How tracing the swans will help your window cleaning business
April 14, 2009 – 2:27 am
I did NOT draw this swan, either 
When I was in grade 3, in Mississauga, Ontario, my teacher, Mrs Boghossian (my classmates and I secretly called her “Mrs BIG-Ocean” because she was the biggest woman we had ever seen) gave us an assignment that I’ll never forget: Tomorrow every student was going to make a pencil drawing.
I don’t know why we were supposed to, and I don’t remember what ever happened to my drawing, but what I do remember is how much I wanted to make the best one in my class, and what Mrs Big-Ocean’s reaction was when she saw the one that I handed in.
That night I sneaked one of my Father’s stained-glass- lamp-making books out of my house and brought it to class with me on the next day. When the drawing period started, I found a somewhat secluded spot in the classroom (it was an unusual shape) and pulled out my secret weapon – the stained glass lamp pattern book.
I selected a lamp pattern of an elegant swan floating in a lake, surrounded by minimalistic flowers and gentle waves from the lake, and proceeded to trace the whole thing. I TRACED THE WHOLE THING.
Suffice it to say, my pencil drawing looked pretty sweet, and was heads and shoulders above the submissions from the other students that Mrs Big-Ocean received, and I still remember her approving gaze and immediate big smile, followed by puzzled disbelief in sizing up this creation from her wee, previously uncreative grade 3 student Kevin Dubrosky.
Of course, it wasn’t long before the gig was up, my secret weapon found, and my advantage and accolades evaporated into tinges of shame and guilt (which thankfully, also passed quickly with the distractions that recess provided).
The lesson and experience was imprinted permanently in my memory, though, and I wanted to share it with you for 2 important reasons:
Reason #1: You probably feel bad tracing swans when it comes to marketing your window cleaning services. You feel guilty adopting campaigns and pieces that other companies or even competitors have used, because deep down you feel that “stealing” ideas and inspiration is bad.
Reason #2: Reason number one is bogus.
The surest way to weather the economic storms of 2009 is to give yourself permission to absorb, migrate, and replicate proven marketing strategy, including specific tools, templates, and campaigns, into your window cleaning business.
With one caveat: Don’t steal the piece word for word, however, never feel bad about stealing ideas & inspiration. That’s just business, and you’re in the business of making a profit, so use what has already been proven to work!
And in case you’re looking for some examples of window cleaning marketing pieces that work, here is a free look at some real-world window cleaning marketing that I give you permission to trace word for word as you wish:
http://windowcleaningbusinesscoach.com/secret/index.php?board=10.0
Of course, because I drew these particular swans from scratch all by myself, I can tell you to go ahead and trace them with a clear conscience.
Mrs. Big-Ocean wouldn’t be happy, but we’ll keep this between you and me…she doesn’t need to know
Kevin
P.S. Of course, if you’d like the actual source files to these templates (so that you can quickly edit them, instead of having to make originals yourself), this quick post explains how you get the fully-editable Photoshop PSD source files for each of them for FREE:
http://windowcleaningbusinesscoach.com/secret/index.php?topic=2.0
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