Brothers - A Window Cleaning Business Venture

In my first business venture, I partnered with my younger brother Jeff — we were 10- and 12-years old. With my mother’s non-stop encouragement, we started a window-washing business, Bucket & Brush Brothers. We handed out flyers to the small businesses in our home town, Carlinville, a southern Illinois farm burg of 5,000 people. The charge: $1 per business.

Our first customer was my parents’ business. We washed the windows of their ladies “ready-to-wear” shop on the north end of the town square. My Dad was a tough customer, he had strong ideas on how to wash windows the “right way”.

At our peak, we cleaned the windows for twenty businesses, which we completed in about five hours each Saturday. We were each generating $10 per week, which felt good.

From this early experience, I learned a few lessons.

* Sustaining a business is challenging, it takes discipline and a rigorous commitment. If you let up, you lose customers. If you call in sick, you lose customers. Calling your own shots comes with a responsibility that is unmatched when working for someone else. We shut down the business when I got hired on at Doc’s grocery store as a bag boy.

* A friend once described sky diving as “quintuple thrills”. Fear, excitement, happiness and intense worry are feelings I have when launching a new business — the mix of danger and approval along with the rewards of grinding out solutions to problems. It is an experience that I love to repeat.

* Doing business with a family member or a friend can be a mistake with low odds of success. With F&F, you have trust. Personal loyalty, however, can get in the way of making smart and difficult business decisions. My grandfather described it as “soft heart, soft head”.

* The product may inspire the business, but sales make the business.

* Wipe the squeegee carefully with a dry towel before applying it to the next window. Bring plenty of dry towels or the windows will be marred with ugly streaks.

Master Window Cleaner 2010 - Seth Fensterstock

This years winner of the Master Window Cleaners of America (MWCoA) is Seth Fensterstock of "Windows Only, " a window cleaner serving the NW Washington DC & surrounding area. Seth gets to win all manner of prizes being voted in by members of the MWCoA community seen here. The following is a history of how Seth made his climb up the ladder to achieve the success he now has with MWCoA....

It all started in 1982-83. For a fourth grade report I had to write about what I wanted to be when we grew up. I wrote that I wanted to be a business owner. At the time, I didn’t know what kind of business.

Fast forward to 1991 when I graduated high school. I was looking for a summer job and stumbled upon a newspaper ad looking for window cleaners, $8-$10 an hour. I applied and got the job as a residential window cleaner. The company trained me for two days at $8 an hour, and then sent me out on my own to estimate, clean the windows, and collect the money at the end. I received 30% for my wages and would only see the owner on Fridays when she would drive by the job to collect the weeks worth of checks and give me a couple new squeegee rubbers and refill my dawn dish soap. I was 17 years old and had no idea what I was doing. All I knew was that it seemed I was doing everything except getting the customers. After a week on the job, I knew that one day I would own my own window cleaning company. Problem was I was still just a kid and had no interest in anything but partying and causing trouble.

A year later my Mom moved to Calabash, NC to retire. I followed and moved into an apartment with two friends. I found a job working for a mostly storefront window cleaning company called Windows Only in Myrtle Beach, SC. I found out a few months ago that our own John Lee used to be the Manager before I worked there. My manager, Chuck, was one of the best bosses I’ve ever had. He taught me to fan and use an extension pole. He also put up with me. Yes, I was a hard worker and did my job well, but I was just a young punk a** kid. I brought residential skills to the table and could climb a ladder like a monkey. I lived there for 4-5 years and would struggle to get through the winter every year.

It was about 1996 when I had had enough of the ups and downs of living in a tourist town. I was going nowhere fast!! (I had also had enough of the crazy girlfriend I was living with, but that’s a whole other story!) I decided to move back to my hometown in the Maryland suburbs of DC to start my own window cleaning business. When I moved back, I had nothing. I sold off some stuff to buy a bicycle, which was my only transportation. I moved into a good friend’s basement and got a job working in a bread bakery 5-6 days a week. The owners were nice enough to let me put my business cards out on the front counter, and that’s when it began.

Soon after I accumulated a little cash I was able to buy a 50cc Honda scooter. I would clean storefront windows in the early mornings then go to work at the bakery from 11AM-7PM, 5-6 days a week. On my day(s) off, I would borrow a friend’s car to clean houses.

In 1998, I started dating an old high school friend, now my wife. She really was the one that got me to start thinking about my future, our future. I was just floating around. Sure I was working my butt off non-stop growing my business, but it wasn’t really a business. I knew nothing about business. Insurance? What’s that? To me up to this point it was always full time pay for part time work. But I wanted more.

In August of 1998, with my girlfriend’s help, I officially started Window Only LLC. I was still working at the bakery, but I was able to lower my hours as my business grew little by little. Eventually I was able to quit the bakery and clean windows full time. It was also around this time that I bought my first computer and found the IWCA and the Window Cleaning Network. I suddenly realized that I wasn’t the only window cleaner on the world.

I was still just getting by. It wasn’t until I got married, bought a house, and had my first kid that I realized I have to take this seriously, really seriously. I’m not a kid anymore. Yes, I’m a slacker, but a hard working slacker, if that makes any sense.

Since I’ve been involved in different forums and associations I have learned tons about business and how to run a successful window cleaning company. I’m still getting there, and getting closer everyday. I have grown from a one-man operation with one bucket and a squeegee, to now having two full time employees and one part timer, along with my Wife who does most of the bookkeeping.

I’ve also been able to help many window cleaners with my experiences of trial and error. I’m actually proud to say that I’m the reason a few friends of mine have their own window cleaning businesses. In fact one of them was just elected as a BOD for the IWCA.

For so many years I had to figure out things for myself. I’ve made lots of mistakes and have never claimed to know it all. I really enjoy networking and helping out my fellow window cleaners, and also to help further the professionalism in our industry. Once I can get my business to the level of running itself, my dream is to give back even more and help others start and operate successful window cleaning businesses with as little learning curve as possible.

I seriously can’t believe I was even in the running for Window Cleaner of the Year! There are so many great people in The Master Window Cleaners of America group and so many deserving of the title. Just to be thought of makes me extremely happy and proud. It’s very overwhelming to be voted the winner, and I only hope I can live up to the title.

Window Cleaning Gives Fort Wayne Man Freedom

High-rise window cleaning gives Fort Wayne man freedom: John Nations learned something when he was 17-years-old and building antenna towers. And now it’s paying off 22 years later. “I realized that if you get up in the air you can make some money,” Nations said. He started Nations Building Maintenance five years ago after he got tired of working for someone else. The high-rise window cleaning company is booming. Almost every building over three stories in downtown Fort Wayne gets its windows cleaned by Nations Building Maintenance, Nations said.

In the past, building owners downtown thought cleaning the windows was seasonal. “The companies you had here had then thinking (that),” Nations said. “All these people knew me. For 20 years they’ve seen me doing their work so I had a foot in the door.” That was all he would need to establish his company. He’s expanded the company and for the first time, has two full time employees beside him. There’s something about being hundreds of feet in the air, hanging from a couple of ropes and watching the sun come up. “I guess it just gives me a sense of freedom,” Nations said. “I feel more in touch with my creator.” Although he enjoys hanging from skyscrapers, Nations said he’d like to get some smaller, residential jobs. “If it’s dirty, I’ll clean it. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is,’ Nations said.

Wagtail Winner + Haiti & a Hawk

The winner of the Wagtail Competition is Tony Dillon (pictured) of "Dillon Projects" in St. Helens, Merseyside. Well done Tony, the newest 14" & 18" Wagtail Whirlwinds are winging there way to you tomorrow. Watch out in the next few days on this blog for another chance to win some Wagtails. Thanks to all that entered. Don't forget the other two competitions running at the moment for the set of ladder-twins & Marks "window cleaning skills" DVD.

Friends of Eddie Perry are celebrating the good news they received after wondering about the fate of the Columbia man who was visiting Haiti when an earthquake devastated the country Jan. 12. Perry, 50, owner of Atlas Window Cleaning, was in Haiti doing volunteer work at an orphanage in the Haiti countryside. Damon Greenfield, a friend of Perry’s who often joined him on his trips to Haiti, said he went by Perry’s home on Monday. “I couldn’t track down his family. He has two sisters who are married and I didn’t know their married names,” Greenfield said. When he went to his friend’s house, a neighbor came over to report that Perry had been able to call from Haiti and was safe. “They had no food and water for five days, but he was able to get to someone with a phone and let people know he was OK,” Greenfield said. “We are so thankful for this good news.” Perry is scheduled to return from Haiti Jan. 28.
The good news received by Perry’s friends has not been universal, however, as images from Haiti continued to circulate, showing the aftermath caused by the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that hit the Caribbean country, killing an estimated 200,000 people injuring another 250,000. A powerful aftershock shook the city early on Wednesday, although it was not immediately clear what additional damage or injuries it caused.

Hawk hired to scare off Holyrood pigeons flies away for good: Tweed, a Harris hawk, who was drafted in at a cost of £44,000 to scare pigeons away from the Holyrood building, has gone AWOL. He is understood to have moved to Salisbury Crags, near the parliament. Since its completion in 2004, the £400 million parliament building has been plagued by dozens of pigeons, which roost in the air-conditioning vents and on window ledges. The clean-up bill for the mess left by the "winged vermin" runs into tens of thousands of pounds every year. See here & article near bottom here.

But yesterday, the parliamentary authorities were forced to admit that one of the their birds of prey, which they hoped would end the problem, had apparently given up the fight and flown off.
It was unclear whether, after six and a half months of effort, the eight-month-old hawk had got fed up of the edict that prevented him from actually killing any pigeons. The ruling was imposed as a condition of the hawks, work to make sure visiting schoolchildren were not upset. The deal to bring in the hawks was secured last year by NBS Bird and Pest Solutions after other moves, including relocating some pigeons to Ayrshire, had failed.

Since last summer, Tweed and his fellow birds of prey have been seen several times a week flying over Holyrood. A Scottish Parliament spokeswoman said yesterday: "Regrettably, one of our contractor's hawks has gone missing. "However, this does not affect the cost or conditions with the contractor who supplies this service. "The falconry contract is helping us deal with our pigeon problem and seven other birds of prey continue to be flown at Holyrood. "In the long term, we fully expect to see a reduction in the money we spend on external cleaning as a result of pigeons being deterred from the parliament building."

In a report before the decision was made, parliament officials warned, under a section headed "The Risks", that they had assessed the use of three different birds, a red-tailed hawk, a Harris hawk and a Saker falcon, and said: "Both hawks were successful in flying to high points. "The red tail was good at getting into some of the nooks and crannies, but often had problems on landing, failing to stop, and on one occasion flew into the windows of the members' restaurant." However, the report failed to identify the possibility of Tweed going native.

Window Cleaning Skills DVD Competition

Welcome to this weeks "Give-Away." I have a "window cleaning skills" DVD kindly donated by Mark Strange, author of this detailed 72 minute DVD with a handy quick-guide booklet. You have to be registered for the newsletter to enter. Once done, just email me your interest in being included at karl.robinson@telefonica.net to be entered into the competition. For those that haven't, the sign-up form is at the bottom. If you haven't signed up for the newsletter - you don't get a chance to enter the competition.

What's On The DVD?

"Welcome To Professional Window Cleaning" dvd run time is 72 mins and contains the following:

• starter to advanced tool set up
• basic principles of streak free window cleaning
• 5 advanced squeegee techniques for any type of window size or style
• how and when to use a scraper/razor on glass
• using your tools on extension poles for high access work
• examples of specialty tools for tackling hard to reach glass
• what type of cloths work well for detailing glass or wiping up drips
• and so much more...

Click the pictures to enlarge.

Mark Strange has been a professional window cleaner for the last three years. Having a love for sharing information and teaching others, Mark decided to pick up the video camera in the summer of 2008 and started posting tool review videos on YouTube. Later, Mark and Window Cleaning Resource teamed up to produce the 'Tool Talk' tool review series. Fans of the 'Tool Talk' videos really appreciate Marks unbiased take on the tools he reviews. After twenty years of working for others, Mark is so glad that he started up a window cleaning business, "Beautiful View" in Toronto, Canada and really hopes his tutorial DVD will help other new comers. Can't wait? Buy it here now or at WCR. Also check out Mark's pricing guide & written tips.

Don't forget to sign up for the previous competition: The Ladder-twins Giveaway that was posted last week here. The Wagtail results are released tomorrow!

Email Marketing You Can Trust

Window Cleaning Snippets

Rachael Rays daytime talk-show was watched by hundreds of window cleaners in the past week. Titled "Human Lab-Stay Warm," Alex Lambrinides of "window cleaning resource" was on hand to try out some gloves in cold weather. Alex says "They contacted ACWC in late November looking for a window cleaner who wanted to test some cold weather products for the show. I volunteered because I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some tv time in a WCR shirt. Turns out, when you are filming a television show they do not allow any logos or anything that looks like a blatant plug. So, no WCR shirts, no ACWC shirts and they made me look like a goofy tool. But its ok. It was an experience."
"A field producer and a camera crew came to Vernon and filmed me "working" on a mock job (my girlfriends parents house). There they had me test out some gloves that claimed to keep your hands warm. Long story short, they got wet in 1 second and didn't work for me. About a week later I went into the city (nyc) to film the studio segment." "Either way, I will be on the Rachael Ray Show January 15th looking goofy for your entertainment."

Tim Hunter of "Gleaming the view" in Oregon has put out an open invitation to get listed on his site by uploading your window cleaning business details & links. Go here & contact Tim to add your window cleaning business to a growing list.

ABM Industries [NYSE:ABM $20.30 /share] is the largest contractual facilities servicer in America for industrial and commercial properties. About 5% of total revenues come from Canadian operations. The company provides janitorial services (including floor cleaning and finishing, wall and window washing, and other cleaning services) parking, engineering, and security to hundreds of properties throughout North America. They also market janitorial supplies and equipment. The type of services ABM provides are not particularly economically sensitive nor are they readily deferrable. This has shown to be true over many years. Fiscal 2009 (ended Oct. 31, 2009) marked the fourteenth year of the past sixteen that saw higher year-over-year EPS.

Depressed dad found dead by his son: A window cleaner was found hanging at home by his distraught son, an inquest heard. Dad-of-one James Downing took his own life after suffering with depression and financial difficulties, Hartlepool Coroner's Court was told. The 38-year-old was found hanging by his 19-year-old son, James, at his home in Christopher Street, Hartlepool, earlier this week. The court heard his dad had suffered with depression and had sent a text message only hours before he died saying he wanted to hurt himself. He had also taken overdoses twice within the last year before calling relatives for help. Coroner Malcolm Donnelly said: "I'm struggling to find an alternative explanation to that he took his own life. "He would have been aware of the risks involved and the length of time it takes. "The only sensible conclusion I can reach is that he took his own life, probably for reasons only he will know, but he was obviously depressed." The inquest heard that James junior, an apprentice bricklayer, was at his home in the town's Cedar Walk on the morning when he got a phone call from an uncle saying his dad had not turned up for work and asking if he had a key to his house. James junior went round to the house himself and found him hanging from an exercise bar by a belt at 8.40am on Tuesday. He rushed outside and called for help. Police officers arrived at the address and Mr Downing was pronounced dead. Mr Donnelly recorded a verdict of suicide.

Group's goals for creating businesses are ambitious: SCORE is a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration and has 12,400 volunteers in 364 chapters nationwide. Many of them give business advice online and can be brought into the mix when a client needs additional help from outside of the local chapter. Retired and still working volunteers have small-business and corporate experience in most industries. The key is finding the best match for each client. "This new direction for SCORE is exciting and I hope you find it as invigorating as I do," Jeannette Watling-Mills told the local volunteers. She is chairwoman of Manasota SCORE and the owner of Bob's Window Cleaning. "Let's make 2010 the best year ever." But to make it the best year, SCORE would have to beat its previous numbers that SBA reported to Congress. In 2010, it would have to create more than 25,000 jobs and form more than 19,732 businesses nationwide. To help, SBA and Congress increased its funding for the national SCORE Association to $7 million from $5 million.

LORAIN, Ohio - Mike Kennedy's optimism could fill the many vacant storefronts along Broadway Avenue. He purchased his piece of the street about nine years ago, "a vacant building with tumbleweeds in front of it," he says with a laugh. He quickly opened a pool hall in the space, purchased the building next door and added a kitchen. Earlier this month, he turned his enterprise into Road Runners, a bar featuring a stage for live music. He really wants to run charity poker games here and train and pay homeless people to deal the cards. Ohio laws forbid such a vision – at least for now. He's trying to get the laws "tweaked." "I could raise a million dollars for charity," says Kennedy, who runs a window-cleaning business from Lorain.

Popular window cleaner Basil Carpenter from Chingford dies, aged 84. A popular window cleaner with a “kind and gentle” nature has died suddenly, aged 84. Basil Carpenter, of Rolls Park Road in Chingford, was found dead in South Chingford Library last Monday after going there to return some books. The news came as a shock to his wife of 60 years, Pat, 81, and their children Roger and Denise, who said he was very fit and had not been unwell. Mr Carpenter was born in Hackney in 1925, and moved to Brindwood Road in Chingford where he grew up with his two older brothers. As a child he was a Sea Cadet who went on to carry out his national service with the Royal Navy. Following the Second World War, he started his own window cleaning business in Walthamstow, which he continued until his retirement.

A home-made collection of bombs, guns and knives, this is the arsenal found hidden at the Yorkshire home of a bus driver who was a member of the British National Party. Locked away in an untidy attic bedroom, the cache, assembled over 10 years by former soldier Terry Gavan, was so large it took police and counter-terrorism experts six days to complete a forensic survey of the house. Gavan was jailed for 11 years yesterday after pleading guilty to charges relating to 54 improvised explosive devices, including nail bombs and a booby-trapped cigarette packet, as well as 12 firearms. But police later revealed the cache they uncovered was even larger, featuring about 40 knives, a crossbow and arrows, and more than 30 firearms, including pistols, revolvers and a re-activated British Mark I rifle. He was discharged in November 1993 after being jailed for six months at Bradford Crown Court for producing a firearm in a "threatening manner" during an argument in a pub in Dewsbury. Latterly, he had been living with his mother, working as a bus driver and running his own window cleaning business.

Schools forced to spend teaching funds on bills: A Primary school will be forced to pay for heating with money which should be going towards pupils' education after it emerged budget cuts would lead to a £19,000 fuel bills shortfall. Parents campaigning against slashing budgets have issued new warnings to council chiefs that further cuts will also mark the end of specialist music and PE teachers and lead to basic stationery supplies running out. Members of the Edinburgh Parent Council Network (EPCN) have gathered evidence and produced a document to show how budget cuts over the next few years will have a "catastrophic" impact. They warn that every aspect of education provision will be affected, from learning assistants being axed to headteachers being forced to spend more time teaching than managing schools. They say parents are having to foot the bill for basics such as jotters, books, chairs and even window cleaning.

Ex-miners are being urged to make a second claim for Vibration White Finger if their first payout failed to cover a loss of ability to perform simple household tasks. Jordans solicitors has launched a dedicated website providing information on how to reclaim losses on previous compensation claims. Christine Sands, a partner at Jordans, said it appeared many miners were allowed to settle without receiving compensation for a loss of ability to do DIY, car washing and maintenance or window cleaning as a consequence of their symptoms.