The Journey of An Entrepreneur: My Story

My Story

If you’re not enjoying what you are doing, it may either be time for a change of job, or it may be time to start your own business. If you’re like me at all, I always had a hard time working for other people and went from job to job to job for most of my life.

Then I landed on window cleaning and really enjoyed cleaning windows.  It kind of became a meditation for me. I found the rhythm of cleaning windows therapeutic.  What made it tough was working for an employer who expected me to do an insane amount of calls in one day.  12 hour days were tough for a beginner!  I had the desire to go on my own and build a client base of my own, yet didn’t know how, nor did I have confidence in my ability to do so.

Some time passed and I ended up leaving that employer. I began to work more as a subcontractor with other guys who had their own business/company and client base. There was already better earnings related to subcontracting as opposed to being an employee and the tax advantages were great, so I continued sub-contracting for a few years.

In the midst of this, I went through a divorce, which took a toll on my confidence. Back then I didn’t have the desire or ambition to even have my own business. A little more time passed, I healed from the divorce experience, and I began to move forward in life by listening to personal development audios and audiobooks while I was cleaning windows.

At this point in my life, listening to those audios helped me start to create a more positive attitude and outlook on life from within. A transformation process had begun within me. I felt like I was being reborn with a new attitude and perspective on life. Since I had spent most of my life struggling with depression and intense anger, this was a major personal breakthrough for me.

In time, I reconnected with a friend from years previous and long story short, we ended up dating, getting engaged, and then married. Since marrying Natasha, life has become even better. She has stood by me and helped me continue to grow. Around the time we got engaged, my ’employer’ (at the time) had to “let me go”, so there I was engaged, unemployed, broke and in debt.

I viewed this as another opportunity to get my own business going. I’d like to say that I persevered and made a success of it at that time, but that would not be true. What happened was I did do a few jobs subcontract jobs in the time leading up to our wedding day. For the most part though I was broke and struggling just to pay rent and have money for food.

After we married, I didn’t know what else to do, so I ended up going back to my first employer doing commercial window cleaning routes. It was pretty exhausting, since I had to get up every day around 4:00 – 4:30am to make it to the early calls, but it was better having a regular paycheque than no paycheque at all.

I stuck with it for as I didn’t know what else to do. I knew I liked cleaning windows for a living more than anything else I had done before. I still had the desire burning within to create my own successful business and I felt kind of trapped in this job that would lead me nowhere. Working for that employer was exhausting and I simply didn’t have any energy left to create my own business on the side.

All I could do at that time was to keep listening to personal development audios while I worked. I kept working on developing a more positive attitude and this helped me endure through the challenges I faced at that time.

In the midst of being at this job, when my wife and I went to a seminar in Bellevue, WA we decided to sign up for the Abundant Living Retreat which would be held at The Westin Mission Hills in Palm Springs, CA in March 2012.

It seemed a little crazy, since it was $4995 (at that time) to sign up and I was still in debt. I was determined to create positive change in our lives though so we went for it. I managed to make the payments of $1000/month with my limited income (at that time) and we were able to attend the retreat.

I can’t say a whole lot about the retreat other than it totally rocked and changed our lives permanently for the better. We returned home with a new perspective on life. After two weeks or so of being back at a job working for someone else, I decided to give them my notice. I was determined to make a success of building my own business.

In April 2012, I went on my own and started building my own business. It had its challenges, yet I was determined to persevere and make a success of it this time and I did. In the beginning, I mainly focused on subcontracting my services to other companies and friends in the industry for the rest of the year.

When January 2013 arrived and business slowed to a crawl, I focused on building my website and online content, because I knew the calls would start rolling in come spring time, and they did. 2013 proved to be a great year. I learned more skills working with other contractors and as a result our company now offers more services and I’m always learning and honing my skills all the time.

I finally got completely out of debt in 2013 and we both saved up, so we wouldn’t have to struggle during the slower winter months. We ended up taking 4 months off and went on 3 separate vacations to sunny southern locations. We attended the 2014 Abundant Living Retreat again this year and came back refreshed and invigorated. We have set exciting new goals (both personal and business) for this year and further that we’re now working towards.

This blog has been one of my goals. So when I discovered The Ultimate Blog Challenge online I signed up, started the challenge 15 days ago, and I haven’t missed blogging one day yet. My intention with this blog is to create a practical resource where people can learn what it takes to create a business and life they love.

I love being an entrepreneur and am excited about the future. I’m so grateful I get to do what I love daily and create my own schedule (rather than an employer!) I am truly happy and live a more fulfilling life thanks to my journey. I have an amazing relationship with my wife, Natasha and I’m so grateful to her for her support, encouragement and belief that I can do it.

This is a glimpse of my journey to becoming an entrepreneur and creating a business and life I love and it continues. What is your story? I’d love to hear it. Feel free to share a comment below and/or hit one of the share buttons if you enjoyed this article. And as always, thank you for reading.

Sincerely,

William R King

William King

William currently lives in the Greater Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada with his wife Natasha and cat Noah. He has been cleaning windows professionally since 2004. William has worked for multiple window cleaning companies as both an employee and a subcontractor until he committed to building his own business in 2012. His business has grown since to provide a very nice income for the family. Natasha manages the office and accounting of the business as it continues to grow. With 28+ years of experience in the cleaning industry, William's intention with this website is to share his experience and knowledge with people who would like to learn how to create their own window / gutter cleaning service business.

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9 Responses

  1. Bruce says:

    VERY INSPIRING

  2. Natasha says:

    As your wife, watching the ups an downs – I knew you had it in you all along. So proud of you love. An I can say you have helped me quit my desk jobs and now solely work with you building the business and enjoy our winters away 🙂

  3. sophiebowns says:

    Wow! Congratulations! You did it! 🙂

  4. Glad to hear that you layed out a plan and moved forward with it.

  5. Its so good to hear that finally you make it.

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