Confessions Of A Female Window Cleaner

When most people think of cleaning windows it is more likely that an image of George Formby strumming his ukulele will spring to mind rather than one of a nineteen year old girl setting up her own business. However if you happen to be passing through Insch you might well see Emma Hynds whilst she is on her window cleaning round. Emma set up her business, with the support of Enterprise North East, via Business Gateway, just two months ago and has already established a core client base of more than twenty regular customers.

Emma left school at sixteen and went on to college to complete an access to nursing course. On completion of the course, Emma decided to join her step-dad on his window cleaning round. Having worked with him for a year, she decided to take the plunge and set up her own business providing window cleaning services.

Emma comments, "Having worked with my step dad on his window cleaning round for a year, I knew that it was something that I would enjoy doing. Window cleaning might seem a far cry from nursing but a lot of the skills are transferable, for example I find it easy to chat with people and build relationships with them quite quickly – something that is extremely important in window cleaning as it is vital that people are able to trust me. Once I had decided to set the business up I contacted Enterprise North East to see what help they would be able to give me. I admit that I was daunted by the thought of setting up my own business when I didn’t have any business experience, but the people at Enterprise were extremely approachable and helpful. They advised me to attend an Introduction to Business session. The training was run by professionally qualified business advisors and was invaluable. It covered areas such as market research, business planning, creating business success, business promotion, legal issues and understanding finance."

To generate clients for her business Emma delivered cards to houses in the area that she covers with her window cleaning service, but she has found that word of mouth and being seen by people whilst she is on her rounds has been the best form of advertising for her new business.

After she had attended the Introduction to Business training course Emma was assigned a business advisor, Evelyn Watt, who was able to provide Emma with on going one to one advice.

Evelyn comments, "As part of the Business Gateway three year aftercare process we contact the new business once they have been up and running for three months, this enables us to find out if they require any advice or assistance. Equally if they feel the need to contact us for any reason at any other time we are just at the end of the phone."

Emma comments, "The relationship with the advisor is very important. I know that if there is any information or advice that I need in relation to the business, no matter how daft the question might sound or how straight forward it might appear to someone else, I can call my advisor and she will provide the information I need. It’s like having my own personal sounding board. All the people that I have come into contact with through Enterprise have been very supportive right from the outset when I first approached them with my idea."

When Emma is not cleaning windows she is actively marketing the business to expand her customer base. As far as she knows Emma is the only female window cleaner in the area, "People generally do a double take when they see me out on my rounds, cleaning windows."

Emma Hynds Window Cleaning Service is based in Insch and can be contacted on 01464 821049.