We were lucky to catch up with Sergio Iván Aleman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sergio Ivan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?

I try to take as msuch vacation time as possible. But for the most part my wife, and I take some time off of work in December for our wedding anniversary. It really doesn’t matter where we go, as long as we are able to relax and reset. Just a few weeks ago I was reading an article in a window cleaning magazine that spoke about this specific topic. The writer mentioned how he had not stepped away from his business for more than a weekend. He recently discovered how important it was to take some time away. He wasn’t enjoying his work anymore. So he took some time off to spend with his family, and when he returned to work he felt refreshed.

Many times I have felt the same way, where I am just burnt out, physically and mentally. And that is not a good thing for a business owner. So my wife and I make sure we schedule some time to reset. When we get back to work, we are able to make things flow better.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am the owner/operator of Aleman’s Window Cleaning. We have been providing commercial and residential window cleaning service in the San Antonio, TX area since May 2015.

I started my business out of necessity. My Wife, LeeAnna, and I had been working for a small business that would provide maintenance on foreclosed homes. We enjoyed doing the work, and the fact that we got to be together. After a few years of being there, we had a small issue. To not go into too many details, we were both let go. At this point my wife, and I had only been married about a year and a few months. We found ourselves with no job, and lots of bills to pay. Fortunately she found a job as a nanny within a week. I on the other hand had some trouble. A friend of ours had just started his own window cleaning business. One day we were talking about what had happened with our work recently, and he wanted to help me somehow. So he invited me to go and work with him for a few days, and get a feel for the business. After about a week of working with him, he helped get my own business started.

The past couple of years my wife started working with me full time. Together we do all the work. I handle all paperwork, and invoicing. My wife handles estimates, and bidding of jobs, as well as managing our social media accounts. All labor is done by us, with occasional help from her parents.

In October of 2021, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. For which I had to undergo surgery to remove the cancer. I am proud to say I am officially cancer free today. During the time of my recovery, LeeAnna, and her parents handled all the work for us. My father-in-law is a truck driver, but on his days off he would go with my wife, to help her finish faster.

At Aleman’s Window Cleaning, we strive to provide our clients with the best service possible. We want them to be completely satisfied with our services. Our focus is strictly window cleaning, with some office cleaning. With window cleaning we want your windows to look brand new. Meaning that we clean out all tracks and sills, window screens are scrubbed, we remove paint overspray as well as hard water stains. Most importantly, we care about our clients. We will often find time to stop and talk to our customers, we like to know how they are doing, we try to support their businesses however we can. Whether its referring them, or simply sharing their social media posts. Our customers are not just customers, I like to think of them as friends.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I would like to think that our quality of service helps with that. We are not a large business with multiple employees. As I mentioned earlier, its just my wife and I doing all the work. We are not looking to become rich. All we want is to be able to pay our bills, be healthy and happy. Why am I say this? Well, we have encountered other window cleaners while doing our field work. Most just want to make quick money, so they work fast. When things are done fast, it is more likely to make mistakes, and in our line of work some mistakes can be costly. We are not the fastest window cleaners out there, and that’s ok. I would much rather take my time and do things right, than to end up leaving streaks on a window. Or breaking a window because I moved too quickly. My wife and I have a system going with our work, we each have a task that we handle, and most importantly we work as a team. We let our work speak for itself. We strive for customer satisfaction. When our customers are satisfied, they are more likely to recommend us to their friends and family. Which is exactly what has happened, over that last few years we have been able to grow due to customers referring us.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

As a window cleaner, there are not too many places to get professional tools. Its possible to get stuff from a hardware store. Which we did when we first started, and got decent results from using them. Eventually, I was able to find a great supplier which has helped me in more ways than I thought was possible. Not only was I able to buy better quality tools, but I have learned some much more about the window cleaning industry.

Window Cleaning Resource has been more than just a place where we order our tools from. Thru their website they host forums for window cleaners from all over the world. They even host a Facebook group for window cleaners. I have been able to see the window cleaning business from a different perspective. When I first started as a window cleaner, I saw my business as just an exchange of services for money. Today I see it as so much more than that. I have learned to have a relationship with customers, by observing techniques from other window cleaners. There’s one window cleaner whose business has been around for three generations, starting with his grandfather, then his father, and now he and his daughter manage it. They make time to speak to each of their clients. They establish relationships with them. Now we are trying to do the same. We want to take in what we have learned from WCR (Window Cleaning Resource) and use it to mold not only out thinking but our way of doing business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://windowcleaner.com/hire/listing/alemans-window-cleaning/
• Instagram: Instagram.com/alemanswindowcleaning
• Facebook: Facebook.com/alemanswindowcleaning
• Other: https://voyagesanantonio.com/interview/exploring-life-business-with-sergio-ivan-aleman-of-alemans-window-cleaning/