We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joseph Climer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joseph below.
Joseph, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
My folks were entrepreneurs, so I’d always had an inkling to do my own thing – the hard part was figuring out what. I was pretty insistent on kicking something off without going into debt. The idea of window cleaning had been culminating in the corners of my mind for years. I can remember managing a restaurant who had contracted out window cleaning to guy who checked all the boxes for what you might expect out of a guy who cleans windows – unpredictable schedule, very little communication. His work was fine, but it didn’t go above and beyond. We’d have to pay him on the spot which could complicate closing out the register as he often came after service was over. I remember thinking then – I could do this and do it better. But I didn’t. I kept chasing after promotions and bigger salaries.
A few years later, I was still chewing on business ideas. One day, I was having lunch with a friend of mine. He’s also found his way into the service world, so I’d pick his brain when I could. He offhandedly mentioned window cleaning and I remembered my time at the restaurant. I went home and did some market research. I considered the rate at which new homes are being built and thought there might be space for another window cleaner.
The next day, I went to Home Depot and bought a bucket, a brush, and a squeegee. I kept all my receipts in case it didn’t work out. I began to cold call folks around town. Slowly, I’d pick up a storefront here, a residential property there. And things have continued to build.
Given the current climate, I think there’s a brilliance to home service. It’s sort of a well kept secret. While most folks are gravitating towards things like AI, it leaves plenty of room for entrepreneurs to thrive so long as they don’t mind getting their hands dirty.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I wish I could say I’m a third generation business owner. Like most entrepreneurs, it took a while to find a niche. That’s a gentle way of saying I floundered around for years. I was working in tech sales before pivoting into window cleaning.
Our product is simple. We clean windows and we clean them really well. We answer the phone. We follow up. We show up on time. We dress professionally. We try to make the process of getting your windows cleaned as seamless as possible. And just like when I worked in restaurants, we meet the folks who reach out to us with the utmost hospitality. I did a job a few weeks ago for an older lady in Water Valley. She was so sweet, reminded me of my grandmother. We’d built such rapport during our time there that when the job was over, we hugged. It was really special. I think that’s the extra touch that can often be overlooked in home service. I like to say “we’re in the business of hospitality, we also happen to clean windows.”
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
My initial investment was $150. I worked with that for a few months. Eventually, I got a call from someone with a two story home asking for a quote. I was honest and told the guy that I was an early start up and that I didn’t have the means to reach second stories. He told me if I’d come clean the first story, I could clean the second story once I was able to. We now clean his home quarterly. He’s gotten to watch this thing grow.
I ended up pouring my savings into better gear and a van. My savings account floated with $24 in it for a while. I’ve since taken on jobs that I did not yet have the tools to tackle nor the means to afford them. I’d take a look at my books and schedule the job out far enough that I’d have enough work to build up the cash in the meantime. There have been some close calls, but it’s worked out.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
In July, I celebrated six years of recovery from substance abuse. I spent the better part of a decade doing my best to derail the lives of myself and those around me. Once everything began to crumble, I found myself in a treatment center. Since that time, I’ve done the things I need to do to take care of myself. I suppose there’s a piece of that that plays into the entrepreneurial thing. The slow grind of building a business is much like early recovery. It’s all work and very little payoff. So it’s cool to have the experience of something like long term recovery to know that so long as I do the work, things usually work out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://windowjoeoxford.com
- Instagram: @windowjoeoxford
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/window.joe.2025
Image Credits
Kate Berger